Front Page Reviews & AIR

Musicians have been putting these two words together for years.  I don’t know if it’s a hopeless case where no other words summon the right meaning, or whether they were sitting there with a notepad and a beer, brokenhearted or euphoric, pushed to dismiss any quest for originality.  Patsy Cline took Willy Nelson’s “Crazy” and made it a classic.  Van Morrison gave us “Crazy Love” (check out the duet with Dylan in the Links section).  Queen rocked about a “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Madonna is “Crazy for You,” Aerosmith was just plain “Crazy,” if you can remember Steven Tyler’s nasal screech before he knocked his teeth out in the shower last week.  Paul Simon is “Still Crazy After All These Years,” even after the Beatles decided that “All They Need is Love” and reminisced about “Yesterday.”

The love-fest continues through modern day: one of Dave Matthews most potent love songs, "Crush," has an acoustic version aptly named "Crazy."  Eminem, Jay-Z, Beyonce, and even Snow Patrol (remember them?) are all "Crazy in Love," and Gnarls Barkley wore out his radio welcome with "Crazy," which we all know was about a mad love affair.

So, what I have for you here, for your Filtered Pleasure, is a twelve-pack of Winter Warmers.  Six are retro classics, six are fresh new microbrews, and they're all about that crazy thing...

Classics: (Brisk Bottles of Love-Benders)

Bob Dylan, “Tangled Up in Blue”:  No one will ever fold bittersweet love, divorce, nostalgia, and the ache of longing into the pages of poetry and rhythm better than this man.  No one.

Led Zeppelin, “Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You”:  Written by Ann Bredon, recorded by Joan Baez, and then swept into the capable hands of Page and Plant, who whipped this folk song into a barnburner of lost love and regret: "It was really, really good, you made me happy every single day, but now...I've got to go away!" Cue the furious storm of minor chords!

Jimi Hendrix, "Bold As Love":  An acid trip through the vagaries of emotional chaos, with a homage to "Queen Jealousy." Hendrix sings, "And all these emotions of mine keep me from giving myself to a rainbow like you." From anyone else, these lyrics might seem absurd. From Jimi, accompanied by heady lead work, they're a revelation.

Rolling Stones, "Loving Cup":  "Yes I am fumblin', and I know my car won't start. Yes I am stumblin', and I know I play a bad guitar. Gimme one drink...from your loving cup!" Jagger's honest plea for recognition is rooted in desire.  One of the most underrated Stones songs around.

The Outfield, "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love Tonight":  "Try to stop my hands from shaking, something in my mind's not making sense...can't stop the way I'm feeling!" If this isn't crazy love (complete with a slick power-chorus that only the 1980's could produce) then I don’t know what is. Unless it’s...

Layla, "Eric Clapton":  We all know the story here -- Clapton was obsessed with his drinking buddy George Harrison's wife, Patti, and he wrote this tortured yet raging blue-rock song about her. The riff still rocks, the piano outro still summons chills.

Microbrews (Cold Cans of Indie-Love Calamity)

Blitzen Trapper, "Not Your Lover":  "In my sleep I'm not your lover anymore. When I wake I have to remind myself that I'm lying on your shore."  A dreamy ballad about facing reality, someday.

The National, "Terrible Love":  Matt Berninger is an expert at crafting open-ended lyrics that still have impact: "It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders."  Behind him, the Brothers Dessner craft a moody sonic landscape that hints at destruction...until the mood shifting bridge: "It's quiet company," Berninger sings lightly.  Maybe there is hope, after all.

Bon Iver, "Skinny Love":  Any song written in isolation, in a snowy cabin, after a heart-shattering year deserves to be here.  Beneath the  numbing layers of overdubbed harmony, you can still hear the sharp edges of Justin Vernon’s heartache.

Beck, "I Think I'm in Love":  "I think I'm in love but I'm really, really nervous to say so," sings Beck, musing on commitment in this bass-heavy jam off of trippy techno-funk album The Information.

The White Stripes, "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told): Straightforward guitar lines and tambourine shake doesn't disguise the disdain that White feels when he sneers, "You're not hopeless, or helpless, and I hate to sound cold, but you don't know what love is, you just do as your told!"  I’m no psychologist, but this shit doesn’t sound healthy.

Black Keys, "I'm Too Afraid to Love You":  "My gears they grind more each day, and I feel like they're gonna grind away, I don't know what to do, I'm too afraid to love you," rasps a weary Auerbach, lamenting the fear that crazed love sometimes entails while stomping on overdrive pedals.

Honorable Mentions: Led Zeppelin, “Black Dog.” Pepper, “Crazy Love,” Badly Drawn Boy, “Easy Love,” Fiona Apple, “To Your Love,” Bright Eyes, “Make a Plan to Love Me,” Hollerado, “Hard Love,” Cream “Sunshine of Your Love,” Free Energy, “Light Love,” White Stripes, “A Martyr For My Love For You.”