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| Macca00 |
 Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:51 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Liverpool/England
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Nice one, Marantzo. An often overlooked aspect of the Beatles' early impact is the way that their music transcended "colour" lines in the U.S. Here in Liverpool that was hardly ever a consideration, this is a cosmopolitan city sea port; Lennon & McCartney first heard R&B records courtesy of merchant sailors who arrived in the port in the late 50s.
BTW, what news from Lenny Cohen on the tie-up with Dylan for Beckett's "Waiting For Godot"? Zimmy's agreed to his part as Estragon for a special Live8 performance at the Philadelphia gig.  |
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| censored-03 |
| Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:52 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: Gotham, Big Apple, The Naked City
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Bob Dylan - Yogi Berra Stadium - Montclare, NJ - 6/24/05
I saw Bob Dylan perform last night. I was truly touched. During the past 40 years I have seen most of the musical greats/legends perform. For some reason I had never seen Bob Dylan.
When I was a boy I literally lived all over the world. My father was an American diplomat. In 1965 we were stationed in Monrovia, Liberia. My older sister at the time always seemed to bring home some new 45 single by one of the hit-makers of the day, usually after being at some party and borrowing the record to play on our little Philips speaker-in-the-carrying-case record player. There were songs like The Kinks, (Well Respected Man), The McCoys (Hang On Sloopy), The Beach Boys (I Get Around), The Beatles (Ticket To Ride) etc. I also had access to a juke box (read god-send) in the American Embassy cafeteria. Songs like Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas (Little Children), Nashville Teens (Tobacco Road), Ray Charles (Cry), The Dixie Cups (Iko Iko), The Fortunes (You’ve Got Your Troubles), The Four Tops (I Can’t Help Myself-Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), Freddie and the Dreamers (Do The Freddie), Marvin Gaye (I’ll Be Doggone) were played three for a dime over and over by my friends and I. We were kids who were hungry to know about the changing culture back home in America.
One day my sister came in the house and said something like, “You gotta hear this record!” She put the needle down, and for a long time for a 45 single (6 min.) I sat entranced, jaw dropping slowly through the song’s duration. I listened as a type of song I had never heard before drew me in and talked to me, with it’s guitar, organ and drum riffs pulsing out a loping, and refreshing new rhythm and basically new sound altogether. The singer came next…and the words! There was melancholy in the air. The singer sounded like he was almost gurgling at times, moaning, snarling, again, unlike anything I’d ever heard. The words seemed stern yet clever, serious yet appealing. In fact, this song was doing the same thing to all of the people back in The States who were listening to this new single on the rock and roll charts and radio stations.
Bob Dylan was simply changing music as The Beatles had done a year before. Dylan, of course was already well known in 1965 (for being the leader of a new breed of musician known as the serious folk-singer), but the song Like A Rolling Stone made him a new type of “rock and roll” hit-maker/poet/god, again, something new. He had of course disappointed some old fans by “going electric”, but he had captured a much larger and hungrier audience (that included young kids like myself), who were looking for something to call their own, that was serious and informing, yet fun and accessible. With songs like this one, Dylan became an even clearer and certainly louder voice for a generation, a term that has been used thousands of times, but the truth will be told thousands of times.
Rolling Stone Magazine recently made Like A Rolling Stone the number one all-time greatest song, or some such thing. I was never much one for art being voted on for the best this or that, (although the Oscars for films are always a hoot) but I would probably have to agree this time. It may not be the greatest song for melody, quality of voice or dexterity of musicianship, but it probably is for its impact on a our collective naïve sense of existence before an artist like this shattered everyone under 30’s idea of fun, fun, fun as the American creed. Dylan had raw emotion, introspection and that sly way he has of almost lecturing his listeners, without pointing out who he is singing about directly, although, we do know it’s either us or the guy right next to us that he’s singing about. His music made us all sit up and take notice.
There is a part, a large part, of Bob Dylan’s talent that gets forgotten sometimes, (considering his reputation for eloquence with lyrics) and that is the man’s genius for writing beautiful musical compositions. If music is basically melody put over chord structure, this man is obviously a groundbreaker in this part of songwriting as well. In interviews Dylan would have you think that his musical side is just borrowed themes and lifted pieces from earlier riffs that he heard when he was young, like when he says that Like A Rolling Stone is really an inverted version of La Bamba recorded by Richie Valens. We know the finest music in the world has been “influenced” by some other artists’ work that came before, that is the nature of most art. The fact is, that Bob Dylan took those earlier riffs and song segments and synthesized them to make his own unique worldly patchwork that to this day excites, thrills and moves people.
There may be some distance in time now since the days when Bob Dylan was considered the most important ingredient in the impact and influence that poetry and politics had on music, but after seeing the 64 year old last night, I am more aware than ever that age is truly in the mind, and Bob Dylan is Forever Young. |
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| unohoo |
| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 5:11 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 210
Location: Houston, Tx
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| censored- Great post. I'm not really a fan of the Dylan's music, nor have I ever really understood what all the fuss was, but you were able to place some perspective on the admiration of the man and his music. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 5:31 pm |
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| I've seen Dylan perform twice. Once at the Winnipeg arena, which had a mediocre sound system. very good concert though. he played Rolling Stone and it was a good rendition. I saw him about to years later at the Winnipeg Concert Hall. Great accoustics there. he ended the concert with Like A Rolling Stone and absolutely blew the roof off. What a finale. We had 10th row centre seats and the whole concert was magnificent only to be wrapped up with a performance of that signature piece that had me rocked to my marrow. |
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| ajbradfo |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:54 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 4
Location: Nelson Bay, NSW, Oz
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G’day,
It’s about that time (mid-winter in Oz) that I list my favourite albums of the year so far. I last did this a couple of years ago in the NYT Popular Music forum (boyoboy! didn’t that place crash and burn in spectacular fashion?) and it’s taken me a while to track you guys down again. I’ll do this over a couple of posts because it’s been a fairly fruitful year so far on the new release front, so here goes…
A bit of local product first.
