Classic Rock – the Addison Recorder

The Smartest Guys in the Room: Remembering George Martin and Keith Emerson

March 14, 2016 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

Celebrated personages have been dropping like flies lately, from that Oscar-winning savior of airplanes George Kennedy to Sir Ken Adam, the man who designed the greatest James Bond sets and a war room made for fighting. As friend of the Recorder Fred Pelzer tweeted at me, “We’re hitting peak baby boomers. It’s going to be this way for the next while.”

Two deaths in the past week especially stood out to me as the product of being raised on the rock ‘n’ roll my parents and my uncles. Sir George Martin, born in 1926, and Keith Emerson, born in 1944, were two musical figures who could both be considered the smartest guys in the room: they were men of technical brilliance and great creativity that outshone many. They used their gifts in very different and rewarding ways.

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Living Legends: A Night at Buddy Guy’s

January 21, 2015 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Chicago has mastered many things. Deep dish pizza. Hot dogs. Architecture. Beer. While arguments for the Mississippi Delta and Kansas City might be heard, it should be argued that the blues ranks highly among those cultural features.

Buddy Guy’s Legends was opened in 1989 by blues master Buddy Guy and remains one of the liveliest blues clubs in the city – if not one of the only ones remaining in operation. Located in the middle of the South Loop, it is a destination for both locals and tourists alike. Blues masters regularly make appearances to pay homage to the city that gave the country Chess Records, that introduced Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Howling Wolf to a wider audience. And every January, Mr. Buddy Guy himself makes a residency, sticking around town for the entire month.

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Musical String Theory: Richard Thompson in Millennium Park (With Further Downtown Sounds)

June 22, 2014 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

The Downtown Sound series on Monday evenings in Millennium Park gives lovers of rock music the chance to hear some of the newest and most innovative sounds, with an old-school veteran or two thrown in for good measure. I have already been privileged to be there for when She & Him and Iron & Wine played outstanding shows, but this past week saw me experience what may have been the best performance to take place there in five years of concert going: Richard Thompson.

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Caroline (and Jane)

October 31, 2013 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

I had to write something about Lou Reed this week. Had to. He not only makes a bit of a cameo in my new book, as I spend an instant musing on how my six year-old self sang along with his father and the radio to “Walk on the Wild Side,” merrily intoning the phrase “giving head” without knowing what that meant. But also, as a wealth of articles and tributes has confirmed, Lou Reed was special. He was someone people cared about perhaps more than society expected.

And this goes beyond the four-piece band who hung out with Warhol and briefly featured a sexy German model with the flattest voice on the planet. If the Velvet Underground no longer seem as strange and daring as they once did, and there are plenty of moments I still find them strange and daring, it’s because everything they recorded was studied and absorbed by rock, pop, even, I would argue, metal and rap. They took the traditional forms of rock music and injected avant-garde experiments which still sounded accessible, mixed in unflinching, coldly real lyrics that read with all the poetry of Dylan, and refused to do anything normal. Even their most conventional songs had tricks in the tails: “Femme Fatale” has a melody worthy of a 70s California soft-rock song, but Nico’s intonation makes it terrifying. “Rock and Roll” mixes its heart-on-sleeve pop feel with guitar sounds I’ve never heard before or since and that piano which comes out of nowhere. And then we have “European Son,” “Sister Ray,” “The Murder Mystery,” “I’m Sticking With You…”

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Bryan Ferry’s Whistle: An Observation on an Aspect of Millennial Culture

May 16, 2013 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

You do not have to click on the links to fully appreciate this post. But it may help.

BEGIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bNZGNjvxSM

Last weekend, after much awaiting with bated breath by we at the Addison Recorder, Baz Luhrmann’s film version (version being the key word) of The Great Gatsby opened in cinemas. This piece is not about The Great Gatsby as a movie, especially since none of us have seen it, although I will return to the subject before the end. It is about the soundtrack to a degree, for while the soundtrack is on the surface as misguided as the film, there is one thing the music gets right. For a few minutes, the film’s score gives way to a singer whose suave, languid, sophisticated persona was made for Fitzgerald, and who has in all likelihood inspired many of his fellow Gatsby contributors, including Florence + the Machine, Lana Del Rey, and even the tuxedo-clad master of ceremonies Jay-Z, with his theatrical, high-art musical stylings—Bryan Ferry.

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Hendrix is Alive: ‘Blak and Blu’ by Gary Clark Jr. Pt. 2

May 14, 2013 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: This is what happens when your text sprawls over 20 pages of copy (in 10 point font!). It gets broken up, B. It gets broken into two parts. You want a complete piece? Write a friggen’ book. As for you readers who have stuck with us, I do believe that he gets around to making his point in the next two sections. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go nurse a coffee and try to remember how to feel. TJC

For those who missed Part 1, you can retrace our steps here.

4. Outside Little Rock…A Discussion…The True Meaning of Origins.

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Hendrix is Alive: ‘Blak and Blu’ by Gary Clark Jr. Pt. 1

May 14, 2013 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: The following text arrived on my doorstep early Tuesday morning, sealed in an envelope, written in miniscule 10 point font, along with a flash drive containing music samples, an e-version of the text, and several unflattering photos that have since been excised from the document. Buried on a small post-it note somewhere around page 10 was a small note directed to me: “T. Piece is finished. More or less vacant from all mental faculties. Publish as soon as legally accountable. OK here. A.C.B.” At the risk of running afoul of his vengeful wrath, I have published the following piece under the heading of “Blak and Blu: A Music Review” though it should be noted that the actual byline of the piece was enclosed on a successive string of Post-It notes (all colored blue, for some odd reason that seemed important at the time) and directed to headline the page itself; including a rambling editor’s note was optional, yet something that I felt was essential to the integrity of the text, as well as the general strangeness of the weekend itself. It is important to note that, regardless of who or what is involved, the words below are my associate’s own, pure and unfiltered. Take them as you will.

Hendrix is Alive and Well and He Lives in Austin, Texas: Gary Clark Jr. and the Renaissance of the Texas Blues; A Complicatedly Simple Study of the Condensing of American Music Tropes into a Wholly Original and Wholly Impressive New Sound That Will Soon Shake Your Windows and Rattle Your Walls; a Further Study of the Road and Its Dangers Whilst in Pursuit of the Glory of the New as the Times are Changing

A Review by A.C. Bromfield

1. The Inciting Incident…Trouble in Paradise…The Needle is Broken.

https://www.youtube.com/user/garyclarkjr?feature=watch

Chicago is built for the inclement weather that strikes at any and all opportunities, a condition in which the city residents worship the angry gods of the Northwest that regularly send down the cold fronts of Arctic ice that pulverize their bodies and shake them to their bones. It is not unusual to emerge from one’s apartment into a frigid, icy wasteland, something that would be highly irregular on a May day in, say, Cincinnati, Ohio. However, these are things that the good denizens of the Windy City have grown to accept, paying homage with clasped hands at the El stations dotting the urban landscape.

I hate this weather.

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THE GRUDGE REPORT: Searching for the Pinball Wizard

August 18, 2012 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment

Salutations,

In an effort to predispose myself towards a somewhat more consistent writing schedule, you may now look forward to my bi-monthly feature, a new column that will be taking a quick, dirty look at a landmark album or movie from the past on a rotating basis. This will be a somewhat more curtailed look than the in-depth analysis that myself and my colleagues at the Recorder have become known for over the past two months, but it will hopefully provide a quick listener’s (or viewer’s) guide to approaching the works of past masters. Owing to a lack of creativity and an overwhelming need to be a smart-ass on my part, this column will be henceforth entitled “The Grudge Report”.

For the record, this is not indicative of any sort of professional criticism on my part. The deep analysis you might expect, having already found it in many other articles within our magazine, will not be here. Nor, however, will this be a simple diatribe or a love totem on my part on the behalf of past masters. It’s best to think of this as simply a Buyer’s Guide to Classic Media, a Purchase or Pass if you will. Those looking for deeper analysis on my part may simply post below and let your feelings be heard.