Isn't this the dumbest presidential election campaign ever? Aren't you sick to death of it already? Isn't it even more boring than the Summer Olympics? And there's still three months to go!
Why do we always have to vote NO?!
Donald Trump will say ANYTHING to stir up trouble or get a response, or just to get 30 seconds on TV. That was fine during the primaries, when I think he was just trying to liven things up and get people talking. But now he's out of control and half the Republican Party wants to dump him.
You can't believe a word Hillary Clinton says, either. You can't trust her. She's a little distant. She's not the warmest woman of all time. No wonder Bill went looking elsewhere.
Neither of these candidates has any real solid plans for the future -- beyond getting themselves a paying job for the next four (or eight) years. They make claims, but they have no detailed plans on how to create jobs, cut taxes, help the homeless, keep the country safe, etc. They have absolutely NO plans on how to get Congress to work with whoever's in the Oval Office to help get the U.S. out of the complex mess it's in.
Both say things that are exactly what their core audience wants to hear. And they get cheers for that. From voters whose minds are already made up. But for the rest of us who are undecided, it just gets worse. Bernie, come back. Even though I wasn't sure about you. At least you'd be another choice. And who else is on the ballot?
LATEST FIASCOS: A couple days ago, Trump claimed Barack Obama was "the founder of ISIS," and he wasn't joking. At least one talk-show host thought Trump was speaking metaphorically -- that through Obama's actions in the Middle East, the Prez indirectly supported the climate that's allowed ISIS to spread.
Trump didn't want to be taken metaphorically. He wasn't joking. But NOW that his comments have taken some heat, he claims he was being "sarcastic." This on top of his recent comments that gun-owners could "take care of" Hillary Clinton's campaign....
Meanwhile, Hillary released her tax returns and dared Trump to do so. Her latest tax return shows Bill and Hillary are among the top one-tenth of one percent of American wage-earners, and that they gave more than $1 million to charity.
However, there are now claims that Hillary's health has been failing over the past couple years, and she and her campaign won't address those concerns.
Maybe we should have presidential candidates release their tax records AND their medical records, so we can make sure they're healthy enough to hold public office.... But not TOO healthy, of course....
BIASES: I don't think Hillary Clinton is the warmest, friendliest, nicest person in the world. She's a little grumpy. Her coldness puts me off. And I think she's just as impulsive as Trump. She says Trump's too negative -- but she's not very positive. I don't doubt that she wants what's best for the U.S., but I don't BELIEVE what she says.
Neither of these folks has any reason to claim the other "isn't qualified" or is "too temperamental" to be president. Neither are qualified -- or at least neither act "presidential." Both are temperamental.
Donald Trump sounds more and more like Barry Goldwater in 1964: We're gonna make America great again. We're gonna build a wall around America. We're gonna bomb everybody we don't like. We're gonna cut taxes. We're gonna create jobs. Anybody who wants our military protection is gonna have to pay for it up-front. We're gonna immediately throw out of the country anybody we don't like. Welcome back to 1955, Donald.
With these kinds of choices, who's left? And is this the best we can do?
Did you know more than 1,800 people have filed to run for president? Some of them are just jokes, like Han Solo, "Super Reagan" (Communist Party), "Some Lice" (Republican), or the non-partisan Coffee And Donuts.
I miss Carly Fiorina. I liked her anger. She seemed to really care -- which is more than I can say for Hillary and Donald. There was some passion there.
From the long list of other candidates, how about Jill Stein of the Green Party? At least she wants to rebuild the nation's infrastructure and make sure everybody has a job. Those are good places to start.
I don't know the solution to all this. Maybe I'm as dumb as the candidates. But I know that I'm tired of voting NO.
Ah well, football season's just around the corner....
Friday, August 12, 2016
Thursday, August 11, 2016
The next invasion
Well, Thank Putin, the Russians have finally backed off.
But now it's the Arabs.
On Wednesday morning at precisely 6 a.m. Pacific Time, this blog had 90 visits from some unidentified peoples in Saudi Arabia, all at the same time. And they haven't been back.
I'm pretty sure they didn't visit because they're such big ELP fans and were dying to read my just-in stream-of-consciousness views on "Tarkus."
This on top of the hundreds of views from Russia a couple of weeks ago, and I'm starting to think I'm more popular overseas than I am in America. If only they were paying me.
What does it mean? What's it all about? What are they looking for?
And can I somehow make some money from this?
Did Donald Trump cause this? Do they think this is where Hillary Clinton's hidden e-mails are buried?
I don't get it. I sent Blogger an e-mail about this -- about the Russians, actually. So far, I've received no response. Maybe they're not concerned about it. Or maybe they're still investigating.
But as someone who recently had a fraudulent $35,000 loan application started on-line under my real name, I'm a little concerned.
What do they think they're gonna find here?
I'm sure it's not about me or my ravings.
Somehow in my head I see a room full of 90 little Arab teens (all boys, of course) in robes and turbans -- and somehow each of them has dunce caps on their heads -- sitting in front of a bank of computer screens. And at the front of the class, a very tall, skinny, bearded Arab man in robes and a turban is shouting (with a German accent, somehow): "We destroy The Great Satan now! One music blog at a time! Starting with TAD! Then we attack Crabby's!"
This might explain why Rastro's "La Historia de la Musica Rock" Tumblr site suddenly disappeared last week. Or why Groove Sandwich suddenly vanished a couple of years back. He claimed he was going to try to become a Serious Working Musician, but you never know. And if you're into conspiracy theories (which I have been lately), it isn't hard to see the dark, nefarious hand of ... well, who knows?
My girlfriend thinks this long-armed conspiracy also explains why a Best Of Chi Coltrane CD has been unconscionably delayed in arriving from Somewhere In Europe, while Amazon keeps telling us not to worry, that the CD isn't "officially" Overdue until the middle of next month.
This on top of the fiendish U.S. Postal Service shutting off the mail here for No Known Reason, just so some petty bureaucrat can exercise her limited amount of power....
You can see how this stuff piles up.
Of course, Crabby's still cranking out the posts -- a long one on the Beach Boys' classic PET SOUNDS earlier this week. I think Crabby'll still be doing this stuff after the rest of us are long gone. SOMEBODY has to. And Crabby's had to deal with the Russians before. Several times. And he doesn't know what it all means, either.
I think it is well past time for someone -- a weak link in the Arab or Russian cabals -- to Confess All. But I ain't holdin' my breath.
I think Donald Trump is somehow to blame for all this. I'll figure out HOW later. And if it's not him, it's GOT to be Hillary. Right?
But now it's the Arabs.
On Wednesday morning at precisely 6 a.m. Pacific Time, this blog had 90 visits from some unidentified peoples in Saudi Arabia, all at the same time. And they haven't been back.
I'm pretty sure they didn't visit because they're such big ELP fans and were dying to read my just-in stream-of-consciousness views on "Tarkus."
This on top of the hundreds of views from Russia a couple of weeks ago, and I'm starting to think I'm more popular overseas than I am in America. If only they were paying me.
What does it mean? What's it all about? What are they looking for?
And can I somehow make some money from this?
Did Donald Trump cause this? Do they think this is where Hillary Clinton's hidden e-mails are buried?
I don't get it. I sent Blogger an e-mail about this -- about the Russians, actually. So far, I've received no response. Maybe they're not concerned about it. Or maybe they're still investigating.
But as someone who recently had a fraudulent $35,000 loan application started on-line under my real name, I'm a little concerned.
What do they think they're gonna find here?
I'm sure it's not about me or my ravings.
Somehow in my head I see a room full of 90 little Arab teens (all boys, of course) in robes and turbans -- and somehow each of them has dunce caps on their heads -- sitting in front of a bank of computer screens. And at the front of the class, a very tall, skinny, bearded Arab man in robes and a turban is shouting (with a German accent, somehow): "We destroy The Great Satan now! One music blog at a time! Starting with TAD! Then we attack Crabby's!"
This might explain why Rastro's "La Historia de la Musica Rock" Tumblr site suddenly disappeared last week. Or why Groove Sandwich suddenly vanished a couple of years back. He claimed he was going to try to become a Serious Working Musician, but you never know. And if you're into conspiracy theories (which I have been lately), it isn't hard to see the dark, nefarious hand of ... well, who knows?
My girlfriend thinks this long-armed conspiracy also explains why a Best Of Chi Coltrane CD has been unconscionably delayed in arriving from Somewhere In Europe, while Amazon keeps telling us not to worry, that the CD isn't "officially" Overdue until the middle of next month.
This on top of the fiendish U.S. Postal Service shutting off the mail here for No Known Reason, just so some petty bureaucrat can exercise her limited amount of power....
You can see how this stuff piles up.
Of course, Crabby's still cranking out the posts -- a long one on the Beach Boys' classic PET SOUNDS earlier this week. I think Crabby'll still be doing this stuff after the rest of us are long gone. SOMEBODY has to. And Crabby's had to deal with the Russians before. Several times. And he doesn't know what it all means, either.
I think it is well past time for someone -- a weak link in the Arab or Russian cabals -- to Confess All. But I ain't holdin' my breath.
I think Donald Trump is somehow to blame for all this. I'll figure out HOW later. And if it's not him, it's GOT to be Hillary. Right?
Monday, August 8, 2016
Cleaning house!
OK, one last chance for the following CD's to impress me before I sell them all off at Half-Price Books in Tacoma. Lots of '60s/'70s jazz and off-the-wall stuff follows.
NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY:
* Van Morrison -- TUPELO HONEY (1971). Just heard this all the way through for the first time ever a couple of days ago. "Wild Night" I knew well, and I'd heard the title song once 30 years ago and wasn't impressed. But overall, very nice bouncy music to relax by, not as dark and intense as ASTRAL WEEKS or MOONDANCE, and not as light as HIS BAND AND THE STREET CHOIR. Great drumming from Connie Kay, great sax from Jack Schroer, good guitars from Van and Ronnie Montrose, and excellent singing as always. I've read that Van was happy in his domestic bliss with Janet Planet (who sings backup here) when he recorded this, and happiness and contentment comes through on almost every track. And the title song gains momentum and emotional impact I'd never noticed before thanks largely to the great drumming. Good stuff.
THE PLAYLIST:
* Vince Guaraldi Trio -- Linus and Lucy. From A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. Is it weird to be listening to "Christmas" music in August? Well, it's cooler than normal here.... This takes the irresistible PEANUTS theme music and elaborates the hell out of it. There's even a pure-jazz be-boppish midsection. Wasn't there a flute on the original version of this? Where's the flute? Doesn't matter. Tough to resist.
* Vince Guaraldi -- Christmas Time is Here. Tough to resist the PEANUTS kids' cute vocals. The backing is sorta standard piano-trio jazz, but very soothing. You can hear the snowflakes falling....
* Vince Guaraldi -- Skating. I don't remember this as the music for the kids skating on the pond in the cartoon -- I thought that music was more languid. This jumps around way more than I remember. Vince is skating across the keys....
* George Winston -- Cast Your Fate to the Wind. From LINUS AND LUCY: THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI. The repeating piano choruses are a lot of fun. This could almost be a PEANUTS song, too.
* George Winston -- Linus and Lucy. Yes, just like the other one, but with more ringing held notes on the piano and a more direct attack. Kind of stiff. And then he elaborates the sucker out to Mars. And where's the bass and drums? And there's still no flute.
* John Coltrane -- Acknowledgement. From A LOVE SUPREME. Is this CD stuck? Coltrane riffs on the same four-note phrase for five minutes before the quartet starts the deep-voiced album-title chant. But Elvin Jones bashes all over the drum kit and McCoy Tyner comps all over the place on the piano. Hmmm....
* John Coltrane -- Resolution. This is more like it, with Coltrane blowing strong and Tyner just as strong while twinkling away on the piano. Easier to listen to than the opening movement. A little screeching from Trane later on....
* Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Tarkus. From the ATLANTIC YEARS best-of. Good Ghod, 20 minutes of this?! Active, forceful opening. Alternately horn-like and popcorn-machine-like busy synthesizer opening into Greg Lake's lovesong to the title armadillo-tank creature. Silly, dumb Deeply Significant lyrics, but OK if you're into bombast. Good cheap entertainment. "Karn Evil 9" is way better. But man, Keith Emerson could play the hell out of that keyboard. Then there's a rockin' bluesy midsection ... with more dumb lyrics. Couple of brief, dramatic keyboard-drums-guitar duels -- the best part of ELP: short, punchy, catchy phrases repeated at lightning-fast speeds. Good stuff. The lyrics are pretty unbearable, and they're delivered portentously, morosely, without any humor. Then more popcorn-machine synth, but it's cute. Maybe the joke's on me. Sounds sort of like a duck quacking. Emerson's having fun with it. And just when you think it's over, they bang a gong and bring back the opening theme. Overall: Silly, meaningless, but not bad. OK, survived that, what else we got around here...?
* Clannad -- Na Buachailli Alainn (I think). From FUAIM. In Gaelic. This is early, from 1982, and seems lighter than their often-somber later stuff. Enya's on here, too, on keybs and vocals. Very pleasant choruses, no idea what they're on about. Over too soon.
* Clannad -- Strayed Away. In English! More like their later stuff, but very pleasant ... and over too soon.
* Maire Brennan -- Ce Leis. From MAIRE. She's Clannad's lead singer. This is very soothing. Is it nap time yet? Sounds like Clannad, no surprise -- but quieter. Nice flute by Mick Taylor.
* Maire Brennan -- Against the Wind. This is more like it. An actual beat, angry-chanting backing vocals, some force. Nice mandolin from Donal Lunny. A battle song. Fairly dramatic.
* Maire Brennan -- Atlantic Shore. This also has a beat and it moves. A beat and a little drama seem to do Maire a lot of good. She should tell her relatives in Clannad.
