Do you ever wonder?

on a certain level, martykl has david crosby pegged. he was, however, one of the great harmony singers (go back and listen to the early byrds stuff) and has his name on a fair number of classic songs--8 miles high, wooden ships, triad, etc.--and was actually somewhat groundbreaking in his use of alternate tunings, unconventional song strctures and eastern modalities. mostly, i think he was a great counterculture symbol--the anti-authoritian, outspoken mustachioed jerk in a fringe jacket. dylan, for one, praises him mightily in his autobiography.

marty, you've turned me around on this subject. i retract my earlier post and now concur that he's a drug addled ass clown. his solo work does suck. there's less talented people in the biz, but fate is a fickle mistress.

i do think that certain guys can only make worthwhile music in the context of a band--when they step out solo, they flail around miserably. look at the solo records from mick jagger, roger waters, clapton, pete townsend, roger mcguinn et. al.--very little is in the same league as the stuff they did with their bands. pride goeth before the fall, i guess.

actually, not that he's a titan of the biz, but ian hunter's epononymous lp and "you're never alone..." were really good 70s pop records. wrt clapton, for some reason i can't abide any of his solo stuff after "eric clapton" (which was really a delaney and bonnie record), whereas i still listen to layla, blind faith and disraeli gears all the time. all personal bias, of course, but he's never had enough songs, or enough voice, to carry the show by himself. sorta like scottie pippen after mj retired...

entire books should be (and probably have been) written about the whole grateful dead cult phenomenom. i've been subjected to their interminable live shows and bootleg tapes, which is my idea of hell. now, i don't think their whole ouevre is entirely worthless--workingman's and american beauty are good country rock lps--but seldom has more adulation been poured over less musical substance. some of my less drug-addled deadhead friends have theorized that (sorta like the rocky horror picture show)artistic merit isn't the point; rather the whole communal let's drop-acid-and-buy-the merchandise-together vibe is the draw; all in all they're a fairly benign place for like-minded aging white people to gather and avoid reality.

I'll go out on a limb and throw U2 on the skewer. I sorta liked their early, punky stuff (I still listen to Boy once in a while), but their mega-grandiose stadium anthem stuff (Joshua Tree et al) sounds kinda like Spinal Tap to me. They seem like nice, sincere guys and all, but I personally can't comprehend their Godlike popularity.