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Practice Makes Perfect: It’s Hard to Replace Keith Moon in The Who

Jun 142011

One of my long-unfulfilled rock performance dreams is to have a gig in which my band sets up and “performs” in rehearsal mode: that is, facing each other, playing for each other, having the right to stop songs in midstream, adjust part of an arrangement, and criticize each other. We would completely block out the crowd and just do our thing, the way our thing is meant to be done.

Every once in a while I stumble across a video of an artist rehearsing for a gig or studio recording. I LOVE THIS STUFF! As a music lover, I’m as interested in experiencing what goes on behind closed doors as I am listening to or making music myself, also behind closed doors. Don’t get me wrong, the thrill of playing out or seeing a band out in the wild can be tremendous, but there are less opportunities for catching knowing glances, intimate gestures, and tossed-off asides and fills.

If this video is labeled accurately, it’s The Who rehearsing for the first time with former Small Faces/Faces drummer Kenney Jones, who replaced the deceased Keith Moon. Talk about big shoes to fill! There’s much to examine as the band works through this new dynamic on a Classic ’70s Who–style rocker. For me, the big test is how Kenney handles the extended drum fill, beginning at the 3:15 mark, into Townshend’s noodling, which brings the song to a close. It’s not just what Kenney plays. It’s not just what Kenney doesn’t play. In replacing Moonie it’s also how Kenney doesn’t play while Pete does his thing.

What does Kenney’s performance and his new bandmates’ reaction to it foreshadow? There’s a lot more more going on here than learning the chord changes and honing dynamics!

We’re not talking about a game…The Who continue to practice…after the jump!

The Coasters’ Lead Singer Carl Gardner Dead at 83

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 132011

Carl Gardner, original lead singer of The Coasters, has died at 83. They just came up the other day. Well, it’s hard to argue with 83 years, having retained ownership of the band’s name through multiple lineup changes, all those excellent songs, all the excellent covers of those songs…

Too bad that, for a band that was so animated on record, that there seems to be few live performances captured on film. How ’bout you close your eyes and let “Shopping for Clothes” paint its own pictures.

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/06-Shopping-for-Clothes.mp3|titles=The Coasters, “Shopping for Clothes”]

For all the great covers of Coasters’ songs, here’s one we can bury in a potters’ field…after the jump!

Reconsider Me: The Who’s “Relay”

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 132011

I can do without the lousy chorus in The Who‘s 1972 oddball single “Relay,” as lip-synched here on Old Grey Whistle Test, and I can do without Keith Moon’s mugging for the camera in this particular performance, but after years of completely dismissing this song I watched this clip and wondered if I needed to reconsider.

The Entwistle-Townshend funky bass-guitar action is excellent! Considering that “Eminence Front” is my least-favorite Who song ever, and one of my least-favorite songs in the history of rock what I’m about to say might damn the song with faint praise, but the funky bass-guitar action in “Relay” is all that “Eminence Front” could have hoped to be.

Then there are the intangibles, including

Daltrey’s perfect sideburn:curly locks ratio, which may eclipse the best ratios achieved by the likes of Joe Cocker and Rob Tyner
The Medieval bass Entwistle plays (the headstock could kill a one-eyed giant!)
The dog-ugly Who patch on The Ox’s dog-ugly denim jacket
Daltrey’s really into it, for god knows what reason

I’m on the fence about Pete’s peasant shirt, but let me know what you think about this possibly overlooked piece of rock costume jewelry.

Rock and Roll Bucket List…Down to Five and Closing In!

Posted by jungleland2

Jun 122011

I have been going to see concerts since I was 13 (well 11if you count being at a Chicago concert, though we were on the other side of the park and could hear but did not see them). Since then I always gave my dad a hard time about not seeing the great ’60s and ’70s bands in their prime. His excuses were (1) The Draft and (2) the expense of concert tickets in NYC when you have 2 infants (so basically MY fault). He missed The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Allman Bros/Dead at the racetrack 5 miles from our house, Bruce, The Who, Steely Dan, Dylan‘s Rolling Thunder, etc. Shame on you old man, but thanks for taking care of your kids too!

