The Greatest Post Ever for the Greatest Band Ever

25 Oct

For the most part, I’m out of bands so I’m going to give my ode to the greatest band of all time: The Beatles.  The thing about The Beatles is that they are in an almost exclusive club of bands that weren’t reactionaries to the times in which they lived in. They defined the times.  I used to think (incorrectly) that The Beatles were overrated.  I mean, songs like “Love Me Do” and “Help” and “Please Mr.  Postman” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” are just simple pop songs, yet they formed the mold for future rock groups to follow.  In addition to setting the paradigm of 2 guitars, bass and drums, The Beatles also added elements of  music of black musicians like Little Richard and Chuck Berry with white musicians like Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley that would influence rock n roll music for decades.

So let’s put The Beatles impact on music on the backburner for now and just look at the music itself.  The Beatles first phase was the “Love Me” phase characterized by simple song structures, simple I love you, love me lyrics (like the song above).  It’s what first captivated America on the Ed Sullivan show performance and really sparked Beatlemania.  Fast forward to the time they played Shea Stadium and decided to stop touring. So born the social commentary Beatles, who started growing beards and doing drugs.  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is their seminal work from this period, almost a rock opera that is considered one of the greatest (according to Rolling Stone the greatest album of all time) that introduced innovative techniques for recording that included adding musicians in addition to just the fab four and experimenting with innovative recording techniques.  Just check out the sound below that builds upon the original Beatles sound.

Last but not least of the Beatles phases results in their last album while together and my absolute favorite: Abbey Road.  It shows a mature group who’s ability to combine their music together in the face of falling apart absolutely amazes me.  Listen to the White Album and you will hear a band at war with itself.  Each individual song sounds like it was done by an individual member and in fact that’s the case.  In fact, all members except for Ringo refused to record when another member was in the studio.  There were George songs, John songs and Paul songs.  Abbey Road sees the Beatles come together for one last hurrah and tolerate each other.  Their individual tastes and song writing abilities combine to create a concept album like Sgt Peppers of epic proportions.  Just listen to the whole album.  It’s a piece of absolute genius.

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Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All

23 Oct

*Warning* – extreme vulgarity lays ahead.

So I was at a Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) concert last night in Philly. The town was really cool and the venue was really nice, and the crowd was not what I had expected. This was my first ever rap show, I decided to go on a freak whim, and quite frankly I had an amazing time. There was this creepy portal eyed cat however which stared at me during the entire show, but I persevered.

Basically the show was full of hipster and even nerdy white kids. The very front of the crowd was a living blob which on occasion knocked a bunch of people off their feet creating this moving hole. Farther back there was a pretty active mosh pit, which I honestly was not expecting at a rap concert. A mosh pit, for all who may not know, is where you go to dance by flailing your arms and throwing yourself in random directions expecting to hurt yourself and those around you. Usually they are reserved for hardcore rock shows. But I guess it was just a wild night.

OFWGKTA is making a big commotion on the rap scene these days. Their lyrics are extremely controversial and their entire act almost depends on the shock factor and vulgarity. They are a group of rappers from LA ranging from 16-19 years old. They rap about anything from sex, drugs, and rape to anarchy, self-consciousness, and general obscenities. Take this song as an example.

Tyler the Creator is sort of the leader of the group and this video, Yonkers, features him. Nothing about this video isn’t trying to disturb you; eating roaches, black eyes, and hanging yourself. Rap music isn’t for everyone. In my case for example, most of the lyrics go over my head, so some disturbing rap like this actually has a lessened affect on me, but I can still tell it is so because of the vibe of the beats. The one thing I like about this group is that they make all of their own beats. As someone who tries to do the same it is something I deeply respect.

Orange Juice has probably the coolest bass line I’ve heard recently, especially towards the beginning. The piano is nice a repetitive and the rap is as horrid as horridly possible; horrid in a way that would scare your parents into sending you away to a boarding school in Samoa (That happened to one of the members of the group when his parents heard the music). The flow, or the way the rap works with the beat, is quite professional. In my opinion rap is rap, so no matter what the person is actually rapping about it is the same. Many will disagree with me, but it definitely is about the fluidity rather than content. This beat apparently isn’t theirs, but one they borrowed from Gucci Mane’s song “Lemonade”. Whatever.

