Thanks Doc! Made my day, thanks for posting this.
I always liked this oldie on Letterman, when Stain was first released:
Corey matching the guitar at the end was awesome!
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Living Colour on NPR Tiny Desk
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Corey matching the guitar at the end was awesome!
In case anybody didn't know or care, Corey was in Platoon from beginning to end. He's the dude that stabs himself in the leg at the end.
Vernon cut his teeth playing with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society...it's not "metal wanking," it's avant garde jazz fusion in a funk/soul/metal context...yes, not for everyone, but not Hammet either
I remember some of the stuff Reid was doing before Living Colour. His background was closer to Ornette Coleman than Kirk Hammet. That is why I compared him to Robert Fripp because he is self-consciously a musical intellectual.
But Fripp's Fibonacci system is 180 degrees from Ornette's harmolodic concept, although I'm sure that now they would respect each other as masters and laugh at the differences (as Fripp has mellowed). When I first saw Vernon in The Decoding Society he was surrounded in a circle of 5 guitars, a banjo and a pedal steel in front of him, which he played very well. Hghlight of the band for me was Henry Scott, the trumpet player with the highest musical notes I ever heard (not screeching lead, regular notes) unfortunately Decoding Society is the only credit I can find from him. That band also had 2 bass players which is an Ornette thing (that would drive Robert bananas).
btw, Corp for Public Broadcasting provides money to rural NPR stations so they can afford shows like tiny desk. Rural stations don't have the population to contribute enough. I fear for Main's NPR which I love when there. This is part of the cultural war going on as education and cultural diversity is looked down upon, makes for uppity questioning people.
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I did not mean that Reid and Fripp play the same. I mean they are both very intellectual players.
Didn't think you did...I agree, they are both top shelf, but Reed goes beyond the intellect (and beyond the blues that so many guitarists are stuck in) and come to think of it, so does Fripp...
Put distortion on it, play it in a funk/metal song... it's metal wanking.
I'm not saying I don't like Reid's playing overall, he can obviously play, but that solo in Cult of Personality (on this video, specifically, haven't heard the original in a long time so don't remember if it's the same)... you forget it immediately after it's over. Not one memorable phrase.
But you're right, I probably don't listen to enough avant garde jazz fusion. My exposure to avant garde has been limited to Ornette, Mingus, Sun Ra, Sonny Sharrock, a few others, and on the fusion side to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Allan Holdsworth. I'll check out Decoding Society.
(Also a Fripp fan).
I saw this yesterday, so great. I've seen them live twice--first after Vivid came out, and then about 10 years ago at a small club. I was flabbergasted that they were playng a venue that size, but they absolutely crushed it. They did Vivid front to back, a few later songs, and a fun cover of Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Apparently an early B side.) It should be illegal to be 60 years old and still have that range!
I just listened to the first few tracks from the Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society album Man Dance.
That same sort of playing is on the track "Spanking"... but it 100% works for me there in the context of that track where the rest of the band is frenetic, dissonant, at certain points.
Good stuff, this is up my alley!
That same sort of playing is on the track "Spanking"... but it 100% works for me there in the context of that track where the rest of the band is frenetic, dissonant, at certain points.
Good stuff, this is up my alley!
Gonna start eating more cheetos, so I can sing like I'm 25.
Put distortion on it, play it in a funk/metal song... it's metal wanking.
I'm not saying I don't like Reid's playing overall, he can obviously play, but that solo in Cult of Personality (on this video, specifically, haven't heard the original in a long time so don't remember if it's the same)... you forget it immediately after it's over. Not one memorable phrase.
But you're right, I probably don't listen to enough avant garde jazz fusion. My exposure to avant garde has been limited to Ornette, Mingus, Sun Ra, Sonny Sharrock, a few others, and on the fusion side to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Allan Holdsworth. I'll check out Decoding Society.
(Also a Fripp fan).
FWIW, I can hum the entire CoP solo from memory...but different strokes and all that
if memory serves Ornette was what Jackson was aiming for with The Decoding Society
Side note: Was lucky enough to see Ornette's final performance in Brooklyn...and see Vernon play with Garland Jeffreys for (what would turn out to be) one of his final performances (Laurie Anderson and Chuck Prophet showed up too)
Nothing against Vernon but I don’t like that guitar sound in that video at all and the guitar is too loud in the mix.
Yes, RSJ was a band member in Ornette’s early harmolodic groups — iirc that’s him drumming on Dancing In Your Head — and he formed Decoding Society so he could further explore harmolodics with his own compositions. His album Eye On You (which I believe was the first Decoding Society album) is one of my desert island discs, and I actually prefer it over any of Ornette’s Prime Time albums. It too features Vernon Reid on guitar and banjo (along with Reverend Bruce Johnson and Melvin Gibbs on bass).
Well, from listening to this one album, Man Dance, I have a greater appreciation of Vernon Reid's talent! The album is pretty great. Also gave a few listens to Red Warrior and Beast in the Spider Bush. Different guitarists on those but still fantastic stuff.
we knew you'd come around eventually...now we can all go back to bashing Hammett (as God intended)
