Okay, let's do something different here, and now. Let's give a musical acquaintance some support, someone who deserves it. And not because he is nice guy, though I'm sure he is, but because he fills a nice niche spot in the musical spectrum. So here we go.
The other day, Lady Caspar returned home after a couple of weeks in her homestead Porto Alegre, Brazil. With legendary rocker Fughetti Luz as her father, she is well acquainted with the local music scene. Already the last time she got home, she brought home a CD of this fellow called Gustavo Telles. I knew him a little from another band he used to play in with the illusive name Pato de Elephante, which means as much as elephants' foot. His debut CD as a solo artist was called Do seu amor, primeiro é você quem precisa. After listening to it a few times, it got under my skin, and hasn't left since then. I'll try to explain why. There is something peculiar about those Brazilians from the deep South, the Gauchos as they prefer to be called. It is not just that their climate is not as tropical, their beaches not as virgin, or their carnaval not as swinging as they are in the rest of the country, but more importantly for the purpose of this blog: the music is not as sambaesque. Moreover: it reaches from Americana to straightforward rock, and mostly in a tight 4-bar rhythm. And doing this for decades in a, more or less, isolated environment, they have pretty much come up with their own sound. Rocky, folky, with their melodies slipping and sliding. And every now and then, there is this new guy doing it all over again, though rarely beating their predecessors; but Gustavo Telles is doing just that!
Now let's get back to Gustavo's CDs the misses brought home. He recorded this new CD in the studio of a friend of hers. Via-via a copy (not an illegal one mind you!!) got into our hands. It is at this very moment on the stereo, and we're so happy that it is archetypical Gaucho rock, but melodious, folky, almost Americana style. But, you might have guessed from the opening lines of this blog, there is a problem. To finalize the CD, and to give it the premiere it deserves, Gustavo is simply short on cash. Therefore he opened a crowdfunding opportunity, which you can find on: Gustavo-Telles, wwhere you can also find a few songs from his new album. For 10 Brazilian Reais (about 3,50 in Euros) you get a download of the new CD. Of course, there are a lot of extras if you pay more, but I am not sure if you can make it to Porto Alegre in time to see his premiere show ;-)?
Anyway, Caspar thought about it and he says: thumbs up for Gustavo Telles and give him the support he deserves. This guy is a dedicated, talented musician that keeps the sound of Porto Alegre alive and kicking!!!
This blog is a-long time coming. Somehow it has been on my mind for some time, without concretizing. So now here it is, a critique on Dead Man, a great movie by Jim Jarmusch, but even more importantly to the CasparBlog: with a score by one of Caspar's favorites: Neil Young.
Now, maybe one of the reasons on hesitating to write this particular critique, was the question on my mind if I should go into Jarmusch' body of work, or stick by Young's music, because this blog is about music. But hey, I can write about my passions, right? And, so far the blog has written substantially about music in combination with documentaries. So, Caspar, don't hesitate, just rattle on! From the eighties onwards I have been following Jarmusch' carreer from a distance. Back then I remember seeing Down by Law, with Tom Waits in one of his character roles as a runaway convict. Shortly after I learned that Waits was actually a singer-songwriter, and my first encounter with his talent was his live album Big Time, starting with the unforgettable words 'good evening' in his hoarse, low voice. Another Jarmusch film I remember vividly was Night on Earth, with Roberto Benigni impersonating a sodomized sheep, getting the priest in his cab to die from a heart attack. You can imagine Jarmusch made quite an impression on young Caspar...
As we discussed in an earlier CasparCritique (CasparCritique: Year of the Horse), somewhere midway the Nineties, Jarmusch and Neil Young made a deal. Young would provide Jarmusch' new movie with a sound track, and as a return of favor, Jarmusch would make a documentary of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. On a personal note, Caspar gave the documentary 4 stars, but apparently, Neil Young wasn't very happy with the result. Do we think that Jarmusch was happy with the music score? I bet he did. The movie Dead Man was Jarmusch most expensive movie, and maybe his shot at becoming a bit more main stream (Caspar strongly advises not to take any of his apparent knowledge of movies too seriously), and the score made by one of the USA's big selling artists would certainly help in that respect.
