Category Archives: Music

Now and Then… Redux

Shortly after posting my thoughts on The Beatles release of “Now and Then”, I came across this curious article by Russell Root and published on Salon.com:

“Now and Then” is a beautiful Fab Four reunion. Too bad it’s not a Beatles song

The crux of Mr. Root’s argument is…

…the song lacks the real-time collaboration that defined the Beatles’ style, despite the deliberate attempt to include all four members on the track. The drive to finish this song seems to have been spearheaded by McCartney.

Further:

Sonically, the song bears much more resemblance to recent Paul McCartney works than to other pieces from the Beatles’ repertoire. The song’s jaunty rhythm, guided by heavy piano and acoustic guitar, would fit much better on McCartney’s 2018 “Egypt Station” than on any Beatles album.

Mr. Root then compares “Now and Then” with “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird”, the previous two songs McCartney/Harrison/Starr finished up from Lennon’s demos:

Unlike “Now and Then,” however, the studio versions of (“Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”) stay truer to both the original demos and the Beatles’ own sound. Neither “Free as a Bird” nor “Real Love” tamper with the structure of Lennon’s original compositions, as the only real changes to the songs themselves are finishing touches to some incomplete lyrics in the chorus of “Free as a Bird.”

Hmmmmm….

I have to admit, I’m rather confused by Mr. Root’s argument. He’s saying that because “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” remained closer to Lennon’s demo they are therefore more like “real” Beatles songs? Further, the fact that Paul McCartney seemed to be the force behind the release of “Now and Then” and obviously worked on it more than the other two songs therefore it’s more of a… I don’t know? More of a McCartney song (modern vintage) versus a Beatles song?

Of the three demos given to McCartney by Yoko Ono to work on, clearly “Now and Then” was the one that was in the “roughest” shape. Had it not been, I strongly suspect it would have appeared on one of the Anthology Albums, where it was originally intended to go. As it was, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” were the songs that technology allowed at the time for the then three remaining Beatles to work on and finish up while “Now and Then” had to be put aside.

In listening to the John Lennon demo (which can be found on YouTube though I believe it is being knocked out wherever found) I very much hear a “rougher” version of the “Now and Then” we eventually got, for good or ill. Yes, there are flourishes in it that weren’t in the demo and I know at this point in time, with both Lennon and Harrison having passed, it was very likely worked on more by McCartney than anyone else but, again, it was a very rough work and someone had to do that. My understanding is that Ringo had to be convinced to come in and do some drum work, so clearly of the two Beatles left things had to fall more to McCartney.

In the demo, Lennon at times sings gibberish words, an obvious placeholder for later on when he would try to come up with “proper” lyrics. Obviously he never got to that point and unless this song was released with the gibberish placeholder lyrics and/or a seance managed to get Lennon and Harrison to work on it from the beyond, someone had to be there to fix it up, no? And why not McCartney?

Which brings us to Mr. Root’s complaint that this is more of a Paul McCartney work.

I don’t know Mr. Root’s age. I don’t know how much he knows about The Beatles so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here: The Beatles worked both as a collaborative band as well as individual artists on their songs.

For example, one of The Beatles most famous songs, “Yesterday” was created and recorded entirely by Paul McCartney. No other member of the band was involved in its making or recording… perhaps other than sitting around while it was being made. There are no Ringo drums nor any Lennon or Harrison guitars. McCartney plays the acoustic guitar and an Orchestra -led by producer George Martin, I suspect- backs him up.

Similarly, “The Ballad of John and Yoko” was recorded solely with Lennon and McCartney present. Neither George Harrison nor Ringo Starr were involved in that song. It, like “Yesterday” is still listed as a Beatles song even though not every Beatle was involved.

And get this: The most streamed Beatles song ever, the George Harrison composition “Here Comes The Sun”, perhaps the pinnacle of Harrison’s musical output (though one could argue “While My Guitar Gently Sleeps” is damn near) was recorded without John Lennon’s participation.

Yes kids, “Here Comes The Sun” featured George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr but, because he was recovering from a car crash, no John Lennon.

