Music

[Rob C]

Did anyone else catch the tv re-run on Fleetwood Mac, followed by the Peter Green programme?

Listening to that stuff again, looking at the female styles etc. was tear-jerker of huge magnitude. Boy, what we've lost and, yet, what still remains in some places.

In fact, peasant dresses aside, something that still lives on in strength from that era is the little blouse and jeans:

http://youtu.be/EXSmAcJqsGI

but of course, you have to look right to be able to wear it and look right, which she does. Hmm...

And to think that Eric Clapton and all those guys started out from the same John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.  But all isn't lost: today we have rap. (Rolls his eyes to Heaven.)

Rob C

 

[Justinr]

Sharing the house with various daughters the box is often tuned into one or another wall to wall pop channel which is tolerable for the first five minutes just so long as you have the ear defenders in place. However, what is inescapable is the fact that pop music is as much about the video as it is the ditty and I must admit some of them are quite imaginative and very well produced, it's a shame the accompanying sound spoils them and here lies the great difference between today's pop and the video you linked to. Eric Clapton and the delectable Ms Crowe were there to create music and were actually enjoying doing so, the music came first the spectacle came, well, nowhere really which is quite as it should be.

[Adam L]

Blues?  There's no one better than the late great Etta James:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMd19sE6U4&feature=player_embedded

Adding Dr. John makes this tune special.  RIP Etta, there will never be anyone like you.

Here's another gem:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzibSiJv8hc&feature=player_embedded#! 

[jeremypayne]

But all isn't lost: today we have rap. (Rolls his eyes to Heaven.)

I assume this is your shout-out to MCA?

 

"I give thanks for this world as a place to learn
And for this human body that I will have earned
And my deepest thanks to all sentient beings
For without them there would be no place to learn what I'm seeing
There's nothing here that's not been said before
But I put it down now so that I'll be sure
To solidify my own views
and I'll be glad if it helps Anyone else out too "
                - Adam Yauch, Beastie Boys ... RIP

[Farmer]

Wow, one generation complaining that the new generation's taste in music is bad.  Who ever would have thought?

[Michael West]

Wow, one generation complaining that the new generation's taste in music is bad.  Who ever would have thought?

The Misogyny and extreme violence.in so call rap so called music..is pushing things just a bit. dontcha think?

[Farmer]

That's one aspect of rap.  Rap isn't really my thing, by and large, but there are some amazingly wonderful examples that have no violence, no sexism, no racism etc. (although they might discuss it, but that's hardly the same as supporting or promoting it).

I suspect, actually, that you're more thining of Hip Hop which certainly features more of what you've mentioned (although, again, it would be completely inaccurate to characterise all of it in that way).

[Rob C]

Adam -

My own taste in blues goes way back beyond Etta James: Bessie Smith etc. were the ones we used to listen to as kids - there was a quite live interest in 'traditional' New Orleans music in the certain parts of the UK, but mostly not. None of us had much money to spend on records, of course, but that didn't stop us trawling the record shops and digging out the little jazz that they carried. Live jazz was also a bit of a vigorous cult - Humph, Chris Barber, many of those guys came up to Scotland and played, as did Louis Armstrong with his Allstars, but that was fairly far away from the Hot 5 and Hot 7 we used to crave.

Blues singers/players like Muddy, Howlin' Wolf and similar were later iterations of the genre - great, too, but more given to being soloists/individualists than bigger band singers. Seems that they were the group that caught the general interest in the UK more tightly than did the jazz blues singers, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, they were all pretty good to listen to and I am often left wondering how the survivors must feel, really feel, about the current styles that get called blues. But as with snaps, everything improves without getting any better. Oh, the recordings are better made.

Rob C  

[Justinr]

I've come to think of the contemporary jazz scene as being a pastime of those who find golf just too darn radical.

The music which was once considered subversive and counter to the well being of predominantly Caucasian run nations has been tamed, neutered and served up as a safe but pale pretence of its roots. It's interesting to note it is the musicians of oppressed countries who are once again standing up and revolting against tyrannies the world over as listeners to R3's World Routes or RTE's Reels to Ragas will be aware.

BTW, I never really 'got' jazz, I guess it shows. 

[Rob C]

I think the only thing to 'get' was the feeling that you either do or do not get from blue notes, sliding  notes and emotional twangs on your own soul.

The thing about oppression doesn't move me too much; lots of people are or feel oppressed and they don't have to be black to savour the experience. I suspect that a helluva lot of bullshit was stuck onto the flanks of jazz once the guys realised that they had a music that attracted the wealthy whites as well as their own people. I certainly don't blame them for promoting however they could, but it was this promotion that eventually led to the unsavoury characterization of the black musician as clown, when he clearly wasn't a clown at all, just often very talented. Watch old film of even the big and rich black bands and you can see excruciatingly embarrassing moments of clowning and grinning...

