Sock It To Me

 

The thing about lists is they are designed to create controversy.  Witness Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.  Everyone’s going to have a grievance or three.  This one’s too low on the list, that one’s too high.  And – especially, it would seem, if you’re a Celine Dion fan – why isn’t she (or he) on the list?

 

But this list created a different problem for me, because for every okay-I-get-it and are-you-serious? on the list there was also a who?

 

I must be getting old.

She’ll Never Break

 

The Stones should have re-recorded Heart of Stone when they were making Voodoo Lounge.  I mean, they were always good, but their musicianship and production was just so much better later on.

Don’t Think Twice

 

In the run up to Bob Dylan’s 80^th birthday, there have been dozens of articles offering praise, trivia and insights.  As a fan, of course I read them.

 

One of the more interesting tidbits I picked up was the notion that Dylan’s songs are paintings.  You don’t have to understand them.  You don’t even have to like them.  You only have to know whether they speak to you.

 

Speaking for myself, they do.  Yeah, they do.

Time Is On My Side

So you’re a bar band.  You start out playing Chicago Blues and 50’s R&B.  Rock and Roll takes over.  Then things move on to Motown, Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Disco, and Alternative.  How the devil do keep getting gigs through all these changes? 

Answer: you become the Rolling Stones.

Don’t You Believe Them

Just   …   listen to Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is.

Run Devil Run

I know it was Paul McCartney’s album and all, but:

• Mick Green
• Pete Wingfield
• Ian Paice
• David Gilmour
• And Sir Paul himself

So how come that line-up on Live At The Cavern Club wasn’t labelled a supergroup?

Before You Accuse Me

I have heard and seen frequent criticism of Eric Clapton that when he performs live he makes no attempt to connect to the audience.

To which, I say this: Watch Eric’s face.  He is lost in the music, which is where you’re supposed to be.

A Higher Place

The thing about Tom Petty is, like, when you hear one of his songs, you go, I wrote that, didn’t I?

Don’t Fade On Me

“The soundtrack to your life” may be a cliché, but to the extent that we all have one, mine seemed to be slipping away in 2017.  Check out Rolling Stone’s People We Lost This Year.

Chuck Berry, Tom Petty, Malcolm Young, Gord Downie, Greg Allman, Walter Becker, Fats Domino, J. Geils …  sheesh!  That’s a partial list of cultural icons relegated to our memories.

Back up your hard drives, people.  We need to keep this stuff alive.

It Ain’t Nothin’ New

Killer songs, rock solid performance, great production, and – for my money – the best slide guitar going.

But what really sets Bonnie Raitt’s music apart is that it’s sexy.  Have a listen to Love Sneakin’ Up On You.  Bonnie’s music is overflowing with slow-grinding, hip-swaying, trance-inducing grooves.

Your whole world is shakin’.

Respectable

Some of my favourite music is by people who are doing The Stones - and maybe making a better job of it.  There’s been a lot of it about over the years, so I know it’s not just me who thinks they’re a pretty good band.

I mean, if being copied by dozens of successful bands over 5 decades isn’t influential, then what is?

Hello Old Friend, Goodbye Old Friend

More than anyone else, Tom Petty had the ability to repackage all the music I love and play it back as something brand new.

While unique and original, each song arrived like an old friend you had somehow forgotten about.  Simple yet profound, each song delivered a straight up truth:  this is me; this is us; this is rock and roll.

Tom Petty gave us 40 years of honesty, hope, joy and comfort.

Goodbye old friend.  And thank you.

I Wonder What You People Do With Your Lives

Listen to Forever  by The Charlatans.  How did these guys not become huge?

Scared To Run Out Of Time

Have a listen to Bonnie Raitt’s Nick Of Time.

Now that’s a Grammy performance.

I Stick Around For More

There’s no way you could argue Bonnie Raitt’s Spit of Love, recorded in 1998, is an R&B tune.  It’s got a classic hook, a hypnotic groove, and a solid, driving beat.

So how come I’ve got it on my Psychedelic playlist?

We Salute You

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of rock have been greatly exaggerated.

I was at the AC/DC concert in Quebec City last week, and I assure you that rock and roll is alive and very well, thank you very much.

Forever Man

It’s not a secret that Eric Clapton is my favourite guitarist, and I was fortunate enough to see the concert of a lifetime during his brief farewell stint at the Royal Albert Hall this past May.

I’ve seen him five times now, and each show was wonderful, but this one was special: a) because of the venue; b) because it was the last.  The bittersweet feeling that “this was it” dampened my enjoyment of a terrific performance, but I still came out of the hall breathless and exhilarated.

Clapton is the man.  You could endlessly debate who has more skill, who had the best solo, the best riff, the biggest wow factor, but Clapton’s body of work stands apart.  He’s given so much; it would be selfish to begrudge him his retirement.

Thanks, Eric.  You had the key to the highway.

Forever Young

If he had never made another record after Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan would still be regarded as one of the most important artists in the history of music.

But has Rolling Stone Readers Poll of Bob Dylan’s 10 Best Post-60’s Songs nicely proves, he had a lot more to say.  And if the list had been expanded to 40 songs, every one of ‘em would be a powerful tune.

Tangled Up In Blue, Hurricane, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door … every song on the list is a masterpiece.  And, unlike a lot of 60’s stars, he didn’t just drift into the 70’s and then peter out.  Time Out of Mind was one of the best albums of the 90’s and easily rivals Blood on the Tracks or Highway 61 Revisited (or Freewheelin’, if you prefer) for the title of Best Dylan Album Ever.

Five and a half decades into his monstrously large career, the man is still going.  I hope he never stops.

The Simplest Things Set Me Off Again

Have a listen to My Brave Face.  What a great, catchy pop tune.

Maybe with a little help from Elvis Costello, but Paul still had it as late as 1989. 

Check that.  Listen to No Other Baby.  He still had it as late as 1999.  Ya, I know he didn’t write the tune, but he still knew how to rock and roll.

No wait!  Listen to Dance Tonight.  Pure joy, in 2007.  And with or without Kanye’s help, the man still has it.

You’re So Bad

I can’t decide which is worse about Rolling Stone’s 20 Wildest Censored Album Covers: the holier-than-thou attitude of the censors, or Rolling Stone’s insistence that it should treat Spinal Tap as a real band when it compiles its lists.