#30 -- Stevie Wonder

Internal Geometry

If ever there were an artist who one could claim was the #1 pop singer of his era, it would be Stevie Wonder.

I vividly remember a scene from my late teenage years, sitting in a restaurant with friends, eating lunch.  One by one we chose a song on the juke box to listen to.  And each choice said a little bit about us.  The biggest knock-out, explosive response was when someone cued up "You Are The Sunshine of My Life".  Not only does it capture the delicious, freed exuberance of youth, but everyone catches onto the doorknob and enters.

Sheer genius is involved in writing and singing such pop.  Not only is the song excellent, but it threads the needle of popularity, finding the perfect sweet spot that speaks to the greatest number of listeners.

Take another example: "Higher Ground".  The bouncy funk was revolutionary in its appeal across musical tastes.  But why did it have such broad magnetism?  The Internal geometry.  This is what makes some songwriters giants; and incidentally, what becomes the giveaway for 'throwaway' genres that are living off hype and little else (punchy rhythm and bass, snappy lyrics and you've got Rap; add a pleasing architecture and you've got greatness).

 ...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/7//6/6 = 27 out of a perfect 40

....................................

C'est Vrai: Wonder played all the instruments you hear on "Higher Ground", not to mention writing the words.

#31 -- Sting

The artist Sting, besides generating countless popular hits in the '80s and '90's, has done for Rock & Roll what few other musicians have accomplished: merged the popular with the classical to give Rock unbounded respect.

Most successful musicians are content to stick to a groove, churning out additional, derivative hits, or music aimed in that direction, often collaborating with other artists once they've an established brand to bank on.  But few have traveled as far afield as Sting.  First Jazz, then singing in foreign languages, archaic traditional, North African, Indian, hip-hop, and finally a musical play.

And this is all on top of a life devoted to activism, in which charity concerts to raise funds for worthy causes are manyfold. 

Several weeks ago I was watching the PBS show 'Finding Your Roots", which traces celebrity genealogies, and saw Sting participate.  His roots, it turns out, were generally Nordic, and quite 'umble.  His reaction was as genuinely pleased amd as gracious as if he'd been found the long lost 17th Earl of Pompton.  It's a safe bet that few superstars would react that way.

 ...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

9/4/9/5 = 27 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Fun Fact: Sting's is the voice singing "I want my MTV" in the over-the-top, mocking, 1985 Dire Straits song, "Money For Nothing".

#32 -- Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Can't Beat Humor

Blessed are the 'long-time-a-coming' acts who wait for motivation to set in; they may appear lazy, but verily, you can't force a thrill.

A friend inquires (comment #14) whether I'm still working on this blog.  Well, I'd planned for a long pause (until sometime next year), but, like Petty, I'll nonchalantly wander into the spotlight and all but reluctantly lay out my next inspiration.

................

The vibe I get from Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers can be summed up by the title of their 1979 album: Damn The Torpedos, ...why second-guess a good thing?

A glance at the group's other album titles gives one a feel for how in-the-zone their sense of wonder and humor are: "Into The Great Wide Open", "You're Going To Get It", "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)".  Why haven't more artists mocked the act of album titling so excellently and so thoroughly?  You just can't beat the humor in "You're Going To Get It".

Okay, time for fessing up: my favorite Petty song is the earnest "Here Comes My Girl" with its modulations in intensity (speaking voice, all the way up to a cranked and triumphant epiphany).  But, it's also hard to top his collaboration with Stevie Nicks from '81 and of course, "The Waiting", also from that year, is an unstoppable contendah.

It's perhaps a testament to Petty's high regard among his fellow musicians that the Traveling Wilburys (that all but anonymous supergroup made up of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Steve Lynne and Petty) sounded more like a Petty record than it did any of the other characters.

 ...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

7/7/5/7 = 26 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Next up, a current Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee.

#33 -- Eric Clapton

Judging something as subjective as music is like grasping for a wet bar of soap; ...unless, that is, you look at record sales.  And one mark of a great performer is that they consistently please their listeners.  Eric Clapton, despite all the differences in personnel, style and intensity during his years recording music, always seemed to please.

