History Of Rock Music Hooks Articles

Jazz really left New Orleans in the early 1920s, when Louis Armstrong and others took the riverboat, or the tracks, north to Chicago (and then to New York).

But the swamp was still there. And, freed of the post march band generation (jazz), the swamp took over: on "Gumbo" (1972), Dr John sounds like he's eating gumbo when he's singing, taking his head out of the trough for another verse. Or were the vocalists in this style simply trying to recreate the slurry jazz sounds of cornets and trombones?

In any event, the more rock and funk oriented music from New Orleans has influenced a wide range of musicians. Listen to Dr John's brilliant sounds on "Gumbo" and you will hear John Lennon circa 1974 ("Walls And Bridges"), some of Ringo Starr's '70s singles, a hint of Randy Newman, perhaps a dose of southern rock ("Let The Good Times Roll", etc), and a model for Croce's iconic "Leroy Brown" (1973, and covered by Sinatra)--in short, a model for much of '70s mainstream music. It was a model that white artists could easily slip into. Eric Clapton's slower jazz-like blues sound is also to be heard on "Gumbo".

Dr John himself was at this time a kind of white Ray Charles too: he covered Charles' first hit "(The) Mess Around" on the album, and far more expressively (well, it was a later, freer time with better recording studios). And there are other tracks that are Charles-like too. Charles was a huge model for the early Beatles, so maybe Dr John was updating this influence, reminding people of the great Ray sound.

The big point about "Gumbo" is that it is authentic. It moves. You can see the bayou, the spirits of jazz and Buddy Bolden, of Creoles, of history.

Here Dr John talks about the rhythms and plays "Iko Iko", the opening track from "Gumbo":

The rhythm of New Orleans is a major point: Abba wrote "Dancing Queen" as a modelling on George MacCrae's classic "Rock Me Baby", but the Abba backing musicians, the rhyhm section, were totally into "Gumbo". They wanted to recreate that sound.

Rhythm, complex and intoxicating rhythm, also came to the fore with Art Neville and The Meters, the organ and guitar fronted band that influences such modern artists as Vijay Iyer. As soon as he saw The Meters, Mick Jagger booked them for a European tour with the Rolling Stones.

It is as if Dr John, The Meters and others listened to the Stax soul of the '60s and said, "OK, that's not bad, but this is really how you do it. Afterall, we are the real beginning of American music". Keith Richards has said how you can spot a New Orleans record in an instant. The freedom of the southern coast must have something to do with it, as well as the French/Afro racial mix. There is also what Jelly Roll Morton called "the Spanish tinge" from the near Latin countries, such an important flavor in New Orleans music.

The important early post-jazz piano/vocal performer was Professor Longhair (born in 1918) who introduced the growly vocals and rhumba influenced piano blues sound. His first album was "New Orleans Piano" (1953).

New Orleans also contributed the major black piano hero of the rock and roll era, Fats Domino. Domino was a massive influence on the Beatles.

Both Domino and Huey "Piano" Smith (born 1934) were influenced by Professor Longhair. Smith had the hit "Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu" in 1957. He mixed boogie woogie piano of Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons, Jelly Roll Morton AND Fats Domino!

Later, there was Alan Toussaint (born 1938). Toussaint wrote a number of era- defining tunes such as "Working in The Coalmine", "Southern Nights" and even "Fortune Teller" (an early cover hit of The Rolling Stones"). In the '70s he began working with Dr John and The Meters. To underscore the power of New Orleans, he also produced the Patti Labelle hit (and her album containing it) "Lady Marmalade". (Maybe this was a step too far for real music!). He is now sampled by hip hoppers.

It is no accident that Toussaint's first album was called "The Wild Sound Of New Orleans" (1958). His hit years have been, however, the 1970s on...

Dr John's sound must be the wildest. He was born in 1940, so is John Lennon's age, but the local Crescent City tradition meant he was coming from back in the day.

Here is another track from "Gumbo", a live version ("unplugged" with guitarists from the Eagles) of "Let The Good Times Roll":

"Gumbo" is maybe the ultimate record. It sounds live, definitive. An essential soundtrack. "All others are just imitators"... He really has the honky tonk bar-room piano going on the slow rambling, real-life-filled "Tipitina".

In 1973 John recorded his next album, "In The Right Place". Toussaint produced and The Meters provided the backing. The funky backing made the record a funk classic rather than a pure New Orleans groove like "Gumbo". It was his biggest seller, containing his enormous hit "Such A Night".

Jimmy Page, composer, and his band... colorful and expressive live clips of Led Zeppelin...

For the softer song, Page uses the six string, not the twelve string neck (but then again, there are the fake strings from the keyboard)! Beautiful footage of Page's left hand on the frets.

From Fleetwood Mac's "Alright", and another step to bits of the singing in Motley Crue's "Live Wire"--
Knebworth 1979

From their classic rifferama second album (1969) --performed at Earl's Court 1975
See the original Slash at about 2:00-5:00

The great opening song from masterpiece Led Zeppelin IV, live in 1973. Of course, the genius on the camera shows Page's face during the solo...

So, another version, from Earl's Court 1975. Loose solo but cool--Plant's voice is in need of a tea. And Page is in need of a tuning. But it rox.

Live at Earl's Court again, 1975. From their double album "Physical Graffiti" (1975).

I also blast Led Zeppelin from my room. I put the CD in a DVD player and play it through the TV (so it's louder) for over a year and my neighbors had no problem at all".

The guys go minstrel for a moment, at Seattle in 1977. Track three from Led Zeppelin IV. It's good to see a live attempt. Jimmy Page sings also...

This is by Justin Hayward (from an album he released in 1989)! Everyone has heard the Zeppelin version. Check out the orchestration of the guitar strums that go into the final rock passage. Rocks.

Motley Crue began organically... thanks to the well-listened Nikki Sixx--the point of this website!

Or, as I would put it, van Halen meets The Sweet. David Lee Roth and Eddie van Halen provided the template, and Nikki Sixx then wrote Sweet-like songs. Because of the fusion, the Crue lasts. Visually, you could say they were trying for The Sex Pistols meets KISS: as clubs became stadiums, the KISS side became predominant.

On "Public Enemy # 1", on the line "under the gun", the music is exactly the same as Abba's "Mamma Mia", before the chorus of that song...

Before or around the release of their first album (self-financed), in 1983, former (Richie Blackmore's) Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio was talking about "this band with a flashy drummer". If Dio thought they were good, they were good.

Looking at their live clips and early studio clips, you see an almost punk New York Dolls style band. It's just that, later, all the formula glam bands (copying Motley Crue and maybe van Halen) flooded the market, and the fame of the individual Crue members made people forget the (early) music. Some people may have never even heard the music at all, and simply thought of the band as hair metal and looked no further. But these guys are good. Look at the early clips and how Nikki Sixx was writing innovative songs, fighting a lone and visionary hand against the horrors of FM wash such as "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", Genesis' later efforts, and... (late) ELO!! Also The Knack, etc. I won't even name the UK bands wearing funny overalls at the time, or the appalling efforts at that time of formerly great bands such as The Stranglers or the Clash, that cast some people into such despair: Nikki Sixx didn't get depressed, he got busy.

The next clip is a song, "Toast Of The Town", not on the original album a released by Elektra, but it is on the re-issue, released by Motley Crue--they have the masters now. It is live: great video showing the scene, indeed how to play actually. Motley Crue are a model for an original band. They also worked heavily on image, adding expensive jackets, drum risers, and so on. So much so that their manager, fed up with paying for it all, ran off with the investors' money and disappeared. But first, he made these videos.

You can easily hear The Who influence here, at the start: the final part of tune copies The Cars, so that is maybe why the song was not "elektra-fying" for Elektra. The Cars were not particularly great, but the Crue were--it's organic music.

Where it started: live at the LA rock club The Starwood (the club was at the corner of Santa Monica Bvld and Crescent Heights, the street that runs up into Laurel Canyon, where Errol Flynn lived and where the Doors used to hang out):

This is a great clip of the Crue live in 1981, early, with "Public Enemy #1". Later, a guy from Elektra followed the crowds outside one of their gigs on the Strip, and managed to convince his boss to sign them. This is probably what he saw (though in 1982-83). Another example of home-made music made good, like The Beatles, Stones, etc.

