In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

The only Styx song I really like is "Lady", because I was quite young when I first heard it and it was on a warm suburban Chicago night with fireflies. It has an abstract and mysterious quality the other songs lack.

BTW I knew about eight people related to someone in Styx when growing up. Six degrees is like only two if you're a south sider.

styx degrees

there's something fundamentally stagey and artificial about trying to construct a little "anthem" for some fictitious character, something that involves stepping out of time to approach a song as "I'm writing a short story about some characters" rather than, say, "I'm expressing how I feel" or what have you. Setting yourself up as a bard and teller of tales, so no surprise we find ourselves in the forest court of the wandering king or whatever.

you could have written the same thing about that other guy who wrote that other song with the same title! except for the forest court of the wandering king thing. (but wait, the hassles and attila, hmm.)

i assume the two titles are coincidental and/or similar reflections of similar times, but either way i'm fascinated how both start minute-plus keyboard fanfares with lots of rapid notes that suddenly give away to strummy acoustic guitar songs. billy could easily have written most of the styx lyric (i mean, c'mon, "you've got it all in the palm of your hand/but your hand's wet with sweat," that lyric belongs somewhere on "the nylon curtain"), but he would never have done the "get up" part. that's where the two path from which they came totally diverge. that's where styx let down their hair while billy realizes he will soon be losing most of his. all in all, i like billy's fanfare better, but i like styx's song better. i've never much cared for that billy tune anyway. it's a good styx song.

as long as we're on the subject of keyboard fanfares, proggish rock and angry young men:

SONG #43: JETHRO TULL "LOCOMOTIVE BREATH"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJkmHQ2q--I

(i mean, i assume the dude in this song is angry. if he isn't, he should be.)

oh god, just realized how badly i've neglected this (thanks, "eminence front" thread, and thanks to you FCC for turning me on to "eminence front" here). comeback tour coming soon, i swear to god!

ha, that "eminence front" thread made me think of this thread too. you are welcome back anytime! you'll find that everything looks exactly like it did the last time you were here. in the spirit of classic-rock, we haven't changed a thing.

Locomotive Breath: I discovered recently that this is somehow in one of my Spotify playlists - but I'm pretty sure I haven't ever actually listened to it? We'll see. Going in, the title has always made me think it would be another "Aqualung"-like character sketch, specifically of someone with bad breath, alternately a John Henry figure straining and groaning to beat the machine. Less likely: some kind of demonic "ghost train" type of figure, coals glowing and black smoke churning madly out. Let's see.

Wow, did not expect a gentle piano opener at all. Was thinking hard-driving wheezy locomotive breath. This is pretty cocktail-hour stuff. "Now Locomotive Breath at the bar is a friend of mine..." Now we've got something with the hot but distant guitar in there and the more insistent piano. It's a cool sound but I'm really hoping the drummer shows up to this session soon though.

Okay! Now there's a rock groove happening. "In the shuffling madness of the locomotive breath" is a great opening line. Now that it's picking up energy more it just sounds exactly like "Aqualung" though, put through a kinda basic blues chord progression I think - it's been the ruin of many a poor boy, this locomotive breath.

Hahahah, I know this band has a flautist as part of the permanent lineup but it's still surprising and weird for this pippy little fellow to come desperately puffing and hooting into the mix. Always sounds very "we don't have a whole lot of songs that feature the cowbell!" to me. I'm more interested in the subtler sonic details, like the very faint fuzz on the bass. Huh, that sort of ended before I even noticed what was happening.

Second listen, gonna try and make out the plot more. Already a little bored by the piano intro... I guess this would be fine as part of an album but as a radio staple this would be a real "time for a bathroom break" cue to me even though the song's not actually that long. So basically this is a "slow-motion trainwreck" thing, a man's life headed inexorably towards its doom? That's cool, and nicely sketched if a bit melodramatic, but boy does this band not have the fiery explosions up their sleeve - as far as I can figure, the perky flute noodling is standing in for a catastrophic train disaster, even if it comes at the wrong point in the song. I wonder how much "has him by the balls" contributes to the badass rock cred here?

I dunno, I'd say it's fine for what it is, and I shouldn't judge it versus some other song I'm imagining it being, but it really has the feel of an album track or incomplete jam (especially with just fading out on "no way to slow down" - perhaps a wry commentary on the band not being able to figure out a way to end the song). Not every classic rock standard needs to be a bracing anthem but this gets very close to background music even when it's going for loud and heavy. A marginal thumbs down.

