1st of all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone at Audiogon! I've Have been thinking about it(hundreds of choices)and lately just wondering, If you had to pick just one, what would be your favorite band or artist of all time??? Extremely hard decision!, but Mine would be Elton John. (deeply rooted since I was 10 or 11) Old fart now😎
"I can't take seriously anyone who writes a song entitled "Foxy Lady"
If that's the basis for your broad-brush, "lyrics of little interest" comment, you'll certainly understand why I don't take seriously your literary O-pinions (other insightful musical comments not withstanding).
Favorite Rock ’n’ Roller Dave Edmunds. Favorite songwriter Brian Wilson and Iris Dement. Favorite band The Band. Favorite singer George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Iris Dement, Emmylou Harris, Richard Manuel, Brenda Lee, Big Joe Turner, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard. Favorite drummer Roger Hawkins, Jim Gordon, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel. Favorite guitarist Dave Edmunds, Chuck Berry, Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, Steve Cropper, James Burton. Favorite bassist James Jamerson. Favorite composer JSB.
I can't take seriously anyone who writes a song entitled "Foxy Lady". But then I have a low tolerance for corniness. At the time the lyrics to that song were being written, Van Dyke Parks was providing Brian Wilson with the lyrics for his Smile album.
I'll agree with a couple previous posts. Favorites can definitely vary By mood and/or day of the week. I have hundreds of favorites if not thousands. But I've thought it through and over all I will stand with the music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin😎
@bdp24 So often you contribute much by way of informed music criticism and great knowledge of popular music history. There are just sometimes, however, a point you make has to be contested; in this case, "...lyrics of little interest". If these below were all he he ever wrote, it would be enough for me. If you don’t recognize the unique beauty here, probably best to stick to playing drums and forget the second career as literary critic! :-)
The Wind Cries Mary Jimi Hendrix After all jacks are in their boxes And the clowns have all gone to bed You can hear happiness staggering on down the street Footprints dressed in red And the wind whispers Mary
A broom is drearily sweeping Up the broken pieces of yesterday’s life Somewhere a queen is weeping Somewhere a king has no wife And the wind, it cries Mary
The traffic lights they turn a blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags downstream ’Cause the life that they lived is dead And the wind screams Mary
Will the wind ever remember? The names it has blown in the past And with its crutch, its old age and its wisdom It whispers "no, this will be the last" And the wind cries Mary
BDP24, I agree with what you like, too. A lot. But... well my connection to the JHE was immediate and like a force of nature (so to speak). I have never tired of listening to them- like great jazz or Mozart my appreciation just gets better all the time. Some like fireworks (I do too), but I can "hear" the lights and the colors when I listen to those live concert tapes. And a lot more. P.S.- The Beatles were "okay" too!
I saw Jimi, Noel, and Mitch live twice. I know a lot of ya’ll really love them, but I found "the middle" of the music missing in what they did. To speak in analogies, what they played created a "sphere" of music, with a hollow center. It’s like they are playing "around" where the music would normally be found, but is completely missing in theirs.
With only a single guitar (yes, played by a very creative one), a mediocre bassist (Noel was a guitarist, not a bassist) who contributed little MUSICALLY, and a drumset (played by a real fine player)---no harmony singing (and lyrics of little interest), no instrument(s) playing chords and supportive parts, and, imo, rather pedestrian chord progressions and melodies---the resulting music I find very 1-dimensional (I can hear the howls of outrage from here ;-). But what I listen for in music is particular to me, as it is for everyone.
@french_fries, as you like John Coltrane, give a listen to Ornette Coleman, another genius. Rock ’n’ Roll band NRBQ did some collaborations with another great, Sun Ra. Now THERE was a great band!
I listened to a live video of the Jimi Hendrix Experience on NY Eve. Bach is a g_d of composition of course. John Coltrane opened my eyes to jazz (a pathetic word for an undefinable type of modern music). But Jimi had something that completely blows me away. Three guys- that's all it took. Usually it takes a whole bunch of guys playing together, but not the "Experience". They take me through a "worm hole" like in the movie "Contact". Past the speed of light. Maybe Elvis is still alive somewhere, but I am SURE that Jimi is still very much alive.
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