Music From The Hive

[Mythocentric]

Don't know why I haven't mentioned these guys before because they've practically supplied a soundtrack to my life in one way or another. Moody Blues with Never Comes The Day from On The Threshold of a Dream.

Driftwood.

To round off this is Dire Straits with one of their finest, Telegraph Road!

 

[Mythocentric]

Most people consider that the 'classic' Moody Blues albums came to an end with Seventh Sojourn, but the Moody's also produced some excellent music beyond that point. I've already uploaded Driftwood, which came from the following album Octave. This is the full 7m 19s version of Talking Out Of Turn from Long Distance Voyager. Just a bit of useless information for you: The Moody's were the first band to cause that cold frisson up my spine with You Can Never Go Home Anymore!

 

[Miss B]

I always liked the Moody Blues and Dire Straits.

 

[Mythocentric]

They really are the biz, aren't they? A friend of mine called Mark Neumann turned me onto Dire Straits with Making Movies and I ended up with their full catalogue which remains a staple part of my collection. The Moody's I came across when they performed their latest single, Go Now (really dating myself here! ) on a TV talent show (which they didn't even place in) and again I have a complete collection. They seem to have been around forever and, as I mentioned earlier, they have practically supplied a soundtrack to my life ever since! It's amazing to think that they were on the verge of breaking up at the time until John Lodge (I think!) mentioned a couple of songs he'd written which went on to form the basis of Days Of Future Passed. Thank heaven for serendipity! You Can Never Go Home Anymore is still a much loved favourite which can still send a shiver down my spine!

And for Dire Straits:

 

[DanaTA]

Just found this.

Dana

 

[Mythocentric]

Probably been having flashbacks but I've been reacquainting myself with Steppenwolf and realising what a very fine band they are so, find yourself a beanbag, sit back, chill out, enjoy and don't bogart that joint, my friend!*

* Anyone under the age of 50 should probably ask their parents to explain that last bit!

 

[Miss B]

I always liked Born To Be Wild, and Magic Carpet Ride.

 

[Mythocentric]

Both on my all-time playlist for ages and staying there. All those tracks are on a Steppenwolf, Best Of album - Born To Be Wild which I've had for yonks and like every single track which is unusual for me. I've just found out that all their albums are available on Amazon so I might just indulge myself and expand my collection in the near future!

 

[DanaTA]

I have three of their albums: Monster, Born to be Wild, and For Ladies Only. In fact, in the late 60s, maybe 1970 or 1971 on For Ladies Ony, I learned every one on the bass. Forgot them all by now, but probably would pick them up quickly.

Dana

 

[Mythocentric]

I think for me, it's the sheer rebellious nature that comes across in their music. It's a period in American music when everything was fresh and the musos were discovering that the old record industry didn't own everything and the bands were going out of their way to prove it. Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead stand out for me because they were the bands that told me that something amazing was happening Stateside. It's a time of discovery when so much was going on both in musical exploration and technique. I loved it!
Memorable for me was the Fuzz Box. Remember that all-girl band called 'I've Got A Fuzz Box And I'm Gonna Use It'? Well, that was us. I think we were one of the first bands ( especially for part-timers) in the UK to make it a feature in the line-up because our bass man Steve was a keen electronics buff and he persuaded someone at our local music shop to let him take a peek inside one and take notes. After that, the world was our oyster and everything was delivered via a variety of home-made fuzz boxes (of greatly variable quality) being, as they were, constructed from components recovered from old radios and stuff. They also had a strange tendency to disintegrate in interesting ways during the set, including one memorable occasion when Stuart, lead guitar and vocals suddenly found himself horizontal after hitting the switch and causing a massive short. Fortunately, he grounded it out so the guitars and other gear survived intact!

 

[DanaTA]

It was a fun time for us. Yikes, he grounded it? I remember playing my bass at a friend's house in the summer, in the garage which used to be a barn. Their house was built before this was officially a country. Anyway, they had a concrete floor, and, being a hippy, I was barefoot. Zap, zap, zap. He finally got an old tire for me to stand on.

