|
Post by impulse on May 20, 2020 13:47:45 GMT -5
Yeah, they captured lightning in a bottle with that one, for sure. The story around its recording is pretty interesting. In short, they were jamming it out or something at ungodly hours in the morning and feeling inspiration. Called in some favors to get to a studio at like 3am and that is what they laid down.
R.I.P. to a beloved legend.
As for other notable versions of the song, there was a live performance Judy Garland did later in her life shortly before her death after struggling with substances (alcohol I think). It was really haunting and melancholic. Quite interesting and sad contrast to the lyrics and better known renditions.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 21, 2020 0:12:35 GMT -5
As I read through Ytasha L. Womack's book on Afrofuturism (which while I thought would be about the sci-fi genre, is more about the cultural movement that spawned the genre, which is just as much of interest to me), there is a large section about the musical origins of Afrofuturism which has sent me down a rabbit hole exploring new musical expressions I was unfamiliar with (and revisiting things like George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic which I was familiar with but can experience in a new context now).
The most recent I have been dipping my toe into is Lee "Scratch" Perry
but the epicenter of it all (which I spent much of the afternoon listening to) is Sun Ra...
I've barely scratched the surface with Sun Ra, let alone the vast well of musical tides within the context of Afrofuturism.
-M
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on May 21, 2020 5:05:54 GMT -5
As I read through Ytasha L. Womack's book on Afrofuturism (which while I thought would be about the sci-fi genre, is more about the cultural movement that spawned the genre, which is just as much of interest to me), there is a large section about the musical origins of Afrofuturism which has sent me down a rabbit hole exploring new musical expressions I was unfamiliar with (and revisiting things like George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic which I was familiar with but can experience in a new context now). The most recent I have been dipping my toe into is Lee "Scratch" Perry but the epicenter of it all (which I spent much of the afternoon listening to) is Sun Ra... I've barely scratched the surface with Sun Ra, let alone the vast well of musical tides within the context of Afrofuturism. (...) Man, I haven't listened to Sun Ra in ages... But yeah, that Afrofuturism-adjacent musical rabbit hole is deep with many side tunnels. Besides all of the funk material (George Clinton's various projects, or Betty Davis), another personal favorite of mine is Osibisa. I always think of their style as African/Caribbean meets prog rock:
...and now I've gotten myself caught up into listening when I have, like, work to do...
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 21, 2020 11:06:29 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#24 - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Last of My Kind
And he's back with one off The Nashville Sound. The lyrics in this one just crush me. I'd kill to write this well.
"Daddy said the river would always lead me home But the river can't take me back in time And daddy's dead and gone In the family farm's a parking lot for Walton's five and dime Am I the last of my kind?"
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on May 21, 2020 19:42:54 GMT -5
As I read through Ytasha L. Womack's book on Afrofuturism (which while I thought would be about the sci-fi genre, is more about the cultural movement that spawned the genre, which is just as much of interest to me), there is a large section about the musical origins of Afrofuturism which has sent me down a rabbit hole exploring new musical expressions I was unfamiliar with (and revisiting things like George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic which I was familiar with but can experience in a new context now). The most recent I have been dipping my toe into is Lee "Scratch" Perry but the epicenter of it all (which I spent much of the afternoon listening to) is Sun Ra... I've barely scratched the surface with Sun Ra, let alone the vast well of musical tides within the context of Afrofuturism. (...) Man, I haven't listened to Sun Ra in ages... But yeah, that Afrofuturism-adjacent musical rabbit hole is deep with many side tunnels. Besides all of the funk material (George Clinton's various projects, or Betty Davis), another personal favorite of mine is Osibisa. I always think of their style as African/Caribbean meets prog rock:
...and now I've gotten myself caught up into listening when I have, like, work to do...
I can really dig some Sun Ra & his Arkestra, especially with June Tyson singing. She's second only to Nina Simone probably! I have some Osibisa... love their guitarist Del Richardson in particular. His solo stuff is gorgeous! Somehow I get the Brasilian Tropicalia mixed in with these artists more than Prog... Jorge Ben in particular. Not that there is anything wrong with good Prog.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 21, 2020 22:44:11 GMT -5
I bought that Osibisa cd not a few months back after seeing it cheap in a used cd store but haven't listened to it enough to get into it yet. I couldn't resist the Roger Dean artwork!
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on May 22, 2020 5:30:27 GMT -5
I bought that Osibisa cd not a few months back after seeing it cheap in a used cd store but haven't listened to it enough to get into it yet. I couldn't resist the Roger Dean artwork!I hear you on that - I fell in love with Dean's art at about the same time I fell in love with Yes (whose albums were often graced by his art). As to Osibisa, Dean also designed their logo and did the cover art for their second album, Woyaya: ...which is even better than the first album cover. Edited to add: their music is awesome, of course.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 22, 2020 6:57:15 GMT -5
I bought that Osibisa cd not a few months back after seeing it cheap in a used cd store but haven't listened to it enough to get into it yet. I couldn't resist the Roger Dean artwork!I hear you on that - I fell in love with Dean's art at about the same time I fell in love with Yes (whose albums were often graced by his art). As to Osibisa, Dean also designed their logo and did the cover art for their second album, Woyaya: ...which is even better than the first album cover. Edited to add: their music is awesome, of course.