Back to business Caspar, let's talk a little on the sound track. When I sat down the other day to watch the movie, I had no idea what to expect. As the movie is from 1995, I realized that Young's projects just before that were collaborations with Pearl Jam (Mirror Ball), and Crazy Horse (Sleeps with Angels). So, both band-, and rock oriented, although Sleeps with Angels was a bit more gloomier. But surprisingly Young's contribution to Dead Man is solo work. At the very start of the movie, you can hear Young's Gibson valve ampifier turned on loud. Then he starts hitting the strings slowly with the outer side of his hand, making a sort of thumping sound. With his pick, or plectrum, he scribbes notes and phrases, that because of the reverb in the amplifier, and probably some slight echo effect, gives a big sound like he'd be recording in a church. This is what continues throughout the movie, with the only, apparent, difference that he goes faster bit by bit, thus giving the movie a pace like a steam train slowly speeding up towards the end of the story. And I must say: a nice story it is. Leading character Johnny Depp as an accountant in the Wild West, getting into more and more trouble, and finally saved (or is he?) by an indian called Nobody.
I enjoyed the movie very much, and I thought the music accompanied it
effectively. Also it fits in with Young's carreer for being different than
the usual. If I'd had to give it marks, I'd give it five stars out of five. Not for being amongst Neil's best work, but for being the perfect accompaniment to one of Jim Jarmusch's master pieces.
A final thought would be on the accurateness of what you just read. Maybe what I just told you, on the technical side of things, and the substance of the sound track, could be wrong. The interesting part for me is that this CasparBlog is an account of watching a movie once, late night, and then telling about the score a few months later.
What's eating Brendan Benson?
There are certain names that buzz around for a while, and all of a sudden they pop up. But, are they here to stay? We all remember how Jack White made his entry on the world stage of music. A remarkable figure, with an equally interesting drum girl, who was his sister, mysterious ex-wife, or were they just lovers? They had a monster hit with the song Seven Nation Army, and since then, whatever Jack does, is in the lime lights of the music media and fans.
But, what about his buddy Brendan Benson? They joined up in the band called The Raconteurs, made two records and had one hit song with Steady, as She Goes. This is what gave Benson a small claim to fame, but he had been around for a much longer time. I mean, he made his solo debut back in 1996, though his second album Lapalca from 2002 was the first to attract some more serious attention. Anyway, back in about 2006 or 2007, I saw a live show by The Raconteurs, and I remember being surprised by the amount of pop, and sound songwriting. This is probably because I wasn't too familiar with their music, and still associated Jack White with riff-based rock songs. I thought it must have been Benson's influence that made Raconteurs more then a rock band. So, I stored the name Brendan Benson, that kept on popping up every now and then. One such occasion was Benson's great contribution for the Graham Nash tribute album 'Be Yourself'.
So, with Caspar's interests in songwriting poprockers in mind, I was happy to see that his show was announced last year at the Paradiso venue in Amsterdam. Benson had just released his fifth solo album called What Kind of World, and it sounded really good. For some reason though, the whole tour was cancelled. The statement he gave for this unfortunate fate was that he was suffering from health problems, and it seemed pretty serious. Luckily, one year after he was back at the Paradiso, and of course Caspar went out to see him play.
You might have thought that with the Raconteur's story in mind, and Jack White's stature selling out any mid-level stage in Amsterdam, Benson would be programmed on the big stage of Paradiso, but he wasn't. Also, the smaller stage wasn't sold out by far. Personally, I'd say there is something wrong with this picture. At the beginning of the show, you could see this guy knows what he is doing, and that he is used to play bigger stages. His vocals are clear, nothing over the top, good lines, melodies, band's okay, and he makes good contact to the crowd. It makes you wonder: shouldn't this guy play bigger stages, be better known? I got his second album as a gift from a friend of mine, and it is great. So, what's eating Brendan Benson?
