Ziggy played guitar.
Something simple today. My mind can’t take anything too challenging. Whenever I listen to this I’m throwing Ronsonic shapes with an imaginary Les Paul. This goes beyond air guitar. You wouldn’t know I’m doing it. The movements are imperceptible.
Categories: 1973 · Rock
Tagged: david bowie, ziggy stardust, mick ronson, ronsonic
This song featured as incidental music on the Wonder Stuff’s, if you will, rockumentary, Welcome to the Cheap Seats. I always wanted to know what it was but struggled to find out until Shazam came along.
Gene Parsons was a member of the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, although later on in their career than Sin City as featured previously on this blog. No relation to Gram Parsons BTW.
He also invented the B-Bender, a customised Fender Telecaster with a mechanism inside that bends the B string by pushing the guitar downwards. The lever is built into the strap buttons. This modification has a very country sound.
Monument from the 1973 album ,Kindling, doesn’t seem to be on YouTube so you’ll have to put up with just a Spotify link today. It’s a pretty good album. Willin’ is a track about truckin’ and Sonic Bummer has the great line, “Sonic Boom killed my chickens”. I don’t think he’s referring to the frontman of Spacemen 3 there.
For those of you that crave a YouTube to look at though, here’s clip of Gene explaining and demonstrating the B-Bender. He get’s some lovely sounds out of that Tele’. Great moustache too.
Categories: 1973 · Country
Tagged: B-Bender, gene parsons, monument, moustache, string bender, the wonder stuff, welcome to the cheap seats
Earlier today I read a rumour about New Year Honours suggesting a surprising award for a folkie.
Just been checking my Twitter stream before sleep to see Tom Watson, MP for West Brom, posting that it’s John Martyn, MBE.
As promised in my quick post last night here’s a cracking performance of I’d Rather BeThe Devil from the Old Grey Whistle Test back in 1973. Do you reckon The Edge nicked his trademark sound from here?
Categories: 1973 · Folk
Tagged: Echo, Folk, I'd Rather Be The Devil, John Martyn, MBE, New Year Honours, The Edge
I like Genesis and what’s more I like Prog Rock.
Blame it on my Dad, as this is the sort of thing that was playing in our house during the seventies. There was a time when I would have loved to have said that I was big fan of The Clash when I was seven but to be honest my main musical references at the time were the likes of Yes and Genesis. Of course during my teenage years and through my twenties I was in denial of some sort and would never admit it but now I’m well into my thirties there seems to be little wrong in declaring a love for Prog.
I was listening to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway today, so a track from that was lined up to be today’s selection, but on the way home from work this came up on shuffle. Take a listen to the full track in it’s spendour over at last.fm, an epic nine and a half minutes that starts with Tony Banks’ fine piano work and contains some of Peter Gabriel’s less nutty lyrics about “sheep in pens”, “undinal songs” and “madrigals”. There’s also some great big old synth work and a great violin-effected solo from Steve Hackett.
Also on the last.fm page currently is a clip of a later version minus piano intro and with a very hairy Phil Collins on vocals. Worth a look for the double headed axemanship going on.
If you like this then try the whole of the Selling England by the Pound album it comes from, IMHO the best of the Gabriel era Genesis albums. Worth getting hold of for the one about the lawnmower – I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
Categories: 1973 · Prog
Tagged: Firth of Fifth, Genesis, Prog
Today I am mostly listening to…. (last.fm stream)
