13 Questionable Bands

Basvarken · February 21, 2020, 05:26:59 AM

Yeah, that last tour was pretty bad. Their performance in Japan was catastrophic because they hadn't been able to find heroin for Phil. He was experiencing cold turkey on stage...

uwe · February 21, 2020, 07:30:05 AM

The management should have never allowed them to go out like that. A band of a different stature with a professional management would have been taken off the road for a year or two and sent into forced rehab. John Sykes, being the excited little puppy peeing on the rug he was, played a role too, he absolutely wanted that last tour to further his own career. It did get him the Whitesnake job eventually.

Scott Gorham said in an interview a few years back that he was in pain every night on that final tour - and looking across the stage at Lynott who was even worse off. The fresh-faced John Sykes continuously striking rock star poses (and playing his solos out of time most of the time) and the other two weary, downtrodden battle horses made for a real weird impression on stage.

TBird1958 · February 21, 2020, 08:45:41 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on February 20, 2020, 11:44:08 PM

Just to bore Uwe some more

Love this music and the clothes they're wearing, men's fashion used to be so cool, it was okay to show a bit of yourself and your shape - nowadays men hide in ugly, baggy, utilitarian crap.

uwe · February 21, 2020, 11:35:33 AM

Ah, from questionable bands to questionable bass drum work to questionable wardrobe - it only happens here!

Flare it up!

There is actually a fashion story behind this 1975 promo shoot of the Mk IV line up and it has to do with shooze, Glenn's shooze to be exact. At that time, Hughes had for several weeks David Bowie as a guest in his rented LA mansion - Bowie in full post-Ziggy-Stardust Thin White Duke mode and living on a diet of cocaine and milk. One day Glenn was donning his platforms and Bowie goes: "Uggh, those have really gone out of style." Who was Glenn, the Birmingham boy, to argue with David Bowie?! Off the shooze go in exchange for flat sneakers ...

At the promo shoot, all other DP member wore their beloved platforms and Glenn, who was actually quite tall among the Purps,

worried he might "look like a midget",

(he's not much taller here than Ian Paice who is tiny)

hence the final, most widespread picture from that promo shoot of him sitting down.

uwe · February 21, 2020, 11:58:25 AM

Alas!, how looks can be deceiving. For years a German women's libber magazine called Emma had an album recommendation list called "Musik von Frauen für Frauen" (music by women for women). Guess who was featured there?

Tommy wouldn't have minded. By today's standards, he was at least metrosexual bordering on gender fluid.

His effeminate prancing on stage was probably one reason why Blackmore fans did not take too kindly to him. And looking at Glenn's and Tommy's obvious infatuation with each other, I'm surprised they didn't marry on stage!

doombass · February 21, 2020, 05:00:47 PM

Quote from: uwe on February 20, 2020, 04:07:55 PM
When did Lon Chaney jr join Lizzy?

With all due respect for Downey (whose work deserved better representation than this particular vid), but that is exactly the mindless, unimaginative double bass drum playing I do not like. Cozy Powell played like that too (but was more heavy-handed than Downey), I meant something like this here, the bass drum just by itself is music, hear what a young Simon Phillips does at 2.17:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PQVp-5uFEY&list=PLPf69IGxwfBGazHlXxbLx6nPdjpRI22Qh&index=6

Or like this:

Or - with a Thin Lizzy connection as I'm sure you are aware - this here:

It doesn't have to be hugely technical or complex, I'm also fine with "simpler, but a little unorthodox":

You don't hear that type of bass drum drumming anymore (in rock at least), and I deplore that. I always end up asking our drummers to be "a bit more active" and "less lazy" in their bass drum work and they look at me open-eyed. I blame Bonham and Rudd for that. Ginger Baker lost the battle.

Oh c'mon. Where is Ian Paice's bass drum work any better suiting the song in Lazy (I really like Paicey BTW) than Brian Downey's in let's say "Emerald" or for that matter "The Boys Are Back In Town"? I don't get it. Ok Brian Downey never played the kick like Simon Phillips in "Call For The Priest/Raw Deal" but neither did Ian Paice in "Lazy". I kind of get what you're aiming at though referring to Ginger Baker.

Basvarken · February 22, 2020, 02:46:15 AM

Some more beautiful music by Thin Lizzy, with the magnificent Brian Downey on drums of course.

uwe · February 24, 2020, 08:24:20 AM

"Ok, Brian Downey never played the kick like Simon Phillips in "Call For The Priest/Raw Deal" but neither did Ian Paice in "Lazy". I kind of get what you're aiming at though referring to Ginger Baker."

I hear Simon Phillips as a bit "If Ian Paice had gone to music school ...", there are similarities in the foundation of their playing though Simon is no doubt more technically proficient and adventurous (but Paice was adventurous in a heavy rock context), though his best work was probably heard here:

The fact that Roger Glover took an immense liking to Simon's style (in a comparatively short time he appeared on four Glover-produced albums: Sin after Sin, Whitesnake (Coverdale debut), MSG's debut and Glover's own Elements) seems to indicate that Roger - always in awe of Paice's playing - thought so too, I believe he heard something familiar.

