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#Post#: 425--------------------------------------------------
GEORGE AND JAMES (Project of the Week for 29th of May, 5th of Ju
ne)
By: moleshow Date: May 29, 2017, 10:51 pm
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SO HERE'S THE DEAL!
with the PotW being the American Composer Series, one may ask:
all at once? to which the answer is nope.
this week is specifically about Side A of George and James. the
George side. next week will be the James side. then, after that,
we'll move to Stars and Hank Forever and do the same thing.
hopefully that explains "Part 1 of 4".
#Post#: 429--------------------------------------------------
Re: AMERICAN COMPOSER SERIES PART 1 OF FOUR (Project of the Week
for 29th of May)
By: CheerfulHypocrite Date: June 4, 2017, 4:25 pm
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George Gershwin never really did appeal to me. Not because of
anything other than other than the thin walls of the bedroom I
was living in at the time. Next door there lived an elderly
couple with a gramophone record player that must have had an
earlier life as an air raid warning system. They played a lot of
Classical Music. At volumes usually reserved for inflicting
structural damage on buildings. It was summer.
The previous April I had watched Tommy Cooper die, literally,
live on television. His assistant put on his red cloak. He
collapse. The audience laughed. It was his style of comedic
magic. Meanwhile, the Miners were on strike. Protesting at the
politicised closure of Coal Mines. The closures were inevitable
and expected. The speed of closure and the utterly bewildering
dumping of people onto a social scrap heap was the core of the
Miners' campaign. The government strategy was threefold: build
coal stocks, to keep as many miners at work as possible, and to
use police to break up pickets. The critical element was
ensuring the National Union of Mineworkers failure to hold a
strike ballot. Which kept other Trade Unionists from becoming
involved.
It was all about transforming society. Destroying Trade Unions
and making the world safe for capitalism. I would have rather
had Tommy Cooper (1921-1984). Not that he was a favourite
comedian or magician; but, because he was familiar. Part of a
vanishing world. As was my neigbour. He was a veteran of the
Second World War, harboured resentment towards Americans for the
very poor behaviour of certain airmen during the War. In the
Second World War Americans were stationed all over Lancashire.
In and around Liverpool there were black Airmen. There were also
white Airmen. Both sets would go into Liverpool to Pubs, Clubs
and Shebeens. Especially in Liverpool 8: Toxteth. There was
always a tension between Locals and the American Military
because these dashing folk were stealing local women. Apart from
The Grafton Ballrooms there were a range of other places. Far
away from the Burtonwood Military Police and White Boys with
boots. On once occasion, there was a huge clash between American
Black and White Airmen in The Grafton Ballrooms which my
neigbour witnessed because he was a regular at The Grafton
Ballrooms.
Which was where he would swap cough mixture for music. Which is
where he became attached to American Music. Despite the
profitable relationship, he could not stand Americans because
they hit on his girl - later his wife. As time went on his
hearing deteriorated and both of them took to listening to music
- Generally Classical - at huge, expansive volumes. He reminded
me of an African Tommy Cooper.
Which was how he came to hear The Residents Playing George and
James. The James Side was less favoured than the George side.
During a lull in his daily discipline of playing Petrushka and
The Firebird Suite, I blasted out George at a volume more suited
to Panamanian Dictators than good neigbourly relations. When the
clattering at the door came I was completely unprepared for the
conversation. I hyped myself up to confrontation and argument.
Knowing the neighbour had a reputation. Yet, nothing came of it.
Nothing.
He stood on the doorstep and simply asked, Were you playing
Gershwin?. Which was utterly confusing. As I began to speak, he
leant forwards and shouted, You really will need to speak up. I
am stone deaf. Which really was the first I knew of it. Which
was also where I began to learn that someone I had assumed to be
merely a local petty gangster was possibly one of the most
cultured people for miles. When I nodded, he simply walked in,
plonked himself down and demanded the "gramophone record". After
he had the sleeve handed to him and the record placed onto the
platter to play, he played around with volume, bass and treble
knobs for some time. Then he returned the needle to the start of
the vinyl and started from Rhapsody In Blue.
