Kid About It

 Posted by
Mar 232009
 


As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Elvis Costello & The Attractions. As much as I love the guy’s music (mostly that done with The Attractions but some other stuff as well), he’s not an artist whose lyrics often mean a lot to me. I usually think they’re cool and find a couple of key couplets to latch onto for meaning, guidance, and inspiration, but he’s not the sort that I’d quote in my high school yearbook, if I could go back in time, as I might any number of lyrics by Paul Weller or Graham Parker, to cite two contemporaries whose music I like a lot but otherwise find not as rich as Costello’s.

One Costello lyric that might be the exception, that might be the one I would have used in my high school yearbook had I been able to make my selection when I was about 30 years old, when I had a better idea of what life was meaning to me, is from Imperial Bedroom‘s “Kid About It”:

So what if this is a man’s world
I want to be a kid again about it
Give me back my sadness
I couldn’t hide it even if I tried girl

I had some rough emotional patches over the weekend – nothing horrible, nothing earth shattering, but the kind of stuff that puts me in touch with the kid in me. I don’t know about you, but as I’ve aged and matured, some feelings that used to be on the surface and readily available with associated artists/albums that spoke to those emotions have become less prevalent over time. As a result, I spin those records less often than I once did, despite still loving the music as much as I ever did. The first two dB’s album mean less to me on a day-to-day basis these days, but this morning, hearing “Ask for Jill” pop up on my iPod, I was able to tap into what the band meant to me every day of my life in my early 20s. I’ve been listening to those first two albums since and enjoying revisiting those vague, hopeful, fragile feelings that the older, wiser, sometimes too-fucking-real me of today doesn’t feel as strongly as he once did.

Do you ever have experiences along these lines with your maturing emotions and aging record collection?

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The Musician Proximity Effect

 Posted by
Mar 212009
 

This clip is a good demonstration of the Musician Proximity Effect (MPE), where musicians who have plenty of room onstage periodically move closer to one another, intensifying their facial expressions and deriving more power to Rock from temporary nearness to one of their bandmates.

The Effect is most powerful when two players, usually guitarists and/or bassists, actually lean against one another back to back, shoulder to shoulder being slightly less powerful. Rocking while simultaneously being involved in male-on-male physical contact is tricky but achievable with the introduction of varying amounts of humor and/or irony.

The increased ability to Rock provided by the MPE lasts even after the musicians disengage, though it is not permanent and may need to be replenished by additional bouts of proximity.

The attempted use of the Effect by more than two musicians at a time, or by direct instrument-to-instrument contact, (cf. Blue Oyster Cult) is risky and not advised or endorsed by Rock Town Hall.

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All-Star Jam

 Posted by
Mar 212009
 


Courtesy of Townsman dbuskirk.

Who’s working hard, who’s hardly working? There’s no question regarding this performance by The Peddlers. Like they’ve done with this kinetic cover, put your own thing into Rock Town Hall through this All-Star Jam!

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Best Rock Vocalist Poll Provides Unexpected Outcomes

 Posted by
Mar 202009
 


Cleveland’s Classic Rock station polled its listeners to choose the 10 top rock vocalists, and I was shocked by the results. It’s not like I was expecting a list I would like from fans of this type of radio station, but nonetheless, I was amazed that Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Janis Joplin didn’t make the list at all, and I never in a million years would have guessed #1. (When they got to #2 yesterday, and the above-mentioned four were not on the list, I assumed that Jagger would easily be #1. A coworker and I were discussing who had not shown up yet, and Freddie Mercury never once crossed either of our minds.)

Anyway, here’s the list.

Would anyone else have guessed #1? Or #3 or #5, for that matter?

1. Freddie Mercury (Queen)
2. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin & Solo)
3. Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free & Solo)
4. Roger Daltrey (Who)
5. Ann Wilson (Heart)
6. Bob Seger
7. Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac & Solo)
8. Jim Morrison (Doors)
9. Steve Perry (Journey)
10. Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)

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The Single Song That Marked All That Could Possibly Suck in the Second Half of the ’70s

 Posted by
Mar 202009
 


Last night I watched two DVDs of Midnight Special performances with Townsman Sethro. We skipped some performances, like Seals and Crofts, and concentrated on rocking artists that might provide insights into cool drum fills and rock faces. Along with the Edgar Winter Band performance that Townspeople are currently analyzing, highlights for discussion included Linda Rondstadt doing “You’re No Good,” which we’ve discussed previously in the Halls of Rock; The Guess Who struggling mightily to perform “American Woman,” the custom-made lucite drums of Billy Preston’s drummer; a busty Marc Bolan and T.Rex, all coked out of their minds; and a smokin’ hot Debbie Harry and Clem Burke with Blondie, the two of them providing all the heavy lifting in that band, as was always the case.

Some day we may have to analyze the Guess Who performance separately. Both Burton Cummings and the porn soloing faces of the lead guitarist are rich in talking points.

But that’s not the moment you’ve been waiting for; that’s not the single song that marked all that could possibly suck in the second half of the ’70s.

As we scrolled through the menu on these DVDs, I suggested we skip the following band, but Sethro thought there might be something there. There surely was something there.

Before we view this stunning clip, you might recall Townsman cdm’s recent thoughts on Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein”:

The 70’s are a contender for the most interesting decade in rock in my book, but that song is a catalog of everything bad about 70s rock. (pop-prog leanings, cheesy synths, self-indulgence manifesting itself in a very uninteresting way, songs that go on too long, albinos, etc)

As I said to him, he makes a lot of sense, but I thought there was one song that – short of albinoism – covered all that cdm mentioned and then some, failing to deliver in any way on just about any of the “leanings” and indulgences he outlined. I would argue that this is the heart of darkness moment foreshadowing the worst of ’70s rock:
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