Includes the slow intro that Elektra--probably cleverly--left off the official release on that label.

"Stick To Your Guns", a memo-to-self by Sixx to keep on his path of rock and metal.

Hardly anybody has heard this unrecorded (?) track: maybe the title didn't fit the image...

On being signed by Elektra (that's the label not the girl: Tommy Lee was signed by her later), Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker was brought in to re-mix their first album for the big label release. But the original mixes--the self-released version sold 20,000 copies quickly--are great. Hard to find, here are some from Youtube:

Finally, what had happened by the end of the eighties: the Crue live at a huge Moscow festival. The stripper music at the start is right on:

The Crue released a new album in 2008, "Saints Of Los Angeles"... so the Crue still rock.

Who are they, and who were they before? The band was essentially started by Nikki Sixx, bass, who first met Mick Mars in a liquor store in the Valley (NoHo). Mick already had the name ready to go, but did not join the band until Tommy Lee saw his ad in a music paper for a "rude, loud... guitarist", and told his new friend Nikki. Mick clearly saw the value of good copy, and could write it.

Vince Neil was a school friend of Tommy Lee's and so the picture was completed. "Live Wire" was a brilliant first single, and was on the Crue's (originally self-financed) first album. The song now serves as the electrifying lead-off song for Steel Panther (formerly Metal Skool) at their Key Club, Sunset Strip comedy-rock gigs (before they play the song they appear to have copied, or adapted into a minor key, from a song this writer sent them: theirs', not mine, is called "Asian Hooker").

By the third album, alcohol and drugs were diluting the band's abilities, and it was only after Nikki Sixx literally coming back from the dead at the end of 1987, after a too-tasty heroin shot, that the band itself rose again, with the huge-selling album "Dr Feelgood".

And now they're back again, with all the original members. Their image of good rocking times, and to an extent the songs, just can't be stopped. But it may be the personalities that are the strongest thing of all about the band. Nikki Sixx has his multi-media (book and album) "Heroin Diaries" out, and his presence and message is clearly important in current culture.

Indeed, the individual personalities, the identities in the band, were always highlighted: at their breakthrough mega-gig at the US Festival in the early days (1983), Neil was careful to name all the members in a way that people couldn't miss:

It must be said that the tunes are not exactly Lennon & McCartney: indeed, the chorus of "Girls Girls Girls" (the one song mentioned when CNN's Larry King asked them to nominate a hummable tune of theirs, on his show) is from Eric Clapton's soft-peddling "Lay Down Sally" single. And to find the inspiration for the lyrics, all you have to do is look up as you cruise down the Sunset Strip: the sign at the Bodyshop strip club (right next to my name-sake street, Harper Street) will show you the origin of the title.

But who cares? Mick Mars' dirty guitar is all you need to know about: it's tuned down a whole tone, so that an E chord position yields a concert-pitch D instead. (Note that Jimi Hendrix tuned his axe down a half-tone, to faciliate bending and easier vocals).

Nikki Sixx (and Motley Crue) deserve credit for seeing that so-called "New Wave" (all the guys from England wearing overalls and the "New Romantics") was due to be replaced by proper rock and roll--in this case and era, metal.

In America, the huge Apple-sponsored US Festival at San Bernadino in May, 1983 rescued rock and roll: Day One was "New Wave" (INXS, The Clash, The Talking Heads), but Day Two was "Metal" day, featuring van Halen at the top of the bill. Vince Neil said that the festival ejected New Wave and brought back rock and roll.

A two song summary of Motley Crue could go like this: "Live Wire" is a killer track, though it is probably traceable to (the original blues-band) Fleetwood Mac's "Alright". And they fulfilled the real test of a rock band's writing skill: can the band write a slow track? They did: "Home Sweet Home", recently covered by... Carrie Underwood.

The first album, "Too Fast For Love" (1981, re-released by Elektra 1982), is The Who meets the essential '80s metal model, van Halen. It's good art and a complete surprise to anyone who hasn't heard it. Big surprise. The drums are excellent, the singing more like Sweet or even David Bowie. It is no wonder that Queen's '70s producer Roy Thomas Baker was the person brought in by the Crue's newly discovered record company (Elektra) to re-touch the sound of the record--the band had of course recorded it themselves on their own label Leathur--umlaut on the "u", thankyou).

A clear example of The Who's influence is "On With The Show", which has a reference to Pete Townshend's 1966 song "Pictures Of Lily". "Tonight", a Rasperries cover, was also recorded by the band and is on the CD re-issue.

"Too Fast For Love" has a tortuous series of chords and key changes on the way to the chorus, which at one point takes a phrase from a lesser-known Cream track. The latter is very clear on current DVD releases of live versions.

"Come On And Dance" has an overloud cowbell: the source of the SNL cowbell quip?

In other words, this is an organic album of quite excellent music, even slightly avant-garde in retrospect.

As Nikki Sixx explained to an interviewer later, they listened (or he and Mick Mars listened) to a wide range of music, the motto of this website): "We listen to so many different kinds of music..."

The next album was the big "Shout At The Devil" (1983), which was more James Bond music ("Looks That Kill" and "Danger") meets van Halen. Or AC-DC's "Back in Black" meets... (the vocals are higher, "motor clean" lyrics, and "glam metal" choruses). A cool bonus on the CD re-release is three demos, in particular "Looks That Kill", with Lee's drum stick clicks at the start.

In 1985, Sixx explains a bit about the band's influences: "We listen to so many different kinds of music that it's somewhat unique in that way... because we have so many influences: but it is just really rock and roll."

There is a very funny one-on-one interview in 1989 in Finland, where Tommy Lee attempts to explain what "motley" means to the Finnish reporter:

Motley Crue's influences are not dissimilar to those of (the later) Guns & Roses, but one band to point out is a favorite of guitarist Mick Mars, '70s guitar band Bebop Deluxe:

Buckethead is a multi-faceted and talented guitarist, usually categorized in the "shred" mold--but whereas other shredders seem to just play fast re-creations of classical Vivaldi-like themes, (and as they say, Vivaldi didn't write six hundred concertos--he wrote the same concerto six hundred times!), Buckethead plays very creative music--slow music too. He is a composer, a "sonic sculptor", even general performance artist, and he plays a better "Night Train" solo (Guns & Roses) than Slash. Born Brian Carroll, he appears, however, to have taken a detour in identity after a trip to KFC. Why not?

He has several projects, has released many albums (there are twenty-nine on Amazon) and was assisted by Bill Laswell earlier in the day.

Where it all started: with Primus at Ozzfest, 1999
Great solo on slide, then dotted notes
Solo

Buckethead learned from Paul Gilbert, an early/earlier "shredder", or speed player:

Just DISCOVERED on Youtube, two ten-minute films of the Beatles live In Germany--it may be the best live Beatles and the most musically revealing: they are relaxed and you hear a few bits of '66-67 acid coming through in the playing of Paul and George. This is the band about to make (or finish) "Revolver".

Terrible sound check, that is is to say John Lennon turns up his amp "arbitrarily"... which means you hear John clearly--I say that's good, eg you see and hear his clear A6 chord in "Rock And Roll Music".

The close ups are great--especially Ringos's cymbals--and you see which guitarist did what clearly.

They all waltz at the start of the solo to a song in 3/4 time--as someone wrote in the comments, "that's music".

The second clip has "Yesterday" in G--McCartney gotta stretch. They couldn't be bothered making it F for live (the recorded version is in concert F, but has a down-tuned acoustic guitar so McCartney was playing "in G").

John announces the next song, "This is 'Nowhere Man', in E", as if he is conscious of the higher than proper key for "Yesterday". Paul plays cool acid bass on this song.

You also see a sign of the '70s John (or the John that was revealed in the '70s) that is, his relaxed openness, on "I'm Down". George's solo is also faintly acidy (it's 1966).

Below is the history of record production told by the major producers and engineers themselves.

In 1954/55 Capitol, recording Sinatra, used 3 track Ampex 1/2 " tape. The orchestra was recorded in stereo, on the outer two tracks of the tape, and the vocals on the middle track.

