Wow, wow, wow, and many more wows. George, over the years you've made a habit of producing such inspiring texts, but this is clearly one of your best. It's a great idea and I hope there will be more episodes of this series.
The funny thing is that I didn't know this song at all; and for the last two hours I've been listening to it ten times and rereading your text for the second time.
BTW, I'm currently working on a video where I will present to my friends a top10 of my "favourite electric guitar solos", and I spent months choosing which 10 would appear. Now, because of you, it becomes impossible not to include Lindsey Buckingham in the list, so I'll have no choice but presenting a... top11.
Hope you'll enjoy it (of course you are credited, that's the least I could do). Surprinsigly this video is blocked in Russia and Belarus but I hope you'll find a way to bypass this interdiction (if not I will give you another link).
I have to use a VPN for YouTube anyway these days, since it's basically blocked by the Russian government (not "officially" blocked, but slowed down to a crawl), so, ironically, all those "blocked in Russia and Belarus" restrictions now do not apply to me as I'm watching stuff from the Seychelles Islands or wherever.
Good idea, George, to write about this song, a song which shows the limits of having a "repertoire" (same word in english than french, isn't it?) when we talk about art. Buckingham has certainly squeezed all the juice of what was written in this song, meaning nothing truly interesting now that he has learned to tame his inner demons. The art lies in the tension contained in the work, not in a meaningless show business. It's the problem with seeing the old bands in concert: you never can tell if there will be art in stake. It doesn't matter for the more or less engaging band (I've seen Iron Maiden 5 years ago or so and it looked like the Maiden England 88', by the book, so great stuff!), but for a song like "I'm so afraid", or a visceral kind of sound (Am I the only to feel deeply sorry when I see Iggy and the Stooges still trying to bleed Raw Power upon the audience?)
So, your work can be seen as a historical take on a life of work of art in age of reproduction, as Walter Benjamin said: we've got the matrix, the incarnations, and the souvenir... Interisting stuff to do, really. Staying ouside of the showbusiness can help to keep the flame lit: I take the post 2000's Pretty Things upon the Stones...
If you find the time, other song of interest: "Bitch" (does it survive the 80's?), "My Generation" (cruel for Pete, isn't it?), Echoes (most technically stimulating, and you already have written about it...)...
Well spoken! Actually, a comparison of Echoes as it was done in Pompeii and then the way Gilmour and Wright did it on their latest tour would be quite a challenge - maybe I'll take it up in the future. And throw in a reference to the Gov't Mule live cover, too.
The king of rock criticism returns with a fantastic essay. Love it George, this is my favorite song off their 1975 self-titled (and I don't know why not even RYM holds it as the biggest highlight of the album because, to me, I thought it was amazing from the first listen!) and I also loved the version on Live. Now I gotta just hear all of the versions you wrote about! This week I probably will sit down and do a proper read-listen sort of thing so I can hear everything you are talking about. But I did to a read through of the article, and I have to agree with the posters below, this is one of your best George, and you always write your best when it is clear how deeply you love it. And glad you are back, as always.
A quick question: do you plan to cover songs that pass hands between multiple artists? I would love to hear your thoughts on some blues/folk classics and even some songs like "Train Kept-A Rollin'" in a series like this. I imagine the former would be hard since there are a billion versions for each American blues/folk standard. Would still be pretty damn cool to read an essay about it though.
Oh geez, you actually guessed my most probable next choice. So, obviously, yes. A couple of single-artist ones and a couple of multi-artist ones. Thanks for the kind words as usual!
I had this thought too, but it's almost cheating, because going from, say, Sweet Little Sixteen to Surfin' USA to whatever Rolling Stones cover probably exists is like doing a quick overview of Rock history.
Fabulous! You and me are members of the "I'm So Afraid is pure magic and every version out there is a matter of interest" Club, so this is a delightful article. The studio version which I heard back in '90 when a friend put it in a mix tape is really spellbinding. BUT The live versions are what you need to go the extra mile, because this is a song you can't play just once in a row.
