From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V4 #280 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Thursday, October 14 2004 Volume 04 : Number 280 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [loud-fans] More info on Sharples CD ["Larry Tucker" Subject: RE: [loud-fans] More info on Sharples CD > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-loud-fans@smoe.org [mailto:owner-loud-fans@smoe.org] On Behalf > Of Jenny Grover > Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 9:37 PM > Cc: LFList > Subject: Re: [loud-fans] More info on Sharples CD > > Joseph M. Mallon wrote: > > >Here are some images of the artwork for home enjoyment: > > > >http://www.johnsharples.com/sharplesbooklet.pdf > >http://www.johnsharples.com/sharplesback.pdf > >http://www.johnsharples.com/sharplescoverphoto.jpg > > > >Note the many great records on the table... > > > >Joe Mallon > >jmmallon@joescafe.com > > > > > > Ah, there it is. I knew there had to be a Badfinger lp there somewhere. Got my order in. Larry ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 10:03:20 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: [loud-fans] Wilson, Bewley, Willson-Piper and how! Chris P: >>You know, I had heard the same thing about Ricky back in the day, how >>he was innovative and original. Now that I've learned to play a bit >>of rudimentary guitar and have been relistening to their first two >>albums, sounds to me like he simply has the habit of wandering in and >>out of key. Not to say that he's unskilled or sloppy, just doesn't >>really pay attention to the convention, playing a natural when the key >>would dictate a sharp, or playing a major chord when the key would >>dictate a minor. Sounds just a little off. I think it became a "style" >>in that he did the same shifts fairly consistently throughout their >>catalog. Yup. I always found it a fascinating chicken/egg story with the B-52's and Pylon's Randy Bewley on that front. Similar guitar sounds and a similar disregard for conventions where "playing in key" was concerned... from bands practically next door to each other. Maybe it has to do with the fact that for neither band did "rudimentary" mean "learn three chords" in the Ramones fashion... both seem to have skipped that and gone straight to "play some notes", either weird clusters that approximate but may or may not be "chords", or choppy lead parts that, yeah, wander in and out of key (and in Pylon's case the bass departed from the expected progressions as well, making the slope slipperier still). I think you can kinda hear the same thing across the pond with Joy Division and to a lesser extent Gang of Four, the Raincoats, and a few others. And indeed it would become a style of its own, and more than a little suspect when put on by more "seasoned" players doing the bandwagon thing. (Sidenote: over the course of, say, Fables of Reconstruction through Green, I think you can hear the equally weird-ass guitar stylings of Pete Buck turn normal as he starts to imitate his imitators. The early stuff is arpeggiated and occasionally 12-stringy but hardly Byrdsy at all... subsequent janglers mixed it up with purer Byrds sounds... it comes back to Buck, and by, say, "Welcome to Occupation", he's playing far more standard-issue McGuinn licks. Anyone else hear it that way?) It should be noted that Ricky Wilson actually made the grade as the only "celebrity guest guitarist from another band" ever to appear on a Tom Verlaine album, unless you consider Jimmy Ripp a celebrity or believe the rumor that Marty Willson-Piper plays on The Wonder. - -Rex, who's just noted that the "styles" listed on the AMG for Pylon are "New Wave" and "Comedy Rock". I guess they're funny and they don't know why... they're funny and they don't even try. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 16:01:53 EDT From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Wilson, Bewley, Willson-Piper and how! In a message dated 10/13/04 1:06:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Rex.Broome@preferredmedia.com writes: > Yup. I always found it a fascinating chicken/egg story with the B-52's and > Pylon's Randy Bewley on that front. Similar guitar sounds and a similar > disregard for conventions where "playing in key" was concerned... from bands > practically next door to each other. Maybe it has to do with the fact that for > neither band did "rudimentary" mean "learn three chords" in the Ramones > fashion... both seem to have skipped that and gone straight to "play some notes", > either weird clusters that approximate but may or may not be "chords", or > choppy lead parts that, yeah, wander in and out of key (and in Pylon's case the > bass departed from the expected progressions as well, making the slope > slipperier still). I think you can kinda hear the same thing across the pond with > Joy Division and to a lesser extent Gang of Four, the Raincoats, and a few > others. And indeed it would become a style of its own, and more than a little > suspect when put on by more "seasoned" players doing the bandwagon ! > thing. > This is fascinating. Thanks! Wilson is my favorite guitarist, and I knew as a layman that there was something different about his style. I suppose I like untrained/green guitarists better than trained/seasoned ones. I like CUB better before they got proficient, as well as early Of Montreal, before they knew what they were doing. There's an interesting passage in THE B-52's UNIVERSE about how they got their early material created. I don't have time right now to type it up, but it is really interesting and creative, and I'll transcribe it and post it later. One part discusses how Ricky broke the G-string a lot when they were first starting out, and he "could seldom afford to replace it. He decided to just adapt to the situation and keep playing." Twenty-seven years on, the rest of the band are still making money on these humble beginnings. - --Mark S. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 01:18:09 EDT From: LkDylaninthmvies@aol.com Subject: [loud-fans] how songs about Jackie O and lobsters were born From THE B-52's UNIVERSE by Mats Sexton (Loon is pre B's). The process below occured in an old blood letting room of a defunct black funeral parlor in the basement of the Morton building (one of the first African-American vaudville venues) in downtown Athens in late 1976-1977. Egg cartons were put on the walls to deaden sound so as not to deafen the customers of the El Dorado restaurant, where Fred worked: Ricky began using open tunings (where strings are tuned to an open chord) during the time that he and Keith were creating their Loon songs. Oddly, the G-string tended to break quite frequently and Ricky could seldom afford to replace it. He decided to just adapt to the situation and keep playing. Working with the limitations of a missing string allowed him to improvise with an alternating style of playing chords and lead lines that created a virtual two guitar sound. With the fourth (G) string missing, there was a separation before the fifth and sixth strings that Ricky had tuned to the same pitch. The band developed a unique formula for creating unconventional song structures that were based around jam sessions. Sometimes Keith and Ricky would have music composed and Cindy, Kate and Fred would then get into a collective trance while making up lyrics on the spot. "Things would just flow out," says Kate. Other times Fred would adapt his poetry or bring in a title that would serve as a jumping off point for the jam time. On other occasions, everyone would be starting from scratch and get into a stream of consciousness mode while playing instruments and singing. Eventually the cacophony would magically coalesce into harmonies and rhythms. The sessions were almost always recorded and when everyone was exhausted, they would go back and listen to the miles of tape. The group would then extract favorite parts of the jam and collectively piece together a song onto another tape known as the "Library." When portions of the songs were further refined they were then recorded onto the "Library of the Library" tape. It was a painstaking and time consuming way to create songs. However, it allowed equal input from members of this egalitarian group. ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V4 #280 *******************************