Upon further research, both The Band and Steppenwolf are Canadian? I see.
Yes. When in doubt, stick with American! bands.
If you want to get deeply into the work of Peter Fonda, he appeared in a Thomas the Tank Engine movie and was much less able to emote convincingly than the train engines.
Come to think of it, this too-high atmosphere is also an aspect of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Really? Can't imagine why you'd say that. Was there some sort of drug use at any point in that movie?
My aversion to Seventies Rock is more simple: musically, I believe it may well be the apex of rock and roll, but it's so massively overplayed that I can't appreciate it properly. I even automatically think of it with a radio tagline appended: YOU'RE LISTENING TO [WBAG 105.7 OR WHATEVER] NOTHING BUT CL-CL-CL-CLAAAAASSICK RAAAWWWWWWK! With at least one whole radio station dedicated to it in like every city in North America, run by creepily similar stables of troglodytic DJs.
3: I had to watch that movie much too often, and developed baroque and terrifying theories about what they'd threatened Fonda with to make him appear in it. I've never seen an affect that flat on a human being in my life.
But, gah, the hi-hat mic. Pull it back, man!
First world Drummer's problem.
I used to really hate a lot of early 70s US white music,* but I had a bit of an about face a while back. David Crosby's 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' was a real discovery for me. It's not particularly over-blown, and it's well produced/great sounding, and Crosby's voice then was really great.
* early 70s British music of same period means Bowie and Roxy Music.
I have trouble talking to you kids about my era of music, since Gabor Szabo, Shirley Collins, Terry Riley, and Mavis Staples were listened to as much as Steppenwolf.
At least they used real drums back then.
Shorter OP: "there is a musical genre that I dislike, although I'm not sure I can articulate exactly why."
I mean, to clarify, "music that I think of 1970s Rock" isn't everything from the period, is it? Because that would be sort of interesting. But I'm guessing you're just describing a particular style from the period, one that you've come to call '1970s Rock'.
I spent some time doing fieldwork in the vicinity where the final scene along the levee* was filmed near Krotz Springs LA. This would be late '70s and Fonda seemed to have left a favorable impression on the locals--Hopper not so much.
*On the Atchafalaya for you Mississippi flood fans.
10 really isn't fair. A more accurate shorter OP is: "there is a musical genre that I dislike, although I'm not sure I can articulate exactly why. This musical genre: let me show it to you."
early 70s British music of same period means Bowie and Roxy Music.
Plus several great albums by The Who.
I think the musical strength of the 70s is the number of excellent singer-songwriters: Joni Mitchel, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, (heck Paul Simon), etc . . .
This guy has a map showing the route they took. Since I'm sure everyone will be highly interested in that.
so massively overplayed that I can't appreciate it properly
This is a big problem for me as well. It took about 20 years for me to get past having my bowels clinch any time I heard a track from The Big Chill soundtrack, despite the fact that it's great music. Now that I rarely listen to the radio for anything but news, that has become less of an issue overall but has shifted its focus to music that gets played ad nauseum during TV sports. Accordingly, I have powerful urges to punch Beyonce, Hank Williams Jr., and the Black Eyed Peas square in the nuts.
For example, here is a list of the Greatest Rock Songs of the '70s (surely hugely subjective, but that's not important for these purposes, since the list is unquestionably fairly representative).
If you hate all the songs on that list, then I admit, I'll be impressed.
I think the musical strength of the 70s is the number of excellent singer-songwriters: Joni Mitchel, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, (heck Paul Simon), etc . . .
Dylan in the early-mid 70s was pretty hot too. Blood On The Tracks, Desire, The Basement Tapes, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, Hard Rain. Even Budokan has its moments.
Is there a list of the early 70s rock deployed in Easy Rider? Because I don't remember which it is, except that it's sort of psychedelic. But not all psychedelic rock was bad, and certainly not all early 70s rock was psychedelic. I'm a little grumpy, sorry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Rider_%28soundtrack%29
My affection for 70's rock dwells in the converse of DS's 4. Now that I've stopped listening to commercial radio almost completely, on the rare occasion on which I hear the songs that were previously consigned to yeah-daddy purgatory, I can really feel the groove.
For example, here is a list of the Greatest Rock Songs of the '70s (surely hugely subjective, but that's not important for these purposes, since the list is unquestionably fairly representative).
I wouldn't call it unquestionably representative of 70s rock. Stevie Wonder? Marvin Gaye? The Temptations? Blondie? Al Green? Chic? Abba?And so on. There's an awful lot of pop and soul in there.
The movie came out in 1969, so there isn't actually any 1970s rock to be found in it.
20 is silly. The only song on the Easy Rider soundtrack is "Born To Be Wild". They play it every time they are riding motorcycles, or anytime anyone anywhere rides a motorcycle.
16: The parking lot attendant by my office looks just like Taboo from the Black Eyes Peas.
I definitely think the sound Stanley is describing is a late 60s sound.
16: I have powerful urges to punch Beyonce, Hank Williams Jr., and the Black Eyed Peas square in the nuts.
That might be tough with Beyonce. But the Black Eyed Peas I think should be punched in the nuts just on principle.
If you liked her, then you should have put some nuts on her.
24: I believe we are herein discussing The Long Seventies. (Which term I was totally just making up as a joke, but it turns out it's actually a thing to someone else too. Huh.)
4: but it's so massively overplayed that I can't appreciate it properly.
What is interesting to me somewhat is to see what has made it into the canon and stayed and which not. As an example, I'm pretty certain that "Locomotive Breath" is played a lot more compared to other songs off of Aqualung than it was at the time. (And I'm surprised to learn that only "Hymn 43" came out as a single at the time, LB was single in 1976, title track not at all but it certainly was the one played most on AOR stations and "Cross-Eyed Mary" got a lot of play as well.)
And some prominent-at-the-time things like "21st Century Schizoid Man" (yes, late 1969, I know) are pretty much gone from the standard rotations.
Steppenwolf was hard rock, and I always considered The Band mixed hard for what it was.
So I went looking for something representative, hating youtube for the low-fi and usual compression. Santana used drums differently.
Stanley, is this what you mean by the high hat? I hear it.
Re 31
Yeah, i've read that phrase elsewhere, too. Also, i'm fairly sure, conversely, long 60s.
Listening to two online versions of "She Has Funny Cars" by the Airplane 1967, one at youtube, I am wondering if the high-hat thing is partly a loudness/compression artifact. Bumped transients.
I totally disagree with the premise of this post. Music peaked around 1974, and its been downhill since then.
32 gets it right. Also, "Easy Rider" was a paean to a certain gestalt, but it wasn't the gestalt embraced by all, by any means, and I object to its coming to stand for the era musically. Stanley.
21st Century Schizoid Man is just too long and upsetting to too many people -- such crescendo! -- for it to have made it into the pop radio canon (though it's part of the canon otherwise). It's kind of like Bitches Brew in that way.
Actually, I'm being dumb, long-60s is the canonical form, so of course i'd have seen it.
I definitely think the sound Stanley is describing is a late 60s sound.
A point for which I more than explicitly made room in the OP. You people are argumentative.
36: Music peaked around 1974
Specifically when Ray Stevens' "The Streak" hit number one in the US.
34.2: And the demarcations are regionally variant. For instance the defining moment of the '60s in my neck of the woods happened in 1970 (Kent State).
Stanley, is this what you mean by the high hat? I hear it.
Not sure; I hear a very percussive acoustic guitar in my (not very good) computer speakers. But the vocal harmonies are certainly emblematic of The Thing I'm On About.
Oh! You know what song totally has That Thing? "I Am The Walrus". So, yeah, maybe late-60s is the The Thing. I fucking hate that "Coo Coo Ka-choo" lyric.
Yeah. Lots of places where, 'the 60s' in the London circa 64 - 67 sense didn't happen at all, or happened in fits and starts years later. People still tried to beat my Dad up for being a long haired hippy - fail on their part due to ex-army/gorbals - more or less around the time punk was kicking off.
You people are argumentative.
Are not.
42: That song was stupid on so many levels.
I'm thinking some of the 60s/70s sound Stanley has in mind is that west coast sound -- Manassas, etc
45: "I Am the Walrus"? I love that song. Maybe because I'm stupid on many levels too?
47: Or maybe just really stupid on one level.
I usually try to break the decades on the 5s, 1945-55, 55-65, 65-75.
Another thing to remember was that the late 60s was a peak time for classical, as people were buying the new stereos and records to play, all the warhorses had been recorded in stereo in the early/mid 60s, and Phillips and DG were releasing the Boccherinis and Cherubinis by the truckload.
I usually try to break the decades on the 5s, 1945-55, 55-65, 65-75.
bob -- always the contrarian!
To be fair to me, that song really annoys me.
I don't get 48.
Shut the fuck up, Donny.
People still tried to beat my Dad up for being a long haired hippy - fail on their part due to ex-army/gorbals - more or less around the time punk was kicking off.
Probably punks doing it - "Yer too old and yer hair's too long!".
48,55: Ok. The big G helped me figure out that I stumbled into a Big Lebowski reading.
I still don't get it.
And I'm still hurt that Moby would suggest there is only one level to my stupidity.
We're all stupid in our own ways. I didn't get 48 until 58.
I completely don't get the point of saying that "I am the Walrus" is annoying. What the fuck, dude? If it annoys or fails to please some particular person, that's fine, but if the claim is that it's objectively annoying, no.
53 actually makes a lot of sense. 45-55: bop/cool, 55-65: early rock and roll/beat/surf, 65-75: electrical Dylan and followers/psychedelia/prog rock, 75-85: punk/new wave...
I fucking hate that "Coo Coo Ka-choo" lyric.
That's "goo goo ga joob" to you, whippersnapper. "Coo coo kachoo" is Mrs. Robinson.
Re 57
No. The older brother of a guy in our street and his mates. Just a bit older than the kids who did become punks. I remember the people involved quite clearly although I only heard about the event later. In retrospect they were probably only 4 or 5 years younger than my Dad, who was born in 1950 (and identified as a hippy even though he liked punk)
Apparently I need to consult the big G.
