Drums: Tales of Brave Ulysses

Cream: Tales of Brave Ulysses

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I remember the first time I heard Cream. My oldest brother bought the album Disraeli Gears when it came out, and my other brother and I had to hear it. We listened in silence until the end of side one, and before my oldest brother turned the record over, he said, “and that’s only three guys!” Listening to Cream now, I can hear how the trick was done. Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce each has a big sound, and each covers part of the rhythm guitar part. And Ginger Baker thunders along, covering both the drum part and part of the bass. Most drummers in rock hit the beat, and play fills in between. Baker plays a continuous rumble of pulses, varying the pattern in unexpected places but always keeping perfect time. And he makes it sound like it’s something that just happens; it is forceful, but never forced. Tales of Great Ulysses shows this off beautifully. The song opens with Baker playing just a wash of sound on the cymbals, but then the drums kick in. In the course of the song, there are spots where Baker goes back to just the cymbals, and then back to his full kit again. The contrast between these sections makes it easy to appreciate just how important Baker’s playing was to the band’s sound. The other trick to Baker’s sound was that he had two bass drums in his kit instead of the usual one.

Drums: Pursuance

The John Coltrane Quartet: Pursuance (Part 3 of A Love Supreme)

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I may be coming to this week's theme the wrong way round. I suspect that the rest of the SMM gang will first think of a song with a striking drum part; instead, I'm checking out some of my favorite drummers and looking for songs where they really shine. And for me, the shiniest drummers are found in jazz.

Elvin Jones played on a bunch of jazz albums you've probably heard, or heard of. His lengthy recording career (from the 40's to this century; he died in 2004) saw him backing major artists such as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Art Farmer, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Burrell, Yusef Lateef, Freddy Hubbard, Grant Green, Ornette Coleman, John McLaughlin, Dewey Redman, Bill Frisell…well, you get the idea. But one of his greatest periods was during his 5 year stint with tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. The Quartet also featured McCoy Tyner on piano and Jimmy Garrison on bass.

A Love Supreme is one of the best examples of modal jazz, a free-form style pioneered by Miles Davis and John Coltrane in the late 50's and 60's. This four-part suite, released in 1965, is widely considered to be one of the best jazz recordings ever. Part 3 begins with a 90 second solo by Jones and demonstrates his polyrhythmic style, which is why I chose this track, but I encourage you to listen to the entire album, which was powerful and spiritual enough to launch the St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church of San Francisco.

DRUMS: I'M CHIEF KAMANAWANALEA

The Turtles: I'm Chief Kamanawanalea

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For their 1968 concept album, Battle of the Bands, The Turtles tried to sound like a different group on each track. They even had photographs taken of themselves disguised as each group. The Turtles recorded the Top 10 hit "You Showed Me" as Nature's Children and another big hit, "Elenore" , as Howie, Mark, Johny, Jim & Al.
   As Chief Kamanawanalea and his Royal Macadamia Nuts, they let drummer John Barbata lead the way. Kamanawanalea ( named after the fictitious "God of Lust and Perversion") is of course the kind of silly pun that makes Hawaiians roll their eyes.
    But it's those drum breaks that make this 94-second song irresistible, especially to rap artists like The Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane and De La Soul, the latter of whom used the breaks ( and samples from "You Showed Me") without crediting the Turtles. De La Soul met the fury of the litigious lead singers, Flo & Eddie. They won a share of the royalties and punitive damages.
   Today Eddie ( Howard Kaylan) looks back on the critical reception this album received with disappointment.
  "Battle of the Bands was our Sergeant Pepper." He told blogger Cody Conard ."And it still bugs me, all these years later, that it was under-appreciated by the music critics upon its release. I was happy with it then, and I still think it's the strongest stand-alone album that the band ever recorded".

Drums: Saved

LaVern Baker: Saved

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Could I be asked to choose a favourite drum track between the percussive detonations on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Uptight’ and the assault of drums on Tim Rose’s pre-Hendrix version of ‘Hey Joe’? And if I do, will I not be lacking in fidelity to the pulsating flourishes on The Five Stairsteps’ ‘Ooh Child’?

I suppose none of those would qualify in terms of this week’s theme, with its expectation that the drums be part of the song’s essence.

