The Session Men

Gibson’s 10 Great Session Guitarists brings some well-deserved focus to some brilliant musicians who have delivered a heap of magic over the years.

Lukather, Cropper, Carlton, Tedesco, Atkins, Spedding … where would pop/rcok/blues/soul be without them?  Or, to put it another way, where would Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Elvis, Ricky Nelson, Sam Cooke, Bryan Ferry, Elton John and  Aretha Franklin be without them?

OK, some of them would probably have done OK, but you get the point.

And then there was this cat by the name of Jimmy Page.

Note to Gibson.  No one is going to dispute the importance of James Jamerson, but he was a bass player.  Is there really no other session guitarist out there that should have made the list?

Mayday! Mayday! We’re Listing!

Yes, I can take umbrage when I see a list that elevates someone I don’t respect/like or disrespects my idols.  Guilty as charged.

Seems I’m not alone, though.  The “puffed-up pontificators” at Entertainment Weekly appear to have deeply offended Joel Rubinoff with their list of Top 100 Albums, at least judging by his You Call This a List? rant in the Toronto Star.

Rubinoff’s Exhibit A is that the “whims of personality and ego” omitted Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Not just from the Top 10, but altogether.  He has many other issues, but that’s the big one.

By the way, here’s the Top 10:

 1. Beatles, Revolver

 2. Once-Again-Known-As-Prince, Purple Rain

 3. Stones, Exile

 4. MJ, Thriller

 5. The Clash, London Calling

 6. Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks

 7. Aretha, Lady Soul

 8. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

 9. Beach Boys, Pet Sounds

10. Nirvana, Nevermind

I mean, chill out Joel.  It’s not that different from many other lists I’ve seen - and commented on.  Yes, I agree that leaving out Pepper’s is crazy.  But frankly, I don’t care whether Blood on the Tracks outranks Highway 61 Revisited.  Like, they’re both good, right?

Perhaps the folks at EW were “determined to stoke debate” by going “out of their way … to tick of readers.”  Fair enough.

As Mr. Rubinoff admits, it’s a classic marketing ploy, and it works, cause it’s got people talkin’.

Take it easy, Joel.  At least the Beatles hold down top spot on the list.  For now, anyway.  Tomorrow never knows.

2012

Well, we survived 2012, despite the Mayans, and the doomsayers.

It was a big year, actually.  Lots of 50^th anniversaries:  Beatles’ first record, Stones first gig, Dylan’s first album, James Bond movies, Andy Warhol’s can of soup, the death of Marilyn Monroe, the birth of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Some notable 70^th birthdays: Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Annette Funicello, Muhammad Ali, Aretha Franklin.

50 years since the Cuban Missile Crisis, 70 years since the Battle of El Alamein, 100 years since the Titanic sunk, 200 years since the Battles of Borodino and Queenston Heights.

A big year.  I can’t remember 2011 having so much to hype up.  2013?  We’ll see, I guess.  ’62 and ’42 were big years, that’s for sure.

It’s amazing what goes on within you, without you.

Ooh baby, baby!

The first thing that jumps at out you when you look at Rolling Stone’s Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time (by women), is that there had to be a lot of stretching to come up with a list that long.

Here’s the Top 10:

 1. Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

 2. Joni Mitchell, Blue

 3. Dusty Springfield, Dusty In Memphis

 4. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

 5. Patti Smith, Horses

 6. Adele, 21

 7. Missy Elliott, Under Construction

 8. Blondie, Parallel Lines

 9. The Supremes, Anthology

10. Bikini Kill, The Singles

No one, I mean no one, is going to argue with Aretha being number one, even though she was the Queen Of Soul.  Close enough.  But Taylor Swift?  Bjork?  Dolly Parton?  Yoko Ono?

I know I go on endlessly about how it was so much better before we splintered into so many subcultures, but Dionne Warwick?  Donna Summer?  It’s supposed to be Women Who Rock, not Queens of Pop.

Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Janis Joplin, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett?  Absolute rockers.

Carole King, Dolly Parton and Dionne Warwick?  Nope.

Listen:  there’s a lot of talent on this list and all of the names are deserving of respect.  I know rock is a verb that has also come to mean, “cool.”  But rock is rock, and not all these ladies do.

Queens of Rock

Saw a PBS special a while back entitled Women Who Rock.

I usually put such shows on as time fillers, not expecting to learn - or be entertained - all that much.

It was pretty good though. Cyndi Lauper did an impressive job as host. Knowledgeable, passionate – and, of course, fun.

Lots of familiar territory and expected coverage: Carol King, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, the Wilson sisters from Heart. But a couple of surprises. Never heard of Wanda Jackson before. Don't know how I missed her, but glad to have that little gap in my history databanks plugged. The other surprise was no coverage of Fleetwood Mac.

You kidding me? Weren't they like the biggest band in the world for a couple of years, with not one but two women singing, playing and writing? Kinda strange.

Two small insights came at me:
1) Sister Rosetta Tharpe really was vastly influential. The male testosterone dominated pantheon of guitar heroes borrowed a lot from her. A lot.
2) Madonna has a lot to answer for. The show covered a lot of female artists who have arisen in the last 20 years, and made a big deal about the music scene actually being (finally) dominated by women. That may be, but are they rockers or dancers? With a few notable exceptions, like, say, Christine Aguilera, the voices aren't noteworthy at all. But the dancing's pretty good, I guess.

It kinda confirms this uneasy feeling I've had for a long time now. It's about the marketing, not the music. Eye candy and Broadway, not rock and roll. Would Janis Joplin or Chrissie Hynde even get a record deal now?

You gotta admire what Madonna has accomplished, but I'm not sure she did us any favours.

The Endless Groove

People tend to associate the groove with American R&B, but endless groove are everywhere.

You've got your Irish groove (U2, Bad), your American groove (John Lee Hooker, Boogie Chillun),  your Jamaican groove (Bob Marley, Get Up Stand Up), your English groove (The Cult, She Sells Sanctuary), your Guyanese groove (Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue), and your good old Canadian groove (April Wine, Say Hello).

You've got your classic soul groove (Aretha Franklin, Chain of Fools), your 80's New Wave R&B groove (The Fixx, One Thing Leads To Another), your low-down moanin' blues groove (John Lee Hooker, Tupelo), and your psychedelic boogie groove (Canned Heat, On The Road Again).

You've got your electrofunk groove (Marrs, Pump Up The Volume), your reggae groove (Bob Marley, Stir It Up), your folk groove (Donovan, Riki Tiki Tavi), your dance groove (k-os, Crabbukit), and your I-am-all-genres-at-once groove (Lenny Kravitz, Fly Away).

You wouldn't call Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix R&B guys, but they did it (All Along The Watchtower). Ditto Steve Miller (Wintertime), Bruce Cockburn (If A Tree Falls), and Collective Soul (December).

Maybe black people "own" the groove, 'cause they do dominate the list.  But white boys can definitely hold their own (Eric Burden, Spill The Wine; Van Morrison, Gloria; George Thorogood, Bad To The Bone; Warren Zevon, Werewolves Of London).

The groove is elemental.  It knows no boundaries.  It unites us all.

Groove on, people.