Once upon a time, pop and rock came together and made a baby, and its name was Pop-Rock. Very strictly speaking, Pop-Rock is a fusion genre that mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its (typically) guitar-based rock songs. Other genres that bear similar traits would be Powerpop, Melodic Rock, Soft Rock, Jangle Pop, Glam Rock, New Wave, Indie Pop and of course, Rock ’n’ Roll.
Incredibly, this past week 50 years ago, saw the release of two landmark pop albums that changed the face of rock music viz. The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde.
It seems so bizarre that The Beatles streaming was such a big deal when you consider that the band split up 45 years ago!
Continue reading ROCK HISTORY: THE BEATLES – SOLO (PLAYLIST)
Yet another new feature at the bi-polar webzine, “7 and 7 is” in honour of Love’s seminal proto-punk masterpiece. Basically seven reasons why you should be listening to a band/artist that I am intent on recommending to you, dear reader. Well, actually seven of my favourite tracks of that particular band/artist – you get the general idea. This week: R.E.M.
Continue reading 7 AND 7 IS: WHY YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO R.E.M.
At a time where there are millions of causes to get behind, some pretentious music-hating moron starts a petition to ‘stop’ Phil Collins from coming out of retirement. Over 2,000 people have signed the petition and of course, the music press gleefully reports about this juicy bit of ‘news’.
Continue reading ROCK HISTORY: PHIL COLLINS/GENESIS – ESSENTIAL LISTENING
Simple Minds (viz. Jim Kerr – vocals/Charlie Burchill – guitar/Michael MacNeil – piano, synthesizer/Mel Gaynor – drums, vocals/John Giblin – bass) formed in 1977 in the wake of punk & would establish themselves in the UK as a prominent art-rock outfit, highly influenced by David Bowie (their name came was lifted from “Jean Genie”) & Roxy Music.
Continue reading ROCK HISTORY: SIMPLE MINDS – ONCE UPON A TIME (1985)
The late Arthur Lee and Love (the band Lee led & fronted) remains one of the most under-rated bands from the 60s/70s. Well, at least compared to their peers. Already well-documented is the fact that the likes of Jim Morrison (The Doors), Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) were massive fans of this ground-breaking iconoclastic band. Certainly, the backward gazing bands of the 90s British indie scene owed a thing or two to Love.
One of the most freewheeling eclectic 60s bands, Love (which also included guitarist-songwriter Bryan Maclean, lead guitarist Johnny Echols, bassist Ken Forssi & drummer Michael Stuart) were never constrained by genres or styles and dabbled in folk, baroque pop, psychedelia, acid rock and even proto-punk (check out “7 and 7 Is” is below).
Not only that but the band can lay claim to producing one of the bona fide rock masterpieces of all time – the magnificent Love Changes.
However, due to drug problems and internal disagreements, the band’s commercial success dissipated in the late 60s, with Lee fronting a new set of musicians, but this incarnation of Love never garnered the widespread acceptance or acclaim of the original group.
Reel to Real was Love’s final official album and until now, has never been issued on CD! By the recording and release of this album, Love was essentially Lee with an assortment of session musicians but despite its marginalisation in rock history, deserves serious re-examination.
Not least for its daring coverage of a multitude of styles, despite its primary focus being on soul, R&B and blues-rock, one could imagine the young Prince, Lenny Kravitz or Terence Trent D’Arby listening to Reel to Real and copping one or two musical ideas.
Whilst modern pop fans would probably find themselves grooving to soulful gems like “Time is Like a River” and “Stop the Music”, alternative rockers might take a shine to off-beat numbers like “Singing Cowboy” and “You Said You Would”, which sound like Hendrix channeling Buck Owens! And that last song – “Everybody’s Gotta Live” – is the Lennonesque anthem Noel Gallagher wished he was smart enough to rip off!