Of course, the use of drums reached a zenith in a gospel song recorded on 12 June 1960 by the R&B singer LaVern Baker, who had been recording since she was a teenager in the mid-’40s, going by several names, most famously Little Miss Sharecropper .

‘Saved’ was written by the legendary songwriting and publishing team Leiber & Stoller. Fans of Elvis’ Comeback Special in 1968 will know it as a decent little gospel number, but Elvis couldn’t possibly hold a candle to Baker’s explosive version. She sings it forcefully, but it’s the thundering bass drums with which she proposes to do her missionary work that makes this track rock furiously. Try and sit still to this!

Album Cover Art => Drums: Dance of the Hunter’s Fire

Mickey Hart: Dance of the Hunter‘s Fire

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Planet Drum became the first album to win a Grammy for World Music in 1991. But that was only part of the story. I got it as a book and CD set, and the book was amazing. Mickey Hart, of Grateful Dead fame, had traveled the world on tour, and had learned about the local drums and drummers wherever he could. The book was a highly readable and fascinating survey of the world of percussion, with lavish illustrations. The CD was just as amazing. Hart gathered some of the greatest percussionists from various parts of the world, and gotten them to work together to prove that drumming is a universal language. Players on Dance of the Hunter’s Fire include Babtunde Olatunji from Nigeria, Airto Moreira from Brazil, as well as players from the United States, Puerto Rico, and India.

The album cover shows the planet earth, with drummers and dancing animals circling it. The whole thing appears on a drumhead. Artist Nancy Nimoy perfectly captured the spirit that Mickey Hart was trying to present.

Album Cover Art: Kagrra, - Miyako

Kagrra,: Urei

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Kagrra, (yeah, with the comma as part of the band name) was a J-rock band whose style deliberately blended classical Japanese traditions (both musical and sartorial) with rock. Sadly, they just disbanded a few months ago, but they were pretty decent for the ten years that they lasted. During that time they released nearly a dozen albums (depending on how you count), a slew of mini-albums, a raft of maxi-singles, a bunch of concert DVDs, and some stray singles.

In Japan, artists don't merely release one album or one single; there are commonly multiple versions: a regular version, a limited version, perhaps an 'A" version, and 'B' version. They've all got the same single, but each variation has a different second or third song, some may have a version with the vocals stripped out for karaoke, and the limited version will have a DVD with the promotional video of the song. And a diehard band fan will buy each version (and each purchase counts separately to determine the Oricon chart rating, which is how it evolved into such a racket).

Can you tell where I'm going with this? Each version also has a unique cover.

Kagrra, was unique in that the group had a long-term relationship with one artist, Fukaya Yuichiro, who created most (but not all) of their artwork. His style similarly merged classical Japanese themes with a modern feel to them. Check out more of his artwork for Kagrra, on his Facebook page. He would create a series of related pictures for the various incarnations of a release, often with a bit of subtle humor to them. Notice some of the paired images of the regular and limited covers in the Facebook examples (and he doesn't have all of his stuff here, so Google 'images' can find more for you).

The artwork above shows the expanded cover for the 2004 album, Miyako. The right side of the artwork was featured on the front of the CD, showing only the kanji and a bit of hair and sleeve, and the left wrapped around to the back cover. Pretty, ne?

Album Cover Art: Okkervil River - The Stage Names and The Stand Ins

Okkervil River: You Can't Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man

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Okkervil River: Calling and Not Calling My Ex

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Okkervil River is an indie rock band mostly based out of Austin, Texas. The cover art for all six of their full-length releases and some of their EPs has been done by artist William Schaff. Many other bands use the same artists for all of the their album art (Steve Earle has featured Tony Fitzpatrick's artwork since 1995, and the Drive-By Truckers featuring Wes Freed's art since their 2001 opus Southern Rock Opera. What I particularly love about Schaff's artwork for Okkervil River's 2007 release The Stage Names and 2008 album The Stands Ins is that first, they were both done entirely in embroidery. Second, the album covers were designed to go together (to get a closer look, see Schaff's Flickr album art page). But fans didn't realize this when The Stage Names came out in 2007. We fans just thought is was another cool William Schaff abstract creation. The album itself is a loose concept album of the perils of being an entertainer, be it as a touring musician, a poet, or even a porn star. The Stage Names and The Stand Ins were recorded at the same time, and the music on The Stand Ins mostly doesn't fit The Stage Names theme. But how delighted were we fans when The Stand Ins was released a year later and we found out that the hand reaching out of the gerpy water
was actually that of a drunken skeleton-man, reaching out for help? Wonderful concept, and a very unique design.

