Not too long ago there were a number of articles in the media about a lawsuit that had been filed by the estate of the late guitarist Randy California against Led Zeppelin, claiming that Jimmy Page had plagiarized California’s composition “Taurus” when he wrote the music for Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”. This and other disputes and controversies, whether taken to court or not, touch on an interesting question, that of how songwriting credits should be written and where to draw the line between being influenced by an earlier composition and plagiarizing it. Since this is a complex issue and there are far too many interesting examples to go over all of them in detail, I will just summarize some of my own thoughts on the subject.
First of all, as a music historian and a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due, I personally think all songwriting credits should reflect as accurately as possible who actually contributed to the writing of the song. I can understand how some writers may occasionally want to give credit to someone else for various reasons; for instance, some songwriters have registered songs in the names of family members or friends out of generosity, often in order to provide them with regular income from royalties. That seems to be why Vincent Ford was credited as the writer of “No Woman No Cry”, even though it is more likely that Bob Marley himself wrote the song. Paul McCartney gave his wife Linda co-writing credits on numerous songs, when in most cases her contributions were probably minimal. In other cases, a band’s songs may be credited to the entire band in order to give everyone an equal share in songwriting royalties and to minimize disputes. Queen, for example, started crediting the entire band on all songs on their 1989 album The Miracle even though some songs were still written primarily or entirely by a single member, because in the past they had had major arguments about whose songs got to go on the band’s singles (which generated considerable extra royalty income). At other times, credit has been given for less noble reasons, such as when Elvis Presley’s publishers insisted he get a co-credit on songs like “Love Me Tender” (which was actually a re-write by Ken Darby of the 19th century tune “Aura Lee”, but ended up being credited to Presley and Darby’s wife Vera Matson), or when disc jockey Alan Freed and Chess Records financial backer Russ Fratto initially received co-credits on Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene” as payback (though their credits were later removed). But regardless of the reason, I’d prefer to see the actual writers credited, so, for example, Paul McCartney should get sole credit on “Yesterday”, “For No One” and “Let It Be” and John Lennon should get sole credit on “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Revolution”, to name a few examples.
But even if every effort was made to credit a song accurately, it’s not always so clear cut how that should be done. One problem is determining how much of a contribution is sufficient for someone to deserve a songwriting credit. If someone suggests a line in the lyrics of a song, is that enough for them to get a writing credit? How about changing a few notes in a melody? If your starting point is an older song, how much do you have to change it before you can claim the new song as entirely your own? This of course relates back to disputes such as the one over “Stairway to Heaven”. In that case, there clearly is a resemblance between the opening bars of the two songs, and since California’s band Spirit and Zeppelin played together it seems certain that Page heard California’s tune and was likely influenced by it. On the other hand, some have pointed out that there are many songs far older than “Taurus” that have similar progressions, and in any event the rest of “Stairway” is nothing like “Taurus”. Personally I’m a little dubious whether California should get an actual co-writing credit, though Page should acknowledge his debt to him. On the other hand, Jake Holmes should certainly have received a full co-writing credit for Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” (rather than than just "Jimmy Page, inspired by Jake Holmes", which is how it was credited on a Zeppelin release following the lawsuit over the song - this particular wording seems like it might be more appropriate to "Stairway"), though it is fair for Page to also be credited, considering how radically he transformed Holmes’s song. Of course it was an old tradition in blues and folk music to take bits and pieces of older songs and claim your re-working of them as your own (as was done by artists ranging from Robert Johnson and Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan), but unless the end result was entirely different from the original, I’d prefer to see the original writers (if known) credited alongside the person who transformed it. Admittedly this might be difficult in situations where a song has undergone several transformations, as Pete Seeger once said of the Weavers’ hit “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”, which started as an Irish folk tune: “Now, who should one credit on this song? The Irish, certainly. Sam Kennedy, who taught it to us. Lead Belly, for adding rhythm and blues chords. Me, for two new words for the refrain. Lee [Hayes], who wrote seven verses. Fred [Hellerman] and Ronnie [Gilbert], for paring them down to five….” On the other hand, sometimes it is the ones who transformed a song who don’t get the credit they deserve. For example, one could argue that Carolyn Franklin and Aretha Franklin should have gotten co-writing credit for Aretha’s version of Otis Redding’s “Respect”, since they came up with the memorable “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and “sock it to me” bits, which weren’t in the original song. But if the changes to an older song or contributions to the writing of a new one are very minor, then it isn’t necessarily reasonable to claim a songwriting credit, so, for example, one wouldn’t expect George Harrison to credit his mother or John Lennon for their lyrical contributions to his song “Piggies”. For that matter, while at the insistence of the main writer Jutopi I received a credit for co-writing the lyrics to a short little song called “I Learn” that I sang on a human rights themed compilation album in Taiwan, I’m not sure that I should have, since I only changed two lines, amounting to just six words (though admittedly there are only 31 words in the entire song, including repeats).
A related question is the use of samples or the inclusion of a bit of another song in a new one. My own feeling is that if the piece of the older song is used as the hook for the new song or makes up a significant portion of it, then of course the writers of the older song should get songwriting credit, but in the case of a brief musical snippet or lyrical nod to another song that is not a vital part of the new song, the most that should be necessary is to mention the original song in the liner notes. So, for example, Stevie Wonder obviously had to be credited for Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”, since musically and even to some extent lyrically it was based entirely on Wonder’s "Pastime Paradise", and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” had to credit Queen and David Bowie, since, even though it only used the opening notes of their “Under Pressure”, the entire song was built around that sample. Similarly, the Verve had to credit Jagger and Richards for “Bitter Sweet Symphony” since the latter was built around a sample from a symphonic version of the Stones song "The Last Time", though it was unjust (though hardly surprising considering his reputation) for Allen Klein, who owned the copyright to the older recording, to claim all the royalties from the Verve song, since they had obviously created an entirely new thing around that sample. Likewise, it was unreasonable for Chuck Berry’s publisher to sue John Lennon over his brief lyrical reference to Berry’s song "You Can't Catch Me" at the beginning of “Come Together” since that was a fairly minor part of the song as a whole – though at least they didn’t insist on a co-writing credit for Berry.
