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Wow, this turned out to be an uncommonly excellent week for nocturnal emissions of cool tunes on the tube. Usually, there are one or two clinkers we’ll throw into the mix here just for a couple of cheap laughs (And really, what’s the point of living if you can’t have fun at the expense of others?). But this week it’s just solid sounds from front to back, from sharp-shooting buzz bands to old heroes returning to the fray.
Cyndi Lauper/Allen Toussaint – Late Show with David Letterman (June 14, 2010)
Cyndi Lauper may have come a long way stylistically since the New Wave/synth-pop bounce of her ’80s hits like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “She Bop,” but even in her current incarnation as a blowsy blues belter, she’s still got the same amount of sass, spunk, and soul she had decades ago. Of course, as she’s taking a New Orleans-style trip through the ’40s Louis Jordan tune “Early in the Mornin’,” it doesn’t hurt that she’s got Crescent City piano king Allen Toussaint in her corner.
Grade: A

Deer Tick – Late Show with David Letterman (June 17, 2010)
Y’know, for a band that we’re already sick of hearing about, these guys don’t sound half bad on this tight little tune from their latest album, The Black Dirt Sessions. The only thing we’re wondering is, when did they do the big personnel swap that resulted in them getting circa-1965 Bob Dylan of guitar and Steve Earle on drums? Seriously, though, even cranky ol’ Dave seems to like them, how bad could they be?
Grade: B+

Ozzy Osbourne – Jimmy Kimmel Live! (June 15, 2010)
Look, we could very easily have posted the song Ozzy performed on the show, “Let Me Hear You Scream,” from his new album. If that’s what you really want to see, you can find it here. No big whoop — even if you’ve never heard it, you can probably imagine what it sounds like. But trust us on this one — what you really want to see is the interview he sat down for with Jimmy Kimmel, for the simple reason that it also happened to be a summit meeting between two towering figures in contemporary pop culture, Ozzy and Don Rickles. We never knew this was the moment we’d been waiting for all our lives until we saw it.
Grade: A+

Justin Currie – Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (June 17, 2010)
“Justin who?” we hear you cry. Well, this is your chance to find out. As Craig Ferguson dutifully explains — also noting that he’s known fellow Scotsman Currie for 30 years now — Justin Currie was the frontman for power-pop kings Del Amitri (”Roll With Me,” “The Last One to Know,” etc.). He’s got an excellent new solo album out, and here you’ll find him doing his thing in a stripped-down setting with only a keyboardist for company, so his sterling songcraft is front and center, right where it belongs.
Grade: A

Devo – Late Show with David Letterman (June 15, 2010)
Sure, they played on Colbert this week, and the enthusiastic host even came out dressed in full Devo uniform for the occasion, but we’ve already covered that. So instead, let’s focus here on the trek those busy spuds made to the Letterman show. They kicked out “Fresh” from their brand new album with just as much force there, plus we got to see them wearing their new Devo masks, while Mark Mothersbaugh stomped on the “energy dome” hats surrounding him on the floor.
Grade: A

Fuente: LimeWire Music Blog