Saturday, February 24, 2018
Northern Passages: The Sadies Radio Special, Travis Good Interview & Show # 710
The Sadies are described as a Canadian rock/country and western band. Coming from Toronto, Canada, the band is comprised of brothers Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. Dallas and Travis come from a country music family. They are the sons of Margaret and Bruce Good, as well as the nephews of Brian and Larry Good who are members of the Canadian country band, The Good Brothers. Forming in 1994, The Sadies developed their own take on country and western music, incorporating elements of surf and garage rock with a punk infused energy. Their first album was released in 1998, and was entitled Precious Moments. Songs on the album Precious Moments featured a large amount of instrumental tracks, combined with songs with vocals, but all the elements of The Sadies are there. Songs such as “Glass of Wine”, features an almost R&B garage sound, “Little Sadie” is their take on the traditional song of the same name, giving it a psychedelic folk spin, “Cowhand” is a slow creeping folk song with fiddle and guest vocals by Neko Case and “Barbarosa” is a bombastic garage track. This combined with their instrumental surf tracks such as “Cheat”, the Eninio Morricone styled “Dying Is Easy,” “Snow Squadron” and “Rapid Monkey” all add to the landscape they first painted in 1998. The album was recorded by Steve Albini, along with several other early albums in the band’s catalog (Pure Diamond Gold (1999), In Concert Vol.1 (2006)).
As The Sadies albums progressed so did their sound. Known for their live shows, their undeniable chemistry is something that is always present on their recordings, but as their albums and sound progressed, so did their songwriting. It still is for that matter. 2002’s Stories Often Told, fleshed out their sound to include more psychedelic, folk, bluegrass, country and blues elements. This is apparent on songs such as “The Story’s Often Told,” “A Steep Climb" and “Within A Stone.” 2004’s Favourite Colours upped the ante, balancing their sound while also featuring collaborations with Rick White (of Eric’s Trip), and Robyn Hitchcock. In 2007 their album New Seasons earned a Polaris Prize nomination. New Seasons featured a focus on the slower side of the band’s country/folk influences. The harmonies and songwriting strengthened even further on this album, which was co-produced by The Jayhawks Gary Louris with The Sadies. Songs such as “Anna Leigh,” “What’s Left Behind” and “The Trial” displayed a haunting sense of atmosphere.
2010’s Darker Circles was nominated for a Polaris Prize as well. It was produced once again by Jawhawk guitarist Gary Louris with The Sadies and is often seen as a companion album to New Seasons. However, this album took on more layers within the music and lyrics. The lyrics have been said to be darker than usual on this album. The Sadies have always had darker elements in their sound and lyrics, but this album took it to a new level. Darker Circles is nuanced, with something always seeming to rumble beneath the surface. Songs such as “Another Year Again” and “Cut Corners” are psychedelic-garage tinged tracks, while songs such as “Tell Her What I Said” combine psychedelia and country, “Postcards” takes on a Byrds influence, “Idle Tomorrows” and “Choosing To Fly” drift into country and bluegrass territories. In addition to releasing numerous albums, The Sadies have also collaborated, performed and recorded with other musicians such as Andre Williams, Neko Case, Blue Rodeo, Garth Hudson, John Doe, Neil Young and Gord Downie. This is in addition to being involved with other bands such as The Unintended, Heavy Trash, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and other groups.
In 2017, The Sadies released Northern Passages, their 10th full-length album. Recorded in the Good parents' basement and produced by Dallas Good, Northern Passages mixes up a complex pairing of thoughts and reflectiveness, while at the same time displaying a sense of hopefulness. With an overall sound that can be described as an “acid-folk-country-punk trip,” Northern Passages finds The Sadies navigating through familiar and new territories, building on their sound and atmosphere. Whether it is with the string of collaborations, their own albums or their live shows, The Sadies are always approaching their music from different directions. Since their beginnings they have always found their own path and still continue to do so.
Check out my interview with Sadies member Travis Good here:
The Sadies Play List:
1. The Sadies - Cheat (Live) (In Concert Vol. 1 - 2006)
2. The Sadies - Little Sadie (Precious Moments - 1998)
3. Jon Langford & His Sadies - Strange Birds (Mayors of the Moon - 2002)
4. The Sadies - What's Left Behind (New Seasons - 2007)
5. The Sadies - Postcards (Darker Circles - 2010)
6. The Sadies - Translucent Sparrow (Favourite Colours - 2004)
7. The Sadies - The Story's Often Told (Stories Often Told - 2002)
8. The Sadies - Questions I've Never Asked (Northern Passages - 2017)
9. The Sadies - Dying Ain't No Way To Make A Living (Dying Ain't No Way To Make A Living - 1996)
10. The Unintended - The Collaspse (The Unintended - 2004)
11. Andre Williams & The Sadies - She's a Bag of Potato Chips (Red Dirt - 1999)
12. The Sadies - There's a Higher Power (Pure Diamond Gold - 1999)
13. The Sadies - Reward of Gold (Pure Diamond Gold - 1999)
14. The Sadies - The 400 (Tales of the Rat Fink - 2006)
15. The Sadies - Flash (Tremendous Efforts - 2001)
16. The Sadies - Wasn't Born To Follow (Tremendous Efforts - 2001)
17. John Doe & The Sadies - The Cold Hard Facts of Life (Country Club - 2009)
18. Neko Case - Hold On, Hold On (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - 2006)
TRAVIS GOOD INTERVIEW
19. The Sadies - Leave Me Alone (Live) (In Concert Vol. 1 - 2006)
20. Garth Hudson Ft. Neil Young & The Sadies - This Wheel's On Fire (Garth Hudson Presents A Canadian Celebration of The Band - 2010)
21. Gord Downie & The Sadies - The Conquering Sun (And The Conquering Sun - 2014)
22. The Sadies - Leave This World Behind (Internal Sounds - 2013)
23. The Good Family - Taller Than The Pines (The Good Family Album - 2015)
24. The Sadies Ft. Kurt Vile - It's Easy (Like Walking) (Northern Passages - 2017)
25. The Sadies - Anna Leigh (New Seasons - 2007)
26. The Sadies - Locust Eater (Demo) (Archives Vol 1 (Rarities, Oddities and Radio: 1995-2015) - 2015)
27. The Sadies - Lay Down your Arms (Stories Often Told - 2002)
28. The Sadies - Cut Corners (Darker Circles - 2010)
Download/listen to this program here.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Rebellious Jukebox: The Music of The Fall & Show # 709
Article Written by Adam Peltier & Dave Konstantino
“Always different, always the same” - John Peel on The Fall
“It could be worse; you could be the singer of The Fall” - Tony Wilson on Mark E. Smith
“People only need me when they’re down and gone to seed” - Mark E. Smith, “Hip Priest”
Mark E. Smith was one of post-punk’s great deconstructionist agitators. In his forty year career with The Fall, Smith didn’t so much act as a band leader as much as a sonic provoker. While The Fall has literally hundreds of tracks to its name, the compositions arranged by Mark E. Smith and his ever-rotating roster of musical accomplices rarely felt like songs in the traditional sense. The angular and abrasive music made by the band, led by Smith’s idiosyncratic style of spoken/sung fractured rambling, felt more like odd aural experiments, strange tone poems, and at its most extremes, broadcasts from some alien radio station. Smith, while lazily attributed the status of rock-poet, hardly used language to elucidate or beautify. Smith’s strength was in demonstrating the malleability of language, fracturing familiar phrases, garbling syllables, and patch-working words to create a seemingly new variant of English. If anything, Smith showed the arbitrariness of spoken language, taking a piss of the idea of the songwriter/poet, while paradoxically demonstrating astonishing creativity in his heedlessly irreverent compositions. It makes sense he titled an album Perverted by Language. He saw conventional language as bondage, a form of restriction that he rallied against throughout his artistic career. To be blunt, Mark E. Smith was the great anti-poet of post-punk, holding more in common with the likes of William S. Burroughs and Thomas Pynchon, kindred souls who also saw language as bondage and art as an exercise of escaping these bonds.
The Fall’s career was an interesting one to say the least. The band’s first EP, Bingo Master’s Break-Out! was released in 1978 and featured three songs. Of these songs, “Bingo Master”, seemed like a character sketch out of some short story about a dejected bingo caller. “Psycho Mafia”, is a song that seems to reference the then rabid, audience of the late 70s punk scene, who also would spit on bands in a disgusting display of admiration and “Repetition” operates like a band ethos, as the lyrics attack the listener on a different level altogether. As stated earlier the lyrics of The Fall, played with language, but were also cryptic in some ways. Mark E. Smith never liked to discuss the meanings behind his songs or lyrics, he left it open to interpretation. Live At Witch Trials was The Fall’s full-length debut album. The debut featured an altered line up from their first EP. This is something that would happen often within The Fall, they would over the years have 66 different band members in the group with Mark E. Smith remaining the only constant member. Despite its title, Live At Witch Trials was not a live album. It displayed an energetic focus and was at the same time rough sounding. With songs such as “Rebellious Jukebox”, “No Xmas For John Quays” and “Industrial Estate”, The Fall set their own path. Lyrically and musically, The Fall seemed to come from a different place.
There are many different eras of The Fall that could be looked at. They released 31 studio albums in their lifetime. There were 32 live albums and that’s not counting singles and EPs. With the line up changes often came a change in sound. Going back to John Peel’s quote, they were “Always different, always the same”. Brix Smith was part the band from 1983-1989 and helped to shape the sound of The Fall during this time period. It should also be noted that bassist Steve Hanley played bass with The Fall from 1979-1998 and there are many other band members that were with the band for extended periods of time, but there are far too many to name. The sound during the Brix Smith era of The Fall adopted more of a conventional approach, often adding pop hooks to the Fall’s already established sound. A string of critically acclaimed albums and singles followed such as This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985), Bend Sinister (1986), The Frenz Experiment (1988) and I Am Kurious, Oranj (1988), which was the product of a collaboration of Smith and dancer Michael Clark, for the ballet. These are just some of the examples of music that was released from the band’s long career that even featured an album in 2017 called New Facts Emerge. It would prove to be The Fall’s last full-length album released during Mark E. Smith’s lifetime.