Unfortunately, and frustratingly for musical history researchers such as myself, official songwriting credits are frequently unreliable for many reasons, including some of those discussed above. In the case of some Taiwanese popular music recordings, particularly records and tapes of aboriginal popular music, several of the participants in the recording might be listed as having written the entire album when in fact they had written little or none of it, because the songs were pre-existing folk tunes or the music had been directly lifted from a foreign song (usually Japanese but sometimes Western). Even in the West, outright injustices are far more common than they should be. For example, it’s said that Percy Sledge came up with much of his signature song “When a Man Loves a Woman”, but he didn’t get any credit for it. Barrett Strong has said that “Money (That’s What I Want”) began with a piano riff that he came up with, and indeed he was initially listed as a co-writer along with Janie Bradford and Motown boss Barry Gordy, but a few years later his name was removed without his knowledge. Motown says that he was credited in error in the first place, but Barrett’s account of the song’s origins is fairly detailed and believable, and is backed up by at least two witnesses, recording engineer Robert Bateman and guitarist Eugene Grew, whereas to my knowledge Gordy and his lawyers and publishers have not given a credible alternative account. The ridiculous thing in that case is that Strong apparently may not be able to challenge the removal of his name from the credits since he failed to do so within the three years after it was done – even though he wasn’t notified of the change and so had no way to know that it had been made short of going in person to check, which he wouldn’t have had any reason to do unless he was already aware that the credits had been altered. This is just another example of how the copyright laws which should be designed mainly to protect the actual authors of a work often end in fact harm them. Admittedly in disputes over authorship it often comes down to a case of “he said, she said”, but in at least some instances one side is clearly more credible than the other, even when the law doesn’t necessarily favor them.
Of course the main reason songwriting credits are such a big deal – to the point that people will sometimes illegitimately cheat others out of credit they deserve – is money. But in the long run, the real injustice in incorrect, incomplete or downright false credits is that the actual writers of the songs don’t get fair credit for their work. For songs that remain popular for decades or even centuries, this can mean that the actual writer of the song ends up being unknown or at best known to a few experts, while most people falsely believe it to be written by someone else. This is the case with many of the Taiwanese aboriginal songs I have researched; one of the many Western examples is “You Are My Sunshine”, which is credited to former Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis and his collaborator Charles Mitchell, even though they had simply bought the song from a group called The Rice Brothers Gang - who seemingly were also not the actual writers or even the first to record the song, which some have concluded was actually written by Oliver Hood. To me, the most important piece of information about a song is who wrote it, and where possible I always try to give credit where credit is due, though like everyone else I may sometimes be mislead by an inaccurate credit, since it is not humanly possible to do detailed research on every song. In the future I hope to occasionally write more about individual songs with interesting histories or major disputes about their authorship.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Momentum by Jamie Cullum
Here's another album review I wrote last year for KKBox. This was my favorite of the new albums I reviewed in the first half of last year; I eventually purchased a copy. Despite what I say in the first paragraph of the review about all his albums being "jazzy...melodic pop and rock", I've since gotten the impression that many of Cullum's earlier recordings lean somewhat more heavily toward pure jazz, though there was always an element of pop-rock; certainly on the album before this, The Pursuit, the jazz element is more pronounced. Regardless, most of what I've heard from him has been pretty good.
Momentum is the sixth album from British singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum. Like most of his previous recordings, it features an eclectic mix of jazzy, piano-driven melodic pop and rock. Cullum started playing piano and guitar as a child and, influenced by his older brother Ben, fell in love with jazz. He gets inspiration from a wide variety of music, ranging from jazz greats like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans to rock icons like Elton John, Donovan and Tom Waits and more recent artists like the Ben Folds Five, The Wedding Present, the White Stripes and Massive Attack. His music, while remaining rooted in jazz and pop-rock, reflects his wide ranging taste.
The album opens with the propulsive, percussion-driven “The Same Things”, which propels the album to a strong start, though the abrupt ending is slightly disconcerting. Even better is the dramatic, soulful “Edge of Something” and the catchy “Everything You Didn't Do”, which was the album’s first single. The old-fashioned soul torch song “When I Get Famous” is another standout track, one that it’s easy to imagine someone like Amy Winehouse singing. Next up are a couple of covers, something Cullum includes on most of his albums. In this case they are a modern, jazz fusion reworking of Cole Porter’s classic “Love For Sale” (or “Love For $ale” as it is called here [Note: the video is a bit creepy; as an alternative, here's a live studio performance]), complete with a rap by Roots Manuva, and a solid version of “Pure Imagination”, a ballad from the movie Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Among the notable originals from the remainder of the album is “Take Me Out (Of Myself)”, which has an indie rock flavor vaguely reminiscent of the similarly titled hit by Franz Ferdinand. The gentle “Get A Hold of Yourself” is a guitar-based ballad, which makes an interesting change from the more elaborate keyboard-based arrangements on the rest of the album. The album closes strongly with the powerful pop of “You’re Not the Only One”, which was inspired by his stint as a judge on a music talent show.
Cullum’s skills as an arranger and composer are the first thing to grab the listener, but his lyrics are often well-written and intriguing as well. One of the best is the somewhat tongue-in-cheek “When I Get Famous”, and other lyrically interesting songs include the album’s other look at fame-seeking, “You’re Not the Only One”, and “Take Me Out (Of Myself)” with its jaded, cynical look at partying. Even when his lyrics are nothing particularly special, they fit the music well and do nothing to detract from it. A few songs get slightly repetitive, such as the otherwise good “Anyway”, but for the most part Cullum avoids getting stuck in any ruts. Even the slightly more conventional sounding songs like the melancholy “Sad Sad World” or the power ballad “Save Your Soul” are well done [I've particularly come to like the latter], and each song is distinct from the others, unlike many pop albums where many of the songs sound the same. The production is slick without being overly so, and Cullum throws a wide variety of sounds into the arrangements. While they don’t amount to anything revolutionary, all these elements make Momentum a very entertaining recording for fans of good pop music.
Momentum is the sixth album from British singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum. Like most of his previous recordings, it features an eclectic mix of jazzy, piano-driven melodic pop and rock. Cullum started playing piano and guitar as a child and, influenced by his older brother Ben, fell in love with jazz. He gets inspiration from a wide variety of music, ranging from jazz greats like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans to rock icons like Elton John, Donovan and Tom Waits and more recent artists like the Ben Folds Five, The Wedding Present, the White Stripes and Massive Attack. His music, while remaining rooted in jazz and pop-rock, reflects his wide ranging taste.
The album opens with the propulsive, percussion-driven “The Same Things”, which propels the album to a strong start, though the abrupt ending is slightly disconcerting. Even better is the dramatic, soulful “Edge of Something” and the catchy “Everything You Didn't Do”, which was the album’s first single. The old-fashioned soul torch song “When I Get Famous” is another standout track, one that it’s easy to imagine someone like Amy Winehouse singing. Next up are a couple of covers, something Cullum includes on most of his albums. In this case they are a modern, jazz fusion reworking of Cole Porter’s classic “Love For Sale” (or “Love For $ale” as it is called here [Note: the video is a bit creepy; as an alternative, here's a live studio performance]), complete with a rap by Roots Manuva, and a solid version of “Pure Imagination”, a ballad from the movie Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Among the notable originals from the remainder of the album is “Take Me Out (Of Myself)”, which has an indie rock flavor vaguely reminiscent of the similarly titled hit by Franz Ferdinand. The gentle “Get A Hold of Yourself” is a guitar-based ballad, which makes an interesting change from the more elaborate keyboard-based arrangements on the rest of the album. The album closes strongly with the powerful pop of “You’re Not the Only One”, which was inspired by his stint as a judge on a music talent show.
Cullum’s skills as an arranger and composer are the first thing to grab the listener, but his lyrics are often well-written and intriguing as well. One of the best is the somewhat tongue-in-cheek “When I Get Famous”, and other lyrically interesting songs include the album’s other look at fame-seeking, “You’re Not the Only One”, and “Take Me Out (Of Myself)” with its jaded, cynical look at partying. Even when his lyrics are nothing particularly special, they fit the music well and do nothing to detract from it. A few songs get slightly repetitive, such as the otherwise good “Anyway”, but for the most part Cullum avoids getting stuck in any ruts. Even the slightly more conventional sounding songs like the melancholy “Sad Sad World” or the power ballad “Save Your Soul” are well done [I've particularly come to like the latter], and each song is distinct from the others, unlike many pop albums where many of the songs sound the same. The production is slick without being overly so, and Cullum throws a wide variety of sounds into the arrangements. While they don’t amount to anything revolutionary, all these elements make Momentum a very entertaining recording for fans of good pop music.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Bastille's Bad Blood
Here's another article I wrote last year for KKBox. While the review may have been slightly more positive than was warranted, I'd still stay the album is slightly better than average pop rock, and "Pompeii" in particular is a memorable song.
Bastille, a British band who has recently shot to the top of the UK charts with an album that melds indie rock with synthpop, was founded by lead vocalist and keyboardist Dan Smith in 2010. Smith, who grew up listening to artists like the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel and admires singer-songwriters like Regina Spektor and Kate Bush, started Bastille as a solo project featuring his songs, but then recruited bassist Will Farquarson, drummer Chris Wood and keyboardist Kyle Simmons to turn it into a band. In 2011, the band released several songs that would later appear on their debut album on independent labels. After signing with Virgin Records, they released their first major label single “Overjoyed” in April 2012, followed by “Bad Blood” and “Flaws”. Each song was a bigger success than the one before, and their fourth single, “Pompeii”, was a huge hit when it was released in late February of this year. When their debut album, Bad Blood, was released a week later, it went straight to the top of the UK charts, making Bastille the hottest new band in Britain, much to their own surprise.
Smith’s songs have a melancholy, even at times apocalyptic, feel and yet are crowd-pleasing and anthemic at the same time. Though Bastille’s music has an indie rock sound, there are no guitars on Bad Blood. Other than bass, drums and keyboards, the atmospheric music is entirely generated by synths and percussion. Smith, who has attracted comment for his gravity-defying hair as well as his singing and songwriting, provides appealing vocals backed by great harmonies from the band, with minimal use of the vocal effects that are heard on so many pop songs today. He is also notable for avoiding straightforward love songs. His songs feature literary and historical allusions instead of the autobiographical references seen in the work of most singer-songwriters (even the group name is a historical allusion, to the storming of the Bastille that kicked off the French Revolution – July 14, the date on which it occurred, happens to be Smith’s birthday). Musically, listeners may be reminded of groups like Coldplay, but Bastille manages to create its own distinct sound.
The album opens with the powerful “Pompeii”, which imagines a conversation between two people caught in the destruction of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly two millennia ago. “Things We Lost in the Fire” takes the viewpoint of someone whose home and possessions have been destroyed. The title track “Bad Blood” tells of a friendship gone bad, and the ballad “Oblivion” is lovely but dark. “Flaws”, the album’s second biggest hit after “Pompeii”, is more upbeat, but as its title indicates, it still focuses on people’s inevitable weaknesses. Another classical allusion is found in the haunting “Icarus”, where Smith uses the Greek myth as a metaphor for alcohol abuse. More literary and cultural references are found in “Daniel in the Den” and “Laura Palmer”, which take their titles from the Biblical tale and the Twin Peaks character respectively. The two part “Weight of Living” talks about the pressures of everyday life and features a chorus reminiscent of “Alive and Kicking” by the 1980s group Simple Minds.
All in all, Bastille has come up with an impressive debut for a band that didn’t even exist a few years ago. It isn’t perfect; though the lyrical themes are interesting, some of the lyrics are somewhat repetitive or slightly banal. Bastille’s music doesn’t have quite the variety of that of a group like Muse, who they are currently touring with. Nevertheless, Bastille stands out from the average artist on the charts and while the fairly introverted Dan Smith may be a reluctant star, Bad Blood shows that he possess genuine talent and is at least as deserving of stardom as the vast majority of pop artists.
Bastille, a British band who has recently shot to the top of the UK charts with an album that melds indie rock with synthpop, was founded by lead vocalist and keyboardist Dan Smith in 2010. Smith, who grew up listening to artists like the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel and admires singer-songwriters like Regina Spektor and Kate Bush, started Bastille as a solo project featuring his songs, but then recruited bassist Will Farquarson, drummer Chris Wood and keyboardist Kyle Simmons to turn it into a band. In 2011, the band released several songs that would later appear on their debut album on independent labels. After signing with Virgin Records, they released their first major label single “Overjoyed” in April 2012, followed by “Bad Blood” and “Flaws”. Each song was a bigger success than the one before, and their fourth single, “Pompeii”, was a huge hit when it was released in late February of this year. When their debut album, Bad Blood, was released a week later, it went straight to the top of the UK charts, making Bastille the hottest new band in Britain, much to their own surprise.
Smith’s songs have a melancholy, even at times apocalyptic, feel and yet are crowd-pleasing and anthemic at the same time. Though Bastille’s music has an indie rock sound, there are no guitars on Bad Blood. Other than bass, drums and keyboards, the atmospheric music is entirely generated by synths and percussion. Smith, who has attracted comment for his gravity-defying hair as well as his singing and songwriting, provides appealing vocals backed by great harmonies from the band, with minimal use of the vocal effects that are heard on so many pop songs today. He is also notable for avoiding straightforward love songs. His songs feature literary and historical allusions instead of the autobiographical references seen in the work of most singer-songwriters (even the group name is a historical allusion, to the storming of the Bastille that kicked off the French Revolution – July 14, the date on which it occurred, happens to be Smith’s birthday). Musically, listeners may be reminded of groups like Coldplay, but Bastille manages to create its own distinct sound.
