Musing on the Muse

I have been listening to a compilation of old (or should that be classic) Motown¹ hits recently covering the period around 1962 to about 1970. Quite apart from the sheer out put from the label in that period, it is also remarkable how many songs were written by the same team. They tend to be forgotten in the popular consciousness because few if any, were singer/songwriters, they were just jobbing songwriters. People tend to assume these days that artistes write and perform their own material, but in fact, it was comparatively rare prior to Dylan and the Beatles².

Motown in particular, and soul music in general is something I wouldn’t have gone near or admitted to going near when I was a kid; you weren’t allowed diverse musical tastes at school. Peer pressure couldn’t cope with it, and the system would break down if anybody was caught enjoying both ELP and Martha Reeves (not that I think any of the oiks at school knew who Martha Reeves was in the early to mid 1970s; she was last week’s music). It was harder to disguise your musical tastes in the pre-MP3 world and carrying a stack of LPs around was a sure-fire way of advertising your preferences. These days you can slip the Birdie Song onto your i-Pod if you want, surround it with Sigue Sigue Sputnik) and no-one will be any the wiser³.

These days, of course, I couldn’t give a damn. There’s plenty of room for anything from Hard Rock to Classical as far as I’m concerned, with much of the stuff in between though I continue to favour Prog, 60s R&B and certain aspects of the New Wave before it got beached. I do draw the line at Rap⁴ and I’ve never been very keen on Reggae beyond the occasional effort by Bob Marley.

Before you ask, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Pit-Stop, Blip-Blop⁵ and the popular stuff currently posing as R&B are probably not music though they are often quite clever pieces of noise production and marketing.

Anyway, that was the mother of all digressions. It occurred to me while I was listening to some old Supremes songs that in that brief period between servicing Berry Gordy in an attempt to promote her career and her subsequent rise to head-up-her-own-arse Divadom, Diana Ross had a voice very much like a clarinet.

And very pleasant it was, too.

¹No doubt to the horror of telemeister, unbending musical reactionary that he is.

²Name a song written or co-written by Elvis. I can’t.

³If you are tempted to listen to a mix of stuff like that, I suggest that you turn the volume RIGHT up and ruin your hearing. It will be just retribution.

⁴Although I do allow that some of the lyrics are very clever.

⁵Yes, most of that is made up in the tradition that the word barbarian is supposed to have originated as an onomatopoeic sound representing foreign and uncivilised tongues.

Musing on the Muse

I have been listening to a compilation of old (or should that be classic) Motown¹ hits recently covering the period around 1962 to about 1970. Quite apart from the sheer out put from the label in that period, it is also remarkable how many songs were written by the same team. They tend to be forgotten in the popular consciousness because few if any, were singer/songwriters, they were just jobbing songwriters. People tend to assume these days that artistes write and perform their own material, but in fact, it was comparatively rare prior to Dylan and the Beatles².

Motown in particular, and soul music in general is something I wouldn’t have gone near or admitted to going near when I was a kid; you weren’t allowed diverse musical tastes at school. Peer pressure couldn’t cope with it, and the system would break down if anybody was caught enjoying both ELP and Martha Reeves (not that I think any of the oiks at school knew who Martha Reeves was in the early to mid 1970s; she was last week’s music). It was harder to disguise your musical tastes in the pre-MP3 world and carrying a stack of LPs around was a sure-fire way of advertising your preferences. These days you can slip the Birdie Song onto your i-Pod if you want, surround it with Sigue Sigue Sputnik) and no-one will be any the wiser³.

These days, of course, I couldn’t give a damn. There’s plenty of room for anything from Hard Rock to Classical as far as I’m concerned, with much of the stuff in between though I continue to favour Prog, 60s R&B and certain aspects of the New Wave before it got beached. I do draw the line at Rap⁴ and I’ve never been very keen on Reggae beyond the occasional effort by Bob Marley.

Before you ask, Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Pit-Stop, Blip-Blop⁵ and the popular stuff currently posing as R&B are probably not music though they are often quite clever pieces of noise production and marketing.

Anyway, that was the mother of all digressions. It occurred to me while I was listening to some old Supremes songs that in that brief period between servicing Berry Gordy in an attempt to promote her career and her subsequent rise to head-up-her-own-arse Divadom, Diana Ross had a voice very much like a clarinet.

And very pleasant it was, too.

¹No doubt to the horror of telemeister, unbending musical reactionary that he is.

²Name a song written or co-written by Elvis. I can’t.

³If you are tempted to listen to a mix of stuff like that, I suggest that you turn the volume RIGHT up and ruin your hearing. It will be just retribution.

⁴Although I do allow that some of the lyrics are very clever.

⁵Yes, most of that is made up in the tradition that the word barbarian is supposed to have originated as an onomatopoeic sound representing foreign and uncivilised tongues.

Galactica again

I'm back up to date with Galactica again - I watched episode 15 tonight (not last night, too tired). When I said it's back before? Now it's back.

mr_h_r_hughes, you mentioned that you were looking for some frakking Starbuck - Cylon guns-blazing action?

Season 2, episode 15.

Galactica again

I'm back up to date with Galactica again - I watched episode 15 tonight (not last night, too tired). When I said it's back before? Now it's back.

mr_h_r_hughes, you mentioned that you were looking for some frakking Starbuck - Cylon guns-blazing action?

Season 2, episode 15.