Good microphones, compression and limiting (Fairchild limiter - still used today).

It is interesting to learn from what was done on the Beatles' albums as, not only do they sound fantastic, but equipment was developing at this time and you can see the results of world innovations as you progress through the albums. In particular, "Abbey Road" is quoted as the best recording, sonically, ever made (with Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of The Moon"). Transistor microphones had just come in, increasing the number of inputs!

Producer George Martin had seen the 1955 Capitol sessions, and he copied the instrument and vocal separation by putting the instruments on one track and the voices on the other - the British had only two tracks, and recording was live.

The Beatles' engineer. He says he sees recording as painting pictures with sound. Microphones are lenses. Emerick sees instruments in colours. He doesn't think "engineering" is the right word for it.

He says you can't train someone to do it (engineering/producing) anyway: if you can't paint, you can't paint!

He made innovations eg: taking off the front of the bass drum, placing a pullover in there, or putting the microphone in closer than two feet!

There was a separate balance engineer to place the microphones. You could hear the difference when they altered the position. An example is the first take of "Tomorrow Never Knows" from "Revolver", where it has the older Norman Smith sound (the engineer prior to Emerick). Then the sound changed, on later takes, when the microphones were placed in different (Emerick) positions!

Before Sgt Pepper, they recorded bass and drums together on one track: they figured that if they wanted more drums they would turn up the treble EQ and for more bass the bass EQ. Basic indeed.

With Sgt Pepper, there was now one track allocated just for bass, and (also) the bass was overdubbed: the amp was dragged out from behind the baffles when everybody had gone home, except McCartney and Emerick.

Emerick placed a tube C12 mic 6-8 feet away from the speaker cabinet, on figure 8. He also used an Altech compressor: hey presto "With A Little Help From My Friends", etc.

He never direct-input McCartney's bass. He also added a small amount of reverb.
In addition the mic, being on 8, picked up some of the (empty) room ambience.

The small amount of compression on the bass was by the Altech, as the Fairchild couldn't handle the bass signal.

Emerick always mixed bass last (as his predecessor Norman Smith taught him). Up to and incuding Sgt Pepper, mixing was initially done without the bass. Emerick brought eveything up to -2 on the VU meter, then added bass to bring the VU up to 0. This meant the bass was 2 dB louder than everything else!

The bass sound itself was arrived at by playing with the two basic EQ controls, prior to recording the bass.

Norman Smith used a ribbon mic. You added some top EQ and you had a fantastic drum sound.

But Emerick wanted new sounds: he close-miked the toms and put a mic under the snare as well as on top. Even up to "Abbey Road", the drum miking was a single overhead mic and close-set mics on the bass, snare and toms, just three or four mics [they didn't have a transistorized deck with enough inputs for more than a few mic inputs until that time].

Emerick says recording is for him a question of putting your ear near the instrument to see what it "really sounded like". So he changed mic positions. For example, he put the mic at the edge of the cymbal - then "you get this low rumble going, which is really amazing". For miking anything, he says it's simply about using your ear. What does it sound like in the speakers?

For recording in general, you want the right echo, the right EQ. Get the sound. Then record it.

The usual Lennon echo voice setting was echo of 15 ips or 7 1/2 ips, and the EMI decks had a lot of space between the recording and playback heads also.

Then there are tricks: the honky tonk piano on "Lovely Rita" (Sgt Pepper) was done by putting editing tape on the input feed for the tape so that it wobbled into the machine: deliberate wow and flutter.

Comparing tubes to transistor recording: 50s and 60s big band recordings are big - they sound several dBs louder. This is also because of thicker tape width for each track. So for the Beatles recordings, the original tracks sound amazing as they were recorded on 1" tape, with four tracks. Each track has 1/4" to itself.

To make an instrument clear in the mix, you may have to "filter out frequencies" - if there is more than one instrument in the general frequency space. For example, with the Beatles, the bass was the only low sound, so nothing had to be done in terms of making it more audible by filtering.

That's Geoff Emerick, the legend. He adapted as equipment developed, but it was always about how it sounded to the ear.

Another great English producer is John Leckie. Leckie recorded Pink Floyd's "Meddle" (the band's album before "Dark Side Of The Moon album") and Radiohead's The Bends" (1995). It is interesting to look at his slightly different take:

For bass, he records a bass amp track and a DI track. He says you have the amp track, then if you add a tiny amount of the DI track (maybe -20 or 15 dB only) it is like changing EQ.

Also in contrast to Emerick, he does not compress bass and snare drums during recording.

He is an analog guy. He says Pro Tools gives a band too may choices, and all they do is waste time. A month or two are added to the sessions!

As is usually taught, he says you put up all the faders to mix, as if you listen to and polish the drums for ever they may not then fit with the other instruments - it is a mix afterall. He therefore works "with as many faders up as possible".

He usually uses two reverbs, a delay, and a special effect (flange or chorus). He puts multiple instruments in to the one effect at the same time, as he says the discrete effect for particular instruments is an '80s thing - when there came to be more equipment possibilities.

To record, he says it is good to put a carpet on the floor, so that you have to brighten the sound a bit overall. Then it will sound more radio friendly. Use heavy velvet curtains, or hang curtains on the walls and put egg-shell crates on the ceiling! This is better than using fancy effects.

Parsons (he engineered "Dark Side Of The Moon" and produced Al Stewart's "Year Of the Cat") adds top for recording vocals and de-esses afterwards - he doesn't like to record a vocal "flat". Hence his vocals "have good presence".

He says the predelay (button) is the most important aspect of reverb. He now uses digital-delay.

Compression: he doesn't like compression. He likes the full dynamic range. So he limits the vocals instead. He thinks that compressing drums, for example, will actually REDUCE their punch (because you would be reducing the dynamic range). But he acknowledges that sometimes it works, eg the vocals on "Lady Madonna".

Miking electric guitars: he likes to pull the mic back a foot from the grill. He doesn't like to add ambience through an ambient mic: he prefers to process the mic he has set up a foot away. Many people apparently put an SM57 up against the grill! - not for him. He uses a condensor mic (Neumann 86), not a diaphram mic like the SM57: the condensor gets the bottom end.

Instruments first, then bass and drums, then vocals (you can listen to the vocals without the bass and drums as well,to check echos). this is therefore similar to Emerick's approach of bass later on.

The fourth English producer surveyed here is Churchyard - he began at Abbey Road in the early '70s, and has more recently (the late '90s) produced Natalie Imbruglia, Ricky Martin and Celine Dion (the huge selilng, and "rocky", album "Falling Into You").

Emerick liked drums with dynamic mics on the drums themselves, with a pair of STC 4038's overhead. Maybe one mic in the bass drum and spot mic other drums for presence. That was it. Masterful "mixing".

Traditionally, you can mike a kit with this three or four "system", but he prefers multi-miking "for clarity and a bit more punch". He seldom compresses any drums, and prefers DI bass to an amp, to "get more focus" on the bass (as does Parsons).

With other instruments, he gets presence and brightness from an acoustic guitar by using an AKG C451, set up 18" from the fretboard where the neck joins the body. This kind of mic is very bright. Putting a mic near the soundhole is too boomy for him.

But if it is a solo acoustic guitar, then he uses a tube Neumann U47 or U67. (With bass and drums as well, this rich sound would simply have been lost).

He usually compresses an acoustic guitar when recording it, with his usual "compressor of choice", a 1176.

Churchyard does not compress electric guitars (it would remove some of the highs); he changes mic placement and amp tone to try to get the right sound (ie: without compression). A bit of EQ as "a last resort", if necessary.

If pressed for one choice, he would use a Neumann U67 through maybe a 1073 Neve module (the mic preamp), flat, and a 1176 compressor. He might use two compressors, a little bit to the Fairchild and a little on the Fairchild - for the sound rather than the compression itself.

He starts with meshing the drums and bass - usually by using a little EQ. Then he puts up the vocal, and pans guitars, etc around and away from the vocal.

He says it's good to have a vision beforehand of what you want the record to sound like. Always visualise it first! (As Jack Nicklaus wold say).

