smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | powerpop definitions and quintessences |
| Date | Fri, 22 Aug 2003 02:44:46 -0500 |
[Part 1 text/plain (3.5 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
> Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 15:56:07 EDT
> From: GaryPig@aol.com
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: powerpop definition
> Message-ID: <cb.361c4b5d.2c752c57@aol.com>
>
> Side One of "The Beach Boys Love You."
>
> I repeat:
>
> Side One of "The Beach Boys Love You."
>
>
> Perhaps MY all-time-fave P. Pop album,
> yessir,
>
Yup, "Johnny Carson" is definitely power pop.
(Just funnin' with ya, Gary!)
> Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 00:17:09 -0400
> From: Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org, audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: powerpop definition
> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20030822001709.00cbc7c8@pop.theworld.com>
>
> >I know Tom Petty has studied those first four Searchers albums
> religiously;
> >Peter Buck should only be so candid ;-)
>
> I kinda doubt Peter Buck has heard a single Searchers song after "Needles
> and Pins" and MAYBE "Sugar and Spice." I also doubt he's particularly
> into
> the Byrds. Early R.E.M.'s antecendents suddenly fell into place for me a
> few years ago when Buck mentioned that his favorite album in the earliest
> days of the band was the Soft Boys' UNDERWATER MOONLIGHT:
>
I never heard or read about that Buck quote ... but now that you
mention it, the Soft Boys influence makes perfect sense.
> Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 23:56:11 -0400
> From: Kevin Mathews <kevin@powerofpop.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: quintessential power pop
> Message-ID: <200308220356.APQ05836@ms4.verisignmail.com>
>
> > I've never fully sussed out Townshend's feelings
> >about the Beach
> >Boys and surf music in general.
>
> I think in *Scoop* he paid tribute to Brian and the Boys - I
> see the influence in the way the Who structured their three-
> part harmonies on early songs - e.g. "Can't
> Explain," "Substitute"
>
I can kind of hear that in the Townshend demo of "Substitute"
included in *Another Scoop*, but I'm not sure that it's there in "I Can't
Explain". First of all, I wonder just how much input Towser would've had in
the studio in terms of arrangements for "I Can't Explain", since it was the
very outset of the band's recording career (the High Numbers single
excepted) and their first go-round with well-established Kinks producer Shel
Talmy. Second, the Who didn't actually sing those harmonies on "I Can't
Explain" -- that was the Ivy League instead, whom Talmy brought in for the
session because he didn't think that the Who's backing vokes were up to
snuff. Like most producers of his era, Talmy was an autocrat who saw nothing
untoward in treating band members as disposable parts who could be replaced
in a session by studio musicians at the producer's whim. Hence, the Ivy
League ... and Jimmy Page's presence as well in those early Who sessions
with Talmy, although the only Who song that Page played on was "I Can't
Explain"'s b-side, the Talmy-written "Bald-Headed Woman". In fact, in Dave
Marsh's Who biography *Before I Get Old*, John Entwistle claims that Talmy
wanted to replace Keith Moon in those early sessions with Clem Cattini!
Cattini may have been England's answer to Hal Blaine, but if Talmy really
did consider replacing Moon then it's a serious blot on his record as a
musical auteur.
Right now I'm running through "A Quick One" in my head (especially
the infamous "cello, cello" harmonies, and the "you are forgiven" part) and
trying to decide if the harmonies sound more like the Beach Boys or more
like a deconstructed music-hall stab at Gilbert & Sullivan.
Gregory Sager
(don't you think he's such a natural guy?)
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.