The Day The Music Died

[Jack Meoff]

Just read in the news that HMV is going under.
One of the last remaining "music" stores.
This got me thinking...
Is it because of the internet?
Possibly, but not altogether...I think.
Even though you can buy/steal pretty much any song you want,
If an album is really good, I want to own the "physical" copy.
I like running through the liner notes and checking out the cover, etc..
Sure, it's not the same as good old vinyl
The big 15" cover, but still it's nice to have the artwork and all

So...
Why the musical retail plunge?

To me, it's a no brainer (literally)
There is no music anymore.
A skeletal representation of what it was maybe
But really...
If Bieber and Lady Gaga is as good as it gets music is truly in the grave
To an extent I've never before witnessed either.

I've been a professional musician for over 30 years
I've seen musical brilliance and musical diarrhea
But there's always been a fundamental factor of "You must be THIS tall to get on the ride"
I remember all to clearly when recording itself was an art form.
Back in the day, Abbey Road had "Balance Engineers"
And they were truly schooled engineers
They went to school just to be able to spin tapes
After you learned enough "maybe" you were actually "allowed"to record something.
Or at least assist the lead engineer.
With all that hanging over your head you had better have had your sh*t together going into the studio.

Just to give an example of what the playing field used to be like
Here's a little example of what was involved in making a song.

Just for laughs, lets take New York New York by Frank Sinatra,
Okay so first you write the song, fairly complicated chord structure when it comes down to it
And it is a song which in the classic structure of a pop song
It should at the very least have...
An intro, a verse, what's known as a pre chorus and of course a chorus
Most decently written pop songs usually have a "C"part or"bridge"
Now we need the "arrangement" usually done by the "arranger"
When you listen to a song with strings and horns...
Somebody has to write out on paper what each of the roughly 30 people in the orchestra is going to playand when to play it.
Now you assemble the rhythm section, bass, drums, piano
The main band, then add 30 people playing trumpets, trombones, saxes, flutes
Violins, violas, kettle drums, vibraphones, etc.
Now bring in Frank,
Cue the band and the tape operator.
The tape op announces "Take 1, tape rolling..
The "conductor/arranger" counts off the 35-40 piece band
They start, Frank does his thing, the song ends and it's in the can...next song...
All live, no auto tune, no "punching in" nada.
If you're one of those 40 guys and you blow a line,
You're gonna have 39 band members, a producer, an arranger and the tape op's on ya.
THAT'S the way it was done.
If you couldn't play your part live, you had no business being on that record.

Then we got multi tracking which led to Sgt. Peppers and various Floyd items

Point being, making an album or a song was an art form.

I've seen the music world take a dive on many occasions
But NEVER have I seen the level of pathetic writing and lack of) workmanship.
Basically a five minute "intro" with either some idiot flapping about b*tch slapping his ho will suffice
Or the same basic idea with a auto tuned cute kid who can dance
Or a Madonnabe doing the Marilyn Manson thing (another mastermind)

It really is a bad thing too.
Stupid music makes Stupid people.
I really hope it comes back one day
But I ain't holding my breath.

In the meantime,
I think I'll throw on some Boston.

 

[slant6billy]

The wife and I watch the Lawrence Welk (in reruns) on the Public broadcasting Station on Saturday evenings. OK Throw stuff at me now. One has to admit, those were some talented folks on that show- singing and dancing in tune and in sync. No "Auto tune or dance coaches. Yep, really lights the night on fire on a Saturday night.

 

[Jack Meoff]

The wife and I watch the Lawrence Welk (in reruns) on the Public broadcasting Station on Saturday evenings. OK Throw stuff at me now. One has to admit, those were some talented folks on that show- singing and dancing in tune and in sync. No "Auto tune or dance coaches. Yep, really lights the night on fire on a Saturday night.

That's the real deal..
All those kids are nailing that tune
And count how many people are involved in that three minute song
Admirable sh*t man, and I pride myself on the same principle
But that principle seems very unnecessary now.
Unfortunate.

BTW, my mac jukebox is on random.
I have around 9500 very varied songs
Neil Sedaka just came on going his "70's" version of
Breaking up us hard to do. :happy3:

 

[80 Aspen RT]

I dont remember if I posted this here or not, but here in Salina KS. we have a place called Acoustic Sounds. They are re-making old vinyl, and the print shop I work at is who does all the labels for the vinyl. They arn't just making a few either, we have printed thousands of labels.My boss was trying to get them to let us print the album covers too, I haven't heard anything more about that part of it. Most of the stuff is old stuff like Nat King Cole, and alot of blues artists. I cant think of the others right now. I took some pics the other day of some labels, I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I dont remember if I posted this here or not, but here in Salina KS. we have a place called Acoustic Sounds. They are re-making old vinyl, and the print shop I work at is who does all the labels for the vinyl. They arn't just making a few either, we have printed thousands of labels.My boss was trying to get them to let us print the album covers too, I haven't heard anything more about that part of it. Most of the stuff is old stuff like Nat King Cole, and alot of blues artists. I cant think of the others right now. I took some pics the other day of some labels, I'll see if I can find it.

Sweet! Gotta love the vinyl.
I've got a mint Toshiba SR-355 turntable.

 

[80 Aspen RT]

Here are some of them.
If you are a big time audiophile, this place has $28,000 turntables and $20,000 cartridges!

 

[80 Aspen RT]

The wife and I watch the Lawrence Welk (in reruns) on the Public broadcasting Station on Saturday evenings. OK Throw stuff at me now. One has to admit, those were some talented folks on that show- singing and dancing in tune and in sync. No "Auto tune or dance coaches. Yep, really lights the night on fire on a Saturday night.

Ya know.....I was going to give you some crap about LW...but to each their own. I'm sure not everybody likes what I listen to either.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Here are some of them.
If you are a big time audiophile, this place has $28,000 turntables and $20,000 cartridges!

View attachment 3406View attachment 3407View attachment 3408

Wow! Verve!
That's big time!

 

[80 Aspen RT]

I will take some more pics , I think I seen another order yesterday.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I will take some more pics , I think I seen another order yesterday.

Verve records..
That's the sh*t.
Good to see vinyl still being stamped.
Not surprising though.
Will all the crap the industry is spewing out these days
It's no wonder people are returning to the old stuff.

 

[77kickinaspen]

im not sure music has died a generation of it yes theres no more john fogerty there no more tom petty hits no cougar meloncamp, but if ur into slamming guitar and great percusion i could show u music aint all lady gaga and justin b-hole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HUr9UKAxiY

http://youtu.be/YZR9KGYVSB8

 

[slant6billy]

Yep, I thought the Welk stuff would get more of a WTF response. Make no mistake, when Les Paul was jaming in those big band days and had the "Log" guitar- so he could shred the sound, I really got to look at the talent of all those big band "Welk" types. Later on Saturday night.... I'm watching VH1 classic Metal Mania (like the old Headbangers ball). I should really fix that exhaust leak in my 79 F body now shouldn't I?

 

[kkritsilas]

Some of the musicians on the Lawrence Welk show are as good as they get, and equivalent of some of today's best studio musicians.

I think a lot of it has to be related to the decline in "real" radio stations. Radio stations these days are all part of giant corporations, and almost never get a chance to program their own material. The music that is played is often the least offensive, lowest common denominator type music, even on the "classic rock" stations. used to be that there were independent stations (mosly on the FM band) that would play just about anything as long as it was good, or at least, was liked by either the DJ or Program Director. Now, airtime goes to the least offensive music, or the music that has the most "promotional" money behind it (payola rules were discarded years ago). You get to hear a lot of repeats on "classic rock" stations now, and some new bands, which may or may not be good musically, never get a chance to be played on-air. Makes it real difficult for new bands, even more so if they haven't been signed to a recording contract, because they don't have the "promotional money" behind them. Then again, a lot of recording contracts now assign all rights to the recording label, in essence allowing the record label to steal the musical works. I don't know if this is going to change any time soon, but there is some good new music out there, you just can't find in in the usual media broadcasts.

Kostas

 

[Erics5th]

I mostly listen to alternitive/indie rock. Lots of stuff I like. Of course, I can never hear enough of Roxy Music.

 

[Jack Meoff]

It is a sad state of affairs out there. There has been an ongoing dummy-ing down of music. Eric said Roxy Music..the caliber of writing and musicianship in that band is beyond reproach. I come from a background of music where you had to know your sh*t. Not just be some fool with a computer, which seems to be the norm these days.

I had a nine piece jazz band for years and the keyboard player and I would constantly try to out do the other, throw him a loop so to speak.
We had guest players a lot, and they quickly found out that they had better have done their homework before they tried a round with us.
There was no BS. You knew your stuff or you went home with your tail between your legs.

Now, if you have a mac and can rhyme sentences like a five year old your a rap star....
Can almost sing?
No problem...auto tune.
Very sad state indeed.
Billy...don't get that exhaust leak fixed just yet.
It might help in case Bieber comes on the radio while you're driving.

 

[Erics5th]

I've enjoyed RM since I first heard Avalon, and soon got Flesh + Blood and Manifesto. Then I discovered the Eno era... Holy crap! It seems music is getting "Disneyfied" in how they are produced. They all sound the same, not wanting to make anybody offended. Long gone are the days of experimental music, concept albums like Pet Sounds, Sgt Peppers, Pink Floyd Animals/The Wall, even Planet P (remember them?). If you like electronic music, Kraftwerk influenced dang near every new wave band in the 80's, as well as RM, David Bowie's Berlin era works... Then of course there is Joy Division (later New Order after Ian Curtis commited suicide) with both bands heavy bass that can still be heard in alot of alternitive music today (still not as deep as Ja Warble's bass line in Public Image Limited's Public Image song). I hear people saying how good Adel is.... She's ok, but she is no Alison Moyet.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Funny, I was just taking with a buddy and we were discussing how pathetic music has become and he mentioned Adele.
He said competitively speaking she wasn't bad...
I said compared to what?
We used to have sirloin to listen to and every once in a while a hot dog was okay. Now we listen to dog crap and every once in a while they give you some unflavored tofu as a treat.
Like I keep saying, it's really sad what it's come to.
As a musician who has been playing and studying as long as I have
It's even harder to take.

 

[Erics5th]

I don't play an instrument, can't carry a tune in a bucket. But I do love music... Everything from Hank Williams and The Carter Family to Silversun Pickups. Also enjoy old Motown and the RnB/soul music of the early '70's (The O'Jay's For the Love of Money has a bass line to die for). Good music is good for the soul. :icon_thumright:

 

[Jack Meoff]

Then there's the quality of the sound itself.
Remember when the object of the game was to have a really great stereo?
This is what a lot of people call their stereo these days.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I prefer to listen to this.
My 1976 Marantz 2285b.
You haven't heard Abbey Road or Dark Side by Floyd till you've heard it through a Marantz.