And WOW the Largo version is indeed, a different monster! That intro! AND THE SOLO(S). And Lindsey's phantasmagoric face!! Worth the eight pixels of the video.
I just found a cover of the song? Quite corporate probably, Karaokish as Simon would say? I couldn't listen properly but so it seems. Respectful, right, nice solo. Don't know the artist! But this is definitely too personal a song, a tour de force they call it? And yeah the more raw, out-of-control, the better.
About the project, a great idea. I can only think, for some reason, about "I Put A Spell On You" now. Creedence and specially Pete Townshend come to mind. I once heard a version he made in concert in the radio in the late 80s and it's always in my head ever since.
Thanks Charlie! The cover is basically a recreation of the studio version and the lead guitar is... just kinda okay, right? Lindsey can choose all the right strings to tug at, these guys just play.
"I Put A Spell On You" is a GREAT idea for the series, if I ever get the time to get to it. From Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Nina Simone to CCR, there's certainly a lot of different souls the song has gone through - each of the spells is unique in its own way.
Do Heart songs really evolve that much? I mean, they certainly sound crunchier in live performance, but I can't spot too many differences between old-timey Heart performances and more recent ones, except for Ann's voice getting older, of course.
Regarding evolution of songs for better or for worse there's this video of Malcolm Gladwell on the life of "Hallelujah" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OKQTl09vC) where I can't agree at all that in order for the song to achieve its full potential the involvement of Jeck Buckley was necessary (the evolution of live versions of Cohen's songs is an interesting topic but despite Leonard being a very limited singer in my mind for nearly all of his songs no covers convey the message better than the originals).
Great just great. I hesitate to call it a review but the idea is very special - interrogating a rock song within an inch of its life. Not sure how many others you'll find worthy of such extensive treatment. Most of those I'm familiar with - Knopfler, Gilmour, Roeser - don't vary their performance of signature solos that much. Can't say I'm a FM fan but I was prompted to unearth the one version I have of the song from The Rockhoppers 1976 bootleg. I'll go and check out the latter versions now.
A great idea, George, looking forward. I acknowledge Buckingham as a pretty classy guitar player but when I saw Fleetwood Mac in your title line I was sure you were going to cover a song from the Peter Green founding version of the group. A little disappointed, listened anyway of course, and as like you I'm a sucker for crack guitar solos, was all attention. And impressed enough, while wondering why you didn't start with he who I consider the master of this kind of thing, Neil Young. It even occurred to me Buckingham was plugged into Young's blistering guitar solos of his early years (1969-1975). In the several versions of the song I listened to he sounds like any number of other heavy rock guitarists of the time, all pretty much of a muchness, where Neil always stood out from the crowd, not always as technically acrobatic but uncannily always, but always finding the notes no one else did.
Am sure you'll clobber me for this, but that's my first take. Others will no doubt be more enthused. In any event, can't wait to hear you succeeding editions!
Well, first, the name of the project - "The Life Of A Song" - implies that I am only choosing songs that had a lengthy chronological development arc. I am not too familiar with Peter Green's career outside of early Fleetwood Mac, which would automatically rule that out (although I guess that a comparison between Fleetwood Mac and Judas Priest's versions of "The Green Manalishi" wouldn't be out of the question).
Second, I love Neil Young as much as anybody and recognize his unique approach to guitar playing, but I don't know any songs in his catalog that would drastically evolve and shift year after year; once Neil puts the final touch on something, it usually stays the same, give or take a little extra distortion here and there. I couldn't come up with a single paragraph to describe how "Like A Hurricane" changes between American Stars'n'Bars, Rust Never Sleeps, and Weld. It's great on all three, in more or less the same way.
Third, I am pretty certain that Lindsey has always "stood out from the crowd" every bit as efficiently as Neil did, both from an objective standpoint - he uses a self-taught bluegrass-influenced style of finger-picking that was completely alien to all the "heavy rock guitarists" you mention - and my personal subjective one (his solos literally talk to me in far more meaningful ways than, say, Ritchie Blackmore; Neil Young's do too, I certainly admit that). Too bad we're on different wavelengths about that.
