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Post by jk on May 17, 2022 12:42:48 GMT
There's one line in "Levee" that has very strange connotations for me. This is Barbecue Bob and "Chocolate To The Bone": "So glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone I got what it takes to make a monkey man leave his home" A "monkey man" being a black-skinned African American... To hear Plant sing something very similar is positively surreal.
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Post by Kapitan on May 17, 2022 12:59:32 GMT
kds, it's funny you mention that dichotomy between Who and Zep fans, because one of these days recently I was thinking along those lines: who liked Zeppelin, and what did other guys like? (And it was guys, here--at least in my younger days.) Obviously I'm talking late 80s into early 90s, so these aren't current bands.
The size of my town/school also complicates labels, as we only had about 100 kids per class. So a lot of kids were in sports, in band or choir (or both), in theater, all at the same time. In fact, if you were in anything, you were more likely to be in everything. The real division might have been kids in nothing v. kids in stuff. But you could still separate based on what you knew kids were really into: a football player who happened to also play trombone? Or a sax player who happened to be in basketball?
I'd say it went like this: jocks were mostly into GnR and AC/DC. Straight ahead hard rock; theater/music kids were more into Zeppelin and then just more diverse and eclectic things (ranging from Andrew Lloyd Weber to Queen to Beatles to Meat Loaf); skaters and bikers were into Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies; "burnouts" (i.e. the kids not into anything) were more into Sabbath/Ozzy and AC/DC.
But realistically I could count on my fingers the number of people I knew who were really into any music at all (beyond having it on as background).
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Post by kds on May 17, 2022 13:07:44 GMT
At the beginning of my freshman year in HS, Zeppelin got a bit of a jolt by the Unledded Page / Plant live special that aired on MTV.
I really don't know how many music geeks we had, but I think that special is one of the reasons that many seemed to gravitate towards Led Zeppelin. This was 1994, probably when grunge was at it's peak popularity, so a lot of the students who were into Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam also seemed to gravitate to Zeppelin. I honestly don't remember if a lot of my classmates were into straight on metal, as metal seemed to be on the outs with the mainstream by 1994. Ozzy was "retired." Metallica were on a hiatus.
It's also worth noting the MTV also aired the Eagles reunion concert - Hell Freezes Over. They happened to be another band that a lot of my classmates really glommed on to.
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Post by jk on May 20, 2022 13:29:13 GMT
Here you go then: my two top tens. One for Paul Simon (with my absolute favourite in bold type)… Crazy Love, Vol. II Gumboots Jonah Kodachrome Late Great Johnny Ace, The Late In The Evening Love And Blessings My Little Town Peace Like A River René And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War
…and the other for Simon & Garfunkel:
America Blessed Cecilia Hazy Shade Of Winter, A Homeward Bound I Am A Rock Old Friends Richard Cory So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright Sound Of Silence, The (album title track)
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Post by Kapitan on May 20, 2022 15:21:14 GMT
Here you go then: my two top tens. One for Paul Simon (with my absolute favourite in bold type)… Peace Like A RiverWhile this one won't make my list of favorite PS songs, it would make my list of favorite books: coincidentally, I happen to be re-reading this 2001 Leif Enger gem again right now!
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Post by Kapitan on May 20, 2022 16:41:05 GMT
As I listen to the solo albums again, one thing that jumps out is how great the musicianship is throughout: Simon got REALLY great players on his albums. In fact, I think the playing is often better than the songs are.
Musicians used during his solo career include guitarists like Al Di Meola, Nile Rodgers, Dean Parks, Adrian Belew, David Hidalgo, and Ray Phiri; drummers like Steve Gadd, Steve Ferrone, Jeff Porcaro, and Hal Blaine; bassists like Tony Levin, Ron Carter, Joe Osborn, Anthony Jackson, Marcus Miller; horns and reeds from the likes of the Brecker brothers, Jon Faddis, David Sanborn; Stephane Grappelli in violin; keyboardists like Larry Knechtel and Barry Beckett... Heck, even among his arrangers are the likes of Allan Toussaint, Dave Grusin, Del Newman, Quincy Jones.
Among mega-star rock-leaning pop artists, I don't know if anyone other than Paul McCartney would match Simon's lineups through the years for sheer talent. (I don't mean just celebrities, rock stars...people like George Harrison and Ringo Starr had tons of those. I mean musicians who may be famous, but who are also REALLY good, not just famous or good for rock musicians.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 20, 2022 21:56:20 GMT
Simon & Garfunkel - Top 10 Favorites
01 Scarborough Fair (The Concert In Central Park) 02 The Sound Of Silence 03 I Am A Rock (Old Friends - Live On Stage) 04 April Come She Will 05 El Condor Pasa (Old Friends - Live On Stage) 06 Mrs. Robinson 07 The Boxer 08 Kathy's Song (Old Friends - Live On Stage) 09 America 10 Bridge Over Troubled Water
Paul Simon - Top 10 Favorites
01 You Can Call Me Al 02 Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard 03 Late In The Evening 04 Slip Slidin' Away 05 American Tune 06 Kodachrome 07 Mother And Child Reunion 08 Still Crazy After All These Years 09 Graceland 10 The Boy In The Bubble
Art Garfunkel - Top 10 Favorites
01 All I Know 02 I Only Have Eyes For You 03 I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) 04 A Heart In New York 05 99 Miles From L.A. 06 Disney Girls 07 (What A) Wonderful World 08 Since I Don't Have You 09 Break Away 10 O Come All Ye Faithful
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Post by Kapitan on May 23, 2022 14:04:03 GMT
In my re-listening refresher, I've gotten up to the 2006 Simon album Surprise. It's a Brian Eno-produced work that I'd more or less forgotten about entirely. It did reasonably well for a latter-day Simon album (#14 in the US, #4 and a gold record in the UK), but I'm not a big fan of it. There is something about programming and then-current sounds that just don't blend with Paul Simon for me.