Yet it too, like the others I mention above, is very much a Beatles song.

I’ve written a lot here and I’m wondering why at this point.

If you don’t feel “Now and Then” is a “proper” Beatles song, so be it… but at least come up with a reason that doesn’t feel like you’re upset because there’s too much –gasp!– McCartney in the song -as if he’s somehow not a “real” Beatles bandmate- and not enough of everyone else.

To me, all three post-breakup Beatles songs taken from Lennon’s demos are interesting curios. I don’t feel any of them are as “strong” as the best of the Beatles stuff but neither do I feel they are failures.

It’s incredibly hard to go back to your most successful era of creativity and knock out stuff that sounds like that but neither do I feel the remaining Beatles did themselves a disservice going back to these Lennon demos and “finishing them up”.

Or, to put it another way… lighten up, my man!

Now and Then and The Beatles…

Officially released a few days ago, the song “Now and Then” is reportedly the last Beatles song…

The song is a melancholy affair and the video, depending on the version you see, is either filled with footage from all Beatles eras or a more Pepper-esq piece.

It’s been interesting seeing/reading the reactions from people, most of which consists of tears and nostalgia as well as a realization that this song’s release is both a monumental accomplishment… and a final one.

While the song started as a John Lennon rough demo created in 1977, well after The Beatles split up, back when the three Anthology albums were released, an attempt was made to make it a proper song not unlike “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”. Those two songs were also demos John Lennon created but wasn’t able to fashion into a “complete” work and were given to the remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, to complete.

But “Now and Then”, at least back then, was simply in too rough a shape to make into a proper release. Supposedly George Harrison ultimately refused to continue working on it and it was rejected and that was that…

…until years later and thanks to A.I. programming used by Peter Jackson to take all the Get Back footage and fix it up to make it usable.

Welp, that same program allowed Jackson to isolate John Lennon’s voice in the “Now and Then” demo and that, in turn, allowed the remaining Beatles, McCartney and Starr, to finally finish off the song. I believe there is some Harrison work in this new song, but I’ve also heard that Paul McCartney emulated Harrison’s style of guitar playing so I don’t know how much of Harrison is there in the end (no pun intended).

There’s a further interesting bit of history here: It has been reported, many years before McCartney would receive this demo, that the last time he saw John Lennon the very last thing he said to him was “Think of me every now and then, old friend.

…chills…

So, yeah, there’s considerable emotional baggage tied into this song and it spills over to the fans and… it’s a wonderful thing, in my opinion.

Paul McCartney is 81 years old now. Ringo Starr is 83.

We won’t have these icons of music around much longer and it’s wonderful to get another sample of their genius, even if it is via a project that was not originally created as a Beatles work.

Oh no… Tina Turner (1939-2023)

Just coming in is the very sad news that magnificent singer Tina Turner has passed away at the age of 83.

I recall reading a few years back -not all that long ago- where she said she had been having health issues but felt better and… well, it appears those health issues continued until her passing.

The one song that she seems to be best remembered for is her take on the Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary”, which she very much made her own…

The high energy act she had was second to none…!

She would appear very prominently in the third and last of the Mel Gibson starring Mad Max films, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) as the movie’s villain… sorta. It was impossible to present her as totally bad, IMHO!

While I felt this film was the least of the Mad Max films, it was through absolutely no fault of Tina Turner’s as she played the hell out of the character of Aunty Entity. Intriguingly, I always felt the most recent Mad Max film, Fury Road, merged elements from The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) and Beyond Thunderdome in its story. Aunty Entity was a prototype of not only the villainous Immortan Joe but also seemed to have elements of that film’s hero, Imperator Furiosa (played, of course, by Charlize Theron).

Ms. Turner also delivered one of her all time best songs (IMHO, of course!) for the film, “We Don’t Need Another Hero”. Here’s the music video made for the song. It features Tina Turner in her full Aunty Entity get up and has lots of clips from Beyond Thunderdome… clips which may make you realize how much of the visuals from this film found their way into Fury Road!

