The Rock Revisionism thread is getting very long. I mentioned that I regard John Lennon’s singing voice as one of the seven wonders of the musical world. Arthur Cowslip challenged me to name the other six. They are Aretha’s soul, Jimi’s guitar, Elvis’s hips, Lee Perry’s imagination, Becker & Fagen’s songs and Prince’s swagger.
What’s yours?
JustB says
John Lennon’s singing voice? Really?
Dave Ross says
John Lydons singing voice surely?
JustB says
Wouldn’t be any less daft.
Poor old Sam Cooke. Couldn’t hope to compete with a reedy white boy whose main claim to vocal greatness required Lemsip to fix.
Tiggerlion says
I love Sam Cooke’s voice too. My problem is there are, maybe three album’s worth of his material that are absolutely top notch (including a whole live album released decades after his death). Both Aretha and Lennon best that score.
I’d be fascinated to see your list, Bob. Why not post one, instead of having a go at one my personal nominations? The whole idea of this thread is to express your own personal opinion.
JustB says
You were talking about voice, not songs.
I’m fine thanks, Tigs. I don’t really do list threads. It just really made me laugh – the absolute determination to pretend the Beatles were always The Best leading to actual wholesale fiction. And your description of his voice – “deep and round”? That’s mad! Mad! His voice is thin, if anything. It’s not an unpleasant sound but “deep and round”? I couldn’t let it go by. Made me laugh too hard.
Anyway, I’m British. Taking the piss is my birthright, sir. Although I now understand your Suzi Quatro review a bit better. Those cochlear implants work wonders, apparently. 😉
Tiggerlion says
I’m glad I made you laugh. Of course this thread’s preposterous and I’m grateful for your intervention. Since you don’t like lists, no matter how light-hearted, I expect to see you on another thread.
Cheers! 😀
JustB says
No offence intended, and none taken I hope. I just chuckled a lot.
Tiggerlion says
Oh yes. He was gifted with one of the most recognisable, soulful and passionate voices in the history of music. His timbre is deep and round, harsh and brittle. He could scream, he could roar and he could lull you into a dream.
Just listen to Twist & Shout or Stand By Me.
JustB says
Haha, I win Twist and Shout bingo. House!
He. Had. A. Cold.
Long story short, he wasn’t even the best singer in the Beatles.
Tiggerlion says
Smartarse! 😘
Bingo Little says
If you think Twist and Shout is one of the greatest vocals ever then you should come to karaoke with me some time, Tigger. A whole building full of people hitting those immortal heights, all night long!
Tiggerlion says
He’s really great on Clean Up Time and I Dig A Pony as well, you know. He could make crap material sound fantastic.
Bingo Little says
He certainly had more opportunity than most.
Sewer Robot says
🤺
Tahir W says
Lennon certainly had one of the great voices. But the Lennon that really does it for me is the Lennon of Baby it’s You and You’re Going to Lose that Girl.
retropath2 says
Not a beatle-boy, but both Lennon and Macca, when they put their soul in it could pack a whole lot of emotion into it. Emotion. Tops technique every time. Go tell that to Xander Armstrong…..
Diddley Farquar says
I think that’s a reasonable proposition. I listened to I’ll Be Back last night. Not an obvious example but wow, so right for the song and a kind of restrained power.
Arthur Cowslip says
Don’t let the naysayers get you down, Tigger. I wholeheartedly agree with you about Lennon’s voice. Those with ears, let them hear. Twist and Shout may be my favourite vocal of all time.
Tiggerlion says
Thanks, Arthur.
Blue Boy says
Yeah me too. One of the miracles of the Beatles is that in one band they managed to have not one but two of the great white pop voices
Bingo Little says
1. karaoke
2. Playing Mariokart 64 while listening to Manowar’s Wheels of Fire
3. Know Your Enemy
4. Fugazi, in general
5. A Change Is Gonna Come
6. Andrew WK live
7. Enter the 36 Chambers
I need 8. Dancing with my wife
Tiggerlion says
Great list. Number five, I presume, is when sung by Sam Cooke.