He puts a mic two feet away from the amp (as that is where the guitarist stands).

He usually starts with drums, then bass, then guitar and keyboards, then vocals. His first balance is usually the right one. He likes to mix to 1/2" analog tape as "nothing sounds better". (He runs DATs as back up, which may actually sound better when it is time to master - you never know!).

Cherney worked on Stones releases in the later '90s. How does a home recorder get his low end right? With EQ, don't just boost the frequencies; eg, if you boost the bass drum you'll crowd out your low end area and won't leave any frequency room for the bass. Instead, you dip some frequencies and move the fader up "instead of boosting all the time".

The interviews are contained in the book "Behind The Glass" by Phillip Massey (1999)

This discussion is primarily about recording rock and jazz music: guitars, piano, singing.

It is good to start with the most basic and simple type of music: guitar and vocals. One of the premier guitar/singers is Nick Drake. Drake recorded three brilliant and lyrical albums, culminating in "Pink Moon" in 1971 (released in 1972). The sound of his records was both very rich (his first two albums) and very simple ("Pink Moon").

The producer was Joe Boyd and the engineer was John Wood. They both recently gave a great interview to the excellent and concise "eq" magazine [Calif]. I summarise their points below.

Drake's first album was "Five Leaves Left". It was live: singing, guitar AND orchestra. The recorder was a FOUR TRACK.

The brilliant track "The River Man" was recorded as follows:
Reverb: they allocated instruments to tracks depending on which instruments they wanted to reverb.
Seating: twelve string players (with a conductor) were sitting in a semi-circle and Drake sat in the middle.
Overdubs: none.
Baffles to separate musicians: none.

A unique characteristic of the studio (in Chelsea, London) was that there were three different ceiling heights, depending on where the performer was placed. The best place was in the middle of the room, so they put the drum kit there (see the second album, below) and the orchestra when used.

Boyd's input: there was no need to suggest anything for Drake himself as he was "always perfect". So they turned OFF his mics for their monitors in the studio booth and listened only to the other musicians! Were they playing properly?

So how did they "get the Nick Drake sound"? They didn't: they just put a mic in front of him (said the engineer Wood).

The microphones: Wood said studios are just working environments. Equipment doesn't interest him as such. It's the musician who is important.

The typical chain "of command" was a Neumann U67 for vocals and a Neumann KM56 (a small condensor mic) for the guitar. As it was all live, both mics had to also flatter the other instrument too.

Mic placement for Drake: close to the singer's mouth, and the guitar's soundhole. In other words, they didn't want much room sound: the other musicians were to be kept separate to some extent.

Compression: only the vocals were compressed. So the U67 went into a Fairchild 660 limiter. Wood said that they would record with the limiter on as they wanted to get as close as they could to the final album sound before the mixing.

Wood: "You should be able to pretty much be able to put the entire performance to tape and be done with it".

Boyd on mixing: a melody is at the forefront because of texture, not volume. So he wants to make the melody line "clear and alluring" without being too loud or unbalanced. He took this idea from old fashioned solo piano playing. He says you can do this by panning vocals to a particular place, or by boosting or cutting frequencies.

Nick Drake's second album introduced a new factor in the recording: drums. The first album had only had a small amount of percussion.

The guys had three attempts at mixing this album. (One attempt was in New York because of the particular studio's echo plate). The third attempt was at the Chelsea (London) studio, after they changed the monitors!

Wood says, in mixing, you need two things, perspective and depth. For example, on the song "The Chime of A City Clock", he used selectively different amounts of reverb on each instrument, (including high compared to low strings). They used two echo plates on the song.

"Poor Boy": this was an interesting record, as a jazz pianist who Wood had been mixing in the morning was still around in the studio. Wood suggested he play on the track, which he did. The intended instrumentation was to have been guitar, bass and drums. First take!

Wood says it is an example of the best sound he ever got out of a piano. Drake overdubbed an acoustic-electric (A Guild with a pickup). That is on the left side of the stereo spectrum. The right side has Drake's normal acoustic guitar. There was a lot of playing with the faders to hear eveything the way they wanted to hear it.

Drake's albums have massive vitality (partly) because without 24 tracks you had to "go with what you had". And everybody played together. Performance and music are what matters. That's Wood. Boyd says that with less recording tracks available (4, 8 or 16), you have to make decisions. It is the limitations that "allow the magic to happen". He always records to analog to warm things up (maybe later mixing in digital - this is also the usual method of Private Island Trax Studios in Hollywood) - and says that with digital " .... everything is in position but nothing ever actually mixes together"!!

Iggy Pop, the man who knows no rules, has made a constant contribution to rock and roll and garage... since the time of The Stooges in the late '60s. From simulating making "love" to a huge soft toy on live children's television in the UK, to writing China Girl (recorded by David Bowie on his huge selling "Let's Dance" album 1982--it was originally on Iggy's first album "The Idiot" from 1976), ain't nothing the Igster can't do. He even reformed the Stooges for excellent gigs in the mid 2000s (see below).

Known for humor, he is also a person of musical taste--a copy of the Shirelles' "Greatest Hits" was seen on his refridgerator by an interviewer in 2003. (The Shirelles were the early '60s girl band used as a model and at times copied closely by The Beatles on their early records eg: "Twist And Shout").

Iggy is well known for tracks such as "Lust For Life" and "The Wild One". But there is more...

Self-explanatory, and live: double raw. The song was originally from the Stooges' third album of the same name. This clip is a great example of The Stooges, even beginning with the band wending its way through the backstage area to the stage, where the audience is soon assaulted with... raw power.

A classic song, from the "Lust For Life" album (his second, and released in 1977)

Louie Louie

The three chord garage band classic, as recorded by The Kingsmen in 1963. Here, it is live with an acoustic backing

From Iggy's third album "New Values" (1979). "I'm bored, chairman of the bored..."

This is a track from his fourth album, "Soldier" (1980): "... I love all the crazy girls that I screw, I know them all well..."

This is a version by the Stooges live in 2004. The song is classic and is from the Stooges' first album "The Stooges". Everybody should also hear the second Stooges album, "Fun House". If you don't you are for sure a girly man-- or a manny girl maybe. Yet, Kurt Cobain's favorite album was the band's third, "Raw Power", a cult classic. It is also around as a rough mix, "Rough Power".

Some lyrics, especially from the rock and roll era, were risque... but it's hard to make out the words when they are sung on a live recording by a Beatle in front of thousands of screaming fans.

This song is about the singer seeing his Uncle John getting friendly with Long Tall Sally in an alley somewhere--Long Tall Sally is "...built pretty fit, and she's got everything that Uncle John needs". But John sees his wife Mary coming, and ducks back in the alley. The singer says at the start of the song that he's "Going to tell Aunt Mary, 'bout Uncle John. He said he had the misery but he had a lot of fun..."

It's also a good example of writing lyrics... to tell a story or set a scene. Was it a kind of model for Paul McCartmey thinking of the third party approach in "She Loves You"?

Tutti Frutti is another Little Richard song, where he sings "Got a girl named Sue, she sure know what to do..."

I would never have guessed this one: the song has the line "move on up just a little further..." It means, up the girl's skirt. These are instructions to teenagers--but at that age all I did was pay attention to the music--I didn't bother to work out lyrics then.

It was, like "Long Tall Sally", covered by the Beatles--no wonder they got laid so much...focus.

OK, the Stones. Now everybody knows the song says "... trying to make some girl".

I thought, at eighteen, that it was something like "can't get no good reaction"--the US release replaced the second line by having Jagger dub on the first line again. He sings that these days anyway, as "girly action" now sounds dated.

The '20s and '30s classic, now sung by Alabama native Jimmy Buffett, is about a guy scoring in his car in a field somewhere, in Alabama: "We had our little drama, kissed in a field of white..." Jimmy updates the last line.

"I never dreamed in my imagination
A situation so Heavenly
A fairyland where no-one else could enter
And in the centre just you and me"

A great title, by Eddie Cochrane--it was Paul McCartney's audition piece to join the Beatles (or rather, The Quarry Men): he played it for Lennon at that famous church fete in 1957 and he was (shortly) in. But the lyrics are about a guy whose girl calls up and says, "Hey, I'm all alone. Come over." But when he finishes climbing the twenty flights to her door, he's "too pooped to pop." When the Stones covered the song on their 1980-81 tour, Jagger changed the lyrics to something less overt.