I also like the "producing your roadies song to get a number one hit" story behind this song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_in_the_Air_%28song%29
Unfortunately, although it takes a few listenings for it to become clear this piano solo is an abomination:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zmkzshUvE&feature=player_detailpage#t=116s
I like the easy rider soundtrack. I didn't like the film that much.
Here's the Glenn Gould discography showing the 65-75 bump as he wanted his repertoire. Jacqueline du Pre.
All the artists and orchestras wanted to get well-recorded stereo recordings out there, and the labels just dumped them for 2-3 dollars. Your little hippie record shop had a whole corner of chamber music, in classy jackets and thick vinyl. And they fucking sounded great, much better noise reduction and separation than the pop.
And you know, with some hash and auslese, between Mitchell and Browne and Parsons, you slapped some Bach partitas on the turntable. We wanted mellow.
Ganesha: Apparently there is a Big Lebowski reference to I am the Walrus wherein the song (or perhaps just the lyrics) is remarked upon in some way. Can you tell me what's meant by this such that I should understand, say, 45, 48, and following?
Or is it rather that I shouldn't give a shit?
Yours,
p
Re 69
Funnily enough, I own quite a bit of that 60s classical vinyl and I've complained in the past about how poorly quite a bit of it stands up compared to similar non classical recordings of the time. I'm thinking chamber music versus small group jazz. The former often sounds tinny and either over dry or strangely reverbed.
The full clip does not appear to be on Youtube except in Italian, but here's a recreation.
If it annoys or fails to please some particular person, that's fine, but if the claim is that it's objectively annoying, no.
Have you even read Unfogged?
Early seventies music I've enjoyed lately:
Incredible Bongo Band's Apache
Grateful Dead's Scarlet Begonias
As others have said, Blood on the Tracks is nice.
My problem with '70s "classic rock" is a lot of it is boring and sounds the same. There are some songs that I like in a vague way, but they don't move me at all. Which, come to think of it, may be the real problem for me. I was thinking about "move" emotionally, but they're also for shit, rhythm-wise. (As a listener; they may be all kinds of wonderful to musicians.)
I'm sure you'll all be happy to explain to me why I'm wrong, which I'm perfectly willing to accept. But the Doors and the Who and the Stones and Lynard Skynard and Led Zeppelin and the Kinks and Aerosmith and Pink Floyd (I could go on) are all pretty interchangeable to me.
Give me the rest of the '70s: the funk, R&B, disco, singer songwriters, new wave, punk.
73: It's like I'm annoyed with Unfogged.
Ganesha, you're a dear. I have too many tabs open right now to look, and can look for a textual explanation later if needed.
50, 62: That's an interesting periodization. I tend to think more in terms of matching up politics & current events to arts & culture, to create more holistic "decades".
I.e., viz. and to wit:
The '40s: 1942 to 1952 -- basically the war and its immediate aftermath, swing, pre-rock-n-roll
The '50s: 1953 to 1963 -- Ike and JFK, optimism, growth, baby boomers, rock-n-roll, Great Folk Scare, Civil Rights, nuclear fears
The '60s: 1964 to 1974: Vietnam in earnest, campus activism, riots, assassinations, rock matures and divides, disco begins
The '70s: 1975 to 1983: The crest of baby boomer changes, retrenchment, punk, hip-hop, heavy metal
The '80s: 1984 to 1991: From 1984 to the Gulf War, computers, cable, VCRs, electronic music, hair bands, baby boomers have kids
The '90s: 1992 to 2001: School shootings, grunge, dot.com bubble, indie bands, Clinton, mainstreaming of fetish culture
The Oughts: 2001 to 2008: Bush, terror, insecurity, housing bubble, internet everywhere, post-physical music distribution
a lot of it is boring and sounds the same
IME, any genre you don't listen to much all sounds the same.
Stanley, am I right that "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" has the too-high feeling you're talking about? As a child I found that song frightening and unpleasant in what I think is the way you're talking about.
75: the Doors and the Who and the Stones and Lynard Skynard and Led Zeppelin and the Kinks and Aerosmith and Pink Floyd (I could go on) are all pretty interchangeable
The Who and Lynyrd Skynyrd (TYVM) I could almost sort of see. They belong at least to a similar school of rock. But... Aerosmith interchangeable with the Doors and The Kinks and Pink Floyd all at the same time? Sure thou tak'st the piss.
(Mind you, I agree with you about the rest of the Seventies, w/ addition of dub reggae to the list.)
I was listening to Music From Big Pink just last night; good lord does that hold up, though "The Weight" is not my favorite.
Didn't Stanley once try to tell us that Blink 182 was as good as the Beatles, or something? That may be unfair. But any musical hierarchy in which Blink 182 is acceptable and Levon Helm is not is objectively evil, and that is just God's law, people.
I also subscribe to Bob's theory of breaking up the music decades on the 5s; 58 and 62, 68 and 72, and 78 and 82 deserve to be grouped together.
Easy Rider is one of the most important movies ever in the business history of Hollywood. The death knell of thebstudio system and the start of new kinds of financing and profit participations. I like it a film, too, though it did seem way more deep when I was 16.
78: Yeah, plus I have no ear for guitars or drums, so those bands don't have an identifiable sound to me. I know that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a Rolling Stones song and "Riders on the Storm" is the Doors, but that's just because I've been told that, not because I can hear it.
81: though it did seem way more deep when I was 16
I waited WAAAAY too long to see Easy Rider. I think I had been at least somewhat aware of it since I was 12 or so, and had read a big book of the 10 greatest films of the 1960s, in which it was the final entry, when I was 17. And then I don't think I watched it until I was 21. It really just didn't live up to its press. Not quite in the same way as Catcher in the Rye, but similar "why the hell are the baby boomers always gushing about this" sensations?
Yeah, a tiny little bit of noodly guitar solo goes a long way. But say Radiator Blues holds up for me.
addition of dub reggae to the list.
Aaaaaaw hecky no. Dub is so great. I'll try for a seventies/dub mix, up Monday probably.
Try the Lee Perry track on this page for now:
http://planetmondo.blogspot.com/2010/06/downtempo-but-upbeat.html
82: I have a bad ear, but I knew that. (Once, to the great amusement of everybody in the room, I confused Jim Morrison, Van Morrison, and Morrissey all at once. I still don't know who the middle one is.)
||
Yugoslav Brutalist War Memorials
via Cowen
|>
71:ECM? ECM was good. Rudy van Gelder was a genius.
Maybe my memory fails. Shrugs. I do remember buying the Airplane Greatest Hits on release and have the vinyl fold like Saran Wrap.
Oddly, though I'm a child of the 80s and 90s, I pretty much am indifferent to most 80s and 90s rock (love hip hop and metal, though), with a few exceptions. The notion that, e.g., the Pixies are a great band as opposed to a pretty good one (or are better than, say, The Band) is totally foreign to my taste, though generationally appropriate.
But the Doors and the Who and the Stones and Lynard Skynard and Led Zeppelin and the Kinks and Aerosmith and Pink Floyd (I could go on) are all pretty interchangeable to me.
This is totally incomprehensible to me. Zeppelin is incredibly different from Pink Floyd. Seriously? But, um, okay.
Oh, and Prince, of course. Who I love. And who I'm seeing tomorrow night for $25, bitches.
88: Yes, it's incomprehensible to me too, but apo's 78 is probably the key. For example, a lot of hip-hop all sounds the same to me.
89: Prince! Do we all agree about Prince, at least?
I never saw Easy Rider when it came out and have never liked it. Halford mentions its historical economic importance, and it did start the trend of American auteur downer road movies:Two-Lane Blacktop, ElectraGlide in Blue, Five Easy Pieces, Scarecrow, Last Detail
I didn't watch any movies or tv in the 70s.
90: Yes, but. Yes but! the Doors and the Who and the Stones and Lynard Skynard and Led Zeppelin and the Kinks and Aerosmith and Pink Floyd are not all of a genre!! Some of them can be assimilated into one, but certainly, as soon as you include Pink Floyd, you're casting wildly.
92: For a long time here in Mpls, among the yoot, it was de rigeur to espouse a disdain for Prince. Now everyone likes him again though.
87: I also do not understand the whole cultlike-devotion-to-the-Pixies thing. It seems to grab a lot of people who would otherwise be cooler about that stuff.
85: I once confused Van Morrison with Annie Lennox. Buck's been giving me shit about it for fifteen years now.
I do note that three of the top five box office in 1969 were:Easy Rider, They Shoot Horses, Don't They, and Midnight Cowboy
We were in a very bad mood.
97: We were in a very bad mood.
Speak for everybody else. I was six and as happy as I would ever be.
Hairstyles would be even more difficult to confuse, wouldn't you think?
Buck had had an Annie Lennox CD in, and then another song came on, and I looked up and said "Annie Lennox covered Moondance?" In fact, the first CD had ended and I was listening to Van Morrison singing Moondance.
I've got a really terrible ear.
97: Winona Ryder wasn't even born yet. What do you expect?
Buck had had an Annie Lennox CD
Crimes! Crimes!
If I ever ever played an Annie Lennox CD my wife would certainly divorce me. I don't like her, but my wife hates her.
You probably weren't worrying about this, but your wife will never leave you for Buck. Annie Lennox is a thing with him. As is Sarah McLachlan, but what with the bad ear and all I'm not sure if that's the same thing or a different thing.
100: You recognized the song --I think that puts you ahead of Moby.
100: Eh, anybody could make that mistake after a glass of wine or two, or just operating under the assumption that we were still listening to Annie Lennox. Though I must say ....
I have a bad ear, but I knew that.
I'm probably not explaining this very well. If I sat down and really listened, I'm sure I could recognize differences among the bands. But when a classic rock song comes on, I'm 250x more likely to think, "oh, it's that classic rock song whose title I may or may not know but I can probably sing at least the chorus," than, "Hey, it's Aerosmith!"
