Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Heavy Petting

Jul 092010

After a while, can you take your eyes off the heavy petting about to break out, behind Marvin Gaye‘s left shoulder, between the tuxedo-clad gentleman and his lady?

And what is it about “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” that made it one of the most heavily covered songs of its time? Is it really that great a song? Beside Nick Cave and whoever covered it on a likely Hal Willner-produced Jimmy Webb tribute album has anyone covered this song since the mid-’70s? I mean, I like the song possibly more than I should myself. For me, it’s one of those songs endemic to the soon-to-be-failed aspirations of slightly groovy middle class families at that time. You may be familiar with my take on this from things I’ve written in the past regarding my love for Dionne Warwick and her treatment of the Bacharach/David catalog – or my relationship to giant stereo consoles and conquistador sculptures. I’ll tie it all together someday, I promise.

RTH World Cup of Rock ‘n Roll: England vs Jamaica in Finals!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082010

UPDATES:
England pulls out pyrrhic victory over Jamaica.

In a major upset over Team USA, Jamaica will face England in the Finals of our inaugural Rock Town Hall World Cup of Rock ‘n Roll!

The coaches, Mr. Moderator and bostonhistorian, know the drill by now. There will be no ties, so: have a third strike ready. You will pick up with the rosters you used to end the semi-final round of play. Remember: any artist substituted for is now OUT of play.

Coaches can submit their opening two strikes in the Comments section. If you want to play your hand close to the vest and/or would like to submit mp3s for me to post, please send them to the Commissioner: mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com.

Thursday, July 8
England v Jamaica

Tomorrow (or Friday, depending on the length of the match) we make history!

Dugout Chatter

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082010

Let’s get a little chatter going! Most of you know this drill by now, but if you’ve been following along from the sidelines and want to make your initial splash in the Halls of Rock the following questions require nothing more than your gut answers! There’s no better way to jump into the fray because the only expertise required is a sound knowledge of and confidence in your gut feelings!

What full-time bass player-less band has the best bass parts on record?

Who’s your favorite singer in a band you don’t particularly like?

If you had the managerial powers to take a cool, indie-rock or otherwise “underground” musician and attempt, in the most blatant, crass way, make him or her a superstar, who would it be?

How do you mend a broken heart?

Who’s got the best suspenders (braces, for our UK Townspeople) in rock?

Taking into account the musician’s relative rock superpowers within his or her band and Look, who’s the Jaclyn Smith of rock?

I look forward to your responses!

Marvin Gaye Mentor Harvey Fuqua Dead

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082010

Thanks to dbuskirk for the heads up on Fuqua’s death.

Motown A&R man/songwriter/producer/etc Harvey Fuqua has died at 80 years of age. I have long known the name of Fuqua from his credits on Marvin Gaye and Surpremes records. In all these years I never knew a tenth of what he did, but any collaborator with Gaye who had the same last name as one of the coolest figures in 1970s football is cool in my book! Here’s an awesome piece from the NewBlackMan blog on Fuqua’s career and impact on other artists.

Don’t trust my reading comprehension skills (click on the links above), but it turns out Fuqua led the late-1950s R&B group The Moonglows as well as acted in an A&R capacity for the band’s label, Chess Records. Fuqua first groomed young Marvin when he joined as a member of The Moonglows. Among other achievements at Motown Fuqua is credited with teaming Marvin with his greatest duet partner, Tammi Terrell. Along with his collaboration on Gaye’s awesome final album, Midnight Love, Fuqua would continue having success producing artists into the ’70s and early ’80s, with the likes of Sylvester and The Weather Girls. Here’s a mid-’70s act he guided that I’d never heard of before now, New Birth. The totally unexpected dance break at the 1:32 mark is among the finest unexpected dance breaks in the history of televised music! Continue reading »

Tour Rick Nielsen’s House!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 072010

What’s least surprising and most surprising in the Nielsens’ design choices? Does the place jibe with his musical identity? How would being in this house make you feel? And hey, who wants to tour Rick Nielsen’s house and not get to see the music room?

RTH World Cup of Rock ‘n Roll: We’re Down to the Semi-finals!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 062010

UPDATES:
Jamaica to face England in Finals!
England progresses to finals.

Four teams remain in the semi-final round of the Rock Town Hall World Cup of Rock ‘n Roll!

You know the drill by now. There will be no ties, so coaches: have a third strike ready. You will pick up with the rosters you used to end the first round of play. Remember: any artist substituted for in Round 1 or 2 is now OUT of play.

Tuesday, July 5
USA v Jamaica
Ireland v England

It’s time to leave it all on the pitch!

XTC…As Its Music Was Meant to Sound!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 062010

This news courtesy of Townsman cherguevara:

XTC Skylarking Better Than You’ve Ever Heard It Date:

In the course of world renowned mastering engineer John Dents [sic] work on preparing the new double vinyl set of XTC’s Skylarking for release, an interesting and wonderful thing has been discovered. John has informed us that that somewhere in the chain from Todd Rundgrens [sic] Utopia sound studio and Londons Master room studio, way back in 1986, a fault has occurred that means all of the versions of Skylarking you’ve ever heard, on CD or vinyl, have sounded…how shall we put this?… wrong. Read complete story here.

I usually cringe when I read about any significantly “restored-to-the-creators’-intent” reissue, but I’m a longtime XTC fan who’s always found Skylarking to sound a bit thin and cold. I always blamed it on a combination of Rundgren’s tight ass constricting Partridge’s increasingly tight ass, with an assist to Todd’s boy and former Tubes drummer, Prairie Prince. I’m curious whether any amount of added warmth and low tones will spark up some of the codified songwriting that has set in by that late date in the band’s career.

[NOTE: cher may have a different take on this and, most likely, can assess the veracity of the supposed technical glitch.]

UPDATE: cherguevara has called… Continue reading »

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