Friday, March 06, 2009

Friday Afternoon



"Funk #49"
James Gang - Rides Again

Sleep all day, out all night
I know where you're goin'
I don't think that's actin' right
You don't think it's showin'

Jumpin' up, fallin' down
Don't misunderstand me
You don't think that I know your plan
What you tryin' to hand me?

Out all night, sleep all day
I know what you're doin'
If you're gonna act that way
I think there's trouble brewin'

9 comments:

Jeff said...

Great song by a great band. Passin' Thru was one of the first cassettes I ever owned.

Remember cassettes?

cowboyangel said...

I don't know the post-Joe Walsh James Gang very well. A little of the later Tommy Bolin stuff - don't know Passin' Thru at all. I should give more of their stuff a listen.

Remember cassettes? Well . . . you're going to laugh, but our 1995 Ford Taurus has a cassette deck, so I'm still listening to cassettes every day. Unfortunately, I gave away a lot of my tapes before we got the car, so I only have so many. And, sadly, I can't make any new ones.

I miss making tapes. Burning CDs is cool and making playlists online or on my iPod. But it's not quite the same. Not sure what's missing, but I don't get the same satisfaction. I was a killer tape-maker. I would time everything out so perfectly. The trick was to fill every milliimeter of space on the tape but make it work musically. I loved timing something so the song ended and after a one-second pause, the tape would end as well.

You can't fiddle with the physical material anymore. That's the big problem with the digital age. You can't play a CD backwards. You can't splice a broken cassette together (which I need to do with my Sun Ra tape right now.) You don't manually turn the wheels of the tape to start the tape at the very beginning.

On the other hand, I do love "Shuffle" and the ability to constantly remake playlists. Once you laid down a mix on tape, that was it.

Anonymous said...

Hey William.
I remember trying to get you to listen to "James Gang rides again" in the late 70's.This is still one of my favorite albums.Glad to see your taste in music is wide and varied.

The other David....aka snc6

cowboyangel said...

Dave,

I have you to thank for a lot of my taste in music. Not only did you introduce me to so many great bands - like the James Gang - but you really helped me learn to explore music. You may not have directly gotten me into jazz, Indian music, or French chanson, but you definitely had a hand in my being willing to investigate them.

And, really, you helped me learn to be an artist. The doorway that Dark Side of the Moon or Electric Ladyland opened for me was much more than just about music. Ultimately, it was about experiencing the world in a different way. For that, I will be eternally grateful.

James Gang Rides Again really holds up well over time, doesn't it?! I still like the first album a lot, too. "Collage" is a great song.

Anonymous said...

William
Are you talking about the "Yer" album?
There are some great tunes off that one as well.It seem to me that we both influenced each other in different ways. You really helped me believe in my writing and my music....so Kudos to you as well my friend.

One of the many Daves of your life.

He he he ...sorry , I just couldn't help myself.

David

Garpu said...

You can certainly manipulate digital audio like you can physical tape. And then some. You just need something like csound or supercollider to do it. (Been in thesis hell doing just that, actually)

cowboyangel said...

Garpu,

Are those free ? Affordable? Would be curious to play with them.

I'm not one to argue in favor of returning to tapes or LPs. Or 8-track or reel-to-reel, all of which I've dealt with.

Though I do miss LP covers. Not much album cover art when you download songs. The beautiful double album fold-out shot of Dylan on Blonde on Blonde now exists on my iPod as a tiny little image of the front part of the cover.

The digital age - whether in music or books - doesn't have the same gritty feel of paper books or LP covers. Nor does shopping for used books online - which I appreciate - have the same feel as wandering for hours in a used book store. These things will vanish. Just the way it is. Life moves on, leaving behind things we love all the time.

cowboyangel said...

Dave,

Yeah, Yer Album. "Stop" is a classic. "Funk #48." "Kind Woman" is pretty good, though I'm not sure it surpasses the Buffalo Springfield original.

Glad to have supported your music and writing. It didn't take much. You were just good at it. I simply tried to point it out.

Enjoyed the songs on your MySpace page, btw. "Dissidance." Interesting stuff you're doing. Not what I necessarily expected. Though I don't know what I expected.

Anonymous said...

William
Dissidence was written one Sunday morning in about 20 minutes. I have know idea where it came from,but I've always kept an open mind towards attempting new concepts.

David