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Great vid - I'm not buying that such musicianship is lost however - there's a lot of great acts demonstrating great musicianship at this level. Is there the same ratio of acts at this level? Maybe not.
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I disagree, there are lots of great musicians.

 

The song is pretty OK for a marketable pop rock song, it did make it up to 9 on the Top 40.

I had effortlessly forgotten completely about this song and band for decades, until this was posted.

 

They never had another hit.

 

Better songs would have made a more solid career.

Wouldn't hurt to ask the drummer to be a bit more sparing with his fills, they don't always serve the song.

 

Agree that the singer had a great voice and delivery. Ain't no flies on anybody else either, drummer is solid, groove with the bass is locked. They all had chops and were very tight.

 

They sort of remind me of Toto. I saw them and while they were all solid players, the material was just not that inspiring. Africa and Rosanna were fun but they went on too long...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Well, while I agree that the band could play, that song might not be my cup of tea.

 

Regardless, I definitely do not agree that "musicianship" (whatever that is) is lost, there are _so_many young talents out there with both skills and taste. And, thanks to the wonders of the Internets, we can now actually find out about them and enjoy their musicianship.These are good times!

 

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yes, that"s musicianship.

what happened to them?

 

The two of them are around still. That dude can sing though and his voice is still good all this time later. They actually had some good songs and had ties to the Allman Brothers and the LA scene at the time.

 

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Great vid - I'm not buying that such musicianship is lost however - there's a lot of great acts demonstrating great musicianship at this level. Is there the same ratio of acts at this level? Maybe not.

 

A band that tight with vocals is a rare thing. That was my point posting the video. I see so much mediocre shit, sometimes at a high levels without synergy. Very few bands are like this in my opinion. Technology is part of the reason.

 

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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A band that tight with vocals is a rare thing. That was my point posting the video. I see so much mediocre shit, sometimes at a high levels without synergy. Very few bands are like this in my opinion. Technology is part of the reason.

 

I see an awful lot of technology on that stage...

 

 

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What"s the theory of change supporting this idea that 'a band with tight vocals is a rare thing' now due to technology? I"d be interested in hearing it out, even though it seems real tenuous/goofy, as evidenced by tons of current bands with tight vocals and plenty of 1970s bands with raggedy off-key harmonies (probably made worse without in-ear monitor technology, by the way).

Numa X Piano 73 | Yamaha CP4 | Mojo 61 | Motion Sound KP-612s | Hammond M3

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News flash: when you are old nothing can ever be as tight as it was, ;)

 

I get to say that cause I'm over 60.

 

Are they tight? Tight as a polished cliche. That's the problem. 1977. Two years only from the Chicago Disco Riot. Hippies are so mainstream they have sitcoms. I was just out of high school. The top 40 ruled our radios---(exceptions--yes). The afro was stylish---as it should always have been, and should be now.

 

But you know it's a fake scene because, cute MCs nonwithstanding, Hippies don't wear makeup. For 1977 there is nothing new or fresh in their music, just the opposite. They play well, no doubt. But the future of industrial grooves had already been etched and no Disco riot, or tight Lynyrd Skynard mix was going to stop it:

 

[video:youtube]

 

2 years after the first video, disco was defamed and branded gay by many of us and Kakehashi's invention, the 808, was about to put big fat grooves on the street corner. A whole new kind of music making appeared. It triumphed without approval from record labels or TV shows.

 

Louis Armstrong was a fantastic musician, but he succeeded because his music broke boundaries. Granted, in a time when live muscians were everywhere, and even in many homes, when sheet music sales were giant. If you want a golden age of muscianship in America, the end date is 1945.

 

Musicians themselves helped kill that age, first with the mid-war strike, and then when Be-Bop clubs stated putting up signs: "No Dancing". Jazz went from a mainstream pulse to elaborate musical poetry for academics to argue over, Louie Jordan, perhaps excepted.

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It's more that a lot of music is born of technology nowadays and musicianship and good vocals are often secondary. I posted the video because it's a rare thing you rarely see anymore. A friend of mine is Beyonce's drummer. How much do you think of her show is actually performed live? You'd be surprised. Noah give me 10 bands now that are really tight, have good synergy and musicianship. 70's bands having raggedy harmonies is an exception not the rule. I am not saying they didn't make mistakes but it seemed to be so much more about music years ago. That's lost on a lot of entertainers now.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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My feeling is just that folks should be a bit more precise in defining the terms of debate than new vs. old and technology vs. no technology. I probably personally agree with your broad point in the context of a lot of current pop artists like Beyoncé! But it"s dicey to take it so general: the same technology argument was thrown at Herbie Hancock when he did Headhunters, and in the '50s and '60s, jazz giants laughed at the musicianship of rock acts like this ('what, only five chords?')

 

For kicks, here are links to a bunch of incredible live performances by top artists - I tried to pick as many as I could think of off the top of my head who had/have current or recent hits. Again, these don"t 'prove' one point or another, and I totally agree there are exceptions (and examples of poor musicianship) everywhere - that"s why the broader arguments don"t always hold up in the long run. But this is good news for all of us - killer music is still kicking!

 

D'Angelo

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Numa X Piano 73 | Yamaha CP4 | Mojo 61 | Motion Sound KP-612s | Hammond M3

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I would add some of the "traditional" Bluegrass / Country/ Folk acts to your list of more recent post-90's acts with high-level vocal harmonies that don't rely on as much technological enhancement as mass-produced contemporary Pop and Nashville material.