Musicians always have a hard time at some stage; some get lucky and move to riches where others fall into despair and drugs kill them off. Just looking at the local music (jazz) scene in this wee town reveals the sorry state of the working muso: one weekend the group has work and the next, the bar has closed or can no longer afford the few hundred euros it costs to hire them, or the drinking patronage has been built up over the season because of the live music and then the bar no longer feels it needs them anymore. I guess that at a certain level it's even worse than being in professional photography.

Rob C

[Ben Rubinstein]

I'm about to try and get back into classical music after a 20 year hiatus (soon as I turned 12 I wasn't going to enjoy my fathers music any more!). When I was growing up in the '90's the music of the 60's and 80's particularly resonated with me however the stuff I hear on the radio in the UK now makes me want to pull my ear drums out. What has got me for the past decade and a half though is the overwrought over sexualisation of the music. Overtones of sexuality have always been present however I prefer the sophistication of the subtle over the 'in your face' sexuality being presented in the MTV type videos of the past 15 years or more. I find it rather boorish and I'm talking about the videos of my teenage years when the hormones were at their wildest.

Then again and with reference to the thread about watches, eventhough I'm probably half the age of many here, I'm the kind of person who gave away his iphone to return to his simple nokia, finds the concept of using your phone as a watch as appalling and has a dream of one day being able to own a Breitling

[Adam L]

Jazz is alive, alive and well.   I'll post some current artists when I have time.

I wanted to take this moment to talk about someone that I bet NO ONE has heard of, but who has influenced many many voices over the years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJnVR1qyz0Y

Elza Soares is her name, she is from Brazil.  Simply Brilliant, and forgotten. 

[Rob C]

I'm about to try and get back into classical music after a 20 year hiatus (soon as I turned 12 I wasn't going to enjoy my fathers music any more!). When I was growing up in the '90's the music of the 60's and 80's particularly resonated with me however the stuff I hear on the radio in the UK now makes me want to pull my ear drums out. What has got me for the past decade and a half though is the overwrought over sexualisation of the music. Overtones of sexuality have always been present however I prefer the sophistication of the subtle over the 'in your face' sexuality being presented in the MTV type videos of the past 15 years or more. I find it rather boorish and I'm talking about the videos of my teenage years when the hormones were at their wildest.

Then again and with reference to the thread about watches, eventhough I'm probably half the age of many here, I'm the kind of person who gave away his iphone to return to his simple nokia, finds the concept of using your phone as a watch as appalling and has a dream of one day being able to own a Breitling

Take up sailing: the Breitling will follow automatically. ;-)

Regarding broadcast music today - I find I seldom turn on the radio other than klrzfm via Internet. I suppose the only alternative to that is Gold which comes from the UK via the Sky satellite. I don't mind the contemporary videos too much - some of the girls look very alive, to say the least, but they are always better with the sound off. I can't stand watching all those guys doing their hand signals like a bunch of trained puppets: the ultimate surrender of personality.

A song I quite liked - though only in passing at the time, was this:

http://youtu.be/3kzeCjluvxU

Now, without my wife, it feels so appropriate, even though her 'year' with me turned out to be fifty-four of them; got to be happy for what one had. Can't imagine feeling anything for anything contemporary at any future or present time, though.

Rob C

[allenmacaulay]

"you know what would be awesome?"
"hookers and blow?"
"no, not that.  We should take some opera and mix it with rock and heavy metal"
"what?!  are you high?"
"no, seriously.  We get a cute soprano then add some rock guitar solos and heavy metal drumming.  It'll be huge!"

And it was.

http://youtu.be/2DEYN64WVZs

[DougJ]

Well, I might as well chime in here with the rain in Africa  at:

http://www.acappellanews.com/archive/002157.html

If you stay dry through the opening rain storm, you'll surely enjoy the a cappella singing.

Ciao,

Doug

the YouTube link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkOtA3WkQw4

[Rob C]

That 'Rain' thing was spectacular, but should come with an ear warning: I thought there was something wrong with the transmission at first, so turned up the volume to find out - that first crack of thunder damned near blew off my 'phones!

Amazing what folks can do without buying anything; wonder if they also make a PS alternative...

Rob C

[Timprov]

Music isn't dead, radio is.  Nobody who cares about music listens to the radio anymore.  Why would you when you can get tailored channels which respond instantly to feedback from Pandora or Last.fm or MOG?

If bluesy is your thing, may I recommend Natalia Zukerman?  http://youtu.be/GIV-5OZb3yY

[BernardLanguillier]

There is a lot of brilliant stuff being released at the moment, plus some of that is amazingly well engineered.

I can only advise the live at FIP series!

Cheers,
Bernard