Putting It Down For Awhile

Today I let the folks over at Rock NYC know that I wont be submitting any blog posts over there anymore, at least for the immediate future. Which probably means that there will probably not be a lot going on over here , either.

My feeling is that i've taken this thing about as far as I can go, and have some very loose plans to do more listening and reading with the aim of writing longer in depth pieces broken down into blog friendly installments.

So although there are big plans ahead, they mostly involve not writing over the short term, with an eye on an improved product down the road.

Or this could be all bullshit and I might write something tomorrow. I just don't want to write because I have to, I want to write when i'm ready to. When I have all my facts in line and have done the proper research to do a truly informative piece. In short, the exact opposite of what you would encounter on a typical blog.

At the risk of tipping my hand, I have a very unstructured plan in place to immerse myself into a musical timeframe and/or genre I know little or nothing about, and then emerge from that documenting what i've learned. So, thanks for reading and I hope to provide some comprehensive and factual content soon.

Cheers,
Mike.

“Brian Wilson Re-imagines Gershwin” Reviewed.

When this thing works (which is about 40% of the time), it’s fantastic. Wilson scores high marks on the mini “Porgy and Bess” suite that kicks off three tracks in, and his vocal delivery on “I Loves You, Porgy” may actually rank among his greatest. “I Got Plenty on Nuttin’” gets a “Pet Sounds” treatment with bass harmonicas and rollicking honky-tonk piano, and the 30 second string segment that closes the track is achingly beautiful.

“They Can’t Take That Away From Me”, from the 1937 musical “Shall We Dance” gets the “Help Me, Rhonda” treatment to great success. The record’s opener “Rhapsody In Blue” , is a brilliant partial a cappella version that highlights Wilson’s most enduring musical gift, where all the vocal parts get layered together to tremendous effect.

However, there are too many instances here where the vocal blend gets very formulaic, and the project starts to take on the sound of a Ray Conniff record. While someone like Taylor Mills can no doubt deliver technical precision on the high end of these vocal harmonies, there is a lack of emotion and soul here that ultimately detracts from the proceedings. Over the long haul, it just gets too same-y and at times is just flat out annoying.

Despite all this, Wilson has delivered a Grammy friendly effort just prior to the August deadline to be eligible this coming February. It will no doubt, garner several nominations and may actually turn out to be the love fest we’ve witnessed in years past for the likes of Eric Clapton, Steely Dan and others. For all the great music he has given us during the turmoil and agony of his personal life, Brian Wilson would most certainly deserve it.

“It’s Just A Question Of Style” The Bill Nelson playlist

One of the finest guitarists to ever plug in, Bill Nelson is also one of the most reluctant axe heroes of his era. From 1974 to 1978, Bill wrote all the songs, arranged them , played guitar and sang lead vocals for the British band Be-Bop Deluxe.

The band defied categorization during a time where image and substance went hand in hand. Instead of going toe to toe visually with the likes of Bowie, Bolan and Mercury, Nelson opted instead to concentrate on his songwriting craft, consistently churning out quality that equaled and in most cases even exceeded that of his peers.

Science Fiction was one of Bill’s recurring songwriting themes, but he also wrote poetically about love, passion, lust and longing. Despite a high quality run of albums and almost constant touring, the band never achieved mainstream success and Bill disbanded the group in 1978, moving on to other avenues of self expression.

The work he left behind however, influenced practically all of the UK pop groups that succeeded him during the 80’s and beyond. It’s all magnificent, but here is the cream of the crop.

1) “Axe Victim”- The opening salvo off the album of the same name which contains that incredible lyric lamenting the life of a rock and roller, “Last night I felt immortal, this morning I feel dead”.

2) “Maid In Heaven”-Nelson made a fresh start for his second album, replacing all the band members and enlisting Roy Thomas Baker of Queen fame to produce. This track, taken from the album, “Futurama” is a hidden diamond buried deep within the musical landscape of 1975.

3) “Sister Seagull”-Also from “Futurama”, Nelson’s melodic ideas and brilliant lead guitar runs are on full display here. Although he could never shake off the constant comparisons to Bowie and other glam rockers of the day, listening to this track makes you realize Nelson was a trail blazer, and not a follower.

4) “Heavenly Homes”-1976’s “Sunburst Finish” yielded a UK top 40 hit for the band with “Ships In The Night”, a reggae tinged love song. This track though, displays Be-Bop’s “heavier” leanings as the guitar riffs get a little darker and the lyrics continue to shift more towards the oblique.

