Great ones archive page.Great ones archive page.
The index immediately following is alphabetical by artist, listed with the date of posting, and if the artist is an influence, an admiration, or an honorable mention; below the index are the artists by date.
Index:
Beck
(01/22/99) an Influence
Blondie (06/20/98) an Admiration
Depeche Mode (02/27/98) an Influence
Kraftwerk (06/15/99) an Influence
Mission of Burma (09/19/98) an Influence
Monkees (02/12/99) an Admiration
Bob Mould (02/18/98) an Influence
November Group (05/03/98) an Admiration
Plasmatics (02/27/98) an Admiration
Public Image Limited (02/16/98) an Influence
Sex Pistols (07/18/98) an Admiration
Throbbing Gristle (08/21/00) an Influence
Wire (10/15/98) an Influence
Well, it's time to mention Throbbing Gristle. And what can I add that others haven't? "TG" pioneered industrial music, predicting its many sub-genres extant even today (guitar roar predicting the fuzed guitar-rock/drum machine style exemplified later by Ministry ("Six Six Sixties"), accessible synthetics ("AB/7A"), soundtrack stylings, and industrial/technical noises as music ("IBM"))
My first encounter with them was when someone listening to my music compared it to Throbbing Gristle. I had no idea who they were and this was in the mid-80s, long after they'd folded. I picked up their Greatest Hits record, which is still the best single representation of their music and a good entry point - if you don't like this, you won't like anything. If you like this, explore - each album is different.
In any case, TG assembled an amazing collection of sounds, rarely devolving into white noise but rarely writing anything nearly commercial. Through it, most of the time, they merged the sounds of our times with the way we often feel, positive and negative. They experimented with tape and sequencers. And, perhaps because they operated so much out of the way of the music of their time, the old music still sounds fresh.
As stated,Greatest Hits is the best place to start; if that's interesting but you don't like noise, avoid Second Annual Report but definitely get 20 Jazz-Funk Greats and maybe DOA.
Kraftwerk are recognized as one of the leaders of the popular electronic music movement, but I think underrated for the subtle emotiveness of their music as well as the prediction of industrial techniques with their use of common modern noise elements on their early recording Radio Activity.
After Autobahn, their three premier '70s records evolve from an industrial-like minimalism to a proto-New Romantic minimal electro-pop. While most of their material deserves notice, the Capitol recordings collection, available as a CD set, displays Kraftwerk at their freshest and most influential. This is their recording I most highly recommend and best displays their influence on me.
What I take away from Kraftwerk is a fascinating vocal sing-song drone juxtaposed with settings alternating between grim and sweet, from the spastic alienated intensity of "Showroom Dummies" to the humorous bouncy "The Robots". I like the way they use a few spare notes to communicate the moods and complexities of modern life, along with a simple beat. It is difficult to imagine how they did this and judging from later works (80s and 90s) it is easy to imagine they themselves were not terribly conscious of their achievements. In any case, these blueprints for electronic minimalism are a valuable starting point for anyone.
The Monkees were a great band. It mystifies me the degree to which they are regarded otherwise, since I think they (or the entity represented by the front-people known as the Monkees) left a legacy of great commercial pop music.
Well-crafted pop songs? Sure, consider that they had several great writers (Goffin-King, Mann, and people like Nilsson contributing) and talented musicians backing them. Progressive? Sure, consider that they were the first band to use the Moog synthesizer in a commercial recording. No, they weren't innovative exactly, but they took elements from standard pop music (Brill Building pop/tin pan alley influences/English music hall) and mixed those with elements of '60s pop-rock, obviously the Beatles and psychedelia. Put aside the objection that they were manufactured and there is a wealth of just plain great material that makes for enjoyable listening that is not simply trivial fluff. Songs like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" mix light social commentary with emotive melodies. Nesmith first explored his own country-rock fusion in the Monkees' setting. On Headquarters they played with vocal exploration ("Zilch") and on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones Ltd they played with the aforementioned Moog in "Daily Nightly". Of course not everything they did was fantastic (in fact towards the end as their backing record label lost interest things went embarrassingly bad quickly as each member went their own direction unedited), but so many of their songs have been lovingly recrafted by later bands (such as Run-DMC's "Mary Mary") it's clear there was a pretty large assortment of quality.
But there's no way for someone to read this and be convinced that what was obviously a purely commercial enterprise made some great songs. Check out Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones Ltd for one of their most consistent recordings. While no doubt a couple songs won't be to your liking, many are just outstanding and there's a decent range on the record with contributions by all the members. This is also an interesting recording in that it follows their true band effort, Headquarters, which was the only album they really worked on as a band and did most of the recording and artistic direction themselves, and while they maintained their role as artistic directors, thus bringing their strengths to the recording, they availed themselves of the best talent money could buy and thus got themselves into the enviable position of having their weaknesses compensated for as well as being edited sensibly, their self-indulgent moments curbed (something which would fall by the wayside on later records). This album is the high point of their evolution from near-puppets to a band to three individuals doing their own thing and basically coincidentally sharing space on vinyl.
