Re: beauty, meaning, and other things out of fashion...

[wagreiner@ucdavis.edu ()]

In article <9402242006.AA25554@dlsun87.us.oracle.com> jdrukman%dlsun87@us.oracle.com writes:
>Wade writes:
>
>>(My all time favorite artist is Bob Dylan, and let's face it if
>>there was not a Bob Dylan doing psychadelic lyrics we probably wouldn't
>>have had to deal with "Donovan" so even Bob had something of a negative
>>influence on pop music!  :-)
>
>ooh, i hate Dylan.  has there ever been a Dylan original that was
>better than the cover?  i don't think so.  he was a much better
>composer than performer, if you see what i mean.

Hey, to a Dylan fan them's fighting words!!!  :-)
Actually, most Dylan fans I know enjoy his music mostly for his 
performance ability.  That's why he's one of the most heavily bootlegged
and "archived" artists in popular music.  Literally hundreds of concerts
of his are recorded and circulated amongest "collectors."  By far the 
main purpose of collecting such concerts is the quality of the performances.
In fact, I really think that the number of Dylan covers that are better
than the Dylan versions can be counted on one hand.  I'll give you
Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" but, see, he was a great live
performer too.  Beyond that, it's usually questionable.  The covers
are often more popular (like the Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man for example)
but are "smoothed over" to an extent that they lose their appeal.
But, of course, "There ain't no good guys/ there ain't
no bad guys/ there's only you and me and we just disagree..."

>
>>But there are examples of new instruments that were used to good effect
>>and for good reason, and some examples of the oppisite.  Good example:
>>the invention of the electric guitar used in it's early years so that
>>blues musicians could be heard over the racket in a bar.  Turned out
>>to work well and lead to many musical inovations.  Bad example:
>>Switched on Bach, and drum machines.  Yuck.  'Nuff said.
>
>i think the guitar is just as abused and misused as synths & drum
>boxes are.  right now i am listening to an album that manages to
>integrate synths, drum boxes, guitars and actual singing in a really
>wonderful and innovative way.  i don't expect to find more like it any
>time soon, however.  these guys (Underworld) are as unique as Kate in
>that they make music unlike anyone else.

I'm certainly willing to admit that there are exceptions, but I just 
think the general trend has gone too far the other way.  Synths and
drum boxes just make it too easy to produce a sound that makes good
dance floor "hits" and it seems to me that too many people take that
easy way out rather than take the time to learn and master instruments.
A real drummer may be able to come up with a lot of good musical ideas
that a person programming a box won't because that person hasn't spent
their career devoting themselves to finding out what good percussion
can add to a piece of music.  But it's so easy to program a boring
drum box part, why take the trouble to hire someone who knows what
they are doing?                                                      
 
>
>>I have no problem with "art" or "rock".  My problem is with "art-rock."
>
>have you listened to Ozric Tentacles?  their musical is meticulously
>crafted but with room for the human element.  as a composer, i am
>aware of the value of spontaneity, which is why i usually leave a
>little room in my tracks for some jamming and improv.  the Ozrics have
>me beat hands down, though, when it comes to musicianship - they are
>incredibly talented and versatile and technical.  check 'em out.
>particularly "Jurassic Shift".

Well, maybe I will sometime.  As I said, I'm willing to believe there
are exceptions out there, I just don't like how overwhelming the trend
seems to be.

>
>>The original point I was making was that I think that the advent of using
>>multiple tracks and "splicing together" different performances was leading
>>to a situation in which the art of performing is being lost in popular
>>music to the point that many artist have to resort to "lip-syncing"
>>(spelling??) because they simply can't perform.
>
>i think you are being gratuitously unfair in lumping together all
>types of "layered" music.  multitracking can be used to make a madonna
>record or a kate record or something far stranger.  this prejudice
>against composed works in favor of spontaneous jamming and the
>exaltation of "live musicians working in a live setting" just grates
>on me.  where would jamaican dub reggae be without the advent of the
>modern recording studio?
>
>Jon Drukman                                         jdrukman%dlsun87@oracle.com

Course I guess it depends on how much one likes jamaican dub reggae.
I just think the trend to composed works is too large.  Hardly anyone
records live in a live setting anymore.  Live albums are usually over-
dubbed.  When a studio album is recorded live it is considered a major
exception to the industry rule.  So a certain form of art is dying.
It will always be around to some degree, but I lament it being pushed
aside by the more cookie-cutter kind of music one hears on the radio
today.

Wade