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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 2, 2017 12:56:00 GMT -5
Just got an e-mail blast from the Manhattan Library. Seems that the Lou Reed estate had donated much of his personal effects to the library and, in honor of his 75th birthday, the Library is making the month of March "A Celebration To Lou Reed". Exhibits dedicated to him can be seen at both the Library Of The Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and at the Main Library on 5th Ave and 40th Street (The huge branch with the famous twin stone lions in front). Lou Reeds original song lyrics, his photography collection and other personal effects will be on display. Events such as rare audio recordings , recitations and films will be scheduled through the month. And of course, admission is free though some needs advanced registration and library membership. Lou Reed Month at the NYPL |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on Mar 2, 2017 13:43:53 GMT -5
^^ OK, what are everybody's top 5 Lou Reed-penned songs, in no particular order? Mine would all be Velvet Underground era songs... - I'm Waiting For The Man
- There She Goes Again
- All Tomorrow's Parties
- Pale Blue Eyes
- Sweet Jane
Honourable mention to "Walk on the Wild Side" from his Transformer album. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 2, 2017 13:52:43 GMT -5
Just 5? That's tough.
Walk On The Wild Side
Waiting For The Man
I Love You, Suzanne
Satellite Of Love
Good Evening Mr. Waldheim (From his NYC album-I'm such a homeboy)
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Post by berkley on Mar 2, 2017 23:48:10 GMT -5
I'm going to cheat and pick 5 Lou Reed VU songs and 5 solo. VU Lou: - Femme Fatale
- All Tomorrow's Parties
- I'll Be Your Mirror
- What Goes On
- Pale Blue Eyes
Damn, I went in chronological order and used them all up before I even got to Loaded. Lou Reed solo: - Perfect Day
- Berlin
- Lady Day
- Caroline Says II
- Coney Island Baby
Same problem. Barely made it to the Coney Island Baby album. |
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Post by berkley on Mar 3, 2017 1:58:24 GMT -5
50 Years Ago Today-Week 1 March 1967 However you define the beginning of the 1960's (calendar date, Kennedy, Beatles) it kicks into high gear with the approaching summer of 1967. And music will play a part of it. But before we get there, we have a new #1 Top Of The Pops hit this week. Fresh from their marijuana bust in London and touring while on bail It was The Rolling Stones 4th #1 hit in the USA. Oddly, this single only got to #3 in England Seeing this, it reminds me of how important Brian Jones was to their sound on those earlier records. I always say the Stones never made another truly great album after Mick Taylor left (though Black & Blue and Some Girls come close), but they lost something after Jones quit too. I didn't know he played the flute on Ruby Tuesday until now. Is it accurate to say he was responsible for some of their more adventurous arrangements? Bringing non-traditional rock instruments like the flute and the sitar to some songs? Was he the guy behind the xylophone intro to Out of Time, or was that Andrew Loog Oldham or whoever was producing them at the time? Actually, I prefer the cello version of that song on Metamorphosis, come to think of it. Another thing: it annoys me slightly that Ruby Tuesday isn't included on the UK release of Between the Buttons. OK, no problem, get the US version of the album, which does have it. But the US release doesn't have Backstreet Girl, one of the best tracks on the UK BtB. Yes, I know, both songs are on Flowers, which is where I first heard them, myself, but it still bugs me in an irrational way. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202
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Post by Confessor on Mar 3, 2017 6:23:05 GMT -5
Seeing this, it reminds me of how important Brian Jones was to their sound on those earlier records. I always say the Stones never made another truly great album after Mick Taylor left (though Black & Blue and Some Girls come close), but they lost something after Jones quit too. I didn't know he played the flute on Ruby Tuesday until now. Is it accurate to say he was responsible for some of their more adventurous arrangements? Bringing non-traditional rock instruments like the flute and the sitar to some songs? Was he the guy behind the xylophone intro to Out of Time, or was that Andrew Loog Oldham or whoever was producing them at the time? Actually, I prefer the cello version of that song on Metamorphosis, come to think of it. That's not a flute. It's an alto recorder.  In answer to your questions, yes, Brian Jones was totally responsible for the Rolling Stones' more adventurous arrangements. It was he that brought exotic instrumentation, like the recorder, sitar, harpsichord, and xylophone into the band's music -- although, in the case of the sitar, he was influenced to do so by The Beatles' use of the instrument on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Though I love the Mick Taylor era, the band definitely lost some of its sonic variety and willingness to experiment when Jones was fired. Oh, and I agree with you, berkly, the band hardly made a worthwhile recording after Taylor left. As for Andrew Loog Oldham, although he's often credited as the Stones' producer on the band's earlier records, his input on those records was negligible and mostly confined to nodding final approval, from what I've read. He had absolutely no idea about playing music and wouldn't have know his way around a mixing console to save his life. The Stones' records were really produced by the band themselves and the engineers who working with them in the studio at the time. Oldham's skill was in publicity and generating headlines, not in audio production. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 3, 2017 6:40:48 GMT -5
I'm in agreement with most of what the two of you said. Brian Jones seems to have been the original leader of The Stones in their earliest days-choosing the members and naming the group. He acted as their original manager in arranging their gigs. The amount of instruments he was able to play was pretty astonishing and he was the one responsible in being musically ambitious and keeping the listener engaged with varied sounds.
