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Usually, the Under-Appreciated Rock Artist or Under-Appreciated Rock Band that I am writing about has a strong connection to a particular type of rock music, or enjoyed later (or earlier) success outside of their under-appreciated period. Sometimes though, an artist just seems to drops out of nowhere, and that is the case with a wonderful singer-songwriter named THOMAS ANDERSON. His is not exactly an uncommon name; you might remember Thomas Anderson as being the name of the Keanu Reeves character in The Matrix (along with “Neo” of course) and also Tom Anderson as one of the grown-up foils for the cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-head (though in each case, they go more often by the name “Mr. Anderson”).
Thomas Anderson grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and now makes his home in the long-time musical mecca of Austin, Texas. He has always lived more or less in the shadows and has stayed away from dates in big cities, and that apparently suits him just fine. Anderson is firmly rooted in the rock and roll milieu; even if it is just he and his guitar (which is rare), you would likely never mistake him for a folksinger.
A 1998 article called “Flying Saucer Rock & Roll” by RJ Smith in The Village Voice said of him: “Thomas Anderson is clearly the greatest unknown songwriter on the planet.” At that point, Anderson had released three albums and a then-recent EP; more albums have followed in the years since that time. His most recent album is called Norman, Oklahoma (named after his home town) and came out in 2003. Another is promised that would be called Radar Angels. Anderson’s unusual approach to his craft reminds me of another UARA from a while back, Jim Sullivan; and it seems like flying saucers came up in the discussion about him also. More information on Thomas Anderson is available on his website, which is named after his record publishing company, Angry Young Grad Student: http://www.angryyounggradstudent.com/ .
The album I have, Moon Going Down was released on Marilyn Records; the label predates Patrick Boissel’s better known, Bomp! Records-affiliated Alive Records. The promotional material for the album (which is still available on the Bomp! Records website) quotes Anderson as saying: “When I started doing this, I wanted to establish up front that my allegiance was with rock ’n’ roll and not singer/songwriters. God love ’em, but a lot of them are telling the same stories about dusty roads, country back porches, and missing you. Here I am singing about Martians. That’s my thing. There are other stories to tell, and I want to be the one to tell them.”
Thomas Anderson has many offbeat quotes like that; here is another: “Iggy Pop is my favorite singer-songwriter”. One of the best songs on Moon Going Down – it was selected as a “Choice Cut” by Village Voice rock scribe Robert Christgau – is “Jerry’s Kids”. The reference is not to Jerry Lewis’s telethon children, but to the “Deadhead” followers of Jerry Garcia’s band the Grateful Dead. Besides showing his lively sense of humor, the song illustrates his expansive outlook on life: The song is full of expected praise for the idealistic Deadheads but does not dismiss the easy criticisms either – Thomas Anderson truly can see all points of view, unlike many of us who just say we do.
Another song mentioned in the Village Voice article, “Song for Up with People” (just being able to put three prepositions together was probably an attraction for Thomas Anderson) refers to the troupe of earnest clean-cut musicians called Up with People who were (as RJ Smith put it) “folk minstrels of the ’60s who caravanned their vanilla-wafer optimism to the parts of the country terrified by loud guitars”. For the typical iconoclastic or cynical singer-songwriter, they would be an easy target. But Anderson was not at all judgmental and was even admiring of them in a way. I saw or heard Up with People myself once, though I forget where; they weren’t bad at all for what they did.
As to other songs on Moon Going Down, in “Death’s Door”, Anderson duels with “Mr. Death" in a fever dream; and he tells a twisted tale of a prior girlfriend in “Running with Heidi” accompanied by a pounding beat. The final cut on the album – the lyrics are also printed for this song – is called “Are You Sure John Donne it This Way”; only Thomas Anderson could mix a reference to an old “outlaw country” song by Waylon Jennings, “Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way” with John Donne, the British poet and satirist who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.
It is a most remarkable album, and I simply have to get more of his music. The only time I sent an email to Greg Shaw was about what else Thomas Anderson had released, since there was only the one album on his Bomp! website; the reply that I got from Shaw was a cherished electronic treasure until of course it got wiped away by Katrina. (That’s the thing about backing up computer info: If the backup is in the same place, you can lose both).
(November 2012)
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Items: Thomas Anderson
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FLASHBACK: The Under-Appreciated Rock Artist of the Month for November 2012 – THOMAS ANDERSON
Thomas Anderson is one of those guys where I only have one album and wish I had more; I guess I am going to have to break down and order one. Moon Going Down is the only one of his albums that I have ever seen on the Bomp! Mailorder website, where I do most of my mailordering.
Unfortunately, I cannot find anything by this particular Thomas Anderson on YouTube. I guess it is true what The Village Voice has said of him: “Thomas Anderson is clearly the greatest unknown songwriter on the planet.”
Maybe some lyrics instead? (from Anderson’s website, www.angryyounggradstudent.com/). This will let you know how thoughtful his songs are.
“Song for Up with People”
Up With People came to town one night
Singin’ a song about the late Ed White,
Against a backdrop of him walking in space,
Floating in time with impossible grace.
Dazed by the stardust and dazzled by the moon,
They come with endorsements from John Wayne and Pat Boone--
It’s a road to tomorrow we can all agree upon,
Take a left down Carnaby Street straight into Saigon.
And Peter and Michael and Micky and Davy,
And a sign says Pray For Rosemary’s Baby;
We’ll pass it ’round the bar
And we'll run it up the steeple,
And we’ll stare at the bus that says Up With People.
“Sing You Sinners”
Well, the ghost of Audie Murphy
Stood upon the burning tank,
As if to show how Hollywood
Turns the bullets into blanks,
And to reassure all the orphans
With the clothes burned off their backs,
That the privileged love the destitute
As long as they know how to act.
Sing you sinners, sing,
Beat your broken wings;
Look up from the ashes
Of your dreams.
“Are You Sure John Donne it This Way”
Go and catch a falling star
Playing in some oldies bar,
The mirrored ball that lights the place
Will show the lines on every face.
Get with child a mandrake root
With her parents in pursuit,
And through the miles you’ll discern
The state police at every turn.
Tell me where the past years are,
I’ll go and meet them in my car;
The winds of time took in their gust
What Jesus drew in the dust.
(November 2014)
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Here is a rundown of the past year’s (2011-2012) Under-Appreciated Rock Bands and Rock Artists:
December 2011 – 1960’s pop-rock band THE MAGICIANS (retrospective album)
January 2012 – 2000’s rock singer-songwriter RON FRANKLIN (3 albums)
February 2012 – 1980’s punk/hip hop rock band JA JA JA (1 album)
March 2012 – 1970’s disco band STRATAVARIOUS (1 album)
April 2012 – 1960’s folk-rock singer-songwriter LINDA PIERRE KING (several songs on two compilation albums)
May 2012 – 2000’s punk rock band TINA AND THE TOTAL BABES (1 album)
June 2012 – 1980’s new wave rock band WILD BLUE (2 albums, though 1 might be unreleased)
July 2012 – 1980’s punk rock band DEAD HIPPIE (1 album)
August 2012 – 1960’s garage rock band PHIL AND THE FRANTICS (retrospective albums)
September 2012 – 1980’s new wave rock band CODE BLUE (2 albums)
October 2012 – 1980’s progressive rock band TRILLION (2 albums)
November 2012 – 1990’s-2000’s rock singer-songwriter THOMAS ANDERSON (5 albums)
(Year 3 Review)
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