Music Thread

#1DieHardHawk said:
That's cool, but, as I stated above, my intent was not to assume that the band would necessarily play well together as a unit, or fit together necessarily. Rather, it was more about All-Star recognition with the instrument. Actual all-star bands rarely do anything special - see Asia.

And, yes, a few posts later, I commented on the long list of potential lead guitarists. It's mind-boggling.
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<<see Asia>>

I'll never forget when rumors were rife that Greg Lake was joining Asia. One of my roommates commented, "Oh, great. Asia, Lake and Palmer..."
 
Another great deep dive on the internet (youtube) is the Old Grey Whistle Test. Bands of all different styles from 1971 through 1988 playing live in front of a studio audience. Here's Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1975. Good Stuff!

 

There was one Stones tour where, on that song--my fave Stones song, BTW--they replaced the sax solo with Jagger doing it on harmonica. Would love to hear that treatment of it.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
WAY too many directions you could go, and you have to remember that some of these wouldn't "fit". And in some cases, as part of a band format one guy might shine, while another is just an awesome musician who can play anywhere, anytime, with anyone, no questions asked, studio or live, rehearsed or improvising.

My guitar list would break the bank before you even decide what you want for a song lineup! Do you tell John McLaughlin or Jeff Beck to sit down and shut up? And what about Carlos Santana, Chet Atkins, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page? The list could go way into the night. When it comes to rhythm guitar, though, I'm going with one guy: Freddie Greene, who played for years with Count Basie. Yes, I would tend toward jazz/blues-oriented guys, as their improv tends to be second nature.

Chris Squire did a solo during the 1979 Yes tour that was amazing, but if you said it meant leaving Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius at home, it would be one hell of a tough dilemma.

"Drum" means two names: Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Oh, and Randy Jones (played a long time with Dave Brubeck). And throw in whoever happens to be playing for Spinal Tap, knowing you'll have to replace him soon...

Keyboards, wow, very tough call. Too many possibilities.

For vocalists, you're leaving a helluva lot of amazing females off the list :)

Another vocalist I would have to include: David Clayton Thomas.
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Female singers-true story. The Plasmatics open for KISS at the Dubuque Five Flags Center in 1982 or '83. One of the stage antics Wendy O Williams was known for was destroying TV sets with a chainsaw. At least one TV that met it's demise that night was showing none other than a Hawkeye basketball game....

Two singers that came along at the same time Chrissie Hynde (who was present with future members of Devo at the Kent State shooting) and Deborah Harry were probably my favorite bad ass female singers since...I guess Janis. Personally, I found her to be cool as hell more than a bad ass. But Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth eventually came along and out Debbied Debby. Bad ass personified.

Sonic Youth is a frequent player in my MP3 when I run. If I time it right "Eliminator Junior" will come on just as I enter the final four or five hundred meters (imagine the opening riff of "Whole Lotta Love" combined with it's midsection with a sexy female singing the parts of Plant). If I really time it right she'll sing the line "Walk through the park-S*** yeah!" just as I'm coming through the finish chute. A new meaning of "runner's high".

Other females that come to mind; Kim Deal, Shirley Manson, Sheryl Crow, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson in the same band, about a dozen country singers who could have crossed over.

BTW I like Blood Sweat and Tears too. Saw them in 2010. They still had their fastball.
 
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Here's something that's been going around in my head for a while. How did consummate journeyman rocker Peter Frampton come from nearly out of nowhere to not only release one of the best selling albums of all time but inspire many other artists to release their own double lives. After all, didn't AM radio and the music business in general shy away from rock almost from the time the Beatles broke up? Look who dominated the airwaves the first half of the seventies. Singer-songwriters, one hit wonders ("Brandi, your a fine girl") and pop acts like Bread and America. Some were good, none were terrible, but very little ROCKED! Even Bruce Springsteen, the consummate rocker, was packaged early on in the singer/songwriter mode as a cross between Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. You had to find FM stations to find rock-'n'-roll and usually late night FM at that.

