The music industry takes a 360 degree turn

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch posted an item on Sunday regarding a conversation that he had with "a big music label executive." I'll caveat by noting that the executive remains anonymous, and that this is the opinion of only one person, but it certainly provides some fodder for speculation regarding the future direction of the music industry.

First, the executive claims that recorded music revenue will fall to zero.

The labels fully understand that recorded music, streamed or downloaded, is going to be free in the future....CD sales continue to decline by 20% per year, and the only thing that’ll stop that trend is when those sales reach zero. Nothing will replace those revenues.

Second, as the revenue falls, recorded music will become marketing material.

[T]he Internet services being sued today for copyright infringement will be embraced in the future as ways to get the word out on hot new music.

But if the music is being given away, what's left to market? Everything else.

No longer will the labels be tied to revenue limited to sales of master recordings - by then most or all artists will be under 360 music contracts that give the labels a cut of virtually every revenue stream artists can tap into - fan sites, concerts, merchandise, endorsement deals, and everything else.

I encourage you to read the rest of Arrington's post. And regarding 360 music deals, he wrote about those back in November 2008, referencing a statement by Warner Music's Edgar Bronfman:

Bronfman says that every new artist they sign they take rights in every revenue stream. Calls these 360 rights, and that over 1/3 of their artists are under these contracts. He says that they can’t make the investment they need to make unless they have these rights, and their incentives won’t be aligned.

Back in 2007, Depunked explained the economics of a 360 music deal:

Album Sales: The artist will get somewhere between 15-30% which is an estimate of $1-$3 per album sold. The larger percentage goes into the label’s pockets and covers production expenses.

Publishing: Artists get about a dime for writing their own songs and music, more if the song is featured in film or television. The labels now get a cut of that.

Touring: After all standard “touring” expenses are covered (travel, equipment, set costs, staff) the label will now get 10% of what’s left over

Merchandising: We’re no longer just talking T-shirts here. We’re talking endorsement deals, clothing lines, fragrances, energy drinks.. whatever the artist puts it’s name on the record label takes 10% of.

I'm mulling two questions in my mind:

• Even with the additional revenue streams, will labels make money?


• How does this affect the economics of going indie vs. going with an established label?

Jim Bakker edits Rolling Stone

My writing is at time fairly easy to detect, inasmuch as I like to recycle a number of phrases as I write. "This is what he said," "so anyways," and other phrases pop up often. One of my favorite phrases, however, is taken from a Jim Bakker book title: I Was Wrong.

When Rolling Stone assembled its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in November 2003, the second album on the list was Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Rolling Stone noted:

"Who's gonna hear this shit?" Beach Boys singer Mike Love asked the band's resident genius, Brian Wilson, in 1966, as Wilson played him the new songs he was working on. "The ears of a dog?" Confronted with his bandmate's contempt, Wilson made lemonade of lemons. "Ironically," he observed, "Mike's barb inspired the album's title."

All in all, this is somewhat ironic when one remembers what Jann Wenner initially thought of Wilson's "genius" claims.

[December 1967 was the] month that Rolling Stone ran an article by editor Jann Wenner unfairly describing The Beach Boys as “just one prominent example of a group that had gotten hung up trying to catch The Beatles.”

Ironically, Wenner's creation subsequently decided that Pet Sounds was better than Revolver, Rubber Soul, and even The Beatles (i.e. "the White Album").

But Rolling Stone still liked Sgt. Pepper better.

The music store, post Tower and Virgin

As Tower Records and Virgin Megastores depart, brick and mortar music selection decreases.

Wal Mart, Chino, California.

Are the Beastie Boys truly on Twitter?

On March 3, I got an message that the Beastie Boys were following my Empoprises Twitter account @empoprises.

So I went to @beastieboys to check it out.

The following/followers numbers looked like they were in reasonable balance, which was a good sign.

One of the tweets linked to material at http://paulsboutique.beastieboys.com/, which was another good sign, although the site didn't explicitly mention the Twitter account.

However, a Coed Magazine post did.

So, Beastie Boys, what'cha want? (In addition to promoting "Paul's Boutique," of course.) Here's the March 2 post:

Check us out on Quicksilver's Race to S.K.A.T.E. http://bit.ly/racetoskate

So I checked them out. Again there's an album promotion, along with this text:

Every Friday during the Month of March at 7:00PM Eastern (4:00PM Pacific) Quiksilver will upload a video of a different Quiksilver pro doing five tricks. Your job is to film yourself doing those same five tricks earning yourself one letter per trick spelling S.K.A.T.E.

Of course, if I had been paying attention to this @lutheranlucciol tweet I would have known this a few days ago.

Johnny Cash, "Delia's Gone," 1969

If there's anything that Rick Rubin realized when he began working with Johnny Cash, it was that he had to work with the original material.

And he did.

Long before Rubin and Cash assembled the first of several American Recordings, Johnny had himself a TV show. One night on that TV show he introduced and sang a love song.

This is what he said!

If you are a complete masochist and read a lot of the stuff that I write, you'll notice that certain phrases pop up over and over.

Once of the phrases that I use ad nauseum is the phrase "this is what he said."

I was suddenly reminded of this phrase when I was researching a personal blog post on Willard Scott and ran across this post from the Loudon Symphony Orchestra. It describes flutist Cathy Gilstrap and her husband David.

Cathy has several fond memories of her time with the LSO. She and David note that the group treated them like family after a 1996 car accident, donating money and hiring a housekeeper for them while they recuperated. Musically, Cathy remembers the terrific flute part in Scherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov. Another outstanding moment was a Gala Concert in the 1990s at which Willard Scott narrated the Copland Lincoln Portrait and PDQ Bach’s knock-off, the Bach Portrait.

That's where I stopped reading, and paused with anticipation.

Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was written in 1942, by request:

In 1942, shortly after the U.S. entered World War Two, conductor Andre Kostelanetz commissioned Aaron Copland to compose a work to fortify and comfort people during that time of national distress....

Copland used excerpts from different Lincoln speeches, combined with musical quotations from American songs, such as "Camptown Races."

The text of "Lincoln Portrait" appears below. You will see the "this is what he said" line that I like to quote at the drop of a hat - a very tall hat.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history."

That is what he said. That is what Abraham Lincoln said.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]

He was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois. And this is what he said. This is what Abe Lincoln said.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]

When standing erect he was six feet four inches tall, and this is what he said.

He said: "It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says 'you toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." [Lincoln-Douglas debates, 15 October 1858]

Lincoln was a quiet man. Abe Lincoln was a quiet and a melancholy man. But when he spoke of democracy, this is what he said.

He said: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of these United States, is everlasting in the memory of his countrymen. For on the battleground at Gettysburg, this is what he said:

He said: "That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Now the piece has been performed by numerous people over the years, I'm sure. I've heard James Earl Jones do it, and here's then-Senator Barack Obama reciting the lines.



From that excerpt, you can see that this is a serious work. A dramatic work. A modern work.

So I was very curious to see what "Professor" Peter Schickele did with it.

The New York Times described the work in a 1985 article:

New was a world premiere, not by P. D. Q. at all but by Professor Schickele himself (there is a third level, when Mr. Schickele drops his professor act altogether and composes ''serious'' contemporary music, but that isn't part of his P. D. Q. Bach personna). A tercentennial tribute to J. S. Bach, this ''Bach Portrait'' uses Aaron Copland's ''Lincoln Portrait'' as its model, from Copland's music to the grave intoning of actual words by the great man in question. The words, with intoning by Mr. Schickele, of course, had nearly all to do with haggling over money. The music was a collage of Copland and Bach, with a bit of Stephen Foster and other snippets for decoration. The effect was cute.

