Is this the last post to grace this venerable blog? Who knows? But right now it is! LMS! Hand over the belt, mother scratchers!!!
Aug 092016
Jun 272016
I do—I especially like it when it’s a surprise. A single Courtney Barnett released earlier this year has nice little snippet at about 1:28 in this funny little song about ramen noodles.
Now this is not an epic solo, like Dylan or Neil or even The Hollies pull off — just a nice little interlude. It reminds of the Replacements throwing in a little harmonica at about 2:12 on “Achin’ To Be.” Just enough, not too much.
So, my burning question: What song contains your favorite harmonica solo?
Jun 242016
As I browse through the listings on dimeadozen, I often chuckle at the names of heavy metal bands. “This can’t be real?!?!”
Here is a simple quiz. There are 12 band names. Some are real, that is, they are taken from dimeadozen listings, which are in the Heavy Metal category; others are names I made up. Your challenge is to identify which are real and which are the result of me having too much time on my hands. No cheating, no researching; all you can do is look at the list.
Jun 132016
As I mentioned in the When Band Members Go Solo thread, I saw Ian Hunter Saturday night. It was a fantastic show. No surprise there as every one of the half dozen or so times I’ve seen him was great but this may have been the best. He gets better with age. And he rocks hard! I’m not quite sure how he can do it; he turned 77 last week.
As I watched his inevitable encore – “All The Young Dudes” – I was reminded of a thread opportunity that I’ve thought of periodically over the years but never acted on. Better late than never.
Hunter is a great, great songwriter, responsible for a slew of fantastic songs in his solo career and all the Mott songs you know and love. All that is, except for the most famous Mott song, the David Bowie-penned “All The Young Dudes.”
I’ve always thought it “unfair” or “sad” or some other not-quite-exactly-right adjective that a band/artist who primarily write their own songs should have their most well-known song be the product of another songwriter.
And at the times in the past when I have thought about this thread, I thought of 2 other acts which fit this category. Of course, as I write this I can’t remember one of them.
Can you identify the one I do remember? Or the one I can’t? Or another?-
Jun 132016
Hello,
Hopefully this post will only be seen by contributing writers to Rock Town Hall. If the public at large, relatively speaking, sees this as well, so be it. As I’ve mentioned, in announcing the gradual wind down of Rock Town Hall, as we’ve come to know it and love it, The Back Office and I are seeking a way to “preserve” the work we’ve done for the benefit of future generations. As this place winds down and I try to get my head around where our powers may go next, I’ve also been thinking of ways to solidify the “characters” we’ve established through the years. I’d like to set up time with a number of you to talk over the phone or over e-mail to capture some of your thoughts – anything from final important rock stances you want to take…once and for all…to highlights you want to recap or dirt you want to dish on a fellow Townsperson. Let me know if you’d be up for a 15-minute call, and we can work it out through the summer. Thanks.
Jun 122016
I don’t have a graceful way of stating this: at some point, in the coming months, Rock Town Hall is likely to cease its active life and be preserved as an archive site of often dazzling rock insights and articulation. I can’t imagine what more we can do with this current vehicle. I don’t want to repeat myself. As much as I may joke about it, I actually feel too old and too wise to keep blasting away at the same ducks that refuse to leave the barrel. We’ve been in our public blog form since January 2007; we existed as a private Yahoo Group listserv for a few years prior to that. In the shortened lifespan of the digital age, does that mean we’ve managed to keep this place in business on the back of an 8-track format?
Jun 112016
My oldest son, who recently got his first turntable for his 19th birthday and who has proceeded on a heart-warming (mine), wallet-emptying (his) vinyl binge, sent me the following text while I was at the gym this morning:
When I go to record stores I see lots of solo albums by different artists but I never want to buy them cause I’m not familiar with the music and I know lots of artists suck when they go solo. For example, Ive seen lots of Fogerty solo work and McCartney solo work but I don’t know if it’s good. Can you think of the best artists who went solo so I know what to buy and what to avoid?
Good question, right? One of those questions I sometimes get from people young enough to be my kid that makes me think we need to follow Rock Town Hall with a next-generation spinoff. I’m not sure, myself, whether Pete Townshend’s Empty Glass is actually good. I can advise him on solo John Fogerty (“Eh…”). His question reminds me that I need to warn him to tread lightly with any other solo (or in any way post-Move) album by Roy Wood beside Boulders, which he borrowed from me last week and liked a lot. I’ve had mixed feelings about Pete Townshend, the Occasional Solo Artist, for years. Should I finally buy a used copy of Empty Glass? I’ll have a talk with him about McCartney and let him know that there’s really no difference between McCartney solo and Wings and that there’s nothing McCartney has done post-Beatles that is worth anything but a greatest hits collection beside the nearly amazing Band on the Run. (I know some of you stand behind Ram, as well. I’ll be fair and represent your thoughts on that album.)
What solo albums by musicians primarily associated with being members of a long-running band would you recommend my boy check out? Don’t suggest Van Morrison, because he spent his first couple of years in Them. Likewise, as I remember perceiving things at his age, my son still thinks of and likes Lou Reed as a solo artist before thinking of him as the guy from the Velvet Underground.