Gary says
Or Aaron Neville?
Mike_H says
The wrong song for Aaron Neville. That combination of really wide vibrato and melisma which are his signal traits are just too much for it.
I was going to say he “overcooked” it but as we’re comparing him to Sam Cooke, that would have looked daft.
Gary says
I agree with you, Mike. But Bingo prefers this version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_LK9XyWFX8
Alias says
Otis Redding’s version is my favourite.
Gary says
Bingo’s too!
Kaisfatdad says
If Tigger dances with your wife, Bingo, does it still qualify as one of the Eight Wonders or is it downgraded a tad….
Rigid Digit says
Lemmy’s wart
Tiggerlion says
Made me properly lol.
minibreakfast says
Bargepole’s competitions.
Moose the Mooche says
Barge’s competition pole.
ganglesprocket says
1) Springsteen’s Preceding hairline (copyright Mark Ellen that gag I believe, but it’s a good one)
2) Barry Gibb still hitting those high notes in his seventies
3) Bjork’s Tailor
4) Dave Hill’s hairdresser
5) Lady Gaga’s butcher
6) Johnny Mathis’s Feet
7) Anyone who still doesn’t think that Morrissey is a knob end.
Tiggerlion says
Excellent! Especially number 3. Have you seen the cover of her latest album?
David Kendal says
I think 4 and 5 might be the same person.
Tiggerlion says
More likely 3 & 5.
Gary says
1. Wondrous Place – Billy Fury
2. Stevie Wonder
3. I Wonder – Sixto Rodriguez
4. Well I Wonder – The Smiths
5. Little Wonder – David Bowie
6. Wondrous Stories – Yes
7. A Fish Called Wanda
Tiggerlion says
I’m disqualifying number 7 on the grounds it isn’t musical.
Gary says
That’s just nitpicking.
Alias says
A Fish Called Wanda Jackson
Rigid Digit says
A Town Called Alice Coltrane
Mike_H says
Debbie Gibson Does Dallas
Tiggerlion says
Wondrous!
Lodestone of Wrongness says
1 John Lennon’s voice
2 Dylan’s voice on Blonde On Blonde
3 Randy Newman’s lyrics in Jolly Coppers on Parade
4 Neil Young’s guitar on Cortez
5 Mary Gauthier singing I Drink
6 Saw Doctors Live Quinns Bar, Tuam
7 Springsteen & Seeger Sessions St Lukes
Right then, that’s this thread finished..
retropath2 says
4 and 5 are winners with me!
RT on Poor Will & the Jolly Hangman, vocal and guitar.
The massed choral vocals of the mighty Chumbawamba.
Blues Variation, Keith Emerson, ELP, Pictures at an Exhibition.
Jackie Leven live.
BJ Cole’s steel on REM’s Country Feedback Live
Bagpipes.
minibreakfast says
1. Do
2. Ray
3. Egon
4. Fa
5. So
6. La
7. Ti
Arthur Cowslip says
I feel smug that I get your joke at 3. I actually love that film – flawed but brilliant, and massively underrated. Some great jokes.
minibreakfast says
I love it too.
Kaisfatdad says
I did not get the joke, but now I do thanks to Google.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2014/feb/24/harold-ramis-ghostbusters-caddyshack-knocked-up
A wonderful movie and I enjoyed the recent reboot/remake too.
ruff-diamond says
“Sure, the blackout was a big problem for everybody. I was trapped in an elevator for two hours and I had to make the whole time. But I don’t blame them. Because one time, I turned into a dog and they helped me”
Milkybarnick says
“Where do those stairs go?”
“They go up…”
Sewer Robot says
The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon Zoo
The Colossus Of Randy Rhoads
The Lighthouse People live at Alexandra Palace
And the great Pyramids:
https://youtu.be/sMLWehro710
*the others can’t be that wonderful, as I can’t remember them..
