Pete Best was the original drummer for The Beatles. Just as they were about to break out with a recording contract, Best was sacked in favor of Ringo Starr. Eighteen months later The Beatles made their first trip to the US to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and Beatlemania commenced. To be so close to worldwide stardom, then miss out, must have led to massive regrets that Best has had to live with the rest of his life!
But imagine, instead, if the missed opportunity was self-inflicted? So goes the legend of British musician Terry Reid who is most often noted for his decision to turn down an offer from Jimmy Page to join his then new group, Led Zeppelin, as its lead singer. Not only did Reid turn down the gig, but he was magnanimous enough to suggest to Page that he hire a young singer named Robert Plant instead.
Page’s invitation was not without merit. No less than Aretha Franklin was quoted in 1968 as saying “There are only three things happening in England: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Terry Reid.”
Later, in 1969, Reid was recruited to join Deep Purple and passed on that one too. The great Ian Gillian got the job.
Although Reid chose to go his own way, releasing five solo albums between 1968 and 1979, he toiled in relative obscurity. That’s despite a catalog of high quality recordings. My favorite is the Tom Dowd produced River, from 1973, and the SotW is the title song.
River is an album of two distinct sides. The first side had four more traditional rockers. Side two had three songs that were “jazzy” in the same way as some Van Morrison cuts but tempered with the folksiness of Nick Drake. None clock in at less than 4 minutes. “River” is a samba flavored jazzy cut. (In fact, Reid later became friends with Brazilian jazz legends Gilberto Gil and Carlos Jobim.)
So let’s return to the theme of regret. Reid has none. A recent article in MOJO written by Sylvie Simmons cites “in over four hours of interview, (Reid) hadn’t a bad word to say about anyone, nor a twinge of bitterness at how the road to fame and fortune went wrong.”
1) Me saying the Bad Brains have as much chance of getting elected as Trump had everything to do with the very slim chance of Trump winning and nothing to do with any notion of me hoping he wins.
2) When I said the Bad Brains are superior to the Clash, Ramones and X, I meant purely in terms of power.
3) And it’s so ironic that in the company of 99 percent of shit-loving music fans, I’d be aggressively defending these three bands. I will say:
Clash – Great first album (both versions). Good second album. Kind of went off the rails from there, spotty at best, horrible by the end. Wish you guys would read Gene’s favorite, John Lydon, call out Joe Strummer and the Clash’s “smart” political lyrics as nothing but a cheap, cheesy marketing ploy.
Ramones – Great first three albums. Very good fourth album. Fifth album had moments. Horrible from there on. Certainly had their own kind of power, but not as white hot as the Bad Brains at their best.
X – Betting I had their first album before Lawr. Liked it a lot. Second was good. Lost interest after that. Agree with Gene on the “going through the motions” of that video. Can’t Billy Zoom even smile anymore? (And please, Lawr, if you like X so much, you owe it to yourself to read John Doe’s very good recent book.)
4) Would never, ever, never say any of these bands aren’t rock ‘n’ roll. And some very fine rock ‘n’ roll at that. My qualms are with the frequent “not sure this is rock ‘n’ roll but” articles on Remnants and stupid shit like Tupac leading the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall ballot for 2017. Like I’ve said before, if Tupac belongs in the Rock Hall, then the Beatles certainly belong in the Rap Hall (if there is one). “Icon of non-rock popular music” shouldn’t put you in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall.
And good God, Lawr, I certainly envy your happiness and the fact that you’re happily retired and have set yourself up well. A hearty and sincere “Good for you!” from me to you.
Finally, here’s that wasp in the pants song (can you guys seriously sit still and listen to this?):
And finally finally, here’s National Official Spokesperson Of Rock ‘N’ Roll Dave Grohl talking about the Bad Brains. Hell, if it’s about rock and Dave Grohl says it, how can it not be true?
If these guys weren’t from Maryland, and this video wasn’t from a show in Philadelphia, I’m not sure I’d be posting it, but some small part of the fun was trying to find our buddy Steve in the crowd at this show.
