I hope you liked the playlist and the songs I posted yesterday. "The Action-Brain" got some serious love when I played it in the pub last weekend. Amazingly its a demo that never saw the light of day in the 60's because there record label rejected it along with the other songs the band had recorded at the time. Thankfully all those songs/demos have since been made into this quality album. Crazy.
Regarding Wednesdays playlist I hope the little bits of info about each song/artist added something to your listening experience (that is if you bothered listening - plenty of distractions out there to prevent you from listening to some music, like, erm, Top Gear? That's always on)
I know they were hardly owe inspiring nuggets of info you will hold dear to your heart forever more, but I hope they helped you either appreciate or take more interest in the music you were listening to.
What I have found over the years is that by doing a little bit of research around the artist you intend on listening to can sometimes help improve your listening experience.
What began as simply reading users comments on Amazon has developed into a sort of obsession. Now when i hear something new, be it a new underground band or an obscure rarity from 40 years ago, I have to look them up online and do some reading.
What I find is that by getting a better understanding of the artist means I can appreciate there music more because I have a basic idea of where its come from.
Now Im not talking about reviews here. Reviews are something entirely different. A review is only 1 persons opinion on that particular record. You might find out some basic info about the band/artist (where theyre from, previous records etc) and there should be some insight into what the music sounds like - although believe it or not this isnt always the case! You can sometimes find a bucket load of info from a review written in hindsight, i.e - a review written 10,20, 30 years after the record was actually released, but usually I find wikipedia a good starting place and then the bands website/forum/blog which can then lead you onto more obscure sites practically bursting at the seems with info.
About......maybe 3 years ago(?) I was told to look up The Brian Jonestown Massacre. A psychedelic band from west coast America who had started out in the early 90's and who were still very much active.
Without having any other info about the band I listened to the album "Thank God For Mental Illness".
Now with an album name like that (to go with the bands name!) I was instantly intrigued. After listening to the album I instantly went on the search for more of there music and, to cut a loooooong story short, what i found out was not only a truly amazing story about a massively dysfunctional band that somehow still manages to produce solid albums, but also an ocean full of quality quality music that I may not ever of found had i not dug a little deeper. I could of just thought to myself "thats a good album" and left it at that. Im so glad I didnt.
You see, after doing a bit of research I was able to decide what album of theres to listen to next (at the time i think they had 10 albums? Something like that), I found out about the dynamics of the band, the fact that over the years there had been over 40 different members, that they had created there very own scene on the west coast, they had supported Oasis (my fave band at the time) in the early 90's and that one of there ex members had gone on to form the band BRMC - another one of my fave bands, but particularly at that time.
I now knew several bits of info about the band that really enhanced my listening pleasure. I could see, or should i say hear, where the origins of BRMC started and I could hear the madness in some of Anton Newcombes (singer/songwriter) songs because I knew more about him as a person and just how much of a crazy motherfucker this dude actually was.
Because of the BJM and by researching them in my own time (I say my own time but what I actually mean is my old employers time, because this is all i did for the last 3 years I was there - read up on and listen to obscure tunes i wouldn't of had the time to discover in my actual "own time") I was able to find out about a whole host of music I wasn't aware of. The BJM lead me onto The Warlocks which in turn lead me to Dead Meadow. Dead Meadow to Wooden Shjips, Wooden Shjips to The Black Angels and so on....the list is a long one and its still being added to because there is so much out there and its all linked, you just have to find it.
Anyway, I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here.
I think we have established that by researching a band can lead you onto other bands, I mean amazon does that automatically for you anyway so I dont know where I was going with that.
But going back to my other point, what I did with those other bands before listening to them properly was doing a bit of back reading into them to get a better understanding of there music and its something I have continued to do to this day.
On my playlist from Wednesday I included a Skip Spence song.
Now if you have listened to it then good on you. If you haven't then before you do have a quick read of this brief history about the bloke, then listen to the song and hopefully if your anything like me you will enjoy it far more. In fact even if you have listened to it, still do this exercise because you might hear something differently in the song with this info to hand.
Alexander "skip" Spence was a multi instrumentalist who founded the 60's band "Moby Grape". He also featured on Jefferson Airplanes debut album as there drummer.
He was very talented and apparently a lovely bloke. However, he like many people had his problems with drugs. I say problems when what I mean is he was proper fucked up by drugs, namely LSD. Back then people wernt aware of the dangers surrounding drugs, and that included ciggys and alcohol - people just didnt know.
Whilst recording there second album, Skip was extremely high on LSD and according to band mate Peter Lewis "thought he was the anti christ". In between recording sessions Skip proceeded to chop down his band mates hotel doors with a fire axe. He was trying to save them from themselves.
He had basically lost the plot.
He was sectioned for 6 months and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
During his time in hospital he wrote the album "Oar". All the songs were stored in his head and on the day of his release he, by all accounts, drove a motorcycle still wearing his hospital gown all the way to Nashville to record his album.
Thats a very quick look at this guys legacy, I could go on but the story gets so depressing im going to leave it up to you to do any further reading. But now listen to "Dianna" or the song below and tell me it doesnt touch you (not like that) on a different level.
So, now you know this bloke wasnt very well when he recorded these songs, knowing that he had been through a mental breakdown and had probably seen things in his head we darent even dream about, his music sounds so much more....erm, tender? Is that the right word? I suppose vulnerable is a better word to use here.
I dont know if that works for you but like I said earlier, its something I tend to do with everything new I begin to listen to and its helped me not only build up a far more eclectic record collection but a better appreciation of where music comes from. Why does he sound like that? What is this persons influence? What do these songs mean? What state of mind was this person in when they recorded this?
It can work in the opposite way, you could find out something about a band that doesnt quite sit comfortably with you that can ruin your listening experience. That has happened to me quite recently and its a pain in the arse let me tell you! I will go into detail if anyone wants me to but right now I cant be bothered.
What do you think then? Does knowing info about bands/artists before you listen to there music do you any favours? Does it help or hinder your listening experience? Are you interested in just there musical output or do you like to know the whole story - warts and all?
Before I go, here is the trailer to the film that basically changed my outlook on music. Without this film and the BJM I would still just be spinning my old Oasis cd's until they fell apart rather than actively looking for something new.
Anton Newcombe once said that DiG! was "at best a series of punch-ups and mishaps taken out of context, and at worst bold faced lies and misrepresentation of fact."
He may not like it, but for me this movie made me enjoy his music even more and even made me look into the Dandy Warhols (first and second albums are actually REALLY good). It also made me realise that I was on the right track and that my "musical process" was working for me. Happy days.
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