Sydney "The Macrowave" Greenstreet?
The Detroit Pistons used to have a guy named Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson, nicknamed for his ability to come off the bench and provide “instant offense.” I love the concept of instant offense, and I’ve taken to using it to refer to a quality in certain character actors, whose mere presence onscreen instantly raises the energy in a film. Sydney Greenstreet, who would have needed to be nicknamed “The Macrowave,” is just such a character actor in my book. Even the classic Casablanca manages to get better when he shows up in a scene. (That film, by the way, is loaded with instant offense types, including Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall. It’s a wonder director Michael Curtiz had enough “rock” to go around.)
Rock ‘n roll musicians typically don’t move around as frequently as Hollywood character actors or NBA role players, but I’m wondering what journeyman or studio musicians you feel provide “instant offense” to whatever session they touch. The first who comes to mind for me is studio drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine, who made not only the great hits he drove but the fade-outs of the most pedestrian MOR fodder worth turning up. Following, Hal even makes Peggy Lipton worth giving a try.
Marc Ribot and Jim Keltner.
But more importantly, is Big Steve messing with us about not seeing Cassablanca? That is one of my all time favorite movies. Depending on the day, it could be number 1.
What did you think of Ribot with Elvis Costello, cdm? I first heard him and dug him with Waits, then I caught him with EC on the Mighty Like a Turd tour and experienced a similar disappointment to what I felt whenever I saw Scarlett Johansson in a starring role, after falling for her as a supporting actor in Ghost World and Lost in Translation.
Paul Carrack comes to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Carrack
jack nitzsche
Well, imagine what MLAT would have sounded like with out him?
I guess I’m mostly thinking about his work with Waits (although I’ve heard him guest on other albums but I’m drawing a blank. Sid Straw? Maria McKee?). When I saw Tom Waits, he had that guy from room full of blues and the guitar was the only weak spot in the show. Ribot’s off-kilter faux-Cuban stuff would have sent it over the top.
Ribot’s done some fantastic stuff for Sam Phillips. I think he’s on every album from Martinis and Bikinis through A Boot and a Shoe, and possibly others as well. He’s also on that Robert Plant/Allison Krauss album.
Sydney Greenstreet. Mod, I was thinking more or less the same thing last night watching Casablanca, inflicting my imitation Greenstreet low chuckle on my wife: he is always a welcome presence in any movie he is in. And you are right on with the others as well. I mean, is Claude Rains ever less than great? (No.)
Incidentally, Casablanca fans, if you haven’t seen it you should watch Passage to Marseilles from the following year, with many of the same people (Director Curtiz, Bogart, Lorre, Greenstreet, Rains) and one of the most labyrinthine plot structures ever seen–flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. By no means as great as Casablanca or even, objectively, all that great period, but fascinating and compelling nonetheless.
I thought the Waits-like material from MLAT stunk, so Ribot wasn’t at fault there. What struck me, seeing him live, was how clueless he seemed to be when it came to actually playing “regular” guitar parts in “regular” Costello songs. I also like Ribot when he’s in his own environment, but it seemed he didn’t know what to do when confronted with anything approaching standard rock guitar parts. Maybe EC wanted him to be “weird,” even when the song didn’t call for it. I won’t argue with your suggestion that Ribot is Instant Offense; that’s against the spirit of this post!
Got carried away there and forget what I was going to say. I would say Nicky Hopkins always adds something–esp. to those Who, Kinks, and Stones lps. Always recognizable and always welcome.
I always thought people like Clapton and Beck were much more powerful as session guys than fronting their own bands. A lot of the “great guitarists” did their best work for other artists: Duane Allman on Boz Scaggs’ “Loan Me A Dime,” Clapton on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” etc…
How cool is the Rains character in Casablanca? How would you characterize him? (SPOILER ALERT for BigSteve!)
He’s so full of national pride and confident in his ability to manage that sticky situation with the Nazis. He so openly loves Bogart’s character (even making that funny comment about him being the kind of guy he’d fall for if he were a woman) while maintaining, for the Nazis’ benefit, his cheerful, harmless toady persona. Then contrast his role in this movie with his role in Notorious, as a mama’s boy Nazi with a sliver of a heart of gold. How does the guy maintain his dignity in either role, all the while being kind of funny looking? You can start Rains or bring him off the bench with no drop off in effectiveness.
Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine, who came up earlier today in another thread, could come off the bench the rain 3s. That stretch they had playing with Matthew Sweet and Lloyd Cole (Quine, at least, played with him – can’t remember if Lloyd did) was unbelievable. A few years ago Lloyd stepped in for the dead Peter Laughner in Rocket From the Tombs to fire off his magic.
I see what you’re getting at, Mr. Mod. One of the things I really like about Nels Cline when he’s in Wilco is that he’s really good at strumming a simple rhythm part when required. It’s not like he only comes to life when he’s doing his freaky soloing bits. He’s just as adept at laying back, or whatever the muso term would be.
Yes! You can hear Hopkins from a mile away, and it’s always welcome (unless you’re one of those harpsichord haters, which I believe BigSteve may be).
No, I’m not lying. I generally don’t ‘get’ Hollywood movies, and I generally don’t like movies with movie stars in them. So I haven’t seen a lot of the classics — no Casablanca, no It Happened One Night, no Gone with the Wind, no It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m kind of an arthouse snob when it comes to movies, hipsterish, but not hip enough to enjoy the classics.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned David Sanborn yet.
No, I love the harpsichord. It’s the flute and the trumpet I don’t like.
That’s a Comment of the Month contender!
Rains had about a 10 year period of excellence, roughly 1936-46, culminating in Notorious. But also including great turns in Adventures of Robin Hood, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Kings Row, Now Voyager, Casablanca, and more. Preceding this period, of course, he can be “seen” in The Invisible Man.
Nor Ray Cooper, for whom I have long required an explanation.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan! (And YES! to many others you’ve listed that I’ve seen.)
Paul Carrack!
Sig Ruman is my Sydney Greenstreet. He could be anything vaguely Eastern Eurpoean, from a wannabie Parisian in Ninotchka, to the better, nuanced dramatic version of Hogan’s Heroes Sgt Schultz in Stalag 17, or comic villain foil for Groucho Marx in A Night At The Opera and A Day A The Races, and endearing German functionary (if such a thing is imaginable) against Jack Benny in To Be Or Not To Be.
Rumann was brilliant. “So, they call me Concentration Camp Erhardt…” Excellent choice.
I remember thinking that drummer Steve Jordan always lent some high energy instant offense behind quite a few big names.
JEFF PORCARO!!!
Shawn, I’ll see your (very funny) Porcaro and raise you…
WADDY WACHTEL!
Ribot does do a lot of other things besides the Waits cracked guitar stuff, but it’s not usually more rocky, generally jazzy or almost claaical. I saw him playing guitar with Marianne Faithfull about a year back and he might have been in the Leonard Cohen Touring band. I’ve got a Tango album by Evan Lurie where he plays very inside the classical Tango sound. He’s really pretty versatile.
I really enjoyed the albums he did with Lounge Lizards.
Steve Jordan is a Drum Gawd! That performance on SNL w/Neil Young doing “Rockin’ in the Free World,” is one for the ages.
Ugh…
I remember it well. I bought a ‘Live on SNL’ DVD just to get to see this performance again, because it was never available on youtube. At least for now you can see it here:
http://vodpod.com/watch/4244718-neil-young-rockin-in-the-free-world