I am going down an ultra odd time signature, prog rock hole right now. Like, fast! I know that in a week or two I will crave nothing more than some Nick Drake or Flying Burrito Brothers. For the moment, however, when I get a free moment to enjoy music, I've found myself digging into the obscure solo discography of Yes, Genesis and King Crimson members. Today, I discovered this song while listening to Spotify in my classroom on my prep period. I paused it and listened to the intro four times in a row. As the students entered the next period, I cued the tune. They looked at me like I was listening to extraterrestrial jazz. That's because I basically was.
Here is a cut from drummer, Bill Bruford's (Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, U.K.) second album, "One of A Kind." It's like Daft Punk meets George Duke at a Scientology dance party with members of Return To Forever.... only better! My research tells me (because I couldn't figure this stuff out with my own mortal abilities) that each phrase of the intro piece is 19 beats (eighth notes/quavers) composed of a bar of 7, a bar of 7, and a bar of 5. So that's technically 19/8 time. Wowee Zowee!
Sweetbottom - Angels of the Deep . I can provide a totally valid explanation for the existence of this record in my collection. You see, I'd been eyeing this peculiar 12" at my favorite little hole-in-the-wall record shop for about a month. It was in the $5 box. After a few weeks it finally landed in the $1 bin. For the album artwork alone, I thought, this is worth a buck. Four late-70s dudes clad in white, cotton shirts and pants, hairy chests and... white shag carpet. Sweetbottom indeed. Adding to the allure, the notes revealed that the album had been recorded at the Shade Tree Resort Studio in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin between 1977-78. Could this be like the Great Lakes version of Yacht Rock? Could I be holding some long-forgotten, Midwest soft rock obscurity? I was tempted to cheat and pull out my cellphone to Google them, but then I paused. This is $1 we're talking about. Let's take the risk and live dangerously. As I approached the register, I noted that the ...
Jonathan Richman 's I Was Dancing In A Lesbian Bar reminds me of last night. Yesterday was my birthday. In typical fashion, after my responsibilities as husband and father were lovingly fulfilled and the sun had set on the quiet suburbs of Portland, I drove straight into the city for some karaoke. Throughout the evening I sang three songs and danced harder than I have in years. In Richman's song, the protagonist finds himself feeling like an outsider at a night club. The clientele is too cool to dance and less than welcoming. Soon he is invited to go dancing in a new spot by some kind strangers. They lead him to a lesbian bar that is the polar opposite of the first club. Everybody's dancing and having a good time. Richman has found a place of belonging in the most unlikely setting. That's how I felt at the karaoke club last night. I've been in literally hundreds of karaoke bars in a handful of countries. As a first-timer, singers can be met with indifference,...
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