(A nice breakfast stout works as well...)
Anyhoo, it's been an odd week. First thing I did when I got home from work on Friday was pop the top on that beverage seen in the opening photo. Yes, that's the very one I quaffed moments after taking the shot.
Second thing I did (after calming down from reading a piece of corporate stupidity just before departing work, which was the reason for the adult beverage) was to think on what I wished to regale you, The Chanters, with on what I trust will be a lovely Saturday morn. (I'm on Friday as I write this. Again, the vagaries of time travel...)
Then it struck me, music. Why not, who doesn't like music, no one who visits here dislikes music, of that I am pretty sure. While our tastes may vary, I daresay that all of us like a bit of a tune now and again.
I know I do.
So I thought I'd share a couple (maybe three) of the tunes I've enjoyed over the years. The first one is from the band I grew up with...
That one never made it to an album (that I'm aware of) it was on the flip-side of Paperback Writer, another favorite. I had that "45" back in the day. (Would one of you old hands take the younger lads and lassies aside and explain to them what a "45" is? The vinyl, not the pistol, not the Jacobite rising, though I like those too.)
I particularly like the bass and the drums on that one, Ringo is often underestimated for his drum work.
Yeah, I liked the Stones as well, but that came later.
That one gets the blood pumping. FWIW, I tend to admire drummers and bass players amongst the musical set and Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts are excellent. I guess it's because I'm okay at the bass and I'm still bashing away on the drum kit. While I'm not that good, I don't suck either. So drummers and bassists are my musical role models.
Many bands have entertained me over the years: Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Men At Work, Def Leppard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dropkick Murphys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a host of others. It's usually rock and roll of some sort, though the occasional bagpipe tune wanders in, as does the odd hymn or three.
Military marches (French or German preferred) are much loved, but I need to be in the right mood for those. (Not a big Sousa fan, not sure why.) Not exactly the kind of thing one relaxes to over a fine malted beverage.
I like Vivaldi, Beethoven, a wee bit of Wagner (though not too much), some of Tchaikovsky's stuff is good (I mean come on, 1812 Overture, with cannon! What's not to love?), and I'm sure there are other classical composers that I like. Not a fanatic or anything mind you, just the odd bit here and there. (I could never sit still through an entire symphony, believe me.)
I've seen four bands live, all of 'em outdoors. In order - The Allman Brothers in Saratoga, Seals & Crofts at Red Rocks outside Denver, Jethro Tull at Tanglewood (in Massachusetts), and (of course) Foo Fighters last summer up at Fenway Park in Boston.
The first two I sat so far away, could have been anyone up on stage, and those were in the days of no big screens set up so we folks in the cheap seats could see the band. For Jethro Tull my brother, The Musician, got us awesome seats, I'd say maybe 20 to 30 yards from the stage. The seats at Fenway were pretty good, not to mention that The WSO came with, she made it even more fun. I like doing stuff with my kids and grandkids. That one was fun mostly for the energy that was in it. Those guys put on an excellent live show. So does The WSO once she unleashes her inner NFO.
The Foos also get along well with their fans.
My favorite band at this point in time -
And yes, Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel are wicked awesome on the drums and bass, respectively.
Anyhoo, that's what floats my boat musically.
What's your favorite music?
Have a great weekend.
Oh yeah, happy June.
* From The Mourning Bride, Act I, Scene 1. By William Congreve
When growing up I was mostly listening to either classical (what was playing at my folks house) and country (which was what was always playing at the house where I was usually hanging out) so Chopin, Hank Williams Sr and Jr, George Jones, Dolly, Patsy Cline, Statler Brothers, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond (my first concert seen at Saratoga), and Neil Sedaka are among my favorites. I listen to a lot of piano music, especially when trying to get my paperwork done. In the last 10 years or so, has also discovered some jazz as well.
ReplyDeleteBasically I enjoy anything that has rhythm, makes me tap my toes, and is "musical". Not a fan of hip-hop, rap, opera, or of heavy metal.
Ah yes, I do like me some Johnny Cash. Not sure why I was never really into country music, the occasional tune, sure, but the genre as a hole, no. Johnny Cash is the exception I suppose. There might be others.
