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Post by dunvettin on Feb 22, 2019 11:35:04 GMT
A Sherlock deduction indeed Graeme. I lived in Dickenson Road at the summit of Crouch Hill with a whole bunch of fellow reprobates attending the London Vet School in Camden Town. I never practiced in London so wouldn't have vetted your cat but two of my mates worked at the RSPCA in Finsbury Park so may feel have done something unseemly to your girlfriends cat ! We were luck at the vet college. Had some great live performers on - bands such as Kilburn and the Highroads and Dr Feelgood!! Also had the folk musician Ian A Anderson perform twice at our folk /blues nights - the second occasion accompanied by his female bassist ( Maggie?) as Hot Vultures. I used to compere and perform a bit - my party piece was " anal sphincter blues" - a homage to the purgative effects of Shiptones Bitter - a Nottingham brew long since extinct. Those were the days.
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 22, 2019 12:30:44 GMT
Dunvettin, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, especially Chaz Jankel, were and are good friends of mine. Also Ian Anderson & Maggie Holland are good friends that I have known almost as long. (For those who don't know, that is not the Ian Anderson that used to dance around on one leg playing the flute). Ian has just been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Folk Alliance in Canada for his incredible contribution to music as owner and editor of fRoots magazine. Ian started his magazine 50 years ago as 'Southern Rag', then it became 'Folk Roots' and eventually 'fRoots' (that's effRoots like iMac, not Froots!). Ian, along with Ben Mandelson, Thomas Brooman and one or two others, was also responsible for the term 'World Music' and for many amazing foreign artists visiting the UK, one of which was Mississippi Fred McDowell.
Shine On Michael
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Post by vagabond on Feb 22, 2019 12:54:13 GMT
An interesting discussion, I must admit I always thought of pub rock as the Friday evening covers type band but two genres sharing the same name makes sense (and I too dislike the term “dad rock”). I wonder if the original pub rock has slowly morphed into the covers type band as the band members get older, realise they will never achieve stardom but still want to keep playing. These days its much harder for any band playing original music to get spots in normal pubs, if its not something the punters know and can sing (scream) along to then the landlords don’t seem to be interested. I played base in just such a band for a couple of years (I’m not a base player, but the one they left them in the lurch and I got bullied into it) with people who had started out doing some really good original work but had to change what they did just to keep getting the gigs, they started out doing nearly all their own work with a few covers thrown in but by the time I was involved they were nearly all covers and they would get away with slipping in a couple of their own in amongst everything else (and it’s a terrible blow for some to realise that they have become too old to live fast and die young)
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Post by tallsailor on Feb 22, 2019 13:46:14 GMT
My favourite pub rock numbers are still the Billy Idol tunes - White Wedding and the other - can't think of title is it Midnight Hour ?? - has Rebel Yell in the lyrics ... That would be 'Rebel Yell', then.
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Post by ken1953clark on Feb 22, 2019 13:55:36 GMT
Pub rock, genre fixed in a specific time and space Covers band, genre quite often played in pubs ;-)
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Post by creolian on Feb 22, 2019 15:09:46 GMT
Of course I understand what is being said and out of interest am sort of playing devil's advocate to see where folks stand on this subject. I could also bring the Blues genre into the picture. Having spent my whole career pushing the boundaries and twisting up the blues, I now find myself asking why the British festival promoters call their festivals 'Blues Festivals'. They are not blues, rock, blues rock, pub rock, or any kind of blues. They are just festivals mostly promoting music that young people would not go to. Genres indeed! Shine On Michael Interesting point Michael.... our little jazz and heritage festival in New Orleans originally cost 6$ a day for a ticket and you could actually hear jazz music....about 50 years later, it costs 185 $ a day and the stones are going to be the big draw... there is a " jazz " tent, but its not what is paying the rent... hopefully some of the younger crowd is accidentally exposed to the more " subversive " stuff... on a positive note that festival has been a catalyst for many more genre specific festivals... most notably, festival acadiens held concurrently in Lafayette. most of the comments here sort of echo what I hear in places that have cover bands playing pop tunes marketed to " adults " Still very popular here are bands like styx, boston, genesis, reo speedwagon, rush etc... none of which I ever listened to. im an old trump now... dont get around much any more, havent set foot in a public house for near a year... jeff
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Post by bonzo on Feb 22, 2019 16:05:35 GMT
Hi Jeff and all, you mentioned Rush in your post, I remember when they were a pub band in Toronto! Gasworks on Yonge st. They premiered there first album in the slightly less rowdy Chimney bar upstairs,(didn't want to scare the suits who didn't often make it downtown!) Wow, between us guys we've seen some good bands!