Guest post by Rock Star Aimz of My Aimz is True

Album Cover Art: Bee Gees - Odessa

Bee Gees: Suddenly

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   On the heels of their massive number one UK hit "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", The Bee Gees were ready to make their big statement album. That statement was the 1969 album Odessa, two lps wrapped up in a red velvety flocked cover with gold lettering.
"I think Odessa was an attempt to do a rock opera," Barry Gibb told The Guardian's Alexis Petridis in 2009. "It sort of turned itself into a bit of a mish mash, but our intentions were honourable. I think we wanted to do something that could be put on stage. There was supposed to be a thematic thing going on," he added, "but it just kind of wandered off into the distance."
  While it was nice to own an album cover you could actually pet, the flock reportedly caused a major allergic reaction among some of the workers during production.
   The reissues all came out in boring old cardboard sleeves.

Album Cover Art: Ramones - Ramones

Ramones: Loudmouth

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For their '76 debut, the Ramones were originally looking for an album cover that would be somewhat similar to Meet The Beatles!, but that didn't really pan out. Which proved to be a streak of luck really, as da brudders then decided to use a Roberta Bayley photograph which had already been published in Punk magazine. One look at it and you knew you were dealing with radically different stuff here. What you saw was what you got: Bayley had managed to epitomize the no-frills aesthetic of punk rock in just one shot. Four street kids from New York City - Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee, from left to right - in stark black & white, standing in front of a dirty brick wall looking bored but confident in their trademark leathers, jeans, and sneakers. And boy, did they look cool... Anyone still wear that uniform on a regular basis? Thought so.

Album Cover Art: Grateful Dead - (Skull and Roses)

Grateful Dead: Playing in the Band

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How often does the album cover art give an album its name? This one came out as simply Grateful Dead in 1971. But the band’s debut album from four years earlier was also called Grateful Dead. The title Live Dead was also already in use. So, over the years, this one has come to be known as Skull and Roses. I put that in parentheses above, because it is not the official title of the album. The skeleton was actually drawn for something else entirely, a 1913 edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, That illustration was by Edmund Joseph Sullivan. Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse added the lettering and color, to create the image seen above. The skeleton with roses became a visual motif that was identified with the Grateful Dead for the next 25 years. Playing in the Band is the song I always hear in my head when I think of this album. The singer on this one was Bob Weir.

Album Cover Art: Joseph Arthur - Come to Where I'm From

Joseph Arthur: Chemical

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When I first read about this week's topic, my mind went straight to musical artists who are also visual artists.  I'm a sucker for artists who create their own cover art.

Akron, Ohio's Joseph Arthur has been responsible for the artwork on several of his releases, but his first foray into cover art design was with his 2000 release Come to Where I'm From.  While the image itself doesn't really do much to present a theme for the record or add any meaning to any of the songs, it does do a nice job of establishing the tone of the album.  Arthur's artwork, like his songwriting and arrangements, can often be described as abstract.  Few things say abstract quite like a stylized human head with scarabs for eyes.

Musically, this album ranks as one of the most important of Arthur's career (although 2004's Our Shadows Will Remain will always be my favorite) due to the exposure he gained from its breakthrough track "In the Sun."  It's also interesting due to the fact that it was produced by the Americana Midas, T-Bone Burnett.  It's an odd collaboration that finds Burnett expanding his typical palate while also reigning in some of Arthur's more adventurous eccentricities.

Since many of you may already know "In the Sun," I'm going with another track from the record here.  For more of Arthur's artwork, check out his Museum of Modern Arthur.

Album Cover Art: Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

Donald Fagen: The Goodbye Look

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This week’s theme is right up my alley: I’ve run a batch of articles on some of my favourite album cover art over at my joint. And for your benefit (or really mine, for I am crazy busy at the moment), here’s a recycled post from that series, which also features the cover in Geoviki’s post which precedes this one.