Rigid Digit says
Status of Yazoo at Olympic Studios
Rigid Digit says
StatuE
Sewer Robot says
Snotme. Must be another geezer…
Black Celebration says
The seven wonders of the world are/were actual places. That’s what I think we should be considering. I was thinking about this when I was trying to remember if I have seen the actual hotel on the cover of Hotel Califiornia on holiday there a few years ago. I think someone mentioned it as we were driving around but I can’t be arsed to check. It’s not on my list anyway
Anyway, 7 wonders of the Rock & Roll world (places/buildings)
1. Abbey Road zebra crossing
2. Paisley Park
3. Graceland
4. Battersea Power Station
5. Kling Klang Studios
6. Brill building
7. The Cavern
Rigid Digit says
I’d try and squeeze in:
100 Club
Ronnie Scott’s
and West Runton Pavillion (Rock & Roll Capital of the World according to Saxon’s Biff Byford).
Not sure what would be knocked out though.
The 10 Wonders of the musical world?
Alias says
I’ve been to all 3 of those many times!
Tiggerlion says
Rather than Ronnie’s, how about The Village Vanguard?
Arthur Cowslip says
I’ve been to four of those! Would be a nice little bucket list to try and visit them all.
ganglesprocket says
Surely we need the Marquee Club in there?
Also
CBGBS
Whatever Bronx corner it was that Kool Herc matched break beats at.
Some crossroads in the deep south that Robert Johnson visited.
Mike_H says
My list of wonderful music places in history:
The Fillmore West
The Royal Albert Hall
Ronnie Scott’s
The Village Vanguard
The Half Moon in Putney
CBGBs
The Paget Rooms, Penarth
In any order you like.
First reserve: Friars in Aylesbury
Second Reserve: West Runton Pavilion
SteveT says
Never been that keen on Royal Albert Hall – the acoustics when I saw Costello there were dreadful.
Could have been his sound man of course but I always blamed the venue.
ruff-diamond says
Scratch Graceland off that list – it was just where Elvis lived. On that criterion you might as well include Mendips.
Diddley Farquar says
1. TrevorBolder’s sideburns
That’s all I’ve got.
Tiggerlion says
Maybe. But they are outstanding 😀
pencilsqueezer says
Kylie’s arse.
Gatz says
She speaks very highly of you.
pencilsqueezer says
Stacia’s tits.
Tiggerlion says
Terence Trent D’Arby’s cock?
Moose the Mooche says
J Lo’s bum.
Tiggerlion says
We’ve already got one bum. How many do you need?
Miles Davis’s horn?
Moose the Mooche says
No, the former was an Arse.
A bum is much cuddlier.
Tiggerlion says
Certainly, J Lo’s is.
Arthur Cowslip says
I want to say Lennon and Hendrix as well, but leave them out and choose my own.
1. Kate Bush’s falsetto
2. Freddie’s command of a crowd
3. John Lee Hooker’s groove
4. Jaki’s drums (from Can)
5. The Mellotron
6. Grandmaster Flash’s beat juggling
7. Bowie’s style
Tiggerlion says
I’m particularly enjoying your rhythm section.
Moose the Mooche says
Honey, you’re fresh!
Uncle Wheaty says
The Cult and The Waterboys
Leicester Bangs says
1. ‘The Professionals’ theme tune
2. Reese bass
3. Pete Townshend skidding on his knees
4. Public Enemy’s sample of The JB’s ‘The Grunt’
5. The soundtrack to Bugsy Malone
6. ‘A Day In The Life’ by the Beatles
7. The Congos
Moose the Mooche says
Number 4… fancy a brew?
Arthur Cowslip says
No 5 – I don’t know if you’re being flippant but I absolutely adore that soundtrack. It was burned into my psyche as an 8 year old and I get a real rush every time I hear it. My Name Is Tallulah and So You Wanna Be A Boxer still really hit home. But it’s the slow tunes that I used to think were boring as a youngster that have revealed an emotional depth now I’m older.
Only A Fool, for example. Or Tomorrow. Just achingly gorgeous jazz ballads.
Leicester Bangs says
You’re dead right, and I’ve had the same experience, although Only A Fool is probably the one I like least. See, I think it’s Paul Williams’s voice that does it for me. Vaunted as a songwriter, but a much underrated singer, I think.
