The Music Thread

Favorite REM songs: Carnival of Sorts, Pretty Persuasion, Country Feedback...
 
heelinhell said:
. . .. To see Count Basie must have been a thrill. Hopefully, that pretty female didn't spoil the experience...
Click to expand...
Absolutely correct on both counts. The young woman in question was very nice about everything. I, on the other hand was, and still am for that matter, a total and complete Eastern NC Gomer about nearly everything. The whole thing started because she was trying to be nice to me. Somehow we got into a conversation where I mentioned I had seen Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee at Memorial Auditorium and how great they were. And she replied with, what was probably, some perfunctory comment about how she was sorry she missed that. I, of course, with the empathy of a lump of rock, replied by saying that they would be performing at the Frog and Nightgown in Cameron Underground in a few weeks and we could go see them there. And, of course, being a nice person, she had to accept. It was while we were at the Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee performance at the Frog and Nightgown that I saw the poster for the upcoming Count Basie performance and, of course, asked if she wanted to go to that also. All this time completely oblivious that she was just trying to be nice and actually didn't care for jazz. in retrospect it's a little funny. As we are half a century on now, I hope she has come to see the humor in it too.

My favorite line from Sonny Terry, in one or the other of these two performances, was his talking about being in a Broadway Play. Apparently there was play that started with a Blues harmonia piece. And someone told the play's director that Sonny Terry was the only man for the job. So Sonny Terry auditioned for the role and the director was wowed. But the director added, "There's just one thing, you have to play that piece the same way every performance." Sonny told the director that he couldn't do that because he had never played any piece the same way in his entire life. Sonny said they went back and forth for a while, the director saying what Sonny had to do and Sonny saying what he couldn't do. Finally Sonny asked, "Just how much are you going to pay me to do this?" And after confirming this was a per performance rate, Sonny said, "I told him that I would play that piece anyway he wanted."
 
Croatoan said:
I’ll check out your book recommendations. Thanks.

I get the love for the first three R.E.M. albums, especially the first two. Growing up, a group of us used to play baseball in an empty field next to this cool, old house in my hometown. I don’t know it was Mitch Easter’s place until my freshman high school teacher (a former sound guy for Let’s Active) introduced me a couple of years later. I’ve got a special place in my heart for their first two albums, but I do think LRP was their best. “Nightswimming” is probably my favorite R.E.M. song ever, but I wasn’t too crazy about Automatic overall and certainly don’t think it compares to the stuff that came before.
Click to expand...
Dude, I was in a trio in 1983 AND WE RECORDED AT MITCH EASTER’s “DRIVE IN RECORDING STUDIO”
That year… shortly after REM was there! Mitch was a sweetheart and a helluva a sound and recording engineer (obviously). He had one machine which he had purchased from Apple Studios in London England (Yes! THAT APPLE!)
We recorded our 3 song EP release on THAT MACHINE at Mitch’s. We were absolutely PUMPED to know we did ours on machine the Beatles had possibly used AND we did it in the same small studio in which REM had done some of their first recorded works. (And arguably their best work)
Mitch was also a helluva a musician and songwriter in his own right.
Great memories which no one can ever take away from me…
 
Favorite concerts by genre :

Rock - Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead at RFK stadium... 12 hour concert:cool:

Jazz- Sonny Rollins in Memorial Hall

Country- Merle Haggard in Memorial Hall

Gospel- Mavis Staples at the Art Center

Soul- Al Green in Memorial Hall

Pop- Cher and Cyndi Lauper in Greensboro

Blues- B.B. King at ECU

Beach- Jerry Butler at the Cat's Eye

Zydeco - Damon Troy at a club in Baton Rouge

my first two concerts- Sonny and Cher and the Dave Clark 5 in Dorton Arena
 
ole howard1 said:
I love the discussion here on this delightful new message board! A few things:

**Someone mentioned Drivin n Cryin. What an outstanding band! Really important in the history of Southern alternative rock. A fascinating group. They had that brief commercial heyday with "Fly Me Courageous" -- I didn't love it, being more into their earlier stuff and feeling that record sounded too slick. But I think I was wrong. They were always hard rockers. And, you know, it's hard to make the perfect sounding record. They were going for a big rock sound -- and that was true to their whole thing.

