GMVW # 24: "A Moral Compass"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 24: A Moral Compass

Song: What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye

(Songwriter: Marvin Gaye)

June 19, 2008

Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ album achieved a rare, often elusive goal:  A highly successful wire-to-wire commentary on society’s woes.  Not the type of subject matter people typically flock to the record store for.  In order to pull it off, Marvin Gaye had to enhance the product with something that has fallen many musicians with equally lofty ambitions: Great music.  No problem there.  ‘What’s Going On’ is a masterful album.

In most cases, albums with social-awareness subject matter include songs covering other topics as well.  Several classics include Dylan’s ‘Hurricane’; Mellencamp’s ‘Jackie Brown’; Neil Young’s ‘After the Goldrush’; The Kinks ‘Father Christmas’; Woody Guthrie’s ‘Deportees ‘; 10,000 Maniacs ‘What’s the Matter Here ‘; Springsteen’s ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’; the Clash ‘London Calling’; Leonard Cohen’s ‘Democracy’; Bruce Cockburn’s ‘If a Tree Falls’; the Pretenders ‘My City Was Gone’; Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.  All have (and continue to) cut deep with me.

Rarely though, do you get an entire album that works on this level.  One that comes to mind is my favorite Lou Reed album, ‘New York’.  Another is Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ album. Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ tops this short list.  This weeks Gem is the title track.

Pete

Gem Music Video: What’s Going On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzPA-FrVu3I

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About the Video:  This link is no longer working (actually, the most recent update in Jan 2010 works), so it’s hard to recall.  However, I do remember Marvin Gaye saying ‘Thank You’ in response to the applause and right after the first line ‘Oh, Mercy, Mercy Me’. The clip can also be seen in the Rolling Stone Magazine documentary of the first 20 years of it’s existence. 

Video Rating: 2

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Best Feedback: Fred

Pete

Now that one is off the beaten track for you.  I love the diversity.

Got me to listening to "Let's Get It On", which I love

GMVW # 23: "The Music Man"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 23: The Music Man

Song: Wavelength by Van Morrison

(Songwriter: Van Morrison)

June 12, 2008

There are only two musicians I’m aware of who, because of their philosophy regarding award ceremonies, snubbed their own induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.  Johnny Rotten (inducted with the Sex Pistols) was no surprise to anyone.  The other, Van Morrison, may have been a surprise to some, but not his fans. If the world of Rock musicians has a reclusive curmudgeon, it’s Van the Man. 

With this attitude, you would have to be good to survive in the business, and Van Morrison certainly fits the bill.  At one of his concerts, I mentally constructed a mathematical formula and it’s always stuck with me:  Van Morrison = Music.  Not quite E = MC2, but not too shabby.  There is simply no sound more melodic than a good Van Morrison song.  Just listening to the album ‘Astral Weeks’ is enough for me to come to that conclusion.

I’ve been holding off on a Van Morrison Gem up until now, because he has gremlins surfing the web, constantly searching for and then blocking his videos from sites like YouTube, claiming copyright infringement (while at the same time reinforcing his reputation).  A few songs, ‘It Stoned Me’, ‘Into the Mystic’, ‘Domino’ and ‘Real Real Gone’ are all Gems, but have come and gone on most web sites. However, one version of ‘Wavelength’ has survived (buried in wavelengths) and I just hope it avoids the detection of Van’s gremlins for a week or so.  There are some great videos on his official web site, but you have to sign up as a member.

Van Morrison revels in his Irish roots, but he actually spent a number of years living in Boston in the late 60s as he was struggling to make ends meet.  In a 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine issue filled with inspirational articles about the fifty greatest artists of all time (each written by an inspired musician), it was Peter Wolf’s article about Van Morrison that I found to be the most moving.  Wolf talked about Morrison’s relocation to Boston with his family, and his struggles to redefine himself in the States, after enjoying several early pop hits in Ireland.  Over a period of time, in front of very small crowds at a club called the Catacombs (which Wolf described as ‘subterranean’) Van Morrison slowly developed his true sound, which survives to this day, and comes out pretty clearly in this Gem.

