The strange routes to listening to a band

[Graham]

I've been listening to Jaco Pastorius a fair bit the last day or so, wasn't a huge fan in the past, but decided to give one of his live records a go on Spotify and really like it; looking forward to playing along with it and trying to work out some of what he's doing to improve my own playing.

Anyway, the point is, I started listening to this live album through a rather convoluted process which started with the kids watching a film on TV Sunday afternoon.

The film in question was Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, in that film the protagonists eat a lotus cake, which made me think of the song The Lotus Eater by Opeth.

Opeth are one of my favourite bands, but having binged on them plenty in the past, I've not listened to them for a while, but after the scene in the film put it into my mind I looked up a live performance on YouTube.

I then watched them play another song from the same record - Heir Apparent, which has a great melodic bass part at the end, that I resolved to finally work out. Thinking about that line, I remembered that their bassist Martin Mendez is highly influenced by Jaco and thought I should give him another go. Had a look in Spotify and picked Live in New York in 1985, and wow, loved it.

I thought it was funny, if we'd got in half an hour later and missed the scene in the film where they eat the lotus cake, I wouldn't now be listening to a lot of Jaco and Opeth.

Anyone else have a long, unrelated chain of events lead them to a record or band they really like?

[RhysP]

No.

[sunburstjazz1967]

Nor me

[colgraff]

Almost certainly, but I doubt that I could remember it with any degree of accuracy.

[Staggering on]

Not exactly on topic but close,a long journey to a song.
I was Living in Toronto Canada while at university in the '60's and playing folk guitar.A radio jazz show that I listened to each week had a great theme song but it was never identified by the host.One night at a club I recognized the host at a table near me me and nervously approached the great man and asked for the name of his theme song.He looked a bit annoyed and said "Sister Sadie,Woody Herman,very hard to find".That meant it was a rare recording and probably unobtainable for me in those days.The title stuck in my head and about 25 years after that encounter and many changes of residence and jobs I found a cassette of the GRP Big Band in a bargain bin in a small town store.I was ecstatic when I saw it had "Sister Sadie" on it and practically wore out the tape listening to it.The unison riff in the song is usually played by horns or keyboard alone but in this case the incredible John Patitucci played along with them at breakneck speed.I was in heaven and suitably impressed.Of course I figured I could never play that line,way too tricky.
I play EUB and BG in a jazz/standards/swing /blues quartet and about a year ago we came across the music for "Sister Sadie" and of course we added it to our set lists.My big challenge was to be able to nail the unison riff on both BG and EUB in an awkward key-A flat.I can't play like John P but most of the time I get it right even on the EUB(Yamaha SLB 200).We take the song at a blistering tempo and it is a lot of fun.You can check out various versions on the tube,but the GRP Big Band is a great one.You will find very few versions where the bass plays the riff.The fact that I can do it says a lot about how much time you want to spend figuring out the best fingering for it and then practicing-I am not a very good player but I am stubborn enough to learn that song and very glad I did.

So around 50 years(I can't believe it!) after I first heard that song and fell in love with it I'm in a band that plays it.On top of that I get to play that great riff on my bass,how cool is that.

Bob in Canada

[RhysP]

Actually I've just realised that I have.
Years ago, when I was only about 14, I heard a song on a tape that my elder brother had recorded from the Friday Rock Show that I absolutely loved. He told me it was Todd Rundgren so I proceeded to buy all the Rundgren & Utopia stuff I could get my hands on over the next few years in the hope of finding the song. As a result of this I became a rabid Todd Rundgren/Utopia fan but never found the song I was looking for.

Years later I discovered that the song wasn't Rundgren at all, it was actually a track called "I'm Out to Get You" by Robin Trower from his "Caravan to Midnight" album.

I hardly, if ever, listen to Rundgren or Utopia anymore, but I was completely obsessed with him/them for decades & this was brought about purely because my brother was a useless dick that couldn't even write the name of a song down properly.

[Graham]

Nice stories

[spike]

Back in the 70s when I was a kid I heard a song on the radio that I really liked but didn't get to hear the title or who it was by. I heard it on the radio a few more times over the years and thought what a great song but still never found out who it was by or what it was called.

Fast forward to a couple years ago and I was in a discount book shop and bought a biography of Neil Young for 50p. Obviously I'd heard of Neil Young years ago and I knew that one of his classic songs was After The Gold Rush, but he'd never really appealed to me so I never bothered to listen to much of his music.

Reading his biography spurred me to buy his greatest hits CD and of course that song I'd liked was After The Gold Rush