A brilliant and famous song from the '30s by two more guys in the brackets, (Coots-Gillespie). Lee Morgan recorded a stellar version in 1966 on his "The Gigolo" album (with Harold Mabern on piano). A theme there, hey Lee?

This is a song about a Santa who likes to leave more than the usual present for the lady of the house--"St Nick comes but once a year," he chortles. I guess this is really fairly overt, not covert--it's R&B, and R&B lyrics were almost as obvious as blues, on occasion.

Beyonce Knowles' voice is described as "mezzo-soprano" on Wikipedia, and looking at her albums it is clear that she is indeed a superlative vehicle for the parade of popular music styles of the past five or six decades.

She has so far sung many styles, at least on a track by track basis, from ballads to '50s latin music.

Her first album was in 2003, "Dangerously In Love". The album was more upbeat than anything, but with an exotic Arabic influence said to be due to Dr Dre collaborator Scott Storch: the fourth single "Naughty Girl" is a rich taste of exoticism". As if to confirm Beyonce's position as a major music projector, the track begins with a quote from Donna Summer's '70s dance-sex classic, "Love To Love You". The overall sound is rich, Beyonce's voice is individual.

"Crazy In Love" has a pounding ROCK beat, under '60s trumpets. Great! (Speaker--I mean, he speaks, right?) Sean Paul brings a genuine raw (Jamaican) dance hall sound to "Baby Boy". There is definite flavor here. Above all, Beyonce's voice really does it, slow or fast. Any occasional rap elements fail to dilute the record! It's good.

The second album was "B'Day", in 2006. "Bass, hi-hat..." she instructs on the opening track (to the "standard" edition of the album) "Deja Vu", then proceeds to bend her voice to varying melodic points of the compass, a thing that she sometimes decides to do (that is, write) on the end of a melodic phrase. "Irreplaceable" has an acoustic guitar backing that helps make it a song rather than a hip hop piece. Chords flow down in a slightly unexpected way at times. Real twists of melody, and minor chords "ala" Beatles appear. Most editions of the album also have "Beautiful Liar", which is a big '50s-style mambo number, over a gruelling beat and twisting riffs. This track is a central reason for saying that Beyonce is a great vehicle for projecting many different kinds of music authentically.

A really interesting track is "Flaws And All", which has a Stevie Wonder touch, but a genuine touch. The chorus/hook words "... that's why I love you" and their underlying music, have a real effect. The groaning old-style "jazz tuba" sounds (see below) are extraordinarily well chosen.

In 2008, Beyonce released her third album, "I Am ... Sacha Fierce." The "Sacha Fierce" reference is Beyonce's acknowledgment that on stage she has an alter-ego, a different personality, if you like. I think you do... when I came off stage at The Scene in LA after a medley of my songs with a three piece band, I seriously thought to myself, "That was someone else up there."

The tracks are great: "If I Were A Boy" is the first and maybe best. It is a really good song (in the traditional sense), with a guitar chord progression (E minor, C, G and D) and trademark angular Beyonce twists in the melody. There is a "dance-style" beat at times--the only problem for me... maybe I should try to imagine it as a hand-clap.

Only "Halo" is kind of funny, as it sounds like Rihanna's "Umbrella", even down to the "h" in "Halo" making you think it is (or is going to turn into) "Umbrella". But Beyonce's vocals grab you and push you down onto the sheets anyway. The song may actually be more "Euro-pop" than Rihanna. The album also has major single "Single Ladies", over interesting backings. This song also shows her vibrato to good effect.

In summary, Beyonce is a very individual singer, a great vehicle for continuing the tradition of big-sounding popular music. She even has a Creole grandmother, so the New Orleans connection is right here. Maybe it is not an accident that the lower sounds in "Flaws And All" sound almost like a tuba out of a 1920s New Orleans jazz record. Given her musical judgment and writing, she may be more significant than many earlier "diva" singers. She has also had the advantage of recently acting in two important musical movies, "Dreamgirls" (a film basically about The Supremes), and another film (about Muddy Waters) where she played Etta James ("At Last"). So she has had an on-hand exposure to the best of the '50s and '60s, from her movies. The influence has naturally gone into the (second and third) albums. Buy da records...

Stage invasions!! Just the phrase alone is exciting. The stags is supposed to be the preserve of the artists, the band. Anyone who dares to go up there from the crowd has truly stepped beyond the realms of what is permissable in the musical world. So if you've ever fancied a stage invasion, here are some models...

Is this the first stage invasion? It is unbelievable that a guy (in a jacket) was able to stand in front of John Lennon and give him a kind of thumbs up--while he's playing... An original "wtf?" moment.

This is the famous Keith Richards -swinging-the-axe-at-the-nutter clip... the 1980-81 tour.

Iggy Pop is a stage invasion in himself. It's therefore not surprising that they also happen to him.

Morrissey incites such avid affection in his fans that, again, invasions are a given at his gigs. Often:

This was at the Albert Hall in London, frequently a classical venue and a holy of holies in general. It's also hard to invade the stage there, as it is quite high relative to the crowd. Yet, the venue has an unusually relaxed, communal feel about it as well.

The Stranglers beg stage invasions: with songs like "Hanging Around" and "Get A Grip On Yourself", the band has an almost Clash-like aura of quasi-religious admiration, but also a punk riot appeal as well. As they have not played a lot since the '80s, they have also been long-awaited by their loyal fans, who would have invaded the stage during the punk era anyway.

The Mars Re-volta... the God of War will incite revolts, especially in Manchester, the scene of many Happy Mondays riots--but this was an invasion by band request.

This could be the ultimate stage invasion... or is it just another massed choir?

A recent poll by an indie radio station of "The Top 100 Songs Evah", found a prevalence of hook based music: is this a sign of listeners' attention span problems, or a thirst for a quick fix hit?

There were some interesting nominations in the lower part of the list (the top was the usual hook and repetition based Nirvana, Lennon, Zeppelin, Radiohead, etc songs; good of course, but not a lot of melody.

Hooky, catchy, dancy, repetitive. A cocktail of orgasmic, euphoric 'sound'. OK, for the dance floor, with this you may score. I get it. It is just one short repeated piece of music, but there is a final glorious F#6 chord that is EQ'd to outta space and covered with every tinkly bit of sound the dudes could muster.

But the other tunes of Daft Punk seem to be the same, but not as good (eg: "Aerodynamic", "Harder Better Faster Stronger"-- at least we now know where Kanye West gets "his" ideas!).

However, "Around The World" is another killer hook. Daft Punk are better than mere dance junkarama.

The band does, however, rely heavily, though unnecessarily given the music, on extremely well-made quasi-animated videos; it was good to see this comment on one youtube clip:

I thought the video was brilliant, but the overall point is that music should not need videos. It seems that this youtube poster definitely wasn't into it.

Not so different to Daft Punk, in terms of reliance on a hook, except that here the hook is really a wall of sound that acts as a hook in itself.

Electronica with vocals (unfortunately another high pitched male--why is this knd of voice in fashion? Is it a type of Emo pitch at girl consumers?--"Hey I'm a guy and I wanna fuck you but I have a nice harmless high voice!" The Chris Martin disease continues ... The music is pretty good, however. Everybody likes relaxing music with a laid-back loungy feel. (Still, I prefer "LAD-back": as in the new Rolling Stones-Mick Jagger-Keith Richards DVDs I just discovered, from the 1971 Marquee gig and the 1981 Bremen gig!).

An absolute nightclub classic. Electronic but great. Amazing hook!! (I wonder where they found it ha ha). There is something magical about this hook.

An intricate guitar-bed hook (with a Caususes flavor due to the band's Armenian origins), mixed with Nirvana-style power riff figures. Further contrasting hooky sounds and figures make up a kind of mash-up effect, but linear rather than concurrent. In other words, it's not really a tune, more a bunch of hooks. The Armenian guitar beds probably make it. Everyone loves the balalaika sound, a hook in itself!