Pete

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-429653501151188778&q=Wavelength&ei=j2xRSNStLIH4rQL7-NHRDA&hl=en

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About the video: Live Morrison from the mid 70’s

Video Rating: 2

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Best Comments: Jack

I've been reading your clips and find them interesting and entertaining to say the least.  I particularly found the clip two weeks ago to be a good one...the Irish curmudgeon.  The only song I really knew from him was "Brown Eyed Girl".  This reminds me of an old show called, "Don Kirshners Rock Concert" but I think you're upstaging him. :)

GMVW # 22: "Always Running at Someone's Heals"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 22: Always Running at Someone’s Heals

Song: Bellboy by The Who

(Songwriter: Pete Townshend)

June 5, 2008

Back in 1996, the Who announced that they would be performing their 1973 double album Quadrophenia in it’s entirety for 6 shows only, all at Madison Square Garden, New York City (the tour was later expanded).  This was a certified BIG EVENT, and I was determined to get tickets.  Picking up on a tip, I called a local ticket agency (instead of one in NY) and was able to secure 4 tickets rather easily.  Mac and Kurt were also able to get tickets.  In the month or so leading up to the show I eagerly counted down the days.

Bec and Dave, Nancy and I made the trek down to Manhattan, with Dave driving.  The conversation swayed to home life and our kids.  It would likely have continued along these lines with plenty of driving ahead of us.

Dave had other ideas……

About half way thru Connecticut, roughly the demarcation between Red Sox fans and Yankee fans, as we entered the gravitational pull of the Big Apple, Dave casually reached into a side compartment, slipped disk 1 of Quadrophenia out of its sleeve and popped it into the his hi-fi player.  He turned up the volume.  Way up!  Conversation-impossible up!  It was clearly time to get focused on the task at hand.

The remainder of the ride proved to be almost as intense as the real event later that evening.  Dave’s timing was impeccable, as we sucked in the riveting sound of Quadrophenia all the way to the city.  The high volume ride was also a reminder of many a great road trip over the years, which at that stage in our lives, were already beginning to thin out. 

The concert itself was fantastic.  Zac Starkey, Ringo’s son, played drums, and for the first time I got a taste of what the Who must have been like with Keith Moon (I had already seen them with 2 other drummers through several shows over the years and neither compared).  The show picked up steam as it lurched through each song on the album.  Entwistle’s bass playing was superb. 

Quadrophenia is a concept album with a clear story line, but it’s great primarily because of the music.  Pete Townshend brings the best out of every member of the Who in this album, including himself.  Gem Music Video of the Week ‘Bell Boy’ was so well written and performed, that the Who were able to get away with Keith Moon singing half the song (as the Bell Boy character).  'Moon the Loon' was a horrible singer, but he pulls it off with Bell Boy, including this live video footage from 1974.  It’s the only footage I’ve ever seen of Moon singing on stage with the Who.  You can hear the backing track synthesizers playing thru the song, which Moon had to monitor via headphones.  The Quadrophenia tracks were difficult for the band to follow, and they soon scrapped the album from their shows, only to resurrect it 22 years later in New York.

I’ll say this about the narrative…. it’s a testament to Townshend that he was able to put so much passion into a story about the earliest fans of the Who (smart-dressed, scooter riding “Mods” from early 60’s London) 10 years after the fact, when so much had changed in his life in the interim.  Also, Townshend worked on Quadrophenia immediately after putting 2 years into a failed concept album, “Lifehouse”, that did not see the light of day until 20 years later.  It was quite a rebound.  The story is about a fictional Mod, Jimmy.  The song Bell Boy, one of many great songs on the album, is about the final straw of disillusionment, when Jimmy realizes the lead Mod daylights as a bell hop in a glitzy coastal hotel.

I’ve also included 3 other versions of Bell Boy: The studio version (with still footage from the Quadrophenia movie), the movie version (with Sting as the Bell Boy… this abbreviated version of the song can be seen between time stamps 1:10 and 2:40 on the 3rd url link); and finally, the 1996 version in Madison Square Garden, with Billy Idol as the Bell Boy.

“Ain’t you the guy who used to set the paces

Riding up in front of a hundred faces

I don’t suppose you would remember me

But I used to follow you back in ‘63”

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/The%2BWHo%2BBell%2BBoy/video/x160pr_

the-who-bell-boy_music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD4u4sIjHmY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIYMuI95R4Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdIbx5ZWqGQ

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About the Video: Live 1976 concert showcasing Keith Moon on vocals.  The others are explained above

Video Rating: 2

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Best Feedback: Steve

I love your stories! Quad is still one of my favorite albums!

