Kevin's Watch

Cail wrote: I never got Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Try listening to The Birthday Party sometime; they were Cave's first band. I had one of their albums once. It was gawdawful. Cool cover art, though.

I'm w/ you Cail. never got it.

I appreciate Nirvana but I don't love them as much as many do nor do I think of them as the musical gods that the music press seem to conceive of them as. As for the Foos, I used to really like them. Now I personally can't stand them. All of their songs sound the same, I think, and I can't stand Grohl as a vocalist or songwriter. Great drummer, though. As for Nick Cave...I don't know too much about his music, but what I've heard I thought was rather good.

Add to the list: Emo. I don't think I can think of one good emo band. There has to be a few, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. I've heard a lot of emo, and the vast majority is utter shite.

Cail wrote:...just because someone was first doesn't make them good.

Well said. IMO, if they need to be heard in the context of thirty years ago to be appreciated, that's almost the definition of dated and the antithesis of timeless.

CovenantJR, no music is "timeless." It's all cultural and relative. There isn't one single definitive Music that all humans, in all times, will enjoy. Music is by definition historical and cultural, and cannot be separated from its context. All music comes out of that which preceded it and inspired it. It's a developing, mutating art. If you don't understand its place in the developing history, then you're missing it. Music is a language, and it has an intended audience. Maybe Hendrix doesn't speak to you because he wasn't speaking to you. He was speaking to people in a different time with a different history. Are you saying that all those millions of people were just wrong? Perhaps they heard something you're not hearing because they stood in a different place in history which gave them the perspective to understand his language.

Cail, the comparison of Hendrix to Page isn’t as silly as you make it sound. Both were a bit sloppy (though Hendrix more so). Both were blues inspired. Both were guitar pioneers still revered today. Instead of talking about Cheetos and steak, perhaps you could be more specific in why you think Page was so much better? What differences do you think are significant? I’m not asking to be argumentative—because I DO like Page better. There ARE plenty of differences in their playing style. I’d just like to hear a guitarist’s opinion.

Aside from their style, there were also differences in their lives. Hendrix had a 4 year career. Page is still going (though his relevancy is questionable). Page had a lot more time to explore different directions. And he put that time to good use. True, it is Hendrix’s fault that his career was so short. But criticism of his personal choices is kind of a cheap shot, when we’re talking about the music, not his personal life.

Jimi’s “sloppiness” was calculated and intensional. It was controlled distortion, manipulated feedback, and a deliberate minimization of the actual notes to create a state of controlled chaos. This effect was used to create tension, energy, and discord so that when he did sporadically return to the melody--the actual notes that the ear longs to resolve within the chaos—he achieved a resolution of the tension that was enhanced by his deliberate postponing and “teasing” of our ears’ expectations. To hear familiar tunes like The Star Spangled Banner twisted through the filter of his genius, is an almost excruciating—though exhilerating—experience of delayed expectation, surprised revelation, and gratified resolution. Jimi is making musical love with his guitar, having sex with the song. Not just playing some notes.

Page became more sloppy when he smashed his finger, about the same time Plant got in that wreck. I know I like Page better than Hendrix most of the time, because the music Led Zeppelin wrote was better to me. Of course, when Hendrix took a tune like Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower', the result was pretty spectacular.

Page clearly had better material to work with, but I don't think that's the reason.

Page's playing speaks to me. Hendrix's (by and large) doesn't. With a couple of exceptions (AAtW, Red House), Jimi sounds like the drunk guy at the party trying to impress everyone with his prowess.

Page, OTOH, crafted brilliant rhythm parts; some complex (Achilles, 10 Years Gone), some simple (Whole Lotta, R&R, Walter's Walk), but they're all memorable. Then there's his leads......Sweet Lord Jesus, there's nothing anyone's done that's comparable to Since I've Been Loving You. His playing, to me anyway, is so emotive that it can't be denied. Technically, he can't hold a candle to guys like Vai or Lynch, but neither one of them can put the level of emotion and feeling into their playing like Page can.

But again, I give full credit to Hendrix as a pioneer, I just don't care for his playing.

I think my favorite Page riff is the slide part "In My Time Of Dying".

Perfect example dAN.

Listen to that thru headphones....It's orgasmic. Nothing that Hendrix ever did comes close to that.

alright alright


can we move on here? i've had just about enough of the Hendrix hatin' for today please.

Cail wrote: Nothing that Hendrix ever did comes close to that.

matter of opinion, mr. absolute.

I don't hate Hendrix!

I don't hate Hendrix, and of course it's just my opinion Ms. Sensitive.

Per the topic at hand *ahem*, I don't see what all the fuss is about with Hendrix.

O M G.

sensitive i may be but ya'll have buggered this one into the dirt!!

I am a buggering SOB.

Well, I'm standing next to a mountian
that's been buggered
into the dirt..

You know, if Jimi were here right now, he'd ask all of us to just.....pass the crack pipe, actually.

dANdeLION wrote:You know, if Jimi were here right now, he'd ask all of us to just.....pass the crack pipe, actually.

you don't know that for sure.

plenty of people that were doing drugs back then survived and are
clean today and still playin' you know.

you don't know what would have happened with him...no one can say
for sure.

...don't listen to dAN! He's on crack!

Lucimay wrote:

dANdeLION wrote:You know, if Jimi were here right now, he'd ask all of us to just.....pass the crack pipe, actually.

you don't know that for sure.

plenty of people that were doing drugs back then survived and are
clean today and still playin' you know.

you don't know what would have happened with him...no one can say
for sure.

What Luci said! If Keith Richards still draws breath, anything...nay ALL things are possible!

Right, look at Ozzy!!! Hey I take back everything I said about dAN! I now hold, in my hot little hands, a copy of the digitally remastered 8:30 by Weather Report featuring the fabulous "Birdland" and the return address is Tampa Fl!!! talk about a bolt from the blue!! Thanks man!!!!