Mr. Moderator

When not blogging Mr. Moderator enjoys baseball, cooking, and falconry.

Sound Off!

May 042012

This one goes to zero!

Rock Town Hall has a long and honored tradition of rock video analysis, with Townspeople often incorporating the distinctive technique of commenting on videos with the sound off. In honor of alexmagic‘s legendary analysis of a video of Tom Jones performing with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, we are instituting a new feature, Sound Off!

The way a Sound Off! thread works is simple:

A video is posted for us to view with the sound off.
We comment on what we’re seeing with the sound off.
We most likely share in the sense of wonder that there’s much to learn about music with the sound off.

You will be entrusted to view the following video with the sound off. If we could disable the video’s sound we would, but something tells me the copyright holder of the video might object to that. Trust us, for the purposes of this thread the sound will get in the way. Beside, you may be viewing this at work, in which case coworkers will only be distbured by your giggles; you won’t have to worry about the artist’s music leaking into their cube.

After the jump, why don’t you turn the sound off and watch the following video!

Blessed

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 032012

I could do without the drummer’s mullet and Dennis Miller, but how blessed was Matthew Sweet during his Girlfriend-era breakthrough (yeah, I know, it wasn’t “overnight”) to have been surrounded by the likes of Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd, and, in this clip, is that Peter Holsapple I see?

What other relatively “unknown” musicians come to mind who seemed to burst onto the scene with the benefit of cool surrounding musicians, musicians who were more than ace session men and women?

This thread is not to suggest that Sweet and other musicians who will be named didn’t actually do the work to arrive at their blessed state.

It’s the Singer AND the Song, Right?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 032012

I caught the following Daryl Hall performance on Conan last night. It was a re-run.

I don’t have what’s called a “good ear.” In band practices, for instance, I’m often the last to know that someone’s singing off-key. It’s probably because of my limited vocal abilities that I treat vocal pitch like horseshoes and hand grenades.

As soon as this performance got underway, however, I suspected that Hall was singing way off key. He is, right? Please confirm that this is not just a matter of the song sucking.

Bring back Oates—and his ‘stache. And the blond beard’s still not working, Daryl.

Worst All-Star Hair Jam Ever?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 022012

Can you find a more comprehensively bad collection of All-Star Hairdos? I bet you can. There may be few hideous cuts in this relatively tasteful late-’80s jam, granted, but the regrets do pile up as cultural and racial boundaries are wiped clean.

Male Artists Consciously Backed by Female Backing Bands: A Sincere Support of Sisterhood or a Fellini-esque Fantasy?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 022012

Jack White‘s new solo album, Blunderbuss, has been promoted by performances featuring an all-female backing band. For his appearance on Saturday Night Live, for instance, he performed one song backed by his women and one song backed by his dudes. The discussion I hope to explore in no way is meant to question the qualifications of either of his backing bands. What I’d like to discuss is how these promotional efforts—and based on White’s long career built on exquisite “branding” there can be no denying that his new band of “Jack’s Angels” is not part of his latest promotional campaign—play for you, especially the legion of women who often lurk here in the Halls of Rock.

Townswomen, when you see a Jack White (or a Prince—this seems like something he’s done) backed by an all-women band for the launch of a new album do you feel that more of a sincere support of sisterhood or a Fellini-esque male fantasy is at play? In other words, is there a part of you that wonders whether this a legitimate version of this?

You Probably Can’t Tell in This Photo, But I’m Doing All I Can Not to Plant a Kiss on Nick Lowe’s Cheek

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 302012

Nick Lowe with Mr. Moderator.

I’ll share some thoughts on seeing Nick Lowe and his band at the Keswick Theatre, in Glenside, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia and a stone’s throw away from where I spent 12 years in lower, middle, and upper school, sometime later, when I can catch my breath. Mad props! to Philly music and film writer extraordinaire Sam Adams for providing me this opportunity.

UPDATED: My review follows the jump… Continue reading »

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Geniuses, Crackpots & Visionaries

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Apr 282012

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

This week’s special guest edition of Saturday Night Shut-In comes to you from Chez Royale! That’s right, ladymisskirroyale and Mr. Royale share with you a mix entitled Geniuses, Crackpots & Visionaries. A note from Mr. Royale, including the tracklist and notes on this evening’s selections, follows.

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Geniuses-Crackpots-Visionaries.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 77: Geniuses, Crackpots & Visionaries]

Mr. Royale sez…

Let’s see, this mix is actually part of a larger compilation I’ve put together, which includes the likes of Harry Partch, Brian Wilson, John Cage, Stockhausen, Glenn Branca, Morton Subotnick, John Zorn, Captain Beefheart, Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis….etc. In other words, musicians who have stood on the outside and came up with something unheard before, some kind of personal, uncompromising artistic vision. Perhaps these artists have been obscure or widely followed, but there’s something of an independent spirit in each. The title of the collection is, of course, tounge in cheek. Hey, maybe Lucia Pamela really did go to the moon

With the post on Wildman Fischer, Erika and I hit on the idea of a G,C & V shortlist, this time highlighting the “crackpots” section. Certain names came up that were too obvious. People with mental health issues (Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Kristin Hersh), but who make very “acceptable” music. I was adamant that this list be a WTF kind of a thing. We refined it to a criteria of “unhinged” recordings, ones that make you say “how in hell did this EVER get recorded? Somebody thought this was a good idea? Did somebody lose a bet?” And yet, in their own way, each of these is delightful!

Okay, we begin with: Continue reading »

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