The Omnipresent, currently playing (music) thread...

[Rattler]

Ah, old good Rod! So happy he didnt go for soccerplayer... Thanks, Jilly, hit my taste!

Well, as it was (is) raining here all day and I am sitting in front of the comp since more than 16 hours now (with lunch and later siesta break) I am listening to stuff from my Vinyl collection which brings me back to page 1 of this thread (and it was a response to Koen´s ELO then), some more great mixes of lyrics, guitar solos and, most important in this case, *arrangements*:

My ´70s stuff (as I am all for the lyrics all the time, and for a good solo, or a good arrangement, or all of those; additionally they had to be worth to save money to see them live in concert...) has such stuff as (they all fit the mentioned categories):

A typical case this for music I did not at all like the first time I heard it but that after repeating a few times had me immersed and addicted: Subtly surreal lyrics, strange themes for songs, great musicians individually, a new take on rock and jazz at that time (´72-´82), Lady and gentlemen, one of the all time best (voice) arrangers, Donald Fagan and his "Steely Dan"!

For starters "Haitian Divorce" (´72?), which (while not one of the best pieces) surely combines all the mentioned above and so hopefully will set the pace (you will have time enough to give a quick look at the lyrics, the song only starts after 0:35 - ...ah, that wah-wah in combo with the talk box!  ):

Babs and clean willie were in love they said
So in love the preachers face turned red
Soon everybody knew the thing was dead
He shouts, she bites, they wrangle through the night
She go crazy
Got to make a getaway
Papa say
Chorus:
Oh - no hesitation
No tears and no hearts breakin
No remorse
Oh - congratulations
This is your haitian divorce

She takes the taxi to the good hotel
Bon marché as far as she can tell
She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell
She feels alright, she get it on tonight
Mister driver
Take me where the music play
Papa say

Chorus

At the grotto
In the greasy chair
Sits the charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair
When she smiled, she said it all
The band was hot so
They danced the famous merengue
Now we dolly back
Now we fade to black

Tearful reunion in the usa
Day by day those memories fade away
Some babies grow in a peculiar way
It changed, it grew, and everybody knew
Semi-mojo
Whos this kinky so-and-so?
Papa go

Chorus

Steely Dan - Haitian Divorce

Along the same line the story of the entrenched man who had murdered his father talking in his mind to the police, "Don't Take Me Alive", 1972 (a rare case of a song that *starts* with a badass guitar solo...): "...got a case of dynamite, I could hold out here all night...!".. Again, this won´t hit the first time, but this rhythm will turn out to be in your head for a while if you listen ever to it three times...

Steely Dan - Don't Take Me Alive

And, while not the one that made #1 in the charts (that was "Rikki dont lose that number"), one of their evergreens, "Do It Again", from ´72 or so (didnt look, but it´s not so refined as later stuff):

Steely Dan- Do It Again

Worthwile listening to all their stuff ("Peg", "Black Cow" etc), am through the third album now, and they seem as fresh as yesterday, becoming more jazzy and smooth with age, but the basic style is always there (even in Fagan´s solo albums later).

Enjoy

Rattler

P.S: One for Jilly, as she likes the "other" of the two musics :

Steely Dan - With A Gun

R.  

[Jilly]

Thanks, Rattler.  Nice song. 

Since you like Rod Stewart, here's another favorite of mine by him:

Maggie may

[Rattler]

I love all Rod songs (not all the time, mood dependent), but the best still is: "HOT LEGS"!

Rattler

[Jilly]

Not one of my favorite Rod Stewart songs, must admit.  How about some Stray Cats:

Stray Cats - Rock This Town - Live 81!

also

Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut

[Rattler]

Stray Cats!

Tonight I have to prepare a weekend blues show, and am wading through a lot of material, atm it´s all Nina Simone, what a great singer! Everything from joy to pain in that voice and her interpretations, I am not surprised that a lady like that was a "diva" who nobody could get along with... (see the last on, live!), any way: Pure Power!

