Category: Music

Music notes from all over

Reading Around on February 10th

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Some additional reading February 10th from 19:19 to 21:03:

  • Cursebird: What the f#@! is everyone swearing about? – real time twitter feed of curse words. Not everything shows up, but still amusing

  • Ukulelia: Your Passport to Four Stringed Paradise – Performance artists Roger Geenawalt and David Barratt recorded and performed all 185 Beatles songs with 185 guest artists…on ukulele, natch.

    The performance was then cast as a benefit for Warren Buffett. (Head about to explode. Must. Keep. Blogging.) And they’ve now just delivered the cash to him in person. (Following is the BEST interview with Warren Buffett evar.)

Reading Around on January 31st

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Some additional reading January 31st from 08:49 to 22:46:

  • When I was seventeen, it was a very good year – Cristgau usually has tastes similar to mine, 1984 was no exception (though at the time, there was a lot more thrash metal on my playlist; I hadn’t discovered mind-and-ear expanding drugs yet). Plus I only turned 17 in 1986.

  • Harper’s Index: A retrospective of the Bush era (Harper’s Magazine) – Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50

    Minimum number of laws that Bush signing statements have exempted his administration from following: 1,069
    …
    Number of vehicles in the motorcade that transports Bush to his regular bike ride in Maryland: 6

    Estimated total miles he has ridden his bike as president: 5,400

    Portion of his presidency he has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 1/3

Obama’s Secret Record Collection

Seth Anderson0 comment

mmmm, vintage 180 gram vinyl. Wonder what sort of amplifier the White House has? They should release some photos of the listening room…

Vinyl is the best

When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones’ Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow.

During the waning days of the Nixon administration, the RIAA, the record companies’ trade group, decided the library should include sound recordings as well as books. In 1973, the organization donated close to 2,000 LPs.

…

Paul Nelson, then Rolling Stone’s reviews editor — compiled a list to reflect “diversity in what was going on in popular music.” They picked the Kinks’ Arthur1 for its “theme of empire,” and Blumenthal snuck in favorites like David Bowie’s Hunky Dory.

…

But Obama may be pleased to learn that at least a few of his favorite albums — Bob Dylan’s


Blood on the Tracks

Bruce Springsteen’s


Born to Run

— are there if he wants them on pristine slabs of vinyl.

[From Obama’s Secret Record Collection : Rolling Stone]

 


“Trout Mask Replica” (Captain Beefheart)

There isn’t a full list of the albums anywhere, but Captain Beefheart? Really? I wonder if it was ever opened? or played more than once. Is there a CD player too? Did the Bush family leave behind any favorite George Jones albums?

Gram Parsons and Band

Footnotes:
  1. full title: Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) [↩]

Philip Dickian Guitar relics

Seth Anderson0 comment

Dylan memorobilia Hard Rock
a vintage Bob Dylan guitar from his pre-electric days

Seems a bit gimmicky to me, and eerily familiar to multiple Philip K Dick plot points – creating fake industrial age artifacts for profit. Does spending an extra $12,000 on a beat-up guitar make it sound any better? No, not in the slightest. I could understand emulating custom electronics (changing the pickups, frets or whatever) to get a sound that a favorite guitarist might make, but mirroring Jimmy Page’s beat up guitar scars seems like a waste of money.

The Easy Way To Hard Rock: ‘Distressed’ Guitars – WSJ.com:
CORONA, Calif. — At the Fender guitar factory here recently, Mike Eldred carefully laid the freshly painted body of a baby blue Stratocaster on a workbench. He then proceeded to scar the new instrument’s delicate lacquer surface using a menacing leather strap adorned with belt buckles, nuts and other hardware.