MC Escher says
Funk rhythm – on the one
Moog synthesizer
Roland drum machine
Les Paul electric guitar
Twin Technics decks
The ipod
Reggae rhythm – on the other one
Tiggerlion says
Big up for the iPod.
dai says
1. John Lennon’s voice
2. Paul McCartney’s voice
3. McCartney’s bass playing
4. Ringo Starr’s drumming
5. George Harrison’s guitar playing
6. John, Paul and George harmonies
7. Brian Wilson
Tiggerlion says
Wot? No Stones?
dai says
Just messing with you. Ok 8. Keith’s intro to Jumpin Jack Flash
Moose the Mooche says
1. Silent but deadly
2. Little Tommy Squeaker
3. Bronx Cheer
4. The Last Post
5. Postern Blast
6. Depth Charge
7. Nobody Smoke!
Tiggerlion says
You’ve changed your tune!
Bartleby says
1. The Beatles – songwriting, arrangement, experimentation, instrumentation, ambition, subject matter, image, sound, the works
2. Jimi Hendrix for his way with a guitar
3. Van Morrison’s sense of melody, late 60s til late 70s
4. Frank Zappa’s warped cynicism, arrangement and guitar playing
5. Stevie Wonder’s exploration of the possible in the mid-70s
6. John Martyn’s peerless hazy mid 70s acoustic wizardry and chill
7. Mark E Smith for his non-musician’s ability to achieve greatness from any set of musicians
Tiggerlion says
You are a man of your time, aren’t you. Hard to dispute any of your nominations.
Bartleby says
Thanks. I’m an 80s kid really, just the music didn’t really do it for me.
Vulpes Vulpes says
6 out of 7 ain’t bad.
Substitute the mighty Lee Perry and all who sail in her for the, uh, occasional talents of Mr. Smith and your list is pretty much the same as mine, Bart old bean.
H.P. Saucecraft says
1 Lists
2 Lists including the Beatles
3 Lists including Beatles records
4 Lists including John Lennon
5 Lists including Paul McCartney
6 Lists including George Harrison
7 Lists including Ringo Starr
MC Escher says
That’s not even the best list on the Beatles.
Tiggerlion says
Thanks for dropping by, H.P. It’s good to see you. 😃
bricameron says
1. YouTube
2. Spotify
3. Holograms
4.
5.
6.
7.
Tahir W says
Why is it that boys like to make lists? As well as collecting things, we love making lists, especially ranked ones. But shopping lists, forget about it.
Rigid Digit says
1. To place some OCDesque order to things
2. To spark debate and/or targeting annoy someone
3. Geoff Hurst
4. Because we can
Tahir W says
Who’s Geoff Hurst?
Arthur Cowslip says
It’s a football reference! I know that much but I’ve never bothered to find out more. If I was to guess I’d say he was the guy who scored the winning goal for England that time they won the World Cup?
And I love lists. Even shopping lists. I used to get soul-searching and angsty about it and wonder why I loved lists. But then I just learned to stop worrying and love the fact I love lists. They make a frightening, random world seem more welcoming.
Gatz says
Yes, I know. You would think the English would mention him now and again.
RubyBlue says
Why girls like lists :
1. They bring order to a chaotic world.
2. They bring order to a chaotic brain.
3. The pure hit of dopamine when you complete the writing of a list- there, done!- regardless of how arbitrary the choices are.
4. They are fun and a good mental exercise- why this one, and not that one? Show your working.
5. In this case, they make you reflect over a lifetime of music . Or books, films, TV, favourite lipsticks , best-ever handbag etc.
6. A source for arguing, mild trolling, taste-signalling and getting pointlessly annoyed. All good.
7. They fill in time before DEATH.
Tiggerlion says
The main point you allude to, and the purpose behind this thread, is a list reveals a lot about the person who made it.
Tell that to Disappointment Bob & he just wants to DIE.
Tahir W says
Ranking of lovers?
Anyway nice to know you do it too. Yet another plus.
RubyBlue says
Oh yeah I have ranked those. Not telling you the criteria however.