Cheers

Steve

GMVW # 21: "For Duty and Humanity"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 21: For Duty and Humanity

Song: Superman’s Song by The Crash Test Dummies

(Songwriter: Brad Roberts)

May 29, 2008

I’ve often wondered  if the band ‘Crash Test Dummies’ had a conversation along these lines:  “Ok, we have a very strange name for a group and a lead singer/songwriter who has a vocal range only a Mom could love and which most certainly will not survive the test of time.  We need to release something good right from the start and capitalize on it before wearing thin with the masses”.   If so, then they could not have done much better than this week’s Gem Video ‘Superman’s Song’.

Along with Mac & Bruce, I was a pretty avid comic book reader back in the mid 70’s.  In those days, Marvel Comics were at the height of their game, with great writers covering the X-Men, Spider Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, and others.  Their closest rival, DC Comics, was way past its creative 40’s / 50’s hey day, slipping into predicable, one-dimensional story lines for the likes of Superman, Batman and other sad sacks.  To us, ‘DC’ stood for ‘Dog Crap’ and we avoided DC comics like the plague (although I still believe Bruce bought copies when we were not with him and hid them in places we could not find them for fear of ridicule).

Despite my slanted 70’s vantage point, ‘Superman’s Song’ captures the essence of what a superhero is all about to a kid.  It’s not so much about the power or the glory as it is the sacrifices super heroes make.  Often in Marvel storylines, the superhero was looked upon in misguided disdain by the very souls he/she was trying to protect.

Has anyone ever seen this video?  I never did until stumbling into it a few weeks ago.  It shed a new light on the song, with the singer giving the eulogy at a hypothetical Superman funeral….Wonder Woman, Flash, and others mourning the loss of a friend.  Very creative...

“Sometimes, when Supe was stopping crimes

I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back on man

Join Tarzan in the forest

But he stayed in the city

And kept on changing clothes in dirty old phone booths

Until his work was thru

With nothing to do

But go on home”

- Pete

Gem Music Video: Superman’s Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihUIPlLw2ZE

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About the Video:  Made for MTV type video. 

And: Pat

Hey -

How is Pepperell?  Good video - I had forgot about those guys.  How did you remember them?

Have you ever thought about "blogging" your gem music vid?

See ya, and 'hello to Nanc and the kids!

Pat

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Best Feedback:  Dad

pete, thanks for starting my day on the right track-i'm on my way to a phone booth to change to my work clothes-love , dad

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And: Fred

Another winner.  I shouldn't be surprised by your range. 

I spoke with Dad this morning.  He LOVED this Gem

F

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GMVW # 20: "Top Cat"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 20: Top Cat

Song: Shelter From the Storm by Bob Dylan

(Songwriter: Bob Dylan)

May 22, 2008

A big factor in my admiration for a band/musician is longevity, which usually comes with a maturity in music and lyrics.  It also must take a certain sacrifice to dig deeper, in order to maintain a creative edge after early success.  Two musicians have done an amazing job of keeping a consistent excellence in the quality of their music over the years.  Neil Young is one (more on him in a later Gem).  The other is Bob Dylan.

In practically all cases where I’ve enjoyed a good band from the 60’s, it’s their post-60’s period that I end up appreciating even more.  I believe the Who and the Stones made their best stuff in their 2nd decade as bands.  A case can even be made with the Beatles, who did not make it out of the 60’s as a group, but individually went on to make some great solo albums.  Van Morrison, the Kinks, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Clapton, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, and many others carried on as well.

On the flip side, I rarely latch on for very long to musicians or bands that were great in the 60’s, but in one way or another never really crossed that late 60’s / early 70’s finish line.  Whether they literally did not make it (Hendrix, Joplin, Jim Morrison), burned out (Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett) or lost their creative edge (Grace Slick, Eric Burdon, Ike Turner), I clearly recognize the talent, but the long-term interest doesn't stay with me.

Dylan could have fallen into this latter group as well, having supposedly survived a scare of his own in the mid 60’s (a near-fatal motorcycle accident).  Immediately following that incident, however, he reinvented himself (again) with his ‘John Wesley Harding’ album, and then later released ‘The Basement Tapes’ from the same period.  His sound has kept morphing to this day.  My connection to Dylan's post-60s music has included the albums ‘Blood on the Tracks’, ‘Infidels’, ‘Oh Mercy’, ‘Slow Train Coming’, and ‘Time Out Of Mind’.   Others have latched onto entirely different sets of Dylan albums.  With Dylan, there is really no launch off point, no album where you can tell someone ‘start here’.  It’s ever changing, and almost always great.