* Frank Zappa -- You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here, Trouble Every Day. From FREAK OUT! "Trouble Every Day" is a way-ahead-of-its-time media-and-society critique, with some good FZ guitar. Not bad, and right on. "Wondering" is more silly munchkin-like social criticism.
* Frank Zappa -- It Can't Happen Here. Acapella weirdness.
* Frank Zappa -- Who Are the Brain Police? The Beach Boys on acid. Does Frank ever stop with the jokes? Did he ever take anything but his guitar-playing seriously? Devolves into serious noise.
* FZ -- How Could I be Such a Fool?, Wowie Zowie. More doo-wop comedy. I used to know somebody who did a better, funnier version of "Wowie Zowie" than Frank and the Mothers....
* FZ -- The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet. Oh, no....
* Richard and Mimi Farina -- Pack Up Your Sorrows. From TREASURY OF FOLK MUSIC. Could almost be a sweeter Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Mimi and Richard were briefly almost a big deal back in the mid-'60s. Sweet, talented, but not distinctive.
* Simon Sisters -- Winken, Blinken and Nod. Carly Simon?! This is cute, could almost be Clannad. Kids would love it.
* Pete Seeger -- Little Boxes. Cute and funny and true, this lecture about "levelling" and Everybody Ending Up The Same is over so quickly the point almost doesn't hit you.
* Jimmie Rodgers -- Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. Ray Conniff(!) does a better, more dramatic (frankly, CLASSIC) version of this, though this is OK....
* Ornette Coleman -- Lonely Woman. From THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME. Played this awhile back and survived, so thought I'd try it again. Rather nicely harmonized honking horn music.
* Ornette Coleman -- Eventually. This sounds more like Ornette. Speedy, honking all over the place, busy drums and bass.
* Ornette Coleman -- Peace. Laid back, nice harmonized horns, rather "normal." Restful. But I'm not gonna make it through 9 minutes of this....
* Billie Holiday -- Billie's Blues. From QUINTESSENTIAL, VOLUME 2. I'm told I should listen to her voice and ignore the music. And her voice is fine. But her backup is SO Dixieland-jazz.... Of course it WAS 1936.
* Billie Holiday -- With Thee I Swing, The Way You Look Tonight. "Swing" swings, and it's cute. "The Way You Look" is charming, though very short. I guess she sorta got through to me finally. But the liner notes to her QUINTESSENTIAL best-of are better than the music....
* Miles Davis -- Right Off. From JACK JOHNSON. Wow, this is more like it. Funky, with some nice John McLaughlin guitar. Then Miles comes in with his piercing trumpet. This is much more ALIVE than I expected, though I'd read rave reviews. Can it really hold up for 26 minutes? ... OK, I made it 11 minutes in, to where the rockin' guitar-and-trumpet duel winds down. Not bad. Pretty damn lively. I might even keep it.
* Miles Davis -- Miles Runs the Voodoo Down. From BITCHES BREW. Seems like Miles blowing piercingly over a rather sluggish background, though John McLaughlin does step up later, and there's some interesting twiddling on the keyboards from Chick Corea and Larry Young. But kind of aimless.
* Miles Davis -- Sanctuary. This was written by saxist Wayne Shorter, and is mostly quiet, pretty, distant. Might be time for a sandwich. Or a nap.
* Dave Brubeck -- Kathy's Waltz. From TIME OUT. Formal but pretty piano-and-sax jazz. Good dinner music. Sounds vaguely Christmas-y. Hmmm. Do we have a theme going here?
* Keith Jarrett -- KOLN CONCERT Part 1, Part 2c. I've tried to get into this, but I can't -- though I do enjoy some of Jarrett's other stuff very much. "2c" seems the best part of the concert to me, and it's brief for Jarrett -- only 7 minutes. At least it has a melody. It's pretty. But even it drags. The rest is too much like going to church. Except for the parts where it sounds like he's having sex with the piano.
* Keith Jarrett -- Long As You Know You're Living Yours. From BELONGING. Steely Dan claimed they mined the crap out of this to create the wonderful title track of GAUCHO. They maybe smoothed Jarrett's melody out and made it more distinctive. I don't hear much of "Gaucho" in this. It meanders. But Jarrett's all over the piano and Jan Garbarek really screams on the sax.
* Keith Jarrett -- Belonging. Very laid back. Garbarek's mournful sax dominates this brief piece.
COMING EVENTUALLY: "Cleaning House 2!"
NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY:
* Van Morrison -- TUPELO HONEY (1971). Just heard this all the way through for the first time ever a couple of days ago. "Wild Night" I knew well, and I'd heard the title song once 30 years ago and wasn't impressed. But overall, very nice bouncy music to relax by, not as dark and intense as ASTRAL WEEKS or MOONDANCE, and not as light as HIS BAND AND THE STREET CHOIR. Great drumming from Connie Kay, great sax from Jack Schroer, good guitars from Van and Ronnie Montrose, and excellent singing as always. I've read that Van was happy in his domestic bliss with Janet Planet (who sings backup here) when he recorded this, and happiness and contentment comes through on almost every track. And the title song gains momentum and emotional impact I'd never noticed before thanks largely to the great drumming. Good stuff.
THE PLAYLIST:
* Vince Guaraldi Trio -- Linus and Lucy. From A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. Is it weird to be listening to "Christmas" music in August? Well, it's cooler than normal here.... This takes the irresistible PEANUTS theme music and elaborates the hell out of it. There's even a pure-jazz be-boppish midsection. Wasn't there a flute on the original version of this? Where's the flute? Doesn't matter. Tough to resist.
* Vince Guaraldi -- Christmas Time is Here. Tough to resist the PEANUTS kids' cute vocals. The backing is sorta standard piano-trio jazz, but very soothing. You can hear the snowflakes falling....
* Vince Guaraldi -- Skating. I don't remember this as the music for the kids skating on the pond in the cartoon -- I thought that music was more languid. This jumps around way more than I remember. Vince is skating across the keys....
* George Winston -- Cast Your Fate to the Wind. From LINUS AND LUCY: THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI. The repeating piano choruses are a lot of fun. This could almost be a PEANUTS song, too.
* George Winston -- Linus and Lucy. Yes, just like the other one, but with more ringing held notes on the piano and a more direct attack. Kind of stiff. And then he elaborates the sucker out to Mars. And where's the bass and drums? And there's still no flute.
* John Coltrane -- Acknowledgement. From A LOVE SUPREME. Is this CD stuck? Coltrane riffs on the same four-note phrase for five minutes before the quartet starts the deep-voiced album-title chant. But Elvin Jones bashes all over the drum kit and McCoy Tyner comps all over the place on the piano. Hmmm....
* John Coltrane -- Resolution. This is more like it, with Coltrane blowing strong and Tyner just as strong while twinkling away on the piano. Easier to listen to than the opening movement. A little screeching from Trane later on....
* Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Tarkus. From the ATLANTIC YEARS best-of. Good Ghod, 20 minutes of this?! Active, forceful opening. Alternately horn-like and popcorn-machine-like busy synthesizer opening into Greg Lake's lovesong to the title armadillo-tank creature. Silly, dumb Deeply Significant lyrics, but OK if you're into bombast. Good cheap entertainment. "Karn Evil 9" is way better. But man, Keith Emerson could play the hell out of that keyboard. Then there's a rockin' bluesy midsection ... with more dumb lyrics. Couple of brief, dramatic keyboard-drums-guitar duels -- the best part of ELP: short, punchy, catchy phrases repeated at lightning-fast speeds. Good stuff. The lyrics are pretty unbearable, and they're delivered portentously, morosely, without any humor. Then more popcorn-machine synth, but it's cute. Maybe the joke's on me. Sounds sort of like a duck quacking. Emerson's having fun with it. And just when you think it's over, they bang a gong and bring back the opening theme. Overall: Silly, meaningless, but not bad. OK, survived that, what else we got around here...?
* Clannad -- Na Buachailli Alainn (I think). From FUAIM. In Gaelic. This is early, from 1982, and seems lighter than their often-somber later stuff. Enya's on here, too, on keybs and vocals. Very pleasant choruses, no idea what they're on about. Over too soon.
* Clannad -- Strayed Away. In English! More like their later stuff, but very pleasant ... and over too soon.
* Maire Brennan -- Ce Leis. From MAIRE. She's Clannad's lead singer. This is very soothing. Is it nap time yet? Sounds like Clannad, no surprise -- but quieter. Nice flute by Mick Taylor.
* Maire Brennan -- Against the Wind. This is more like it. An actual beat, angry-chanting backing vocals, some force. Nice mandolin from Donal Lunny. A battle song. Fairly dramatic.
* Maire Brennan -- Atlantic Shore. This also has a beat and it moves. A beat and a little drama seem to do Maire a lot of good. She should tell her relatives in Clannad.
* Frank Zappa -- You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here, Trouble Every Day. From FREAK OUT! "Trouble Every Day" is a way-ahead-of-its-time media-and-society critique, with some good FZ guitar. Not bad, and right on. "Wondering" is more silly munchkin-like social criticism.
* Frank Zappa -- It Can't Happen Here. Acapella weirdness.
* Frank Zappa -- Who Are the Brain Police? The Beach Boys on acid. Does Frank ever stop with the jokes? Did he ever take anything but his guitar-playing seriously? Devolves into serious noise.
* FZ -- How Could I be Such a Fool?, Wowie Zowie. More doo-wop comedy. I used to know somebody who did a better, funnier version of "Wowie Zowie" than Frank and the Mothers....
* FZ -- The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet. Oh, no....
* Richard and Mimi Farina -- Pack Up Your Sorrows. From TREASURY OF FOLK MUSIC. Could almost be a sweeter Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Mimi and Richard were briefly almost a big deal back in the mid-'60s. Sweet, talented, but not distinctive.
* Simon Sisters -- Winken, Blinken and Nod. Carly Simon?! This is cute, could almost be Clannad. Kids would love it.
* Pete Seeger -- Little Boxes. Cute and funny and true, this lecture about "levelling" and Everybody Ending Up The Same is over so quickly the point almost doesn't hit you.
* Jimmie Rodgers -- Kisses Sweeter Than Wine. Ray Conniff(!) does a better, more dramatic (frankly, CLASSIC) version of this, though this is OK....
* Ornette Coleman -- Lonely Woman. From THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME. Played this awhile back and survived, so thought I'd try it again. Rather nicely harmonized honking horn music.
* Ornette Coleman -- Eventually. This sounds more like Ornette. Speedy, honking all over the place, busy drums and bass.
* Ornette Coleman -- Peace. Laid back, nice harmonized horns, rather "normal." Restful. But I'm not gonna make it through 9 minutes of this....
* Billie Holiday -- Billie's Blues. From QUINTESSENTIAL, VOLUME 2. I'm told I should listen to her voice and ignore the music. And her voice is fine. But her backup is SO Dixieland-jazz.... Of course it WAS 1936.
* Billie Holiday -- With Thee I Swing, The Way You Look Tonight. "Swing" swings, and it's cute. "The Way You Look" is charming, though very short. I guess she sorta got through to me finally. But the liner notes to her QUINTESSENTIAL best-of are better than the music....
* Miles Davis -- Right Off. From JACK JOHNSON. Wow, this is more like it. Funky, with some nice John McLaughlin guitar. Then Miles comes in with his piercing trumpet. This is much more ALIVE than I expected, though I'd read rave reviews. Can it really hold up for 26 minutes? ... OK, I made it 11 minutes in, to where the rockin' guitar-and-trumpet duel winds down. Not bad. Pretty damn lively. I might even keep it.
* Miles Davis -- Miles Runs the Voodoo Down. From BITCHES BREW. Seems like Miles blowing piercingly over a rather sluggish background, though John McLaughlin does step up later, and there's some interesting twiddling on the keyboards from Chick Corea and Larry Young. But kind of aimless.
* Miles Davis -- Sanctuary. This was written by saxist Wayne Shorter, and is mostly quiet, pretty, distant. Might be time for a sandwich. Or a nap.
* Dave Brubeck -- Kathy's Waltz. From TIME OUT. Formal but pretty piano-and-sax jazz. Good dinner music. Sounds vaguely Christmas-y. Hmmm. Do we have a theme going here?
* Keith Jarrett -- KOLN CONCERT Part 1, Part 2c. I've tried to get into this, but I can't -- though I do enjoy some of Jarrett's other stuff very much. "2c" seems the best part of the concert to me, and it's brief for Jarrett -- only 7 minutes. At least it has a melody. It's pretty. But even it drags. The rest is too much like going to church. Except for the parts where it sounds like he's having sex with the piano.
* Keith Jarrett -- Long As You Know You're Living Yours. From BELONGING. Steely Dan claimed they mined the crap out of this to create the wonderful title track of GAUCHO. They maybe smoothed Jarrett's melody out and made it more distinctive. I don't hear much of "Gaucho" in this. It meanders. But Jarrett's all over the piano and Jan Garbarek really screams on the sax.
* Keith Jarrett -- Belonging. Very laid back. Garbarek's mournful sax dominates this brief piece.
COMING EVENTUALLY: "Cleaning House 2!"
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
On not-feeling-it musically
I'm getting bored again.
Yesterday's early-morning live-blogging session wasn't a complete success. For one, I was too tired. For another, nothing I played all morning was exciting enough, alive enough, Different enough to keep me from knocking off for a 2-hour nap and lunch before I finally gave up at 2 p.m.
Sorry for letting you down. I know you turn here for snarky musical comments about stuff that's already 20 or 30 years old, and I do my best to help you out, but.
I'll be trying to fix this in the future.
