Mr. Moderator

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

Hard Rockin’ Keepers of Harmony

Oct 202009

I don’t follow much modern music, so perhaps this theory is completely whack, but is the tradition of harmony singing in rock best maintained by hard rock bands? With the exception of overtly harmony singing-based bands like Fleet Foxes I don’t hear a great commitment to harmonies in indie rock. Much of hip-hop has abandoned melody let alone harmony singing. The “boy band” phenomenon is dead, right? Modern-day power pop doesn’t really count because no more than 800 people buy that stuff.

If my 3 minutes of reflection and analysis are correct, since Queen and then Van Halen cemented a place for harmony singing in hard rock there’s been no turning back. Next to the Spandex and hair spray, that entire ’80s Hair Metal era was marked by tight harmony singing more than the killer guitar riffs on which metal was originally built. Hard rockers have become the keepers of harmony singing in rock.
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Nothing More to Give

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 192009

Decades after Beatles fanatics spent their hard-earned cash buying bootleg albums in search of the Great Lost Beatles Track, the band finally allowed for the release of that three-volume Anthology series. The series confirmed that, with the exception of a few well-known alternate takes, The Beatles had nothing more to give. There was not a treasure-trove of cool, unreleased original tracks.

Fans of The Kinks and The Who have been treated to some cool rarities and demos over the years. Some believe Bruce Springsteen‘s unreleased tracks are as good as his released ones.

The Rolling Stones never faced this question. Each new album since Black and Blue contains tracks that were revived from some aborted recording session in Jamaica or the Bahamas, circa 1974. A hundred years from now they will still be able to release a new album of material culled from one of those late-night jam sessions. And don’t think they won’t.

With each new reissue of the back catalogs of Elvis Costello and David Bowie, new previously unreleased tracks emerge, most of which are of better-than-current-day-release quality of either artist. The other night, however, I was thinking about one major band with excellent studio chops that seems to have nothing more to give: Continue reading »

Stations of The Boss, 2: Bruce Is Given His Axe

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 192009

For our second piece in the Stations of the Boss series, artist Toby Wetland, has depicted the moment when Bruce was given his guitar to bear.

“Obviously,” says Wetland, this is not a historically accurate representation, as not only Max Weinberg’s son but Max himself would not have been on drums when Bruce received his first guitar. I chose this shot because it looked like his Tele is raining down from the heavens.”
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Most Incongruous Piece of Onstage Gear

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 172009

Mister, I’m a bigger man than you may have suspected.

These days, with digital keyboards all the practical rage, I’m sure there are countless examples of bands playing music identified with a certain era with the keyboardist playing some newfangled synth. So let’s not count those instances of incongruous pieces of onstage gear. I mean, it’s hard enough to find a solid Southern Rock band these days let alone one willing to haul a Hammond B3 from club to club. I’ll even forgive the example used to kick off this thread.

What I’m hoping to find are photos or tales of bands featuring a piece of completely incongruous gear, such as a rockabilly band with the lead guitarist playing a B.C. Rich Bitch or a garage band with a guy playing a headless bass. Feel free to take it one step further, as I nearly did with the Spanish rockabilly band pictured above, and point out incongruous accoutrements, like the swept back mullet on the guy playing the black Tele. For now, though, I’ll refrain from pointing that out. This is solely mentioned as an example of what may be identified.

You may have been one of the band members with an incongruous piece of gear at one point. We were all young and short on stage savvy at one time, right? Feel free to have a laugh at yourself if it helps moves the discussion along.

2009 NLCS Rate-a-Record: Dodgers vs Phillies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 162009

Or The Pitcher Has Two Songs!

Because this year’s National League Championship Series is a repeat of the 2008 contenders, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, and because the core of each team returns relatively intact, we won’t rehash every detail of the walk-up music for each team’s returning participants. Key match-ups will be revisited, when necessary, but for background reading I suggest you click here, here, here, here, and here.

Not all returning Dodgers and Phillies have stuck with their 2008 walk-up tunes, but let’s start with the turnover on each roster. Most significant for the Dodgers may be what tunes they’ve deleted from their playlist, both for the better and the worse. Dodgers fans may be a little queasy with the thought of 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw starting Game 1 in LA, but at least he packs a better theme song than last year’s Game 1 starter, now enjoying tee time with his Braves teammates, Derek Lowe and the lamest intro song in the history of the game, “Everytime We Touch,” by Cascada. Instead, Kershaw brings the sing-songy Red Hot Chili Peppers single “Snow.”

Upgrade over Lowe’s candy-ass dance tune? Sure, but that’s not saying much.

Meanwhile Phillies’ Game 1 starter, “Hollywood” Hamels will crank up his trusty mp3 of AC/DC‘s “Thunderstruck.”

Advantage: Phillies.

Raga Rock

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 162009

Although use of the sitar and sitar-like riffs in rock are most closely associated with George Harrison, doesn’t Ray Davies claim that The Kinks‘ use of sitar-like guitar tunings in “See My Friends” is rock’s first foray into Raga Rock? Who am I to argue? I’m sure there’s a rock nerd around here who can cite an obscure rock single from 1961 that first used a sitar. What I want to talk about is Raga Rock itself.

I thought about doing this as a Last Man Standing piece, but that could go on forever and serve no real purpose. Rather, I’d like your thoughts on some of the following issues, among others you’re sure to bring to the table:

Do you typically look forward, whether sincerely or in hopes of getting a laugh, to rock artists’ attempt at this style?
What’s your favorite Raga Rock song?
What band/artist – that did – would you have least expected to record a Raga Rock number?
What band/artist, to the best of your knowledge, would you have most expected to record in this vein – yet has not?
What variations on the Raga Rock approach have you found most impressive?