About halfway the show, something attracted my attention. He apparently got lost in his words, forgot some lines, looked a little lost here and there. When he got back to play the encore, he excused himself for forgetting lines, stating it was the alcohol that was causing it. As some people in the crowd responded by giggling, Benson went a bit further and said that he was serious and that it wasn't funny at all. When I thought about it, it made me kind of sad, because I cannot think of it differently then by concluding that drugs was winning over yet another talent. I remembered a Dutch comedian saying that drugs might do you good to twist your mind every now and then, use it for inspiration, but do not let that state of mind be your 'natural' one. Now, Caspar is not holier then the pope, and certainly doesn't like to lift his finger to anyone. Any time in the past and in the future talents will be broken in the bud because of certain unhealthy substances. At the same time, these same substances give us incredible pieces of art, in many forms. I guess from an artist's point of view, you should be sure about what your natural state of mind is, and don't think a purple haze could be just that.
A few months ago, we had a look at the documentary called Gitaarjongens, or Guitar Dudes in my translation. It turned out to be the best read CaparSongs blog so far (see: casparcritique: gitaarjongens, guitar-dudes). In the blog, Caspar promissed to critique the accompanying live show. So, finally, here it is!
In the documentary we saw how initiator Henny Vrienten went on a road trip to visit Holland's most prominent guitar players, and had them talk about their passion for the six-string. Caspar was pleased with the result and gave the doc four stars. The same 12 players were united in the Royal Amsterdam theater called Carré to give a show totally dedicated to the guitar. This is a great idea, but when Caspar looked at the film he realized that no matter how good the idea, to make it work requires a lot more than just talent on stage.
The show starts off without much introduction, so why rootsrocker Daniël Lohues plays While my Guitar Gently Weeps, we don't have a clue. But remember Daniël, playing a Beatles song with Eric Clapton on solo guitar is one tough act to follow. After that, Anne Soldaat gets on stage. Lately Soldaat has produced a great solo CD aptly called 'Anne Soldaat', and Caspar and his family saw a nice show at Paradiso earlier this year. But what he produces on Guitar Dudes is just awful. He chose to play Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young. Great song, but I just wondered if anyone ever thought about arranging a little bit. Now we get three voices that do not sound comfortable together, with Soldaat twisting his voice into a high squeaking sound. Someone told the drummer to keep on using his toms throughout the song, which keeps the drive out of the song. The way the song ends is just embarrasing. Maybe a string broke, or something, and things like this can happen, but if I'd been Anne Soldaat, I'd have my contribution withdrawn from the production. One particular TV presenter keeps on calling Anne the best guitarist of the Netherlands, but this cannot be seriously considered.
Luckily the average age of the participants drops a little when Pablo van der Poel gets on stage. I saw Pablo play live last year with his teenage band DeWolff. In this case 'teenage' stands for the average age of the band members, and not their choice of inspiration. They play heavy rock, as played in the seventies by the likes of Led Zep. Absolutely great and highly recommended!! Anyway, Pablo says that he was asked to play the first song he knew how to play. And then we understand better why the first two players played the songs they did. Pablo decided to play Whole Lotta Love, with multi-instrumentalist Fay Lovsky on vocals. To be honest, they give a nice show, and make it difficult to decide who's best, which is in itself a little painful; shouldn't the guitar be the star of the show?
Lovsky stays on the stage for a duet with Jazz guitarist Anton Goudsmit. They give a great version of the song Ernesto, with Fay also using the mysterious Theremin instrument. But I don't think Goudsmit needs any company, he manages on his own. Great play!
Next is Harry Sacksioni. The man with four hands, or so it seems, when he plays solo. He used to do that a lot, but this time the band follows swiftly, and unfortunately Sacksioni's acoustic guitar sound is hardly heard anymore. Nice solo by the way of J.B. Meyers. Sacksioni also plays a song together with Jan Hendriks that is very funny, aparently, because all people on the stage laugh a lot!?
As you might have picked up already, Caspar is not too impressed so far. Luckily, we have some great names from the past ahead of us... First of them is Rudy de Queljoe. Maybe his name is not very well known, but he has played in some legendary bands in the sixties and seventies, such as Brainbox, and Massada. He plays a great rock song, and in the guitar parts he is accompanied by legendary Jan Akkerman. They manage to play the house down, and finally the band sounds like a true band. Akkerman stays on and plays a beautyful song solo, which I didn't recognize, nor was it's name mentioned in the film, or otherwise. It might very well have been an improvisation, which is far from the idea of playing your first song, of course. Just remember to tune your guitar next time before you start, Jan ;-).