A year or so ago when money got tight (under $25 in the bank account), I sold-off a TON of Strange Music to Half-Price Books in Tacoma, to help pay for upcoming bills I hadn't planned far enough ahead for. A lot of stuff left the house then -- I figured if I could live without it, if I wasn't playing it every week, I wouldn't miss it, and it might be worth some cash. And it was.
So, out went a Caravan box set, Camel box set, best-of Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Van der Graaf Generator, Strawbs, Al Stewart, a ton more -- nothing truly life-changing, I thought at the time.
Now I'd like to have most of it back. Because I'm bored.
I've added lotsa cheap used stuff over the past few months, thanks to my area Goodwills. But Goodwills around here are all about the timing. Though I've found some treasures there (complete Nick Drake collection, Clannad, Can best-of, everything by the Beatles except RUBBER SOUL and LET IT BE), some weeks they have NOTHING. Or the pickings are pretty slim. And with my need for a musical fix, I hate to go away empty-handed.
This weekend I even picked up a best-of by Tom Petty. Other recent purchases include best-of's by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, and Styx for Ghod's sake (in descending order of quality). Just to maybe jolt me a little bit. Get me outta my rut, musically.
I bought a ton of early-'60s jazz awhile back, trying to educate myself. And what I mostly learned is that I can't HEAR most of it. Little of it has a melody strong enough to keep my mind from wandering....
I haven't felt like this since just before I stumbled over The Blues, a couple of years ago. The Blues (and R&B and Soul) kept me going for awhile. And somehow there aren't too many blues CD's up for grabs at my local Goodwills.
I have a few Strange things left in the house. But after my retro crash-course in Progressive Rock History a few years ago (for a book I wanted to write, may still finish writing), I now pretty-much know what to expect. I wish I could say it'd be worth my time.
I COULD put on ELP's "Tarkus" again and maybe learn and hear something new (Rastro at La Historia de la Musica Rock would say "Hell, YEAH! What are you WAITING for?!") -- but I already sat through that a couple times, and by this point I'm pretty sure that's a half-hour I'm never gonna get back.
Hell, I was lucky to get all the way through Yes's "Ritual" awhile back, and I doubt I'll be playing it again in the near future. Not sure I'd play "Gates of Delirium" again even if I had it right in front of me. Which I don't.
So, I will try to do better. Soon as I find something that will wake me up. I'll be looking beyond the usual locations soon for Something New And Different to stir me up.
Didn't seem to matter yesterday if it was something I'd heard before or not. And if it can't wake me up, I'm not gonna have much to say about it here.
Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I need a break. Or a new format. Anybody else ever get like this?
Yesterday's early-morning live-blogging session wasn't a complete success. For one, I was too tired. For another, nothing I played all morning was exciting enough, alive enough, Different enough to keep me from knocking off for a 2-hour nap and lunch before I finally gave up at 2 p.m.
Sorry for letting you down. I know you turn here for snarky musical comments about stuff that's already 20 or 30 years old, and I do my best to help you out, but.
I'll be trying to fix this in the future.
A year or so ago when money got tight (under $25 in the bank account), I sold-off a TON of Strange Music to Half-Price Books in Tacoma, to help pay for upcoming bills I hadn't planned far enough ahead for. A lot of stuff left the house then -- I figured if I could live without it, if I wasn't playing it every week, I wouldn't miss it, and it might be worth some cash. And it was.
So, out went a Caravan box set, Camel box set, best-of Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Van der Graaf Generator, Strawbs, Al Stewart, a ton more -- nothing truly life-changing, I thought at the time.
Now I'd like to have most of it back. Because I'm bored.
I've added lotsa cheap used stuff over the past few months, thanks to my area Goodwills. But Goodwills around here are all about the timing. Though I've found some treasures there (complete Nick Drake collection, Clannad, Can best-of, everything by the Beatles except RUBBER SOUL and LET IT BE), some weeks they have NOTHING. Or the pickings are pretty slim. And with my need for a musical fix, I hate to go away empty-handed.
This weekend I even picked up a best-of by Tom Petty. Other recent purchases include best-of's by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, and Styx for Ghod's sake (in descending order of quality). Just to maybe jolt me a little bit. Get me outta my rut, musically.
I bought a ton of early-'60s jazz awhile back, trying to educate myself. And what I mostly learned is that I can't HEAR most of it. Little of it has a melody strong enough to keep my mind from wandering....
I haven't felt like this since just before I stumbled over The Blues, a couple of years ago. The Blues (and R&B and Soul) kept me going for awhile. And somehow there aren't too many blues CD's up for grabs at my local Goodwills.
I have a few Strange things left in the house. But after my retro crash-course in Progressive Rock History a few years ago (for a book I wanted to write, may still finish writing), I now pretty-much know what to expect. I wish I could say it'd be worth my time.
I COULD put on ELP's "Tarkus" again and maybe learn and hear something new (Rastro at La Historia de la Musica Rock would say "Hell, YEAH! What are you WAITING for?!") -- but I already sat through that a couple times, and by this point I'm pretty sure that's a half-hour I'm never gonna get back.
Hell, I was lucky to get all the way through Yes's "Ritual" awhile back, and I doubt I'll be playing it again in the near future. Not sure I'd play "Gates of Delirium" again even if I had it right in front of me. Which I don't.
So, I will try to do better. Soon as I find something that will wake me up. I'll be looking beyond the usual locations soon for Something New And Different to stir me up.
Didn't seem to matter yesterday if it was something I'd heard before or not. And if it can't wake me up, I'm not gonna have much to say about it here.
Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I need a break. Or a new format. Anybody else ever get like this?
Monday, August 1, 2016
Early-morning obnoxiousness!
Here's what I played between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. --
* King Crimson -- The King Crimson Barber Shop. Here now, THIS'll wake you up. That Tony Levin, whatta joker. Only about the third joke they cracked in their entire career....
* King Crimson -- Three of a Perfect Pair. Love the jagged, angular sound and the sliding vocal harmonies. Is Adrian Belew talking about his marriage? Or his partnership with Rockin' Bobby Fripp?
* King Crimson -- Sleepless. Is this the disco remix? For some reason, the version on their best-of sounds different than the original on PERFECT PAIR -- more streamlined, longer, less jagged and annoying. This is not necessarily a good thing. This is still great, hypnotic trance music, and Adrian's line about looking for submarines in his ceiling gets me every time.
* Frank Sinatra -- The Lady is a Tramp. Of course, this guy was also on the Reprise Records label, just like Crimson. ... Hey, this is a hoot! Swingin' big-band arrangement, kinda rushed in a live setting, but it sounds like Frank starts enjoying himself as it goes on -- he starts messing with and ad-libbing the lyrics. The audience is too friggin' loud. Ain't they got no respect?
* Frank Sinatra -- Luck Be a Lady. Kinda formal at first, but then it lightens up and swings. Frank sounds in his element, and some of the lyrics are funny. OK, that's enough of that. What else have we got around here?
* Dean Martin -- Ain't That a Kick in the Head? Disappointing. I thought this was funnier. Sounds like Dino stole the band from The Chairman. Dean might be funnier if he was a little drunker. Some of the lyrics are OK, but Dino delivers it too straight-faced. Next?
* Patsy Cline -- Walkin' After Midnight, Crazy, I Fall to Pieces. Wow, what a voice! And the sound jumps right out of the speakers! "Walkin' After Midnight" sounds pretty tough. "Crazy" moves into Sinatra/Martin crooner territory. "Pieces" softens things out further with backing vocals. But what a pure-country voice. And of course "Crazy" was written by Willie Nelson....
* Kansas -- Journey from Mariabronn. Ah, THE great lost Kansas song.... OK, that semi-operatic "doo-doo-doo" middle-section is maybe a bit too much, but the rest is so perfect and so balanced -- WAY better than "Dust in the Wind." These guys were really good back in the day.
* Monkees -- Your Auntie Grizelda. The CD sound really cleans this up, to the point where you can tell clearly that Peter Tork really can't sing it. Which just makes it more charming. I prefer the noisy chaos of the original vinyl, but this cranky revolutionary track must have really spoken to its generation back in the day. Jack Keller and Diane Hildebrand teamed up to write this -- Hildebrand was really good at nonsense. She co-wrote the Monkees' "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" and "Goin' Down," and co-wrote the Partridge Family's classic "Singing My Song" with the great wordless choruses....
* Styx -- Suite Madame Blue. Grabbed Styx's best-of from Goodwill awhile back when I was feeling a shortage of basic rock and roll in the house. Also grabbed best-of's by Foreigner, Pat Benatar and Lynyrd Skynyrd, for gosh sakes. What was I thinking? Something to keep me motivated at work, maybe? What I want to know is: Why isn't "Lorelei" on Styx's best-of? At least "Fooling Yourself" and "Blue Collar Man" ARE on it. As for THIS, it's heavy-handed and overdone just like I always thought, a pretty dull metaphor for America and its place in the world. The massed-group vocals later on are OK. This is either too thin or they should've pushed the grandiosity EVEN FARTHER. I gotta be in a great mood to be able to take these guys....
* Iron Butterfly -- Flowers and Beads. An old not-quite-girlfriend of mine thought this was the greatest song ever, back in 1974. The vocals are kind of creepy, and the twiddly guitar and sparkly organ are SO 1968, man. And the CD sound cleans everything up way too much. Still, coulda been a hit. But if you think I'm gonna play "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" this early in the morning, you're outta your mind.
* Cat Stevens -- Oh Very Young. I remember not liking this much back in the day, but it sounds pretty good this morning, and the female backing vocals sweeten it up even more. It's a chilly 60 degrees and cloudy here and showers are expected later -- a big change from the sunny 85+ degrees we've averaged the past couple weeks. And I know the rest of the country's cooking....
* Cat Stevens -- Where Do the Children Play? This isn't too far from a gentle Jethro Tull song, especially during Cat's "play-ay-ay-ay" choruses. And it gets angrier as it goes. Then it sounds even more like Ian Anderson.
* Cat Stevens -- Sitting. Haven't heard this in years. Cat sounds so bitter and worried. Desperate. About nothing much. Compelling performance, though.
* Indigo Girls -- Closer to Fine. Great vocals and acoustic guitars, not sure about the protest lyrics. Could maybe have been simpler lyrically.
* Beatles -- Baby's in Black. Wow, this is really terrible -- until the GREAT harmony vocals on the choruses save it. And meanwhile, it's started raining outside. Jeez, it could be March out there....
* Beatles -- Rock and Roll Music. Can't turn THIS off.... Nice barrelhouse piano from George Martin, too.
* Beatles -- Mr. Moonlight, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, Every Little Thing, Everybody's Trying to be My Baby. "Mr. Moonlight" is truly wretched, but somehow that cheezy organ sound grows on you like a fungus. "Kansas City" rocks and has these amazingly happy shouted vocals throughout. Too bad "Every Little Thing" doesn't have any of the flashy "Day Tripper"-riffy guitar that Yes's much-later version has -- probably because the Fabs wouldn't record "Day Tripper" 'til like 8 months later. Yes's version also, amazingly, LEERS more than the Fabs' -- "And you know the THING she does/She does for me...." "Everybody" features George's best, funniest vocal ever. Shoulda been a hit.
* Electric Light Orchestra -- Boy Blue, Birmingham Blues, Bluebird. Choruses on "Boy Blue" are OK, but the rest seems kind of stodgy, dull, awkward. And the string players sound like they're stuck in the mud. The only thing that grabs me on "Birmingham Blues" is the occasional acoustic-guitar strumming. "Bluebird" is more like it, coulda been a hit. Ghod knows what original album it's on -- I'd say something later, because it's really smooth. I'd read that Jeff Lynne had a "blue" fixation, but who knows what it means. No clues here.
* Trisha Yearwood -- Thinkin' About You. This is so restful. Trisha sounds so relaxed. And the guitar's great. But it ends too soon.
* Liz Phair -- Extraordinary. This is wonderful. Amazing. Great vocals and choruses, solid playing. Too bad it's the only thing of hers that's ever grabbed me. "Why Can't I?" was annoying, and EXILE IN GUYVILLE was a hype no matter what the "concept" was supposed to be.
* Liz Phair -- H.W.C. Well now, this is shocking. It's also playful, and you can sing along with the choruses ... if you want. And you'll NEVER hear it on the radio. Sure raised my eyebrows. Cute. Liz, you dirty thing.
* JoDee Messina -- Heads Carolina Tails California. Love these upbeat country women! Should've been a huge pop hit. Of course it's over with too quick....
* Harvey Danger -- Flagpole Sitta. I LOVE the "I'm not sick but I'm not well" choruses, and this is great to scream along with as you careen down the freeway. The lyrics are brutal and hilarious. And it's over too quick. Why does everyone think this is Green Day? Too bad(?) that they couldn't follow it up....
* Seals and Crofts -- We May Never Pass This Way Again. Well, this really sounds quiet next to Harvey Danger. But I loved it back in the day and it still sounds great. And I can finally hear all the words clearly....
* Seals and Crofts -- Hummingbird. This is almost too much. It's SO 1972. But something about the string arrangement and the voices building at the climax does its magic. Great production by Louie Shelton.
* Grateful Dead -- Uncle John's Band. Man, if only they could SING! Crosby, Stills and Nash or the Beach Boys they definitely were NOT. But the communal spirit carries them through despite the sometimes strained vocals. Tough to say no to this acoustic ditty. But it could've been an anthem. If somebody else had performed it.
* Grateful Dead -- New Speedway Boogie. And on this the strained vocals really hurt. There are better, more dramatic versions out there.... And I just noticed I've lost the Dead's best-of somewhere in my travels. Maybe I didn't care that much....
* King Crimson -- The King Crimson Barber Shop. Here now, THIS'll wake you up. That Tony Levin, whatta joker. Only about the third joke they cracked in their entire career....
