Keith-When I did my 23 & Me DNA testing the results indicated that I had the Beatles gene and that I had a mild to moderate intolerance toward the Rolling Stones with a secondary rash-like susceptibility to any Stones solo material (scientific note- oddly this also included Ron Wood and Faces but not the Small Faces. Fascinating). Anyway, I was not inclined to like this tune though I recalled it from its initial release. On re-listening, despite a slight scratchiness in my throat, it’s pretty damn good. Keith’s singing is his singing–saved by the background vocals in my mind. But the gem of this tune is in how the funky, groovy rhythms of all of the instruments interplay. No fluff or fancy here, just really good rock and rhythm. As for the base artist. Hmmm. I’m gonna say that when Keith played (poorly) in the ill-fated Rock and Roll Circus in the late 60’s, Jethro Tull was on the bill. Though so was Yoko Ono. Hmmm. Yoko…John Lennon. Let’s go with the Beatles.
“Birds of Prey/ “Copeland”. Plenty of propulsively rhythmic (or is that rhythmically propulsive?) energy in this one, as you’d expect from the former Police (base artist alert!) drummer. Rock-identified artists heading in non-pop directions is always interesting. An intriguingly busy composition, from that li’l opening piano arpeggio to the clever way the horns play off everything else. Almost has the feel of a movie score. A couple years back I saw Copeland play one of his lengthier compositions with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. I thought it was pretty good, though my companion for the evening, who is a drummer with a degree in music and everything, and a fan of Copeland’s drumming, pooh-poohed it for reasons I did not fully comprehend.
Keith Richards – Take It So Hard
No one can toss off a little guitar phrase quite like Keith. This one strikes me as somewhere in between Brown Sugar’s and Start Me Up’s. Not stepping awfully far from a Stones track, it chugs along nicely with some tasty lead guitar and nothing too offensive in the vocals. It reminds me of a certain Frampton track. Nice.
Stewart Copeland – Birds of Prey
I have a cassette of this album somewhere and find it immensely “eardible.” This track is brimming with excitement – percussively percolating with woodwinds and horns swirling in a fantastically fun & quick storm. This would fit in nicely with Italian jazz-rock artist Arti & Mestieri’s stuff or the jazzier Gong material.
Had this been my selection, the base artist would, of course, be Curved Air – SC appearing on their Midnight Wire (’75) & Airborne (’76) records – pre-Police.
“Take It So Hard”by Keith Richards: His voice sounds like he is barely holding back the need to for a long smoker hack attack And it works. If I heard this on the radio I would assume it was the Stones for sure. Sounds exactly like them to my ear. Good Tune. I enjoyed.
“Birds of Prey” by Stewart Copeland: Cool arrangement and textures throughout. The fact that it is Copeland made my ears laser focus on the drums and it was well worth it, however, prob if I listened again I would pick out other instruments also adding to the fun. Was that a marching band in the mix as well? A sonic journey for sure. Side note..parts of the song seemed to peak over (flab) and made me do that speaker bump thing a couple of times but perhaps it IS my shitty speakers I am listening through.
Copeland – Despite all the horns and such, this is totally a vehicle to showcase Stewart. I mean, his name is up front, right? I dig listening to him play.
Keith-When I did my 23 & Me DNA testing the results indicated that I had the Beatles gene and that I had a mild to moderate intolerance toward the Rolling Stones with a secondary rash-like susceptibility to any Stones solo material (scientific note- oddly this also included Ron Wood and Faces but not the Small Faces. Fascinating). Anyway, I was not inclined to like this tune though I recalled it from its initial release. On re-listening, despite a slight scratchiness in my throat, it’s pretty damn good. Keith’s singing is his singing–saved by the background vocals in my mind. But the gem of this tune is in how the funky, groovy rhythms of all of the instruments interplay. No fluff or fancy here, just really good rock and rhythm. As for the base artist. Hmmm. I’m gonna say that when Keith played (poorly) in the ill-fated Rock and Roll Circus in the late 60’s, Jethro Tull was on the bill. Though so was Yoko Ono. Hmmm. Yoko…John Lennon. Let’s go with the Beatles.
“Birds of Prey/ “Copeland”. Plenty of propulsively rhythmic (or is that rhythmically propulsive?) energy in this one, as you’d expect from the former Police (base artist alert!) drummer. Rock-identified artists heading in non-pop directions is always interesting. An intriguingly busy composition, from that li’l opening piano arpeggio to the clever way the horns play off everything else. Almost has the feel of a movie score. A couple years back I saw Copeland play one of his lengthier compositions with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. I thought it was pretty good, though my companion for the evening, who is a drummer with a degree in music and everything, and a fan of Copeland’s drumming, pooh-poohed it for reasons I did not fully comprehend.
KR- kind of a rough unpolished track, If I didn’t know any better, I would have definitely guessed this was an early Rolling Stones Song. (the stones)
SC – Interesting, very interesting. Did not know he did this type of music. Only knew of him from the police.
Keith Richards – Take It So Hard
No one can toss off a little guitar phrase quite like Keith. This one strikes me as somewhere in between Brown Sugar’s and Start Me Up’s. Not stepping awfully far from a Stones track, it chugs along nicely with some tasty lead guitar and nothing too offensive in the vocals. It reminds me of a certain Frampton track. Nice.
Stewart Copeland – Birds of Prey
I have a cassette of this album somewhere and find it immensely “eardible.” This track is brimming with excitement – percussively percolating with woodwinds and horns swirling in a fantastically fun & quick storm. This would fit in nicely with Italian jazz-rock artist Arti & Mestieri’s stuff or the jazzier Gong material.
Had this been my selection, the base artist would, of course, be Curved Air – SC appearing on their Midnight Wire (’75) & Airborne (’76) records – pre-Police.
“Take It So Hard”by Keith Richards: His voice sounds like he is barely holding back the need to for a long smoker hack attack And it works. If I heard this on the radio I would assume it was the Stones for sure. Sounds exactly like them to my ear. Good Tune. I enjoyed.
“Birds of Prey” by Stewart Copeland: Cool arrangement and textures throughout. The fact that it is Copeland made my ears laser focus on the drums and it was well worth it, however, prob if I listened again I would pick out other instruments also adding to the fun. Was that a marching band in the mix as well? A sonic journey for sure. Side note..parts of the song seemed to peak over (flab) and made me do that speaker bump thing a couple of times but perhaps it IS my shitty speakers I am listening through.
Keef – Sounds like a Stones B side.
Copeland – Despite all the horns and such, this is totally a vehicle to showcase Stewart. I mean, his name is up front, right? I dig listening to him play.