Normally, even one of the resulting scratches or dings on a brand-new instrument would make a guitar enthusiast cringe. But in the hands of Mr. Eldred, they are the first steps in the process of creating a “relic” guitar — a brand new instrument that has been deliberately aged to simulate decades’ worth of rock-and-roll wear and tear.
… “I always use the pre-faded blue jean analogy,” says Tom Murphy, whose Guitar Preservation Inc. does antiquing work for Fender’s main competitor, the Gibson Guitar Corp. “We know what that’s all about: Why wait? Just buy ’em like that.”

Some relics are so painstakingly aged that the end result is scratch-for-scratch copies of legendary guitars owned by real rock stars. This even appeals to the rock stars themselves, who have put in decades of sweat equity to create the real thing. As their prized vintage instruments have become increasingly valuable and fragile, some have begun using replicas of their famous guitars, especially on long tours.

Mr. Murphy, a former professional musician who in the early ’80s played guitar in Marie Osmond’s touring band, has built replicas now played by Led Zeppelin’s legendary guitarist Jimmy Page and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, among others.

In a few instances, guitar makers have sold limited runs of replicas, with every nick, scratch and stain duplicated on new instruments made to look and feel like those made famous by Eric Clapton, Mr. Page and the Clash’s Joe Strummer. Fender is producing copies of Police guitarist Andy Summers’s 1961 Telecaster — which he bought used in 1972 for $200 — which are authentic right down to the broken bridge and quirky custom electronics. The 250 replicas are being offered at $15,000 each; dealers have already sold most of them, sight unseen, according to Fender and dealers.

Ridiculous

Seth and guitar 1971
a now-vintage fake Gibson, circa 1971. I think my uncle Phil has it now

New Friend
probably partially why I bought a sunburst guitar recently (albeit a Yamaha)

Continue reading “Philip Dickian Guitar relics”

Reading Around on January 23rd

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Some additional reading January 23rd from 09:12 to 09:14:

  • The Allmusic Blog » Binge Listening: Solage – “The best known of Solage’s works is the rondeau for three voices, Fumeux fume par fumée, a staple of music history courses and a favorite among the Allmusic classical editors. This intensely chromatic and modally meandering piece may be about dreaming, smoke, or drug use — no one is quite sure what to make of it! But it is one of the oddest examples of early music extant”

  • David Bowie, 1973-76 – “Geoff MacCormack toured with Bowie during his glam-rock heyday, and has these (rather wonderful) snaps to prove it”

Them Never Love Poor Marcus

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“Right Time” (The Mighty Diamonds)

I always wonder what my subconscious is attempting to inform me of when I wake up singing a song. This morning the song ringing through my mind was the Mighty Diamonds classic 1976 cut: Them Never Love Poor Marcus.

Here’s a version.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DAJI8dpNIE


Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus-they
Never love him, oh no
Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus

Till they betray him
Him own brethren sell him fe rice ‘n’ peas
They didn’t know there would be days like this
Now do you man waste in such a squeeze, yeah

Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus-they
Never love him, oh no
Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus

Men like Bag O’ Wire should burn in fire
the betrayer of Marcus Garvey

Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus-they
Never love him, oh no
Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus

Till the betray, one bredren sell him for rice and peas
They didn’t know there would be days like these
Now the human race in such a squeeze, mmm Yeah

Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus-they
Never love him, oh no
Them never love, never love, never love poor Marcus

Men like Bag O’ Wire should burn in fire fire fire, Lord
Betrayer.
[repeat chorus]

Black man come together, unity is forever

Such a great song, and a great album, but I’m not sure exactly the point I was making to myself. Hope it isn’t the obvious point, of betrayal and politics…

Ralph Heibutzki of Allmusic writes:

Few reggae bands evoked their audience’s suffering as viscerally as the Mighty Diamonds, not least because of lead vocalist Donald “Tabby” Shaw. Although overshadowed by stars likeBunny Wailer, Shaw’s aching lilt remains a compelling signature of the roots-oriented ’70s era. His graceful yet forceful presence on songs like “I Need a Roof” — which laments lack of housing — is exactly what the music needs. A strong moralistic undertone runs throughout the album. “Right Time” warns of an impending breakdown in social order, and “Why Me Black Brother Why” decries the rampant lawlessness afflicting the island nation. “Them Never Love Poor Marcus” scornfully denounces the people who betrayed the black nationalist leader (Marcus Garvey) for “rice and peas.” “Gnashing of Teeth” takes up the Biblical imperative of Judgment Day, in which “only good works shall see you through.” Some strategic departures help to leaven the band’s approach, most notably the love song “Shame and Pride.” Lloyd Ferguson steps out of his backup vocalist role on “Go Seek Your Rights,” which reminds people to respect their differences while striving for social change, and “Africa” is a wistful tribute to the continent that Rastafarian believers consider their final home. The playing is first-rate, bolstered by unobtrusive contributions from session aces like bassist Robbie Shakespeare and drummer Sly Dunbar. No student of the genre should miss this landmark roots album.

while Robert Christgau gives Right Time an A-

On the purely aural, preverbal evidence–the sweet, precise harmonies and arrangements, the intent beat–you’d figure they were singing songs of love, or at least sexual mastery. Ditto from their foolish stage act. But in fact there are no broken hearts in these lyrics, only broken bodies, and the exultation is the exultation of oppression defied. In other words, this follows reggae conventions as Americans know it, and on a few cuts conventional is how it sounds. Usually, though, lead singer Donald Sharpe sounds as if he’s learned all this more recently than the Bob Marley of Rastaman Vibration.

Van Morrison’s Piss Off You Wankers album

Seth Anderson5 Comments

Happened to listen to the Bang Records Contratual Obligation Sessions today. What a hoot.1

Van Morrison records one of the first punk albums: every song on here is less than 2 minutes long, and many contain enough vitriol for Johnny Rotten to surf on.

WFMU’s Beware of the Blog: Van Morrison’s Contractual Obligation Album
…And then there is Van Morrison’s Bang Records Sessions.

In order to fulfill his obligation to his early solo label Bang Records,Van Morrison sat down in 1967 or so and cranked out 31 songs on the spot, on topics ranging from ringworm to wanting a danish, to hating his record label and a guy named George. Make sure you get past the first few tunes – it takes him a few to get cooking.

Some very funny titles included here

Music here

Oh, and the lyrics are here, worth another giggle.

Unfortunately, WFMU had to take down the tracks. If you are looking for a copy, contact me privately or leave a comment, I might know where to direct you.

Jump And Thump – 1:09
Shake And Roll – 0:59
Stomp And Scream-1:14
Scream And Holler-1:16
Ring Worm-1:33
Drivin Wheel-1:14
Just Ball-1:00
Shake It Mable-1:14
Hold On George-1:31
The Big Royalty Check-1:37
Savoy Hollywood-1:01
Freaky If You Got This Far-1:06
Up Your Mind-1:14
Thirty Two-1:00
All The Bits-0:55
Twist And Shake-1:17
You Say France And I Whistle-0:55
Blow In Your Nose-1:26
Nose In Your Blow-1:03
La Mambo-0:53
Go For Yourself-1:21
Want A Danish-1:05
Here Comes Dumb George-0:57
Chickee Coo-1:11
Do It-1:01
Hang On Groovy-0:58
Goodbye George-1:18
Dum Dum George-1:27


“Complete Bang Sessions” (Van Morrison)

Apparently, these 30 tracks have since been actually released on CD. Wow, not sure I’d pay actual money for these songs, most are best heard infrequently. Funny to hear once a year, more than that, not so much.

Stephen Erlewine of Allmusic writes:

The Bang Sessions, as most fans of Van the Man know, present Morrison when he is very good and when he is absolutely wretched. The good, of course, is his first solo album, Blowin’ Your Mind, an engaging set of ambitious folk-rock which borrows equally from R&B and jazz, winding up with songs as ebullient as “Brown Eyed Girl” and as haunting as “T.B. Sheets,” with a lot of ground covered in between. The bad is the songs that he wrote and recorded in a bid to get out of his contract with Bang — obstinate, stream-of-conscious ditties and nonsense that he wrote on the spot; it’s interesting in theory, but nearly unlistenable in practise.