Updated 01/22/99.
Beck Hansen is no doubt one of the great artists of the 1990s and likely to one of the great artists of the early 21st century.
Sure, he's an obvious choice and influential to many. To me in particular he's really influenced production values with his ability to not only fuse genres but also production values, with highly polished and lo-fi grittiness meeting. For anyone not knowing much about Beck, he's an accomplished songwriter as well as gifted in his ability to synthesize roots music (country, folk) with modern technology-based trends (rap, sampling). Also, he writes music that has a good bit of humor and playfulness, not falling into "serious artist" cliches. I've seen him live a few times and each time he put on a great show, with performances mixing successfully tongue-in-cheek show biz parodies with a real respect for the tradition of live shows.
Any Beck album is worth checking out, but his most commercial effort, Odelay is the best introduction, with some great songs and in particular about the best production values of any record of that year (1996); however, if you are into softer music, try out Mutations. although it's possible if you like that that you wouldn't be so fond of his other records. If you're seeking out his complete recordings, most of it's easy to find but don't forget to find Golden Feelings, which is available on CD and includes not only his early indie tape of the same name but also other early recording, including "Everyone's Out to Get You Muthafukka"
Updated 10/15/98.
Wire (for a while Wir) seems to be little known despite a career spanning 20 years (with some breaks) and a clear influence on the alternative scene.
They started as a minimalist punk band and evolved into a high art ensemble. What is striking about Wire is not merely their rapid musical growth, but their approach to music. Not dissimilar in basic approach from Depeche Mode in their building of songs based on simple motifs and patterns, they differentiated themselves in increasing musical and emotional intensity and complexity, as well as a willingness to be more experimental - much to the expense of their commercial potential.
Wire intrigued me for their mixture of various instrumentation and arrangement, particularly in the last half of their first stint as a band, in the late '70s/early '80s. They were able to mix elements that would not seem to go together as well as do 4+ minute slower pieces and poppy-punky fast 2 minute pieces.
In particular I think their album 154 is provocative and them at their best in their early years. A later (and fairly different) recording from their later years is It's Beginning To and Back Again (IBTABA), a more beat oriented record culled from live recordings and assembled in the studio, including more interesting renditions of songs from a couple earlier recordings.
Updated 09/19/98.
Perhaps Boston's greatest contribution of the New Wave era and perhaps even through this writing was Mission of Burma. This is a must-listen band, They didn't last nearly long enough and their deafening roar damaged Roger Miller's hearing, but they bridged the fury and minimalism of punk with the art and intellectualism of progressive rock. However, they never were limited by either school and it's fair to say that they still sound unique.
So what makes MoB unique? Their fusion of loud rock with tape loops with loose but thoughtful sound structures with simply very good playing doesn't sound like anyone else before or since. Sure, their guitar work and non-song structures were echoed in Sonic Youth and their fusion of guitar and tape was echoed (digitally) later by My Bloody Valentine but no one comes to mind who pulled together their many elements at all! Which is somewhat shocking considered it's over 15 years now since they recorded together.
MoB combined neo-classical influences and punk fury in songs like "New Nails". They moved from soft to loud seemlessly in "Trem Two". When they embraced more normal sound structures, as in their classic "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" they combined amazing intensity with accessibility, making them a little frightening even then for commercial radio.
As stated above, their playing skills should be noted. The trio of "real" musicians, Roger Miller (guitar and much more), Clint Conley (bass and more), and Peter Prescott (percussion) each had opportunities to show off a little while as an ensemble they gelled. Martin Swope contributed tape manipulation and looping, adding an element at that point rarely used in rock music (but already in high gear in hip-hop).
After their break-up, Roger Miller and Martin Swope continued on with Birdsongs of the Mesozioc, also worth checking out, and has since gone solo and done work in another combo or two. Unfortunately I missed most of the work of the others after that.
Anything by Mission of Burma is worth checking out but probably the best place to "start' (which gets you almost half-way complete) is the album Mission of Burma by Rykodisc which combines their first EP Signals, Calls, and Marches and their studio album VS.
Updated 07/18/98.
