Preferring the Bastardized Version to the Original Source Material

 Posted by
Dec 032008
 


To this day, although I’ve come a long way in digging reggae music, I prefer hearing The Clash do their version of reggae than almost any real reggae artist. Give me “Police and Thieves” with those crunchy guitars and awkward bass over the Junior Murvin original version any day, even though the original version is pretty great. If you put a gun to my head I may even admit that I prefer the bastardized reggae of The Police and Joe Jackson to most of the real thing. Not cool, but true.

I feel the same way about most Brian Jones-era Stones covers of slightly earlier R&B/early rock songs, like The Stones’ version of “Around and Around” over Chuck Berry’s original or their cover of The Valentinos’ “It’s All Over Now.” Mad props to the source material, but I’ll take the Stones!

Give me Paul Simon and Talking Heads doing whatever they’ve done with South African and South American music over most of what I hear by the people who inspired them. Not cool at all, I know, but I’ve never found King Sunny Ade‘s music, for instance, half as interesting as the best of Simon and Byrne. For starters, it’s nice to know what’s being sung. How do I know King Sunny’s not singing his culture’s equivalent of “Working for the Weekend?” I do, however, prefer the real Brazilian stuff that Byrne’s label has released to Byrne’s solo works in that same vein.

A lot of my favorite “country” songs are Elvis Costello’s pastiches of real country songs, songs like “Motel Matches.” One of the best things about Costello’s “country” originals is that the rhythm section gets to do cool fills. Real country rhythm sections usually sound to me like they’ve got the freedom of a lamb.

I can’t say the same for newer takes on Da Blooz, not even Da Blooz of Jeff Healy and Stevie Ray Vaughn. This is proof that more than Rockism is at play, right?

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Musicians Outside the Blues/R&B/Jazz/Country Traditions Who Should Have a Greater Influence on Rock ‘n Roll

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Dec 032008
 


We ran a poll recently that asked “What musician is cited most frequently among rock nerds based on their relation to a famous band long before anyone has heard said musician’s own music?” The most frequent response was La Monte Young, the minimalist composer under whom John Cale studied and who presumably was a great influence on the music of the Velvet Underground. Young is a good example of what I’m seeking from you: Musicians outside the blues, R&B, jazz, and country (ie, North American) musical traditions who you would like to see have a greater influence on rock ‘n roll.

Be creative or call for greater influence by a previously cited influence, such as Pete Townshend’s “Baba O’Riley” influence, Terry Riley. How do you hear these non-North American sounds fitting into your rock ‘n roll? Paul Simon’s dipped outside the North American well with success. Prog-rockers have dipped into the European tradition with varying degrees of success. I know some of you listen to non-Western artists. Have you ever wished more of a particular artist’s sound could be worked into rock ‘n roll?

I look forward to your visionary comments.

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Behind the Music: Gumby: The Movie

 Posted by
Dec 012008
 


Researching a thread for Rock Town Hall can lead a Townsperson down unexpected alleys and confront us with shocking revelations. The following piece is just such an example. Beware, HVB.

Sometime in the early ’80s, Townsman Sethro and I attended a midnight movie showing of about 30 consecutive episodes of the childhood classic claymation show from our youth, Gumby. It was perfect midnight movie programming! Each time one short episode ended and the Gumby theme restarted we reached new levels of glee! All we were missing was a big box of Quisp.

As soon as my first son reached television-viewing age and could make some sense of cartoons that preceded his generation, I wanted to turn him onto Gumby. I bought him a set of rubber Gumby, Pokey, Blockheads, et al figures, much like the ones I had as a boy. I searched in vain for a good collection of Gumby episodes on VHS or DVD. At the time, there was nothing available along the lines of that midnight movie showing that didn’t come with Amazon warnings along the lines of, “These poor-quality tapes are practically bootlegs.” I did see something legit called Gumby: The Movie. I didn’t take into account that it was made in 1985 and may not have had all the aesthetic qualities of the Gumby I grew up with, but it seemed worth a try for exposing my boy to this important show.

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The Dream Is Over: San Francisco Burns Out

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Dec 012008
 


So what have we learned? What happened to the dream of the ’60s San Francisco scene?

  • The idealistic, revolutionary Jefferson Airplane boarded a Starship and infiltrated the inner workings of M.A.N. Incorporated through a quartet of ’70s AM easy listening hits and, eventually, a couple of early ’80s Corporate Rock anthems.
  • Two members of the jazz-inspired Santana left to form Journey.
  • Carlos Santana replaced his once-musicially ambitious bandmates to form his own version of Journey.
  • The Dead, without changing much of anything, scored a Top 10 hit before Jerry kicked.

The burnout was inevitable, but of all rock scenes, who would have thought Haight-Asbury would turn into a bedrock of Winner Rock?

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RIP Mike Terry

 Posted by
Dec 012008
 

One of my favorite elements of the classic Motown sound has always been the baritone saxophone. The man responsible for those distinct, swinging lines, Mike Terry, has died.

It was in 1963, with Heatwave and You Lost the Sweetest Boy, that the sound of Terry’s baritone started bursting out of young America’s transistor radios. Restricted by the production team of Lamont Dozier and Eddie and Brian Holland to short interludes before the final chorus, usually no more than eight bars long, he made the most of his opportunity with a heated approach that was short on melodic invention but long on rhythmic drive.

Incidentally, the Guardian obit says he died Oct. 30, which I assume is a typo and should read “November 30.”

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