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Hendrix 50th Anniversary Electric Ladyland Box Release

Looking forward to release tomorrow. In my humble opinion one of the greatest albums ever. Imagine hearing this album when it was released, Compositionally and technically from another time and place, truly ground breaking. Thanks Jimi!!!!!!!
toneranger58
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,422 posts
 
omhwy61, The Velvet Underground are very interesting in terms of their West Coast vs. East Coast impact and influence. All the New York, Detroit, and other Midwest and East Coast bands that followed cite them as a major influence and inspiration. On the West Coast, however, they were considered a bad joke. The Midwest/New York bands, whose Rock music was of a more "hard" strain than that of the West Coast bands, viewed the San Francisco and Los Angeles bands as hippies, and that wasn't a compliment. I can't picture The VU playing at Woodstock ;-) .
slaw's avatar
slaw
20,406 posts
 
That's interesting @bdp24, I've never heard that. Of course you have a few years on me. However, I just thought the teenagers of this era and early twenty's culture were viewed a hippies in general.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,422 posts
 

Yeah slaw, in interviews, the guys in The New York Dolls, MC5, Stooges, etc., said they didn’t share the Peace, Love, & Understanding sentiments of the West Coast bands. After living in New York for a year, I came to understand why. Life in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland is very different from New York, Chicago, and Detroit. Not so brutal. They also said they didn’t understand the whole "back to nature" ambitions of hippies. I can’t picture the above bands camping ;-) . Notice also that none of them had beards, or wore bell bottom jeans.

The West Coast bands also viewed "traditional" talents---singing, musicianship---as more important than did The Dolls, MC5, Stooges, Ramones, etc. A person may like Lou Reed, but it won’t be for his abilities at carrying a tune or playing guitar. Style and attitude are more of a concern to the aforementioned bands, and the bands they influenced. Of course, that statement is an over-simplified explanation of a more complex matter.

slaw's avatar
slaw
20,406 posts
 
@bdp24,

That is very interesting to me. Thanks brother.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,137 posts
 
Blame it on the weather.  Even when it's not, compared to winters in Detroit, Cleveland, NYC, Minneapolis, Boston and Philly, California was also sunny.  The cold, gritty steeliness of the Northeast and Midwest is reflected in the music.

It's also the drugs, heroin vs. LSD.

Neither of these explanations are absolutely valid, but they hint at the differences.

Regarding Lou Reed's musicianship.  If Neil Young is considered a great guitarist, then so is Lou Reed.
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