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Friday? Influences Thread 05-31-13


Lee Knight

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Is it Friday already?!?! I love how Friday comes quicker when you have that previous 3 day weekend. OK, so post what moved you this week and got you all lit up brighter than a summer firefly.

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I saw the McCartney and Wings movie ROCKSHOW! last night at the theater. OK! I've always loved Wings. Why? Isn't that when McCartney started sucking? I never thought so. The songs are so effortless and so UNselfconscious. Willing to be silly and shallow. But what so frequently gets missed is just how clever these grooves and chord changes and arrangements are. Really. All while being... flippant. And the guitar work?I mean, have you listened to the guitar solo in My Love lately? So... who's the guitarist? 

 

Great question. In the movie, Jimmy McCulloch is the man playing all those iconic Wings tight gripped and uber melodic guitar figures. So 70's!!!! SG into a couple of Fender Showmans with Fender 2*12 and Marshall 4*12 cabs. ROCK! I always thought it was Denny Lane. Here, he takes a back seat, and very well I might add. But wait... the guitar solo on My Love was... Henry McCullough. Um... btw, have you really listened to the solo on My Love? It is one of the great pop rock solos. Really. Neither of the McCullwhoevers was around for Band On the Run though so... Denny was the guy then and... WHAT?!?!? I'm confused. I always was about all these guitarists in Wings. Well... It's Paul. Not playing but guiding.  Ever see the bit in Let it Be where George says, "You want to play it Paul?!?!?" in a pissed off tone? In Wings, he got what he wanted I suspect. And 3 different guitarists ended up sounding like the same guy. All fantastic I might add. I love the Wings guitar thing.

 

So anyway, this movie is freaking great. Dig how Paul drives the feel of each song with his voice and whatever instrument he's playing at any given time, and let me tell you, each song has so many different feels in a mind boggling display of rock/pop finesse. Section to section and even bar to bar. Really, no one can top his facility with pop feel. Dig how he alters the feel for Lady Madonna here...

 

But Paul is a rocker at heart. He may have a lot of cabaret in him but the guy rocked...

 

Anyway, what a great movie to see all the potential in a rock/pop tune. Silly Love Songs and Let 'Em In even work incredibly well. Just, beyond clever. You really get a sense of how good even those supposedly lame pop hits were. This band is so 70's. I love it.

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So I was listening to How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci on CD. I'd read it 3 times in a row when it came out. Hearing it now, well I just love Leo. The author Michael Gelb mentions some landmark music recordings to listen to. I'd heard them all. Except... Rubinstein playing Chopin. Nocturnes specifically. So yesterday I ordered it (not in stock, of course) but found a used Rubinstein - The Chopin Collection. I must admit to knowing next to nothing about Chopin other than he's the "Romantic Era Polish Piano Composer Guy". Which never interested me. Boy was I wrong. Sublime is a good word. And articulate without being sterile? And, freaking awesome maybe? Closing your eyes for this one isn't a bad idea...

 

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"Lady Madonna" has always amazed me. I knew that John and Paul were multi-instrumentalists, but seriously. That's an almost virtuosic piano piece, one that Paul must have spent hours and hours at the piano working out.

The lyric ain't half bad neither.

 

"Friday night arrives without a suitcase..." That line alone is worth the price of admission.

Of course, this was Paul's influence (the musician, not necessarily this particular song):

 

Paul's song certainly revived Fats' career. At least a little...

 

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