The baby boomer phenomenon was still in the process of being understood as the seventies dawned. If marketing researchers and the like understood it better it would have taken advantage of what was about to come. What they didn't know or couldn't market was that millions and millions of boomers we're about to reach high school and college ages where they were most likely to buy albums and attend concerts. Hence, "Frampton Comes Alive" eventually selling something like 15 million units. And turning the music industry on it's ear.

Some of you were older than I was when this all happened. I would like to hear comments and takes from other posters out there.
 
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Northside Hawk said:
Here's something that's been going around in my head for a while. How did consummate journeyman rocker Peter Frampton come from nearly out of nowhere to not only release one of the best selling albums of all time but inspire many other artists to release their own double lives. After all, didn't AM radio and the music business in general shy away from rock almost from the time the Beatles broke up? Look who dominated the airwaves the first half of the seventies. Singer-songwriters, one hit wonders ("Brandi, your a fine girl") and pop acts like Bread and America. Some were good, none were terrible, but very little ROCKED! You had to find FM stations to find rock-'n'-roll and usually late night FM at that.

The baby boomer phenomenon was still in the process of being understood as the seventies dawned. If marketing researchers and the like understood it better it would have taken advantage of what was about to come. What they didn't know or couldn't market was that millions and millions of boomers we're about to reach high school and college ages where they were most likely to buy albums and attend concerts. Hence, "Frampton Comes Alive" eventually selling something like 15 million units. And turning the music industry on it's ear.

Some of you were older than I was when this all happened. I would like to hear comments and takes from other posters out there.
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Frampton was a well-respected guitarist and writer when he left Humble Pie, but I don't think anyone saw that coming. I mean, everyone from 12 - 18 had that album...everyone (It didn't hurt that "Do You Feel Like We Do" was a good match for certain recreational, um, substances...). I listen to those songs regularly, and he still sounds great today. I saw him in Vegas about 10 years ago, and other than no longer having that head of hair, it was like going back in time.

I think a lot of it was simply timing. In the mid seventies, the populace turned to music as an escape from a bad economy, bad cars, bad hair and having a collective bad taste in the mouth coming off the late 60s drama followed by Watergate and the oil embargo. Music as a whole exploded. Statistically, fans in the 70s spent more money on music than spectator sports and the movie industry combined. Frampton just happened to be in the right place at the right time with a fresh new sound.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to insuinate that Humble Pie was "almost out of nowhere." But I am pretty sure that they were more popular in Europe than the states. And that Steve Marriott (damn, RIP again), was better known in the States for his time in the Small Faces than Humble Pie. But my bad for almost completely omitting the role that our battered self image played in creating those times. There are very few people in the 55-65 age demographic who enjoyed the seventies. I've talked to a bunch of them about it.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
Frampton was a well-respected guitarist and writer when he left Humble Pie, but I don't think anyone saw that coming. I mean, everyone from 12 - 18 had that album...everyone (It didn't hurt that "Do You Feel Like We Do" was a good match for certain recreational, um, substances...). I listen to those songs regularly, and he still sounds great today. I saw him in Vegas about 10 years ago, and other than no longer having that head of hair, it was like going back in time.

I think a lot of it was simply timing. In the mid seventies, the populace turned to music as an escape from a bad economy, bad cars, bad hair and having a collective bad taste in the mouth coming off the late 60s drama followed by Watergate and the oil embargo. Music as a whole exploded. Statistically, fans in the 70s spent more money on music than spectator sports and the movie industry combined. Frampton just happened to be in the right place at the right time with a fresh new sound.
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It was me. I was the only kid that didn't have the 'Frampton Comes Alive' album. I didn't need to have the damn album. A friend of mine had it and played it over, and over, and over, and over.

