I’ve never really been able to fully appreciate the Blues the way I feel that I should, at least not the John Lee Hooker/Robert Johnson/BB King-type Blues. Maybe it’s my middle class upbringing in the Midwest that did it, maybe it’s a musical thing, I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong—I love many blues records dearly and totally appreciate the art and craft of them. I’ve just never been able to really “feel” them, you know? I can’t turn to them or identify with them for solace in my darkest hours as I know many others can, despite the fact that we share some common sources of angst (money, love, etc.). So instead, I’ve mostly turned to mopey white guys whose lives mirror mine a bit more closely. Here are a few examples:

Prefab Sprout – Cruel, [Swoon]

“There is no Chicago urban blues more heartfelt than my lament for you”. That’s exactly what I was getting at, Paddy. You know you’re a jealous bastard (“Don’t call me possessive, but God if he’s smooching with you…”) and don’t exactly feel proud of it (“It’s hard to defend”), and yet it’s there, regardless of bias (“My heart is aligned, it couldn’t be neutral…”) or faulty logic (“The world should be free, but don’t you go following suit”). A complex portrait of a confused and troubled heart, contradictory and unable to help itself, stuck in a cruel middle ground. If you’ve been there, you know.

[visit a Prefab Sprout website here, buy Swoon here, read Todd’s Stylus review of Two Wheels Good here]

Nick Lowe– Lately I’ve Let Things Slide, [The Convincer]

As a new bachelor living alone for the first time in many years, the lackadaisical sad-sack behavior described by Ol’ Basher here hits perhaps a bit too close to home: casually picked-up old bad habits; mysterious and unexplained bumps and bruises; digging for the cleanest shirt among a bunch of not-really clean items; leaving the front door wide open, oblivious to the fact that there is no longer someone else around to close it behind you. It isn’t a full-blown collapse, just a whole mess of little ones. As Nick says, “I’m just about holding on….” Surely apathy figures into the Blues somewhere, right?

[visit Nick Lowe’s website here, buy The Convincer here, read Todd’s Stylus review of Rockpile’s Seconds of Pleasure here]

Lovin’ Spoonful– On The Road Again, [Do You Believe in Magic]

Not to be confused with the white hippie Blues classic by Canned Heat (read that with maximum irony, please). Those only familiar with the Spoonful through their wispy Summer Of Love tunes like “Do You Believe In Magic?” and “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice” might be a little taken aback by this healthy bit of “chooglin’” (the definitive white hippie Blues term if ever there was one). But really, the sentiment of this tune fits that free-love sort of a vibe pretty well— “I would love to settle down here with you, babe, but I gotta follow the open road and be free and give my love to all the other chicks out there!” Best part of this song—outside of the obvious fact that the Lovin’ Spoonful have their amps cranked to 11 here, something I find quite hilarious and still somewhat authentically crunchy—is the totally flying-off-the-rails guitar solo that positively screams out of the speakers and hardly stays in time at all. Brilliant!

[visit the Lovin’ Spoonful’s website here, buy Do You Believe in Magic here]