Yeah, a tiny little bit of noodly guitar solo goes a long way.
Indeed.
Apo is right on the apparent homogeneity of genres of music with which one isn't familiar.
There are genres that are pretty homogeneous, though,or where it's all about microscopically fine differences. It's pretty clear that some (not all) types of dance music and metal are engaged in an elaborate practical joke in which newer and evolving genre names are invented for stuff that sounds identical.
"Dude, how can you not tell this record is, like, totally progressive Scandinavian deathcore, with like, a pirate-metal twist. What kind of idiot thinks this record is Norwegian death-pirate?'
Or:
'This sounds like a slowed down Sabbath b-side. Why should I be calling this grindfunk, rather than just stoner rock like all the rest? Oh, because it's based on slowing down a different Sabbath b-side?'
'DJ Krunkwhippet is a total innovator, he was the first guy to make dubstep-crunk, by speeding the beats up to 152bpm'
anybody could make that mistake after a glass of wine or two
Which is my story and I'm sticking to it.
... I must say, it's pretty much like listening to "Whole Lotta Love" segueing into "Pigs on the Wing" and asking whether Zeppelin covered the latter tune, or not noticing that this might be a different band.
Or maybe not quite like that.
Well, I've got Moby on my team, so that's something.
Yeah, on the team of total and complete wrongness. So there.
I appreciate 107.
Sorry to have carried on about Sir Kraab's remark: I get it, that if you don't have any familiarity with the music, you might group it all together.
Pirate-metal is real, btw.
Scandinavian variety:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu2bgwcv43o
Here's the Scottish variety:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-Z_psXODw
The works of Prince are of mixed suckiness, spanning the range from "really not at all even a little bit" to "donkey balls."
Don't worry Kraab, team Prince-haters has one guy who can't tell Morrissey apart from Van Morrison and another guy named after a vegetable. I think we'll survive.
Pirate metal is a revelation.
Prince is one of the best rock guitarists ever, and the output up to Sign O' The Times is among the best pop ever made. He's the love child of Bowie and Hendrix, but like many a cross-breed, something of an evolutionary dead end.
Of course, I thought Bruce Springsteen had no musical heirs and then the Arcade Fire went and figured it out and a quarter of indie rock followed.
You're in for a treat, Halford. I saw the show last Thursday. Chaka Khan opened and got a very pregnant Whitney Houston up on stage with her. Cedric the Entertainer ruined Raspberry Beret for everyone, and there was a weird half-encore where he ran through a dozen hot hits in a stunted tape-accompanied medley, but there's not a bad seat in the Forum and the man has it all together plus some more.
And you know, with some hash and auslese
Hippies were into higher end German wines?
Can't wait! He also played a small show at the Troubador last night. The guy who works in the cubicle next to me went; mostly instrumentals. He said his personal high point of the show was getting flipped off by Kim Kardashian.
The notion that, e.g., the Pixies are a great band as opposed to a pretty good one (or are better than, say, The Band)
That's an interesting comparison since both the Pixies and The Band (a) had a distinctive sound and writing style (b) were massively influential, and (c) had a relatively small total output with a handful of absolutely classic tracks.
I'd probably rank the Pixies slightly higher in my personal rankings. The Band are closer to my musical tastes, and I probably listen to them more frequently but the Pixies rank incredibly high on the standard of, "how big a hole in my collection would it leave if their music were to suddenly disappear and be forever unavailable? There are other people that I could easily listen to instead of The Band, but nobody could really replace the Pixies.
Cubicle? But I thought this was your workplace. Don't fuck up my dreams.
Oh, I don't work in a cubicle. But I need someone nearby to keep the in-office fireplace stoked with $100 bills.
Prince is (or was) great. Bruce Springsteen is boring. Thank god all of this stuff is a matter of subjective taste, otherwise I'd be in trouble.
both the Pixies and The Band (a) had a distinctive sound and writing style (b) were massively influential, and (c) had a relatively small total output with a handful of absolutely classic tracks
Didn't the Pixies pretty much just have that one song where they kept saying, "Go on, leave me breathless"?
Didn't the Pixies pretty much just have that one song where they kept saying, "Go on, leave me breathless"?
The first Pixies song I head was "Hey" which floored me, and which I still think it a great song.
These days I most often listen to the BBC sessions.
122 seems reasonable, though if the Pixies didn't exist I'd probably just go on not listening to them much.
Bruce Springsteen is boring.
I'll begrudgingly admit this is true today, but it wasn't true 30 years ago, and it isn't true today of the music he made 30 years ago.
Have I ever heard a song by the Pixies? I feel like I must have, but I'm not sure I could identify one, and I'm reasonably sure I don't own any.
Prince, of course. Who I love. And who I'm seeing tomorrow night for $25, bitches.
Halford, you are going to make me cry. All you Prince-haters just don't get it.
Prince is fantastic, haters. Enjoy the show, Halford!
Whereas, I would like to sponsor legislation to require every jukebox in America to have "Here Comes Your Man" available for play.
Prince for a mere $25, while the Arcade Fire just announced a show here for forty freakin' dollars? The world is unjust.
Stanley, am I right that "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" has the too-high feeling you're talking about?
Hm. I don't remember having heard that song prior to just now, but yeah, it's got That Thing. Later Beatles in general kinda has it for me. (Whereas gummy-pop "I Want to Hold Your Hand" Beatles? Hold away, boys!)
I got very upset on the train yesterday as I realized that I do not even have "If I Was Your Girlfriend" on my iPod.
And while I'm catching up/serial-commenting: comment 75 offers irrefutable proof that Sir Kraab is my sistah.
Zeppelin is incredibly different from Pink Floyd. Seriously?
Yeah, but, no, but. I once saw Zeppelin and Floyd play in the same field in the west of England. Zeppelin came on around midnight and basically played the blues, then Floyd played through dawn. Not intuitive, but as programming it worked a treat.
Also, 132/3 get it exactly right.
There are people who don't like Prince? I'm not sure that I like everything the Internet has to teach me.
96: I once confused Van Morrison with Annie Lennox.
My shame was confusing Joan Armatrading for the Rolling Stones once. It was years before The Office but it was worthy of Michael Scott.
All you Prince-haters just don't get it.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on affirmative evidence that there is something to get.
And some prominent-at-the-time things like "21st Century Schizoid Man" (yes, late 1969, I know) are pretty much gone from the standard rotations.
And yet it lives on via Bad Religion.
142: I set out to provide this evidence, but then I remembered that either Prince or his old label are little bitches about the music appearing on YouTube. I recommend, among less famous songs, "Joy in Repetition" and "Sexy MF".
There's a funny Kevin Smith story where he talks about going to shoot a documentary about Prince, at Prince's request, which documentary never got made. (And I can't search for this clip from my current location, but I bet it's on the interwebs somewhere.)
I ended up lecturing about Prince lyrics last night. At the end of the semester, things get a little loose in classes for non-majors.
I can't tell if Parsimon thinks Prince is great and Bruce Springsteen is boring and people who think otherwise are ridiculous, or if she thinks that people who think Prince is great and Bruce Springsteen is boring are ridiculous.
I think actually hip-hop has the most varied sound of any genre, and it's sort of debatable that it really forms a genre, rather than a bunch of different genres unified by a common tradition and (non-)singing style. Any two classic rock songs sound more alike than Sugar Hill Gang's "Apache" sounds like any recent hip hip hit, like 'Knock You Down."
The Sugar Hill Gang are to modern hip-hop as Buddy Holly and Ricky Nelson are to Rush.
151: I probably should have made clear I was responding to peep's 90. I claim that peep can recognize the difference between Buddy Holly and Rush.
135: On a per performer basis, Arcade Fire is probably a better value.
re: 142
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4C9qR9wJVw
[one of my personal Prince faves, shame there's no video there]
I'm sure other people have favourites. Although I'd be the first to admit his post early-90s stuff has been not the greatest. Hard to link to Prince stuff on youtube as it call gets blocked.
re: 150
That's like saying rock music is a bunch of different genres unified by singing and guitars. I like a lot of hip-hop but I don't think any genre has much claim to be more 'varied' than any other, whether that's rock, hip-hop, or whatever.
154: Mine too. "U Got the Look" is another, but unavailable on YT.
The link in 154 is interesting and worth a second listen. Maybe I've just heard his post early-90s stuff.
I saw a him a couple of times, in the early 90s, at various massive Glasgow venues. The shitty thing is, a year or so later, he had his aftershow private jam/club date/party thing at a small-ish club owned by a mate's girlfriend's Dad. My mate went, the rest of us didn't find out until later [he was sworn to secrecy, and only found out last minute himself]. Still jealous.
See, people on the religion thread, that wasn't that hard.
I looked at hiphop sales recently, wondering whether Eminem had exactly recapitulated Elvis and kept all of the money, but no. Outkast had the best selling album.
I gotta say, I am enjoying the faith in a greatness that's unfortunately completely intangible to this medium, especially combined with Prince's lack of humility.
re: 157
Most of his albums up until the 90s have at least a couple of really great songs on them, but his quality control, even at his peak, wasn't brilliant.
Sign O' The Times is a double album, it's widely believed to be his best, but even that has a couple of ropey fillers, imho. The best stuff is great, though.
I'm going to entertain the possibility that Prince might not entirely suck. Mobes, you're on your own.
And he really is a brilliant guitar player, if you like that sort of thing [which I often do].
Not to mention he doesn't hog all of his best songs for himself.
83: It really just didn't live up to its press. Not quite in the same way as Catcher in the Rye, but similar "why the hell are the baby boomers always gushing about this" sensations?
I tried to watch it recently after a gap of 30+ years and I found I could not sit through the whole thing. It's an interesting period piece with a nice bit of early Nicholson (the part had been written for Rip Torn), and "important" per Halford's 81.last but otherwise, bleh. I'd recommend watching it once for those elements if they interest you but don't think it actually hangs together as a story or is well made or anything like that.
re: 166
I'm the guy who _played_ Whitesnake type material in shit pub bands when I was a teenager, so at one time, yeah. Not so much now, but I can still be an occasional sucker for a good rock guitar solo [albeit bands other than Whitesnake].*
* or swing, or funk, or jazz, or whatever guitar solo.
