Quite some weeks have passed without anything happening on this blog, but I have been trying several times now to write this post, doubting every time again if what I wrote might be interesting, or at least, what I wanted to tell.
The doubt is still there. Nonetheless, I am trying to convince myself that I should continue the posts about music or finish this series in some way and work on something else, not hide in my comfort zone and flee from what you may think.
You see, after the post about "Skating away on the thin Ice of the new Day", I had written about "Black and Blue", by Manfred Mann's Earthband.
I might as well simply show you how far I came:
During the last weeks I found that, even though I listened to the songs quite carefully, trying to make sure to get hold of everything I find attractive in them, on one hand, there still appear different details I didn't notice before and on the other, I see that a comfortably short (or not-too-long) blog entry is not enough space to say it all. On the third hand (I have to admit it: I am a hindu god and have many hands ;-) ), I am not even able to express all I would like to say, this is not only because of a certain lack of vocabulary, but also because many of the "vibes" go directly under the skin, into the guts and many other places, without even saying "hi" in the brain, so I couldn't explain exactly why I like each of these details. On another hand I don't fell comfortable repeating "I like" all the time, not even alternating it with "I love", "I adore", "I admire" etc. So then, should I try to attach a number to each detail I like, a reference to a scale from 0 to 20 of how deep it touches me? I would at most use the upper 3 or 4 numbers, of course, after all I am telling you about the songs I really love to listen to. I won't mind if you give me your opinion on how to improve this.
The song I chose for this time is "Black and Blue", appearing on the record "Messin'", by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, first released in 1973.
I want to mention this, as I have two versions of the LP and that is because each holds a different version of the song I'm going to talk about.
Even the record covers are not equally designed: the original is a foldable cover with a hole in the first page where the filter of the gas-mask should be, so you can see the planet earth that is printed on the inside, where it is floating over a desert. The later one (I bought the later one first, that is why I have the two: I was wishing to achieve the original one) is a simple cover and the planet earth is printed right into the gas-mask's filter's place. Here is a shot of the two covers, the newer record is on the left side.
The difference between the songs is not really DIFFERENCE, just about 30 seconds of length cut away after 1973: on the original record, the song starts with one voice only, no instrument, nothing else. A second voice joins in what at could be the third sentence, repeating this and extending words so that it ends at a time with the fourth sentence of the first voice. Then a short break, and the bass guitar starts with a very simple melody, a common blues rhythm. Here is where the song begins on the later record, with the bass rhythm.
During this, a kind of low chorus is added, at a time with some brushed drum, and the organ comes along as well.
I decided not to be listening to the song over and over while writing this, in order to mention only what I remember. Therefore, you may miss some sound that you DO remember, or part of the lyrics I don't catch.
When singer Chris Thomson starts/continues, the first few frases of the lyrics repeat in the original version. I heard or read that the song is about prisoners put to work in Australia. Apart from the lyrics telling us how this prisoner feels, in a rather extended instrumental part later you can appreciate the mercyless heat, the extenuation of the body and the endlessness of his days.
So this was the first attempt of what should be the third post. While thinking about how to continue the text, I ran again and again into the evidence I had mentioned, that it would turn out somehow repetitive to write about all the songs I like. So tried to focus on the topic from a slightly different angle of view, already willing not to bore you with similar expressions throughout a long series of posts about songs you may or may not know, may or may not like.
I shall do as before, just showing you what I achieved to write.
You may have noticed that it took me quite some time to decide what to post.
The truth is that I had almost finished a post about "Black and Blue", by Manfred Mann's Earthband, only to find that it somehow repeats what I wrote about "The Wizard". So I figured out that this would be happening throughout the long long list of songs I had been planning to describe, not because they all sound the same (of course, there surely ARE groups of somehow similar pieces) but because my vocabulary to describe what I like is not extensive enough and even if it were a lot richer, the sheer amount of music to describe would make it inevitable to repeat terms and phrases. After a while I came to the conclusion that what you feel about music is better shared listening to it and, if the mood is good, "dancing" - to name the sometimes funny, sometimes silly (my specialty) movements on the dancefloor in some way.
So I thought that, rather than treating each song individually, I should just give you an outline of the relationship between music and me through the years, specially those of my youth and early adulthood. I started on it and it seemed to develop quite well. Then, after several days I wanted to give it the final touch and post it, but at the end I didn't - it just doesn't feel "round", I'm not at all satisfied with the result, specially the end is kind of abrupt.