Footnotes:
  1. reposted from a 2005 entry [↩]

The Scottish Origin of Rap

Seth Anderson0 comment

Alex Boese of the Weird Universe blog adds a counterpoint to the Scottish origin of rap theory we ridiculed a few weeks ago:

The more conventional theory is that the roots of rap music trace back to ancient West African poets called “griots”. From Wikipedia:

the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Because of the time that has passed since the griots of old, the connections between rap and the African griots are widely established, but not clear-cut. However, such connections have been acknowledged by rappers, modern day “griots”, spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.

Actually, given the big gap in time between these two possible origins and the emergence of rap in the 1970s, both theories sound a little iffy to me.

[From Weird Theory: The Scottish Origin of Rap]

Straight Outta Glasgow

Seth Anderson1 Comment


“Straight Outta Compton” (N.W.A)

This amuses me, probably for the mental image (rappers in kilts, haggis studded with bling, yadda yadda)

A professor has theorized that rap music, by way of the dozens, originated in medieval Scottish pubs…

Professor Ferenc Szasz argued that so-called rap battles, where two or more performers trade elaborate insults, derive from the ancient Caledonian art of “flyting“.

According to the theory, Scottish slave owners took the tradition with them to the United States, where it was adopted and developed by slaves, emerging many years later as rap.

Professor Szasz is convinced there is a clear link between this tradition for settling scores in Scotland and rap battles, which were famously portrayed in Eminem’s 2002 movie 8 Mile.

He said: “The Scots have a lengthy tradition of flyting – intense verbal jousting, often laced with vulgarity, that is similar to the dozens that one finds among contemporary inner-city African-American youth.

“Both cultures accord high marks to satire. The skilled use of satire takes this verbal jousting to its ultimate level – one step short of a fist fight.”

[Click to read more Rap music originated in medieval Scottish pubs, claims American professor – Telegraph]

and to fulfill any lingering grad student impulses:

The most famous surviving example of flyting comes from a 16th-century piece in which two rival poets hurl increasingly obscene rhyming insults at one another before the Court of King James IV.

Titled the Flyting Of Dunbar And Kennedy, it has been described by academics as “just over 500 lines of filth”.

Right? So just imagine lines like these being recited over a phat beat of knives clanging on a bottle of single malt whisky:


Into the Katryne thou maid a foule cahute,
For thow bedrate hir doune fra starn to stere;
Apon hir sydis was sene thou coud schute,
Thy dirt clevis till hir towis this twenty yere:
The firmament na firth was nevir cler,
Quhill thou, Deulbere, devillis birth, was on the see,
The saulis had sonkin throu the syn of the,
War not the peple maid sa grete prayere.



Quhen that the schip was saynit, and undir saile,
Foul brow in holl thow preposit for to pas,
Thou schot, and was not sekir of thy tayle,
Beschate the stere, the compas, and the glas;
The skippar bad ger land the at the Bas:
Thow spewit, and kest out mony a lathly lomp,
Fastar than all the marynaris coud pomp;
And now thy wame is wers than evir it was.

Hmmm. Maybe not.

When Fats Waller Met Al Capone

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“The Very Best of Fats Waller” (Fats Waller)

Kottke pointed out this great incident in Jazz history.

One evening Fats felt a revolver poked into his paunchy stomach. He found himself bullied into a black limousine, heard the driver ordered to East Cicero. Sweat pouring down his body, Fats foresaw a premature end to his career, but on arrival at a fancy saloon, he was merely pushed toward a piano and told to play. He played. Loudest in applause was a beefy man with an unmistakable scar: Al Capone was having a birthday, and he, Fats, was a present from “the boys”.

