LIVE ROCK CRITIC TWENTY: COLD PLAY Live at the Lot Much Music 2011

LIVE ROCK CRITIC TWENTY: COLD PLAY

                                                                                     


Cold Play performs songs from Mylo Xyloto and other songs. The concert starts, fireworks go off, lights flash and the audience screams in approval but what was great about the piano introduction I do not know. The song begins in earnest and the rather weak guitar line repeats over and over. Over and over as well with the vocal line “use your heart like a weapon and it hurts like heaven”; the rather short bar continues over and over with a bit of 1910 Fruitgum Company sound thrown in. When I examine the lyric line I think that “weapon and heaven” is a hasty rhyme. What is a hasty rhyme? It is the first rhyme that comes to mind, it shows a lack of lyrical work.

                                                                              
I have the tune running in my head after a couple of runs through the Cold Play Mylo Xyloto material and I do think the tunes are much the same not a lot of difference in melody.

Chris Martin lifts his voice and flips over into a higher pitched harmony. He does this from song to song over and over again until that vocal device becomes part of the sameness. Jonny Buckland’s guitar does sound different from other songs in the second song “Yellow” . With a couple exceptions the weak guitar is similar in tone and melody one song to the next.

                                                                           
“God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” starts out a bit different, poorly actually, but the fans think it is OK. The only really good guitar is played in this number. By the end of the piece I noticed a deterioration and the herding together and the anxious looks and the amount of time spent filling in by beating on their instruments tunelessly at the beginning of the good part is suspicious they seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

“Paradise” was performed on Steven Colbert and in the Much Music lot. The para, para, paradise over and over. There is an atmosphere of Rock Showmanship which I find contrived, even the no rock cloths, dressing intended to seem natural I think contrived. The designation of “Alternative Rock Band” I find perplexing. I see no signs of alternative rock in the Mylo Xyloto performance. The lightweight rock is not quite schlock but it is awfully light to be called alternative rock. Why not Buddy Holly Lives.                                                                                    

A lot of the piano and guitar in this performance are not very good. Things could be quite different on their recordings. I don’t know and probably will not find out. I review the poor man’s live performance option, HDTV.

The LED display and flashing lights distract from the sameness, the sameness of the piano , the sameness of the guitar, the sameness of the vocal style. The songs are the same in some way, perhaps the execution with the same speed ups and slow downs and higher pitched singing from time to time; I am not transported to another space.

                                                                                                             
“Charlie Brown”, once again a 1910 Fruitgum tune with the predictable Cold Play swells and vocal. I think the guitar is just plain poor. Do not forget that there is equipment, effects and mixing that can make not very good guitar playing sound cool.

I was advised that the great performers in rap were “Jedi MindTricks” and “Army Of The Pharaohs”. The bands “Kingdom Of Sorrow”, “Exodus” and “MachineHead” were also touted. I listened to all of them. None were of any value I thought, not in content, execution, composition, or overall effect.

Cold Play is of course immeasurably better then any of the Hip-Hoppers or Head Banger bands. Are Punk bands admissible to this group? I will review the “New York Dolls”, last months best, I think, in live performance recorded live and mixed for HDTV.

Cold Play plays on, very poor piano I think but 50 million others think differently. Oh well what can you do. I always notice when somebody on stage dancing stumbles. Chris Martin stumbles on occasion. The fireworks and the light show flash and the crowd screams anyway.
                                                                             
Chris Martin leans over the piano starting “Every Tear Is A Waterfall” but what relationship the music has to this theme eludes me. As the song begins I hear sound from nowhere, I think I spot other pre-recordings or effects propagating sound to provide comping and continuity.

The oh uho hoo voice wears on me. Guitar over and over the same riff degenerates into just plain noise with oo woo ooh woo and a really stupid failed dance move at the end by Chris Martin performing with Cold Play, “Mylo Xyloto” in Toronto at Much Music HQ, in the parking lot.