The album opens with the powerful “Pompeii”, which imagines a conversation between two people caught in the destruction of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly two millennia ago. “Things We Lost in the Fire” takes the viewpoint of someone whose home and possessions have been destroyed. The title track “Bad Blood” tells of a friendship gone bad, and the ballad “Oblivion” is lovely but dark. “Flaws”, the album’s second biggest hit after “Pompeii”, is more upbeat, but as its title indicates, it still focuses on people’s inevitable weaknesses. Another classical allusion is found in the haunting “Icarus”, where Smith uses the Greek myth as a metaphor for alcohol abuse. More literary and cultural references are found in “Daniel in the Den” and “Laura Palmer”, which take their titles from the Biblical tale and the Twin Peaks character respectively. The two part “Weight of Living” talks about the pressures of everyday life and features a chorus reminiscent of “Alive and Kicking” by the 1980s group Simple Minds.
All in all, Bastille has come up with an impressive debut for a band that didn’t even exist a few years ago. It isn’t perfect; though the lyrical themes are interesting, some of the lyrics are somewhat repetitive or slightly banal. Bastille’s music doesn’t have quite the variety of that of a group like Muse, who they are currently touring with. Nevertheless, Bastille stands out from the average artist on the charts and while the fairly introverted Dan Smith may be a reluctant star, Bad Blood shows that he possess genuine talent and is at least as deserving of stardom as the vast majority of pop artists.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Old Article: Randy Newman Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
This is another of my articles for KKBox. I wrote it a year ago, a few weeks after the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. While I've already posted a Randy Newman retrospective on this blog, this article was written from a different angle, so I thought I might as well post it too.
On April 18, eight artists were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among them the 69-year-old singer-songwriter and critical favorite Randy Newman. Over the last few decades, millions have heard Randy Newman’s music through his soundtracks for numerous movies, including Ragtime, The Natural, Meet the Parents, Seabiscuit, Monsters Inc., Cars, and the three Toy Story films. He has been nominated for twenty Oscars and won twice (as he remarked when receiving his second one, “my percentages aren’t great”). It is no surprise that Newman has become a successful film soundtrack composer, since he had three uncles who were famous film composers, including Alfred Newman, winner of nine Academy Awards. However, it is chiefly for his work as a singer-songwriter and composer for other artists that Newman has been highly praised by numerous critics and artists like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Peter Gabriel, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
Randy Newman recorded his first song in 1962, but it flopped, so he turned to writing songs for others. Several of his songs became hits in the UK for British artists, including “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear” and “Just One Smile”, the former of which was recorded by several artists including Newman himself, and the latter of which was later covered on influential albums by Blood, Sweat and Tears and Dusty Springfield. In 1968, he released his first album. Like most of his later albums, it didn’t sell well but was a critical success. Many of the songs on the album were covered by other artists, particularly “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”, which has been covered more than sixty times. With this and subsequent albums like Sail Away and Good Old Boys, Newman established a reputation for writing songs in a variety of styles that paired attractive melodies with highly ironic lyrics. He usually writes in character, singing from the point of view of losers, misfits, and other slightly unsavory people. The beautiful “Sail Away”, for instance, is written from the point of view of a slave trader recruiting Africans to sail away to slavery in America, and the highly sarcastic “Political Science” is from the perspective of an American who wants to drop nuclear bombs on the rest of the world. One of his most controversial songs was “Rednecks”, a song from the point of view of a Southern racist that mocks Northern hypocrisy. “It’s Money That Matters”, as the title indicates, is from the perspective of someone obsessed with money. Newman’s sole major hit as a performer, “Short People”, also appears on the surface to be making fun of people of short stature. In fact, Newman uses these songs to criticize prejudice and narrow-minded attitudes, but it is perhaps not surprising that some people failed to notice the irony and took the songs at face value. In recent years, Newman’s pop-rock albums have been few and far between, but his most recent album of new songs, 2008’s Harps and Angels, showed that his distinctive brand of sardonic humor and his propensity for tackling controversial topics were still the same as ever.
Newman’s songs have been performed by countless artists, including Dusty Springfield, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Streisand, Michael Bublé, and Korean-Japanese singer Noon, just to name a few. His “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” was a US No. 1 for Three Dog Night and has been covered frequently since. “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was a hit for Joe Cocker and has also been performed by a number of other artists, though many miss the irony in Newman’s original. His “Louisiana 1927”, with the lyric “Louisiana, Louisiana, they’re trying to wash us away”, got frequent airplay in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the city of New Orleans. The more recent “Feels Like Home” has also been covered numerous times. Several artists, beginning with Harry Nilsson back in 1970, have even recorded entire albums of Newman covers. Nearly all of these other performers are technically speaking much better singers than Newman, but not all of them are able to capture the spirit of the songs the way Newman does himself. But whether one listens to Newman’s own versions or those by other artists, after listening to a sampling of his best work it is soon apparent why some critics regard him as one of America’s greatest living songwriters.
On April 18, eight artists were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among them the 69-year-old singer-songwriter and critical favorite Randy Newman. Over the last few decades, millions have heard Randy Newman’s music through his soundtracks for numerous movies, including Ragtime, The Natural, Meet the Parents, Seabiscuit, Monsters Inc., Cars, and the three Toy Story films. He has been nominated for twenty Oscars and won twice (as he remarked when receiving his second one, “my percentages aren’t great”). It is no surprise that Newman has become a successful film soundtrack composer, since he had three uncles who were famous film composers, including Alfred Newman, winner of nine Academy Awards. However, it is chiefly for his work as a singer-songwriter and composer for other artists that Newman has been highly praised by numerous critics and artists like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Peter Gabriel, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
Randy Newman recorded his first song in 1962, but it flopped, so he turned to writing songs for others. Several of his songs became hits in the UK for British artists, including “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear” and “Just One Smile”, the former of which was recorded by several artists including Newman himself, and the latter of which was later covered on influential albums by Blood, Sweat and Tears and Dusty Springfield. In 1968, he released his first album. Like most of his later albums, it didn’t sell well but was a critical success. Many of the songs on the album were covered by other artists, particularly “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”, which has been covered more than sixty times. With this and subsequent albums like Sail Away and Good Old Boys, Newman established a reputation for writing songs in a variety of styles that paired attractive melodies with highly ironic lyrics. He usually writes in character, singing from the point of view of losers, misfits, and other slightly unsavory people. The beautiful “Sail Away”, for instance, is written from the point of view of a slave trader recruiting Africans to sail away to slavery in America, and the highly sarcastic “Political Science” is from the perspective of an American who wants to drop nuclear bombs on the rest of the world. One of his most controversial songs was “Rednecks”, a song from the point of view of a Southern racist that mocks Northern hypocrisy. “It’s Money That Matters”, as the title indicates, is from the perspective of someone obsessed with money. Newman’s sole major hit as a performer, “Short People”, also appears on the surface to be making fun of people of short stature. In fact, Newman uses these songs to criticize prejudice and narrow-minded attitudes, but it is perhaps not surprising that some people failed to notice the irony and took the songs at face value. In recent years, Newman’s pop-rock albums have been few and far between, but his most recent album of new songs, 2008’s Harps and Angels, showed that his distinctive brand of sardonic humor and his propensity for tackling controversial topics were still the same as ever.