The party lasted three days. Fats exhausted himself and his repertoire, but with every request bills were stuffed into his pockets. He and Capone consumed vast quantities of food and drink. By the time the black limousine headed back to the Sherman, Fats had acquired severeal thousand dollars in cash and a decided taste for vintage champagne

[From First encounters: When Fats Waller met Al Capone | Independent, The (London) ]

I’ve always had an affection for Fats Waller (and in fact, we have a song of his that is ‘penciled in‘ to our screenplay), now I love him even more. What a cool cat.

By the way, you could purchase a home previously owned by Al Capone (seen here getting an autographed baseball at Comiskey Park1 ), if you were so inclined:

Want to own a notorious piece of Chicago history?



The modest, red-brick home once owned by Al Capone is expected to hit the market this spring for an estimated $450,000, marking a new chapter for the infamous South Side landmark that has had just two owners since the death of Capone’s mother in 1952.



“I think there’s some value in the home’s history,” said Barbara Hogsette, 71, who has lived in the house since 1963

…

For more than a century, the two-flat home with large bay windows has stood near the corner of 72nd Street and South Prairie Avenue in the working-class Park Manor neighborhood. Cook County records show the Capones bought the home for $5,500 in August 1923, part of a wave of first- and second-generation European immigrants who moved to that part of the city in the Prohibition era.

Footnotes:
  1. Gangster Al Capone and his son having baseball autographed by player Gabby Hartnett aka Charles Leo Hartnett from Capone’s front row seat [↩]

Possible Return of CBGB

Seth Anderson0 comment


“CBGB and OMFUG: Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock” (“Harry N. Abrams, Inc.”)

Cool, if it works out. The founder of CBGB, Hilly Kristal, has died, and his former wife, Karen, is disputing ownership. She probably just wants a percentage, doesn’t sound like she has any plan to try to reopen the club on her own.

The notorious urinal that served patrons of the famed New York rock club CBGB for 33 years now sits retired in a basement in Manhattan’s posh SoHo district.

Plucked from the graffiti-covered walls when the club closed in 2006, the urinal is among several CBGB artifacts — such as the gritty “CBGB & OMFUG” awning that hung over 315 Bowery and a phone booth covered with punk-rock band stickers — donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened its doors last week.

The donation is just one step taken by entrepreneurial group CBGB Holdings LLC to revive the brand and transform it once more into a money-making business — without jeopardizing its counter-culture past.

Last month, the group struck a distribution deal with Bravado, a Universal Music Group company that markets rock-themed merchandise around the world, to help sell millions of CBGB T-shirts. Next summer, the Vans Warped Tour music festival will showcase an interactive CBGB exhibit.

These deals were crafted by two men who believe there’s life after death for the landmark venue: James Blueweiss, a marketer who began advising the club a year before it closed, and Robert Williams, a veteran of the retail music business who helped open HMV stores around the world. The two attracted capital from angel investors and paid $3.5 million for the rights to the CBGB brand in 2008. Their company, CBGB Holdings, owns all intellectual property, domestic and international trademarks, copyrights, video and audio libraries, ongoing apparel business, Web site and physical property of the original club.

[From The Return of Rock? – WSJ.com]
[non-WSJ subscribers use this link]

I never lived in New York, but I have gone to a couple of shows there, and yes, it was a bit of a dive. So many famous groups played there that CBGB will always be part of rock music history.

Horsies – Noam Chomsky

Seth Anderson0 comment

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gktRTuhehOA

Boy, does watching this video take me back. I saw the Horsies a few times that year. Not the best sound quality, but good enough to groove too.

The Horsies recorded live in Austin, Texas – January 18th, 1993

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja9miieLOgo

A bunch more related videos from the so-called Austin Slacker years are linked to at Metafilter. Missing a couple of favorites (2 Nice Girls, for instance), but a pretty representative sample.