It’s quite a show. I love the hurtling, twisting, spastic bodies of the stage divers, the oculus of mosh out in the middle of the floor, the way the bass player puts down his guitar and dives into the crowd, then returns to stage and joins back in with the band.
I love the vocalist saying he’s not much with words, and the way he shares the mic at every opportunity.
I love that there are straight edge kids.
I compare this stuff to the Bad Brains clip Steve posted last week and I have to say that it surprises me that this is a style that endures. But the vocalist loves hardcore, it gives him a voice, and you can see it in every angular strut by the stage divers that it means a whole lot to all of them. That’s a great feeling, one I’m happy to share.
“I know this site favors smart, funny and sexy (and not even rock ‘n’ roll – a lot), but man, the feeling in my sizeable gut knows what it knows. If you don’t get it, I feel sorry for you.”-Steve Moyer
“They probably have about as much chance as Trump of getting elected.” (re: Bad Brains getting into the R&R HOF)-Steve Moyer
I think nothing better exemplifies the “battle” of the populists against the media and “educated” class as do these comments from my mate Steve, in defense of the Bad Brains, but at the same time decrying the likes of The Clash, The Ramones, and X, suggesting:
“…Clash, Ramones and X are minor leagues compared to the best the Bad Brains have to offer. Smart? Funny? Sexy? Who gives a shit when there’s a wasp in your drawers?”
Well, really. In politics, I find it interesting that the right–primarily those affiliated with the TEA Party, Sara Palin, and now Trump–decry the supposed left-wing media as elitists and snobs.
Well, like it or not, the bulk of members of the news industry are indeed college educated, and that means some years of classes with professors invoking things like library research and application of critical thinking. Depending upon, such a degree also often involves some kind of exposure to the humanities and arts, thus giving a college graduate a pretty good cross-referenced education that opens the assessment of new and potentially challenging situations.
In essence, this is considered job training, for college should train to complete assignments (projects), on-time, answering a specific question or questions, and coming to a reasoned and reference supported conclusion.
That means sentences like “Who gives a shit when there’s a wasp in your drawers?” become a sort of false equivalency. That is because, for one, I would never solicit any creature armed with a stinger inside my briefs in the first place, and believe me, I did not need to go to college to figure that out.
But, the sort of judgmental reaction to X, or the Ramones, as not Rock’n’Roll is as specious as Donald Trump saying he knows more about ISOL than do our Generals.
Surely music, and art, and apparently politics, are subjective, but, I do need to remind that out of gut reactions come the denial of Climate Change, the certainty that trying to control assault weapons means eliminating the Second Amendment, and that somehow simply killing all the terrorists will solve the issue (I actually heard this from a couple of conservatives just prior to the Iraq invasion).
Certainly, logic is both relative and subjective, but, virtually no one who is educated and understands research ascribes meaning to any such statements, meaning apparently going to college is important, but to a certain portion of the population, those exact motions and processes that helped us learn and make intelligent choices are actually crap.
Well, ok, then why even bother to learn? Or better, to all of you who decry us as elitists, if you are so much wiser, why go to a Doctor or Lawyer or educated professional if you really are so much smarter when push comes to shove?
My partner, Diane, has a friend Jean who is several hundred pounds overweight. Jean is a sort of prototypical Trump girl, thinking Donald just saying “I will make better deals” is all that is necessary to “fix” what is perceived as America’s terrible state of affairs when the reality is, things are actually pretty good.
Not that our country could not improve, or money and justice better meted out, but all-in-all our recovery from years worth of Bush has been pretty good. Not perfect, but not just on a solid path. However had McCain or Romney won the election we would never hear the end of what a great job they did rebuilding the stock market and reducing unemployment and at least pushing our GDP. (Gas prices are down too which is not even a presidential issue, but when prices went up in 2008, John McCain said in an ad, “Who can you thank for rising gas prices? Obama”).
But Jean suffers from Type-B diabetes, along with the requisite maladies that come with overeating and not exercising that fell people who suddenly find themselves in their 40’s, obese, with a failing body. Jean does go to the Doctor, and the Docs always say the first thing she needs to do is change her eating habits, lose some weight, and start, slowly, an exercise program.
