Post a controversial music opinion

Dolly's a generation removed from them...Boomers take care of their own.

Richard still seemed strange to me as a kid, he was always so funny and bitchy and camp, he didn't seem respectable

like even to my cornfed little rube mind I could tell there was something going on with him

huh in nyc i translated not as un-respectable, but yeah campy and on-stage, but also hokey and corny like liberace.

i meant that in a good way, like he didn't seem like a chummy industry snooze kinda way

I grew up on a farm wtf did I know

I know I've posted this before but my old publisher used to work for a pretty music promoter here and when I asked her the worst experience she ever had dealing with a musician she instantly said Ray Charles, apparently he was cussing her out about something dumb and called her the "c word"

i mean even tho LR was obviously a queen, i think that the LGBTQ community’s absolute idolatry of Dolly has something to do with her longevity and popularity

Parton continuing to record and artists covering her songs helped too.

My acquaintance with Ray Charles began with the Jackson 5 cartoon where the pet mice were named "Ray" and "Charles." Then he sang his ass off in "We Are the World." Sang "America the Beautiful" for the uncomprehending Reagans. Did the "Right One Baby!" commercials for Pepsi. It took years, maybe the release of the better-than-you-think biopic Ray for me to start buying his stuff. Those early singles are feral. And well into the late '60s he'd send a song into the top 40 that flattened me with its concision and range of expression.

listening to the History of Rock Music in 500 songs this year has really given me a better appreciation of all the early R&B and rock n roll stuff

the reason so many people love dolly is because she plays all angles probably better than anyone else in music ever has or ever will

even if LR had wanted to do that he couldn't for obvious and maybe less obvious reasons

but I like fats way more than any other 50s rocker and it always seems like he gets faulted for being too nice or something? idgi

who faults him?

rock guys

the chapter on LR in John Waters's ROLE MODELS is one of my favorite tributes to him. definitely captures how he could've been perceived as dangerous and irreverent on sonics alone

I kind of think if LR had never released anything but Long Tall Sally he would still be one of the greatest 50s rockers.

Paul McCartney sang the hell out of "Long Tall Sally."

There’s a live McCartney performance of Long Tall Sally from 1986 with Prince Charles and Diana dancing in the audience and what appears to be about seven guitarists on stage, including Mark Knopfler doing a duck walk for some reason. Surprisingly it’s not terrible.

now that i am so terribly old i sit in my rocking chair and listen to bluesy stuff sometimes. it had to happen. i love chess records. they put out so many amazing singles. i love that blues/r&b hybrid of the 50s. it sounds so good to me. and its endless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvCzAhGb5r4

also all that awesome new orleans stuff i never listened to when i was younger. sorry, fats! the swampier the better. and the big names. ernie k. doe. clarence henry. lee dorsey. but cajun stuff too. and new orleans blues is the bomb. you know who doesn't get enough love anymore? lloyd price! he was so cool. nobody will buy a lloyd price album. sad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYO263wui1w

[WARNING: EXTREME HIPSTER POSTURING FORTHCOMING]
so with as much hype as that maruja garbage gets, slovenly is partially on streaming now so the kids have known better all along.

[TRANSLATION TO NON-SNOB SPEECH FORTHCOMING]
i believe one of the most hyped bands of recent years -maruja- is essentially following the blueprint slovenly laid down on their sst albums back in the 80s. now that slovenly's catalogue is partially on streaming, TIME FOR FLOWERS TO GET DELIVERED. i mean dang: they even put the longform bonus track from we shoot for the moon on there. the kids always like this kind of music (chamber math jazzcore?) and it's literally going in a circle at this point.

[DISCLAIMER: i think maruja is pretty good, btw. difficult listen, but always engaging+rewarding.]

i think i like bread more than the raspberries or badfinger. raspberries albums get boring. the songs go on too long. and badfinger has great songs and then other stuff that is not as memorable. whereas i like every bread album pretty much and they sound so cool and i love that they had so many cool under-three-minutes pop songs in the age of 70s glut. i mean, i still listen to raspberries and badfinger. badfinger had some heavenly moments for sure. i even like Airwaves. but for real, Manna and Guitar Man are two of my fave 70s rock records and i have played them way more in the 21st century.

