How come Keef couldn't read his book on tape?

The book on tape, I mean, for Keith Richards' autobio, "Life." I purchased the book on tape (after inheriting my dearly departed mom's audible.com account), and it indicates Johnny Depp is the reader. (I have not actually listened to it, so I don't know whether he's doing it in his Jack Sparrow voice or straight Johnny. I probably should listen for the purposes of balanced critique, but what the heck this is a blog, I'll get to it later.)

Why couldn't Keith have been the reader? What, is he too busy making great music, off recording the next great Stones album with Mick and the boys? HELL NO! (They really haven't made the next great Stones album since "Tattoo You," in case you didn't realize I was being facetious).

Can you imagine how cool it would have been to listen to that book as read by Keith himself, preferably complete with drags off his trusty Marlboro's and those crusty chuckles he loves to throw in? They could have made it a box set with other bits of Keith-abilia. I would absolutely pay more than the going rate for a book read by him; heck, I was tempted to purchase the talking Keith doll from the previous "Pirates" movie just because it was really him talking. (Didn't do it, too expensive.)

I'm not kidding about the time issue -- it's not like the guy is back in the south of France working on "Exile on Main Street II."  Or really doing anything else that is having an impact on pop culture like in the old days. (I'm not saying he should be or really is capable of it anymore. I don't think these lads have the inspiration and the provenance they once had, and neither do any of the rest of us).  I'm sure he could spare a couple of weeks to sit in a studio (heck, even in his living room in Connecticut would be interesting -- or, better yet, a local pub) and read this thing.

Maybe I should start a campaign....maybe I will.

Calling all posts

These posts of the past couple months are from another blog I started to launch, but I think Led Egg is going to be my one-stop-shop for blogging from here on out. All Led, all the time.

Steve Earle/Strawberry Fields
http://greetingsfrom75.blogspot.com/2011/03/steve-earlestrawberry-fieldsbeatles.html

Lemmy Movie
http://greetingsfrom75.blogspot.com/2011/03/lemmy-movie.html

Rory Gallagher/Tommy Bolin
http://greetingsfrom75.blogspot.com/2011/03/first-entry.html

Reading "LZ-75", about Led Zep '75 Tour

The reviews about this book in amazon.com are spot-on; a literary exercise this is not, and author Stephen Davis has done better (his Stones book is authoritative and sizzling throughout, and his Aerosmith autobio with the band is definitive).

Meanwhile, I'm a third of the way in and the basis of the book, Davis' "lost" notebooks from when he covered the tour for Atlantic Monthly, have hardly been mentioned. In fact, he describes a bunch of shows he obviously didn't even witness. I'm not sure he really "covered" the tour, considering. Kind of bogus.

Yet, YET, I keep reading it, and I'm enjoying it. The guy does know from whence he writes, he was there at least for part of it. But what I think sets this guy apart is his ability to place the boys of Zep and their output in the perfect cultural context, usually with a turn of phrase or key factoid. Reading this book is like listening to an aging yet talented jazz drummer laying down a tasty if sometimes cliched solo.

Chicago Rhino Live '75

It is not Carnegie Hall, it's Largo, MD. They were running out their prog string at this point, and I would make the case that the album they were supporting on this tour (can't remember which number, but it's the one with the cardinal [?] on the cover and poster and iron-on applique [?] inside) didn't have the multiple massive hits of earlier discs.  (I think it's Chicago 8, actually.  And maybe 7, which was another double album after a couple of single discs, was the last truly prog effort, although I can't think of anything heavy on 7.  Cool fake-tooled-leather cover, tho.)

Anyhoo, the playing on the samples Rhino has up sounds pretty loose, and the recording sounds a bit cavernous.  But they were four years removed from Carnegie Hall, probably better chops by that time and still the original line-up with the percussionist added. Plus they got a few more decent hits in first half of 70s since Carnegie. So maybe it is worth a listen. Maybe it's worth a listen only for "Got To Get You Into My Life," which is perhaps the song the band was formed around? The boys said they were heavily influenced by the Beatles.






http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/chicago-live-in-75

"Rocket Man" -- A better song out there in '72?