5) “Life In The Air Age”-Perhaps the greatest ever marriage between Rock and Sci-Fi, Nelson mutes all the strings of his guitar, strumming a percussive “chunka chunka” sound on the intro, before delivering a soaring signature lead guitar melody that should have been world famous. The lyrics are set in the future, yearning for a simpler time, saying that “Life In The Air-Age isn’t all that the brochures say…too dangerous to stay…airships crashing every day into the bay.. all highways in the sky…all the oceans have run dry” and finally…”It’s grim enough to make a robot cry”.

6) “Modern Music”-Lyrically, Nelson was first and foremost, a romantic. This track is one of the best examples of that as he simply but poignantly pleads to a far away lover to stay true to him.

7) “The Gold At The End Of My Rainbow”-The internet consensus over the “Modern Music” album is that much of it was written during an extended tour of the United States in 1976. In addition to writing about his observations of America, Nelson was also homesick and this message to his then wife back at home is sheer glorious poetry.

8) “New Precision” –From 1978’s “Drastic Plastic” LP, this effort has Nelson veering away from the guitar and more towards a synth-pop sound, using sequencers, vocal treatments and other similar types of rhythmic options. Groundbreaking for it’s time and influential towards an entire generation of New Wavers, the album’s overall place in rock history continues to rise slowly but steadily.

9) “Don’t Touch Me, I’m Electric”- After disbanding Be-Bop Deluxe, Nelson re-emerged in 1979 with “Red Noise”. Here, Nelson travels even further into the void, working with even more synths and employing the most manic herky-jerky rhythm patterns he would ever attempt up to this point. The record is not for everybody, but if you love this, the album’s first track then you’re sure to willingly inhale the whole thing. If “Drastic Plastic” can be considered influential, then “Red Noise” is even more so as Nelson casts all commercial trappings to the side and delivers a frightening high speed isolated snapshot of a world going wrong.

The John Wetton Playlist

John Wetton is as nomadic of a musician as they come. From his early seventies stint with the criminally underrated British band Family to his baffling eventual mainstream success with the pseudo-prog outfit known as Asia, this guy has been around the block and then some.

On bass he is known for his powerful, heavy handed approach. One story conveyed to me by a friend who saw him play with Roxy Music back in the day swears that he saw Wetton actually break the E string on his Fender Precision.

Looking at his discography, I noted that he also has released more than his share of solo and live solo albums that have not even been released widely here in the US. So it would appear that internationally he does garner some semblance of star power.

Today however, we are going to go with what we know, and attempt to piece together a play list of John Wetton’s most memorable tracks. Listed in no particular order are…

1) “Save Some For Thee” – Family –1971- The last cut on side one of the spectacular “Fearless” LP, John sings what amounts to a duet with lead singer Roger Chapman. They were mostly popular in the UK, but here in the US it seems they were too bluesy to be accepted by prog-heads and too proggy to be welcomed into the heavy riff-meister crowd. Getting on Bill Graham’s bad side during a US tour didn’t help matters much either. Suffice to say, that they created some of the most original music of that era. This track starts out with just bass, drums and piano, but then piles on added pieces until we have a full on marching band at the fade.

2) “Take Your Partners”-Family-1971- Also from “Fearless” , the first cut on side 2 is a high octane rocker with that Wetton bass churning and thumping to lead the way.

3) “Spanish Tide”-Family-1971-Guilty as charged, I really love the “Fearless” album. On this track, John sings solo on that glorious bridge section as well as harmony on the choruses.

4) “My Friend The Sun”-Family-1972-This is from the “Bandstand” album, and I think I remember Rock NYC correspondent Bob Nevin telling me he had the 45, which raised his “Nessing Cool Factor” to infinite. Great background vocal track by Wetton , and Roger Chapman delivers one of his most beautiful vocal leads. Chapman was mostly known for his powerful range and vibrato (think Steve Marriott to the fourth power), but here his voice turns up really sweet.

5) “Lark’s Tounges In Aspic, Part Two”-1973-King Crimson-From the album of the approximate same name, I actually could easily recommend the whole enchilada. A high watermark not just in the progressive vein, but in the entire output of late 20th century music.

6) “Lament”-1974-King Crimson—On their way towards becoming the most powerful of power trios, Wetton delivers an astounding vocal here. Not to be outdone, Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford match him riff for riff.

7) “Red”-1974-King Crimson—From the album of the same name, “Red” is as powerful a track as I’ve ever heard by anyone. Industrial Rock, Grunge Rock, Post Metal, Speed Metal, you name it, it can all be traced back to this band and perhaps even this song.

8) “Do The Strand (live)” 1976- Roxy Music- The live album “Viva” is the most obvious place to find this but bootleg live recordings of Roxy with Wetton on bass and Eddie Jobson on keys and violin are worth seeking out. When this band performed in concert, they took no freaking prisoners.

