The thirteenth in a series of posts where we bring to you the most interesting and stimulating articles about music we found this week.
Mystic Nights: The Making Of Blonde On Blonde In Nashville by Sean Wilentz (Oxford American): Wilentz documents the making of Bob Dylan’s masterpiece double album
Blonde On Blonde (think “Just Like A Woman” and “I Want You”) in exceptional, interesting detail – Dylan struggled for some time to find the sound he wanted for the album, tried recording it with his touring band, in New York, but eventually recorded it with some good ol’ boys in Nashville, where he agonised over lyrics in the studio while the pro session men played cards.
The Hit Whisperer by Adam Sternbergh (New York Magazine): A profile of Dr Luke, the producer behind “Tik Tok”, “Right Round”, “Party In The USA”, “California Gurls”, etc. Article goes into his actually-kinda-weird factory line production style, and how he has to look at Wikipedia to remember what songs he’s done this year already.
Michael Jackson v. Prince: An Oral History by K Murphy (Vibe): Prince and Michael Jackson were two of the biggest stars of the 80s, made reasonably similar music in a reasonably similar genre, and both were intensely competitive – so of course they had a huge rivalry. Article has many fascinating gems of knowledge in it: did you know that 'Bad' was meant to be a duet between MJ and Prince? Prince came to the studio, listened to the song, decided it wasn’t for him, and backed out saying that it would still be a hit without him.
What I’m Listening To (2) by Wesley Stace (Granta): Stace (also known as the singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding) talks articulately about his quixotic quest of the moment: to locate the perfect representative bootleg from each of David Bowie’s tours. I think the piece illustrates the mind of the music fan as well as anything. But then, I’m the kind of person who, for my own amusement, made a mixtape of Dylan rip-offs from the 60s and 70s.
The Residents Create The First Beatles Mash-Up by Jon Savage (The Guardian): Beatles mashups are a dime a dozen, especially since Danger Mouse’s
Grey Album (or the Beatles’ own
Love). But The Residents’ “Beyond The Valley Of The Day In The Life” is something special. This is partly because it’s from 1977 and very influential, and partly because they dare to imagine: “what comes after that famous chord at the end of ‘Day In The Life’”? Savage does well in putting the Residents into context and explaining why they might matter.
Feed The Troll by Tom Ewing (Pitchfork): In the 1990s, Ewing used to play the squalling noise of bands like Swans, Emperor, and Nurse With Wound in order to actively drive people away from the bookstore he worked in (it was the 1990s). Older and wiser, he reflects on this kind of musical trolling. He suggests that we like to put other music fans in convenient boxes - hipsters, rock pigs, metalheads, artsy wankers - rather than actively listen to the actual music they listen to, with all its complexities and subtleties, because it might show the downside of our own taste.
A Is For Actor, B Is For Band: Breaking The Stigma Of The Actor’s Band by Lynnette Porter (PopMatters): Porter tries to make the argument that just because a member of a band happens to be a famous actor doesn’t mean that the band automatically sucks. I’m not quite convinced – her argument uses Cher and Sinatra as examples, but they were famous singers long before they were famous actors. On one hand, Russell Crowe. On the other hand, Jason Schwartzman’s band Coconut Records make respectable indie pop. Yeah, I’m not sure if that’s enough to cancel out 30 Odd Foot Of Grunt, either. Still, I now know that Pippin from
Lord Of The Rings is in a band called Beecake.
The Gin Club: “What We Do Is MOR Pop” by Andrew McMillen (Mess+Noise): Band profiles are a dime a dozen, but this is a good one, whether or not you even know who the Gin Club are. This is partly because the Gin Club’s leader Ben Salter is an articulate and unpretentious fellow – most indie bands are going to be all “this was influenced by Suicide and the Scientists” where Salter just says self-depreciatingly that “we’re MOR pop” and that he likes La Roux. But also because McMillen
(also a contributor to TheVine - Ed), in a way, gets to the heart of the band and how they go about doing things, where they record, and that they’re willing to let a Salter’s farmer brother-in-law join the band simply because he’s written a good song.
Tim Byron