Stevie Wonder Instrumentals – VV029

September 17, 2023Uncategorizedvinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:32 — 45.0MB)

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SONG LIST*
M1 How Can You Believe (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, Motown Records LP 1968 (3:10)
M2 Which Way the Wind (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, Motown Records LP 1968 (2:40)
M3 Contusion (Stevie Wonder) Songs in the Key of Life, Motown Records 2LP, 1976 (3:45)
M4 Easy Goin Evenin’ / My Mama’s Call (Stevie Wonder) A Something’s Extra for Songs in the Key of Life, Motown Records 2LP, 1976 (3:58)
M5 The First Garden (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (2:32)
M6 Voyage to India (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (6:23)
M7 Tree (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (5:55) Today’s Vinyl Vibrations episode features Stevie Wonder in his early years, and more specifically his Instrumental compositions. Stevie Wonder is an international pop icon, a singer-songwriter, a record producer, AND a multi-instrumental musician (for example…harmonica, keyboards, drums, bass guitar, guitar, and an incredibly talented singer. Wonder is an innovator – he pioneered the use of the early analog synthesizer during the 1970s. His albums are individual works of art, carefully crafted and thematic. Stevie Wonder’s influence extends across a range of genres that include R&B, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. He has often been referred to as a “ONE MAN BAND” because of his broad range of talents in music composition, music production and most of all – – music performance. Born Stevland Hardaway Morris, Stevie Wonder was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan. That’s near Saginaw Bay off Lake Huron, about 100 miles northwest of Detroit. In the 1950s, Saginaw County had several General Motors plants and many companies building parts that went down to the big DETROIT assembly plants. It was a booming economic period for the entire US auto industry. It was a difficult birth. Wonder was born six weeks premature and placed in an oxygen-rich incubator, which resulted in retinopathy of prematurity – causing his blindness. When he was 4, his Mother divorced with his father, and along with her 3 kids, moved 100 miles down the road to bustling Detroit…. home of MOTOWN RECORDS. At age 8, Steveland attended the Whitestone Baptist Church on Detroit’s west side. There, he developed his musical talents — playing piano, drums and harmonica — and he also sang in the choir and there became a soloist. Stevie was quickly recognized as a prodigy.. He further developed his singing talent with a friend …and they performed as Stevie and John on street corners. When he was just 11, this musical prodigy was discovered by Ronnie White of the MIRACLES, and that in-turn resulted in a meeting with Motown Records founder Barry Gordy, who signed him with the TAMLA label of Motown Records. At that time, he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. That was 1961 and Wonder had a 5-year rolling contract with royalties that were to be held in trust until he was 21. The weekly pay for this young artist was meager – a stipend of just $2.50 a week plus a tutor for Stevie when he was on tour. That $2.50 weekly stipend would be worth about $25 a week today. At age 12 he enrolled in Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan. BIT BUCKET Saginaw is also where I was born, just 2 years after Stevie. My family also moved from Saginaw to Detroit, around same year as Stevie – 1954. M1 How Can You Believe (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, Motown Records LP 1968 (3:10) PLAY BACKGROUND – HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE To start today’s podcast, I feature the album titled Eivets Rednow. There is some humor in the album title. Eivets Rednow is Stevie Wonder spelled backwards, and on the first release of the album, Stevie’s name did not appear on the cover. The album is also UNIQUE for Stevie as it is an INSTRUMENTAL album. No lyrics. No poetry. This an easy listening POP and R&B instrumental album, released on the Gordy Records label in 1968. Gordy was one of the four MOTOWN labels – those labels were Gordy, Tamla, Motown, and Soul. The release I have was released on the MOTOWN LABEL and adds “How do you spell Stevie Wonder backwards?” …on the cover. Stevie was only 18 at the time of this release, although this is Wonder’s ninth studio album! Prolific. Boundless energy. Featured on this song is the skillful harmonica melody. Wonder plays the harmonica, drums, piano, but most notably, his harmonica style is unique, very melodic, rich with feeling, and unmistakably Stevie Wonder, listening to it 55 years later. Have a listen to this wonderful song and Stevie Wonder’s distinctive harmonica line. And Now How Can You Believe PLAY M1 Don’t Touch That Dial that was M1 M1 How Can You Believe (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, LP 1968 a short 3:10 in length, a pop tune. Song credits Credits go to Stevie Wonder, music composer arranger and producer Stevie Wonder Instruments – Harmonica for the song melody Percussion Piano and Synthesizer Benny Benjamin – drums James Jamerson – bass guitar The Funk Brothers – instrumentation More on the FUNK BROTHERS later. M2 Which Way the Wind (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, Motown Records LP, 1968 (2:40) PLAY BACKGROUND – WHICH WAY THE WIND Now from that same album Eivets Rednow, on the track titled WHICH WAY THE WIND, there is a clavinet instrument on this song. The CLAVINET was a new instrument – – an electrically amplified CLAVICHORD and it was first manufactured by the HOHNER Company in Germany, starting in 1964. HOHNER is known for harmonicas, accordions, and recorders. We all played the recorder in elementary school, remember? The CLAVICHORD itself is a very old keyboard instrument from the LATE MIDDLE AGES and was used from years 1500 to 1800. Here is a sample of what a CLAVICHORD sounds like. This instrument was made in about the year 1600. It is an amazing sound coming from this 400-year old instrument…. PLAY EXAMPLE CLAVICHORD SAMPLE Also featured on this album is THE FUNK BROTHERS. THE FUNK BROTHERS is a Detroit-based collective of first-call studio session musicians that backed most MOTOWN records in the 1960s. Similar concept to THE WRECKING CREW collective over in LA. The FUNK BROTHERS eventually moved to LA in 1972. You will hear this ensemble on hits like “My Girl”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Baby Love”, ” I Was Made to Love Her”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, “The Tears of a Clown”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”…. …and of course on this earlier song with Stevie Wonder WHICH WAY THE WIND. And now, Which Way the Wind, 1968 with the brass and strings of THE FUNK BROTHES and Stevie drives the Melody on the HOHNER CLAVINET. Play M2 Don’t Touch That Dial That was M2 M2 Which Way the Wind (Stevie Wonder) Eivets Rednow, LP 1968 Stevie Wonder also used that Hohner Clavinet in his 1972 hit “Superstition”. Here is a bit from “Superstition”…….. PLAY SUPERSTITION CLAVINET EXAMPLE Credits Stevie Wonder Music composer, arranger and producer, and the Hohner Clavinet Benny Benjamin – drums James Jamerson – bass guitar The Funk Brothers – “instrumentation” session musicians In 1972, four years after this album’s release, Stevie Wonder toured the US with The Rolling Stones American Tour. I was fortunate to have seen that show at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio. Stevie did the warm-up show. He was truly a one-man band. He was guided around the stage by his team and played the bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, harmonica vamps – – plus his pop hits… quite a show that evening at the Rubber Bowl. Frankly, I was more impressed by Stevie Wonder’s incredible performance than the main act. BIT BUCKET The album failed to get much attention A single was then released with one of the catchy songs, that is the song ALFIE, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and the ALFIE single reached number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts. M3 Contusion (Stevie Wonder) Songs in the Key of Life, Motown