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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 11:14:44 GMT -5
There is also a special circle in Hell for performers who use accordians in their songs Hell for accordian players? No love for Weird Al? What about polka bands? Weird Al-thumbs up for using them for parody Lawrence Welk-eternal damnation |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 10, 2017 12:37:12 GMT -5
Flaco Jimenez is proof that the accordion is amazing.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 13:10:29 GMT -5
Albums Of The Month-January 1967 I'll post each month's important album releases with an accompanying review from Robert Christgau and non-single album cuts. First up is a catch-up for last month  The Doors: The Doors (Elektra) [RS] In a year of historic debut albums, no record by a new American band so immediately electrified the world as The Doors, the first and best documentation of singer Jim Morrison's Byronic fury and the locomotive jazz-inflected drive of organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. The band was just a year old when it recorded these eleven songs in six days in August 1966. But in the crisp funk of "Soul Kitchen," the extended pop art of "Light My Fire" and the Shakespearean violence of "The End," the Doors perfected an airtight resolution of their live prowess (refined nightly that summer at the Whisky a Go-Go) and Morrison's improvised explosions of lyric transgression.  Donovan: Mellow Yellow (Epic) [RS] "Mellow Yellow," a Number Two hit in the U.S., was a burlesque-brass grind a la Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35," scored by John Paul Jones (later of Led Zeppelin) with whispering vocals by Paul McCartney. The rest of Mellow Yellow is gently magnificent introspection, rooted in the modern acoustic folk scene then emerging in Britain ("House of Jansch" refers to guitarist Bert Jansch) and draped in John Cameron's pastoral-jazz arrangements. Donovan later noted that "Hampstead Incident" was partly inspired by Nina Simone and the chord progression in "Anji," by British guitarist Davy Graham. Ironically, the beauty of Mellow Yellow was obscured by the rumor that the title single advocated smoking banana peels as a legal alternative to marijuana. In fact, the "electrical banana" in the third verse is a vibrator.  The Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons (London) [RS] Accused of psychedelia, Beatlephobia and murky-mix syndrome, this underrated keeper is distinguished by complex rhymes, complex sexual stereotyping and the non-blues, oh-so-rock-&-roll pianos of Ian Stewart, Jack Nitzsche, Nicky Hopkins and Brian Jones. Like all Beatles and Stones albums till that time, it was released in different American and British versions. The surefire U.S.-only "Let's Spend the Night Together"/"Ruby Tuesday" single parlay is almost too much because its greatness is understood--"Backstreet Girl," bumped to the Flowers compilation released later that year, more closely resembles such gemlike songs of experience as "Connection," "My Obsession" and "She Smiled Sweetly." Capper: Mick and Keith's zonked music-hall "Something Happened to Me Yesterday," the Stones' drollest odd-track-out ever. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 10, 2017 13:55:31 GMT -5
Ish KabbibleHow mainstream were the Doors in 1967? Here they were in 16 magazine in a "Find the Mistakes" contest.  "Light My Fire" was one more game-changer for young rock and roll fans in a most fertile era.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 15:07:51 GMT -5
Ish Kabbible How mainstream were the Doors in 1967? Here they were in 16 magazine in a "Find the Mistakes" contest. "Light My Fire" was one more game-changer for young rock and roll fans in a most fertile era. As Hal points out, The Doors were appealing to a mainstream audience with their debut. The rift between AM and FM rock audiences had not occurred as of yet in the beginning of 1967. In fact, FM rock was just getting on it's feet. Just about all rock performers made a conscious effort at this time to have a hit single on their albums. This would include folks such as Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd et. al, acts who would later disdain Top 40 Question: Was Light My Fire the first significant rock song to be released on album at it's full length (7:06) but came out in an edited version (2:52) as a single? |
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 10, 2017 15:31:13 GMT -5
Ish Kabbible How mainstream were the Doors in 1967? Here they were in 16 magazine in a "Find the Mistakes" contest. "Light My Fire" was one more game-changer for young rock and roll fans in a most fertile era. As Hal points out, The Doors were appealing to a mainstream audience with their debut. The rift between AM and FM rock audiences had not occurred as of yet in the beginning of 1967. In fact, FM rock was just getting on it's feet. Just about all rock performers made a conscious effort at this time to have a hit single on their albums. This would include folks such as Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd et. al, acts who would later disdain Top 40 Question: Was Light My Fire the first significant rock song to be released on album at it's full length (7:06) but came out in an edited version (2:52) as a single? When Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone," it was 6:30-plus, and it was first sent out divided in half on both sides of the 45. I don't know how long that lasted (not too long), but I think when it first came out, it was often played just to the end of the first side. Sooo enough deejays spliced the sides together and the record was rereleased. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 16:15:32 GMT -5
