Tune Tag #17 with Matty C (Matt Carlson) of "What Am I Making": Rachel Sweet, Stranglers, Bowie, Spoon, Alejandro Escovedo
A TV producer with a cover tune she recorded at 15! A tall-drink Spoon aping a karaoke singer on TV, and a not-Mott Bowie covers a hit song he wrote for somebody else! Surprises is what we're gibbonšµ
Tag! Youāre It, Matt!
Matthew Carlson (
on Substack), our Tune Tag guest today, is a singer, songwriter, designer, podcaster, and writer living in Lansing, Michigan. He currently makes music in his bands The Stick Arounds and Harborcoat, as well as touring nationally as an acoustic solo act.ĀWhat Am I Making, Carlsonās Substack, is a daily blog and podcast centered around music, film, culture, and finding a life of purpose and attention through those outlets. In the first nine months of What Am I Making alone, Carlson has amassed an impressive array of two hundred essays, posts, and podcasts. Taken as a collective, it is a look at the true value and impact of art, music and culture on our lives.
Mattās Song #1 sent to Brad: āIāve Got A Heart,ā The Realists, 1978
Mattās rationale: I gave Brad āIāve Got A Heartā because itās a lost song that shouldāve been a huge hit. So far as I know, The Realists only released a couple of other tracks. The B-side to this track is just plain bad. The A-side, sublime.
My band, The Stick Arounds, play this tune live with some regularity. We even recorded our own version for our Hot Singles collection a few years back:
The Realistsā song is rock and roll perfection; a compact tune with a hummable verse and singalong chorus. It feels like a classic the first time you hear it, and itās an old favorite after just a couple more spins!
Bradās response: A great song Iād never heard, on Stiff Records (and I thought Iād heard āem all!).
Bradās Song #1 sent to Matty: Rachel Sweet, āB-A-B-Y,ā 1978
Mattās response: I figured that Bradās connection from The Realists to Rachel Sweet was their affiliation to Stiff Records. Thatās a perfectly awesome place to land in my book: The early Stiff stuff was just aces!
Bradās rationale: Stiff all the way, Matt! Plus, I only later noticed that they both shared 1978 release dates. Rachel hails from Akron, Ohio (the same city that gave The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde), and was 4 years old in 1966, when Carla Thomas recorded this original Isaac Hayes/David Porter burner for Stax Records.
In the states, Carlaās single reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on the R&B chart, and #10 in Canada. A Memphis native, Ms. Thomas is the daughter of famed R&B singer, former Sun and Stax recording artist, Rufus Thomas. She turns 81 just before Christmas ā23!
Hereās some rare Dick-Clark-hosted Where the Action Is U.S. TV footage (September 1966) of Carla lip-synching the song on a Southern California beach:
Executive Sweet: Teen Pop Star to TV Power Broker
Back to Rachel: Her cover, recorded in 1977 when she was 15, made it to #35 on UKās singles chart in ā78. She began recording commercials at the age of six, toured with comic Mickey Rooney, and performed in Vegas as the 1974 opening act for Bill Cosby at the age of 12. On the infamous Stiff Records Tour in 1978, Rachel was backed by British power pop stalwarts, The Records, about whom more can be read, here:
Sweet, now 61, has been involved in writing and producing L.A.-based television shows since the late ā90s. Among her credits: She has been a writer and/or executive producer on TV sitcoms, including Dharma & Greg, Commando Nanny, George Lopez, Hot in Cleveland, 2 Broke Girls, The Single Guy, and The Goldbergs.
Mattās Song #2: The Stranglers, "Golden Brown," 1981
Bradās response: Iām not finding a link between Sweet and this intriguing harpsichord-forward Stranglers song, from their 1981 La folie album.
āGolden Brownā was mixed by Tony Visconti (Bowie), and produced by Steve Churchyard and The Stranglers, while the Rachel song was produced by Liam Sternberg, and mixed by Peter Solley (who recently passed away, mid-November 2023).
Mattās rationale: It just seemed too easy to keep the Stiff train rolling. As much as I yearned to select a Nick Lowe deep cut or a favorite [Elvis and the] Attractions track, I opted for a more subtle connection with more than one strand of affiliation.
Producers Martin Rushent and Alan Winstanley were brought in to produce Sweetās sophomore LP, 1980ās Protect the Innocent (Stiff/UK, Columbia/U.S.). Rushent had already done work for Stiff as a mixer, engineer, and producer with other bands and was a familiar face to pair with their young, up-and-coming artist.
Rushent had worked with many of the big punk and new wave acts of the day, but the most intense and fruitful relationship of his career was with the British punk outfit, The Stranglers.Ā
Truth be told, I have never been able to pierce the veil on The Stranglers. I certainly get why people love it, but I cannot find the emotional connection [with the band]. Regardless, their most famous tune, āGolden Brown,ā is stunningly beautiful.
