13 responses to “News & Links: Thursday, August 10, 2023”

1. 

   Sam I Am

   08/10/2023

   There was never even a medical reason for the anti-gay donations rules. Fear-based, not science.

   The one-handed kid will sue and get millions I hope.

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/10/2023

      He shouldn't have to sue. Let's have universal negligence, with quick and fat payouts for anyone injured through illegal action, like the kid was.

      I may be too sleepy to type write now.

      Reply
2. 

   johnthebasket

   08/10/2023

   In memory of Robbie Robertson, here is Playing For Change performing "The Weight". I'm sure I've posted this before and I'm equally sure I'll post it again. I can't think of a more dramatic depiction of how songwriting differs from poetry. Sail away Robbie, but never leave us.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1GU1qQ1zQ

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/10/2023

      Every song sends me on a Google adventure, and today I'm startled to learn that it's not about *that* Nazareth, and that Aretha Franklin's cover charted higher than The Band's original.

      Reply
   2. 

      johnthebasket

      08/10/2023

      I don't get around much anymore, but I used to know a lot of people and see them frequently. I've literally never known anybody who gave a shit about charts. Aretha could belt out wonderful songs, but she couldn't sing The Weight like The Band. Given that the album The Weight appeared on, Music From Big Pink, defined country rock and helped start the genre on its way, I suppose we should figure in the charting on the album as well, because that was the best known song on the album. This is why charts are pretty meaningless. There's no way to cross-match singles with albums, and hardly anybody bought singles after 1968 (until the computing revolution).

      Aretha was brilliant and set new standards for female singers, but fuck her cover. She can't sing three part harmony alone.

      John

      Reply
   3. 

      Doug Holland

      08/11/2023

      I'm chuckling at "hardly anybody bought singles after 1968." Not doubting you're right, but I *only* bought singles, at least until I was all grown up.

      Horribly uncouth and uncivilized, I only wanted to hear the song I'd heard on the radio, and maybe I'd give the flipside a listen, but never albums. Albums were much more expensive, and all they offered was a bunch of songs I didn't care about.

      Yeah, I know it's awful. I was 11. "I got better."

      Reply
3. 

   johnthebasket

   08/11/2023

   Nothing wrong with being 11 and missing out on some fine music. Your older siblings should have told you. That's why they're there. Buy a Beatles single for "She Loves You" and miss out on all that fine Lennon/McCartney music? The Stones. The Who.

   Actually, in the early 60s, you were pretty close to right. With notable exceptions, albums were led by hits with crappy filler. But by '65 or '66 the above groups and Dylan and even the Beach Boys were releasing albums that were symphonies. By '67 it was The Doors and everybody else. But you know that now.

   jtb

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/11/2023

      I was such an unsophisticated lad, and even when I started buying albums I usually went for "greatest hits" collections. Didn't want any music I hadn't already heard.

      Reply
4. 

   johnthebasket

   08/11/2023

   In 1984, Leonard Cohen completed recording and mixing Various Positions, his seventh album and one that made significant use of the newly released Casio keyboard. The album was produced and mixed by John Lissauer and featured the wonderful voice of Jennifer Warnes on many tracks. Songs on the album included several that stayed in Leonard's show repertoire for decades including If It Be Your Will, Dance Me to the End of Love, and Hallelujah.

   Walter Yetnikoff, the cretin who was running Columbia Records at the time, refused to release the album in the United States because he didn't hear a single when he played the album. So the album was released everywhere else in the world and did well in Japan and throughout Europe. It was the number one album in Norway for a couple of months. But nobody heard it in the United States until a small label, Passport Records, leased it for almost no money from Columbia and released the album in the United States through the Passport label.

   The record was a bit of an experiment with the Casio keyboard sound, but Jennifer Warnes voice only made Leonard's voice better and Dance Me to the End of Love and If It Be Your Will were showcases in Leonard's tours for the rest of his life. But how the hell did Yetnikoff miss Hallelujah? He didn't. It wouldn't have sold as a single. Columbia Records thought they were still in the singles business when they'd been in the album business for nearly 20 years.

   If Yetnikoff, raking in seven figures in salary and stock options thinks If It Be Your Will and Dance Me to the End of Love and
   Hallelujah are lousy songs because they can't be played at 45 RPM, how is an 11-year-old kid supposed to know?

   The answer, of course, is that the 11-year-old kid naturally didn't know where musicians hide their most intriguing songs. The rich CEO is supposed to, but didn't anyway.

   In 1990, when Columbia re-released their entire catalog on CDs, the bought Various Positions back (at a terrific profit for Passport) and quietly released it on CD as if it had always been in their catalog.

   Without question the best music I've heard over the last 65 years has been music I discovered for the first time on albums of people whose music I enjoyed. I know you know that now. I just wanted to let you know that you were in high priced company.

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/12/2023

      You ought to be writing for The New Yorker, but I'm glad you're here instead.

      Reply
5. 

   johnthebasket

   08/11/2023

   Since you rightly published the obit of David LaFlamme of It's A Beautiful Day, whose debut album contained the song White Bird, which included David's lovely violin solo, you might want to put White Bird on your play list. It's too long for a single (unless your name is Bob Dylan) but it got a ton of FM play. And the world isn't brimming with rock violin players: David was one of the few, and his rock singing voice was as nice as his rock violin playing.

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/12/2023

      I have the whole album, posted a month or two ago, but it's a beautiful day for a replay. 🙂

      Reply
   2. 

      johnthebasket

      08/12/2023

      Thankee, sir. . . jtb

      Reply

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