Posted on 06/23/2019 6:47:45 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
ok. it makes you have to take a poop?
Yup. Paul Simon produced nonstop. Always more coming and different directions.
18 million record sales...he’s done all right. He had some fairly rocked up stuff on Hold Out and Lawyers In Love, among others.
He was one of the standard bearers for singer songwriters in the 70s. Bearing in mind that he probably made more royalties from the song(s) he co wrote for the Eagles given their massive sales.
The peer group, zeitgeist and record company influence can’t be understated, especially the last. The Asylum label was often derided as ‘wimp rock’ but there was definitely a successful formula down to the producers, studios, session musicians and mixing. Labels in the vinyl era had power we can’t imagine now even over top selling artists. There were dozens of people giving their opinion and many of them had veto power - or tried to usurp it. The result, for better or worse, was often music by committee and we know what they say about committee decision making.
Most great musicians will never top the musical output of their 20s. Very few musical icons will release anything memorable after their 30th birthday, embarking instead on endless greatest hits tours.
Jackson Brown never did it for me - I am more of a Steely Dan guy, but as you said 18.5 million albums sold means something is working for someone.
Fun fact...
Before they hit it big, Jackson Browne lived in an apt building and his downstairs neighbors were two guys, Don Henley & Glenn Frey.
Frey spoke about hearing JB continue to polish his song, “Doctor My Eyes” among others and taught Henley & Frey to work to get their songs just right.
One day JB was working on a song and needed a middle verse when Frey visited him. GF wrote the middle verse about someone “standing on the corner of Winslow, Arizona” to help finish the song. The Eagles were first to record it but JB eventually recorded his song.
And then there’s Frank Zappa, producing mind-blowing works of art until the day he died.
Kerry Livgren(of Prime 70’s Kansas fame) has done very well in Christian/(Kansas with a Christian flare kind of music)music. His stuff always kicked the mainstream Christian music stuff way up beyond 2nd Chapter of Acts, Jars of Clay, Michael Smith ect. Her had a stroke about 10-15 years ago with some loss of function but worked and got it back.
I’m a mod/Britpop/college rock type but have always kept yacht rock style music in the shuffle years before it had a name.
The production was typically a little muted but that was the vinyl era for you.
We are now actively considering forming a yacht rock band...it just seems to be on the lips of so many people and most of the players involved have the large advantage of knowing most of the potential repertoire.
It’s not for the faint of heart. Lots of jazzy chord voicings, tricky arrangements and, most all, the vocal harmonies must be tight.
Jackson Browne ~ On Writing Take It Easy (with acoustic performance)
Also, he and Joni Mitchell were a couple at one time.
“Looking through some photographs, I found inside my drawers, I was........”
Music to beat your girlfriend to.
That said, it is a sad testimony of our times that cover band can usually make $500/night while kids trying to play new and interesting music (they're out there...I've heard it in the bars) have to pay to play. We're setting the table for rock to die and Taylor Swift et al to dominate the 'classic rock' charts in 15 years.
As I said elsewhere, there is a time and a place for everything. Not all new music sucks, and not all old music was that great (does anyone have a copy of the first Rossington-Collins Band's album? Oy vey). But getting out of our homes and into the real world - for music and life - is the key to longevity.
Good luck with your project.
Exactly. There are exceptions, but “before 30” is pretty much the rule. Maybe getting past 27 is such a relief, they just decide to relax. The Beatles recorded their entire body of work before they were 30. Amazing.
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