We’ve Got To Find A Way

It’s only taken 49 years, but I finally figured out that What’s Going On is a pretty good song.

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.

Well I Realize I’ve Been Hypnotized

OK, I know Hendrix played the Chitlin’ Circuit, and near the end he was getting into funk and all, but Jimi Hendrix did psychedelic, right?  I mean he embodied the words Far Out.

But listen to Gypsy Eyes.  Underneath the trippy exterior is a Motown song.  It could have been done by The Temptations, right?

That’s what’s so cool about great artists, great recordings, and great songs.  They keep giving up something new.

The Time That Was So Hard To Find

They never got a mention in Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, but I’m pretty sure John, Paul, George and Ringo were all Funk Brothers.

Just have a listen to You Won’t See Me.

Getting Better

Part II of my rebuttal to Professor Armand Leroi’s preposterous assertion that The Beatles had virtually no influence on pop music.

Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Everlys - played by punks, punks who grew up listening to show tunes, folk songs, sing-alongs, music hall numbers, cowboy movies, and Granny’s weekly performance at the pub.

By the time they had emerged from Hamburg and those 6 hour sets, The Beatles had developed their own unique sound, a sound which incorporated that early rockabilly, 50’s R&B, and yes, their childhood influences.  They had become adept at absorbing other styles and transforming them into their own brand of rock and roll.

Then there was soul music, and the pixie dust of Motown, which had, in its own way, done the same thing.

Dylan, folk-rock, classical, Eastern, psychedelic, singer/songwriter, hard rock, each one studied, re-imagined and grafted on to that ever-expanding base.  Each new experiment set someone else off on another new idea, which looped right back to The Beatles for them to start all over again.  Getting so much better all the time.

There is no scientific way to explain the influence of The Beatles, because it magic.

Rubber Soul

Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins …  Yes.  Got it.  But without Motown, would we even have the Beatles?

I Feel As Though You Ought To Know

Rubber Soul.  The best Motown album not released by Motown Records.

Higher Than The Moon

Have a listen to St. Teresa by Joan Osborne.  Cool, eh?  Trippy video too.

Every time I play it, I think to myself, “Why did she never make another album after Relish?”  One great record, one overwhelming performance in Standing In The Shadows of Motown, then oblivion.

Starting a few months after Relish came out in 1995, I always looked in the Joan Osborne bin whenever I went browsing for CD’s – something I did often.  Always only the one album.

Eventually I gave up, and accepted that I was fated to repeat this sad question to myself every time I heard Joan Osborne.

Then a few weeks ago I remembered that after the album was released, this thing called the Internet exploded into our world, along with this really cool resource called Wikipedia.

So I finally looked up Joan Osborne in Wikipedia and discovered that she hadn’t disappeared at all.  In fact, she’s been very busy.

Damn!  Guess I got a bucketful of lost time to make up for.

Music in the Cafes at Night; Revolution in the Air

Beale Street, Bleeker Street, Haight-Ashbury, Sunset Strip, Music Row and Motown.

These are the streets that changed music history, according to Rolling Stone - or is it Chrysler?  And of course, by Motown they mean West Grand Boulevard, but we’ll let that slide, shall we?

Elvis, Dylan, The Dead, The Doors, all those Motown hits, all that Country … no one’s gonna argue that some pretty important music came off these streets – and still does.

Here’s another one, though, that’s kind of a glaring omission:  Abbey Road.  A little band called The Beatles made a few hit records there, and I’m told they enjoyed a bit of influence in their day.  Oh, and The Hollies, The Shadows, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Oasis.

Oh wait a minute!  Guess they don’t get many Dodge Challengers driving around London.

This Ain’t No Disco

Are we sure David Byrne wasn’t born in Detroit?  Just asking.

Partners in Crime

Gibson has a list of 20 Great Rock and Roll Songwriting Partnerships, which includes:

Strummer and Jones from The Clash

Tyler and Perry from Aerosmith

Marr and Morrissey from The Smiths

Page and Plant from Zeppelin

Fagen and Becker from Steely Dan

John and Taupin for Reggie Dwight

Bachman and Cummings from The Guess Who

Chilton and Bell from Big Star

Jagger and Richards from the Stones

Lennon and McCartney – ya, d’ya think?

Nice to see Bachman and Cummings on the list, although The Guess Who had more than a few good songs after Bachman departed.

Why no Holland-Dozier-Holland?  Motown was rock ‘n’ roll, and those guys outsold everyone.  I know the article was tagged ‘dynamic duos’, but it’s really about partnerships.

Otherwise it’s a solid – if predictable – list. 

Or maybe it’s constrained and difficult to populate.  I scrolled through my iTunes library, and had a hard time coming up with any other real partnerships.  Lots of cases where the whole band gets credit.  Cases like CSNY or the Eagles where there were several individuals who each contributed great songs, but not many real partnerships.

Curious, that.  Music is such a collaborative thing.  I would have expected more.

Are the Kids Alright?

OK, so readers’ polls can result in some weird stuff.  Take, for instance, Rolling Stone’s Best Rock Documentaries, and – as George would say – spot the loony.

