I want some of the content on both of my blogs to be about the inspiration I've gotten from the rock music of my life. When writing these blogs the below music selections have gotten repeat plays as background information to foster creativity. All I need is the right input and the work evolves, visual or verbal.
"Second Time Around" - Jimi Hendrix and two undocumented musicians jamming away in 1966 at what served as a backing track for more polished 1967 song by Curtis Knight. The raw energy caught on this very low-fi recording from a German bootleg of Hendrix/Knight cuts is trance-inducing. Hendrix coloring the machine like rhythm (its just him, another guitarist and drum player) with growling textures of distortion & feedback. The track runs nine minutes and could have gone on for twenty with nary a dull moment.
I was introduced to the cut when my older brother got the "Guitar Giants Vol.1" collection it is featured on as a gift Christmas 1982, age fifteen and trying to learn guitar. Superbly thoughtful gift - Would put on the album and just play along as much as possible, as the pitch varied from song to song. But this one was always a joy to try and jam along with, though sadly my original LP set was lost to the Sands of Time during college years. I re-discovered the piece on an old mix cassette c.2006, tracked down a used LP and purchased an LP to MP3 turntable setup just so I could hear it again. The video linked above is my own recording with my own image of the LP cover which Hendrix' controlling legal authority have generously allowed to grace my channel since 2018.
Robert Fripp's "Zero of the Signified", a 1980 tape loop experiment of something he called Discotronics, a blend of his Frippertronics tape loop methods with a disco beat. One has a vision of him sitting there constructing the individual notes which make up the loop while his rhythm section (bassist Busta Jones and drummer Paul Duskins) just keep pulsing away. Fripp later recorded a "craft guitar" arpeggiated solo over the results providing the track's propeller drive. All of which fades out into the droning tape loop, shortened in the above fanvid to ten minutes ... Am searching for a more acceptable recording even if it means adding one of my own.
Like the Hendrix track this one evokes a trance-like state that may put some into a drowse but fascinates me with mentally tracking how the tape loop system decays the sound. I can listen to this stuff for hours on end and his DMGLive website offers an extensive catalog of Frippertronics era live recordings I've binged on with gusto. But this is the one I usually share up as it involves more than just the resultant drones, which are very effective at creating a meditative state which fosters creative cognitive intuition.
Fripperdrawing collage from way back in 1986.
Genesis performing "The Knife" from 1973 with my favorite officially released live Steve Hackett guitar solo from his era with the band. Classic era lineup with Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Phil Collins and big Mike Rutherford. The live take pictured below is incomplete so we're using the very effective remastered version from 1973's "Genesis Live".
Been listening to Genesis since the age of twelve or so when "Follow You Follow Me" first appeared on radio frequencies we frequented. Their music has had a profound effect on my growth as an artist, not just from the visuals of their Peter Gabriel years but their approach to rock music. Blending music styles and always pushing in new directions ... Or at least that was the story up until the very late 1990s. Their most recent efforts don't interest me much, but has been a source of considerable artistic mettle during the past few months. And will be again.
Hackett and Peter Gabriel conjuring "The Knife" in Italy 1972, screengrab from a live concert video. And for the record I love most of the Phil era work Genesis is known for as well as the Pete years. Though there was a decline in the overtly artful nature of their studio work after Steve Hackett's departure from the band in 1977. And that's showbiz.
TURN AND RUN! from 2017, acrylics on wood 6x22 inches, private collection.
Might Apollo 4 from 1967, whose successful test launch paved the way for our journeys to the Moon. This blog wouldn't have been here without it.
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