LIVE ROCK CRITIC NINETEEN DRAKE Saturday Night Live 2011

                                                                             

LIVE ROCK CRITIC NINETEEN: DRAKE    Saturday Night Live October 16th 2011           

I am highly critical of rap and rap performers. Often the rejoinder is “But they make millions”. I would suggest that if this is the case perhaps you should read a review by a stockbroker or derivative trader.                                                                                                                        
                                                                             
Saturday Night Live has the new LED room. What a powerful aid to musical performance. Too bad it is rapper Drake. He used to be an actor.

                                                                            
Drake has five musicians who put out the signal and excitement of a 1980’s drum machine. Drakes band started with a segment of fast almost rock. It was a lot like the Bill Mahr theme song. I wonder if it was also pre-recorded.                                   
                                                                             
The unprepossessing voice of Drake chants on quickly, as if talking fast was really special. It is possible that at certain intellectual levels fast speech is challenging and a real achievement to accomplish. Then the pre-recorded auto tune section starts and goes on without even a pretence of lip synching.

Drake you are terrible and you are fake.             
                                                                            
Fake Drake has musicians who pose at the musical instruments much of the time. I carefully watched how little the keyboardists touched their keyboards. The “lead” guitarist had an impressive looking Gibson three four five or copy of it which he slashed about and held up vertically as if he was playing the feedback but relatively nothing is happening in the way of guitar sound. Watching closely I can see him strumming one string with one finger. The artistically bankrupt guitar performance reaches a peak of puffery when an extensively sequined V guitar, a Peavey I think, is brought out for the second number to continue weak amateurish irrelevant performance. The band looks like a group of actors.
                                                                            
The LED room shouts “They know real”, so far off the mark! The slogans fly around the LED room and the posing and pre-recorded schlock go on and on. NBC get rid of who ever brings these lousy acts in.
                              

How lousy dated and stupid is Drake? The stupidity reaches peak points when Drake grabs himself by the testicles, perhaps he thinks he can hoist himself thus to the heights of Michael Jackson, oh, that’s old and he’s dead.                                                

At the end of the first song everybody cheers. Are these orders from or some sort of agreement with management, or is the audience just dumb. Musical performances are not athletic events, you don’t have to cheer for the team SNL audience.

Second song, despite a change of the guitar to the sequined V, it sounds like the same riff to me, over and over. The now slobby and wigged as usual Nicki Minaj waddles about and does a very weak version of her accusatory rap which I had once praised in a review. Now there is less fire less talent and a whole lot more fat. She was quite fat in the past but she is too fat now to pull off the ghetto booty chick, looks like the corn belt.

                                                                      
I make no secret of the fact that I think rap is crap. I have performed a number of times with a rap group. In 1992 I was in London England and I played at a Soho club called the Wag. This club had been there in Soho for more than one hundred years. It was an impressive complex with the music hall on the second floor and lounges and restaurants on other floors. I played harmonica and the ensemble consisted of drums stand up bass keyboard, alto sax, soprano sax, two Irish rappers and a Jamaican rapper. The performance was called Jazz Rap Funk Fusion.

                                                                            
I don’t know a lot about rap but I do think that when I hear it I know crap.
                                                                           

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LIVE ROCK CRITIC EIGHTEEN TOM PETTY

LIVE ROCK CRITIC EIGHTEEN: TOM PETTY & The Heartbreakers

Live in Gatorville Florida at The University of Florida

I know now what is wrong with the music of so many groups it is that the music is not right on. I did not expect to hear the excellent guitars, so powerful and clear during a Tom Petty performance.

I am not a fan of acoustic guitar music; Petty starts with some acceptable acoustic guitar numbers. For fans of acoustic, great stuff, and the jumbo Gibson with the Acron head design had a very sweet sound. The Heartbreakers keyboard, harmonica, and guitar player Scott Thurston looks like Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul, which was very humorous when I held the Western Republican Debate in slo-mo reverse you should have seen Perry, Cain, Mitch and Newt and Michel oozing in reverse as well.

