Music Break
I notice it’s okay to take music breaks on this blog. Since I have a degree in music from Berklee College of Music, I will use my authority to subject y’all to my tastes. I dig rock and can get stuck in the 70s. But as you’ll see, the rock that I like is extremely varied.
If you haven’t seen Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” you should acquire it. Here is “Stage Fright.” The only thing I dislike about it is the late Richard Manuel doesn’t do enough singing (but, I’ve heard, he wasn’t in the best of shape, “oh you don’t know the shape he was in” — The Band fans will get that pun).
I was lucky enough to see The Band in the 90s at the Trenton Waterfront where they were joined by (believe it or not) Stephen Seagal for a few numbers. Manuel was dead by then but Rick Danko (who sings lead on the above) was alive but passed shortly thereafter.
The version of The Band I saw was the same as who joined Roger Waters when he played the Berlin Wall. For “Mother,” while I prefer Waters’ verses to Sinead O’Connor’s, I think The Band’s choruses are better than David Gilmour’s. I think it’s just amazing when they break into chorus here. I could only imagine how much better they would sound were Richard Manuel alive to harmonize with them.
Hmmph, appeal to authority. And to one’s own authority, no less. *grin*
Water’s version of Mother is so iconic that it’s almost not fair to say someone else doesn’t do it as well. After all, we’ve all heard the album so many times we know each little element by heart, right? But while I can hardly imagine anyone doing an acceptable version of Mother, I think Sinead O’Connor knocks it out of the park. She’s got just the right type of voice for this song. Even better, she doesn’t overplay her vocals (she doesn’t go all “Nothing Compares 2U” on it), but downplays it a bit, and leaves almost more hint of that great haunting quality in her voice than powerful demonstration of it, which is all the more effective for creating an element of suggested mystery. I’d never heard her sing this before, so thanks much.Report
My pleasure.Report