Mr. Moderator

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

The Next “Bohemian Rhapsody”?

Oct 242012

I’ve been reading a Freddie Mercury biography this week, Mercury. It’s pretty good. The author can actually put together a few interesting sentences in a row, which I can’t say for too many biographers. The author and the people interviewed for the book all think Queen was great, a really important band. I still don’t like them beyond 3 or 4 songs. I tried listening to a bunch of their stuff last night, and each song reminded me of how much I thought they were stupid when I was a kid—and how stupid I thought all the kids were who were trying to convince me they were great. I will give them credit for being perhaps the most talented band that adds up to very little for me. Mercury, in particular, was an outstanding lead man. He was like Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in Wild at Heart. Remember that turd? Nic and Laura acted their asses off to keep David Lynch’s latent effort at wearing a leather jacket halfway amusing.

Anyhow, the Mercury bio dedicates an entire chapter to the promotional film that launched “Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of many Queen songs that make me want to stick a fork in my mid-teens. Someone in the book even compared the video’s impact to the Kennedy assassination footage. I’m almost tempted to call that thing up on YouTube and watch it for the first time in years.

Instead I watched this fun video made by my favorite radio personality, WFMU’s Tom Scharpling. I sense the impact it will have on society will be somewhere between the Zapruder film and an airing of When Things Were Rotten. The song, by Nude Beach, fucking rocks. Scharpling and his partner in crime, Jonny Wurster, bring many belly laughs to my life. I’m always happy to do my part to spread their world. Enjoy.

The Banjo in Rock

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 242012

The banjo’s never had much success in rock, has it? I know, if we did a Last Man Standing we could end up listing 138 rock songs featuring a banjo, but beside a Monkees’ song or two featuring a banjo, how many instances immediately spring to mind—and to the point of this discussion, when do you ever think, “You know, this song would really benefit from the inclusion of a banjo!”

Not What I Expected: Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 232012

You know those artists whose albums you’ve seen sitting in used bins as long as you’ve been a music lover, bands like Bloodwyn Pig, The Strawbs, and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel? Well, Cockney Rebel just came up in the Freddie Mercury biography I’m reading, and I thought it was time I check them out. This is the first clip I tried:

Not what I expected! I need Happiness Stan and our long, lost friend tonyola to put their heads together and explain this band. I know we’ve got some other Brits and maybe even some closet-prog fans (if, indeed, this is a genre in which this band was loosely categorized) on board. Maybe they can help me. Let’s try another song by these guys:

Sound Off

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 222012

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!

Best Performance by a Dedicated Group of Backing Vocalists

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 202012

Has any group of dedicated group of backing vocalists added more to a song than the Pips do behind Gladys Knight on “Midnight Train to Georgia”? Their performance is essential to the song. If you must throw studio backing vocalists and band members who sing background vocals as well as play instruments into the discussion to make it a challenge, go for it with the knowledge that I’ll be tsk tsk-ing you for taking the easy way out. If I weren’t playing the “bigger man” you’d be fed up with me for my silly exclusions and seemingly on-the-fly rules.

I’m not the world’s greatest fan of backing vocals, but when done so when and when arranged as such an essential part of the song I can’t help but be dazzled. Whoo-hoo!

If You Can’t Say Anything Nice About…Gnesa

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 202012

Thanks to my close, impersonal Facebook friend Joe for passing along this gem!

We here in the Halls of Rock Town are sometimes taken to task for being overly negative, snarky, hyper-critical, and all too often, just downright rude. As part of our collective efforts to bring a bit of sunshine and light to the world wide web, we occasionally make an extra effort effort to find something good to say about, you know, stuff that is clearly godawful.

It is in that spirit that we embark on yet another effort to bring some positivity to our proceedings. Please spend some quality time with the video above, then—if you can—please find something nice to say about it. You’ll feel a whole lot better, I promise you.

I look forward to your comments. Just remember, if you can’t say anything nice about this video… please don’t say anything at all.

Bands That Are Taken for Granted

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 192012

Everybody must get stoned.

Are there bands that you feel are taken for granted, from any era? Not obscuro “cool” bands that no one knows about but people like us, but bands that cranked out their share of hits that even intelligent music lovers like ourselves tend to overvalue? Here’s an imagine exchange between me and one of you that illustrates what I’m getting at.

Me: You know what pisses me off?

You: What now?

Me: When a band like The Rascals is taken for granted?

You: Huh?

Me: Yeah, The Rascals: “Groovin’,” “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long,” “I Ain’t Gonna Eat My Heart Anymore”…

You: Yeah, I know—

Me: “People Got to Be Free,” dare I say “Good Lovin'”—not the Dead’s version!

You: Yeah, yeah, I know The Rascals. They’re in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, aren’t they? How’s that taking them for granted?

Me: Let me explain…

Older Entries Newer Entries