The Devolution of Music Part 1: Technology Does it for you!

“The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from the ape.”
― John Philip Sousa (American Bandleader & Composer)

     Does having a bread-machine in your house mean that you will never learn to make your own pizza from scratch? If you have a robot vacuuming all your carpets, does that mean you will never take your rug outside and beat the dust out of it? And if you have some technology that can do just about everything that a set of drums can do, or a guitar, or a piano, or a human voice, does that mean you will never learn to play the drums or guitar or piano or learn how to sing?

   The answer to all these questions is, unfortunately....yes!
   You will not likely learn any of those things....or at least, the odds are against you.
   Imagine one of those balance-type scales. One side represents technology (and it's ability to do what you may or may not be able to do) and stacked up on the technology side of life's balance is the ever-expanding and greater capabilities of more and more integrated and complex technology, usually researched & funded by the wealthiest of the wealthy and directed mostly for the purpose of sales and business. The other side is you. On your side, you have a two and a half pound brain that doesn't care for most types of modern music and sometimes you would just like to get a break from constantly hearing about Justin Bieber's latest sold-out show or Taylor Swift's newest break-up song. You might get annoyed and even think about writing a song of your own, but you're probably not going to. You'd rather let the technology do it for you. Wait for the next artist, or the one after that, buy the CD or download the mp3, maybe even dust off the vinyl and crank up the AC/DC. It might be thirty years old, but it's still great. There's only one problem...you've heard the record a thousand times and with each passing playback there are less and less people learning to play guitar. And no one seems to be quite as good as Angus Young anymore.
      The scales are heavily tipped in the favor of letting technology do it for you. What makes matters worse is that all this technology is designed to help you with life's difficulties, while at the same time leaving you completely clueless as to what is actually going on. You don't know how to knead dough, and you're not sure you want to; that's why you bought the bread machine to make your 'homemade' pizza. Similarly, with music, why should you learn the notes of the pentatonic scale? Sharps and flats? Those fifths and sevenths are for what? How the hell do I diminish a frickin' chord, and why would I want to do that anyway?
      But everyone is doing the same thing, or so it seems, and no one seems to be learning music the way they used to...in a class, or on a piano, perhaps with a book at home or with a metronome. No one reads music from a sheet anymore, and no one seems to be able to play those few standard songs that every guitar-player should know. Some of us have even forgotten how to play. And finally, much like baking...fewer learn in the first place.
      This... is devolution.
      Is devolution real or is it a joke? The truth is that it is neither. Frankly, (and this part is scientifically true) evolution does not have an actual direction. It is not linear, and does not guarantee that we, as a collective species, are progressing towards becoming something more complex, more advanced, more nuanced, or more capable in body or mind. The only measure of evolution is survival. So the only measure of devolution is whether or not we are more or less human than we will be in future, or were before now. It is my sincere belief that we are devolving, and becoming less human. And our devolving brains are only getting smaller, more instinct-driven and less capable of understanding all of that stuff on the other side of the scale of life that was mentioned earlier, while at the same time we are becoming more and more dependent on that technology to sustain us, nurture us, make our bread for us, and even create our art for us.

    Back in the late 1960's one of our less devolved (more advanced) ancestors predicted the future of music. Here's Jim Morrison, poet and lead singer of the The Doors:
 "It might rely heavily on electronics or tapes. I can kind of envision, maybe one person with a lot of machines, tapes, and electronics set-ups, singing or speaking and just using machines."
 The words seem prophetic and almost inevitable. When you hear it from the point of view of a person living in tensies of the 21st century, looking back at our ancestors in 1960s, and you probably tell yourself "it's not that difficult to guess something like that. technology is always progressing, and Jim Morrison is a musician, so he would know." But ask yourself the question again now. Do you know what music will be like in another 50 years? Suddenly, Morrison seems more like an oracle, a seer, or perhaps a little more evolved.

   But let's try to be fair and enlightened about this prophecy. We'll pretend we're human and we'll pretend Jim Morrison is also human, (i.e. not a prophet) and we'll try to be a little more realistic.
Jim Morrison MAYBE, could have been talking about Skrillex and his techno-dance mania of fans which is currently super-popular. Most of the youtube comments (on Morrison's video) seem to suggest this, and though it's not impossible, I have to disagree. For the purpose of this article, I'm going to be a little harsh and dismiss Skrillex as a DJ. Maybe he writes his own songs, but without any structure, instruments or back-up singers, his 'live-performance' is merely a matter of pressing play on his expensive audio equipment and then dancing along with the rest of the crowd. Jim Morrison would easily recognize a DJ without having to have any 'vision' of the future. (They had DJs in the '60s)
    And then there's hip-hop. Maybe Morrison was simply referring to something like rap music. Maybe he was only ten years ahead of his time, not forty. He did say 'singing or speaking' not exclusively one or the other. There's only one problem. Rap doesn't actually require ten-years advance in modern electronics. Rap is near thirty-five years old now, and the only electronics that they had back when it started was turntables and microphones. This seems hardly the hi-tech idea that Jim Morrison was referring to. Run DMC, one of the first big stars of rap, wouldn't qualify for Morrison's prediction for simply having too many people onstage to actually work the 'machines'. The truth is that rap was invented by artists using turntables more as 'instruments'. Perhaps rappers were lacking musical refinement, but they were not dependent upon technology. I suppose if you took away their turntables, they might hire a drummer, but who knows?

