On The Subject Of:
A big SHOUT OUT to Jeff Higgins and Groove Sandwich for being so kind to add me as a link for those who want more views from the other side of the rock fence. I came across his site via a record review in Rolling Stone and he continues to deliver quality entertainment in music and TV and movies. (Well he once did, the site is now blank) www.groovesandwich.com
Plus he reviews music from those who send him a cd and gives an honest opinion. He also doesn't like Nickleback too.
For Nickleback I don't pay that much attention to them. Which is why you don't see them in my top ten, I don't have any of their music in my collection. The only time I came close was their Silver Side Up but in the end I just really didn't see a need to. People are doing a better job slamming them. BTW what does Groove Sandwich and Crabby have in common? We have Twitter sites! Mine is: http://twitter.com/RSCrabb I do a lot of rant and raving over there, mostly sports but occasion I will do a CD review or LP review or something music. Not safe for work though! ;-)
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Favortism or the Jann Wanner My Favorite Bands Hall Of Fame has a new class. Imagine The Red Hot Chili Peppers getting in there before Rush or Moody Blues. Can't call it a Hall Of Fame of note anymore. Beastie Boys invented Rap Rock with License To Ill, which is a classic album. For the Chili Peppers though, none of their albums I care much about, except for their debut with True Men Don't Kill Coyotes and the silly Mother's Milk or the overrated Rick Rubin produced stuff. Never got into them, never will. Guns & Roses is another band I never got into, I think I liked the Spaghetti Incident more than Appetite for Destruction which is a solid rock album but again I didn't like it much, it was a C+ then, it's a C+ now. I hate Sweet Child O Mine, heard it way too many times and Welcome To The Jungle ensures them of a steady royalty check so that Steven Alder can indulge in whatever he does. Use You Illusion 1 and 2 could have made a great one album but I give them credit for putting out two records at one time when Geffen Records thought otherwise. I did buy Chinese Democracy for 1.99 on vinyl, maybe some day I'll listen to all four sides of that album. In the end, the best GnR was Izzy Stradlin and The Juju Hounds. That's my opinion, yours will be much different I'm certain of it.
So lets comment on the others. Faces or Small Faces. Tale of two bands. Small Faces with Steve Marriott was song crafted British pop rock, Faces with Rod Stewart they became boogie rock. Robert Christgau summed it up perfectly. The first Small Faces albums (There Are But Four Small Faces and Ogden Nut....) had them somewhat in The Kinks side of the fence but when Stewart joined when Marriott left for Humble Pie, The Faces became one of the most ragged and loose boogie band ever formed. First Step was a misstep but their two best Long Player and A Nod Is As Good As A Wink....To A Blind Horse remains what they do best. And had the better version of Maybe I'm Amazed to beat out Paul Mac. But The Faces also appeared on some Rod Stewart's album I'm Losing You was a top thirty hit and perhaps the best song to hear The Faces. Of course it wasn't meant to be long standing, after Ooh La La, that was it till Marriott returned, they returned to being The Small Faces (add Rick Wills for Ronnie Lane) and they made two so so albums for Atlantic before calling it a day. Best overview remains Good Lads When They're Asleep, the Rhino WB retrospective.
Laura Nyro: A damn good singer songwriter that wrote some great 60s hits (Wedding Bell Blues, Eli's Coming). She had her fans and though I wasn't a big fan, I did enjoy her Best Of or the Early Songs.
Donovan: Great folksinger although there was a movie with Bob Dylan and Donovan was singing a song and Dylan looked bored. The early stuff came out via Hickory Records (Pye in UK) but moving to Epic he scored hits with the overplayed Sunshine Superman, but my favorites remain Wear Your Love Like Heaven, First There Is A Mountain, Hurdy Gurdy Man (featuring John Bonham bashing away on drums while Jimmy Page plays guitar) and the forgotten Riki Tiki Tiki. Donovan's Greatest Hits Expanded is the go to album.
Freddie King: Great almost forgotten blues guitar extraordinare. Hideaway should have gotten him into the hall sooner than it did but he made some great instrumental albums for King. Later recorded for Shelter and RSO/Polydor in the 70s before a heart attack claimed him in 1976. I remember a In Concert show that King was actually doing some boogie that I recorded on tape once.
Tom Dowd: Produced and recorded just about everything on Atlantic be it rock or soul or jazz.
Don Kirshner: Made the Monkees basically, plus was a good songwriter, wrote with Bobby Darin and Neil Sedaka. Had Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in the 70s and formed a label that the prinicpal band on it was Kansas.
Cosmo Matassa: Owner of a New Orleans studio that recorded Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Little Richard.
Glyn Johns: One of the best producer/engineer who worked on records by The Who, Led Zeppelin, John Hiatt, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Eagles and Ozark Mountain Daredevils just to name a few. Why hasn't he been in earlier is a mystery to me too. He also produced Faces. (we could go on and on)
Great to see Ron Santo finally making it to the Baseball Hall Of Fame although the veteran's committee decided to wait a year after he died to finally induct him. Certainly the biggest Cubs fan when he was broadcasting but better known as their best 3rd baseman.