Newman’s songs have been performed by countless artists, including Dusty Springfield, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Streisand, Michael Bublé, and Korean-Japanese singer Noon, just to name a few. His “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” was a US No. 1 for Three Dog Night and has been covered frequently since. “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was a hit for Joe Cocker and has also been performed by a number of other artists, though many miss the irony in Newman’s original. His “Louisiana 1927”, with the lyric “Louisiana, Louisiana, they’re trying to wash us away”, got frequent airplay in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the city of New Orleans. The more recent “Feels Like Home” has also been covered numerous times. Several artists, beginning with Harry Nilsson back in 1970, have even recorded entire albums of Newman covers. Nearly all of these other performers are technically speaking much better singers than Newman, but not all of them are able to capture the spirit of the songs the way Newman does himself. But whether one listens to Newman’s own versions or those by other artists, after listening to a sampling of his best work it is soon apparent why some critics regard him as one of America’s greatest living songwriters.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Live And Let Die: A Beatles Album from 1973
This is the fourth of my imaginary Beatles albums of the 1970s, after What Is Life (1970), Working Class Heroes (1971), and Imagine (1972). It would have been released sometime in 1973, probably in the spring; while in reality the Ringo songs weren't released until November, they were recorded in March. As with the other albums, I'm simply posting my original track listing and liner notes.
Live And Let Die
Hi Hi Hi (McCartney/McCartney) 3:07 (1972/12/01)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (Harrison) 3:38 (1973/05/07)
New York City (Lennon) 4:28 (1972/06/12)
Live And Let Die (McCartney/McCartney) 3:11 (1973/06/01)
I'm The Greatest (Lennon) 3:18 (1973/11/02)
Big Barn Bed (McCartney) 3:50 (1973/04/30)
Luck Of The Irish (Lennon/Ono) 2:56 (1972/06/12)
Give Ireland Back To The Irish (McCartney/McCartney) 3:48 (1972/02/25)
The Day the World Gets Round (Harrison) 2:51 (1973/05/30)
John Sinclair (Lennon) 3:27 (1972/06/12)
Get On The Right Thing (McCartney) 4:15 (1973/04/30)
My Love (McCartney/McCartney) 4:07 (1973/03/23)
You And Me (Babe) (Harrison/Evans) 4:19 (1973/11/02)
Total Time - 47:17
Hi Hi Hi
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1972/12/01
Single
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/07 (single release [US])
From Living In The Material World
New York City
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Live And Let Die
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1973/06/01
Single
I'm The Greatest
Written by John Lennon; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Piano and Harmony Vocal: John Lennon
Guitars: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
Big Barn Bed
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway
Luck Of The Irish
Written and Performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/02/01; Released 1972/02/25
Single
The Day the World Gets Round
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World
John Sinclair
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Get On The Right Thing
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03-10; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway
My Love
Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/03/23 (single release [UK])
From Red Rose Speedway
You And Me (Babe)
Written by George Harrison and Mal Evans; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Electric Guitar: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
The songs on this album were recorded in 1972 and early 1973. Paul – or rather his new band Wings – didn't release any albums in 1972, but they did release a pair of singles. The first of these was Paul's response to Bloody Sunday, "Give Ireland Back To The Irish". A very unusual song for Paul, who had heretofore avoided politics in his music, it was pretty hard-hitting (and naturally got banned by the BBC), though the fact that he wrote it and recorded it rather quickly is apparent, especially in the lyrics. Another Wings' song to be banned by the BBC (according to their spokesman, for suggestive lyrics, not for drug connotations), the rocker "Hi Hi Hi", was released at the end of the year. As one of Paul's best early singles, it made a good album opener. It was in fact originally a hit double A-side with "C Moon", a melodic tune which I considered including but decided against (the lyric is a bit irritating).
Wings' second album Red Rose Speedway was recorded in 1972 and released the following spring. It is hardly Paul's best work (a few of the songs are pretty weak), but it did have a few decent tracks, including "Big Barn Bed" and "Get On The Right Thing", both of which appear here. The big hit from this album was of course "My Love", which despite hitting the top of the top of the charts in the US and top 10 in the UK, was poorly received by critics because of its sentimental lyrics. I've never been terribly fond of it myself, but after some consideration I decided that it isn't really terrible either, as it has a nice melody and even the lyric is not quite as saccharine as it seems at first listen. Anyway, it was one of his biggest hits, so I decided to add it on. The final recording from Paul and his band to appear on this album is another single and in my opinion a much better song, namely "Live And Let Die", the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name.
John's album for 1972 was the highly political Some Time In New York City (actually it is a John Lennon and Yoko Ono album). The rather strident tone of the lyrics was a major reason that this is John's least popular release among both critics and the public. Nevertheless, there are some good tracks, and together with Paul's "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and to a lesser extent George's songs, they make this the most political "Beatles" album. "New York City" is a solid rock song, musically and lyrically kind of like a sequel to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko". "Luck Of The Irish" was co-written by John and Yoko (and is clearly an actually collaboration, unlike the songs of Paul's on which Linda was given a writing credit) and they share lead vocals. Not a brilliant song, but pretty clever nevertheless (and with Paul's Irish song, it also makes this a distinctly pro-Irish album). "John Sinclair" is a song supporting the activist John Sinclair, who in an obvious case of political persecution was given a ten-year prison sentence for selling two marijuana cigarettes to an undercover cop ("they gave him ten for two"). The lyrics are perhaps a bit simplistic, but the song has a good melody and some cool guitar playing.