Thirteen years later, the Times quoted a portion of the piece:

When he stood erect he was two feet across, and this is what he said - this is what Jack Bach said...

No offense to Willard, but I'd love to hear James Earl Jones recite THAT. But it's good enough to hear the good Professor recite it.

When Madonna Was Hot - "This Used to Be My Playground"

Madonna sings! And she sings a delightful, understated melody.

Now Madonna had tackled slower stuff in the past - "Crazy for You" and "Live to Tell" come to mind - but the results weren't all that satisfactory.

And Madonna was continuing her movie career post-"Dick Tracy." Certainly things were looking up when "A League of Their Own" came out, starring Tom Hanks and featuring a stellar cast. I'm not a movie person so I've never seen it, but even I'm familiar with Hanks' line "There's no crying in baseball!"

Madonna was still working with Shep Pettibone, and (as Wikipedia notes) the song was recorded during the sessions for another Madonna/Pettibone collaboration, the Erotica album. However, the song didn't appear on that album, nor did it appear on the soundtrack for A League of Their Own.

As for Pettibone, his collaboration with Madonna (which began in 1986) would eventually end after Erotica, as Madonna decided to go in a diferent direction for her Bedtime Stories album.

I guess you can say that Maverick used to be his playground. Then again, Maverick isn't Madonna's playground anymore, either.

Johnny, go to Gaithersburg instead - you'll feel better

Confession - this is a non-scheduled post, posted immediately after it was written because I have nothing else to do on my current business trip.

(Who am I kidding? I could be catching up on Google Reader. Oh wait, I did that.)

So anyways, by the time you read this, I know for a fact that I have completed an all-day business meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After the meeting is done, I had an evening ahead of me. I already told you about the options for my evening, including two musical possibilities.

Well, it turns out that I did not see TOMMY or listen to classical guitarist Tracy Anne Smith.

And I didn't even play trivia (yet), and I only prepared for the next all-day business meeting for about an hour or so.

And I didn't go to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

By process of elimination, this means that I hung out with forensic scientists.

So why am I writing about this in my music blog? Three reasons:

1. This is a follow-up to a previous post in the music blog.


2. It is a chance to parody that very post in the music blog.


3. There was actually some musical content during the dinner, as one person desperately tried to end the sharing of silly iPhone applications (an ocarina, a dentist drill) by sharing some Edith Piaf with the other assembled diners.

Edith Piaf's biography can be found here.

And a YouTube video can be found here.



And as for why I was watching a French video in late January...well, it's a topic that I briefly discussed at the dinner.

Tommy, go to Bethesda instead - you'll feel better

Confession - this is a scheduled post, written in advance of its publication because of a forthcoming business trip.

(Who am I kidding? I write most of these posts in advance. Do you really think that I wake up at 5:00 am to write about business?)

So anyways, by the time you read this, I anticipate that I will be in an all-day business meeting in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After the meeting is done, I will have an evening ahead of me. Perhaps I will prepare for the next all-day business meeting. Or perhaps I will hang out with forensic scientists (which for me is a good thing). Or perhaps I will find a place in Gaithersburg to play NTN Buzztime trivia. Or perhaps I'll do something else...

...like see a local production of one of the most famous rock operas ever. On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, there will be a preview performance of The Who's TOMMY at the Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center in Rockville, Maryland.

But if I'm looking for a slightly different musical experience, I may instead go see a classical guitarist. On the same day (Wednesday, March 4, 2009), Tracy Anne Smith will be performing at The Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland.

Now perhaps it's just me, but if I recall correctly Tommy had some medical issues. Perhaps Tommy should go to Bethesda instead. Perhaps it might be good for him.

[7:45 PM PST - WANT TO KNOW WHAT I FINALLY DID?]

Osmond Boys - not the Beastie Boys

I thought I'd check and see who had March 3 birthdays. I did, and I ran across this line:

March 3, 1978 Douglas Osmond, born in Provo, Utah, vocalist for Osmond Boys

Now that's an Osmond that I haven't heard of, and an Osmond group that I haven't heard of. Until now - it turns out that there were four Osmond boys (including the aforementioned Douglas), and that they released two albums a couple of decades ago.

Entertainment Weekly reviewed the band.

Yes, the next generation after the original Osmond kids — Donny, Marie, and the rest — is now with us, in the persons of Michael (14), Nathan (13), Douglas (12), and David (11), the four oldest of brother Alan's eight sons. They've been performing for four years, and on their debut album, Osmond Boys, their boyish voices sound clear, eager, and unpretentious, with just the right touch of teenage scorn when (in ''Reverse Psychology,'' their second single) they pretend they don't care about the girl they like.

While the reviewer only gave a C+ rating to their first album, the reviewer did compare them to another then-famous band:

Song for song, in fact, the Osmond Boys make stronger music than...Wilson Phillips, who've been riding high on the pop charts since the spring.

But the reviewer found a bit of controversy:

In their quasi-hard-rock number, ''All Tied Up,'' the Osmond Boys sing ''you tie me up like a sacrifice.'' Does that mean their album has to be released with a warning sticker?

Obviously the EW reviewer is unfamiliar with "Crazy Horses".

At the Royal Tahitian, circa 1966

The Royal Tahitian was apparently south of Ontario, California. I saw this clipping in the Applebee's at Ontario International Airport.

Mackintosh Braun

If you follow my last.fm account, you know that I've been listening to two Mackintosh Braun songs repeatedly - "Here" and "On and On" (both of which are available for free download from last.fm).

If you have additional interest in Mackintosh Braun, you may want to visit their MySpace page.

Mackintosh Braun is an Oregon based electronic duo. Their debut album “The Sound” is already a cult classic, reaching listeners all over the world.

"The idea was to create an album that you didn't have to skip through, hopefully this is one of those albums for people." Combining a creative blend of organic instrumentation with electronic clicks and pops, Mackintosh Braun accomplishes a feat that few achieve.

Their album "The Sound" is available via CD Baby.

Wrong

Yes, Depeche Mode are coming out with a new album, and one of the songs will be called "Wrong." Stereogum linked to a live performance of the song.



Stereogum subsequently linked to the official video.

Depeche Mode - "Wrong" (official music video)

Four gang tries to do it - lyrical monstrosities

Yes, I'm reliving October 2003, when I wrote posts like this. Back then I often used a service called Yahoo - perhaps you've heard of it - and frequently participated in a Yahoo group called Silliness and Nonsense. And...silliness and nonsense would happen.

It started when I talked about how Ivan of Men Without Hats would wear a hat, and I observed:

P.S. "Living in China" was Men Without Hats' best song. Best line:

"And the Gang of Four
Tryin' to make it as a Western band"

Eventually I wrote an altered version of the lyric.

What Mao of President say
if it knew that what its people think of him today
the revolution is out of any reflexion
the troop of four, trying to do it like bandages Western
China, which have you need
for you have very your head scruffy with the dirty feet
China that you want to dance
carry the make-up and listen to Adam and the ants

As far as I can tell, I probably ran the original lyrics through a translator (at that time, probably Babelfish), translated them into another language, then translated them back into English.

But that was then. And this is now. And now we have Google Translate. And it supports Finnish. So let's take the lyrics, translate them into Finnish and back, and see what happens.