As admirable an artist that he was, Smith was far from a flawless human being. Smith endured a life of substance abuse, frayed friendships, and failing health. The Manchurian musician passed away too young, at the age of sixty, undoubtedly the suddenness of his passing exacerbated by the lifestyle he lived. While Smith was not a perfect man, he was one who forever changed the way a lot of us saw what music was and how it could be made. In a statement made by the musician’s ex-wife and former band member Brix Smith, she stated that “He never once compromised...how many others can leave this life with such a singularity of vision?” It's hard to think of very few others. Nobody can say exactly what legacy the future will hold for Smith and The Fall, but perhaps it is much like the alienated young people who find solace in reading Naked Lunch or The Crying of Lot 49, that same type of person will find solace and inspiration in records like Perverted by Language, Hex Enduction Hour, and This Nation’s Saving Grace. For how he changed that way we listened to music and what we thought was possible for a singer to do, all we can say is thank you Mark E. Smith. RIP
The Fall Play List:
1. The Fall - Bingo Master (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
2. The Fall - Industrial Estate (Peel Session - May 30, 1978) (The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 - 2005)
3. The Fall - Rebellious Jukebox (Live At Witch Trials - 1979)
4. The Fall - A Figure Walks (Dragnet - 1979)
5. The Fall - I Feel Voxish (Perverted By Language - 1983)
6. The Fall - Coach And Horses (Reformation Post TLC - 2007)
7. The Fall - Funnel Of Love (Your Future Our Clutter - 2010)
8. The Fall - Theme From Sparta F.C.#2 (The Real New Fall LP - 2003)
9. The Fall - There's A Ghost In My House (The Frenz Experiment - 1988)
10. The Fall - C.R.E.E.P. (C.R.E.E.P. Single - 1984)
11. The Fall - Kinder of Spine (Re-Mit - 2013)
12. The Fall - Fol De Rol (New Facts Emerge - 2017)
13. The Fall - Strychnine (Peel Session - February 28, 1993) (The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 - 2005)
14. The Fall - Victoria (The Frenz Experiment - 1988)
15. The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist (Bend Sinister - 1986)
16. The Fall - Cruisers Creek (This Nation's Saving Grace - 1985)
17. The Fall - New Big Prinz (I Am Kurious, Oranj - 1988)
18. The Fall - Hip Priest (Hex Enduction Hour - 1982)
19. The Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man (Grotesque - 1980)
20. The Fall - Totally Wired (Totally Wired Single - 1980)
21. The Fall - What You Need (This Nation's Saving Grace - 1985)
22. The Fall - Stepping Out (Live) (77 - The Early Years - 79 - 1981)
23. The Fall - Psycho Mafia (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
24. The Fall - Repetition (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for February 17.
On February 10th, a previous episode of Revolution Rock aired due to weather conditions. That episode was a repeat of a Black History Month episode from 2017's theme month programming. That show can be downloaded here (Show # 708) and the play list can be found here.
“Always different, always the same” - John Peel on The Fall
“It could be worse; you could be the singer of The Fall” - Tony Wilson on Mark E. Smith
“People only need me when they’re down and gone to seed” - Mark E. Smith, “Hip Priest”
Mark E. Smith was one of post-punk’s great deconstructionist agitators. In his forty year career with The Fall, Smith didn’t so much act as a band leader as much as a sonic provoker. While The Fall has literally hundreds of tracks to its name, the compositions arranged by Mark E. Smith and his ever-rotating roster of musical accomplices rarely felt like songs in the traditional sense. The angular and abrasive music made by the band, led by Smith’s idiosyncratic style of spoken/sung fractured rambling, felt more like odd aural experiments, strange tone poems, and at its most extremes, broadcasts from some alien radio station. Smith, while lazily attributed the status of rock-poet, hardly used language to elucidate or beautify. Smith’s strength was in demonstrating the malleability of language, fracturing familiar phrases, garbling syllables, and patch-working words to create a seemingly new variant of English. If anything, Smith showed the arbitrariness of spoken language, taking a piss of the idea of the songwriter/poet, while paradoxically demonstrating astonishing creativity in his heedlessly irreverent compositions. It makes sense he titled an album Perverted by Language. He saw conventional language as bondage, a form of restriction that he rallied against throughout his artistic career. To be blunt, Mark E. Smith was the great anti-poet of post-punk, holding more in common with the likes of William S. Burroughs and Thomas Pynchon, kindred souls who also saw language as bondage and art as an exercise of escaping these bonds.
The Fall’s career was an interesting one to say the least. The band’s first EP, Bingo Master’s Break-Out! was released in 1978 and featured three songs. Of these songs, “Bingo Master”, seemed like a character sketch out of some short story about a dejected bingo caller. “Psycho Mafia”, is a song that seems to reference the then rabid, audience of the late 70s punk scene, who also would spit on bands in a disgusting display of admiration and “Repetition” operates like a band ethos, as the lyrics attack the listener on a different level altogether. As stated earlier the lyrics of The Fall, played with language, but were also cryptic in some ways. Mark E. Smith never liked to discuss the meanings behind his songs or lyrics, he left it open to interpretation. Live At Witch Trials was The Fall’s full-length debut album. The debut featured an altered line up from their first EP. This is something that would happen often within The Fall, they would over the years have 66 different band members in the group with Mark E. Smith remaining the only constant member. Despite its title, Live At Witch Trials was not a live album. It displayed an energetic focus and was at the same time rough sounding. With songs such as “Rebellious Jukebox”, “No Xmas For John Quays” and “Industrial Estate”, The Fall set their own path. Lyrically and musically, The Fall seemed to come from a different place.
