A total sham (and shame)

Posted by roxymott (A) on October 2, 2006 at 12:56:25

Well, me and my brother will be attending an Acoustic STRAWBS concert in a couple of weeks. He asked me to make a compilation for him so he could familiarize himself with the songs. I burned a two CD comp with 29 tunes.
In doing this, I was struck by the disconnect between the quality of the Strawbs' music and their lack of recogniton. Dave Cousins and crew came up with some startlingly original themes, arrangements, lyrics and everything else you can think of. Plus, they were extremely intelligent, poetic and witty - much more than many best selling artists.
I happened to again read the self-congratulatory Rolling Stone issue where they revisited all their articles during the era in which they ruled (60's, 70's and 80's). Now it becomes readily apparent why so many superb groups went relatively unrecognized. Rolling Stone created the popularity for music groups - and just might not have done so as well as many think. Look at the issue carefully and one can see the repetitive articles on a handful of artists.
Depending on one's viewpoint, they missed out on many. As a result, so did the public who placed so much undue reliance on their picks.
For example, I knew a guy whose entire album collection back in the 70's was built around four and five star Rolling Stone reviews - it's almost like he was afraid to make an indepedent choice.
Artists like the Strawbs, Procol Harum. Gentle Giant, Wishbone Ash, Roxy Music, Mott The Hoople, Be Bop Deluxe, the Delfonics, Howard Tate, the Mad Lads, the Moments, Ten Years After, Rory Gallagher, Amon Duul, early Brian Eno and so many others never really had a chance against the Rolling Stone-selected juggernauts.
It's too bad for all of us but we now have the chance to correct it by revisiting a great musical time in a more spread out, even fashion.
Sorry for the rant, but this Strawbs comp thing got me thinking.........

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Topic - A total sham (and shame) - roxymott 12:56:25 10/02/06 (18)

Re: A total sham (and shame) - 3LockBox 15:04:32 10/09/06 (0)

I honestly don't think RS had that kind of power. - Harmonia 22:59:10 10/04/06 (3)

Re: I honestly don't think RS had that kind of power. - roxymott 20:44:13 10/07/06 (1)

Thanks. - Harmonia 22:38:13 10/07/06 (0)

Chucky Suicide, aka Charles M Young did some good... - hcman 23:24:52 10/04/06 (0)

a self-congratulatory RS article? nnawww!!! - 3LockBox 10:08:25 10/04/06 (1)

Re: - J 11:53:44 10/04/06 (0)

Rolling Stone trashed Zep too, but it didn't seem to hurt them any. - DAT 16:44:19 10/03/06 (1)

Add Grand Funk to that list - YECH 08:26:16 10/04/06 (0)

The Emperor's New Clothes..... - Todd Krieger 12:16:02 10/03/06 (2)

Re: The Emperor's New Clothes..... - J 19:44:35 10/03/06 (1)

Re: The Divisive New Logic.... - .Guy 03:53:46 10/05/06 (0)

Re: A total sham (and shame) - theguelpher 09:09:57 10/03/06 (0)

the early 70s... - dave c 16:15:34 10/02/06 (4)

Re: the early 70s... - Ronald McFondled 20:16:36 10/02/06 (0)

Re: the early 70s... - tunenut 20:04:43 10/02/06 (2)

of course my comment was... - dave c 22:49:45 10/02/06 (1)

Re: of course my comment was... - J 23:23:53 10/02/06 (0)

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