….and then there’s Dylan’s live act.  I’ve seen Dylan 4 times and must admit that I’ve been consistently under whelmed.  It’s not the song selection or the music (which in all 4 shows was superb on both accounts).  It’s Dylan’s vocal effort. Even for those of us who enjoy Dylan’s studio vocals (to this day), it’s a tough pill to swallow when he hits the road and tosses his lyrics out like they are one long word. 

It was this frame of mind I had back on a winter nite in the early 90’s (after having already seen Dylan several times), as I was driving thru Inman Square, trying to find a parking spot so I could hook up with Phil & Mac at the Ryles Jazz Club.  As I circled the neighborhood, a live Dylan sound came on the radio that I had never heard before.  Wow!  Even as I found a spot to park, I stayed in the car and turned up the volume.  Gem Music Video of the Week ‘Shelter from the Storm’, was intense and solid, but most important, the vocals were great. After the song ended, the DJ stated the song was from a Dylan mid-70’s tour with the Rolling Thunder Review.  I later found out this was just the temporary name given to the musicians who toured with Dylan on this loosely organized gypsy-caravan road show, including Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Roger McGuinn, Mick Ronson, Scarlet Rivera, T-Bone Burnett, and Joan Baez.  This live version of ‘Shelter from the Storm’ and a number of other songs from the same show were later released on the live Dylan album ‘Hard Rain’. 

The audio quality is nowhere near as good on the link below as it is on the album, but hopefully the talent is revealing of one of the most important figures of our time.  I’ve included a 2nd video, ‘I Pity the Poor Immigrant’ from the same show (including Dylan's impromptu ‘Ha, Ha!’ after the line ‘who fills his mouth with laughing’, while singing to Baez in the 3rd stanza) to round out some understanding of what this tour with the Rolling Thunder Review must have been like. 

“The Deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount

But nothing really matters much, its doom alone that counts

And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn

Come in she said I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

- Pete

Gem Music Video: Shelter From the Storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6C_WSp3Lks&feature=fvw

I Pity the Poor Imigrant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXDEfxff_RE

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About the Video: Footage from The Rolling Thunder Review Tour, ‘76 (I believe this is a Texas concert)

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Best Feedback: Tom

Hi Pete

Yet another great write-up, full of new info and a couple of great song choices.

GMVW # 19: "Interchangeable Parts"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 19: Interchangeable Parts

Song: Shape I’m In by The Band

(Songwriter: Richard Manuel)

May 15, 2008

There are 2 bands I know of where the talent was/is pretty well evenly distributed amongst the members.  One is R.E.M.  The other was The Band.  The members of The Band, Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass), Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (organ), and Levon Helm (drums), were in many ways interchangeable parts:  They could all play multiple instruments; other than Hudson, everyone sang; and they all wrote lyrics and songs.  They were big fans of early Americana music (although all but Helm were Canadian), which was likely a big appeal to Bob Dylan when he asked them to be his backing band in the mid 60’s. 

Perhaps due to this distributed talent, there was no center piece to The Band as a stage act.  Looking thru a variety of live video footage, it appears they were always shuffling the deck on who was where.  On New Year’s Eve, 1994, when Nancy (then pregnant with Charlotte) and I went to see them at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston,  the stage set up was as funky as any I had ever seen:  Helm (on drums) was on a circular sub-stage, jutting out into the crowd right of center. Danko mostly played on a plank-like runway.  Hudson, on his massive Hammond organ, took up the entire left side of the stage.  What a show!  The Band stopped at midnight to pop a few bottles of champagne and chum up with the crowd, saluting the New Year in the process.

If any of them could be recognized as the leader of The Band, it was probably Robertson.  On the flip side, Richard Manuel is probably the most overlooked talent, partially due to his self abuse life-style.  It was this road-weary life style that Robbie Robertson felt compelled to end when he convinced the remaining members of The Band to host a breakup party in 1976.  Many other musicians were invited to play in the event (including Dylan, N. Young, and Van Morrison), which was dubbed The Last Waltz (the remaining members of The Band later rescinded on this 'agreement' and carried on without Robertson). 

Gem Music Video, “Shape I’m In” is a clip from that farewell show.  Richard Manuel sings lead, and his appearance and demeanor fit the lyrics well.  As with many great singers of the blues, his (and the rest of The Bands) personal struggles were the audiences gain. The Last Waltz reveals The Band as cohesive a unit as you could ever expect to see from 5 musicians. 

A brief interview leading up to the song on the attached Gem, shows Robertson (along with Danko and Manuel) discussing a show they played many years earlier in Texas.  The story is great, but equally revealing is how burned out all three of them appear.  Life on the road had certainly taken its toll.