Kassin +2 Touring

Seth Anderson0 comment


“Futurismo” (Kassin + 2)

Hitting the Old Town School of Folk here in the Big Potato, and other places too

December 13, 2008
Old Town School of Folk
Chicago, IL

Kassin + Domenico + Moreno = The Plus 2’s, LIVE!!!
For the past few years, Kassin has been one of the most exciting names in Brazilian music. From his Monoaural Studio in Gavea he has produced records by singers like Marisa Monte and Bebel Gilberto and made an album from the bleeps of a Gameboy. He has played bass for Caetano Veloso’s live shows and masterminded the Orchestra Imperial project, in which samba classics are given a modern twist by a loose and ever-expanding live band. And given his status as a leader of Brazil’s musical avant-garde, the biggest surprise from the +2’s latest release, Futurismo, which Kassin wrote and produced, is its bossa-rooted accessibility.

Back to FUTURISMO
The tracks on Futurismo are melodic gems. They were written at different periods in Kassin’s life and recorded quickly, mostly on acoustic instruments with electronic flourishes added later. Fellow band members Moreno Veloso and Domenico Lancelott join Kassin for the live presentation of these songs.

Kassin told Yahoo’s Spinner blog: “The tour will be based on the last album (Futurismo) with parts of the previous 3 albums we have along with the new material we are writing. We have many new songs and have been playing this new material live. We are enjoying our lives a lot these days and we are pretty excited to go back to the USA.”

[From Welcome to Luaka Bop]

Sounds interesting, but not sure if I’ll be in town to see them. Bummer.

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

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Another Quickie review1


The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

Awesome, if you like Adrian Belew’s electric guitar caterwauling on top of Talking Head classics. To be fair, only on a few tracks. Three thumbs up2

All the tempos have been quickened, and the rhythm section locks in. I posted some YouTube footage from this tour a while ago, the files might still be accessible.

Extended to 33 songs from the original release, spanning 2 hours and 36 minutes of funk, Afro-pop, and quirkiness.

Sean Westergaard of AllMusic writes:

The sound is crisp and clear, with tight drumming, a great punchy bass sound, and clearly separated guitars that allow you to really hear what complementary (and fine) players David Byrne and Jerry Harrison were. Byrne is the über-geek with a totally unique delivery (especially on tracks like “Who Is It?,” “Artists Only,” and “Stay Hungry,” not to mention his nervous stage announcements), but they all play with the raw energy of a young band on the way up. The bonus tracks are all excellent. There is no sense whatsoever that they were simply padding things for a longer running time, and it’s just great hearing live versions of songs like “Mind” (with extended guitar solo), “The Big Country,” and “The Book I Read” that have never been readily available in live form.

As fantastic as the first disc is, the second one is perhaps even more exciting. The expanded band (ten musicians and two backup singers) is amazing, not only adding power and punch to the Remain in Light material, but in most cases surpassing the studio versions (no mean feat). These live versions of “The Great Curve,” “Houses in Motion,” and “Crosseyed and Painless (all prominently featuring Adrian Belew) are nearly worth the price of admission alone, but the bonus tracks here are just as exciting. The original release had no overlapping songs on the two LPs, with the large version of the band sticking solely to tunes from Remain in Light and Fear of Music. Now you’re treated to arrangements of “Psycho Killer,” “Stay Hungry,” and “Warning Sign” as performed by the expanded lineup, not to mention live versions of “Animals,” “Cities,” and “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).” The band is on fire throughout the performances, and fans of Belew’s guitar playing will practically be giddy with ecstasy. These are some of his finest performances strictly as a guitarist, and although Remain in Light was the only studio album he played on, he beautifully adds his own touches to “Stay Hungry” and especially “Psycho Killer.” Byrne also contributes some cool guitar, sometimes using a great delay sound, and again, the clear separation of instruments lets you really hear the details.

Footnotes:
  1. for Musebin [↩]
  2. umm, well, two thumbs, and your neighbor’s thumb too for good measure, because you will probably want to play this album with the volume turned way up [↩]