Sorry ttaM, I was trying for "Whitesnake?" to 162 for "Here I go again on my own" reasons.
I should try to fuck-up more often. It's how I learn.
Though I wouldn't go so far as to say that people who think otherwise are ridiculous.
Mine too. "U Got the Look" is another, but unavailable on YT.
I'm quite fond of, "I could never take the place of your man".
The sensitive side of Prince.
That list in 37 is interesting. Surprised Rock Lobster didn't make it into the top 100
I love many, many, many Prince songs, but this one may be my very favorite.
I have a friend who used to overhear his parents boinking to Whitesnake. He hates Whitesnake, which is sort of unfortunate, considering the odds that it was his playing during his conception.
Also, I can't find How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore online, another one of my favorites.
That list in 37 is interesting.
Not 37, or 27, or 47. Or 38, or 26. Not 137. Um.
||
Recommendations of public domain literature to put on my Kindle? My classics repertoire is still full of holes. Prior sources of enjoyment: Tristram Shandy, Tenant of Wildfell Hall, She. I've already downloaded some Austen and Wilde.
|>
D'oh, I meant 17! Thanks parsi.
You know what's weird about YouTube? The frequency with which "Bad Romance" shows up on the righthand column, apparently without regard to song, artist, genre, language, or time period. I mean, it's a catchy tune, but do all these people who are searching for Memphis Jug Band or ABBA or Chumbawamba really dig it that much?
177: Your clue is "put another dime in the jukebox"
How did I not see that was already posted after my comment went up? Huh.
Also, 20% of the top 100 songs in the list linked in 17 are not even rock songs! Jeezum Crow!
And I guess "Strawberry Fields" would perfectly match the "Too High" feeling that Stanley decries.
183:
Rankings are based on initial and lasting popularity and on acclaim received from critics and musicians.
I don't know what "popularity" means. Album sales (surely not, since these are songs, not albums)? Radio play? Possibly.
Or at least, I don't know anybody popular.
I drive a scooter, guys! VROOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
I'm going to entertain the possibility that Prince might not entirely suck. Mobes, you're on your own.
I've got your back Moby. I watched those Prince links on this thread and I enjoyed the Scandinavian pirate metal more than all of them.
178:Poetry. Everyone, especially me, should read less prose and more poetry.
I think Harmonium is pd now. Pound. H.D. Millay. Robert Service.
I haven't been to Project Gutenberg in years. Is there an old old Norton there?
188 reminded me of the board game "Go to the Head of the Class"--something I never would have recalled on my own. I sometimes wonder how many brands, people, and the like are tucked away in my brain and will never again surface for lack of a prompt.
191: Sounds like someone's got a case of the Everyone Shoulds.
193:I think a steady diet of prose and novels warps the brain, and I think most of our minds are indeed warped compared to our forebears. But you, Stanley, should go stand in line for the Spiderman reboot.
Here you go
John Gould Fletcher Pulitzer winning Imagist.
But you, Stanley, should go stand in line for the Spiderman reboot.
Alyssa Rosenberg posted the other day on John Stewart, the black Green Lantern, and Black Panther.
So I goes to look up Black Panther at Wikipedia to see his "powers and abilities" and it says he is the 8th smartest man in the world, and I says, dammit, show me that list.
Is Spidey 7 or 27? How about Batman, 3 or 22? Superman merely the 36th? Professor X? Iron Man? I want the list.
I sometimes wonder how many brands, people, and the like are tucked away in my brain and will never again surface for lack of a prompt.
Whenever I recall a childhood memory, I wonder if that's the last time.
Maupassant, la Rochefoucauld, Montaigne, Balzac, Hazlitt, Paradise Lost, Juvenal, Horace.
Maybe Josephus if you like history. Gogol.
Shakespeare's sonnets. Donne. Tennyson. no Worsdworth.
Dickens' best books are Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend
Not light reading, but Gibbon, who was, like Hume and Aquinas, tremendously fat.
196: Buses are much faster than when I was a kid!
LEMURES, by Richard Aldington
"In Nineveh
And beyond Nineveh
In the dusk
They were afraid.
In Thebes of Egypt
In the dusk
They chanted of them to the dead.
In my Lesbos and Achaia
Where the God dwelt
We knew them.
Now men say "They are not":
But in the dusk
Ere the white sun comes--
A gay child that bears a white candle--
I am afraid of their rustling,
Of their terrible silence,
The menace of their secrecy."
...
I can't be an atheist.
194.last: Stan Lee is on that list.
194.last: Stan Lee is on that list.
Double posting and you misspelled my name? Not cool, dude.
178: Recommendations of public domain literature to put on my Kindle?
Is it the case that things one might like to read on a Kindle are different from things one might like to read in paper format? I have the idea that you'd want to exclude from Kindle reading anything that might call for flipping back and forth, or things that are too long.
Word is that Middlemarch is highly worthwhile.
Middle March sucks.
Everything was too quiet, so I took the bus to the bar. The bar is loud, but much more interested in hockey than I.
They are playing either Roxy Music or Van Morrison, depending on who sang "Love is the drug for me"
You should go read the Crooked Timber thread on one Kindred Winecoff if your mind is too quiet.
I don't know whether the translations are public domain, but there's a lot of fun eighteenth century French novels. Le Neveu de Rameau and Jacques le Fataliste by Diderot are both great. Marivaux's Le Paysan Parvenu is fun, as are Les Bijoux indiscrets by Crebillon fils. Rousseau's La Nouvelle Heloise is to be avoided if at all possible, as is Sade. Going forward in time I'd strongly second lw's recommendations of Balzac and Maupassant (but avoid Une Vie), and add Stendhal and on a completely different note, Huysmans. I really dislike Zola (heavy handed moralism, with large doses of egregious sexism and eugenics), but plenty of people enjoy him.
Also, I hear that McMegan is guest blogging over at Instapundit.
As is Althouse. At Instapundit. They say. Haha!
Electronic format is infinitely superior for long nonfiction. Seeking and marking are easy.
There are people who don't like Prince? I'm not sure that I like everything the Internet has to teach me.
WALT SOMEGUY GETS IT EXACLTY RIGHTT.
So I goes to look up Black Panther at Wikipedia to see his "powers and abilities" and it says he is the 8th smartest man in the world, and I says, dammit, show me that list.
People have put some thought into this.
it know its sort of cliche but i'm
appalled that anyon
this it know its sort of cliche but i'm
appalled that anyon
this href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZRore0-EE&NR=1 is a great song
Eighth smartest shows good attention to detail. Seventh is too ostentatious and who gives a fuck about the ninth smartest. Probably teaches sociology at Miami of Ohio.
http://www.spin.com/blog/top-10-prince-songs-all-time
much better http://www.aolradioblog.com/2010/07/12/best-prince-songs/
This is what it sounds like when doves cry, "caw, caw, [bird shit hitting my car], caw, caw."
I wasn't trying for funny. I'm watching hockey in a bar. I'm absurdly belligerent.
To 219:
10. Controversy
9. Purple Rain
8. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
7. When U Were Mine
6. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore
5. Little Red Corvette
4. Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince concert version, with Rosie Gaines)
3. Kiss
2. Adore
1. I Wanna Be Your Lover
1-5 are the only ones I feel strongly about, and even then the order is negotiable. There are obvious songs missing from this list (When Doves Cry, Controversy, Raspberry Beret, Sign of the Times, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Baby I'm a Star, I Would Die 4U), but it's hard to narrow it down to a list of ten.
225 before I saw 220. I agree that 220 is a much better list.
A better list than 219 that is. NOT a better list than mine. Mine is the Best List.
215: This "Cho" character is too new for me.
But yeah, looking back on it, they really could have made at least one of those super-brilliant characters who could miraculously build or understand anything a woman, couldn't they?
1-5 are the only ones I feel strongly about, and even then the order is negotiable.
I don't know if my top 5 would have any overlap with yours.
In some order I'd take, "I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "I Feel For You", "Raspberry Beret", and let's say 1999, though I'm not at all committed to that one.
I think Parliament Funkadelic were the greatest band of the 70s. They seamlessly fused guitar-jam classic rock, funk, soul, and disco. Rockist takes on the 70s just leave out too much.
Also, a great decade for country -- Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
Also, can't leave out Fleetwood Mac at their best. You really can't focus on mainstream rock for the greatness of the 70s.
let's say 1999, though I'm not at all committed to that one.
Good thing because the new millenia did not start until after 2000.
the new millenia
Someone's overly optimistic.
I may be overly optimismic, but I'm not deluded enough to think that Fleetwood Mac was somehow edgy and alternative.
I usually try to break the decades on the 5s, 1945-55, 55-65, 65-75.
I totally do this, too.
I loved classic rock from about 7th grade to 12th grade. I was especially fond of The Who and Steppenwolf and, oh, all of it. Now I have some residual fondness out of loyalty to my adolescent self, but mostly I'm super sick of it.
The statement in 155 is false? I would have said that rock music, stretching from Buddy Holly to the Beatles to the Clash to Nirvana to Arcade Fire is several different genres sharing a common tradition. Are there people who think Buddy Holly and Arcade Fire are basically indistinguishable? Are there people who a) think that Buddy Holly and Arcade Fire are indistinguishable, but b) would consider the songs on the Greatest Rock Songs list obviously different genres?
"Baby I'm A Star" is not the best Prince song -- it's obviously nowhere near as transcendent as its lead-in "I Would Die 4 U" -- but it is the song I have danced the awesomeliest to on a table.
Because of this thread, I rode the subway home tonight sharing an earbud with my roommate while we danced and lip-synced Prince songs at each other. It was a crowded train.
re: 239
Well if that's what you think, I don't get the point of your earlier comment?