 

Here's is one of my favorite examples of a live performance with incredible raw harmony vocals from 2006(?):

 

[video:youtube]

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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Nostalgia for the old days needs to be tempered by the reality that most albums had 80% filler.

Editing tape was common, so was punching in.

 

Some groups had done their homework or hired in the good stuff - Motown, the Beatles, Elvis with his Jordanaires.

 

The crap has been filtered out and ignored so we end up trying to compare the "least worst" music of days gone by with the barrage of unfiltered music that is offered today.

 

It's sort of like saying that a 1985 BMW 535i is way better than today's last expensive Kia sedan and forgetting about the Yugo.

 

Up here in little Bellingham we have several groups with steller vocal harmonies LIVE, I've seen them. 90,000 people here, there's got to be hundreds or thousands of local bands nationwide who are killing it 3-4 nights a week.

 

30 years from now, folks will reminisce about the "good old days" and it will be the best of the music of today and there will be lots of great singing and hopefully better songs than the one posted by the OP.

 

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I value Outkaster's conributions here (even if sometimes it seems like the world is his lawn and we're all just standing on it). That said, I'm not vibing with the theme of this thread at all. If forced to pick an all-time favorite rock/pop group, I'd probably settle on The Band, and obviously that has little to do with their degree of "polish." They deliberately shunned it.

 

I often lament that I don't spend anywhere near the time and effort listening to new music as I did in my teens and 20's. Unless and until I do that, I can't blame anyone but myself for a failure to appreciate it.

Gigging: Crumar Mojo 61, Hammond SKPro

Home: Vintage Vibe 64

 

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I value Outkaster's conributions here (even if sometimes it seems like the world is his lawn and we're all just standing on it). That said, I'm not vibing with the theme of this thread at all. If forced to pick an all-time favorite rock/pop group, I'd probably settle on The Band, and obviously that has little to do with their degree of "polish." They deliberately shunned it.

 

I often lament that I don't spend anywhere near the time and effort listening to new music as I did in my teens and 20's. Unless and until I do that, I can't blame anyone but myself for a failure to appreciate it.

 

 

Well at least The Band could play Adan. I still stand by that video I posted. People will still care about it in 20 years trust me.............

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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I value Outkaster's conributions here (even if sometimes it seems like the world is his lawn and we're all just standing on it). That said, I'm not vibing with the theme of this thread at all. If forced to pick an all-time favorite rock/pop group, I'd probably settle on The Band, and obviously that has little to do with their degree of "polish." They deliberately shunned it.

 

I often lament that I don't spend anywhere near the time and effort listening to new music as I did in my teens and 20's. Unless and until I do that, I can't blame anyone but myself for a failure to appreciate it.

 

It's a good discussion, I am glad he posted it. We all like what we like and I've got to give him that. We also all don't particularly like what we don't particularly like and that's OK too.

I respect Sanford and Townsend Band for having a hit record and being a clean, tight band. It just doesn't do anything for me, nor do I see it as exceptional. So it goes...

 

I hesitated to mention The Band but they still are one of my all time favorite groups. The songs on the "brown album" are amazing, all of them.

Yeah, they do sound "kinda drunk" on purpose but they use it to good effect. Up On Cripple Creek would not be as good without the wino choir.

 

Their harmonies are in tune, just very different voices.

Great grooves and Garth Hudson is easily one of the most under-rated keyboardists in rock/pop music.

 

The Last Waltz is a fantastic movie and that shit is real.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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The crap has been filtered out and ignored so we end up trying to compare the "least worst" music of days gone by with the barrage of unfiltered music that is offered today.

 

It's sort of like saying that a 1985 BMW 535i is way better than today's last expensive Kia sedan and forgetting about the Yugo.

Exactly. The music I cut my teeth on is the music of the 60's and 70's. Some of that music is the best that's ever been done. But there was also some real crap â a lot of it, maybe much of what was on the radio at the time. But there were also albums by the Beatles, the Stones, Allman Brothers ...

 

These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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I'll stay out of the musicianship debate for the moment, but I am wondering,

Is there anyone else hanging out here who played this show? I was on in the late 70s, one episode, and all I can remember is Wolfman Jack and the first appearance of Andy Kaufman. :o

I still have the Clav with the faded backstage pass stuck on it though. :cool:

http://stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/Galleries/Pages/Long_Ago.html#5

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I spent some time forcing myself to get off of my own old man lawn and I've been pleasantly surprised at what I found. Below are some recent live performances of young acts in the Bluegrass / Folk / Jam Band scene who IMHO compare favorably to the best of the late 60's / 70's material I grew up with in terms of musicianship and vocals:

 

Molly Tuttle:

 

Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings:

 

Billy Strings:

 

I'm with Her and Billy Strings (excellent harmony vocals):

 

String Cheese Incident and Billy Strings:

 

 

 

 

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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I'll stay out of the musicianship debate for the moment, but I am wondering,

Is there anyone else hanging out here who played this show? I was on in the late 70s, one episode, and all I can remember is Wolfman Jack and the first appearance of Andy Kaufman. :o

I still have the Clav with the faded backstage pass stuck on it though. :cool:

http://stevenathanmusic.com/stevenathanmusic.com/Galleries/Pages/Long_Ago.html#5

 

Steve, who were you playing with on the episode you were on?

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