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by bod on Feb 22, 2019 16:45:35 GMT
Pub rock, genre fixed in a specific time and space So ‘pub rock scene’ is prior to / more informative than ‘pub rock genre’? I think so, just wondering if anyone agrees.... Partly thinking in terms of David Byrne on scenes and Brian Eno on scenius... (Full disclosure: as a tiime-served nit-picker I tend to get confused by “genre talk” - it leads me to look for a distinctive style with basic characteristics where what I find is bunch of differences that play off each other, hang together and interact...)
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Post by bonzo on Feb 22, 2019 17:06:45 GMT
Nuff said!
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by creolian on Feb 22, 2019 18:41:09 GMT
Hi Jeff and all, you mentioned Rush in your post, I remember when they were a pub band in Toronto! Gasworks on Yonge st. They premiered there first album in the slightly less rowdy Chimney bar upstairs,(didn't want to scare the suits who didn't often make it downtown!) Wow, between us guys we've seen some good bands! Best wishes to you all, John Hi Bonz, all, New Orleans has an inexplicable affinity for Canadien bands... ..... Im wondering if you or anyone else here ( bluesdude ) has heard of Gino Vanelli... apparently he sold more singles in New Orleans than anywhere else outside of Quebec. A fixture on the pub music scene here and apparently mostly unkown in the usa. if I had to define Pub music... firstly our pubs are not at all about listening to music...and subsequently I think of pub music as musical wallpaper... Not that I think its bad, it just doesn't require a curious ear. I can hear it all, although Ive never actually listened to much of it... afaic, if their is a genre for "horny" pub music is it. The bands that mix the familiar with their own creations have seemingly gone out of style here... Im always amazed at the musicianship of a good cover band. We had a local Led Zep cover band, Zebra that actually went on a few serious tours and sold a few records... they were fun to see, if not way way too loud. In the 70s you could book archie bell and the drells for 600usd... that was a pub band I really enjoy reading and hearing what other people have been listening to ! Thanks Yall , jeff
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 22, 2019 19:04:06 GMT
I remember Gino Vannelli. I am not sure why, but in the 70s I bought a couple of his albums - Storm at Sunup and The Gist of the Gemini. Oh...and a few years later, Nightwalker. I used to buy a lot of records. There were a couple of shops that used to put aside records that they thought I would like, and once a week I would go in and part with my money. Sometimes that was a dozen albums a week, maybe more. I was completely obsessed with listening to music and going to gigs and went through phases of absorbing all kinds of styles. I guess I still am.
Gino Vannelli, I haven't thought about him for a very long time! Thanks Jeff.
You'll have me talking about the Alessi Brothers next.
Shine On Michael
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2019 19:20:34 GMT
I think the change is relatively recent. In the 90s I would go and see 'pub rock' (which may be a little different from MMs definition), but it was mainly original music played by competent / decent musos you'd never heard of. Nowadays, not only do the punters want more and more covers, but many pubs are playing it safe by only hiring cover bands, or worse, tribute acts. And the decline is accelerating: - you now have 'tribute festivals', and awards for best tribute acts! Not sure if it's Simon Cowell's or spotify's fault, but someone's gonna get it one day... TT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2019 19:21:50 GMT
To add insult to injury, Greta Van Fleet just won a grammy...... TT
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 22, 2019 19:26:37 GMT
I heard Art Garfunkel interviewed a year or so ago, and when asked what he thought of the current music scene, his response was..."Don't you people like music anymore?"
I don't totally feel that way, but I get where he was coming from.
Shine On Michael
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Post by creolian on Feb 22, 2019 19:30:33 GMT
I think the change is relatively recent. In the 90s I would go and see 'pub rock' (which may be a little different from MMs definition), but it was mainly original music played by competent / decent musos you'd never heard of. Nowadays, not only do the punters want more and more covers, but many pubs are playing it safe by only hiring cover bands, or worse, tribute acts. And the decline is accelerating: - you now have 'tribute festivals', and awards for best tribute acts! Not sure if it's Simon Cowell's or spotify's fault, but someone's gonna get it one day... TT I think we are experiencing the inverse... After watching a few of your vids, you are doing what I see in most of the actual pubs here... I guess part of what I would consider a pub is that its usually a familiar place where I know Im going to see or at least make friends... ... the pure cover bands here are mostly relegated to weddings, partys and hotels. J ps, yer doing a great job and would have fun gigging at a joint here like the maple leaf.. link
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