                                                                              

Tom Petty and the band play solid rock and roll. Lead guitar Mike Campbell used a very nice red Les Paul and then a Rickenbacker. At one point Petty brings out a Gibson Thunderbird what a collection of guitars. You would have to watch Tom Petty on HDNET to see all of them. I noticed a mandolin bodied Epiphone and a couple of Rickenbackers. Petty also used a Stratocaster, a Guild twelve string and a beautiful white Gibson SG with abalone inlay, the very large Turkish Cross on the head and gold hardware. Stevie Nicks joined in to do Fleetwood Mac songs and Petty was swinging his arm like Pete Townsend, using the SG. On the next number a Fender Telecaster added its distinctive twang. In contrast I was writing a review of “Drake” and watched the incredibly useless change of guitars, the Drake band posed with their instruments, the second number of two featured an incredibly flashy sequined V Peavey guitar and so little sound, check Live Rock Critic nineteen.

                                                                           

I know what sounds good and I can see what everyone is doing and follow each individual instrument. I don’t follow other peoples’ songs, so I don’t know when Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are playing their own original material or when their playing a song written by someone else. The band seems to own all the songs they are playing, I would have thought Petty and his band had written all of them until I heard Petty crediting the Yardbirds and I knew there must some songs he didn’t write. Jimmy Herring, you might observe Mr. Petty, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Thurston at work creating a symphony of different guitar sounds, all on tone, all in tune and not all the same.

                                                                   

Mr. Scott Thurston plays excellent harmonica. I have not heard anyone play this well live for a very long time and I know harmonica better than any other instrument. The harmonica is played properly controlled through manipulating the column of air which actuates, powers and bends the reeds of Mr. Thurston’s diatonic harmonicas. Cupping the harmonica to control the air pressure Scott morphs from a whole mouthful of bent notes to smooth deep single notes without being rattelly screechy or dull. The harmonica solos ventured through the musical composition faithfully and reprised the mood and the nuisances of the vocal. I watched Graham Nash play vastly inferior harmonica today. Mr. Thurston, grave and Ron Paulish, stands behind his array of organs and keyboards and pianos and he plays such excellent organ and he has a guitar strapped to him which he plays very well and he sings. This is one very hard working dude. There is a second organist who might even be better or have a better organ, Ben Tench. There are incredible primeval roars from the organ as the Heartbreakers rock out with short sharp fiery explosive tones. I had not known that this band was capable of music like this until I paid very close attention as I wrote my review.

                                                                              

Steve Ferrone drums the band through all of the varied material, bass is played by Ron Blair, I gather Ron is a childhood friend of Tom. It must be really cool. At one point Petty brings out a twelve string Guild and I was so surprised at how non-acoustic the number was, it was spectacular, “I Won’t Back Down”. Another interesting Petty feature was the pair of Vox Amps.

Petty had a number of F-hole Rickenbackers, he could sound so sweet, as in the song about the good girl that loves Jesus.

                                                                               

Stevie Nicks adds an entertaining and different aura to the performance with her really excellent vocal work. What is incredible though is the dance performance that she puts on almost at the end of the Heartbreakers performance at the University of Florida. Stevie Nicks dances wildly, whirling and wacking her tambourine and you have a definite sense of the nineteen seventies and the psychedelic era. When Tom Petty sings some of his old songs he sounds young again.

LIVE ROCK CRITIC SEVENTEEN: THE TRASH CAN

LIVE ROCK CRITIC SEVENTEEN: The Trash Can:       Foster the People  Lady Antellum
                                                              Black Star  K-OS  Widespread Panic

I have had the black bar put over my face not to block my vision or to suggest blindness but to obscure my identity and warn those with no stomach for negative reviews. Think about the faces who’s identity was obscured by the black bar over the eyes back in the mid last century. The Chicago vice police burst in and right behind them the intrepid crime photographer lifts his camera and bangs off a huge flash from a nine inch aluminums reflector. POW ! The lights are on the prostitute and her john and when the picture appears in the news paper it has these black bars to obscure the identity to avoid the terrible shame or exposure of prohibited body parts or staring out from negative reviews.                                            

My first Live Rock Critic reviews were reviews of performers who appeared on Saturday Night Live. I wonder sometimes how the decision is made to have a band such as “Foster The People” on Saturday Night Live. At the end of their second song, Kenny G. sat in on clarinet. Now that we’ve gotten over the good parts on with the trashing.