George finally released his second solo album Living In The Material World in early 1973, over two years after All Things Must Pass. It would be too much to expect LITMW to measure up to its predecessor, and it doesn't. However, overall it is one of George's better solo efforts, and some of the songs are as good as those on All Things Must Pass. Furthermore, as the AMG reviewer pointed out, it gave George a better chance to shine on the guitar, unlike the previous album which had a number of other guitarists, including Eric Clapton. Here George is the only guitarist, so he really gets to show his stuff. Two of the songs from the album appear here, including the big hit single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" and the ballad "The Day the World Gets Round."
Ringo had released an album of oldies and an album of country songs in 1970, but so far he had not released an album of pop songs. He finally rectified that with Ringo, which is without doubt his best solo album and for that matter one of the best solo Beatles albums. Of course Ringo didn't do it all himself, rather, as someone put it, he was "getting by with a little help from his friends." The first song from the album, included here, was "I'm The Greatest", written by John and performed by John, George, and Ringo (plus Klaus Voorman), making it the closest thing to a Beatles reunion on a single song until the Anthology sessions. In fact the album had all four Beatles on it, as Paul contributed a song as well (which will appear on the next "Beatles" album). George contributed the most to the album of any of the other three. Besides appearing on "I'm The Greatest", he wrote one song and co-wrote two others, one of them the album's best track, which will also appear on the next album. On this one you can hear one of his other contributions, "You And Me (Babe)", the song he co-wrote with ex-Beatle roadie Mal Evans as the album's closer (it originally also included a spoken part by Ringo where he thanked all those who contributed to his solo album, but since it wasn't appropriate for this album, I cut it out).
This album, if it had been released by the Beatles, would have come out in early 1973 after George and Ringo finished recording their contributions. This year would prove to be high point for Beatles recordings and releases, so much so that the next album in this series will also consist of 1973 recordings (including some real standout tracks), and even the one after that will included a few songs from this year. Stay tuned!
Live And Let Die
Hi Hi Hi (McCartney/McCartney) 3:07 (1972/12/01)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (Harrison) 3:38 (1973/05/07)
New York City (Lennon) 4:28 (1972/06/12)
Live And Let Die (McCartney/McCartney) 3:11 (1973/06/01)
I'm The Greatest (Lennon) 3:18 (1973/11/02)
Big Barn Bed (McCartney) 3:50 (1973/04/30)
Luck Of The Irish (Lennon/Ono) 2:56 (1972/06/12)
Give Ireland Back To The Irish (McCartney/McCartney) 3:48 (1972/02/25)
The Day the World Gets Round (Harrison) 2:51 (1973/05/30)
John Sinclair (Lennon) 3:27 (1972/06/12)
Get On The Right Thing (McCartney) 4:15 (1973/04/30)
My Love (McCartney/McCartney) 4:07 (1973/03/23)
You And Me (Babe) (Harrison/Evans) 4:19 (1973/11/02)
Total Time - 47:17
Hi Hi Hi
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1972/12/01
Single
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/07 (single release [US])
From Living In The Material World
New York City
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Live And Let Die
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1973/06/01
Single
I'm The Greatest
Written by John Lennon; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Piano and Harmony Vocal: John Lennon
Guitars: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
Big Barn Bed
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway
Luck Of The Irish
Written and Performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/02/01; Released 1972/02/25
Single
The Day the World Gets Round
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World
John Sinclair
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City
Get On The Right Thing
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03-10; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway
My Love
Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/03/23 (single release [UK])
From Red Rose Speedway
You And Me (Babe)
Written by George Harrison and Mal Evans; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Electric Guitar: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo
The songs on this album were recorded in 1972 and early 1973. Paul – or rather his new band Wings – didn't release any albums in 1972, but they did release a pair of singles. The first of these was Paul's response to Bloody Sunday, "Give Ireland Back To The Irish". A very unusual song for Paul, who had heretofore avoided politics in his music, it was pretty hard-hitting (and naturally got banned by the BBC), though the fact that he wrote it and recorded it rather quickly is apparent, especially in the lyrics. Another Wings' song to be banned by the BBC (according to their spokesman, for suggestive lyrics, not for drug connotations), the rocker "Hi Hi Hi", was released at the end of the year. As one of Paul's best early singles, it made a good album opener. It was in fact originally a hit double A-side with "C Moon", a melodic tune which I considered including but decided against (the lyric is a bit irritating).
Wings' second album Red Rose Speedway was recorded in 1972 and released the following spring. It is hardly Paul's best work (a few of the songs are pretty weak), but it did have a few decent tracks, including "Big Barn Bed" and "Get On The Right Thing", both of which appear here. The big hit from this album was of course "My Love", which despite hitting the top of the top of the charts in the US and top 10 in the UK, was poorly received by critics because of its sentimental lyrics. I've never been terribly fond of it myself, but after some consideration I decided that it isn't really terrible either, as it has a nice melody and even the lyric is not quite as saccharine as it seems at first listen. Anyway, it was one of his biggest hits, so I decided to add it on. The final recording from Paul and his band to appear on this album is another single and in my opinion a much better song, namely "Live And Let Die", the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name.
John's album for 1972 was the highly political Some Time In New York City (actually it is a John Lennon and Yoko Ono album). The rather strident tone of the lyrics was a major reason that this is John's least popular release among both critics and the public. Nevertheless, there are some good tracks, and together with Paul's "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and to a lesser extent George's songs, they make this the most political "Beatles" album. "New York City" is a solid rock song, musically and lyrically kind of like a sequel to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko". "Luck Of The Irish" was co-written by John and Yoko (and is clearly an actually collaboration, unlike the songs of Paul's on which Linda was given a writing credit) and they share lead vocals. Not a brilliant song, but pretty clever nevertheless (and with Paul's Irish song, it also makes this a distinctly pro-Irish album). "John Sinclair" is a song supporting the activist John Sinclair, who in an obvious case of political persecution was given a ten-year prison sentence for selling two marijuana cigarettes to an undercover cop ("they gave him ten for two"). The lyrics are perhaps a bit simplistic, but the song has a good melody and some cool guitar playing.
George finally released his second solo album Living In The Material World in early 1973, over two years after All Things Must Pass. It would be too much to expect LITMW to measure up to its predecessor, and it doesn't. However, overall it is one of George's better solo efforts, and some of the songs are as good as those on All Things Must Pass. Furthermore, as the AMG reviewer pointed out, it gave George a better chance to shine on the guitar, unlike the previous album which had a number of other guitarists, including Eric Clapton. Here George is the only guitarist, so he really gets to show his stuff. Two of the songs from the album appear here, including the big hit single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" and the ballad "The Day the World Gets Round."
