Tag Archives: Music

Monday Blues and Pink Floyd Ruse

12 Jul

I came across a funny article about blues music this morning over at Porky’s Place (link: http://counterfeminism.info/2010/06/old-black-men-and-their-woes/).

Porky notes that blues music is an old man’s heavy metal. He says that, “When one is young, one is angry about the woeful state of the world, so one listens to the high pitched screechings of angry young men like Axl Rose and Marilyn Manson, but as one makes his way towards forty, one is more inclined to think “Stuff it all, I’ll listen to some dying old men instead.”

Great stuff there Porky. Blues music finds its roots in personal struggle in a harsh world, focusing a lot on failing relationships, cruelty, oppression and longing. I am a big fan of blues music, especially early blues, and I mean early. The blues that perfectly combines a singer’s gravelly voice with the raw, scratchy recording.

Porky includes some blues lyrics and explanations in his article and I am going to add another lyric to the list, one of my person favorite blues verses. “I’m Ready,” written by Willie Dixon in 1954 and first recorded by Muddy Waters in the same year, is both funny and bluesy. Yes, this is possible. Just look at hokum blues.

Joining Muddy Waters on the “I’m Ready” recording was Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmie Rogers on guitar, Willie Dixon, on bass, Otis Spann on drums, and Fred Below on drums. The collective pride of Chess records. Here is my favorite verse:

“I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin’ balls and chain
I’m drinkin’ TNT, I’m smokin’ dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
‘Cause I’m ready, ready as anybody can be
I’m ready for you, I hope you’re ready for me”

On Saturday night, David Gilmour and Roger Waters performed together for the Hoping Foundation Benefit Evening, an organization that stands for hope and optimism for Palestinians in the Next Generation, and they would have secretly gotten away with it if it wasn’t for twitter, cameras and the media.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 10: David Gilmour (L) and Roger Waters perform at a benefit evening for The Hoping Foundation on July 10, 2010 in London, England. (Photo by Dave M. Benett/CI Getty Images Entertainment)

Yeah, I know, right. What the hell? Why was I not there? The seemingly impromptu performance took place in Kiddington Hall in Oxfordshire.

News of the Waters and Gilmour mini-show, was broken by Fearne Cotton, one of the hosts of the evening, who tweeted about the event in the early hours of Sunday morning.

I found more information from the show on David Gilmour’s blog: http://www.davidgilmourblog.com/

Gilmour and Waters were joined by Guy Pratt on bass and acoustic guitar, Harry Waters on keyboard, Andy Newmark on drums, Chester Kamen on guitar, and Jonjo Grisdale (on keyboards).

They played ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’, a song that was often featured in Pink Floyd sound checks when they were together, followed by ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Comfortably Numb’, and Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two). The crowd was around 200.

I only hope that Gilmour and Waters had a wonderful time. They did help raise 350,000 pounds for the charity, which definitely helps with the fun. Maybe, we can attract them to Madison Square Garden for a large charity show. It can benefit all of the Floyd fans that would pay thousands of dollars to see Gilmour and Waters to join forces!

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The Lebron James Saga…Through Song

9 Jul

The Lebron James free agent saga will be put to rest over the upcoming days…at least until the NBA season nears a beginning and ESPN basketball analysts begin to obsess over the big three in Miami and how they can become an unstoppable ball bandying force. I’m looking at you Adande. It was a long, at times arduous process, ending in an unpleasant result for James’ home city and other Lebron contender’s fan bases. But, Miami took home the ultimate prize after a media spectacle that probably garnered more ratings than any NBA finals will ever succeed in drawing. I would now go into a sports fans useless analysis of the Lebron situation, but, this is a music blog and, by god, I shall keep my objectivity with all sports (except for the Mets and the Jets who I have proved to already be biased towards).

But, I could not avoid the Lebron hoopla and I had to surround a post around it somehow. So, I thought I would display the entire Lebron free agent process through song. That’s right, song.