Success over a four decade period is hard to argue with.

And then there are all those collaborations (with 10 of our remaining 32 slots, plus Aretha Franklin, Elton John, B.B. King, Carole King, Traffic, Kate Bush), proving that sharing one's talents pays off--when friends are needed, and in terms of an ever-expanding fan base.

Perhaps Clapton's greatest specific legacy was his elevation of reggae music, and specifically Bob Marley and the Wailers, when he covered their "I Shot The Sheriff", which was a #1 hit in the US in summer, 1974.

 ...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/6/5/7 = 26 out of a perfect 40

....................................

A turning point: Clapton credits The Basement Tapes (Bob Dylan and The Band) with his turn away from guitar solos to, instead, the development of a given song itself.

And a revelation: practicing his guitar playing, when learning to play, Clapton recorded himself, then listened to the tape, gradually refining his methods.  Sounds like "know thyself".

See you next year....

#34 -- Paul Simon

Paul Simon is a great example of an act that could be referred to in either of two ways: as Simon & Garfunkel or as Paul Simon.  In this case, I consider his solo career more important than his earlier two-man collaboration, though not by much.

Simon's recordings with Garfunkel were favorites in my early teens.  My first few years listening to AM top-40 hits, beginning in '66, focused on songs like, Homeward Bound, Sound of Silence and I Am A Rock.  They were perfect for my age and musical upbringing.

The cultural enrichment, however, that marked Simon's solo career was even more important for me.  Beginning with the early-70's reggae styled "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" (not to mention the earlier, "El Condor Pasa"), Simon went on in the '80s to bring first South African and then Brazilian artists and styles to the fore, establishing himself as a pioneer in world music.

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/5/9/4 = 26 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Anecdote: In early '70, after hearing the opening bars to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" for only the second or third time, I unplugged our bathroom transistor radio and excitedly brought it into my folks' bedroom, plugged it in, and was shocked that they didn't consider the tune one of the best things they'd ever heard. 

#35 -- Emmylou Harris

Here's my hat tip to Country, featuring a performer who has collaborated with a surprising number of acts yet to be mentioned in our Mighty 55 countdown.  Would you believe nearly a third of the 34 remaining acts have collaborated or appeared with Emmylou Harris?

That's country for you.  A welcoming collaboration.

My own awakening to country music came with the album, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", featuring Grand Ol' Opry stars.  During our house's construction, in the 1980s, that record was on most days, once the stereo system was installed, as we house painters and carpenters all loved it.

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

10/4/8/3 = 25 out of a perfect 40

....................................

A favorite..., plus: Harris' Evangeline, which she originally recorded with The Band.  A recent album of hers I purchased was 2006's All The Roadrunning, a collaboration with Mark Knopfler.

#36 - Steely Dan

As if to make our point about jazz, who other to follow Thelonius Monk than Steely Dan, taking jazz to a mass audience?

Would the 1970s have been bearable without such intricately composed treasures as "Josie": the chorus being:

  "When Josie comes home 

    So good

    She's the pride of the neighborhood 
    She's the raw flame 
    The live wire 
    She prays like a Roman 

    With her eyes on fire" 

And if you don't know who they're praising, you've got something quite good coming.

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/3/10/4 = 25 out of a perfect 40

....................................

You-won't-believe-it department: In an earlier incarnation, the Steely Dan duo, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, had as their drummer, a one Chevy Chase!

#37 - Thelonius Monk

Ah, jazz!  Here we hat tip to the top cat in the felt hat.  Literally, the musician who, in the mid-'40s, started wearing a beret and sunglasses.

Music is a strange beast, being indirect (patterns of notes that are recognized) and internal (sounds that are heard).  By way of contrast, touching is much more direct.  So, it's perhaps not surprising that a music would develop, jazz, that leaned towards touching: improvisation.

In the world of Rock & Roll, improvisation is the gold standard for separating ability from contrivance.  If all you can do is follow notes on a page, "you ain't goin' nowhere", as the Dylan lyric says.  So, jazz was and is essential to Rock's integrity.