The new reissue has rather illuminating outtakes which on occasion outshine the original tracks with their spontaneity and raw energy. There’s also a sloppy studio rehearsal of that classic Forever Changes outtake “Wonder People” for all your Love completists out there.
A hidden treasure re-discovered. Essential!
Buy now!
The Quiet Beatle, the Mystical Beatle, the one who stood on stage between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It must have been difficult for George Harrison to play third fiddle to pop’s finest songwriting team but he bided his time for his debut proper solo (triple) LP (technically his third but the two instrumental LPs before this do not count), All Things Must Pass. Quite possibly, the best amongst the numerous solo Beatle LPs that flooded the market in the early 70s, All Things Must Pass provided that Harrison was a songwriter who’s work was on par with his illustrious former partners.
As the first two sides demonstrated, Harrison had a great deal of pent up creative energy that was unleashed in magnificent material like “My Sweet Lord” (notwithstanding the subsequent copyright action), “Wah-Wah”, “What Is Life”, “Behind That Locked Door” that revealed the breadth of Harrison’s ability, shorn of the Beatles.
Not that the rest of the album is lacking in wonder as “Beware of Darkness”, “Awaiting On You All” and the title track prove. If nothing else, All Things Must Pass announced the end of the 60s but celebrated the beginning of the 70s and ushered in perhaps the best rock decade ever.
Buy now from Amazon.com
The problem with critics in general is that quite often, a band’s commercial success may adversely impact the critics’ opinions about that band’s artistic credentials. Which is strange in itself, when you consider the immense popularity of The Beatles, for example.
But such was the case for Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) who in their heyday (1970-1986) sold over 50 millions records!
Formed initially as a side-project of 60s psych-rock outfit The Move by Bev Bevan, Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne to ‘continue where the Beatles left off” (as Wood put it) – this lineup released the project’s debut album (No Answer – which contained the hit “10538 Overture”) before Wood defected leaving Lynne to be sole creative force behind ELO.
It would take ELO six albums before becoming a force in pop music and New World Record was the LP that truly broke ELO into the pantheon of pop gods, attaining #5 in the Billboard Album Charts and platinum album sales in the USA and native UK.
Singles like “Telephone Line”, “Livin’ Thing”, “Rockaria” and “Do Ya” (originally recorded by The Move) established ELO’s signature sound – orchestral pop-rock with sophisticated arrangements and infectious melodies. However, New World Record is much more than its singles and it is arguably one of the purest pop masterpieces ever recorded, fulfilling the legacy of The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and even Roy Orbison (in the epic closer “Shangri-la”).
It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Jeff Lynne was the main man behind ELO’s success. Even though at this time, the band had seven members, Lynne was the singer, songwriter, producer, arranger and even lead guitarist! There would be no ELO without Jeff Lynne.
Yet, ELO never quite gets the credit or acclaim for the wondrous pop music they made and critics often deride both ELO and Jeff Lynne for the very thing that made them click – orchestral pop magic!
PoP visitors will no doubt be aware of my love for all things Jeff Lynne/ELO and New World Record is an excellent starting point to find out why.
Although English quintet Supertramp had somewhat been erroneously classified as a prog rock band – thanks mainly to the success of Crime of the Century (1974) – in fact, their style was a sophisticated blend of blues, folk and jazz pop-rock elements with an emphasis on keyboards (at which both singer-songwriters Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies were adept) and in John Helliwell (saxophone and other woodwinds), they had a secret weapon that made their sound even more distinctive. Allied to the steady work of Dougie Thomson (bass) and Bob Sienbenberg (drums), Supertramp were a force in the mid to late 70s.
Their status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet was confirmed by the Breakfast in America LP, which would become the #1 best-selling album in 1979. The ten songs on view were brilliantly crafted to maximise the melodic impact and minimise any esoteric elements that tended to drag down some of their previous albums.
