Ever wondered what it really sounded like to hear Lou Reed‘s music the way it was meant to be sound? Now you can. Reed and audio manufacturer Klipsch have collaborated on the limited-edition Klipsch Signature Audio Edition Lou Reed X10i headphones, available next month. These headphones will enable listeners to hear Lou’s music as it was meant to sound, as only he can hear it!
With an unwavering passion for live music and a legacy of iconoclastic sound that’s influenced rock musicians around the globe, The Velvet Underground star knew Klipsch was the only brand that aligned with his vision and expectations for a headphone he would be proud to call his own.
The timing of the release of these limited-edition, “Louphones” coincides with the release of Lulu, Reed’s long-awaited, inevitable collaboration with Metallica, the band Reed was meant to collaborate with. “If you’re not listening to Lulu on my cans,” says Reed, “you might as well skip this album altogether and wait for my next one, which should really capture the way my music was meant to sound.”
Reporting on this story was provided by bostonhistorian.
Yesterday came word of the passing of Mark “Moogy” Klingman, one of the most prolific but “undersung” figures in our rock universe. I had heard the name “Moogy” Klingman pop up here and there, usually in the Todd Rundgren-Utopia camp. A follow-up with the usual suspects Wikipedia and All Music yielded quite a storied history. I was completely surprised of his wide-ranging accomplishments as a producer, songwriter, and musician. His getting expelled from high school after a jug-band performance with Andy Kaufman during a controversial civil rights concert is a story needed to be explored in more detail. He managed to cross paths over the years with all sorts, from Dylan and Hendrix to Midler and Manilow. His contributions to side 4 of Todd’s Something/Anything are invaluable (most notably the organ on Hello It’s Me). RIP.
I invite members of the Hall, more familiar with his work, to share their thoughts on the man.
I had never heard of Jackie Leven, who died of cancer today at 61, let alone heard a lick of his music until a few years ago, when KingEd turned me onto Control, an obscure 1975 album he released under the name John St. Field. KingEd and I listened to it all the way through, leaning forward and grinning at all the right licks. The next day I downloaded the whole thing off eMusic. I can’t speak for Ed, but I never downloaded another song by the guy. That one album was surprise enough, straddling very English hippy-dippy folk and pub rock. It’s nice to find some oddball album and simply enjoy its oddball pleasures.
I tried to contact Leven a couple of years ago for a chat with the Hall, but I never heard back from him. That was cool. Who was I, a guy who never bought more than a single record by an artist he’d never heard before, wanting to drag him into our scene? Like so many who have and who will die, he led an interesting life with unexpected twists and turns. There’s still music to be explored, rock knowledge to be explored. For instance, I didn’t know until reading his obit that he did a duet on “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” with my man David Thomas. I also learned, by reading his obit, that we shared the same birthday. See how this stuff can all make a little sense? I’m glad I happened across Jackie Leven and that one album’s worth of songs.
Takiff’s admission follows in the wake of the super-deluxe reissue of Joel’s Piano Man, featuring a bonus legendary and oft-bootlegged 1972 WMMR live-in-studio broadcast. For many area listeners this historic broadcast gave first airing to songs from Piano Man about a year and a half prior to the album’s 1973 breakthrough release date. A former WMMR DJ, Takiff describes the rush of excitement that swept the Delaware Valley on the night of this broadcast and lasted long into the ’70s, when a Philadelphia teens like a young Mr. Moderator first heard a rebroadcast of Joel’s intimate performance. Takiff describes a “special song”:
That special song was “Captain Jack,” a pungent, pitiless appraisal of wasted suburban youth. As it had at the Point, the tune killed during the Sigma radio concert. “Captain Jack” dares to murmur the word “masturbate,” a sexy shocker I’d never heard uttered in a song before. And then there’s that rousing chorus, “Captain Jack will get you high tonight.”