Also, I later saw them in Spartanburg, SC -- at a low point for the band's popularity -- in 2003, I think, and maybe 50 people were there. Well, they played "Fly Me Courageous," and oh man....rocked like mad. I got it then. They also played "Scarred but Smarter, which also was amazing. I saw them in Asheville at the Grey Eagle last summer. They have kind of had this resurgence in appreciation, which I think is so cool. They had a solid crowd and put on a fabulous show. Truly top-notch rock and roll.

**I'm not a huge Jimmy Buffet fan, though I recognize his outstanding talent and his impact. Turns out, he played around the corner from my house when he was not yet well-known. There's a longtime Chinese restaurant on the east side of Spartanburg. There was apparently a little bar kind of in the basement of the place. Buffet was in town to play at Converse College (now University), and showed up at the little bar and sat in.

**I sort of see "Life's Rich Pageant" as REM's top record, though I don't necessarily feel strongly about it. I do think "Fall on Me" is a total masterpiece. My favorite song of theirs. LRP seems to blend their early murky/arty/folksy sound with a slightly bigger sound -- but not as big or radio-ready as later stuff, including "Document" -- and kind of best of both worlds, far as REM goes.

**I've been listening to a good bit of James McMurtry lately -- such an amazing songwriter and singer.

**Big fan of Vulgar Boatmen and Silos. Big fan of Nashville songwriter-rocker Tim Carroll.

**Raleigh-based Accelerators have not done much in a long while, but one of my favorite groups ever.
Click to expand...
I saw Drivin n Cryin in Memorial Hall in 1990. Great show. I also saw them in Winston Salem probably around 5-7 years ago and they looked and sounded pretty beat up.

Speaking of early 90's Chapel Hill, anyone else remember the band Mary on the Dash? They never broke out but the one album they put out (Charivari) was terrific imo.
 
HeelingAg said:
Hearty additional endorsement for God is an Astronaut and This Will Destroy You. I have an algorithmic station built around those two, plus an amalgam of Explosions in the Sky, M83, Mogwai, We Lost the Sea, etc. I tend to need sound over silence to unspool the day's anxieties, and mask baseline tinnitus. The station based on the aforementioned artists gives me a wide range of sounds to neutralize my endogenous high pitched "EEEEEEE!", while mellow enough to help facilitate meditations.

If I listen to music with lyrics it tends to be obnoxiously pleading, e.g. Bon Iver, Horse Feathers, Daughter, and Guster.
Click to expand...
Cool. I don't know Explosions in the Sky or We Lost The Sea. I will check them out.
 
superrific said:
Cool. I don't know Explosions in the Sky or We Lost The Sea. I will check them out.
Click to expand...
EITS had a lot of songs turn up in Friday Night Lights (both the movie and the show I believe) so you may have heard them already.

Radiohead is my all-time fav and lately I've been listening to Kid A and Amnesiac a fair amount. They kind of presage where they went with their current sound on King of Limbs/Moon Shaped Pool but I like them way more than those two. Thom and Johnny also have a side project with a different drummer called The Smile which I'm enjoying a lot, it sounds a bit more like OK Computer era stuff.
 
HeelInTheOzarks said:
I’m an “old millennial” (1983) but my music is very Gen X. Pretty much anything from the alt/grunge era or the Britpop invasion.

Oasis
Pumpkins
Pearl Jam
STP
Alice In Chains
Click to expand...
I love Disarm.
I listened to an interview with Corgan where he talked about this song. He said something to the extent of he couldn't kill his parents so he wrote a song to get back at them. I guess it resonated with me.

