FORGERY LEAGUE

Ah, “Nobody’s Side!” Such a wonderful song! And I love the way it seques from “The American and Florence” (“Why’d ya have t’ do thiiiiis to meeee?”)

I’m glad you’re coming out of musical hibernation…when I send you “Damage” I’ll also send some Logic projects, should you decide to play with them and turn them into something new.

I’ve long been a fan of early solo Peter Gabriel (though I & II are victims of production). By the time of III I guess you’re getting out of ‘70s rock and into ‘80s.

I’m curious about what you’ve realized about ‘70s rock. I always think about big thumpy drums, crystal-clear guitar solos, and stadium production.

I’ve been thinking about the different phases of electronic sampling in popular music…Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush seemed to be part of the first phase, where samples were used to “colour” the music (Gabriel’s “III” & “Security” and Bush’s “Never for Ever” & “The Dreaming”). Depeche Mode took this sound and ran with it. Art of Noise was, I think, phase two: “You can make music without ANY conventional tools.” But I can’t think of anybody remotely popular who followed that idea. Phase three came about in 1988, when lyrics in dance/rave music were mostly replaced by samplers, often with a rap or female “woo-woo” alongside (M.A.R.R.S., Bomb the Bass, Meat Beat Manifesto, C+C Music Factory, KLF, millions of others).

I guess that was off-topic, but it’s been sitting in my head for weeks, and your mention of Peter Gabriel brought it out!

Mostly what I found was a missing link - suddenly the Police, including Sting’s vocal style, snapped into place historically once I’d heard some mid-‘70s Yes. (Seems like the influence went both ways - “Hearts” sounds an awful lot like “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”.)

It’s also pretty bizarre to hear their sound married with Trevor Horn’s proto-Art of Noise production on “Owner Of A Lonely Heart”.

The first Peter Gabriel I’d gotten familiar with was the cold, menacing, synthetic third album… so to step backward to the bombast and poppiness of the first two was startling. Especially because I had them on shuffle mode and the first track that came up was “Excuse Me”. That stopped my brain in its tracks for three and a half minutes.

Aha, ‘70s vocals! I’ve never dived far into The Police, but a definite ‘70s element was the “high-pitched male vocalist” ala Jon Anderson. I think that after all the castratos (Geddy Lee, Gowan, others I can’t think of at the moment), pop-rock went into shock, and still hasn’t recovered.

Art of Noise’s history is all tangled up with that “Yes” album (and also with “The Look of Love” by ABC, “Welcome to the Pleasuredrome” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Malcolm McLaren’s “Duck Rock.”) They’d all worked as part of Horn’s production team on the Yes album (which apparently the members of Yes weren’t too happy about). Samples from that album turn up on “Who’s Afraid Of?” (“Dummm,” the Owner of a Lonely Heart orchestral crash, and a specially-recorded beat that the drummer pounded out as an experiment, which made up the beat for both “Beatbox” and “Close to the Edge”).

Yes, geez, I & II are very different from III, and “Excuse Me” would be enough to send a person into shock! But “Exposure” on II is a look into the future. You’ve got to love the Hipgnosis cover art, which absolutely does not match the tone of those albums…

Things do come around, though. I noticed yesterday that there’s a song or two by the Golden Dogs where Dave Azzolini’s indie-boy yelp ventures into Sting-ish territory…

Yeah, I loved the Police. Their music, at least. Sting’s lyrics I just find tiresome: early on most of them seemed to be self-pitying quasi-suicide notes, and then later he got, uh, poetic, or something. But the tunes: neato.

I was kind of floored when I heard Belle & Sebastian had recorded Dear Catastrophe Waitress with Trevor Horn, of all people. But it turned out to be an inspired match… the “twee” thing never did a whole lot for me, so hearing them letting loose with the fun and funk was a nice change.

Interesting chat on this matter.  I must however direct you to the music of V.M. Bhat, an East Indian musician who plays a combination dobro guitar and sitar of his own creation—a dobro with the sympathetic strings of a sitar that is also played with a slide.  I met him backstage at Hillside and he is a wonderful person.  Bought one of his albums there and then, and picked up another with Ry Cooder shortly thereafter.  Just picked up another called
“Tabula Rasa”—roughly, “A Love Supreme”—in which he plays with banjoist Bela Fleck, as well as a “erh hu” player who’s name escapes me; this instrument being a form of Chinese fiddle with a single string,  and a “captive” bow that is attached to the body of the instrument via the string.  Incredible music.  All three musicians synch perfectly into the kind of inescapable logic that renders the unexpected inevitable.  Good stuff.  Cheers, Kyle