I love this thread so much! I also love "Locomotive Breath," one of the few classic rock cuts I would be inspired to turn up on the car radio these days, and it's really amazing that a song that has been a part of my life since my early teen years is just now getting a first hearing and a review.

btw, doubling back a bit, this is great:

billy could easily have written most of the styx lyric (i mean, c'mon, "you've got it all in the palm of your hand/but your hand's wet with sweat," that lyric belongs somewhere on "the nylon curtain"), but he would never have done the "get up" part. that's where the two path from which they came totally diverge. that's where styx let down their hair while billy realizes he will soon be losing most of his.

welcome back!!!

Already a little bored by the piano intro... I guess this would be fine as part of an album but as a radio staple this would be a real "time for a bathroom break" cue to me even though the song's not actually that long.

for me that intro was always an antici...pation thing, made infinitely better by the fact that you knew what was coming.

beavis: "come on, butt-head. this is folk music. change it."
butt-head: "no way. this song gets cool later."

I know this band has a flautist as part of the permanent lineup but it's still surprising and weird for this pippy little fellow to come desperately puffing and hooting into the mix.

this pippy little fellow is the frontman! the mumford to their sons!

i've always liked the guitar sound on this one, and i think the scratchy one in the left channel does a good job of being the song's locomotive engine.

I could see the anticipation thing... just wasn't happening for me on those listens. I'll leave it in my playlist, see if it starts to feel more like a satisfying familiar moment. As for Mr. Jethro Pips, well, yikes. He should split the band and move on. I hear Firefall is holding auditions.

I know what I'm always anticipating in that song hells yeah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPCzIt4eXPk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Aqdjtvp7o

perhaps an "answer song." more my speed really. love the thoroughly uninterested marriott ballroom audience.

that is fantastic!

BTW, another credit to this thread and fcc: grabbed a $3 copy of Fragile a while back and have been totally digging it now that my turntable's back online and I'm finding space again in my lifestyle for not-entirely-instrumental music. Sweet record, across the board it's all the things I liked about "Roundabout." So: thanks! And: assuming I want to get totally yessed out, where should I turn next?

I'm glad you asked.

oh awesome! bookmarked for reading during my next listen. just discovered it came with a pretty sweet booklet so that deserves some attention too, but it's mostly pictures.

that stereogum piece is heroic. well done!

let's make this a twofer -- of songs about trains, with flute solos.

SONG #44: THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND "CAN'T YOU SEE"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCXQycyN_Vs

aw yeah - my #68!

my uncle bob's favorite band

so good

I heard "Heard It In A Love Song" at my dentist's office recently, hadn't thought about that one in ages.

Man, Can't You See is a classic

@BestBergerEver
Just had a fun night out at a Marshall Crenshaw concert.

i try to be careful with biasing the doctor's listens with commentary before the fact but awww yeah

:: suspense ::

Can't You See: So, this is one I've been looking forward to since some dude's poll; in my mind at least, it got some love back then, and I've always been a big stan for "Heard It In A Love Song," which I put at #24 in my ballot. There, for sure, is a song whose flute has a reason to be there, both reinforcing the sense that our protagonist is skipping without regret onto the next town, but yet suggesting some wistfulness, the regret, the knowledge that the jauntiness is forced or comes at a cost. Let's see what we've got here!

Strong opening. Very strong. Well-recorded, too - feels like I'm right up in the guitar strings. Tonally kinda close to "Midnight Rider" actually but maybe a bit more interesting. Flute's working. Vocals are working too. Nice setup - the train stuff is stock, but the idea that he'll jump off a mountain and nobody will know is unexpected and already sets up a more interesting story.

Boy, there's a lot in this mix actually if you pay attention. Piano, organ... I'm waiting for a harmonica to join in. But it's all enriching it for me, I love the rhythmic variations that start showing up around 1:50 with the saloon piano. The solo is good too - as in "HIIALS" this band seems to have a handle on how the energy of the performers can stand in for the emotion of the song. He doesn't really say all that much about what that woman has in fact done to him, but the ineffable in-betweens of such a condition are sketched out. If I picture a band playing this, at least somebody has their eyes closed and head turned down, rocking from side to side as they pluck the strings - not uptight but feeling it, man.

Darn, another one of those dopey fade-out endings! Really similar to "Midnight Rider" in that sense.