Like this one.
;-)
Yes, no, this is not the end, I'm just a little unsure now about how to continue.
Is it a good idea to offer you the stuff I have written so far?
So far, I just don't dare to do that, on the other hand it may as well be necessary to get some of you tell me how much you hate what I write. Of course, I might get depressed for some moments, maybe even days, but sooner or later I would come back and answer that you might as well sew a button to your cheek.
To start, it may already say a lot if you know that I was born in the early 60's, so when I came to school in 1970 (yea, a little bit late but it doesn't look like it was a disadvantage for me), there already was a huge repertoire of great songs and many others were soon to come, with me being right there. Anyhow, I didn't start at that age listening to Led Zeppelin (they came later into my life). At home, my parents used to see a (weekly?) TV-show called "Hitparade" and I cannot deny that I liked many of these songs, which nowadays might make me run away. I can even remember some names and parts of songs. But the first style I remember having listened to a LOT was good old Rock'n'Roll of around the 50's, of course there were Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, The Platters, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Arlo Guthrie , Roy Orbison, Chubby Checker, BB King, Nat King Cole, Ted Nugent, even some germans like Peter Kraus and Cornelia Froboess, and many more. This was mainly due to a radio broadcast called "Aus meiner Rocktasche" ("Out of my rock bag", but it also is a play on words: "Rocktasche" as well describes a pocket of a certain type of clothes), presented by Georg Kostia (not sure if spelled correctly) and I also recorded many songs on cassettes, specially after I got that fantastic "radio-recorder" for birthday.
Apart from that, my brother and I listened many times to a broadcast called "Pop nach 8" (pop after 8), presented back then by Thomas Gottschalk, and I still have the theme music in my ear - nonetheless I couldn't find so far on the internet a song called "Pelican", so I guess there's something wrong with what I thought was its name.
In 7th grade I already knew the british band "Status Quo", more specifically the song "Rockin' all over the World" which I still appreciate for being a happily mooded piece. Not too long after that, one day my brother came home from school telling me of a fantastic new song that went like ... sorry, I just can't describe it, he imitated the sound of the lead guitar melody. You surely start to understand why I think this stuff is better shared "live" ...
Ok, I'm not going to keep it secret: the song was "Smoke on the Water" - man, we went half crazy with that deep gut sound!
By the way, it may be time to ask you to forgive my linguistic "creativity" - I hope you imagine what I mean ;-)
It was the time between 12 and 20 years of age when I experienced the major activity on the field of coming to know new songs and bands. Not really a long time, indeed I'm wondering if it can be true - I only figured it out in this very moment. Of course it is an age when you have quite some parties to go to, and as beer was not really what I liked most about them, I tended to occupy the DJ's place.
... it looks like there was not enough time for all that must have happened ...
I remember that I started buying records way before I had a record-player and I even came to build one on my own, using
-a construction kit called "Fischer-Technik"
-a needle from a cheap toy record-player I gathered from some dustbin
-and a motor from a dismantled cassette-player
Amplifying was done with a radio of the 1940's. "Love, love me, do" were the very first words I listened to on my own equipment. The record, the "Red Album", I had bought on a flea market at school but it was only the second LP I owned: the very first vinyl disc I could call mine was "Back in Black" (and it was not a single of Amy Winehouse).
I have to admit that I bought more than one record knowing only one song on it, but that "technique" went quite well and only failed once: when I wanted the song "Bulldozer" by the "Oliver Onions" ... yes, I still feel a little ashamed for that faux pas ... after all, even this song (the one I was looking for) is quite monotonous, I still had not even heard it entirely when I felt so much urge to achieve the LP.
Other LPs I aquired just because I knew the name of the band - and maybe because LPs with better known songs of theirs were too expensive. Well, I don't remember, but it could explain how I came to buy records with no song on them I knew by then, as happened for example with "Stormwatch" and "Warchild" of Jethro Tull and "Conquest" of Uriah Heep.
