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Classic Rock Discussion thread, including Catfish's Top 20 Lists.
IsailedawayfromFR:
--- Quote from: catfish1957 on April 28, 2024, 03:40:41 pm ---Classic Rock Album of the Day- Deep Purple- Shades of Deep Purple- (1968) ** 1/2
Been having a good time lately reviewing and listening to bands who whisked through the breakthroughs and rapid fire changes of what constituted the transition of rock between 1964 and say about 1969. There is no doubt that 100% pivoted on what the Beatles were doing. But in retrospect, the way rock changed in those 5 years was breathtakingly rapid. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, The Who, and Led Zeppelin are maybe the some of the best examples of great bands that worked the formula to perfection. None replicated the impact of the Beatles, but all 4 took an idea, ran with it, in a different way, and almost made genres upon themselves.
Deep Purple, of course is centered around the great guitarist Richie Blackmore. Blackmore did a fantastic job circumventing line up changes, that resulted in just enough of an incremental sound changes to keep the fans guessing, and in some cases, the music fresh. In their debut album, and few subsequent, I think you will find both crtics and fans liking the original lineup, just for that classic sound. A line up with Blackmore, Paice, and Lord is the backbone of that heavy sound. Their debut album is sorely missing a flailing screaming front man singer who seemed in this music era was needed to complete the rock and roll persona and experience. That is why I believe this why Rod Evan's tenure was so short. And neeless to say his foray into Captain Beyond was a disaster and it underscored his shortcomings a vocalist.
In Deep Purple terms, this is a substandard LP, but one has to be fascinated in hearing the progeny of the thought processes that even in their infancy can be plucked out of bits and pieces of this album. In the department of adapting to the psychadaelia theming that all their peers were invoking, Purple was pretty much failing on that account. Purple were great hard rockers. Not a great band playing like an Iron Butterfly clone. That is why about a 1/3 of this LP is filler, but one can't discount Hush, and "And the Address" as glimpses of what is to become. Plus the fact that Blackmore had to rely on three staple covers to fill vinyl is not a good look. They did the covers well, but others did them better. Well maybe not Hush, and they pretty much cut that one out as their own.
Fun Fact: Yes' Rick Wakeman picked this LP as the greatest British LP ever made. No idea why.
Side 1-
-------------
And the Address- Fine instrumental, and we get spared Rod Evans for a bit. Has kind of psychadaelia MC5/Blue Cheer touch to it, but putting Lord, Paice, and Blackmore in a focused like jam session was a winner- 2
Hush- As I mentioned it is a cover, but one that pretty much is associated with them instead of the originals. Does anyone even remember Joe South? Yes, this one's Purple's, just as much as All Along the Watchtower's is Hendrix'. Song incorporates some psychadaelia, a prologue like heavy feel too, and enough hook to make it chart worthy. In retrospect, if Hush hadn't charted, would we had even seen a second Deep Purple album. Not so sure. 1
One More Rainy Day- Very dated '60's effort that misses the mark. Song sounds like a slightly edgy Monkey's tune. 7
Prelude: Happiness/I'm So Glad- Kind of a Mix of Cream's, Ulysses, and mash up of Iron Butterfly, and the slightest tinge of King Crimson. Even seems to have a hint of prog...... Prog? Naw............ 6
Side 2-
--------------
Mandrake Root- Kind of draws from that Sookie Sookie Steppenwolf melodic line, and with the same level of hard rocking late '60's flair. Well played, and enough turns and innovation to make it a winner on this LP. 4
Help- Bizarre cover of the Beatle's classic. Extra oddity points for picking one from early Beatles catalog. A crooning sappy ballad of this upbeat number is worse than strange. Bet Blackmore wanted this one back for a second opinion. 8
Love Help Me- Solid standard rocker, that really doesn't sound or come across as a Deep Purple. Sure seems the band was struggling with what sound they wanted to go with. Even this song, as uneven as it is, does have some redeeming moments with that quaint '60's vibe in what almost seems to be a schizophrenic LP. 5
Hey Joe- I love this song, whoever sings it, and......of course Hendrix did it best. I do like how Purple liluminated some strange but off beat angles to it though. Spanish theming,sans Spaghetti Western like.....ramming right into the famous melodic line. Nice. 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3sqPIGGwHg
--- End quote ---
I applaud you recognizing Deep Purple. Didn't attend many R&R in my younger years, but DP was the only one I actually saw twice in concert.
BTW, my highlight concert I attended remains 1970 Jimi in San Antonio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4SsM8pi0hw
catfish1957:
--- Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on May 15, 2024, 07:32:30 pm ---I applaud you recognizing Deep Purple. Didn't attend many R&R in my younger years, but DP was the only one I actually saw twice in concert.