What Chairman Mao say
If he knew what his people think of him today
The revolution is out of hand
Four gang tries to do it in the West, the band
Chinese, you need
You have all your scruffy head dirty feet
Chinese want to dance
You are wearing makeup and listening to adam and the ants

So silliness and nonsense is no more, unless I go to Scrine. And when I do, I keep the translator in the closet.

When Madonna Was Hot - "Vogue"

So now it's 1990 - seven years after "Holiday," and four years after things began to get interesting with "Papa Don't Preach." Madonna is still racking up the hits, and while she's still hovering in the dance arena, now she's adding new sounds to the dance experience.

Here's what some Amazon reviewers said about the maxi single:

In my opinion Madonna's Best Dance Song, January 4, 2005
By JimJrz
Vogue is my favorite Madonna song, when it came out in May 1990 it was a new sound in the dance floors around the world, bringing back a dance style (vogueing) that was undeground so far....

The Singles has 4 tracks, the Single Version that I really, the 12" version (8.19 mins), the Bette Davis dub (7.24 mins) and the Strike-a-pose Dub (7.37 mins), all mixed by the great Shep Pettibone (who will be a grear influence in her next Album Erotica).

And you can find the following at reviewcentre:

Full review by jehkos on 1st Jan 2006

User Rating : 10

Vogue is widely acknowledged as one of Madonna's best and most successful singles. Madonna's unique and unparalleled ability to remain one step ahead of everybody else by utilising the vibe of the moment is most evident in Vogue. This is one of her most successful singles to date.

I figured I'd check to see what Wilson & Alroy had to say, and I was reminded that Wilson & Alroy don't review singles; they review albums. And, unfortunately for the warr.org reader, "Vogue" first appeared on I'm Breathless, which received only 1 1/2 stars from Wilson.

Music from or "inspired by" Madonna's latest film, "Dick Tracy." This was relatively unsuccessful commercially, and it's not hard to see why: most of the tracks are campy 20's throwbacks, including the few songs that were actually used in the film ("Sooner Or Later"). She gets credit for stretching herself, as on the highly-orchestrated album opener "He's A Man," but she's not up to the challenge: track after track is dull ("Hanky Panky" is the most boring song about spanking I can possibly imagine) or downright annoying (the Carmen Miranda-like "I'm Going Bananas"). If it weren't for "Vogue," a minimal house number that became the year's top selling single, this album would be a complete waste of money. (DBW)

Granted that Wilson & Alroy are tough reviewers, but when was the last time you hummed something from "Dick Tracy"?

On Fred "Sonic" Smith

Yeah, it's about time that I looked at Fred Smith. One of my first blog posts mentioned him:

When Patti Smith married Fred Smith, did she take her husband's last name, or keep her maiden name?

In another post, I quoted from an article about Fred's wife:

Life has given Smith a bit of a battering over the past 15 years. Life, or more accurately, death: her dear departed include husband Fred Smith, best friend (and Horses photographer) Robert Mapplethorpe, brother Todd Smith, and long-time piano player Richard Sohl (all of whom died much younger than they should have), along with both her parents and close friend William Burroughs.

At the time, I didn't quote from the end of the article:

Then, at the end of the Seventies, Smith went 'civilian', controversially dropping out of music and devoting herself to raising a family with former MC5 member Fred Smith.

So if you're like me and don't have any idea who MC5 was, let's look back. Here's some of what was said after Fred "Sonic" Smith's memorial service:

[Fred] was as great an inspiration to the first generation of punks as his wife was to the second. He served as guitarist with the MC5, the legendary Detroit band famous for their live LP, "Kick Out the Jams"....The MC5 and its "little brother band", The Stooges, were among the most influential US groups ever....

As far as Sonic Smith's musical accomplishments, friend and rock historian Lenny Kaye made the following comment to Whitall: "One of the things I liked about Fred is that he had a sense of music as pure sound. The MC5 helped broaden the borders of what we consider rock music then and now. I know of no other rock group that covered Pharoah Sanders and the influence of the MC5 is so pervasive today. That whole Nirvana/Pearl Jam axis, they certainly heard the MC5."

Chris Hodenfield looked back at MC5. However, he looked back in 1970:

It started in Detroit. The city had been pumping out hard rock, and the MC5 were acknowledged as one of the best. Surely, they were the loudest. Beginning of 1968, they were staying in a commune in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Impressionable kid Eris Ehrman comes up for an interview. The MC5 jack him full of dope, lecture him hard on the merits of teenage lusts, and send him home, wide-eyed and gaping. Kid Ehrman writes a story and sends it to Rolling Stone magazine. Sensational story of an unleashed rock band. Dope, Revolution and Thrills Very Cheap.

Sensational. It was mostly Kid Ehrman's fantasy....

Not too long after that story, the New York Fillmore was accosted by a gang of self-acclaimed revolutionaries, the East Village Motherfuckers. The MC5 played the subsequent free night given them at the Ballroom. Time Magazine covered it...and there was a picture of Rob Tyner in gold lame with that Revolutionary band...the MC5...and now all of Middle America knew.

Wikipedia goes back a little further than Hodenfield did:

The origins of the MC5 can be traced to the friendship between guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred Smith. Friends since their teen years, they were both fans of R&B music, blues, Chuck Berry, Dick Dale, the Ventures, and what would later be called garage rock: they adored any music with speed, energy and a rebellious attitude. Each guitarist/singer formed and led a rock group (Smith's Vibratones and Kramer's Bounty Hunters). As members of both groups left for college or straight jobs, the most committed members eventually united (under Kramer's leadership and the Headhunters name) and were popular and successful enough in and around Detroit that the musicians were able to quit their day jobs and make a living from the group.

MC5 were notorious (the aforementioned appearance at the New York Fillmore, an appearance at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but eventually the music took over, when they...well, why don't you just listen to it?



"96 Tears" it ain't.

They ended up releasing three albums on two different labels, but the end was sad, as Wikipedia notes:

The group [was] eventually reduced to Kramer and Smith touring and playing with local pick-up groups, playing R&B covers as much as their original material.

The MC5 reunited for a farewell show on New Years' Eve, 1972-73 at the Grande Ballroom. The venue that had only a few years before hosted over a thousand eager fans now had a few dozen people, and, distraught, Kramer left the stage after a few songs.

The band broke up shortly afterwards.

Fred remained somewhat active in music. Here's Sonic's Rendezvous Band performing "City Slang":



In 1976, Fred met someone:

It was March 9, 1976, and we met in front of the radiator at that hot dog place, Lafayette Coney Island, in Detroit. The Sonic Rendezvous Band was opening for us, but I didn't know anything about him. Lenny introduced me to this guy. I heard that his name was Smith, and my name is Smith. We just looked at each other and I was completely taken by him. I had no idea who he was or anything about him until afterwards when Lenny told me. Lenny introduced him and said "He's one of the great guitar players." I said, "Perhaps you'll want to play with us tonight." And he said, "Maybe so." Then he left and I asked Lenny if he was really good, and Lenny said, "the best." So I was playing with him that night, and I had a lot of bravado in those days. I didn't have respect for anybody. But I totally submitted to his reign. He came on the stage and started playing, and after a while I just set my guitar down and let it feed back. I just let him take over because I felt I had met my match, that I had met the better man.

[Patti Smith, interview in Mojo, August 1996]

Smith and Smith had married by 1980, and their joint performances afterwards were few and far between.

