tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post115479816331299114..comments2024-03-28T14:13:23.835-04:00Comments on By Neddie Jingo!: When I'm In the Middle of a DreamNeddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17079885040758748553noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1155159273221614642006-08-09T17:34:00.000-04:002006-08-09T17:34:00.000-04:00The "state of mind" of these damaged individuals i...<I>The "state of mind" of these damaged individuals is far, far more complicated than "rain or shine," and the Beatles were immeasurably compassionate -- </I>adult<I> -- to present them to us in the painfully divided year of 1966.<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>Funny, that choice of words -- I remember thinking years ago that what America needed was not a Moral Majority movement (with its attendant simplistic absolutism, homophobia, gynophobia, fetus worship, etc.) but a Moral Maturity movement -- an ethics of responsibility for complex adults in a complex world where most things come in shades of gray.<BR/><BR/>Then I realized that the movement we needed was on our shoulders, so to speak.<BR/><BR/>--nashtbrutusandshort<BR/><A HREF="http://categoricalaperitif.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">Categorical Aperitif</A>nashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06197147046558468601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1155065803521579842006-08-08T15:36:00.000-04:002006-08-08T15:36:00.000-04:00There are a number of milestones in modern music w...There are a number of milestones in modern music where something new comes out and everyone says "What is that?" Is it rock? Jazz/rock? Progressive? Just what the hell is it?<BR/><BR/>While I love Revolver, Sgt. Pepper was more one of those moments. Maybe Joni Mitchells "For The Roses" or "Mingus" or.... (I'm a huge Joni fan). Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam"? Miles' "Bitches Brew"? Paul Simon's "Graceland"?<BR/><BR/>Lately, Sufjan Stevens has given me some "what is that?" moments. Check out his "Illinois" or "Michigan" albums.<BR/><BR/>Great story: my daughter is 12, and a Pink Floyd fan, specifically "Dark Side of the Moon." The other night our local public television station showed the part of the "Pulse" concert where they play the enire DSOTM. Visually, it's just stunning. She and I are snuggled on the couch, when, in an amazing tableau of light and color and sound, David Gilmour sings:<BR/><BR/><EM>Far away across the fields,<BR/>The tolling of the island bell<BR/>Calls the faithful to their knees,<BR/>To hear the softly spoken magic spell</EM><BR/><BR/>My daughter said "I feel like crying all of a sudden; isn't that weird?"<BR/><BR/>No darlin', not weird, not even a little bit. She didn't know what It was, but she knew quality when she saw it.Doug Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17771527082241511557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154988260183205142006-08-07T18:04:00.000-04:002006-08-07T18:04:00.000-04:00Defending the unpopular is what I do, so a few wor...Defending the unpopular is what I do, so a few words in defense of keith Emerson. However politically incorrect his remarks about the Allman Brothers may have been, I am open to the interpretation that recognizes the difference in the two idioms; if your language is blues, you know <I>exactly</I> what comes after:<BR/><BR/>"I gave you a brand new Ford<BR/>and you just said I want a Cadillac<BR/>I bought you a ten dollar dinner<BR/>You said Thanks for the snack<BR/>I let you live in my penthouse<BR/>You said it was just a shack....."<BR/><BR/>I don't <I>think</I> Keith Emerson would miss the cue, but I guess it's possible.<BR/><BR/>But if you are classically schooled, the counterpoint in a fugue will come to you as a result of your training just as "I gave you seven children, and now you want to give them back" would come to any blues player. <BR/><BR/>Shit, I dig 'em both. Listen to the Layla album and tell me Duane didn't eat Clapton for lunch. <BR/><BR/>And I still get a kick out of ELP's version of "Pictures at an Exhibition", pretentious and self-indulgent as it is. I also like Spinal Tap's mockery of such pretense by inserting 8 or 10 bars of Boccherini's Minuet from the String Quintet in E Maj. in the bridge of "Heavy Duty."<BR/><BR/>Hey, it's <I>all</I> good. Except when it isn't. (Yeah, J-Lo, I'm lookin' atchoo!)roxtarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578012483935100786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154958660633425882006-08-07T09:51:00.000-04:002006-08-07T09:51:00.000-04:00I would say that had I never heard the album this ...I would say that had I never heard the album this post would have made a <EM>believer</EM> out of me. Excellent.