Bradās song #2: David Bowie, āAll the Young Dudes,ā 1974
Mattās reaction: While itās hard to know exactly what prompted Brad to make the connection to a live Bowie track, I would guess that itās due to the fact that Bowie was a longtime collaborator with producer Tony Visconti, who also produced the album La folie, on which āGolden Brownā appears.
Apparently, there is also the connection of Bowieās love for the Stranglersā aptly-titled 1977 LP, No More Heroes [The Stranglers, ironically enough, had released their No More Heroes album, September 23, 1977, exactly three weeks before Bowie released his iconic āHeroesā album on October 14].
After doing a bit of research, I discovered there is a letter Bowie sent to Visconti that included a list of records he should buy for Bowie if he saw them in the local shops.
Anytime youāre mentioned in good standing with the Thin White Duke, youāre doing okay in my book. Perhaps Bowieās insistence on picking up that LP led to Visconti working with The Stranglers just a few years later.
Bradās rationale: Bingo! Oops, I mean āTune Tag,ā Matt (my mind wandered)! Tony Visconti mixed the Stranglers song; Visconti produced the David Live album.
Mattās song #3: Alejandro Escovedo, āAlways A Friend,ā 2008
Bradās response: Wow! A 21st century Visconti sighting! Tony not only co-arranged the strings on this 2008 album, Real Animal, by Escovedo, but sang backing vocalsā¦and produced!
Mattyās rationale: So, in the spirit of continuing things along with the Visconti theme, my third song is āAlways A Friendā by Alejandro Escovedo. I felt compelled to keep this string going just to proselytize about the genius of Escovedo, a true rock and roll lifer.
Escovedoās songs play great as full band constructions and performed solo, or with acoustic guitar and a string section. Heās an American original and a criminally underrated artist.
of Our Reality Show interviewed Escovedo recently. Thatās here:Bradās Song #3: David Pulkingham (feat. Patty Griffin and the Tosca String Quartet), āLittle Pearl,ā 2015
Mattās response: This one was a bit of a stretch: I went down a Buddy and Julie Miller rabbit hole through the Patty Griffin angle, and came up wanting with a great connection. Craig Ross, who mixed the David Pulkingham track [Brad: And was born in Houston and moved to Austinā¦like me!], has done a ton of mixing for Griffin, and also did some mixing on the early Spoon LPs as well. I especially like this tune that closes out the Girls Can Tell LP (my next song to Brad).
Bradās rationale: Pulkingham played guitar, keyboards, and provided backing vocals on the Alejandro Escovedo album.
Mattās Song #4: Spoon, āChicago At Night,ā 2001
Bradās response: Nice connection of home cities by Matt! David Pulkingham, like Spoon members, is an Austin, TX resident (if not native), as is this writer! Iāve not really heard much by Spoon, although both Austin-area rags (Austin American-Statesman and the indie, Austin Chronicle) have written about them plenty in the past couple decades!
Bradās Song #4: Britt Daniel, āVeronica,ā 2006
Mattās response: āVeronicaā is pretty much a template for the perfect pop song.Ā There is a deep and rich character study set to a hummable chorus. The tune is lyrically clever and detailed. Each section of the song pushes the narrative forward while also developing new elements sonically. Plus, he co-wrote the damned thing with a Beatle. Damn you Elvis, and your pop perfection!
Bradās rationale: Britt Daniel is Spoonās lead singer/guitarist, and did an acting turn as a karaoke singer on a Veronica Mars episode (on U.S. TV) in 2006, singing the Elvis Costello/Paul McCartney 1989 co-write, āVeronica.ā
Matt signs off: Thanks so much for letting me play, Brad. This was a blast!Ā
My first introduction to Rachel Sweet was when Comedy Central wore short pants! She hosted āShort Attention Span Theaterā, if no one here remembers. It was basically 3-5 minute long scenes from favorite comedy films. Very short pants! She was onto something! Now our attention spans are but mere blips.
I first heard āGolden Brownā in a pasta commercial when I was living in France! The French love that ear-worm worthy neuro marketing tactic! They have no problem with it! Personally, it couldāve have easily driven me to pick up a hammer and smash the nearest object! But it was the Stranglers. So this one got a go pass in my book!!
And wow, look what I just found!! A Brubeck/Golden Brown mash-up!!
https://youtu.be/ZXEh9e7VL7k?si=42hUiqElMAcvGuPT
And dammit/yay! Another harpsichord song Iām determined to learn! Iām writing a piece on a playlist based on harpsichord and Clavinet songs Iām learning and driving my family crazy with! Iāll be sure and circle back here!!
another great TT - loved the Tony Visconti dive. i know Brian Eno gets all the fame for the Berlin trilogy he produced for Bowie, but his influence on Bowie and even in the later years with HEATHEN is undeniable.