Tahir W says
Wise, but frustrating!
RubyBlue says
-Coldness of feet;
-Duvet-stealing habits;
– Cleanliness of sheets;
-Ability to pick up own pants;
– Level of snoring; and
-Morning-after tea-making abilities.
Read and learn, chaps, read and learn.
Tiggerlion says
I have a friend with cold feet. He asks is it OK to wear socks in bed?
RubyBlue says
Tell your friend that I don’t care as long as the cold feet do not touch me, socks or not.
Tiggerlion says
He’ll have to wear socks then. When he’s asleep, he loses control over where his feet go.
Moose the Mooche says
Picking up pants? Making tea? I think you are confusing “chaps” with “ladies”. Perfectly understandable with all these long-haired young chaps you see nowadays.
I suggest you replace these two with “Pipe-smoking ability” and “Tendency to correct my grammar in front of others”.
I know what the “liddel ladies” like.
RubyBlue says
I also forgot ‘nad shuffling whilst watching TV’ (multi-tasking!) and ‘ability to replace toilet roll when finished and not leave an empty roll in the FUCKING holder’.
Moose the Mooche says
The toilet roll thing? Seriously, men still do that?
Men who women allow to live with them?
I need to know who these men are, so that I can stand next to them and look relatively sophisticated for a few seconds. Like flying a helicopter, I just want to know what it’s like.
davebigpicture says
So farting is ok?
minibreakfast says
Only when we do it, Mr Picture.
RubyBlue says
As noted passim I parp glitter so my ladyfarts are allowed.
davebigpicture says
That must make laundry day interesting.
MC Escher says
Re: the ‘nad shuffling. It is not clear from your post whether this is a plus or minus?
Vulpes Vulpes says
‘ability to replace toilet roll when finished and not leave an empty roll in the FUCKING holder’.
So you’ve met my wife then?
RubyBlue says
‘Nad shuffling….I mean, they’re still there, , y’know? They haven’t gone anywhere.
Anyway these are all minor criterion. It’s the cold feet /duvet-stealing thing that results in movement down the ranking.
I have both cold feet and I steal duvets* but I would suggest that only one person in the partnership can display these delightful qualities if the relationship is to have any longevity.
*I now have two single duvets. Bliss. Unless your nine-year-old decides he wants to come under it.
Sewer Robot says
It’s not really shuffling though, is it? The left one always ends up on the left and his chum remains rightside.
Hardly the stuff of magicians is it?
Oh wait! Maybe that’s what first attracted Debbie McGee to the millionaire Paul Daniels..?
RubyBlue says
Anyway enough of bollock fiddling, shuffling, scratching or whatever the hell you do, look at THIS from 2 mins ago. I hope this link works: https://imgur.com/gallery/W6l1V
Moose the Mooche says
They haven’t gone anywhere? Would that this were true. They’re always on the move. I discovered this after I was “speyed”. The actual procedure was nothing like as unpleasant as the following week of the stitches being constantly stretched and contracted as they decide the conditions are too hot or too cold for your tadpoles. The old “wrinkled retainer” never bloody sleeps.
Well, you did ask.
RubyBlue says
Ah, the old justification for manspreading. They get too hot or cold; they get twisted; pants get wrapped round them; or they’ve just been sliced and stiched by a surgeon. Same old excuses.
(You do have my sympathy!)
Tiggerlion says
Breasts are much bigger than bollocks, most of the time, but appear to be far less trouble in the sweaty/scratchy department. It’s all in the positioning, innit. If bollocks were on men’s chests, they’d be far less uncomfortable than between a couple of meaty thighs.
Rigid Digit says
Maybe pant designers need to take their cue from Brassiere manufacturers.
A Cross-Your-Scrote Hammock “Lifts & Separates” could be the next big seller
Moose the Mooche says
I can see the ads now… “Hello Girls!”
davebigpicture says
Single duvets: I went out with a German girl who told me that two single duvets on a double bed is the norm in Germany.
Moose the Mooche says
If you don’t want to snuggle, you’re in bed with the wrong person anyway.
