Towsman dbuskirk, have you ever seen the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue? I caught about an hour of it on tv last night, and it seemed right up your two-lane blacktop.
The opening credits alone are worth the price of admission, playing like a fever dream of a Lou Reed album cover shoot.
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For those of you relatively new to the Halls of Rock, Townsman 2000 Man (aka 2K) is our self-proclaimed Stones Expert. My discovery of this Leon Russell performance got me thinking about the late, great director, Robert Altman, who was never quite able to capture on film a rock ‘n roll performance this chock full ‘o characters. Could this be the template for many of the performance scenes in Nashville and that trainwreck of a late-70s film of his centering around a Broadway version of The Doobie Brothers?
Then I wondered, What would 2K say about this clip?
Then I summoned him…
Recently Townsman E. Pluribus Gergely has begun his summertime Rock Town Hall duties, which include monitoring the films of Al Pacino; giving grief to the likes of Hrrundivbakshi, BigSteve, and yours truly; and pooh-poohing the collected works of Elvis Costello, Lou Reed (Mistrial excepted), and other high school favorites post-1983. Some of what my man Gergs will say in the coming weeks will hurt. In some cases it will be the pain of a cowardly stab in the back; in other cases, the pain you feel will be the result of his occasionally piercing insight. Wherever the pain registers for you, I encourage you to take it like a Townsperson and give it back to the man as you see fit.
To help EPG re-establish his footing in the Halls of Rock, I feel compelled to SUMMON him to comment on the following tracks from Elvis Costello’s new album, the one with some overblown title and produced by T-Bone Burnett. I have not yet heard these songs myself. Maybe these will be initial spins for you as well. Don’t put all the burden on E. Pluribus to comment, and please be candid when you share.
Elvis Costello, “Down Among the Wine and Spirits”
Elvis Costello, “Complicated Shadows”
Elvis Costello, “I Dreamed of My Old Lover”
I look forward to your comments!
Oats wrote, in response to a write-in answer on our current poll:
I’d like to hear more from the Eno-haters who voted in the current poll.
Me too! I don’t think anyone doubts the depth and sincerity of your feelings, but I believe Oats and I are not alone in wanting to hear more about how you arrived at this conclusion, the criteria you feel Eno does not meet for “greatness,” and so forth. Please share. Some may bark, but we will ensure against biting. In fact, we’ve decided to grant Rock Cool Points Immunity to any Townsperson stepping forward in support of his or her poll answer.
I think I can safely say, We look forward to your responses.
In last week’s Carl Newman thread, our passionate and highly knowledgeable friend Homefrontradio, the Thunder Down Under, wrote about his disgust with modern-day dependence on compression. Among other things he wrote:
Basically, as you play the song loud, there’s a random noise field being generated on top of the song that’s a is physically-disturbing to how our ears are designed to hear music.
Maybe that’s not his most representative comment from this thread, but it struck a chord with me. It reminded me of our ongoing examination of Lou Reed…as his music was meant to sound! Seriously, I highly recommend going back and checking out what Townsman Homefrontradio has to say on these issues of compression. It’s great stuff that musicians and fans of new and old music can get into. And learn from. And trust me, Homefrontradio’s displayed a gear geek side, but he’s got a sense of humor about his quest and he’s what we call Good People!
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Like most of the rest of you RTH old-timers, I’ve been waiting *years* for our Moderator to explain his feelings about Stevie Wonder. At first, I thought his hostility only focused on Stevie’s sprawling “Songs In the Key Of Life” — we all know of the Moderator’s deep misgivings about real musical *ambition*. But after reading this brief aside about the song “Tuesday Heartbreak,” I’ve finally realized that there may be much that needs explaining — and I feel doing so may result in some much-needed Healing for our Moderator’s soul:
Hrrundi, is “Tuesday Heartbreak” one of those sappy love-songs-to-Jesus-masquerading-as-praise-for-coke-off-a-backing-singer’s-nipples numbers that Stevie’s been known to crank out?
Please, Mod, if only for your own good: share.
HVB
In the Comments section from our last post of 2007, Townsman Chickenfrank summoned Townsman Hrrundivbakshi to comment on the following performance by ZZ Top at the halftime show of the college bowl game formerly known at the Orange Bowl. The time is yours, HVB.
You may also find the following clip fascinating and instructive… Continue reading »