So at 14 or so my brother and I decided that we would see EVERY band that came to town. And we stuck to it for many years. I have been able to check off just about every major band that has toured in my lifetime that I had any desire to see (oh, and Britney Spears, who I saw anyway).

My bucket list is down to 5 artists, and I just heard that 2 of them will be in my area this year:

Brian Wilson (Gershwin show I think)
Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield added 30 shows to their tour this fall)

Still left….

Ozzy
Prince
David Bowie

They all tour and have been to Atlanta, Just missed them for one reason or another. Did I miss ALL of them in their prime? Certainly, but I feel like I have completed 95% of the rock and roll crossword puzzle and need these last 5 crossed off.

I never saw Oasis, and of course they are broken up and I’ve had people say I really missed out on Radiohead. As far as big acts (not counting Rap, R&B acts, some of the Metal bands that I did not like until much later). It would be hard to stump me.

PS – I had a ticket for Michael Jackson with The Jacksons (victory Tour) but got a soccer-related concussion and missed the show. My family told me that I was there and kept this lie for many months before they finally told me that I did actually miss the show. I had a T-shirt and everything.

Will this get me kicked out of the Hall?

Posted by machinery

Jun 112011

Following up on the recent Phil Spector thread… I will posit this:

Instant Karma” is TOTALLY overrated.

The reasons: the drum sound is horrible and sloppy, like they couldn’t get drums but decided to bang on big cardboard boxes. Lennon’s Elvis-like singing, which is a big smirk. The lame piano playing, as if Billy Preston forgot the soul that made him Billy Preston. Harrison on guitar? Is the guitar plugged in? And the overall production and playing is sloppy — it sounds like a demo, and not a demo tinged with wonder (The Modern Lovers come to mind) but a demo they were obviously too high to do another take on. You can actually hear them lagging behind and trying to catch up. And did I mention the drumming, which has some of the worst — THE WORST — fills in the known musical world.

I know the whole “written for breakfast, put out for dinner” mystique — but it’s bad. And don’t get me started on the song itself: bumper sticker lyrics with no melody. The song goes nowhere except to get to the big chorus — oh wow, the manager is singing along too. And the hand claps — the lame hand claps.

If anyone but Lennon had put this out, it would never have seen the light of day. It’s trite ’70s coked-up crap.

Thank you and goodnight.

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Welcome to L.A.

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 112011

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

This week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In has been pre-recorded to allow Mr. Moderator to fly out to Los Angeles to visit sammymaudlin for a healing weekend of unadulterated Mandom! To prepare for his trip—his first ever trip to L.A. proper—your host meditates on the meaning of the trip to the accompaniment of the soundtrack album from Alan Rudolph’s 1976 film Welcome to L.A.

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-32.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 32]

[Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]

Bullshit On: Phil Spector

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 102011

Because of the series in which this post is being framed I run the risk of being perceived as inflammatory for no good reason—or naive or even outright idiotc. I like my share of Phil Spector‘s works; own his box set, Back to Mono; and know more than enough about his influence on The Beach Boys and beyond, including the reach of his studio cats, The Wrecking Crew. That said, I am tempted to call bullshit on Spector and his Wall of Sound, or maybe more accurately the degree to which it’s praised.

I unabashedly like probably a baker’s dozen Phil Spector productions. The Ronettes were the best of the bunch who worked under him. Ronnie Spector has personality out the whazoo. The Crystals had some winners. He cowrote “Spanish Harlem,” which is, as Lenny Bruce put it, “so pretty, man!” His Christmas album is charming, although a couple of years ago I had my fill of it and have done my best to leave the house whenever my wife wants to play it by the yuletide. Like a lot of Spector’s work, it grows cloying over repeated listens.

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