I was never a fan of Deep Purple. Despite not fully liking anything by them but “Hush,” organist Jon Lord was A-OK in my book. Now he’s dead. That’s a shame. It’s only fitting that we give him his proper send off.
NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
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An All-Star Jam is the place to do your thing. Tell us how you feel! If you do nothing else in this spot, please tell us how this video makes you feel. (And I’m counting on Happiness Stan to fill us in on this band’s probable experiences in EuroVision contests.)
Greetings. At the urging of Chief RTH Labs Liaison Hrrundi V Bakshi, my dedicated staff set about attempting to determine once and for all which of the two classic Kinks tracks — “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All Of the Night” — is superior. This we attempted to do with the aid of some extremely sophisticated sound analysis machinery, decades of research notes and, of course, the patented, exclusive Stratomatic™ analysis and compositional software, to which only RTH Labs has access.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/01-You-Really-Got-Me-All-Of-the-Night1.mp3|titles=You Really Got Me All Of the Night]Through the use of all the technologies at our disposal, we were able to produce a new piece of music, weaving both songs into one contiguous piece, that proved once and for all that — scientifically speaking — the tunes have an identical quotient of every required Rock Element. In layman’s terms, they are equally “good.” As always, I invite you to listen for yourself. You will find that your notions of categorical and/or overall superiority for your preferred song are quite irrelevant.
Thank you for your time, and your ongoing interest in the rational, quantitative analysis of rock and roll.
Can't get enough of your love.
I’ve said it before and I might as well lead off with it here: I’m an acolyte in the Church of 1983. As in, there’s been no good music since 1983. I’m not a fundamentalist though; pre-1983 artists have put out good music since then. And, like a blue moon, every once in awhile some post-1983 artist sneaks through (although off the top of my head I can’t think of anyone).
But—bad news—I’m addicted to music. But—good news—I already have more than enough fantastic music should I live another 57 years. But—bad news—I’m also addicted to acquiring music. What to do?
The Kinks x 2
Has there ever been a band who’s first two big, international singles sounded so much alike that they were like twins? If you just met and liked Bob, you’ll love his identical twin Rob! The Bob and Rob of the rock world would have to be those two British Invasion, proto-heavy metal doppelgangers “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night.” These two sound so much the same the first 100 times you hear them. Same new (for the time) guitar distortion, similar sliding barre-chord riffs, same wild and un-schooled guitar solos, same dramatic endings.
But you mad scientists here in the Hall can put on your lab coats and really dissect the differences between this pair. Which is the better song and why?
You’ll have to get deep into the tiny details to do it right. I’ll post the audio files (no Youtube – I don’t care about look or stagecraft here) for your use and put my thoughts down in the comments later.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/You-Really-Got-Me1.mp3|titles=The Kinks: You Really Got Me] [audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/All-Day-and-All-of-the-Night.mp3|titles=The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night]
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:
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!
What are you listening to these days? While we may be inundated by suggestions for beach reading, grilling recipes, and refreshing beverages, I’d like to hear more about what you all are listening to during the heat wave, your holidays, your longer daylight hours. It’s the summer and for me it means more time to explore bands I’ve been meaning to catch up on or learn more about. So here are 2 that I’m totally addicted to these days:
1. The Men
Mr. Royale has been sneaking tracks from this Brooklyn 4-piece onto music mixes he’s been making for me, but it was this track that really turned things around and made me join the cult:
This is 8:06 of The Power and Glory of Rock! We start with some Neil Young “Southern Man”-style guitar, and move into a psychedelic guitar lead that winningly reminds me of one of my favorite covers, Camper Van Beethoven’s version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive.” Two minutes in, the beat picks up but then is followed by a teasing lull. However, the volume kicks back up and at 5:18, The Men are in full swing and even add cowbell! I’m imagining the group of them head banging in tandem and this continues with some extra psychedelic guitar noodling thrown in for good measure. This music IS everything and the kitchen sink!
Whereas The Men are very overt with their influences, my other music addiction these days could be described as True Originals:
