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Date: 8:17:46 P.M., August 20, 2002 Name: alex Email address: alex63@bigfoot..com Comments: Interesting stuff you write about Ravel/Debussy there. Like you I have never really gotten into Boléro. Actually I think that is almost all I know of Ravel. But I love Debussy's impressionistic piano pieces. Last time I listened to some of his pieces was around 1986, I guess, I hardly listen to classical music anymore (except at marriages and funerals, parts of our family are rather musical). It was on Branford Marsalis wonderful record "Romances for Saxophone" where he tackles among other classic stuff (including Ravel) two Debussy pieces with his soprano sax and I loved the tender dreamy sound of it. The sax is very understated and hardly recognisable as such (for someone who doesn't listen careful at least). I'll try to come back a little to listening to classical music and saw that there is a seven CD set of all piano pieces by Debussy and Satie for 13€ at 2001, the local cd discount store. Concerning Grateful Dead you know what I think of them. I will surely try to listen to Live/Dead again one day but I am really put off by them. I like improvisations in theory but theirs really sound like aimless meandering to my ears, and I also find they haven't aged well. By song-poem you mean the lyrics of a song, right? I would like you to write something on Knives Out from Amnesiac by Radiohead if you don't mind and haven't received any requests yet. |
Date: 01:55:35 A.M., August 21, 2002 Name: Phil Email address: phil-at-masstransfer-dot-net Comments: Hey, Alex! Nice to hear from you. Actually, I quite like Boléro, though I acknowledge that it's a pretty simplistic piece -- but then again that's the idea, isn't it? I haven't heard the Branford Marsalis recording. Does he play in a "classical saxophone" style -- i.e. with a fast vibrato and a somewhat pinched sound? I think it's important, with Debussy, to get a good performance, so I don't know whether that 7-CD set will be a good deal. I'd strongly recommend getting the Pascal Rogé 2-CD set I've talked about here before. It's a pretty amazing record, especially the first disc. Grateful Dead: if you do check Live/Dead out again, try to seek it out on vinyl. For me, the record works in part because of a kind of otherworldliness that's much harder to capture on CD. I don't enjoy my (MP3s of the) CD nearly as much as I enjoy my vinyl copy. Song-poem: actually, it refers to something completely different and quite specific! It's a bad name, though, and one that lends itself to misunderstanding. As for what it is, Phil Milstein's site has explained it better than I ever could, but basically, it's the product of "song sharking": people would see an ad in the paper, saying something like "We need new ideas for recording! Send in your songs and poems! Songs recorded -- royalties paid -- your lyrics might be the next Number One hit!" They'd send in their (usually terrible) lyrics, and would get a letter back telling them that their "song-poem" had been accepted, and if they would send in a check for a medium-sized amount of money (anywhere between $20 and $200), their lyrics would be set to music, pressed onto vinyl, and they'd receive a copy of the finished product. The studio musicians who wrote and performed this music were usually overworked hacks, and were encouraged to work as quickly as possible, sometimes turning out as many as 12 songs in an hour. The results of these collaborations -- between terrible lyricists and mediocre studio hacks -- are almost always bad, and sometimes hilariously awful or bizarre. The records have become prized by collectors of "incorrect/outsider music"; the site I linked above has put up MP3s of over 200 of these song-poems. They're definitely an acquired taste -- I wasn't impressed at first at all, but gradually I've come to enjoy them, and the most outlandish ones are hysterically funny. They can be pretty grating if you're not in the mood, but then you'll get one like "Believe in God Until You Die" or "Rockin' and Rollin'" and you'll practically be in tears from laughing so hard. So my "song-poem review" challenge was a request for readers to pick out which of the song-poems I should review next. So far I've done either 5 or 6 of them, averaging 1-2 a month. However, all this being said, I'm tempted to take you up on your suggestion of writing about "Knives Out". At the very least, I'll pull out my copy of Amnesiac and see if the spirit moves me! |
Date: 05:19:47 A.M., August 22, 2002 Name: alex Email address: alex63@bigfootcom Comments: Yes I think B. Marsalis plays in the classical style. There is not a lot of vibrato but when there is it's fast and the sound is very lyrical and restrained, the saxophone does not sound "jazzy" at all. Sorry that I got it wrong concerning Boléro, I have to read weblogs more attentively... |