Enjoy (or not),

Rattler

For Jilly, and for one of her best songs you gotta click on the first link...:
Nina Simone - I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl (External Embedding Disabled)

Nina Simone I put a spell on you

nina simone - my baby just cares for me

Nina Simone "Feelings" (Montreux Jazz Festival)

[Jilly]

Wow,  she certainly has a very strong voice.  Nice and relaxing though.  Thanks,  Rattler   

[Rattler]

Wow,  she certainly has a very strong voice.  Nice and relaxing though.  Thanks,  Rattler   

Ooops! Just realized the last vid was not the one I had mentioned in the post´s text, now fixed...

Rattler

[Jilly]

Rattler,  you're so precise,  you shouldn't worry so much about all the little details.

Now for some Springsteen:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

[Rattler]

The Boss for the boss then.... 

One I like a lot:

Marla Glen :: Believer

Enjoy,

Rattler

[Jilly]

Nice one.

Here's a slow one for today, beautiful song from the one and only Diana Ross:

Diana Ross "Touch Me In The Morning"

[Rattler]

@ Jilly: One and only allright!  

EDIT AUG 2010:   Amazing how google/youtube can destroy such a good post and deprive us from viewing what I wrote about (there is no copyright on the vids after 33 yrs, I double checked)....    

There are still some excerpts of the mentioned vids on the tube, you can look them up, but I wont post them, they do not show what I meant to delliver as the connection of visual and musical rhythm that made them so great is disrupted. Mabe in the future again?

END EDIT

Now, for something completely different:

Whenever I feel I need a boost I inevitably fall back on Beethoven, directed by Karajan: While IMHO his reputation as director is slightly overdone from a strict musical POV (even more so now as he is dead), he does deserve it because of two methods he introduced to classics:

1. He was bass centered and somehow understood that modern (20th century) audiences living with radio and tv were/are indoctrinated to bass heavy voices, ads, music, etc. and took the right conclusion: Double, triple, auadruple the bass section (contrabass, celli, violas and the big drums) independently from what was written in the partiture.

2. He discovered the power of the image and had a basic understanding of the visualisation of music: While other as well directors had their two three TC cameras set up and taped themselves (google "Bernstein Beethovens 9th": Same time, great director - probably even better than Karajan - , but the difference is abysmal), he discovered and contracted one of the (now) most famous camera men: Michael Ballhaus, and let him do all the visual representatin of his work (as an ex photographer and profound fan of Ballhaus incredible capacity of imaginative vision and visual creation - my favorite scene is a 8+ minutes one camera shot of a conversatio between two people in Fassbinders "World on a Wire", where he moves in, out, surrounds, circumferes, changes from totale to spot, etc, for all that time w/o one single cut). Ballhaus developed photographers vision into moving pictures and showed every angle about Karajan: His genie, his ego-centrism bodering on madness, his German precision and addiction to detail, his vanity, and his art, the top German musicions doing "slave labour" literally as Karajan asked them to, condensing it all in some almost black and white pictures, long lenses giving a pictoresque density unknown before in concert cinematography.

That is what is on today as I feel down and close to burn-oput with so much stuff to take care of that I am losing the big picture (sorry, as YT only allowed 10 min when this was posted they had to split it in two parts): Beethoven (who else when you need ome assertion?), 2nd movement of th 9th, directed by Karajan, filmed by Ballhaus (and nope: It cannot be the first movement... It is here that you see the true Beethovian spirit come through, the energy and power, the discipline and the orgasmic details ):

Beethoven 9th Symphony Karajan 2nd Movement (1/2)

Beethoven 9th Symphony Karajan 2nd Movement (2/2)

Enjoy (or not),

Rattler

P.S.: Because it was so nice, same combination of protagonists, same music, but grabbed at a different concert: As you can see Ballhaus - while citing himself - is easily capable of employing unlimited more more possible visual interpretations - in this case the Japanese version for *their* marked and visual customs where it is all a sum of details like a mosaique: Closer, closer, closer! (just FDR, I like the first version better as it is more abstract, though I recognize and appreciate the unique visuaization of the 2nd, Ballhaus *is* a genius!). NOTE how he has added (one!) color this time to contrast with the b/w take of before, and how he even more condensed the pictures in depth, to be able to play with rear ground reflections and create a less "strict" visual impression than in the ones above...!