Actually, Neil Young's standout songs with killer guitar solos (Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand, Southern Man, Hey Hey My My, Like a Hurricane etc) actually don't improve much on further renditions (my opinion), rather the contrary, so it might not actually be a good idea to choose him now that I think about it. And his masterpiece in the genre, Cowgirl, probably isn't one you could trace through time very effectively, especially as he tends to redo it either as accoustic version, or a let-it-all-hang-out live extravaganza.
Guess I'm such an unconditional fan of Cowgirl these days that I can barely listen to anything else. Recommend you listen to it yet again, though I know you rate it. It never overstays its welcome, virtually note perfect. There, i've said it. Unconditional love!!
Or, to put it another way, I see the first, usually recorded versions of songs in general as being the template and just about as good as it will ever get -- and this without many exceptions. It will be interesting to see how many songs you find which are worth pursuing through time -- unless, of course, you inverse the time line (haha).
This rule rarely holds with classic hard'n'heavy bands (Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc.) - their studio templates were often just launchpads for live performances (solid as the studio productions may have been).
I was reading reviews of Rainbow the other day, and RYM had really weird opinions on their second album being the best and Live in Germany being superfluous or just a "solid" live album. But it's true that if you switch from one to the other the semi-bootleg sound of Rainbow's live output can be a bit jarring.
No doubt, but i'll be damned if I remember hearing a post-studio live version of a song that made you forget the original and move on, so to speak. I'll count on you to find all the exceptions to my limited listening experience.
Easy-peasy - 'Honky Tonk Women' off Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! blows the studio version out of the water (it's all about Keith's big fat riff which is only hinted at in the studio production). Allman Brothers - pretty much anything on еру Fillmore album is superior to the originals. Or how could one prefer the studio recording of 'Sparks' (on the Tommy album) to the phenomenal Woodstock live performance? That's just off the top of my head.
Wow, wow, wow, and many more wows. George, over the years you've made a habit of producing such inspiring texts, but this is clearly one of your best. It's a great idea and I hope there will be more episodes of this series.
The funny thing is that I didn't know this song at all; and for the last two hours I've been listening to it ten times and rereading your text for the second time.
BTW, I'm currently working on a video where I will present to my friends a top10 of my "favourite electric guitar solos", and I spent months choosing which 10 would appear. Now, because of you, it becomes impossible not to include Lindsey Buckingham in the list, so I'll have no choice but presenting a... top11.
A convert - mission accomplished! Glad to hear, only problem now is which one of the actual solos to choose for the 11th spot.
Hi George, I've just published on YT a video inspired by this article. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/h0WGPrclBq0 (Fleetwood Mac "I'm so Afraid" over the ages)
Hope you'll enjoy it (of course you are credited, that's the least I could do). Surprinsigly this video is blocked in Russia and Belarus but I hope you'll find a way to bypass this interdiction (if not I will give you another link).
Thank you, looks quite instructive!
I have to use a VPN for YouTube anyway these days, since it's basically blocked by the Russian government (not "officially" blocked, but slowed down to a crawl), so, ironically, all those "blocked in Russia and Belarus" restrictions now do not apply to me as I'm watching stuff from the Seychelles Islands or wherever.
Good idea, George, to write about this song, a song which shows the limits of having a "repertoire" (same word in english than french, isn't it?) when we talk about art. Buckingham has certainly squeezed all the juice of what was written in this song, meaning nothing truly interesting now that he has learned to tame his inner demons. The art lies in the tension contained in the work, not in a meaningless show business. It's the problem with seeing the old bands in concert: you never can tell if there will be art in stake. It doesn't matter for the more or less engaging band (I've seen Iron Maiden 5 years ago or so and it looked like the Maiden England 88', by the book, so great stuff!), but for a song like "I'm so afraid", or a visceral kind of sound (Am I the only to feel deeply sorry when I see Iggy and the Stooges still trying to bleed Raw Power upon the audience?)
So, your work can be seen as a historical take on a life of work of art in age of reproduction, as Walter Benjamin said: we've got the matrix, the incarnations, and the souvenir... Interisting stuff to do, really. Staying ouside of the showbusiness can help to keep the flame lit: I take the post 2000's Pretty Things upon the Stones...