Preparing his vocal chords

Once upon a time…

Lebron James walked off the court after his Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics in the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals. The video of him walking into the player’s tunnel depicted a dejected athlete, anything but a King at that moment of time. But, after much waiting on July 1, 2010, Lebron James officially declared for free agency and the process began. For James, he may have felt some consternation, but overall I’m sure he was…

James was immediately courted (haha Basketball puns) by several NBA teams looking to improve their roster by adding a superstar talent. He set up, or rather his large business entourage set up numerous meetings with these prospective homes for the King. They all presented ways that he could succeed to the true throne by winning championships or making absurd amounts of money. They all showed Lebron a world of…

I feel like Gene Shalit. Lebron heard all of the possibilities and even listened to some fellow ballers, including Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh who urged him to join forces with them in Miami, sparking many pundits to claim that this weird, bad teenage movie-like pact set by Wade, Bosh, and Lebron to play on the same team, had been decided for a while. It seemed perfectly hokey:

Wade and Bosh, who both decided to play together on Miami on Wednesday, lured Lebron with promises of another Queen song. One to the tune of…

Lebron James was hooked. New York would bring bright lights, Chicago, the shadow of Michael Jordan, and Cleveland the comfort of home, but Miami brought together the three musketeers in a red Heat uniform. Lebron decided that instead of announcing his decision quietly, he would instead make a spectacle out of it that would both stroke his ego and keep fans on their toes hoping for a positive decision. Did it make this process a joke? Yes. Was it entertaining? Of course it was. And, last time I checked sports are an overpaid form of grand entertainment.

Russell Crowe aside, Lebron James finally made his decision on an ESPN special and chose to be:

Cleveland Cavaliers fans erupted in loud chants of expletives directed at the former home-grown all-star. It was pure disappointment for Cavs’ fans including Cavs’ owner, Dan Gilbert, who most likely first felt melancholy and cried out:

and then erupted in a fiery diatribe (through words) much to the likes of:

And, Cleveland did not sleep well as the party began in Miami. What can anyone say on the morning after besides:

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The Real Starr of the Day

7 Jul

The Lebron James free agent saga will finally come to a close tomorrow night and all throughout the day today the internet was flooded with NBA rumors. I admit it, I fell into the trap and refreshed twitter far more then a stable human being should. I am consumed. But, while James may be the ultimate star tomorrow, a certain Starr celebrated his 70th birthday today. And, as a present, he just wants “Peace and Love.”

He celebrated his birthday tonight with a little help from his All-Star Band at Radio City Music Hall.

What’s the best part of still playing music?

“Playing with other musicians,” said Ringo.

The now 70-year-old musician, born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, has gone a long way from appendicitis at six and chronic pleurisy at 13 which caused him to be placed in a sanatorium for two years. Can you imagine that after Ringo replaced former Beatles’ drummer Pete Best as the band’s drummer, fans of Best protested by shouting, “Pete, forever! Ringo, never.” How wrong they would be. Ringo has persevered through challenges and has become one of the most liked drummers of all time. He also is pretty darn talented if you ask me.

Here is Ringo with his drum solo in “The End”

Happy Birthday Ringo!

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The Underrated Album: “Odessey and Oracle”

6 Jul

If you live in the Northeast, the scorching grip of summer most certainly was felt today as temperatures hit 103 in New York. And, trust me, it took one minute outside before sweat started developing on every crevice of your body. It was a broiler, but, hey at least its summer. Summer does mean something besides hot weather. New categories. I can hear the applause. Last summer, when the Music Court was still in its nascent stages, we premiered the 60’s bands section. This summer, I’d like to focus on underappreciated albums.

I feel that every music fan who respects the art of albums has at least one unknown album that he/she likes that many others have never heard of. I have around 90 of them. Okay, that was a completely random number, but, I do enjoy many albums that I feel to be very underrated. This gave me an idea. How about a category that profiles one underrated album a week? So, today the Music Court is pleased to welcome “The Underrated Album” to our humble blog home. And, to kick it all off, The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle.

