Wednesday, February 3, 2010

3 Out Of 4 Cylinders


Oi, what's all this flap over the un-even harmonies on Rhiannon at the Grammys? Live bands, mathematically speaking, should be un-even.
When I saw The Eagles (everybody just groan now and get it over with) in the early 70s in support of On The Boarder, still in their Chuck Berry at a campfire mode, they were still havin fun and on the loose end of tight. Hell, even Glenn Fry was choog-aloogin in those days. But he is from Detroit, so, he should.
Saw em again at a baseball stadium in Miami ( Jimmy Buffet opened...ugh) touring behind Hotel California and they weren't as much fun but were really really tight...really tight...too tight.
THEN, I saw them once more when The Long Run came out, and they were a holier-than-thou sounding pristine and I vowed never again.

My long winded point is, rawk is about imperfection. It's not about running on all 8, but how you try to get there and what it sounds like while you do.
A prominent drummer friend of a friend of a friend had heard a record, okay, it was a tape I played on and said he really enjoyed it. And I told him I thought I sounded pretty wobbely. His epic reply, which I had tattooed on my upper neck in thick black gothic letters, was: "Rock-n-Roll is wobbely Todd." Every time I read that back I catch myself nodding my head in agreement.

A cooler thing to have done, although Taylor and Stevie never would have gone for it, was to have brought the vocals down in the mix and brought Waddy way the hell up and just had him crank for the duration. Nobody would have been the wiser if the girls weren't particularly on it.
The crowd would have actually rawked for a change and maybe I wouldn't have turned the TV off.

credits:
Fred Young of the Kentucky Headhunters
From ginbaby.vox.com

5 comments:

  1. Todd I agree that rock isn't supposed to be pretty. But Taylor Autotune cannot sing very well and received some awards for it. But then again the banks drove the economy into the ground and were rewarded for their bad practices. Seems to be the way of the world anymore!
    Peace,
    Kevin

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  2. Evidently, you can polish a turd!

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  3. Okay, Taylor Swift made not be turd status, just not my cup'o tea is all. There are definitely turds out there.
    Oh to be rich...and be a turd.

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  4. I am always amazed at people who go to see their favorite band, and then bitch cause it didn't sound like the record. I always thought that was the point. Ask Johnny Thunders. He knew.

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  5. It's all relative I suppose LR. And I did ask JT, and damn it, he DID know!

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