Got to roll tonight

How many members were in Talking Heads? This became a tricky question during the Remain in Light period, when some would argue that Talking Heads became a huge entity with nearly a dozen members, others would argue (using the album cover as evidence) that Talking Heads was still the same four-member group as always, others would argue that Talking Heads was David Byrne alone, and still others would claim that Talking Heads had no members (during my radio days at KRRC, someone wrote "File Under Eno" on the cover of the vinyl LP).

How many members were in Wings? This became a tricky question during the Back to the Egg period. Specifically, it became tricky on October 3, 1978 when the following personnel got together at Abbey Road Studios and recorded the "Rockestra Theme":

Guitars - Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, Dave Gilmour, Hank Marvin, Pete Townshend.
Drums - Steve Holly, John Bonham, Kenney Jones.
Bass - Paul, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Bruce Thomas.
Pianos - Paul, Gary Brooker, John Paul Jones.
Keyboards - Linda, Tony Ashton.
Percussion - Speedy Acquaye, Tony Carr, Ray Cooper, Morris Pert.
Horns - Howie Casey, Tony Dorsey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard.

So, at least on that day, one could claim that Wings had 23 members. (When counting, don't forget that Paul McCartney and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones did double duty on bass and piano.)

However, the purists would argue that the recording was actually made by Wings Mark VI, formed in June 1978 and consisting of Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, and Steve Holly. To this day I wonder where Steve got the job because of his last name.

Of course, there's also a school of thought that claims that Wings was pretty much Paul McCartney and Paul McCartney alone, but I disagree with that school for reasons that I'll state later.

But back to "Rockestra Theme."

On second thought, forget it; I don't really care about "Rockestra Theme." It's a nice tune, but IMHO it's not as good as the other song that was recorded that day - or mostly recorded that day. While Paul had all of his buddies around him, he recorded a second song, "So Glad To See You Here" (lyrics here). If the title doesn't ring a bell, this is the song from later on Side 2 of Back to the Egg in which Paul pretty much screamed his head off. If you've never heard it, you may be able to hear it on last.fm, YouTube, or goear.

So that was the other song that was recorded on October 3 - or, mostly recorded on October 3.

November - December 1978 at Replica Studios, an exact replica of Abbey Road #2 Studio built in MPL Headquarters, London.
Here, overdubs for the album tracks are added, along with new endings for "Spin It On" and "So Glad To See You Here".

Ah, yes, the ending, in which a group of voices perform a reprise of the Wings song "We're Open Tonight."

Specifically, a group of three voices.

Yup, Paul, Linda, and Denny were pretty much Wings. The only people who were there for the whole run of the band, and the only people who were there in critical parts of the band's history (especially Band on the Run).

But whether we're talking about 3 or 23, a film was made of the October 3 proceedings:

On hand to capture the proceedings is a film crew, using five 35mm Panavision cameras, hired by Paul and featuring the direction of Barry Chattington, who previously worked with Paul on the unreleased 1972 Bruce McMouse concert film. In 1980, Paul edits together (from a total of 80,000 feet of film taken on the day), a 40-minute programme comprising 5,500 feet of film from the events, and calls it simply Rockestra. This film remains unreleased, save for a brief 15-minute excerpt, which is screened at the Back To The Egg launch party on Monday June 11, 1979 (see entry).

Paul recalls the filming: "I asked the fellow who was going to film (Barry Chattington), if he could film it like they film wild life. You know, they sit back off wild life and just observe it and they just let it go on with its own thing and when you try and film our session it's a bit like the same sort of thing. If everyone notices the cameras and lights, they all freeze up and won't talk naturally and they all get embarrassed. So they (the cameramen) put all the cameras behind a big wall and no one could see the cameras and a lot of them didn't even know it was being filmed. John Bonham had no idea it was filmed ... in fact he is suing us!" Paul jokingly concludes.

Unfortunately, people weren't joking later. Keith Moon had already died (explaining Kenney Jones' presence at the session), John Bonham was about to die, and Paul McCartney was about to get the inspiration for a song that he would call "Frozen Jap" - a song that would appear on an album entitled McCartney II, which was about as far from a rockestra as you could get.

Van Hagar and the stringless phenomenon

OK, I might as well squeeze one more post out of my Five Guys experience. (If you haven't done so already, see my previous post in Empoprise-MU, as well as the more relevant post in Empoprise-BI.)

While we FriendFeeders (and the neighboring yo-yoers) were sitting outside at Five Guys in Cerritos, music was playing either from the Five Guys itself, or from the shopping center in general. A song started with a heavy keyboard intro and some high-singing singer, and Adrian stated that it was Van Halen. I was sure that it wasn't.

If I may quote Jim Bakker, I was wrong. It was Van Halen, with their song "Love Walks In":



The interesting part of this video is that Eddie Van Halen, who is known to acolytes everywhere as the greatest guitar god of all time (though I have a lower estimation of him), is the keyboard player in this song as Sammy Hagar takes the lead on the guitar for this one.

However, Eddie's keyboard dabblings didn't begin when singer/guitarist Hagar joined the band. You'll recall that Eddie played both lead guitar and keyboards on the David Lee Roth-era hit "Jump." Eddie talked about this, and the controversy it caused within the band:

I had the idea for “Jump” around the time of Fair Warning [1981]. When Michael, Alex, and Dave first heard it, they didn’t like it too much. They either weren’t ready for it or probably me playing the keyboards had something to do with it. We [Eddie and then engineer, Donn Landee] put it down on tape and it was, “Here it is guys, if you don’t like it, write something yourself.” So they had to like it.

After "Jump" was well-received, Eddie Van Halen felt more free to do new things in his music.

I just knew that everyone from my father to the guy who works on my cars loved it [keyboards]. It had a universal appeal to it. If people didn’t like it, that’s fine, too; I knew what it was. Donn and I liked it so much, we didn’t care what anybody else thought about it, I guess....

It’s almost like I play more keyboards now than I do guitar! I enjoy playing keyboards. It means you don’t have to jump around on-stage and have something hanging ’round your neck. No, I’m joking....

[The success of the album 1984] gave me the freedom to play keyboards comfortably. Now I don’t have to worry about what the rest of the guys think other people will think. I never worried about what anyone thinks except it makes you feel kind of uncertain when the guys worry.

But some fans were still disappointed, especially when Hagar showed up:

["Love Walks In"] was a huge hit on the airwaves, but it's really sad to see Eddie Van Halen playing the keyboard rather than guitar. It's like watching Hank Aaron pitch rather than hit.

Now my personal opinion is that Eddie Van Halen's keyboard work is just like his guitar work - fast, furious, and utterly soulless. But I realize that others have differing opinions, and I have to acknowledge that Eddie's skills are not limited to the guitar alone.

Buffalo in Hovercraft, or Why I Don't Direct Videos

So anyways, this car showed up in this gravel pit, and three guys got out. The dark-haired one walked toward me singing, while the light-haired guy with the guitar and the third guy with the glasses hung around the car for a little bit, then brought a cup to the first guy and walked back and got his bass. Then this donkey or mule or something walked by...

All of the above events actually happened, and they happened in one of my favorite videos, "Useless" by Depeche Mode. This UK-only single was taken from the Ultra album and featured a single that was, in my estimation, very English. Even if it was shot in Wales. I don't know if it's strictly Python-esque, but scenes in which Martin Gore wanders toward the camera, sings two words, and returns to the car are mixed in with a plane flying over, a random person walking around, and other oddities. See my March 3, 2006 post for another account.