I purchased "Rocket Man" and "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" off iTunes after hearing the latter on tv show my wife was watching. I have liked the latter song for a long time, I can't think of a more evocative song from that time frame (summer '72). Man, did Elton produce some major tuneage or what? He had a great band, the bass playing is killer, so is the drumming. But I'm thinking the production (Gus Dudgeon) is what really did it. (I just went and checked Gus' wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Dudgeon and learned that he called the Elton's "Caribou" album "a piece of crap," and I find some comfort in that opinion because I think by then Sir Reg was starting to lose the plot after his absolute masterwork "Good Bye Yellow Brick Road.") This song is so damn dense with atmosphere. It's not really even a piano song or keyboard son, it's really acoustic guitar and some freaky geetar noising from Davey Johnstone, another monster player. The piano playing on it is really perfect, just the right amount.

I will grant you, this song does rip off Bowie's astronaut song, both in subject matter and in manner. But for some reason it's just as good, if a bit less artistic (maybe, maybe not) and original. At that point we were still trudging around on that sandy orb up there, and if you do not think the best music of this an many generations was a result of the boundaries being pushed up there in the Heavens, then THINK AGAIN! '68 to '73? When was the last moonwalk? December '72, that's when. WhadayathinkofTHAT?

Was there a more exquisite song out that summer of '72? you tell me. "Take it Easy" was a pretty good one, that song does me in too. Both of them things sound just as good coming over a 2-inch speaker (or single earphone) as on my hi-fi stereo!

Comparing Katie Couric with Kurt Cobain

Rolling Stone concluded a story about Katie Couric's situation with that of Kurt Cobain's, and it is pretty funny. Occasionally RS still hits on something, but like a broken watch it's not really reliable. For every decent issue (and this is one, as it turns out -- interesting story about an internet teen star, Nirvana retrospective at Experience Music in Seattle, Foo Fighters, other stuff), there are dozens every year that deaden my nerves with their cultural irrelevance (or maybe that's now the problem, what's culturally relevant is now consistently nerve-deadening). It doesn't help being not 15 anymore, much more difficult to suspend disbelief.

Perfect example: Just got an e-mail from RS about its coverage of the Royal Wedding. What could possibly be interesting about that? Rock music has been anything but subversive for at least 25 years now, and looking at everything through that prism no longer serves any purpose other than to distort our sad reality. Especially when most of what passes as rawk these days is so camped up.

That's why the English music magazines (Mojo and Q) are so much more adept at keeping it all interesting and in perspective. Excellent mix of current and historical, very little self-seriousness. Just too expensive to purchase all the time.

Wot was Mick thinking?

When he decided in the late 80s to tour as a solo artist? Of course, some of us in the rock consumer public were up for it, but what everyone really wanted was a Rolling Stones tour, and what we eventually got instead was the end of the Stones' fairly incredible run as a functioning rock unit. Really, when they came back for their first tour in 8 years in '89, it was all over, no history, no cultural heat, just the best brand in the business adding untold millions to the fortune it had spawned. Quick, name one tune from that album (Ok, i can, but that's because I was buying the purported return of these blokes, even though it wasn't really them, it wasn't really even 1981 anymore, and I wasn't a teenager.)

What made Mick think that his fronting a Stones tribute band could be better than the real thing (I must admit, however, that the second-best Van Halen show I ever saw was David Lee Roth the week before 9/11 at the Minn. State Fair. Bunch of ringers playing all Van Halen songs with him, smokin' hot, Dave in excellent form, better than almost all the actual, original VH shows I ever did see, especially the last one in '84.)  The only thing I can think of that would have killed the Stones as effectively was Keef passing on to that great riff in the sky, which clearly he is never going to do. Keith's resulting solo album was probably the last authentic Stones album, though... Nice mullet Mick's got back in '87, tho.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-25-boldest-career-moves-in-rock-history-20110318