A full 32 minutes with the way Ballhaus painted Karajan then (more colorful, he shows him as the benevolant god of music this time) and singers and choir (after min 14):

Karajan - Beethoven Symphony No. 9 : Part 2

R.

[Rattler]

A Jethro Tull album on the player: Turn basses in and trebles out...

The old Rocker wore his hair too long,
wore his trouser cuffs too tight.
Unfashionable to the end --- drank his ale too light.
Death's head belt buckle --- yesterday's dreams ---
the transport caf' prophet of doom.
Ringing no change in his double-sewn seams
in his post-war-babe gloom.

Now he's too old to Rock'n'Roll but he's too young to die.

He once owned a Harley Davidson and a Triumph Bonneville.
Counted his friends in burned-out spark plugs
and prays that he always will.
But he's the last of the blue blood greaser boys
all of his mates are doing time:
married with three kids up by the ring road
sold their souls straight down the line.
And some of them own little sports cars
and meet at the tennis club do's.
For drinks on a Sunday --- work on Monday.
They've thrown away their blue suede shoes.

Now they're too old to Rock'n'Roll and they're too young to die.

So the old Rocker gets out his bike
to make a ton before he takes his leave.
Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner
just like it used to be.
And as he flies --- tears in his eyes ---
his wind-whipped words echo the final take
and he hits the trunk road doing around 120
with no room left to brake.

And he was too old to Rock'n'Roll but he was too young to die.

No, you're never too old to Rock'n'Roll if you're too young to die.

Ain´t that last sentence the truth?

Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rocknroll Too Young To Die

This one might as well go to the "Snippets and memories" thread, as it is one for me: Always listened to this song (secretly, was strictly forbidden) in my dorm at the boarding school in England to go to sleep, dont know whether listening to that kind of lyrics was healthy for a (almost) 16 yrs old...? Maybe a part of the madness that people attribute to me (and that I sometimes feel) can be traced back to listening to and batteling with those thoughts and emotions when I was young? Listening to them now after what must surely be 20+ yrs for the first time again, I find I still know them by heart and can instantly sing along, so they must be deep embedded in my setup... Shrink, where are you when I need you?

Anyway, it sure opened my musical horizon wide, first time I ever heard - and later understood - about the art of arrangement, nothing like this before nor after... (sorry, but this incredibly complex and fascinating piece is split in varius parts, too long for youtube, it is an Opera all by itself...).

Turn trebles back in...:

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick (part 1)

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick (part 2)

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick (part 3)

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick (part 4) (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick (part 5) (Embedding disabled, limit reached)

Really don't mind if you sit this one out.
 My words but a whisper, your deafness a shout.
I may make you feel but I can't make you think.
Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink.

So you ride yourselves over the fields
and you make all your animal deals
and your wise men don't know how it feels...
to be thick as a brick.

And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away
in the tidal destruction, the moral melee.
The elastic retreat rings the close of play
as the last wave uncovers the newfangled way.
But your new shoes are worn at the heels
and your suntan does rapidly peel and
your wise men don't know how it feels...
to be thick as a brick.
 
And the love that I feel is so far away...
I'm a bad dream that I just had today...
- and you shake your head and say it's a shame.
 
Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth.
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth.
Spin me down the long ages, let them sing the song!
 
See there!  A son is born - and we pronounce him fit to fight.
There are black heads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night.
We'll make a man of him, put him to trade
teach him to play Monopoly and how to sing in the rain!
 

