Game-changers

[robgreen]

EDIT: early Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca were big game-changers for me when I was a kid.

Last edited by fat_fleet; 1 Week Ago at 02:36. Reason: it was a crazy rant

Ah man, it's a shame you edited that post, it was interesting. I loved Sonic Youth growing up, but I've never even heard of Glenn Branca before. I'll hunt him out when I'm at home.

I had a few 'game changers' at formative points in my life. Hearing Dylan's Blonde on Blonde for the first time was a big one. I would have been sixteen and up until that point my only knowledge of Dylan was the big protesty type songs like Blowin in the Wind. They were okay, but a bit one dimensional and kind of like the things you'd have to sing in school assembly. I didn't expect to hear these sprawling, opaque full band masterpieces with surreal lyrics like Visions of Johanna and Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. Aside from Rainy Day Women, which I didn't like the first time and never warmed to since, it's still one hell of an album. Dylan at his finest.

This was the start of a period where I heard so much good music that stayed with me since. Maybe everyone thinks that the music from their college years (ages 16-18 in England) is the best because they associate it with a period of their lives where they start to gain a little independence and discover beer, music, girls/boys etc, though without too much in the way of responsibility that comes with full independence later.

I've always been more into albums than singles, but there was a period of about 12 months in 1999 where a bunch of songs came out that just made most other records I'd bought up until then sound like shit. They were creative tunes with rough edges, but always had strong melodies and cool lyrics that weren't just boy meets girl or girl breaks up with boy.

These are four of the highlights from that time:

Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times


Bonnie Prince Billy - Death to Everyone


Pavement - Carrot Rope. They did better tunes, but this was the first time I ever heard them and the start of a minor obsession:


Badly Drawn Boy - Once Round The Block

 

[grimtraveller]

...though maybe grim will stick around.

Aye, that he will !

"Fast Car" hit me like a Mack truck, but I think it probably did that to everybody.

Not I, said the hen. I was able to jump out of the way.

I've been thinking recently about some of the game changers for me in terms of instruments I like. Some I can pinpoint.......

Every so often, a memory flashes through my mind reminding me where and when something hit, when I'd thought it was more gradual and unnoticed.

Things like the double bass, saxophones,

Although I had been listening to and watching live saxophonists for years, it was a solo by a guy called Pat La Barbera on Bruce Cockburn's "Guerilla betrayed" on the 'Humans' album that exploded the saxophone light in my head and pushed me towards conceiving of the saxophone as an instrument I was actually going to utilise. La Barbera's solo was so apt on the song. The sound was wonderful and the melody opened up my head in a way that no one had before, except possibly Joe Farrell on "Crystal silence" on Chick Corea's "Return to forever" album and some of Gato Barbieri's playing on "Chapter 1" and "Hasta siempre". But La Barbera was a game changer 25 years ago, even though I've only just found out who he is. Great as the other two were, they weren't.
Double bass was in two parts, though I've really had to think hard about this one. I saw Ron Carter in probably the first jazz gig I remember. Tony Williams was on drums, the Marsalis brothers {Branford and Winton} were on sax and trumpet and Herbie Hancock was on piano. They were a great outfit {VSOP 2} but Ron Carter's bass passed me by although my mate, a drummer, was floored by Tony Williams. He was also kind of embarrased as I was smoking a joint in the posh Royal festival hall and we were the only Black guys there ! The overall sound was what got me, not any one particular element.
But I didn't really listen with both ears to the multitude of double bassists on the records I had. Then I listened to "Indo~jazz fusions 1&2". The bassist on those two albums was a guy called Coleridge Goode and his playing on those two albums, more than any double bass player I've ever come across blew me up, open and away. He was sooooo sympathetic and sensitive to the Indian players playing sitar, flute, tambura, tablas and violin. His riffing and lines still, 30 years later, do for me what no woman could {}.
But it wasn't until about 8 years later that this translated into me actually buying and taking up the instrument. And it was hearing some obscure band called New Association whose LP I'd bought in Holland in the summer of '90 that pushed me to buying it. That and a guy called Jeff Clyne who was a bassist that turned up on a number of albums that I bought in 1990. He was on Nucleus' "We'll talk about it later" and Isotope's "Isotope" as bass guitarist and an inventive Indian~jazz fusion called "Curried jazz" as a double bassist. That seriously spoke to me. Although Stanley Clarke was very familiar to me both as a bass guitarist and double bassist, and I really liked his playing, for some reason, he never appealed to me on that level. But Jeff Clyne did. Great lines in great bands on superb songs. Between him, Coleridge Goode and the Dutch guy whose name I can't recall, the three of effected a serious change of game in my psyche, one which continues to this day.

"Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan

I loved the Byrds version of this for a decade then I heard Melanie's version and I loved that too, more actually, then I heard Dylan's original in the mid 90s and I loved that even more so I love all three but not equally. Terrible parenting eh ?

 

[fat_fleet]

I saw Ron Carter in probably the first jazz gig I remember...

Coltrane's Africa Brass taught me a lot about the gives and takes of ensemble playing.

...and coincidentally, I just found an old Impulse! pressing in phenomenal condition at the flea market last weekend- An album I've literally loved for over 20 years!

 

[grimtraveller]

Neat ! Trane looks so, thoughtful, on that cover !
It's funny, I've always called that album "Africa brass" but it's actually "Africa/Brass" {two very separate words and concepts} in the same way "Bitches brew" is actually "Directions in music by Miles Davis ~ Bitches brew" and "In the court of the crimson king" is actually "In the court of the crimson king ~ an observation by King Crimson".

 

[fat_fleet]

Neat ! Trane looks so, thoughtful, on that cover !

I know! You know jazz albums of that era are different from those of most rock/pop artists. How dense is the Coltrane discography? Pretty dense- Wikipedia lists 17 albums for 1965 alone. Many of those are just the results of someone taping a gig and those improvised "songs" would never be performed again. So it's weird to single out an album like Africa/Brass and say it's your favorite, but for me it's definitely a sentimental thing. It was the first album I ever heard by him and I think there were some psychedelics involved. I'm not a huge jazz fan, but I've heard maybe 12 other Coltrane albums since and none of them sounded as good to me...even A Love Supreme. When I found the LP last weekend I thought "This must be worth way more than what I'm paying for it!", just because I assumed it was rare, but when I went home and checked ebay, turned out it was pretty much worth what I paid for it (though I probably would have payed even more). And Reggie Workman played bass on it. Not Ron Carter, as I mistakenly implied by quoting your post, Grim.

 

[grimtraveller]

I think there were some psychedelics involved.

I saw a documentary nearly 10 years ago {I remember that because I remember where in the room the TV was !} on the making of "A love supreme" and they said Coltrane experimented quite a bit with acid which kind of surprized me. He'd been strung out on heroin for a long while and had given it up and cleaned himself up and become all deep, wise and spiritual. But he got quite into the psychedelics, according to the documentary and some of the jazzers that spoke in it.

And Reggie Workman played bass on it.

Although I liked Jimmy Garrison when he was in Trane's band, I can't say I really recall any of his playing.
I have an album by an outfit called the Black Swan quartet that features Reggie Workman on double bass. He plays with the violinist Akbar Ali and two cellists, Abdul Wadud and Eileen M. Folson. It's a remarkably accesible album with some lovely stuff on it.
Go Reggie !

 

[fat_fleet]

But he got quite into the psychedelics, according to the documentary and some of the jazzers that spoke in it.

Yeah I also heard that- around the time of Om and Ascension. I like those albums a lot too. The first time I heard Ascension I was just blown away. There are places where the sounds the instruments are making are so out there, they sound more like barnyard animals than the instruments they are "supposed to" sound like. Another Coltrane vinyl I found recently is Interstellar Space, one of his collaborations with percussionist Rasheid Ali. Interesting stuff for sure, but that one really approaches the edge of my tolerance for planned chaos (not easy to do).

But he got quite into the psychedelics, according to the documentary and some of the jazzers that spoke in it.Although I liked Jimmy Garrison when he was in Trane's band, I can't say I really recall any of his playing.
I have an album by an outfit called the Black Swan quartet that features Reggie Workman on double bass. He plays with the violinist Akbar Ali and two cellists, Abdul Wadud and Eileen M. Folson. It's a remarkably accesible album with some lovely stuff on it.
Go Reggie !