If you find the time, other song of interest: "Bitch" (does it survive the 80's?), "My Generation" (cruel for Pete, isn't it?), Echoes (most technically stimulating, and you already have written about it...)...
Well spoken! Actually, a comparison of Echoes as it was done in Pompeii and then the way Gilmour and Wright did it on their latest tour would be quite a challenge - maybe I'll take it up in the future. And throw in a reference to the Gov't Mule live cover, too.
How is My Generation cruel for Pete?
The king of rock criticism returns with a fantastic essay. Love it George, this is my favorite song off their 1975 self-titled (and I don't know why not even RYM holds it as the biggest highlight of the album because, to me, I thought it was amazing from the first listen!) and I also loved the version on Live. Now I gotta just hear all of the versions you wrote about! This week I probably will sit down and do a proper read-listen sort of thing so I can hear everything you are talking about. But I did to a read through of the article, and I have to agree with the posters below, this is one of your best George, and you always write your best when it is clear how deeply you love it. And glad you are back, as always.
A quick question: do you plan to cover songs that pass hands between multiple artists? I would love to hear your thoughts on some blues/folk classics and even some songs like "Train Kept-A Rollin'" in a series like this. I imagine the former would be hard since there are a billion versions for each American blues/folk standard. Would still be pretty damn cool to read an essay about it though.
Oh geez, you actually guessed my most probable next choice. So, obviously, yes. A couple of single-artist ones and a couple of multi-artist ones. Thanks for the kind words as usual!
I had this thought too, but it's almost cheating, because going from, say, Sweet Little Sixteen to Surfin' USA to whatever Rolling Stones cover probably exists is like doing a quick overview of Rock history.
Fabulous! You and me are members of the "I'm So Afraid is pure magic and every version out there is a matter of interest" Club, so this is a delightful article. The studio version which I heard back in '90 when a friend put it in a mix tape is really spellbinding. BUT The live versions are what you need to go the extra mile, because this is a song you can't play just once in a row.
And WOW the Largo version is indeed, a different monster! That intro! AND THE SOLO(S). And Lindsey's phantasmagoric face!! Worth the eight pixels of the video.
I just found a cover of the song? Quite corporate probably, Karaokish as Simon would say? I couldn't listen properly but so it seems. Respectful, right, nice solo. Don't know the artist! But this is definitely too personal a song, a tour de force they call it? And yeah the more raw, out-of-control, the better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9KUybxp9sY
About the project, a great idea. I can only think, for some reason, about "I Put A Spell On You" now. Creedence and specially Pete Townshend come to mind. I once heard a version he made in concert in the radio in the late 80s and it's always in my head ever since.
Thanks Charlie! The cover is basically a recreation of the studio version and the lead guitar is... just kinda okay, right? Lindsey can choose all the right strings to tug at, these guys just play.
"I Put A Spell On You" is a GREAT idea for the series, if I ever get the time to get to it. From Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Nina Simone to CCR, there's certainly a lot of different souls the song has gone through - each of the spells is unique in its own way.
Do a Heart track next!
Do Heart songs really evolve that much? I mean, they certainly sound crunchier in live performance, but I can't spot too many differences between old-timey Heart performances and more recent ones, except for Ann's voice getting older, of course.
Regarding evolution of songs for better or for worse there's this video of Malcolm Gladwell on the life of "Hallelujah" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OKQTl09vC) where I can't agree at all that in order for the song to achieve its full potential the involvement of Jeck Buckley was necessary (the evolution of live versions of Cohen's songs is an interesting topic but despite Leonard being a very limited singer in my mind for nearly all of his songs no covers convey the message better than the originals).
Great just great. I hesitate to call it a review but the idea is very special - interrogating a rock song within an inch of its life. Not sure how many others you'll find worthy of such extensive treatment. Most of those I'm familiar with - Knopfler, Gilmour, Roeser - don't vary their performance of signature solos that much. Can't say I'm a FM fan but I was prompted to unearth the one version I have of the song from The Rockhoppers 1976 bootleg. I'll go and check out the latter versions now.
