Little Latin Lupe Lu

Dick: "Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels?"
Barry: "No! The Righteous Brothers!"

My life parallels to High Fidelity is not a secret. My comparisons of heart-wrenching fictitious music meant for someone else, to my life is scary. Or rather, somewhat absurd. But it's Friday and let's leave all that at the door and concentrate on my favorite scene from my favorite music comedy. All Dick asked was a simple question to Barry and what resulted was war. Who's version of Little Latin Lupe Lu is better and why? Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels or The Righteous Brothers? For that matter, where does Bruce Springsteen, The Kingsmen or The Chancellors lie in this roundup?

Written by Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers (you know, Maverick singing You've Lost That Loving Feeling), "Little Latin Lupe Lu" peaked at #49 in 1963. Three years later, Mitch Ryder & Co. took it to #28 and there it hid for decades until Jack Black (Barry) placed it as Track Number 2 on his Monday-Morning Mix Tape.

Who's version is the best? Careful folks...your answer could dictate whether or not you are part of a fascist regime.

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels - Little Latin Lupe Lu

And The Righteous Brothers...sorry, it won't let me embed it! Listen here

Hear the Boss' version here or The Kingsmen's take here


And for those of you that needed the full scene to complete this gorgeous Friday of yours...

This is Kate. Kate knows music.

Either I have no standards or Kate knows music. I've been told both! Now it's rare that I'll post on a friend though I've done it before --> here and here. Nowadays, it is once in a blue moon (and keep in mind folks, the full moon last Friday night was at it's apogee, meaning the moon was the biggest it will be all year...14% bigger!) that a friend actually gives me music that:
a.) I am not familiar with and
b.) Actually makes my skin tingle while
c.) Causes me to turn the speakers to '11' and eventually
d.) Causes me to write about the experience

Kate delivered me a peculiar mix at 5:55am this morning as we headed out to our bi-weekly morning climbing session. At 9:56am I popped in the album to let it take it's course. You see, John Cusack (via Nick Hornby) nailed the art of the mixtape on the head in High Fidelity by explaining the trivialities and hurdles of configuring a proper mix all through the composers thought process, mood, goal and various other influences that serve as the intricate ingredients to a successful product. Not that I'm judging and not that I really looked into it (ha!), but this compilation is one of two (thanks Wallstreet) ever given to me that has blown me away. That being said, I did just receive a mix from Melt Your Face Off that looks like it could raise a ruckus.

Kate's mix is full of radio staples, "unveiled" indie gems, obscura, orchestral soundtrack backers, forgottens of the yester-years, and the neck-out-on-a-limb singer-songwriter ballad. The disc has it all excluding The dreaded Police, the wrist cut inducing Steely Dan and "lord I wish I had a rope and stool" Van Halen song, for which I praise the lord and Kate for not including! Just some highlights that I implore you look into would be
Alec Puro - Concert Dream
Elvis Perkins - All The Night Without Love
Electric President - Ten Thousand Lines
Scott Matthews - Elusive
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin
Fruit Bats - When U love Somebody
James - Fine
Yo La Tengo - Stockholm Syndrome
Home - Slide
New order - Ceremony

Thanks for a better than great Thursday Kate!

I will now sell 5 copies ofThe Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band

Yes, it's my favorite comedy by a long shot and I could easily pull 50 blog posts about topics covered in this film. Yet another Nick Hornby novel-turned-film, High Fidelity was released in 2000 and still causes me to quote lines from it every day at work and seek some of the obscure artists Hornby re-introduces. Jack Black and John Cusack capture the perfect music guru/snob persona that we each encounter at **fill in your local indie record store here**. This past weekend, I drove to Gunnison for a few days of fun in the sun and when the Beta Band's "Dry The Rain" came on during my car time, I couldn't help but laugh out loud and think of the one guy in this scene bobbing his head as the groove hit him.

The Beta Band were a British band that have roots in Scotland as well. I say "were" because they broke up in 2004 after a farewell tour. Though much of their earlier music was never publicly noticed or played, the band had a cult following through their quirkiness, bubble-pop rap songs, antics and the slight publicity that their live shows and first EPs stirred. Not long after High Fidelity was released, more magazines and college radio stations took notice and now you can hear one of their songs every commercial break on any given major television station. The Three E.P.'s was released on Astralwerks in 1999 and lead off with my favorite track by the Beta Band

Beta Band - Dry The Rain




And don't worry, here's a little extra bonus song for you. Remember the group Sonic Death Monkey or Kathleen Turner Overdrive or Barry Jive And The Uptown Five?