That the whole history of hip-hop, taken over 30-40 years contains more musical variation than classic rock, taken to represent just a single sub-genre of rock music as made in the late 60s and early 70s? Well, yeah. But that doesn't then speak much to the claim that hip-hop is the most varied of all types of music.
||
The other Moonlight/Healthcare in Vermont thread reminds me that this is in fact, terrifyingly hard to play. Easy listening, or no:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xf3rAXoYjA
>
10. Nothing Compares 2 U
9. New Power Generation
8. Let's Go Crazy
7. Darling Nikki
6. Sign of the Times
5. 1999
4. Sexy MF
3. Joy in Repetition
2. Raspberry Beret
1. Gett Off
No, but you cannot really appreciate the seventies without Fleetwood Mac, coked up and jumping each others bones as they did.
Anybody who wasn't a horny teenager in the eighties and early nineties really cannot properly appreciate Prince.
Bruce Springsteen is only boring to people who neurotically have to seek out novelty everytime they listen to music.
And Parliament-Funkadelic and all its spinoffs were indeed the greatest band of the seventies, certainly the most consistently great.
Cho is a character created in a try out book a few years back and rescued by Greg Pak and Fred van Lente and put in The Incredible Hulk which then became The Incredible Hercules and which is great and one of the few modern Marvel comics you should read -- it actually has a sense of humour.
One of my guilty pleasures is listening to second tier rock bands from the seventies: yer Uriah Heep, Free, Humble Pie, Doobie Brothers etc especially because most of what you get is so similar to each other and predictable. Works well as mood music, while reading or blogging or playing witht he cat.
242: Way back up-thread, peep said that most hip-hop sounded similiar to him/her. I just found it sort-of surprising.
Augh, I forgot Beautiful Ones. And Erotic City. I used to really like 1999 but about eleven years ago, listening to top 40 radio really tested my tolerance for endless repetition.
re: 246
Yeah, I think that's explained by the apo knowledge/discrimination thing.
I think there's probably something else going on, to. It always seems like styles of music go through a period of maximum creativity some time -- a decade or more? -- after the first recordings in that genre get made. For those of us who are, say, somewhere between our late 20s and our early 40s we'll have been just at the right age to have experienced the big creative flowerings of both hip-hop and dance music [arguably late 80s through to mid to late 90s], so that's going to be a strong association that people that age are going to have.
People a bit older are going to have gone through a similar thing with rock music, where that period might arguably span from the mid 60s through to the late 70s [with post-punk and new-wave].
[Parliament] seamlessly fused guitar-jam classic rock, funk, soul, and disco
and then blended it all with elements of "tedious interminable instrumentals that go nowhere, very slowly". They're the most over-rated band in history.
I'm basically with 249. Some _really_ great tracks -- and some other tracks with great titles but where the music disappoints -- but much over-rated. A lot of their appeal is that they are often the only funk band that rock fans have listened to, so they don't have much to compare with.
Led Zeppelin is the most overrated band in history. The fact that Halford defends them proves by itself that religion is a force for evil in this world.
Led Zeppelin is the most overrated band in history.
This is a big claim. I'm not disputing that they're overrated, but my god, some of the others...
I don't know about most over-rated band ever, re: LZ, but they do have some massive piles of shite out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npoYQMPCOvU
The comment that this is the best guitar solo ever is high satire, surely. From about 2min 05 -- it's St. Sanders level.
If you haven't been exposed to the genius that is StSanders:
http://www.stsanders.com/www/pages/videos/guitar-shreds/steve-vai-shreds-in-denver.php
http://www.stsanders.com/www/pages/videos/guitar-shreds/yngwie-malmsteen-shreds.php
Although his Rolling Stones is the one that reduces me to hysterical laughter:
http://www.stsanders.com/www/pages/videos/band-shreds/sts-rolling-stones.php
someone's sock-puppeting because 249 is wrong and it is an article of faith with me that dsquared is NEVER WRONG.* just the other day I was explaining to my older daughter how he was never wrong about feminism, and managed to go on for whole threads not saying a wrong, accidentally-sexist-even-though-he's-a-good-guy thing, ever. this is extraordinarily rare.
*I think he was just fucking with us about budweiser that one time. maybe he was drunk or something.
*I think he was just fucking with us about budweiser that one time. maybe he was drunk or something.
No, it's just that he doesn't mind beer brewed with rice. It's a gusty bus.
I've no idea about Parliament because I've never consciously heard them, but I have no rooted objection to "tedious interminable instrumentals that go nowhere, very slowly". Miles Davis was quite good at them.
254: nine times out of ten when dsquared says something incredibly dumb he's trolling; the tenth is him defending Budweiser.
250: I've listened to a fair bit of funk, but who would you rate higher than Parliament/funkadelic? For me everything Parliament did between Chocolate City and Motor Booty Affair is pure gold, no bad song on any of their albums in this whole period.
Funkadelic is more problematic, as there was a tendency there to go all out on undeserving songs, but again there's no filler in everything from Standing on the Verge of Getting It On to One Nation Under a Groove.
And some of the live work of that era is just gobsmackingly brilliant giving contact highs just listening to it.
the most overrated band in history
...is The Beach Boys and nobody else is even close.
257. Thank you. I was hesitating to say this on a site largely read by Americans in case I woke up to find Navy SEALs in my bedroom. But yes.
NAVY Seals all listen to the Beach Boys. Keeps them mellow.
Oh, good point on the Beach Boys. But Parliament are a prog rock band, pure and simple. They have exactly the same career trajectory as every other band that started out by taking LSD and making interesting psychedelic music and finished up by taking cocaine and making interminable crap (I furthermore disagree totally with Martin here - their live albums are even more of a waste of money). If you define funk as a genre that started with James Brown and ended with hip-hop, then Parliament are clearly an evolutionary spandrel. I can't remember whether Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadowoop fits into the time period you described, but I enjoyed typing it and it was the most horrific self-indulgent stuff and it's packed with tracks that, like the best prog, have three minutes of musical genius crammed into a quarter of an hour.
If we (as I think you have to) take James Brown and Prince as givens, funk acts I would rate higher than Parliament (off the top of my head) would be:
Ones where I really don't think there can be any serious argument Sly & the Family Stone, the Watts Rhythm Band, the Isley Brothers, the Temptations when Norman Whitfield was producing them.
Medium-tier funk acts which I nonetheless like more The Brothers Johnson, Graham Central Station.
Artists also guilty of interminable instrumental jams, but who did so much more gracefully: Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock.
Basically pop acts but recognisably in the same genre and in my opinion much more enjoyable: Rick James, Chic.
In re: current feminist debates, one can rarely go wrong by remembering Rebecca West's definition as "doing anything that distinguishes me from a doormat or a prostitute"; on this basis I conclude that the organisers of the "Slutwalk" event are exactly 50% right and 50% wrong.
If you define funk as a genre that started with James Brown and ended with hip-hop, then Parliament are clearly an evolutionary spandrel.
Which led to a thought, but no, turns out not to be the case. But maybe P-Funk is the Richard Dawkins of funk.
re: 256
re: Funkadelic
For me personally, I much prefer Sly & Family Stone, in terms of songwriting, the JBs and various spin-offs for instrumental stuff,* a bunch of others just grab me in a more interesting way. I'd even rather listen to the likes of the O'Jays, or the Ohio Players.** I like my funk with big fat poppy hooks, much of the time, or full-on Bitches Brew style jazz madness.
I have the big Funkadelic triple album singles compilation, and you'd think that'd be all-thriller-no-filler but even that is pretty inconsistent and there's a load of crap on it. Parliament are a bit different, as their stuff is better, for me, in terms of song writing. So I suppose I'm really thinking of Funkadelic, rather than Parliament.
* overlapping in terms of personnel with some of the Clinton bands, obviously, but I tend to prefer the likes of 'Blow your head', 'Monorail', etc or their more mellow stuff, to the Funkadelic stuff.
** I'm thinking here of fairly well-known mainstream bands, rather than all the great but possibly sui generis oddities that lurk on funk compilations. Bands who I really like but only know half a dozen tracks by.
Oh, and ditto on the Isley's, Whitfield-era Temptations, and Hancock. I'm not mad keen on Roy Ayers for some reason. And I'd take any half a dozen Chic singles over the entire Parliament/Funkadelic output, any day.
I don't think I've ever met anyone who rates the Beach Boys, let alone overrates them. Somewhat ironically, I used to go see them every year, because they used to a do a free concert in Philadelphia every July 4. But it wasn't like we were particularly enthused. We were just teenagers who couldn't legally drink. What else were we going to do for Independence Day?
I don't even have a Beach Boys. Actually I rather like the Beach Boys. Shame on me, I guess.
I don't think I've ever met anyone who rates the Beach Boys, let alone overrates them
the phrase "Brian Wilson is a genius" not ring any bells? How about "Pet Sounds, just as good as Sergeant Pepper"? "Smile, the lost classic"?
262: on this basis I conclude that the organisers of the "Slutwalk" event are exactly 50% right and 50% wrong
Yeah, I get it about the reclaiming aspect and all, and it certainly beats the dreary moralizing that often accompanies more traditional "take back the night" events, but I'm still very dubious about the proposition that this significantly advances the discourse (or, indeed, that it fails to retard it).
266: It's like you've never even met a hipster!
Tbh, I do quite like 'Pet Sounds' -- or rather, I really like about half of it and find the rest a bit 'meh' -- although I don't otherwise subscribe to the Wilson-genius position.
Tbh, I do quite like 'Pet Sounds' -- or rather, I really like about half of it and find the rest a bit 'meh'
Well, given that it's only about half an hour long, this is praising with faint damns indeed.
I think Pet Sounds is better than Sergeant Pepper.
273. And I expect you prefer Salieri's Requiem too.
re: 272
It's not quite as short as all that. 15 or 16 tracks?