DeleteBlood, Sweat & Tears got me through high school while Tears for Fears is probably my favorite....hmmmm.... tears...... hmmmm. Going to echo Suz with a dislike of hip-hop, opera and rap. Back under your bridge troll! (4:57am comment)
ReplyDeleteYes, I deleted that sumbitch from 4:57. That's the second time this week the ee-jit darkened our door. Some people's kids...
DeleteOooo... Now you got the curiosity monkey stirred up. What vitriol was said troll spewing. (you can send me email ifn you wants to..)
DeleteAnd, Nylon12, good form regarding sending the troll off.
Some misogynistic ill-bred bottom dweller. No more need be said, I deleted the comment without chasing the link the knucklehead provided.
DeleteA heads up to all the Any Mouse commenters, I might have to send all Anonymous comments to moderation if this nitwit persists in his trollery.
Doesn't mean your comments won't get published, just means I need to read 'em first. It's why we can't have nice things.
I grew up on Sons of the Pioneers, Jimmie Rogers, (Waiting for a Train), Roger Miller, Marty Robbins, Schubert, Beethoven, et. al. On the radio I remember lots of cool stuff, KSEL was my sisters station with the Cow Seals, Beatles, BTO, Fog Hat and such like.
ReplyDeleteI never really out grew my love of country, which probably peaked in 1964 or so. Not sure what is even playing there now. But I've since found covers....
Have you heard Iron Horse's cover of Enter Sandman?? Hauntingly beautiful to me. I learned bluegrass guitar when I was a pup, and never pursued it. They've done a lot of neat songs and area really tight sound. Good stuff.
I still listen to the "oldies", AC/DC, some Black Sabbath, and the rockers of the late 70's. Memories of dusty roads, old engine oil, and stars from horizon to horizon........
Have you ever driven by a V8 pump engine running on natural gas? Pushing out 8 inches of water to irrigate a 200 acre cotton field... Hunting rabbits at midnight, zooming through the cool air, then hit the warm exhaust cloud and that distinctive smell? Those are the good memories from the late 70's.... Freedom....
Music hits me in the memories like nothing else. It can pull emotion from the depths so quickly..... Reason 20,431 that I KNOW there is a God. Else, how can rhythmic sound do that?
Just listened to Iron Horse's cover of Enter Sandman...
DeleteOh my word that was good! I do love some bluegrass music from time to time. I have subscribed to their YouTube channel, I need more!
Music does amazing things to my soul. I'm with you on the KNOWING.
I grew up in the age of rock and roll, so anything in that genre - especially the late 60's thru the 80's. Rric Clapton in his various bands, Kansas, ZZTop, Jethro Tull, Eagles, eat al. But I had a lot of exposure to classical thanks to my mom and grandmother, and I sang in a church choir from age 5-ish (boy soprano) thru high school (baritone - the transition from one to the other was 'interesting' and often a bit awkward). I don't listen to much country, but do so occasionally, and like Suz and Nylon, have no use for rap/hip hop. I have even been known to listen to 40's swing music every so often. Some opera is OK - I can appreciate the technical nature of it, but don't personally care for the 'caterwauling' type. Great voices in opera, though. I also like listening to 'new age'/Celtic when I want to relax.
ReplyDeleteNew age and Celtic, I'd forgotten about those genres, some good stuff therein.
DeleteMost of the time it’s whatever’s playing.
ReplyDeleteIf I have to pick, it’s jazz.
Jazz ain't bad, just never got into it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteUm, might want to tone that down a bit Beans, it comes close to the bounds of decency. I get it but...
DeleteOther imagery might be warranted, we try to keep it at least semi-family friendly here.
But as to your opinions of modern jazz, yeah, not a fan.
Good jazz is fantastic. Old school big-band style, or old school nightclub style. Modern jazz or, as I call it, Masturbation Jazz, just sucks.
DeleteWhy do I call it that? Because the player is into it for him/her/itself, not into the way the music interacts with others (especially the audience.) The ultimate in "Look at MEEEEEEEEEE." Piece starts out nice and then breaks up into 2-3 minutes of Piano Man followed by 2-3 minutes of Trumpet Boy followed by 2-3 minutes of Bass Fisher followed by 2-3 minutes of Little Drummer Boy just self-enjoying irregardless of everyone around. And then it repeats with another piece, same as the first, for 2-3-4-5 hours. Yay. Wheeeee. No wonder why people at jazz clubs drink and do drugs so much.
