Two Cheers for Hardline Music Talk

    

 

Whenever I do an article on Hardline music talk, I get a lot of comments highly critical of The Hard Ones, especially noting (1) music snobbishness, usually by Danny but sometimes by Corby, and (2) the frequency that a small number of artists are featured:   Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, a handful of others.

 

I'll declare my bias.  Long before I was aware of The Hardline, if you had asked me to name my three favorite modern acts, they would have been Steely Dan,  Jeff  Beck, and Neil Young -- three of Mike R's favorites as well, plus Petty.  So off the bat, I don't mind most of the music talk at all.  Other than Danny's (fairly rare) mentions of newer local and obscure national acts, the guys' fave raves coincide with those I got a taste for from my years of primo music appreciation.

 

But I'm not defending their taste in music.  I want to make a larger point about The Hardline, and probably The whole Ticket.  I'll concede the Confessors' point, that there is a fairish degree of repetition in a lot of it.  Even Nude Music Tuesday, on whatever weekeday it happens to fall, tends to feature new releases by old acts.  (So that's where the one cheer gets subtracted.)

 

The thought I want to share is this:  Isn't one of the things that makes The Hardline and all of the showgrams great that they don't pander to the P1?  That these shows are almost more overheard than  heard?  A bunch of white guys + Donovan sitting around talking?  Sure enough, repetition can be boring.  But I'd much rather that Mike, Corby, and Danny were unselfconscious in their music talk rather than trying to gin up chatter for stuff they don't care much about.  I've never heard a single Widespread Panic song, but Corby's enthusiasm for the band has attained the status of a bit, and it's OK.   Mike defends his attraction to certain older, sometimes schmaltzy, pop hits that earn Corby's and Danny's scorn, and it's always a refreshing interude.

 

So I'm good with the quantity and quality of music talk on The 'Line.  Sure, I disagree with it sometimes, as I did with Andy Williams.  And I've defended The Beach Boys in these pages against Danny's and Corby's sneering.  (Oh Danny, Danny, Danny -- or, Little Douche Coupe)

 

And, to get you all good and lathered up, let me say that Neil Young has made some of the most beautiful music, and written some of the most striking songs, of the past fifty years. 

 

 

A Worthy Selection for the Trifecta

First:

(1) Apologies.  This is a pretty un-Tickety post, but it relates to the Trifecta, so I'm claiming it.

(2) This is my 300th post.  Thanks to the Confessor Nation for continuing to check in, even when I'm not able to get off as many blasts as usual.  We pick up a few, we lose a few.  But I'll tell you, just having you guys around to fill in some info and call attention to stuff has increased my listening pleasure, I tell you what.

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I was very surprised after a couple of years of listening to discover that Mike R's favorites and mine were precisely congruent:  Steely Dan and Jeff Beck.

I was therefore delighted that Mike recognized Roger Nichols, Steely Dan's engineer nonpareil, for inclusion in that Three Bedroom Apartment in the Sky.  Well deserved -- those albums are crystaline.  So in my estimation, well-deserved.  When I went to test some audio equipment once, the album I took with me was "Aja."

His tribute had a lot of information I wasn't aware of.  But there were two notable omissions I'll take a moment to bring to your attention.

First -- and of interest to the Trifecta analysis -- his nickname was "the Immortal."  In fact, he was credited that way on albums.  Partly because he survived Fagen and Becker's man-killing sessions for album after album, and partly because he seemed to have an immunity to electrical shock.

Second, while Mike was correct that he was pictured on the back of "Katy Lied," that was not his first appearance on a Steely Dan album cover.  Here is the back of "Countdown to Ecstasy":

If you click on the image, you can make it bigger.  If you will examine it carefully, you will see a random hand reaching up from beneath the board to manipulate the faders.  That's Roger (the Immortal) Nichols.

RIP.

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Not much Ticket interest there, but I had exactly ten minutes to throw something up.  I'll post an open thread in a couple of days with a suggested (and non-binding) topic.  Hoping that things slow down for me in the realm of actual employment in the next week or so.  Thanks for your patience.

Hope you will stick with me for the next 300.