Artist Toby Wetland pulls no punches with his depiction of The Boss’ second fall. “Even with help, The Boss stumbled and fell to the ground once more,” explains the artist. “This time Julianne was the tipping point, but not – I stress – the sole cause of his fall.”
Bruce has seen death before, but now He can feel the profound weakness of disability and disease and aging itself, there on his knees, clutching onto the mic stand, under the weight of his Telecaster.Continue reading »
Aside from obvious outdated or never-cool production trends, such as the 1980s-era “big drum sound” and today’s Auto-Tuned vocals on pop records most of us wouldn’t be caught dead listening to without a tweener daughter or son in the car with us, too much of what instrument in a mix severely jeopardizes your enjoyment of a recording? Please feel free to be specific and overly picky. My intent is to learn what bugs you when listening to forms of music that you typically like. Please see if you can avoid blanket dismissals regarding particular instruments, such as “Even a single note of flute!” I’m curious to hear about your sense of taste and balance regarding the mix of instruments you are typically comfortable hearing in the music you like.
Also, it goes without saying that the answer It depends will be greeted by some variation of this:Continue reading »
In our sixth Station of The Boss, artist Hans Wheeler asked us to look at The Boss in a new light. “Perspiration was increasingly becoming an issue for The Boss and His E Street Band in the early ’80s.” explains Wheeler. By 1983, concerts typically ran for 4 hours or more, testing the band’s improved cardiovascular fitness. Wheeler says the band was up to the challenge, and decided to emphasize their newly crafted “guns.”
“The scrawny, hairy, sweaty, bearded, wool cap-wearing Boss was a thing of the past,” said Wheeler, as we sipped soy vanilla lattes on the roof deck of his Dayton, Ohio condominium. “He liked the way the sweat ran down His sculpted physique, and He wanted to make sure this Look worked within His show.” The problem, Wheeler explained, was how to keep all that sweat from gumming up the works of the band’s equipment.
“In the old days,” Wheeler continued, “the hats, beards, vests, and jackets sopped up enough sweat to keep the gear dry enough to play through the night.” Now The Boss and His band were often down to one layer of clothing, with their sleeves rolled up high and tight over that finely honed artillery. Eventually something had to give, and the band introduced a new article of clothing into its ranks:
The Godfather 2 of follow-up greatest hits collections
It’s hard enough for an artist to achieve the distinction of releasing a single greatest hits album. Few merit a Vol. 2 hits collection: Bob Dylan, The Eagles, ABBA, Eric Burdon & The Animals…
I’d argue that the second greatest hits album of Eric Burdon & The Animals, the one with all the hippified stuff like “Sky Pilot,” is not only the greatest of Vol. 2 greatest hits collections but the Godfather 2 of the genre, that is, the rare sequel that tops the original.
How about you? What’s the greatest of Vol. 2 greatest hits collections?
The recent New York Times story that Townsman Oats passed along regarding the pre-acting career of The Office‘s Creed Bratton as a member of The Grass Roots got me thinking of this possibly reasonably contained and challenging Last Man Standing competition. To do this right, I think we should keep a at least two ground rules and supporting points in mind:
We will define “first gained at least a modicum of professional success as a musician” as having been in a professional (ie, signed, nationally distributed, touring, etc) band that released an album or toured in support of nationally distributed albums prior to said actor becoming known for his or her acting.
Having been in any old high school garage band does not count.
Having been a nude, stoned bongo player in a beach house does not count.
First gaining notice as an actor for playing a musician in a movie does not count, although at least one such actor who fits this description does count in this Last Man Standing exercise for his prior professional work as a musician.
This has to be someone considered a real actor, someone who made their mark in acting after satisfying the first criterion. Successful professional musicians who took up acting as a side project do not count. Sorry, Jon Bon Jovi, John Doe, Lee Ving, Flea, Dwight Yoakam, Frank Sinatra, et al. You already made your name as a musician long before taking roles in movies. Creed Bratton, on the other hand, qualifies, because no one – not even Townspeople who can name 3 or more members of The Zombies – knew the name of any member of The Grass Roots.
Some of these actors have been noted in a recent thread that you may or may not recall, but not all possible entrants in this sure-to-be tightly contested battle! As always, please enter no more than one entry per comment. Go!
In today’s poll we ask, These existence of which of the following artists was most justified by the release of Greatest Hits collections?
The Grass Roots
The Turtles
Tom Petty
Pre-Disco-era Bee Gees
Steve Miller Band
ELO
Other
Here’s where you can make your case whatever you answered. It’s possible that each of these artists has worthwhile album tracks, but unlikely that we’ll come to agreement on all of them having worthwhile deep cuts. What band’s legacy most depends on its Greatest Hits collections?