1967-The Changing Technology in Music-Part 4Parts 1-3 had dealt with the rise of FM radio, the conquest by stereo and the further development of multi-track recordings. part for of the keystone changes in music during 1967. Enter the dynamic duo of Moog and Mellotron Many artists try to push the bounds of music, to grab the listeners attention with new sounds and new techniques. A further challenge would be the ability to duplicate it on the road in concert. It's all well and good to incorporate an orchestra or sound effects on a studio recording. A bit disappointing when they are totally absent or obviously pre-recorded when you hear the live performance. These two devices helped to open the doors to rock's evolution and maturity, complexity and sometimes, unfortunately, pomposity Reverb, tape-looping, phasing-all had already come to play in the studios.The instrument known as the Theremin which was showcased in the movie Forbidden Planet was capable of interesting effects but was quite limited. In 1967 Robert Moog, through the use of transistors, was able to invent a compact sized synthesizer. His first production model, the Moog 900 was put on display during the 1967 Monterrey Music Festival, drawing the attention of many musicians including a gentleman named Walter Carlos. The first rock recordings to feature the Moog synthesizer were the songs on Cosmic Sounds by The Zodiac (released May 1967). The Moog was included prominently throughout albums of the Summer of Love era such as on Diana Ross & the Supremes single, "Reflections" (released July 1967), Strange Days by The Doors (released September 1967, e.g. track 1 "Strange Days"),[15] Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd. by The Monkees (e.g. tracks "Daily Nightly", "Star Collector")[16] (released November 1967), The Notorious Byrd Brothers by The Byrds (released January 1968, e.g. last track "Space Odyssey"), and Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends (released April 1968, e.g. track 2 "Save the Life of My Child"). It was capped off with the 1968 release of Walter Carlos' album Switched-On Bach becoming one of the highest selling classical recordings up to that time. The Moog was now commercially viable and music synthesizers would continue to evolve and gravitate from analogue to digital  The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical tape replay keyboard. Think of it as a multi-functional music sampler device, able to replicate a full orchestra.Mike Pinder, of the Moody Blues, had originally worked as a tester for an electronics company in England involved with the Mellotron. He purchased a second hand unit from them and used it extensively in the Moody Blue's 1967 album Days Of Future Passed. Pinder claims to have introduced Paul McCartney and John Lennon to the instrument. The Beatles did use it for 1967's Strawberry Fields Forever as well as the album Magical Mystery Tour. The Rolling Stones incorporated it for She's A Rainbow.King Crimson, Emerson Lake & Palmer,David Bowie and more all utilized Mellotrons Where would progressive rock and electronica be without these two devices? 1967 was when the general public heard them for the first time
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 10, 2017 20:49:59 GMT -5
Flaco Jimenez is proof that the accordion is amazing.  |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 10, 2017 21:01:38 GMT -5
Donovan: Mellow Yellow (Epic) [RS] "Mellow Yellow," a Number Two hit in the U.S., was a burlesque-brass grind a la Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35," scored by John Paul Jones (later of Led Zeppelin) with whispering vocals by Paul McCartney. The rest of Mellow Yellow is gently magnificent introspection, rooted in the modern acoustic folk scene then emerging in Britain ("House of Jansch" refers to guitarist Bert Jansch) and draped in John Cameron's pastoral-jazz arrangements. Donovan later noted that "Hampstead Incident" was partly inspired by Nina Simone and the chord progression in "Anji," by British guitarist Davy Graham. Ironically, the beauty of Mellow Yellow was obscured by the rumor that the title single advocated smoking banana peels as a legal alternative to marijuana. In fact, the "electrical banana" in the third verse is a vibrator. Sorry to be nitpicky (again!), but according to several sources online and my copy of Donovan's autobiography, the Mellow Yellow album was released in March 1967 in the U.S., not January. It actually didn't appear at all in the UK, due to a contractual dispute between Pye Records and Epic. This was also why Donovan's preceding album, Sunshine Superman, went unreleased in his native country. In late 1967, Pye Records eventually issued a UK version of Sunshine Superman, which included a selection of tracks from both the aforementioned U.S. LPs. Also, Paul McCartney does not provide the whispering vocals in the song "Mellow Yellow" -- the ones singing "quite rightly" -- that's Donovan himself. Macca's actually in the chorus of party ravers heard in the song's middle section. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 21:23:44 GMT -5
Have you considered changing your name from Confessor to Corrector  Seriously, you are correct and Robert Christgau wrong for assigning it to January. I'm personally going to smack him silly Love that accordion cartoon |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 10, 2017 21:30:57 GMT -5
Have you considered changing your name from Confessor to Corrector Ha! Yeah, sorry about constantly correcting you lately, Ish. It must be annoying.  Prior to looking it up, I couldn't have told you off of the top of my head exactly which month the Mellow Yellow album came out, but I'm a BIG Donovan fan and January 1967 just didn't sound right to me. I knew that it was more like a springtime '67 release, so I looked it up. Seriously, you are correct and Robert Christgau wrong for assigning it to January. I'm personally going to smack him silly Christgau's overrated, man.  Love that accordion cartoon Yeahj, me too. I actually really like the sound of the accordion, but it's a funny cartoon nonetheless Actually, one of my favourite hopelessly obscure bands, The Lilac Time, used that cartoon and the title, "Welcome to Hell, Here's Your Accordion" for a U.S. promo record back in 1989. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 21:43:11 GMT -5
Please, go right ahead and correct any factual mistakes I might make. I'm generally not doing any deep research and double checking everything I post so some faux pas are bound to creep in. If no one challenges or corrects me, I could very well assume folks have stopped reading.