Incidentally, I don't know where I got the idea that a cow was present in this video. I just re-watched the video again, and the animal is definitely not a cow.



Speaking of cows, I went to a FriendFeed meetup at Five Guys in Cerritos on Saturday and ate a hamburger. I don't know whether it was the hamburger, or the meetup, or whatever, but several hours later I was musing on one of the non-eternal questions of life:

If the U2 song is called "One," why did they make three videos for it?

Of the three videos, the one that most caught my eye on Saturday night (I guess that makes it all right) was the "buffalo" version of the video. There's a whole story behind that video, but for now suffice it to say that in the first verse of the song, one hazy buffalo appeared, while in the second verse, two hazy buffalo appeared, and so forth.

Jandy Stone was also in Cerritos, but she eventually left and ran into some strange behavior when she typed something into her so-called smartphone.

iPhone just corrected "frakking" to "franking". What the frak kind of word is "franking"?

This tweet ended up on FriendFeed and sparked a bit of conversation. While FriendFeed user Glen Campbell made the obvious connection to Congressional franking privileges, I was in my hamburger-induced buffalo mood (blame Sammy Hagar) and, via my superhero Ontario Emperor persona, made an alternate observation:

"Franking" is when you go to Santa Monica. No, not the one in south California. They got one in south Patagonia. http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/frank_black/los_angeles.html

The link goes to the lyrics for Frank Black's classic, which has its own unusual video that includes stunning scenes of a hovercraft drifting across the landscape.

Then, and only then, did I get an idea. Why not reshoot the "Useless" video, but instead of using the animal that is not a cow, why not use a buffalo? In a hovercraft?

You might look at my idea and say that it's no good, but the bottom line is that such an adaptation of the video displays superior insight and will bring the true meaning of the track home. Of course, you'd probably have to point a barrel of a gun at director Anton Corbijn to have him reshoot the video.

Cue the hovercraft.

What a long strange ride it's been

Earlier this week I was suddenly reminded about the old David Allan Coe song "The Ride." If you've never heard the lyrics before, they describe a mythical ride with a stranger who is immediately recognizable to any respectable country music fan.


Lyrics | David Allan Coe lyrics - The Ride lyrics

Well, that was a nice little hit for Coe, and time went on.

And Coe still sings the song. Here's a 2007 performance:



He certainly portrays the outlaw well, doesn't he? Unlike Hank Williams himself, who died young, Coe was too stubborn to die, despite his youth (if you believe the stories):

Born Sept. 6, 1939, in Akron, Ohio, David Allan Coe was in and out of reform schools, correction centers and prisons since the age of 9. One of the most fascinating -- and, some would say, dangerous -- figures in the entire history of country music, Coe's unrestrained ego is evident throughout his work....

While some of the circumstances of Coe's outlaw life are easily substantiated, it's often impossible to unravel all of the stories that have led to his larger myth. According to his publicity campaigns, he spent time on Death Row for killing a fellow inmate who demanded oral sex. After receiving a conflicting account from prison officials, a Rolling Stone magazine reporter questioned Coe about the alleged murder. His musical response was the song, "I'd Like to Kick the Shit Out of You."

His songwriting credits include "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)?" and "Take This Job and Shove It." "The Ride" was released in 1983, but his highest-charting performance was 1984's "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile" (number 2 on the country charts). And, of course, his songwriting hit number one with Johnny Paycheck. (Incidentally, Paycheck's real name was Donald Lytle. And Coe outlived Lytle also.)

But Coe's perfect country song wasn't written by him, as this video (unfortunately, non-embeddable) of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" shows. (H/T Francine Hardaway, who commented in these two threads.) Two observations: first, he's a good impressionists, and second, in his younger years Coe looked like Dr. Gene Scott.

But Coe's influence isn't limited to country music. His MySpace page (what - you expected him on Facebook?) provides this biography:

I am a songwriter who has written over ten thousand songs. I've written a lot of country hits over the years for the likes of George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Tanya Tucker, Leon Russell, Charlie Louvin, Del Reeve, Melba Montgomery, Stoney Edwards, The Oakridge Boys and Elvis Presley. I've written Heavy Metal Songs for the Dead Kennedy's and Pantera. I've written songs for rappers such as Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker, and Canibus, who's version of "Take This Job and Shove it" was featured in the Movie Office Space.

When Madonna Was Hot - "Like a Prayer"

Continuing on the theme of selected Madonna hits between 1986 and 1998, Madonna really threw us a loop in 1989.

Or should I say Madonna like, you know, threw us on a loop, like, you know?

Her movie image at the time was similar to her earlier music persona, most exemplified in the song "Like a Virgin" - a cutesy song with cutesy music.

But Madonna's music was growing in scope. So much that even Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews, who are notoriously picky, praised the song and gave the album (also called "Like a Prayer") four stars:

For better or worse, this is Madonna at her most serious, avoiding trivial catchphrases...and making personal and social statements along the way. A lot of people prefer her when she's trivial, but for me this is her finest work: the title track is about as close to real R&B as Madonna's ever gotten, courtesy of its big gospelly chorus....

Rolling Stone also praised the song in its April 6, 1989 review:

This is serious stuff, and nowhere is that more apparent than on the title tune. Opening with a sudden blast of stun-gun guitar, "Like a Prayer" seems at first like a struggle between the sacred and the profane as Madonna's voice is alternately driven by a jangling, bass-heavy funk riff and framed by an angelic aura of backing voices. Madonna stokes the spiritual fires with a potent, high-gloss groove that eventually surrenders to gospel abandon.

The tracks that Madonna coproduced with Patrick Leonard – which include "Like a Prayer" – are stunning in their breadth and achievement.

Now ordinarily I haven't been talking about the videos associated with the songs, but I'm going to make an exception here. So here, courtesy MTV, is the video for "Like a Prayer."

Madonna - New Music - More Music Videos

Business or music? Stock charts via Microsoft Songsmith

I wasn't sure whether this belonged in the Empoprise-BI business blog or the Empoprise-MU music blog, but I finally opted for the latter.

Johannes Kreidler has taken a different tack to Microsoft Songsmith programming. Instead of feeding it melodies from famous songs, Kreidler has fed Songsmith stock charts, and other chart-related data.

As you can guess, many of these melodies start off in the treble clef and end up in the bass clef.

Enjoy.

Not hanging out with all the boys - original cop sues Village People

Victor Willis is probably the most famous member of the Village People, even if people don't know him by name - and even though he hasn't been in the group for decades.

Victor, you see, was the original cop, and the lead singer on the Village People's greatest hits. But he left after three years, and had a trouble life afterwards. On May 2, 2006, I wrote an Ontario Empoblog post that detailed Willis' various run-ins with the law. The article from which I quoted (no longer available) had this classic line: "This isn't the first time the former fake cop has run afoul of the law." (Village People fans might want to see my follow-up post.)

But Willis isn't happy with the Village People today:

Victor Willis, the original police officer in the initial group's lineup, is suing the new version of the band in order to get them to stop using his likeness and voice. He is seeking at least $1 million and a judge's order that they can no longer use his image or voice.

China, my China

Back in the 1980s, some western items such as jeans and music became super-cool in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in the Eastern bloc. And this adoration has persisted - when Depeche Mode announces their tour dates, they spend a lot of time behind the former Iron Curtain. During May 2009, Depeche Mode are scheduled to play in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. In June they will visit Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Oasis wants to conquer another Communist stronghold, according to MSNBC:

British rock band Oasis will play their first China concerts in Beijing and Shanghai in early April, the musicians announced on their Web site.