Thanks again for a great read.
Ross
A great idea, George, looking forward. I acknowledge Buckingham as a pretty classy guitar player but when I saw Fleetwood Mac in your title line I was sure you were going to cover a song from the Peter Green founding version of the group. A little disappointed, listened anyway of course, and as like you I'm a sucker for crack guitar solos, was all attention. And impressed enough, while wondering why you didn't start with he who I consider the master of this kind of thing, Neil Young. It even occurred to me Buckingham was plugged into Young's blistering guitar solos of his early years (1969-1975). In the several versions of the song I listened to he sounds like any number of other heavy rock guitarists of the time, all pretty much of a muchness, where Neil always stood out from the crowd, not always as technically acrobatic but uncannily always, but always finding the notes no one else did.
Am sure you'll clobber me for this, but that's my first take. Others will no doubt be more enthused. In any event, can't wait to hear you succeeding editions!
Well, first, the name of the project - "The Life Of A Song" - implies that I am only choosing songs that had a lengthy chronological development arc. I am not too familiar with Peter Green's career outside of early Fleetwood Mac, which would automatically rule that out (although I guess that a comparison between Fleetwood Mac and Judas Priest's versions of "The Green Manalishi" wouldn't be out of the question).
Second, I love Neil Young as much as anybody and recognize his unique approach to guitar playing, but I don't know any songs in his catalog that would drastically evolve and shift year after year; once Neil puts the final touch on something, it usually stays the same, give or take a little extra distortion here and there. I couldn't come up with a single paragraph to describe how "Like A Hurricane" changes between American Stars'n'Bars, Rust Never Sleeps, and Weld. It's great on all three, in more or less the same way.
Third, I am pretty certain that Lindsey has always "stood out from the crowd" every bit as efficiently as Neil did, both from an objective standpoint - he uses a self-taught bluegrass-influenced style of finger-picking that was completely alien to all the "heavy rock guitarists" you mention - and my personal subjective one (his solos literally talk to me in far more meaningful ways than, say, Ritchie Blackmore; Neil Young's do too, I certainly admit that). Too bad we're on different wavelengths about that.
Actually, Neil Young's standout songs with killer guitar solos (Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand, Southern Man, Hey Hey My My, Like a Hurricane etc) actually don't improve much on further renditions (my opinion), rather the contrary, so it might not actually be a good idea to choose him now that I think about it. And his masterpiece in the genre, Cowgirl, probably isn't one you could trace through time very effectively, especially as he tends to redo it either as accoustic version, or a let-it-all-hang-out live extravaganza.
Guess I'm such an unconditional fan of Cowgirl these days that I can barely listen to anything else. Recommend you listen to it yet again, though I know you rate it. It never overstays its welcome, virtually note perfect. There, i've said it. Unconditional love!!
Or, to put it another way, I see the first, usually recorded versions of songs in general as being the template and just about as good as it will ever get -- and this without many exceptions. It will be interesting to see how many songs you find which are worth pursuing through time -- unless, of course, you inverse the time line (haha).
This rule rarely holds with classic hard'n'heavy bands (Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc.) - their studio templates were often just launchpads for live performances (solid as the studio productions may have been).
I was reading reviews of Rainbow the other day, and RYM had really weird opinions on their second album being the best and Live in Germany being superfluous or just a "solid" live album. But it's true that if you switch from one to the other the semi-bootleg sound of Rainbow's live output can be a bit jarring.
No doubt, but i'll be damned if I remember hearing a post-studio live version of a song that made you forget the original and move on, so to speak. I'll count on you to find all the exceptions to my limited listening experience.
Easy-peasy - 'Honky Tonk Women' off Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! blows the studio version out of the water (it's all about Keith's big fat riff which is only hinted at in the studio production). Allman Brothers - pretty much anything on еру Fillmore album is superior to the originals. Or how could one prefer the studio recording of 'Sparks' (on the Tommy album) to the phenomenal Woodstock live performance? That's just off the top of my head.