There are many different eras of The Fall that could be looked at. They released 31 studio albums in their lifetime. There were 32 live albums and that’s not counting singles and EPs. With the line up changes often came a change in sound. Going back to John Peel’s quote, they were “Always different, always the same”. Brix Smith was part the band from 1983-1989 and helped to shape the sound of The Fall during this time period. It should also be noted that bassist Steve Hanley played bass with The Fall from 1979-1998 and there are many other band members that were with the band for extended periods of time, but there are far too many to name. The sound during the Brix Smith era of The Fall adopted more of a conventional approach, often adding pop hooks to the Fall’s already established sound. A string of critically acclaimed albums and singles followed such as This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985), Bend Sinister (1986), The Frenz Experiment (1988) and I Am Kurious, Oranj (1988), which was the product of a collaboration of Smith and dancer Michael Clark, for the ballet. These are just some of the examples of music that was released from the band’s long career that even featured an album in 2017 called New Facts Emerge. It would prove to be The Fall’s last full-length album released during Mark E. Smith’s lifetime.
As admirable an artist that he was, Smith was far from a flawless human being. Smith endured a life of substance abuse, frayed friendships, and failing health. The Manchurian musician passed away too young, at the age of sixty, undoubtedly the suddenness of his passing exacerbated by the lifestyle he lived. While Smith was not a perfect man, he was one who forever changed the way a lot of us saw what music was and how it could be made. In a statement made by the musician’s ex-wife and former band member Brix Smith, she stated that “He never once compromised...how many others can leave this life with such a singularity of vision?” It's hard to think of very few others. Nobody can say exactly what legacy the future will hold for Smith and The Fall, but perhaps it is much like the alienated young people who find solace in reading Naked Lunch or The Crying of Lot 49, that same type of person will find solace and inspiration in records like Perverted by Language, Hex Enduction Hour, and This Nation’s Saving Grace. For how he changed that way we listened to music and what we thought was possible for a singer to do, all we can say is thank you Mark E. Smith. RIP
The Fall Play List:
1. The Fall - Bingo Master (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
2. The Fall - Industrial Estate (Peel Session - May 30, 1978) (The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 - 2005)
3. The Fall - Rebellious Jukebox (Live At Witch Trials - 1979)
4. The Fall - A Figure Walks (Dragnet - 1979)
5. The Fall - I Feel Voxish (Perverted By Language - 1983)
6. The Fall - Coach And Horses (Reformation Post TLC - 2007)
7. The Fall - Funnel Of Love (Your Future Our Clutter - 2010)
8. The Fall - Theme From Sparta F.C.#2 (The Real New Fall LP - 2003)
9. The Fall - There's A Ghost In My House (The Frenz Experiment - 1988)
10. The Fall - C.R.E.E.P. (C.R.E.E.P. Single - 1984)
11. The Fall - Kinder of Spine (Re-Mit - 2013)
12. The Fall - Fol De Rol (New Facts Emerge - 2017)
13. The Fall - Strychnine (Peel Session - February 28, 1993) (The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 - 2005)
14. The Fall - Victoria (The Frenz Experiment - 1988)
15. The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist (Bend Sinister - 1986)
16. The Fall - Cruisers Creek (This Nation's Saving Grace - 1985)
17. The Fall - New Big Prinz (I Am Kurious, Oranj - 1988)
18. The Fall - Hip Priest (Hex Enduction Hour - 1982)
19. The Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man (Grotesque - 1980)
20. The Fall - Totally Wired (Totally Wired Single - 1980)
21. The Fall - What You Need (This Nation's Saving Grace - 1985)
22. The Fall - Stepping Out (Live) (77 - The Early Years - 79 - 1981)
23. The Fall - Psycho Mafia (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
24. The Fall - Repetition (Bingo Master's Break-Out! - 1978)
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for February 17.
On February 10th, a previous episode of Revolution Rock aired due to weather conditions. That episode was a repeat of a Black History Month episode from 2017's theme month programming. That show can be downloaded here (Show # 708) and the play list can be found here.
Saturday, February 03, 2018
Revolution Jazz: Miles Davis & Show # 707
Article Written by Adam Peltier
In recent years, jazz has unfortunately been regarded as an erudite musical form, something for academics and intellectuals to pursue in a curricular fashion. There is an unfortunate truth to this. The institutionalization of this genre has led jazz to be integrated in conservatories and theory, academizing (and by extension, neutering) this art form. When jazz is not relegated to the esoteric, it is tossed off as chintz, ersatz music meant for elevators and cocktail lounges. What is often forgotten about the genre is how dangerous and volatile it can be. Listen to the right album and you’ll hear it: the syncopation of the drums hammering harder and fiercer than any metal record, the horns lacerating as much as any cut by the Stooges or Velvets, the bass as bellowing and emotive as the most soulful of human voices. Jazz is dangerous, not only in its possibility to defy musical conventions (tonality, melody, and predictable chord changes have all been subverted within this genre, and sometimes simultaneously), but in the volatile performances of its creators. With this said, few jazz musicians have been as dangerous, or for that matter as influential, as Miles Davis.