I distinctly remember it playing while driving his car one weekend night while he was banging some chick in the back seat. It got jammed in the eight track player and proceeded to unravel.... pant, pant, pant... garble, garble, garble. So I didn't do Frampton Comes Alive, or the village bicycle, or any of her sisters. When he finished, and we rearranged the front seating order, I turned to him and said "Well, that was a f**king mess." He gave me a dirty look, I said "the tape" and tossed the wad of 8-track tape in his lap.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Female singers-true story. The Plasmatics open for KISS at the Dubuque Five Flags Center in 1982 or '83. One of the stage antics Wendy O Williams was known for was destroying TV sets with a chainsaw. At least one TV that met it's demise that night was showing none other than a Hawkeye basketball game....

Two singers that came along at the same time Chrissie Hynde (who was present with future members of Devo at the Kent State shooting) and Deborah Harry were probably my favorite bad ass female singers since...I guess Janis. Personally, I found her to be cool as hell more than a bad ass. But Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth eventually came along and out Debbied Debby. Bad ass personified.

Sonic Youth is a frequent player in my MP3 when I run. If I time it right "Eliminator Junior" will come on just as I enter the final four or five hundred meters (imagine the opening riff of "Whole Lotta Love" combined with it's midsection with a sexy female singing the parts of Plant). If I really time it right she'll sing the line "Walk through the park-S*** yeah!" just as I'm coming through the finish chute. A new meaning of "runner's high".

Other females that come to mind; Kim Deal, Shirley Manson, Sheryl Crow, about a dozen country singers.

BTW I like Blood Sweat and Tears too. Saw them in 2010. They still had their fastball.
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Saw Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young at the Target Center in Minneapolis about 25 years ago. They had to delay the show because their speakers were upside down. Great show.....

:cool:
 
Northside Hawk said:
How ironic is that? Brian Jones by a swimming pool.
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Yeah.....

He was really talented and a huge factor in the Stone's early success. He used to go to Morocco for the Pipes of Pan Festival at Joujouka. Music not for everyone, for certain.....

http://www.joujouka.org/

He recorded one of the sessions. Not for everyone warning, once again. Sometimes we would get in the mood to use it as background music.....


:cool:
 
AreWeThereYet said:
It was me. I was the only kid that didn't have the 'Frampton Comes Alive' album. I didn't need to have the damn album. A friend of mine had it and played it over, and over, and over, and over.

I distinctly remember it playing while driving his car one weekend night while he was banging some chick in the back seat. It got jammed in the eight track player and proceeded to unravel.... pant, pant, pant... garble, garble, garble. So I didn't do Frampton Comes Alive, or the village bicycle, or any of her sisters. When he finished, and we rearranged the front seating order, I turned to him and said "Well, that was a f**king mess." He gave me a dirty look, I said "the tape" and tossed the wad of 8-track tape in his lap.
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Ah, you were the one.....

That's a funny story.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
WAY too many directions you could go, and you have to remember that some of these wouldn't "fit". And in some cases, as part of a band format one guy might shine, while another is just an awesome musician who can play anywhere, anytime, with anyone, no questions asked, studio or live, rehearsed or improvising.

My guitar list would break the bank before you even decide what you want for a song lineup! Do you tell John McLaughlin or Jeff Beck to sit down and shut up? And what about Carlos Santana, Chet Atkins, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page? The list could go way into the night. When it comes to rhythm guitar, though, I'm going with one guy: Freddie Greene, who played for years with Count Basie. Yes, I would tend toward jazz/blues-oriented guys, as their improv tends to be second nature.

Chris Squire did a solo during the 1979 Yes tour that was amazing, but if you said it meant leaving Stanley Clarke and Jaco Pastorius at home, it would be one hell of a tough dilemma.

"Drum" means two names: Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. Oh, and Randy Jones (played a long time with Dave Brubeck). And throw in whoever happens to be playing for Spinal Tap, knowing you'll have to replace him soon...

Keyboards, wow, very tough call. Too many possibilities.

For vocalists, you're leaving a helluva lot of amazing females off the list :)

Another vocalist I would have to include: David Clayton Thomas.
Click to expand...
If jazz fusion is your thing, I would assume you're a fan of Allan Holdsworth, who recently passed away. Amazing technical jazz guitarist that deserved more recognition, though, I have to admit, I am more in the blues-rock fusion group personally.

 
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