Dean often did the set design for Yes from the 70s onward as well. If you are looking for his album cover art, he did a lot for Asia (a Yes off-shoot in a way with Steve Howe and Geoff Downs involved), Uriah Heep, and one of Roger Hodgson's (of Supertramp fame). There are also a handful of artbooks featuring his art such as Magnetic Storm... and in the trading card boom of the 90s there was a set of Roger Dean art trading cards... one of my former D&D buddies, who turned me on to Yes and King Crimson, was a huge Roger Dean fan and bought several boxes of those trading cards whenever he accompanied me to a comic shop or comic event. -M
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 22, 2020 12:03:43 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#23 - Slaid Cleaves - Drunken Barber's Hand
Cleaves is one of those great songwriters who simply get overlooked in the mass of pre-fab generic music. At this point it is pretty clear that this world has not only been shaved, but has also been shaped by a drunken barber's hand.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 24, 2020 17:14:53 GMT -5
Second, nice! Glad you liked them. And dang, 10 songs made the cut? Not too shabby if I say so myself. But seriously, glad you enjoyed so many. I can suggest a few more I think you'll like based on this list, but I think I've bombarded you enough for now. I'll just suggest one more for now. Die Dead Enough. I mentioned it in my list and realized I forgot to link it. Die Dead Enough is one I found on my own, maybe I forgot to mention. Yeah, it's the kind of Megadeth I dig. Thanks. Out of all my hobbies-based projects, the music player (not just the sexy NFC part of it) has turned out to be the most useful. I found every other music player to be way over-complicated. I just want to play a song or directory from my file system, dang it! I already have my music organized in folders, I don't need or want the music-playing program adding extra layers of libraries or playlists. Another interface for it is that it replicates the directory structure of my digital music collection into web pages (one page per artist), and I can play a song or album from there: Clicking on the green button next to an album name plays the whole album, clicking on the green button next to a song name plays the song right away, and clicking on the "plus' button next to a song name adds that song to the current queue of songs. It's the next best thing to having the computer read my mind. I just always have a tab on my browser open to this, so there's no hassle of navigating through a "File", "Open", (browse through file system) routine, and then half the time realizing you couldn't find anything you're in the mood for, and closing all those stupid windows.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 26, 2020 9:12:37 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#22 - John Prine - Souvenirs
This was the first song by Prine that really grabbed my attention. And it was for more than just his use of the non-word "boughten" (that one drives me up the wall).
R.I.P. Your memory will not be forgotten.
|
|
|
Post by impulse on May 26, 2020 9:21:23 GMT -5
Thanks. Out of all my hobbies-based projects, the music player (not just the sexy NFC part of it) has turned out to be the most useful. I found every other music player to be way over-complicated. I just want to play a song or directory from my file system, dang it! I already have my music organized in folders, I don't need or want the music-playing program adding extra layers of libraries or playlists. Another interface for it is that it replicates the directory structure of my digital music collection into web pages (one page per artist), and I can play a song or album from there: Clicking on the green button next to an album name plays the whole album, clicking on the plus button next to a song name plays the song right away, and clicking on the green button next to a song name adds that song to the current queue of songs. It's the next best thing to having the computer read my mind. I just always have a tab on my browser open to this, so there's no hassle of navigating through a "File", "Open", (browse through file system) routine, and then half the time realizing you couldn't find anything you're in the mood for, and closing all those stupid windows. Oh, I assumed you meant the one with the physical scanning an album. I didn't realize you made your own application as well. You are pretty digitally handy it seems. What do you use under the hood to play?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 26, 2020 10:39:15 GMT -5
Oh, I assumed you meant the one with the physical scanning an album. I didn't realize you made your own application as well. You are pretty digitally handy it seems. What do you use under the hood to play? The BASS audio library. I looked at libmpg123 first, but the documentation was unclear enough to send me looking elsewhere. BASS was much easier to get started with. This is a client/server setup, and the server with the actual music-playing functionality is connected to my stereo system. The clients (NFC scanning, web pages, and a regular software GUI) just send the server either "play or append this song" or "play this album/playlist" requests (the software GUI client has the additional start/stop/pause/volume control functionality). I've been a hobbyist programmer for a long time (and kinda semi-pro at times), and this kind of thing is fun for me.
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on May 26, 2020 14:22:51 GMT -5
Going to dig into some garage collections from the vaults of Oregon's Garland records... three albums of amazing low-fi do-it-yourself from the '60s. My BF transferred some of the tapes (he has/had a lot of obscure machines that can do oddball speeds and widths). I could buy just about anything on Sundazed's Beat Rocket sublabel. This picture is worth a thousand notes!
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 27, 2020 9:20:21 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#21 - Guy Clark - Dublin Blues
This is almost unquestionably my favorite song by Guy Clark and is very very high on my list of all-time favorite songs. It's just the perfect distillation of everything that Clark does better than almost anyone else. I also love this version, with the amazing Jerry Douglas on dobro.
|
|