This tune has a great sound, piano and acoustic bass, but it still has a hook: the high pitched voice in the emotional chorus. The song's message is serious and definitely tortuous, but the sudden jump in pitch is more hooky than melodic. It's not a good move, for me. Compare it to John Lennon's "Imagine", also on the list, where there is no need to jump into a markedly higher pitch at some point to get attention. The tune is so good, you're "hooked" all the way through anyway.

Not so with "Brick". I don't think falsetto works just because it randomly paints a picture of angst. It has to work musically.

The hook in this track is the two choppy guitars, one out of each speaker. It's easy to focus on the two guitars, especially if you are drunk! But I don't drink much so I prefer melody.

This is an interesting band, but the chorus on this powerful track has a solid dose of U2-style tinkling high pitched guitar jangle. That's certainly an instant- recognition hook, very useful as a device to cement the music together.

I don't think there is anything interesting about this individual as he sounds, vocally, like acoustic blues legend Skip James. Like James he has an open tuning (it's C), and as an extra spin, he plays a steel string resonator guitar, so people think he's "different". I like Skip James.

The presence of this guymay be because he is new and so people thought of him first!

The hook (again) seems to be the high voice--it sounds affected, unlike Skip James'-- and the less-heard resonator guitar sound. Resonator guitars are very hooking--I nearly bought one on the spot in a Westwood guitar store in LA. One hook I didn't fall for.

Here are two real music discoveries... that is to say, of the "Valley of the Kings" variety...

The tribe on Youtube have made their considered opinion known: the best Rolling Stones bootleg is the one known as "Brussels Affair", apparently live in Brussels in 1973. And guitarist Mick Taylor plays brilliant slide.

Could be true. The version of "Brown Sugar" sounds "like a symphony", as Chuck Berry would say. It is findable as a free download from

This guy obviously thinks he is "el man"--listening to this album, some may agree.

"Best version [of "Midnight Rambler"] is on "Brussells Affair". Absolute killer! The Ya-Yas version is heavily edited. Normally, the song is over 15 minutes long... I saw the Stones do it... in 2003 and I couldnt believe how fucking hard they rocked."

"I had this on a tape I bought in Camden Market in 1998, played it to death then the tape broke, been looking for it for years, thanks so much for posting. Called my cousin earlier who was a great fan of the concert tape, he's going to come by, we're going to get totally on it, turn it up and get ripped."

"Thankyou so much, I've stumbled over a recorded tape, about 19 years old. Some friend copied this for me. Since then this Live Album is my favorite. Even so I've forgotten about this tape the last years, and suddenly it captured me again. But the old tape is nearly out of order, so I googled to buy a CD of the concert.
And now this! Download for free! Can't believe it!
Again--thank you, best wishes from Austria!"

And for Keith Richards fans, there is a session of Keef and piano from Toronto in 1977: a number of country and related classics are performed, including Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness Of You". This is very much worth hearing also. It includes The Everly Brother's "Dream", also coincidentally available on a John Lennon bootleg from the early to mid '70s. Keith's version of "Don't", the early Elvis single, actually makes sense--in that the tune now has some depth--unlike probably Elvis' take.

The deep breathy Keith voice, so well known by later ('90s to now) Stones concert goers, was alive here in the '70s!

The John Lennon Anthology set was released in 1998, put together by Yoko Ono. What an effort! We can be grateful for this four CD set: it shows another light of Lennon, in a way--the CDs are divided into four artistic periods and some of the tracks from the first, the "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" albums time, are maybe better than the released version of the album, at least in the case of the first album.CD 1 is thus rehearsals for the "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" albums--it even has a version of "Baby Please Don't Go", showing John's folk blues roots.

CD 2 is the initial New York period, of "Sometime In New York City". There also demos for Ringo Starr, and an appearance on the David Frost Show.

CD 3 is probably the most interesting: this is the "Lost Weekend" period, when there was a separation from Ono for eighteen months. Lennon partied in LA, and flew back to New York to record "Walls And Bridges". I have always liked this album a lot, and the rehearsals on the CD are tremendous. The CD here is a great look at how a rock composer works, as the tunes, with the great chord changes and lyrics, are run through by the musicians smoothly and enthusiastically--in some tracks there are different instrumental line ups to the released versions, which gives a broader light to them: "Whatever Gets You Through The Night", for example, has a cool couple of extra instrumental lines, from just maybe Elton John, who was on piano and organ.

"Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out", a Lennon song and not the blues classic, is 5:38 of perfect atmosphere. Some of the chords reveal where Alice Cooper had his inspiration for "Only Women Bleed" (1976) from. The backing musicians are excellent, the piano of Nicky Hopkins arising up from out of nowhere, a perfect sound.

"Scared" and "Steel And Glass" rock out. Lennon often comments on the take, whether it was better than the one before and so on. "Scared " has a brief flash of vocal line that seems to have been picked up later by Mick Jagger for The Stone's hit "One Hit To The Body" (1986)! Streaming piano lines take the song out. There is also a piano version of "Stranger's Room", the blues riff number that later appeared on "Double Fantasy" in 1980.

Too good: before "Steel And Glass" Lennon even asks Hamburg friend Klaus Voorman (bass) "Are you ready, Klaus?" in a very friendly manner. The acoustic guitar picking of Eddie Mottau is superb, from the right speaker, a reminder of the apparently original intent of the album as a Bob Dylan-like acoustic album.

Lennon=genius!

CD 4 is the Dakota period. A funny track is Lennon's parody of Dylan's new song of the time (1979) "Gotta Serve Somebody"--John sings "Serve Yourself".

There is a compilation of the four CDs called "Wonsaponatime", but if you can do it buy the box set. I was lucky enough to find a copy at a cool price in Santa Monica.


JIMI HENDRIX



This is a "FOR THE RECORD" feature.

The inaugural For The Record is 

Jimi Hendrix



Here is a list that includes what are in my view Jimi Hendrix's best 
tracks/recordings (in addition to the first three blinding albums, 
of course):

1 "Band Of Gypsies", the entire CD sets, at Fillmore East, New York,  
New Year's Eve 1970. Where Jimi was going.

2 "Johnny B Goode" live, from Berkeley Community Centre, May 30, 1970.  
For some reason, on the film/video "Jimi Plays Berkeley" the track is  
sometimes edited down - there is no artistic reason to jusify this: it  
is three minutes in total and the best thing he ever recorded/played.

3 "Little Wing" live, again from the Berkeley gig.

4 "Red House", from a concert in San Diego in 1968. This is easily the 
best live version of Hendrix's signature blues "Red House", very bluesy, 
and with a great slowed down "wah wah" effects pedal section. All of  
these last three tracks are on the album "Hendrix in The West", but  
are listed here independently as, firstly, they are so important in  
Jimi's ouvre, and secondly, because the album has not yet made it to
CD (although the tracks are on various compilations).

5 "Jimi At Monterey (Festival)" from 1967, newly re-released (2007)  
eg: the immortal version of "Like A Rolling Stone", and a slashing  
"Hey Joe".

6 Version, probably from outer space, of "Purple Haze" (on the famous  
1970s "Soundtrack" double LP, in turn from a famous Hendrix  
documentary film).

7 "Rainbow Bridge" album eg: "Pali Gap", "Earth Blues" (a live version 
also on "Band Of Gypsies") and the best version of "Hear My Train A 
Coming".

8 French TV from early 1967, featuring a dirty and relaxed sound for  
"Hey Joe" and "Wild Thing" - nothing less than a dress  rehearsal for  
Monterey: the clip has good long distance (and slightly from above)  
footage of Jimi freaking out on the floor during "Wild Thing", and of  
drummer Mitch Mitchell belting his kit, and then kicking it all over  
the studio floor at the end.

French


9 Hound Dog: a film of Jimi playing a blues version of the Elvis hit  
on acoustic guitar at a party. This is a true discovery for me; I  
have never ever seen this one before!

Hound Dog
 

10 "Georgia Blues" a slow blues that shows Jimi 1966/66. Clear and  
therefore very useful for seeing what he did without the blast of a  
thousand Marshalls behind him. Listen and copy.