Dana

 

[Mythocentric]

Yep! Flat out! The fun part was, Stuart had long, bright red, curly hair which, naturally enough was stood on end to offset his (very) white face so the rest of us, being the nice, sympathetic characters we were, took to calling him Swan Vesta, after the match. Wasn't life fun before Health & Safety?

 

[DanaTA]

Well, some of life was fun. I feel bad for kids trying to enjoy a slide. These extremely short, plastic, slides seem pretty useless to me. when I was a kid, the park had a shiny stainless steel slide that was probably 15 or 20 feet high. Hot in the summer sun. But it was so smooth that you weren't on it for very long. What a fun ride! And the swings...20 feet high pole with heavy chains hanging a wooden plank seat. You could really get some height on those. Some kids nearly went all the way around...not quite, but very close. Someone would stand behind and grab the seat and raise up off the ground, pushing as he/she would come back down to Earth. Fun! And the playground was asphalt under these things, not sand, not grass, not rubber mulch! How did we survive?

The merry-go-rounds were great, too. Again, all metal, shiny, hot in the Sun. We'd grab the bars and run around pushing it, then jump on and enjoy what seemed to be quite a long ride. Sometimes we'd grab both bars and lean back and watch the sky swirl around above!

Dana

 

[DanaTA]

Music was fun, too. Even at the beginning of the revolution, with the Beatles! Remember The Turtles? (Elenore, gee I think you're swell...) Gary Pucket and the Union Gap? Tommy James and the Shondells: I Think We're Alone Now, Crimson and Clover, Crystal Blue Persuasion. I remember, my best friend's grandfather asked if we thought we'd be listening to this stuff when we're 30. I'm 65, and still rock out!

Dana

 

[Alisa]

I remember them all ! And yes, I still love them all too!

 

[Mythocentric]

Oh yeah! I have a playlist I've been compiling for years called 'Simply the Best', and Gary Pucket and The Union Gap (Young Girl and Lady Willpower) and The Turtles (Elenor) are prominent for the simple reason I reckon they are amongst some of the greatest songs ever written. You can throw the Walker Brothers in there too! 'No Regrets' still takes me back to my youth and first girlfriend. Surprisingly perhaps, there's a fair amount of Soul in there too, from Etta James, 'Another Little Piece of my Heart' through to Lorraine Ellison's 'Stay With Me Baby', in my opinion, one of the greatest songs and performances ever! Not bad for an old blues reprobate really but there ain't nothing like having the old heartstrings twanged every now and then and I've just turned the corner on 71!

 

[Mythocentric]

OK, I couldn't resist it and anyway I want to test this new-fangled forum for size. This is the original recording:

The story goes that the song was intended for Diana Ross and the producer, Sly Stone (I think!!!) had the studio booked, the orchestra in place and a lack of singer, because Ross was notorious for her poor reliability. Happily, Stone remembered Lorraine Ellison, a budding singer, who worked nearby as a waitress (?). He got her into the studio, she read through it and then laid it down first time, producing one of the greatest performances ever! It still brings tears to my eyes to this day.

 

[DanaTA]

Interesting article...I don't feel so alone now.
Self Taught

Dana

 

[Stezza]

 

[Janet]

I don't know why I stopped listening to music as it has always been a huge enjoyment of mine. Maybe because I bought a lot of cassette tapes then they started to break so I bought CDs. Had a hundred of them. Those started to break too. So for a couple of decades I've only listened to it on the radio when driving. But I bought an Amazon Echo for half price on Black Friday. My son came over and hooked it up for me today. Now not only can I control all the lights in the house with voice command I can LISTEN TO MUSIC AGAIN!! I've been rocking out to all my favorites by Beatles and Queen, Led Zepplin, Enya, Rainbow and Elton John. It's like rediscovering music all over again!