Did Anything Happen To Music .. or Did I Miss It?

There are usually times in history when musical scenes reboot themselves, probably starting in the nineteen twenties when recorded music became a thing and we had early jazz , blues and crooners making the way into the public consciousness via vinyl and radio. Gramophones and radios were commercially available and spread to sound through the populace especially in the USA and UK.

Six years ago I published a personal history of musical media from the wax cylinder to today's digital streaming here.

After the war we had crooners , Jazz , Western Swing and the beginnings of Country and Western. Rock and Roll was the first big flash propelled by Bill Haley & The Comets "Rock Around The Clock" the film "The Blackboard Jungle" and the genesis of the teenager as someone who could buy things including music, plus the tribalism of Teddy Boys and the like.

In the sixties there were Mods and Rockers, Skinheads psychedelia , ska and reggae , garage rock but this was just a quite smooth progression , resulting in some major rock bands and an unfeasioble amount of money and pretension. In the seventies we also go glam and all along the mainstream kept morst of the public satisfied as it still does today.

Then punk hit , hating the establishment , and prog rock (but ironically loving Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk") but still referring and eulogising krautock , reggae , sixties garage rock and more, while pursuing a minimalist shoestring sound epitomised by The Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch" , which is why I was so disappointed by The Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks" as to me it was a heavy metal album, so sounded good but more metal than punk.

This resulted in lots of small independent music which was eventually absorbed by the big labels. 

And since the during the eighties we saw Goth , and Grunge and Baggy at the start of the nineties, and while there is always good music coming through there's been no big band since the mid seventies and no small bang since the early nineties.

So did I miss something or did I just get old? Franks Zappa said that when the old guys were in charge of record labels they would always give anything a shot. Could you imagine a major label releasing "Trout Mask Replica" or even "The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads" today?  Sing the young guys moved in it's all about product and markets , not art and music.

So what should I share, I'll go with the Bill Haley song.

On Comedy

Just a few Sunday Morning thoughts on the nature of comedy. One of the problems I sort of see for a comedian is that once a joke is told it's out there, it's done, so sometimes you will see the great comedians who actually tell stories, to which there may or may not be a punchline , but the journey provides the fun.

I am lucky enough to be casually acquainted with some truly great comedians John Scott , Gavin Webster , Louise Young , Rahul Kohli and Simon Donald.

All these people can talk , but obviously put a lot of work into what they say and I have seen and chatted with all of them at The Stand and various places in Newcastle.

Sometimes comedy can only work as the written word such as the Jerry Saltz one which you can see to the right. I've tried verbalising this and it just doesn't work , and the really good thing about this is that it makes your mind think. 

When a comedian is live they have to keep this up all the way through , otherwise they die on stage.

But on writing this I am thinking that once you hear a joke then that's it , but it isn't. A good comedian you can watch tell the same jokes over and over , but really the jokes and one liners provide a framework for the act to be delivered.

Though not the same it's like going to see a band who's songs you like. They will play the same songs but maybe in a different order, embellish the style or strip it down to give you a different experience.

With TV Comedy I can watch "Black Books" , "Father Ted" and "The IT Crowd" over and over, "Fawlty Towers" I find more difficult but it is still dunny and always loved the rearrangement to to hotel name at the start of each episode. Again it's a pleasure for me and the characters being total enjoyment.

So while I could take an excerpt from a TV show or one of the acts I listed, I will just link through and their names and share the wonderful "Comedy" by Shack with you , because it is a great song.

The Steppenwolf Coincidence

This has nothing to do with "Steppenwolf" as such (I am half way through "taraNtula" by Bob Dylan) , but I had recorded "Batman vs Superman" and "Justice League"  (although I and many still say "taped") and started "Batman vs Superman" and then thought is was not very good (I have a TIVO). I deleted it after ten minutes then realised that "Justice League" was the follow up, so recovered and started watching it.

Batman and Superman are not exactly paragons of virtue but Jeremy Irons as Alfred is worth the price of admission (many of his statements based on "Oh you screwed up again , so I will sort it out") , it turned out that it was more that watchable and I enjoyed it.

So don to the point of the post , in "Justice League" the main baddie is the Golden Steppenwolf , though he didn't look very wolf like and is just a standard devil figure intent on bringing the world to heel and into darkness based on some cod religious mythological configuration , and this reminds me of the text of "The Pentateuch of The Cosmogony" by Patrick Woodroffe  (art and text) and Dave Greenslade (music) . 

I enjoyed "Justice League" even more than "Batman vs Superman" and it comes out that Batman is really past it and the Justice League ends up consisting of Batman , Wonder Woman, The Flash , Cyborg , Aquaman and eventually Superman. Next up is "Aquaman" for me because it is available on Amazon Prime.

One of my favourite lines (and there are lots of those) is when Aquaman asks Batman "What's Your Super Power?", Batman answers "I'm Rich".

Growing up I loved Greek, Norse and Irish mythology as well as moving further afield and these have provided fertile fields for a lot of the DC and Marvel Universes, the most obvious being Thor and Wonder Woman's origins.