Noodling?  No, we're talking about a musician so immersed in gospel, early jazz, and music theory (Julliard School of Music) that his piano playing was pure American genius.  When others schooled in the 'stride' style were using the left hand as a rhythm section, Monk constructed melodies with both hands.

Granted, he was great, but why Monk, and not Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker or Lionel Hampton for the hat tip?  Even the more approachable Max Roach, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins or Benny Goodman?  For one thing, Monk is the second-most recorded jazz musician after Duke Ellington.  Second, when you see a guitar player wincing with slack jaw as the notes find their way around the rhythm section and fuse with the melody, that's internalization, which was Thelonius Monk to a T.  

Um, but Monk's music is so difficult!  That's because jazz, more so than other great music, is most rewarding when the listener gradually awakens, as the music unfolds, to the approaching wink of the eye that ties everything together.  It is perhaps telling that Monk was a great chess player.

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

6/4/10/4 = 24 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Star power: The jazz musicians who have been on the cover
of TIME magazine: Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis..., and yes, Thelonius Monk, just
as February turned into March, 1964.

#38 -- Chrissie Hynde

This list's tip of cap to Punk, Chrissie Hynde, is as one review put it "...the female rebuke..." to "...'Under My Thumb'".

Although there were several other female-led bands in the late '70s/early '80s, the craftsmanship that Hynde exhibited on songs like "Back on The Chain Gang" set The Pretenders apart--the emotion we hear is simply true, as opposed to the hurried confections that so often pass for 'hits'.

I am not a fan of punk.  Hynde's fellow Akron, Ohio band Devo, for example, leaves me at 'meh'.  But one thing Punk did was tear down conventional gender roles (while it was tearing down much else).  And so, up popped a woman whose band mates came and went at her discretion.  And I think it's a testament to her principles that her music was never "Chrissie Hynde and The Blank", but that she kept to the original "The Pretenders" (a reference to the Platters' classic song, "The Great Pretender" from 1955--which, incidentally, I first heard and loved when covered by The Band).

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/3/8/5 = 24 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Awesomeness: When Hynde found out that Rush Limbaugh was regularly using a cut of The Pretenders' hit "My City Was Gone" on his radio show, she wisely negotiated a deal whereby royalties were donated to PETA, surely a more satisfying result than a cease-and-desist order, a strategy her record company had pursued.  One can easily imagine a repeatedly flummoxed Limbaugh, realizing he's supporting animal rights whenever he opens his show with that rhythm-and-bass thunderclap.

Taking A Break

The hiatus in postings is due to family visiting.

.....................

As promised, here are the general reasons why some acts were never even considered, let alone invited to the ceremony:

1. Substance.  A group may fire away with pyrotechnics, may don wild costumes, may prance around on stage with amazing vigor, may wow you with a machine gun rhythm section, may even talk dirtier than the next guy.  There are countless ways to try to attract attention.  But often there's nothing behind the schtick.

2. Attitude.  Some offenders in this category are easily spotted: the poseurs who think we need to know about their superiority; these are often frantic chord thrashers, or shouters, or in-your-face arm-thrusters. 

3. Dullsville.  The formulaic pablum servers who never wander from their predictable script.  These are often attempts to capture others' success, or to recapture former glory.

Obviously, these categories are caricatures.  Most losers have one foot in one of these mud-holes and the other on firm ground, making them difficult to spot.  Even some of our Mighty 55 have only made it into the pantheon by virtue of being so overwhelmingly talented in some other way that we end up forgiving them their dalliances in one or more of the above quagmires.

....................

The Mighty 55 just wouldn't be complete without a shout-out to #56, the act bumped out of contention when all musical chairs were finally filled.

So, here's the Tupelo Honey award, given to Van Morrison for his deserving catalog. 

#39 - Donovan

Donovan's inner light led him to several innovations that we take for granted in hindsight.  

  * delving into world music, including his own celtic heritage

  * developing heavily thematic songs, like Atlantis ("Way down below the ocean...")

  * having friends and connections in just about every important band of his era

  * leading the way in adopting a 'flower power' persona

  * name checking in his songs

The Donovan songs that I'm still eager to hear include the brilliant "Hurdy Gurdy Man", the beautifully titled "Wear Your Love Like Heaven"--excellent cover by Sarah McLachlan, by the way--and the weird "Season of the Witch"--several good covers).