Georgia Blues


Finally, special shout out to youtube poster and guitarist Enrique  
Casal, who has a great clip of himself (I assume) playing Hendrix  
blues-style jams. It is useful and quite authentic for a guitarist,  
as he shows his hands (only - no face) playing an upside down Strat,  
with all the authentic sound of an effects-free studio Hendrix. And  
his Hendrix costume is great too.

Casal

Jack Bruce was the bass player with Cream, the first and best "supergroup". With Eric Clapton, he provided the "frontline" of the band, although the third member, drummer Ginger Baker, was in the front as any of the others, such was his brilliance also.

Bruce is a composer, singer and pianist, in addition to his mastery of the bass. Cream broke up in 1968, but Jack has been prominent ever since, primarily through early solo albums and touring with other well known musicians.

With Cream, he wrote classics such as "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love", which has the ultimate rock riff. In my view, The Beatles,The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Cream were the four main stars of the sixties in the rock galaxy.

But Bruce also has a jazz side: the jazz-inflected bass that he plays was a crucial part of the Cream blend.

Ten great Bruce moments:

"Crossroads"

This track is from the live half of the Cream classic album "Wheels Of Fire". It has the greatest moment in Clapton's career, but also incredible bass from Jack Bruce , complimenting the guitar solos.

"White Room"

Perhaps adapted from the chords of Clapton's earlier "Tales Of Brave Ulysses", White Room is a rock staple that is always performed by Clapton on tour. The credits say "Bruce-Brown".

"Sunshine of Your Love"

Inspired by and written by Bruce after seeing Hendrix for the first time at a London club, the song lives up to its inspiration. It is on the essential Cream masterpiece "Disraeli Gears" (1967).

Youtube:

Youtube is useful for many things, and one is rare live music clips. There are several briiliant examples of Jack Bruce, with various musical companions.

Some of them are below.

a) A live gig with Peter Frampton; the tune that Frampton attempts is the classic "Sunshine of Your Love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajm9QNMOph4

b) Another prominent Cream Bruce track is "Politician", a twelve bar riff -structure tune: "Get into my big black car [baby] and I'll show you what my politics are". The vaguely confused guitarist partnering Bruce is Rory Gallagher. The clip begins in the changing room before the encore, with Bruce humming the riff to Gallagher. Rory doesn't get it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqZqhTl4A8&NR=1

c) Manic Depression

The Hendrix classic played recently with black US guitarist Vernon Reid and ex-Zappa percussionist Terry Bozzio. In my view, one day people, in rock trios, will play Hendrix note for note, like with classical music. But jazz rock versions are OK too. Very interesting; yu can see the development of a great composition, years after its writing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nstApYoLUM4&feature=related

d) Clapton And Bruce Jam Around An Outdoor Table!

A documentary from 1978. Eric Clapton is interviewed, where he says that Cream were a jazz rock fusion band: "It was jumping into the deep end". Eric says he had "no idea what was going on the heads of the other guys [in Cream]". He says he "learned mainly from Jack".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjg5U_RYoZc&feature=related

e) A German TV Clip Of Jethro Tul's Ian Anderson And Jack Bruce

After a version of Tul's "Living in The Past", Jack cranks out "Sunshine Of Your Love". It is from a 2004 show on German televison, complete with mullet '80s-style dressed host.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD1fKY9iTXI&feature=related

f) Jack Bruce And Ginger Baker On Letterman

Here, two of The Cream play an early '90s song by Bruce, live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaP9XxhnIcs&feature=related

g) With Roland Kirk

One of the most interesting 1960s jazz talents was multi-sax player (that is, multi as in AT THE SAME TIME!) Roland Kirk. This is a very exciting clip to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW7BOYvX8ug&feature=related

The Grateful Dead in San Francisco's
famous Haight-Ashbury area at the
start of the "strange long trip" referred
to in the later song "Truckin'"

Grateful Dead sound like a sort of community because of the use of more than one vocalist for the main vocal line at the same time (sometimes in unison), the use of two drummers (one a percussionist, after their second album " "), and because their music had originally a kind of street party vibe. The group was musically innovative in another way as well: one of the founders, Phil Lesh, was a classically trained trumpeter who "thought classically" in terms of (song) form. So it all added up to community AND variety, a great recipe for success.

Their first album ("The Grateful Dead") was released in March, 1967, the Spring before the hippy summer of 1967. However, their first classic was out in the summer of 1968, "Anthem Of the Sun". 1969 saw "Aoxomoxoa", and late 1969 saw the first of many live album releases. The best year was 1970, with two albums out, "Workingman's Dead" (July) and the classic "American Beauty" (November). from then on, it waspretty much live albums only. The trick was, howevere, that the Dead played new songs on these later live albums, so new tunes were still coming.

"American Beauty" has many classic tracks: it opens with "Box Of Rain", a Grateful Dead theme tune that, amongst other journeys, provides a brief melodic hook borrowed (stolen) later by Crowded House. So the latter were not so original afterall. "Box Of Rain" is a masterpiece, from the Holly's-like first line to the acid idea of having a "box" of rain. The song was written by Lesh and the Dead's lyricist, The music for most Dead songs was written by the legendary Jerry Garcia: an example from "American Beauty" is possibly the definitive Dead song, "Trucking". "Trucking" is an extraordinary long piece about taking a long trip (it could mean both kinds!), which includes the source of Status Quo's later hit "Roll Over Lay Down"!

There are many other classics on this album: "Sugar Magnolia" and "Candyman" are just two more. And what kind of title is "Attics Of My Life"? It hardly gets better than that.

Both "American Beauty" and "Anthem of The Sun" are the subject of "classic albums" TV programs.

Of course, Garcia is now regretfully and definitely not alive; whether he is grateful for that possibly remains for a medium to reveal.

The first "Best Of The Grateful Dead" was released in 1974. A look at the tracks reveals many of the secrets of the Dead's appeal. Firstly, all the songs are in easy singalong keys, and mainly in one or two. In order, the keys of the songs on the compilation are all major and are basic play-along rock keys: D, E, E, A, E again and G (side one) and C, D, E (the fourth time), C and G (side two). Any stoned fan could grab a bass or a guitar, strum the bottom (E) string and sing something.

The interesting folky yet psychedelic chords and melodies put you into a great sense of well-being. This holds also for the many live albums that were to come. there are so many live sets available that people have issued their own special selections of the Grateful Dead's best live albums eg" "Bear's Choice".

Obviously, the lyrics are frequently drug lyrics. An example from the Best Of album is "Casey Jones":

"Driving that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones you'd better watch your speed". They must have this was really good: they made it into what is effectively the chorus!

But the best thing about The Grateful Dead is the music. There is certainly no end of blend.

Another way to view their variety is to look at the singles that the band released over their breakthrough years:

1967 "The Golden Road (To The Unlimited Devotion)" from their first album "The Grateful Dead"
1967 "Viola Lee Blues", also from their first album "The Grateful Dead"

1969 "Dupree's Diamond Blues" from "Aoxomoxoa"
1969 "China Cat Sunflower", also from "Aoxomoxoa"

1970 "Uncle John's Band"/"New Speedway Boogie" from "Workingman's Dead"
1970 "Casey Jones", also from "Workingman's Dead"
1970 "Truckin'" from American Beauty

The titles alone paint a picture. like the cliched beauty contestant of the 1970s, the Graftfeul Dead clearly most liked "[chemicals] and travel".

This is a companion piece to the observation a few weeks ago on how, for some reason, most significant rockers are, and continue to be, born early in the year (or in the preceding month, December). Studies have shown how this is true of a high proportion of prominent people, in many "walks of life". And most significant and lasting rock groups or bands feature two or members, at least the driving forces of the band, who were born at this time.

Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were both born in January. They wrote the music.

AC-DC
Malcolm Young, who apparently runs the band, and who co-writes the music of the songs with brother Angus, was born in January. Angus Young was born in March.

Steely Dan
The two members of Steely Dan, Donald Fagan and Walter Brecker, were born in January and February respectively.