Such a great showman. Such a great singer. She will be missed.

Christine McVie (1943-2022)

A few years back, perhaps around 2015 or 2016, I caught Fleetwood Mac in concert. Though the crowd was generally older (like me) there were a nice amount of fairly young people there.

The group had its classic lineup of Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John McVie, and, of course, Christine McVie.

Yesterday came the shocking news that Ms. McVie had passed away at the age of 79.

As shocking as it was to hear this, it is sadly something we’re going to be having more and more of in the coming years: The passing of some incredibly great musical talent whose career heights were in the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

A while back (you can read it here) I wrote about a sobering article Damon Linker about the “coming death of every rock legend”.

Doing simple math, you realize that many of those wonderful artists of yesteryear that people in my generation and beyond admire are growing increasingly older.

I recall when we went to see Fleetwood Mac I read an article about them and was shocked, at the time, to read that Christine McVie was (at the time) in her mid-70’s. I realized all the members of the band were getting up there in age and that’s why when the Damon Linker article came out I felt a fresh wave of sober sadness at the prospect of what’s to come.

My all time favorite musical artist is David Bowie and he passed away at the relatively young age of 69 in 2016, now a seemingly too long six years ago.

And yesterday I felt that same wave of sadness regarding Ms. McVie.

While the group had its internal friction, Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1970’s group, featuring Ms. McVie, Nicks, Buckingham, Fleetwood, and her ex-husband John were freaking incredible.

Their first album, 1975’s Fleetwood Mac, featured the debut of this version of the band (they were around since the 1960’s in other forms) was an incredible work…

But it was their next album, 1977’s Rumours, which sent them into the stratosphere…

While their follow up albums didn’t quite live up to this one in terms of sales, they continued, despite those already mentioned inter-band frictions, to release pretty decent works… even if band members would leave and then come back.

In the wake of Ms. McVie’s passing, I’ve seen people posting how they feel she was better than Stevie Nicks or that they always preferred her music over that of the others and… come on.

What made Fleetwood Mac so damn great is that you had such a wonderful and incredibly strong variety of songs coming from Buckingham, from Nicks, and, yes, from McVie. And that’s not to forget about what was brought to the table by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie as well! In fact, I recall an interview with Lindsey Buckingham where he said this version of Fleetwood Mac was not unlike The Beatles in terms of talent.

He might well have been right.

Truly the band had a surplus of talent and while I’m sad to read about Ms. McVie’s passing, at least we have her legacy of work out there to enjoy.

Here then is one of my favorites Fleetwood Mac songs featuring Ms. McVie and Lindsey Buckingham, and which is perhaps not as well known as some of the others. From 1982, “Hold Me”…

Rest in peace.

What will become of the movie industry…?

Stumbled upon this rather grim article written by Tony Maglio and presented on indiewire.com…

Warner Bros Discover lost 2.4 Billion and Lionsgate lost 1.8 Billion and its not even dinnertime

The article rightfully wonders how film studios can survive with such staggering losses and, frankly, I wonder the same.

Looking at this from a longer view, it seems to me this is part and parcel of, of all things, the arrival of home computers and the internet.

Let me explain.

When home computers first appeared they were crude yet began changing the landscape. I’m old enough to have been part of the very first generation to have one way, waaaaaaaayyyy back in the early 1980’s. My first computer was the venerable Atari 800…

Compared to what we now have, the Atari 800 was a laughably crude and for the most part primitive machine. And yet I almost instantly found a use for it. See, I was in high school at the time and the word processing program it had allowed me to write reports and get them printed out (on an equally crude and extremely slow printer) which was an incredible blessing!

No longer did I have to use a typewriter and white out errors or have to start all over again when I made too many errors. With Atari’s Word Processor, I could type and correct the whole thing and print it out only when it was ready!

A truly marvelous innovation!

Of course, the Atari computers didn’t last and soon IBM and Apple computers appeared. Apple was viewed as more “graphic” intensive but the IBM computers seemed to have the leg up. They were constantly improving and, like the mania to buy new iPhones or new gaming computers, one expected each new generation of IBM or Windows based computers to be better and better.

And they were!

And then came the internet, which is essentially phase two.

Now, you could interact with people all over the world. You could communicate via email. You could send files…

When MP3s became a thing, you no longer needed to store your music on CDs or have those vinyl records (by then, cassettes were a thing of the past and, yes, I know vinyl records are making a comeback).

You could keep your music on your computer and soon enough, even buy albums digitally without having to leave the comfort of your home. Suddenly, all those music stores I frequented -some of which were incredibly large!- were gone…

Then came the Kindle and the iPad and, as with music, now you didn’t need to actually buy physical copies of books. You could buy digital copies and buy and read them in the comfort of your home and, just like that, bookstores also became something of a thing of the past.

Certainly in my area there are only a fraction of them around like there used to be!

Alas, next in line were movies.

With the ability to create music and book files, it wasn’t long before digital copies of movies became a thing as well. Further, Netflix appeared and showed the industry that streaming was also a viable option to watching movies and TV shows.

However, people still went to theaters to see the latest releases, so things seemed to be going ok…

Until COVID hit.

Suddenly people were homebound and the studios had to hold back on releasing their upcoming films. In some cases, these films eventually were released but appeared on streaming services very quickly afterwards. It’s fair to say that films such as Wonder Woman 84, No Time to Die, and Tenet, regardless of their quality (and I know some feel they’re not great films at all), would have performed far better had COVID not kept them from being released as they should have been… and those are the three “biggest” films I can think of offhand which were victims of COVID.

Here’s the thing I’ve come to notice after spending all these years watching the ebb and flow of entertainment: Something that is big at one point might suddenly become old hat really quickly.

There was a time disco music ruled. Then, suddenly, no one wanted to hear disco music. There was a time grunge ruled. Then, it was gone.

Movie theaters for so many years have been THE place to go see new films. But with COVID, we stopped going to them en mass. Yes, there are exceptions (Top Gun Maverick and the latest Spider-Man film being two of them) but in general the entire industry is in a funk.

And now that COVID is somewhat a thing of the past (get vaccinated, people!) we’re seeing that audiences aren’t necessarily flocking back to see the latest movies. At least not quite yet.

For we have seen movies appear on various streaming services and some of us figure we’ll just wait a month or two and see whatever film is currently in theaters then.

It’s happened to me, quite frankly, with Black Adam. I’m certainly curious to see it (Dr. Fate is a favorite comic book character of mine and the fact that they got Pierce Brosnan to play the role delights me!) but frankly… I can wait.

How many other people are saying the same thing?

I’ve mentioned it before to friends of mine, but we still don’t know the extent to which the internet and home computers will affect our lives. We’re seeing it, day by day, from the early days when I realized I could use a Word Processor to write my High School reports, to realizing you can have your entire music collection on a small memory card to realizing you can have your entire library (books, comic books, magazines, etc.) on a memory card as well, to where we now realize we can stream or own movies on that same memory card.

Where will it all ultimately end?

I guess we’ll all find out together.

What a way to start the year…

Saw this meme way back when 2020 was coming to an end…

Was I a good year | New Year's Day | Know Your Meme

2020 wasn’t much fun but neither was 2021. For the family and I in particular, it was downright awful.

So we said goodbye to 2021 and we aren’t even done with the first month of 2022 and already its been this avalanche of bad news coming through.

I suppose the biggest bits of news are the celebrity deaths. While it happened on the very last day of 2021 (December 31st), you had the beloved Betty White, longtime star of television and movies, passing away just shy of her 100th birthday…

Betty White dead at 99: Best moments and quotes

Yesterday/today came the news of the passing of two celebrities, Meat Loaf, aka Michael Lee Aday, mostly known as a terrific singer but also actor…

And, finally (for now, I suppose), comedian Louie Anderson…

Not My Job: We Quiz Comedian Louie Anderson On The Song 'Louie Louie' : NPR

Betty White had supposedly had a stroke a few days before her passing and it was likely the cause of her death. I read articles which stated Louie Anderson was being treated for cancer and this was the cause of his death.

As for Meat Loaf, the reports indicate he had contracted COVID and this was the cause of his death.

While the information is still very fresh and not entirely sourced, there have been those who have noted the singer had stated in previous interviews he was against vaccine mandates. There was evidence to suggest he had a conservative viewpoint.

Obviously, I can only go by those reports as I didn’t know the man myself.

However…

While it feels unseemly to speculate, I can’t help myself.

I can’t help but wonder if he was one of those people who refused to get vaccinated for COVID.

Understand: There is no joy in this speculation. I don’t have any feelings but sadness at his passing.

But I’d be lying if it doesn’t cause me to contemplate the weird times we’re living in.

We live in a time where the politization of things seems to have gone waaaaaaay too far.

In the past, vaccinations weren’t something I thought about all that much but when I did, I tended to view them positively.

After all, you vaccinate yourself against Polio. Chicken Pox. Measles. Mumps. Shingles. The flu.

I can’t recall anyone stating these vaccines were some liberal plot and/or a threat to one’s freedoms and yet this seems to be exactly what’s happened with too many people when it comes to COVID vaccines.

It hurts to realize this weird thinking has taken over too many people, especially when I have very close family members on my side as well as my wife’s side who have fallen into this bullshit crap as well.

Which begs the question: What is it going to take to convince people reluctant to get vaccinated to do so?

How many more people have to pass away before then?

I just don’t know anymore.

It’s a hell of a way to begin the new year, though.

My thoughts are with the families of those who passed, regardless.

POSTSCRIPT: Just goes to show how much has happened and how many celebrities have passed. I forgot to mention two:

Yvette Mimieux. Perhaps not as well known today, but an absolutely stunning actress, perhaps best known for the original The Time Machine and Where The Boys Are. She was 80.

And, shockingly, Bob Saget, amiable comedian and star of the popular Full House. He was 65.

Let It Be, 2021 vs 1969 film Version

There’s been considerable interest, at least for me, in the upcoming release of the new Let It Be documentary/film.

Way back in 1968/9, Michael Lindsay-Hogg was hired by The Beatles to document the process of making their next album, which wound up being Let It Be.

The album, and film, were for years thought to be fraught with issues. The album’s creation featured friction between the members of the band and, when they were done making the album, seemed to feel the end product wasn’t worth revisiting until later. They would wind up making another album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be wound up being given to Phil Spector who added his famous (or, going by Paul McCartney’s reaction to the whole thing, infamous) “wall of sound”. That album would be released as their “last” album, even though they made it before Abbey Road.

Meanwhile, the Michael Lindsay-Hogg documentary was released in a very limited run and, it appeared, The Beatles themselves weren’t all that happy with the final product there either. The film essentially was locked up in a vault and released once more in the 1980’s and hasn’t been seen since.

Director Peter Jackson, the man responsible for the Lord of the Rings movies, was offered the entire 56 hours of footage Mr. Lindsay-Hogg filmed during that time and will soon release a brand new 6 hour long documentary featuring that material.

Over at Rollingstone.com, Brian Hiatt offers a fascinating -though brief- interview with the 81 year old Michael Lindsay-Hogg regarding his original work and his experiences with The Beatles as well as his opinion of the documentary he released versus the one that Peter Jackson is about to release. It’s a fascinating read:

Original Let It Be Director Defends His Film: “I Don’t Care” That Ringo Hates It

Now, to begin, that headline is far juicier than it need be. At the risk of SPOILING the interview, the headline makes it sound like Mr. Lindsay-Hogg has some kind of anger against Ringo which, if you read the interview, is clearly not there. He feels like Ringo’s impressions of the original film may be dated and that he likely hasn’t seen it in a very long time and may not be quite remembering it for what it was.

Further, Mr. Lindsay-Hogg seems to be perfectly content with the idea of Peter Jackson doing “his” version of the documentary with Mr. Lindsay-Hogg’s footage. Mr. Lindsay-Hogg feels like he did the best he could at that time and with the demands for a 1 and 1/2 hour film.

Also interesting -and again, I know I’m SPOILING things- Mr. Lindsay-Hogg appears to be the person who suggested The Beatles have their famous concert on the rooftops of the building, which served as the climax of his movie!

Fascinating, fascinating stuff.

In spite of my spoiling things, if you are a fan of The Beatles and interested in reading about his thoughts on the film and what happened behind the scenes while making it, please give it a read. At the very least your jaw will drop when he describes his first meeting with the band… and what John Lennon brought in for them to hear!!!

Different times indeed, my friends.

But there is one portion of the interview in particular I found especially intriguing, so much so that I want to present it here.

For many years its been noted by historians that The Beatles’ public facade was a creation made to make them look like pleasant chaps who were witty and funny and just really, really nice guys.

The reality, as many have pointed out, was quite different. The Beatles hailed from Liverpool and, again as many have noted, it was a very rough neighborhood. Further, when they first set out to play clubs in Germany, they would appear at many very rough clubs. I recall the father of a friend of mine many years ago said they were in a club in Germany (he was German) when The Beatles played and there was plenty of shouting, hurling of drinks, and fights, and The Beatles (who at that point hadn’t yet recruited Ringo Starr) were very much at home in this very rough place.

Anyway, if you read the interview, you get to this part:

(Question): As it is, the brief moments of tension you do show (in your film) between Paul and George are among the most famous Beatles footage ever captured.
(Michael Lindsay-Hogg): A lot of people were surprised. Because the Beatles had been portrayed as the moptops, that they were just fucking adorable. In real life, they were tough. This just goes back to where they came from. Liverpool is a tough town. I wouldn’t particularly want to run into Paul McCartney in a dark alley, if he didn’t like me.

I find that final line about running into Paul McCartney in a dark alley absolutely hilarious.

Not that I don’t believe Mr. Lindsay-Hogg, quite the contrary!

I find it astonishing -yet all too believable- that The Beatles and their outward persona that we’re all so used to is nothing more than a fabrication, that the actual Beatles were rough, cut throat types who you simply DO NOT mess with.

But seriously, the idea of Paul freaking McCartney being someone you don’t want to run into in a dark alley…?!

As I said, it really strikes me as hilarious… though it probably isn’t!

The 10 Worst Songs By Great Artists…

…at least according to faroutmagazine.com:

The 10 Worst Songs By Great Artists

As with many such lists, one has to take it with a grain of salt… after all, opinions about artistic works, whether they be music, movies, TV shows, books, etc. are just that: Opinions.

I have to admit, I’m strongly familiar with only two of the songs listed while I have heard, but haven’t felt much one way or the other, about a few of the others.

As a HUGE The Beatles and David Bowie fan, of course I’m quite aware of The Beatles’ Revolution 9 and Bowie’s The Laughing Gnome.

The former was presented on The Beatles’ White Album, another of the spectacular later day albums The Beatles released before ultimately breaking up, and truthfully I can’t argue with this as being perhaps the worst song The Beatles released.

Revolution 9 is artistic noise, a collage of sound that for me, anyway, means little. Having said that, I’ve listened to it a few times and while it isn’t my cup of tea, I can’t say its completely without merit. It just doesn’t work for me and, if push comes to shove, as I said above, I’d agree this is probably the worst “official” The Beatles release.

As for David Bowie’s The Laughing Gnome

The fact of the matter is that David Bowie’s career followed a slow trajectory up. He produced quite a bit of stuff before finally getting his act together. The Laughing Gnome IMHO is an inoffensive, silly little song that means nothing one way or the other and was a product of a young artist who still didn’t have his course set.

How can one view that as his “worst” work?

Indeed, I’d be far harsher with any “bad” songs released post Space Oddity, when David Bowie was clearly a lot more confident of his musical skills and might have released here and there a song which doesn’t measure up to his usual levels of brilliance.

For example, and while I don’t necessarily view it as his worst, the song Too Dizzy released on what David Bowie himself considered his worst album, 1987’s Never Let Me Down, was stricken from future re-releases of the album on Bowie’s insistence. He apparently hated the song that much!