Released in 1982 and Donald Fagen’s first solo outing, The Nightfly album evoked the sounds and spirit of the 1950s and early ’60s, without sacrifice of Steely Dan’s jazz-tinged rock. The cover concept clearly seeks to communicate the content, and it is simply executed with Fagen as an old-school radio DJ burning the nightshift with the help of Chesterfield Kings and copious amounts of black coffee. He is the sardonic DJ Lester, still unfettered by playlists, on the independent Baton Rouge station WJAZ who speaks to us, through the RCA 77 DX mic, on the title track.

Look long enough at the cover and listen to the title track, and armed with clues you may begin constructing your own backstory. In front of him is a Sonny Rollins album, so we know DJ Lester specialises in jazz and, as the lyrics advise, communication. What else does he play when he is not condescending his listeners with cynical tales about the absence of love in his life (which explains his nightfly existence)? Surely some more jazz, Coltrane or Parker perhaps. I like to think he branches out into some R&B to lighten up the pre-dawn darkness of 4:10am.

There is a rich irony in the cover’s relationship to the music it seeks to illustrate. Where the graveyard shift DJ is spinning crackling vinyl platters and the lyrics recall the Cold War (just on New Frontier, there are references to The Reds and nuclear shelters, Dave Brubeck as the latest thing, the young Tuesday Weld), The Nightfly was one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally. Issued before we were dealt the cursed dominance of the compact disc, this is a quintessential CD album whose charms are not, unlike much other music, boosted by the warmth of vinyl.

The photo itself, by James Hamilton, was shot in Fagen’s New York apartment, in which the radio studio (presumably just the two walls we can see) was temporarily built. Fagen might have assumed the collective persona of the DJs he listened to when he was much younger, but he cannot be accused of method acting: the photo had to be reshot when an engineer in the recording studio pointed out that the microphone had been incorrectly positioned…

Album Cover Art: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream

[purchase] – but if you can't find it at a yard sale, you're not trying.

You knew someone would have to post this one.

My family owned an actual stereo in 1965 with approximately seven LPs to play upon it. Like nearly all of America, we had this very popular album in our meager collection. I remember staring at the cover in fascination, trying to work out how they got all that whipped cream all over that lady (I found out later, it's shaving cream), and why they didn't manage to completely cover up her boob while they were at it…Okay, I was 9, and a girl, so that's almost as far as my imagination went. Any other thoughts I'll just keep to myself.

The title track was written by New Orleans musician/producer/writer Allen Toussaint. If you're old enough, you might remember it from The Dating Game, when the bachelorettes were introduced.

Independence => Album Cover Art: The Who - Tommy

The Who: I‘m Free

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If you are familiar with the story of Tommy, bear with me for just a moment. Tommy is a rock opera, complete with recurring musical motifs and an overture and “underture”. The story tells of a boy who escapes from the horrors of his life by retreating into himself, giving up his hearing, sight, and power of speech. This leaves Tommy in an inner world with no visual component. Nevertheless, it fell to artist Mike McInnerney to create a visual representation of this for the album cover. Being 1969, the album was released on vinyl on two records, with an extensive booklet with lyrics and notes. So the album cover would have two fold outs, and the whole thing measured 36 inches wide by 12 inches high. McInnerney came through with the image you see above. The large alien shape represents both the otherness of Tommy’s world and the fact of his imprisonment. But the fist shows that Tommy will eventually break free and rejoin the world. I’m Free is the song that describes that breakthrough. It seemed to me to be the perfect choice as a transition from our Independence theme.

Independence: Sign in Stranger

Steely Dan: Sign In Stranger

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There are two parts to the concept of independence. The obvious one is freedom or liberation, and it’s always a positive. But you also have to be independent from something, and that’s where the darkness creeps in. Leave it to Steely Dan to explore that side of things eloquently. In Sign In Stranger, the independence is from a person’s past. Mizar Five is a haven for criminals and lowlifes who seek a fresh start, and sometimes a new identity. The song does not suggest that any of them will change their ways, only that they will be free of their records. So here is independence with a sense of menace.

