as the first pop artist given complete creative control of his recordings. (Van Morrison, The Mothers of Invention, Jimi Hendrix, The Beau Brummells, Pentangle, Randy Newman, Jethro Tull, Family, Neil Young, The Youngbloods, The Fugs, The Kinks, Arlo Guthrie, Pearls Before Swine, Tim Buckley, Ry Cooder, The Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, Gordon Lightfoot, Van Dyke Parks, and Joni Mitchell were just some of the acts signed to WB/Reprise at the time.) A casual look at the roster of bands recording for Warner Bros./Reprise during this time shows just how daring even mainstream record companies were forced to become.
Given the congenital venal values of the music business, the emergence of this new ambition among musicians shows the power of the musical renaissance that was the 1960’s. Its very definition almost guarantees a shallow, short-lived music, exhausted within a few listenings and then thrown away.įor a brief period in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, however, musicians working in the pop music field attempted to break out of that superficial, throw-away mentality and tried to produce deeper works, works that could be called art by any standard. I think all of Van's later work, almost all of it, stemmed from this set.One of the stronger arguments against considering commercial popular music a genuine Art is the question of its staying power – its ability to continue to reveal new aspects over time and repeated exposure, to somehow remain inexhaustible. Read interviews from these musicians about these sessions, simply amazing considering what we have.īut like you said, not really rock. These guys were not part of Them, but practically picked off the street and brought in to be a band. The idea that it was recorded in one take is testament to where Van was at during this time, and how he was able to channel his musical ideas through these band members to get it down for all of us to experience for the rest of our lives. Bill from UsIf there ever was a song born about, created from, and that creates transcendence from this world, this is it.That magic that happened doesn't sound mundane to me, it obviously set the mood for the whole package, that we all now know.
Yes, session musicians, but some of the jams, uncharted, lasted several minutes of artists playing off each other, solos, and several minutes of beautiful music cut out for song length time.
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