I also felt 1969-1972 (Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street) were their peak album recordings. 1978's Some Girls came oh-so-close.
The other albums after Taylor left had some great cuts but also had their share of filler. Their 2005 A bigger Bang was totally forgettable. I have last year's Blue & Lonesome but have yet to listen to it
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202
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Post by Confessor on Mar 3, 2017 6:54:43 GMT -5
I also felt 196 8-1972 ( Beggar's Banquet/Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street) were their peak album recordings. Fixed it for ya!  1978's Some Girls came oh-so-close. Personally, I don't think Some Girls' reputation as a great, late period Stones album is really deserved. With the exception of "Far Away Eyes", which could've sat comfortably on Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers, the rest of the album sounds dull and uninspired to me. It's also the sound of a band who, with the advent of disco and punk rock, had found themselves wildly out of step with prevailing musical trends for the first time in their career. Their nod to disco, "Miss You", is one of the worst songs in the history of popular music, as far as I'm concerned. The other albums after Taylor left had some great cuts but also had their share of filler. Their 2005 A bigger Bang was totally forgettable. I have last year's Blue & Lonesome but have yet to listen to it Keith Richards' three solo albums with the X-pensive Winos are better than anything the Stones have produced since Mick Taylor's departure. 1992's Main Offender is particularly worth hearing. Here's my favourite song from that album, "Eileen"... |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 3, 2017 7:11:26 GMT -5
Keith Richard's solo albums were quite good, Mick Jagger's solo work were quite uninspiring.
How messed up must a dude be to get kicked out of the Stones over drug use like Brian Jones was?
If you were around during the disco days and had to hear it 24/7 because it was played everywhere ad you had no control to stop it, you appreciate things like The Stone's Miss You, Blondie's Heart Of Glass or even Rod Stewart's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy.
Which would make an interesting topic
Disco Influenced Songs by Non-Disco Performers
I nominate Dave Mason
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 3, 2017 8:17:43 GMT -5
50 Years Ago Today-Music To Cringe By
Part 2-You're A Bad Song. A Bad, Bad Song
You got to hear the bad to appreciate the good Part 1 of Bad Music had the novelty recording of Senator Bobby Kennedy and his version of "Wild Thing". Since it charted so well, Senator Bobby was dragged back to the recording studio for a follow-up. This time, he's teamed up with the Republican Senate Leader, gravel voiced Everett Dirksen
This classic from our Hawaiian favorite son, Don Ho, was released late 1966. It never charted higher than # 50 but remained on the charts for a very long time. In fact, in Las Vegas, it lasted for decades Ed Ames was a singer/actor. Starting as a member of The Ames Brothers he also appeared on the TV show Daniel Boone. His main claim to fame was his iconic appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where he would show Johnny his Indian skills Somehow the new Ed Ames single climbed to #8 in March 1967 There was always room for schmaltz on AM radio. One of the biggest schmaltzy crooners was Al Martino who had been doling it out since the early 1950's. Here in March 1967 he released this song which became a standard for the last dance by the father with his daughter at her wedding. Of course, she got married so she could leave the father's house and no longer have to listen to this type of music Finally, for now, is this particular Johnny Rivers song that peaked at #3 in March 1967. Johnny Rivers had a few good songs in his career, even a great one like the theme song for Secret Agent Man. But he takes the soul classic Baby I Need You're Lovin' and turns it into whitebread Music to cringe by will unfortunately return 
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Post by berkley on Mar 3, 2017 22:52:53 GMT -5
Seeing this, it reminds me of how important Brian Jones was to their sound on those earlier records. I always say the Stones never made another truly great album after Mick Taylor left (though Black & Blue and Some Girls come close), but they lost something after Jones quit too. I didn't know he played the flute on Ruby Tuesday until now. Is it accurate to say he was responsible for some of their more adventurous arrangements? Bringing non-traditional rock instruments like the flute and the sitar to some songs? Was he the guy behind the xylophone intro to Out of Time, or was that Andrew Loog Oldham or whoever was producing them at the time? Actually, I prefer the cello version of that song on Metamorphosis, come to think of it. That's not a flute. It's an alto recorder. In answer to your questions, yes, Brian Jones was totally responsible for the Rolling Stones' more adventurous arrangements. It was he that brought exotic instrumentation, like the recorder, sitar, harpsichord, and xylophone into the band's music -- although, in the case of the sitar, he was influenced to do so by The Beatles' use of the instrument on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Though I love the Mick Taylor era, the band definitely lost some of its sonic variety and willingness to experiment when Jones was fired. Oh, and I agree with you, berkly, the band