Bleh.
Even just focusing on the individual skill of a player doesn't do it for me, at all. Want to focus on individual skill, fine, make it a working part of a piece. Or do a modern toccata (as in Toccata and Fugue in D minor by JSBach, the toccata being the show piece to scare mediocre and good organists away from it, only leaving great organists (or now, other instruments or whole groups, friggin heretics..) to play one of the hardest organ pieces (the toccata) followed by one of the best fugues (fugue being a piece that builds upon itself until it peaks and then unbuilds itself.)
(Sorry, I woke up on the wrong side of the litter box this morning and said what I did just above in a much more crude and nasty way, and only our host smacking me allowed me to realize how foul it was. See, for those out there who think I'm nice, I'm only nice because Mrs. Andrew keeps me that way. Unleashed, I am a human equivalent of the circular muscle found at the end of the digestive tract. A rather big one. She keeps me civilized, mostly...)
So for those now reading this, put Sarge's last posting above now below this one, but make it nasty and not nice and you can see why OldAFS Gibbs-slapped me.
DeleteJust face it. I really hate most modern jazz. About as much as I like leftist politics. I'd rather listen to most rap or hip-hop, no, well, about the same level, so there you go.
Beans - You clean up real nice.
Delete;)
I should chime in on the rap/hip-hop thing - no, thank you, but no.
DeleteGotaa admit to some that haven't been mentioned yet. Maybe an earlier era. I was usually into stuff without singing for some reason. Anyone remember the Crazy Otto or Ferrante and Teicher? The Ventures? Iw ill stand up for the opera genre (typically without the singing). I love the complexity. Madama Butterfly, of course. I knew her at Itazuke.
ReplyDeleteI do remember The Ventures, Walk Don't Run was excellent. Ferrante and Teicher, the original Piano Guys, Autumn Leaves was very nice.
DeleteThe complexity of opera is pretty interesting, but some of them are just too much for me. My son, The Naviguesser is a big fan of opera, he actually flew all the way to Italy to see an opera. Now that's devotion.
I was working on a table of my favorites in various Genre's. Unfortunately, Blogger Commentary does not allow those HTML tags. In any case, on my list of Easy Listening Ferrante and Teicher was near the top. Mom used to always play their album(s) around the house. Just became sorta associated with "home" for me.
DeleteThe longest column was classical. Headed by Mr. T and his 1812 (W/cannons of course). My morning workout music is classical on Pandora. I've "liked" Bizet enough that he pops up often. "Carmen" really gets the heart rate up. When my cardiologist asked about my workout program and I mentioned classical he kinda squinted. I told him to try to work out to "Carmen" and see if he still thought I wasn't working hard enough. He did and texted me to continue with the program. He approved.
On the Rock front. I would have added Grand Funk, CCR, and the Who as well as a couple of others. Jazz would include Dave Brubeck, Kenny G, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Earl Klugh, George Benson, Wynton Marsalis and Grover Washington.
Enya, Chicago, ONJ, Martin Denny, Herb Alpert, Chris Botti, and the Corrs would have been also have been on the Easy Listening.
Lots of C&W to include Toby Keith for that song and Lee Greenwood for his song. He, Kenny G, and the Moody Blues are the only ones I've seen live. I think Lee Greenwood performed at the Kun while I was there. I know it was overseas and in a theater. I don't recall a lot of families there, just troops. Do you remember, Sarge? Pretty good show as I recall.
I don't remember Lee Greenwood playing at Kunsan, of course it's possible. According to Wiki (source of all skewed knowledge) God Bless the USA didn't come out until 1984, not sure when he became really popular, but I think it was mid 80s.
DeleteYeah, I kinda wish Blogger did tables. There has been an occasion or two where a table would've been nice.
Glenn Miller, Dorseys (either), Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz
ReplyDeleteDitto homebru!! Christmas isn't Christmas around here unless it's 1940's swing. I love the old carols and carolers. When I hear White Christmas with Bing, and Santa Baby (oh man...) and all the beauty that brings to mind, I am in the spirit. My wife usually starts listening to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving.
DeleteSpeaking of, I found out last week that Doris Day sang for Les Brown and His Band of Renown.... didn't know that beauty did that.
YES!!!!
