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Friday Influences Thread - 10-12-12


Lee Knight

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This is the part where we share our deepest, darkest, dangerously subversive, buried memories of music; the inspiration for your mad genius. Or maybe just that new Jessie J track you heard on the train this morning.

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I was watching a rerun of the R & R Hall of Fame Concert. Sara Bareilles was singing a Laura Nyro tune, Stoney End, to welcome Nyro (posthumously) into this not so hallowed institution. Bareilles is really the perfect modern counterpart to Nyro.

Then Bette Midler does her teary speech about Nyro. Pretty moving actually. But all I could hear really was the Nyro music they played in the background. It's like suppressed memory from my childhood. That sound. Everything about it. The odd yet cool arrangements, her over the top voice, the songs... those changes, the gospel lifts, the hippie innocence, the modern sadness. All of it seems to trigger some buried, melancholic and almost frightening emotion.

I was 7 or 8 when I first heard these songs. I can't explain it... but they somehow burn deep inside me in a sad way. I would love to capture some of this in a song I write someday...


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I tend to get on kicks with songs and ride them into the ground. This causes me to occasionally need to dig through the archives for tunes I haven't heard in a while. It was on one of these scavenger missions that I re-stumbled upon these guys, who have held up surprisingly well over the years.





The simple change of yelling the "go" on the repeated chorus line adds so much on the first one. I love the interaction between the guitars and synth in the open of "AYZ".
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This goes into the Guilty Pleasure folder. First off, I love Sia's voice. Second of all, I love great techno production. Moroder, William Orbit, Plastikman, Future Sound of London, Juno Reactor. I love that stuff. So , I really love a lot of the much maligned and hated pop music coming out. It's just techno with a pop song integrated. For me... what could be more fun. It's like candy overload or cocaine. Fun while you in the middle of it but it's gonna hurt later. Stick to the candy and you'll be ok... that's what I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-2iDdR9ihg

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Quote Originally Posted by Oswlek View Post
I tend to get on kicks with songs and ride them into the ground. This causes me to occasionally need to dig through the archives for tunes I haven't heard in a while. It was on one of these scavenger missions that I re-stumbled upon these guys, who have held up surprisingly well over the years.





The simple change of yelling the "go" on the repeated chorus line adds so much on the first one. I love the interaction between the guitars and synth in the open of "AYZ".
It's funny... those guys were huge during the era I was making a go at it. For whatever reason, we really didn't like them much. But I listen now and... that's really good. Musta been professional envy. smile.gif Nice picks.
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Quote Originally Posted by Lee Knight View Post
It's interesting how complimentary her voice and his clarinet are. Very similar timbres.
Funny, I made the same comment about Rosemary Clooney and the saxophonist on the recording of "But Beautiful" Mark Blackburn posted the other day. To me there seemed to be a seamless segue b/w her vocal and the saxophone solo.



By the way, Blue: that isn't the Benny Goodman Orchestra with Peggy Lee, it's his sextet: Lionel Hampton (vibes) , Teddy Wilson (piano), Charlie Christian (guitar), et al.

Either way, though, hearing Goodman and Lee together is "but beautiful."
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Quote Originally Posted by LCK View Post
Funny, I made the same comment about Rosemary Clooney and the saxophonist on the recording of "But Beautiful" Mark Blackburn posted the other day. To me there seemed to be a seamless segue b/w her vocal and the saxophone solo.



By the way, Blue: that isn't the Benny Goodman Orchestra with Peggy Lee, it's his sextet: Lionel Hampton (vibes) , Teddy Wilson (piano), Charlie Christian (guitar), et al.

Either way, though, hearing Goodman and Lee together is "but beautiful."
And... I just love her voice. You know, a voice is hard to separate from the person. As she got heftier and larger, I still was in love with her. What a spirit. What a soul. I love her. RIP, dear. You were lovely.
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Where's this from, Mr. Knight?

I could brag on the things I've done
Or the places I have been
But I've never found a cure for...
On the outside looking in.


I googled those words and it took me straight . . . . back here!

So, while awaiting your reply, I've already composed a catchy (generic, country) tune; in my mind's ear I'm hearing Willie or Waylon singing it as the refrain to a hit song.

Some great picks already for this F.I. -- to coin a song title, I'm lovin' ev'ry one!

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Quote Originally Posted by Mark Blackburn View Post
Where's this from, Mr. Knight?

I could brag on the things I've done
Or the places I have been
But I've never found a cure for...
On the outside looking in.


I googled those words and it took me straight . . . . back here!

So, while awaiting your reply, I've already composed a catchy (generic, country) tune; in my mind's ear I'm hearing Willie or Waylon singing it as the refrain to a hit song.

Some great picks already for this F.I. -- to coin a song title, I'm lovin' ev'ry one!
smile.gif It is a good one, isn't it? Here's the song... Dan Tyminski of Union Station.

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Quote Originally Posted by Lee Knight View Post

I was 7 or 8 when I first heard these songs. I can't explain it... but they somehow burn deep inside me in a sad way. I would love to capture some of this in a song I write someday...
I came to Laura Nyro much later, but in my late 20's I played the CD of "Eli and The Thirteenth Confession" for weeks at a time.

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Quote Originally Posted by ShadowsofBirds View Post
I wrote a novella to this song a few years back:


That was interesting. Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst is one of those bands I felt like I *should* like, but nothing had grabbed me up until this. thumb.gif

How did the novella turn out?
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Quote Originally Posted by Lee Knight View Post
This one won't stop coming into mind...

The nightime falls from right to left
The phone just rings and rings
The moth flies through the dark and says
"C'mon let's burn our wings."


That's a great song. But those trebly guitar arpeggios take me to a precise time and place the same way that a snare drum routed into a gated reverb does. redface.gif
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