But, yeah, it's basically that I like 'God Only Knows', 'I Just Wasn't Made for these times', 'Don't Talk ...', and 'Caroline, No'. Wilson's arrangements get feted, but I find quite a bit of it really muzaky and not in a good Bacharach way.
268: I've heard that, but I thought it was more of a claim of historical significance, like Easy Rider.
Pet Sounds is a fascinating, finely produced artifact and an argument against 257, but I can't recall having had a desire to listen to the Beach Boys since I was about 14.
Beamish gets off the hook for phrasing 273 in the form of an opinion. A nutty opinion, but still.
270: Holy shit, hipsters like the Beach Boys now? Hipster taste is like a random walk down pop culture of the last 50 years.
Holy shit, hipsters like the Beach Boys now?
Sure, for values of "now" approaching "for at least the last 10 years."
I've got an idea! Why don't we all put on Pet Sounds at the same time and listen to it together!
re: 278
For years, Walt. They've been a standard part of the music-critics' canon for donkey's. Certainly since the early 90s. Although typically only Pet Sounds and Smile.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't know shit about music. I just come here to get educated. My friends are sooooo smart!
I'm feeling reassured by the Beach Boys comments. That is, I can easily see how people can like them, but the whole 'genius' 'greatest album of the sixties', etc. always bewildered me. Some nice, catchy tunes, but that's it. I was worried that it was a symptom of my deep musical illiteracy.
Chinga mi madre, amigos! Otra vez!
And I expect you prefer Salieri's Requiem too.
To his operas, sure. Fucking hipsters and their counter-intuitive judgments.
Sergeant Pepper is better than Salieri's Requiem, if that's what you're asking.
Oh c'mon, the pre-Pet singles and a couple albums are classic early-60s pop. Saw BBs in concert, and I have never seen a crowd of boomers jump to its feet as when they ran thru a medley of Little Deuce Coupe, Fun Fun Fun, California Girls, Help Me Rhonda, I Get Around, Don't Worry Baby, Surfin USA, etc.
Post-Pet Sunflower and Surf's Up are terrific. It's just a sound and innocent attitude that is really distant from us now.
Dennis Wilson's solo Pacific Ocean Blue 1977 is considered top-notch.
Four Freshmen ...singing "Angel Eyes" should give you an idea of what Brian & co were about, what he accomplished with the teen/surf songs. Probably as important as Presley. He simply went back to his roots around Pet Sounds
when they ran thru a medley of Little Deuce Coupe, Fun Fun Fun, California Girls, Help Me Rhonda, I Get Around, Don't Worry Baby, Surfin USA,
that wasn't a medley Bob; those songs really do sound exactly the same.
an article of faith with me that dsquared is NEVER WRONG.
Sometimes he argues aggressively that Paris Hilton is a really talented comedienne.
Incidentally, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys' first single, Surfin'.
Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You.
pet sounds and the lost smile are great. surf's up is one of the saddest, most beautiful "he's losing his mind" songs ever. it makes all the hairs on my arm prickle in a useless effort to warm a body made cold by sadness. additionally, prince is a genius and the motley haters upthread should all be taken out behind the chemical sheds and forced to listed to "I could never take the place of your man" until they repent of their heresy.
finally, ConFunkShun is badly underrated. the song "early morning sunshine" off "spirit of love" helped me not kill myself a few times. but I'm a rare groove person, really. rock me some leon ware and patrice rushen.
So, after the Beach Boys, the rest of my top ten* in no particular order:
Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, U2, Eric Clapton, Jefferson Airplane, Sex Pistols, Metallica
*I actually like some of these acts a lot (and don't really hate any of them**), but am referring strictly to the gap between their esteem and their output.
**Maybe Jefferson Airplane.
276: I've heard that, but I thought it was more of a claim of historical significance, like Easy Rider.
Yes this. I think they stand up well for the time. Paul McCartney Beach Boys fanboy interview from 1990. It was certainly a record [Pet Sounds] we all played - it was the record of the time, you know?
I believe I saw them twice in the '70s, the second was one of the most painful* concerts I have ever seen. Brian not there of course, but Dennis stoned, stumbling around, one time mumbling something like, "I can't do this" walking away and being guided back to the mike,--and no one seemed to notice, it was all screaming song requests and big cheers when the familiar intros cranked up. In a just world the Daleks would have come down and killed us all on the spot.
*Some of that was it was towards the doomed end of a doomed romance--where musical taste was merely one of 10,000 incompatibilities. We went to see Hall and Oates**, for God's sake.
**Although Eric Carmen played a dynamite opening set full of utter self-loathing and contempt. He practically spat out, "That's Rock and Roll". It was admirable in front of that crowd whereas I found Dennis Wilson merely pathetic.
Some on-topic Eric Carmen quotes from a 2007 interview.
[on the Raspberries] Rock critics seemed to get what we were about. The 16-year-old girls seemed to get it. But their 18-year-old album-buying brothers, who were listening to Jethro Tull, didn't get it; didn't want it.
"So when I went to Arista, I had a period of writing where I suddenly was unrestricted," he continues. "I wasn't writing for a band for the first time. It opened up a whole other arena for me to work within. I was probably listening to Pet Sounds a lot.That was during when he wrote "All By Myself", judgments left as an exercise for the reader.
I find the Brian Wilson Beach Boys overrated yet like Pet Sounds as an album far better than Pepper which is incoherent and overindulgent. Revolver and Rubber Soul are better than both.
I also like the post-Pepper concept albums like Village Green and Ogden's Nut Gone Flake more thN their inspirAtion but that's bye the bye.
(Horrible spelling and punctuation courtesy off the Ipad.)
I find the Brian Wilson Beach Boys overrated yet like Pet Sounds as an album far better than Pepper which is incoherent and overindulgent. Revolver and Rubber Soul are better than both.
I also like the post-Pepper concept albums like Village Green and Ogden's Nut Gone Flake more thN their inspirAtion but that's bye the bye.
(Horrible spelling and punctuation courtesy off the Ipad.)
Double posting also courtesy off Apple.
The quieter side of the Beach Boys was of course desperately necessary during the years of British Invasion, because the Brits, poor dears, simply have no idea about sex, having imported their sex for millenia...Romans, Vikings, Normans.
Once you had tired of Johnny Mathis, you needed some kind of help to get to second base, and "19th Nervous Breakdown" wasn't gonna cut it. The pun in Pet Sounds was almost too obvious.
283 gets it exactly right, and 293 is a list taken from my mind.
I actually like some of these acts a lot
"A lot" overstates the case. I like some of those acts, but don't really listen to any of them any longer.
301 to 298
(not worth clarifying, but still)
Revolver and Rubber Soul are better than both.
This at least should be unarguable.
Martin's not kidding. Posting on the iPad is a bitch.
Klosterman's 10 most accurately rated bands.
because the Brits, poor dears, simply have no idea about sex
What do you mean? We use them to carry coal in.
The genius of Pet Sounds as perfect rec room make-out album has seldom been appreciated:from the innocence of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to the 2nd base of "Let's Go Away for a While". Then a break to flip the record with "Sloop John B". "God Only Knows" gets the kissing going again with ease, til you reach 3rd base and then STOP! (as good kids did) and the wistful sadness of "Caroline No" which at least earned a handjob.
If you think I'm kidding you are way too young. Brian was God.
That Klosterman article is great. I also like apo's list in 293, although I have a deep and abiding dislike for Eric Claptout.
re: 301
Pet Sounds, as a make-out album? In a world in which soul music exists?
I bought Pet Sounds the summer before my freshman year in college, when I was dating my high school sweetheart. Naturally many of the songs still remind me of her. We would often listen to Pet Sounds in the car while making out.
313: Did people take a wind-up record player in their car when they went to make out?
I was going to list Toad the Wet Sprocket as the most overrated band ever, since their music used to inspire me to rage, and I couldn't tell why it didn't do that to everyone else. But then I listened to bits on YouTube, and it just seems forgettable, and I can't tell why it used to make me so angry.
312:Brian's audience, in the pre-Pill days, didn't want to dance or fuck, they wanted ballads with no fast songs.
314:Didn't follow the link? late 80s, the music has aged well
316.2: It was too long, so I skimmed it.
Anyway, I'm trying to keep my heart healthy so that in 50 years I'll go to a museum and bore strangers/horrify relatives by explaining how that particular type of player let you stack LPs in case you it took you more than 25 minutes to arouse somebody.
I've only MET one hipster who obsesses over Brian Wilson, but it certainly seems like the only unanimous opinion among critics. If I traveled back to 1966 it'd be a bit odd to see that the Beach Boys don't fill the same cultural niche that the Decemberists do today.
Bob's alternative decade offset makes a lot of sense. The rave era - 1985-1995 (in with Steve Silk Hurley hitting the top 10, out with the Chems' Setting Sun, politically in with the miners' strike and out with John Major essentially running against himself as Tory leader). High Blairism - 1995-2005, goes out after Blair promises to step down in order to save the Labour campaign that year and the Americans begin to realise just how badly they shagged the dog the year before.
2005-2015? The Big Cleanup after the shitfest, obviously. We're halfway through and we're still finding lumps of nuclear fuel and nameless corpses down the back of the sofa.
Musically, not sure, but the SXSW torrent this year is a pile of mediocrity. I keep sneaking off to listen to New Order on YouTube - a band I never really paid any attention to in the 90s as they were just sort of there, like the hills.
(The Google has a huge volume of really great live performances of theirs, if you're interested.)
As far as Prince goes, if you're me your teenage memories are all of the embarrassing and whimsical stuff. Ajay occasionally says that there's a way in which looking at people's lives in strict chronology conditions how we think of them - his example is Enoch Powell. Run the tape backwards, and he would be someone who said a number of stupid and offensive things as a young hothead, grew up and built a shitload of NHS hospitals, and then distinguished himself in the second world war. In consensus reality he's an arse, backwards, he's a hero.
So perhaps I should break out the Prince.
