Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Another little musical interlude.

Metal not your cup of tea? Well, there's a time and a place for everything I guess, if you've got an open mind. Found a killer video on YouTube the other day. A piece of a live concert filmed in Paris in 1970 that'll rock yer socks off, but I won't post that for a few days. One of the best live performances I think I've ever seen from this band, filmed in their youthful glory.

Sometimes I need to feel the drums, bass, and electric guitar in my gut. I crank up some power trio, or some power trio with a singer, and I close my eyes and bang my head like a fool. The chills go all the way through me. Sometimes I need to hear some old Black man sing and play the slide, tellin' me about his woman, his sorrow and his travails, so that by listening, my own seem lighter and easier to bear.

Sometimes I need to hear a man from the hills of Kentucky, wailin' and strummin' a mandolin, or a guy from Texas with a cheap guitar, yodelin' and singin' about life in the Dust Bowl and being a sharecropper, both of them givin' me their versions of the blues. Sometimes I need to sit back and enjoy the softer, more melodic side of things.

Along those lines, as a break for some between the loud guitar solos, here's a great little piece called Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. It's by a great British composer named Ralph (pronounced Raiffe) Vaughan Williams. I love this guy's music. You may recognise this from the film Master and Commander. They use it lavishly. Again, turn up the speakers, close your eyes, relax and enjoy.

7 comments:

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Talk about from the sublime, to the ridiculous!! Could you have chosen any bigger contrast, if you tried? Yeah, it's good though - sweet (and British, too)!

Now how about some Lenny Cohen, Janis Ian or Ms. Joplin?? (I can't fathom how to upload you-tube to save my life, you're my only hope!)

Anonymous said...

What's with the the square conductor?

FHB said...

Shrinky - Ok, I'll comply. I love that stuff too. I may not go too far into Joplin. Don't want to step on ol' Mushy's toes. Lots of other fodder out there for me to choose from. Uploading it is easy as hell. We'll talk.

LBB - Yea, looks almost like a college band, doesn't it. Amazingly good though.

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

It was just awight for me dawg!

Sweet though.

Face it, you're just more well rounded than me.

BRUNO said...

See? He musta heard you was cuttin'-in on his turf!

Probably heard it from his "manager"....!

FHB said...

Man, wait till you see the next one. You'll love it.

Lin said...

FHB, you picked my favorite Vaughan Williams although I find it so hard to hard to pick favorites from his works.