This song was banned in some countries because if the line "cut that little child".
 
Maybe I missed it, so I'll mention Five Finger Death Punch.

I like the opening lines from Wrong Side of Heaven. "I spoke with God today and SHE said that she's ashamed "
 
Enigma94 said:
I saw Drivin n Cryin in Memorial Hall in 1990. Great show. I also saw them in Winston Salem probably around 5-7 years ago and they looked and sounded pretty beat up.

Speaking of early 90's Chapel Hill, anyone else remember the band Mary on the Dash? They never broke out but the one album they put out (Charivari) was terrific imo.
Click to expand...
I saw Drivin n Cryin in Athens in the early 90's.

I saw a few other bands in Athens, back then, that went on to have pretty solid careers.
 
Springsteen--usually have SiriusXM's EStreet Radio playing in my office
Frank Turner--tremendous live shows
Ben Folds--seen him in one iteration or another more than any other artist [18 times to Bruce's 16]
Stevie Wonder--his 4 album window from Talking Book to Songs in the Key of Life is musical genius at its finest
Foo Fighters
And every Saturday, my wife and I listen to American Top 40 replays on the 70s on 7 channel on SiriusXM
 
Centerpiece said:
Dude, I was in a trio in 1983 AND WE RECORDED AT MITCH EASTER’s “DRIVE IN RECORDING STUDIO”
That year… shortly after REM was there! Mitch was a sweetheart and a helluva a sound and recording engineer (obviously). He had one machine which he had purchased from Apple Studios in London England (Yes! THAT APPLE!)
We recorded our 3 song EP release on THAT MACHINE at Mitch’s. We were absolutely PUMPED to know we did ours on machine the Beatles had possibly used AND we did it in the same small studio in which REM had done some of their first recorded works. (And arguably their best work)
Mitch was also a helluva a musician and songwriter in his own right.
Great memories which no one can ever take away from me…
Click to expand...
Nice. I’d love to hear that recording sometime. Let us know if/where we can find it.
 
Croatoan said:
Nice. I’d love to hear that recording sometime. Let us know if/where we can find it.
Click to expand...
One of these days I’ll see about digitizing that old cassette tape. I’ve done 5 or 6 other recording projects since then, but nothing in a recording situation like that one, with such notable names attached to it.
 
HeelInTheOzarks said:
I’m an “old millennial” (1983) but my music is very Gen X. Pretty much anything from the alt/grunge era or the Britpop invasion.

Oasis
Pumpkins
Pearl Jam
STP
Alice In Chains
Click to expand...
slightly less old millennial, and Oasis is one of my all-time favorite bands. Still. I had Definitely Maybe and What's the Story Morning Glory on cassette tape as a kid and wore them the fuck out in my Walkman. Acquiesce is my favorite song of theirs. Something about Liam in a parka, hands behind his back, sneering at the mic is just badass.

I've liked some of each Gallagher bro's solo projects, too. If they ever tour together again.... might have to make a trip somewhere.
 
UNCRx85 said:
slightly less old millennial, and Oasis is one of my all-time favorite bands. Still. I had Definitely Maybe and What's the Story Morning Glory on cassette tape as a kid and wore them the fuck out in my Walkman. Acquiesce is my favorite song of theirs. Something about Liam in a parka, hands behind his back, sneering at the mic is just badass.

I've liked some of each Gallagher bro's solo projects, too. If they ever tour together again.... might have to make a trip somewhere.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Oasis is my #1 for sure. If they ever got back together (they won't) I would break the bank to see them.

Acquiesce is fantastic. Definitely in my top 5.

I vividly remember the first time I saw the video for Champagne Supernova on MTV. I was like 12 years old, and that was definitely a seminal moment of me going from a kid to my angsty teen phase. I had basically listened to radio pop until then, I discovered Oasis and now I'm singing about getting high. :ROFLMAO:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top