MQA - which sound good, which bad?

Music
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I do not understand the appeal of Dylan either, but accept that in the pop world he is influential and respected. I have even played in bands which covered some of his songs and still do not get it. The Grateful Dead also does nothing for me. And I have tried. I have many such examples where I have bought pop albums because of their respected status (e.g., Dark Side of the Moon, The Nightfly, etc.) listened to them with an open mind a dozen times . . . and do not want to imagine sitting through them ever again.

My musical preferences appear to be almost hardwired. As early as age ten or so I was uninterested in the music of my peers and sought out other music. i was immediately drawn to early music (Renaissance, Middle ages) and later to Baroque. It took a bit to make it to the Classical period and the Romantics, but early Modern (Stravinsky, et al.) appealed quite soon.

My guess is many others found resonance in their preferred music early on, be it jazz, pop, etc.

Sadly, it appears the majority accept what was popular when they were in high school/college, stop there, and continue listening to the same pop music for the rest of their lives. Thus, the tired warhorses of audiophilia, the never-ending re-issues of classic pop/rock, the radio stations with a play list limited to a given decade.

But, so what? Listen to what you enjoy.

As a side note, it is remarkably easy to remain current when it comes to pop/rock as restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, everywhere music is played. I have music disease and thus must listen of I can hear it. Thus, I am familiar with what is popular.

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Well Elk, y’know what they say, “If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it”. At least that’s how I think it goes. I also liked the Romantics at one point, as I was from the Detroit area, and played their songs in bars for years. “What I Like About You”…Classic. ; )

I also never got the Dead thing until I heard them live for the first (and only) time in Golden Gate Park at the Bill Graham memorial concert. The crowd was swelling madly for this free show, and folks were starting to get tense, not having anywhere left to sit (no seats, just soccer field/pitch). Another band was playing, I think it was Journey. Young had joined CS&N for the first time in years for the occasion earlier. The Dead started playing, and the experience of the effect of their music on the hometown crowd was both electric and joyous. I’d had fan friends for years tell me, “You HAVE TO see them live”. Reminds me of all the Classical fans with the whole Absolute Sound-ing Thing : )

Re: Dylan, I have to admit to some ambivalence as well, in part because I like melodic singers. I can still appreciate some of his singing. I recently went to a live taping of the Sound Opinions radio show, hosted by rock critics Greg Kot and Sam DeRogatis, where part of the analysis of an historical review of his songs and lyrics was to answer the question, “Did he deserve the Nobel Prize for Literature?” Despite their both being ardent and knowledgeable fans, their votes were both “no”. You can’t extract his lyrics from his music, so just awarding him a Lit prize based on his lyrics is questionable. Though he really has written some great lyrics.

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:slight_smile: for the Romantics.

Your Grateful Dead story is compelling and cements my thinking that what one finds compelling is what matters.

Regardless of the quality of lyrics, lyrics are sung and not literature. An unexcelled writer should similarly not win a Grammy even if she sings some of her words.

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Elk: Yes - interesting (and potentially deep) subject there. What is compelling to you, and why?

I probably told this before, but before the Dead started, the anxiety of the crowd was based, for those of us looking to sit, on, “Where the heck are we gonna sit?” and, on the part of the seated folks, “You’re not thinking of standing there, are you? I had a great spot, and now I get to stare at your behind?”

When they started playing, suddenly Everywhere was a Good Place. Everyone was Good. Everyone danced. It was unlike any experience I’ve ever had in a crowd of humans, and (at least on my part) was not due to ingestion of anything in particular.

During the set, an old prop plane flew slowly overhead, with “Otis Spunkmeyer” printed large on the underside of the wings. I, and I’m sure many others thought, “How could you be crass enough to try and capitalize on Graham’s death, here and now, of all places and times?”

It looped around and slowly flew back across the width of the field, and suddenly hundreds of objects started falling from the plane. “Oh, great”, I thought, “we’re going to be pelted with cookies”. But then they took an inordinately long time to fall - if they had been cookies. People began to raise their arms to catch (or fend off) whatever it was. Then you could see that they were spinning as they slowly descended.

When they were close enough, they resolved into – carnation blossoms. Hundreds and hundreds of carnation blossoms spinning into our waiting hands. We were being “bombed” with flowers. People began jumping up to catch them, laughing with a combination relief, joy and awe. Crass commercialism had been transformed into a simple act of beauty. I well up just recalling it.

Of course, it still was commercial, though I suppose they only had the one plane. And it didn’t result in me buying their cookies. ; )

Edit: Hey - The less we talk about MQA, the more I like this thread ; ) !

FYI, all: Started a “Compelling” thread here in the Music Forum.

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A wonderful story.

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Sigmund Groven & Iver Kleive: harmOrgan MQA 24/176.4 laugh

Harmonica and organ, the world’s smallest and the world’s largest musical instrument

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Beef, it couldn’t have been Journey, Bill Graham would have been spinning in his grave. I just looked a lot of good and great performers, and Journey. I don’t like criticising others taste in music, but Journey, Styx, and Foreigner were bands that made me crazy during the MTV years.

Here is a link to performers with setlist.

http://www.concertvault.com/playlists/bill-graham-memorial-laughter-love-and-music/playlist-280720.html

If you read the lyrics of some Dylan songs there are so many verses, it is like a short story. I thought it was a nice tribute, but I do understand the other point of view.

This is how I always felt at Dead shows.

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Having both Dylan and the Dead mentioned in this thread, it made me reminisce of when I saw Dylan, Petty, and the Dead on July 6th, 1986 at RFK stadium in D.C. Dylan opened up the show that day and was just ok. I actually tried to see him again years again while he was touring with Elvis Costello in Charlottesville, Va. Dylan was better that night, but not by much. See? I tried. Elvis Costello opened and played acoustic without accompaniment and was absolutely magical. I wish I had a copy of that performance. Ever since that night I “got” his voice and songwriting and have loved his music ever since.

And back to the July 6th show. Like I said Dylan was middling, but the crowd did wake up for “Rainy Day Woman” when he sang “Everybody must get stoned”. It was a Dead show after all. “Tangled up in Blue” was good, I remember that. Tom Petty was very good, in a classic rock way. I knew all his hits and the Heartbreakers were a tight band. And the Dead? Amazing! This was my first show and it was a hot one. Literally and figuratively, since it was 100 degrees that day in D.C. (maybe that’s why Bob wasn’t feeling it) The sound was excellent and that was the first time I had experienced such amazing percussion. Mickey, Bill and Phil were totally in sync that night. I’ll never forget how the entire stadium sang “Sugaree” under the backdrop of an amazing sunset. And no, I wasn’t tripping! OK, maybe a little high. :wink: “Iko Iko” was great too. They finished up with “Not Fade Away” and “Brokedown Palace” for an encore. Great show. I saw probably 10 more shows before Jerry died and that was the best.

I find it funny that my friends all listened to boots of their favorite Dead shows and I couldn’t have been more bored with them. They all sounded muddy and listless. I preferred the CDs. I guess, even then, I was a bit of an audiophile. I’ve come to really appreciate the care the Dead gave to sound quality in the studio, especially after listening to their repertoire under a more critical microscope.

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The Dead also had the best concert sound systems in the business. One of the reasons the band members never really got rich was because they spent a fortune on equipment (the Owlsey Stanley-designed “Wall of Sound” being the most famous example, although they had scaled down from that quite a bit by the time I first saw them in 1976) and crew. They did manage to put together some excellent studio albums (American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead being the two most often cited) but their focus was on live performances, which could be lackluster and even boring at times but when they were clicking, there was nothing like a Grateful Dead show.