The Poet and the painter casting shadows on the water
as the sun plays on the infantry returning from the sea.
The do-er and the thinker, no allowance for the other,
as the failing light illuminates the mercenary's creed.
The home fire burning, the kettle almost boiling,
but the master of the house is far away.
The horses stamping, their warm breath clouding
in the sharp and frosty morning of the day.
And the poet lifts his pen,
while the soldier sheaths his sword.
 
And the youngest of the family is moving with authority,
building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide
to wash them all aside.

The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river
where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea...
The builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose
and contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need.
The young men of the household have
all gone into service and are not to be expected for a year.
The innocent young master, thoughts moving ever faster,
has formed the plan to change the man he seems.
And the poet sheaths his pen,
while the soldier lifts his sword.
 
And the oldest of the family is moving with authority,
coming from across the sea, he challenges the son,
who puts him to the run.
 
What do you do when the old man's gone - do you want to be him?  
And your real self sings the song - do you want to free him?
No one to help you get up steam,
and the whirlpool turns you `way off-beam.
 

I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways...
My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed...

So come on all you criminals, I've got to put you straight!
Just like I did with my old man, twenty years too late!

Your bread and water's going cold, your hair is too short and neat.
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me!
 
You curl your toes in fun
as you smile at everyone,
you meet the stares, you're unaware
that your doings aren't done.
And you laugh most ruthlessly
as you tell us what not to be,
but how are we supposed to see
where we should run?

I see you shuffle in the courtroom with your rings upon your fingers and
your downy little sidies and your silver-buckle shoes.
Playing at the hard case, you follow the example
of the comic-paper idol who lets you bend the rules.
 
So! Come on ye childhood heroes! Won't your rise up from the pages
of your comic-books, you super-crooks, and show us all the way.
Well!  Make your will and testament. Won't you join your local government?
We'll have Superman for president let Robin save the day.
 
You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time.
The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line.
And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are,
and you take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars.
And you wonder who to call on...?
 
So!  Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you through?
They're all resting down in Cornwall, writing up their memoirs,
for a paper-back edition of the Boy Scout Manual.

...

See there! A man is born, and we pronounce him fit for peace.
There's a load lifted from his shoulders with the discovery of his disease.
We'll take the child from him, put it to the test!
Teach it to be a wise man, how to fool all the rest!

...
(...there is no one responsible...

We will be geared to the average rather than the exceptional
God is an overwhelming responsibility
we walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons
cats are on the upgrade... upgrade?  Hipgrave.  Oh, Mac.)
 
LATER
In the clear white circles of morning wonder,
I take my place with the lord of the hills.
And the blue-eyed soldiers stand slightly discoloured
(in neat little rows), sporting canvas frills.

With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,
while queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.
Singing: "How's your granny" and good old Ernie,
he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win...

The legends (worded in the ancient tribal hymn) lie cradled in the seagull's call.
And all the promises they made are ground beneath the sadist's fall...

The poet and the wise man stand behind the gun, behind the gun...
and signal for the crack of dawn: Light the sun, light the sun!
 Do you believe in the day? Do you believe in the day?

The Dawn Creation of the Kings has begun, has begun...
Soft Venus, lonely maiden, brings the ageless one, the ageless one...!
Do you believe in the day? Do you believe in the day?

The fading hero has returned to the night, to the night...
And fully pregnant with the day, wise men endorse the poet's sight...
Do you believe in the day? Do you believe in the day?

...
 
Let me tell you the tales of your life,
of your love and the cut of the knife,
the tireless oppression, the wisdom instilled, the desire to kill or be killed...

Let me sing of the losers who lie
in the street as the last bus goes by.
The pavements are empty: the gutters run red - while the fool toasts his god in the sky...!

...

So come all ye young men who are building castles, kindly state the time of the year
and join your voices in a hellish chorus, mark the precise nature of your fear.

Let me help you to pick up your dead as the sins of the father are fed
with the blood of the fools and the thoughts of the wise and from the pan under your bed.
Let me make you a present of song as the wise man breaks wind and is gone
while the fool with the hour-glass is cooking his goose and the nursery rhyme winds along.

