Jim Stalker Dot Net

Unleashing My Inner Tolstoy!

Music

Who’s the most overrated band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

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The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Band are equally overrated, in my opinion. I strongly dislike all of these RRHOF inductees.

Why?

Robby Krieger’s guitar usually has the wrong tone. His lead lines aren’t ever tremendous or even memorable. Ray Manzarek’s organ is hard to listen to for more than one song in-a-row. Finally, Jim Morrison is more myth than man. He was supposed to be this substantial UCLA poet. I don’t see it. He didn’t even write “Light My Fire!” Their most memorable song.

CCR’s rhythm section is terrible. They can’t keep time, and besides “Suzy Q” they are a singles band. Fogerty isn’t a lead player of any merit (although he thinks he is) in later years. Worst of all, Fogerty’s post-CCR resentment toward his bandmates and record label is exhausting. So are his scarves.

Finally, there is the Band!

I get it. They were influential and backed Bob Dylan when he went electric. “The Weight” and “The NIght the Drove Old Dixie Down” are timeless genre-defying songs. But, listen to Robbie Robertson talk today, and you think he invented rock and roll. He’s annoying. This, despite his melodious baritone, was heard on many documentaries over the years.

And, while it is true that Robertson’s first solo album rocks (thanks to U2 on two tracks and the Daniel Lanois production), what song does the Band do that’s in even the same zip code as rock and roll? I think none. All the Band’s music is all soft-country quirk to me.

Of the three, I’d let the Band in despite these issues. The Dylan/Ronnie Hawkins connection the band had been solid rock and roll. Plus, “The Last Waltz” is arguably one of the best Rock and Roll movies. The Band, as a band, could really play. And when Robbie goes toe-to-toe with Eric Clapton on “Further On Up the Road” (unplanned according to Robbie), he shows what playing live for decades does to a player.

What are your top 5 rock albums?

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There is some science to suggest that age plays a significant role in what we determine to be our favorite music. This recent NYT piece summarizes it nicely.

My Top Rock Album

For me, the greatest (and my most favorite) rock album is Who’s Next by The Who. This selection more or less jibes with the article’s thesis. It’s one of the first albums I remember vividly as a teen. The first time I heard “Baba O’Riley” was in a mall Sam Goody on a pair of Acoustic Research 3as. This was in a sound room with a sliding door and a couch. I was too young to understand the concept of “teenage wasteland,” but old enough to appreciate the interplay between the band. Hearing this for the first time was amazing.

What Makes It Great

  • Timeless Core Songs – Most of these were worked out and rehearsed in advance of recording through the whole “Lifehouse” disaster. As a result, each song is full of the kind of nuances and interplay that only comes from taking them on the road, working out the songs before they are recorded. For “Getting in Tune” to be the sixth-best song, well, that says something about the quality of the material. There is a Deluxe Edition reissue that has some earlier versions of the songs, and you will see what a difference rehearsing them in front of an audience has!
  • Lyrics – Pete Townshend captures teen angst and spiritual aspiration better than anyone. These lyrics are all great. Also, his use of the “confessional middle eight” as in “I sit looking around, I look at my face in the mirror…” when delivered by Pete after Roger’s wailing vocals is something unique to the Who. No other rock band used two singers quite that way – except maybe the Beatles. The way the Who does it with Pete’s tenor conveys emotion.
  • Great Performances – Arguably, this is the Who at their combined best, and all were virtuosos with their instruments. Quadrophenia has equally great playing and singing, but the production by Glyn Johns is superior here and makes everything easy to hear. With the more energetic songs all well-rehearsed, it sharpens all the performances. I also love Nicky Hopkins piano contributions on “The Song is Over” and “Getting in Tune.” He’s a much better pianist than Pete. If you listen to the Deluxe Edition, there’s a version of Getting in Tune that is made clear.
  • Use of New Sounds – The ARP synthesizer for “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” were way out in front of anything their contemporaries were doing at the time. New sounds. I love how the album opens with this weird, fresh, and utterly musical synthesizer on “Baba..” Then there is Pete’s fantastic guitar solo on “Goin’ Mobile” – through an envelope filter – what a sound!
  • Not as Overplayed as Other Classics. Except for “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – which I can’t listen to anymore – most of Who’s Next is not as overplayed as other classic rock and can still be enjoyed.

The Other Four

As for the other four greatest “rock” albums, this is a fool’s errand because the most significant rock acts of all time, each have several great records with a gnat’s eyebrow of difference between them. All of them are essential.

Let’s face it, any “greatest rock” list would have to include The Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Bob Dylan.  But, can one choose between “Rubber Soul,” “Revolver,” and “Abbey Road?” How about “Let it Bleed” “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main Street?” Then there is “Led Zeppelin 1 or 2” “Led Zeppelin (the 4th)” and “Physical Graffiti?” All of these are rock and roll at it’s finest. Finally, what about “Blood on the Tracks” “Highway 61 Revisited” or “Blond on Blond?” Do you want to choose just one of those from any of those artists?

So those bands and records are excluded. The other exclusions are those records that simply do not rock. Beach Boys “Pet Sounds,” Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” and Carole King’s “Tapestry” are great music, no doubt. But rock? Hardly.

Therefore the only addition I can make to Who’s Next would be The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East.  The most excellent live album ever!  The closest second, ironically, is The Who – Live at Leeds. Both are great, but Fillmore East has stood the test of time in several ways that make it unique.

