To be completely honest, I'm not the biggest Stevie Ray Vaughan fan. I mean, he's not very original with his Albert King/Jimi Hendrix all rolled up into
one shtick. Stevie seems to play (in varying tempos) the same jittery cocaine frosted guitar solo on every song (B.B. King is guilty of this too). I'm also not crazy about his "signature sound"; a Fender Stratocaster, Tube Screamer pedal, and a wah-wah into a Fender Super Reverb.
People tell me, "But Babs, he's a guitar virtuoso.", to which I reply, "If you listen to the Blues for virtuosity, you're entirely missing the point of the genre." In many ways, he's a predictable one-trick pony. Oh, and he dressed like Liza Minnelli was lending him, her clothes.
And yet I like him anyway, he had a genuine love of The Blues, and Stevie played from his heart, and that really is
the bottom line right there. Truth is, I prefer Stevie Ray Vaughan in small doses.
Saw him perform around 1985, on a riverboat. Headlined a triple bill with B.B. King and Dr. John. Kinda my thoughts on SRV, too. My favorite of his is an acoustic song he did on the first postumous album - Life by the Drop on the lp The Sun is Crying. I guess a guilty pleasure would be Dean Martin. Yeah, he oozes Las Vegas scharminess, but its still fun to listen to him (at least for me, and its not very often).
ReplyDeleteI always loved how cool and detached Dean was. Italians like my friend Denise "The Grease" and Corsicans like my mother refer to Dean as a "Menefreghista", which loosely translated means: a person who does not give a fuck.
DeleteThis is a tough one for me. Frank Zappa was great & he was deeply flawed. For the longest time I didn't realize it, or I chose to ignore it. He was a great musician & composer. I still listen to lots & lots of Frank Zappa. I often thought he was kidding or trying to make some point. I believe that both are true, however, I also believe that he went beyond humorous & just became offensive sometimes instead. Does Humor Belong In Music? - Have I Offended Someone? are 2 of Frank's album titles. That said, he is still one of my favorites, but no longer THE favorite. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteI'm right behind Dean Martin's C&W records, like my dad said back in the day "nobody sings cowboy songs like that." Zappa is a case all by himself, every one of his records has moments of musical brilliance (if not genius) and for my money and callouses he is right at the top of the guitar god pantheon. Still, his sophomoric lyrics (say, post-1969) are pretty tiring. My contribution to the discussion is Van the Man. He's an asshole (can I say that here, Babs?) but has produced some very fine art throughout the course of his career. He did miss the mark with his country album "Pay The Devil", seems like every song had his "signature" vocal lick, what a missed opportunity...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Morrion has become problematic these days. But, there's no denying that he made some masterful lps (his output from 68 - 74 was majestic). Stan Getz is another guy who undloubtedly was a masterful musician and just a horrible human being.
DeleteBombshelter Slim - you can use all the so-called "bad words" you like, as long as they're not directed at a fellow poster.
DeleteYeah, not a fan of Stevie Ray, I never got the hype, with some having him as best guitar player of all time and such hyperbole, when to me he sounds like ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons doing Jimi Hendrix impersonations.
ReplyDeleteI love the Beach Boys, and you know, they have a ton of warts, the biggest named Mike Love, but I love 'em anyways.
If we talk character, Warren Zevon was an often terrible human being, but a great songwriter and musician...
I read the Warren Zevon bio. What a mess he made of his life.
DeleteI honestly don’t think Warren could help himself.
DeleteHmmm.....I probably should have worded the question differently. The flaws I was referring to were musical and lyrical ones. I really couldn't care less about personality flaws. Sometimes I think, the bigger the asshole. the better the music.
ReplyDeleteI read the question as personal flaws too, and was about to nominate Iggy Pop. There are lots of wonderful "flawed" voices (Billie Holiday for starters), lyricists who can make you wince (Lou Reed, anyone?), musicians who wander off the beat and out of tune...
DeleteI'll go with Richard Buckner. I adore his records, despite (and sometimes because of) their flaws. Wish he'd make another one.
The great thing about your question is that you're not inviting readers to ridicule an artist who might be another reader's favorite.
DeletePaul McCartney can be incredibly frustrating musically - not only writing some of the greatest songs of the 20th century but also helping John realise some of his more abstract ideas - but then also writing some of the most excruciatingly annoying cloying stuff out there.
ReplyDeleteI New York, we call it "Schmaltz"
DeleteI could reiterate what Dr Robert said, so I will. The Grateful Dead could be very very good & then turn around & be horrid. And Jimmy Buffett, who once said "I can be sensitive on occasion & really trashy on other occasions."
ReplyDeleteI recall someone saying "Every third night, the Dead are the best band in American. The other two, they're the worst."
DeleteLike many here, I'm not an SRV fan, nor am I generally fond of guitarists who engage in lengthy solos that are the equivalent of musical masturbation. I'm afraid that judgment applies to a significant swathe of Zappa's work too. I think it has something to do with the artists' aesthetic purpose. There are guitarists such as say, Neil Young, who can go on riffing for dozens of bars but always do so in service of the song or the groove. In the case of Vaughan, though, and others like him, I get more of a feeling of a look-at-what-I-can-do intention. As to guilty pleasures, riding in the car with my mate with the stereo cranked and a pop playlist churning, I unabashedly sing along to everything from The Beatles to Seals and Crofts and anything else that's brimming with hooks.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to SRV, I interviewed the late producer Jim Gaines a few years ago about his studio encounters with Vaughan. Rather than close-miking a small tube amp as is the practice with most electric blues sessions, SRV insisted on his Super Reverb being placed front and center without baffles or anything else to isolate the huge output of his amp. Gaines told me he managed to get a mix that was usable, but only with significant post-session tweaking.
On another topic entirely, I've noticed you don't tend to feature vocal jazz much and I wondered if that was a personal taste thing or just an area you haven't touched on yet. The question came to mind yesterday as we bathed in the lush romanticism of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman—a Valentine's Day tradition around the Pauling manse.
I personally like SRV's playing but find most of his songs pretty tedious and boring. But I love his covers of Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) and Little Wing.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of artists I love not in spite of their musical flaws (sloppiness, lack of chops, etc) but largely because of them (i.e. they do so much with so little): Stooges, Replacements (esp live), Velvet Underground, and most punk rock bands (before hardcore made it more tedious than fun).
Link 1
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/BTsb28vKF4h
Link 2
https://workupload.com/file/KgjxN3QXAYp
Link 3
https://workupload.com/file/S9mEuyFm2jZ
I would add Ten Years After and Johnny Winter to the list.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed SRV very well. The first time I heard one of his solos many years ago I thought I was listening to the latest posthumous Jimi release from the Hendrix estate. Nevertheless, I like my SRV like my pizza - in large doses. That's why I already have these discs.
ReplyDeleteThe Residents will do for me.
ReplyDeleteBat
Since my first thought was already well covered by another poster (I love the Grateful Dead, and can find flaws in them), I'll nominate Al Stewart. I think he's a wonderful lyricist overall, and if some of his songs are too clever by half - well, maybe he's more clever than me! I would say that he took some time fully finding his voice, but then he probably had to mature as a person to mature as an artist. His voice, though, has always had issues. I think he did a fine job for a long while of working within those limits, but I can easily understand someone just not going to for the tone, or finding his range (of notes and of emotions) too limited. YMMV.
ReplyDeleteD in California
Motorhead. I'm not a metal guy, I'm a punk guy, but I do love me some Motorhead. No finesse, just big n' loud. Technique is for wimps.
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