I'll have to look up that Black Swan quartet stuff, never heard it. I did get to see McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones play together at the Chicago Jazz Fest, think it was 1991, and I'm pretty sure either Workman or Carter was on bass. They were going by the name of "The McCoy Tyner Trio" then and played a manic brilliant improvisational 45 minute piece while audience members walked around holding their ears and saying mean things about them. Most, I imagine, were there to see headliner Wynton Marsalis (barf).

 

[fat_fleet]

Ah man, it's a shame you edited that post, it was interesting. I loved Sonic Youth growing up, but I've never even heard of Glenn Branca before. I'll hunt him out when I'm at home.

Eh, I get self-conscious about my rants sometimes (but not often enough). Glenn Branca is definitely worth checking out. He really did something new for it's time with guitars and to me it really sounded sweeping and majestic. I think The Ascension is the one I mentioned (not to be confused with the Coltrane album of the same name, also great, that I just mentioned in the post above this one).

These are four of the highlights from that time:

Yeah, I had albums by all of those guys in the 90s. Always thought Pavement kind of peaked with Wowee Zowee, my personal fave of theirs. The only Smog I ever had was The Doctor Came At Dawn. I read a lot of reviews saying how dark and spooky it was and of course had to check it out. Gotta say it wasn't quite what I expected and I never pursued his music any further, though I keep reading good things about his more recent "Bill Calahan" stuff. Always REALLY liked this one though:

 

[CMK]

Like most of us that are closer to death than puberty the Beatles were the biggest game changer. That being said, as a young boy, I can remember sitting in my dad's Pontiac station wagon while he went into a store. Dad was a classical musician and as a result there was no hint of popular music in the house. On this occasion, the first "pop" song I remember in my life was something by Alvin and the Chipmunks, yes those Alvin and the Chipmunks! It seemed so foreign and forbidden, I was hooked on anything that was under 3 minutes for years after that.

From those humble beginnings I have evolved and now I'm good with anything under 4 minutes, with the notable exception of Dylan's Tangled Up In Blue.

 

[fat_fleet]

Once when I was 18, I was hanging out with a friend of mine in a park after smoking some marijuana.
Lying back on the grass, an airplane passed overhead, making a slow pitch-shifting flange sound that went from one side of the sky to the other.
After it had passed my friend turned to me and said, "Sometimes I think the best music happens when no one is making it."

That was a big game changer for me.

 

[grimtraveller]

Home, James......

Like most of us that are closer to death than puberty

Now there is a game changer in itself.......


Jimmy Page was a major game changer for me but not for his songwriting or guitar playing, both of which I love.
Up until I bought my first Led Zeppelin record, if I ever noticed a producer, he was either the discoverer of the band or not one of the band. They were kind of remote but mythically grandiose figures without whom a record couldn't be made.
But I knew Page was part of Led Zeppelin because around Xmas '79, 6 books I got or came across talked about Zeppelin and they fuelled in me a deep thirst for Zep and a desire to hear their music. And when I eventually came across their stuff, I noticed that he was listed as the producer.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, just seeing "Produced by Jimmy Page" was a subliminal seed that was to alter the way I approached music making and eventually led to me becoming a home recorder. Up until having Zeppelin records, I still thought in terms of the George Martin/Andrew Loog Oldham type figure even though I wasn't clear about exactly what a producer actually did. But thanks to Page {he wasn't the first, Alan Osmond probably was, but Page was the first one I noticed } as early as I really wanted to make my own music came the need to be in control, however badly, of every level, songwriting, performing, tracking, mixing, producing. I know a number of people here frequently advise against the wearing of all the hats, the logic being that it's better to master one facet than be sort of passable in all, but from early in the day, I never bought that. I wanted to be involved at every juncture. Handing any of the stages over would be like being on trial for my life and handing everything over to a lawyer who alone would speak for me. Having done that on a couple of occasions {lawyer or union rep} and been burned and having represented myself and been burned, given the outcome, I'll represent myself, thank you ! And so it is with music. I may be rubbish at some of the levels but it's, overall, for the most part, rubbish I'm happy with.
I have Jimmy Page to thank for that. And he doesn't even know it !