Retro Chicken

Guitar geeks rejoice - the young Steve Vai back when he played with Zappa. Zappa is known as some type of musical comedian and unfortunately most people don’t realize how great he is on guitar. Listen to him here and be impressed.

The legend is that when Steve was only 17, he was at Berklee and started sending Frank transcriptions of his guitar solos (these were eventually released as the transcriptions to Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar). Steve was hired as a transcriber and was soon playing as a side man in Frank’s band (hailed as the “Little Italian Virtuoso”). Steve Vai shines with Zappa – of special note is the Dangerous Kitchen on the Man From Utopia – the guitar lines mimicking the vocals are incredible.

I had a friend, a keyboardist, who tried to get hired by Zappa the same way Steve Vai did. He did some kind of work uploading Zappa music onto computer (this was back in the late 80s, when floppy discs were still “floppy” – no one knew what computers were back then – I thought his plan was very mysterious). He did manage to get some work with Zappa tribute groups but it was too late in the game and by then Zappa wasn’t touring anymore – bummer.

P-Funk, like all the great funk bands, started out as a doo-wop group. James Brown and the Temptations were also big doo-woppers, and I am sure Sly Stone could doo-wop if he had to. I don’t understand the connection.

Parliament (the “P” in P-Funk) morphed into the prototypical funkateers and Funkadelic (the “Funk”) emerged at some point as initially the more experimental, avant-garde side to the band releasing cool albums like Maggot Brain – including acoustic funk, Free Your Mind…, etc. (A lot of weird legal things happened throughout the early seventies – read this for the low down.)

By the seventies P-Funk (releasing albums both as Parliament and Funkadelic) were the preeminent funk hipsters (though my roommate in college insisted P-Funk was “disco” and wouldn’t listen to them – some people just don’t get it), boasting a line up of awesome funk-notables like Bootsy Collins*, Bernie Worrell, Maceo Parker, Eddie Hazel, the dude in the diaper, and obviously George Clinton.

NWA sampled P-Funk grooves (instead of James Brown like everyone else) and George Clinton produced Freaky Styley, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ second album. They still tour (now as the P-Funk All Stars), play three hour plus sets, and are amazing.

George’s outfit is unusually conservative in the video clip.

*The hype about Bootsy (I don’t know if this story is completely true) is that he played bass for James Brown, left James to be a roadie for Sly Stone (I believe Larry Graham – the inventor of slap bass – was in Sly’s band at the time), and then finally joined P-Funk (along with his brother on guitar).

AC DC is the ultimate music of teenage rebellion (at least they were when I was a kid). True, they were industry darlings – mass-marketed on a major label and now Rock N Roll Hall of Fame inductees – but your average eighth grader lacked the sophistication to find out or feel duped. They were a voice for the suburban adolescent to innocently lash out at authority, parents and school (although the only thing radical about AC DC is how great they sound loud).

Below the surface lurks the subtle sophistication that is AC DC. Classic gimmicks include leaving the bass out until the first chorus (giving the music bottom and fatness when it enters), double time after the last chorus; plus bells, cannons and wild Australian-style backing vocals.

The guitar parts almost always use open chords (as opposed to power chords) – inviting in thirds and interesting chord motion not normally found in power rock. Angus (lead guitar), in spite of the school boy uniform and striptease, actually has a killer vibrato and simple but tasteful leads.

AC DC is great live, write great songs, and have consistently produced great music for years – and I always get goose-pimples when they fire the cannons (though when I saw them in Worcester, the city wouldn’t let them set them off indoors – I was so bummed).

Everyone was always talking about Pat.

“I met Pat here.” “I used to play with Pat.” “Did you hear Pat’s new album.” “Dude, Pat rocks.”

I have the album 80/81, and yes - it is very awesome, but why so much hype?

This clip (featuring Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker) explains everything - true you need to be a jazz-head to appreciate it - but Pat sounds incredible. His leads and comping are tremendous - it is just a shame I lived in ignorance of “the true awesomeness of Pat” for so long.

Fear back in the early days of hardcore. The band does a great job getting the music out in spite of the fans rushing the stage and knocking everything over. The clip is short (only about four minutes), but manages to include a bunch Fear classics like “Beef Baloney,” “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones,” and “Let’s Have a War” - also dig the guitar player’s dress.

I first heard tenor master Archie Shepp on his amazing solo album the “Magic of Juju” - side one is a twenty-five minute sax solo with drums and African percussion (and it is incredible). This video gives you a taste of his awesome chops and distinctive tone - enjoy.

I used to play with this band before they got signed. Billy Martin (from Medeski. Martin and Wood) was with them for about two weeks as well. We used to rehearse in Billy’s loft space in Brooklyn (it was there that I learned how to make a killer spinach omelet - I think his girlfriend taught me). They were a great band and really nice guys - I wonder what they are up to now.

Lola by the Kinks - this may be the most amazing video I have ever seen. The band is so serious, the song so ridiculous, and the people dancing with total late-sixties abandon. Wow - what else can you say?

Steve Morse is easily one of the most amazing and versatile guitar players ever. This is the Gina Lola Breakdown - a country twanged burner - and Steve shows off his complete mastery with unpretentious ease. Unfortunately the sound quality of this clip isn’t the greatest - you need to crank it to really hear it properly.

As incomprehensible as it may sound, Steve Morse is now touring with Deep Purple - how incongruous.

I have no idea how Zappa managed to mainstream himself, but here he is on Saturday Night Live. He rocks, his guitar playing sounds fantastic and it is so 1976! (The marimba seems completely out of context with the rest of what he has going on - but maybe that’s just me.)

Enjoy the slime oozing from the audience monitors.