Hello again, folks. I trust Snorri has kept things running smoothly here while I attended to other matters.
Matters like revisiting great moments in the twin musical genres of rock and roll, via a flood of autobiographies penned by classic rockers. Heart. Pete Townshend. Rod Stewart. Neil Young. Greg Allman. Members of Joy Division and Duran Duran. It was a banner year for efforts to take us behind the music. A wealth of memoirs, if not always a wealth of memories. Continue reading
Filed under Music
Writing songs is hard.
I know. I have composed and captured many fragments that prove as much — both in digital as well as analog format. I have at times considered compiling them into a sort of non-career retrospective: perhaps as many as 200 tracks, clocking in at well under 40 minutes in length. It’d put The Minutemen and Paint It Black to shame, I tells ya. Think something more along the lines of The Beatles’ ill-fated Get Back sessions, only with less enthusiasm. Continue reading
Filed under Music
In 1976 British music writer Tony Palmer presented an ambitious 16-part series that strove to trace the history of popular music. Episodes focused on genres, eras and artists, with the final edition seeing Palmer — aided by a cynical Lester Bangs and an optimistic Richard Branson — bravely predicting popular music’s future. The star of that forward-looking episode was one Michael “Tubular Bells” Oldfield, contributors like Branson reasoning that the future of recorded music surely lay in ever more sophisticated, ever more structured, ever more multi-layered grand symphonic productions. A 64-track studio, the reasoning went, naturally called for 64 tracks’ worth of sound. Alas, by the time the series’ final episode aired in the UK, The Sex Pistols and The Damned had properly spearheaded a minimalist musical revolution that made Palmer’s painstakingly-constructed series look… a tad out of touch. Continue reading
Filed under Music
A few weeks ago I and perhaps a dozen other local music-lovers took in CKCU host Dick Altavista‘s monthly musical presentation at the Elmdale House Tavern. With changes pending at the Wellington Street watering hole, the show was at the time slated to be the penultimate in what had been a dandy showcase for local bands. It turned out to be the last. A dozen or so people will be disappointed. Possibly more. And that’s not counting the thousands of locals eager to voice support for live music but unwilling to leave home to experience it. So yes, it’s a loss. Continue reading
In her groundbreaking 1969 volume The Rock Encyclopedia, pioneering critic Lillian Roxon (1932-1973) lamented that semi-manufactured band The Grass Roots did not have the decency to die in a fiery plane crash shortly after the release of their first two top-10 hits: Let’s Live For Today and Midnight Confessions. Had they done so, she suggested, The Grass Roots would today be remembered as garage-rock legends. Instead, the combo degenerated into disposable bubble-gum confections like Two Divided By Love. Continue reading
Filed under Music
Wig Bubbles 