As we saw in the documentary, it took Vrienten a long time and a lot of effort to get Eelco Gelling to participate in the project. But there he is, in Carré, with his old, dirty Gibson Les Paul around his neck. Together with his friend Akkerman, he plays a nice blues, and just to see him on stage again makes watching the show worthwile. Because, I'll be straight with you, even the appearance of George Kooymans as the last of the artists on stage, doesn't make the show legendary. George stays by the book and plays the first song he ever learned: Tom Dooley. Which is nice, because it was also Vrienten's first song, but it doesn't result in the mind blowing show Caspar would like to have seen when he heard about the line-up for the night.
So, all in all, Caspar thought it was nice, but kept on wondering why is wasn't as great as it might have been with such great artists around. I guess it was in the conceptual thinking. Having people play the first song they learned sounds nice, but it doens't work if not everyone sticks to it. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if one guitarist would have introduced the next one? Shouldn't Vrienten have strongly advised on what songs to play, to get a good play list? Or, why not make sections around types of guitar, and technique? A last point of critique from my part is that a lot more could have done in the arrangements. It looked a bit too much like friends getting together in a studio on a Saturday afternoon. But, you don't have to hire the Carré for that, would you? I must say, I had greater hopes for this production, but I can't make it more than two stars, out of five.
Wow, this was kind of heavy. After seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse play live last night, now Caspar saw them again in this documentary by Jim Jarmusch. It was like you saw the show again, but in another year, another place, and more up close. In all its raw, 8 mm filmed material, with short introductions of the band members , its history and life on the road, the film does justice to its subject: four guys, two guitars, a bass and drums, plus a basket full of great songs; rock 'n roll in its purest form!
As I mentioned yesterday, I hadn't seen Neil Young and Crazy Horse live before. Funny enough, it was the documentary The Year of the Horse that I saw twice already when it was released in 1996, at the Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. What struck me most back then was the loud and intense way Neil and the band played. I really liked it; most of the songs in the film I knew already and I related to (see:CasparLive: Neil Young and Crazy Horse). Peculiar how that CD was released under the same name, but contains a very different set of songs. Now, after having seen the live show, I thought the film even more impressive. We get so close, almost as if we are on the stage with them. But do not think you can get in between them somehow. The movie shows clips from the past when the band was fighting over the vocal parts, but if there is anything clear that we get from the film is that this is a very tight band, both musically and personally.
Funny how the film has been critized by various people over the choice of Jim Jarmusch to use 8 mm film. It gives the film a grainy touch, which is amplified by editing loosely shot material for example looking outside from the touring bus while on the road. This choice can be explained two ways. From the one hand it might give the movie a sort of artsy fartsy look (dixit guitarist Poncho Sampedro), that combines nicely with Jarmusch' image as the intelectualist, New York film maker. But on the other, we can say that it supports Crazy Horse's raw music, and characters. Anyhow, in my opinion it works well. The film is a nice pastiche, with great live performances, and some more or less pivotal scenes from the past, and short interviews with the guys, Neil's father, and their long standing manager Eliot Roberts (see also: CasparCritique: David Geffen always wins). This way we get the whole picture and introduction to the band in a great way. Surely, as Poncho Sampedro states three times, the film maker will not tell the whole story on the basis of a few questions and in two hours, but that would mean that the story could not be told by anyone. So, this is comes close enough.
One last thing that struck me was that guitarist Sampedro and bass player Billy Talbot apparently do not use any effects, or guitar tuning. Now that I think of it, also Neil himself is able to force his guitar to the max getting feedback from his amps, still being able to play the intro to Hurricane afterwards in a tuned way. Also, the way they stay close to eachother on a stage, no matter how big it is; they're in it for the music, and their love of noise. After so many years, so many stories, so many songs and so many tours, Neil Young and Crazy Horse are still the same guys as they were before. No pretentions, plug in your guitars and let's rock! This way, a movie can hardly ever go wrong for me; I'll give it 4 stars out of five!
