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Jim Basnight — Jokers, Idols & Misfits
(Bandcamp no#, 2020, DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2021-12-01

Jokers, Idols & Misfits Cover art

Jim Basnight has been putting out music since the late 70s with a number of different bands, and the common thread to his songwriting has been a canny sense of catchy melodies and an instinctive feel for what makes a good rock song. With Jokers, Idols & Misfits, he’s collected together his covers of some of the songs that inspired him. These have been recorded over the years by his groups The Moberlys, The Rockinghams, and the Jim Basnight Band, and feature tunes by such well-known artists as The Kinks, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, T. Rex, The Byrds, The Hollies, Stories, The New York Dolls, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. He’s also pulled out a few Northwest gems by The Sonics, The Wailers, The Cowboys, Modernettes, and The Pudz, along with some more obscure songs by Mike Czekaj (The Fuzztones) and The Real Kids. In spite of the differing lineups and span of time of the recordings, the updated mixing and mastering results in a coherent set of covers. Some hew fairly closely to the originals, but some of the best moments are the newer tunes with the Jim Basnight Band featuring violin (Geoff Castle), woodwinds (Mikel Rollins), and trumpet (Jim Knodle), which get lovely treatments hinting at both folk and jazz. In most cases, even when the source bands are widely known, the song choices are unexpected. For The Beatles, we get “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”; for the Stones it’s “So Much in Love,” a Jagger/Richards tune that was recorded by The Mighty Avengers in 1964; the T. Rex non-album track “Laser Love” gets a rocking rendition; and The Kinks’ “This Is Where I Belong,” a 1967 B-side, opens the album in fine style. And then there’s “Prince Jones Davies Suite,” a medley which combines songs by Prince, David Bowie, and Ray Davies, and ends up sounding coherent. With his choices, Basnight displays a keen sense of good songwriting, paying homage to some greats, both known and unknown.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Jim Basnight

More info
http://powerpopaholicproductions.bandcamp.com/album/jokers-idols-misfits

 

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