Independence: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

The Waterboys: The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

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There is a common motif in folk songs, where a wealthy woman, often a noble, seduces or goes off with a man with no money. The husband discovers this, and goes after her or finds her in the act. From here, either the husband kills the lover and sometimes the wife as well, or you get something like what happens here. In The Raggle Taggle Gypsy, the husband reminds his noble wife of all that she is giving up, and begs her to return. She makes her choice, and leaves with the gypsy, and the husband lets her go. Why does he let her go so easily? Remember that she is a noblewoman, and that means that she is in an arranged marriage. These kinds of marriages were all about status, with love being an occasional happy accident. In this case, he does not seem to love her any more than she loves him. Her escape is a declaration of personal independence, although the actual declaration comes at a point earlier in the song, and most people miss it. The gypsy comes to her door, and she goes upstairs to change clothes. In The Waterboys’ version, the lady “put on her suit of leather-o”. Other versions make it even clearer, saying, “Then she pulled off her silk finished gown and put on hose of leather, O!” This isn’t simply a matter of practicality. The changing of clothes here is a ritual act that represents casting off her old life in favor of the new.

Independence: Free

VAST: Free

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This was the first song that came to mind when I thought of celebrations of freedom because to me it's quintessential to the topic. This song is an anthemic fist pump about liberation by an industrial band called VAST (which supposedly stands for Visual Audio Sensory Theater) whose frontman, Jon Crosby, is also the songwriter. This particular album "Music for People" was released in 2000 which was at the boom of the rap/metal craze which, as a fan of sappy female singer-songwriters, embittered my heart. But I am reluctant to lump VAST with most of the other bands of that era, despite it having a similar dark feel. But it is easy to hear the rebelliousness of youth in the song, it most certainly sounds like a teenager yelling about not wanting to be told what to do, but the theme is general enough to want to to blast the music in your car after a break-up, or after quitting your job, or just about any situation where you felt like your freedom was infringed upon and you finally got it back.

Frontman Crosby now is a solo artist doing music which is much softer, apparently. But VAST was his bread and butter and is apparently where his talents lie. I'm not much for industrial or anything hard, but I immediately loved this song when I heard it. I think this feeling of getting out of a bad situation is something we've all felt and wanted to celebrate.

Independence: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

Nils Lofgren: The Sun Hasn't Set On This Boy Yet

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Could one of rock's great declarations of independence have really come from one its most famous sidemen? Absolutely!

Before he joined Springsteen's E-Street Band or toured with Neil Young, Nils Lofgren was a 17 year old B-average senior who dropped out of his suburban Maryland high school to become a rock star.

As he recently told The Wall Street Journal, "Nobody dropped out of school where I was, except the juvenile delinquent that was pumpin' gas and had knocked up his girlfriend and his life was already over." Lofgren's life was just beginning. By age 18, he was living in Topanga Canyon, playing piano and singing harmonies with Neil Young on After the Gold Rush . He parlayed the Neil connection into a record deal for his own band, Grin ( returning to record with Neil on Tonight's the Night). When Grin broke up in 1974, Nils recorded his self-titled solo debut--a critically acclaimed gem featuring a Keith Richards mash note, "Keith Don't Go", as well as a number of radio friendly songs, including this autobiographical statement of self-determination which reminds all of us of our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Guest post by 1001 Songs

Independence: Chimes of Freedom

Bruce Springsteen: Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan cover, live)

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Earlier today [July 3, 1988] Amnesty International announced a worldwide tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Declaration Of Human Rights. The Declaration Of Human Rights is a document that was signed by every government in the world* 40 years ago, recognizing the existence of certain inalienable human rights for everyone regardless of your race, your color, your sex, your religion, your political opinion, or the type of government that you're living under. I, I was glad to be asked to participate… in a tour that's gonna begin in early September…. So, I'd like to give, dedicate this next song to the people at Amnesty International and their idea. And so when we come to your town, come on out, support the tour, support human rights for everyone now, and let freedom ring.

* not precisely: 48 members of the UN General Assembly voted for it; the Soviet bloc countries, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia abstained.

Independence: Independence Day

David Byrne: Independence Day

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I am a firm believer that “none of us is truly free until all of us are”. From this point of view, the process of achieving our nation’s independence is ongoing. This week, an important step was taken. New York became the first state in the United States to legalize gay marriage by a legislative act. The states which previously recognized this right did so by court order. David Byrne’s song Independence Day, from 1989, is set in New York City, and it looks forward to this day. But in 1989, legal gay marriage seemed like an impossible dream. So, I thought this song was a perfect way to launch our weeklong celebration of independence here on Star Maker. New York State, I salute you. Let me be the first to wish our American readers a happy and safe Independence Day. To our Canadian readers, a belated happy Canada Day. And to all others, my best wishes for your independence and freedom, in what ever form they take.