I like it if the bass drum is sometimes used as the "lead instrument" within the "orchestra of drums" as opposed to just serving as the foundation of the snare, cymbal and tom work, i.e. "when it leaves the format", does that explain it better? Same reason I like format-leaving bass playing too, I think it's refreshing. Too much convention drives me mad.

But for all you valiantly coming to the rescue of Thin Lizzy, it's not like I don't take anything away from our discussions here, I just ordered end of last week the Bad Reputation remaster plus the remastered Phil Lynott solo albums, so I am indeed contributing to his estate (or his mum's estate). And I buy all the Black Star Riders stuff, so ole Scotty gets a share too even though I thought his - truly magnificent - hair always more noteworthy than his guitar playing. The man ~~single-handedly~~ myriad-follicly invented straightened hair decades before it became de rigueur.

I will now proceed to listen to Bad Reputation, it's been a while since I last heard the full album, 40 years perhaps? All because of you.

uwe · February 24, 2020, 08:49:41 AM

Quote from: Basvarken on February 22, 2020, 02:46:15 AM
Some more beautiful music by Thin Lizzy, with the magnificent Brian Downey on drums of course.

I know that Snowy White will forever be regarded as "the square peg that didn't fit a round hole" among Dutch and Scandinavian Lizzomaniacs, but I think his playing (and stage demeanor) here is ultra-cool. Impresses me more than anything I've heard from Robertson, Moore or Sykes in a Lizzy context. There is something terse and succinct in his playing. I like his solo career work too.

doombass · February 24, 2020, 02:16:47 PM

Quote from: uwe on February 24, 2020, 08:49:41 AM
I know that Snowy White will forever be regarded as "the square peg that didn't fit a round hole" among Dutch and Scandinavian Lizzomaniacs, but I think his playing (and stage demeanor) here is ultra-cool. Impresses me more than anything I've heard from Robertson, Moore or Sykes in a Lizzy context. There is something terse and succinct in his playing. I like his solo career work too.

I like Snowy White (and the album Chinatown) a lot. Both his and Gary Moore's stints in Thin Lizzy spiced up the guitarplaying. Robbo and Scott was more like siamese twin guitars, with essentially the same approach and style (which by all means had its benefits as well).

TBird1958 · February 24, 2020, 06:16:29 PM

Quote from: uwe on February 21, 2020, 11:35:33 AM
Ah, from questionable bands to questionable bass drum work to questionable wardrobe - it only happens here!

Flare it up!

There is actually a fashion story behind this 1975 promo shoot of the Mk IV line up and it has to do with shooze, Glenn's shooze to be exact. At that time, Hughes had for several weeks David Bowie as a guest in his rented LA mansion - Bowie in full post-Ziggy-Stardust Thin White Duke mode and living on a diet of cocaine and milk. One day Glenn was donning his platforms and Bowie goes: "Uggh, those have really gone out of style." Who was Glenn, the Birmingham boy, to argue with David Bowie?! Off the shooze go in exchange for flat sneakers ...

At the promo shoot, all other DP member wore their beloved platforms and Glenn, who was actually quite tall among the Purps,

worried he might "look like a midget",

(he's not much taller here than Ian Paice who is tiny)

hence the final, most widespread picture from that promo shoot of him sitting down.

All better than 99% of what I see guys wearing around here.

I'm surrounded by soulless, lame ass Tech Bros.......Yechhh!

uwe · February 25, 2020, 05:01:58 AM

Well, what do you expect when you go into something like lighting, male fashion sense?

TBird1958 · February 25, 2020, 10:10:40 AM

Quote from: uwe on February 25, 2020, 05:01:58 AM
Well, what do you expect when you go into something like lighting, male fashion sense?

Well, some of us involved with that specific business do have a bit of fashion sense - I don't know how it is in other cities but Seattle is casual to the point of almost slovenly, filled with unimaginative Tech Bros that can't dress themselves........At least a lot of the women still dress nice.

wellREDman · February 26, 2020, 04:34:33 AM

Quote from: doombass on February 24, 2020, 02:16:47 PM
I like Snowy White (and the album Chinatown) a lot. Both his and Gary Moore's stints in Thin Lizzy spiced up the guitarplaying. Robbo and Scott was more like siamese twin guitars, with essentially the same approach and style (which by all means had its benefits as well).

I'm a snowy white fan too, I didn't know he had a stint in Thin Lizzy.I knew him as the touring second guitar for Pink Floyd back in the day.

I had the 7" of Bird of Paradise as a teenager that got played a lot.

I had a pleasant surprise when i saw Roger Waters doing the Whole of Dark side at Glastonbury and Snowy was doing all Dave Gilmour's vocal parts as well as his guitar parts. I didn't really know what he looked like , I just had thought that they had got a great singer/guitarist to do those parts, then at the end when Roger Waters introduced the band it was an "Oh that makes sense " moment

uwe · February 26, 2020, 08:12:15 AM

That's when I saw him first, when the Floyd toured Wish You Were Here/Animals back in the day - 1978? And then more than four decades later when Roger Waters did his The Wall extravaganza (there were one or two Waters gigs in between where I might have seen him too, but he wasn't always in the backing band). My wife and her daughter dragged me to The Wall, admittedly, I'm not such a huge fan of that particular album. I explored his solo work only quite recently, liked what I heard.