Robben Ford Discussion

[Daved]

Over in another thread ("drifting blues record?") things kinda drifted into discussions of the bands Captain Beyond and Johnny Winter And and Rick Derringer.

Which led me to the thought of starting a possibly fun discussion dealing with bands that we have always kicked our own asses for not seeing while they existed, because now it's too late!
Everyone talks about "the greatest show I ever saw", but what about the shows you KNOW were fantastic but, for whatever reasons, you missed and have always regretted?

For me, I'll start off with the afore mentioned, Captain Beyond. On vinyl they were such a creative powerhouse band that they totally blew me away. However, they didn't last all that long (in the original lineup anyway) and I was away fighting a "police action" overseas, so I missed the opportunity of seeing them live. Such a shame!

Another such band for me, was a short lived group called Madura, out at about the same time (1971). A very jazz oriented rock trio, they only did 2 albums and the first, self titled album, contains my alltime favorite drum solo. It is in the middle of a song titled Free From The Devil.

Now, let it be confessed up front that I am not a drum solo guy. I can appreciate and respect good drummers within the context of song, but drum solos are to me mostly boring, repetitive, noisy, spontaneously free form, and pointless... merely an athletic excercise in "look-what-I-can-do" (even by drummers I highly admire), rarely ever making the same musical statement twice. Unlike a "classic" guitar, or keyboard, or horn, or string riff, how many drum solos can you immitate verbally or by tapping on a table and have it be recognizable by someone else? Not that many, right?

The few drum solos which have ever really made an indelible impression on me can be pretty much counted on one hand (I confess, I am an ardent fan of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida solo... so shoot me already! ).

However, Ross Salomone's drum solo in Free From The Devil, IS inspired, original, and actually makes the rare melodicly percussive statement, starting at a specific point, progressing thru a deliberately arranged and thought out journey to a logical and satisfying return to the body of the song itself.

I've only ever met one other person who had even HEARD of the band, and that person told me of having seen Madura perform live and how the high point of the show was watching Ross perform (and that IS the correct word for what he did) the execution of his solo.

Damn, I wish I could have seen that!

What about the rest of you?
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B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

[telefunk1]

Wow - so many to list, but the top two (rock and roll category) would probably be the Allman Bros, in their prime with Dickie and Duane and Berry, and Derek and the Dominoes. And then there is Roy Buchanan...

Tenor sax category - Coltrane, Ben Webster, Lester Young.

Great thing about the internet is that we can now watch a lot of these artists on You Tube, etc, for free. Technology can be wonderful sometimes.

[JohnnyZ]

So many for me too. And, I'm sure that after ending this post I'll think of more...

But, what I can think of offhand is:

Mountain*
Grand Funk Railroad
Black Sabbath
Pink Floyd*
Robben Ford (of course!)*
Led Zeppelin
Stevie Ray Vaughan
The Police
Allman Brothers Band (with Duane and Berry)

* Been to later shows, but not in their "hey day" (except for Robben, who's always in his hey day!).

I'd also list a few like Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, oh, and of course, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but I was just a little too young to go to their shows (age 14 in 1969).

And, Daved, I want you to know that I fully appreciate your time during that "police action". I lucked out in that I turned 18 in '73 and only got a lottery number but no draft. Incredible times...

I'm sure I'll be back here. Great topic!

[rainmkr63]

I have two that I regret but one was out of my control:

SRV played with Jeff Beck about 14 years ago or more, they stopped off in Long beach and I could have gone but I wimped out. That was about as close to seeing SRV as I ever got, I have been able to see JB a bunch of times since then.

My Dad was an entertainment critic for the big News paper here in Las Vegas in the mid to late 70s and he would take me to lots of shows. I saw Sinatra / Sammy Davis / so many I cant list them all, I was next in my family to see Elvis but he died before I could go.

Rob

[patocaster]

I just revisted the Last Waltz film over the weekend with my brother-in-law (who had never seen it) and I always regret not going to Winterland for that concert. I was living in the City at the time, November 1976 and I guess my excuse was that I had just seen The Band in Santa Barbara in July of that year. But I missed Muddy Waters!

-pat
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Dc Marijuana Dispensary

[JohnnyZ]

Ok, I'm not going to claim that I'm one of the 499,000 persons (remember, Rev. Jim Ignatowski was the 500 thousanth!), but, at 14 years old, and living right across the Hudson River and only about 16 miles away, and, having a ride- the last seat in an old Rambler- I could've easily been at that holy mecca of rock 'n roll and whatever, Woodstock! However, being from strict immigrant parents who I feared at the time (and still now!), there was no way I could make that trek. Anyway, in over 30 years of hindsight, I'm glad I wasn't there. Yes, the music and experience was great, but everything else, especially and includung my parents' wrath, wasn't worth the event...

[diatonicdude]

There are too many to mention, but one jumps straight to mind.

The artist is Jeff Buckley, who at the time was not well known as is the case with his posthumous accolades. I had the chance to see him perform on his "Grace" tour in Cambridge (UK). I didn't go because I had only listened to his "Grace" CD a couple of times prior to the date of the Cambridge gigs, and although I found his CD intriguing, it was not really my cup of tea.

That opinion later changed on the pivital occassion when I had one of my focused headphone listening sessions late one night. I really got to appreciate this artists superb vocal attributes. By the time of this realisation, however, he was not touring in the UK, and soon after this time he suffered the fate of drowning, on the dawn of inevitable forthcoming success.

From friends who went to that Cambridge gig (and these were also of a similar opinion as mine of Jeff Buckley's music at the time), they commented on how they were totally blown away by his performance. They had all said that at one particular moment (in front of a packed house!) the audience was reduced to utter silence as he sung a piece with breath taking dynamics, range and feeling, that even a pin would have been heard if dropped to the floor during the pauses between the lyrics of the song. I wish I had witnessed that magical moment......

DD
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Music is the universal language; speak it with emotion, listen with a passion.

[Red Suede]

Daved, I managed to come up with some Captain Beyond. Great strat tones and trippy songwriting. Thanks dude.

[FatTeleTom]

I had tickets to see Warren Zevon back in '89 or '90 thereabouts.

I think he was playing Hammond, Indiana, which is a fairly long drive from where I lived (and still live), just north of Chicago. It was wintertime and the weather was crappy, and driving conditions poor, my girlfriend at the time and I decided to skip it.

Never got around to seeing Zevon in person.

I actually found the unused ticket stub recently, and wished I had made a different decision that night. Then again, who knows--I might have ended up upside down in a ditch somewhere.

[BlueRunner]

I can think of two I had the opportunities for, but missed (at least in this life): Ray Charles and Elvis.

But I can't complain. In the late 60's and early 70's I made plenty of trips to the Fillmore (both the old one, and the new one at the Carousel Ballroom), Winterland, Playland at the Beach, etc. I heard the Dead back up Big Momma Thornton when they were still the Warlocks. Got to hang out in a green room with Phil Ochs. Heard Creedance in a Lake Tahoe bowling alley with all of 30 other people. Met Pete Seeger when he had a lot more hair. Saw Jimi Hendrix once, in Boston.

Of greater joy, however, was sharing some of these folks with my daughters. Took the older one to one of Jerry Garcia's last shows, and she still talks about it.

As for the Iron Butterfly: Spent a fun airline flight with them in 1969. It brought back fond memories the other night when a TV ad came on for Fidelity mutual funds, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was the soundtrack. Oh golly, Daved, is that what we've come to? Lost our hair, lost our teeth, lost our minds, and now the Iron Butterfly's music is the soundtrack for our oh-so-conservative investments in our retirement funds???
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- BlueRunner

[AndyR]

I regret not seeing Danny Gatton more often before he passed on.

It was always, "I'll see him NEXT time, when he's closer."

I also had an opportunity to see legendary B-3 master Richard "Groove" Holmes at a local D.C. club, that I passed on. I wasn't sure who he was then (about 30 years ago) but I know now, and I missed it.