Back in the days, when I was just seventeen, I fell for this real cool hippy girl, and she introduced me to Neil Young. Though I did know the name Neil Young, I didn't know his music. So she made a cassette for me with, what she considered, his best work. I remembered the exact moment, the surroundings and all, when I put the cassette in my Sony Walkman, and heard his voice for the first time. That first song was The Loner, man that really got me: Neil sang exactly about things I felt back at that period of my life...
Anyway, nothing too spectacular happened between me and the girl (well nothing as spectacular to tell you...), and even though I stayed fan, learned to play and sing his songs, I never got around to see Neil perform live. So, last night, finally, after all these years, I went to the Ziggo Dome venue in Amsterdam to see my hero play live. Such a feast to see the huge five meter high amplifiers on the stage, still in their flightcases when Los Lobos were playing the opening show. As I remember from photos and stories by others, these stage items were already used on the Rust Never Sleeps tour in 1978, when the roadies were dressed as monks, with wide capes covering their faces. Now the roadies dress as docters, and construction workers, and I still don't know why but who cares.
From the moment the Beatles song A Day in the Life was heard, everybody knew that Neil and Crazy Horse were about to enter the stage and you could sense the excitement rising. What followed was maybe not Neil's best show ever, but as he said himself: not every show can be great. For me, it was the coming together of decades of sentiments and musical inspiration. The man was there, he moved around stage with his long legs, a bit clumpsy, but just very intense playing, staying close to his fellows of Crazy Horse. Maybe that is what I liked most: though these musicians have been around for decades, they're still in it for the love of music. So, they do not try to occupy the whole stage, but rather stay close to each other concentrating on what the others are doing. Also, they do not change instruments all the time, but they use the ones they like most, with Neil's Old Black center stage: the legendary Gibson Les Paul he has used for most of his recordings and shows.
For all of his hours of beautyful, emotional music, for his great contributions to country-rock, punk-rock, grunge and all other guitar-based music, for his fantastic songbook and the inspiration he has given us, and most of all, for giving my emotions a voice when it needed one so badly, Neil Young gets all of the five stars I have available. On a more objective note, last night's show gets four. But nevermind, we're not done yet with Neil 'Shakey' Young; tonight I'll have another look at the Jim Jarmusch' documentary Year of the Horse at the Melkweg venue. Tomorrow another CasparCritique!? See you there!
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| Fishing Thoughts |
In an earlier SongBlog (the one on Graham Nash' Military Madness) Caspar shared his thoughts about the difference between theory and practice when writing a song. This statement was made after we had a look on this course Caspar took with Pat Pattinson on songwriting. Pattinson started with a textual idea, after which he followed a structure that ended up being a song called Hobo Wind. In the blogsong we saw that our way of composing lies more in the melody, after which verses and a chorus follow. Last night though, Caspar wrote this text and he is dying to share it with you.
Inspiration (oooh sweet inspiration...) came from this
great piece of art we had brought from Brussels, about three years ago. We
spent a weekend over there with our friend, singer/songwriter
Marcelo Delacroix and his girlfriend at the time Regina Rossi. Marcelo had a gig on Saturday that was great, after which we hang around town. The next day, we visited the Royal Museum of
Fine Arts, after which Marcelo wanted to visit the Musical Instrument Museum as
well. I got hooked up at the museum shop though, bount to acquire
something nice, pop-artsy to look at. And that's where I found the picture you see at the top of the blog:
Fishing Thoughts, by the artist The Boghe. Contemplative, at ease, this picture looks . simple at first, but there is more to the picture then meets the eye.
As the picture makes yourself think things over along with the characters on it, you mix it with a little Pat Pattinson. Last night, I thought about that, and came up with a text called Fishing Thoughts.
Fishing Thoughts
I think about what floats
like a cork on the water.
Sailing ships and motor boats,
detract me from my thoughts.
I think about the future,
what lies ahead of us.
My fishing rod starts wavering,
attention spell gets lost.
Chorus:
Water waves
don't be afraid
future means patience
water waves
I think about the facts
about truth, and the beholder.
A thermos can, a sandwich bag,
and what it was I told her.
Chorus
break:
Too many things on my mind
Can you remind me later?
Chorus
So here's a text, Music comes next.
