george mccrae, 'rock your baby'

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something very very beautiful--even haunting--about this song, especially the way the other instruments come in after a few bars of pure drum machine (what drum machine is that, by the way?) i could listen to that drum machine play against the tympani (??) and guitar for a very long time. in fact, if anyone could post the 12" version to ysi, i'd be much obliged.

(ok i don't have the song to listen to right now but i think there's a brushed snare that comes in at some point after the drum machine. am i right?)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

have i already done a thread about songs that play a drum machine against acoustic instruments, esp. those that begin with a d.m. passage and then gradually add the other instruments (often playing against the d.m. beat).... there's a j.j. cale song like this, also one by the television personalities. really there's only a window of 10-15 years when this sort of thing could happen, before the drum machines became (a) ubiqitous and (b) sophisticated.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:04 (twenty years ago)

this song is so freaking good.

― ZR (teenagequiet), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:04 (twenty years ago)

ok not tympani (duh) but electric piano. maybe some electric organ in there too.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

there's a riot goin' on to thread. jj cale's naturally... album has it in spades, though the mccrae song i could listen to every day for the rest of my life and be quite happy about it.

― imbidimts, Monday, 28 November 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

yeah, riot!

i don't think that cale record gets enough credit for its sound, which is very peculiar.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

something about this record.... it seems to be playing and singing to itself. it has that unusual calm, quietude. i imagine him looking in the mirror when he whispers that first "sexy...."

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

"Rocking Chair" ("Rockin'?") is better.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:20 (twenty years ago)

i've said time and time again that this is one of my all time favorite songs. for the longest time i didn't know what it was and was asking everyone i knew if they knew what it was, then i heard the notorious b.i.g. song that sampled it and found out on the sample database.

― jaxon (jaxon), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

great song...and don't hate on the 80s "re-mix" which is basically the original song with a stronger dance drum beat coming on at the end.

Durutti Column uses drum machine interestingly.

And I'm a huge fan of records that have chintzy drum machines that are later joined by a live drummer, see The Presence by Crispy Ambulance and Nerve Pylon by the Lines.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

This is possibly my favorite single of all time.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 28 November 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

oh shit, i lied. this isn't my fave song (i remember stormy saying it was one of his). mine alltime fave song is "I Get Lifted"

― jaxon (jaxon), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

Alright Dan, where the Lines' stuff???

― peepee (peepee), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:44 (twenty years ago)

i once heard a cantonese version of this song, btw.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 28 November 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

don't forget the Bowie version: "Sound And Vision"

― Paul (scifisoul), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

I remember a SPIN disco retrospective, reminiscing about the hot hot summer of 1974, when it seemed that this song and "Rock The Boat" basically fought it out all summer long, or so it seemed. Can't remember if they commented on teh irony of two big nascent disco hits both having "Rock" in the title - if not, they should've.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, JaXoN you are correct .. definitely one of my top-five or ten songs of all time.

The album version is superior because the middle part just goes on-and-on repeating the chord changes on the keyboard ... no solo or anything, just that great keyboard sound repeating over and over as it cycles through the changes ... then George comes back in with that soft "Come on..."

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

I nearly started a thread on this song a few weeks ago. Absolutely one of the best things I've ever heard. Stormy is OTM in re: to the middle instrumental passage. H.W. Casey's work on this song is incredible.

― Loltenant in the Lmaoist Rofflution (Matt Chesnut), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:14 (twenty years ago)

I once tried to base a Phillip Jeck-style sample piece on the last minute of this song, slowed down in Sonic Foundry's ACID to an insanely low bpm: huge vistas of dying drones, absolutely gorgeous.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

teh irony of two big nascent disco hits both having "Rock" in the title - if not, they should've.

"rock" (in its multi-entendre splendor) has been a mainstay of african-american pop music for 60-70 years

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:25 (twenty years ago)

i want to know more songs that cast the "primitive" drum machine sound against acoustic instruments. to make a mix tape or something.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)

I once tried to base a Phillip Jeck-style sample piece on the last minute of this song, slowed down in Sonic Foundry's ACID to an insanely low bpm: huge vistas of dying drones, absolutely gorgeous.

i know the 12" nearly functions as such, but i think endless dub-esque variations could be played upon this song.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

[pulls out Get Down Tonight: The Best Of TK; listens.] GREAT record! - fabulous irresistible simplicity, funky in the most ethereal way. Nice sustained organ drone. (Farfisa? Or synth, maybe? Wonder if Mr. Selzer can ID it? :)

One of a handful of songs (good or bad) capable of INSTANTLY transporting me back to 1974, a few of which most ILXors almost certainly LOATHE. (Or pretend to!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

teh irony of two big nascent disco hits both having "Rock" in the title - if not, they should've.
"rock" (in its multi-entendre splendor) has been a mainstay of african-american pop music for 60-70 years

-- Amateur(ist)

Certainly. And hey, I know that labels can be inefficent or misleading. But as I've said a dozen times before: I am a "rockist", in that "rock" was the first music I fell in love with; and so, 85% of the time I prefer to listen to music that rocks (or "rocks") me. Which can and does include Cecil Taylor and Motorhead and Roxanne Shante and Sister Rosetta Tharpe and etc. And, uh, George McCrae.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 05:09 (twenty years ago)

Amst, lots of There's a Riot Goin' On has drum machine + acoustic instruments. "Time" would slot perfectly after "Rock Your Baby"

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 05:34 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't "Spaced Cowboy" use the same drum loop as "Rock Yr Baby"?

― Loltenant in the Lmaoist Rofflution (Matt Chesnut), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 05:56 (twenty years ago)

the first robert palmer album, 'sneakin sally through the alley', has a moment where one song segues into the next by dropping all the instruments, a drum machine comes on and the next song starts w/real drums over the drum machine ("hey julia" into the title track)

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

and the shuggie otis "inspiration innovation" album has primitive drum machines and acoustic instruments

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't "Spaced Cowboy" use the same drum loop as "Rock Yr Baby"?

basically, yeah it does.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

i mean, the other obvious contemporary example was George's Florida/TK playmate Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" (which was actually much earlier, IIRC ... but same DM soundz ..)

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:14 (twenty years ago)

Boo, JaXon beat me to the Shuggie Otis mention.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

Also, what about Young Marble Giants?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 06:34 (twenty years ago)

hall & oates's "one on one" might deserve a mention here.

and there's something off kraftwerk's 3rd album, "ralf and florian," but i'm forgetting the title.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 08:29 (twenty years ago)

dEUS' Tom Barman did a wonderful cover of this song.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

gwen mcrae's albums have been recently reissued as 2-for-1's on Stateside and they are wonderful, 'of the time' southern soul-disco-funk production, and yes "Rocking chair" is even better than her husbands classic.

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

more examples?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

many of the producers involved in the songs we've mentioned chose to exploit the metronomic "dumbness" of early drum machines rather than try to approximate a live drum sound (or substitute the drum machines for live drums, however remote the approximation), by playing this dumbness against the vibrancy, the fluency, of acoustic or electroacoustic instruments.

at a certain point, drum machines become more sophisticated, and the utilization of this "dumb" sound becomes not an exploitation of technological limitations, but a choice, a willful use of a "primitive" sound. as such i think this sound has a certain "archaic" valence, a certain connotation, that it didn't have in its first uses. i need to think a bit about what that valence might be.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

Amateurist, are you on extended Thanksgiving/Xmas break right now?

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

And I'm a huge fan of records that have chintzy drum machines that are later joined by a live drummer

Indie-rock example: Yo La Tengo, "Tired Hippo"

Anodyne funk example: Nikka Costa, "Everybody Got Their Something"

Filmic instrumental example: David Van Tieghem, "Remote Viewing"

There are dozens, of course, but I have the flu and can't think of much.

― myke, Wednesday, 30 November 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

Hasn't "The Goose" by Parliament got this effect on it, as directly ripped off SLy ?

― SONNY, Wednesday, 30 November 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

tommy guererro does this...

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 20:32 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

another one: squeeze, "take me i'm yours"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 28 May 2006 04:20 (nineteen years ago)

...

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 28 May 2006 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

how about "congoman"? surely there must be more reggae examples.

― consigliere (consigliere), Sunday, 9 July 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

and yes "Rocking chair" is even better than her husbands classic

TS: Clarence Reid/Willie Clarke vs H. Wayne Casey/Rick Finch

― Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Monday, 10 July 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

don't forget the Bowie version: "Sound And Vision"

-- Paul (scifisoul), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 00:24 (2 years ago) Link

OTM

― Eisbaer, Friday, 29 August 2008 04:07 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

any other tracks of this era (late 60s/70s) that use primitive drum machines effectively?

― amateurist, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 00:35 (sixteen years ago)

i mean, aside from the ones mentioned above.

― amateurist, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 00:35 (sixteen years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIfKbnOmbwc&feature=related

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Friday, 23 October 2009 05:44 (sixteen years ago)

Cutting-edge Moogtastics from '68:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25IiJ5JgBtM

― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 23 October 2009 05:55 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HACMLSsbk0&feature=related

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Friday, 23 October 2009 06:00 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.amazon.com/Journey/dp/B000QR0HM8/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Friday, 23 October 2009 06:08 (sixteen years ago)

four months pass...

this version of boney m down by lindstrom and prins thomas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auUTARn51ro

― plax (ico), Thursday, 11 March 2010 19:46 (sixteen years ago)

They've been been mentioned too little around ilm: Hoboken's (Indiana's?) Social Climbers made great use of cheap rhythm box. The second song here, "Chris and Debbie" is a better example than the first.

http://waxidermy.com/social-climbers-st/

― Pierced nose! Performs improv! (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 11 March 2010 19:58 (sixteen years ago)

whoa that is awesome and also does not sound like it is from the past

― plax (ico), Thursday, 11 March 2010 20:08 (sixteen years ago)

yeah i spent a few weeks listening to that social climbers thing a lot.

― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:42 (sixteen years ago)

i made a mix of songs that utilize these primitive drum machines in interesting ways, it was v. good.

― by another name (amateurist), Friday, 12 March 2010 00:42 (sixteen years ago)

Got this lp used today and it really delivers. Thanks ILM, probably wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for you.

― Trip Maker, Sunday, 14 March 2010 01:28 (sixteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://www.mediafire.com/?my2mjydtmq2

Here is another rare chicago record. Some space blues with early drum machine work.

Guitar Red - Hard Times

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Saturday, 10 April 2010 14:51 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKOItN0JiSc

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 7 September 2013 05:51 (twelve years ago)

ten years pass...

if something can be spectral and empathetic at once, then this is its essence…it's fairly obvious that Bryan Ferry and blondie, alongside the rather more well known Lennon and anderson/ulvaeus, thought a lot of this recording, re: the percolating drum machine intros of "Heart of Glass" and "Same old Scene."

― veronica moser, Friday, 6 September 2024 18:32 (one year ago)

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