Sadly the news arrived that there will be no duckwalk here on earth. Chuck Berry died last night at the age of 91. Not that I am a big fan from him I grew up with his early songs like No particular way to go and You never can tell. I also know that many guitar players references Chuck's guitar playing for creating their own sound. You all can read that his influence in Rock 'n' Roll is immense but for me he made some timeless little songs telling short stories of life. Berrys succinct lyrics were an important part of his art, in the group with the suggestive music they unfolded her fascination strength. Possibly in the song "Memphis, Tennessee": He begins like a normal love story in which a man wants to find out the phone number of a girl called Marie with the information. Then becomes slowly evident that it concerns a bitter separation history, and the father wants to speak only once with his 6-year-old daughter, before he never again sees again them. Perfect dramaturgy in form and contents, timeless pop. An effect from duration: Still in 1994 Uma Thurman and John Travolta twist in Quentin Tarantinos "Pulp Fiction" not possibly "Let's twist Again "by Chubby Checker, seperately to Chuck Berrys" You Never Can Tell" from 1964.
Twanging sound wouldn't be complete without Dick Dale and his Del Tones. Made famous by Quentin Tarantino and his movie Pulp Fiction played during the opening credits. It's a classic in surf music and he played the fender picking great licks on his guitar. This might be one of the greatest instrumentals ever and fits to the movie like a handmade suit. It was opening our ears to a lot of great other songs in this movie and Misrilou is a classic in surf music. Tarantino said once this song is close to the music of Ennio Morricone - and yes, it is a music of his own and why not agree to another great musician/composer.
Today's song is a classic in surf rock and got popular on the soundtrack to Pulp Fiction. One more time Quentin Tarantino had a fine antenna for cool songs for his movie. Dick Dale and his Del-Tones were pioneers in surf music. And nothing more should be told about. Just listen to this version from the late 90s and enjoy.
Last week I posted Duane Eddy's classic 'Rebel Rouser'. And today is a band which tries to keep his legacy alive. Los Straitjackets are an American surf and instrumental band deeply based in the sound of Duane Eddy. Typical are their twangy guitar, their strait rhythm and not singing any word. It sound new, fresh and awesome. They appeared on my focus during the post Pulp Fiction surf revival.
Richard Monsour aka Dick Dale is an US-American musician and pioneer of the surfing music. Dale was one of the most high-powered guitarists of the early 1960s years. Together with Link Wray he is valid as style-pedagogic for guitarist like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and Eddie van Halen. He uses especially made fender's guitars and fender's amplifiers and experimented with echo effects. Dale is a very expressive guitarist. He always claims to be no good guitarist in the classical sense. With his experimental play technology he developed his quite own, unmistakeable sound. Dales brand name is the quick Staccato poster of the guitar strings (for example, with Misirlou). Besides, he made the excessive use of sound in the instrumental surfing music popularly. His song Misrilou was featured on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction.
So enjoy some surf punk at this moment and have a good week all you out there.
Finished the renovation of our house, so that we could leave our small apartment. It was necessary than living with a little child and a dog there coast a lot of nerves. Anyway, we were glad to move on over to the house with much more space around. One of the first things I did there was to reserve a place only for me and my records. Now I had the time again, to listen to a lot of singers and bands that I wasn't able to in the past years. So time went on and Kerstin got pregnant again. Our son was born at the end of the year and I said: Now it is enough with family planning.
few records from this year that are worth to write a few words:
Blumfeld - L'Etat Et Moi: German Art Rock at high level
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: American college sound reload
The Sea And Cake - same: Indie rock with jazz
Beck - Mellow Gold: Everybody wanted to be a loser
Soundgarden - Superunknown: Heavy guitars bring back rock
Mark Lanegan - Whiskey For The Holy Ghost: Fragile songs
Oasis - Definitely Maybe: Best selling album I can agree to
Massive Attack - Protection: Fantastic club sounds
Tom Petty - Wildflowers: Keeping the hippie time alive
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in NY: Curt Cobains legacy
Some songs I combine with this year:
Forrest Gump: I nearly cried when Jenny died
Four Weddings And A Funeral: Funny movie about love and friendship
Pulp Fiction: A movie that blew out my mind at the first time
Legends Of The Fall: Great drama
In The Year Of The Father: Another superb movie Mr. Day-Lewis
The Crow: Dark, dark, dark - only revenche
Natural Born Killers: Oliver Stone shows us the power of TV
Ed Wood: Wonderful movie about the worst director ever
All this happened in 1994:
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation begins their war in Chiapas, Mexico // A Bosnian Serb Army mortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo market place // Silvio Berlusconi's right wing coalition wins the Italian general election // The Rwandan Genocide begins in Kigali // Curt Cobain killed himself // Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in LA. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit // Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar is shot dead in Medellin. His murder is commonly attributed as a retaliation for the own goal Escobar scored in the 1994 FIFA World Cup against the United States // Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup against Italy // The Provisional Irish Republic Army announces a complete cessation of military operations // Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One World Championship
Very few music addicted people can still remember the times beginning of the 1970s when German radio broadcasted popular music only for one or two hours daily. That's why I often joined the AFN, where you could hear all the good songs that the forces brings to the American soldiers. Of course the played real country music as well and this was the time, when I got the first contact to the man with the somber voice. Throughout the years I always loved to hear him but I was not successful to introduce him to my lads. Everything changed, with this record. Produced by Rick Rubin, who produced the first Beastie Boys album as well, he got the recognition he should have. Rubin reduced the songs just to Johnny Cash and his guitar and he picked out some songs from nowadays bands and let them sing by the man in black.