And remember, this is not the Ish Kabbible blathers on and on about music I don't give a crap about. Well, I will blather on and on about that music, but it's open for any subject you wish to write
One subject I'll write about soon is the 4 separate meetings I've had in my life with some famous musicians. Also my visit to CBGB in the late 70's when it was an unknown club. How about musical acts I've seen booed off the stage? So many topics
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 10, 2017 22:04:05 GMT -5
And remember, this is not the Ish Kabbible blathers on and on about music I don't give a crap about. Well, I will blather on and on about that music, but it's open for any subject you wish to write I think I'll put up one of my music reviews and see how folks are interested. I used to work as a music journo briefly, until I realised that there was no money in it and that my heart was with playing/making music, rather than writing about it. One subject I'll write about soon is the 4 separate meetings I've had in my life with some famous musicians. Also my visit to CBGB in the late 70's when it was an unknown club. How about musical acts I've seen booed off the stage? So many topics I look forward to reading these. |
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Post by Confessor on Feb 10, 2017 22:15:21 GMT -5
Sticking with the vaguly 1960s theme of this thread so far and also with a nod to our thread starter, that New York boy, Ish Kabbible, here's a review that I wrote for Bob Dylan's Live at the Gaslight 1962 album back in 2008. Live At The Gaslight 1962Bob Dylan Columbia/Legacy, 2005  Back in 1962, the Gaslight café was the premier folk venue in the bohemian MacDougal Street area of New York's Greenwich Village. The venue had secured its credentials as the preeminent meeting place for the emerging folk crowd a few years earlier when Beat Generation poets like Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso regularly performed poetry readings there. The Gaslight was no "pass the hat for tips" style joint, but an elite folk club where only the best of Greenwich Village's folk singers could hope to perform. The young Bob Dylan would play at the venue a number of times during his early years as a Greenwich Village folkie, often using it as a place to try out new compositions in front of an audience. The material featured on Live At The Gaslight 1962 was recorded after the release of Dylan's eponymously titled debut album but before his breakthrough, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and primarily consists of traditional folk and blues songs. Having said that, the album does feature three early performances of Dylan originals in "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", and "John Brown". The first two songs would later appear on Dylan's second album, but the anti-war ballad "John Brown" would remain unreleased until Dylan’s "MTV Unplugged" album appeared in 1995. The version of "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right" here is an embryonic rendition, strummed instead of finger-picked, with its half-formed lyric containing some noticeable differences to the officially released studio version. Other highlights include "Barbara Allen" and Dylan's own adaptation of Brownie McGhee and Leroy Carr's "Rocks And Gravel". Hardcore Dylan fans will find it fascinating to hear Dylan performing "Rocks And Gravel" from this era, since it was originally slated to appear on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, even turning up on early test pressings of the LP. Here Dylan teases and caresses the song's melody, stretching out its long, sorrowful notes to such protracted lengths that it almost feels as if they might snap. Another standout moment on the album is the song "Moonshiner", in which the 21-year-old Dylan sings from the perspective of a drunken old man at the end of his life. It's a powerful and utterly convincing rendition, soaked with the liquor stained authenticity that the song demands. Interestingly, in the liner notes of his second album Dylan states that he doesn't "carry myself yet the way that Big Joe Williams, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Lightnin' Hopkins have carried themselves. I hope to be able to someday, but they're older people." I have to say, based on the evidence presented here in his masterful rendition of "Moonshiner", that I beg to differ. Live At The Gaslight 1962 is a real delight for Dylan fans. We get to hear Dylan on the verge of greatness, alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar and his own inimitable voice (strangely, there's no harmonica playing on the album at all). What makes these performances all the more important for Dylanologists is that they represent the last time for many years that Dylan would be captured publicly performing non-original folk and blues songs. The sound quality on the album is pretty reasonable, too, having been recorded on a reel-to-reel tape machine connected to the house PA system. It's not quite up to recording studio standards of course, but it's still highly listenable. Ultimately, this album may not be an ideal purchase for newcomers to Dylan's music but Live At The Gaslight 1962 is essential for any serious fan wanting to know more about Bob Dylan the folk song interpreter and performer. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 10, 2017 23:10:42 GMT -5
Thanks Confessor, great review. I take it that this is not part of that Bootleg series (official releases of live and unreleased recordings of Bob Dylan spanning his whole career). The earliest recording I own of Bob is the 1963 Live At Brandeis University. Totally different set of songs and the audience really appreciated his act. There was even a hilarious song "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues"
I've been down to the Village so many times. Some years during my teens, a few times a month. I know I've passed by the Gaslight but I don't recall taking in a show there. Been to Gertie's Folk City though which Dylan also played.
Seems the album you reviewed is out of print and goes for $100 plus or possibly cheaper with the distinct chance it's just a burned copy. And unfortunately not available in my library system. The Lincoln Center Library I frequently visit has a special archive with plenty of rare or out of print recordings. However you can only listen to it on their equipment and only at their site. I do intend to take advantage of their facility in the future and that's an item I'll check out
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