<BR/><BR/>Still, "dancing about architecture" applies here to me, and me alone. For pure listening pleasure I still prefer:<BR/><BR/>Abbey Road<BR/>Rubber Soul<BR/>A Hard Day's Night<BR/>The Beatles <BR/><BR/>all consistenly over this one, but I can't explain why. I love most of the songs and like all the rest, am fully aware of their innovative use of the studio, (first record after they retired from the road,) all of it.<BR/><BR/>It just doesn't ring with me the way it does for most, and while I understand the fascination with the intelligence behind "Here, There and Everywhere," the song doesn't <EM> feel good </EM> to me. The feelings expressed sound calculated. I much prefer "For No One" and "Good Day Sunshine" as representations of Paul's work from that time period.<BR/><BR/>And, I think it is pretentious and arrogant for Keith Emerson to believe ELP was somehow superior to The Allman Brothers because he had a classical background. ELP's interpretation of Mussorgsky's and (later) Ravel's sublime "Pictures at an Exhibiton" is one of the worst acts of desecration against a classic that I've ever heard. In contrast to that, Duane Allman did justice to Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" by modeling the Allman's jamming style after hours and hours of studying that recording.The Viscount LaCartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12206171681005442662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154952066313433672006-08-07T08:01:00.000-04:002006-08-07T08:01:00.000-04:00I'm on a pretty dilettantish level concerning The ...I'm on a pretty dilettantish level concerning The Fab Four and Rock criticism, but I happened (Thanks, Serendipity!) on a broadcast over WGBH of a rockumentary called <A HREF="http://www.paulingles.com/Revolver.html" REL="nofollow">Everything Was Right: The Beatles' Revolver</A> produced by Paul Ingles and distributed by PRI. Perhaps coming to an NPR station near you, or it will be available on the net after November 30. Anyway the link has commentaries and interviews about the tracks on Revolver that were interesting to a novice like me and touch on the innovations of the album and reasons for its current popularity. Hey, I didn't know the title referred not to a handgun but to a spinning vinyl disc.H. Rumbold, Master Barberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06584302712998121919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154929355579423572006-08-07T01:42:00.000-04:002006-08-07T01:42:00.000-04:00You sure dance about architecture good.You sure dance about architecture good.Bobby Lightfoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00671706326620424357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154904479407316192006-08-06T18:47:00.000-04:002006-08-06T18:47:00.000-04:00Keith Emerson is a chowder head.Keith Emerson is a chowder head.The Viscount LaCartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12206171681005442662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154886166819943282006-08-06T13:42:00.000-04:002006-08-06T13:42:00.000-04:00Is the second side of Abbey Road the first through...Is the second side of <I>Abbey Road</I> the first <I>through-composed</I> album side?<BR/><BR/>Tull did <I>Thick as a Brick</I> through-composed on both sides, but that was three or four years later?William F. Glennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557342274820875239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154880907072082872006-08-06T12:15:00.000-04:002006-08-06T12:15:00.000-04:00Somewhat off thread, but since "Zen and the Art" h...Somewhat off thread, but since "<I>Zen and the Art</I>" has been mentioned, I thought I'd point y'all to an <A HREF="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2297735,00.html" REL="nofollow">interview with Robert Pirsig</A> on the occasion of the reissuance of <I>Lila</I> I ran across yesterday...Smashedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09082971131274706707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154878575280186862006-08-06T11:36:00.000-04:002006-08-06T11:36:00.000-04:00A loyal if lazy reader reporting in. I agree that ...A loyal if lazy reader reporting in. I agree that your music entries are great. <BR/>The progressive rock tag was relevent for a few years in the 60s as a new attitude and form was defined apart from good ol' Top 40 radio. By the early 70's it had become a horrible cliche like MOR. Now, it is assigned to a niche only. Fortunately, that niche is one I choose to avoid so it helps when this label is used for me. The Beatles are so much more than progressive though. Zappa is not progressive in my humble mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154875407261911672006-08-06T10:43:00.000-04:002006-08-06T10:43:00.000-04:00I think roxtar said better what I was trying to sa...I think roxtar said better what I was trying to say in my post where, when seeing that I'm once again failing to get my point across, I inevitably reach for my Duke Ellington reference. Which only seems to mirror roxtar's thinking.