So take it as what it is. Rap isn’t going to leave so might as well explore it. And if you aren’t planning on making commitments, then you might as well start with the most extremely vulgar kind. Just please don’t take the lyrics seriously.

-oko

P.S. swag
&)

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The Distant Future: Comedians who Happen to Sing

20 Oct

I would like to apologize to my dedicated following for posting a few days late, or one day early (matters which way you look at it), but my schedule has been unrelenting.  I will, however, attempt to cheer whomever I can up with the following group of musical comedy geniuses who have made me cry simply from laughing hard on more than one occasion.

New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo is the description the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords gives themselves.  Don’t let it fool you.  Flight is the best (and most popular) guitar based acappalla rap comedy folk duo that just happens to use bongos, rap and funk in their music.  My favorite thing about Flight on the musical side is that they (as their description suggests) are real musicians.  Songs aren’t simple four chord songs with a single melody, but they use varied instrumentation, vocal harmonies and expand upon simple musical structures.  On the lyrical side, Flight stands out for their comedic style.  If Flight was a girl, she’d be the one you’d want to bring home to mama because their humor isn’t crude or vulgar but witty and clever.  Just check out their name (Flight of the Conchords).

While Flight takes a mostly clean approach to comedy, most comedians use vulgarity and crudeness as part of their acts and many musical comedians are no different.  Enter Stephen Lynch.  Lynch would be the kid you’d never want to get near your parents for fear he might curse, tell inappropriate jokes and be an all around %*$&#*$.  Lynch’s style isn’t for the easily offended or overtly sensitive.  However, if you do enjoy jokes about just about any topic imaginable, Lynch is your man.

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Six Degrees of Your iPod – ZZ Top on the 13th Floor

19 Oct

Oh it’s totally Six Degrees of Your iPod time! If you haven’t seen this game played on the blog before I will explain it briefly. By now you probably own an iPod or other mp3 music playing device. Well, on said device there should be a shuffle option. The point of this game is to shuffle randomly through six songs. Now can you connect the first and the sixth? Occasionally you get a gift (like I have today), but sometimes it is extremely difficult, and there have been times where I have made connections through several other bands. Now do keep in mind one very important part of the game. You do NOT have to connect the specific songs together. If you do, well, you get serious bonus points. That is sometimes actually impossible. But you can trace the artists to each other in fun ways. Let’s play.

1.) “La Grange” by ZZ Top

The little ol’ band from Texas with the exceptionally long beards (except for dummer Frank Beard ironically) released “La Grange” on their 1973 album Tres Hombres. The song is so recognizable because of guitarist Billy Gibbons‘ epic guitar riff. The riff is an absolute classic. You know a riff is good when it is known to mostly everyone who listens to the genre, and the genre is the wide world of rock. “La Grange,” which is about a brother on the outskirts of La Grange, Texas, is a hard-hitting, southern rock staple, and it is always enjoyable to listen to.

2.) “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead

3.) “Love Reign O’er Me” by The Who

4.) “Freedom (Part 2)” by the Beautiful Girls

5.) “Slow Ride” by Foghat

6.) “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by The 13th Floor Elevators

I have written about the 13th Floor Elevators extensively in the past. This Texas-based psychedelic act was one of the first psychedelic bands to come out of the Texas psychedelic scene, and it also was one of the first psychedelic bands in general. The band featured Rory Erickson and electric jug player Tommy Hall. The music was garage psychedelia, a true inspiration to many psychedelic bands who premiered in the ’67, ’68 and so on.

