For me its the first or very early LP's of: Allman Brothers - "Allman Joys" "Idyllwild South" Santana - "Santana" 200 g reissue Emerson Lake and Palmer - "Emerson Lake and Palmer" and, Beethoven - "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major" Rudolph Serkin/Ozawa/BSO
Just back from Plaid Room Records. Score! Got some great stuff. On the TT for lunchtime listening:
Michael Kiwanuka - "Love and Hate" (very nice!)
Scored one of the sold out reissues of Gloria Barnes - "Uptown" . Considering a quality original cost $3K, I might not open this reissue that sold out in a day or two and see what happens to the price. I'm not a collector, per se, and I don't have a single unopened record in my collection. However, I might wait a bit and see what happens to the price of this one. It will probably fall and I'll feel better about opening and playing it......
Michael Kiwanuka - "Love and Hate" Gloria Barnes - "Uptown" reissue Neil Young - "After the Gold Rush" 2009 reissue The Band - "S/T" Pink Floyd - "Meddle" Hot Tuna - "Burgers" Steely Dan - "Countdown to Ecstacy" The Byrds - "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" Led Zeppelin - "III"The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds" The Beatles - "Abbey Road" Willie and Family - "Live" Found a pretty nice copy in the $1 bin. Cleaned it and I'm gifting it to a friend.
I loved Procol Harum's first three albums at the time of their release, and still do. Then organist Matthew Fisher left the group, and their style and sound changed dramatically. The fourth album---Home---was not at all to my liking, Robin Trower’s rather clichéd white-boy Blues style of guitar playing coming far too center stage for me. I saw them live in 1970, and they struck me as just another British Blues-Rock band, a genre I find dreadfully boring. It was a shame, because the Matthew Fisher-era PH was a unique, magnificently Baroque-ish musical group. I wrote PH off, never desiring to hear another of their albums.
Had Trower left by the time of Grand Hotel? I’ll look it up. Perhaps his departure for a solo career returned PH to their former glory. Art Dudley often mentions Grand Hotel in his reviews, and now with reubent’s endorsement---my musical taste aligns with his---I believe I need to hear the album.
bdp, also check out exotic birds and fruit, which despite being post-matthew fisher and robin trower, is surprisingly great, with at least 3-4 classic tunes. keith reid's lyrics are more straightforward and less surreal than usual and gary brooker (a hugely underrated singer imo) sounds excellent.
Thanks fellas, I'll look for both. I agree loomis, Brooker is one of the better UK singers. He, Van Morrison, little Stevie Winwood, Steve Marriott, Paul Jones (Manfred Mann), and Paul Rodgers come to mind. All obviously indebted first and foremost to Ray Charles, as too are so many US singers. Brooker is sort of the British Richard Manuel (The Band, of course), not only singing similarly (though Manuel is very, very special to me, as he is to Eric Clapton), but playing piano in the same style---block chords, rather than laced with gratuitous arpeggios ala Elton John and Billy Joel (blech).
richard manuel's a real good analogy--i hear him as somewhat sweeter-sounding than ray charles, but he had in any event a great, soulful voice. i like all your other picks, too, but steve marriott was my main man--he's the great white soul shouter.
Ray Charles sets a standard white men can aspire to, unlike Howlin' Wolf, who is unreachable. The middle ground is Big Joe Turner, the greatest male singer I ever saw and heard live. Backed by The Blasters!
I would add Joe Cocker. Totally influenced by Ray Charles.
I agree about gratuitous arpeggios. I guess it comes from playing piano alone in cocktail bars at hotels. I prefer Benmont Tench style - playing for the song rather than overplaying. Oscar Petersen was great too.
Pee Wee Ellis once said (and I am sure he is not the first by far), "in music it is often more important what you dont play! It can be frightening to leave space.
This is very true in drumming - judicious placement of space is really important. The rhythm or groove is as much about the space as it is about what is played. Space creates feel. Space can also be thought of as dynamics - softer notes create space and contrast - great grooves have different layers of dynamics.
I think you could start a thread about leaving notes out and musicians that excel at it. Like great art - the blank spaces on the canvas are actually part of the overall composition - but amateurs dont understand that and try to fill it all in.
Yes, shadorne, Joe Cocker---I knew I was leaving out somebody! You possess musical wisdom to an unusual degree, my man, and your words, with which I agree 100%, were a pleasure to read. "Playing for the song" is the musicianship I crave, listen for in others, and employ myself. It sounds unimpressive to many, not "obvious" enough---too subtle. It takes a certain level of maturity and self-confidence to play with taste and economy (as your "it can be frightening to leave space" line acknowledges), and is what separates the men from the boys.
I first witnessed it in a drummer when I saw and heard Dewey Martin (Buffalo Springfield) live in 1969. Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, and Ginger Baker were my standard at the time, and it was a shock to learn there was another, very different, approach to playing drums. I had to learn how to play all over again, this time with a completely different objective---musicality, not empty virtuosity and self-congratulatory displays of pointless technique.
The XX, "I See You". Never heard before. Haven't even fired up the VPI in a few weeks. Maybe I'll follow that with Chick Corea's Akoustic Band "Alive!"
Interesting comments about drumming, bdp24. I'm not a drummer but I think I know what you mean. BTW, do you mean 1968? B.S. broke up in '68 so would not have been playing in '69. They toured with The Beach Boys and Strawberry Alarm Clock in the first half of '68 and I think those were their last shows.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