Davis was a pioneer, not only of jazz music, but of 20th century music in general. Could UK Jungle have developed without the fearless polyrhythms of Dark Magus, ambient music without the sustained vamps of Bitches Brew, or hip-hop without the hypnotic beats of On the Corner? Yes, we may have eventually developed those genres, but it definitely would have taken a lot longer without the constant experimentation of Davis. The man has played a crucial role in almost every major development in jazz since the 1940’s. He treated the genre not as a set of parameters to follow, but a fluid forum to explore an infinity of possibilities.
To appraise the legacy of Miles Davis, it would be too restrictive to simply focus on one album or even a single era of his career. His exercises in “cool jazz” (see Birth of the Cool) from the 1950’s marked a major shift in post-bebop jazz, introducing a range of classical music techniques into both Davis’ sound and the genre itself. ‘Round About Midnight defined the hard bop subgenre, along with the works of fellow legends like Coltrane and Rollins. Kind of Blue not only changed the landscape of jazz again through its use of modality (using musical modes as opposed to standard chord progressions), but the record also remains the best selling jazz album of all time. His late 1960’s collaborations with producer Teo Macero (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson) not only invented jazz fusion, but caused an uproar amongst fans equal to the controversy of Dylan’s “electric era”. Then there are his later era experiments in augmenting jazz and electronic music, resulting in groundbreaking and boundary defying records like On the Corner and Doo-Bop. To say the least, it’s hard to pin Davis down as simply a musician of one movement or style. His music was always in flux, never static, never the same. Like the compositions he poured so much energy into, he refused to travel the safe road or follow the path expected of him. Davis was a musical subversive, never resting on his laurels and never satisfied in repeating himself.
There is a great amount of passion in Davis’ music. His compositions contain a lot of sadness, humour, anger, and pride. This pride also acted as a type of armour he had to wear to defend against the arrows of bigotry and racism slung his way. There are numerous accounts of Davis facing discrimination during his career, often in the form violence. Perhaps part of what motivated Davis and his preternatural creativity was the desire to prove that a black American man could not only be a great musician, but THE great musician of the 20th century. Without question, representation of the African Diaspora was a huge element in Davis’ music, as evidenced in his song titles, musical movements, and album artwork. This is also what moved Davis to compose the titular tribute to Jack Johnson, the peerless black American boxing champion. Johnson was quoted for the record as stating “I’m Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world. I’m black. They never let me forget it. I’m black all right! I’ll never let them forget it!” I don’t doubt for a second that Davis saw himself and the music he made in the same light.
Davis took pride in his who he was, and provoked conservative white America and the patriarchal-colonial ideas they stood for. This is part of what made Davis so dangerous: not only his defiance of musical conventions, but his defiance of the conventions of the world he lived in. He was unwavering, unafraid, and brazen. No peer was as bold as Davis was during his life, and no one has been since the artist’s passing in 1991. However, the ghost of the trumpeter lingers and continues to haunt the musical landscape of our 21st century. He can be heard in the harrowing hip-hop of Kendrick Lamar, in the fractured electronics of Jlin, the dreary atmospheres of King Krule, and the fuzzed out noise of Ty Segall. Even those who have never listened to Davis’ music are still indirectly influenced by what he forged. Anyone who found solace in the music of Bowie, James Brown, the Stooges, Prince, Eno, or Hendrix has Miles to thank for that.
Miles Davis truly does deserve to be regarded as a legend. For his groundbreaking work in musical experimentation, his profound influence in numerous musical genres, and his constant defiance of the world he lived in, Davis will always remain one of the greatest and most dangerous of musicians who ever lived.
Miles Davis Play List:
1. Miles Davis All Stars - Milestones (Milestones/Sippin' At Bells - Savoy Records - 1946)
2. Miles Davis - 'Round Midnight ('Round About Midnight - Columbia Records - 1957)
3. Miles Davis - Red China Blues (Get Up With It - Columbia Records - 1974)
4. Miles Davis - Water Babies (Water Babies - Columbia Records - 1976)
5. Miles Davis - Jeru (The Birth Of The Cool - Capitol records - 1957)
6. Miles Davis - Will O' The Wisp (Sketches of Spain - Columbia Records - 1960)
7. Miles Davis - Riot (Nefertiti - Columbia Records - 1968)
8. Miles Davis Quintet - Orbits (Miles Smiles - Columbia Records - 1967)
9. Miles Davis - Come Get It (Star People - Columbia Records - 1983)
10. Miles Davis - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Bitches Brew - Columbia Records - 1970)
11. Miles Davis - Moja (Dark Magus - CBS-Sony - 1977)
12. Miles Davis - Chocolate Chip (Doo-Bop - Warner Bros Records - 1992)
13. Miles Davis - Shhh (In A Silent Way - Columbia Records - 1969)
14. Miles Davis - Black Satin (On The Corner - Columbia Records - 1972)
15. Miles Davis - Right Off (Jack Johnson/A Tribute To Jack Johnson - Columbia Records - 1971)
16. Miles Davis - Blue In Green (Kind of Blue - Columbia Records - 1959)
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for February 3.