<BR/><BR/>And, yeah, Zappa's <I>Fillmore East</I> is a wonder.<BR/><BR/>Ned, I agree with your analysis not soley because it convinces but because I've experienced it myself.<BR/><BR/>I was 7 years old when <I>Sgt Pepper's</I> appeared and the word from everybody was essentially that it was the great rock album ever and no one would be able to top it. Lenny Bernstein as much as said so.<BR/><BR/>But as I got older, and began to listen to the Beatles with my own ears, <I>Revolver</I> became, for me, the greatest Beatles album. I didn't know why exactly, but I think you confirm here what was latent in my thinking about their music.Kevin Wolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17490345765638949916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154871430223954322006-08-06T09:37:00.000-04:002006-08-06T09:37:00.000-04:00Good post, Jeddie. I love it when you write about...Good post, Jeddie. I love it when you write about music. You have a gift for it.<BR/><BR/>I wish I could, but I don't have the *words.* I have the *feelings* (of course, goopy me), but not the words.<BR/><BR/><I>I get a kick out of Yes and Chuck Berry and the Beatles and Stravinsky and Holst, and the Beach Boys and the Pogues, and Dire Straits and Nils Lofgren and the list goes on and on. They're all working with the same 88 (or so)notes, just like the writer for the high school yearbook is working from the same dictionary as Salinger or Updike.</I><BR/><BR/>Great thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154863890067468722006-08-06T07:31:00.000-04:002006-08-06T07:31:00.000-04:00Well, IMHO, the problem lies not with the music, b...Well, IMHO, the problem lies not with the music, but with the labels we apply to it. When Yes comes out with "Awaken" in 11/8, it's pretentious and overblown; Ornette Coleman or Igor Stravinsky are pioneers for exploring the same territory. <BR/><BR/>Is "Awaken" progressive? Is it "rock"? When we see guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and vocals, do we label that as "rock" without considering the music being played? When ELP records Alberto Ginastera's Piano Concerto, is it rock? What about Ludacris "Coming 2 America" from Word of Mouf - containing Mozart's "Requiem", 3rd movement (Dies irae) and Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World", 4th movement (Allegro con fuoco)? (I can't even begin to imagine what label we might apply to that...)<BR/><BR/>Keith Emerson was once quoted as saying (regarding the Allman Brothers band, I think) "We could jam with them, but they couldn't jam with us." Height of arrogance or recognition that they are speaking different languages of music? Does anyone doubt that Duane Allman could have played like Segovia if he chose to do so?<BR/><BR/>There are true <I>virtuosi</I> who chose to speak in the idiom of rock. Duane Allman is one, Keith Emerson is another. Baudelaire is gibberish if you don't speak French, n'est-ce pas? Beethoven didn't limit himself to symphonies, Mozart wrote concerti and opera. Frank Zappa covered the waterfront, from cheesy do-wop <I>hommage</I> (Lucille has messed my mind up) to Spike Jones influenced comedy (Live at Fillmore East). And then Pierre Boulez commissioned Frank to compose some 12-tone pieces for his chamber ensemble. We're gonna need a bigger box of labels!<BR/><BR/>I get a kick out of Yes and Chuck Berry and the Beatles and Stravinsky and Holst, and the Beach Boys and the Pogues, and Dire Straits and Nils Lofgren and the list goes on and on. They're all working with the same 88 (or so)notes, just like the writer for the high school yearbook is working from the same dictionary as Salinger or Updike.<BR/><BR/>It's about <I>quality</I>, as Robert Pirsig suggested in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and elsewhere. And quality is like obscenity; we all know it when we hear it. Furthermore, we recognize its absence when it's not there.roxtarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578012483935100786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154854656418413132006-08-06T04:57:00.000-04:002006-08-06T04:57:00.000-04:00The man in the mac said, "You gotta go back," you ...The man in the mac said, "You gotta go back," you know he didn't even give us a chance.<BR/> Christ, you know it ain't easy...<BR/><BR/>Father MacKenzie - the man in the mac?<BR/><BR/>Progress, as you say, doesn't necessarily involve complexity, or even novelty. All it takes is a Lennon/McCartney or Mozart or Michelangelo or Shakespeare...H. Rumbold, Master Barberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06584302712998121919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1154836791036470602006-08-05T23:59:00.000-04:002006-08-05T23:59:00.000-04:00BTW whoever the fuck stole my vinyl copy of Revolv...BTW whoever the fuck stole my vinyl copy of Revolver should be tried at the Hague -- just sayin'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com