So! Come all ye young men who are building castles, kindly state the time of the year
and join your voices in a hellish chorus, mark the precise nature of your fear.
See!  The summer lightning casts its bolts upon you and the hour of judgement draweth near.
Would you be the fool who stood in his suit of armour or the wiser man who rushes clear?

So!  Come on ye childhood heroes! Won't your rise up from the pages
of your comic-books, you super-crooks, and show us all the way.
Well!  Make your will and testament. Won't you join your local government?
We'll have Superman for president let Robin save the day.

So!  Where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?
And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you through?
They're all resting down in Cornwall - writing up their memoirs
for a paper-back edition of the Boy Scout Manual.

So you ride yourselves over the fields
and you make all your animal deals
and your wise men don't know how it feels...
to be thick as a brick.

Rattler

[Jilly]

hmm...some good Beethoven there, Rattler. 

I've just read all through your last post, Rattler.  Amazing lyrics,  truly.  I can just imagine you riding wild on a Harley Davidson motorbike!  I think I know some of that part of your background already.

[Jilly]

It's hard to top what Rattler has just written in his last posts, so I won't even try.

For today, a song for Rattler, just because...

Stevie Wonder - I just called to say I love you

[Jilly]

Cars Movie Soundtrack (Sheryl Crow - Real Gone)

[Heinrich505]

Whoa, Jilly.  I know you said you like to listen to loud music while you drive, but if you listen to Cheryl belting out "Real Gone" while driving, there is no way you can stay at the speed limit.  The Law is going to get you for sure.  Really cool song.

Between you and Rattler, this is one very interesting post.  The diversity is staggering.  I see music I've never heard of, and some that I didn't think anyone even knew about any more.  I was out of town for about two weeks, and it is tough to catch up on this post after all that time.

Rattler, Jethro Tull has always been a favorite, but oddly, I've not got any on CD.  I have a few of his records.  Yes, vinyl.  Luckily I still have a turntable.  Thick as a Brick was really amazing.  Thanks for reviving that for me.  One of my favorites, as well as.....Aqualung, of course.  He had such an interesting and somewhat mesmerizing way of melding classical and rock.  I don't know of anyone else who used the flute in rock-and-role like he did.

You and Jilly switched gears so quickly.  It is hard to keep up.  Rod Stewart, again such great music.  My all time favorite of his is "Infatuation."  The video is pretty slick too.

Then you have Beethoven mixed in as well.  The Ninth Symphony 2nd movement is always a classical favorite.  I always enjoyed the way Beethoven utilized the french horn.  I played that years ago, all the way into college, and can still play it fairly well.  The camera man went a long way to dramatize the music being played.  My father had me watch Leonard Bernstein whenever he was on public TV.  I confess that I'm not familiar with Karajan.  Really superior music.  I could listen to it all day.

                                     Heinrich505

[Koen]

bought a 2cd collection from ZZ Top this weekend...ROCK n ROLL BABY 

ZZ Top - La Grange (Crossroads) High Quality

La Grange Live

La Grange-ZZ Top

mp3

ZZ Top - Tush (Live)

ZZ Top reminds me of the '80s....and you know my '80s sentiment by now....I'm glad I found this 2cd and for a very reasonable price!

http://www.amazon.com/Rancho-Texicano-Very-Best-Top/dp/B0001ZXM54

[Jilly]

I love 80's music  too, Koen.

Here's a good 80's song:

U2
U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (External Embedding Disabled)

[Jilly]

Whoa, Jilly.  I know you said you like to listen to loud music while you drive, but if you listen to Cheryl belting out "Real Gone" while driving, there is no way you can stay at the speed limit.  The Law is going to get you for sure.  Really cool song.
 

That's true Heinrich!  But it wouldn't be the first speeding ticket that I've ever got. 

There is some music and songs I can listen too over and over again, also.  Can you post a song that makes you want to do that?

[Solideo]

Fear Of The Dark - Iron Maiden