I must admit I'd almost forgot Alvin Lee - 40ish years ago I saw Ten Years After play, and their version that day of I'm Going Home is one of my live music highlights
re: Peter Banks. The AV Club had a very thorough (and not at all snarky) obit, which I found very interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I downloaded Flash's "In the Can" on Guvera and I'm listening to it right now. Sounds like every prog band from the era, which is perfectly OK with me.
"Jason Molina, the leader of alternative bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., died Saturday night in Indianapolis from organ failure resulting from alcohol consumption. He was 39."
Still feeling some loss about Molina. Always loved his music for his ability to move into his pain, to let his music ride where so few are willing to actually tread. Tough to know that his ability to express that came with his inability to handle it.
This is much harder for me. Although Williams hasn't been the same since a cycling accident years ago, I still remember him. It would be hard for me to exaggerate the degree of influence he and his gang of writers had on my musical interests long ago. I subscribed to Crawdaddy from its beginning and read those reviews over and over. He introduced me to artists I have continued to love and interpreted artists I already knew in more complex ways that not only changed my understanding of those artists, but also enlarged my understanding of what popular music could be. Along the way he may even have enlarged my understanding of what I could be. Thank you, Paul.
Wow, I did not know Paul Williams died. Like most around here, I read lots of his work over the years. Between Dylan and PKD, I think we would have gotten along quite well.
Very sad about Roger Ebert. His writing introduced me to many of my favorite movies, and I have been a regular reader of his blog over the past couple of years. The matter-of-fact way he handled his illness, and his refusal to let it silence him even after he lost the ability to speak, has been remarkable to watch. RIP.
The radio program Marketplace had a segment about Thatcher and music.
"No political figure in British politics has inspired quite so many songs that Margaret Thatcher has inspired," says Paul Williams, head of business analysis for Music Week. "She certainly was very inspirational in terms of bringing out an anger." Williams says the punk movement gained a lot of momentum and global interest because of Thatcher's policies. Thatcher became a sort of anti-muse for The Clash, Elvis Costello and Pink Floyd. Billy Bragg practically made a cottage industry out of hating the conservative prime minister.
"I can remember being a preteen listening to Pink Floyds 'The Final Cut' and wondering, whos this Maggie hes so mad at?" says Aram Sinnreich, a professor of media at Rutgers University...Sinnreich doubts punk would have become the global movement it did without Thatcher.
They have on that page a Spotify playlist of 11 punk songs about her.
I remember the Blues Band, led by Paul Jones (ex Manfred Mann) doing a great version of Dylan's Maggie's Farm - quite ironic. It must have been in the mid 80s at a venue in Nottingham. For those of us in the UK she was either someone you loved or hated. I won't be watching the live funeral coverage on TV, so you can work out my perspective from that!
Scott Miller of Game Theory and the Loud Family. Lolita Nation by Game Theory is a lost classic ( pretty much literally - no one knew who owned the licensing for it, so it's been unavailable for years). The website is offering downloads of some of the Game Theory albums - links are being hit hard right now - but worthwhile. I have Lolita Nation on LP.
Very sad to hear about Scott Miller. In addition to being a great musician, his book Music: What Happened is full of brilliant writing and interesting, insightful criticism. Fifty-three is way too young.
I had never heard of Miller, but I just started reading the Google Books version of his book, Music: What Happened? At first it was like popcorn, I just couldn't stop, but I began to realize how good these one paragraph analyses of songs were. I wound up reading all of it found on Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=Aduy1H1mUx0C&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false
Comments
ETA: In memory of the great Alvin Lee: Ten Years After - Love Like a Man
- May he rest in peace.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jason-molina-of-magnolia-electric-co-dead-at-39-20130318#ixzz2O5kykFYW
Another link:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/03/postscript-jason-molina.html
That's also where i first heard Jim James.
It's so sad. He's just a little older than my oldest son.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/arts/music/paul-williams-father-of-rock-criticism-is-dead-at-64.html
This is much harder for me. Although Williams hasn't been the same since a cycling accident years ago, I still remember him. It would be hard for me to exaggerate the degree of influence he and his gang of writers had on my musical interests long ago. I subscribed to Crawdaddy from its beginning and read those reviews over and over. He introduced me to artists I have continued to love and interpreted artists I already knew in more complex ways that not only changed my understanding of those artists, but also enlarged my understanding of what popular music could be. Along the way he may even have enlarged my understanding of what I could be. Thank you, Paul.
Crass- Whats it like to be the mother of 1000 dead
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/andy-johns-rolling-stones-and-led-zeppelin-engineer-dead-at-61-20130408
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/annette-funicello-mouseketeer-and-girl-next-door-beauty-dies-at-70/2013/04/08/5d4083de-a071-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html
Working Man sung by Rita MacNeil
Pink Floyd album designer Storm Thorgerson dies
http://books.google.com/books?id=Aduy1H1mUx0C&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q&f=false