Larry has a great comment about the lyrics for RC in response to my post yesterday. He's inspired me to read the lyrics again and see what other little gems might be contained therein besides "I loved you, well, never mind." To maybe put a (slightly) finer point on my thoughts, I guess I'd rather have the lyrics remain just what my ears hear and my brain processes (however inaccurately) and my emotions respond to than have to read that the bridge to You Get What You Deserve has something to do with Chilton's reaction to the Vietnam War (pick your own example of critical overreaching and assumption). Thanks Larry...that is indeed a great line and it is Chiltonian to the max.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
In case it hasn't hit your radar, a remastered two-fer of #1 Record and Radio City is being released by Fantasy today. There's quite a bit of discussion in the blogosphere about the merits of the various Big Star remasters / reissues but I haven't picked up any solid word yet on the new one. Back in 1970 I had a realization (when the kid in the dorm room next to mine played the same three records over and over through his humongous stereo for the entire school year) – some people own stereos so they can listen to their records and some people own records so they can listen to their stereos. I was definitely fell into the former category – using a modest but adequate system to listen to the hundreds (if not thousands for a few years ) of new records that I acquired. That being said, I love the sound of a good vinyl LP and abhor the sound of a bad CD (whether poorly remastered or one that's a product of the loudness wars i.e no dynamic range). My older brother works for Avalon Acoustics – makers of really high-end speakers – and my brother-in-law installs home systems that run into six-figures so I can appreciate the merits of a really great recording through an exceptional system (next time I go out to Boulder I want to run an original Radio City LP through the Avalon demonstration system) but in the end I'm listening to the musicians and what they were doing rather than the recording itself (and given that at least half of my listening involves "recordings of independent origin" – bootlegs – a decent sounding official release usually is more than adequate). But in the back of my mind I hold on to a fantasy that one day when my son is out of college and our retirement needs are covered (yeeh, right) that I'll have a dedicated listening room where I can pull out one of those original Blue Note pressings from the racks, sit back in comfortable chair with a good book, and get the feeling that Hank Mobley is right there in the room with me.
Monday, June 15, 2009
http://www.sonicboomers.com/boomerangst/fridays-five-5
A few of the latest reviews of the book. First up are some comments by longtime critic Roy Trakin – who actually attended the Rock Writers Convention. Roy was also a celebrity judge in the recent movie documentary Air Guitar Nation...highly recommended! A great laugh. Maybe next there will be an international "air drums" competition with the drum break from September Girls part of the compulsories.
Next is a review from Memphis Flyer,a local arts weekly which sparked this observation. Rock writers often focus on lyrics because they work with words. They have what they perceive as a common – perhaps even – ground with the lyricist – a keyboard with letters, not musical notes. Once the instruments come out of the cases, the writer is usually just another guy who wishes he could play guitar. The actual focus of those involved in the creation of Radio City was on the sound, the recording, and the song structures so that's what I decided to write about. When I ran my overall thoughts about the lyrics to Radio City by Alex Chilton and he said that he agreed wholeheartedly with my take, I didn't feel a need to explore the lyrical themes much beyond their casual impressionist nature. To start looking at them line by line would have reminded me as to why I switched my college major from English to Political Science in 1971 – the head of the department couldn't read anything without ascribing five layers of meaning and symbolism that if the author really intended, he would never have finished the book. Rock lyrics are more often than one might think just a bunch of words put together around an idea. And often what you hear on first listen is all there is to get...Which doesn't make September Gurls or Back In The Saddle (just heard Aerosmith on the radio - what does the song really mean? I dunno - some guy is back in the saddle and riding a killer riff – the title and whatever words I can pick up match the vibe precisely and that's all that matters ) any less worthy than something by Patti Smith channeling Rimbaud.
And about the typos that have been mentioned above and elsewhere...I can't tell you how bugged I am about them (and, yes, as the author, I bear some responsibility). But they're there (kind of like John Bonham's squeeky hi-hat on Moby Dick). They don't get in the way of material. And if everyone buys enough copies, we'll fix them in the second edition...:)
Had a few detours but now back to work on the Powell's piece. In the meantime, questions and comments welcomed.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
A few things to start the month...
If you're a Big Star fan, you've likely heard the news of the box set coming September 15th. Thanks to the people at Blurt for getting the details out first. Here's the link to Rhino
The Rhino site is streaming Lovely Day (which eventually became Strike It, Noel). One song that some of the Big Star band members mentioned as being one of their favorites when they were together that you don't see name-checked as much as some of the other covers they did was Lou Reed's Perfect Day from the Transformer album. Listen carefully and you might be able to hear a distant connection between the two songs. Or perhaps not...
I've heard the raw live recordings for the box set from early 1973 and they'll be worth the price of admission alone. A few observations....Andy Hummel stands out as a bass player who can not only lay down the foundation but also add melodic lines that add to the song a la McCartney and James Jamerson. Alex Chilton's folk and bluegrass roots from his time in NYC are quite apparent in his guitar playing. Given his simple guitar / amp / no effects set-up, he has no problem replicating his studio sound live. And as you might expect, Jody Stephens doesn't let the band slack for a second (he also has that Ringo "slow drag" hi-hat style down cold).
As always, thanks for the nice words about the book. If you can find your way to leaving a good review on amazon.com, it will be much appreciated.
Heard from Peter LaBonne...there should be a website going up shortly that has voluminous amounts of unreleased material (actually, pretty much everything he's ever done is unreleased) available for you listening pleasure. Will keep you posted.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/entry/offers/partnerPromotions.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_ADBL_000815
Just released...the audio version of the book,.
Some housekeeping to start the week...By request, here's a larger version of one of the photos in the book of Big Star performing at the Rock Writers Convention. The photos were taken from a contact sheet, quite small, and very dark so they were difficult to work with as you might imagine.
Here's a link to more about the Big Star boxset:
I reread Bud Scoppa's article last night (link below) and it got me thinking a bit about why Big Star has been often imitated but never duplicated. One main reason I think is that Big Star didn't confuse melodies with chord progressions. A lot of power pop sounds to me like someone came up with a (jangly) chord progression and then kind of strung a (predictable) melody across it. You can almost hum the melody as you're listening to a song for the very first time. Big Star wrote melodies that stood on their own. Listen to the instrumental track for any Big Star song and you'll be at a loss to imagine or predict the melody.
Thanks again to everyone for your positive comments about the book so far. As you might imagine, writing a book about something people feel very passionate about (and know a lot about ) is a bit daunting. But after holding my breath for a while awaiting for public opinion, I'm exhaling and relaxing. If you like the book, please consider leaving positive feedback at Amazon.com (link in the column to the right). It definitely helps to get the word out. And while you're at it, fill in your Big Star collection. If you don't have all three discs, now's the time to stock up for summer and get ready for the box set.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day. Just back from a week cleaning out my mother-in-law's home near Boston (anyone looking for a fixer-upper right on the ocean?). Three stories, one huge dumpster filled to the top, and no internet access. Fortunately, The Harvard radio station was having a Dylan marathon with seemingly everything he ever recorded, including a lot of boots (being Harvard they might have some access to some good lawyers just in case...). Thanks to all for your posts and notes. I'll be back in the Big Star galaxy of stars tomorrow. In the meantime, dig this just-posted Big Star piece by Bud Scoppa (who if I'd decided to expand the scope of who I interviewed for the book would have been at the top of the list...)
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