Think the younger generation, growing up with visions of one day mastering Pro Tools, has fantasies like this?
Dec 172008
Mr. Moderator
Dec 172008
For those who won’t – who can’t – wave the white flag, this Last Man Standing has returned to The Main Stage!
I was listening to The Who’s “Magic Bus” the other day and it occurred to me that I first learned the word queue while grooving to this song. To this point, who knows how many British terms and slang I’d learned from The Beatles and The Stones, but I distinctly remember becoming aware of this queue word thanks to “Magic Bus”. I was probably 13 or 14. In coming years I’d learn many more British terms and slang through rock songs. I’m sure you did too. In this week’s Last Man Standing, I ask that you recount British terms/slang and the specific rock songs that first exposed you to these words. It’s all right if more than one of you were first exposed to the word lorry, for instance, by two different songs.
Townspeople from outside the US are welcome to share the converse, American expressions first learned through specific rock songs.
Dec 162008
In rapid-fire style, Rock Town Hall wants to know what’s NOW PLAYING (or was most recently playing) as you read this post! How is it? Is there a story to tell? Would you recommend this to anyone? There’s not a minute to waste!
Dec 152008
In 2001, Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins drummer/sidekick Jimmy Chamberlain, and members of Slint, Tortoise, Chavez, Toto, and A Perfect Circle, and launched Zwan, a Tin Machine-like “this is a real band, mannnnnnn” supergroup. (OK, maybe no one from Toto was involved.) The band released one album, Mary Star of the Sea, in 2003, before breaking up.
To my ears, in limited exposure, Zwan sounded a lot like Smashing Pumpkins. To my eyes, the bassist was a notch hotter. Until now, I had no idea the band’s full name was initially True Poets of Zwan. That fact notwithstanding, is it time we revisit Zwan for consideration of a Critical Upgrade, wouldn’t you agree?
Continue reading »
Dec 142008
Hey, I finally got to watch the first two episodes of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, the new Sundance channel talk show, in which Elvis plays James Lipton to a legendary guest musician. I know some of you have been following this nascent show.
The first episode, with Elton John, was fantastic. The two immediately got down to musician-on-musician rock nerd talk, with Elton talking about being a young rock snob in England who thought it was cooler to buy American releases of records while his American counterparts were seeking the UK releases. There was little to no typical rock mythologizing about drug abuse, sexual escapades, and a career’s worth of landmark hair architecture. This was a music talk show for the few of us who got into this for reasons other than “meeting chicks.”
Continue reading »
Dec 132008
Among rock nerds Jim Croce seems to be a rare, successful singer-songwriter from the ’70s who’s hard to hate? Some of his contemporaries, like Jackson Browne, have achieved greater critical acclaim from the post-Me Decade crowd, yet there are those unwilling to forgive the heap of Psychic Oblivion he laid on that generation. Although Croce’s hit songs include the wedding dance with Dad staple “Time in a Bottle,” you never hear people like us cut on Croce, do you?
Among Croce’s soft-rock contemporaries, only James Taylor comes close in not having made enemies. In the case of both artists I think their avoidance of trends, their sense of decency and taste, and overall “class” contributed to their acceptance over time and regardless of mixed feelings any of us might have about their popular acceptance and airplay saturation. (The respect we have for Taylor’s soft rock also probably has something to do with the guy’s graceful acceptance of his baldness.) The other thing I think they had in common is that they were clearly fine musicians. It’s hard not to respect fine musicianship, especially when it’s presented in an unadorned fashion. Croce, especially, came off as a “musician’s musician.”
Apart from the psychic drama of the short life of Nick Drake, we also got the clear impression of fine musicianship, taste, decency, and class. I’ve never been the type to plunge into trying to learn the finger-picking styles in the music of either Drake or Croce, but it’s my understanding that each man’s music included a distinct, difficult, personal style that is both challenging and satisfying for those who try to learn it.
I don’t know that it’s happened yet, but with more personal problems and fewer record sales could Jim Croce have been America’s answer to Nick Drake?
Dec 122008
In recognition of the opening of the major motion picture The Day the Earth Stood Still, a special guest, Klaatu, has entered the Halls of Rock to pose 5 questions for earthlings. These questions can only be answered after listening to the following songs.
Klaatu, “Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Life)”
Question 1: If this was supposed to be The Beatles, who was supposed to have been singing lead, an infant Carl Newman?
Question 2: If “California Jam” had appeared on any of those post-Brian Wilson breakdown albums that the brave pop fans among you can stomach, would it have been considered a “triumph of the post-Pet Sounds era?”
Question 3: Is the above song’s title worthy of the world-renowned standards of “Canadian humor?”
Question 4: For you, does the sound of the bass at the beginning of “Sub-Rosa Subway” nearly single-handedly justify the entire song’s existence?
Klaatu, “Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III”>
Question 5: If you were casting the major motion picture version of Klaatu’s 3:47 EST album on behalf of Robert Stigwood – and death was not a factor – who would you cast in the role of Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III (remember, appropriate singing ability should be considered)?
On behalf of Klaatu, thank you, earthlings.