  1. The Last Waltz

  2. Woodstock

  3. This Is Spinal Tap

  4.  Gimme Shelter

  5.  The Kids Are Alright

  6.  Pearl Jam 20

  7.  No Direction Home

  8.  The Beatles Anthology

  9.  Beyond the Lighted Stage

 10. It Might Get Loud

Aw, come on, people!  Spinal Tap is wonderful, but can we check the dictionary here?  It’s brilliant.  It’s an accurate reflection of the culture.  It’s funny.  And it’s fake! 

Documentary:  noun, providing a factual record or report

Mockumentary:  brings up spellcheck

Do these same people also believe Sacha Cohen is a real journalist from Kazakhstan?  Help!  I mean, a joke takes the place of Rattle and Hum or Standing in the Shadows of Motown?  Mercy!

By the way, otherwise, great list.

Under the Apex

That earlier post about U2 being the last great rock band got me thinking about who gets on the list, relative positioning, etc..

So if we stick with “larger than life” as one category, what’s below that?  I’d have to say “huge and influential.”  Really good.  Not quite larger than life.  As good or better than the “larger than life” folks, but never quite got there.  Maybe broke up or died too soon.

Below that?  Well, important.  Maybe not as big in our consciousness as those in the “huge” category, but very influential.  Just ask the folks on the “huge” list.

Below that would be the legions of acts you really like but …

Throw this all into a graphic and you get something like this:

 

The Beatles, of course, are larger than larger than life.  This is about perception more than taste, but I assume few would argue with the top two tiers.  Notice my indecision on The Police.  Almost got there, but not quite in my book anyway.

Notice my cop-outs on Dylan and Michael Jackson.  I know many would place them along with The Beatles.  Solid arguments could be made for any of the categories, so maybe this is more about taste than perception.

I didn’t get lazy in the “important” category; I just ran out of real estate.  There are simply too many influential blues greats, Motown artists and early rockers to list.  And maybe that’s the point of the graphic; it’s less about ranking and more about connecting.

Your taste – or perception – will differ from mine, so you may have different names, or different positions.  That’s cool.  Go build your own pyramid,

How Sweet It Was

Well, we already knew this, but a recent study has confirmed that Pop Music Is Simpler And Louder than it used to be.

We sure knew about the loud part.  Just check a CD pressed in the 80’s compared to one pressed last year.

But the study compared almost half a million songs, and found that melodies have been steadily getting simpler.  And the harmonies are disappearing.

Do ya think?  I mean, how much can you get out of shouting over an over-driven power chord?  Or talking over drums and bass?

Gone, it seems, are John Lennon’s chromatic counterpoints, Keef’s mangling and dangling and tangling, or Motown’s pedals.  Too bad.

The study admits that today’s dance beats are infectious.  They are.  They also  were.  It was always about the beat, but it used to also be so much more.

As the title of the article says, it sure is infectious.  But who wants a virus?  I like music that alters my DNA.

Time Changes Everything

If nothing changed we’d all be stuck in a sort of groundhog day and life would get pretty boring.  Things change, we change, what we like and don’t like changes.

Dunno about you, but my musical tastes have changed a lot over the years, and it’s not just about getting mellower as I get older.  I hope.

For example:

Extreme changes, from “Hate it” to “Love it” – Van Morrison, The Band

Major changes, from “Don’t like it but respect it” to “Love it” – CCR, Motown, Blues, (some) Country

Minor changes, from “Like it” to “Love it” – Stones, AC/DC, Bob Marley

Minor changes from “Adore it” to “Love it” – Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull

Minor changes from “Love it” to “Like it” – Hendrix, The Who

Major changes from “Love it” to “Ya it was OK then but don’t care now” – The Byrds, The Cult, Humble Pie

Extreme changes from “Love it” to “Let’s pretend it didn’t happen” – Wang Chung (I don’t know; I really don’t know), Genesis, a lot of prog rock

Some things just wear thin over time.  Others seem to get better as I discover more and learn to appreciate what I’m hearing.

And some things don’t change.  In the “Can’t imagine ever not loving it” category – Clapton, Dire Straits, Bonnie Raitt, The Cars, The Police, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Tom Petty.

And in a category of their own, the “this is perfect” category – The Beatles.  Sheer joy, any time at all.

Good News For Denver

I started playing with my U.S. music map, plotting where I thought some British artists would land. It looks like this:
 

I've already described how I thought The Beatles belonged in Ohio to reflect their

twin influences of Nashville and Motown, and how Cat Stevens sounds to me like a blend between Memphis and Motown.

The Stones? Chicago and Memphis, so they're neighbours of the Cat.

Eric Clapton's ancestors came from The Delta, Chicago and Texas, placing him somewhere on the Arkansas/Oklahoma border.

U2 and The Kinks split that Motown pop sensibility with a NY punk attitude, putting the somewhere in Penn state (OK, let's give U2 to Buffalo).

Bands like ELO and Queen blend that Motown pop gift with the Hollywood production thing (and jazz complexity), placing them squarely in the middle of the country.

Cream and The Animals blended their love of Chicago blues with a touch of California weirdness, making them natives of Colorado (there you go Denver). Zeppelin: about the same but with a pull from The Delta.