Records 2LP, 1976 (3:45) PLAY BACKGROUND – CONTUSION The double album- Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. This double album has many different styles and is complex. Some find the album hard to absorb, but I believe this is one of the three best Stevie Wonder albums. The marketplace responded …. this album became the first by an American artist to debut straight at No. 1 in the Billboard charts, where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks. On this instrumental, Stevie is the composer, however the musical performance features Philadelphia session guitarist MICHAEL SEMBELLO. Sembello was featured on the earlier album, FULFILLINGNESS FIRST FINALE (1974) and also is A CORE ARTIST on this album, SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE. And now Contusion Play M3 DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL That Was M3 M3 Contusion (Stevie Wonder) Songs in the Key of Life, Motown Records Inc, 1976 Credits M3 CREDITS Gregory Phillinganes – Keyboard Mike Sembello – Lead guitar Raymond Pounds – Drums Nathan Watts – Bass Stevie Wonder – Composer Producer Arranger BIT BUCKET Michael Gray, Josie James, Shirley Brewer, Artece May – Background vocals (doo sound) M4 Easy Goin’ Evening / My Mama’s Call (Stevie Wonder) A Something’s Extra for Songs in the Key of Life, Motown Records 7”EP, 1976 (3:58) PLAY BACKGROUND – EASY GOIN’ And now, one more from the SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE album. The other very cool thing about vinyl records was that some artists went the extra step of providing liner notes. These liner notes would include things like music and production credits, maybe the lyrics, and maybe some analysis or critique. These notes are informative, and the idea is that you are captivated while listening and reading the notes on these new songs. In this case, Wonder went overboard, and added a 22-page booklet with all the song lyrics and song credits. So Songs in The Key of Life is a treasured collectible. Another great thing about Wonder is that he is so prolific that he published in double album sets. That’s a LOT of new music to absorb. The records were numbered to accommodate a stackable record player so that songs were heard in the intended order. But Stevie did not stop at 2 LP records, there was more … there was a BONUS 7” record! It looks like a 45-rpm disc, but it plays at LP speed of 33-1/3. Because of this slower speed, 4 bonus songs easily fit on this small format. One of the songs on the bonus disc is titled Easy Goin’ Evening, a harmonica song composed by Stevie. The bonus 7” EP was produced arranged and composed by SW. And now M4 Easy Goin’ Evening Play M4 DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL That was M4 Easy Goin’ Evening (Stevie Wonder) and the 7” disk is titled “A Something’s Extra for Songs in the Key of Life”, Motown Records Inc, 1976 (3:58) Credits Stevie Wonder produced arranged and composed the 4 songs on this bonus disc. Stevie Wonder on Harmonica Electric piano Drums Nathan Watts – Bass NEWS Songs in the Key of Life became the second-best selling album of 1977 in the US (behind only Fleetwood Mac’s blockbuster Rumours). And the album won Album of the Year and two other Grammys. The album ranks 4th on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. BIT BUCKET Liner notes are a thing of the past. M5 The First Garden (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (2:32) PLAY BACKGROUND – THE FIRST GARDEN Now for a “mostly” instrumental album, a soundtrack album, a thematic album. Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants is Stevie Wonder’s creation in 1979. Another Double LP set. It is the soundtrack to the documentary THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS based on a 1973 book by the same name by Peter Thompkins and Christopher Bird. The documentary featured time-lapse photography of growing plants. We hear Stevie’s harmonica lead the melody in this first song THE FIRST GARDEN. A key fact – this album features the invention of modern-day SAMPLING. This is an early experiment. Wonder composed with a music sampler called a Computer Music Melodian. This device was invented by Harry Mendel in 1976. It is an analog to digital sampling synthesizer. With this collection of hardware, you could record any sound, the recorded sound would be stored in memory, and you could play it back instantly, but change it to play back at different pitches or speeds for example. That was the beginning of SAMPLING. Many of the NATURE SOUNDS in this song are from this sampler. Stevie recorded and transformed sounds. Here are some sample sounds…the animal sounds in particular PLAY EXAMPLE SAMPLED SOUNDS – interlude section with chirping animal sounds and storms ¾ into the song Quite a leap in the use of technology in music. Over the years, many competitors emerged and improvements evolved the process of sampling. Today it is all digital and amorphous, sampling. … and now…. The First Garden Play M5 DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL That was M5 The First Garden (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records Inc, 1979 (2:32) Credits: Stevie Wonder-Music and All Instruments, Arranger, and Producer Sampler – Computer Music Melodian Harmonica Synthesizer Bass BIT BUCKET The Computer Music Melodian was invented by Harry Mendel. M6 Voyage to India (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (6:23) PLAY BACKGROUND – VOYAGE TO INDIA JOURNEY THROUGH THE SECRET LIFE was also one of the earliest popular albums to use DIGITAL RECORDING technology, which Wonder used for all his subsequent recordings. Stevie was definitely an early adopter of technology in music production with DIGITAL SAMPLING and DIGITAL RECORDING. Another cool thing about this album …the front cover lettering was embossed. Interesting. Stevie’s recent LPs were also printed with Braille captions and messages for blind readers, as it was on this album. Feel the embossed letters and the braille on the front and back covers. Voyage to India is our next song. Here is longer song set of Stevie Wonder. The LP is a bit tricky because on Side 1 there are 6 songs arranged on 7 tracks! Despite the extensive liner notes, I am left guessing that the VOYAGE TO INDIA draws from two tracks. The first part begins with a western classical string introduction – – violin strings, a double-bass, a cello. No doubt, it was all synthetic, because there are no credits for those instruments. This ends with a crashing sound of thunder…here is a bit of that intro. PLAY EXAMPLE BALLAD intro to the song The second part features a melody led by a sitar. The sitar is played by Ben Bridges. Bridges replaced guitarist SEMBELLO whom we heard on CONTUSION. Bridges was a sideman for Wonder from 1975 to 1992 and played rhythm guitar. Here is that sitar sound PLAY EXAMPLE SITAR 50% in to the song And Now: Voyage to India 1979 PLAY M6 Don’t Touch That Dial that was M6 Voyage to India (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records Inc, 1979 (6:23) Credits Stevie Wonder-Music and All Instruments except Sitar, Arranger, and Producer Piano Synthesizers Bass Ben Bridges – Sitar BIT BUCKET Wonder toured briefly with an orchestra in support of the album, and used a newer sampler/synthesizer, the 1979 Fairlight CMI sampler onstage. M7 Tree (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records 2LP, 1979 (5:55) PLAY BACKGROUND – TREE And now our last song is titled TREE from the JOURNEY THROUGH THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS album. TREE evokes the feelings of strength growth longevity beauty. Wonder uses upward key changes to add sound and power. Also he uses the Computer Music Melodian digital sampler and synthesizer to compose some of the songs sounds. And now M7 Tree – – Stevie Wonder, 1979 Play M5 DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL That was M7 Tree (Stevie Wonder) Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, Motown Records Inc, 1979 (5:55) Credits Stevie Wonder-Music and All Instruments, Arranger, and Producer Piano Synthesizers Bass CONCLUSION That concludes our show today …. I hope you enjoyed listening to a different aspect of Stevie Wonder – namely his instrumental music. Please SUBSCRIBE to hear new episodes of this FREE PODCAST.

