Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
14 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: u2
14 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in Did You Ever Realize Tags: bob dylan, don't think twice it's alright, paul clayton, who's gonna buy you ribbons
07 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: frank sinatra jr., nancy sinatra, something stupid
06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: classic rock
(Answered by Dale Monzon)
There have been references to a couple of the biggest differences that I believe are the biggest contributors to the quality of the music.
In the 60s and 70s bands got together a lot to practice and play. Hours were spent on working on the music, playing together. Once you had enough songs you might play a small bar or club. Local clubs had open nights where several bands would each play a 30–45 minute sets. This was not paid, you just did it for the experience and exposure. Hopefully you’d win a few new fans, they would show up at your next gig with their friends and you would build a fan base. Once you got popular enough to draw a crowd you might start getting paid. In the meantime your band got tons of experience and time to work on performance quality.
The second part of this is that recording techniques were completely different. In the early 60s they were basically live performances where the whole band went in and played the music as a group. This evolved into single tracking where each player went into the booth individually – the drummer would record, then the bass player laid down his track, etc. The first studio album I did was done this way. Everybody had to know how the music fit together and sounded in live performance to put this together.
Flash forward to today. I just did some recording a couple months ago. Everything is now digital cut-and-paste. The song writer has constructed a synthesized version of his song – no interaction for the bass player to invent their part, as the sax player I’m not creating the music going on the album the way I’d naturally play it. Studio time was devoted to recording a couple short phrases which will be modified and edited on the computer. Non of the musicians have played this as a live composition or even with other performers in the room. Live performing is rare for this group. If we ever do play a public gig we will have to learn the music off of the recording. There is nothing organic or interactive about recording music this way, no soul or feeling to it.
06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: buffalo springfield, for what it's worth
(Answered by Amy Christa Ernano)
My favorite is probably “For What It’s Worth”, by Buffalo Springfield.
Then-21-year-old Stephen Stills wrote the song in December of 1966 (and while many think it’s an antiwar song, it’s actually about the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles that November), but when he presented it to Atlantic Records executive Ahmet Ertegun, it still didn’t have a title. Stills simply told Ertegun, “I have a song here, for what it’s worth, if you want it”.
Ertegun took that for the name of the song, and ultimately, it stuck, even though the phrase “for what it’s worth” has no relation or significance whatsoever to the song itself or its subject matter. The song’s refrain “Stop, Hey, What’s That Sound?” was subsequently added in parentheses to make it easier to recognize.
“For What It’s Worth” reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, and now, 53 years later, it’s perhaps one of the most iconic protest songs ever written.
06 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: 2 album artists
(via Goldmine magazine) by Martin Popoff
On this day back in 1986, not so super supergroup The Firm issued their second and final album, Mean Business. So it got me thinking, who are the better bands or artists out there who put out just two studio albums and were gone? Longtime Goldmine writer Martin Popoff responds. —Pat Prince
Thanks, Pat. This was tough, but a pretty satisfying exercise. And I’m with you, The Firm weren’t so hot, so I’ve got them hanging on for dear life at the bottom. It’s only sensible. By the way, on my debatable and/or honorable mentions list were the likes of Elastica, Dead Cross, Witchfinder General (yeah, I know, a late cheat album), Red Dragon Cartel, Fist (the NWOBHM one), Kerbdog, Nailbomb, Killer be Killed, Syd Barrett, Tin Machine, Whitford St. Holmes, British Lion, Brian May, Chickenfoot, Walter Becker and Arcade. Don’t rake me over the coals if some of these happened to put out some late reunion thing. I didn’t vet them completely, given that they weren’t making the Top 20. But enough about them. Here’s the Top 20 two-album acts of all time (says I). —Martin Popoff
20. The Firm
Weird, but elastic bass maven Tony Franklin figures twice in this list. Here, he’s teamed up with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and Manfred Mann drummer Chris Slade, and the results are weirdly stodgy and starchy, not impressing anyone, save perhaps for funky semi-disco novelty hit “Radioactive.” The first one went gold, pretty much from curiosity, and the second one, Mean Business died a death.
19. Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees consisted of future Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Michael Cartellone, Jack Blades from Night Ranger, Tommy Shaw from Styx plus The Whackmaster, The Tedinator, Deadly Tedly, otherwise known as Uncle Ted. Their completely and shamelessly hair metal debut went double platinum and their second and last, Don’t Tread, went gold. A third was shelved because everybody hated it. It’s become legend.
18. Streets
I quite appreciated the modern direction of Steve Walsh’s Schemer-Dreamer as well as Kansas’ Drastic Measures, and this fits right into that Sammy Hagar/Aldo Nova/Night Ranger/ Blue Öyster Cult The Revolution by Night zone. Streets featured as its rhythm section local drummer Tim Gehrt and future Kansas bassist Billy Greer, but the principles are City Boy guitarist Mike Slamer and Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh. What they come up with on their two albums is punchy ‘80s pop metal that is lively, catchy and guitar-charged, with the highpoint being their very first song, a chunky and quite likeable moderate hit called “If Love Should Go.”
Every Moment Has A Song 