Second listen: digging the bassist this time around, or maybe it's just that's the element that most benefits from this very warm, live-in-the-studio recording. The solo is sweet - short but manages to convey something seared without totally breaking the acoustic old west bar band feel. If I have any gripes, they're that the ending is disappointing, the chorus isn't really that hooky or interesting (though it fits the vibe), and the lyrics really are super off-the-shelf without really thoroughly establishing what it is this woman has been doing. I guess she left without saying goodbye? But it makes it sound like whatever she's doing it's ongoing... cheating on him? Putting him through the wringer? At times it almost seems like they got mixed up with a song about a woman who's been bringing him some good good lovin'... so, to be honest, Marshall, I can't see. But I think I'm on your side anyway? Thumbs up.

i just heard this on the radio yesterday for the first time in forever. it ruled.

(and yeah, def the same lazy groove as midnight rider. maybe even the same chords, iirc, give or take a minor third. but midnight rider rules so.)

The bassist is awesome on this -- he does something here that few do and fewer do well (John McVie comes to mind) -- he's playing front-of-the-beat shuffle rhythm in a song that could easily have been a slow dirge, and keeps the whole thing not just moving but urgently moving.

btw finally sat down and chewed on that Yes countdown list, holy fuck is that a lot of inessential-sounding live and post-heyday albums. yikes. but at least now i know my instinctive move towards close to the edge at the record store was not mistaken...

You might like The Yes Album. It was just before Fragile and is a little more song-oriented than Close to the Edge. Has a lot of softer, folkier material. Close to the Edge is my favourite, though. I rank them something like:

Close to the Edge > Relayer > The Yes Album = Fragile > Going for the One > Tales of Topographic Oceans > a bunch of stuff I don't listen to or think about

That's quintessential Yes

sad confession: i somehow, years ago, convinced myself "i've seen all good people" was actually by kansas. which, listening to it, is obviously nonsense now that i've been listening to fragile on the regular and have a stronger sense of their sound and especially anderson's vocals. anyway that track might tip the balance in favor of the yes album but i could see myself getting pretty into this band. not "live albums by bands containing bizarre recombinant permutations of people who might have once been members of a band called yes," but still. we'll see. there's some good shit at the record store across the street.

does marshall tucker band have a strong must-have album?

first four Marshall Tucker Band albums are great--ST, A New Life, Where We All Belong, Searchin' For a Rainbow

sweet, thanks! i've started rocking close to the edge though so that may keep me occupied for a bit... great stuff.

Regarding the Outfield - Youtube just suggested their "Say It Isn't So" when I was looking for Hall & Oates's, and I took a chance thinking it might be an interesting cover. In fact it's a totally different song, which I would have pegged as a soundalike followup for "Your Love" but in fact it came out first (off the same album). And... it's pretty good? This time the opening owes less to the Cars than to "In A Big Country" though the former are definitely still in play. I dunno, pleasant sub-McCartney 80s pop-rock number, doesn't deserve eternal fame but it's got a good hook that it doesn't wear into the ground, and I do love the delivery of opening lyric: "You got me all screwed up!"

finally bought The Yes Album and it rules. kinda forgot these guys for a second but this might be a week where all my listening is the three records of theirs ive got. record store also has a five-dollar Yessongs, tempting for the nutso gatefold if nothing else.

yes to the yes album!

ok, i have finally accepted that summer's over, and so this thread will be coming back full steam next week. please rest up, dr. c, and turn off your radio, lest you should inadvertently hear a classic rock song you're not authorized to hear yet.

record store also has a five-dollar Yessongs, tempting for the nutso gatefold if nothing else.

It is indeed the doobie-rollingest cover in history.

yesssssssss

Why late at night does Doctor Casino get all yessed out

Yessongs is fucking amazing. It was my intro to the band. By all means grab it.

I'm a recent convert to Yes for about a year. Obsessed with Yes Album/Fragile/CttE, plus Yessongs and the new live box. What should I try next, Tales?

Yeah, Tales, Relayer and Going for the One are all you need IMO. But if you wanna go fucking nuts, here's a massive guide I wrote back in May.

that massive guide is epic and pretty much heroic.

Yeah, /Tales/, /Relayer/ and /Going for the One/ are all you need IMO. But if you wanna go fucking nuts, here's a massive guide I wrote back in May.
--the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱)

Thanks! I look forward to reading!

Watching The Doors today, I had many thoughts, and many of them led me back to this thread. Indians scattered on Donuts Highway.

hi dr. c!!! hi scattered indians of this long-dormant thread!

this would be a perfect time to welcome y'all back with a doors song, but i'm afraid we've already played all the doors songs in our box. so let's stay in la, jump ahead a decade and see if anyone's still listening out there.

SONG #45: VAN HALEN "(OH) PRETTY WOMAN"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spvhWQh61fM

the fact checker in me hates, hates, hates that they re-punctuated this cover from "oh, pretty woman" to "(oh) pretty woman" for no apparent reason.