In a recent thread Townsman dickbonanzaasked, “Why do I like Dylan’s melodies more than his lyrics?”
Has anyone else ever felt this way? As much as I love some of Dylan’s more direct, personal lyrics, I’m sometimes so mystified by his more impressionistic ones that I’m happy to sit back and enjoy the melodies. For instance, I love the song “Visions of Johanna,” but I’m not able to begin to contemplate the lyrics. I have a friend who’s spent so much time analyzing and appreciating the lyrics to that song that he wants to wrte an essay on the topic. He’s a lot smarter than me.
Think of all the relative “lightweights” with conventionally great voices who’ve sung their hearts out on Bob’s music. Some of them must be as confused as I sometimes am by the words. In fact, perhaps as much as 40% of Dylan’s lyrics hold little interest for me; those songs are carried by the melodies. How about you?
Considering that I’ve been a fan of The Band since my uncle turned me onto them when I was a little boy, I was surprised to learn during our Artists Who Have Dabbled in Production for Other Artists thread that Robbie Robertson produced the debut album by someone named Hirth Martinez. I’ve tracked down a lot of Band-related albums, including that Neil Diamond exercise in pomposity, Beautiful Noise, but I’d never heard of this Martinez cat. Thanks to Townsman BigSteve, I’m now enjoying Martinez’ first two albums, the 1975 Robertson-produced Hirth From Earth and Big Bright Street, a 1977 album produced by Band engineer/arranger John Simon.
I’m still trying to get my head around who Martinez is. What little information I find on him on the Web starts with split reports of him having been “discovered” by either Robertson or Bob Dylan. Most likely he existed before either of those well-know musicians threw their support behind him, but you know how this stuff goes. As I told BigSteve after my initial spins of these albums, I thought his music sounded like “Van Dyke Parks if he didn’t suck, or Ry Cooder if he had half a voice.” I later saw that Parks had played on at least one of his albums.
As I said in the Mystery Date piece, the song I chose, “Be Everything” was not as characteristic of most of the songs on Hirth From Earth. I simply liked it and thought it had its own ephemeral feel. However, the album does have an unusual span of influences. Producer Robertson and engineer/arranger Simon are strongly in evidence here, on “Comin’ Round the Moon.” Garth Hudson also plays on these albums along with a cast of top-flight session players.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/05_Comin_Round_the_Moon.mp3|titles=Hirth Martinez, “Comin’ Round the Moon”]
Across the two albums BigSteve turned me onto, Martinez has about as many short songs as Guided By Voices. From second album, here’s one that’s caught my ear, “Cold and Silver Moment”…after the jump!Continue reading »
I saw a recent cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring an interview with Elton John. “Elton Remembers,” reads the cover copy, as the formerly flamboyant Glam star soberly stares out at me with his million dollar weave and horn-rimmed glasses as humble as those he wore during his 1970 tour introductory tour of America. I have not yet read this article, but I’m pretty sure I know what it’s going to focus on: the continuing process of John putting his rock ‘n roll house in order.
Years ago, when my wife and I were first dating, we ran into one of my old musician friends on a street corner. His long hair and slacker Shaggy Rogers facade hid the fact that he was a gentle, thoughtful guy whose only vice was sweets. After continuing on our way, she said something like, “Band members have this reputation for being tough and cool, but whenever I meet them they’re usually the nicest people in the club.” From 1978 through the 1980s, Penny Rush-Valladares interacted with rock stars galore while running Backstage Cafe, a concert catering company in Kansas City, Missouri. In the process, Penny became a member of the Kansas City rock scene herself. From both the tales on her website, Rock and Roll Stories, and our conversations about her her experiences, it quickly became clear that Penny was among the many nice ones in the rock scene, super nice.
But this hard-working, rock ‘n roll-loving hippie (in the best sense of the term) isn’t beyond dishing more than her patented turkey dinners. In the course of our talk we gain some shocking insights about the likes of Roger Waters, Neil Diamond, and Bob Dylan – not to mention a story about Van Halen that’s more disgusting than I would have thought possible. A key detail about a diminutive purple presence in the ’80s rock scene explains so much, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In the true spirit of the Halls of Rock, Penny brings a cheerful attitude, a bruised-but-not-beaten sense of idealism, and the willingness to let it all hang out. You won’t run into a Penny on any old street corner.
Penny’s website chronicles some of her earliest rock ‘n roll stories, including her night with The Beatles; we start with her entry into rock ‘n roll catering.
RTH: Can you summarize your work as a rock ‘n roll caterer? How did you get started as a caterer for touring musicians? You were initially based out of a certain venue, right?
Penny: Well, yes and no. I worked out of the Uptown Theatre in the beginning, helping another woman and learning the ropes. But it soon extended out into other venues. It was in its infant stages and we made it up as we went along. Basically we had to come up with a little dressing room food for the artists and some crew dinner for 20 or so guys. The reason I got involved was because I loved going to concerts and wanted to be backstage, so I soon realized there was a need for food and I knew that was something I could do.
It just kept evolving and demands from the artists kept getting more involved and official. A contract “rider” came along, which listed all the particular needs of each act and their food requirements were included. So it didn’t take long for me to start specializing in concert catering. I never wanted to do other kinds of catering, because I was only doing it to be backstage.
It goes without saying that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan constitute three quarters of this soon-to-be historic monument, which the U.S. National Park Service is planning to sculpt in an undisclosed location. Who’s the fourth and final artist (solo or band) to be chiseled into stone?
Today I spent another delightful evening with Townsman E. Pluribus Gergely and his family. We briefly discussed the Paul McCartney issue, raised after discussion of Paul’s recent appearance on Letterman. We agreed that Paul’s plastic surgery, Botox, and hair dye were relevant in any criticisms of his performance because he continues to try to sell us on the fact that he’s got something left in the tank when he’s had nothing for the last 25 or more years.
Then we had a little disagreement when I compared him to Bob Dylan, saying, “Dylan doesn’t resort to the Botox; he’s not trying to fool anyone.”
Plurbs said, “No, Dylan’s just as bad. He should go away too.” Continue reading »
What are the definitive cover versions of Bob Dylan songs, that is, those covers that Dylan’s own original recordings cannot touch? What do you think the over/under is on such covers, 5, 10, 15? Why don’t we hash it out here in the Halls of Rock?
To prevent against Definitive Dylan Cover Version ballot-box stuffing by the likes of DylanphobeTownsman Hrrundivbakshi, who might suggest that any Dylan cover beats the original version thanks to the lack of Dylan’s voice alone, any definitive cover version that’s suggested will be stricken from the record with as few as TWOreasoned objections by Townspeople.
We’re going to be counting on longtime Dylan fans to speak for the hundreds of deep cuts and “bootleg series” recordings that folks will suggest have been covered definitively, but I’ll start with one such cover version that I cannot see anyone objecting to: Continue reading »