In that respect, the first half of this LP was almost perfect with five memorable songs that have stood the test of time. The rocking “Gone Hollywood”, the quirky hit “The Logical Song”, the paean of philandering “Goodbye Stranger”, the infectious Mediterranean romp “Breakfast in America” and the wanton soulful love ballad “Oh Darling”.
Add to these, the opening songs of Side Two i.e. the intense human study “Take the Long Way Home” and the prayerful “Lord, Is It Mine?” and what you get is seven of the finest music ever made in the 70s rock era.
Over 35 years later, these gems still shine through with a timelessness that will never ever fade.
Rock legend David Bowie was a bit of a late bloomer in the business of rock ’n’ roll. Even though he was only 17 years old when he released his debut single in 1964, he would never achieve commercial success and critical acclaim till the 70s. His first three solo albums failed to set the music world alight and in fact, Hunky Dory – which would become his fourth LP – started life as a demo to secure a new recording contract, which he duly did with RCA Records.
Hunky Dory finds Bowie in pure singer-songwriter mode – which was in vogue around the time – thus, the individual songs are quite strong and the production values rather straightforward – with simple pop-rock/folk-rock instrumentation and arrangements by and large.
Backing Bowie would be the musicians that would subsequently form The Spiders from Mars (with the exception of Rick Wakeman on piano) viz. Mick Ronson (guitars, mellotron), Trevor Bolder (bass, trumpet) and Mick Woodmansey (drums).
Many of Bowie’s classic material – “Changes”, “All You Pretty Things”, “Life on Mars?” “Quicksand” and “Kooks” (written for his son, Zowie – director Duncan Jones) – were recorded during this fecund period. The second half had Bowie pay tribute to his heroes viz. Andy Warhol (“Andy Warhol”), Bob Dylan (“Song For Bob Dylan”) and Lou Reed (“Queen Bitch”) whilst “The Bewley Brothers” concerned Bowie’s relationship with his mentally disturbed brother, Terry.
After Hunky Dory, Bowie would adopt the persona of Ziggy Stardust and found fame and fortune and the rest of his 70s would see Bowie acting out different roles, played out on his discography.
So perhaps, on Hunky Dory, fans could see Bowie for who he was – before he decided to change the face of rock music irretrievably.
English band Japan never hid their influences, with The New York Dolls, Roxy Music, David Bowie and The Velvet Underground, readily apparent from their image and music. Consisting of David Sylvian (lead vocals, guitar), Richard Barbieri (synths, keyboards), Mick Karn (bass, sax, flute, backing vocals), Steve Jansen (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Rob Dean (guitar), the band would in turn inspire many of the 80s New Romantics (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet etc) though the band themselves swore off that label.
Quiet Life, their 3rd LP, is significant as it signalled a shift in style as Japan eschewed the glam-rock of their first two LPs in favour of a more experimental synth-based approach, which bordered on art rock. This allowed the creativity of Karn and Barbieri to shine through in their instrumental work and Sylvian began to step of the shadow of his #1 vocal inspiration, Bryan Ferry. Guitars were no longer used to provide chordal accompaniment and where utilised would be more atmospheric in nature. This change in direction probably led to guitarist Dean leaving, subsequent to the album’s release.
Songs like the dance-rocking title track, the mutant groovy “In Vogue” and the Roxy-channeling “Halloween” provided the album highlights, whilst the sublime cover of the Velvets’ “All Tomorrow’s Parties” would make for a particularly memorable single.
As a quartet, Japan would go on to release the successful Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum albums before splitting up in 1982 to explore even more progressive rock territories individually.
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Definitely something I’ve wanted to do for a long long time! This is my dream – to get remunerated for talking about rock music!! It’s going to be a blast.
Although targeted at music writers/bloggers, I believe that much of the content of this course will be relevant for anyone working or aspiring to work in the music industry.
So please write in to kamcomusic AT gmail DOT com to sign up. I will be waiting for you! Thanks in advance.
… still there’s more …