Pat Metheny – Guitarist VV028

August 22, 2023Uncategorizedvinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:40 — 50.2MB)

SONG LIST*

M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)

M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)

M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)

M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)

Pat Metheny is an American guitarist and composer. He has worked as a soloist, in duets and small jazz ensembles, and, for decades, with the Pat Metheny Group. His musical styles include Jazz Fusion, Jazz (both progressive and contemporary jazz) …..and also Latin Jazz. He was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri in 1954. Lee’s Summit is a suburb on the southeast side of Kansas City.

His main influences have been other musicians, his musical family and the British Invasion.

Musicians influencing Metheny include trumpeter Miles Davis, Gary Burton on vibes, jazz guitarists Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery and Jazz Sax players John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. PAUSE
A major foundational influence for Metheny is his musical family. His father played trumpet, his brother Mike Metheny plays jazz trumpet, and Pat’s maternal grandfather was a professional trumpeter. Brother Mike taught Pat how to play the trumpet, and so trumpet is actually Pat Metheny’s first Musicians in the family. Metheny attributes his early success to the local musical environment he was brought up in – the years 1964-1972, in Kansas City. Much of this is described in his biography titled BENEATH MISSOURI SKIES. Seems like Metheny is destined to become a great trumpeter, with all that musical environment…. PAUSE
.. there was a bump in the road at age 10. The BRITISH INVASION was in full force. Metheny saw the Beatles perform on TV in 1964, probably the Ed Sullivan Show, because that year the Beatles appeared. The Beatles are what inspired Metheny to defect from Trumpet to Guitar.

Metheny persuaded his father to buy him a guitar for his 12^th birthday. That first guitar was a Gibson ES-140. PAUSE

That’s a hollow-body guitar, built in ¾ scale for young players and small hands. It’s a scale model of the Gibson ES-175 hollow body. Metheny soon got bigger hands and acquired a Gibson ES-175 …and that guitar is featured on his early albums like those in this podcast episode… Metheny started playing in pizza parlors at age fourteen (that’s 1968). At age 15, Metheny won a scholarship from Down Beat Magazine to attend a jazz camp (1969). That camp led to a meeting with Jazz guitarist Jim Hall, and bassist Ron Carter. So, by the time he graduated from high school (1972) he was the first-call guitarist for Kansas City jazz clubs, private clubs, and jazz festivals. Metheny had A LOT of support from his musical environment. Even though he switched from trumpet to guitar.

Metheny briefly attended college at U of Miami in Florida, but quickly realized after practicing on guitar for years all day long… he was unprepared for a college program … He realized then he was first and foremost, a serious guitarist and composer.

Metheny moved to Boston to teach at Berklee College of Music at the age of 19, where he met Jazz Vibraphonist Gary Burton. Teaching Jazz Theory and Performance was in demand.

BIT BUCKET

and for those not familiar, the ES-175 is sought-after by jazz country and rock guitarists – – – these vintage guitars today sell for $3,000 to $25,000. Back in the day, made in Kalamazoo MI. How about that for your first guitar? I am jealous, my first guitar was a Kay (named after John Kay) and it was … a very basic and cheap and crude electric starter guitar. Metheny, on the other hand, got a wonderful instrument, because

There have been many collaborations with Metheny and Burton over the decades since then.

that guitar was retired 20 years later- – in 1995.

M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)

Metheny released his debut album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976), with Jaco Pastorius on electric bass guitar and Bob Moses on drums. This is a studio album, recorded in Ludwigsburg Germany. It is amazing to think that this is a debut album. Released in 1976, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE is still fresh today. In this title song, Metheny begins his work in a signature way, his entrance is unmistakable with a quick ascending line. Many of his solos begin with the signature Metheny sound….and Pastorious presents an equally inmistakable bass guitar part. Here’s that fabulous BRIGHT SIZE LIFE INTRO

SAMPLE Play that intro ascending line with Jaco solid bass line in Bright Size Life

Pastorius and Metheny are weaving together guitar and bass lines in this song. The bass is so much more than a rhythm support role, Pastorius is playing in parallel improvisation with Metheny. Bright Size life sets the table for a fine album of jazz fusion by 22-year old Metheny.

And now, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976

Play M1

Don’t Touch That Dial

That was M1 BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976

At the time of this recording, Metheny was living in Boston and teaching at the Berklee School of Music. His mentor was Gary Burton, the jazz vibraphonist. They collaborated on the arranging of the songs to be recorded for this album, and Burton attended the recording sessions in Germany. Interesting that Burton did NOT receive a PRODUCER or ARRANGER credit on this album.

Credits

Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string electric guitar
Jaco Pastorius – electric bass
Bob Moses – drums

BIT BUCKET

PASTORIUS FOR ANOTHER PODCAST !

M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

Now we review the second track on side 1…. the song is titled SIRABHORN

I attempted to analyze the magical sound of this song and how that never heard before /from another planet sound is structured. Surely it is structured, with a Pastorius bass line and with Bob Moses supplying the heartbeat throughout this song. The song is so difficult to describe in words . A skilled composer named Dr. Guy Shkolnik described SIRABHORN this way:

The beautiful harmony is made of chromatic alterations of pure diatonic harmony and three modulations.

PAUSE

Millions of amateur guitarists, myself included, remain in awe of Metheny. He is a trained musician from childhood, with composition, arrangement and performance skills and teaching skills. His guitar performance is complex and mind-bending. Decades later, his signature sound is imitated but never duplicated.

PAUSE

A little info about the bassist JACO PASTORIUS. The SIRABHORN song features a Jaco electric fretless bass solo and is from the earliest recording of Pastorius. He employed the use of a fretless bass, a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass that he called the Bass of Doom. As a youngster, he had modified the bass by removing the frets (which is outrageous) using a butter knife, then smoothing the gaps on the fretboard. Along with his use of distortion, 2-note power chords, the use of harmonics, and bass solos that sound lyrical…he is regarded today as one of the best electric bassists of all time. Here is an example of a LYRICAL SOUNDING SOLO from Pastorius….

SAMPLE Insert example of a LYRICAL SOLO by Jaco. Suggest Sirabhorn, about 60% into the song a solo that runs 60 seconds. Alternate is the solo in BRIGHT SIZE LIFE song.