I have that on the wall of my office at Relate.
RubyBlue says
Single duvets. As it should be*. German efficiency, there.
*I don’t know why we need to sleep with other people anyway. No mammoths or whatever are coming to get us so surely single beds are the future.
(Tiggs I’m so sorry for this diversion. I feel like it’s all my fault, somehow. Please tell
yourselfyour friend to wearyourtheir bedsocks with no fear of mockery or rejection.)Moose the Mooche says
Because snuggling is the greatest thing in the world. Going to sleep, and waking up, in somebody*’s arms is as good as life gets.
(*somebody you like, obviously)
RubyBlue says
Ah Moose, you old romantic. 🙂
‘”get off I’m too hot I have no room you need a shave your feet are cold brush your teeth ow you elbowed me give me my duvet back did you change the toilet roll”
Tiggerlion says
Thanks, Ruby. I’ve just bought
myselfmy friend three pairs of bed socks for Christmas.For once, Moose has been talking good sense. A diversion that achieves that is well worthwhile. So, well done.
Sewer Robot says
“No mammoths coming to get us”?
Just because you don’t see giant elephant-like creatures lumbering down the street doesn’t mean they’re not out there..
RubyBlue says
Look, I have enough trouble trying to convince my son to stay in his room and that there are no monsters in his wardrobe; I don’t need this shit as well.
davebigpicture says
Give it a few years and you won’t be able to get him to come out of his room.
RubyBlue says
Sparkly and fragrant!
davebigpicture says
Sounds like a fabric conditioner ad.
JustB says
Reasons I love lists:
1) I don’t.
Tiggerlion says
Oi! You! I’ve told you once. Get aht ma thread! 😉
Dave Ross says
1/ Nick Heywards smile
2/ Howard Jones dancer Jed
3/ Roland Orzabal
4/ Holly Johnsons “Hoo has” and “Yeeeaahs”
5/ Wham Rap
6/ Susan and Joanne from The Human League dancing to “Love Action”
7/ The video for “Long Hot Summer”
Gatz says
Let me guess Dave, you’re the same age as me – 50? They wouldn’t be my choices but all of them were instantly evocative of my mid teens.
Dave Ross says
Yep, 52. Tongue slightly in cheek but they are all genuinely great moments and fixed memories of something special more than 30 years ago….
Tiggerlion says
Beautiful, Dave, just beautiful.
minibreakfast says
7 – Style Council or Girls Aloud? 😉
Dave Ross says
Lol, Wellers chest is easily the most impressive….
Rigid Digit says
Susan and Joanne dancing, in general.
Hell, they don’t even need to be dancing. Just standing there is good enough
(I was 11 when Love Action was released – those memories burn for a long time)
RubyBlue says
1. Ed O’Brien on ‘Jigsaw Falling into Place’.
2. McGuinn on ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’.
3. The last two minutes of ‘Confide in Me’, Kylie.
4. Tori’s ‘Cornflake Girl’ piano.
5. The opening chords of ‘The Bitterest Pill’. (Or ‘When You’re Young’).
6. Propaganda, ‘Dr. Mabuse’: the intro, the outro, the middle. 🙂
7. The segue of Joni’s ‘Lesson in Survival’ into ‘Let the Wind Carry Me’.
Bonus: Cale’s descending piano on ‘Nothern Sky’, after the final ‘never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea….’
And after the far-too-long intro to ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ (oh do get on with it), the way the guitars and Moz come crashing in. High drama.
Tiggerlion says
Oh golly. That’s even more beautiful. I’m going to have to listen all of those right now.
Wayfarer says
For me, it’s places where the magic was in the air. I’ve visited Sun, Fame & Studio B and you can feel the ghosts of the musicians who’ve passed through – even the ones who haven’t popped their clogs yet. Capitol & Abbey Road are on my bucket list, if they ever open their doors to tourists.
The venues are important to me personally becuase I saw so many great bands at both of them.
