Throwback Thursday

The musician you can trust is one who tracks it all live.

No one likes that girl who you cant give a solid pat on the back without a cloud of makeup consuming the whole room…. Okay maybe some do, but those people probably know that girl for the intelligence and personality buried under inches of base and racism. Can you feel the dislike welling up for this fictional character welling up inside you? Do you feel sorry for base face? Think of that girl as a song or a band you have found online. They have the marketing, the top class recording and the radio play but when you finally see them live it’s as disappointing as coming home to find your housemate has eaten your leftover pizza. It’s a common error in our age of post production genius and technology: Raising expectations that tower over reality. This brings me to our throwback of the week by Buddy Miles.

I lost myself to the funky blues of this track more than 6 times today. It’s just so groovy. There’s so much skill in the playing of every single instrument you hear. My favourite part about this track is that it’s clearly been played live, as in all the musicians played at the same time. If one musician made a big mistake they’d have had to start the song all over again from the beginning. There weren’t computer programs to fix things after recording. What you hear is what you get. All that skill and groove came out in one beautiful take.

 

Catch A Star – Men At Work

Have you ever heard Reggae in odd metre? Well you have if you know this song. The hook of this song had me scratching my head for a while. How did they do it? It’s a very rare thing to find a song that combines easy listening and confusing time signatures. Strange timing also usually throws of any kind of dancing/head-bobbing but this isn’t the case for ‘Catch A Star’. Men At Work are a legendary band and it’s not just because they endorse Vegemite in the ‘Land Down Under’. Their vocal melodies ride perfect phrasing and hold beautiful harmonies. The production value for it’s time is also amazing. Everything sits in its rightful place. Choose an instrument to concentrate on and you’ll hear it. The Aussies really do know how to make music so well. No wonder we’re seeing so many Australian bands rocking up in South Africa.

Deadly Melody – Wu-Tang Clan

This throwback is 17 years old. The flow of this song is unstoppable. Wu-Tang doesn’t need your musical arrangement norms. All they need is a solid swing-heavy drum loop, a simple two note bass riff and minimal samples as the foundation. Bring on the rhymes and rhythm mah-fuka. (Disclaimer: I’m just a white boy trying to appreciate good hip-hop so dont hate my craka ways of describing it.)