I would love to read this! ...but also I think the writings of teen!Hec would be charming and fun to read.

Yeah, not so much. Really earnest. But that's what happens when Darkness on the Edge of Town is the record that pulls you through high school.

Double ding.

Well, I'll edit and note that I love Joe's writing about music because he pays so much attention to rhythm and writes about it well. You may be surprised to hear that this is very uncommon in pop music writing. One of his key points in his piece about Willie Nelson, is about Willie's very distinctive acoustic guitar playing.

Similarly, I love Peter Bagge's music writing because he's absolutely obsessed with the quality of a singer's voice, and how voices blend in harmonies. You can tell he spends a lot of time with the headphones on thinking about it.

"Thankyou..." isn't so screamy to my recollection. More ominous and low and bass-popping.

It's not that the song is screamy. The bass line starts and then some dude kind of screams "yeeeeeah!" and then the song starts.

Oh, but you know what? I played it out in my head, and I think what I'm thinking of is "Play that funky music, white boy." Oops!

Oh, but you know what? I played it out in my head, and I think what I'm thinking of is "Play that funky music, white boy." Oops!

Yep, that song song does have a sick and fonquey "Yeah" in the beginning.

Still a great funk one-shot.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the new Prince album? I saw the new video for "Musicology" this morning and found it cool and interesting.

And for the record, I wrote my college admission essay about Bruce.

Trivia quiz, Mr. Astral Weeks fan (yes, that's a very unsubtle clue): who played bass on "Meeting Across the River"? Maybe "Jungleland" too. Yep, Richard Davis. His great 1964/65 Blue Note "trilogy": Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, and Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue. Hutcherson is also on all three. Dolphy & Tony Williams are on the first two; Freddie Hubbard is on the first and third; Andrew Hill on the last two.

Still a great funk one-shot.

And a complete Sly rip... er, "homage".

Well, I'll edit and note that I love Joe's writing about music because he pays so much attention to rhythm and writes about it well.

Thank you. I write about it, but not well. Can't count (in a musical sense) to save my life. Speaking of rhythm, as I read that "Un Poco Loco" came on. And now "Tempus Fugit". Bud Powell & Max Roach were virtuoso players who were rhythmic monsters. Willie Nelson, seems at first listen to be an anti-virtuoso, but like Thelonious Monk, has an absolutely ingenious approach to time. It sounds all awkward and off-kilter, but once you get on his wavelength it's "Aha! That's fuckin' brilliant! How'd he think of that?" I love phrasing, especially vocals.

I write about it, but not well.

Not to be all Flattery McCheerleader - but I disagree vigorously. I could go on about it - but I'll just say that - I think you write about music very well. I think it is greatly enhanced by your constant use of specific detail - your recall for name spellings and titles of things and quotes is positively Nilly-esque and sometimes makes me think you might be a robot. A robot that writes well.

Thanks, tina. I wasn't being falsely modest. A lot of my friends and former roommates -- the current one, too, for that matter -- are musicians, and, not being one myself, I am very aware of how much I don't know about it. As far as being a robot, I'm not, but I played one on Get Smart. Okay, that wasn't me. (In case you're now wondering... according to imdb Dick Gautier is alive.) If I had my act more together, and were a hot Israeli woman, I'd be a lot like Nilly. But since I'm 0 for 4 in that line-up, sadly I must conclude I'm not really Nilly-like.

I've mentioned "Un Poco Loco" a few times. After an extensive search on company time I found this page with Bud Powell mp3s. They're not the full songs, but enough to give you a good taste. More cowbell, Max!

I write about it, but not well.

Compare and contrast that statement with this example:

Willie Nelson, seems at first listen to be an anti-virtuoso, but like Thelonious Monk, has an absolutely ingenious approach to time. It sounds all awkward and off-kilter, but once you get on his wavelength it's "Aha! That's fuckin' brilliant! How'd he think of that?"

Richard Davis is Gawd. Did Mojo ever do a big "making of" article on Astral Weeks? I'd love to hear Richard Davis interviewed on the subject, because apparently the jazz players simply worked off of Van's acoustic guitar demos. The playing is so telepathic though - pure musical empathy and drama.

The accounts of Aretha Franklin's first Atlantic sessions make it sound like everybody's hair was standing up on their arms from the first chord she hit on the piano. Similarly, the first Zeppelin rehearsel apparently went on for four hours and they all just locked into an unprecedented earth shattering groove. Astral Weeks plays like everybody was in the same room nodding at each other for cues, but it wasn't made that way.

Mojo did do a fascinating piece about how Blood on the Tracks was recorded, and all the no-names on that record being local pickers.