In recent years, jazz has unfortunately been regarded as an erudite musical form, something for academics and intellectuals to pursue in a curricular fashion. There is an unfortunate truth to this. The institutionalization of this genre has led jazz to be integrated in conservatories and theory, academizing (and by extension, neutering) this art form. When jazz is not relegated to the esoteric, it is tossed off as chintz, ersatz music meant for elevators and cocktail lounges. What is often forgotten about the genre is how dangerous and volatile it can be. Listen to the right album and you’ll hear it: the syncopation of the drums hammering harder and fiercer than any metal record, the horns lacerating as much as any cut by the Stooges or Velvets, the bass as bellowing and emotive as the most soulful of human voices. Jazz is dangerous, not only in its possibility to defy musical conventions (tonality, melody, and predictable chord changes have all been subverted within this genre, and sometimes simultaneously), but in the volatile performances of its creators. With this said, few jazz musicians have been as dangerous, or for that matter as influential, as Miles Davis.
Davis was a pioneer, not only of jazz music, but of 20th century music in general. Could UK Jungle have developed without the fearless polyrhythms of Dark Magus, ambient music without the sustained vamps of Bitches Brew, or hip-hop without the hypnotic beats of On the Corner? Yes, we may have eventually developed those genres, but it definitely would have taken a lot longer without the constant experimentation of Davis. The man has played a crucial role in almost every major development in jazz since the 1940’s. He treated the genre not as a set of parameters to follow, but a fluid forum to explore an infinity of possibilities.
To appraise the legacy of Miles Davis, it would be too restrictive to simply focus on one album or even a single era of his career. His exercises in “cool jazz” (see Birth of the Cool) from the 1950’s marked a major shift in post-bebop jazz, introducing a range of classical music techniques into both Davis’ sound and the genre itself. ‘Round About Midnight defined the hard bop subgenre, along with the works of fellow legends like Coltrane and Rollins. Kind of Blue not only changed the landscape of jazz again through its use of modality (using musical modes as opposed to standard chord progressions), but the record also remains the best selling jazz album of all time. His late 1960’s collaborations with producer Teo Macero (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson) not only invented jazz fusion, but caused an uproar amongst fans equal to the controversy of Dylan’s “electric era”. Then there are his later era experiments in augmenting jazz and electronic music, resulting in groundbreaking and boundary defying records like On the Corner and Doo-Bop. To say the least, it’s hard to pin Davis down as simply a musician of one movement or style. His music was always in flux, never static, never the same. Like the compositions he poured so much energy into, he refused to travel the safe road or follow the path expected of him. Davis was a musical subversive, never resting on his laurels and never satisfied in repeating himself.
There is a great amount of passion in Davis’ music. His compositions contain a lot of sadness, humour, anger, and pride. This pride also acted as a type of armour he had to wear to defend against the arrows of bigotry and racism slung his way. There are numerous accounts of Davis facing discrimination during his career, often in the form violence. Perhaps part of what motivated Davis and his preternatural creativity was the desire to prove that a black American man could not only be a great musician, but THE great musician of the 20th century. Without question, representation of the African Diaspora was a huge element in Davis’ music, as evidenced in his song titles, musical movements, and album artwork. This is also what moved Davis to compose the titular tribute to Jack Johnson, the peerless black American boxing champion. Johnson was quoted for the record as stating “I’m Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world. I’m black. They never let me forget it. I’m black all right! I’ll never let them forget it!” I don’t doubt for a second that Davis saw himself and the music he made in the same light.
Davis took pride in his who he was, and provoked conservative white America and the patriarchal-colonial ideas they stood for. This is part of what made Davis so dangerous: not only his defiance of musical conventions, but his defiance of the conventions of the world he lived in. He was unwavering, unafraid, and brazen. No peer was as bold as Davis was during his life, and no one has been since the artist’s passing in 1991. However, the ghost of the trumpeter lingers and continues to haunt the musical landscape of our 21st century. He can be heard in the harrowing hip-hop of Kendrick Lamar, in the fractured electronics of Jlin, the dreary atmospheres of King Krule, and the fuzzed out noise of Ty Segall. Even those who have never listened to Davis’ music are still indirectly influenced by what he forged. Anyone who found solace in the music of Bowie, James Brown, the Stooges, Prince, Eno, or Hendrix has Miles to thank for that.
Miles Davis truly does deserve to be regarded as a legend. For his groundbreaking work in musical experimentation, his profound influence in numerous musical genres, and his constant defiance of the world he lived in, Davis will always remain one of the greatest and most dangerous of musicians who ever lived.