Ringo had released an album of oldies and an album of country songs in 1970, but so far he had not released an album of pop songs. He finally rectified that with Ringo, which is without doubt his best solo album and for that matter one of the best solo Beatles albums. Of course Ringo didn't do it all himself, rather, as someone put it, he was "getting by with a little help from his friends." The first song from the album, included here, was "I'm The Greatest", written by John and performed by John, George, and Ringo (plus Klaus Voorman), making it the closest thing to a Beatles reunion on a single song until the Anthology sessions. In fact the album had all four Beatles on it, as Paul contributed a song as well (which will appear on the next "Beatles" album). George contributed the most to the album of any of the other three. Besides appearing on "I'm The Greatest", he wrote one song and co-wrote two others, one of them the album's best track, which will also appear on the next album. On this one you can hear one of his other contributions, "You And Me (Babe)", the song he co-wrote with ex-Beatle roadie Mal Evans as the album's closer (it originally also included a spoken part by Ringo where he thanked all those who contributed to his solo album, but since it wasn't appropriate for this album, I cut it out).
This album, if it had been released by the Beatles, would have come out in early 1973 after George and Ringo finished recording their contributions. This year would prove to be high point for Beatles recordings and releases, so much so that the next album in this series will also consist of 1973 recordings (including some real standout tracks), and even the one after that will included a few songs from this year. Stay tuned!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Paul Simon
This is an article I wrote for the music service KKBox a little over a year ago, just before Paul Simon came to play several concerts in this part of the world. It's basically a career overview.
From “The Sounds of Silence” and “Bridge over Troubled Waters” to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “You Can Call Me Al”, the songs of Paul Simon have entertained millions for half a century. One of the few artists whose music appeals to audiences of all ages, Simon has received numerous accolades over the years, and he is highly respected by his fellow musicians, with people as diverse as Randy Newman and the late Joe Strummer of the Clash praising his work. Now he is bringing the songs which made him the first recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song to East Asia for concerts in Taipei on March 20 and in Singapore in March 22.
Paul Simon has been making and recording music since he was a teenager in New York. He first gained fame as a member of Simon & Garfunkel, a folk rock duo he formed with his friend Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote the vast majority of the pair’s songs, including such timeless classics as “The Sounds of Silence”, “Homeward Bound”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “The Boxer”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”, as well as the lyrics for their adaptation of the Peruvian melody “El Condor Pasa”. Due to his poetic lyrics and the duo’s classification as folk rockers, Simon was sometimes compared to Bob Dylan, but Simon & Garfunkel had an even broader appeal than artists like Dylan or rock bands like the Rolling Stones. Together they were one of the biggest acts of the 1960s, and many of their songs are still staples of radio play today. Their songs have also frequently been covered by other artists, particularly the gospel-flavored “Bridge over Troubled Water”, which was performed by luminaries such as Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.
After the release of their biggest album of all, 1970’s Bridge over Troubled Water, the duo split and Simon embarked on a solo career, writing and performing an even more eclectic variety of songs than he had with Garfunkel. He had numerous hits in the 1970s, including “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Kodachrome”, “Loves Me Like a Rock”, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “Slip Slidin' Away”. He was less prolific in the late 1970s and the early 1980s and his work was less successful commercially. But he staged a spectacular comeback in 1986 with Graceland, an album inspired largely by the music of South Africa and mostly recorded in South Africa with South African musicians. Featuring songs such as “You Can Call Me Al”, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”, “The Boy in the Bubble” and the title track, it became Simon’s biggest commercial success as a solo artist and won him a Grammy. It still is commonly included in lists of the “best albums of all time”. The subsequent tour helped bring South African musicians like Ladysmith Black Mambazo (who had also performed on the album) and Miriam Makeba to greater prominence.
After Graceland, Simon released the Brazilian-influenced The Rhythm of the Saints, featuring the UK top 20 “The Obvious Child”. This album was another commercial and critical success. While his releases no longer have much chance of matching the sales records achieved by Simon & Garfunkel or Graceland, his albums have continued to be well-received. His most recent album, So Beautiful Or So What, released in 2011 and featuring meditations on mortality such as “The Afterlife”, reached the top 10 in both the US and the UK and got excellent reviews from critics, and he continues to perform frequently, as well as contribute his money, time, and music to different causes. Back in the 1960s, Simon once sang “how terribly strange to be seventy”. Now he is already passed that milestone, but he is still going strong. Paul Simon’s concerts in Asia offer people in this part of the world a rare chance to see a living music legend in person.
From “The Sounds of Silence” and “Bridge over Troubled Waters” to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “You Can Call Me Al”, the songs of Paul Simon have entertained millions for half a century. One of the few artists whose music appeals to audiences of all ages, Simon has received numerous accolades over the years, and he is highly respected by his fellow musicians, with people as diverse as Randy Newman and the late Joe Strummer of the Clash praising his work. Now he is bringing the songs which made him the first recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song to East Asia for concerts in Taipei on March 20 and in Singapore in March 22.
Paul Simon has been making and recording music since he was a teenager in New York. He first gained fame as a member of Simon & Garfunkel, a folk rock duo he formed with his friend Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote the vast majority of the pair’s songs, including such timeless classics as “The Sounds of Silence”, “Homeward Bound”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “The Boxer”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”, as well as the lyrics for their adaptation of the Peruvian melody “El Condor Pasa”. Due to his poetic lyrics and the duo’s classification as folk rockers, Simon was sometimes compared to Bob Dylan, but Simon & Garfunkel had an even broader appeal than artists like Dylan or rock bands like the Rolling Stones. Together they were one of the biggest acts of the 1960s, and many of their songs are still staples of radio play today. Their songs have also frequently been covered by other artists, particularly the gospel-flavored “Bridge over Troubled Water”, which was performed by luminaries such as Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.
After the release of their biggest album of all, 1970’s Bridge over Troubled Water, the duo split and Simon embarked on a solo career, writing and performing an even more eclectic variety of songs than he had with Garfunkel. He had numerous hits in the 1970s, including “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Kodachrome”, “Loves Me Like a Rock”, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “Slip Slidin' Away”. He was less prolific in the late 1970s and the early 1980s and his work was less successful commercially. But he staged a spectacular comeback in 1986 with Graceland, an album inspired largely by the music of South Africa and mostly recorded in South Africa with South African musicians. Featuring songs such as “You Can Call Me Al”, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”, “The Boy in the Bubble” and the title track, it became Simon’s biggest commercial success as a solo artist and won him a Grammy. It still is commonly included in lists of the “best albums of all time”. The subsequent tour helped bring South African musicians like Ladysmith Black Mambazo (who had also performed on the album) and Miriam Makeba to greater prominence.
