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The Classic Rock Thread


Pariah

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Rather than continue to hijack Cygnia's thread, I figured we could start one specifically to talk about our favorite bands from the glory days of yesteryear. Some are recently retired (or effectively so), some closed up shop a long time ago, some are still going strong, and some are limping along, a shadow of their former selves. In any case, there's plenty to talk about. So here it is.

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To begin, one band from each category above. Rush, of course, are basically retired at this point. The announcement a few days ago really only makes official what has effectively been in place for some time.

 

Asia, although they have made no such announcement that I am aware of, are effectively done at this point. John Wetton died about a year ago, and Steve Howe and Geoff Downes are working with Yes. I'm not sure what Carl Palmer is doing is present. At any rate, without at least Downes, there is no Asia. (The only other hope on that front, former vocalist John Payne, is now working on another band called Dukes of the Orient. He said he wanted to pursue that rather than anything with the Asia name, out of respect for Wetton.)

 

Yes are presently limping along with no original members remaining. Steve Howe and Allen White have been with the band a long time, of course, but without Chris Squire or Jon Anderson, it just doesn't feel like Yes anymore.

 

Kansas, on the other hand, has enjoyed a recent reinvigoration. Primary songwriter Kerry Livgren has been out of the band since about 2001 (and has since been working on a side project, Proto-Kaw, which is a long story in and of itself), and vocalist Steve Walsh hasn't wanted to do any new recording because it would take away from the band's touring schedule, which was supporting him financially. Violinist Robbie Steinhardt left at least a decade ago as well. But now that Walsh has finally retired, the band has brought in some new blood and recorded a new album, 2016's The Prelude Implicit. It has a similar sound, and the same energy, as their stuff from the late 70s and early 80s--not quite up to the level of Leftoverture or Point of Know Return, but as good as anything else in their catalog. 

 

Okay, who else do you guys wanna talk about?

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Kansas is one of those bands that I've always enjoyed. I saw them live here in Las Vegas back in 1992 at the Huntridge Theater (which was basically a big concrete box with seats at that point), and it was an amazing concert. While I like Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, I keep going back to In the Spirit of Things

 

Jumping over to another classic act, Steve Walsh and Kansas drummer Phil Ehart both worked on this track from former Genesis lead guitarist Steve Hackett's second solo release, Please Don't Touch:

 

 

 

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John Fogerty still seems to be going.  I have to make it a point to see him in person next time he's in these parts.  I came within a couple of months of seeing him (with CCR) in Hamburg in 1971, but we moved back to the States just a tad too soon.

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Speaking of Kansas, Carry on Wayward Son remains one of the best rock n' roll songs ever written.

 

My favorite acts tend to be those with bass players who influenced me.  Rush, Yes, KISS, and Elton John were early ones (Elton's bass player, the late Dee Murray, was woefully underrated).  Then I entered late-teen years and it was all about Scorpions, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Ratt, Dokken, Whitesnake, Skid Row...you get the idea.

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I've seen Fleetwood Mac twice, and Stevie Nicks once, back in the late 80s/early 90s, because a friend of mine was really into them at the time. All of them were in the Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts, a venue that had absolutely gorgeous acoustics. None of the three concerts rate very high in my enjoyment, and I found myself more interested in the guys working the spotlights in the lighting rig than the music during the second concert (for the absolutely terrible Behind the Mask tour--the first CD that I ever sold back to a record store). They're basically a band that should have broken up many years before.

 

The Aladdin Theater holds a very special place for me. It's where my high school graduation was held, and where I saw a bunch of really great concerts, like "Weird" Al and the Moody Blues. The acoustics were so good, especially when it was properly balanced by a good sound engineer. The Moody Blues concert was a favorite of mine for that reason. You could feel low notes go right through you, and mids and highs were crystal clear. I didn't need earplugs, and left the concert with no ringing in my ears. The other thing that made the concert was that it was obvious that the Moodies were having fun making music up on the stage. They had opened the Goodwill Games that year, and just decided to put together a quick concert tour because they wanted to play some more.

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4 hours ago, death tribble said:

When exactly does Rock become classic ?

 

But I would say Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and The Who qualify.

 

A question just as important: when (or how) does become not classic?  I am disregarding continuing works of groups etc. established back in the Classic Era.  I don't have a good answer for that, though for me that feels like the late 1980s.  I admit to nothing but bias going into that response.

 

The "when"  for the onset seems to be in the 2nd half of the 1960s, though there wasn't a definite transition epoch.

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I saw Blue Oyster Cult in concert (for the 3rd time) a little over a year ago.  The only original members left are Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom and the last studio album they released was back in 2001, but they still put on a damn good show.

 

I saw Stevie Nicks last year as a late birthday present to my wife and I thought the show was pretty good.  She loved it, but she's much more of a Fleetwood Mac & Stevie Nicks fan than I am.

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I think my zenith in terms of concerts was seeing Pink Floyd in B.C. Place in Vancouver in '94 or so.  Believe it or not, we got in almost for free ... the tix came as a thanks, not exactly a fee, from one of the road crew, to my wife, who had done a fast will and probate for his partner.  (She was practicing law then, and was doing lots of wills and probates for AIDS patients; the drug cocktail treatments were being worked out back at that time, and there were a lot of deaths in that community.)

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It hurts hearing Motley Crue or Guns and Roses on classic rock stations.  Not because it makes me feel old but because they're just... not to me.

 

I like both bands a lot.  I don't understand the hate that GNR's music gets (anger towards individual band members, though, I mostly get).  Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood was a great album for the genre and half its tracks are still on my main Spotify list.

 

Nothing either did, though, can hold a candle to anything the true giants of rock from the 70s did.  Again, that's not a knock against them - most of those giants of rock can't hold a candle to anything they did themselves in the 70s - but it's a feeling I can't shake. 

 

There are a few exceptions, of course - Rush being one - but to find that spirit of the prog rock / 'classic' rock you mostly had to wander to the edges of perception, like Oingo Boingo.

 

It's funny, though, that that's where my tastes turned.  I was born in 75 and 3/4 of the music I listen to now predates my going to kindergarten.  I grew up with the 'hard rock' and hair metal of the 80s and somehow tracked my way backwards (mostly through covers, I think).   And Who Made Who from AC/DC - one of the first albums I ever bought with an allowance.  I 'blame' some of the tracks you have to grow into (like Ride On) for broadening my horizons.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I have a couple of Giant's albums, a good band.

 

I've been enjoying the rock revival movement; Crash Kelly, The Struts, Greta Van Fleet(four guys role playing as Led Zeppelin), The Amorettes, The Pretty Reckless, and Halestorm (though some are more modern than others) as much as I've enjoyed my old-fart retreads like Black Star Riders.

Or bands that are still putting albums out. They're not always classics, but I'm really really pleased that I can find 1 or 2 awesome songs per album at a time when the industry has left guys like me behind. 

 

Also have become a fan of bands from anywhere but the US who never made it here but carried on the traditions back home, the UK's Magnum being a band I got into a few years back. 

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On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 6:50 AM, death tribble said:

When exactly does Rock become classic ?

 

But I would say Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and The Who qualify.

I'd say 2nd half of the 60s(or whenever the Who and Rolling Stones debuted--1964?) up through the 1970s.  The cut-off is open for debate, though I'm not sure Nirvana yet qualifies.  

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