grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I'm pretty much the same. A solo is not a song although there are hundreds of solos that I adore. But I wouldn't if I didn't like the song. In any given song, there'll be elements that I really dig, whether it's a "Roo-doo-doo-dood" at the end of a bass run or a particular smack of a drum. On Mahavishnu Orchestra's live version of "Dreams", where the violin and guitar are knocking out the riff towards the main frame {the song is 20 minutes long}, Billy Cobham does these 5 great whacks on the drums to bring the band into that most orgasmic of climaxes. Not 4. Not 8. Not 6. Five ! It almost kills me every time.
Fortunately, I survive.
The Cambridge word for sex, that. "Eh luv, d'yer fancy a little ummagumma ?"
The cover of that album is one of my top 5. Fooontastic.
It was originally called "Return to the sun of nothing". It was the first side long epic I ever appreciated and as the years went by, I grew to love that song. Under the influence of good old Mother Nature's finest, I used to roam the universe on this song. For me, it's the most complete progressive rock epic from the piano note at the start, right through to the swirling mellotronesque voices in the runout. There is not a single boring second in the 23 minutes, even the sound effects in the middle don't outstay their welcome.
Yeah, music isn't about solos but they form an important part of some pieces. A well placed and thought out solo is like having a slash while the adverts are on in the middle of a film !
"Set the controls for the heart of the sun" reveals alot about Roger Waters psyche, even as a young man of 22 or 23 or whatever. It's about a suicidal astronaut intent upon self destruction, hence, he sets the controls of his rocket for......
I think it was his observation and conclusion of Syd Barrett as Syd was way off beam by that point.
It is rumoured his guitar is buried in the mix and possibly one of the only tracks to feature his and Gilmour's guitar playing.
One of my earliest memories of the Floyd is "Remember a day". When I think back to the actual day I listened to them for the first time, that song is one that I remember. It was recorded for the "Piper at the gates of dawn" album but then got left off. Richard Wright was an underrated singer, an underrated songwriter and an underrated keyboardist, but as far as I'm concerned was an irreplacable element in early Floyd and beyond.
What I liked about early Floyd was that until Dave Gilmour came into the band, none of them were particularly skilful instrumentalists in any way. Roger Waters was rudimentary on bass, kind of the way Adam Clayton was with U2, Syd was an inventive but simplistic guitarist and Rick Wright got the most from the least. Nick Mason was so basic that he ended up helping to pioneer a particular style of psychedelic drumming, almost by accident. He was not so much a poor man's Ginger Baker, more a deaf in one ear destitute tramp's attempt at Ginger Baker. But all those elements together with the concept of 'the studio as an instrument' which was coming in then, combined to make wonderful music. I started learning bass because of the bass parts on those first two albums.
You'd think the Monkees and the Mahavishnu Orchestra were diametrically opposed. I think both bands are wicked, both packed to the hilt with superlative songs.
I played the movie "Head" for my 10 year old son last week. He freaked out when they appear to kill themselves at the start but he really got into it as it progressed. It's such a strange little movie.
