White music post.
Boiling eggs, I silently sang Tom Petty's, "Free fallin'" a little. Just that bit. Soon, I was back in my bedroom. "World Cafe," was on, featuring an interview with an artist named KT Dunstall, from Scotlandia. And she mentioned something about some nice little soft strum of the guitar could be turned into something really rockin - and she did the little strum sequence from the beginning of Tom Petty's, "Free Fallin'", as an example. How about that?! Then she started talking about how the body senses things before the mind ever does - psychic, paranormal. And, how about that? This is a sign from Scotland, where music sounds like Australian music, except with three drunken testicles, as opposed to two. ("The singer-songwriter's latest album contains eerie predictions of a troubled personal life.") http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/191586081/kt-tunstall-on-world-cafe?ft=1&f=39
It's an all-Scotland first hour of World Cafe tonight, (which is a repeat from earlier, which I never heard). Including: Big Country, Aztek Camera, Belle & Sebastian, and more - but, look, ma, No Frightened Rabbit! http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=39&prgDate=08-05-2013
Before that, I listened to, "Sound Opinions," again, which featured Lindsey Buckingham, musical gnat from Fleetwood Mac. I love Fleetwood Mac. When you think about all the names in that band, they are all kinda Scotlish. And Buckingham said that FOLK influenced their style more than current ROCK did, and that is noticeable - but still, it was a rock band, with Lindsey doing what he could to make it folkey, and then everybody forgetting about his influence. We just think of Fleetwood Mac as the epitome of good classic rock, not as folk-rock. http://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com/2013/08/sound-opinions-interview-with-fleetwood.html
Buckingham also said that there was an "heroic" aspect in Fleetwood Mac, which most people don't see... Heroic, meaning that the band put out great songs despite the personal dramas. But that's interesting because I have always felt there was this "heroic" aspect to them.
Another song & band was, "Garbage," 1967/69, by Mick Farren and the Deviants. Like the Pugs, this weird song was maybe proto-punk, influencing punksters in 1978, along with Iggy Pop, T-Rex, the New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Who, The Kinks... The Deviants: http://www.soundopinions.org/shownotes/2013/080913/shownotes.html
Ya know - I just realised that the early Rolling Stones song, "Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown...", is something of a rip-off of the Beatles, "She's in love with me and I feel fine.." Listen to the two and compare. It's in the keys, in the guitar riffs. The Stones' vocals just basically ramble on like Bob Dillan, but still. If you listen to the Earliest songs by the Stones, they sound like Beatles, or at least British Invasion. You would have never have thought that they would metamorphose into the monsters they became.
And, here's another interesting musical observation: I think Bruce Springsteen influenced PUNK somewhat - or at least punk-into-new-wave. His collourful colloquial lyrics. For one thing, he influenced Patti Smith, who was a influence on punk and indie, and noise - like Sonic Youth, and Shoe-gaze.
For another thing, I recently found out that the guy who wrote some early songs for Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, sometimes tried to emulate Bruce Springsteen's writing, and also Elvis - but also folk-blues, and Sid Vicious, of course. (Nick Lowe never seemed to find his element in rock history. But I heard a recent interview w/ him, where he ounds like he might finally be finding it).
Well, all my life, I have always said there SEEMED TO BE SOME KIND OF CONNECTION BETWEEN SPRINGSTEEN AND COSTELLO. I referred to a style I called, "Raspberry Rock," - (all those Springsteen-like bands back then which seemed to have a strong influence from the blues-soul style of Irishman, Van Morrison, which surely influenced Eiddy Brickel - or whomever is the wife of Paul Simon. These bands may have included Eddie Money, South Side Johnny, and etc.).
How nice to be proved right! Well, the bigger picture is that England and New Jersey were experiencing a similar industrial-decline, working class recessionary milieu.
Good music comes of out cities on the BOOM, like Seattle, Atlanta, etc. - but the gutsy music can come out of places in difficult times. Just look at the music coming out of Mali and Algeria - places hit by war.
Or, look at the awesome "Arabic Funk" stuff that's been coming out of Lebanon, Egypt and North Africa. Look at the wonderful stuff that came out of South Africa during Apartheid, and so on.
And, god knows Canada has always been a land of deprivation and squalour, compared to this country.
No, really - this country is currently on the ropes, and so a lot of good roots music is sprouting up here. Searching for a new style, perhaps to inspire a revolutionary spirit. Or a trance while we are lead off to the slaughter.
Good, fun music is coming out of Brazil, which is all a bustle, but which has a better outlook than most other countries on the planet.
Also - I'm a gay blade when it comes to loving light bouncy girlie girl la la la ditties - like this one I heard on World Cafe right after the KT Dunstall. I guess that was Camera Obscura, "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken".
Wow - Norah Jones singing softly on, "Echoes," accompanied by SITAR. She's singing about when she was young. So - this may be an homage to her father, whom she disliked, Ravi Shankar, who recently died.(!)
Also - the other night I heard one of my favourites, "Zebra," by Beach House, which was then followed by another sentimental song, ("Song for Zula", by Phosphorescent). "Zebra," made me feel like whimpering - cuz it came from just about the last half-way hopeful little excuse-for-an-epoch in my life.
Well, "Echoes," has been playing a lot of sad sentimental stuff sort of in line with that and soon I will need a therapist.