Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I’ve heard a lot about Jon. First time I heard him was years ago when he was featured in a NY Times article. It was after the start of his Los Angeles weekly residences at the original Largo. They sounded like great shows – multi-instrumentalist, Magnolia soundtrack making, boy wonder alone – and together with his glamorous friends (Aimee Mann, etc). He’d do his own stuff, he’d do inspired covers, etc. Sounded great. Gotta go I thought.
Well now I live in LA – although I travel out of town way too much – and I have the chance to go see him. Still haven’t. I am pathetic I know. But I was still intrigued and thought I’d at least listen to his music. So I have. And….it’s OK. It’s what you’d expect from a guy who really knows what he’s doing – decent songs, very clever, obvious Beatles influenece (I heard Emitt Rhodes in there alot too) but nothing soul inspiring.
And then I found his version of Sorry Suzanne – and it all made sense. His over 7 minutes long version of the Hollies classic. It’s terrific. He throws the kitchen sink in and makes it all work. Great vocals – channeling Graham Nash a little, nice guitar work and a percussion break. What else can you ask for? Before I found this I was about to file under “OK but there’s better stuff to listen to” but now I’m back to the other stuff looking for gems.
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