Main Stage

Take It Back: A Two-Thirds Crowded House Reunion Is OK by Me

Feb 232007

Here comes an admission that I’m sure will allow the surviving members of Crowded House to sleep soundly: I was wrong in declaring a few weeks back, with my God-given cynicism, that a two-thirds reunion of Crowded House was pointless. I’m not sure that I’ll give up my belief that trios cannot be considered reunited lacking one key member, but I will keep the lessons I’m learning in mind while I watch Crowded House’s farewell concert in Sydney, Australia on this new (to me) VH1 Classic channel.

The year my wife and I lived in Budapest, Hungary, we fell in love with Crowded House’s Together Alone album. Mad props to Townsman A-Dogg, who sent us a cassette of the band’s then-new release! It was a free-flowing, perfectly constructed pop album with stoner undercurrent that did everything the most fluid of XTC songs did without the Prock impulses and pitfalls. That year was the first year I felt a profoundly new level of happiness and satisfaction in my life, and that album played right into those good vibes.

Prior to receiving that cassette, we’d liked a handful of songs from the first 3 albums, but too often they sounded like Squeeze watered down by the reverbs and 128-string guitars of producer Mitchell Froom (who did that first big album – I don’t care to be corrected as to whether he did the second one or not). Along with getting into Together Alone, we had the opportunity to experience the band’s music and great humor through their frequent appearances on the European broadcast of MTV’s Most Wanted, hosted by the delightful Ray Cokes, who was my British precursor to my eventual, imaginary, late-night good friend, Conan O’Brien.

The highpoint of their Most Wanted appearances was a marathon session with Cokes in which, among other things, the band sat up in an ornate bed in silk robes and composed a song based around random lyrics faxed in by viewers. Each member was effortlessly funny. It was like watching The Monkees come to life. I wish someone had taped this thing from 1994 and put it on YouTube for me to show you.

At this point, I need to get back to where I was initially headed. What I realized tonight, in watching this perfectly constructed band at the end of their career, playing to their home crowd, was that I’m all for the reunited two thirds of Crowded House. I hope the surviving members and their families have a blast. I hope Paul Hester‘s estate rakes in a billion dollars and shares in the joy. I hope they come near me and my entire family gets to see them.

All-Star Jam

Posted by Gerry Todd

Feb 232007

There’s something in the way that you’re talking.

Quick Hits

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 232007

When is the next Smash Mouth album due to hit?

How long into the future will tribute bands be considered as respectable as classical orchestras?

Musicians, home recorders: If you haven’t signed up for a free subscription to TapeOp yet you’re either unaware of the magazine’s existence or out of your mind!

Interesting piece on the legendary “Mr. Bojangles” over at our friend Rodney Anonymous’ Thoughtless for the Day.

Does the name David Fridmann in an album’s production credits excite you or cause you some anxiety? I’m beginning to think he’s the new Mitchell Froom.

Including her work in Viva Las Vegas, Tommy, and these scintillating performance clips with Tina Turner, was Ann-Margaret rock’s greatest add-on celebrity of her time?

Who made the best “poutfta” pop of the ’80s: Culture Club, Wham!/George Michael solo, or Style Council? I’m voting for George Michael.

All-Star Jam

Posted by Gerry Todd

Feb 232007

Talk about what ever you want but for my 2 cents, these guys are The Monkees of the 70s, not KISS.

You Think You Can’t Get No Satisfaction?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 222007

Townsman Trolleyvox hipped me to the following performance of a young Billy Preston doing a version of the song your Moderator believe best satisfies the objectives of rock ‘n roll:

Billy Preston, “Satisfaction”

That’s right, if you haven’t heard me on this already, I believe that no song better satisfies the objectives of rock ‘n roll than The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction”. Every now and then I stumble across another version of this classic, and when I’m not dazzled by the outrageous treatment of the song (eg, both The Residents‘ and Devo‘s versions) or horribly offended (Cat Power‘s version), I’m usually about as unimpressed by versions such as Billy Preston’s as I am Otis Redding‘s version.

I know, I know, rock nerds – Mick and Keef wrote the song for Otis – but the black artists I’ve heard cover “Satisfaction” can’t get to the song’s cool and sly teenage rage. Otis belts it out like he’s expecting the exhaltation of a heavyweight boxer who’s gone the distance against The Champ. Here, Billy Preston just has fun with what the song has to offer. He’s satisfied. He’s not fooling me. Granted, those sorority girls who come out to dance in front of him and the band don’t help matters.