Still catching up on the thread, but I feel the need to note that two floors below me (drifting up through an atrium) is a highschool guitar orchestra playing "Strawberry Fields Forever." (Not forever, they've moved on to some song I can't identify now.) It sounds like someone playing the "strings" setting on their keyboard.
281: I know that rock critics have written about the genius of the Beach Boys since forever, but for the last ten years if I went into a bar in Williamsburg, (for example) they would be listening to the Beach Boys? Rock critics rave about Trout Mask Replica, but I'd be surprised to see it on a jukebox.
I passed this information along to my wife, who said. "But the Beach Boys suck! Apparently having kids and being out of touch is actually totally awesome."
re: Funkadelic
Other funk bands worth mentioning:
From the JB circle I'm fond of Bootsy Collins and Maceo Parker.
Also I was recently introduced to The Meters and, while I can't claim any great familiarity, they were really funky and really good.
320.3: There's some good stuff there, but you have to dig. For some reason a lot of the least inspiring material is associated with bands whose names come early in the alphabet. (Seriously.)
244: Yes, Gett Off is a fantastic song. It is rarely listed among the Great Prince Songs because it's actually so dirty I don't know if I'd feel comfortable playing it at a party, but it's really well put together.
278: There seems to be a seven- or eight-year rotation of historically significant but not necessarily earth-shattering pop musicians who get to serve for a span as God. For a while up until '03 or '04 it was Johnny Cash and ageing punks the world over were turning to country. Makes sense that it's the Beach Boys now -- notice how much neo-surfer music there seems to be around lately? (And tell me those guys didn't mainline "Pet Sounds" while making that record.)
DS: Yes, I noticed this as well. The J's are really hard going but the L's were a relatively rich seam. I intend to do some stats on the ratings once I've finished - be interesting to see if there's any significant alphabetic effect.
There's been quite a bit of Nancy & Lee / Shadow Morton / Spector referencing stuff around at the moment, too. It's a perennial, thing, but I'm thinking about, for example:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/07/cats-eyes-review
http://www.youtube.com/user/catseyestv#p/a/u/0/SSXKWQz_R-Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf9iqUziVMQ
http://www.youtube.com/user/catseyestv#p/a/u/2/UjtDrIin1qw
It's a good album, although I can't listen to the tunes in which Farris thingie sings on his own, as he sounds like a lazy 80s comic's parody of Morrissey.
Actually, it may very well be that the Pet Sounds wave has already crested in hipsterdom. I first noticed it in 1999, and then it seemed like all people would talk about from 2002 to 2005 or so, and then every once in awhile I see some more evidence of it, but the hipster core has probably moved on a couple of times since then, and I just haven't noticed because I do my best not to be around those people.
Also, how weird is it that I know Chuck Klosterman's wife AND Sasha Frere-Jones' girlfriend, without having any actual connection to the circles they move in?
Two of the better ,a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O0-wfOWcVI">examples of the current garage/surf/Spector revival.
330: Yeah, on the Nancy and Lee front, see also, (which, for my money also works as an instrumental cover of "It's A Man's Man's Man's World."
re: 332
I quite like the Isobel Campbell/Mark Lanegan stuff, too. Which has a bit more of a country vibe in places, but still touches on the same influences. Although they joke that Campbell is Lee [writer/producer/svengali].
Stupid shift key.
The Pet Sounds revival certainly influenced a lot of late 1990s indie pop bands that I love, but I think "God Only Knows" is the only Beach Boys song that I love unreservedly.
328: I was in Austria a couple of years ago, and this guy with a guitar was singing "I Walk The Line" in a thick Austrian accent. There were two women sitting at his feet, starting at him enraptured.
Wow, html hates me today. Glad you could guess the song I was thinking of anyway.
Here's a functioning link to the Wavves song, and here's one to the Campbell/Lanegan one.
I first encountered the Wilson-genius thing from a then-bandmate, who argued fervently about the superiority of Pet Sounds over Pepper. Since I had never seriously listened to either one, the fervency of his claim was rather off-putting, and that's still more or less how I feel whenever people launch into defenses of either the Beatles or the Beach Boys. And actually for pretty much any band, but especially for the Bs/BBs.
The current hipster scene locally seems consumed with soul music (on vinyl, natch), which is fine by me. There's a weekly soul-music dance party at a local bar; what's not to like about that?
re: 336
Yeah, I like that C/L album quite a lot. I used to know I.C. a bit, but haven't seen her in 10 years.
re: 338.last
It's great when that gets periodically revived. There used to be a great mod/soul night in Glasgow that was in a dreadfully badly lit barn of a club -- really bright un-clubby lighting -- that made the whole thing like a 60s school disco, and therefore, better.
331.1 is my experience as well. All the erudite antiwar blogs were raving about the release of Brian Wilson's Smile back in 2004 or so.
340: I can't think of a worse hell than school disco, '60s or not...
I love this song and wondered what others would think of it. When I listen to it I think maybe Moby is right, and I am just really stupid on one level, and I don't care.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjRw9bff1JA
I like the beach boys OK, but they always have seemed to me like music for 50 year old ex USC frat guys in their country club in Palos Verdes. I was floored when they became hip.
Do I dare ask what 341.1 has to do with "hipsterdom"?
345: All the hipster kids were antiwar, but, like, ironically, man.
346: I thought they were prowar, but like, apathetically so.
"This bike doesn't brake for peace rallies"
"(It gets walked around them on the way to making a snarky blog post about hippies)"
The mention of Cat's Eyes above has me rediscovering The Horrors, my better-liked of Faris Badwan's projects. But that "Face In The Crowd" single is pretty awesome.
I'm glad to be reminded that the newest Campbell/Lanegan album exists. I bought it, but only listened once before I got distracted and forgot about it.
Just got back from the Prince concert. Special guests were: (1) Janelle Monae; (2) Stevie Wonder. Janelle opened and did about 5 songs with Prince, including an incredible cover version of "Hollywood Swingers" at the end. Best concert ever.
338: I was wondering when the cool young crowd would pick up Northern Soul. Since that is basically the equivalent of folk music for people of my age and geography, I think it will be hard for it to be ruined for me even by the most fearful of associations. good luck to them I say.
re: 352
It goes through period revivals, doesn't it? I can't remember a time when there wasn't at least one soul/northern night* running in Glasgow, and I'd bet the same applies to most biggish cities. But mid-to-late 90s there was a period when there were at least half a dozen (monthly and/or weekly) nights running that I knew of, so it must have been on an 'up' phase then. Wouldn't surprise me at all if it was to go through one again.
* http://www.list.co.uk/article/31124-glasgow-club-institution-divine-reaches-20th-birthday/
354 gets it exactly right. Damn.
I now really resent Halford.
I thought folk music for people of your geography at least was this sort of thing.
358 gets it exactly right, but I'm not sure about 359.
352: There's a very diffuse soul scene here that incorporates a lot of Northern Soul, though it's not exclusive enough to be a "Northern Soul scene", per se. The really good record shop downtown used to carry a very respectable selection, so I've accumulated quite a bit, but I'm never quite sure where everyone else who was buying those albums is.
re: 361
I don't know what the scene is like in the US, but most British towns will harbour a hardcore minority of 'Northern' obsessives, I'd guess. And they pay silly money for records.
I am going to imagine Halford gnawing on some saucisson d'ane so that I am less envious of him.
I'm going to take it a step further and imagine that Halford suffered last night from some sort of raw-meat-induced hallucination, and the whole thing was in his head.
351 is pretty intimidatingly awesome. Put Big Boi on that bill as well and I'd just have to accept that other people's are just going to be better than mine and all my offerings to Satan are going to waste.
But remember, he has to live in LA to get access that kind of thing.
366: But you'll get to see them in Hell!
Northern Soul has been enjoying something of a hipster revival the last five years (I went to a soul night in NYC four years ago that was specifically Northern Soul), though I think most Americans still have no idea what it is. My impression is Youtube of old performances is a big part of how it's spreading beyond DJs.
367: This story about Hollywood was depressing.
I think most Americans still have no idea what it is.
I am at one with the Zeitgeist.
Soul nights seem to be everywhere, in the two cities I know about. The phrase "Northern soul" is never uttered though. Who cares that this music was popular with people in Hartlepool and Stoke-on-Trent in 1973?
This story about Hollywood was depressing.
They're everywhere.
http://lookatthisfuckingoogle.tumblr.com/
Damn, that's weird. Just a few minutes ago I was seized by an irresistible impulse to check latfo to see the new oogles. There must be some kind of Unfogged enneagram where gswift and I are directly connected.
372: Makes sense, although I would have thought that promoters would still be in the market for a handy one-word indicator that your "soul night" was actually only going to be playing uptempo dance records of the pre-funk era, so as to avoid disappointing anyone who might have shown up hoping to hear Barry White, Isaac Hayes etc. That was why the term was originally coined by London record shop owners, when they cottoned on to the fact that Northern football fans browsing in the "soul" section of their shops were uninterested in the US Black Chart hits of the day.
re: 375
Ditto 'deep soul' which is also, iirc, a London record shop coinage. Dave Godin, etc.
The 'northern soul' term is doubly useful given that RnB has significantly changed in meaning. Although maybe US soul nights aren't playing exclusively up-tempo dance records? I've no idea if that mod-derived taste for uptempo soul and RnB music crossed over to the white US mainstream?
375,6: The DJs I'm thinking of are ones who would probably not play much current R'n'B, except for the biggest crossover hits. I think they are mostly conscious of the progression of soul as a genre, although I highly doubt that is the case for many of the audience. I dunno, perhaps I am being too snobbish, but I just don't see that big an interest in soul in the current Mpls. scene -- it's more something the DJs are playing because they like it and it gets people to dance, rather than in response to some groundswell of interest. But I don't go to all that many club nights, so my perceptions may well be skewed.
re: 37
Well yeah, I meant RnB in the 50s/60s sense. In my experience UK soul/northern DJs are pretty keen on boundary patrolling. Modern RnB would be completely beyond the pale.
371: I am at one with the Zeitgeist.