Miles Davis Play List:
1. Miles Davis All Stars - Milestones (Milestones/Sippin' At Bells - Savoy Records - 1946)
2. Miles Davis - 'Round Midnight ('Round About Midnight - Columbia Records - 1957)
3. Miles Davis - Red China Blues (Get Up With It - Columbia Records - 1974)
4. Miles Davis - Water Babies (Water Babies - Columbia Records - 1976)
5. Miles Davis - Jeru (The Birth Of The Cool - Capitol records - 1957)
6. Miles Davis - Will O' The Wisp (Sketches of Spain - Columbia Records - 1960)
7. Miles Davis - Riot (Nefertiti - Columbia Records - 1968)
8. Miles Davis Quintet - Orbits (Miles Smiles - Columbia Records - 1967)
9. Miles Davis - Come Get It (Star People - Columbia Records - 1983)
10. Miles Davis - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Bitches Brew - Columbia Records - 1970)
11. Miles Davis - Moja (Dark Magus - CBS-Sony - 1977)
12. Miles Davis - Chocolate Chip (Doo-Bop - Warner Bros Records - 1992)
13. Miles Davis - Shhh (In A Silent Way - Columbia Records - 1969)
14. Miles Davis - Black Satin (On The Corner - Columbia Records - 1972)
15. Miles Davis - Right Off (Jack Johnson/A Tribute To Jack Johnson - Columbia Records - 1971)
16. Miles Davis - Blue In Green (Kind of Blue - Columbia Records - 1959)
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for February 3.
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Coming Up on Revolution Rock in 2018!
It’s February which means that throughout this month Revolution Rock will devote each episode that airs in February to theme based programming. Dave and co-host Adam have special programming lined up ranging from jazz, punk, post-punk, garage, country, folk and surf. This year’s themed month programming starts off on February 3rd with a program focusing on jazz musician Miles Davis. Revolution Rock airs every Saturday from 7-9 PM on CJAM 99.1 FM in Windsor/Detroit. It can be streamed via cjam.ca and be downloaded via the very same website afterwards.
Revolution Jazz. The Music of Miles Davis
Saturday February 3rd
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Miles Davis was a pioneer, not only of jazz music, but also of 20th century music in general. The man has played a crucial role in almost every major development in jazz since the 1940’s. He treated the genre not as a set of parameters to follow, but a fluid forum to explore an infinity of possibilities. To appraise the legacy of Miles Davis, it would be too restrictive to simply focus on one album or even a single era of his career. His exercises in “cool jazz” (see Birth of the Cool) from the 1950’s marked a major shift in post-bebop jazz, introducing a range of classical music techniques into both Davis’ sound and the genre itself. ‘Round About Midnight defined the hard bop subgenre, along with the works of fellow legends like Coltrane and Rollins. Kind of Blue not only changed the landscape of jazz again through its use of modality (using musical modes as opposed to standard chord progressions), but the record also remains the best selling jazz album of all time.
His late 1960’s collaborations with producer Teo Macero (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson) not only invented jazz fusion, but also caused an uproar amongst fans equal to the controversy of Dylan’s “electric era”. Then there are his later era experiments in augmenting jazz and electronic music, resulting in groundbreaking and boundary defying records like On the Corner and Doo-Bop. To say the least, it’s hard to pin Davis down as simply a musician of one movement or style. His music was always in flux, never static, never the same. Like the compositions he poured so much energy into, he refused to travel the safe road or follow the path expected of him. Davis was a musical subversive, never resting on his laurels and never satisfied with repeating himself. To celebrate Black History Month, Revolution Rock will feature a program devoted to the music of Miles Davis. This episode will focus on a selection of his recordings throughout his long career.
Rebellious Jukebox: The Music of The Fall and Mark E. Smith
Saturday February 17th
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Mark E. Smith was one of post-punk’s great deconstructionist agitators. In his forty year career with The Fall, Smith didn’t so much act as a band leader as much as a sonic provoker. While The Fall has literally hundreds of tracks to its name, the compositions arranged by Mark E. Smith and his ever-rotating roster of musical accomplices rarely felt like songs in the traditional sense. The angular and abrasive music made by the band, led by Smith’s idiosyncratic style of spoken/sung fractured rambling, felt more like odd aural experiments, strange tone poems, and at its most extremes, broadcasts from some alien radio station. Smith, while lazily attributed the status of rock-poet, hardly used language to elucidate or beautify. Smith’s strength was in demonstrating the malleability of language, fracturing familiar phrases, garbling syllables, and patch-working words to create a seemingly new variant of English. If anything, Smith showed the arbitrariness of spoken language, taking a piss of the idea of the songwriter/poet, while paradoxically demonstrating astonishing creativity in his heedlessly irreverent compositions. The Fall have released 31 full-length albums, 32 live albums, 40 compilation albums, and many other variants on the recorded album format. This show will feature a selection of songs from The Fall’s prolific, daunting discography.