He was rapt. Silent until the end of Summertime. Whereupon he
announced that The Residents cannot play jazz. Gershwin he
assured me, was a white boy riding the Harlem Renaissance and
the Residents were white boys riding a white boy riding the
Harlem Renaissance. Which made sense to him, if not to me. I
offered the information that The Residents were anonymous and
all that sort of thing. Which was treated with disdain. His
theory was that they were not really anonymous: there would be
signatures in their music - even if they interpreted others -
that would give them away.
They were using machines - bloody machines - to hide themselves
but they would leave fingerprints all over their work. Every
musician does, apparently. The signature of the Residents is
making you think. Apparently. Something he was largely adverse
to in music. Music should stir passion and action. Sitting and
thinking about it defeats the object. Which is a notion that
threads through their music. Mister Wonderful manages to be
deeply emotional and much of Wormwood is passionate. But, George
and James, is lacking something. As though the music had been
repeatedly bleached. As though there was some incredible
technique of leeching out everything until a unique silence -
the silence of George Gershwin - was all that was left.
Two years later, his wife had a stroke. He ceased playing music
and faded. By that time we were friends and I got to call him
Charlie. I witnessed his will. Unknown to me, he had six
different versions of his will. In one, he left me a collection
of books. Which, even if the Will had been enforceable, was
gratifying but pointless. His son had sold them years ago. When
Charlie died, his son came and put everything into a skip in
less than a day. The house was sold within a week. Which is how
people vanish. The last piece of music I ever heard him play was
Trios Gymnopédies. His son got into a squabble with his daughter
and his disowned sun about the property and that was the end of
that.
To this day the only signature to the Residents music that I
actually want there to be is that it makes you think. Not
because that is true but because it suits me.
#Post#: 430--------------------------------------------------
Re: AMERICAN COMPOSER SERIES PART 1 OF FOUR (Project of the Week
for 29th of May)
By: moleshow Date: June 6, 2017, 1:18 am
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since i'm not much into the originals, the covers that make up
this side don't really do much at all for me. that being said, i
enjoy the presence of this side of the album in the context of
Bobuck's later, solo works. his experimentation with
pre-existing music and his inclination towards utilizing present
technology to execute ideas comes through loud and clear.
but, outside of that... i dunno. it's not something i'm super
into.
#Post#: 431--------------------------------------------------
PROJECT OF THE WEEK (5th of June): AMERICAN COMPOSER SERIES (Par
t 2 of 4)
By: moleshow Date: June 6, 2017, 1:33 am
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NOW.... we move on to the James side of George and James.
pretty simple stuff, i'd say.
#Post#: 436--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (5th of June): AMERICAN COMPOSER SERIES
(Part 2 of 4)
By: moleshow Date: June 13, 2017, 3:26 pm
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this side of the album is actually why i bought it on vinyl- to
hear it at 45rpm.
at 33rpm, i was mildly amused at best by it. but for some
reason, hearing it sped up made it click. their dedication to
replication is clearer here, and the whole side is practically
dripping with an undeniable respect and adoration for Live at
The Apollo. there is clearly rough experimentation throughout,
but i would consider the James side to be one that sets the tone
for future works- specifically the Black Barry section of
Cube-E.
the addition of crowd noises actually makes it pretty exciting
to listen to. it is, of course, at a faster pace than what was
"intended", but the manic energy of the start of Night Train
consistently manages to make me want to get up and dance.
about the album as a whole- it lays down a few stones in the
"reflection of American culture through music" path that they
started with their first few albums (TRnR, Eskimo, Commercial
Album, MotM, you get the idea). while the music on this album
may seem underwhelming to some, its importance cannot be
stressed enough in the context of their future works. it would
seem to me that the roughness is due to the fact that the Mole
Show really beat them up pretty badly financially and they may
have been eager to step away from storytelling for a hot minute
(a hot minute, in this case, is 5 years.)
but more on that after the Hank side of Stars and Hank Forever.
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