he was a great man

Let’s Cut the Crap With Neil Diamond, Tom Waits, et al: Put Captain Beefheart in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame

Dec 182010

On the ride back from my company party tonight I listened to a rough demo of a new song I wrote a couple of weeks ago that attempts to touch on a fraction of the feeling I get from two of my favorite Captain Beefheart songs, the shattered glass blues of “Hothead” and the blow your speakers/blow your mind F-U of “Frownland.” In my humble songwriting efforts there are probably two dozen songs I try to draw power from, and while taking some pride in my latest efforts at internalizing these two songs I thought of the audio equivalent of time-lapsed nature photography of “Dirty Blue Gene,” my favorite Beefheart song ever. It was clear how much space Beefheart had cleared for my mind to run. Catching up with almost an entire day that I missed here in the Halls of Rock I have learned that Beefheart his died at 69 from complications from multiple sclerosis. Too bad. He was a great…artist.

Put this guy in the stupid Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame already. The world doesn’t need to pay any more attention to Neil Diamond. What can be learned from a closer look at his life, that he liked hash brownies? I’ve got no major beef with Tom Waits, but he’s no Beefheart. In fact, he wouldn’t be much of a Tom Waits if he hadn’t begun internalizing Beefheart beginning with Swordfishtrombones. This is not to dismiss his earlier albums, but it’s the Beefheart-influenced ones that cemented his reputation as an Artist and something more than the oddball of the LA singer-songwriter scene.

Hey, I really shouldn’t use Beefheart’s death to take shots and Diamond, Waits, et al. What I’d really like to do is celebrate the weird, driven musical world Beefheart created. Thanks for blowing open a clear spot in my mind.

Click here for an old post in which I tried to convince a friend who usually knows better that he should know better when it comes to the music of Captain Beefheart.

NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy… Continue reading »

Let Me Roll It: The Most Lennonesque Song Since Lennon Was Shot

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Dec 082010

A few questions on this December 8, 2010…

What’s the most Lennonesque song by another artist since John Lennon‘s death, 30 years ago today?

Which artist, if any, since that time, has best embodied the Lennon spirit of lifetime achievement?

Did Paul McCartney‘s unfortunate reaction to John’s death solidify the lifetime of backlash Paul has since suffered?

Was “Watching the Wheels” John’s effort at initiating Kokomotion?

Had John not died, which newer generation artist would have collaborated with him first in the 1980s? Which newer generation artist would have most regrettably collaborated with him in the last 10 years?

The Topic That Must Not Be Named…Is

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 242010

This offlist note just in from a Townsperson who must not be named!

You may remember 2 years ago, at the first RTH gathering I attended, that I brought up a potential RTH topic that I thought was too tasteless to ever actually bring up on the board or start as a post: What would be the “Hitler’s Desk” of rock memorabilia? That is, the most gruesome/tasteless/bad karma infamous rock item that only a truly depraved collector would dare own.

My choice at the time, which I was sure no one could ever top if the topic ever came up—which it wouldn’t, and I would never own up to thinking of even if it did, of course—was the copy of Double Fantasy that Mark David Chapman had when he killed Lennon.

It turns out that the real world has caught up: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/24/album-john-lennon-signed-auction. The auctioneer even agrees: this is so terrible a thing to own that the person selling it must do so in secret, for fear of his/her own life and/or standing on rock message boards around the world.

Yes, Unnamed Townsperson, I remember this discussion and contine to get a good laugh out of that topic. This reality, however, is sick!

A Belated Hail to General Johnson

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Oct 172010

I saw it in passing the other day, but I never got around to posting notice of the passing of General Johnson, driving force of the Chairmen of the Board and other late-’60s/early-’70s AM radio soul-pop acts that kept an increasingly outdated mode of music on the shelves a little bit longer than it might have been kept otherwise.

As a boy, hearing this stuff fresh on the AM radio, mixed in with classic Motown hits from 5 years earlier, it never occured to me that Johnson’s contributions were those of a sort of anti-visionary, or a rearview-mirror visionary. Understandably we often applaud artists for their ability to be “5 years ahead of their time,” but I think it’s time to applaud Johnson for his ability to be 5 years behind his time—in a good way. For those not quite ready to leave behind razor-sharp hooks, blatant downbeats, and songs composed for their strength of their catchy titles/choruses rather than any deep, personal meaning, General Johnson had set about the task of, as Ray Davies might put it, “preserving the old ways from being abused.” I don’t know if this occurred to anyone at the time of the songs’ releases, but as I think about it now, hits like “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” “Patches,” and “Want Ads” may have been the slightest bit “old fashioned” compared with the “happening” music of its time, but the recordings had all the life of their times. They were of the moment, the way a middle-aged person still hopes he or she can be now and then. More power to the General for this unusual knack.

If you don’t get what I’m getting at, here’s Honey Cone‘s “Want Ads,” one of those slightly past expiry date hits I’m talking about. In 1970 even The Supremes were attempting to move beyond the standard Motown template, but this song epitomizes the label’s mid-’60s innocence. Also for comparison, at this time, think about the funky hits of The Jackson 5. “Want Ads” has just enough funk to sound contemporary, but it stops short of that added oomph that would characterize contemporary funk, such as one of those instrumental breakdowns in any of the early J5 hits.

NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
Continue reading »

Pedal Steel-Guitar Player Ben Keith Dies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 272010

Ben Keith with Faron Young and band.

Pedal steel-guitar player and producer Ben Keith, best known for his work with Neil Young, dating back to the Harvest album, has died at 73. There aren’t a lot of details out on his death, from what I’ve read. I had no idea Keith’s career dated back to playing on Patsy Cline‘s “I Fall to Pieces.” Continue reading »

Marvin Gaye Mentor Harvey Fuqua Dead

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 082010

Thanks to dbuskirk for the heads up on Fuqua’s death.

Motown A&R man/songwriter/producer/etc Harvey Fuqua has died at 80 years of age. I have long known the name of Fuqua from his credits on Marvin Gaye and Surpremes records. In all these years I never knew a tenth of what he did, but any collaborator with Gaye who had the same last name as one of the coolest figures in 1970s football is cool in my book! Here’s an awesome piece from the NewBlackMan blog on Fuqua’s career and impact on other artists.

Don’t trust my reading comprehension skills (click on the links above), but it turns out Fuqua led the late-1950s R&B group The Moonglows as well as acted in an A&R capacity for the band’s label, Chess Records. Fuqua first groomed young Marvin when he joined as a member of The Moonglows. Among other achievements at Motown Fuqua is credited with teaming Marvin with his greatest duet partner, Tammi Terrell. Along with his collaboration on Gaye’s awesome final album, Midnight Love, Fuqua would continue having success producing artists into the ’70s and early ’80s, with the likes of Sylvester and The Weather Girls. Here’s a mid-’70s act he guided that I’d never heard of before now, New Birth. The totally unexpected dance break at the 1:32 mark is among the finest unexpected dance breaks in the history of televised music! Continue reading »

Kinks Bassist Pete Quaife Dies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 242010

Townsman Al just passed along the sad news of Kinks bassist Pete Quaife dying at 66 years of age. Although it’s hard to gauge how much magic Quaife contributed to a band led by control-freak Ray Davies, his departure from the band in 1969 marked the beginning of the end of The Golden Age of The Kinks. The band would make a couple more fine albums with replacement John Dalton, but Dalton’s Look never melded near as well as Quaife’s did with the Davies brothers and Mick Avory.

I wonder how late in his Kinks kareer this 1969 clip dates?
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NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
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