Though to be fair, it's not as if he never was or never would be again a user of technology, despite his folk-rock and multicultural traditional reputation. After all, there was plenty of Synclavier on Hearts & Bones back in 1983, and there would be a lot of sampling on some of his later albums, too. So maybe it's less the technology itself and more the songs, or how it blends with the songs, in particular.
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Post by Kapitan on May 23, 2022 17:20:10 GMT
Conversely, I really like the 2011 album So Beautiful or So What. Depending on what form, exactly, my list(s) take, it could. Actually it's nearly certain to be represented, it's just a matter of whether just one song or more than that make it.
I am thinking that later today I will post a solo Paul Simon list, and then in the coming days I'll do a separate Simon & Garfunkel list. I may or may not try to put them together into a single list after.
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Post by Kapitan on May 23, 2022 18:42:45 GMT
Here is my Top 30 Paul Simon (solo). You'll note that several show a particular year's version, and that's because Simon had a 2018 album of studio remakes of some earlier, generally unheralded songs. I wanted to clarify which I meant. These are nearly all studio recordings, no live versions, with the exception of the "Surfer Girl" version he did at the Brian Wilson tribute show.
You'll be able to tell my favorite Simon album pretty easily...
1. Graceland 2. Under African Skies 3. You Can Call Me Al 4. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes 5. Surfer Girl (Live at Tribute to Brian Wilson)
6. Dazzling Blue 7. Homeless 8. Gumboots 9. Can’t Run But (1990 version) 10. Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard
11. So Beautiful or So What 12. Kodachrome 13. Mother and Child Reunion 14. You’re The One 15. Late in the Evening
16. Rene & Georgette Magritte… (1983 version) 17. Run That Body Down 18. Hearts & Bones 19. Darling Lorraine (2000 version) 20. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
21.One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor (1973 version) 22. Senorita with a Necklace of Tears 23. My Little Town 24. How the Heart Approaches What It Yearns (1980 version) 25. Congratulations
26. Allergies 27. Rewrite 28. Old 29. I Am A Rock 30. Something So Right
Honorable mention: American Tune
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Post by Kapitan on May 24, 2022 19:27:52 GMT
OK, here is my Simon & Garfunkel list. All tracks are from their studio albums, no live stuff included. I haven't decided yet whether to try to merge my two lists into one biggie.
1. The Boxer 2. Homeward Bound 3. The Sound of Silence (Electric Version) 4. Scarborough Fair/Canticle 5. America
6. Cecilia 7. Mrs. Robinson 8. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) 9. Bridge Over Troubled Water 10. Keep the Customer Satisfied
11. The Only Living Boy in New York 12. Hazy Shade of Winter 13. Cloudy 14. A Simple Desultory Philippic 15. The Sound of Silence (Acoustic Version)
16. Leaves That Are Green 17. April Come She Will 18. You Can Tell the World 19. I Am a Rock 20. Song for the Asking
21. El Condor Pasa 22. Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine 23. The Times They Are a Changin’ 24. Sparrow 25. The Sun is Burning
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 25, 2022 12:04:34 GMT
You'll be able to tell my favorite Simon album pretty easily...
1. Graceland 2. Under African Skies 3. You Can Call Me Al 4. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes 5. Surfer Girl (Live at Tribute to Brian Wilson)
It's great that Paul Simon is a fan of Brian Wilson because Paul is a musician's musician. And, it was great when Paul performed on the Tribute To Brian Wilson - and subsequently asked Brian to tour with him. However, I didn't really care for his interpretation of "Surfer Girl" on the tribute show. I respected that Paul took it seriously and I appreciated that he took an artistic approach and reimagined the song if you will. I don't know...I mean, it was beautifully performed...I just felt it was missing something, like something got lost along the way. Maybe I'm being too critical. Here it is:
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Post by Kapitan on May 25, 2022 12:29:31 GMT
I (obviously, hence the rating) LOVED it. Especially the ending, starting around 2:35 in that video, where for a moment he calls to mind some centuries-old church choral music more than '60s California. I love his vocal phrasing, like "I would drive you in my woodie" (or however he twists that lyric). I love his guitar playing. I love how he implies complex harmonies despite being one guy singing with his guitar. And his falsetto is really great.
For me, it was one of the absolute highlights of that show (along with Vince Gill's contributions).
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 25, 2022 13:14:11 GMT
You know what would've been a cool and interesting project? A Simon & Garfunkel album or recorded live performance of Simon & Garfunkel Plays The Beach Boys.
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Post by Kapitan on May 25, 2022 13:55:18 GMT
OK, that's two songs down, and 8-10 to go!
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