What about that equally strange song name? Sirabhorn is named after a jazz guitar student of Metheny’s at Berklee.

And now here is SIRABHORN 1976

PLAY M2

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

Song credits M2 go to

Pat Metheny – on a chiming twelve-string guitar with alternate tuning
Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar with lyrical bass solo
Bob Moses – drums providing the hearbeat of this song

In this same year, Pastorius released his own debut, self-titled, solo album.

BIT BUCKET

Sirabhorn is an alteration of C – Am – F – Dm a common musical theme.

This is altered to become C – B flat m – G flat – E m –

“Sirabhorn” Metheney said that The chiming opening bars have that open, pastoral sound that Metheny has said is rooted in his Missouri upbringing. The vast majority of guitar enthusiasts never get beyond 3-chord popular songs and their evolutions from the 1960s.

M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)

I do recall distinctly seeing Metheny TWICE at the Amazingrace, a small speakeasy in Evanston. It was 1977 and I have my tickets from the January show and the August show. This was early in career of Pat Metheny, playing then at a BYOB event in a shell of a building on Chicago Ave. Metheny was 22. Large hair. Large hollow body Gibson guitar. Seeing this kid just nail the songs from the Bright Size Life album drove it home and made Metheny a lifetime favorite jazz guitarist. This kid is for real.

Now the song UNITY VILLAGE. Here we have a deep guitar solo. The song is named after a tiny 100-person village UNITY VILLAGE bordering Kansas City and Lee’s Summit in Missouri. It’s the headquarters for a spiritual movement, the UNITY Movement which “offers positive, practical Christianity” and describes itself as being “for people who might call themselves spiritual but not religious”. The church was a part of the Metheny family history, with his grandfather working there, and both his dad and his brother had played in the church’s Unity Village Band. The song “Unity Village” is back down to earth. Peaceful and pastoral. It has two guitar parts.

One guitar part plays the changes with bass line.
The other plays the melody and variations.

There is a head to the song, typical of a contemporary jazz. The song really sounds like a story.

And now

UNITY VILLAGE Pat Metheny 1976

Play M3

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That Was M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, 1976, (3:38)

Credits M3

CREDITS

Pat Metheny – solo 6-and 12-string electric guitar, and song’s composer

M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

Now for another of Pat Metheny’s mind-bending masterpieces, UNQUITY ROAD. UNQUITY ROAD starts as a jazz tune opening and closing with the head piece and featuring several rounds of improvisations on is. You will hear Metheny and Pastorius working in parallel and playing off each other throughout the song. This is relatively short one for a Metheny composition, at only 3:36.

Bob Moses delivers powerful rhythm and accent, and again, is the pulse of this song.

Metheny’s composition features a series of rapid chord changes with a three-note motif. It really feels like forward motion. This track also features a full-on Metheny guitar solo, not heard yet on BRIGHT SIZE LIFE album.

And the song title? – Unquity Road is a road in Milton Massachusetts, 10 miles south of Boston and the Berklee College of Music, where Metheny was working at the time of this recording.

And now M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny) 1976

Play M4

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

Credits

Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string guitar
Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar
Bob Moses – drums

PAUSE

The album BRIGHT SIZE LIFE sold slowly, only 900 copies sold after its first release. That had to be a disappointment. I proudly own one of those LP gems, from that first release in 1976. It was used in this podcast and after 47 years it sounds perfect.
The Bright Size Life album did achieve #28 on the Billboard JAZZ Albums chart.
The Life album was recognized by JAZZWISE as one of the 100 Jazz albums that shook the world.

PAUSE

Jaco Pastorius released his self-titled debut album in 1976. That same year, he became a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 76 to 81….
Tragically, Pastorius died in 1987 as a result of injuries sustained outside a South Florida nightclub. He was only 35.

BIT BUCKET

none

M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)

Metheny evolved from a trio to a larger format, The Pat Metheny Group. PMG which was founded by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays in 1978, following the success of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. In this recording, in addition to the trio of guitar bass and drums, is piano/keyboards, percussion, and three vocalists.

PAUSE

Lyle Mays is on Piano and keyboards. Mays and Metheny composed and arranged nearly all of the Pat Metheny Group’s music. Mays was chief musical architect and sound designer of the group for more than three decades. The album Still Life (Talking) is the fifth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group and was released in mid-1987. This song, SO MAY IT SECRETLY BEGIN, largely due to Lyle Mays piano, has a refined, classy, polished, sophisticated sound. The song features an innovative bass line. That’s Steve Rodby. A refined acoustic bass line that drives the song’s rhythm. Here is an example of the bass line lead-in for the song….

PAUSE AND PLAY song intro, leading up to Metheny entrance. Bass line > Strings. > Metheny

Example piano and bass line

With this sound and bass rhythm, I am transported in style, hearing a musical storyline. Pat Metheny is the song’s composer. Lyle Mays piano talent makes the song feel like it is his own. Both Mays and Metheny have classy demos in the piece.

And Now:

So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), 1987 (6:24)

PLAY M5

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), from the Still Life (Talking) album

Credits:

Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar, co producer and arranger
Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
Paul Wertico – drums – a Chicago local – professor of music at Roosevelt University these days
…And 3 vocalists ….
Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
Mark Ledford – vocals
David Blamires – vocals

BIT BUCKET

The PAT METHENY GROUP recording with American jazz piano player, Lyle Mays.
Jaco Pastorius died 1987 September Ft Lauderdale FL. This album released July 1987.

M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)

According to Metheny, the writing of his next tune, LAST TRAIN HOME, came to him very quickly, he said it was written as one complete phrase, then he added the bridge sometime later. Featured on this song are the pulsing bass line and the drum brush tempo, which indeed does resemble the chug-a-lug sound of rolling steam train.

PAUSE EXAMPLE OF CHUG A LUG

Also featured IN LAST TRAIN HOME is the sound of electric sitar. In this case I belief Metheny is playing a guitar synthesizer, such as the GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth, which he did pioneer the use of. IT DOES REALLY SOUND LIKE A SITAR !

PLAY SITAR SOUND

About that electric sitar sound. Here is a flash back 20 years before LAST TRAIN HOME….to 1968 with this sitar sound. An electric sitar was used in the 1968 pop song “Hooked on a Feeling” written by Mark James and performed by B. J. Thomas. This version featured the sound of the electric sitar that was played by guitarist REGGIE YOUNG, from The Memphis Boys band. The sitar was really the HOOK that made this song so popular. Here is the sitar sound from that 1968 pop hit JOOKED ON A FEELIN:

PLAY EXAMPLE CLIP FROM BJ THOMAS HOOKED ON A FEELIN

… and now….

Last Train Home (Pat Metheny),from Still Life (Talking) 1987,

Play M6 FOUR AND TWENTY by Stephen Stills, the Déjà Vu album,

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38).

Credits:

Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar with synth, co producer and arranger
Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
Paul Wertico – drums
…And 3 vocalists
Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
Mark Ledford – vocals
David Blamires – vocals.

Still Life (Talking) won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance and was certified gold by the RIAA in 1992.

BIT BUCKET

The GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth was introduced mid 1970s. These sell for 2000 to 4000 today used. Pat Metheny was a pioneer in its use.
Hear it on this album?

CONCLUSION

Concluding comments

As of 2023, the combined musical groups consisting of Pat Metheny Group, Unity Band and Metheny as a Solo artist, have earned 20 Grammy awards for albums and performances in the 30 years between 1983 and 2013. His discography is extensive with 53 albums released in the 47-year span between that first BRIGHT SIZE LIFE ALBUM in 1976 and now, 2023.

That’s it for today’s show PAT METHENY GUITARIST

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STEPHEN STILLS SINGER SONGWRITER for Podcast VV_027

July 27, 2023Uncategorizedvinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:14 — 55.0MB)

TODAY’S PROGRAM……

M1 For What It’s Worth (Stephen Stills), Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield, Released ATCO, LP 1969 (3:00)…

M2 Bluebird (Stephen Stills) Buffalo Springfield Again, Released ATCO, LP 1967, (4:28)…

M3 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills), Just Roll Tape, Recorded 1968, Released Eyewall, LP 2007 (6:33)….

M4 Wooden Ships (Stills, Kantner, Crosby) Just Roll Tape, Recorded 1968, Released Eyewall, LP 2007 (2:26)…

M5 Carry On (Stephen Stills) Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, Atlantic LP 1970 (4:25)…

M6 4+20 (Stephen Stills), Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, Atlantic LP 1970 (1:55)…

M7 Sugar Babe (Stephen Stills), Stephen Stills 2, Atlantic Records LP, 1971 (4:04).

M8 Change Partners, (Stephen Stills), Stephen Stills 2, Atlantic Records LP, 1971 (3:14)…

Stephen Stills is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with

Buffalo Springfield
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Manassas …
and as a SOLO ARTIST.

He was born in 1945 in DALLAS TEXAS. He is 78 at the time of this podcast’s production. He is still active. He plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards… he’s not only a singer and songwriter… also an arranger and producer.

Stills has had a long and prosperous career. Starting out in 1963, he has given us some 60 years of songwriting and musical performance.

Today I FEATURE original compositions by singer songwriter Stephen Stills. From my collection we will hear 5 albums:

Buffalo Springfield album and For What It’s Worth,
Buffalo Springfield Again album with Bluebird
Stephen Stills’ demo tape album JUST ROLL TAPE with Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, and Wooden Ships
Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s DÉJÀ VU album with 4+20 and Carry On
And finally, the STEPHEN STILLS 2 solo album with Sugar Babe and Change Partners.

We are now listening to ROCK AND ROLL WOMAN from BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD AGAIN.

These selections were each recorded between 1966 and 1971. Just a small time slice of this singer/songwriter’s career.

Stills was between the ages of 21 and 26. These works are important because these songs are each hand crafted by Stills. I also wanted to showcase his array of talents like multi-instrumental musician, arranger, and producer. In addition to being a successful singer/songwriter, who work has had a large musical impact.

Much more for future podcasts.

M1 For What It’s Worth (Stephen Stills), Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield, Released ATCO, LP 1969 (3:00)

Stephen Stills’ first HIT recording was FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH (or “Stop, Hey, What’s That Sound”). It was 1966. Stills was just 21 years old. This was his first big break. He had written several songs, by now.. Not only did he have an inventory of original songs, he had helped to form a new band. Along with two other singer-songwriters, Richie Furay and Neil Young… they formed Buffalo Springfield out in Los Angeles. Neil Young came from Winnipeg Alberta, and Furay and Stills left a New York City gig with the Au Go-Go Singers, a 9-member group performing at the Café Au Go-Go. Two other Canadians — bassist Bruce Palmer and rock drummer Dewey Martin were added — 5 band members in all. 2 Americans, 3 Canadians.

“For What It’s Worth” became one of the most recognizable songs of the 1960s. It was first released as a 45 RPM single in late 1966. In t1967, For What It’s Worth featured on the first Buffalo Springfield LP.

The lyrics in FOR WHAT ITS WORTH are all about a confrontation Stills had with LAPD Riot Police in Los Angeles’ earlier that year. There had been many summer nights of rowdy crowds of kids causing late-night traffic issues in the Sunset Strip neighborhood. LA responded by announcing a curfew of 10PM. As a result, there were reported to have been over 1,000 persons out on the Strip protesting and trouble broke out. There were clashes between police and young people. Peter Fonda was handcuffed by police. Jack Nicholson was also on the scene. Whisky a Go-Go was a nightclub on the Sunset Strip, where many great bands have performed. At that time, in 1966, their house band was Buffalo Springfield. Because of continuing issues of unrest, some clubs on the Sunset Strip were forced to close their doors for weeks. It was because of these civil disturbances on Sunset Strip that Stills recorded “For What It’s Worth”.

And now, For What It’s Worth (Stephen Stills)

Play M1

Don’t Touch That Dial

That was M1 FOR WHAT ITS WORTH – STOP HEY WHATS THAT SOUND

Credits

Stephen Stills – Guitar and Vocals and songwriter
Richie Furay – Guitar and vocals
Dewey Martin – Drums
Bruce Palmer – Bass
Record Company ATCO, a division of Atlantic Records

“For What It’s Worth” became a top ten hit, reaching No. 7 on the US Billboard 100 in Spring of 1967.

BIT BUCKET

I was a very impressionable age 14 at the time of this song’s release… the song chorus lyrics were very impactful on me…

I think it’s time we stop.

Hey, what’s that sound?

Everybody look, what’s going down?

M2 Bluebird (Stephen Stills) Buffalo Springfield Again, Released ATCO, LP 1967, (4:28)

The Buffalo Springfield band was really about their two biggest egos, those of STEPHEN STILLS and NEIL YOUNG. Buffalo Springfield was still a young band, only 9 months old at this point in late 1966. After their hit “For What It’s Worth”, they were eager to have a repeat success. For a SINGLE, two songs, “Bluebird” Mr. Soul were available for a single. Stills writing Bluebird, Young writing Mr. Soul. These were recorded and released by ATCO Records as a single. The version I will play today is from the LP, titled Buffalo Springfield Again, released later that year 1967. This LP version is much improved with lots more guitar work by Stills and Young. BLUEBIRD features the trading off of guitar solos between Neil Young and Stephen Stills. Stills plays the acoustic guitars, some is finger-picking. Young the rocker plays the distorted lead guitar part, on Les Paul guitar. In this song, Stills is ALL ACOUSTIC, Young is ALL ELECTRIC.

PAUSE EXAMPLE GUITARS

About that acoustic guitar we hear – Stills had just purchased a fine old guitar, a 29-year old acoustic Martin D-28. It was first used in the recording of Bluebird. On this song, Stills uses D-modal tuning … he tuned his guitar DOWN a full note to DADGAD, tuning DOWN 3 of the guitar’s 6 strings.

