Asleep At The Wheel by Band of Skulls

[westen44]

It seems like somebody has been listening to "Manic Depression."

[uwe]

Indeed, but I still like them (the band is called Band of Skulls, Asleep at the Wheel is the song), any band that looks like younger versions of Kurt Cobain and Chrissie Hynde playing together needs support. I like how they put melodic vocals over their post-White Stripes riffage, the boy/girl call and response stuff. They are both not the greatest singers, but the way they share the lead vocals and how their two voices become one gives it something.

 

The new album has a seventies-glammed up sound (the last one was more garage-bluesy, with folk-psychedelic vocals on top), cute what they do at 2:22 here (the vid that started this thread is blocked in Germany)

[nofi]

seems like many bands want to revive the seventies hard rock sound, or never let it go. it got old for me in a hurry but i won't turn it off if a tune pops up on the radio. hell, i rarely listen to the blues anymore, uwe. go figure.

the band asleep at the wheel has been a favorite for a long time.

[westen44]

I didn't mean for it to sound like the song's title was the name of the band.  Maybe I need to change the title.  They were on the new show Seth Meyers has late at night not long ago, although I missed that.  I think Seth probably keeps up more with bands from the UK and mainland Europe since his brother lives over there. 

[nofi]

its ok.

[uwe]

You learn something new everyday, I thought they were yanks, not from ole Bligthy.

[westen44]

You learn something new everyday, I thought they were yanks, not from ole Bligthy.

Oh, I did, too, until I looked them up. 

[uwe]

seems like many bands want to revive the seventies hard rock sound, or never let it go. it got old for me in a hurry but i won't turn it off if a tune pops up on the radio. hell, i rarely listen to the blues anymore, uwe. go figure.

the band asleep at the wheel has been a favorite for a long time.

The thing that appeals to me with seventies hard and heavy rock is how singers back then honed their capability to sing over guitar riffs, often played in unison with another guitar, bass or keyboards, obviously a blues influence. In the eighties that became a dying art, punk and new wave reinvented the rhythm guitar as the basis for rock. The Edge of those Irish Catholics can probably be blamed for singlehandedly erasing riff-oriented music from collective memory!  And while it's nice for me to hear a good vocal melody over some chugging chords with nothing else much going on (the recipe for Punk), hearing a good riff with a good vocal melody on top stirs something primal in me.

But of course, that is just an intellectual attempt at explaining it!  Like most people I probably just like it because it was the music of my adolescence and I still like today what power music held over me back in the day. Paul Stanley is generally not noted for perceptive remarks but he once said that Kiss' new music will never be able to compete with the old hits not because it's worse but because "people don't like the old songs as such so much, but the way those songs made them feel when they heard them for the first time".

[westen44]

Despite not being au courant, it will be very difficult for anyone to ever come up with anything to surpass great riffs and great vocal melodies.  Newer isn't always better, either.  It's natural for everybody to think that the music that they grew up with is the best, however, whether it really is or not. 

[Dave W]

Despite not being au courant, it will be very difficult for anyone to ever come up with anything to surpass great riffs and great vocal melodies.  Newer isn't always better, either.  It's natural for everybody to think that the music that they grew up with is the best, however, whether it really is or not.

And sometimes the music they grew up with makes people long for the good times they never had but wish they did.

[westen44]

And sometimes the music they grew up with makes people long for the good times they never had but wish they did.

I think the bottom line is to try and not live in the past, whether it was good, bad, or something in between. 

[gweimer]

You learn something new everyday, I thought they were yanks, not from ole Bligthy.

Maybe this is part of the reason.

[uwe]

Reminds me of the early nineties when Martina and I rented a Mustang (a 5.0 one) to go from Austin, Texas, to Florida. For whatever reason, Martina always felt sick in that car and she found the suspension lacking. Well, a couple of months later Ford was acquitted as regards any responsibility for Martina not feeling well at the time: Teresa was born ... 

Note to self: Mustangs aren't good pregnancy carriages.

[Basvarken]

I really like this video (and song)

[westen44]

I really like this video (and song)

Yes, it's good.  I was thinking of posting the live version of the song, but since you've already posted this, I suppose there is no need.