The shows will take place April 3 at Beijing’s Capital Arena and April 5 at the Shanghai Grand Stage as part of a world tour promoting their latest release, “Dig Out Your Soul.”

The band will also play a previously announced show in Hong Kong on April 7....

Oasis are one of a growing number of Western musical acts traveling to China, following the Rolling Stones and Elton John. Growing exposure to foreign tastes has created fans among middle class Chinese, although audiences at such concerts tend to be drawn heavily from China’s large expatriate population.

However, if Jim Morrison is truly alive in Africa, he shouldn't plan to stage a performance in China any time soon:

Bands are forced to submit set lists beforehand, and the Rolling Stones were asked not to play several songs with suggestive lyrics during their 2006 China debut, including “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Beast of Burden” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”

The Rolling Stones were willing to defy Ed Sullivan, but not willing to defy the Chinese government.

When Madonna Was Hot - "La Isla Bonita"

This is part of my series on various Madonna singles from the 1986 to 1998 period - a period in which her sound experienced extensive growth, and she issued songs that were light years away from her earlier dance-by-the-numbers numbers such as "Holiday."

Several years away from her performance in "Evita," Madonna tackled the song "La Isla Bonita," adding a deep southern flavor to her sound. No, not deep south...REAL deep south. As in south of the border.

And, according to Wikipedia, the song wasn't originally intended for her:

"La Isla Bonita" was originally written by Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch, and intended for Michael Jackson for his Bad album, who, according to Gaitsch, turned it down. Working with Leonard on the True Blue album, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place, and re-wrote the song's lyrics, earning herself a co-writing credit.

As for which "la isla bonita" is referenced, the controversy rages. Pick any of several Caribbean, Central American, or South American islands, or perhaps San Pedro, California (home of Mrs. Penn's friend, Charles Bukowski), or perhaps something else. Personally I think she was writing about Greenland, but I could be wrong.

The important thing is that Madonna again opened up her sound in this song, presaging things to come.

The top and bottom of the top 100 list from 1971

Lists can be interesting, especially when the lists are very deep. Take Billboard's Top 100 list from 1971. If you look at the top 10 songs on that list, you'll see some outstanding songs from multiple genres.

1. Joy To The World, Three Dog Night
2. Maggie May/(Find A) Reason To Believe, Rod Stewart
3. It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move, Carole King
4. One Bad Apple, Osmonds
5. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, Bee Gees
6. Indian Reservation, Raiders
7. Go Away Little Girl, Donny Osmond
8. Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver
9. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), Temptations
10. Knock Three Times, Dawn

But what if you look at the bottom of the list? Again, you'll see some outstanding songs from multiple genres.

91. I Am...I Said, Neil Diamond
92. Wedding Song (There Is Love), Paul Stookey
93. Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1, Wilson Pickett
94. Love Her Madly, The Doors
95. Here Comes The Sun, Richie Havens
96. Sweet Mary, Wadsworth Mansion
97. Right On The Tip Of My Tongue, Brenda and The Tabulations
98. One Less Bell To Answer, Fifth Dimension
99. Riders On The Storm, The Doors
100. It's Impossible, Perry Como

The Doors and Perry Como. I love the 1970s.

And let me add ten of my favorites from the middle of the list:

23. Aint No Sunshine, Bill Withers
24. Signs, Five Man Electrical Band
31. My Sweet Lord/Isn't It A Pity, George Harrison
37. Rainy Days And Mondays, Carpenters
41. Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson
43. It Don't Come Easy, Ringo Starr
82. Lonely Days, Bee Gees
84. Won't Get Fooled Again, Who
88. I Woke Up In Love This Morning, Partridge Family
89. Theme From "Shaft", Isaac Hayes

Miss You - An Extended Version Done Right

I'm old.

I remember the 1970s.

And I remember the "extended versions" of songs that were issued around that time. In most cases, they took the original song; added heavy, heavy padding; and then released the result in twelve-inch form. (I'm referring to a vinyl record.)

While this resulted in a long, long groove that could be enjoyable in its own right, the padding was evident.

Well, I discovered tonight that there's a 7 minute and 31 second version of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You." It's referred to as a "dance version." H/T to RAPatton/pattonroberta for sharing the track, which last.fm users can hear by going here.

When I first began listening to the version, I had some fears that I was going to hear the usual padding that 1970s "extended version" songs had at the time.

But by the time I finished listening, I was convinced that THIS was the original version and that the album version was just a truncated version of the original song. It sounded that complete.

But then I did some research and found out that the seven-and-a-half minute version was itself truncated:

In 1978, a "Special Disco Version" was released as a 12" single. It featured additional extended vocals and a heavier, bass-enthused drumbeat. It ran 8:36 in length. An edited 7:31 version appears on the CD, "Rarities 1971-2003".

So the 7:31 version is itself an edit. Wow.

but then 8:36 version isn't the longest version of the song.

A bootleg demo version of the song exists clocking in at 11:43. Jagger's lead vocal is less pronounced but audible.

Now I'd love to hear THAT version...

Music Transcending - Bluegrass in Japan

Check out this video of bluegrass in Japan.



This performance of "Man of Constant Sorrow" took place at the Armadillo Bar in Nagoya, Japan.

Now that's a trio

I love reading The Music's over, but unfortunately I rarely get around to blogging about it.

It's in good form today, recording the names of three people who passed away on February 9:

• Max Yasgur (d 1973), most famous for providing the farm at which Woodstock was held.


• Percy Faith (d 1976), legendary orchestra leader.


• Bill Haley (d 1981), early rock and roller.

Can you pull any random three names out of a hat and come up with a more unlikely trio?

How do you discover new music? Baratunde wants to know.

Baratunde Thurston is either known for his work for The Onion, or for his participation in Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But he has other interests.

Over the weekend, he asked his Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed friends to answer the question "Where do you find new music?" I missed the question, but 76 people didn't. Baratunde posted the overall results in his blog, along with his ruminations. Here's an excerpt from the ruminations:

I’ve been thinking on all this and realize that our technology has dismantled the former aggregation model for music. We used to have record labels, radio stations, music reviews and sage wisdom from record store clerks (and our friends) to help us make sense of the world by limiting, vetting, categorizing or explaining the wide world of music. Now, we have new points of aggregation: our iPods/iTunes and various other online services. We’ve dismantled the old world, but the new one is still under construction.

On first thought, I don't know if the model has been dismantled, or whether we've just rearranged the players. Instead of relying on the wisdom of the Tower Records clerk, I now rely on Steven Hodson's last.fm playlist. And while Clear Channel doesn't run di.fm, somebody does.

Thoughts?

The Connie Talbot bandwagon

A few days ago, my parents sent me the link to this video.



The video, dating from 2007, shows then six-year old Connie Talbot auditioning for "Britain's Got Talent." Wikipedia notes that she got second place in the competition, and has subsequently released two albums via Rainbow Recording Company (Sony/BMG didn't know what to do with her). While critics noted that her young age prevents her from really comprehending or delivering the songs that she sings, she does have a very good voice.

Her website is at http://www.connietalbot.com/.

No TV party tonight - Grammys another victim of US TV network west coast tape delays

I posted the following comment on FriendFeed early this evening.

US TV networks to west coast - drop dead.

I have lived on the west coast of the United States for the past thirty years. And for thirty years I have stewed upon a particular practice of the US television networks - namely, their fairly consistent failure to take events shown live on the East Coast and show them live on the West Coast.

