Boomer Alert!

I ran across this video of The Who circa 1970 playing a live version of "Young Man Blues." It's very similar to the one on their "Live At Leeds" LP. It's easy to see how visually distracting Keith Moon was to watch. And I like John Entwistle's skeleton suit--he rocks on this song--standing so motionless as he always did, putting all his energy into his fingers on the fretboard.

Ron (the commenter) once noticed how the surviving members of The Beatles and The Who compliment each other perfectly and could form a band to replace their missing members: Ringo for Moon and McCartney for Entwistle. Ron suggested calling them "The Whotles."

Who Played Madison

I ran across this quite by accident. It brought back memories of seeing that show when I was a teen. They collected all ticket stubs at that show, so I never got my souvenir.

Too bad about the sound quality. Still, I think it's wonderful that someone can save it for all these years and then put it up.

Here is the play list from that show too, which I vaguely remember. link

Sheer Brilliant Lunacy

Bargain was a track from Who's Next and was allegedly inspired by Pete Townshend's spiritual guru, Meher Baba; I think the lyrics work just as well substituting a woman or a true love.

I put the video up to call attention to an outstanding piece of drumming by Keith Moon which I've never heard equalled. It's the part here where he comes back to close the song. Listen to how Moon pedals a bass line with both feet! He played double bass drums and perfected bass drum triplets, evident throughout the whole album, but most conspicuously there. You can hear John Entwistle dabbling in and out, accenting Moon's shin-cramping pedalled paradiddles.

Can You See The Real Me?

This is a very favorite Who song from Quadrophenia (1973).  It's one of just a handful that I used to spend hours trying to mimick as a teen.  I'd wear headphones and blissfully play along, trying to get every Keith Moon chop down. I once told that to somebody more talented than me: "Well that wasn't being very original, was it?" The withering disdain stung, but now, years later? pffft, whatever. While I take the point about originality (and our garage band did have nascent originals), copying your betters is important too.  I wrote about how drumming used to benefit from having great elders worth copying here. A little bit of the great rubs off in everybody.

The Best Albums of 1971

Paradoxically, as the albums get better, my lists get shorter.

Sticky Fingers ~ The Rolling Stones
L.A. Woman ~ The Doors
Led Zeppelin IV ~ Led Zeppelin
Who's Next ~ The Who  <--- My pick
At Fillmore East ~ The Allman Brothers Band

Rockin' the Fillmore ~ Humble Pie

Runners up:

The Yes Album ~ Yes

Aqualung ~ Jethro Tull

What's Going On ~ Marvin Gaye
Every Picture Tells A Story ~ Rod Stewart
Straight Up ~ Badfinger
Tupelo Honey ~ Van Morrison

Notable Singles in 1971:

American Pie ~ Don McLean
Just My Imagination ~ Temptations
Theme from "Shaft" ~ Isaac Hayes
Me and Bobby McGee ~ Janis Joplin (posthumous hit)
Bang a Gong (Get It On) ~ T. Rex
Ain't No Sunshine ~ Bill Withers
It Don't Come Easy ~ Ringo Starr
I'd Love to Change the World ~ Ten Years After
Hocus Pocus ~ Focus
I Just Want To Celebrate ~ Rare Earth

Wait Wait! Rewind to 1964 Again!

Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who is a wonderful "warts and all" style documentary that came out in 2007. So many "rockumentaries" just rehash the old but this one gives some wonderful insights that I didn't realize:

• offshore pirate radio like Radio Caroline played a huge role in launching the The Who.  State-controlled media, the BBC, actually suppressed things back then (image that).

• Pete Townshend had an epiphany while driving a car and hearing "I Can't Explain" on the radio: he realized: I have a sponsor...I have a patron...this is art!

• By far the best treat was a rare 1964 film of the The Who at the Railway Hotel. Watch it here:

Roger Daltrey was the man!  The Detours/High Numbers were his band at that point in time.  They hadn't written any original material yet and Roger still called the shots more or less (just like Brian Jones did in the Stones at first).  Look at him in 1964.  As my wife remarked, he's the only one of them who could walk around dressed like that right now and still look cool: the sunglasses, the hair, his shirt & white jeans.

I completely agree with her.  The others look like dorks: Entwistle with his vertical striped Kingston Trio shirt; Moon with his horizontal striped shirt looks like a child; Townshend's shirt buttoned up so high it looks like he's ready for church or school.

Meet the Father of Loud

Jim Marshall (b. 1923) played a key role in developing the amplified guitar sound of several mid-60's (and later) rock guitarists.  Legend has it that Eric Clapton started much of this when, hanging around Jim Marshall's music shop in London, he requested that Marshall make him an amplifier that would fit in the trunk (boot) of a car.  Marshall did so and Clapton immediately used the combination of the Marshall amplifier with the Gibson Les Paul guitar on the 1966 John Mayall & Bluesbreakers album.  You can hear the now familiar but then never-heard-of-before sound here on the song Hideaway:



BTW, that was John McVie (who later put the "Mac" in Fleetwood Mac) on bass guitar.

Hideaway was a blues number first recorded by Freddie King. Here is the original King version for comparison; note the sound of the guitar:



Legend also has it that Pete Townshend and John Entwistle pioneered the use of higher powered "Marshall Stacks", allegedly in order to hear themselves over Keith Moon's drumming. But it was Jimi Hendrix who really put the Marshall amplifier on the map.

There's a great story about the Marshall sound here.  Who knew that the secret behind Marshall's amps was harmonic overtones?

Rock Band Rocks!

Today, September 9th, Harmonix Music Systems released the Beatles's music catalog as part of the Rock Band video game. If you're unfamiliar with "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero," you probably don't have or know any teen or pre-teen kids (actually I first learned about it from our wild and crazy 30-something DINK neighbors).

We have the Wii version of "Guitar Hero." The Wii version is like the "Rock Band" video game, that is, the game allows one to play the guitar, vocal, bass, and drums for many popular songs. Of course you have to have the Guitar Hero "guitars" and drum kits that are adaptable to the wiimotes.

Guitar Hero has been derided by some because it doesn't really foster learning the guitar. Allegedly, Jimmy Page is withholding release of Led Zeppelin's catalog because he is upset that kids aren't learning guitar, but rather a simulated version of it. Also sayeth Page:

Obviously, there have been overtures made to Led Zeppelin, but if you start with the first track on the first album, ‘Good Times Bad Times,’ and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that, let alone dabble on a Christmas morning? link.

He'll come around, mark my words, just give it a few more years, and a few lackluster sales of compilations.

But it's true: the "guitars" in Guitar Hero have no strings, only a right hand strum pick and a left hand set of buttons that allow you to "fret" notes and chords. On the other hand, the drum set- up for Rock Band features a set of four pads and a bass drum.

In my experience, the Rock Band drum simulator actually requires you to have or develop the same motor skills that it takes to play real drums. The drum set even resembles the sort of practice pads that real drummers use in lieu of a real set. So screw Page and Led Zeppelin for the time being.

Another great rock drummer was of course Keith Moon. Whereas John Bonham had controlled precision, Moon was all over the place, almost the essence of chaos. Moon had a top heavy, splashy style, having a much higher center of gravity than Bonham. Moon played double bass drums, forgoing the high hat cymbal for much of his playing style and sound. When I think of Keith Moon playing, I picture him riding his cymbals and tom toms and with both feet stomping his double bass drums.
Here's a video that gives you a good look at how "Rock Band" drums actually work: