Don't Listen to Rock Musicians

Phostenix

Power User
The recent talk here about the HyperSpace pedal that Tom Scholz of Boston used got me to listen to The Journey again. The Journey is followed by It's Easy, which contains the following lyrics:


Just take a look around you
Livin' for the future is blind
I believe what we achieve
Will soon be left behind

Considering that people are still trying to recreate what Boston achieved over 30 years ago, I'd say they were a little short sighted in their assessment. :) Just another reason not to get life advice from rock & roll songs. :p
 
Purely from a philosophical point of view he did say " I believe what we achieve will soon be left behind" not implying that it will be but rather hoping it will. That is the problem with some beliefs, they are not always supported by facts but rather ideas. Ether way it is still a very cool tune and the whole album is timeless regardless how long ago it was recorded one of my all time bands from that era.
 
Perhaps what the lyric was getting at is if you are always looking ahead, you will miss now and not enjoy now. In context the song it's easy living day by day, not stressing about the future.

Live in the now, with an eye to the future 8) but don't forget to enjoy now.
 
My idea of hell: having to 'recreate what Boston achieved over 30 years ago'... excuse me while I projectile vomit.

Wouldn't be hell to me. I'd take one percent of what Boston achieved!

When I was a student at Berklee I made numerous trips to the Harvard Coop record store. On display there was a platinum album that Epic awarded to the Coop for selling one million copies of Boston's debut album. The Coop wasn't a chain. It was one store!
 
The recent talk here about the HyperSpace pedal that Tom Scholz of Boston used got me to listen to The Journey again. The Journey is followed by It's Easy, which contains the following lyrics:


Just take a look around you
Livin' for the future is blind
I believe what we achieve
Will soon be left behind

Considering that people are still trying to recreate what Boston achieved over 30 years ago, I'd say they were a little short sighted in their assessment. :) Just another reason not to get life advice from rock & roll songs. :p

And in terms of sound and tone, we have the best gear and equipment on the planet earth and we still try to replicate what Eddie Van Halen was soldering together in his Garage 35 years ago ;)
 
Yep. My life (and view of life) has changed dramatically since the late 70's, but a lot of that music still speaks to me (the music, not the messages of the lyrics). I wonder if kids today will feel the same about Maroon5 30 years from now. :)
 
Yep. My life (and view of life) has changed dramatically since the late 70's, but a lot of that music still speaks to me (the music, not the messages of the lyrics). I wonder if kids today will feel the same about Maroon5 30 years from now. :)

Or Rhianna, or any of the dance Music of the day. I doubt it. My favorite Era was the late '70's, most likely because I was a pimple face teen at that time. That was my first exposure to Guitar oriented rock, bombastic and articulate. This is the music I want to be buried with, when I die. Just put an Ipod with headphones on my dead carcase and let it serenade me into the afterlife...


Sorry, to be gruesome.
 
And in terms of sound and tone, we have the best gear and equipment on the planet earth and we still try to replicate what Eddie Van Halen was soldering together in his Garage 35 years ago ;)

And if you really want to get depressed listen to a Frank Sinatra album on a quality system. Keep in mind while listening that it was recorded with one singer standing in front of a big band with no overdubs. There was no such thing as a commercially available mixing board. The recording engineer actually had to build his own 3 channel mixer. 2 mics on the band and one on the singer!

All the worlds best technology including all the Neves,Manly,Pro Tools,overdubs,etc still can't quite reproduce the sound quality that was achieved in the '40's.
 
And if you really want to get depressed listen to a Frank Sinatra album on a quality system. Keep in mind while listening that it was recorded with one singer standing in front of a big band with no overdubs. There was no such thing as a commercially available mixing board. The recording engineer actually had to build his own 3 channel mixer. 2 mics on the band and one on the singer!

All the worlds best technology including all the Neves,Manly,Pro Tools,overdubs,etc still can't quite reproduce the sound quality that was achieved in the '40's.

I tend to disagree with the can't reproduce this. There are many great minimal mic recordings of jazz and classical that sound every bit as huge and warm as Frank's records or more so.

Sound on Sound did a great article recently about the recording of Sinatra.

Three things stuck out to me.

1. The arrangers changed the arrangements to favor the recording process. Nelson Riddle especially was keen on how he voiced the band in order for the recording equipment of the day to flatter the arrangement.

2. In addition to the arrangements being killer, the musicians on those records are stellar. Frank Sinatra, Count Basie orchestra, Nelson Riddle arranging, Sometimes Quincy Jones conducting...

3. The mixes were achieved by odd ball placement of the musicians and microphones in the room to get the desired sound. Lots of good old fashioned physics of sound knowledge and engineering knowledge.
 
My point was the analogy of us chasing tone that VanHalen created in his garage. We do the same in recording.
There are wonderful recordings being made, unless the producers compress it to death for radio. We have gained much more than we have lost due to technology. It's just amazing the quality that was obtained by the pioneers!
 
My point was the analogy of us chasing tone that VanHalen created in his garage. We do the same in recording.
There are wonderful recordings being made, unless the producers compress it to death for radio. We have gained much more than we have lost due to technology. It's just amazing the quality that was obtained by the pioneers!

+1

Listen to the Beatles recordings. The mixes still hold up. Even with the limited bandwidth they were tracked and mixed on.
 
My idea of hell: having to 'recreate what Boston achieved over 30 years ago'... excuse me while I projectile vomit.

+1 God love Boston for the studio sound they created. I saw them live in 78 though and it was incredibly boring to me. I like LIVE music and they simply recreated the record. No surprises no sense of live. Some people like to hear music sound just like the record. Me, I like to hear the thrill of creation live. It was truly one of the most boring shows I've ever been to, though they played just fine.
 
I'm the Opposite I love to hear how the song was created and recorded in a live setting. I develop certain images or link them to events when I hear the song. Hearing the song this way brings those images or memories back. If they are doing it right live then it shouldn't matter it's when they butcher the song to the point where all you can think about is god that's horrible I want my money back where it becomes an issue for me.
 
I find that taking relationship advice from rock musicians over the years has led to my enjoying a marvelous state of being: single!
 
Wouldn't be hell to me. I'd take one percent of what Boston achieved!

When I was a student at Berklee I made numerous trips to the Harvard Coop record store. On display there was a platinum album that Epic awarded to the Coop for selling one million copies of Boston's debut album. The Coop wasn't a chain. It was one store!

Much as I'd like to be 'rich and famous' at times, if it meant creating that music... I'd rather not. And as my mom (an advertising exec) once said 'nothing sells like mediocrity'. I'd rather be broke and doing what I love than rich from selling mediocre crap. I never became a musician or a writer or a video artist to get famous and sell a million (good thing too! :) I became one to express new and different forms, to touch divinity, to create depth and nuance. Boston, Kansas... these bands never did anything that I'd call 'art'. I'd call it 'commerce'.

One man's opinion, I know, but I'll take one Charlie Mingus or John Lee Hooker or Frank Zappa or Bert Jansch or Thelonious Monk (or Meredith Monk, for that matter) over a million Bostons.
 
I'd love to get rich selling "crap". Then I'd have the luxury of time to do what I love and provide for my family without financial worry.

Ya but could you live with the fact knowing that you got rich selling crap? :lol knowing that people created stuff like "Ice Ice Baby" and pay the bills with it would make me wince every time I pulled out my CC.
 
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