Am I dated or is posing a huge industry. I thought the music was mediocre, both songs schmaltzy light pop. Vocalist Mark Foster scoots around stage wiggling his fat little girlish ass with the ugh handles in between bouts of crooning in a weak amateurish voice. Foster dances about and then poses at playing keyboard pressing two pre-programmed keys. Mark has developed some form of foot noodling procedure in lieu of dancing. Its not cute.

                                                                                 
The song “Pumped Up Kicks” has a catchy hook which is repeated so many times that I begin to get ill at the thought of hearing it again. I am astounded to hear that the song, the band and the video seem to get work, get nominated and get 29 million hits on Youtube. I found the music video to be boring, not related in any way to kicks.

The second song “Houdini” added a three man horn section and instrument changes all around as if it mattered. The audience which follows “Foster the People” looks like it could be composed of mostly teenyboppers and I do not see how this really crosses over and connects with the audience of Saturday Night Live.

                                                                       
The preceding Saturday Night Live featured music guest “Lady Antebellum”, another dammed poseur fest with auto tune. There is nothing to say but that Lady A produces schmaltz, the Laurence Welk of Country.
                                                                      
Last week was a great week for lousy performances on HDTV. Long-time leader of the pack of musical mediocrity on HDTV, Steven Colbert hosted a crap rap performance by the former rap icon “Mos Deff”, or whatever, now trafficking his hasty rhymes as “Yasiin Bey” and “Talib Kweli” whoever he is joined him to deliver perhaps the most amateurish self serving and weak rap performance I have ever seen. Yas and Tal claim that we are getting their Black Star stuff right from them without a corporate intermediary. Guys there is all kinds of crap available without corporate intermediary, just head for the nearest dog park.

When are we going to get real about the worthless music genre rap. Imitating the supposedly main stream sport jacket and tie white man is this supposed to indicate some change has come over rap. If it has it is just more lameness. In my opinion Black Star, Black Star, Black Star only you think you are. What ever they have to say but look sharp slim down so what the lyrics appear to be the first rhyme that comes to mind. I am going to watch and review Tom Petty in Live Rock Critic Eighteen to Yasiin Bey Talib Kweli and Steven Colbert know that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are here on this same earth as “Black Star”.

While I am trashing rap I will deal with “K-OS” I caught K-OS performance on George Stroumboulopoulos. Ridiculous getup, historical references to Dylan Markley and Krs-One for whatever that means. He claims Kanon and Drake are his sons. And then out he comes with the same old so what lyrics. Tries to get audience participation, fails. Then K-OS sings, bad idea, weak. More weak with acoustic guitar lead. George loves him he loves George.

I tried to find a picture of K-OS dressed as he was for his performance on George Stroumboulopoulos. He was wearing a stupid hat, over sized orange glasses and some sort of a red blanket, idiotwear by K-OS.                                                                        
I am told that I should listen to the lyrics, “I have it easy” over and over, in between the usual to the beat of kitchen utensil rhythm rap.
                                                                               
Widespread Panic played live at the Georgia Theatre in Athens Georgia. It took a bit of consideration before I decided that this band was destined for a negative review. Perhaps if the performance had included only a couple of songs I would not have viewed the band as lacking.
                                                                           
The Georgia Theatre in Athens Georgia has great laser light show. Jimmy Herring has a great guitar sound, starts out with an old Sunburst Telecaster but it’s a bit to much like blues jam guitar for me. I find it gets boring soon.                                        
                                                                                                                  
There is a lack on continuity to the bands work while there is an unstimulating sameness. Especially later in the performance where the same highly sustained guitar sound dominates, a warbling and whistling and then predictably toughens up but not much to quickly resume highly sustained sameness and grim of visage as a headsman is Jimmy Herring. He does not seem to be enjoying himself, looks like stage fright.
                                                                           
Good drums by Tod Nance, Dominigo Cortez provides percussion. If you watch closely, similarly to some of the percussive moves made by members of Foster, you can see the percussion but you can’t hear it. Particularly note worthy is the Dominigo effort on a series of graduated tube chimes, inaudible but he does it more than once.