Deletehomebru - Yes, I love the music of the 40s. My parents had the entire Glenn Miller collection. I didn't appreciate that music when I was young, I do now. All those guys were good.
DeleteSTxAR - Say Christmas and Bing Crosby springs to mind. I have a CD of his Christmas stuff, surprised I haven't worn it out yet.
DeleteA Bob Hope show without Les Brown and His Band of Renown was unthinkable. Didn't know that Doris Day sang with them. There's a talent that is missed!
Beans - Another thing we have in common.
DeleteI am surprised that no one has mentioned the Moody Blues. There are Moody Blues cruises on which the Moody Blues and a number of other bands board a cruise ship and for five to seven days the ship sails around ( stopping at several ports ) and one can listen to live music day and night. My wife and I have been on two of the cruises and plan on attending more, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
ReplyDeleteI also like a number of the groups/bands mentioned above, and am completely unfamiliar with some of the others.
Thanks for the post.
Paul L. Quandt
Yes, love the Moody Blues, had a number of their albums.
DeleteIf you are not broken up by hearing a good rendition of "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber, then I would seriously question if you have a soul. One of the most lamentatious pieces of music ever.
ReplyDeleteAnd on that note, I like good disco, good rock, good western (not country, western, like, you know, in the old westerns,) good country, good church music, love that sick twisted dwarf Wagner's stuff (a bad piece of Wagner is okay, a good piece is spectacular and a great piece will just take me away to a different world.) Either Bach is great, though I prefer the elder original. Estampe (the group) has done some seriously fantastic medieval music. ELO, of course. Good celtic, good Irish (sometimes there is a difference.) And... Polka. I love polka music.
I like good music. I even like some rap. Especially when Weird Al does it.
Well, Weird Al is in another whole category, yes, I like him. Amish Paradise gives me a chuckle every time I hear it, as does White and Nerdy.
DeletePolka is an acquired taste, depends on the crowd I'm hanging with, but yeah, I can tap my feet to a good polka.
Hey our noble host. Since I am not totally sure of exactly where you live, just so you know that "Live PD" is now filming in East Providence, RI.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say "Live PD" doesn't show up in quiet places.
We're outside of Providence, far enough away that the ne'er-do-wells are a distant distraction.
DeleteProvidence can be the wild west dontcha know. Sanctuary city, progressive paradise, I go through Providence, I seldom go "to" Providence. Buddy Cianci made it better, seriously he did, but it's still a cesspool in my book. Yes, there are nice parts, but it's a city, I don't really care for cities.
There's that little known group from Sweden, two guys, two girls, oh yeah. ABBA.
ReplyDeleteThey were just getting big when I came home from one of the Med cruises.
I don't like everything they did, but I wish they had stuck together long enough to move past the pop phase and do more of what I think they were capable of.
When I was stationed on the can in New York in '76-'78, I took advantage of the USO tickets to see opera, ballet, and classical music. A highlight was seeing Beverly Sills sing "The Merry Widow." Most, if not all were freebies, and if there was a cost, it wasn't much.
I had the chance to see Tosca some years ago in Philly.
Great opera, dirty dealing, backstabbing, sex for favors, and revenge.
Kinda like DC today.
And there is so much music, and only so much time to listen. Especially when I'm listening on YouTube when one song leads to another, to another, and ..........
Very good post, even though you had to bar a commenter, you didn't beat him with a staff, nor allow his boorish behavior to cause a cleft between you and your commenters.
DeleteGreat opera, dirty dealing, backstabbing, sex for favors, and revenge.
Gotta love it. Better than British TV.
I remember when the AF Times (maybe Stars and Stripes) (PACAF Edition) came out with a picture of the Beatles on the front page. Must have been in '64 in Itazuke. We all were shocked, shocked, I tell you regarding the long hair of those guys.
Oh and so you won't think ill of me, I do love Rock-a-billy.
Rock-a-billy doesn't take itself too seriously. It's all about fun and noise and fun. Elvis with better backup. What's not to like?
DeleteJohn - Yes, I sent him off with a red card.
DeleteI rather liked ABBA, for a couple of reasons. :)
Dave - Yeah, I think The Beatles' hair in '64 is probably in regulation now. And I'm only half kidding...
DeleteBeans - Rock-a-billy ain't bad, like you say, it's fun music.
Delete