So, perhaps, we can look upon this instead of The Laughing Gnome as Bowie’s worst… at least when it comes to the artist’s own opinion!

Earworm…

Ever had a song stuck in your head and…

…you…

just..

can’t

get

rid

of it?

Been fighting a new one of late and its really strange the way these certain songs bounce around one’s head.

But first, a trip down memory lane…

A while back The Beatles White Album was released and I must have listened to it a little too much because suddenly this song -of all the ones available!- played over and over in my head…

Don’t get me wrong: I think its a great song but there were so many other great(er) songs that could have gotten stuck in my head!

Then, a little later…

I love the song, another of Stevie Nicks’ absolute terrific songs done with Fleetwood Mac, yet for a while there I was going absolutely crazy with this song rolling around and around my head.

Finally, and it seems like it may be lifting, I had this song rolling around my head…

Ok, this one’s all my own damn fault as I’ve been listening to the album, The Sound of White Noise, its featured on.

There are a few thrash/metal bands to come out of the 1980’s that to this day I really love and Anthrax is one of them. Their first vocalist and album featured Neil Turbin, but he was replaced Joey Belladona from 1984 to 1992 and the albums they made at that time are rightfully considered absolute classics of the thrash/metal genre.

However, the dreaded “creative differences” caused the band to fire Belladona and in 1992 to 2005 John Bush was the vocalist. Their first album they made together and which features the above song is indeed The Sound of White Noise. Its a terrific album IMHO though truthfully Invisible isn’t IMHO one of the best songs on that album!

It’s a weird thing getting these ear worms because the song that plays over and over into your head isn’t necessarily a song you consider a great one (the exception of the three I mentioned is Gypsy).

As I said, though, the song is starting to leave my cranium.

How do I do it?

Whenever an ear worm song starts up in my head, I think of another song and “play” it in my head to get rid of it.

In this case, believe it or not, I played Gypsy and that did the trick.

I know, I know: Aren’t you afraid that song will once again become an ear worm?

I can’t say this for everyone but I can for myself: The weird thing about getting an ear worm for me is that once the song plays itself out in my head, I tend not to get it again.

So, yeah, using Gypsy to kill off Invisible did the trick!

The Rolling Stones… and David Bowie?

It seems someone on the inside in The Rolling Stones organization has released to the internet a number of “vault” songs created by the group but to date not released.

Included among them is the original demo of It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It) which features David Bowie…!

Interested in hearing this demo? Click here:

The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It) Demo (feat. David Bowie)

I found out years ago that this song was originally something Mick Jagger and David Bowie worked on and that Jagger, and The Rolling Stones, wound up taking the song for themselves. I don’t believe it has a “co-written” by David Bowie credit nor, to be frank, do I know if indeed Bowie had that strong a hand on it.

However, the fact that a demo like this one exists where he’s doing some background singing does make the whole thing more intriguing.

Having said that…

David Bowie and Mick Jagger formally collaborated/co-sang on only one song, a remake of Dancing In The Street

The song -and video- were created very quickly to be shown on Live Aid back in 1985 and the video, which at times has Bowie out of synch with the words, shows it. Plus there’s a sense of just filming them dancing around without seemingly giving much thought to what they were doing.

I point this out because though David Bowie in his career lent his voice to do some wonderful songs with other artists, including the excellent backgrounds to Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love

…and Under Pressure, the beautiful duet he did with Queen…

…I felt like his sole (until that demo showed up) work with Mick Jagger showed that not all duets worked. The fact is that Mick Jagger’s voice is so in your face that Bowie’s singing/vocals seemed to be pushed far to the back and mostly obliterated. When the two sing together, all I seem to hear is Jagger!

So too it is with the demo of It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It). I don’t believe this version of the song was ever intended for release, at least not until now (I’m assuming this release wasn’t an illegal thing, but who knows), but I’m hard pressed to hear where exactly Bowie is in it.

Maybe I’m just getting deaf in my older age…!

Still, a fascinating relic of times past.