John Bell has a very nice Rickenbacker which he uses to form a framework that keeps the band together as much as it is. His voice wears on me very quickly. Sounds like the voice rednecks use when their calling cops or complaining. The reedy hillbilly vocals go on and on from one song to the next with little change. Dave Schools has an interesting six string bass.

Members of Widespread Panic are making cool individual sounds but the tune meanders about so much I don’t find that it makes it. It makes me wonder if many live jams I played harmonica at were as good as they seemed to the players. I always tried to integrate the tune and the nuances of the vocal into my extensive very load harmonica solos. I hope it really worked.

There was a lot of noodling on piano Jo Jo Herman along with some very good twarbling, but noodling still by lead guitar player Jimmy Herring. A band that is not well rehearsed will lag and start, I think, and become unsynchronized at times. Watch the audience dancing. If they are stumbling and bumping there is a flaw in the music. Check out the HDNET Foreigner concert and see how the dancing by the audience goes. Jimmy Herring brings out his PRS or B3. The wonderful sounds and the great licks could be used to compose dramatic imagery. I don not think that Herring handles being on stage very well he is his shell spraying out wonder sound, but its getting more and more the same.

                                                                               

The organ in Widespread Panic has its moments, Jo Jo Herman; during a song about a sleepy monkey the band plays together and has a really good point. I wonder what the audience thinks. Are they aware of the sameness or are they lost in the moment of the live performance enjoying the good sounds as they happen. There was not a lot of applause at the Georgia Theatre.

                                                                             

LIVE ROCK CRITIC SIXTEEN IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS       DEEP PURPLE        FOREIGNER

LIVE ROCK CRITIC SIXTEEN:         SEARCH FOR EXCELLENCE

                                                                          
I have written so many bad reviews that I thought I might be characterized as a negative critic. A search of HDTV live rock recordings was undertaken and for a while Bush, Jet and Cheap Trick were on my list of excellent live performance bands; I highly recommend their live performance videos.

Deep Purple founded in 1968 at Hertford England has sold 100 million albums. That has nothing to do with LIVE ROCK CRITIC. I criticize and I praise contemporary live rock performance. In 2006 Deep Purple performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

                                                                            
Most impressive in their start: Boom Boom right out of the box. Ian Gillian sings so clearly and when he lets loose he has incredible power and a clean multi-octave vocal range.

Rodger Glover on bass and Steve Morse are masters of the huge stacks of speakers and powerful amps. The instruments are under superb unfailing control. More control than Billy Corgan but not as psychedelic. “Rapture Of The Deep” in deed with a surreality akin to Pink Floyd. Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse constantly progressively accurately changes along with the exotic composition of my favourite cuts in “Rapture of the Deep”.

And the organ chimed and raged and pealed thunder in perfectly proclaimed notes of neo-classical hard rock. Don Ariey has a Kurzweil on top of his Hammond organ must be a B3, Don plays incredible innovative beyond organ. Ariey might be the most incredible organist I have ever heard.

Bass organ and guitar all together  create such a heavy perfect rage of instrumental power. This band sounds large.

The early week spot was a boring Steve Morse solo not up to Deep Purple class. Many people would be impressed but like Morse’s following Hendrix tribute, heard it to much perhaps. Deep Purple played some very good neo- classical music but I did not like it nearly as much as the beautiful jazz number which Deep Purple played because it was “The Montreux Jazz Festival”.