Eric Clapton, a veteran of several great bands, has stated that the only band he would have stuck it out with would have been The Band.  Seeing them click on all cylinders in 'The Last Waltz' movie, I can certainly see why.

“Over yonder, peace in the valley

 Come down town you have to rumble in the alley”

- Pete (just in the door from a week on the road myself)

Gem Music Video: Shape I’m In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6-hG-fdrYM

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About the Video: Footage from The Last Waltz movie

Video Rating: 1

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Best Feedback: Fred

Awesome again.  I loved that video of the last waltz

GMVW # 18: "Album Orientation"

Gem Music Video of the Week # 18: Album Orientation

Song: Working Class Hero by John Lennon

Covered Here By: Green Day

(Songwriter: John Lennon)

May 8, 2008

On my way out of the Citarell residence several years ago (picking up the kids from another sleep-over with their cousins), Paul lead me out to the driveway, reached into his car and said “Dude, you should listen to this”, handing me his copy of the recently released Green Day album ‘American Idiot’.  I balked, but he insisted I take it with me and give it a listen.  He was sure I would like what I heard.

I was willing to take Paul’s word for it.  After all, it wasn’t every day that he recommended a new album to me….but Green Day?  Weren’t these guys just in it for the goof?  Their first hit album, Dookie (1994), came across that way, and they had done nothing since then to change my mind.  Don’t get me wrong….I can enjoy a band that’s all about the yuks (the Knack & Devo come to mind), but I have to like the sound, and Green Day simply did not connect with me on that most important level.  I did enjoy the single off the new album ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, but it’s a far stretch from a hit single to a solid album.  

Paul was right, however….very much so! This album began to grow on me from the minute I popped it into the cd player.  I listened to it (loudly) for weeks driving into work, and was reminded of just how great a feeling it could be to experience an instant classic, particularly from an unexpected source like Green Day.  The song ‘Holiday’ was sensational, but the entire album was solid and more important, the songs worked together as a cohesive unit.  How Green Day pulled it off at that stage in their career was to me, quite a feat.  There’s nothing I can compare it to in terms of a band kicking into a higher gear.

Many musicians have proven they can pen the occasional hit song, but in my mind, it’s the entire album that is the true measure of a bands success in the studio.  This is something you see much less of today.  With the advent of MP3 and downloading music, the heyday of the studio album may have passed us by.  It would be a pity if this were the case.  Whether a true concept (‘Tommy’, ‘The Wall’, ‘School Boys in Disgrace’) or not, a good album has a certain feel and flow that can go much deeper with a theme (musically and lyrically) than a hit song can do on its own.  The album ‘Who Are You’ by the Who has a loose theme related to the advent of punk rock and ‘out with the old (music), in with the new’.  ‘Blood on the Tracks’ is a Bob Dylan autobiography.  ‘Revolver’ by the Beatles may be the first great album, with a flow to the songs, one to the next, from beginning to end.  .  ‘Exile on Main Street' by the Rolling Stones lifts each song to another level, simply based on the fact that together they make for a great album.  Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' is an extraordinary collection of songs written about social awareness. 

These are factors that cannot be captured in a ‘Greatest Hits’ album.  Whether it’s a ‘Greatest Hits’, ‘Best of’, or more disguised titles like ‘Hot Rocks’, ‘Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy’; ‘Decade’, or ‘Shaved Fish’ (although I give credit to John Lennon for that creative title), the blending of hits collected from a variety of albums does little to capture the true essence of a band/musician in the way that an original studio album can do (live albums are another matter entirely).

To honor the album-centric focus of 'American Idiot', this week’s Gem Video will extract nothing from it.  Instead, the Gem Video is a follow up single, Green Day's cover version of John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero'.  I think it's the best studio cover since the Jimi Hendrix version of 'All Along the Watch Tower', and it's clear listening to it that the intensity Green Day brought to the album immediately preceding it was no flash-in-the-pan.  

So, a thank you to Green Day, for keeping the faith alive, and to brother-in-law Paul for recognizing a great album when he hears one, and insisting I do so as well.

- Pete

Gem Music Video: Working Class Hero

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/wm-A10302B0000397138G/green_day_working_class_hero_official_music_video/

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About the Video: Made for MTV like video.  “Green Day Idiot Club” off Greenday.com.  Filmed in black and white.  Music straight through.

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Best Feedback: I’ve misplaced the feedback to this email from Paul