Andy

[charliebrown]

my mother worked at a law firm in San Francisco (we'd just moved there from Sacramento for a two year stay). Two of the "girls"-early 20s-got tickets to see Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane at the original Filmore Auditorium (pre-Filmore West days)...mom surprised me and she took me and the other two girls from her office. Bummer was that Grace Slick was ill and Big Brother and the Holding Co. opened in their place
Jimi did a cover of the opening of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club", then played almost all of the "Are you Experienced" album (pre-CDs )

Incredible evening...and slow dancing with a 22 year old hippie chick is VERY COOL when you're a 16 year old guy

Amazing music. My mother said, "they don't sound anything like they do on the radio!...They're great!!!"...her dislike for rock music ended that evening
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I'll be spending way too much time here...

[purpleavenger]

I tend to agree with Daved with regard to drum solos. I usually switch off when it comes to "the drum solo". What's worse is when it's actually recorded, thank god for fast forward. Don't get me wrong I love drummers and appreciate a good groove but I've never really seen it as a soloing instrument.

However I have one exception which I always listen to and thats Billy Cobham on the track "One Word" from The Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Birds of Fire". Mmmmm I'll have to go and dig out my vinyl copy and spin it now, that'll be an interesting retro experience!!

Purpleavenger

[Daved]

Purp,

I find that the object of soloing, to highlite a specific instrument and/or performer, is in the case of percussion instruments, most effectively done within creative context of the body of the song itself, thereby illustrating the relevance, import and enhancement of rythym to the melodies and harmonies of the tune.

True, music IS dependant upon rythym but primarily as a cohesive foundation. You can play 'notes' and 'sounds', but without some kind of rythym to structure them, those notes have no meaning and just become noise.

What (to ME, anyway) makes music beautiful and memorable is melody, harmony, and arrangement. Rythym does not require an independant percussive instrument to indicate it. Rhythym can be suggested or execute within the context of the melody. However, altho it IS possible, rarely does a percussionist suggest melody or harmony when executing their rhythmic expertise.

Perhaps that is why I have very little interest in "rap" or "hip-hop", both of which are far more dependant upon rythym than melody.

Hum a melody or 'hook' line and it is relatively easy for most people to recognize it. But try tapping out a rythym line and, with rare exceptions, most people won't have the faintest idea which song you are trying to convey.

Take a single guitar, keyboard, horn, wind instrument, or human voice and one can easily convey and evoke beauty, rythym, and reaction from all ends of the emotional spectrum. Take a single drum, hand percussion, or cymbal and the resulting excercise in gymnastics might 'uplift' you or make you tap your toe, but it most likely will not remain with you long after the piece is done or be easily passed along with the same emotional impact to another listener.
Can a SOLO drum or percussive excersize evoke sadness, make one cry from emotions of love, sorrow, lonliness, or despair? Perhaps... but I personally have yet to see or even hear of it happening.
Whereas the sad 'rythym' of a well written melody can do exactly that.
_________________
B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

[Daved]

Ahhhh, the memories, Blue.

As a recently graduated teen, I was playing pool one night at a local parlor in my hometown of Stockton, CA, ("Trouble with a capitol T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!") when some friends invited me to dash up highway 99 with them to the Sound Factory in Sacramento and see this new band from England that closed their show by smashing and destroying all their equipment, WHO ( ) were opening for the IRON BUTTERFLY.

It was my first time seeing either band and they both were great, of course.

The Who were touring on the strength of My Generation and the Iron Butterfly's psychedelic hit was Heavy, from their debut album of the same name, an instrumental tune that I absolutely loved.
They had not yet released In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, which sealed their place in musical history the following year.

It saddens me that most people seem to know of or remember the Iron Butterfly ONLY for the (always with a groan, it seems) I-A-G-D-V song.
Personally, I felt they wrote some extraordinarily great psychedlic-pop tunes that have been totally forgotten along the way... Most Anything You Want, Flowers & Beads, My Mirage, In The Time Of Our Lives, Filled With Fear, Belda-beast, Her Favorite Style... wonderful stuff! Doug Ingles with, IMHO, one of the alltime greatest voices in rock and his imaginative use of the classic Vox Continental organ. And what about the powerful guitar playing of 17 year old Erik Brann? Fabulous!
_________________
B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)