There is an argument that back then music disappeared up it's own waazoo, all marshalled by the major record labels. You had the likes of Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'. Which as I recall (and I had the album!) was like an opus work, variations on a theme. I forget maybe 15+ tracks, each track a variation of a single theme, just featuring a different instrument. All of which he played (naturally). At the start of each track he'd announce the instrument in an over-excited tone, 'Glockenspiel!', 'Bavarian mouth-harp!', and of course 'Tubular bells!'. Looking back now it was incredibly self-congratulatory and self-indulgent. You could say all a bit of a one-man w*ank-fest. I haven't listened to it for maybe 30 years. I wonder what I'd make of it today... technically brilliant but showered in vanity?Brah wrote:I think that is when things started getting lost, by the late 70s Prog was dying and a lot of empty stuff was polluting the airwaves.
I was early teens when that came out, and that to me was normal music, it was all around every day. That's what I'd be listening to on the school bus, that and the Stones and Deep Purple.
Yes Oldfield was something of a genius, but most teenagers are not going to 'get off' to the likes of Vanessa Mae either...
JR8 wrote: - 'the doors An American Prayer
Well, that surprises me! And it's interesting how I was into stuff (US) you didn't follow, and you were into stuff (UK) that I was unaware of. I suppose it reveals the tribalism of genres, that was something of a motif back in younger days.Brah wrote: I have never heard that, wil need to find time for it.
It is a pretty incredible piece of work. If you want to distil the Doors into one album that's probably it. It's a concept album; it's arguably all one poem, you need to take it as a whole. I'd also suggest listening to it on headphones or something with good stereo separation as there is much play on the latter and fine detail (sound effects) that add to the whole.
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re: -- Tubes - White Punks On Dope (1977 R0X M1X)
Brah: "an "absurd anthem of wretched excess" and a tribute to their rich, white teenage fan base in San Francisco"
Well, they were really a satirist parody band and clever at times, not unlike Zappa and somewhat reminiscent of Sparks in their not taking themselves seriously. They were kind of the Spinal Tap of music at the time. That they actually had a hit with "She's a Beauty" was an anomaly.
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Connecting The Tubes with Zappa is interesting, as I'd never thought of that, and I see what you mean
Zappa was such an uber-satirist that you can't fail to see it. The Tubes.... I'd never considered it as satire, just more what they actually were, where music was - maybe it's a fine line? Hmmm. I mean they were just an extension of the excesses of mid-70s 'glam rock'.
Watching that Tubes link was enjoyable, they actually could play their instruments well. I still get a sense of something of a 'Vegas show' about it all... don't know...