POP MUSIC MATTERS

George Benson - Absolutely Live

George Benson
George Benson: Absolutely Live
Eagle Eye Media, 2008
Grade: A
by Kenny S. McGuane

Just where in the hell did smooth jazz come from?

My guess is that smooth jazz is the direct result of studio players who during the 1970’s didn’t really have any sort of creative outlet when they weren’t playing on Steely Dan records.  So they’d occasionally get together, jam for hours, and then realize that while they couldn’t really write any songs, or sing or write lyrics, they could still come up with a pretty catchy melody. Give that melody to the guitar or the sax, layer it over some smooth bass lines and Rhodes keyboard…

…then BAM! Smooth jazz!

I mean, smooth jazz is really just pop, rhythm and blues without the vocal. Right? Sure it is.  A ton of those smooth jazz hits would actually make some damn fine pop songs. Actually, at some point some of those smooth jazz architects crossed over, mixing the components of smooth jazz with mainstream late ‘70s/early ‘80s adult contemporary pop (otherwise known as Yacht Rock). The best and most important of these crossover artists is George Benson. READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

Written for THE DAILY VAULT
www.georgebenson.com

OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More

England’s Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark (OMD) were never supposed to be a pop band.  If you ask original founding members Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, they’ll tell you OMD were experimental from the get go. Looking back on their earlier work, calling OMD “experimental” seems like a fair assessment. Thing is, regardless of how experimental their synth-driven records were, it turned out they could write exceptionally catchy music.

I mean, if my only claim to fame was a track like 1985’s “If You Leave,” I could die a happy man. Sweet baby Jesus, that’s a great song. READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

What's Going On: The Life & Death of Marvin Gaye/Greatest Hits: Live in '76

Popumentaries have really gained momentum in the last ten years. It seems like there’s a new documentary about pop and/or rock icons released every week, though most of them skip the theater and come straight to DVD.

That’s because the overwhelming majority of them aren’t very good.

We’re still waiting for a great Marvin Gaye documentary. Even a decent one would be nice. I mean, he’s just as deserving of a high-budget Hollywood treatment as Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, perhaps more; after all, Charles and Cash don’t have albums that regularly show up in the Top 10 of “greatest albums of all time” listings. READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE

 

Classic Album Series: John Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band"

“Mother, you had me, but I never had you” is the first line of the first track off of John Lennon’s groundbreaking first post-Beatles record. The lyric would set the tone for what was arguably Lennon’s most potent and powerful artistic statement: 1970’s Plastic Ono Band. An album loaded to the brim with personal and expressive content, this was the record Lennon had been longing to make for over a decade. Having felt artistically constrained by the Beatles, Lennon used this release as the vehicle to deliver some of the most meaningful and personal music of his career. It was back to basics for Plastic Ono Band: just vocal, guitar, piano, bass and drums – no more Beatles studio wizardry, no more spending months and months to record songs. Lennon wanted this record to be as naked, sparse and spacious as possible; the only thing that mattered was the message. READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE