Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Hi everyone, back for the first time since last year, and would like to try out a new idea, not broad topics like "favorite song / album / Beatle / singer / solo instrumental performance," etc., but narrower, more obscure personal reactions; feel free to agree, disagree, present alternative choices or categories, whatever.  (I'll add more myself when I think of them, perhaps including some "negative" ones, probably from playing the tracks, or -- far less likely -- hearing them on the radio.)

1) Best vocal note, male:  Carl Wilson on "God Only Knows," singing "so what good would LIV-ing do me?"
2) Female: Dusty Springfield on "Goin' Back," singing "and every DAY can be my magic carpet ride."
3) Favorite short guitar sequence: Pete Towshend early in "Bargain," the nine (I believe) notes (mostly descending), right after Roger sings "I'd suffer any fate and be glad!"
4) Best scream: Of course, Roger Dawltrey's SECOND one in "Won't Get Fooled Again."
5) Best short sequence of horn notes: The 3-note flourish at the end of "Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash, right before "I fell into a burning ring of fire" is sung the last time; this part had only been barely audible on guitar in the previous stanzas.
6) Best female harmony singing: Agnetha and Frida on ABBA's late-career track "Soldiers."
7) Most memorable Bob Dylan line: TIE: "It just breaks my heart love, to see you tryin' to be a part of a world that just don't exist" from "To Ramona", and "Life is sad, life is a bust, all you can do is do what you must"  from "Buckets Of Rain."
Best studio performance by The Beatles as an integrated band: "Old Brown Shoe" (also one of their most underrated tracks; far, far better than its A-side "The Ballad Of John And Yoko.")
9) Lennon's best performance on rhythm guitar: "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You."
10) Best string flourish: On "Message To Michael" by Dionne Warwick, between where she sings "my heart just breaks in two, sent you went away" and "And even though his dreams of fame fell through"; undoubtedly, arranged by the song's composer and producer, Burt Bacharach.
11) Biggest improvement to a covered song: "Without You" by Nilsson, produced by Richard Perry; brilliant production and mind-boggling vocal; Badfinger's original (produced by Geoff Emerick) is surprisingly lame, considering how great they were in general.  (Dusty's version of "Goin' Back" that I mentioned above is similarly superior to the Byrds' utterly forgettable version, but I don't know which of these was first, or whether Carole King's demo was released on record beforehand either.)
12) Hit songs that followed the "Hey Jude" pattern of a long repetitive fadeout of a chorus THAT HAD NOT BEEN HEARD PREVIOUSLY in the song (the difference between it and the common fadeout pattern used on "My Sweet Lord," for example):  "Atlantis" by Donovan, "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis, and "I'm Your Captain / "Closer To Home" by Grand Funk Railroad.)
13) Most touchingly obscure Lennon lyric: "I'm In Love."
14) Most underappreciated Lennon solo track "I Know (I Know)" from MIND GAMES.  (I'm glad that the book EIGHT ARMS TO HOLD YOU finally gave it some recognition.  Additional kudos are due the authors for correctly citing George's solo output as being consistenly the best of the four.)
15) Most fascinatingly obscure lyrical reference: "Blue whiskey" on "Something Better" by Marianne Faithfull (another Goffin/King song).  Is there really such a drink?

[Kevin]

Too much too soon - it's like asking someone to marry you on the first date. You need to buy us dinner  and chat first.

[BlueMeanie]

A bit of foreplay wouldn't go amiss

[Bobber]

John K. Walker has been here before, asking trivia questions about music and bands if I remember correctly.

[tkitna]

1) Best vocal note, male: Marty Balin on the song 'Miracles' - Jefferson Starship
  
2) Female: Mama Cass singing 'Words Of Love'

3) Favorite short guitar sequence: The guitar flourish from Greg Lake on the song 'Still You Turn Me On' from ELP

4) Best scream: John Lennon - 'Mother'

5) Best short sequence of horn notes: I dig the horns on 'Solitary Man' from Neil Diamond for short sequences. Not the solo, but the - 'do do do do duh' after he sings a verse.

6) Best female harmony singing: Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson on 'Roam' from B-52's

7) Most memorable Bob Dylan line: "Well, anybody can be just like me, obviously
But then, now again, not too many can be like you, fortunately." - from 'Absolutely Sweet Marie'

Best studio performance by The Beatles as an integrated band: "Helter Skelter" - a 27 minute jam must have been something to see.

9) Lennon's best performance on rhythm guitar: "HELP!"

10) Best string flourish: Beatles - end of 'A Day In The Life'

11) Biggest improvement to a covered song: 'Spirits In The Night' by Manfred Mann. Everybody can have their cover of Springsteens 'Blinded By The Light', but i'll take this one.

12) Hit songs that followed the "Hey Jude" pattern of a long repetitive fadeout of a chorus THAT HAD NOT BEEN HEARD PREVIOUSLY in the song (the difference between it and the common fadeout pattern used on "My Sweet Lord," for example):  "Monkey Man" - Rolling Stones

13) Most touchingly obscure Lennon lyric: 'Remember' - I always liked the lyrics - "Remember when you were small, How people seemed so tall, Always had their way"

14) Most underappreciated Lennon solo track: 'I Dont Want To Face It'

15) Most fascinatingly obscure lyrical reference: The Police - 'Synchronicity II' - the lyric was "Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes". Strange. A Lemming is a rodent that reproduces so quickly that when they migrate its been said that they kill each other when an obstacle blocks their path just due to shear numbers. Examples are streams and yes,,,,cliffs.

[BlueMeanie]

John K. Walker has been here before, asking trivia questions about music and bands if I remember correctly.

I've just looked him up. I hope we're not going to get the Different Conversation' forum flooded with mindless trivia. Any decent topics will just get buried. As will the Song Survivor Game, if they go in  Beatle Playtime: Games and Trivia.

Btw, why was the 'From Then To You' thread locked?

[tkitna]

No offense Blue, but some decent trivia would serve the 'Different Conversations' section well. I mean come on, 1200 hits on the random thoughts thread alone. Please, this section sucks as it is.

[tkitna]

Also, i've talked music with john Walker before and he's knowledgable for sure.

[BlueMeanie]

Oh I have no problem with some decent trivia. Just I glanced back over John's previous, and there's an awful lot of needless crap. It's just that sometimes we actually do get a decent conversation about something other than music going here, and they'll tend to get buried.

No worries. And welcome back John!

Yes well, trivia by definition is somewhat "mindless," but what I mean to convey by this new thread -- particularly in hearing other people's variations --  is that music means more emotionally to me (and, I assume, everyone else here) than other forms of "entertainment" (such as, let's say, video games), such that these sorts of moments "stick" whereas most people never notice them.  And please keep in mind that our sort of reaction is definitely a minority view.  The statistics I've seen always show 1978/1979 as the peak of per-capita record sales in America -- the immediate precipitous drop coinciding with the rise of videogames and then MTV, among many other factors.  And, supposedly, only about 1/3 of homes in America even have full-fledged stereo systems -- this may have increased in the last few years because of home entertaiment systems for video, though I doubt that most people use these for music, rather than just for dvd's/movies -- while the percentage with tv's has been above 99 since the early 1960's.  So let's face it, the vast majority of people don't care about pop or rock music anymore.  (In 1998 both country and rap outsold rock, and if anything this trend has gotten worse since then.)  The old cliche about the record charts being "the soundtrack of our lives" hasn't applied for many years, other than for gangsta rappers, I'm afraid....

So this is just my feeble attempt to express the opposite.  A few other examples:
1) Runner-up female vocal note: Karen Carpenter's gorgeously warm singing of "just like ME" the first time on "Close To You."  And it's no exaggeration that this is a case of the singer -- and the arranger, her brother Richard, of course -- making the song memorable and successful, since the earlier versions by Dusty and Dionne (brilliant vocalists who both collaborated with Richard after Karen's death) are completely forgettable.  (I've never heard Richard Chamberlain's "original," and definitely don't ever want to.)
2) Best sounding electrified rhythm guitar: TIE -- On "Baby Blue" by Badfinger (Tom Evans and probably Pete Ham, maybe even Todd Rundgren, who produced), and on "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richard (players unknown).
3) Best pop producers (after George Martin, of course): Richard Perry and Alan Parsons (one of Martin's many proteges).  (I know, this "broad" category violates my own house rule....)
4) Best synthesizer solo: Elton John on the long version of "Nikita" (surprising, since he doesn't consider himself much of a synth player.and I once even read Steve Winwood's openly knocking Elton's ability to play anything but piano).
5) Best solo violin sequence: Lisa Giordano on "The Real Life" by John Mellencamp, a descending pattern which has always reminded me of Pete Townshend's guitar bit on "Bargain" that mentioned earlier.

[Mairi]

1) Best vocal note, male:  Art Garfunkel on Bridge Over Troubled Waters: "So if you need a friend, I'm sailing RIGHT BEEE-HIIIND..."
2) Female: Oooh, I'm tempted to say "everything Joan Baez has ever done", but I really love her vocals on "Cantique Noel" (that's O Holy Night in French).
3) Favorite short guitar sequence: That little acoustic bit in "Band on the Run".
4) Best scream: I'm going to be boring and say, Robert Plant in "Immigrant Song".
5) Best short sequence of horn notes: the ones at the beginning of "When the Lovelight Starts Shing Through His Eyes" by the Supremes.
6) Best female harmony singing: The Ronettes' "Walking in the Rain."
7) Most memorable Bob Dylan line: For me, it's "Just how much abuse will you be able to take?/Well, there's no way to tell by that first kiss." from "Sweetheart Like You".
Best studio performance by The Beatles as an integrated band: "I Saw Her Standing There".
9) Lennon's best performance on rhythm guitar: "Help!".
10) Best string flourish: Those amazingly wonderful strings at the end of "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. To me, they MAKE the song.
11) Biggest improvement to a covered song: Ben Folds' cover of "b****es Ain't sh*t" by Dr. Dre. It turned a typical gangsta rap song into a hilarious commentary on rap music today. Highlighting the obscene lyrics with a slow piano melody and great harmonies was a stroke of genius.
12) Hit songs that followed the "Hey Jude" pattern of a long repetitive fadeout of a chorus : "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed. Okay, maybe this wasn't a hit, but it should have been! It's f***ing GOOD.
13) Most touchingly obscure Lennon lyric: Oh gosh, I don't really know my obscure Lennon. I'm gonna have to skip this one.
14) Most underappreciated Lennon solo track: See above answer.
15) Most fascinatingly obscure lyrical reference: "You watched yourself gavotte" in "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon. The gavotte is actually a very old type of folkdance. It REALLY REALLY annoys me when people think the lyric is "go by"- this was a mistake on many old songsheets. It doesn't even rhyme!

Also, best lyrical reference to the Beatles (of the many dozens): In Three Dog Night's "Never Been To Spain":
"Well I never been to England, but I kinda like the Beatles; oh I headed for Las Vegas, only made it out to Needles."

Written by Hoyt Axton, Ringo's pal who also wrote "The No No Song," as well as 3DN's ultra-smash "Joy to the World" (which I actually dislike); good actor too (in both "WKRP In Cincinnati" and "The Black Stallion"), whose mother wrote "Heartbreak Hotel."

[tkitna]

Best lyrical reference to the Beatles (of the many dozens): Sugarloaf - 'Dont Call Us We'll Call You'

"Listen kid you paid for the call
You ain't bad but we've heard it all before
And it sounds like John, Paul and George"

Yes, that's a great one too, complete with the "I Feel Fine" riff.

Several years ago BEATLEFAN magazine had a list of these references, but even it missed some.

Best lyrical reference to the Beatles (of the many dozens): Sugarloaf - 'Dont Call Us We'll Call You'

"Listen kid you paid for the call
You ain't bad but we've heard it all before
And it sounds like John, Paul and George"

[tkitna]

There really is a bunch. I'd have to take a look and see if I can find a list somewhere.

[Hello Goodbye]

There really is a bunch. I'd have to take a look and see if I can find a list somewhere.

Until you do, here's a verse from Peter, Paul and Mary's "I Dig Rock And Roll Music:"

I dig Donovan in a dream-like, tripped out way
His crystal images tell you 'bout a brighter day
And when the Beatles tell you
They've got a word "love" to sell you
They mean exactly what they say