Abbey Road Studios
Sun Studios
Fame Studios
Capitol Studios
RCA Studio B
Hammersmith Odeon
Brighton Dome
Tiggerlion says
How about Muscle Shoals, Black Ark, Trident or Compass Point?
davebigpicture says
There’s a quite good documentary on Netflix about Sound City Studio in LA. It’s a little too long and features Dave Grohl, who I found a little wearing by the end but still worth watching.
Tiggerlion says
You are not really selling it to me, dave.
davebigpicture says
I was going to put*
*Contains Dave Grohl
But I felt that was a bit unfair
Wayfarer says
Fame is one of the Muscle Shoals studios, Tiggs. There’s an impressive list of names associated the other studios you mention but Abbey Road & (especially) Capitol have always held a fascination for me.
http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/muscle-shoals/index.html
Tiggerlion says
I realised that the instant I pressed Post Comment. Sorry. How about Stax and Studio A, Detroit?
What’s the fascination with Capitol, anyway? Frank Sinatra?
Wayfarer says
Sinatra, definitely.
davebigpicture says
The bass line on I Want You Back
21st Century concert sound (not perfect but much better)
Streaming, despite what it does for royalties it’s amazing.
Digital recording. Controversial maybe but no master tapes getting lost, wearing out and deteriorating with age. You don’t have to use Pro Tools just ‘cos it’s digital.
Moving head LED lights. No more huge meat racks of Par Cans with different coloured gel that just flash on/off
The sound of a Rickenbacker guitar
Glastonbury
Tiggerlion says
You can’t hear a Rickenbacker often enough.
Timbar says
The music choices are very much those “tingle moments.”
Here are 7 faves – which could easily change if given more thought/different time of day.
1. David Ruffin’s falsetto on Walk away from love
2. Steely Dan: My Old School. The horns after the “California, tumbling” line
3. Topper Headon’s drum fills on Safe European Home.
4. Beach Boys: Wouldn’t it be nice. The massed harmonies coming in on the second verse.
5. Eagles: One of these nights guitar solo – I remember Dave Cash playing it on Capital Radio in 1975, stopping the record to play the solo again.
6. Pet Shop Boys: Left to my own devices. The pause, “it’s not a crime”, the soaring strings on the last verse.
7. Marvin Gaye’s “No, No, Darlin'” on You are everything.
Special Mention: Hearing Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time & wondering How did they do that. Sadly, like a great magic trick or seeing a famous landmark, the amazement fades with familiarity.
Tiggerlion says
Nice variety there but pretty much all pre 1975.
Timbar says
Thank you. I was 12 in 1975, so probably the point I started avidly listening & appreciating music.
Asked again tomorrow, I could just as easily pick a more recent seven.
Blue Boy says
Van in transcendent mode -I mean have you heard him deep into Summertime in England or Listen or the Lion?
Emmylou’s purity of voice
The Bill Evans trio live at the Village Vanguard
Chuck Berry’s guitar riffs
Lucinda Williams singing about death
The utter joy and effortlessness of Sam Cooke’s voice
I know I’ve mentioned this many times before but Laura Marling. No one will be disputing this in twenty years time….
RubyBlue says
I agree with you about Laura Marling. I hear surprisingly little about her on here or anywhere else.
Moose the Mooche says
Van on When Heart is Open is in some place none of us will ever know about.
fatima Xberg says
1. Mick Karn’s bass playing on “Sons Of Pioneers”
2. David Bowie’s voice on “Warszawa”
3. Phillip Boa skipping the last half of the second verse and going straight (“Well, I’ll tell you later!”) to the chorus in “Love On Sale”
4. Frank Zappa’s arrangement on “Peaches En Regalia”
5. Steven Wilson’s guitar chords appearing after 9 minutes of ambient drones on Basscommunion’s “Drugged”
6. John Paul Jones’ string arrangement on R.E.M.’s “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite”
7. Gregg Allmän singing “Soulshine”
Gary says
Mick Karn’s bass playing on “Sons Of Pioneers” – what an excellent choice!
Tiggerlion says
My favourite Bowie vocal is Wild Is The Wind.