Donovan was one of the few musicians invited to attend the final recordings for the Beatles "Day In The Life".  He was friends with the Rolling Stones' Brain Jones (later marrying the latter's ex-girlfriend).  He is in D. A. Pennebaker's film of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour, meeting with Dylan.  His "Hurdy Gurdy Man" may have been the first time that three of four Led Zepplin members played together.  He had wanted Jimi Hendrix to play in that song, but was unable to arrange it.  

A possible reason his career faded in the '70s is that in '67 he was one of the first British musicians to be busted for marijuana.  This meant that he couldn't make it to the Monterey Pop Festival that year, due to being denied entry into the US.  Another reason, is that in '69 he split up with his longtime producer Mickie Most (over a California 'session' that included Stephen Stills and Mama Cass getting a bit too lubricated...to the point of near uselessness).

...................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

10/6/5/2 = 23 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Additonal collaborations: John Paul Jones (Led Zep) arranged "Mellow Yellow".  Paul McCartney is on the tamborine and singing back-up on "Atlantis".

#40 -- Sleater-Kinney

Your office has been notified.
This is a hack-a-tude.
Bellow it to the pebbles.
We here; we can tell.

......................................

Note:

The above hack appeared here on the 6th of April.  The group Sleater-Kinney was inserted in the header, instead of the original Kate Bush.  Since I've recently been listening to S.-K., and feel their music represents a hat-tip to the high-intensity, youthful sound of today, I'll okay the change.  Besides, I think I know who hacked this post, and they might just do it again if I protested.

S.-K.'s 2015 release, No Cities To Love, is something I've grown to enjoy, after many listenings.  Getting used to Corin Tucker's vocal wallop reminds me of the first impression Bono made on me, back in the '80s--too intense.  But, I don't feel that way anymore.  Quite the contrary.

Take "Price Tag", the album's opening number.  If you don't smile when the lyrics get to hungry kids at the grocery store reaching for "the good stuff"....  you might need a hack-a-tude adjustment.

......................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/2/10/5 = 23 out of a perfect 40

......................................

Half-hearted warning: If you're an old fogey like me, this is not only high-intensity music, as I mention above, but, it's also cutting edge: melody fused with 'difficult' chord progressions.  If you like bubble gum pop, S.-K. will present a challenge.

#41 -- Radiohead

Ineluctable Tea
Bot-force Zero
Concatenation Domini
Daring Feat

..................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

9/4/7/3 = 23 out of a perfect 40

..................................

A WIP.

#42 -- Marvin Gaye

You don't often come across a voice that's so immediately appealing; nor one whose unfolding career is so wonderfully liberating and fulfilling.  Marvin Gaye was that man.

From his first hint at success in 1962, "Beechwood 4-5789" (co-written for the Marvelettes) through his exciting concept albums like "What's Going On" (which I sometimes pronounce "what's going own"--with a long, drawn-out 'own'), I like just about everything he composed and sang.

A few years ago I watched a '70s-era concert on MTV while flipping channels.  Hit after hit with informed timing and delivery.  Simply brilliant.

The crowning glory to his music was probably that he not only broke away from the micromanaging dictation that was the Motown model (producers telling you what to wear and how to 'dance' on stage), but he did as much for R&B by mixing in social commentary and bending genres to fit his musical inclinations.

..............................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/4/7/4 = 23 out of a perfect 40

..............................

Note: this entry originally appeared as #48, but thanks to my friend Alex Voltaire's comment (which I will attempt to recreate, presently), was transferred here after my grades were adjusted from a total of 17 to 23.

#43 - Traffic

What do you call a band that had numerous breakups, with multiple members quitting, but always rejoining?  Traffic, wouldn't be a bad choice for this sort of coming and going.

Also, where might a band of Brits--world music lovers, with their first few hits in the UK, eventually find their greatest success?  In the US, of course.

And that paradox can be explained in one word, which was Traffic's secret sauce: improvisation; after all, jazz is an American invention.

Their sound began as psychedelic pop, following in the footsteps of The Beatles and Donovan with a side dish of jazz.  A pivot occurred in the '70s, with a turn towards that improvisation.

Their 1970 album "John Barleycorn Must Die", was one of my first purchases; this, after borrowing my friend Jim Paul's copy.  I can recall playing the title track loud enough for my mother to hear as she ironed in the next room.  I was sure she would approve of that renaissance-sounding number.

.......................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

7/6/4/3 = 20 out of a perfect 40

.......................................

Notes: Traffic's use of world music percussion (Rebop Kwaku Baah) and wind instruments was thrilling at the time.....  I will be mentioning Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith, solo) in my summary piece that explains how I chose to deal with, for example, Paul McCartney and John Lennon's solo careers in light of an overshadowing Beatles oeuvre.

#44 - Al Green

What is it about Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" that sounds so good?  If you could figure out the formula, there'd be many an interested party knocking at your door.  

Though I'd heard R&B and soul on the radio, it was early-70s Al Green who opened up these genres for me, and likely others, too.  A great example of his music seeping into popular music: Talking Heads' covering Green's "Take Me To The River".

As an historical achievement, there's perhaps no greater honor than having a sitting president sing a few bars from a song of yours, in public, and President Obama's rendition ("Let's Stay Together" at the Apollo Theater in New York in Jan. 2012) was actually quite good.

...............................


Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

6/5/4/4 = 19 out of a perfect 40


...............................

From the man himself:  Green cites Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley as the music he listened to when growing up.

#45 - Carole King

Today at work I found myself humming "Pleasant Valley Sunday", which to me in junior high in the '60s seemed to stand out as something different than the usual Monkees sugar high.  And low and behold, looking it up I find it was written by Carole King!

Getting right down to the best, I have to say I just love "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (which was written for Aretha Franklin, then later recorded by King herself).

That vote has many a competitor.  "Up On The Roof", written for the Drifters, is a lovable family dog.  And let's not forget "Chains", that was of course covered by The Beatles. 

In my late teens, there was no bigger phenomenon in the musical universe than Carole King.  With the breakup of the Beatles in '70 and listeners logically turning to a female voice, her music was simply dominant.

..............................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

4/5/6/4 = 19 out of a perfect 40

...............................

Hilarious: In high school she formed a band named the Co-Sines.  Also, it was about this time that she made demo tapes with schoolmate Paul Simon.

#46 -- The Kinks

If The Kinks had kept their band's original name, The Ravens, would their trajectory have been any smoother?  As it was, their trove of hits from '64 through '66 (example: "Sunny Afternoon") qualified them as innovative geniuses.  Unfortunately, their early rowdiness (compared to the suit-and-tie, formulaic probity of their peers) meant they were banned from performing in the US, and thus limited in their reach and success.

And there were subsequent constrictions and breakthroughs in the decades to come.

Do we penalize their standing on the Mighty 55, then, for the herky-jerky manner with which their band's career unfolded?  Not a chance.  The Kinks, after all, have the sound and feel of the very first punk/grunge garage band.  "You Really Got Me" is shockingly raw, and to think it dates to 1964!  So, since we'll be giving short shrift to both punk and grunge, we'll tip our cap to both genres right here (or indicate it's all in your head, depending on how you look at the gesture).

Can we have just one glimpse into the astounding brilliance that is Ye Kinks?  When you are a pioneer in any field, you have the opportunity to discover the biggest bang in the universe you explore.  We all know the lyrics to "Lola", since the jovial expansiveness that states "...in a subtle, background voice..." is hard to miss.  The big bang, though, is of course the clever grammatical twist they discovered, something that when heard for the first time is a revelation.  It occurs just after the following: "Well I'm not the world's most passionate man, but I know who I am and I'm glad I'm a man..."  [I don't quote it in its entirety in case a reader has not heard the full line.]

.........................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

8/4/5/2 = 19 out of a perfect 40

.....................................

Hard to believe, but when The Ravens (later, The Kinks) were in their formative phase, they went through several lead singers, including a school classmate of theirs, Rod Stewart.