I had some general awareness but until I read this prompted me to read Wikipedia and a few other write-ups I had no clue as to incredible specificity of the term and the music.
re: 379
There's a strong trainspotting tendency associated with it, but a lot of the music is completely fantastic. Which compensates.
It's all retro/revival at this point. It's not like I've done a survey or anything, but I would suspect most soul nights in the US would be a mix of Motown, RnB and Funk. Northern Soul would appeal to those in search of indie cred/lesser-known acts and Anglophiles.
Living in Atlanta at the height of the Neo-Soul movement, there was only one club in town that I was aware of, that played Neo-Soul acts consistently, despite a number of them being from or having moved to ATL. The current acts, like Aloe Blacc end up being called Retro-Soul or Soul Revival. I not even sure what acts one would label Soul in a contemporary sense, rather than RnB. Sade?
373-4: "Oogle" is a category of person? I had no idea.
It's like a frusty. They don't even know about JFA.
Everyone should go admire apo in his mullet and JFA tshirt in the flickr pool.
I might have to jon the flickr pool for that. Is it the iconic tiny monkeyish hand in big person hand one?
There was a guy at the skatepark last week with an apo mullet. Curly red hair on top with straight red hair down the back. I would have taken a picture but my phone had no charge.
Oh, so, OT, I made an appointment to get the tattoo next Friday. I am nervous/excited.
Ooh, I have seen that. It is a thing of wonder.
393: Where? Of What? What style? How long are they thinking it will take?
393: The apo mullet? That'll take a while, but worth it.
This from Tristram Shandy on my ribcage under the left boob, pretty big. It should only take like half an hour.
391: Prince gazed at that picture while writing "Gett Off". True fact.
Oh, yes. I remember now.
That should be pretty darn easy - no shading; might bleed a bit, though. I predict: exciting and fun.
the left boob, pretty big
Braggart.
Pshaw. There's pretty big, and then there's right boob big.
Dammit, Halford. Monae and Stevie Wonder slaughters Chaka Khan and Whitney Houston. And I bet Cedric the Entertainer wasn't there to ruin Raspberry Beret.
The fact that I can get a tattoo under my boob and it is still visible will tell you I don't have big boobs.
That NPR Hollywood homeless story is a little misleading. While there are homeless youth in Hollywood from all over, vastly more are from Southern California and have termed out of the foster care system.
401, 402: Jerry Jeff Walker. More self-centered and misogynist than I recall from back in the day. Shockingly.
One time I did ask what size bra she wore
She said 6 and 7/8
I said "My God what'd'cha measure 'em with"
She said, "Stetson."
Still recovering from that show. Seriously unbelievable. Stevie Wonder actually wasn't that great (and didn't play for very long) but just seeing him was amazing, and Janelle was amazing and Prince was pretty much the only person who could have upstaged her. K-Sky, I'm going again next Friday.
"Northern Soul" was always confusing to me since "Southern Soul" refers to music made in the US South and Northern Soul to music liked in the Northern UK.
I don't really think of Barry White as soul music, but that's probably not quite right.
The best Stevie Wonder guest performance that I ever, um, heard about, is described here.
I've seen Stevie Wonder perform live once, in the somewhat odd context of opening for the Stones 1972 tour. It was right at the beginning of his "classic" period and teenage me had no idea whatsoever what he would be playing. In the event his set was somewhat overshadowed by a fairly significant "battle"* that broke out between police and concertgoers after an attempted drug arrest (as if 30,000 others weren't indulging). It was escalating to something significant (write-ups mention seven policemen injured), but somehow the tear gas did not come out (unlike several other concerts I attended at that venue that summer) and the crowd spontaneously calmed down--my impression being that a realization struck people that the Stones performing was in jeopardy.
*And I'm more than gratified to find a copy online of what I had always recalled as an iconic picture of the scene and the times although I had not seen it for years (it's not a very good scan, but you can make out a couple of injured policemen getting aid behind a wall with the kid they had arrested as rocks and bottles continue to fly plus my favorite element: one freak standing up in the middle of it calling for peace). Per upthread, 1972 was still the '60s in my part of the world.
I used to say I was leaving Austin so I would never have to be part of a conversation about how Prince is a musical genius again, but I'm not a hater, just flatly indifferent. I'm open to the idea he's a master of a subgenre of pop that just doesn't move me much. Purple Rain makes me think of middle school dances. I think I liked Raspberry Beret at whatever age I was when it came out. There's a riff at the beginning of Delirious that makes me want to rip my ears off. But I never really explored beyond radio airplay stuff (with the exception of a song called I think "Darling Nikki" that the kids in middle school quoted fanatically because of a scandalous, I say scandalous lyric.)
I say scandalous lyric.
That would be Prince's "Do Me, Baby." (I think. Is that the one with the simulated coming-to-orgasm sounds? It's one of the songs on Controversy, at any rate.)
420 surprises me a bit, since Prince is so operatic. Might have to move beyond the radio hits, though.
That would be Prince's "Do Me, Baby."
No, I think that would be "Darling Nikki"
How a hotel lobby can masturbate, I'll never understand.
And masturbating with a magazine sounds a bit uncomfortable. Paper cuts in bad places.
413: Really? I could have sworn it was either "Do Me, Baby" or maybe "Sexuality" off Controversy. It's not the lyrics; it's the, er, sound-effects.
But okay.
Thank you, Apo. My cassette tape of that album got chewed a while back, and I haven't listened to it for a while.
So does my neiighbor's root cellar, but no one holds hearings on that.
Speaking of incongruous opening acts, Unfogged darling Janelle Monae is opening for Katy Perry on her upcoming tour.
I could have sworn it was either "Do Me, Baby" or maybe "Sexuality" off Controversy
It could be those as well.
I just remembered the public controversy involving Tipper Gore and "Darling Nikki"
Saying "classic soul" is enough to signify the pre-funk/disco era. You can make sure people know what you mean by saying that you'll be "spinning 45s".
I not even sure what acts one would label Soul in a contemporary sense, rather than RnB. Sade?
I'm thinking D'Angelo...John Legend...Macy Gray. Sade is more "smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth jazz".
The worst part about attending a Sade event is hanging around with the Marquee de Sade all night.
A sad entrance roof is such a bad thing?
I thought Sade was more Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By.
425: If you're hanging around the entrance all night rather than getting into the event, that's bad. Unless you like the abuse.
John Legend I think you could make a reasonable case for as contemporary Soul (I haven't heard his last album, but it was very poorly received). D'Angelo hasn't released an album in over ten years, though he's been reportedly working on a new on for the last two years. Macy Gray was classed as Neo-Soul when she first came out, but the music she makes these days seems to be mid-tempo pop.
Certainly Sade's stuff in the 1980s was both Smooth Jazzy and Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady Baby (in the non-Handsome Boy Modeling School sense). I think both Lovers Rock and Soldier of Love are very much in the Neo-Soul vein that D'Angelo and Legend (and Erykah Badu and Van Hunt and Jill Scott) have worked. The genre just doesn't seem to have a lot of energy to it at the moment.
428: The name you're looking for is Raphael Saadiq.
429: You're absoultely right. He works in between the neo and the retro and his new album is great.
430: I think I might hate them, but they do seem to fit within the genre.
429. Girl, I wanna get involved with you.
Fairly slavishly retro, James Hunter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyMtpGqrPAo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJTEhzl66sE
[he mixes up ska, soul and old-school mod-RnB]
He's been around for years, previously as Howlin' Wilf and was a session-dude in Van Morrison's band. Great retro-soul Cropper style guitar player, too.
Eli Reed is definitely working in a very retro-soul area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy6q9HfsJmo
[with Solange Knowles backing]
The less slavishly retro but now 'lost'* 90s Brit soul dude was Lewis Taylor, who was realy great but is not impossible to find on-line. He retired from the music business, deleted all his stuff, including, as far as I can see, various live performances that used to be on youtube.
Ah-hah, just discovered that 'Lewis Taylor' playing in/with Gnarls Barkley, or was, under another name. Anyway, very sad that he no longer releases records under his own name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Taylor
Believe it or not, Cee Lo Green is about as close as I've found to Northern Soul/classic R&B. Some of his songs anyway. Not that I've looked very hard, because most modern R&B just makes me retreat back to the 60s. For USians, this compilation is a pretty good overview of Northern Soul. Also this one.
As a flavour of the style, this a personal fave [stuck on Unfogged mixes before, I think]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc2y9X08tN8
Or Frank Wilson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhdvX9QFLxE
So great.
The Talcum Soul compilations, seem decent to, as Northern comps. The first has a couple of great Garnet Mimms tracks and some other good stuff:
http://avaxhome.ws/music/talcum_soul.html
[I'm assuming these dodgy links are long since gone, but it was a quick way to find a track listing]
re: 436
And yeah, I get what you mean re: Green. There's sometimes the same sort of tempo and 'brightness' to the rhythm track. Stanley or someone who knows about drums can maybe comment, but it sounds like they are pushing forward on the beat rather than laying back.
Ooh, that does look like a good collection. That Carl Douglas track is one of my favourites. As is What's Wrong With Me Baby.
Sweet. The Talcum Soul compos are pretty cheap on Amazon. Bought.
Yeah, 4 quid or so. I only have the first one, but should probably get the rest. Those plus the Dave Godin deep soul compilations and that's hours and hours of great music.
Yeah, I have all the Dave Godin collections. Amazing stuff. The remarkable thing is just how many artists were putting out stuff of the highest quality.
I've only got two of the Godin's; not having all of them is something I need to rectify. Something I just discovered (very) recently, even though it's nearly 6 years old, is Steve Spacek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacek_(band)#2005-present
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRm2UZuyb1w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKWozPqIB6E
Total sucker for that Mayfield-style high voice.
Thanks for the recs, Ginger and ttaM. I'll definitely be making some purchasses now.
That fine British musical invention, last.fm, has a pretty impressive northern soul archive, so if you want an absolutely casual dive into it, just flip on the last.fm Northern Soul stream.