What Makes Fillmore East Great

  • Breakthrough record for ABB – This record put the southern rockers on the map way outselling their two studio albums. It was straight up for them from here with growing sales for “Eat a Peach” and “Brothers and Sisters,” paving the way for a career that spanned over fifty years.
  • Duane Allman – Duane Allman died tragically soon after these concerts. He is still a guitar icon. The slide guitar that opens the album sounds like nothing ever heard before or since. These Fillmore songs are some of his most beautiful moments alongside “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes and “Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett.
  • Richer Improvisions – Long full-album-side improvisations with extended meandering solos were not new (Cream’s “Wheels of Fire” and elsewhere). On Fillmore, the overall musicality elevated to a whole other level on this album. Live at Fillmore East was rock sounding like jazz but still solidly in the blues tradition. The soloists were as brilliant as Coltrane. Subsequent more extended versions of the “Fillmore Concerts” reveal these songs were the choicest tracks recorded during heroic stand at a legendary venue. Sure, there was the Grateful Dead, but they had only one lead guitarist in Jerry Garcia. Dicky Betts complimented Duane in a way the Dead never touched.
  • The Sound – Tom Dowd is arguably one of the finest record producers ever. He was a genius who worked on the Manhattan Project. Never has an audience been so deftly integrated into a performance in the way this record did. A live album never sounded so good. “Play all night!”

Which 5 rock guitar players could be considered the best?

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The answers thus far, rightfully, land on a discussion of the word “best.”

“Best” is highly subjective, so any list could be both right and highly dubious.

For me, I really like what Jeff “Skunk” Baxter articulated on about all guitarists on the History or Rock and Roll documentary. He said all guitarists today need to go through three “portals” to be a modern player.

  • Chuck Berry
  • Jimi Hendrix
  • Eddie Van Halen

I think this is because all three were innovators, highly influential and of course, always Rock and Roll. No jazzers here.

Berry brought bends, double stops, and most importantly the pinky alternating the 5th and 6hts on a barre chord that is nearly indispensable to rock and blues. Nearly anyone who came around in the 60s cites him as a major influence.

Hendrix brought tone, sustain, improvisation and technology to the game unlike any other. The whole Clapton, Page or Beck debate comes to a screeching halt with the inclusion of Hendrix. Just ask Clapton, Page or Beck themselves. Everyone was blown away by Jimi.

Van Halen might not have been the first to use harmonics, fingertaps, and super fast lyrical legato runs, but he more than any before or since put it all together in a way that influenced everyone else. And yet no matter how much of a shredder he was, Van Halen was always rock and roll. “Panama” makes my case.

I think there are amazing players out there. 100’s. I always liked Allan Holdsworth, Robben Ford, and Larry Carlton (to name three virtuosos). But are they Rock and Roll? I don’t think so.

What is your favorite Steely Dan lyric?

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“Is there gas in the car? Yes, there’s gas in the car!”

This is for me the best Dan lyric. Why?

On its face, it’s stupid, almost nonsensical. But once you know the context, it turns out to be brilliant.

If you have read interviews with Donald and Walter they’ve said their goal when writing songs was to “crack each other up.” So, for many of these lyrics, they are often obtuse to even a regular listener. This is because the joke was between them.

In the case of “Kid Charlemagne” they have indicated that the song might resemble the person of Owsley Stanley III, aka “The Bear,” and arguably the greatest LSD chemist ever. For several years he was a fugitive, and the way he was caught was that he ran out of gas in the chase. Hence the ironic lyric, “Is there gas in the car, yes, there’s gas in the car.”

Originally published here on Quora. 

Why do I dislike Steely Dan music so much?

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Donald and Walter looked like a pair of high school algebra teachers who started a band. That much charisma. They were music dorks. In interviews, they came across as if being successful was some hassle for them to endure. Plus, they were super smug know-it-alls. The tone they communicated was everyone else’s music sucked. This superiority even came across in their lyrics (turn up the Eagles the neighbors are listening).

What was abundantly clear was these two didn’t care what you thought of them. Becker and Fagen wrote their weird songs and let them speak for themselves. They routinely dodged questions about song meanings giving smart ass answers. They also didn’t explain who wrote what, nor did they provide credits as to who played the instruments on their albums (until Aja). Mostly you got the sense that these guys were just two super talented dicks. Which, given “Steely Dan” is a reference to a dildo, is quite fitting and ironic at that same time.

Despite all this, they made undeniably great music that endures through to today. Steely Dan, with some controversy, is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the end, I think you dislike them because you want to be them.

Originally published here on Quora.

Bass Guitar: What are the greatest bass-lines ever?

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The “greatest bassline” to me would need to have the following characteristics:

  • Instantly recognizable.
  • Drives the song.
  • Can be heard in the recording without any effort/software.
  • Can be played by an average bass player.
  • Must be played note-for-note.
  • Will be heard on the floor in Guitar Center within the next 48 hours.

While basslines by Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, and Jaco Pastorius are amazing, fat chance an average bass player will bust out, “Portrait of Tracy” “Freewill” or “Yours is No Disgrace” any time soon.

Similarly, while “Moondance” is excellent, almost any walking bass pattern will be adequate for that song. It doesn’t need to be exact; someone can be sloppy.

You best get these note for note:

  • Good Times – by Chic and Bernard Edwards (and the nearly duplicative Another One Bites the Dust – Queen – John Deacon)
  • Under Pressure – Queen with John Deacon.
  • Super Freak – Rick James (sampled by M.C. Hammer, “You Can’t Touch This).
  • I Want You Back – The Jackson 5 with Wilton Felder.
  • Gimme Some Lovin – Spencer Davis Group with Muff Winwood.
  • Come Together – Beatles with Paul McCartney.
  • Money – Pink Floyd with Roger Waters.

Of course, there are hundreds more – but I think these are undeniably great and original and familiar to most everyone who cares about music.

This post was originally published here on Quora.