So, what have you been listening to lately?

[gearHed289]

I recently finished reading Slaughterhouse Five, so this song has been on my mind.  And I have just now realized that Thin Lizzy would have sounded perfectly at home covering it.

[Dave W]

And on a related note...




A digital single released late last year, an outtake from a previous album. Written by Cowboy Jack Clement, I first heard it by Jerry Lee Lewis way back in the 50s.

[slinkp]

I just watched Stranger Things season 4, which ... Well not to give too much away but if I were ever in a situation like Max, this would work for me too

[uwe]

Always a great song - in all its minimalist glory:



Related, The Struts doing their version of Beast of Burden or such ...

[Dave W]

[uwe]

I really like her, but what is this, glam pop psychedelic art & prog indie rock? An eclectic mix with ingredients from all eras, but lovely.

[gearHed289]

I really like her, but what is this, glam pop psychedelic art & prog indie rock? An eclectic mix with ingredients from all eras, but lovely.

Digging this. It reminds me a bit of Dresden Dolls. Nice SG. 

[uwe]

It's pleasantly weird.

[Basvarken]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9gATdsbTW4&list=PLBUXlOLsnpUDqz5OZOoEm-YgfAJ_6rfKB

Been listening a lot to Whitesnake's Live In The Heart Of The City lately.
I'm going to do a couple of gigs with my former bandmates (who have a Whitesnake tribute band doing pre-1987 WS), since their bass player is on tour with Epica.
It will be the first time in 6 years that I'll play with a band.
I haven't played much bass since I quit. I mainly focus on building them these days. ;-)
So I'm a bit rusty...

But I enjoy figuring out the bass parts of Neil Murray and practicing them. He and Ian Paice were a nice rhythm tandem.
Lots of playful subtleties in their parts. Quite a challenge to get those bass parts down pat.



A couple of days ago I found this on YouTube. Different line-up.
And I was shocked how bad the band played here.
Especially Cozy Powell really ruins the entire vibe for me here. Everything is played too fast. It is square and hamfisted. It doesn't swing. It doesn't groove.
I think it is horrible.

[uwe]

I've been saying that for decades, here and on DP/Whitesnake boards!

Cozy was a lovable character and his (inherently limited) "barbarians at the gate"-style fitted music with a certain grandeur well, not just Rainbow and Sabbath, but also here (me thinks)



but he couldn't swing like Ian Paice to save his life. These track sums him up, Cozy was a stomper, it's what you got from him ... I'm like a freight train ...







Moreover, Cozy rushed live like hell, Blackmore said he was "always ahead of the beat, while Ian Paice was 'the beat'" (Blackmore loved his energy though), Bob Daisley said he "cut corners all the time" (and that it cost him the job with Gary Moore who wanted a metronomic drummer) and Tony Carey is on record for saying that "Cozy speeded live often so much, it became hilarious".

Neil Murray has said this about him:

Can you explain what made Cozy such a unique and talented drummer?

Well, his drumming was an extension of his personality. He was a very fun guy a lot of the time, and very bright, intelligent. But he had a very forceful strength of personality. He would very much be a driving force in terms of his participation in any band that he was in. Even if he wasn't the leader, he'd be almost the co-leader. He'd want to be seen virtually as important as, let's say, David Coverdale or Tony Iommi. He didn't want to be just a backing musician. He'd get very frustrated if he was expected to be just in that position.

It carries over to his drumming style. He had people that he really admired, and wished he could emulate, like John Bonham or even Jon Hiseman and other jazzier drummers in terms of technique, Jeff Porcaro later on. He was comfortable with his own style: "This is how I play." In a way, it's great to play with somebody like that, who is so sure of what they're doing. With the massive sound he had, he just hits you right and you try and make it even stronger.

With somebody who is so powerful a presence, it means that, possibly, the bass player has less opportunity to shine. You're more kind of in the background, but it's still a very satisfying combination to play with somebody like that, someone very powerful that can drive the whole thing along.

But even Neil who played as Powell's bass foil in Cozy Powell's Hammer, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Brian May (who also loved Cozy's no-holds-barred energy) and Peter Green's Splinter Group had to adapt (= dumb down) his bass playing to be compatible with Cozy's style.

And that leads us to Colin Hodgkinson, the bassist who was both Neil's successor and predecessor (once Cozy had joined on drums) in Whitesnake. Hodgkinson with his jazzy background couldn't gel with Cozy at all. At one point, Cozy (who had a temper) rushed out of the drum booth at the Slide It In sessions snapping at Colin: "Let me introduce myself, I'M THE DRUMMER!" I saw Whitesnake with Colin a few times, every time he looked outright bemused and even bewildered on stage, in fascinated incomprehension about the powerhouse that was Cozy Powell. And while Cozy might have clobbered early Whitesnake material to death, Hodgkinson was also a culprit as he had not the faintest idea what and where to play within Whitesnake, he was totally out of his depth (Jon Lord had recommended him to David Coverdale after having toured with him in Germany playing blues standards in clubs with Chris Farlowe, Miller Anderson and Pete York, an old-school swinger of a drummer - it had nothing to do with playing Whitesnake material in large halls alongside Cozy Powell). Hodgkinson has a style all of his own and is a fine bassist, but he's quaintly angular in his playing and his middish sound is anathema to what a bassist needs to provide with Cozy.



