Bobby Charles 1938-2010. Songwriter, musician's musician and cultural treasure, he died on last Thursday in Abbeville,Lousiana. In the 1950s, he wrote Fats Domino's
Walking to New Orleans, Bill Haley and the Comet's
See You Later, Alligator and recorded for Chess records. His
eponymous Bearsville album recorded in Woodstock in 1972 has been described as the best Band album released under another name.(Check out
Small Town Talk there.) He appeared as well in the Band's farewell concert filmed as The
Last Waltz. He made an enormous contribution to American popular music.
[more inside]
posted by y2karl
on Jan 19, 2010 -
25 comments
... After take seventeen, Dylan heeds the producer Johnston’s advice to start with a harmonica swoop. Crescendos off of an extended fifth chord, led by Paul Griffin’s astonishingpiano swells (“half Gershwin, half gospel, all heart” an astute critic later wrote), climax in choruses dominated by piano, organ, and Bobby Gregg’s drum rolls; Robbie Robertson’s guitar hits its full strength at the finale. Intimations of the thin, wild mercury sound underpin rock & roll symphonics. Johnston delivers a pep talk before one last take—“keep that soul feel”—and Gregg snaps a quick click opener, and fewer than five minutes later, the keeper is in the can.
Mystic Nights - The Making of Blonde On Blonde In Nashville An account of how the many strands of that thin, that wild mercury sound were woven. And the
annotation goes on.
Via email via St Urbain's Horseman
posted by y2karl
on Sep 28, 2007 -
36 comments
The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the 'Blonde on Blonde' album. It's that thin, that wild mercury sound. It's metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up.
Bob Dylan 1978
Blonde On Blonde--Seven mixes, four or five covers, four or five women,
some missing photographs and one leather coat...
(story within)
posted by y2karl
on Nov 19, 2003 -
26 comments
Ah, the world cries out for an updated Jonathan website.
The Abominable Lesbian Vampire Cappuccino Bar in Cyberspace has withered on the vine, links almost all dead--
damn, I should've copied that tab!--but some of the music's not firing blanks.
The Jonathan Richman Project only posted one issue of their xerox zine--jeez, remember zines? Mail art? Man, those were the days--but they're nice enough to print Lester Bangs 1976 Creem diss of the
Twerp King At The Summit. God, I remember reading that Bangs piece new and running out and buying The Modern Lovers, trusting as I did in his taste or maybe just his gonzo stylings? Little did I know...(inside)
posted by y2karl
on Jan 27, 2003 -
32 comments