Of other songs, I didn't catch the title or group name when mentioned by the presenter, so they just stayed alive in my mind in the way I had perceived them originally, maybe with some fantasy name and I never found one of them by chance on a record, it would have been a nice surprise. One thing that WAS a surprise was when I bought that "Rolling Stone" magazine which claimed to list the 500 best songs of Rock - and I found that I owned more than a third of them. My record collection is not really huge, only 142 albums and 8 singles. Of course, songs I have on cassette also count and there are about 50 cassettes (not currently located), but a good deal of them simply contain a mix of songs from my LPs.
I made a list of the bands and singers I remember and like, but I just decided not to "delight" you with the list of names (about 170). You saw that I like AC/DC as well as The Beatles or Jethro Tull, I think it could be called "mainstream" what I generally listen to, both softer and harder pieces. To give you just a very short look on a part of the list, there are Van Halen, Men at Work, Headboys, Black Sabbath, Whitney Houston, Dire Straits, Pat Benatar, Genesis, Chris de Burgh, Foreigner, Pink, Novalis, The Bangles and so many more, most of them are well-known.
Well, you may feel curious, so I'm going to append the list. It is not complete, still some names appear in my mind time and again, some names I added after checking my LP-collectiona and thought "Good God, how could I not remember them (as happened for example with "Queen") ... here it goes:
Fleetwood Mac (both before and with Stevie Nicks), Men at Work, The Heaboys, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, UFO, Electric Light Orchestra, Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark, ZZTop, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Scorpions, Van Halen, Manfred Mann's Earthband, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Allman Brothers Band, Kinks, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bangles, Steve Miller Band, Styx, Kansas, Boston, Nazareth, Chris de Burgh, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, (also the single members after the band fell apart: Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney), The Who, Rolling Stones, Ram Jam, Thin Lizzy, Frank Zappa, Phil Collins, Udo Lindenberg, Simon&Garfunkel, Novalis, Kraftwerk, Morgenrot, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Saga, Little River Band, Eagles, Bee Gees, David Bowie, Pat Benatar, Genesis, Blondie, Sweet, Gianna Nannini, Blue Öyster Cult, Steppenwolf, King Crimson, Billy Squier, Billy Idol, Billy Joel, Billy Ocean, CCR, Bob Marley, Sammy Hagar, Tina Turner, Bachmann Turner Overdrive, KGB, Wolfgang Ambros, 10CC, T-Rex, Procol Harum, Joni Mitchell, Shania Twain, Pink, Birthcontrol, Tubeway Army, Annie Lennox, ABBA, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Whitesnake, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Police, Foreigner, Canned Heat, Smokie, Jean-Michel Jarre, Run DMC, Devo, Animals, Slade, Status Quo, Celine Dion, Michael Rother, Judas Priest, Bay City Rollers, Boomtown Rats, Aerosmith, Jefferson Airplane, Roger Chapman, UB40, U2, Eric Clapton, Violent Femmes, Helen Schneider, Rubettes, YES, Mike Oldfield, Meat Loaf, Beggar's Opera, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Scott McKenzie, Don McLean, Leonard Cohen, Reinhard Mey, Suzie Quattro, Gary Numan, Cars, Reinhard Fendrich, Jackson Browne, Antonello Venditti, Cat Stevens, Opus, Riggs, Al Stewart, Angelo Branduardi, Michael Jackson, Madness, Andrea Bocelli, Wings, Stevie Wonder, Tim Curry, Inker&Hamilton, Kiss, Spider Murphy Gang, Peter Frampton, Roger Daltrey, Santa Esmeralda, George Michael
, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Mitch Ryder, Kottan's Kapelle, Golden Earring, Tangerine Dream, Journey, Queen, Focus, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Seger, Crazy Horse, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Little Feat, Barclay James Harvest, Climax Blues Band, Joe Cocker, Tracy Chapman, Ion Anderson, Cheap Trick, Don Felder, Trust, Whitney Houston
...
Well, I imagine you understand why I didn't feel totally satisfied with the -after all non-existing- end. That was what I tried to explain, in the last review of the text, in the second paragraph of the text, when mentioning the "abrupt end".
Now that all this is said, I shall do what I came to do: end the posts about songs after hardly having started.
For the future, I plan to tell you about a special material I work with. It may as well not seem very special to you, because it is to be seen almost everywhere, although we rather use it in order not to see it. I believe this contradictory quality must be a part of its special flair, its magic - the first "synthetic" material ever, produced by nature itself: glass.
