Old Man Riva

The recent talk of Zappa and Beefheart has led me back to this. Revisited it today after a good while and instantly fell back in love with it...

God, I love that album. I’m going to play it tomorrow. The production on it is one of my favourites, especially the bass sound - it’s huge! A similar vibe for me is the Pepe Deluxe album Beatitude, well worth a listen. A socially distanced cuppa for you too then!

Loughton?! Should’ve said, I’d have made you a socially distanced cuppa!

It’s a long way away from Forever And Ever for Demis! Saw this on a car advert this evening. Never heard it before, and really dig it...

Making It Better - The Barons Ltd. Baby Let Me Kiss You - King Floyd Recently heard the above on TV, though can’t remember the ads - probably an ad person’s worst nightmare!

This’ll be 40 years old in November - FORTY!! Blimey, Charlie, where’s it all gone...

Recorded in 2010, full album out in July...

Thank you so much, that’s a fantastic read! Very candid, too - pretty much openly criticising Emir Ksasan for not being ‘in the pocket’ - which you wouldn’t get these days. There’s a confidence (arrogance!) from DD that I really like, which is perfectly complimented by GM’s more understated/humble approach. And the little oddities that come out of articles like this are great - I hadn’t realised that D’addario strings were around in ‘78 (I’ve since Googled their history!). Anyway, all hail the “John Coltrane of rock ‘n’ roll”!!

One of my favourite pieces of music of all time, that..!

I think it’s Steve Walters in the George clip - Steve L was playing with Simply Red at the time? Agree, mind, it’s a great gig... I think my favourite MTV Unplugged is the K.D. Lang show - don’t think the video is available anywhere but the show itself is part of the anniversary release of Ingenue. Well worth checking out...

The late John McKenzie was another UK bass player who slapped and popped in the (late) 70s - with Steve Hillage and Annette Peacock. He was a fabulous all-round player/musician...

Ronnie Wood from 1974, with the wonderful Willie Weeks on bass...

The cover posted by the OP actually allowed me a greater appreciation of the original track, of which I previously wasn’t really a fan of. I like it when I hear something that opens my ears and gets me thinking about things in a different way. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.

Love it! It’s, erm, very David Lynch-y..!

Over the years I've fallen in and out of love with the Shadows & Light project. When I was younger and it first came out I loved it, mainly due to Joni and Jaco. As the years have passed it's not something I tend to listen to/watch that often - first time I saw the concert was on BBC2, I think, and even then I'm not sure it was the full recording. I don't think the project has been particularly well handled by the various releases over the years as they've been a bit 'all over the place' - the first issue of the CD omitted tracks from the original double album release, then there was a subsequent version that contained all tracks from the album, though no release contains all tracks from the film! At least I don't think they do - there's every chance I'm wrong! In terms of the band, I think it was her intention to put together a kind of 'superstar' group for this (fairly short US only) tour off the back of the Mingus album. Big players, with big personalities from a jazz background to bring a different approach/sound to her songs. I think she was prepared to accept a bit of overplaying here and there in order to embrace that improvisational jazz approach. This was an interesting time in her career, where the Mingus album was pretty much panned by critics across all genres (even Mingus himself was said to be disappointed by how some of it had turned out). The album was her least successful (in terms of sales) of all of her 70s output, and for me marks the end of a particular era of her music. The next album would throw up a different sound and approach to her songwriting - crafted around a more production/poppier approach. I love pretty much all of her work, and her approach to the Mingus album (whether it turned out particularly well or not) is something that I think her marks her out from most other artists, where she possessed a genuine desire to take risks in her music, and damn the consequences and what other people thought. She can pretty much do no wrong for me...

Vincent Van Trigt?

The song means a great deal as it was mine and Mrs Riva’s wedding song, all those years ago - we didn’t dance, as such, more stood at the bar giggling and tried to sing along! The Rod/Faces version is wonderful also (there’s a live BBC version where Ronnie Laine sings the verse and Rod then comes in and takes the roof off with the chorus - you almost feel sorry for Ronnie!). I think Macca’s rock ‘n’ roll voice is often overlooked - his vocals on the Sgt Pepper’s track itself are right up there for me, in terms of great/iconic rock ‘n’ roll performances...

Love this...

Indeed they did, forgot about that...

That would make more sense - Slade etc. A mate of mine ran a studio in Coventry and was a Beatles obsessive. He used to go to record fairs and buy cassette bootlegs of the various sessions The Beatles did (probably the same that you can find on YouTube these days) and then pore over each outtake. Again, and again, and again. Forcing me to listen to Macca and explaining, note by note, why each note was perfect. After a few days it was pretty much ‘torture by Beatles’, but he was right, of course! I actually think that Wings are massively underrated, but that’s probably one for another day!

Completely agree, and with Oasis I’m not sure I hear it in much/any of their music, if I’m honest - not a criticism of them, I just don’t hear it!

Other than their first album I’m not really an Oasis fan but I don’t think they harmed the legacy in any way. They were/are amongst many artists across a myriad of genres that in the recent-ish past have spoken openly about the importance/influence of The Beatles and Macca etc. That certainly didn’t happen in the 80s, at least not that I was aware...

How has this come to be? I think a lot appreciation of/towards bands/musicians often requires a decent passing of time to properly appreciate and appraise their work. In my experience, Macca/The Beatles weren’t referenced much at all in the 80s. That said they’d only split up 10 yrs earlier, so in today’s terms it would be akin to appraising, say, the work of Adele (the biggest selling artist of 2011], which would feel odd to do - in another 10 yrs perhaps, but not today. The only references I can recall were U2, of all people, covering Helter Skelter and referencing them in amongst artists such as John Coltrane, BB King and Bills Holliday as part of the Rattle and Hum period. To my ears, it all sounded a bit odd, and dare I say, uncool at the time (which says more about me at the time than it does about multi million album selling rock combo U2!). The sounds and playing styles of bass in the 80s (certainly the early half of the decade) were markedly different to Macca. Not better, just different! Roll forward to the 90s, and a 30 yr period having passed, I think that’s where I’ve noticed The Beatles being most critiqued - documentaries, new releases etc. - all helped by the internet and bands wearing their influences on their sleeves. Not bad if you think how the 90s began with Candy Flip! I suppose it’s a long-winded way of saying, for me, up until recent years Macca has often been overlooked/under appreciated in terms of his bass playing...

Yours too, sir! I think My Generation is one of finest singles of all time. Also one of the most exciting pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Can only imagine how it must have sounded on the radio when it was first released...