I wasn't sure what music to share , but given the Justice League scenario we will go for "End of the World" by Andy Mackay from his debut solo album "In Search of Eddie Riff".

SteppenwolfRed , taraNtula and Soused

"Steppenwolf" is finished with the surreal Magic Theatre sequence in which Harry murders his true love who is actually a figment of the drug addled saxophone player's imagination who transforms her into a doll and pockets her. Was she real or not? A weirdly impressive book by Hermann Hesse. 

I am now revisiting "taraNtula" by Bob Dylan , yes the spelling is correct and the stream of consciousness approach and dialogue actually seems to naturally follow on from the end of "Steppenwolf" and has given me an idea for a book or at least a long piece of my own. While Dylan had his position as an established artist to attract an audience it may be that barring an unexpected twist of fortune mine will remain unread and it will probably not be an easy read but hopefully , like "Steppenwolf" there might be tempting breadcrumbs in there for readers.

As I write this I am listening to "Soused" by Scott Walker and Sunn O))) one of the most incredible sounding experiences I have ever heard. Scott Walker is a true total artist and Sunn O))) are premier noise drone purveyors and together they take you somewhere you have never been before and will never go again although you always have the option to revisit.

So I will share, once again the opener from "Soused" "Brando" with the video directed by Gisèle Vienne , and I do think these three pieces of art go together without necessarily complementing each other. I've included the Scott Walker documentary "30th Century Man" by Stephen Kijak below which is worth a watch. I've done it a few times, very impressive and informative.

SteppenwolfTwist

 I had my COVID injection yesterday and it physically knocked me with a lot of the symptoms but I think I am now over the worst.

"Steppenwolf" has taken a major unexpected twist, in a drug, drink and sex induced surreal scenario Harry Haller takes a step into a man vs machine world scenario worthy of JG Ballard. I really didn't see that coming , and with about twenty pages left of the book I am not sure what else will happen. If I'd known the format of the book , two breaks in the first fifty pages then two hundred pages of non stop narrative, I think I may have been put off, and it's not for everyone but I am glad I have read and got through it.

I have also decided to revisit "Tarantula" by Bob Dylan next before maybe dipping into another unread (by me) classic.

So as I am still not 100% , I am going to go left field and share "Shadow Line" by Jordan Reyne because it is the song that hooked me on her and the video is wonderful as is the song.

Last Night I Dreamt ....

 ... but don't remember anything. I obviously slept well though was woken by traffic around 5AM and then the alarm at 5:46AM . I watched the last episode of the current series of "American Gods" and thought it was coming to a tidy close, but how wrong I was about that.

I keep wanting to write a one word post , but I am not sure what that word would be, although doubt there would be a reaction as people would look at it and then go on to the next thing that might actually catch their interest.

I'm not sure if there is a problem with my Google Pixel 2XL phone as a few apps have suddenly stopped working. It's odd because they open then just disappear , had a similar problem with an app on my work computer recently. The thing is it's stuff like GMail , Words With Friends (which seems memory intensive anyway) and IMDB , however other apps seem fine. I've run the virus checker and nothing comes up so may be a case of uninstalling and reinstalling , which is fine for a single app but annoying for multiple apps.

On my walk for the COVID test all of a sudden all the non working apps started working , so all looks good,

Today is my first COVID jab so will be walking out soon to the Centre For Life to get mine. It's a greyish day but should be a good walk into town. The walk was pleasant and the lady who dealt with me was a dentist from Fenham , told her the story of how I got my name which she thought was hilarious , and when I told her who I worked for she said "Well That's a conversation stopper" , cue more guffaws from both of us.

So my first #MusicWhileYouWork disc when I get in will be Gerry Rafferty's "City To City" so that should appear on my Instagram Channel and as I write this the sun has started really shining , so all is looking good.

Strange Dream Fragments and Instagram Problems

I dreamt last night and just remember fragments , a deep water harbour (there was a reason for this but it's gone) , an Excel Worksheet with an eight by four table based on the naked male wrestling match between Oliver Reed and Alan Bates in Ken Russel's take on "Women In Love" by DH Lawrence (yeah work that one out)  and wooden buildings akin to the northern towns in "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. Obviously "Steppenwolf" is also somewhere in there as well . That's a lot of references for something that I don't actually remember anything about, but so often that's the thing about dreams, generally they don't make sense, they happen just before you wake up , and soon you forget about them . I sometimes write about them.

The other thing is that Instagram not won't access my camera on my phone. Instagram used to allow a one minute video , then they reduced it to 15 seconds , then video disappeared (unless you use Reels , whatever that is) , and now even taking pictures has gone, and I have to take things with a camera then add them to Instagram. An unexpected benefit is that when I share my #MusicWhileYouWork videos I now create a one minute video which I then share to Instagram. The only problem is that Instagram pics and videos need to be 4:3 and the phones. video is something like 9:16 and Instagram always then takes the bottom of the video, so I use a great piece of software called YouCut which allows me to crop and rotate and trim and lots of other things with the video , not ideal if your power is low, but it extremely impressive.

So music wise "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" by The Passions came to mind on this dreich Monday morning.