Deep Purple and Pink Floyd have lots of the Hollywood production and complexity, with a bit of pull from the eastern styles, which I guess lands them in the southwestern desert.

Neil Young lands in West Virgina (sorry Winnipeg), given an equal pull from Nashville and NY. And yes, I know he's Canadian.

Elvis Costello? A bit more NY punk.

Dire Straits? Nashville, Memphis, Delta.

Van Morrison: Memphis, Delta (maybe a bit of Motown?)

David Bowie was tough. NY punk and Motown pop pulling hard against California - landing him in Nashville of all places.

Hmmm ... there's a whole new twist on the idea of "Music City."

Got Your Back

Gibson has this list of 10 Backing Bands Who Propelled Their Leaders To Fame and Glory.

The Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
The Band (Bob Dylan)
The Heartbreakers (Tom Petty)
The Revolution (Prince et al)
Booker T. and the M.G.'s (Various)
The Experience (Jimi Hendrix)
The Attractions (Elvis Costello)
The Wailers (Bob Marley)
The E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen)
Crazy Horse (Neil Young)

Not sure I can think of any substitutes, but I gotta question The Band and Crazy Horse. Can anyone seriously contend that Bob Dylan wasn't already a household name before he hooked up with The Band? Or that he needed them afterwards? Ditto Neil Young. I've seen/heard Neil Young fill an arena with just his warbly voice and an acoustic guitar. With all due respect to Crazy Horse, any backup band would do.

BTW, can anyone name those guys?

Along the same lines, although Hendrix was not a household name before he teamed up with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, and as good as they were, I wonder how long it would have been before he took the world by storm anyway.

At the opposite end of the scale: as strong as they were - and as much as they were the obvious leaders and the driving creative forces - I find it hard to distinguish between Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, between Marley and The Wailers, between Springsteen and the E Street Band. They were units. The leaders were part of the band.

Probably the most interesting band on the list is Booker T and The M.G.'s. Those guys were the backup band. Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Albert King ... the list goes on.

Ah, hold on a minute! If we're going to include backup bands that supported more than one act, where are The Funk Brothers, who played on more hit records (for Motown) than everyone on the list combined?

In My Life

Now here's a list that says a lot: the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Beatles Songs. Who else could deserve their own list?

Very thoughtful write-up by Elvis Costello, who has added scholarship to his songwriting and performance credentials. He respects their exceptional skills as songwriters, nails it with his admiration of George's sing-able guitar solos, and recognizes the influence their studio pioneering had on, as he puts it, everything from Motown to Jimi Hendrix.

Like me, he thinks it's impossible to pick favourites, then confesses that Rubber Soul and Revolver are.

Here's the Top 10:
1. A Day In The Life
2. I Want To Hold Your Hand
3. Strawberry Fields
4. Yesterday
5. In My Life
6. Something
7. Hey Jude
8. Let It Be
9. Come Together
10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Hard to argue with anything there. I could say I was a tad disappointed at the placement of the following: You Won't See Me (#94), Nowhere Man (#66), Drive My Car (#43), and We Can Work It Out (#30). OK, maybe more than a little disappointed on Nowhere Man.

But at what cost? What song(s) deserve to be lower? Every song on the list is remarkable, most are influential, and a healthy majority of them are masterpieces.

In my life, a better Top 100 list could not be assembled.

2 to Tango

Interesting list from Billboard a while back: 10 Songwriting Duos That Rocked Music History

No ranking so no opportunity to whine or moan. Or ...

perfect opportunity to rank the list myself!

1. Lennon & McCartney
2. Jagger & Richards
3. Page & Plant
4. Strummer & Jones
5. King & Goffin
6. Hall & Oates
7. Rodgers & Hammerstein
8. John & Taupin
9. Morrissey & Marr
10. Gamble & Huff

Hmmm ... no numbers, but maybe the list was ranked by Billboard, with R&H @ #10 and L&M @ #1. My list above gets pretty arbitrary after Page & Plant, 'cause I really don't care about the rest of 'em. Well, maybe after Strummer & Jones.

But the Billboard list is weird. It was sparked by the deaths of Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford. So why weren't Leiber & Stoller and Ashford & Simpson included? Much more deserving than Hall & Oates in my book.

And Rodgers & Hammerstein? Rocking music history? With what? Edelweiss?

Bottom's Up

Well, it turns out there's another list, the Gibson Top 10 Bassists Of All Time. I like this one better. Here it is:

1) Paul McCartney. Yes. That's more like it.
2) James Jamerson. Someone was listening.
3) John Entwistle. A better placement.
4) Cliff Burton.
5) Geddy Lee. About the same as the Rolling Stone list.
6) Jaco Pastorius. Ditto. Guess I better go find out about this guy.
7) Les Claypool. Double ditto.
8) Flea. Hmmm. Rolling Stone had him better placed near the top.
9) Chris Squire. Not a big Yes fan, but he probably belongs on the list.
10) John Paul Jones. Well, 10 is better than 6.

Only major quarrel is no Jack Bruce. But overall, a much better list, at least from the standpoint of this Gibson ES-335 player.