Here's the otherwise exactly same track once with Colin



and rerecorded by Neil on bass:



Listen to what both of them do around the 2:15 mark, after the guitar solo, the difference is subtle in actual playing, but the difference in feel is night and day.

[Basvarken]

At live gigs to me it comes across as if his main goal was to annihilate the drum parts of his predecessors.
Ian Paice's parts with Whitesnake.
Simon Phillips' parts with MSG.
Ian Paice, Simon Phillips and Brian Downey with Gary Moore.
Gary Driscoll with Rainbow
et cetera

All just bashed to smithereens at break neck speed.

I think Neil Murray is (too much of) a sweet guy who does not want to speak badly about his late bandmate.
But I can't imagine he really enjoyed playing with Cozy Powell who left no room for any playful part whatsoever.

And you're right about Colin Hodgkinson. At that 1983 concert in Germany he had no clue what to do. The entire band was sloppy as hell.

And the example of the Neil Murray part vs the Colin Hodgkinson part really shows how intimidated Hodgkinson was by Cozy Powell's drum parts.
He didn't dare to adventure away from the kickdrum. Not just in the part after the guitar solo. But also in the verses. Where Murray plays around the kickdrum, he creates a certain groove. He makes it danceable.
The Hodgkinson's part is just pile driving.

[uwe]

"I think Neil Murray is (too much of) a sweet guy who does not want to speak badly about his late bandmate.
But I can't imagine he really enjoyed playing with Cozy Powell who left no room for any playful part whatsoever."

I believe Powell/Murray became basically a package you would book together and Cozy knew that most bassists had issues playing with him, but that Murray could adapt his style when needed.


Cozy rushes even here. 

[Basvarken]

I think Neil saved Cozy's ass there in the Brian May show.

[uwe]

Hodgkinson had zero experience playing heavy music in a live band situation. Contrary to public perception, IT'S NOT THAT EASY TO PLAY WITH & SUSTAIN THAT TYPE OF ENERGY. So rather than being himself, he dumbed his usually idiosyncratic bass playing down to beyond recognition. "Intimidated by Cozy Powell" is an apt description. He once said in an interview about his short tenure with Whitesnake: "It was like playing in a circus, hard work." It was around the same time that Micky Moody became alienated from Whitesnake too (Powell's drumming having a lot to do with that and Coverdale's change in character adding to the bill). The two (standing on the same side of the stage watching John Kalodner take notes from the side of the stage during performances and looking like some type of A & R Rasputin) would frequently make inside jokes - with Colin whispering in Micky's ear during especially heavy metal moments on stage: "And now ladies & gentlemen: the Blues!" which had Micky cracking up (and Mr Kalodner frowning from his observation point). Both were happy to be fired soon after.

Hodgkinson's "audition" to Whitesnake was actually recording this song here in the studio with Cozy Powell for the latter's third solo album:



Replicating his style as featured on jazz rock albums with Jan Hammer, his largely chorded bass part on that track had of course nothing at all to do with what would be required from him in Whitesnake alongside Cozy. And Coverdale (who had ironically gotten rid of Neil because he felt his style wouldn't fit with Powell's drumming, not quite realizing that the two had already played together) was so in awe of an ex-Back Door member in his band, he didn't listen closely either.



But then that's Coverdale for you.  He wanted Tommy Bolin for Deep Purple believing that the lightning fast intro lead parts on Quadrant 4 were from Tommy's guitar (they emanated from Jan Hammer's synth, Tommy only comes in later, he is panned to the right side, Jan to the left):



And he truly believed that Steve Vai (of all people) would be a fine blues player because he wrongly assumed that Steve Vai had also played all of Ralph Macchios guitar parts in the (awfully cheesy) movie Crossroads where Vai played an established  guitar slinger in league with Satan dueling with a young Blues aficionado.



Only problem was: The neo-classical runs apparently played by the kid actor (never mind how he was supposed to do those with his slide tuning  ) were indeed from Vai, but the bluesy slide playing was all courtesy of Ry Cooder (who doesn't appear in the scene)  Vai simply doesn't do slide, not in the movie and not in real life.

But David Coverdale has his preconceptions!

[Basvarken]

I have a hard time believing that Coverdale was that thick to think Vai played the bluesy parts in Crossroads. The film was marketed as a Ry Cooder movie.

I do believe that Coverdale assumed Vai could play more a more serving/befitting role. Much like he had done on Eat 'Em And Smile.
That album solidified Vai's name as (one of) the worlds hottest guitar players in the rock/metal universe.
If only Coverdale had listened to Alcatrazz, he could have guessed which direction Vai had in mind when he gave him carte blanche on recording his guitars for Slip Of The Tongue.

Vai was already on another planet when he did Slip Of The Tongue. Round about the same time he recorded Passion and Warfare.