Jean has seen at least four Doctors for the over the ten years I have known Diane, and every time Jean responds after seeing the physician, saying, “what does he know, I am older than he is?”
Well, this is like saying the media has a liberal bias (it isn’t, it is a researched and educated one) or that the Clash or Ramones are not rockers.
Or, more important, that smart and funny and sexy have no business in a form of art (hmm, but KISS can dress up in ridiculous costumes, because ideally their music is another hornet in our skivvies).
I can understand loving music, or even art because it is visceral. I mean, that is part of what makes Mapplethorpe, for example powerful because often his outrageous images haunt and that is what pushes our thoughts into “what is the meaning of things?” and that, at least to me, pushes towards understanding being part of a bigger universe that binds us.
But, really, how narrow-minded are our accusers? Or, how ironic is it that while knowledge is to be revered, just as readily it is to be dismissed when a certain portion of the population doesn’t buy in? Mind you, this is not new shit. Ask Copernicus about almost being burned at the stake for suggesting the earth rotates around the sun (did you know that Donald?). Ask Pasteur, who was vilified for suggesting disease was carried my micoro-organisms.
Just for fun, I am finishing with a fantastic cut from X’s brilliant-and-a-half Wild Gift, an album that made my essentials list. It is funny. It has teen angst. And well, if you don’t think it rocks, well then I guess you think the Chinese really did “invent” Climate Change.
Better, however, a bee in the bonnet than a wasp in your drawers.
An icon of Blues and R&B, Phil Chess, passed away this week.
Phil and his brother Leonard co-founded Chess Records in Chicago, home to such artists as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry.
Here’s one of my favorites from Chess – “Wang Dang Doodle” by Koko Taylor
“WDD” was written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf, but it’s Taylor’s version that hit with an audience. The gender switch makes it really sassy.
I don’t know if you could say that The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, the initial Fleetwood Mac and Cream wouldn’t have existed without Chess Records, but it’s pretty safe to say without Chess they wouldn’t have sounded the same.
The Rolling Stones visited Chess Studios on their first visit to the US in June 1964. In fact, they were totally psyched to not only get to look around but to actually record in the same room as their blues heroes.
One of the tracks they laid down was an instrumental called “2120 South Michigan Avenue.”
The title of the song pays tribute to Chess Studios – it calls out the street address. The writing credit was given to Nanker Phelge, a pseudonym used by the Stones in the early days for group compositions.
The version heard in the US on the album 12 x 5 was only about two minutes long. I have a German release of Around and Around that has an extended version that runs about three and a half minutes. That version was used on the CD release of 12 x 5 and is the one I’ve presented here.
Phil Chess was 95 years old when he died in Arizona. May he rest in peace.
I have been listening to the complete reissue of The Who Sell Out, which has the original tracks and bits of commercials supporting Peter Townshend’s penchant to make an album a cohesive unit.
Townshend, as most of you likely know, imagined the album as a daily radio program on the BBC, so he sprinkled in radio spots, largely performed by the band making the music sparkly, the ads goofy and funny, and the entire work just so different and musically prescient that the whole affair just kills me. In fact, The Who Sell Out is my favorite album by the band.
With the reissue all the original cuts are indeed there, along with the released spots, but there are almost 30 cuts on this, with several takes on several songs in several styles making the whole smorgasbord kind of fascinating in so many ways.
But, at the core is the music which my mate Steve Gibson called alternative, even though the album was released 10 years before the Sex Pistols saw daylight.
If you listen to the song below, Jaguar, I think you will see what Steve means.
If you drop down to Rael, you will find an instrumental riff that worked its way into Underture from Tommy.
Figured you guys would feel left out if I didn’t post the latest hit song. The unbelievable Cecilia Webber, who is 13 years old, sings lead. Her sister Claire and friend Nikki on backups. I did the music.
Saw the list today of next eligibles for – my favorite – the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Expected the usual mix of suck and ass, but there sat two words that didn’t fit the bill – Bad Brains.
They probably have about as much chance as Trump of getting elected.