* King Crimson -- Three of a Perfect Pair. Love the jagged, angular sound and the sliding vocal harmonies. Is Adrian Belew talking about his marriage? Or his partnership with Rockin' Bobby Fripp?
* King Crimson -- Sleepless. Is this the disco remix? For some reason, the version on their best-of sounds different than the original on PERFECT PAIR -- more streamlined, longer, less jagged and annoying. This is not necessarily a good thing. This is still great, hypnotic trance music, and Adrian's line about looking for submarines in his ceiling gets me every time.
* Frank Sinatra -- The Lady is a Tramp. Of course, this guy was also on the Reprise Records label, just like Crimson. ... Hey, this is a hoot! Swingin' big-band arrangement, kinda rushed in a live setting, but it sounds like Frank starts enjoying himself as it goes on -- he starts messing with and ad-libbing the lyrics. The audience is too friggin' loud. Ain't they got no respect?
* Frank Sinatra -- Luck Be a Lady. Kinda formal at first, but then it lightens up and swings. Frank sounds in his element, and some of the lyrics are funny. OK, that's enough of that. What else have we got around here?
* Dean Martin -- Ain't That a Kick in the Head? Disappointing. I thought this was funnier. Sounds like Dino stole the band from The Chairman. Dean might be funnier if he was a little drunker. Some of the lyrics are OK, but Dino delivers it too straight-faced. Next?
* Patsy Cline -- Walkin' After Midnight, Crazy, I Fall to Pieces. Wow, what a voice! And the sound jumps right out of the speakers! "Walkin' After Midnight" sounds pretty tough. "Crazy" moves into Sinatra/Martin crooner territory. "Pieces" softens things out further with backing vocals. But what a pure-country voice. And of course "Crazy" was written by Willie Nelson....
* Kansas -- Journey from Mariabronn. Ah, THE great lost Kansas song.... OK, that semi-operatic "doo-doo-doo" middle-section is maybe a bit too much, but the rest is so perfect and so balanced -- WAY better than "Dust in the Wind." These guys were really good back in the day.
* Monkees -- Your Auntie Grizelda. The CD sound really cleans this up, to the point where you can tell clearly that Peter Tork really can't sing it. Which just makes it more charming. I prefer the noisy chaos of the original vinyl, but this cranky revolutionary track must have really spoken to its generation back in the day. Jack Keller and Diane Hildebrand teamed up to write this -- Hildebrand was really good at nonsense. She co-wrote the Monkees' "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" and "Goin' Down," and co-wrote the Partridge Family's classic "Singing My Song" with the great wordless choruses....
* Styx -- Suite Madame Blue. Grabbed Styx's best-of from Goodwill awhile back when I was feeling a shortage of basic rock and roll in the house. Also grabbed best-of's by Foreigner, Pat Benatar and Lynyrd Skynyrd, for gosh sakes. What was I thinking? Something to keep me motivated at work, maybe? What I want to know is: Why isn't "Lorelei" on Styx's best-of? At least "Fooling Yourself" and "Blue Collar Man" ARE on it. As for THIS, it's heavy-handed and overdone just like I always thought, a pretty dull metaphor for America and its place in the world. The massed-group vocals later on are OK. This is either too thin or they should've pushed the grandiosity EVEN FARTHER. I gotta be in a great mood to be able to take these guys....
* Iron Butterfly -- Flowers and Beads. An old not-quite-girlfriend of mine thought this was the greatest song ever, back in 1974. The vocals are kind of creepy, and the twiddly guitar and sparkly organ are SO 1968, man. And the CD sound cleans everything up way too much. Still, coulda been a hit. But if you think I'm gonna play "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" this early in the morning, you're outta your mind.
* Cat Stevens -- Oh Very Young. I remember not liking this much back in the day, but it sounds pretty good this morning, and the female backing vocals sweeten it up even more. It's a chilly 60 degrees and cloudy here and showers are expected later -- a big change from the sunny 85+ degrees we've averaged the past couple weeks. And I know the rest of the country's cooking....
* Cat Stevens -- Where Do the Children Play? This isn't too far from a gentle Jethro Tull song, especially during Cat's "play-ay-ay-ay" choruses. And it gets angrier as it goes. Then it sounds even more like Ian Anderson.
* Cat Stevens -- Sitting. Haven't heard this in years. Cat sounds so bitter and worried. Desperate. About nothing much. Compelling performance, though.
* Indigo Girls -- Closer to Fine. Great vocals and acoustic guitars, not sure about the protest lyrics. Could maybe have been simpler lyrically.
* Beatles -- Baby's in Black. Wow, this is really terrible -- until the GREAT harmony vocals on the choruses save it. And meanwhile, it's started raining outside. Jeez, it could be March out there....
* Beatles -- Rock and Roll Music. Can't turn THIS off.... Nice barrelhouse piano from George Martin, too.
* Beatles -- Mr. Moonlight, Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, Every Little Thing, Everybody's Trying to be My Baby. "Mr. Moonlight" is truly wretched, but somehow that cheezy organ sound grows on you like a fungus. "Kansas City" rocks and has these amazingly happy shouted vocals throughout. Too bad "Every Little Thing" doesn't have any of the flashy "Day Tripper"-riffy guitar that Yes's much-later version has -- probably because the Fabs wouldn't record "Day Tripper" 'til like 8 months later. Yes's version also, amazingly, LEERS more than the Fabs' -- "And you know the THING she does/She does for me...." "Everybody" features George's best, funniest vocal ever. Shoulda been a hit.
* Electric Light Orchestra -- Boy Blue, Birmingham Blues, Bluebird. Choruses on "Boy Blue" are OK, but the rest seems kind of stodgy, dull, awkward. And the string players sound like they're stuck in the mud. The only thing that grabs me on "Birmingham Blues" is the occasional acoustic-guitar strumming. "Bluebird" is more like it, coulda been a hit. Ghod knows what original album it's on -- I'd say something later, because it's really smooth. I'd read that Jeff Lynne had a "blue" fixation, but who knows what it means. No clues here.
* Trisha Yearwood -- Thinkin' About You. This is so restful. Trisha sounds so relaxed. And the guitar's great. But it ends too soon.
* Liz Phair -- Extraordinary. This is wonderful. Amazing. Great vocals and choruses, solid playing. Too bad it's the only thing of hers that's ever grabbed me. "Why Can't I?" was annoying, and EXILE IN GUYVILLE was a hype no matter what the "concept" was supposed to be.
* Liz Phair -- H.W.C. Well now, this is shocking. It's also playful, and you can sing along with the choruses ... if you want. And you'll NEVER hear it on the radio. Sure raised my eyebrows. Cute. Liz, you dirty thing.
* JoDee Messina -- Heads Carolina Tails California. Love these upbeat country women! Should've been a huge pop hit. Of course it's over with too quick....
* Harvey Danger -- Flagpole Sitta. I LOVE the "I'm not sick but I'm not well" choruses, and this is great to scream along with as you careen down the freeway. The lyrics are brutal and hilarious. And it's over too quick. Why does everyone think this is Green Day? Too bad(?) that they couldn't follow it up....
* Seals and Crofts -- We May Never Pass This Way Again. Well, this really sounds quiet next to Harvey Danger. But I loved it back in the day and it still sounds great. And I can finally hear all the words clearly....
* Seals and Crofts -- Hummingbird. This is almost too much. It's SO 1972. But something about the string arrangement and the voices building at the climax does its magic. Great production by Louie Shelton.
* Grateful Dead -- Uncle John's Band. Man, if only they could SING! Crosby, Stills and Nash or the Beach Boys they definitely were NOT. But the communal spirit carries them through despite the sometimes strained vocals. Tough to say no to this acoustic ditty. But it could've been an anthem. If somebody else had performed it.
* Grateful Dead -- New Speedway Boogie. And on this the strained vocals really hurt. There are better, more dramatic versions out there.... And I just noticed I've lost the Dead's best-of somewhere in my travels. Maybe I didn't care that much....
Saturday, July 30, 2016
The Gas Nazi returns!
Back at work for two weeks and am due for another vacation already. Some nights have been a breeze, a couple have sucked. Thursday night was the worst in months. And I don't think it was just me having a Bad Night.
It's summer, and it's been krayzee-busy. Unhappy families hanging out barking at each other, parents buying beer but angrily refusing to buy cheap snacks for their kids, guys on bicycles circling around the parking lot aimlessly at midnight with no headlights, meth freaks wandering around like zombies. Some of them LOOK like zombies.
One obnoxious Regular who played scratch-tickets down to his last dime last winter came in all sad to tell me that his girlfriend had slept with his brother AND his best friend. "But NOT at the same time," he felt compelled to add. Meanwhile, his anorexic 18-year-old girlfriend stood right outside the store's front door, looking more lost than he did.
What did this guy want from me? He's not my friend, he's not even a friendly acquaintance. He'd already blown any chance of getting a supportive or compassionate response from me when he treated me like an idiot months ago. I didn't need to be told this stuff. And now I'm supposed to feel sorry for him?
My favorite drunk came in at two minutes to midnight to cash-in $35 worth of scratch-tickets, and I about came unglued. Because we've talked repeatedly about this before, about how I'm trying to close, scratch tickets are locked up, she's causing me more work and overtime I won't get paid for, etc. Made no difference.
"Why won't you take my tickets? You've still got three minutes," etc. So I cashed her out. But next time I'll send her somewhere else. The state shuts off scratch-ticket cash-outs at midnight. We'll see how she feels about that.
This is on top of all the usual work, all the stuff I get no help with, all the stocking and cleaning nobody else does that I can't keep up with, etc. And it wasn't THAT busy a night. We barely made $1,000. There've been many much-busier nights. But something about it really set me off. And I was lost by the time I got home. What if it's ME?
Despite this, despite the demands, despite the constant WANT-WANT-WANT and the crabiness when we didn't HAVE, I wasn't mean to anybody all night, I didn't yell at anyone, I didn't say any mean things. I held it together. Even with the drunk at midnight, though she wondered aloud why I was having such a hard time. That was because I wanted to wring her neck. By then I was Done.
My girlfriend says if I ever want to feel settled about my job, all I can do is change my mind and learn to live with it, because the situation's never gonna change. You'd think after 12 years on the job I'd KNOW that, but....
In light of this, I have come up with a list of goals to help me succeed and be happier at my job. Because of all the bitching I've done here about work, I know you'll appreciate me sharing them:
1. Don't WORRY.
2. Get through my shift and get home safely.
3. Don't upset customers.
4. Be nice to people.
5. Get all my side-work done.
6. No more negative talking to myself or customers.
7. Don't give my co-workers a hard time.
8. Stop judging people.
9. Be positive.
10. Enjoy myself, have fun, play!
11. Save money, win the Lottery, RETIRE!
My girlfriend says these are all do-able goals. Maybe not realistic, but do-able. I'll keep you posted....
When's my break?
MOVING: It's in the works. I'm already forwarding my mail here, to the girlfriend's house, where it's quiet and secure and Not Weird and I have some peace and time to think. Still haven't told the old Roommate yet, but he seems to know it's coming -- since I haven't slept under his roof in 2 months. Nor has he given me an update on the idiots who stole $800 from him. So far, all my stuff is secure, no weirdness with my bank account or any more attempts to mess with my credit. I may have dodged one. And I hope those jokers get sent up the creek. Meanwhile, all of my CD's and most of my clothes are here, books are being brought over a box or two at a time, and the girlfriend and I have found domestic bliss like I never thought I'd feel again. At least one part of my life is wonderful.
INVASION: It's the Russians! Over the last few weeks, this blog has set new records for viewership, with 75 percent of those visits coming from Russia. What are they looking for? There's nothing here. I'm not getting 400 views from Russia each day just because they're such big Nektar fans, I know that. And they're "reading" stuff I posted five years ago. Are these the same hackers who got into Hillary Clinton's e-mails and hacked the Democratic National Committee? Good Luck, guys. But there's nothing useful to you here....
THE ELECTION FROM HELL: I don't believe a word Hillary Clinton says. And some of Donald Trump's statements at the Republican Convention sounded like Hitler. Or at least Barry Goldwater back in 1964. Neither of these idiots really seem to believe they can rescue this country -- they just say what their audience wants to hear. They have NO SOLID PLANS for the future. If Bernie Sanders came out today as a third-party candidate millions would vote for him. The system is so fucked-up I doubt it matters WHO is President. Don't know what to do, but I've got my tickets to New Zealand reserved. Is this the best this country can do? Once again I suggest we JUST VOTE NO.
It's summer, and it's been krayzee-busy. Unhappy families hanging out barking at each other, parents buying beer but angrily refusing to buy cheap snacks for their kids, guys on bicycles circling around the parking lot aimlessly at midnight with no headlights, meth freaks wandering around like zombies. Some of them LOOK like zombies.
One obnoxious Regular who played scratch-tickets down to his last dime last winter came in all sad to tell me that his girlfriend had slept with his brother AND his best friend. "But NOT at the same time," he felt compelled to add. Meanwhile, his anorexic 18-year-old girlfriend stood right outside the store's front door, looking more lost than he did.
What did this guy want from me? He's not my friend, he's not even a friendly acquaintance. He'd already blown any chance of getting a supportive or compassionate response from me when he treated me like an idiot months ago. I didn't need to be told this stuff. And now I'm supposed to feel sorry for him?
My favorite drunk came in at two minutes to midnight to cash-in $35 worth of scratch-tickets, and I about came unglued. Because we've talked repeatedly about this before, about how I'm trying to close, scratch tickets are locked up, she's causing me more work and overtime I won't get paid for, etc. Made no difference.
"Why won't you take my tickets? You've still got three minutes," etc. So I cashed her out. But next time I'll send her somewhere else. The state shuts off scratch-ticket cash-outs at midnight. We'll see how she feels about that.
