Whatcha' Listenin' To?
Bee Gees Their Greatest Hits: The RecordThere are few bands (or “musical artists,” as the case may be) accompanied by as much extra-musical baggage for me than the Bee Gees. Usually a band name will pop up in conversation or in an article and I’ll simply think “Hmmm…maybe I should check them out…” Not so with the Bee Gees.
For they shall for the rest of my life be tied up with the same group of cells in my brain that trigger the image of my friend Jeff Logan, lead singer for the band Grandpa Griffith. I remember a revelatory moment when the question was posed—“Is it possible that Jeff really enjoys the Bee Gees’ music? Not just their image?” I think it IS quite possible. But I still don’t know if it’s really true.
Actual, genuine-article Bee Gees fans are hard to come by in America, or the Midwest, or Oklahoma, or Oklahoma City in 2008. I’ve met one other person who called herself a “fan” of these guys. Everybody knows at least a handful of disco songs by these guys. But they had a whole Beatles-esque career before that. Find the folks who listen to that stuff and you’ve probably found some die-hard fans.
Always being kind of ambivalent to these guys I thought I would do my best friend a favor and try to understand him and his musical proclivities. I left this collection with three points about their music:
1) It’s catchy. This has got to be the main reason my melodic friend loves them so. They serve up clearly-defined, earnest melodies that could pretty easily transcend the arrangements.
2) I think the big issue with their aesthetic and legacy is Barry Gibbs’ falsetto. Their output can ostensibly be divided into two periods: BBGSF and ABGSF- Before Barry Gibb’s Shocking Falsetto and After Barry Gibb’s Shocking Falsetto. As I listened to the latter day music I wished that I could have been a fly on the wall during that practice or songwriting session when Barry first whipped out that vocal sound. How did the other guys react? Did they think “That might be…just crazy enough to work?” It’s against all prescriptions towards musical decency and good sense. Yet somehow they sold it.
3) I found myself actually enjoying the disco and seventies music just as much as the more conventional folk-pop. For instance, I think “How Deep Is Your Love?” is a beautiful song-interesting extended harmonies, those layered vocals, perfect musical phrasing taking you very smoothly from one section to the next…And there are so many little details to listen to in the instrumentation: the woozy, phase-y Rhodes piano, the minimal guitar-as-percussion “chicks.” There is no better soundtrack to the oncoming spring.
Maybe Jeff was onto something.
Heart Dreamboat Annie
They are a band I often forget ever existed. This is their debut album. It had two hits- “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You.” Ann Wilson is a very dramatic, powerful singer. That’s about all I remember.
Buddy Holly Greatest Hits (MCA)
His 20 Golden Greats album is supposedly one of the “Best of All Time,” but I don’t imagine it’s much different than this collection.
Of course, two things set him apart- he wrote a lot of his own material and played the guitar and sang. It’s probably heresy to say, but I like The Beatles’ version of “Words of Love” off The Anthology better than his own version. And it was odd to hear his transition from rocker to crooner backed by strings. No explanation for that.
I understand the importance of this guy. He was influential to a lot of the early rock n’ rollers and thus he’s a grandfather. But that doesn’t make me want to listen to the sounds.
Interesting sidenote: the song “Maybe Baby” was recorded at Oklahoma’s own Tinker Air Force Base. Dealer in Death or Dealer in Rockabilly? Oh, maybe it’s both.
posted by Mike @ 8:06 PM
0 comments