EXAMPLE: Record yourself d-tuning an acoustic guitar to DADGAD.

It’s a full rich sound used in Celtic music, Folk and Rock. The acoustic guitar work and this recording is sharp and clear because of some early recording expertise in SOUND PROCESSING, the use of compression and equalizers to highlight the picking and full dynamic range of that acoustic guitar. This is an ultra clear recording of Stills on that Martin D-28. AND there is also a BANJO PART.

PLAY BANJO BACKGROUND The banjo part is played by Charlie Chin, bluegrass style, from Greenwich Village – Stills’ worked earlier there. This LP VERSION with the added guitar and banjo parts, lengthens this 2-minute single to 4:28.

And now here is Bluebird … complete with dueling guitars and banjo.

PLAY M2

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M2 BLUEBIRD (Stephen Stills) Buffalo Springfield Again, Released ATCO, LP 1967, (4:28)

Song credits M2 go to

Neil Young electric lead guitar
Bobby West Bass
Rich Furay vocal
Dewey Martin drums
Charlie Chin – Banjo
Stephen Stills – singer, songwriter, producer along with Atlantic Records, acoustic rhythm and lead guitars

The single reached number 58 on the Billboard chart, some critics see the song as their most accomplished piece. It spent 7 weeks on the HOT 100 chart. Buffalo Springfield did not last / could not last, with 3 egos as large as a house, all of this talent had dismantled by 1968 and each artist went on to their own individual successes…Neil Young departed to form Crazy Horse, Richie Furay departed to form Poco, and Stephen Stills went on to form Crosby Stills Nash and Young. BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD is a foundation of ROCK AND ROLL.

BIT BUCKET On the lyrical side, lyrics are usually lost on me. I am identifying much more with the guitar, drum, and bass parts on these songs. Some say the lyrics in this song Bluebird have to do with Stills’ musings about Judy Collins. He would soon be writing a tong he titled Suite Judy Blue Eyes. More on that later. The closing verse in the SINGLE is:

DO YOU THINK SHE LOVES YOU?

DO YOU THINK AT ALL?

M3 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills), Just Roll Tape, Recorded 1968, Released Eyewall, LP 2007 (6:33)

The next piece is titled Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and is written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN). It appeared on the group’s self-titled debut album in 1969 and was released as a single.

The song is indeed a SUITE…. it imitates a classical music suite with a set of THREE musical pieces, in this case.

The inspiration for this Crosby, Stills & Nash classic “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is Stills’ romantic relationship with Judy Collins They were both singer songwriters and had a romantic relationship that lasted only two years, but numerous songs written by Stills down the road, would muse about Judy Collins.

The recording features a UNIQUE version of the Suite. This recording is from a DEMO tape made in April of 1968. It was done at a recording studio where Judy Collins had just finished a recording session and there was remaining studio time. Stills evidently paid the recording engineer privately to help him record the demos. He asked the engineer to “JUST ROLL TAPE” and Stills proceeded to perform 13 of his originals – – solo. The tape is available in LP form (very expensive) and on CD.

PAUSE AND PLAY EXAMPLE OF THE EEEEBE tuning at beginning of song.

The guitar is tuned to modal tuning EEEEBE and was used on later songs from the Déjà vu album— Carry On and 4+20. We will hear each of those later in this podcast

The Suite has 3 pieces on the demo tape:

Segment one – You Make It Hard
Segment two – What Have You Got To Lose
Segment three – Be My Lady

And now

… here is Suite: Judy Blue Eyes played solo by STEPHEN STILLS in 1968

Play M3

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That Was M3 Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills), Just Roll Tape, Recorded 1968

Credits M3

Credits

Stephen Stills solo Guitar and Vocals

Listening to this demo ROLLL THE TAPE I can understand the high street value. There are in all 13 songs recorded solo, on one tape, and one take, and there are few gaffs, if any. CLEARLY, Stills not only had inventory but he had great command of the song ideas. Great vocals and use of innovative guitar tunings. These demo songs are solid prototypes!

In 1970, this song appeared on the group’s self-titled debut album – “Crosby Stills & Nash”

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.
In Canada, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” peaked at number 11.

M4 Wooden Ships (Stills, Kantner, Crosby) Just Roll Tape, Recorded 1968, Released Eyewall, LP 2007 (2:26)

Next, we go to Fort Lauderdale Florida. It is 1968, and there is a large sailboat named MAYAN. The ship MAYAN was owned and operated by David Crosby for 45 years. The WOODEN SHIPS story goes like this. Crosby composed the music to WOODEN SHIPS and the lyrics were written by Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner, founder of JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. Crosby said that he composed numerous songs aboard MAYAN, which he considered to be his sanctuary. MAYAN is a 59-foot Alden centerboard schooner-rig, built in1947. It’s actually 66-feet overall, including the bowsprit, and with the centerboard up, can sail in water as shallow as 5 feet.

WOODEN SHIPS is thought to be a look at the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The 60’s was the cold war and a time of nuclear threat between the USA and USSR. For example the CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS in 1962 was perhaps the closest the US has come to a nuclear disaster.

PAUSE

WOODEN SHIPS was inspired by nuclear holocaust and also real life – as David Crosby said about sailing aboard the MAYAN:

“The world has gone to hell … The idea was that we were sort of sailing away from that madness.”.

This rendition of WOODEN SHIPS is from Stephen Stills demo tape, the album is JUST ROLL TAPE.

plays a de-tuned guitar and delivers the vocals.. This demo is a shorter version of Wooden Ships, 2:26. Later the song will evolve out to 5:29.

And now M4 Wooden Ships recorded in 1968

Play M4

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M4 WOODEN SHIPS from JUST ROLL TAPE recorded in 1968 and released in 2007 as an LP and CD with compelling lyrics…..

PAUSE insert lyrics.

Wooden Ships on the water

Very free and easy peasy. You know,

The way it’s supposed to be.

So how is it this demo tape remained unreleased for so long –2007 was 25 years after the original recording. Somehow, Stills left the demo session without taking his demo tape. Years later, the studio closed down, and many tapes, including this one, were given to another musician ….who finally succeeded in returning the demo tape to Stills, who then produced and released this album (CD and LP versions) in 2007. A great find.

Credits

Stephen Stills solo Guitar and Vocals
Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner lyrics
David Crosby song composer

PROPER VERSIONS of these last two DEMO tracks, Suite Judy Blue Eyes and Wooden Ships, appeared on the debut album of Crosby Stills and Nash a year later — 1969. That debut CSN album sold over four million copies and CSN went on to win a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

BIT BUCKET

The theme of WOODEN SHIPS reminds me of Canadian folk singer BONNIE DOBSON’s song released that same year, (WALK ME OUT IN THE) MORNING DEW, a dialogue between the last man and woman left alive after some apocalyptic catastrophe.