CONNECTION:

Now comes the fun part of the game. Like I said in the introduction, I was given a gift. Well, the answer is not a wide-known fact, but if you are familiar with ZZ Top guitarist’s Billy Gibbons’ first band, then this will not be difficult. Billy Gibbons, a Texas native himself, was originally in a Texas-based psychedelic band that he founded. It was called the Moving Sidewalks. Texas is a large state, but the psychedelic scene in the mid 60s was small enough that the Moving Sidewalks and the 13th Floor Elevators knew each other. The Moving Sidewalks actually opened for the 13th Floor Elevators at the Love Street Emporium, which was a Houston psychedelic music venue. The concert, though, was ended when Rory Erickson was arrested by police!

Get in the action and play the game yourself. Make sure to comment below with your results!

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Hey Joe. Exploring the Leaves

18 Oct

It is fitting that today’s Obscure Classic Rock band shares its namesake with a particular above-ground plant organ that will get a lot of attention over the upcoming weeks in New York. Fall foliage is gorgeous, until the colorful palette of leaves tumble to the ground and leave the trees barren, and the yard full of crunchy, multi-colored nuisances. Unless, of course, you enjoy the monotonous task of raking leaves. If that is so, Fall is your type of season.

Anyway, if you have not guessed, the band that I will be profiling today is The Leaves, a mid-60s garage-rock from California. Last week I profiled the Seeds, another garage-rock act from Los Angeles. From the Seeds to the Leaves to the…what other botany-based 60s band will I come up with.

The Leaves were formed in 1963 by bassist Jim Pons while he was a student at Cal State Northridge in LA. Originally called the Rockwells, the Leaves developed their new name from a response the band heard to the typical 60s greeting “what’s happening.” The response was, “the leaves are happening” and the Leaves stuck.

Pons was joined in the band by John Beck (vocalist), Bill Rinehart (lead guitar, replaced by Bobby Arlin), Tom Ray and Robert Lee Reiner. The Leaves began playing surf/dance rock and played their first show at a school gymnasium with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, thereby marking another fantastic concert at a school gym performed by awesome 60s musicians. After the Byrds left their residency at Ciro’s on the Sunset Strip, which was a rock n’ roll club in the 60s, The Leaves replaced them and were there discovered by singer/actor Pat Boone who got them a record contract.

And like a bat out of hell, the band released two popular singles in 1965. “Too Many People” which I am including under this paragraph and “Hey Joe,” even though “Hey Joe” wasn’t popular until it was released a third time. I’ll explain

Before I start talking about the song above, I’d like to talk about “Hey Joe” and the rest of the history of the band. Obviously, “Hey Joe” is most recognized as a Jimi Hendrix distored, hard-rock song; one of his guitar saturated pieces that oozes with emotion and pure awesomeness. But I do feel like many do not know that the song was not initially presented in its rock n’ roll form by Hendrix. (The song does have a history which I am not going to discuss in this post – stay tuned for a future history). The first version was The Leaves’ gritty, fuzzy, stripped down, developed version.  The Leaves were a young band and “Hey Joe” was their tour de force. The song was initially released in 1965, but it was pulled back by the band because it was unsatisfactory. Then it was released again in 1966 and that recording flopped. It was not until original guitarist Bill Rinehart left and new guitarist Bobby Arlin experimented with a fuzztone, that the song became popular, a #1 hit in LA (#31 on Billboard).

The band broke up in 1967. Arlin went on to form the psychedelic band The Hook and Pons joined the Turtles. In 1970, the band reunited for a year and then broke up again. Pons also played in the Mothers of Invention before becoming a video director for the New York Jets in 1973. He retired in 2000 and moved down to Jacksonville where he now does game-day video for the Jaguars and plays stand-up bass in a bluegrass gospel band called Deep Creek.

He lived on Long Island and worked for the Jets (that is swell in my book!)

Let’s listen to the songs. “Too Many People” is clearly Beatle-inspired. It is a good example of repetitive garage rock. A constant riff, vocal melody, and a harmonica. Mix this with screaming fans and you have got yourself a mid-60s rock band. “Hey Joe” is just, well, different. The fuzzbox immediately screams a more mature form of garage rock, an improvement to the buzzing sound that became synonymous with garage rock. The song is packed with emotion, solid bass work and an  enjoyable guitar. It is the rock original and it is important to recognize it as such.

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