This is on top of all the usual work, all the stuff I get no help with, all the stocking and cleaning nobody else does that I can't keep up with, etc. And it wasn't THAT busy a night. We barely made $1,000. There've been many much-busier nights. But something about it really set me off. And I was lost by the time I got home. What if it's ME?
Despite this, despite the demands, despite the constant WANT-WANT-WANT and the crabiness when we didn't HAVE, I wasn't mean to anybody all night, I didn't yell at anyone, I didn't say any mean things. I held it together. Even with the drunk at midnight, though she wondered aloud why I was having such a hard time. That was because I wanted to wring her neck. By then I was Done.
My girlfriend says if I ever want to feel settled about my job, all I can do is change my mind and learn to live with it, because the situation's never gonna change. You'd think after 12 years on the job I'd KNOW that, but....
In light of this, I have come up with a list of goals to help me succeed and be happier at my job. Because of all the bitching I've done here about work, I know you'll appreciate me sharing them:
1. Don't WORRY.
2. Get through my shift and get home safely.
3. Don't upset customers.
4. Be nice to people.
5. Get all my side-work done.
6. No more negative talking to myself or customers.
7. Don't give my co-workers a hard time.
8. Stop judging people.
9. Be positive.
10. Enjoy myself, have fun, play!
11. Save money, win the Lottery, RETIRE!
My girlfriend says these are all do-able goals. Maybe not realistic, but do-able. I'll keep you posted....
When's my break?
MOVING: It's in the works. I'm already forwarding my mail here, to the girlfriend's house, where it's quiet and secure and Not Weird and I have some peace and time to think. Still haven't told the old Roommate yet, but he seems to know it's coming -- since I haven't slept under his roof in 2 months. Nor has he given me an update on the idiots who stole $800 from him. So far, all my stuff is secure, no weirdness with my bank account or any more attempts to mess with my credit. I may have dodged one. And I hope those jokers get sent up the creek. Meanwhile, all of my CD's and most of my clothes are here, books are being brought over a box or two at a time, and the girlfriend and I have found domestic bliss like I never thought I'd feel again. At least one part of my life is wonderful.
INVASION: It's the Russians! Over the last few weeks, this blog has set new records for viewership, with 75 percent of those visits coming from Russia. What are they looking for? There's nothing here. I'm not getting 400 views from Russia each day just because they're such big Nektar fans, I know that. And they're "reading" stuff I posted five years ago. Are these the same hackers who got into Hillary Clinton's e-mails and hacked the Democratic National Committee? Good Luck, guys. But there's nothing useful to you here....
THE ELECTION FROM HELL: I don't believe a word Hillary Clinton says. And some of Donald Trump's statements at the Republican Convention sounded like Hitler. Or at least Barry Goldwater back in 1964. Neither of these idiots really seem to believe they can rescue this country -- they just say what their audience wants to hear. They have NO SOLID PLANS for the future. If Bernie Sanders came out today as a third-party candidate millions would vote for him. The system is so fucked-up I doubt it matters WHO is President. Don't know what to do, but I've got my tickets to New Zealand reserved. Is this the best this country can do? Once again I suggest we JUST VOTE NO.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
40 rotten Beatles songs
Awhile back, inspired by a silly book on the same topic, I posted a list of my 100 favorite Beatles songs.
It was exhausting. It took too much thought.
Last night, thanks to my girlfriend, I started wondering about my LEAST favorite Beatles songs -- and surprisingly it took no time at all to come up with 40 Fab Four songs I pretty-much hate.
If you ask my girlfriend which are her least-favorite Beatles songs, she'll say "ALL of them." I still hope to convert her thinking on this. But instead, how about if we hand her some ammunition...?
Let's face it -- it's easy to see now, 50 years later, that The Beatles were a HUGE hype. It's OK now to come out of the closet and admit that you hated them all along. We're not here to judge you. And you can confess your sins in the COMMENTS section below. (Oh, wait, there's a line....)
Here's my Fab Four Bottom 40. Join me?
1. Revolution 9. No surprise. Technically this isn't a song, it's a "sound collage." Doesn't matter. Goes nowhere, does nothing. For eight minutes. Far Out, man. Art, did you say? I'll get my gun....
2. Mr. Moonlight. This is more like it. Or rather, LESS. Ghastly, sung with overweening unctuousness by John. And WHO is responsible for that horrible organ noise in the middle?! Lotsa laffs.
3. Sexy Sadie. This is a mean, ugly, hypocritical song. Very unlike John to censor himself, but maybe if he'd called it "Maharishi" (which was the original title) I'd like it more. At least it'd all be out-front that way.
4. From Me to You. Is this the most boring Beatles song ever? Well, not when there's....
5. Blue Jay Way. Foggy, dull, endless. Don't be long, George.
6. Love Me Do. Wow, what a way to start out. Surprised they even HAD a career, after this. The B-side, "P.S. I Love You," is actually pretty charming....
7. Michelle. Using a foreign language as a mood-change or a "surprise" in a song never works. Never. And this is SO sugary-sweet. McCartney's worst.
8. Girl. John at his most sexist. Ugly. But then there's....
9. Run for Your Life. I actually sort of like the tune. But the emotions expressed are repellent. John admitted he could be a pretty ugly, jealous lover.
10. All You Need is Love. Other than the French national anthem, what has this hippy mishmash got going for it? Besides, they were wrong.
11. Savoy Truffle. George warbles about Eric Clapton's developing dental problems. Gruesome.
12. Wild Honey Pie. And the point is...?
13. Honey Pie. McCartney's '20s-music obsession must be stopped.
14. Any Indian-influenced song sung by George. 'Nuff said.
15. Drive My Car. This stupid song originally had a much-different set of lyrics that made the title metaphor droolingly obvious. But stuffy old producer George Martin refused to have anything to do with the original, and ordered the boys to rewrite it. Only one line in the released version survived from the original: "Working for penis is all very fine...." It's still stupid. And the melody's wretched. (You don't want me to post the original lyrics. Or maybe you DO, you nasty thing.)
16. Here, There and Everywhere. So sweet, so sunshiny, so sugary, it's always a downer.
17. Good Day Sunshine. And here's its stable-mate, also from REVOLVER. Drop these two and that album would have been way better....
18. Day Tripper. I can almost enjoy the sly lyrics. But except for that repeating guitar riff, the tune is bottom of the barrel.
19. I Should Have Known Better. Always stodgy and boring. And it means nothing. Even John hated it. And he wrote it.
20./21. Act Naturally, Honey Don't, and any other country-influenced song sung by Ringo. Buck Owens and Carl Perkins were not scared by Mr. Starkey's attempts to become a country crooner. Ringo does have one good song, though. One. "Don't Pass Me By" isn't too bad.
22. Good Morning Good Morning. All the worst to you each morning!
23. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! Brilliant fairgrounds production. But a flimsy excuse for a filler track on SGT. PEPPER.
24. She's Leaving Home. I've always hated this gloppy, over-orchestrated piece of dreck. Might have been a little less gloppy if George Martin had done the string arrangement. And the lyrics can't save it.
25. Strawberry Fields Forever. Sure, this was a brave experiment. But experiments fail all the time. This isn't a pleasant piece of music, and the universe it takes us to is grey and dull and boring, no matter how much it meant to John. I'm sure I'm among the vast minority here.
26. Get Back. I admit this is a big blank-spot with me. But it's dull and shuffly and sloppy. Who cares?
27. Flying. First heard this dull almost-instrumental two weeks ago, and I've already forgotten about it. So did they.
28. Fixing A Hole. McCartney's mind wanders. Next!
29. Your Mother Should Know. This might have been better if Paul had bothered to finish WRITING it. A verse and a chorus aren't quite enough. And the period charm doesn't rescue it.
30. The Fool on the Hill. Always hated this middle-of-the-road mood-music "classic." Stupid. Wow, the Fool's so DEEP, man....
31. Across the Universe (original version with birdies and kiddie choir). If Phil Spector did anything right, at least he beefed up this fragile classic from John. The version we all know better from LET IT BE is superior in every way.
32. Octopus's Garden. A feeble rewrite of "Yellow Submarine."
33. Why Don't We Do it in the Road? Now here's a blues for ya, not too far away from John's "Yer Blues." John was reportedly hurt that he wasn't asked to join in. But Abbey Road studio was like a revolving door back in those days....
34. Another Girl. Kinda standard, kinda dull.
35. Hey Jude. Other than that endless na-na-na refrain, what has this got going for it? And it's sloppy.
36. Don't Let Me Down. This is just sloppy, no matter how much it meant to John. And it's always a downer.
37. Lady Madonna. Another leering barrelhouse rocker from Paul. The lyrics are kinda creepy, and the charm wore off damn quick.
38. You're Going to Lose That Girl. Another wretched filler for HELP!
39. Long Long Long. Dull, long-winded George. Next....
40. Good Night. Wow, John could be sentimental and syrupy, yes? Good thing he had Ringo's fog-horn voice to cut through all that....
Have I forgotten any? Please submit your nominees in the space below....
(Written while half-asleep, so there'd be no regrets....)
It was exhausting. It took too much thought.
Last night, thanks to my girlfriend, I started wondering about my LEAST favorite Beatles songs -- and surprisingly it took no time at all to come up with 40 Fab Four songs I pretty-much hate.
If you ask my girlfriend which are her least-favorite Beatles songs, she'll say "ALL of them." I still hope to convert her thinking on this. But instead, how about if we hand her some ammunition...?
Let's face it -- it's easy to see now, 50 years later, that The Beatles were a HUGE hype. It's OK now to come out of the closet and admit that you hated them all along. We're not here to judge you. And you can confess your sins in the COMMENTS section below. (Oh, wait, there's a line....)
Here's my Fab Four Bottom 40. Join me?
1. Revolution 9. No surprise. Technically this isn't a song, it's a "sound collage." Doesn't matter. Goes nowhere, does nothing. For eight minutes. Far Out, man. Art, did you say? I'll get my gun....
2. Mr. Moonlight. This is more like it. Or rather, LESS. Ghastly, sung with overweening unctuousness by John. And WHO is responsible for that horrible organ noise in the middle?! Lotsa laffs.
3. Sexy Sadie. This is a mean, ugly, hypocritical song. Very unlike John to censor himself, but maybe if he'd called it "Maharishi" (which was the original title) I'd like it more. At least it'd all be out-front that way.
4. From Me to You. Is this the most boring Beatles song ever? Well, not when there's....
5. Blue Jay Way. Foggy, dull, endless. Don't be long, George.
6. Love Me Do. Wow, what a way to start out. Surprised they even HAD a career, after this. The B-side, "P.S. I Love You," is actually pretty charming....
7. Michelle. Using a foreign language as a mood-change or a "surprise" in a song never works. Never. And this is SO sugary-sweet. McCartney's worst.
8. Girl. John at his most sexist. Ugly. But then there's....
9. Run for Your Life. I actually sort of like the tune. But the emotions expressed are repellent. John admitted he could be a pretty ugly, jealous lover.
10. All You Need is Love. Other than the French national anthem, what has this hippy mishmash got going for it? Besides, they were wrong.
11. Savoy Truffle. George warbles about Eric Clapton's developing dental problems. Gruesome.
12. Wild Honey Pie. And the point is...?
13. Honey Pie. McCartney's '20s-music obsession must be stopped.
14. Any Indian-influenced song sung by George. 'Nuff said.
15. Drive My Car. This stupid song originally had a much-different set of lyrics that made the title metaphor droolingly obvious. But stuffy old producer George Martin refused to have anything to do with the original, and ordered the boys to rewrite it. Only one line in the released version survived from the original: "Working for penis is all very fine...." It's still stupid. And the melody's wretched. (You don't want me to post the original lyrics. Or maybe you DO, you nasty thing.)
16. Here, There and Everywhere. So sweet, so sunshiny, so sugary, it's always a downer.
17. Good Day Sunshine. And here's its stable-mate, also from REVOLVER. Drop these two and that album would have been way better....
18. Day Tripper. I can almost enjoy the sly lyrics. But except for that repeating guitar riff, the tune is bottom of the barrel.
19. I Should Have Known Better. Always stodgy and boring. And it means nothing. Even John hated it. And he wrote it.
20./21. Act Naturally, Honey Don't, and any other country-influenced song sung by Ringo. Buck Owens and Carl Perkins were not scared by Mr. Starkey's attempts to become a country crooner. Ringo does have one good song, though. One. "Don't Pass Me By" isn't too bad.
22. Good Morning Good Morning. All the worst to you each morning!
23. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! Brilliant fairgrounds production. But a flimsy excuse for a filler track on SGT. PEPPER.
24. She's Leaving Home. I've always hated this gloppy, over-orchestrated piece of dreck. Might have been a little less gloppy if George Martin had done the string arrangement. And the lyrics can't save it.
25. Strawberry Fields Forever. Sure, this was a brave experiment. But experiments fail all the time. This isn't a pleasant piece of music, and the universe it takes us to is grey and dull and boring, no matter how much it meant to John. I'm sure I'm among the vast minority here.
26. Get Back. I admit this is a big blank-spot with me. But it's dull and shuffly and sloppy. Who cares?
27. Flying. First heard this dull almost-instrumental two weeks ago, and I've already forgotten about it. So did they.
28. Fixing A Hole. McCartney's mind wanders. Next!
29. Your Mother Should Know. This might have been better if Paul had bothered to finish WRITING it. A verse and a chorus aren't quite enough. And the period charm doesn't rescue it.
30. The Fool on the Hill. Always hated this middle-of-the-road mood-music "classic." Stupid. Wow, the Fool's so DEEP, man....
31. Across the Universe (original version with birdies and kiddie choir). If Phil Spector did anything right, at least he beefed up this fragile classic from John. The version we all know better from LET IT BE is superior in every way.
