The Not-Pop Jukebox

I’ve become very jaded of late, being forced to listen to the local R&B station every morning. The idea of watching a live performance from any of the artists featured makes me somewhat nauseous and, although I regularly find and enjoy talented musicians who actually play instruments and can sing, some days I begin to wonder if the acts who’ve been touring for twenty or thirty years are the dodos of live music, soon to be extinct. This particular bout of “music these days” depression was brought on by listening to Cheap Trick perform Ain’t That a Shame live. Not only did the song sound like they knew the words and could stay in tune but there was improvising. Guitarists played solos off the cuff rather than faking it to the prerecorded pap. You can’t even tell from the noodling in the intro what song they’re about to play.

That’s what live music should be like: you like the studio recording because of the sound and the band only improves and expands on it in person. Sure, people make mistakes live. Guitar strings break and singers get colds. But performing before an audience should be the heart and soul of a popular musician’s life, not only because that’s where the money grows but because why the bloody heck would you become a professional musician if you didn’t love to play? And the audience should be able to tell that you know and love what you’re doing.

Now that I’ve ranted on for far too long, I’ll let you listen to some music. I think I owe you at least two songs for reading this whole post. If you’ve got a favorite live album or just a single song, please drop me a note and let me know. Please note that I have lots of respect for what people can do to manipulate music electronically and enjoy the results a lot. I’d go see a really good DJ live and I’m sure I’d have a great time. That’s a completely different that the auto-tuned, self-dueting, Casio keyboard button-pushing, no-talent hacks that populate the airwaves ‘round here at 6:30 AM. (Please excuse the ugly player. I'll fix the colors on this one when I'm home and can get to the ones I like.)