Off Topic: Favorite Music?

[darkblue]

Lovely song indeed, Eugenia. I used to listen to it every night in bed - along with the other 11 tracks on that lp back in 1965.

 

Great, great album. Here's another of my favorites from it.

 

'Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe'.

 

 

[casablancalover2]

A great voice has stilled, but his music lives on..

 

 

RIP, Pete Seeger

[casablancalover2]

1964:

 

The Supremes:

 

 

[casablancalover2]

1974

 

Aretha Franklin;

 

 

[misswonderly3]

Although the lyrics don't really pertain to Philip Seymour Hoffman in any way - except that they're about death - this song came to mind when I was trying to think of some music to mark his passing (sometimes it's ok to say "passing".)

 

REM and their lovely melancholy song, "The Sweetness Follows".

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a9w3ue9_fo

[DownGoesFrazier]

EUREKA!....... For over a year, I've been trying to find out the title and artist of a song I loved. I even posted some lyrics on this thread, to no avail...... The lyrics were, I thought, "turn away turn away turn away turn away". Finally, diligent google searches have yielded success. It is "Small Town Boy", by Bronski Beat. Does anyone know the song?

 

Edited by: finance on Feb 4, 2014 5:22 PM

[misswonderly3]

I'm happy for you fi, baby. Here ya go:

 

 

[DownGoesFrazier]

Thanks.... Nothing beats the best of New Wave (1978-1985)

[casablancalover2]

1984:

 

Lionel Ritchie

 

 

[misswonderly3]

Hey people, as you guys may be aware, there's currently a thread in "General Discussions" about music - mostly pop/rock n roll /rock/country etc. A lot of it seems to be about musical genres, but it started out as a discussion about the Beatles.

Conversations about music are just as subjective as conversations about movies, aren't they? And that's as it should be.

 

Anyway, a few of the posts brought up the old comparison between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It made me think of this catchy song by a new-ish (new compared to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) Canadian band called Metric. I believe I posted this once before, on another music thread, but it's worth hearing again. I suspect the title of the song is making a covert allusion to the Stones. Not even so covert, come to think of it.

 

Gimme Sympathy:

 

 

[DownGoesFrazier]

Comparing the Beatles and Stones is a very unbalanced comparison . The Stones were still churning out great stuff for at least 20 years after the Beatles disbanded, LIsten to, e.g., "Undercover of the Night" (1984).

[misswonderly3]

I don't care, fi.

I have no interest in the Stones after Exile on Main Street. To me, after the early '70s, they became a different band altogether than what they'd been before. I'm not saying their work was not good after that, it just wasn't for me.

And I do not compare the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I never said I did. I like 'em both, they were both great. Very different from each other, I loved them both, but I always felt each band gave me something unique. I used to think other kids were silly, comparing them and arguing over which group was "better".

As for the longevity of the Stones, good on them. I guess. I have no interest in the majority of their post 70s stuff, and I don't see how the fact that they have lasted far longer than the Beatles did makes them the superior band.

If one were to compare them, it would have to be, obviously, only the output of both groups up to when the Beatles split up. (officially in 1970.)

[darkblue]

'Exile' was the last time the Stones released anything that can be thought of as great. Personally, their sound began to get too hard-edged for me after 'Beggars Banquet'.

 

I've found of the many people who claim to not like the Stones, they actually respond favorably when I play stuff like 'Time is on My Side' or 'Little Red Rooster' or 'Paint it Black'. It's clear that the Stones of 1966 are a different group than the Stones of the 70's and 80's.

 

In 1966, you could say I loved them - I had 3 lp's - 'Rolling Stones Now', 'High Tide & Green Grass (Big Hits) and 'Aftermath' and I wore those records out. But they were still behind the Beatles then in my estimation (if I had to choose just one band to take to a desert island) and that's still the case.

 

For me, the Stones might as well have disbanded after 'Exile on Main Street' (the perfect ending album that would have been).

[speedracer5]

I completely respect everyone's musical tastes and preferences and I agree that someone's favorite music is completely subjective, just like their favorite movies. Along the lines of "The Rolling Stones," these are some of my favorites:

 

"She's So Cold" from the Emotional Rescue album in 1980

 

The Some Girls album has a lot of great songs:

 

"Miss You"

 

"Beast of Burden"

 

"Some Girls"

 

The Stones have a ton of great songs. I saw them in concert in 2005 during the Bigger Bang Tour and they were fantastic. Money well spent.

[DownGoesFrazier]

I'm glad to see you are focusing on the later stuff, which is also worthy. "Shattered", "Miss You", and "She's So Cold" are three more later great songs.

[darkblue]

'Shattered' is a highlight (and 'Some Girls' is the best post-Exile album).

 

So, here's 'Shattered'. When I listen to it, it brings David Bowie to mind for some reason.

 

 

[misswonderly3]

Well, David Bowie and Mick did hang out together; maybe they each picked up some of the other's musical ideas. (Also, there's always been the gossip that the Stones song "Angie" is about Bowie's wife- who knows, who cares...)