BTW, my highlight concert I attended remains 1970 Jimi in San Antonio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4SsM8pi0hw
--- End quote ---
Thanks.....
If you got to see Hendrix live, you were blessed. No one was more impactful as far as changing how an instrument was played in rock history. Another aspect of his uncanny talent was his ability to play from ear, and improvise.
Here is a movie clip that supposedly was very accurate in what happened. Fascinating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMmhHBr7WDA
catfish1957:
Classic Rock Album of the Day- Bush- Sixteen Stone (1994) ***
In the area of new music phenomenon the process follows a hiearchial pyramid. Level 1 are the ground breakers and hit grinders, and the bands that first come to mind when discussing that genre. That normally covers 1-3 bands of that era. Level 2 are those follow up bands that are really good and offer a lot to the genre. These typically enumerate in the 10-30 range. Then at level 3 you will see 100-300 bands that are decent to mediocre, often one hit wonders. Finally rounding down the pyramid are those 1000-30,000 that should have never recorded or existed.
In this process, Bush is a typical Level 2. Got to admit the airwaves were flooded with Grunge/Alternative acts that pretty much squeezed out other aspects of rock. But, from at least my taste, Bush had a harder edge which kind of propelled them above the other "2" bands. So in many ways as "Grunge" as Bush was, and I do remember them being panned as Nirvanna and Pearl Jam initiators, there is kind of subliminal homage to what under the radar comes across as '70's rockers.
There was a time back 30 years ago, that the most famous Gavin in the world wasn't a sleazy slimey POS California Governor. Bush's strong front man, and focal point of songwriting was Gavin Rossdale. Rossdale's voice does have slight resemblence to Cobain, which I don't know how much was intentional of coincidental. Which is kind of interesting that after this 6X Platinum effort, Rossdale became a tabloid fixture for dating Cobain's widow, and even more for his rock and roll marriage with Gwen Stefani, who of course now is a fixture on Musical Talent reality TV show.
The rest of this band is highly competent in Grunge terms. No outstanding standouts, but with the combo of really good songwriting, and riding the wave of what was hip and popuar at the time. And popular? An album reaching 6X platinum popular in 1995, and the era of Napster was quite a feat of its own. Then add a mind blowing 5 songs that reached the mainstream Top 6? Quite a success.
Now the down side. This is really the only album they made worth owning. They made only about 8 more CD's with those only having a smattering of success. So save your money, and stick with this one. And one last thing.... If you were listening to music in the mid 1990's, I'll bet you at least heard of few of these on the radio. They did get that much airplay
Fun Fact: Grunge is incredibly only an "American Phenomenon" , and for a few years back in the 1990's Seattle was the center of the musical universe. Even with some research, I found that Bush is about the only known successfull Grunge act from the UK. Next most successful? Smashmouth. :silly: A few lists try to include Coldplay, but that is ridiculous.
Very interesting is that only one Bush CD made it into the UK Top 20. England pretty much ignored Grunge.
Track No.
--------------
1. Everything Zen- Great start with one of those heavy-ish chaotic Grunge classics. At the time I thought... Hmmm.. maybe rock and roll isn't dying. Latter part of the song does delve into some Nirvanna like licks and parts. Yeah, they got docked for it by the critics, but still this is well worth the listen. 2
2. Swim- Nicely synced blues phrasing gives this some nice musical value. This maybe is one of the best I have seen at an attempt to merge the genres. But in the total equation, with a down shout to the needles end of song shouting is a lower tier as far as contribution to the album. 9
3. Bomb- An obvious Nirvanna ripoff on this one. Doesn't even look or sound like Rossdale was even hiding it. Sluffed off to the bottom of ranking for plagiarism. 12
4. Little Things- Non-chorus aspects have a slight stench of Teen Spirit. This was a hit, but I sure hope Gavin gave Cobain some credit 5
5. Comedown- Slow roller that alternates nicely that slow roll with a nice Crunch center. This comes across more like a Peal Jam number than Nirvanna. Even as an equal oppotunity imitator, Bush did give this enough of a ubiquitous feel and with the somwhat unusal add of power chording, This was a great try. 3
6. Body- Seems they wanted to venture off the grunge path a slight bit with no success. Sounds kind of like a sucky late 1970's AOR number. No thanks. 11
7. Machinehead- Another of the plethora of hits from this album. This one does have a more rocking than grunge aura. I liked it. 4
8. Testosterone- Semi-filler Not bad or good.... just mediocre. 10
9. Monkey- Even at 6th rank, I kind of consider this the sleeper of what is a good album. Another that has a kind of '70's retro feel that I can relate to. Guitar/Rhyth guitar fills seem almost Aersomith like. Not saying their guy is as good as Joe Perry, but pretty damned good. 6
10. Glycerine- IMO, Bush's signature song. Very different, very eeryily set , and beautifully made. This is unlike anything else on this album. I love how they made the guitar have that sound like it was coming from a $20 amp. The intertwined strings just enhance the beauty and effect. Rossdale adds a pained vocal that gives so much emotion to it too. I think the last time I heard a rock band use full string accompainent to this level of effectiveness with, was a little song a few decades back called Eleanor Rigby. 1
11. Alien- Pointless power ballad. 2 minutes too long, 8
12. X-Girlfriend- 45 second ditty that is actually a rocker, and sounded pretty good. The fact they truncated what appeared mid-song, and what was some good stuff is puzzling, and in fact maybe a finger in the eye to old school rockers. Or at least his ex-girlfriend. 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zd-wYcNeYA
catfish1957:
Classic Rock Album of the Day- Bruce Hornsby and the Range- The Way it Is (1986) ** 1/2
I haven't really been much of a fan through the years on soft easy listening rock. There were a few exceptions though. Today's review is one that has a nice easy vibe, but does have just that nice mix of hook, and melodic prowess to hit the target. It also has some very nice keyboard work, that eases into the music instead of dominating it. Hornsby is really good in this area.
