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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: Tracks that make you crank it up posted by G Squared on August 9, 2024 at 06:48:03:
Numero Uno is Boston's "More than a Feeling."
The rock band Boston's 1976 breakthrough single, "More Than a Feeling" is a song about listening to a song. Or, more precisely, "More Than a Feeling" is a song about experiencing the cascade of emotions - - nostalgia, regret, and longing - - set in motion by listening to one specific song.
The "old" song the songwriter has been listening to is...- "Walk Away Renee."
Quel surprise!
The year 1976 was a great year for the stereo business. Thinking about the differences in "the industry" between then and now calls to mind L. P. Hartley's elegant turn of phrase, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
Looking back upon high-fidelity component audio's market-share peak, Tech Hifi co-founder Sandy Ruby observed, "Electronics retailers felt better about themselves than they should have. In the glory days of audio, we were modestly successful businessmen, buoyed by a tidal wave."
. . .
That brings us back full circle, to the rock band Boston's 1976 breakthrough single, "More Than a Feeling." As I mentioned above, this is a song about listening to a song, and its emotional tone is a mixture of nostalgia, regret, and longing. There has never been a shortage of sad songs. But "More Than a Feeling" is unusually complex, which might account for its remarkable popularity and staying power.
"More Than a Feeling" was the first single released from Boston's self-titled début album. The album "Boston" eventually sold more than 17 million copies. The YouTube music video has been viewed more than 100 million times. "More Than a Feeling" is an evergreen perennial of the Classic Rock format.
It was the astonishing success of the single "More Than a Feeling" that made Boston the first rock group in history to have Madison Square Garden as the venue for their New York City debut performance.
The complexity of "More Than a Feeling" begins in its, for lack of a better word, soundworld. Unusually for its time, the song fades in, as though we are intruding upon an ongoing reverie. The timbres are both densely layered, and distinctive in character (including guitar harmonics and harmonic chords).
Band founder Tom Scholz layered multiple guitar tracks, often using effects pedals of his own devising - - remember, back then, laying down a track, effects, and processing were all analog, and all recorded to analog tape - - and then, at emotional climaxes, Scholz mixed in singer Brad Delp, singing the exact same notes and bends as the guitars. At first listen, you might not even notice that there is a human voice in that thick mix.
I think that the ultimate complexity is, that for a song that is full of nostalgia, regret, and longing, "More Than a Feeling" moves along very smartly and dynamically.
The song that inspired "More Than a Feeling" of course is "Walk Away Renee." However, in comparison to "More Than a Feeling," "Walk Away Renee" sounds like a funeral Mass; it really makes you want to lend singer Steve Martin your handkerchief.
In contrast, between its clap-along chorus and listeners' near-universal desire to play Air Guitar on the bridge (the guitar solo itself is a tribute to the melody of "Walk Away Renee"), the up-tempo ballad "More Than a Feeling" can make you feel pretty darn good about feeling bad.
Now, of course, Tom Scholz did not invent the concept of emotional cognitive dissonance between a song's music and the meaning of its lyrics. That has been a feature of art music for centuries. Still, it's a bit unusual in popular music.
One can't end an analysis, however brief and superficial, of "More Than a Feeling" without mentioning the sound effect I refer to as the "stinger." This first happens at 0 minutes 40 seconds into the song. I had assumed that the effect was electronic, but musicologist Rick Beato says that the effect is a "pick drag," wherein the guitarist slides the edge of the guitar pick up the string at a right angle, and as he or she does so, the windings on the string create resistance and vibration.
Of course, the pick drag does not just sit there passively, in one place in the soundstage! No! There has to be a stereo effect, too.
However it was done, I am sure that that arresting sound sold many pieces of audio gear in the mid-to-late 1970s.
That's because you can't sell audio gear without there being music that is worth listening to more than once.
(Is a corollary of that, that when the "music in the air" is not worth listening to more than once, it's more difficult to sell audio gear? And now, do I have to go into rehab?)
OTHERS:
"I've Been Waiting" (Slocum), Sixpence None the Richer, from "Divine Discontent." Reprise WD2-886010.
This is "Christian" rock music that packs a real wallop, with some of the best drum sounds ever to come out of Nashville. Just crank it up. However, this album comes with the caveat that lead singer Leigh Nash's voice might be a taste that some will be less willing to acquire than others.
"Black Velvet" (Ward and Tyson), from "Alannah Myles." Atlantic 81956-2.
More music that just begs to be cranked up. Upon first casual hearing on the car radio, I thought that the title referred to the Canadian whiskey; but it seems to be a reference to Elvis Presley's favorite hair dye. Be that as it may, another great song to pressure-test loudspeakers with.
"Tariqat" (Sharifi), from "A Prayer for the Soul of Layla," Jamshied Sharifi. Alula ALU 1005.
This is my ULTIMATE "crank it up" track. Jamshied Sharifi was born in Kansas, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Humanities, and continued his musical education at the Berklee College of Music. (Color me very impressed.)
Sharifi has composed soundtracks for many major-studio and independent films, most notably the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair." Sharifi is a true artist of the synthesizer. However, lest you fear the result will be New-Age-y sighing, moaning, and droning, this track is propelled by multiple layers of driving Middle-Eastern percussion.
ciao,
john
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Follow Ups
- Fortunately, I have already written about this, so I can mostly cut and paste - John Marks 08/9/2408:57:02 08/9/24 (1)
- RE: Fortunately, I have already written about this, so I can mostly cut and paste - chocolate_lover 17:34:56 08/9/24 (0)
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