Bloggerhythms

Yes, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" from Abbey Road (1969) is pure "granny music," as John Lennon called it, but that was part of Paul McCartney's intended joke. Here we have this silly sounding, almost kiddie-like arrangement, combined with the most perverted and darkest lyrics that a Beatle ever wrote for the group. As most people know, the track tells the tale of Maxwell Edison, a serial killer. I was 16 when the song came out and I immediately got the joke and the incongruity of it all.  Maybe the absurdity of marrying the goofy arrangement with the sinister lyrics is why McCartney mentions pataphysical science in the song's first verse. As it turns out - according to Oxford Reference - Pataphysics is   "the science of imaginary solutions"   invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907). Was "Maxwell" a parody as well, and does it really belong on a record inten...

Temples Of Sound is a great book! I delved into it gradually during my spare time over a period of a year, and even re-read much of it on a recent vacation because I read the first parts of it so long ago. Temples Of Sound offers the reader fifteen chapters about the great American recording studios, how they came to be, how they rose to their great heights, and where they are today. Most of these studios began in the 1950s or early 60s but others, including Miami's Criterion Studios and Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios came to prominence in the 70s. The intriguing thing about this book is that no matter what kind of music was recorded in these "temples" there seemed to be one common factor among most of them. Many of the great studios were started from scratch by young entrepreneurs who were naive about the music business. Most of the studios were makeshift in nature, housed in stark old buildings that frequently needed massive rehabilitation, and built on ten...

Paul Stookey's "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" has a more personal connection for me than any other music I've written about on this blog, and that's because it was played at my wedding way back when folk music could still reach the top 40. The single achieved #24 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #3 on their Easy Listening Chart in 1971. My wife asked her college friend to sing the beautiful tune at our ceremony accompanied by his acoustic guitar in addition to a song she wrote especially for the big day. At that time, Stookey's masterpiece hadn't yet become the wedding cliché it is today and our guests loved every note of it. Many years later the well loved ballad also became a part of my daughter's wedding. "The Wedding Song" appeared on Stookey's solo LP, Paul and , around the same time all three former members of Peter, Paul and Mary recorded separate albums during their long, 70s hiatus. Stookey, a born-again Christian, said the son...

This is another old post that was originally published here on April 21, 2011. It's both a history lesson on The Rolling Stones and a tribute to an original member, the late Ian Stewart. This post is more than a review, it's also a history lesson. The late Ian Stewart (July 18, 1938 – December 12, 1985) was a founding member of The Rolling Stones. He preceded everyone but Brian Jones into the group when he was the first to respond to an ad Jones placed in a newspaper looking for musicians to start a new band. Stewart, whose nickname was "Stu," staked out a reputation for himself as a great piano player who loved big band jazz, R & B, blues, and boogie woogie. Stewart's physique was on the hefty side. He wore his hair differently and he was a few years older than the rest of the Stones. He didn't look the part, so in 1963, their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, decided Stu was too uncool for the image he was marketing - and that six guys on stage was to...