When Odessey and Oracle was released in April of 1968, The Zombies had already disbanded. During the recording sessions that led to the 12-track LP of original Rod Argent and Chris White tunes, including the unmistakable “Time of the Season,” tempers flared over various elements of the recording. This included “Time of the Season,” where Argent insisted that vocalist Colin Blunstone sung the song a certain way. Thankfully, after he told Argent to sing the song himself, Blunstone agreed to put his mark on rock history (well, he did not know this at the time). Blunstone and Argent got back together in 2001 and still tour today.

So, the break-up of the band most definitely attributed to the little success of the album after it was released. There would be no live performances of the album until Argent and Blunstone got back together 33 years later. Also, it did not help that the album went almost unreleased in the United States, where a lot of the music market resided, by CBS boss Clive Davis. It took the urging of staff producer Al Kooper, best known for organizing the band Blood Sweat & Tears, to get the album onto the U.S CBS/Columbia records label. Kooper loved the album and believed it had three hit singles. He was certainly right about one particular single.

Another reason for why the album did not hit immediate success was because of the competition of the times. Here is a short list of some albums released in 1968.

Beggars Banquet (#57 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums of all time) by The Rolling Stones, White Album (#10) by the Beatles, Cheap Thrills (#338) by Big Brother and the Holding Company, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s debut eponymous album, Electric Ladyland (#54) by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

1968 is commonly depicted as one of the greatest years for album releases in music history. There was an embarrassment of riches and it is quite possible that Odessey and Oracle was simply lost in success of other albums.

But, recently the album has made a resurgence. It currently ranks 80th on the Rolling Stones list and it appears on numerous lists of greatest albums of the rock era. The genius of the album lies in its diversity, psychedelic sound and well…you know:

Fun Fact: The famous misspelling of odyssey was a mistake by the designer of the LP cover.

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Born in the Internet

5 Jul

Hello everyone. Sorry for the late posting today, but this is the first opportunity I have had to sit down at a computer and write about music. Speaking of computers, the artist formerly known as Prince, shunned the complex interweb, with its fancy links and its crazy Itunes.

“All these computers and digital gadgets are no good,” said Prince. “They just fill your head with numbers, and that can’t be good for you.”

Uh…do you think somebody should tell him that the people making sure that he makes money (i.e. accountants, managers), well, their heads are always filled with numbers and they are probably keeping track of everything on the…internet. Prince, buddy, listen. You are an extraordinarily talented musician, but, the world wide web is not going anywhere. Those who refuse to change with the time often are left in the dust.

Prince goes on to compare the internet to a fad, like “MTV” or Pogs, exclaiming that, “the internet is over,” which sounds more like an apocalyptic message than a musician’s proclamation. Prince here are some lyrics that you may want to study, “Come mothers and fathers, Throughout the land, And don’t criticize, What you can’t understand.”

UPDATE (7/12)

Prince may disregard that the internet is here to stay, but, his listeners certainly disagree. Prince, who agreed to give out his album for free with British newspapers, may be feeling the effects of people receiving the CD and selling it online for 13 euros. Hundreds of copies of the CD have gone on sale on several websites, leading one music fan (me) to laugh hysterically. Oops!

The internet?

Are any of you feeling a hangover from your fourth of July weekend. No, not that kind of hangover; more like a, “I don’t want the barbecues, national pride, days off from work, and did I mention barbecues to ever stop. Well, to keep you in that American mood for just a little while longer here is America’s very own Bruce Springsteen with an acoustic version of “Born in the USA.”

Yes, lyrically, the song deals with the effects of the Vietnam war on Americans and is widely misinterpreted as a patriotic anthem, but, freedom of speech is as American as you can get.

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