By the early 1980s, hip Philadelphians would feel a growing sense of shame over their role in feuling the artist’s skyrocketing journey through MOR radio. “We clutched ever so tightly to our similar role in kick-starting the career of Springsteen,” says Joey Sweeney, local tastemaker and editor/founder of the popular, hip lifestyle blog Philebrity. “The Boss maintained a bit of cool cred, whether he was getting all serious with Nebraska, dancing in the dark, or even playing with that thick-thighed guitarist from Lone Justice.”
“I was down with Piano Man and even Streetlight Serenade,” says Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, “but I couldn’t relate to ‘New York State of Mind,’ from Turnstiles. I mean, what kind of ‘Thank you’ was that to the city that first took him to her bosom?”
The Mayor promised to offer a formal apology from the City of Philadelphia for its role in Joel’s continuing pop music presence once today’s Election Day activities have settled down. “Listen,” Mayor Nutter continued, “I’m willing to let bygones be bygones, but I’d rather think of Philadelphia in the early ’70s as the town that first embraced politically minded artists like Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.”
Long considered (by myself, if no one else) perhaps England’s “most American” rocker, former Bad Company/Free vocalist Paul Rodgers was sworn in today as a Canadian citizen.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
*PAUL RODGERS SWORN IN AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN*
October 26, 2011 – At a public ceremony in Surrey, B.C. last Friday October 21st The legendary *Paul Rodgers* was sworn in as a Canadian Citizen.
A statement from Paul:
It may not be my native land but Canada is surely now my home. While I’ll always be an Englishman, Canada has given me so much for which I am grateful. My wife, your former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk, a new and extended family and the chance to be truly free in a country that with its quiet strength combines the best of so many worlds.
I’m proud to be a Canuck.
Thank you, Merci.
Paul Rodgers
I don’t know about you, but I’m hurt—and a bit pissed. Bad Co and Free were totally aimed at Americans! Any sales in the UK or Canada were a bonus. Bad Co so badly wanted to be American it wasn’t funny. I bet Rodgers was jealous of the English guys in Foreigner, who presented such a Corporate American Rock image that they could slip across our border without use of a passport. Play me one ragged Canadian chorus in any Bad Co song! Johnny didn’t travel to Toronto to become a shooting star, did he? Have you ever suspected the slightest sense of humor from any Bad Co recording? Canadians are funny, man! Everybody knows that. And what’s with the “Merci?” He’s gonna try to convince us he speaks French after 40 years touring the world with his brand of Goon Rock?
Surely Rodgers has been suffering through an identity crisis since his stirring induction speech for Bob Seger‘s entrance to Rock Town Hall’s Foyer of Fame. He thought he could replace Freddie Mercury in a reformed Queen. Wasn’t that like casting Clint Eastwood as the transvestite singer in The Crying Game? I know, Canada gave ’70s arena rockers around the world hockey sweaters, and as he mentions, he plucked his beautiful wife from their land, but still… I’m more Canadian than Rodgers. If Rodgers was going to defect he should have defected to the US of A.
Here’s hoping our Canadian correspondents will check in with their thoughts on this stunning news. I really don’t mean to take anything away from your great country. Everything Rodgers says about it is true. I just don’t like the fact that he chose you over us.
Townsman BigSteve has passed along the news that New Orleans arranger Wardell Quezergue has died at 81. Not being that knowledgeable about New Orleans music, I had never heard of Quezergue. I sure as hell grew up, however, digging the syncopated arrangements for songs like “Mr. Big Stuff” and “Groove Me,” two smash songs (as I just read) that he arranged on the same day! In my high school and college years I was tormented by the chestnut “Iko, Iko,” but that’s because I’d only suffered through hearing it played by the Grateful Dead. The Dixie Cups’ version that Quezergue arranged is pretty cool.
By a 2:1 margin, The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night” beat The Nazz’s “Open My Eyes” in the Side 1 vs Side 4 Nuggets Divisional Playoff Series to progresses to the Finals in Rock Town Hall’s playoffs to determine, once and for all, the Best Song on the Original Nuggets Compilation.