Extra marks for highlighting John Paul Jones orchestration skills. I really love what he did for She’s A Rainbow, even though Nicky Hopkins steals that show.
Tahir W says
1. I think I lost a button on me trousers. Hope they don’t fall down.
2. Give me an issue, I’ll give you a tissue and wipe my ass on it.
3. You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!
4. Kick out the jams motherfuckers!
5. … some old friends with a brand new name …
6. You got enough water? … [crowd noise] … What does that mean?
7. Keef! KEEF!!!
Tiggerlion says
You like a good live album, Tahir?
RASTA-FARI ALMIGHTY GOD!!!
Moose the Mooche says
Without knowledge of your ‘istory, you’re like a cabbage in this society…
ruff-diamond says
“Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!”
Moose the Mooche says
Man invades festival stage: “I think this is a pile of shit, while Rolf Harris rots in prison”
…er…
Locust says
1. Buying a new album by an unknown artist based on it’s name and sleeve art alone and on first listen unexpectedly having my mind blown.
2. Going to see a favourite artist live for the first time and somehow – holy f**k! – they manage to be even better than my already huge expectations and I float all the way home, in love.
3. Giving an act I really don’t care for a chance at a festival and ending up finally understanding why fans adore them, being swept up in the emotions and the dancing and sing-along choruses.
(Or giving an act I really don’t care for a chance at a festival and ending up having my opinions confirmed… 😉 )
4. Dancing. Hours and hours of bliss to funky rhythms. Better than sex (Fact!)
5. Listening to an album I’ve heard a thousand times and suddenly hearing something for the first time – a beautiful detail in the arrangement, a line suddenly having deeper meaning to me, a drum fill I never noticed before, a moving nuance in the singer’s voice on a particular line, a clever rhyme I’ve never reflected on; anything.
6. Having a bad day, putting on some music and that song comes on and the clouds are lifted, angels dance around their handbags and I sing along and punch my fist into the air to a lyric that fills me with hope and love and defiance and energy.
7. Hearing an old song that is a Proustian Madeleine of memories; a place in time, people I used to know, youth, some exhilarating or heartbreaking event; making me grin happily or tear up from the emotions hidden inside that short track.
(But I could list seven other musical wonders, and then seven more)
Sewer Robot says
Magnificent post, Loc!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Best musical wonders list ever list:
1) Locust’s list above.
Tiggerlion says
Wonderful, Locust. Please try us with your next seven wonders.
Locust says
I’d better not, it can only go downhill from here! 😀
Declan says
Ah, the lot of the music lover.
Particularly appreciate your #5, so true.
Lovely.
Alias says
1. The JBs, the funkiest band ever.
2. Fania Records. New York’s Motown. No label has had as much talent on it’s books.
3. Chucho Valdes and the Afro Cuban Jazz Messengers live. Currently the best live band on the planet.
4. Dancing, I love dancing, albeit not as much as Locust. Anyone who objects to people dancing should not listen to music outside their own home.
5. Stop Making Sense – my favourite music film about Talking Heads the best live band of the 80s at their absolute peak.
6. Persuading friends to see a gig by someone they have never heard of and then seeing them blown away.
7. Sex Pistols – no band before or since has thrilled me as much as this lot did in 1977.
Tiggerlion says
You love your Latin. Can you Tango?
Chucho Valdes is tremendous but I’ve never seen him live. I’ll remedy that the first chance I get.
Alias says
Can I tango? 20 years ago I could, I used to go to classes every week, but that was ballroom tango. I had one lesson of the authentic Argentinian tango which was great, but I never went out to tango nights. These days I very rarely go out to see any Latin music. Salsa was my favourite latin music for dancing to.
I haven’t seen it, but this DVD might be worth investigating.
Tiggerlion says
Thank you.
Lunaman says
1. The first time you are allowed to hold a guitar and strum it.
2. Owning your first guitar/musical intrument.
3. Listening to music through good heaphones
4. Being at a concert with a really loud music system.
5. Plugging in a guitar to an amp and touching the strings.
6. Hearing an orchestra tuning up before a concert.
7. Being in front of your favourite act at a concert.