The Finn Brothers – Everyone is Here. Yes, I know, it was initially released in ’04 but I picked up the ’05 release with the bonus DVD. It’s been a long time between drinks with these guys but once again it was worth the wait. Pure class. They may be reaching elder statesmen status but their songwriting maturity just shines through the fog of most of today’s popular releases. Two of the purest voices in modern times these guys have never, and still don’t, disappoint. Their songs soar, beguile and comfort. Split Enz sang ‘History Never Repeats’ but these siblings are part of Oz’s (and NZ’s) musical history and long may they repeat.
The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart. I miss the old Go-Betweens. I know, I know, McLennan and Forster are THE Go-Betweens but I miss Lindy’s signature drumming and Amanda’s plaintive violin and oboe. But hey Al, drag yourself kicking and screaming into the 21st century and here you’ll find another certified classic. Is it rock? I don’t know. Is it folk? Once again, I don’t know. Is it pop? I don’t care! Is ‘Boundary Rider’ ‘Cattle and Cane’s’ 2005 cousin? Yes. It is the Go-Betweens!! Enough said. Forster and McLennan=sweet/sour, hot/cold, darkness/light, yin/yang. Brizzy legends.
Architecture in Helsinki – In Case We Die. Probably a little bit obscure to those outside of Oz, this eight-piece collective from Melbourne deserves a wider audience. Multi-instrumentalists, these guys and gals fill their whimsical, pure-pop songs with everything from tubas to woodblocks. From angelic harmonies to handclaps. From saxamaphones to Casio keyboards. Sometimes all within the first 30 seconds of a song. There’s little bit, no, make that a lot of DIY punk energy in there as well. Given that some of the lyrics reflect the title’s theme, don’t let that put you off. These eight souls, plus a cast of dozens, whip up a frenzy at times and croon lullabies at others. Worth searching for, believe me.
More later…
AL |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:15 pm |
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ajbradfo, I don't post on the music site often, but welcome.
Quote: NYT Popular Music forum (boyoboy! didn’t that place crash and burn in spectacular fashion?)
That was the most successful revolution I've ever been involved with. They fucked with us and we walked. Goodbye, NYT Forums, Hello, Third Eye. |
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| unohoo |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:27 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 210
Location: Houston, Tx
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| It has been six months into this year, and even though I really like a lot of the stuff that has come out, I can say truly that nothing this year just blows me away. I would say that Game/50 Cent did it, but I would just be saying it. Actually I can say that the Plant Life's "The Return of Black Splash" has somewhat restored my faith in the possibilities in r&b as well as Sleepy Brown's unreleased "Phunk-O-Naut". Oh yeah, a surprise so far this year was Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" (or whatever it's called) which I had no intention of hearing, but a co-worker sort of insisted and I listened as a courtesy and slowly came to realize that damn near that entire disc is a piece of r&b goodness. Actually I think I'm talking myself up to go and buy Jamiroquoi's "Dynamite" on amazonuk since it won't be coming out here 'til November. On the hip-hop front, other than the JR Writer mixtapes, it's been kinda dull. This summer doesn't even have a summer banger yet. |
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| ajbradfo |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:43 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 4
Location: Nelson Bay, NSW, Oz
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[quote="marantzo"]ajbradfo, I don't post on the music site often, but welcome.
Thanks marantzo. Great to see a lot of familiar faces again. I hope to keep you guys and gals up to date with an Oz spin on all things musical. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| The Go-Betweens excite me about as much as an enema. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| unohoo |
| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:22 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 210
Location: Houston, Tx
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| Yeah, enemas are kind of refreshing eh? |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:33 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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LOL
Welcome, ajbradfo.
I dig Architecture in Helsinki. They fall in line with the Arcade Fire/Broken Social Scene/Fiery Furnaces/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah school of music-making and I'm not sure if they do enough to set themselves apart from the rest, but I do like them quite a bit. "Do the Whirlwind" especially. I've put that on many a mix this year. |
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| censored-03 |
| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: Gotham, Big Apple, The Naked City
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| My welcome to ajbradfo as well! shannon the song Do the Whirlwind has that 70's influence put to good use ala some of the The Scissor Sisters stuff IMO, although it really doesn't sound like SS. I enjoy Architecture In Helsinki's Wishbone, Need To Shout and It's 5! as well. One song I really like by the group The Owls Go is from last years album called 'Fingers Crossed'. They even include a small child in the vocals. The ensemble effect of sharing vocals and the rhythm and intrumental changes within-a-song really seems to work for this quirky but accessible Aussie band. Good on ya. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:23 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: Architecture in Helsinki.
Booooring. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:24 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: Architecture in Helsinki.
artsy fartsy bullcrap. |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| Looks like the Smashing Pumpkins are reuniting. Is that cause for celebration around here? I've only heard a bit of their music (and liked it when I was in the mood to feel like my head was going to explode). |
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