With the exception of sporting events, most live events aren't live out here. And even sporting events aren't always live - when I lived in Portland in 1979, Monday Night Football was delayed an hour. And in the past (and possibly today), Lakers road games on the East Coast were delayed an hour.

As I write this, CBS is halfway through its telecast of the Grammy Awards in the Pacific Time Zone. But why bother watching? Even the Grammy people themselves have posted the awards list on the Grammys website. So why sit through the show - and all of those ads that companies paid a lot of money to air - when you can already get the news from the web? They've been tweeting about the Grammys for several hours now.

As a result, PopBytes wasn't paying attention at first:

while all the grammy excitement is going down here in los angeles (although i hate being on west coast delay - that drives me bonkers) a bunch of actors are gathered over in rainy london for the BAFTA awards (british academy of film and television arts)...

I know that people claim that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is behind the times, but thanks to CBS, this accusation can be made quite literally.

Vinylicious!

I've been reading Michael Hanscom's Eclecticism for years, ever since he had his fifteen minutes of fame (here's his October 23, 2003 post that got him fired from his temp job). I began reading him probably at about the sixteenth minute (here's my reaction to a post of his about Howard Dean), and have enjoyed reading him ever since.

Now he's announced that he has started a new blog, Vinylicious, at http://www.michaelhanscom.com/vinylicious/. He plans to review a vinyl release every Sunday.

As befits one whose main blog name is "Eclecticism," Hanscom's first post is about Johnny Vadnal and his Orchestra's "Discotheque for Polka Lovers." And by the way, that's Vadnal, not Vandal.

Take That, YouTube and Warner - I Want My Videos!

With Warner Brothers' war on YouTube videos from its artists, it's a good idea to find alternate sources. Enter MTV.

And here's a treat that MTV has, but that I couldn't even buy back in the day - Devo's "R U Experienced.".

Devo - New Music - More Music Videos

For the sordid tale about the problems between Devo and the Hendrix estate, see this November 2008 post in Empoprise-MU. Oh, and don't bother to play the YouTube video embedded in the post - Warner Brothers already yanked it off of YouTube.

Stay tuned on February 19 for another from MTV's vaults - unless Warner goes after MTV also.

Strange Magic in 2001

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Jim Rome in radio, claiming to be "smooth."

Jim Rome isn't smooth.

Neither is Jeff Lynne.

Despite the later disco veneer, Electric Light Orchestra was just a loud bunch of louts who happened to have violins and stuff with them. It was great.

Year ago, I owned Electric Light Orchestra II on cassette, which consists of Jeff bellowing "Roll Over Beethoven," and Jeff bellowing a bunch of other loud stomping songs.

They mellowed a bit in later years, but they still maintained their roughness, after a fashion.

Here's a 2001 performance of a reunited ELO performing their hit "Strange Magic."



Incidentally, Hunter Felt claims that ELO's sound was the result of a poorly executed hero-worship.

It was Harold Bloom, into kabbalism way before Madonna, who claimed that all forms of rewarding works of literature were the result of creative misreading. In effect, writers would draw influence from predecessors, but get them wrong, thus creating something original. To avoid sheer mimicry, they would have to reinterpret the works of their influence, in essence sort of recreating them in their own images....I can’t help but think that in Jeff Lynne’s case, his determination to recreate Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles led instead to his own unique brand of over-the-top orchestral rock.

But if that's the case, why did the Lynne-produced "When We Was Fab" sound like a poor imitation of ELO?

Then again, maybe Bloom and Felt were right...

When Madonna Was Hot - "Papa Don't Preach"

In my view, Madonna hit her prime in about 1986 and stayed in her prime until about 1998. I've written about this briefly in the past (including my 1980s perspective of the talents of Madonna vs. Cyndi Lauper), but I wanted to delve into the topic in a little more detail here, on a song-by-song basis. (Incidentally, I will concentrate on the musical merits, not the lyrical merits or video merits.)

Before we get to the song in question, let's see where we started out. And where we started out was semi-anonymous dance. "Holiday," "Borderline," et al were pretty much a singer singing over a dance track. While the words may have been liberating and inspiring to the party people, the dance music was pretty much the standard dance music of the time. Even as the sound started to flesh out a bit ("Material Girl"), we were still in the same mode. And even when Madonna began to tackle slow songs ("Crazy For You," "Live to Tell"), we were still...um...into the groove.

The first hint of something new came with the release of "Papa Don't Preach." Much of the song was familiar to your average Madonna listener, but she threw us a curve in the beginning by starting with a few seconds of strings before the beat kicked in.

Now strings and pop music have been around since time immemorial, and they've certainly been around in dance music, but in retrospect, the opening of "Papa Don't Preach" was the first hint that Madonna was shaking up her music a little bit.

The top cylinder of 1894! (Actually, no.)

I'm on a kick of researching the origins of various organizations - check my business blog Empoprise-BI on February 4 for a post on the founding of the New York Stock Exchange.

So a music person may wonder - how long as Billboard been around?

Billboard provides the answer:

The magazine was launched in the fall of 1894 by two partners, William H. Donaldson and James H. Hennegan, as a publication for the billposting business. Donaldson was a salesman for his father's lithography company, which specialized in printing advertising posters. Hennegan also worked for a family printing firm.

Donaldson saw a need for a publication that would inform the roving bill posters of industry news. What's more, the new publication could help the Donaldson and Hennegan family printing firms stay in touch with their major clients.

The new magazine was named Billboard Advertising and was published monthly. As declared on its ornate opening page, it was "devoted to the interests of advertisers, poster printers, bill posters, advertising agents and secretaries of fairs."

That first issue was dated Nov. 1, 1894. It was eight pages long and carried a cover price of 10 cents (90 cents for a full year's subscription). The magazine was headquartered at 11 W. Eighth St. in Cincinnati, Donaldson and Hennegan's hometown.

So when did it move into music?

Billboard's ad pages...were packed with pitches for "Trotting Ostriches" and "French Fencing Girls" and other oddball attractions. But amid such novelties were hints of things to come. In the issue of April 27, 1901, the Edison Manufacturing Co. began advertising its "moving picture" machine (along with lists of silent films). The same year, the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. chose Billboard's pages to advertise its new coin-operated music machine, the Tonophone. Seven years later, a money tree was used to illustrate a full-page ad for Wurlitzer's player piano and other "automatic musical instruments with slot attachment."...

Advertising for sheet music began appearing in the magazine as early as 1902. By 1905, photos of early music publishers, such as Leo Feist and Harry Von Tilzer, were featured on Billboard's cover. A May 13, 1905, item on Von Tilzer remarked: "The art of song writing is becoming as much a science as the trimming of a hat or the cutting of a suit of clothes."...

The cover price had risen to 15 cents with the Dec. 16, 1916, issue, but an annual subscription had gone down to a mere $3.

By this point, recorded music was starting to make its impact, bringing a new form of entertainment into the home and fueling a succession of national dance crazes. The music industry had gone beyond piano rolls (for player pianos) and sheet music. Billboard took note, describing the phonograph in a Sept. 15, 1917, editorial as "the greatest of all music carriers."

Read the whole article here.

What happens when the fat lady sings

There's been a lot of talk over the last several days about Jessica Simpson's weight gain. And while I've talked about Jessica Simpson in this blog in the past, I haven't talked about this particular issue, though some bloggers that I respect (such as Duncan Riley and Eye of Polyphemus' Jamie) have...um...weighed in on the issue.

