This week’s All-Star Jam is a Battle of the Bands! Spread the news! Tell me if you don’t think the band at the 3:26 mark is about 10 years ahead of its time! Tell us what’s really on your mind!
May 092014
May 092014
For entertainment value alone, which era of rock ‘n roll do you feel is most likely to deliver the goods? For instance, if I’m blindfolded and reach my hand into a bag of unmarked rock ‘n roll performances from a given era, the bag of early 1970s rock is likely to turn up a gem—strictly from an overall entertainment value, not necessarily a musical one—such as this 1971 performance by Atomic Rooster.
I get no musical satisfaction out of this clip, yet I’m happy as a clam to watch these prog-blooz hippies hunker down in their suede, fringe, and headbands and manufacture what are, to my ears, exciting tones, regardless of the music that emanates from those tones.
Musically, like so many geeks around here, I’m more easily satisfied by records from 1966 and 1967, but perhaps because some of the music I most love is from that period I get thrown for a loop when confronted with a random selection that offends my aesthetic sensibilities, like this:
May 072014
In the recent, bizarre Twins thread, MrHuman mentioned that Bruce Springsteen has an original song called “Tomorrow Never Knows” that is NOT a cover of the Beatles’ song by that name. What really stuck in my mind, however, was MrHuman’s belief that The Boss has never done a Beatles cover. That’s hard to believe (didn’t he sing “Imagine” the night Lennon was killed?), but I’ll take him at his word, especially because it got me thinking about what Beatles song I could imagine Springsteen covering, and how much I would be likely be irked by that cover.
May 052014
So there’s this band that started out in San Francisco that Mr. Royale I like, Deerhoof. We particularly enjoyed this track, “Flower,” from their 2003 album, Apple O’.
Fast forward a few years; the band has moved east and has released a few more albums, including most recently our favorite, the 2012 Breakup Song. On that disc, there’s also a song entitled, “Flower,” but it sounds a little like this:
May 022014
It might be argued that our readers are not be the best audience to answer this question, but let’s say you were at a party and walked into a room populated by the 6 members of The Association appearing in the following clip. Which guy would you target to converse with, as the band member most likely—relatively speaking—to be the coolest member of the band? From left to right:
- “The Cabinet Member”
- “The Guy Not Cool Enough to Be Playing a Vox Teardrop Guitar”
- “The Singer With the Crooked Mouth Who Looks Like He Should Be Playing One of the Goons in Straw Dogs“
- “The Shorter Singer Who Likely Instituted the Band’s Dress Code”
- “The Bass Player Who Looks Like the Canadian Member of The Rascals”
- “The Drummer”
I look forward to your choice and rationale.
Apr 292014
I get as psyched up as any hot-blooded rock ‘n roll fan at the anticipation of a smokin’ harmonica solo in the middle of a blues workout. The harmonica break in any number of early Stones and Yarbirds songs is both exciting and dramatic. I’m appreciative of Stevie Wonder‘s melodic use of the chromatic harmonica on songs like “Isn’t She Lovely.” I dig when Bob Dylan and Neil Young fill the gaps in any one of the dozens of their songs that feature their naive approach to the blues harp. I’ll even sit through a yearly spin of J. Geils Band‘s “Whammer Jammer,” the show-stopping instrumental by full-time harp player and Townman Hrrundivbakshi’s spiritual guide Magic Dick.
I own harmonicas and dream of one day finding a use for one in one of my own songs. I like harmonicas. Honest, I do. However, while watching one of my favorite local bands last weekend, there came a point in their second set when they called up a friend to play harmonica on a song. That led to him playing harmonica on another song and another one and a few more after that. By the third song featuring a persistent harmonica part I started to realize why most bands only break out the big harmonica solo one time per gig. There quickly comes a point when the instrument’s on autopilot. The instrument becomes a condiment. Think of a point in meal when you add mustard or horseradish—or both—to a course, as I did just last night, over a main course of kielbasa and sauerkraut. The condiments perfectly fit that dish, but had I also added the mustard and horseradish to my green beans, my pierogi, and my chocolate babka, it would have been overkill. Not to mention, one would never make mustard or horseradish the core ingredient of any dish, as it might be argued J. Geils Band managed to do when they handed over the keys to a song to Magic Dick. “Whammer Jammer” is an outstanding achievement in terms of culinary standards.
Apr 292014
Homeward bound.
Let me take the first shot: Fifty Ways to Shove Your Lover
Next?