The version recorded and released on the 1969 CSN album is 5:29.

M5 Carry On (Stephen Stills) Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, Atlantic LP 1970 (4:25)

In 1968, following the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, Stills worked with American singer-songwriter David Crosby from The Byrds, and with English singer songwriter Graham Nash from The Hollies. They worked as a TRIO called Crosby, Stills & Nash or CSN. Some months later they added a familiar name from up north, Canadian singer-songwriter, Neil Young, and became Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Imagine that, Four singer songwriters in one band. With all of that ego and creativity, will CSNY have a chance of a long future ? We go to the second studio album titled DEJA VU, which was the first time Neil Young was included in recordings. Released in early 1970 by Atlantic. On SIDE ONE / TRACK ONE – – the song is CARRY ON. A title that seems to continue on Stephen Still’s persistent theme . “that romantic breakup with Judy Collins”.

SHORT PAUSE

Interesting fact about Carry On is that there is a familiar tune BUNDLED within, making Carry On a musical Suite. That bundled song is QUESTIONS. According to Stills, “Carry On” was completed in about eight hours from conception to finished master.

And Now:

….Carry On (by Stephen Stills) from Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, released in 1970

PLAY M5 Carry On (Stephen Stills) Déjà Vu,

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M5

Carry On (Stephen Stills) Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, released in 1970

Credits:

Song credits go to

David Crosby – vocals
Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, bass, organ, and percussion and song composer
Graham Nash – vocals,percussion
Neil Young – does not appear on this song….
Dallas Taylor – drums

BIT BUCKET

Not only was Stills songwriter on many of CSN’s songs, Stills really showcased his versatility and talent by playing bass, guitar, and keyboards on their DEBUT, self-titled album released in 1969.

The album sold over four million copies and at that point had outsold anything from the three members’ prior bands: the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies.

The album won the trio a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

M6 4+20 (Stephen Stills), Déjà Vu, Crosby Stills Nash & Young Taylor & Reeves, Atlantic LP 1970 (1:55)

Next we go to Side 2, Track 3,,,,,,,, the song is 4 + 20

4 and 20 years ago I come into this life ….

the son of a woman and a man who lived in strife

he was tired of being poor

and he wasn’t into selling door to door…

It’s a sad song, depressing actually. Stills sings solo and plays a D-tuned guitar, a common tuning of his.

So let’s listen to a very heavy, a troubled side, of Stephen Stills.

… and now….

Play M6 FOUR AND TWENTY by Stephen Stills, the Déjà Vu album,

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M6 4+20 (Stephen Stills), Déjà Vu, Atlantic Records 1970, clocking in at a short …..1:55.

Credits:

Stephen Stills solo vocal and guitar, and the song composer.
NOTE:
- Graham Nash, David Crosby, Neil Young do not appear on this track.

Some Stats about the Déjà vu album

In March 1970, Déjà vu was certified Gold in the US, JUST 14 days after release!
The album spent 88 weeks in the Billboard 200 charts
Certified 7× platinum by RIAA, the album’s sales currently sit at over 8 million copies.
Deja Vu remains the highest-selling album of each member’s career ,,,,to-date.

BIT BUCKET

RIAA Recording Industry Association of America

M7 Sugar Babe (Stephen Stills), Stephen Stills 2, Atlantic Records LP, 1971 (4:04)

After the breakup of CSNY in 1970, Stills went through another prolific songwriting stage, composing over 20 songs for his 2^nd SOLO album – – Stephen Stills 2. That was fast work because the album was released by Atlantic in 1971…….just a year after Déjà vu was released. Fast and Prolific indeed.

Our next song from Stephen Stills 2 is SUGAR BABE. I believe this song is about Stills relationship with Rita Coolidge – with the lyrics……..

Come on sweet Rita
You’re my sugar baby

And now, another Stills creation, SUGAR BABE

PLAY M7

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M7 Sugar Babe (Stephen Stills), from the Stephen Stills 2 SOLO album,

Credits M7

I love that gnarly Hammond organ grinding away on the right hand track.

On the Stephen Stills 2 album there are only general credits, not song-specific.

Even upon further research I have:

Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, composer, arranger, conductor and producer
Calvin Samuels – bass
Conrad Isidore, Dallas Taylor – drums
Unknown keyboards
Unknown harmony vocals

BIT BUCKET

In this song, one of the best things is the muffled organ on the right side and Still’s distorted guitar on the left side. I’ve seen him perform this song solo on a big grand piano. It’s pretty cool, Stills is a self-taught basic piano player, but what a talented composer arranger and songwriter. Great sound.

M8 Change Partners, (Stephen Stills), Stephen Stills 2, Atlantic Records LP, 1971 (3:14)

Last on today’s Stephen Stills Singer Songwriter podcast is CHANGE PARTNERS, also from that 2^nd SOLO album.

Stills said “it was about growing up in Texas. Going to debutante balls, dancing and changing partners.”

You will hear a lovely pedal steel guitar. That is none other than Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar played throughout this song. This version released on Stephen Stills 2 was recorded in early ‘ 71 in Miami.

PLAY M8

And now, CHANGE PARTNERS

Don’t Touch That Dial

That was M8

Change Partners, (Stephen Stills), Stephen Stills 2, Atlantic Records LP, 1971

Song credits M8

As far as song credits, again there are only general album credits,

Upon further research, here is what I found on CHANGE PARTNERS::

Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, composer, arranger, conductor and producer•
Calvin Samuels – bass
Dallas Taylor – drums
Jerry Garcia – pedal steel guitar on “Change Partners”
Graham Nash, David Crosby, Henry Diltz, and Fred Neil on backing vocals.

STATS

Stephen Stills 2 album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and was certified as a gold record.
Two singles were released from the album,
“Change Partners” peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart:

CONCLUSION

This podcast on Stephen Stills EARLY YEARS -1966-1971 included 8 of his original compositions from 5 albums and singles.

OF COURSE this ONLY SCRATCHES the surface of his great talent. There will be a subsequent podcast on STEPHEN STILLS.

Stills has combined record sales of over 35 million albums. He is a Hall of Fame inductee, in fact he was the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – that was 1997.

Stephen Stills is 78 at the time of this podcast’s production. Neil Young is 77. Graham Nash is 81.

Sadly, we lost David Crosby earlier this year, at the age of 81.

On a lighter note, Judy Collins is 84. And Rita Coolidge is 78.

That’s it for today’s show “STEPHEN STILLS SINGER SONGWRITER”, on VINYL VIBRATIONS.

Please SUBSCRIBE to hear new episodes of this FREE PODCAST.

closing plug:

THAT’S TODAY’S SHOW ” STEPHEN STILLS SINGER SONGWRITER ”

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ON VINYL VIBRATIONS !!

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I’M YOUR HOST, BRIAN FREDERICK !!

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VINYL VIBRATIONS

Wendy Carlos Electronic Composer VV_026

May 12, 2023Uncategorizedvinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:23 — 67.2MB)

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Wendy Carlos Electronic Composer VV_026

SONG LIST*
M1 Air on a G String (JS Bach 1730, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (2:27) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M2 Two Part Invention in F-Major,(JS Bach 1723, W Carlos, 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (0:40) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M3 Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring ,(JS Bach 1723, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (2:56) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M4 Chorale Prelude “Wachet Auf”, (JS Bach 1731, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (3:37) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M5 Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G Major 2^nd Movement, (JS Bach 1723, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (2:50) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M6 Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G Major 3rd Movement, (JS Bach 1723, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (5:05) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Benjamin Folkman, Assistance
M7 Title Music from A Clockwork Orange), (Purcell, 1695, W Carlos, R Elkind 1972) , Columbia/CBS, 1972 (2:21) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Rachel Elkind Producer
M8 Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana), (W Carlos, R Elkind 1972) , Columbia/CBS, 1972 (1:44) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Rachel Elkind Producer
M9 Timesteps (Excerpt), (W. Carlos 1970, Tempi Music BMI), Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Warner Bros Records, 1972 (4:13) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Rachel Elkind Producer
M10 March from A Clockwork Orange/Ninth Symphony, 4^th Movement, (L v Beethoven 1824, W Carlos, R Elkind 1970) Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Warner Bros Records, 1972 (7:00) · Wendy Carlos – Moog Synthesizer · Rachel Elkind Producer and Articulations Today’s Vinyl Vibrations podcast features the artistry of Wendy Carlos, an American composer, arranger, and electronic musician. Wendy Carlos was born Walter Carlos in Rhode Island in November 1939. She is the first transgender recipient of a Grammy Award, her album SWITCHED-ON BACH won three Grammys in 1970. Later, in 2005 she was the recipient of the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the art and craft of electro-acoustic music. Wendy Carlos is best known for her electronic music such as SWITCHED-ON BACH…and film scores such as A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, THE SHINING and TRON. Her studies of music composition at Columbia University in New York City in the 1960s led to her working with electronic musicians and technicians where she helped in the development of the MOOG SYNTHESIZER. This was the first commercially available keyboard instrument from Robert Moog. During her time at Columbia, Carlos ordered components of a custom designed synthesizer from Robert Moog, and she collaborated with Moog on the design of that early instrument, which became known as the MOOG SYNTHESIZER. Some of the modules included a touch-sensitive keyboard, a portamento control, which slides notes in the scale between one note and the next, a filter bank, and a 49-oscillator polyphonic generator bank that could create chords and arpeggios, arpeggios are the individual notes of those chords played in cycles. Today, we take the synthesizer for granted. The keyboard synthesizer has become widely-available, and most keyboard musicians today, including me, use a synth keyboard such as BEHRINGER, KORG, NORD, ROLAND, YAMAHA, and yes… even the brand Carlos herself helped design with Robert Moog, the MOOG synthesizer. After getting her Masters in Music Composition from Columbia University in 1965, Carlos worked for three years at Gotham Recording Studios in New York City, to support herself. She also used her Moog Synthesizer to record jingles for TV commercials. The recording engineering job would prove to be extremely valuable just three years later as she self-recorded the entire SWITCHED-ON BACH album, which is featured in today’s podcast. In 1968, Carlos, then Walter Carlos, released her first LP, SWITCHED-ON BACH, containing several pieces written by Johann Sebastian Bach, which she arranged and recorded from her Moog Synthesizer. SWITCHED-ON BACH was released on Columbia Masterworks as part of a two-record recording contract. Carlos negotiated a good royalty arrangement, because the label really didn’t expect the album would sell many copies. Classical music rarely, if ever, achieves Gold let alone Platinum unit sales. What makes this first album fascinating is knowing that the MOOG Synthesizer was in a very early state – – – barely a usable product. …You could not sit down and bang out a song like you could on a piano or organ. The first Moog Synthesizer could play only one note at a time. No chords! No two-handed playing ! No buttons with presets for sounds and effects! Instead, a lot of patch cables and knobs to adjust. Every individual part had to be recorded, note for note, and then layered over the previously recorded parts. This was all done on an eight-track recorder. State of the Art at that time. Recorded parts were time-aligned with use of a click track. Carlos did not document her settings for knobs and patch cable connections – – These were complex, but she was able to recall each part’s sound from her own memory, a living library of hundreds of settings for all the knobs and cables. To add to the laborious nature of early electronic music, the Moog, being an analog device, would frequently drift out of tune. This made the recording and layering process very repetitive, tedious and laborious. The story goes that Carlos would use a hammer to bang on the Moog casing to get it back in-tune, and then re-record the part. According to Wendy Carlos, the Switched-On Bach song recordings required 8-hour days, 5 days a week for 5 months to complete. In other words, Carlos invested some 900 to 1,000 man-hours of her own recording time to lay down what was published That is one-half man-year resulting in 12 songs for a total play time of 40 minutes on the Switched-On Bach LP. And this was moonlighting for Wendy Carlos, she was also working full-time job at the Gotham Recording Studios! That is extreme PASSION for arranging and creating electronic music! Today we will hear selections from three early LP productions of Wendy Carlos. These three albums are: SWITCHED-ON BACH WALTER CARLOS’ CLOCKWORK ORANGE And STANLEY KUBRICK’S CLOCWORK ORANGE Each of these albums are in my collection, and each album refers to and gives credit to WALTER CARLOS, her name at that time. There is also a Corporate ID and a self-credit to Walter Carlos stating on the album liner notes: THIS ALBUM WAS DEVISED AND PRODUCED BY TRANS ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTIONS INC. We can see that Wendy Carlos has been very protective of her copyrights and ownership of this music. Wendy Carlos has released some 13 studio albums, created 5 film soundtracks, including A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Tron, and Rediscovering Lost Scores, in two volumes. Sadly, as of 2020, much of Carlos’s discography is out of print and has not been released for digital streaming or other platforms. BUT WE HAVE THE VINYL LPs, WHICH HAVE STOOD THE TEST OF TIME. Fortunately, there is a treasure trove of information on Wendy’s personal website, www.wendycarlos.com There are many many pages painstakenly updated through about 2009, this is Wendy Carlos’ personal database of information. Carlos is also an accomplished solar eclipse photographer, and her work has been published by NASA. She has developed techniques for extending the dynamic range in eclipse photography. Carlos remains very private, but I believe she continues to live at her music studio in New York City. At the time of this podcast recording she is 83-1/2 years old. Perhaps we can visit two other soundtracks THE SHINING and TRON in a part 2 podcast of Wendy Carlos soundtrack skills. That’s it for today’s show “WENDY CARLOS, ELECTRONIC COMPOSER and ARRANGER “, on VINYL VIBRATIONS. 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SONG LIST*

M1 Air on a G String (JS Bach 1730, W Carlos 1968), Switched-On Bach, Columbia/CBS, 1968 (2:27)