32. Octopus's Garden. A feeble rewrite of "Yellow Submarine."
33. Why Don't We Do it in the Road? Now here's a blues for ya, not too far away from John's "Yer Blues." John was reportedly hurt that he wasn't asked to join in. But Abbey Road studio was like a revolving door back in those days....
34. Another Girl. Kinda standard, kinda dull.
35. Hey Jude. Other than that endless na-na-na refrain, what has this got going for it? And it's sloppy.
36. Don't Let Me Down. This is just sloppy, no matter how much it meant to John. And it's always a downer.
37. Lady Madonna. Another leering barrelhouse rocker from Paul. The lyrics are kinda creepy, and the charm wore off damn quick.
38. You're Going to Lose That Girl. Another wretched filler for HELP!
39. Long Long Long. Dull, long-winded George. Next....
40. Good Night. Wow, John could be sentimental and syrupy, yes? Good thing he had Ringo's fog-horn voice to cut through all that....
Have I forgotten any? Please submit your nominees in the space below....
(Written while half-asleep, so there'd be no regrets....)
Monday, July 25, 2016
Lots more short-takes
Here's what I played between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. --
* Cowboy Junkies -- Sweet Jane. Wow, this is so low-key and murmuring and sweet. Margo Timmins' voice is very lulling. And that la-la-la finish is chillingly pretty. And it's a Lou Reed song. Is my ignorance showing? Well then.
* Sinead O'Connor -- Nothing Compares 2 U. I was in Turkey when Sinead was A Big Deal, and I really Didn't Get It. But this morning it's really working for me. This is pretty heartbreaking, and there's enough emotion here for anyone. And what a voice. And of course Prince wrote it. If anything, it's over with too fast.
* Fleetwood Mac -- I Know I'm Not Wrong (cd remix). Well, they remixed the SHIT out of this for CD, and I don't know WHY. The choruses were perfect just the way they were. Thank Ghod they left the harmonica/organ instrumental hooks after the choruses. But they've rushed it. And they've fucked it up. One of Lindsey Buckingham's best rockers, now messed with. Hang onto the vinyl version, it's better. Very disappointing.
* Cat Power -- He War. All thanks to Rastro at La Historia de la Musica Rock, I've always loved this hypnotic, bitty, bad-love anthem. The tiny keyboard and guitar riffs, the drumming, the singing -- it's like an angry mantra. And all the parts fit. Glorious.
* Steely Dan -- Bodhisattva. Recent convert to this, from back in the day when Steely Dan was trying to be a rock band rather than a sophisticated jazz combo. I don't care what it means, but I love the flashy, slippery, slithery tune and playing. And Donald Fagen does some of his most relaxed singing.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- Ribbon of Darkness. (Avoiding "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" because I know it too well.) Wow, this sure sounds different from Marty Robbins's version. And Gordy sounds so Canadian -- like he's fresh out of the North Woods just to sing you a song.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Way I Feel (version one). This is moody and pretty, but it has none of the drive and mystery of Sandy Denny and Fotheringay's later version (included on Fairport Convention's great vinyl FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of).
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Way I Feel (version two). The electric version. This is a little closer to it, there's a little more mystery, but the guitars are a little weedy. Should have been heavier.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Circle is Small. I loved the late-'70s version of this cheatin'-love ballad. This is so fresh vocally and in the playing, a much different mood from the later version -- more heartbroken than bitter. Very nice.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Just Seventeen. Naughty, slobbery rocker. Great freakin' stuff! How could anyone think Mark Lindsay was harmless with that leering, drooling voice?! Hilarious! And great guitar!
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Do Unto Others. "Louie Louie" meets Social Protest. Hypnotic. Great lost B-side.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Country Wine. Played on radio about 4 times back in '72. Cute, catchy, lighter than air. Shoulda caught on.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Song Seller. Played about THREE times on radio back in '72. I think it's funny. Millions apparently disagreed. Pretty gutsy Mark Lindsay vocal for something this silly.
* Carly Simon -- Legend in Your Own Time. My Ghod, this guy will play ANYTHING! Moody portrait of a lover. Nice, could have been a hit, though not much in the way of commercial hooks. From Carly's REFLECTIONS best-of, which unfortunately doesn't include the great ironic "We're So Close."
* Carly Simon -- Anticipation. This is an Olde Favorite, worth hearing again even if it's just for Andy Newmark's great drumming. This should NEVER have been used in a ketchup commercial....
* Jefferson Airplane -- Lather. That Grace Slick, what a joker. Great vocal. And great sound effects.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Crown of Creation. Always have loved the Airplane's (and Starship's) science-fiction-chorale pieces, and this is one of their best. Angry, amazing vocals, great guitar.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Greasy Heart. More jokes from Grace. Maybe. Amazingly angry vocal.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Martha. Is this about a cat? OK, maybe not. But too many drugs, man.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Mexico. Charming little ditty about some early '70s business problems involving ... uh ... importing goods from South Of The Border. Boy, these guys were pissed off. Pretty rushed, should have been longer, with more details.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Have You Seen the Saucers? Love the line about "American garbage dumped in space." Otherwise, this is NOT one of the Plane's better science-fiction chorales. Some OK freakout guitar.
* Carole King -- Corazon. Some nice Latin percussion and horns, and OK piano, but as a tune this is no "Been to Canaan."
* Spirit -- Aren't You Glad? This Jay Ferguson meditation on the Summer Of Love never goes much of anywhere, but there's some nice Randy California guitar, and it all builds nicely in intensity.
* Bob Dylan -- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. More comedy from Uncle Bahb. Nice organ from Al Kooper. Yeezus, who taught Bob how to sing? A little long, but funny.
* Frank Zappa -- Cheap Thrills. What's with the munchkin vocals? And this doesn't go much of anywhere.
* Frank Zappa -- How Could I be Such a Fool? I'm OK with the doo-wop sort-of satire, but this is just sort of average.
* Frank Zappa -- Deseri, Jelly Roll Gumdrop, You Didn't Try to Call Me. Frank, are you kidding?
* Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention -- Wowie Zowie. Gosh, this isn't funny. What happened to my sense of humor? This could be a problem.
* Yes -- Ritual. OK, now THIS is funny. Or maybe I'm in bad trouble. Always did think Yes were a pretty good comedy band at times (like on TORMATO). Nice wordless group vocals and good country-western-ish guitar in the opening section. Livelier than I expected. Nice group chanting on words Jon Anderson probably scribbled down during a smoke break. Nice bass-and-drums duel between Chris Squire and Alan White, with Steve Howe joining later on guitar, building in intensity. Then it all drops out for a long percussion-and-spoons interlude. Then a tranquil, relaxed vocal section. Howe picks up the intensity on guitar. And then ... it fades out. Where's the rest of it? Better than I expected, to be honest.
* Yes -- Sound Chaser. Ornate keyboard leads into a jumpy guitar underpinning frenzied vocals. Faster! These guys are on uppers or something. Odd lyrics recited over more jittery guitar. (At this point the CD player became jumpy and incoherent and could not continue with this track. Our apologies.)
* Neil Young -- The Loner. Pleasant music, mildly disturbing lyrics. Why wasn't this a hit? I predict a big future.
* Neil Young -- Tonight's the Night (Part One). A little whiny, a little morbid, but not bad. Nowhere near as harrowing as I expected.
* Neil Young -- Like a Hurricane. Rather nice mellow love song with lots of good guitar. Surprised it wasn't a complete blow-out. There's quiet in your eyes....
* Neil Young -- Cortez the Killer. I LOVE the version of this on Neil's LIVE RUST. It's epic. Not sure I've ever heard this studio original. But like the live version, it's grand and stately, and Neil's in no hurry. And the lyrics are pretty amazing. But it fades out instead of closing with a long guitar freak-out at the end.
* Billie Holiday -- These Foolish Things, Summertime. Probably too old-school for me to be able to hear. But Billie sounds happy on "These Foolish Things." And I've still never heard a version of "Summertime" that I've liked much. OK, maybe John Coltrane's version, but he got through it by ignoring the tune.
* John Coltrane -- Alabama. The opening is anguished, the rest smolders. Reportedly inspired by a church fire-bombing in Alabama in which four young African-American girls were killed. Coltrane felt it.
* King Crimson -- Requiem. If everything else fails, Crimson can always wake me up. But this is really noisy. Sounds like guitars throwing up. Sorry, Bob.
* Aimee Mann -- I Should've Known. The former voice of 'Til Tuesday, sounding more like Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders here on the lead track of her 1993 album WHATEVER. Strong vocal, excellent screechy guitars. An ear-opener.
* Aimee Mann -- Say Anything. Sorry to say this is the only other thing that grabbed me off of WHATEVER, and it took awhile to get started. OK choruses, bitter lyrics. Worth hearing, but they put the best song up front.
* Ramones -- The KKK Took My Baby Away. Just the kind of moving, sensitive, gloppy love ballad you'd expect from everybody's favorite heart-on-their-sleeve hometown boys. Glad to see they're keeping their standards high.
* Ramones -- Bonzo Goes to Bitburg. As political commentators, Ramone, Ramone, Ramone and Ramone are not quite tough enough. This is OK, and I love the keyboard/glockenspiel touches, but it should have hit harder, shouldn't have been smoothed-out with backing vocals. This is an angry song. It should SOUND angry. Instead, it sounds like it was produced by Phil Ramone (Billy Joel, Paul Simon, etc.). In light of this, it would come as a small surprise to learn he was part of the Family.
* Susan Tedeschi -- Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean. Love her with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Here she's covering an old blues number I first heard done by Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. And she starts out belting it. It smooths out a little later. Not bad.
* Susan Tedeschi -- Angel From Montgomery. This heartbreaking John Prine classic already has one perfect version -- done live by Bonnie Raitt and Prine. (It's on Raitt's Warner Brothers best-of.) That's a hard performance to top. But Susan keeps her vocal reined in, and the guitar, piano and fiddle are solid. Good work, and a nice finish. If you haven't heard Raitt and Prine's version, this cover might knock you right over.
* Uriah Heep -- Sweet Lorraine. I remember the screaming woo-woo synthesizers from this, a very annoying hook for your memory. I also have some other reservations....
* Uriah Heep -- The Wizard. This is certainly CALMER and less woo-woo than "Sweet Lorraine." The cosmic lyrics better suit this band, somehow. Nicely majestic without getting stuffy or silly about it. And it's short.
* Peter Gabriel -- Here Comes the Flood. The one song of Gabriel's I can't do without is "Family Snapshot," but I don't play it much. This is hushed and dramatic, just Gabriel and a piano. Is this about the end of the world?
* Peter Gabriel -- Mercy Street. Quiet, ghostly, hypnotic. Pretty, but no hit-single potential here.
* Beach Boys -- Susie Cincinnati. Cute perennial B-side by the Boys. Al Jardine wrote it and sings lead. Punchy, bouncy, nice vocals. Too cute to be embarrassing.
* Cowboy Junkies -- Sweet Jane. Wow, this is so low-key and murmuring and sweet. Margo Timmins' voice is very lulling. And that la-la-la finish is chillingly pretty. And it's a Lou Reed song. Is my ignorance showing? Well then.
* Sinead O'Connor -- Nothing Compares 2 U. I was in Turkey when Sinead was A Big Deal, and I really Didn't Get It. But this morning it's really working for me. This is pretty heartbreaking, and there's enough emotion here for anyone. And what a voice. And of course Prince wrote it. If anything, it's over with too fast.
* Fleetwood Mac -- I Know I'm Not Wrong (cd remix). Well, they remixed the SHIT out of this for CD, and I don't know WHY. The choruses were perfect just the way they were. Thank Ghod they left the harmonica/organ instrumental hooks after the choruses. But they've rushed it. And they've fucked it up. One of Lindsey Buckingham's best rockers, now messed with. Hang onto the vinyl version, it's better. Very disappointing.
* Cat Power -- He War. All thanks to Rastro at La Historia de la Musica Rock, I've always loved this hypnotic, bitty, bad-love anthem. The tiny keyboard and guitar riffs, the drumming, the singing -- it's like an angry mantra. And all the parts fit. Glorious.
* Steely Dan -- Bodhisattva. Recent convert to this, from back in the day when Steely Dan was trying to be a rock band rather than a sophisticated jazz combo. I don't care what it means, but I love the flashy, slippery, slithery tune and playing. And Donald Fagen does some of his most relaxed singing.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- Ribbon of Darkness. (Avoiding "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" because I know it too well.) Wow, this sure sounds different from Marty Robbins's version. And Gordy sounds so Canadian -- like he's fresh out of the North Woods just to sing you a song.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Way I Feel (version one). This is moody and pretty, but it has none of the drive and mystery of Sandy Denny and Fotheringay's later version (included on Fairport Convention's great vinyl FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of).
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Way I Feel (version two). The electric version. This is a little closer to it, there's a little more mystery, but the guitars are a little weedy. Should have been heavier.
* Gordon Lightfoot -- The Circle is Small. I loved the late-'70s version of this cheatin'-love ballad. This is so fresh vocally and in the playing, a much different mood from the later version -- more heartbroken than bitter. Very nice.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Just Seventeen. Naughty, slobbery rocker. Great freakin' stuff! How could anyone think Mark Lindsay was harmless with that leering, drooling voice?! Hilarious! And great guitar!
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Do Unto Others. "Louie Louie" meets Social Protest. Hypnotic. Great lost B-side.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Country Wine. Played on radio about 4 times back in '72. Cute, catchy, lighter than air. Shoulda caught on.
* Paul Revere and the Raiders -- Song Seller. Played about THREE times on radio back in '72. I think it's funny. Millions apparently disagreed. Pretty gutsy Mark Lindsay vocal for something this silly.