Northern Passages: The Sadies Radio Special & An Interview With Travis Good
February 24th, 2017
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
The Sadies are described as a Canadian rock/country and western band. Coming from Toronto, Canada, the band is comprised of brothers Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. Dallas and Travis come from a country music family. They are the sons of Margaret and Bruce Good, as well as the nephews of Brian and Larry Good who are members of the Canadian country band, The Good Brothers. Forming in 1994, The Sadies developed their own take on country and western music, incorporating elements of surf, garage rock and other genres. Their first album was released in 1998, and was entitled Precious Moments. In 2007 their album New Seasons earned a Polaris Prize nomination, 2010’s Darker Circles was nominated as well. In addition to releasing numerous albums (their 10th full-length album Northern Passages was released in 2017), The Sadies have also collaborated, performed and recorded with other musicians such as Andre Williams, Neko Case, Blue Rodeo, Garth Hudson, John Doe, and Gord Downie. This is in addition to being involved with other bands such as The Unintended, Heavy Trash, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and other groups. This episode will focus on the discography of music involving The Sadies and some of the other artists they have collaborated and recorded with. This episode will also feature an exclusive interview with Travis Good of The Sadies!Revolution Jazz. The Music of Miles Davis
Saturday February 3rd
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Miles Davis was a pioneer, not only of jazz music, but also of 20th century music in general. The man has played a crucial role in almost every major development in jazz since the 1940’s. He treated the genre not as a set of parameters to follow, but a fluid forum to explore an infinity of possibilities. To appraise the legacy of Miles Davis, it would be too restrictive to simply focus on one album or even a single era of his career. His exercises in “cool jazz” (see Birth of the Cool) from the 1950’s marked a major shift in post-bebop jazz, introducing a range of classical music techniques into both Davis’ sound and the genre itself. ‘Round About Midnight defined the hard bop subgenre, along with the works of fellow legends like Coltrane and Rollins. Kind of Blue not only changed the landscape of jazz again through its use of modality (using musical modes as opposed to standard chord progressions), but the record also remains the best selling jazz album of all time.
His late 1960’s collaborations with producer Teo Macero (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson) not only invented jazz fusion, but also caused an uproar amongst fans equal to the controversy of Dylan’s “electric era”. Then there are his later era experiments in augmenting jazz and electronic music, resulting in groundbreaking and boundary defying records like On the Corner and Doo-Bop. To say the least, it’s hard to pin Davis down as simply a musician of one movement or style. His music was always in flux, never static, never the same. Like the compositions he poured so much energy into, he refused to travel the safe road or follow the path expected of him. Davis was a musical subversive, never resting on his laurels and never satisfied with repeating himself. To celebrate Black History Month, Revolution Rock will feature a program devoted to the music of Miles Davis. This episode will focus on a selection of his recordings throughout his long career.
Rebellious Jukebox: The Music of The Fall and Mark E. Smith
Saturday February 17th
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Mark E. Smith was one of post-punk’s great deconstructionist agitators. In his forty year career with The Fall, Smith didn’t so much act as a band leader as much as a sonic provoker. While The Fall has literally hundreds of tracks to its name, the compositions arranged by Mark E. Smith and his ever-rotating roster of musical accomplices rarely felt like songs in the traditional sense. The angular and abrasive music made by the band, led by Smith’s idiosyncratic style of spoken/sung fractured rambling, felt more like odd aural experiments, strange tone poems, and at its most extremes, broadcasts from some alien radio station. Smith, while lazily attributed the status of rock-poet, hardly used language to elucidate or beautify. Smith’s strength was in demonstrating the malleability of language, fracturing familiar phrases, garbling syllables, and patch-working words to create a seemingly new variant of English. If anything, Smith showed the arbitrariness of spoken language, taking a piss of the idea of the songwriter/poet, while paradoxically demonstrating astonishing creativity in his heedlessly irreverent compositions. The Fall have released 31 full-length albums, 32 live albums, 40 compilation albums, and many other variants on the recorded album format. This show will feature a selection of songs from The Fall’s prolific, daunting discography.
Northern Passages: The Sadies Radio Special & An Interview With Travis Good
February 24th, 2017
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Revolution Surf: The 12th Edition: New Surf, Old Surf and Surf in Film
March 3rd, 2017
7-9 PM
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)
Surf music started out by branching off as a subgenre of rock music in the late 50s. The songs were instrumental, had no vocals and were dominated by electric guitars drenched with reverb sound effects. It became associated with surf culture, initially in Southern California. It was first popular from about 1962-1964, and branched off itself into other forms, instrumental and vocal based. Since then, surf music has re-emerged into rock music, in yet other forms. It is sometimes subtle, combined with other forms of rock and sometimes it is still instrumental. On February 24th, the 12th edition of Revolution Surf, a program made up entirely of surf and instrumental music will air on CJAM FM. The music on this episode will take a dive into the world of surf songs that have been featured on movie soundtracks and will also feature a collection of new and older surf/instrumental tracks. Expect to hear some music from films such as 1963’s Beach Party, Don’t Make Waves (1967), The Endless Summer (1966), Tales of The Rat Fink (2006), Psycho Beach Party (1996), as well as other films and more! Derk of Surf Rock Radio’s, The Surfphony of Derstruction 2000 will also make an appearance on this program, broadcasting his own playlist of newer surf tracks.
*Note: Due to weather related issues, the February 10th edition of Revolution Rock was a repeat of one of last year's theme month programs. This year's theme month will end on March 3rd with the annual surf rock special.