I can say that it’s a good thing the following dynamic duo is not documented having covered “Satisfaction”:

Is There a Drummer in the House: The Buzzcocks’ John Maher

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 212007

I love The Buzzcocks. I’ve loved them since the day in high school when I took a flyer on Singles Going Steady. The fast rush of that midrangey twin-guitar attack, Pete Shelley’s concise way with words…you know what I’m talking about. I will have to say, for a guy whose band has covered a handful of these songs over the years, I’ve always been a bit mystified by the role of drummer John Maher.

For years I thought he was the weak link in the band. Then, one night while standing precisely in the “sweet spot” of my drummer friend Townsman Sethro’s kick-ass stereo system, I began thinking that he was really great. Since then, I find myself creeping back to the thought that I’m not really thrilled about his drumming.

I’m certain of a few things:

He doesn’t play in “my” style.
He never drags the band down, which is a great strength; in fact, he drives the songs with the pedal to the metal, which may be his greatest strength.
Beside the opening fill to “I Don’t Mind” and maybe a few fills during the great, long jam in “Why Can’t I Touch It”, I think his fills sound sloppy and overplayed

To this last point, when we discussed the drumming of Bev Bevan a couple of weeks back, Townsman Andyr said something to the effect of “His fills are never memorable – they don’t make me want to play air drums.” Because of the pace of Maher’s drumming, I sometimes “play along,” but it’s more like the spastic hambone of a child with ADHD.

Over the years, I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that love him or not, John Maher’s drumming perfectly suited the music of The Buzzcocks, but could he have done better?

So I ask, is there a drummer in the house? And I ask whether any drummers in the house can more fully explain the merits of John Maher’s drumming in The Buzzcocks. I also ask whether I am correct in identifying some of his weaknesses. And, finally, I ask whether the music of The Buzzcocks could have been better supported by another type of drummer. Feel free to give it to me good, but responses along the lines of “Jesus Christ, Mr. Moderator, must you pick apart everything that is beautiful and great in the world?” will not be tolerated. Not in this game. I seek education and enlightenment.

I look forward to your responses.

Tommy vs Sgt. Pepper– Really?

Posted by Oats

Feb 212007

I’m more than a little surprised that in a recent poll RTH’s readers and/or contributors declared the 1977 Bee Gees/Peter Frampton vehicle Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to be the worst rock movie, over my preferred choice, Ken Russell’s 1975 film of The Who’s Tommy. Don’t get me wrong – Sgt. Pepper completely deserves its reputation as an utter and complete perversion of everything good and right that The Beatles stood for. But I submit that Tommy is an even worse film and, more importantly for the purposes of this blog, a greater Rock Crime.

Context is everything. Consider that Sgt. Pepper contained precious little input from the actual stewards of The Beatles legacy. Rumor has it that George Harrison and Paul McCartney appear in the star-studded finale, but frankly, if George and Paul are indeed there, they’re overshadowed by rock titans like Carol Channing and Jon “Bowzer” Bauman. Sgt. Pepper’s soundtrack was produced by George Martin, true, but I must remind you that he was not, in fact, a Beatle.

On the other hand, the travesty Tommy features notable work by all four members of The Who. Not only did Roger Daltrey handle the title role, with Keith Moon in the, shall we say, noteworthy role of Uncle Ernie, and not only did John Entwistle lend his distinct bass lines to the enterprise, but Pete Townshend helmed the horrible, horrible soundtrack. Let me tell you: More synthesizer-related Rock Crimes were committed on this soundtrack than at any time in the 1980s.

Let’s also consider who sat in the director’s chair for each film. Sgt. Pepper was helmed by Michael Schultz who, besides having helmed subsequent music-related films like Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon and Disorderlies, has since moved on to a career directing for television. I’m not calling him a hack per se, but he’s doesn’t seem like an auteur either.

Tommy, on the other hand, was written and directed by Ken Russell, a man who is seldom able to contain himself in realizing his horrible, frightening, gaudy visions on film. That whole artistically dubious glam-camp genre of cinema (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Phantom of the Paradise, the end of All That Jazz) can mostly be blamed on Russell.

But these elements are ultimately only parts of the bigger whole; the main reason Tommy defeats Sgt. Pepper in the badness game. See, everybody knows that Sgt. Pepper sucks, and we can all revel in its badness in the best Mystery Science Theater way. On the other hand, while I know plenty of intelligent people who can tolerate Tommy, the people who truly hate it tend to be Who devotees. This movie is essentially designed to piss off the very people it should be courting first and foremost. Beatles fans can laugh at the folly that is George Burns posing with a white Les Paul in Sgt. Pepper. Who fans can only grit their teeth in pain at the combined memories of Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Jack Nicholson, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John and every other moment of every other frame of Tommy. I hold Russell and Townshend both directly responsible for this, and you could make a case that the film of Tommy sets the stage for The Who’s many subsequent artistic travesties. Thank God for The Kids Are Alright.

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