9) “In The Dead Of Night” 1978-U.K.---Progressive Rock’s odd quartet consisted of one experimental side (Bill Bruford and Guitarist Allan Holdsworth) pitted against the increasingly more commercial leanings of Wetton and Jobson. This particular configuration of the band only lasted long enough to release one album, which although could be critically described as inconsistent has more than it’s share of great moments. Wetton’s vocals on this track are raw, unpolished and pretty damn great.

The Alex Chilton Playlist

I’ve been listening to a lot of the Big Star box set, “Keep An Eye On The Sky” this summer, and I cannot emphasize enough how great it is. I’ve also been listening to some of the Alex Chilton solo work, specifically “Like Flies On Sherbert” and while it’s also great, it shares that distinction for a whole set of entirely different reasons.

The entire Big Star catalog is a masterpiece. A shimmering, towering template of the entire genre of what would later be known as power pop. Songs with hooks to spare, played brilliantly with emphasis on guitar jangle, punchy bass and powerful drums that tie it all together.

“Like Flies On Sherbert” is the exact opposite. This record is Chilton giving the middle finger on both hands to the entire recording process and the music industry, to boot. Similar to what Brian Wilson did when he released “Smiley Smile”, but 100 times more blatant. The album is loaded with false starts, errors and hap hazardous vocals.

It’s unclear how much of the recording of this was accidental or on purpose, but there is no doubt that the mistakes were left in for all to witness. It was a conscious decision by Chilton to have the record sound sloppy. Producer Jim Dickinson goes so far as to say that during the recording of this ragged masterpiece there were times on some songs where “there was nobody in the control room”. Instruments used for the recording were sometimes not fully functional or in some cases broken entirely.

It’s open debate as to why Chilton did this, but he provides some insight here: When sessions began he thought to himself, "’Man these guys don't know the songs...this must sound terrible'. But when I went in the control room and heard what we’d been doing, it was just incredible sounding. Getting involved with Dickinson opened up a new world for me. Before that I'd been into careful layerings of guitars and voices and harmonies and things like that, and Dickinson showed me how to go into the studio and just create a wild mess and make it sound really crazy and anarchic. That was a growth for me."[

If you can get past the records blatant anti-commercial stance, it is at it’s core, a do it yourself tour-de-force with flaws that actually make it sound better. Kind of like a hand-made charm bracelet that makes your wrist turn green. I recommend approaching it in small doses at first, juxtaposed against his more polished Big Star work if possible.

The Big Star Playlist

“The Ballad Of El Goodo”-There’s a lyric bit on the second verse that goes “People round you tell you that they know…The places they have been, and it's easy to go…They'll zip you up and dress you down, and stand you in their role…You know you don't have to…You can just say no” In many ways that’s what “Like Flies On Sherbert” is all about….just saying “no”.

“Thirteen”- The ultimate coming of age ballad. Indestructible in it’s sentiment, delivered it that yearning trademark Chilton warble. Thank God nobody’s ruined this song by using it to sell pimple cream or something.

“When My Baby’s Beside Me” – To me, good rock and roll is supposed to be uplifting. This thing never fails to take me to the outer edge of the stratosphere.

“Daisy Glaze” This was the song that eventually made me realize how great Big Star really were. I had been listening to them for a few months and when I heard this track about the seventh or eighth time, it was a bonafide “holy shit” moment. It plods along at the beginning, providing the perfect contrast and subtext for the power pop payoff.

“You Get What You Deserve”- I’ve read rumors that some of these songs may have been written or co-written by Chris Bell. One of Big Star’s original members, he reportedly left after the first album, but may have anonymously turned up on some of these later efforts. Bell is another dominant figure in the Big Star story and will probably be the subject of a future blog piece. Either way, this on many days is my all time favorite Big Star track. Perfect verse, perfect chorus, followed by a killer power chord bridge. Then a guitar solo takes us back to the verse, but not before three beautifully understated taps of a snare drum.

The “Like Flies On Sherbert” playlist

“Hey! Little Child!” These sloppy double-tracked drums trip over each other at the outset before settling into a rudimentary groove. And what a groove it is.

“Walk Across Texas” You can almost taste the moonshine.

“Boogie Shoes” The piano bit is almost prolific. The guitar parts and vocals are a complete mess. The overall effect is just so damn charming.

“I’ve Had It”-The very essence of what Rock and Roll is supposed be. Three chords, no net. Listen and be amazed as Alex slurs and slithers his way over and around this incredible piece of authentic garage rock. If you’re listening and not on the floor convulsing in laughter, then you’re not alive.