Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Hmm. Time for a "Ten interesting facts", methinks...
Yes, please!
The Zappa thing is just so weird for me,'cause I like to believe I have a very diverse and eclectic music knowledge and taste (having bought my first single in the 70s!). But two acts I somehow bypassed (although knowing of them) without getting into or even listening to, were Zappa and Little Feat. Been catching up on the latter via pressure from some friends, but I find it hard to invest the same time in a new artist as I used to when I was at school, varsity, army, etc. Those were the days when I just listened and read everything I could about the acts I was interested in. Magnus and Sons (the erstwhile conscript Defence Force for you young 'uns!! ?) gave me two years of not much to do but share mix tapes with just the weirdest and most disparate groups of guys brought together for no other reason than fear of prison you could think of!! But can you imagine the different tunes that floated around a bungalow at night?? There was no internet. Some guy could regale you with a titbit of trivia he heard about one of your favourite artists, which would send you into the CNA on a Saturday morning pass trying to find confirmation in a three month old copy of Melody Maker!!). Things weren't as easy, and I think that gave it a kind of a mystique. We had to
figure out how to pick 'Needle and Damage done' not download seventy different tabbed versions from e-chords and Ultimate Guitar, for @#$%^ sake!!
It's not something I've really thought about, but I think one's teens and twenties are perhaps the time you're best placed to be obsessive about stuff, be it learning the guitar or new music. When I was 22 I could name you the session musos on every Steely Dan album and tell you which horn sections were common to albums by different artists. Would debate the merits of Bob Ludwig's engineering vs Templeton, etc. These days I'd drive in the car for an hour and not hear a song by an artist I recognise. Think that part of is that during the early stage we try and assimilate as much as we can from as many sources as possible, and figure out what we really like. Later you zoom in and focus and hone in on the artists that made it through by natural selection!! ?
OK, just musing a bit. Read the other night how some of the younger guys on the Forum were ribbing us "older guys". I'll put in my hearing aid now and go and listen to some Flying Burrito Brothers or Gram Parsons or something! Better check whether Jerry Hey still plays the fluegelhorn in LA whilst I'm at it. I know he was kinda hot in the 80s!! ?
Cheers
Riaan C