* Carly Simon -- Legend in Your Own Time. My Ghod, this guy will play ANYTHING! Moody portrait of a lover. Nice, could have been a hit, though not much in the way of commercial hooks. From Carly's REFLECTIONS best-of, which unfortunately doesn't include the great ironic "We're So Close."
* Carly Simon -- Anticipation. This is an Olde Favorite, worth hearing again even if it's just for Andy Newmark's great drumming. This should NEVER have been used in a ketchup commercial....
* Jefferson Airplane -- Lather. That Grace Slick, what a joker. Great vocal. And great sound effects.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Crown of Creation. Always have loved the Airplane's (and Starship's) science-fiction-chorale pieces, and this is one of their best. Angry, amazing vocals, great guitar.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Greasy Heart. More jokes from Grace. Maybe. Amazingly angry vocal.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Martha. Is this about a cat? OK, maybe not. But too many drugs, man.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Mexico. Charming little ditty about some early '70s business problems involving ... uh ... importing goods from South Of The Border. Boy, these guys were pissed off. Pretty rushed, should have been longer, with more details.
* Jefferson Airplane -- Have You Seen the Saucers? Love the line about "American garbage dumped in space." Otherwise, this is NOT one of the Plane's better science-fiction chorales. Some OK freakout guitar.
* Carole King -- Corazon. Some nice Latin percussion and horns, and OK piano, but as a tune this is no "Been to Canaan."
* Spirit -- Aren't You Glad? This Jay Ferguson meditation on the Summer Of Love never goes much of anywhere, but there's some nice Randy California guitar, and it all builds nicely in intensity.
* Bob Dylan -- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. More comedy from Uncle Bahb. Nice organ from Al Kooper. Yeezus, who taught Bob how to sing? A little long, but funny.
* Frank Zappa -- Cheap Thrills. What's with the munchkin vocals? And this doesn't go much of anywhere.
* Frank Zappa -- How Could I be Such a Fool? I'm OK with the doo-wop sort-of satire, but this is just sort of average.
* Frank Zappa -- Deseri, Jelly Roll Gumdrop, You Didn't Try to Call Me. Frank, are you kidding?
* Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention -- Wowie Zowie. Gosh, this isn't funny. What happened to my sense of humor? This could be a problem.
* Yes -- Ritual. OK, now THIS is funny. Or maybe I'm in bad trouble. Always did think Yes were a pretty good comedy band at times (like on TORMATO). Nice wordless group vocals and good country-western-ish guitar in the opening section. Livelier than I expected. Nice group chanting on words Jon Anderson probably scribbled down during a smoke break. Nice bass-and-drums duel between Chris Squire and Alan White, with Steve Howe joining later on guitar, building in intensity. Then it all drops out for a long percussion-and-spoons interlude. Then a tranquil, relaxed vocal section. Howe picks up the intensity on guitar. And then ... it fades out. Where's the rest of it? Better than I expected, to be honest.
* Yes -- Sound Chaser. Ornate keyboard leads into a jumpy guitar underpinning frenzied vocals. Faster! These guys are on uppers or something. Odd lyrics recited over more jittery guitar. (At this point the CD player became jumpy and incoherent and could not continue with this track. Our apologies.)
* Neil Young -- The Loner. Pleasant music, mildly disturbing lyrics. Why wasn't this a hit? I predict a big future.
* Neil Young -- Tonight's the Night (Part One). A little whiny, a little morbid, but not bad. Nowhere near as harrowing as I expected.
* Neil Young -- Like a Hurricane. Rather nice mellow love song with lots of good guitar. Surprised it wasn't a complete blow-out. There's quiet in your eyes....
* Neil Young -- Cortez the Killer. I LOVE the version of this on Neil's LIVE RUST. It's epic. Not sure I've ever heard this studio original. But like the live version, it's grand and stately, and Neil's in no hurry. And the lyrics are pretty amazing. But it fades out instead of closing with a long guitar freak-out at the end.
* Billie Holiday -- These Foolish Things, Summertime. Probably too old-school for me to be able to hear. But Billie sounds happy on "These Foolish Things." And I've still never heard a version of "Summertime" that I've liked much. OK, maybe John Coltrane's version, but he got through it by ignoring the tune.
* John Coltrane -- Alabama. The opening is anguished, the rest smolders. Reportedly inspired by a church fire-bombing in Alabama in which four young African-American girls were killed. Coltrane felt it.
* King Crimson -- Requiem. If everything else fails, Crimson can always wake me up. But this is really noisy. Sounds like guitars throwing up. Sorry, Bob.
* Aimee Mann -- I Should've Known. The former voice of 'Til Tuesday, sounding more like Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders here on the lead track of her 1993 album WHATEVER. Strong vocal, excellent screechy guitars. An ear-opener.
* Aimee Mann -- Say Anything. Sorry to say this is the only other thing that grabbed me off of WHATEVER, and it took awhile to get started. OK choruses, bitter lyrics. Worth hearing, but they put the best song up front.
* Ramones -- The KKK Took My Baby Away. Just the kind of moving, sensitive, gloppy love ballad you'd expect from everybody's favorite heart-on-their-sleeve hometown boys. Glad to see they're keeping their standards high.
* Ramones -- Bonzo Goes to Bitburg. As political commentators, Ramone, Ramone, Ramone and Ramone are not quite tough enough. This is OK, and I love the keyboard/glockenspiel touches, but it should have hit harder, shouldn't have been smoothed-out with backing vocals. This is an angry song. It should SOUND angry. Instead, it sounds like it was produced by Phil Ramone (Billy Joel, Paul Simon, etc.). In light of this, it would come as a small surprise to learn he was part of the Family.
* Susan Tedeschi -- Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean. Love her with the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Here she's covering an old blues number I first heard done by Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. And she starts out belting it. It smooths out a little later. Not bad.
* Susan Tedeschi -- Angel From Montgomery. This heartbreaking John Prine classic already has one perfect version -- done live by Bonnie Raitt and Prine. (It's on Raitt's Warner Brothers best-of.) That's a hard performance to top. But Susan keeps her vocal reined in, and the guitar, piano and fiddle are solid. Good work, and a nice finish. If you haven't heard Raitt and Prine's version, this cover might knock you right over.
* Uriah Heep -- Sweet Lorraine. I remember the screaming woo-woo synthesizers from this, a very annoying hook for your memory. I also have some other reservations....
* Uriah Heep -- The Wizard. This is certainly CALMER and less woo-woo than "Sweet Lorraine." The cosmic lyrics better suit this band, somehow. Nicely majestic without getting stuffy or silly about it. And it's short.
* Peter Gabriel -- Here Comes the Flood. The one song of Gabriel's I can't do without is "Family Snapshot," but I don't play it much. This is hushed and dramatic, just Gabriel and a piano. Is this about the end of the world?
* Peter Gabriel -- Mercy Street. Quiet, ghostly, hypnotic. Pretty, but no hit-single potential here.
* Beach Boys -- Susie Cincinnati. Cute perennial B-side by the Boys. Al Jardine wrote it and sings lead. Punchy, bouncy, nice vocals. Too cute to be embarrassing.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
More musical ?'s
Here's what I played from 1 to 4 p.m. --
* Can -- Soup. Now THIS will wake you up. It's a good thing Can's ANTHOLOGY best-of opens with the relatively "normal" "Father Cannot Yell," because this really does sound like Michael Karoli cutting into his guitar with a chainsaw. I'd forgotten about the vocals, which are muttered nonsense. Not music, but it's over with quick.
* Can -- Spoon. Pleasant, light and bouncy, with nice murmuring chanted vocals. Is this even the same band?
* Can -- Halleluwah. Nice propulsive drumming from Jaki Liebezeit -- he's always pretty freaking awesome. Hmmm, how'd that noisy mosquito get in here? Too bad about the ... uh ... shrieking. Not sure what the vocals are on about, but it all kinda works with the rippling keyboards and the drumming. Not bad.
* Can -- Aumgn. Played this once after I bought ANTHOLOGY, and thought it was a tuneless waste of seven minutes. Now I notice: Screechy violin(?), eerie bass, yawning vocals(?). Haunted house music. Singer(s) clearing their throats, gargling. Echoey drumming, a deep chasm of noise. Nimble, bouncy bass riff. Evil laughter. That gargling's back. Deep, echoey, evil sounds. OK, that's enough.
* Gong -- The Pot Head Pixies, Zero the Hero and the Witch's Spell. Compared to Can, "Pot Head Pixies" sounds almost normal. Cute, and pretty catchy. "Witch's Spell" opens with Gong's atmospheric orientalisms, which I've always liked (listen to their SHAMAL, half pretty-great). Then it gets heavier. And sillier. Then great sax (as usual) from Didier Mahlerbe over nice light percussion from Pierre Moerlen. Always amazing playing from these guys. Then more silliness. They seem to have an almost mystical cosmic view of sex -- which is OK with me. That whole feminine "space whisper" vibe. It's nice, but they use it a LOT. Then it gets heavier again, with more great sax. Pretty big musical orgasm at the end ... which should have built just a little bit higher before being cut off. Not bad. I might even play it again sometime....
* Caravan -- And I Wish I Were Stoned/Don't Worry. Hated this at first when I got Caravan's CANTERBURY TALES best-of a few years back -- I'm not the "stoned" type. But the singing's pretty emotional, and Dave Sinclair's keyboards are amazing. "Don't Worry"'s pleasant enough, though not stunning.
* Jan Dukes DeGrey -- Mice and Rats in the Loft. Ghod knows who these people were. Fiendish noise. Slide whistles followed by crazed guitar and an equally crazed vocal. The lyrics are ugly. Like a prog-rock-opera. Who knew so much early prog was so repellent?
* Beach Boys -- Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. It was the slide whistles that set me off. Charging fire engines and sirens, and the "wooooh" backing vocals are straight out of the Boys' "W. Woodpecker Symphony" (see SMILEY SMILE). Dramatic, but it's over with fast.
* Beach Boys -- I Love to Say Dada. The opening airy group-vocal part ended up as the centerpiece of "Cool, Cool Water" (see SUNFLOWER). The rest seems almost familiar now, like we've always had it, it's always been around. Light and friendly. With a tag from the wordless-vocal "Our Prayer" at the end.
* Beach Boys -- Brian Falls into a Piano. Too many drugs, man.... The tag is WAY funnier -- a record-store promo in which Capitol Records predicts they'll sell a million copies of SMILE in January '67 alone. But then Reality got in the way....
* Van der Graaf Generator -- Darkness 11/11. Man, what a band! Heavy gothic drama, with amazing sax from David Jackson, great organ from Hugh Banton. And Peter Hammill doesn't screech too much. And it doesn't go on too long.
* Magna Carta -- Lord of Ages. This is silly. A fable set to medieval folk music. Somber group choral vocals. What's this doing on a progressive-rock sampler? That's what I get for listening to them just because one of their album covers was painted by Roger Dean.
* Gentle Giant -- In a Glass House. This is WAY more like it, at least until Derek Shulman's vocals kick in. Complex but melodic. Nice playing, sorta jagged. Jumpy, but in a pleasing way. Wonder why this album never got released in America, back in the day...?
* Clannad -- Harry's Game. In Gaelic, released on half a dozen of their '80s/'90s albums. Something about Gaelic makes it sound so ghostly and somber, even if they're only singing their shopping list. Ghostly, pretty. What's it mean?
* Clannad -- Why Worry? This sounds absolutely NORMAL. Could be anybody. Fleetwood Mac could sing it. Better. With more emotion. Background music. Very nice sax by Mel Collins.
* Hawkwind -- Sonic Attack. Fucking hilarious. One of a kind. Robert Calvert was a great dramatic reader. Do not panic....
* Hawkwind -- Urban Guerrilla. Course we have our own urban guerrillas now, but back in the day I'll bet this was a lot of fun. Besides, Robert Calvert sounds like he couldn't hurt your poodle. No worries here.
* Yes -- Soon. This is the quiet middle section of Yes's epic "The Gates of Delirium," which I've never made it all the way through. That's probably a failing in me. Very sweet and spacey, and probably a nice break in the furious "Gates" ... which I can hardly remember, to be honest.
* Renaissance -- Kings and Queens. Or Illusion, if you prefer. Only difference here is ex-Yardbird Keith Relf on guitar rather than the later John Knightsbridge. This starts as a show-offy prog-keyboard piece, then lightens up a little. Sounds more like the Strawbs, which keybsman John Hawken was also a member of. LOTS of heavy piano, kind of melodramatic. Jane Relf's limited to background vocals. Later Renaissance and Illusion works are all better.
* Nektar -- Questions and Answers. A slice of REMEMBER THE FUTURE, which I never got through even half of. Pleasant, nice song construction, good vocals and guitar. OK, not a stomper. Nektar's better when they rock.
* King Crimson -- The Sailor's Tale. Not sure why Bob Fripp's guitar sounds kinda like a banjo, but whatever he wants. The mellotron backing sounds like the later LARK'S TONGUES version of KC. This could almost be off of GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE. Which means I've overlooked it for years. A warm-up for "Fracture," why not?
* Partridge Family -- One Night Stand. WHAT? How the heck did THIS get in here? Oh well, sounds great! That Keith Partridge could sure sing. And what great group backing vocals!
* Can -- Soup. Now THIS will wake you up. It's a good thing Can's ANTHOLOGY best-of opens with the relatively "normal" "Father Cannot Yell," because this really does sound like Michael Karoli cutting into his guitar with a chainsaw. I'd forgotten about the vocals, which are muttered nonsense. Not music, but it's over with quick.
* Can -- Spoon. Pleasant, light and bouncy, with nice murmuring chanted vocals. Is this even the same band?