REM
Michael Stipe was born in January, while the other two remaining members (Peter Buck and Mike Mills) were born in December. See a trend already? These bands are the Chopins of rock and roll. They last.

The Doors
Robbie Krieger, who wrote most of the best music in the band's repertoire, was born in January, while Jim Morrison and drummer John Densmore were born in December.

The Rolling Stones
Keith Richards was born in December and founder Brian Jones (the other guitarist) was born in February.

Crosby, Stills and Nash
Stephen Stills was born in January and Graham Nash was born in very early February.

The Everly Brothers
The two brothers, the most important "group" predecessor to The Beatles, were born in January and very early February.

The Beatles
The "fifth" Beatle, producer and guide George Martin, was born in January and George Harrison chimed in in February.

Carole King and Gerry Goffin
A sort of group, being co-writers, they were the main Brill Building writers of the early 1960s. They were born within two days of eachother in early February.

Pink Floyd
Legendary founder and unintentional muse Syd Barrett was born in January, as was drummer and writer/singer Nick Mason, and David Gilmour was born in March.

The Moody Blues
The texture of the Moody Blues' sound were were the flautist Ray Thomas and mellotron player Mike Pindar. They were both born in late December.

The Bee Gees
Two thirds of the Bee Gees were born in late December, Robin and Maurice Gibb.

Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart was born in January. In the seventies he effectively formed a "band" by writing with his drummer Carmine Appice, who was born in December eg: "Do You Think I'm Sexy".

The Doobie Brothers
Their main hit "What A Fool Believes" was written by bearded pianist/vocalist Michael McDonald, born in February, and the ubiquitous Kenny Loggins, who was born in January.

The Allmann Brothers
Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts, the two main surviving members of The Allmann Brothers after Duane Allmann played his last lick, were both born in December.

Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne was born in December, and guitarist Tommy Iommi was born in February.

Green Day
Billy Jo Armstrong and Tre Cool, two thirds of Green Day, were born in February and December respectively. Very cool.

Frank Zappa and George Duke
For many people, Frank Zappa's best era was the early to mid '70s. Jazz pianist George Duke was a major collaborator at this time. Zappa was born in December, and Duke in January.

Frank Zappa's complicated music of the seventies, a combination of jazz and clearly classical music as well as rock, was performed just as brilliantly live as on record. The musicians were very well schooled, and sometimes had to act the music as well. Here are some great examples, often featuring, as Frank himself described it on TV, "interesting sectional changes [and] passages for improvisational solos".

"Suzy Creamcheese"
From a 1967 Dutch TV show. It also features a host called Pantera.

"Stinkfoot"
Brilliant sound. Clever music. Zappa plays a superb guitar solo. The second clip shows him during the solo [only]; the first, full clip has cartoon animation replicating his fingers playing on the fretboard.

"Punkys Whips"
A humorous prank story, featuring play-acting from the drummer Terry Bozzio. There is a Steven Tyler reference at 3.15 and an Adrian Belew solo moment at 6.30, then Frank solos also.

TV interview appearance
Here, Frank conducts the audience and studio house band on Australian television. He quite literally shows what conducting is, and how classical music is put together.

Fusion jazz send up
Very funny: bass, drums and Zappa. An indication of what he was all about.

Live jam with Flo and Eddie, 1973
Frank stands there with a guitar and plays. Another indication of ow to make music.

Most people would say, "Of course not!" But if you look there were one or two records that were quite good...

Actually, by careful investigation I found ten. These tracks would stand up with any decade. But that's all I could find... I am setting high standards, those of the '70s, for example. It may be that a lot of the reason for '80s music was the instrumentation: an excessive use of strange rhythm instruments now largely regretted by "conventional song" musicians recording at the time, for example Mick Jagger. Some people were led up the wrong path. I think it would be hard to write a good conventional song for "synthesiser and drum machine".

Now, U2 wrote good music, of course, and Madonna made "Like A Virgin" and "Angel". Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone", from the film "Topgun", was also a good descriptive effort, and it was presumably written "to order". There was very good rock and roll-metal, for example early Motley Crue (more on that later). It could be said that the '80s saw only a handful of writers dominate, eg: in addition to U2 and Madonna, there were only George Michael and Prince. This is unusual: why were there so few others? The instrument point is probably the most likely reason, and also the media blitz of financial trading and scoops... did less people even try to write music?

1980 began with a good song (somewhat analogous to the amazing "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, which is too "commercially" produced to list here). The Canadian band takes a punk vibe to kick off with, then adds a great tune.

The song has been described by some Youtube poster as "Best Song in the World", but this may be stretching it...! At least Falco caught attention, and reminded people that there was a guy called Mozart who could write.

An opus, or open letter, to his swinging drummer, Boy George used his experiences to write this number. "Karma Chameleon" was also very clever.

Frankie's singer Holly Johnson wrote "Relax" about a multi-partnered social adventure. The music and words occurred to him, as he tells it, when he was later walking a long way from the bus to a band rehearsal and somewhere down the road the tune started up in his head. Writing songs always comes from experience one way or another. As with Duke Ellington, they can also happen with travel... whether on a train or just walking.

George Michael "Faith"

You could also add "People" from the same album, which is of course also called "Faith". His music with Wham! is also brilliant. He is probably the best writer of the '80s.

Prince "1999"

The "Minneapolis Mozart" (as opposed to the Mozart the subject of Falco's hit) came out with "1999"... there is also "Little Red Corvette" from the same time, a song that uses words and colorful music to create a double picture.

An extraordinary record, though he apparently didn't write the music to the song (unlike as was indicated in the credits--there was a law suit). Jackson also released more good records in the '80s, for example the music he wrote on "We Are The World".

Yes, you've been Rick-Rolled, but not in the way you expected. This record was a good one, maybe better than the Nat King Cole original. For cover fans, there was also Nina Simone's "My Baby Just Cares For Me ", a re-issue by a desperate record industry looking for some real music somewhere, anywhere. It was a total re-issue, not even a cover.

But... then there was the eventual run of covers from the '50s, and finally a left slide to lambada music in 1989--Western popular music seemed to have simply all but run out. Is that why Bob Dylan released an album called "Oh Mercy"?

By 1990, things were so bad that "Blue Velvet" and other essentially shapeless re-issues from the early '60s (the blandest era ever in popular music to that time) were in the charts. Earlier, Jackie Wilson's, "Reet Petite", from 1957, had been re-released complete with cartoon video. The influence of techno and dance "music" was so destructive that it seemed to have moved the tec(h)-tonic plate of good taste away from the traditional chart music-making continents forever. "Aceeeed!" had replaced "encore" as a crowd cry.

In a way, the absence of real tunes from the charts is still the status quo. Musicians are increasingly listening to "world" music, jazz is intersecting more and more with other musical styles (electronic, world and so on), and, most importantly, fans are seeking out "their" niche musics selectively, particularly online (for example, on Youtube or the brilliant online radio Pandora's Box). The continued presence of records sourcing hip hop, and bland chart concoctions of what is now in fact ironically actually called "chart music", have largely denied real (composed) songs a place in the mainstream media. Good music is better sought out privately.

An example of a niche music that has survived, if not become stronger, is metal... met-tal! As an authentic form or style, it must compare with blues as a long-lived and stable musical type. It has many sub-categories (though some are silly) and, perhaps unlike blues, continues to evolve. Swedish band Opeth are closer to dramatic and lyrical composer Sibelius than Black Sabbath.

Metal was hidden from mainstream view during the '80s, but in reality it was surging at that time. And today, metal performers from the '70s and '80s are worshipped as if they were new on the scene. Given its evolution, metal may be more comparable now to jazz than to blues.

Metal lasts because it is music that has to be created from a blank page: you have two guitars, a bass and drums, and what you write for them has to be good or you won't be heard. In this way, this is exactly as it is in classical music. Like classical strings, guitars and drums also have a raw exciting sound, which obviously helps: instrument sound and texture matters. A Zildjian cymbal sounds better than a drum machine, a flute sounds better than a bodyless electronic squeal... just like they did (or would have, had the electronic options existed) in 2,000 BC.

Ozzy survived the '80s, "A Flock Of Seagulls" did not. So who went "off the rails like a crazy train," then?