lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2012

MY ALL TIME FOUR-PIECE BAND


This is my band. I hope none of them refusing to wear shiny leather jackets and tight pants.


DRUMS: BUDDY MILES

A totally underrated artist. He had a great funk-soul beat that could give any song (any!) a sweeter and sexier sound. Just to mention an example, most of the songs played at the Fillmore by Band of Gypsys, have the heavenly backing vocals by Buddy, adding a beautiful atmosphere to Hendrix´s sound. His first solo release (“Them Changes”) showed how complete Buddy was; drummer, composer, singer.  
Last but not least, a great presence on stage. 140kg of swing, with a classy and curly afro on top. Lovely.



BASS: JACK BRUCE

Jack, the silent one that stood on Clapton´s side during the Cream era. A virtuous bass player, hell of a singer, and what´s best: He managed to shine onstage, without leaving his bandmates behind. A guy who lives for the team: Goalkeeping, stopping rival´s players, generating the escence of the game and even scoring at the last minute. A guy who after the game has finished, and having scored four times, declares shyly looking at the grass: “Well, we have great players and our victory is because we are a great team”.
Put him as a bass player, a singer, a rythm guitar player, organ... He´ll do wonderfully.


GUITAR PLAYER: MICK JONES

The glamorous guy in the Clash. Another underrated musician, that stood out in the last stage of the band. Pop, punk, hip hop, disco; nothing escapes from Jones´s hands. He doesn´t make any guitar solos because there´s no need! He has the perfect guitar player mix: Mick´s a creative rock and roll riff-maker with a touch of pop music in every note. Great backing vocals, also. Could make a great counterpoint with any strong lead singer.
Some people would say “Jones´s a better listener than composer” because of his astonishing ability to adapt properly to any trendy music sounding on the radio, but I don´t mind.
Jones, you´re in my band. Teach us the way, and we´ll follow.


LEAD SINGER: JON SPENCER

A (blues) explosion! He can scream and whisper almost at the same time. Spencer squeezes his vocals skills and gets all the juice from it: Cocky rock tunes, country-like songs, funky/hip-hop rimes; all of it, with a sexy rock and roll feeling.
One of the last musicians that still believes in rock music. A loyal soldier that jumps onstage to win every battle.
The Elvis Presley of my generation. And don´t make me start talking about his hairy sideburns, please.


BONUS:
MANAGER: ED GOODGOLD
He was the guy that put “Sha Na Na” on Woodstock. Is he still alive? I really need his phone!

PRODUCER: PHIL SPECTOR
If we manage to leave all kinds of weapons outside the studio, I would love this guy to produce my album.

martes, 13 de noviembre de 2012

Rolling Stones: Rock n Roll´s biggest bang.




Let me reproduce you a recent chat that I had with my mom last week. It happened in Buenos Aires, in a not very glamorous bar located in the suburbs. Me, an evil dude, had a smooth strategy to get away with a totally selfish plan.

-         British rock has its glories, mom. Don´t you know?
-         I don´t like rock music.
-         Well, but at least let me introduce them, would you?:
-         ....
-         I´ll take that as a “yes”. There´s “The Who”, a music quartet that began in the sixties doing some catchy psych-beat tunes, then started with rock-operas and finally faded away in the late seventies. These guys really did their best on stage and are considered as the “best live act” ever.
-         I really don´t have a clue of what you are talking about
-         Wait, wait. Then, we have Led Zeppelin. Four guys really influenced by american music, like blues and folk. They named their albums by roman numerals. When reached the fourth one, Zep created some symbols and confused pretty much everyone.
-         I don´t know them. And I don´t see where you´re going with all these meaningless talking.
-         You´ll see. Let me finish.
-         (sighs)
-         Finally, we have the Stones.
-         The band with the huge mouth that sings?
-         Yes! Did you like them when you were young?
-         I´m still young.
-         Well, not THAT young...
-         My god. Well, when I was YOUNGER than today, I...
-         (interrupting) You almost name an album by The Byrds! Though it´s called “Younger than yesterday”.
-         (...)
-         Sorry, mum. You were saying..
-         I was saying that in my twenties, I bought a record by the Rolling Stones.
-         Wow! You never told me! Did you like it?
-         Well, no. It was so noisy.. The guy from the record shop told me that I´d love it. But I was looking for something softer.. like BeeGees for example.
-         Oh, sorry to hear that. For me, they´re the greatest band ever. Unlike The Who and Zep, they managed to get through all decades, especially the eighties. While all artists coming from sixties or seventies crashed themselves into techno, The Stones absorbed all the “modern” beats and disco stuff into rock and roll. They didn´t have that “hippie spirit” and managed to remain fresh through the years. I think they always knew they were going to be timeless.
-         (looks at her watch) I´ve got some work to do. Why did you insisted on having this coffee? It´s just you talking about something I don´t have a clue.
-         Hmmm, well, luckily the Stones kept on playing. They recorded some pretty bad records like “Dirty work”, but the Jagger-Richards writing mantained healthy through all these years. Jones passed away, Taylor and Wyman quitted, but the flame is still burning. They now have a younger bass player, although he looks like their male nurse from the geriatric. Their latest albums, wow.. “Voodoo..”, “Bridges..” even “A bigger bang” is great!
-         I´ll go. Here´s money for the check. Bye.
-         Wait, wait! The point is...
-         (stares at me) IS...
-         Okey, okey.. They´re celebrating their 50th anniversary in London and New York with some live shows. I was wondering if you....
-         (angry) DO YOU WANT ME TO LEND YOU SOME MONEY? IS THAT ALL?
-         Well, if you want to sum it up.. it sounds unfairly rough, though.
-         (angry) SO, THE FIRST TIME EVER WE HAVE A COFFEE... AND IT´S BECAUSE YOU WANT MONEY? WHAT ABOUT THAT NONSENSE PREVIOUS CHAT?
-         It was just to make the picture that the Stones are the best band ever. In the world, the galaxy. And that it´s very important to me. And that I love you.

She stood up and stormed out of the tiny bar before I could give her another reason to lend me some dollars. Well, the tickets cost lots of “some” dollars.
I couldn´t understand how my clever plan finally failed. Lot of thinking spent to make my mother understand why the Stones are the best band ever, to realize that the main reason for Jagger and company to be known as a legend, more than The Who or Zep, is... that even my mom knows them.