Okay, this will be brief since we could really go on, but the Sex Pistols were simply one of the most important bands of the '70s. Their direct, scruffy sound was aggressive, perhaps unchallenged until Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back came out. The Sex Pistols' guitar, Johnny Rotten's effective vocals - well it was real rock and roll. And it wasn't simply important because it happened at a time when rock and roll seemed stagnant and bloated, but it was important because the Sex Pistols did two things. First, they wrote about things people could relate to in a way that was truly in the vernacular of rock people; unlike earlier "negative" bands like the Velvet Underground, the Sex Pistols wrote about regular life around them from a common perspective, whether it was simple every day morality ("Liar") or even relationships ("Satellite"). A second thing was that their sound, while inspired many things, was important in that like the Ramones it signalled a rock music based on other rock, not on blues or soul or country or any of the other foundations earlier built on. The Sex Pistols' concept of non-rock music was extremely limited but unlike the Ramones or the Damned they wrote literate, hard-hitting music. To me, the Sex Pistols were incredibly influential in their expression of sheer, from the gut, outrage. They managed to express their own indignation in a way that was not dumbed down but was not at all intellectualized.
There's only one real album to check out, the studio album of course, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, and while other material is worth getting, start with what they intended if you don't have anything yet.
06/20/98
Blondie! Arguably the greatest pop band of the early New Wave era! Snazzy, sexy, and smart! The kind of band that generated incredible hyperbole! The band that ate up publicity like Peg Bundy eats bon-bons! The most intelligent pop band on Earth in 1978! The biggest sell-out CBGB ever saw!
Well, whatever Blondie was, they were a sharp band. From the hip power pop of their first album even through the unfortunate art-pop disaster of their last, they were a band that carefully crafted intelligent pop. Sure, they weren't pioneers but they did make great songs out of myriad influences (how original were the Rolling Stones?). Throughout their career (okay, except the last album) they balanced accessible, basically commercial pop music with good ideas and deep content. They shouldn't be sold short; songs like "Dreaming" and "Fan Mail" are as good as anything written in the rock era, emotional songs that can be understood by anyone. Blondie broke through to mainstream success and their thoughtful pop inspired literally thousands of young (and probably not-so-young) people to listen to other new bands coming out of the same fringe scene - myself included. And Blondie had a great combination of talents: the synthesis of Stein's songwriting (he was the lead guitarist), Burke's drumming, Destri's aural sense (he was the keyboardist), and Harry's unique vocals yielded a kind of pop rock that simply hasn't been duplicated. Also, their willingness and ability to try different styles and create entirely different feels on each album is something few bands, once successful, even try. Blondie may have failed, but their failures are barely visible among the successes their variations created. Don't go by a few hits that managed to leak through; check out the albums (except for the last one, The Hunter, which is a well-intentioned art-concept record that falls flat). Most highly advised are Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, and Eat to the Beat. If you prefer less polished stuff, check out Plastic Letters first. I would disagree that Blondie was a singles band; in fact, listening to a random collection of singles is a little distracting and I don't recommend it. Blondie created albums that had their own feel and flow, and even the "singles" are best listened to in that setting.
05/03/98
It's about time we hit on one of Boston's least known but most challenging bands - no, not the somewhat known Mission of Burma but the almost unknown November Group.
November Group was one of the most interesting of the synth-based, dance-oriented bands. Unlike most of their peers in the early '80s, November Group was austere and harsh, bereft of joy, more influenced by some of the early "dark dance" groups like A Certain Ratio or New Order. They maintained a militant sound, and the vocals (provided by two women, who headed the band) moved from harsh monotone to emotive cries. I only know of two EPs by the band although I think they put an album out; the EPs are worth getting even if you have to get them on vinyl (assuming you have a player somewhere). I was deeply affected by their accessible but truly powerful music as I started playing more, and, to be honest, also by their visuals, which exploited '30s and '40s imagery; they made a video for "Put Your Back to It" which was as good as anything done by major artists back in 1983. As I understand it November Group migrated to New York but I don't think anything came out of it. If you know anything about Ann Prim or Kirby Kearney (the women who were the songwriters and nucleus of the band) please contact me via the feedback page.
02/27/98
This posting it's two artists: the influential Depeche Mode and a band whose first record I admired, the Plasmatics.
Depeche Mode worked a form of minimalism in pop that was intriguing and when it worked it worked very well. This applies not only to the Vince Clark period but even later. Their layering of simple melodies and harmonies were represented just how much you could do with really very little. Their economy of words ("Photographic"'s simple lead-in to the chorus "I take pictures/photographic pictures") was equally effective. I found Speak and Spell to be one of their best records and it had an impact on me throughout time; another recording worth having of theirs in the post-Clark era is Music for the Masses.
