What more can we do? Tell us, won’t you?
May 062011
May 062011
This thread will probably make the likes of down-to-earth garage-punkers like Townsman Bobby Bittman throw up. I apologize if you’re reading this, Bobby, shortly after eating. This topic is just a part of how I roll.
I love Stiff Little Fingers‘ “Suspect Device” even more than the band’s supercharged “Alternative Ulster.” The blistering, jumpy chord riffs and stop-start chorus are a needed sock in the gut. Jake Burns displays less vocal dynamics than one of those modern-day, overcompressed records our old friend homefrontradio used to complain about—in a good way! (And whatever became of the Hall’s Original Thunder Down Under, not to mention our more recent Aussie contributor, the delightful mikeydread? Be well and stay in touch, my friends.) It’s one of the most PUNK songs ever, and I know a lot of you think that should take a band off the hook for the pipe-tamping point of view I’m about to raise, but really, we’re talkin’ about music. Just because something’s “punk” doesn’t mean it can’t be improved another notch, does it? I would like to investigate ways in which “Suspect Device” could be improved, focusing on the drums, the one aspect of the song that I’ve always found lacking in excellence.
At last night’s Phillies game, seeing the supreme Roy Halladay live for the first time in 2011, I was reminded not only of his mojo-inducing pregame warm-up throw music, Led Zeppelin‘s “Moby Dick,” but his walk-up music, the opening line of Zep’s “Good Times, Bad Times.” Now that song is a balled-up fist of the highest magnitude, and think about how amazing drummer John Bonham‘s contributions are to the song’s rock ‘n roll phalanx.
Let’s say you were in on the original arranging sessions of “Suspect Device.” The song is at the point of what was recorded and released. Are you satisfied with the choppy hi-hats and uninspired fills? Do you share my view that the hi-hats can’t keep up with the precision of the guitars? Doesn’t it sound like drummer Brian Faloon is simply having trouble keeping up with the song and doing anything of substance? Assuming the guy had it in him to do a little better, assuming he could have relied on a more economical approach to finding a groove within those machine-gun guitar rhythms, can we suggest some ideas for how this song could have been even better?
If you think I’m full of it and want to defend the drumming on this song, be my guest. I’m not a drummer, which is part of the reason I ask whether there is a drummer in the house.
(The live version posted at the top of this thread is fun, but in fairness the studio version follows so you can hear the song in its finished form.)
May 062011
Courtesy of ladymisskirroyale.
Are you happy now? Is this an example of the continuing triumph of punk rock or a sign of the coming apocalypse?
Kurt, your thoughts?
May 052011
Per Townsman misterioso‘s request in our recent appreciation of Bob Seger‘s “Night Moves” we are conducting a Mach Schaudown Battle Royale Texas Death Match between Jay Ferguson‘s “Thunder Island” and the Seeg’s “Hollywood Nights.” The videos follow. Please analyze and compare performances, hair (including facial hair) and overall Look, gear, audience participation, etc. I will ask misterioso to moderate discussion. Then you be the judge of which artist brings it best!
Jay Ferguson, “Thunder Island”
Bob Seger, “Hollywood Nights”
NEXT: Place your vote! Continue reading »
May 042011
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I’m finally ready. Ready to take a bold stand in shallow waters. Ready to ask for a massive critical upgrade for Bob Seger‘s “Night Moves.” This song — this grossly overplayed FM rock radio staple, this iconic coming-of-age saga, sung by Rock Town Hall’s gravel-throated patron saint of unintentional Rock mediocrity, Bob Seger — people, this song is Great!
I ain’t lying, and I ain’t crazy. The length of my years has taught me to open my eyes and ears to many things I sneered at as an ignorant youngster: funk music, lefty politics, agnosticism, and now this. And why not? Can you find any real, substantive flaw in this song? More to the point: can you name a song that covers the same lyrical ground better?
Let’s pause for a moment and consider just how hard it must be to write a song that involves wheat fields, Chevys, and young love. I point you in the direction of the collected works of John Cougar Mellencamp to see how not to do this. But Seger’s “Night Moves” is different.
There are so many — oh, how do I say it — moments in this song that just don’t sound like utter bullshit, when they otherwise totally should. You’ll find a few in the first half of the song: “we were just young and restless and bored”; “out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy” — Alex Chilton, eat your heart out!
Then, we grow up: “I woke last night to the sound of thunder. How far off, I sat and wondered.” Ow! Seeg, you got me again! This is followed by one of those minor miracles in performance that turn into private “wait for it” moments — the way dude sings the next line: “starting hummin’ a song from nineteen sixty two…” when the song comes full circle, eventually blossoming into one of Rock’s great everymanworkingbloke outchoruses — “workin’ and practicin’.”. Just workin’ and practicin’. Isn’t that all we ever do?
Come on, people — we make a lot of good-natured fun of Bob Seger ’round these parts. Can I at least get an “amen” on the Greatness of his “Night Moves”?
HVB
May 042011
Leaving out first-generation rock ‘n rollers whose earliest recordings may have predated the blossoming of rock ‘n roll and leaving out novelty goofs on the genre by pre- or barely-rock artists like Pat Boone and his heavy metal album, what pre-rock ‘n roll musicians tried their hand at making an outright rock ‘n roll record?
Muddy Waters‘ Electric Mud album springs to mind. It’s pretty bad, but it’s a wholesale rockified take on a well-established bluesman’s sound. I would think other blues artists who were being celebrated by 1960s rock ‘n roll kids made rock albums to some extent or another, but some old bluesman doing almost what he’d already done with the backing of The Yardbirds or Canned Heat isn’t really what I have in mind. Those records weren’t really the artist’s move into rock ‘n roll as much as they were sponsorship for a move into the rock ‘n roll bins of record stores.
Already established blues legends moving into rock ‘n roll must have been a fairly natural shift, as would some established country artists rocking up their sound, but I’m most curious to know whether the likes of a jazz musician or Big Band singer—someone from a genre that’s not considered a direct antecedent of rock ‘n roll—tried his or her hand at rock ‘n roll. Frank Sinatra dueting on a pre-rock or pre-rock style song with Bono doesn’t count.
Or if one doesn’t come to mind, let your imagination run wild. Which pre-rock musician would you have most liked to hear cut a real rock ‘n roll record, in a style of your choosing? Put the musician in a time machine, if you’d like, and speculate on the style of rock ‘n roll that may have best fit Nat King Cole, for instance.
I look forward to your comments.
May 042011
Man, this was tough for me to sit through, simply because it was so boring. I confess: at the 1:18 mark I had to skip forward a bit. How long can you last?
Roky Erickson couldn’t seem less committed to his own bullshit. Around the 2:20 mark he’s asked if he’s ever met Bob Dylan. You don’t need to be a poker player to get a read on the veracity of his answer, do you?