 

"Shattered" has always been one of the few post-1972 Stones songs I've actively liked. It's one of those songs that has no pattern of verse / chorus / verse /bridge / middle-eight / verse /chorus (ok, you get the idea), but rather stays in the same groove the whole time and sort of spirals up. If it's done well (as with "Shattered" ) it really creates tension and excitement. There's probably a term for that kind of song, but I forget what it is, if I ever knew.

 

speedracer, thanks for the links. I listened to them all, but you accidentally posted "Beast of Burden" twice, when you'd meant to post "Some Girls".

[misswonderly3]

To continue (thought my other post was getting too long)...

 

speedracer and finance, yup, sure, I like those songs. Well enough. (as I said, "Shattered" is the best of that bunch.)

But "Some Girls" is from 1978. That's a very long time ago. Nothing I have heard from the Stones since then has impressed me enough to like their "recent" (like, the 80s through to now !) stuff anywhere near as much as their pre-1970 stuff.

 

I mean, just for fun, let's compare these two songs. Both are pretty offensive in their lyrics (very sexist, and in the case of "Some Girls", kind of racist too), but I don't mind. If the music is good enough, I forgive offensive lyrics. For me, it's much more about the music than the lyrics anyway.

So I thought I'd post "Some Girls", which speedracer had intended to post (hey, I do that too - think I've linked two songs when I've just pasted the same one twice), followed by a tune from an album released more than ten years previous to "Some Girls", "Under My Thumb".

 

Both songs are sexist in their lyrics, so they're similar in that way, which is why I chose "Under My Thumb" to compare "old" vs "later" Stones. But to me, "Some Girls" is ok until you hear "Under My Thumb". The latter is (for me) so much more interesting to listen to, so much more going on in the music. It's got that irresistible intro, with that unusual instrument Brian Jones probably contributed, the marimba.

I don't know, the whole song, its melody, its rhythms, its arrangements, seems to me light years more sophisticated and pleasing to the ear than "Some Girls". Sorry no offence, as you say, we all like what we like. But try giving both a listen, back to back, and see if you agree with me.

 

"Some Girls":

 

 

"Under My Thumb":

 

[DownGoesFrazier]

Well,"Some Girls" is the most "discofied" of all the Stones' work (especially "Miss You"). Mick was occasionally going to Studio 54 around that time, and Bowie was also there on several occasions. There's a connection.

[DownGoesFrazier]

I tried to post "Undercover of the Night" (1984) for you, but failed.

 

Edited by: finance on Feb 12, 2014 4:41 PM

[misswonderly3]

It's ok, fi, I checked it out when you posted your comment about it the other day.

I was distracted by the video - a little mini-4:59 minute gangster flick, shades of Scorsese and Benicio del Toro - and found it hard to judge the music in its own right.

Oh, what the hell, here it is:

 

 

 

It's ok. I find a lot of these latter day ( if you can call the 70s, 80s, and 90s "latter day") Stones songs start exciting, but don't maintain it.)

 

I will say, Mick and the boys had a pretty good sense of humour. Those songs with "offensive" lyrics, I think they're kidding around ,and assuming a persona, it's not necessarily Mick himself speaking. The lyrics to "Some Girls" are kind of funny, and you can tell, with a lot of their post-70s work, that they're joking around, playing with images and genres etc.

Like with that "She's So Cold" video...clearly they're having some fun, and both the lyrics and the video (Mick's facial expressions !) make me laugh, or at least smile.

[DownGoesFrazier]

The song has an intentionally very "muddy" production, which is one thing that makes it so good.

[misswonderly3]

I don't mind "muddy" production. And you're right, sometimes it's intentional.

 

I just read some of the comments under that vid, and apparently I'm completely wrong. It's not about Scorsese-type gangsters at all, it's about the political upheaval in many South American countries in the 70s and 80s.

[DownGoesFrazier]

The entire album "Exile on Main Street", which is considered by many critics to be their best, has a "muddy" production.

[misswonderly3]

I just checked out that thread about *You're a Big Boy Now*. Sounds like just the kind of movie I'd like. I'd never heard of it, and consequently paid little attention to its line-up on the schedule. If I'd known more about it, I think I would have made a point of watching it.

Dang ! (salty language) I bet it will be a cold day in hell before they schedule it again.

 

Anyway, I looked up the soundtrack to the film. We're talkin' 'bout the Lovin' Spoonful.

Here's a track from the movie, "Darling Be Home Soon::

 

 

 

Edit: I knew there was a Canadian connection with the Lovin' Spoonful ! But I had to look it up to make sure.

Zal Yanovsky, the group's original lead guitarist, hailed from my home town, Toronto. He spent his retirement years running a restaurant in Kingston, Ontario. Sadly, he died comparatively young, in his 50s, from a heart attack (hopefully not precipitated by his own food. )

Actually, I always wanted to go to Kingston and try Zal's restaurant.

 

(by the way, my computer is giving me grief with the sound quality of youtube. I hope the skipping and crackling I hear is just my computer problems, and is not passed on to other listeners here. Can anyone let me know if, when they click my youtube links, it sounds ok in terms of audio quality? I think it's "just me". I am very inept when it comes to all things digital.)

 

Edited by: misswonderly on Feb 13, 2014 10:19 AM