I haven't talked about this issue because I'm trying to preserve this as a music blog, not a celebrity gossip blog, and because discussion of a person's weight has no place in a musical discourse.

Or does it? According to a 2001 post by Lloyd W. Hanson, weight loss and weight gain can affect how vocalists sing:

Many overweight singers develop a method of breath control in which they push outward against the layer of fat that surrounds their mid section. This is similar to the technique of breath control that is taught with a wrap around girdle similar to the type worn when one has broken his/her ribs....

But the appoggio technique of breath management does not use a pushing out procedure. Instead, it encourages a sustaining of the inhale mode as one begins the sung phrase....

It would be most logical that an overweight singer would develop this pushing out against the fat technique and have to relearn how to breath with the appoggio technique when the overweight layer of fat is gone.

Now between you and me, Simpson hasn't really gained huge amounts of weight. She's not in Pavarotti territory or anything.

Michelle Tsai didn't discuss Pavarotti's weight in her 2007 article, but she did discuss the physiology of women and fat. First, let's look at her general comments on a singer's voice:

The best violinists can play with top orchestras as teenagers, but opera singers take the stage much later. Vocalists spend years mastering their techniques, but physiology also explains why opera singers have to wait. Hormonal changes continue to alter a singer's voice in adulthood, long after the end of puberty. The vocal folds—muscles that rapidly open and close as we speak or sing—get stronger, as do the muscles that support them in the chest, abdomen, neck, and back. When the hormones stabilize—and the muscles and lungs reach the right levels of development—then the singer's voice reaches its prime form for opera. Singers have to project their voices above the orchestra, reach the farthest corners of concert halls, and possess enough stamina to last most of an evening.

Tsai then discussed Pavarotti's technique, but not his weight:

One reason Pavarotti was able to sing for so long was because he didn't strain his vocal folds; he delivered songs as easily as if he were conversing, embodying an approach that voice coaches call "Si canta come si parla," or "Sing as you speak." He also knew what his voice was capable of and stuck close to arias that made the most of his talents....

Other opera singers aren't so lucky.

When menopause hits, the loss of estrogen lowers women's voices and they lose their highest notes.

With one exception:

Since fat cells produce estrogen, though, obese opera sopranos tend to be more resilient. They can keep on singing.

However, Jessica Simpson is not obese, and is certainly not menopausal.

Super Bowl motivational technique - Phil Collins?

It's the Sunday morning before the Super Bowl, and I just half-heard someone on ESPN saying that one of the team coaches - I couldn't catch which team - played Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" for his players.

Normally when you thinking about a motivational song for a sports team, you think of something raucous. But you can't argue with success:

[Dwight] Clark’s stories of the 49ers’ first Super Bowl, Super Bowl XVI in Detroit, feel so real, so unaffected, it is like listening to Everyman playing in his first Super Bowl.

Everyman, like nearly all NFL players before a game, needed to capture the mood of the battle. So Everyman was in the 49ers’ locker room listening to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” on his headphones to arouse the necessary emotion.

“Getting ready to hit somebody,” is how he put it.

But a little later, one would suspect that listening to an English person subconciously put Clark on the wrong side of the road.

During pre-game Clark loosened up - by jogging up the Cincinnati sideline.

“I was running up the sideline when I looked around and wondered, ‘Where are our guys (49ers)?’” Clark said. “I was running up the wrong sideline. I played it off like I was doing a lap around the field.”

And the 49ers won, so I guess it worked out OK.

Plus, Washington Redskin Chris Cooley likes the song, as does Cleveland Cavalier (basketball) player Mo Williams.

As I noted above, however, Collins is one of those English types to whom "football" instinctively has a different meaning. Although in this case, Collins is very familiar with what type of football is played at the Super Bowl. You see, he has performed at a Super Bowl (XXXIV, 2000, Rams vs. Titans), which earned him condemnation from cracked.com (yes, Cracked):

If the Super Bowl was really for football fans, every year's halftime show would be the same: John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce [Springsteen] or Kid Rock covering songs from Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet as an attractive woman blows up household furniture with M-80s. In actuality, the Super Bowl is the Jerry Maguire of television events, pretending to be about football while catering to people who think a first down is something you pull off a baby goose....

Phil Collins
Super Bowl XXXIV, 2000
Rams Vs. Titans

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
"Hey, he's the guy with the song about the 'air tonight,' right? Isn't that about letting someone die or something? That sounds kind of bad ass."

WHY THEY PICKED WRONG
Hey, he's the guy who brought us soft-pop shitbombs like 'Sussudio' and recently penned the soundtrack to the decade's most mind-numbingly stupid children's film, Brother Bear, right?

Well, if I ever figure out whether it was the Steelers or the Cardinals who used Collins as a motivational tool, we'll see whether they had the same success that Dwight Clark did.

Keith Richards action figure

At Rhino Records, Claremont, California.

On Midnight Juggernauts

I am not educating myself.

When I bought Ladytron's "Witching Hour," I ended up educating myself about everything I could find about Ladytron. OK, to be fair, perhaps I was concentrating on Helen Marnie, but it still counts as interest in the band, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, I've been listening to Midnight Juggernauts endlessly. If you look at my last.fm scrobbling, you'd think that I'm listening to Midnight Juggernauts a good deal. However, last.fm doesn't record what I hear in my car, and if I'm not listening to Bill Handel or Petros & Money, chances are that I'm listening to Midnight Juggernauts. And I commute over two hours a day; that's a lot of Midnight Juggernauts.

So I figured I'd better find out about them, starting at their website. But it turns out that the biography focuses more on the Dystopia album than on the individual members:

Upon entering the studio to begin their Dystopia journey Vincent and Andy - the band’s original nucleus - made the decision to invite a third member into the fold. Daniel Stricker (drums/vox) accepted the challenge, and the band's live show has reaped the rewards. Now an even more dynamic and energetic experience.

The AMG biography, as reproduced at Starpulse, has more - or less - information.

Midnight Juggernauts are an electro-pop synth rock group from Melbourne, Australia. The founding members, in a nod to the Ramones, renamed themselves Vincent Juggernaut and Andy Juggernaut. The two met in high school and played straightforward guitar rock together before moving on to experiment with synthesizers and dance music.

Vincent was quoted in a May, 2008 interview in The New Gay:

We like being this weird mysterious creation out there, people don't know if were married or siblings. It made things more interesting. We like playing around with the band's image. There's a lot of strange mysteries about this band, like we don't even know what Midnight Juggernauts means. I probably shouldn't admit that.

But Vincent did talk about music:

[W]e all have some pretty diverse tastes. Like I've always been into stuff from the seventies and eighties, anything from Gorgio [Morodor] to Blondie to The B-52s, to Van Halen, to lots of other cheese which I probably shouldn't admit to. Andy the guitarist, he's really into old school metal like Slayer, and Daniel is into stuff like The Pixies....

I guess we like being able to play and experiment with the music we like. We love pop music as well, we love pop hooks and melody, but the widest scope you can play with is that prog land, it's fun being able to go off on different tangents here and there. Who knows? The next album could be some really self-indulgent orchestral prog-rock masterpiece.

As for the current album:

We liked the idea of having an album which had this dark mood to it, and the title was a dark feeling which we thought suited the album. Even though it has pop elements and it's optimistic, we like playing with light and shade throughout. So it's like these pop songs, but there's this darkness and melancholy progression which we like playing with.

See the entire interview here.