Death never takes a holiday: Finally we say good bye to Dobie Gray who had a hit with In Crowd and later Drift Away which was a hit twice (the second with Uncle Kracker) he was 69. Barbara Orbison, who twenty years after Roy's passing finally joins him In Dreams after losing her battle with cancer at age 60. She did more to keep the legacy of Roy Orbinson alive better than any major label did when he was alive http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/drift-away-singer-dobie-gray-dead-at-71-20111207
Perhaps the most telling was Harry Morgan who passed away at age 96. He was a mainstay in movies and TV throughout the 50s and 60's, most notably Bill Gannon on the revamped Dragnet series with old Jack Webb. But when he replaced McLean Stevenson (RIP) on MASH he gave it a new look and new life with his portrayal of Col. Sherman Potter. It also turned out to be his most favorite role. And with sadness and a aching heart we say goodbye to Morgan. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/arts/television/harry-morgan-mash-and-dragnet-actor-dies-at-96.html
And Happy Birthday to Tom Waits. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/tom-waits-101-guide-to-his-music/
Unfinished Business: Tim McGraw has won his case against Mike Curb and Curb Records and can now put his album Emotional Traffic out. Mike Curb sucks. He's is what is wrong with being on a major label and don't kid yourself folks, Curb Records is a major label upon itself. Curb has destroyed many a career and potential of bands. He even managed to fuck up The Beat Farmers, once a great alternative rock band. Hank Williams the 3rd finally got off the label to release his own music and even though it's all over the place it's good that Hank 3 has the freedom to release his own work the way he wants too. An interesting article is about Mike Curb and Nashville. http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/nashville-should-be-careful-of-its-mike-curb-legacy
5 comments:
Sorry to hear about Dobie Gray. Loved Drift away then and love it still. I have serious mixed feelings about The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jann Wenner used to have a good rag. In fact, I still have a copy of the newspaper-like early issue with Janis Joplin on the cover somewhere. But that rag hasn't been relevant for 30 years or more. I would take MOJO over RS any day. How can Donovan and G&R be inducted on the same day? Donovan is a 60s legend, and then you have a group of punks from LA who made one good cohesive album before drugs and egos did them in for good. Now they are an oldies act on tour. Hell, I'd rather see The Seeds inducted before G&R. "Pushing Too Hard" says more and means more to me than anything G&R ever put out, and I am roughly the same age as Axl Rose.
Just like classic rock radio, the whole concept of the museum is a narrow minded affair calculated to placate the masses. The real fans are left out of the process. Jann Wenner is fat, rich , and complacent, and complacency is a death knell for rock and roll.
I'll always prefer the great Ramones to the Pistols, but the Sex Pistols infamous response to their hall of fame induction continues to bring a smile to my face. God Bless Em!
Take care Crabb...and Happy Holidays.
Couldn't said it any better Starbro. Take care and Happy Holidays! ;)
Crabby! 3 posts in a little over 2 days?! Write yer ass off, man!
Liked yer R&RHOF comments. I think the whole thing's a joke. Not much of a Chili Peppers fan, but I gotta admit they sound like no1 else. Beasties? 1 "great" album's good enuf 2 get in? Still waiting 4 the Moodies 2 B inducted....
Donovan: I'm a sucker 4 "Season of the Witch" & "Atlantis" & "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" & really loved his later "Life Goes On" at the time (late '73) -- now it just sounds silly.
Laura Nyro wrote some great songs, but I don't think I've ever heard HER at all....
Keep it up, man. We're almost famous....
Well TAD, I have working on the Best Of 2011 Blog but decided to put out the top ten early just to add the Best later in the week but I got sidetracked by a few things and a couple more new CDs to review and decide who should get the last few spots on the best of.
The RnRHOF is a joke and just Jann Wanner's yearly of who he wants to be in inducted and you can state a case of every band and artist not sounding the same as the other one. Laura Nyro is a cult artist, she's a great songwriter for others, on her albums she's an acquired taste. Same as RHCP, and I think they're one of most overrated bands out there. The cool credentials was that George Clinton produced one of their albums and of course Rick Rubin. GnR, as original too, but so is Rush, so is Moody Blues and so is Chicago but you don't see them in the HOF. Simply of the fact that Janner doesn't like those bands. And fine with that and fuck him anyway.
But our vision of the HOF is much different than his, Starman has his faves, I have my faves, Drew has his faves and TAD has his faves. Every year somebody is going to get slighted in favor of a more commercial successful band. But even the HOF is not that worthy anymore, VH1 doesn't show the induction nor MTV, you have to go through a third tier channel nobody gets unless they pay double cable prices like VH1 Classic to even see a tape recorded version. Rock n roll isn't dangerous anymore, it's just more disposable.
Well TAD, perhaps the ratings will keep us around the 1,000 views then sted of the usual 800 eh? ;) Not sure if the new stuff gets much views but boy does some of the older stuff get looked at (looking at the spike in viewership on The Ides Of March End Of The World Blog).
If the hands don't fall off from carpel tunnel (or sealing books in packaging on nights) I'm still working on some exciting new stuff before the year is over. I'm sure you'll be staying tune for that eh? ;)
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