The Plasmatics may not be the best regarded band, but in their original incarnation with their first album (New Hope for the Wretched) and early singles, they were the nadir of junk culture, with their calculated mock sexuality and destruction. Their early music was also enthusiastic in its energy and lack of subtlety, and while their brand of punk was not politically or socially aware, musically they were part of the punk scene and as such among the earliest American punks to record. They also did exactly what later hardcore kids did; turned heavy metal. After New Hope for the Wretched it was all downhill as they became tedious and embroiled in heavy metal cliches. But that first record and the early flash and suss was all-American and refreshing in one important way: rather than rebelling against society (which, let's face it, is pretty comfortable), they indulged and became a parody of its disposable commerciality, and musically had the adrenaline to pull that off. To me their first record was as exciting a record as Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (although even I would never say, even then, it was as good as that).
Already up to the second posting, after just a couple days - time marches on.
This time it coincides with a review: the legendary Bob Mould.
Bob Mould started with Husker Du, went solo after a bitter breakup, formed and led Sugar, then went solo again, after a not so bitter but still unpleasant breakup (yes, I realize 90% of you know this, but a lot of people really don't).
First, on a more personal note, I found by accident that Mould has had a strong influence on the guitar sound employed in many of *'s recordings. Over the years his wild-sounding but impeccably delivered guitar sounds had seeped into my own idiosyncratic, admittedly limited guitar playing, causing me to develop more interesting noise textures in reaction and broaden my pallet, particularly in the noisy aspects of guitar.
More to the point, though, Mould is not simply a guitarist with an interesting sound; he is a very good songwriter. From early songs such as Husker Du's "Everything Falls Apart" to recent songs such as "Egoverride", he has combined a sense of dread or loss with melody and urgency, only very rarely becoming morosely self-absorbed and more often creating songs which really felt like so many of us feel sometimes yet, either through simple catharsis or more sophisticated outside-looking-in techniques, made us feel better. Furthermore, he worked hard to incorporate pop and hard rock and succeeded frequently where most others fail.
It's almost impossible to recommend single recordings, as literally each recording he has been involved with has been at least good enough to purchase, but I would point to Husker Du records Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey (and the more interesting but more uneven Zen Arcade and the more limited but more intense New Day Rising if you already have these two), solo collection record Poison Years (this combines some of the best of his two between-band solo records), the Sugar EP Beaster, and his most recent record Bob Mould. If you MUST only get ONE, then it's a tossup between Flip Your Wig (this one is best for those who like simpler pop-rock songs), Beaster (f you're the good listener type who gets into the artwork of songs), and Bob Mould (sophisticated hard rock/power pop mix, for those who like to rock fiercely and have a good cry at the same time).
There's so many - so who gets this first posting?
Well, I decided it should certainly go to a fundamental influence. There are lots of artists who influenced *, certainly obvious ones such as Joy Division, the Velvet Underground, and even, if you're listening, Depeche Mode, but these bands are always mentioned as influential, so, while at some point each will grace this page, it doesn't seem fair to start out with any of them.
Thus it was decided to choose an artistic entity that, while critically acclaimed, doesn't seem to be much of a reference point for today's artists.
Public Image Limited.
Specifically the early band/albums: Public Image, Metal Box (also released as Second Edition), Flowers of Romance, and This is What You Want This is What You Get.
The stark nature of PIL's music and its challenging combination of pop and experimentation provided for a listening experience still unduplicated. While the early four studio albums vary greatly from eachother, each is engaging and a stylistic thread exists in the themes of the music and the use of repetition. PIL had an intuitive grasp of how to combine pop/rock elements and hypnotic structures, and the arrangements from Metal Box through This is... are both clear and ear-filling. Lydon mastered his voice, evolving from simple ranting on Public Image through the strange pleadings on Metal Box, the Arabic weaves and depraved vocal sounds of Flowers of Romance, and finally the effective stressing of his unique growls, whines, and even finally tunefulness on This is... and the less interesting but well written and performed rock Album.
Particular mention needs to be made of what may be the greatest recording of popular music; Metal Box. This recording, fastidiously engineered and initially released in a film canister with three 45 RPM records, was sonically crystal clear and constituted of wide dynamics, a challenge in its time considering vinyl limitations. Musically, its deep dub-related bass (authored by Jah Wobble and perhaps influenced by Lydon's interest in reggae), scathing guitar (Keith Levene's contribution), soaring effects and synthetics (Dave Crowe and Jeannette Lee, probably others in the band as well), and the strange vocals combined to create a special feel that both provoked and comforted. This record houses songs talking about real life experiences and drenched in dark depression, but with glimpses of joy and success around that. It's use of technology, while subtle, succeeds in not taking away the humanity of the record but does lend a sense of machines as both cold and comforting. Rather complex yet accessible (as long as you're willing to invest a little bit into the listening experience), this album comes closer than perhaps any other to defining the human condition in the last 50 years of the 20th century.
Echoes of PIL reverberate inescapably through *'s music. In particular the way Lydon worked through his lack of conventional singing ability and the tension inherent in PIL's interest in noise and pop have informed *'s material.
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