After Graceland, Simon released the Brazilian-influenced The Rhythm of the Saints, featuring the UK top 20 “The Obvious Child”. This album was another commercial and critical success. While his releases no longer have much chance of matching the sales records achieved by Simon & Garfunkel or Graceland, his albums have continued to be well-received. His most recent album, So Beautiful Or So What, released in 2011 and featuring meditations on mortality such as “The Afterlife”, reached the top 10 in both the US and the UK and got excellent reviews from critics, and he continues to perform frequently, as well as contribute his money, time, and music to different causes. Back in the 1960s, Simon once sang “how terribly strange to be seventy”. Now he is already passed that milestone, but he is still going strong. Paul Simon’s concerts in Asia offer people in this part of the world a rare chance to see a living music legend in person.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
West of Memphis: Voices for Justice (Review)
The following is another album review I wrote for the online music service KKbox. While I might have written it slightly differently if I'd been writing for my blog, it's a fairly accurate representation of my thoughts on the album, which is a very interesting listen, if not as immediately accessible as most mainstream pop.
For some, music is just entertainment. For others, it can be a weapon in the struggle to uphold human rights. West of Memphis: Voices for Justice is the soundtrack for West of Memphis, a documentary about the case of the West Memphis Three, three young men who were sent to prison in 1994 for the murder of three boys on the basis of questionable evidence, in what many people considered a serious miscarriage of justice. Many of the artists who appear on the soundtrack have been involved for years in the fight to clear the names of the three, and their efforts helped the three win their freedom in 2011, though they are still seeking full exoneration, and a portion of the proceeds from the album will go to their continuing legal struggle.
The soundtrack opens with Henry Rollins reading a letter from Damien Echols, who was one of the West Memphis Three and also the co-producer of the documentary, along with Peter Jackson. The letter, sent by Echols from death row, describes the conditions he was living under over music from the movie’s original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, effectively setting the mood and reminding the listener that this is not just a collection of songs. The songs themselves include covers of songs that were of particular significance to Echols during his time on death row, and others that were written in support of the three.
The artists appearing on the soundtrack include a wide range of superstars, often with intriguing choices of songs. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks does a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Mother” that builds from a low key country-tinged tune to a heavier rock sound, Lucinda Williams performs a gritty, guitar-heavy version of her own “Joy”, and Camp Freddy – a group led by Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers – delivers a powerful bluesy cover of “The Jean Genie”, originally by David Bowie, one of Echols’s favorite artists. Longtime West Memphis supporter Johnny Depp, performing with his ad hoc group Tonto’s Giant Nuts, does a dark cover of the Mumford & Sons song “Little Lion Man” and also plays guitar on shock rocker Marilyn Manson’s heavy metal reinterpretation of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam accompanies himself on ukulele on “Satellite”, a love song he wrote for Echols and his wife. Even Bob Dylan makes an appearance with “Ring Them Bells”, a song originally released on his album Oh Mercy. But just as moving as the big name performances are the songs by artists who may be less familiar to some listeners, such as Band of Horses’s live rendition of their Crosby, Stills and Nash-style “Dumpster World” or “Anything Made of Paper”, written by Texan singer-songwriter Bill Carter and his wife Ruth after Echols told Carter to bring him “anything made of paper”, as that was all he was allowed to have in prison [click on the song title to see the excellent video for the song].
The main soundtrack closes with Johnny Depp reading another disturbing letter sent by Echols from death row over Cave and Ellis’s haunting score. This is followed by two bonus tracks including Patti Smith’s live rendition of her song “Wing” from a benefit concert for the West Memphis Three and Bill Carter’s rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Road to Nowhere”, another favorite of Echols while in prison. With an array of powerful renditions of classic songs by top-notch performers, West of Memphis: Voices for Justice combines good music with a good cause.
For some, music is just entertainment. For others, it can be a weapon in the struggle to uphold human rights. West of Memphis: Voices for Justice is the soundtrack for West of Memphis, a documentary about the case of the West Memphis Three, three young men who were sent to prison in 1994 for the murder of three boys on the basis of questionable evidence, in what many people considered a serious miscarriage of justice. Many of the artists who appear on the soundtrack have been involved for years in the fight to clear the names of the three, and their efforts helped the three win their freedom in 2011, though they are still seeking full exoneration, and a portion of the proceeds from the album will go to their continuing legal struggle.
The soundtrack opens with Henry Rollins reading a letter from Damien Echols, who was one of the West Memphis Three and also the co-producer of the documentary, along with Peter Jackson. The letter, sent by Echols from death row, describes the conditions he was living under over music from the movie’s original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, effectively setting the mood and reminding the listener that this is not just a collection of songs. The songs themselves include covers of songs that were of particular significance to Echols during his time on death row, and others that were written in support of the three.
The artists appearing on the soundtrack include a wide range of superstars, often with intriguing choices of songs. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks does a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Mother” that builds from a low key country-tinged tune to a heavier rock sound, Lucinda Williams performs a gritty, guitar-heavy version of her own “Joy”, and Camp Freddy – a group led by Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers – delivers a powerful bluesy cover of “The Jean Genie”, originally by David Bowie, one of Echols’s favorite artists. Longtime West Memphis supporter Johnny Depp, performing with his ad hoc group Tonto’s Giant Nuts, does a dark cover of the Mumford & Sons song “Little Lion Man” and also plays guitar on shock rocker Marilyn Manson’s heavy metal reinterpretation of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam accompanies himself on ukulele on “Satellite”, a love song he wrote for Echols and his wife. Even Bob Dylan makes an appearance with “Ring Them Bells”, a song originally released on his album Oh Mercy. But just as moving as the big name performances are the songs by artists who may be less familiar to some listeners, such as Band of Horses’s live rendition of their Crosby, Stills and Nash-style “Dumpster World” or “Anything Made of Paper”, written by Texan singer-songwriter Bill Carter and his wife Ruth after Echols told Carter to bring him “anything made of paper”, as that was all he was allowed to have in prison [click on the song title to see the excellent video for the song].
The main soundtrack closes with Johnny Depp reading another disturbing letter sent by Echols from death row over Cave and Ellis’s haunting score. This is followed by two bonus tracks including Patti Smith’s live rendition of her song “Wing” from a benefit concert for the West Memphis Three and Bill Carter’s rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Road to Nowhere”, another favorite of Echols while in prison. With an array of powerful renditions of classic songs by top-notch performers, West of Memphis: Voices for Justice combines good music with a good cause.
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