Tempting?
Despite never having owned it, the hippie cheese of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” never fails to please. Hearing on the radio yesterday I realized how influential the record is on my aesthetic: the beat, the fuzz tone, the double-bends… “Sad,” you may be right in thinking to yourself.
Or maybe not, as I learned with an outpouring of support when I posted these thoughts to my Facebook page minutes after this experience.
Why don’t I own a copy of “Spirit in the Sky”?
Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
In tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Shut-In, as Mr Moderator puts aside unnecessary worries and dedicates his full attention to his audience, the show takes an unexpected twist that is sure to simmer his listening base down to a rich, velvety roux! See if you can break on through to the other side.
RTH Saturday Night Shut-In 125
[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your iTunes by clicking here. The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player.]
Huh?
It might be argued that this discussion will come down to a rehash of rock’s most iconic logos, but I believe there are certain kick drum heads that are iconic in their context as kick drum heads, not just vehicles for the display of a cool logo. When you think of Ringo Starr, for instance, is the image complete with the primitive kick drum head pictured above, or do you think of this:
I’ve come to love Patti Smith‘s persona way more than her music, which I do like. She strikes me as a fellow Peace Warrior, a let-it-hang-loose freak in the best sense of the term. I usually get a charge out of people who sincerely let their freak flag fly, especially if I don’t have to smell them. I still get chills thinking about passages in Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, or the energy she projected when I saw her live. Even when she was performing one of those long jazz-poetry numbers I lift the needle over while listening to her records to get to the next song that is essentially “Gloria,” I was magnetized by her shamanistic presence. However, when I read accounts by other artists from the New York punk scene, she’s often made out to be a sham, a careering opportunist. Maybe it’s jealousy, or maybe she’s not the real deal Regardless, her shtick works for me.
So the other week, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought a copy of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. This movie and it’s accompanying 2-record set made a big impact on me, my brother, and my sister. My younger sister was the coolest one: she convinced my parents to take her to see it (underage, she had to convince my parents to go; years later, she admitted to me that she didn’t understand the movie). But my younger brother and I made do by listening to the soundtrack. I loved that record, and even my parents put up with our playing it (Dad, son of a musicologist, even liked Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven”).
Listening to it again, years later and with a more jaded ear, I was pleased how well the Bee-Gees tunes have stood the test of time. I was never a huge Brothers Gibb fan, but the production and arrangements on their songs are pretty nice. Contrast that to the obvious filler in the album: several David Shire tracks that seem to be a white guy’s approximation of ethnic dance music. And then there’s the stuff in between: second rate but fun KC and the Sunshine Band, Tavares, The Trammps, and Kool and the Gang’s “Open Sesame,” which regardless of it’s B-level status gets a thumbs up in my book due to the repetition of the lyrics “Get down with the Genie!”
Which got me thinking about soundtracks.,,
I happened across the following video that someone actually took the care to record and post onto YouTube:
The video owner’s set-up text reads as follows:
Some of my Dads collection of Jefferson Starship
I find the entire notion of this video and the son’s introductory comment to be weirdly fascinating and touching.
For this week’s Last Man Standing we seek songs that either walk or run—or both, as the case may be. Your entries should only include songs with titles involving the verbs “to walk” or “to run,” including their gerund forms. Songs about trotting, skipping, jogging, and scampering don’t qualify.
EARLY-GAME RULE ADDITION (1/14/14 @ 12:07 pm): Please alternate walk and run entries. For instance, if you see a “walk” song as the latest comment, try to follow it up with a “run” song.
If you’re new to participating in a Last Man Standing thread, which usually lasts until eternity or the end of our collective knowledge on a given topic, please limit yourself to one entry per comment. In other words…