It also doesn't hurt that Hornsby enlisted Huey Lewis' help. Lewis was in a mid 1980's creative zone, and a lot that he touched turned to gold. Incluing some of his production values on this particular CD. This musical space was also shared with Chrisotpher Cross who also made a fine album near the same time. In fact, I might cover this one in the near future.
A lot of folks my age at the time were liking this, because, if might be honest, a lot of us did not like the Hard Rock Hair Band era. There was little or no redeeming value to the Quiet Riot's, Poisons, of the timeframe. This was somewhat of a respite. Though it could be countered by some that the Grunge stuff coming in a few years really wasn't any better.
Hornsby, kind of qualifes as a one LP hit wonder. (Yes he did win the New Artist Grammy with this) He did have "Valley Road" on the second album, but that pretty much is the extent of this career. Seems the talent tap went dry. Since 1993, he has been in solo artist mode, but doesn't seem to be generating much interest.
So, without much more to add, this really isn't an album worthy of much analysis. To me, it is nice smooth piano-rock, kind in the same vein of Joel, but a little more contemporary. Just take the ride back to the mid 1980's and relax.
Fun Fact: At the end of his Range career he was in full collaborative mode with the Grateful Dead. Strange bedfellows, to say the least.
Track No.
-------------
1. On the Western Skyline- Album starts in a almost old Celtic like tone and mode. Very pleasant, and a strong start. 5
2. Every Little Kiss- Released as a single, but didn't seem to chart well. But not for me. This is the sleeper on the CD. This has some of the best guitar/keyboard mixing and fusion on it. Hornsby didn't do many bang the keyboard tunes, but his one really hits the heart with strong lyrical value. I was married by the time of this CD, but I know it would have been a "date" tape in the day. 3
3. Mandolin Rain- More of the excellence in the trenches of well crafted well written, and produced soft rock. This one has some of Hornsby's best vocal effort. 2
4. The Long Race- More of the same, in meter and style. Songwriting just isn't at the same level of the prior 2. 6
5. The Way it is- This beautiful tune is why I think Hornsby won his Grammy. He somehow configured his piano in a way that I don't how. Hard to explain, but it is something akin to what a piano would sound like analogously to a 12 string guitar. Hornsby does a nice almost improv like piano solo that runs in 3rds, syncs, skips, and still somehow remains between the lines of the music. Excellent 1
6. Down the Road Tonight- If this kind of sounds like a Huey Lewis song, it might be because not only did Lewis help produce, but he has a harmonica and back up vocal part in it. And thus, it is the 2nd most rocking tune on a non-rocking album. 4
7. The Wild Frontier- The most rocking one, forced sounding and awkward. BH should have stuck with the formula. 9
8. The River Runs Low- Like in many works, some artists allow fill to permeate at the end of the LP/CD. Bruce does his best Barry Manilow on this one. :thud: 8
9. The Red Plains- Rehash. Same meter/licks, melodic line with a heavy chorus. Nope. 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5ibMTwZ8g
berdie:
Bruce is an excellent pianist, imho. My brother has one of his later cds (no charting hits) that is really good. I'll have to remember to ask him the name.
On a personal note, I saw Bonnie Raitt and he backed her up several times during the concert. When she did I Can't Make You Love Me with him...it was so beautiful I darn near cried. And I'm not a weepy person. Her vocals were so pure and his playing was excellent.
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