Mr. Moderator

Mr. Moderator

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

They Don’t Make ’em Like That Anymore: King Crimson, 1973

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Jan 032008
 

Not everything old and outdated is worth revisiting – and even some things old and outdated are worth admiring, if not bringing back. There’s much I admire in the following King Crimson performance from 1973.

Let’s start with John Wetton’s Look. His hair and sideburns are perfect! Why can’t someone in a critically acclaimed band I’m supposed to love, like Wilco or White Stripes have hair like that? I also dig his floppy jacket and the excusable fashion faux pas of wearing his own band’s t-shirt onstage. Someone had to be the frontman for this nearly amelodic, seemingly asexual collective. Wetton lays it on the line.

Bill Bruford‘s sporting some good ‘burns himself, although they’re not quite matched. The right sideburn seems to be coming out further and it not as thick. That’s OK. As you’ll see toward the end of this clip, it’s not a tank top he’s wearing but some kind of stylized overall/jumpsuit. I guess lots of drummers don’t bother dressing up because they don’t get to jump off their throne and bang a rack of gongs.
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A Bearded Conan, Robert Gordon, and Chris Spedding

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Jan 032008
 

Wow, I just caught the final minutes of Conan O’Brien’s first show back since the writer’s strike, and I thought the shock of seeing a Bearded Conan was all my heart could handle. Then he introduced Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding, who were supporting some Elvis Presley tribute album they have out.

Here are Gordon and Spedding in their late-70s would-be glory, when the likes of a young Townsman db surely was scouring the back corners of cool record stores in hopes of uncovering such a proto-retro gem. I love how Spedding played a Flying V. A few years after this point, no self-respecting retro-geek would play an anachronistic ax.

Beside some excellent gray hair, Spedding looked almost exactly the same on Conan. Gordon looked as different as some of us now look. He still sounded good. Here’s an old Spedding clip from Top of the Pops. Where are all those cheap copies of Spedding and Gordon records I passed up way back when?

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Rock Town Hall’s First Costello-centric Post of 2008

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Jan 022008
 

While listening to (what else) Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ Get Happy!! on New Year’s Eve I pinpointed exactly what made the greatest of that great string of the band’s albums: Nick Lowe’s production. And it’s not so much what he did technically – the drum sound, the choice use of effects, the mic choice – but how he decided to capture the band for each album: that is, he captured the sound of the band. All the Lowe productions through Trust feature the full sound of both EC and The Attractions. The style of music is in no way similar, but scope is similar to what was captured on albums by The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and so many more great albums that I’d sound even more cliched and pathetic by listing them.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions w/Martin Belmont (w/o Steve Nieve), "Little Sister" (Live at the Hope & Anchor)

Imperial Bedroom has the same type of open scope, allowing for the listener to chooose to focus on any one of the instruments. Of course that album was produced by a Beatles’ engineer. Compare the Lowe-produced Costello albums and Imperial Bedroom with all the rest: Costello’s voice way out front and the rest of the musicians kind of canned in the background. On albums like Punch the Clock and Spike I might as well have been listening to Elvis Costello and The Association. The best of the non-Lowe-produced bunch, King of America, also sticks the musicians under glass. Quick: Name your favorite lick in a song from King of America.
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Dugout Chatter

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Dec 312007
 

I hope you play along with 2007’s final edition of Dugout Chatter. If you don’t know how it works, just share your gut answers to the following questions and you can’t go wrong!

What band or album that you’d previously not cared for or got finally hit you in 2007? In other words, what was your most significant “rock conversion moment” of the year?

I’m trying to remember the name of a 1-hit wonder circa 1980 who was formerly a roadie for The Who. I seem to recall an American flag guitar and a gray pompadour. I’m almost certain it’s not Jon Butcher Axis I have in mind. Who is this artist whose name I cannot remember?

Solo or coda?

Here’s one for the musicians (of any ilk – don’t be unnecessarily humble): When you’re being introduced to a new song by a songwriter, what parts of the song and/or which fellow musician do you typically key in on?

How long of an instrumental intro to a song should be allowed before the song has to “declare” itself an instrumental? Think of Television’s “Little Johnny Jewel”, for instance: by the time the vocals enter, do you think to yourself, “Why bother?”

What’s your favorite song by a fictional band?

What musician’s onstage beverage most recently made you sit up and take notice?
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Let’s Ring Out 2007 With the Lamest Song in the History of Rock

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Dec 312007
 

There’s a lot of music I don’t like – and damming faults that I find with a range of artists, but while deciding to look into whatever became of Billy Squier, I stumbled across what might be the worst song in the history of rock. Perhaps some of you know it, “Lady With a Tenor Sax”, a collaboration between Squier and Freddie Mercury.


What the hell motivated this? How much coke must these guys have done before lowering their inhibitions enough to crank out something this lame? If the song itself isn’t bad enough, try reading through the lyrics. Continue reading »

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2008 Rock Prognostications

 Posted by
Dec 302007
 


One year comes to a close, another is about to begin. Let’s hear your 2008 Rock Prognostications. Here are a few of my own:

  • Keith Richards will live through the year.
  • An Amy Winehouse sex tape will make the rounds.
  • David Lee Roth will be kicked out of Van Halen.
  • Lily Allen will become a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
  • Rock Town Hall will revive discussion of Love’s Forever Changes, causing Mr. Mod to launch into his tired “music for bullfighting” charge.
  • David Bowie and Elvis Costello will reissue their back catalogs. Subsequently, Townsman Berlyant will detail his 28 “Top 5” Costello albums while many other Townsmen struggle to separate their homophobia from their astute rock criticism regarding Bowie.
  • Townspeople alone will be mystified by the induction of Dave Clark 5 into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame; the rest of the world will carry on.
  • Klaus Voorman will get permission from his “better half” to answer our piercing set of questions we sent him about 6 weeks ago.

I look forward to your own prognostications.

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