The three bands which I will review are not necessarily one two three, but peers, equals in excellence in many ways. My personal taste leaves the best for last. Right in the middle Foreigner. Foreigner is performing in 2010 at the Ryman Theatre in Nashville Tennessee.

                                                                            
King Crimson guitarist Mick Jones founded Foreigner in 1976 with Ian McDonald. By 2010 Mark Schulman, joined 1992 plays drums and does backup vocals. Thom Gimbell plays guitar saxophone and flute. Jeff Pilson plays bass and assists with vocals which are handled by the incredible Kelly Hansen  Foreigner’s new vocalist. I can not believe how strong Hanson’s voice is and how long it can last in concert. Michael Bluestein, joined 2008 plays keys, synths and assists with vocals as does Colin Pilsner who plays bass.

Foreigner’s classic hits are reprised with time machine like perfection. “Waiting For A Girl Like You”, “ I Want To Know What Love Is”, “Dirty White Boy”, “Juke Box Hero”, and most of all “Urgent” are songs which I remember dancing to in clubs for decades. With the exception of the first two songs I had no idea that Foreigner was responsible for so many great dancing tunes and I am sure there are many more which I have not recognized as the work of this powerhouse hard rock band. I had known them for their incredible moody scene setting music such as “Waiting for a girl like you”. Their first hit “Feels Like The First Time” I don’t really care for that much so many of their other songs are better. Other critics recognize Foreigner as a long time top rated concert touring band. Mick Jones is the founder and the main driving force in Foreigner.

                                                                             
 Mick plays some very nice piano on synthesiser and his steady Les Paul guitar constantly perfect but never flashy mindless showing off such as we saw with Ted Nugent who probably thinks he’s better than Mick Jones but he’s not. For steady guitar propulsion of a band its possible that there’s nobody better than Mick. Talented musicians produce great music I highly recommended listening to all of the new and hit songs of Foreigner.

The Smashing Pumpkins, live in 2008 "The Fillmore Residency"top my list of what I found on HDTV. The Smashing Pumpkins have not always been as great as in San Francisco in 2008 at the Fillmore Auditorium. This critique is about this concert as it was provided on HDTV.
                                                                 
The Smashing Pumpkins were formed in Chicago in 1988 by Billy Corgan who writes most of the songs sings and plays guitar and James Iha. Today’s line-up is different from that of 2008, with Nicole Fiorentino and Mike Byrne, Jeff Schroeder and Billy Corgan  working on “Teargarden”.

The Smashing Pumpkins had disbanded in 2000 due to conflict and drug use, I viewed a 1999 performance and it is nothing like 2008.

                                                                            
Billy Corgan had written new songs and in 2006 got together again with Jimmy Chamberlin and there had been a number of different musicians, up to 10 members, but by the time of 2008 “The Fillmore Residency” Lisa Harrington played keyboard, Jeff Schroeder played guitar and everybody sang backup to Billy Corgan including an occasional vocal from bassist Ginger Reyes.

I was not that impressed with the first songs with acoustic guitar but I am sure fans of this genre would find Corgan’s work excellent. By the third song “Ninety Nine Floors” continuing through “Blue Skies Bring Tears” and “SuperChrist” the Smashing Pumpkins take us on a psychedelic

                                                                              
journey. The band swells together in alchemical transmutation. The Smashing Pumpkins produced heavy rock with extreme psychedelic composition and drama. I am impressed and entertained, transported as I have asked to be to another space. Such heavy space, such wide sound and so perfect, so clear and wild as a wind storm with lightning and thunder, bleak black speeding clouds and rays of shinning light. This is the sound and what it brings to mind, I am typing as I listen. I think that this concert and its compositions are so complex and deep that I could listen to these songs more than once. The psychedelic rock is done so perfectly that I am awe struck and I have low end sound, I am hearing the performances on the speakers of a Sony 955XS.

I highly recommend viewing this performance The Smashing Pumpkins “The Fillmore Residency”, on HDTV.