hardly made a worthwhile recording after Taylor left. As for Andrew Loog Oldham, although he's often credited as the Stones' producer on the band's earlier records, his input on those records was negligible and mostly confined to nodding final approval, from what I've read. He had absolutely no idea about playing music and wouldn't have know his way around a mixing console to save his life. The Stones' records were really produced by the band themselves and the engineers who working with them in the studio at the time. Oldham's skill was in publicity and generating headlines, not in audio production. Ack! An embarrassing slip because I like the recorder and often prefer its more "organic" sound to the sometimes shrill tones of the flute. Intersting about Oldham, hadn't been aware of that. We talked a bit about the best Beatles books on the Beatles thread - anyone have any recommendations for the best books about the Stones? |
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Post by berkley on Mar 4, 2017 0:27:09 GMT -5
I also felt 196 8-1972 ( Beggar's Banquet/Let It Bleed/Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street) were their peak album recordings. Fixed it for ya! 1978's Some Girls came oh-so-close. Personally, I don't think Some Girls' reputation as a great, late period Stones album is really deserved. With the exception of "Far Away Eyes", which could've sat comfortably on Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers, the rest of the album sounds dull and uninspired to me. It's also the sound of a band who, with the advent of disco and punk rock, had found themselves wildly out of step with prevailing musical trends for the first time in their career. Their nod to disco, "Miss You", is one of the worst songs in the history of popular music, as far as I'm concerned. The other albums after Taylor left had some great cuts but also had their share of filler. Their 2005 A bigger Bang was totally forgettable. I have last year's Blue & Lonesome but have yet to listen to it Keith Richards' three solo albums with the X-pensive Winos are better than anything the Stones have produced since Mick Taylor's departure. 1992's Main Offender is particularly worth hearing. Here's my favourite song from that album, "Eileen"... My take on Some Girls is that the more traditional sounding Stones songs were great ( Beast of Burden, Before They Make Me Run, their cover of Just My Imagination); but everything else was mediocre ( Shattered, When the Whip Comes Down, etc) or just plain terrible ( Miss You - one of their very worst songs, I agree: I remember I used to run to the radio to turn it off whenever it came on). Faraway Eyes was OK, but a bit too broadly parodic for me, in comparison to, say, Country Honk or Dead Flowers, which were also parodies to a degree but at the same time could stand on their own as straight country songs. I think the Stones started to go downhill when they started chasing trends instead of setting them. On Black & Blue I think they were still just ahead, or at least on top of the curve, and the disco-style tunes on that album (e.g. Hey Negrita), though its a style generally not to my personal taste, are I think far superior to their later efforts in that vein. I think with Some Girls they were behind the curve, not only with disco, but punk - their failed efforts to emulate the raw energy of that music can be heard in the afore-mentioned Shattered, Whip, etc: not as bad as Miss You, but not very good either. Those songs gave me the impression that they totally missed the point of the punk movement and had no ear at all for what made that music sound so great to those who loved it. |
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Post by berkley on Mar 4, 2017 0:31:02 GMT -5
oops - hit the Post button too soon: forgot to add that the songs Keith Richards sang are almost always one of my favourites on each Stones album - and on the bad ones they were often the only good song, e.g. All About You on Emotional Rescue; so I should have paid more attention to his solo career but haven't heard much of it, for no particular reason. Must remedy that one of these days.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 4, 2017 0:39:55 GMT -5
I never thought of the Stones as a trend-setting group at any time of their career. Starting out as a band influenced by Chuck Berry and American blues, like many other English bands of that time. They also seemed to follow the lead set by The Beatles. Her Satanic Majesties' Request was their obvious version of Sgt Pepper. Dabbling with reggae in the early 70's, incorporating Disco and Punk, they were sponging up the sounds that they heard from others. This is not meant as a put-down. They had a long career and their basic rock style was faultless. Just not trend-setting
Well, maybe Aerosmith thought they were trendsetting because they modeled themselves after The Stones
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Post by berkley on Mar 4, 2017 0:52:57 GMT -5
You're right, they weren't trend-setting in the way that, say, a David Bowie or the Beatles were - in fact, my earlier statement would probably apply better to Bowie than to the Stones. But I do think they were among the first wave of British bands emulating the American blues and r&b records they loved, while bringing something extra to the table, as the best of the British acts did. I think you're right as well about Their Satanic Majesties Request - though at the same time I think it's an excellent, under-rated album.
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