Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Nov 052013

I had an unfortunate experience on Monday morning. I’m sure it was exacerbated by driving to work in heavy traffic, and thanks to Daylight Savings, right into the sun. I was tired, I was cranky. And I made the mistake of listening to The Lumineers. A colleague lent it to me, and stupid me, trying to be open-minded about new music these days, decided to give it a listen.

I made it through about two thirds of the album before switching it off. I had to put on the Mamas and the Papas to get the bad sound out of my ears (tangent: “Shooting Star” is such a goofy and weird track that it always puts me in a good mood).

But back to The Lumineers. This band is the epitome of many things I am hating about a current trend in popular music. What is that plinky-plonky sound? Oh, it’s the arrangement of multiple acoustic instruments. What is that echo? Perhaps it’s to make us think that that wash tub bass is being played and recorded in a barn. What is that horrible whining sound? Yessirree folks, it’s the nasally, earnest voice of the lead singer.

And then I looked at a video:

You don’t want to hear their cover of “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).”

Monday evening, Mr. Royale listened to my rant and came up with an interesting analogy: The Lumineers are like Haircut One Hundred. Instead of artfully-draped sweaters, we have suspenders. No more classic haircuts; we’ve moved on to facial scruff. Created for style; substance is of limited value. The recipe has been changed up, but the intent is the same.

But my question to you is How did we get here? Why is faux folk played on acoustic instruments by bands most likely from an urban hub so popular now? Is this Retro Retromania? Don’t tell me that Fleet Foxes started it. Say what you like about their beards, but those bad boys can sing. Was the start of this evil trend Arcade Fire, the band that tried to temper their bombast by telling everyone that at least the recording was made in an old church? I really liked that first album of theirs, but I’m guessing that if I listened to it now, I might feel differently. Help me, and please explain what happened.

And you can not tell me the answer is menopause.

How Do Your Halloween Candy Preferences Relate to Your Tastes in Rock ‘ Roll?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 042013

Boyer, the greatest knock-off indie label of candy?

In the days following Halloween I participated in a few conversations, with adults and kids, about candies collected through the trick-or-treating process. People who’ve known me for a while know that I’m pretty old school in my candy tastes. People who only know me casually and learn this fact about me are not surprised.

Although I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I have strong opinions on candy. I’ve been known to rail against “reformatted” candies. This hang-up probably dates back to the launch of “bite-size” or “fun-size” candies, which I have gotten used to, thanks in part to those little Hershey’s Special Dark bars, which only seem to exist in fun size, thereby making them “original” candies. Reformatted candies are wrong for reasons of questionable character (ie, Who are you fooling by worrying about your diet as you shove a half dozen fun-size candies down your throat rather than a full-size candy bar?). The candy reformatting practices that will forever stick in my craw, however, are related to shape and flavor. For instance, I don’t want my beloved Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in any form other than the classic circular, with the ridges around the edge. Changing the shape of a candy redistributes the ratio of flavors as well as the sensations when it hits one’s tongue. My tongue can adjust to the ever-shrinking circumference of a Reese’s, for instance, and my tastebuds are not alarmed by the slightly smaller dimensions, but a change in a candy’s shape messes with both the taste and the sensation of eating it. Not cool!

All Star Jam

Posted by Gerry Todd

Nov 042013

This clip made my night. What made yours? This is your jam babies, kick it out!

Lou Reed…As Get Crazy Was Meant to Be Seen!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 042013

Lou’s no longer with us in body, but that doesn’t mean his true artistic intents cannot continue to be illuminated.

The 1983 movie Get Crazy, featuring our hero, was a flop. You know why? Because the director left 83 minutes of Lou-free footage in the final cut! Someone cut the movie down to the 9 minutes featuring Lou. Check it out and tell me this shouldn’t be reissued as the Director’s Cut, If Lou Reed Had Been Allowed to Direct the Movie.

Thanks for cherguevarra for passing along this find!

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: Wolves & Coyotes

Posted by cliff sovinsanity

Nov 032013

Sounds of the hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

This is my third independent records spotlight. In this episode we look at the 1980’s label Coyote Records out of Hoboken N.J. It was interesting how much of Coyote Records material is long out of print compared with my two previous record label spotlights from the ’60s (Kapp & Hideout). Further, there is hardly any documentation about the label’s existence despite popular releases by The Feelies and Yo La Tengo. Since this is music from the ’80s, the studio production might recoil some Townspeople but I think there some good gems included in the episode.

Wolves & Coyotes

[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.]

Playlist (after jump):

Mystery Date Revealed

Posted by cherguevara

Nov 032013

Here they are, direct from Scotland: The Beatstalkers! Bassist, Alan Mair, went on to be a member of The Only Ones, also serving as their co-producer. There are a few websites with info on this band, I can’t say I knew anything about them other than that they recorded a handful of songs by David Bowie, with the singer doing his best to turn his accent from Scottish to English.

Here they are with a song called, “When I’m Five.”

According to their All Music bio, they formed in 1962 and became wildly successful in Scotland.They signed a deal with Decca in 1965 and then moved to London in 1967. At this point, they hooked up with a manager who also counted David Bowie as a client. He had the band record three of Bowie’s songs under a new contract with CBS. Despite their huge success, previously, at home, they were unable to get any traction in the big city. The saddest part of the bio, to me, is that it states the band broke up after a van containing all of their equipment was stolen! I guess it was the last straw.

If I am understanding the timeline correctly, Alan Mair opened up a clothing shop in London between the Beatstalkers and the Only Ones, where he sold leather clothes, platform shoes and other glam clothes, employing Freddie Mercury until Queen found success. While this band is mostly a footnote in rock history, people who lived in Glasgow in the early to mid-60s considered them Scotland’s answer to the Beatles.

Here they are again with “Silver Tree Top School For Boys.”

Silver Tree Top School For Boys

And here’s another Bowie composition, “Everything Is You.”

Everything Is You

Hope you enjoyed this Mystery Date, maybe you’d like to see them again, dinner and a movie, perhaps.

How Great Is David Bowie?

Posted by funoka

Nov 022013

I’ve been listening to the David Bowie channel on Sirius/XM radio and it is flat out fantastic. Crazy old stuff, the hits, and covers by others. It’s great to have someone else curate one of your heroes, so to speak.

What’s great about Bowie is that everyone has a favorite album — and you can say — “well I can see that.” Mine is Lodger, only because I was a teenager when it came out and it didn’t get played on the radio — so it’s mine.

So, what is your favorite Bowie album . . . and why?

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