A conversation between a friend, and a friend of a friend...
"That's the difference between us. You like music. And I like to rock!"
This is just such a great clarifier. And I know what the friend of the friend means. I think I kind of straddle the divide. Yes, I like music, but I really like to rock and sometimes they go together and sometimes they don't.
I can rock out, and listen to rock that has little to do with music. And sometimes it's that non-musical element that elevates rock and roll to another level. So yes, when you crank the amps and the tubes start to feedback, non-musical frequencies can bleed into the sound, and these non-musical elements can make the music dissonant, complex and very, very cool.
Prime example: I have been listening to Tav Falco's Panther Burns "Behind the Magnolia Curtain." This album was originally released by Rough Trade in the early 80's. I guess it's kind of legendary, and it's been out of print for a long time. I had no clue it even existed.
The new release is just superb. It's packaged wonderfully with great pictures and excellent liner notes. The writing by Ross Johnson, Ron Miller and Tav Falco is some of the best writing about rock and roll you can find in a little booklet. Funny, insightful, inspiring.
The actual recording is raw, raucous, over-loaded, messy, sloppy, and totally, freaking exhilarating. There's a raw punk sensibility in a head-on collision with an early rockabilly-type sound, mixed with a Sonic Youth-ish dissonance. And the great Alex Chilton plays guitar and drums! It was recorded in an afternoon in Memphis on a totally overwhelmed and totally swamped 4-track tape machine. The sound is cheap, crappy and somehow classic.
It's all cover songs. Obscure songs from R.L Burnside, Muddy Waters, Roy Orbison, Jerry Reed, Junior Wells, Leadbelly. And Tav Falco has the voice and the sensibility to pull it all off. It's a great rock and roll testament. Much of it is not so musical; it's off-key, out of tune, off-time, but the result is rock and roll of the highest caliber.
Probably would help to have a bucket of fried chicken and a bottle of Jack Daniels to go along with the listening experience! Burn Tav Falco! Burn!