Barking Spiders

we all have our crosses to bear

This might be one and the same for many BCers but for me there's a big gap between the two. I mean for pleasure it's generally a mix of late 70s - 80s John Peel type stuff, old school funk & hip hop, all sorts of electronica. But there's not a whole heap here to help me become better at playing. In between bouts of work this morning I've been checking out Tosin Abasi and Guthrie Govan viz 6 string niftyness. I often watch Vic Wootten, Richard Bona & Stanley Clarke YT vids and am a big fan of Allan Holdworth's playing. But, I don't have any albums these fellas have played on, never will. So, does anyone else's brain go into one mode re listening for pleasure and switches to another viz learning?

ummm writing reviews the reader can understand?

A year ago I sent in a rock block list containing toons by Pixies, Killing Joke, Queens OTSA, Clutch, FNM, Julian Cope, JAMC, Stranglers, Curve, Ministry and Rammstein. Also some of these for the English Breakfast thingy on Pail Anthony's show but niente, nada. They are rock after all so errm yep I still live in hope

I've been dipping in and out of Planet Rock today in the hope of hearing something other than Kiss, Brothers Johnson, Dire Straits, Led Zep, Aerosh1t, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Thunder, CCR, John Mellencamp etc and in many songs the singers are saying they wanna rock, in general it seems. Often they're more specific e.g. rock somebody else, including you. Rock (n' roll) someone at night time, even all night long. Occasionally they want to rock you like something, fr'instance a hurricane but never any other type of tropical cyclone. Trouble is, I'm not sure what this rocking involves, what it looks like etc. And as for the roll bit, when does that normally come in? Any inside knowledge here? Ta.

Hah hah he's been to the Este Haim school of bass gurnology. Plays well enough though. Of course there are thousands of young kids around the world, esp in China and Korea, who started playing their instruments around age 3 and so by 9, with 6 years under their belts, are pretty advanced.

First time I've seen the Woodentops named on BC. One of the most underrated of all 80s bands. Peelie was a big supporter of them. The drumming is especially great and IMO this is one of the great 'lost' albums. Brilliant from start to finish.

Yep, I now remember this particular bellend Push. Utter waste of DNA.

Back in the day of the inkies like NME I used to read the music reviews as there was no better way of finding out about new stuff, other than listening to John Peel, Robbie Vincent and other night time presenters . Problem was getting past the generally pretentious bollix that passed for reviews and trying to work out what they were on about. I've just come across a website for Robert Christgau, supposedly some big shot music journo in the 70s-80s. This site contains loads of his reviews so I randomly entered band names from all genres only to find that unless it's fairly amateurish Americana he writes off pretty much all prog, metal, electronica.... That's not so much the issue than his arcane, indecipherable way of writing which leaves you scratching your head wondering 'wtf was that about?' Anyone else heard of him or fancy a rant about other music hacks. As they say, 'those who can, do, those who can't, teach and those who can't teach write about music'.

Yup, exactly that. By Soul I meant only that and no other related MOBO style like funk and Afrobeat. As funk is all about the groove, lyrics and vocals are definitely support acts to the bass, percussion and often the hornage. Many funk tunes only have chants so not much effort needed from the old larynx

The album on which this appears, which was used for a Halfords ad a few years ago. Just one of them tunes I like to play again and again

Yup, I'd challenge anyone to come up with the name of a successful/notable Soul singer whose vocals you'd describe as a bit ..meh!. Often as much, a great Soul voice can make a so-so song very listenable. Unfortunately there've also been fine singers who've been encouraged to go a bit mad with the old vocal gymnastics which serves no purpose, shredding away with their larynxes like Y Malmsteen etc on the geetar.

Love this track me. It really slinks along courtesy of the groove and the girls' sexy vocals

Apt description plus for me her songs on Rumours are the weaker tracks IMO there are loads of bands and entire genres which would've sounded wrong and even weak with 'proper' singists. One of my fave bands is Talking Heads and David Byrne's semi-strangulated vocals suit the fidgety rhythms and off-kilter lyrics.

I'll have a listen, out of curiosity. I'm a huge fan of Mk2. Tried Mk1 stuff awhile back but was disappointed having got so used to Dubno and Second Toughest.

Seems to me a characterful but not technically great vocalist can get away with it in a rock band but not so in the Soul genre. Hard to imagine someone like Joe Strummer or Shane McGowan putting out an album like What's Going On?

No heads up yet for Muttley McLad of the Macc Lads. 'Dan's Underpant' wouldn't have sounded right any other way

Two thumbs up it so it's definitely next on my to buy list. IMO all their albums from How You Sell Soul.. are strong and underrated.

Yep, DLR couldn't sing as well as Hagar yet VH largely turned to shyte when he was kicked out. As with guitar and bass, for me an interesting/unique/recognisable approach to vocalising is way more preferable to those that are note perfect but who sound identical to loads of others. Fr'instance I like Karl Hyde's semi-spoken delivery on Underworld tunage and John Lydon's on Leftfield's Open Up is perfect for the song. Then there's Kevin Coyne of The Flaming Lips as on the truly great Do You Realize?. Funny how all of the winners of X Factor have disappeared into oblivion after one or two hits.

Let's face it , all of us have fave bands with vocalists or solo performers who can't actually, properly sing but somehow use their limitations to their advantage. So, on with the noms and the whys and wherefores...👉👉

The problem with singing in your regional accent is it seems to scupper your chances of succeeding in the US and other countries as listeners there will probably not understand what's being sung. Brits singing in strong London, Brummie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Welsh, Scots and Geordie accents hardly ever make it outside the UK. So I understand the need to sing in a mid-Atlantic, faux American voice. Off the top of my noggin I cant think of any Brit act successful outside the UK where the vocalists have sung in a regional accent. Certainly not The Beatles. There's little sign of scouse in their vocals.

if it's doing wind load calculations and the like some Biosphere, Carbon Based Lifeforms or Future Sound of London's Environmental albumens chillin' in the background help the old grey matter

I was brought up in Liverpool between 1975 and 1990 and would've been a teen in the 80s. I was well into a lot of local indie bands old Peelie was fond of too e.g. Icicle Works, Pink Military, The Room, Cook Da Books, Personal Column, Its Immaterial but I don't recall The Last Chan 'fraid to say. Ah, mention of Probe brings back memories like the first time I saw Pete Burns behind the counter there, me trying to figure out the whole he /she thing.

pretty much non stop Pixies at the mo including the deluxe re-release of Doolittle. sounds as good now as back in the late 80s