I like all three. Raspberries and Badfinger had regrettable lapses into boogie and hard rock which seemed like an attempt to show that, despite the pop songs, they could rock out as hard as anyone. But then Bread occasionally rocked out too for probably the same reason.

the more a neu! song sounds like hawkwind the better it is

Conversely, the more Hawkwind sounds like Neu! the better they are

xxxxp I’m not entirely convinced the Slovenly albums on streaming are legit. As in, it’s a known issue that catalogues get uploaded to streaming services by rando zombie fly-by-nights pretending to be the official copyright holders. But hey, Slovenly aren’t getting paid from second-hand sales on Discogs either. I’m still holding out hope someone at Numero snaps out of their emo obsession and gets a Slovenly obsession instead.

they were on sst so they probably never got any money from new sales either

It’s a little unfair how little attention Bread gets when you have people going nuts over all kind of 70s soft rock private press yachtZee

Plus David Gates has genuine Hipster Cred from working with Beefheart and the Monkees!

re:legitimacy of slovs on spotify-
umm, lamentable truth indeed. i'm just stoked the albums are *a little* more accessible. ums also otm re:their most likely never seen sst residuals. the band should get the new alliance stuff reissued at least (mostly because "sic/think" is secretly their best song and dammit, what a mood!).

tangent: let me tell you a little story about how i purchased a second hand slovenly album from a discogs seller that just happened to have the same return address as the drag city hq.

also yes, david gates/bread clearly the best of the "classic soft rockers you're gonna hear eventually if you spend any time in a cvs or walgreens." i like america better than all of 'em - especially "muskrat love"!

(is that last part controversial? or just unpopular?)

America have some jams.

xp re slovenly: weird that Thinking Of Empire is missing from spotify as all their other SST albums are up. it might be my favourite of their albums and may have the most appeal for your average indie/post-punk fan?

America can have some pretty boring stuff on their albums. The singles are kinda the best stuff. I'd rather listen to Barclay James Harvest. who i adore.

plus, the original "Muskrat Love" is best. this album is 100% bangers.

https://i.discogs.com/zxZUzW1YW-tL2ASUizbO97TbSxqmBo14MUSKftq2QRc/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM3ODM3/OTMtMTM0NDI2MjAz/MC0zMjI0LmpwZWc.jpeg

xpost nick-
yep, ToE not being there is a damn shame. +i def agree: it's the best gateway/intro to them; go backwards for more darkish new wave-y sounds, keep going for the fullbore mathjazzartpunkcore of stuff that followed.

+i mean, america covered john martyn. doing something right at least some of the time if yer doin that imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWsPXxIGTkg
america - "head+heart" (1972)

those harmonies. always nothing but♡♡♡♡♡

as for my america controp,

their best song is a tie between two album cuts that just happen to be next to each other:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR4j0m7Ya_8
america - "submarine ladies"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8SvAf4ua5s
america - "it's life"

both from the middle of side one of 1973's hat trick, which is also their best album. easily.

also the title track on that album is them doing a really good imitation of "suite judy" or "country girl." kinda sorta rips in that second section.

it feels weird that i wasn't aware of any of the members of america, not even their names.

they're all named after fault lines

a band with no name...

to be fair, i have owned 10 Barclay James Harvest records and i don't know anyone's name in that band either.

Steve Harwell is the American Jarvis Cocker.

(xp) Not even Woolly Wolstenholme?

y'all got me to finally listen to the Best of BreadI found in a crate on Braddock Ave in Pittsburgh 28 years ago, along with many other pristine copies of yacht rock classics. I really only listened to the Aja from that lot. I knew I'd recognize a bunch of the songs, but Bread didn't do total-earworm hooks, did they? I loved that "It don't matter to me" song when I was a kid. I'd sullenly march around the playground alone, repeating "it don't matter to me" like it was the only line in the song, when not picked for kickball or something. They remind me of the Moody Blues more than I expected, but maybe that's the general production values. America's greatest hits was also found that day, will compare.

America wasn't cutting singles like this in 1957. so pretty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbzTqvFHEwI

America wasn't writing songs like this in 1963. best song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC5GRbfXyPw

America wasn't producing and writing sweet soul singles like this in 1964.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MRaJg6GVLA

bullshit

you could make an amazing 5-CD box of the stuff he produced/arranged/wrote/performed before you even get to Bread. pretty amazing career.

plus, david gates made all those cool surf records with the wrecking crew. did America make cool surf records with glenn campbell and leon russell and hal blaine? i don't think they did.

https://i.discogs.com/rZYjhEmORe7x2LPjdepPyCR9eY0qX_a3bPNd6b3coxU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:597/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIzOTg4/MjktMTYxNzczMDYy/OC0yMjcyLmpwZWc.jpeg

https://i.discogs.com/RuMZQZCn5l1gNbA1dIR_fFXVL2PDpW_ZhGZFsgc2q0M/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI1ODU4/NjUtMTU3MTU4MjYy/OS0xMTEwLmpwZWc.jpeg

https://i.discogs.com/IXN0tE8mBWtc40aJXHN6HQ_EKvrbhG9s3tcD7CCmZ_4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI5NDc3/NDItMTUyNDQ0MzM4/Ni02MTY2LmpwZWc.jpeg

actually i have no idea what america was doing before america.