* Can -- Halleluwah. Nice propulsive drumming from Jaki Liebezeit -- he's always pretty freaking awesome. Hmmm, how'd that noisy mosquito get in here? Too bad about the ... uh ... shrieking. Not sure what the vocals are on about, but it all kinda works with the rippling keyboards and the drumming. Not bad.
* Can -- Aumgn. Played this once after I bought ANTHOLOGY, and thought it was a tuneless waste of seven minutes. Now I notice: Screechy violin(?), eerie bass, yawning vocals(?). Haunted house music. Singer(s) clearing their throats, gargling. Echoey drumming, a deep chasm of noise. Nimble, bouncy bass riff. Evil laughter. That gargling's back. Deep, echoey, evil sounds. OK, that's enough.
* Gong -- The Pot Head Pixies, Zero the Hero and the Witch's Spell. Compared to Can, "Pot Head Pixies" sounds almost normal. Cute, and pretty catchy. "Witch's Spell" opens with Gong's atmospheric orientalisms, which I've always liked (listen to their SHAMAL, half pretty-great). Then it gets heavier. And sillier. Then great sax (as usual) from Didier Mahlerbe over nice light percussion from Pierre Moerlen. Always amazing playing from these guys. Then more silliness. They seem to have an almost mystical cosmic view of sex -- which is OK with me. That whole feminine "space whisper" vibe. It's nice, but they use it a LOT. Then it gets heavier again, with more great sax. Pretty big musical orgasm at the end ... which should have built just a little bit higher before being cut off. Not bad. I might even play it again sometime....
* Caravan -- And I Wish I Were Stoned/Don't Worry. Hated this at first when I got Caravan's CANTERBURY TALES best-of a few years back -- I'm not the "stoned" type. But the singing's pretty emotional, and Dave Sinclair's keyboards are amazing. "Don't Worry"'s pleasant enough, though not stunning.
* Jan Dukes DeGrey -- Mice and Rats in the Loft. Ghod knows who these people were. Fiendish noise. Slide whistles followed by crazed guitar and an equally crazed vocal. The lyrics are ugly. Like a prog-rock-opera. Who knew so much early prog was so repellent?
* Beach Boys -- Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. It was the slide whistles that set me off. Charging fire engines and sirens, and the "wooooh" backing vocals are straight out of the Boys' "W. Woodpecker Symphony" (see SMILEY SMILE). Dramatic, but it's over with fast.
* Beach Boys -- I Love to Say Dada. The opening airy group-vocal part ended up as the centerpiece of "Cool, Cool Water" (see SUNFLOWER). The rest seems almost familiar now, like we've always had it, it's always been around. Light and friendly. With a tag from the wordless-vocal "Our Prayer" at the end.
* Beach Boys -- Brian Falls into a Piano. Too many drugs, man.... The tag is WAY funnier -- a record-store promo in which Capitol Records predicts they'll sell a million copies of SMILE in January '67 alone. But then Reality got in the way....
* Van der Graaf Generator -- Darkness 11/11. Man, what a band! Heavy gothic drama, with amazing sax from David Jackson, great organ from Hugh Banton. And Peter Hammill doesn't screech too much. And it doesn't go on too long.
* Magna Carta -- Lord of Ages. This is silly. A fable set to medieval folk music. Somber group choral vocals. What's this doing on a progressive-rock sampler? That's what I get for listening to them just because one of their album covers was painted by Roger Dean.
* Gentle Giant -- In a Glass House. This is WAY more like it, at least until Derek Shulman's vocals kick in. Complex but melodic. Nice playing, sorta jagged. Jumpy, but in a pleasing way. Wonder why this album never got released in America, back in the day...?
* Clannad -- Harry's Game. In Gaelic, released on half a dozen of their '80s/'90s albums. Something about Gaelic makes it sound so ghostly and somber, even if they're only singing their shopping list. Ghostly, pretty. What's it mean?
* Clannad -- Why Worry? This sounds absolutely NORMAL. Could be anybody. Fleetwood Mac could sing it. Better. With more emotion. Background music. Very nice sax by Mel Collins.
* Hawkwind -- Sonic Attack. Fucking hilarious. One of a kind. Robert Calvert was a great dramatic reader. Do not panic....
* Hawkwind -- Urban Guerrilla. Course we have our own urban guerrillas now, but back in the day I'll bet this was a lot of fun. Besides, Robert Calvert sounds like he couldn't hurt your poodle. No worries here.
* Yes -- Soon. This is the quiet middle section of Yes's epic "The Gates of Delirium," which I've never made it all the way through. That's probably a failing in me. Very sweet and spacey, and probably a nice break in the furious "Gates" ... which I can hardly remember, to be honest.
* Renaissance -- Kings and Queens. Or Illusion, if you prefer. Only difference here is ex-Yardbird Keith Relf on guitar rather than the later John Knightsbridge. This starts as a show-offy prog-keyboard piece, then lightens up a little. Sounds more like the Strawbs, which keybsman John Hawken was also a member of. LOTS of heavy piano, kind of melodramatic. Jane Relf's limited to background vocals. Later Renaissance and Illusion works are all better.
* Nektar -- Questions and Answers. A slice of REMEMBER THE FUTURE, which I never got through even half of. Pleasant, nice song construction, good vocals and guitar. OK, not a stomper. Nektar's better when they rock.
* King Crimson -- The Sailor's Tale. Not sure why Bob Fripp's guitar sounds kinda like a banjo, but whatever he wants. The mellotron backing sounds like the later LARK'S TONGUES version of KC. This could almost be off of GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE. Which means I've overlooked it for years. A warm-up for "Fracture," why not?
* Partridge Family -- One Night Stand. WHAT? How the heck did THIS get in here? Oh well, sounds great! That Keith Partridge could sure sing. And what great group backing vocals!
Friday, July 22, 2016
More live blogging!
Here's what I played between 1:30 and 4 p.m. Sorry you missed it....
* Roxy Music -- More Than This, Take a Chance With Me. I generally like the later, smoother Roxy better than the sometimes-jarring earlier stuff. While the later stuff doesn't match the thrills of "The Thrill of it All," "More Than This" is SMOOTH, with tasty sax from Andy Mackay and nice Phil Manzanera guitar. "Take a Chance" has a LONG instrumental intro ... but when Bryan Ferry FINALLY gets to the choruses, it's worth it. Very sweet and sentimental. Why wasn't this a hit? But I admit they could be ANYONE....
* Roxy Music -- Do the Strand. Who IS this little Nazi? Some nice atonal sax, and an OK joke near the end, but man, this is REALLY annoying.
* The Jam -- That's Entertainment. I think this coulda been a huge hit in America if someone with less of a British accent than Paul Weller had sang it. Brilliant and bitter. Great stuff!
* The Jam -- Funeral Pyre. Speaking of bitter....
* Mannheim Steamroller -- Toccata. Threw together a quick sandwich while this was playing. I really don't know what to do with these guys. This is smooth and pretty, and beautifully produced, but it's not distinctive. Gryphon (or Camel, Gentle Giant, lots of other English prog bands) were SO much better at this kind of pretty-recorder-or-flute-over-complex-keyboard-backup. And they spoiled me early.
* Mannheim Steamroller -- Small Wooden Bach'ses. OK, that's enough of this stuff right now.
* Van Morrison -- Sweet Thing. About the only song on Van's ASTRAL WEEKS that I can stand. And it's freaking glorious.
* Rickie Lee Jones -- A Lucky Guy. Yeezus, I haven't heard this in YEARS. Nice jazzy swing, and she's so yearning....
* Talking Heads -- Take Me to the River. Not sure if I prefer this version or Al Green's. This hits really hard. And the organ! Maybe if I could mash-up the two....
* XTC -- Grass, Dear God. Always liked XTC's "Senses Working Overtime." "Grass" is pleasant, but not as amazing as I'd expected. "Dear God" is certainly distinctive. Complaint about modern life delivered politely at first, building steadily, excellent production. Powerful finish. Let's play it again. Pretty great.
* XTC -- Earn Enough for Us. Nice ringing guitars, funny lyrics.
* Mannhein Steamroller -- Fantasy, Interlude V, The Third Door. ...And back down again. "Fantasy"'s a fragment. "Interlude V" is light classical mood music. "Third Door" is a little more like it, but not very forceful. And too formal. Gryphon, Rick Wakeman, Strawbs, Camel, Gentle Giant -- your past is calling.
* Mannheim Steamroller -- The Fourth Door. Now this IS pretty....
* Pogues -- If I Should Fall From Grace With God. Loved these guys back in the day. Haven't heard this since 1983. Still sounds great. Plus it's waking my ass back up.
* Pogues -- Turkish Song of the Damned. Uh, well....
* Kinks -- Where Have All the Good Times Gone? Ray Davies was listening to way too much Bob Dylan during this period....
* Kinks -- Sittin' on My Sofa. Ray's version of Brian Wilson's "Busy Doin' Nothin'." But with better guitar.
* Kinks -- A Well Respected Man, Dedicated Follower of Fashion. "Follower" sure had some huge guitars to frame it. Too bad there weren't more. These are both pretty cute. Donald Trump might be able to relate to "Well Respected Man." But probably not.
* Nilsson -- Remember (Christmas). Gorgeous sentimental nostalgia. And it doesn't mention Christmas once.
* Sex Pistols -- Pretty Vacant. OK, WAKE UP! Great guitars, great screeching, great noise. AND WE DON'T CARE!!!
* Sex Pistols -- EMI. My Ghod, Johnny Rotten really WAS the Antichrist! That leering, eerie voice. Urgh. But great guitars.
* 10 cc. -- Silly Love. Silly verses, great choruses, lotsa loud guitar. These guys were really good once.
* Clannad -- Second Nature. I love these guys, but so much of their stuff is All One Somber Mood. This has actual signs of life and excitement. Great vocals, nice sax. Pretty. Roll the credits.
* Roxy Music -- More Than This, Take a Chance With Me. I generally like the later, smoother Roxy better than the sometimes-jarring earlier stuff. While the later stuff doesn't match the thrills of "The Thrill of it All," "More Than This" is SMOOTH, with tasty sax from Andy Mackay and nice Phil Manzanera guitar. "Take a Chance" has a LONG instrumental intro ... but when Bryan Ferry FINALLY gets to the choruses, it's worth it. Very sweet and sentimental. Why wasn't this a hit? But I admit they could be ANYONE....
* Roxy Music -- Do the Strand. Who IS this little Nazi? Some nice atonal sax, and an OK joke near the end, but man, this is REALLY annoying.
* The Jam -- That's Entertainment. I think this coulda been a huge hit in America if someone with less of a British accent than Paul Weller had sang it. Brilliant and bitter. Great stuff!
* The Jam -- Funeral Pyre. Speaking of bitter....
* Mannheim Steamroller -- Toccata. Threw together a quick sandwich while this was playing. I really don't know what to do with these guys. This is smooth and pretty, and beautifully produced, but it's not distinctive. Gryphon (or Camel, Gentle Giant, lots of other English prog bands) were SO much better at this kind of pretty-recorder-or-flute-over-complex-keyboard-backup. And they spoiled me early.
* Mannheim Steamroller -- Small Wooden Bach'ses. OK, that's enough of this stuff right now.
* Van Morrison -- Sweet Thing. About the only song on Van's ASTRAL WEEKS that I can stand. And it's freaking glorious.
* Rickie Lee Jones -- A Lucky Guy. Yeezus, I haven't heard this in YEARS. Nice jazzy swing, and she's so yearning....
* Talking Heads -- Take Me to the River. Not sure if I prefer this version or Al Green's. This hits really hard. And the organ! Maybe if I could mash-up the two....
* XTC -- Grass, Dear God. Always liked XTC's "Senses Working Overtime." "Grass" is pleasant, but not as amazing as I'd expected. "Dear God" is certainly distinctive. Complaint about modern life delivered politely at first, building steadily, excellent production. Powerful finish. Let's play it again. Pretty great.
* XTC -- Earn Enough for Us. Nice ringing guitars, funny lyrics.
* Mannhein Steamroller -- Fantasy, Interlude V, The Third Door. ...And back down again. "Fantasy"'s a fragment. "Interlude V" is light classical mood music. "Third Door" is a little more like it, but not very forceful. And too formal. Gryphon, Rick Wakeman, Strawbs, Camel, Gentle Giant -- your past is calling.
* Mannheim Steamroller -- The Fourth Door. Now this IS pretty....
* Pogues -- If I Should Fall From Grace With God. Loved these guys back in the day. Haven't heard this since 1983. Still sounds great. Plus it's waking my ass back up.
* Pogues -- Turkish Song of the Damned. Uh, well....
* Kinks -- Where Have All the Good Times Gone? Ray Davies was listening to way too much Bob Dylan during this period....
* Kinks -- Sittin' on My Sofa. Ray's version of Brian Wilson's "Busy Doin' Nothin'." But with better guitar.
* Kinks -- A Well Respected Man, Dedicated Follower of Fashion. "Follower" sure had some huge guitars to frame it. Too bad there weren't more. These are both pretty cute. Donald Trump might be able to relate to "Well Respected Man." But probably not.
* Nilsson -- Remember (Christmas). Gorgeous sentimental nostalgia. And it doesn't mention Christmas once.
* Sex Pistols -- Pretty Vacant. OK, WAKE UP! Great guitars, great screeching, great noise. AND WE DON'T CARE!!!
* Sex Pistols -- EMI. My Ghod, Johnny Rotten really WAS the Antichrist! That leering, eerie voice. Urgh. But great guitars.
* 10 cc. -- Silly Love. Silly verses, great choruses, lotsa loud guitar. These guys were really good once.
* Clannad -- Second Nature. I love these guys, but so much of their stuff is All One Somber Mood. This has actual signs of life and excitement. Great vocals, nice sax. Pretty. Roll the credits.
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