 Let's say Jim Morrison wasn't thinking about rappers or a glorified DJ when he made his comments. Then he might have been talking about this other form of music. Beatboxing, if there is such a verb, does make use of plenty of technology. However, it's a form of music, that, at the very least, requires the 'human element' of vocal abilities and timing in order to pull off a live performance. Not all is taken care of by technology, and much can go wrong if not careful. Perhaps Morrison was talking about some talented beatbox artist like Reggie Watts or Beardyman, seen here, presenting... some techno-music creation that is entirely his own.
    There is one more option to this technology-driven music, of course, and you've probably guessed it. It's the idea that there are likely many more people, whose skills and talent are at a somewhat lower level. Perhaps they are devolved like the rest of us, and they use technology, not only to enhance their ideas and artistry, or make cool mixes to play to their friends, but to prop themselves up like a crutch. Technology exists to make a pop singer with a less-than-trained voice sound smooth and even. How would someone do that? Well you start with less experimentation, less 'phat' beats, more pop beats. Keep the rhythm up-beat and on-beat. Avoid Bridges, key changes, slow parts. There's no actual band that has to keep time, so for rhythmic variety, use drums and bass like they are attached to a light switch and just turn them off for a while. Break the techno stuff down and simplify. Don't bend and distort the notes for weird mixes, vibes and sounds. Stick to recognizable fake instruments like horns, violins etc. Use it like a tool, not an instrument. And what do you get? A large percentage of the music available from the usual commercial sources today.

Ignore the dancers and 'band'. Just like Katy Perry's candy-colour fashion choices, they are something nice to look at, but not integral to the show. They're just visual props. This so-called live performance is, audio-wise, just as Jim Morrison described, one person with a lot of machines, electronics, tapes, etc. and certainly Katy Perry is not the only culprit of such performances, but just one example of the truth that we are ALL devolving....and losing our capacity to perform and create music and art, along with a host of other skills. Each day that goes by, technology becomes easier and more tempting to use, while our human abilities stagnate and diminish. Eventually disuse turns into disability and finally, if we do nothing to change it, we will find ourselves dependent on technology for even the most basic music and art.

Continued in Part 2: Monkey See, Monkey Do

The Very Not-Dead-Yet Paul Williams

    He came to songwriting fame in the 70s. Fell victim to drinking and addiction during the 80s. Disappeared from the public completely for ten-odd years, from the late-eighties through the nineties, and then resurfaced in somewhat kinder and gentler form in the new century, but not to boisterous commercial success or greatness.
    The 21st century Paul Williams no longer seeks fame and publicity.
    But without TV or mass public appearances, some wondered where Paul Williams disappeared to. Some even had believed that he had passed-on. Upon discovering that Paul Williams had not left the world too soon, film-maker Stephen Kessler made a documentary about him. The documentary was titled: "Still Alive" and released just last year in theatres and this past February 2013 in DVD format.
     Strangely, and only further confusing the matter, another music-associated Paul Williams died just three weeks ago. The other Paul Williams was the founder of music-critic magazine Crawdaddy and he passed away on March 31, 2013. With all due respect and condolences offered to the other Paul Williams and fans of Crawdaddy magazine, this blog is about the singer/actor/songwriter Paul Williams.
     So Paul Williams is still... still alive!
      Paul Williams is an excellent singer and performer, but his own singing abilities are perhaps outshined by his accomplishments as a songwriter. His career as a proverbial 'tunesmith' was launched fortuitously by a song he wrote for a bank commercial titled "Wedding"

This song was then covered by the Carpenters and became one of their biggest hits. Subsequent songwriting success, awards and accolades from musical movies and scores, along with numerous appearances on talk shows, including some very clever and funny appearances on Johnny Carson, made Paul Williams a fairly well-known celebrity in the mid-seventies and early eighties.

        I don't want to type out a long history of William's entire career of songs or list all his TV appearances. His recent movie does a much better job of talking about his life and career than we can do here in this blog. Suffice it to say, his songwriting accomplishments are numerous and impressive. So here's a much-abbreviated list of his songs with some links: Ordinary Fool. An Old Fashioned Love Song. Rainy Days and Mondays. And most notably: Evergreen, co-written with Barbara Streisand for the movie A Star is Born and won the Oscar for best song in 1976. Paul Williams, standing 5'2'', remembered to thank the little people when he accepted his Oscar.

      But before you get all 'Love, soft as an easy chair' on me, here's where i wanted to go with this whole blog....
      There's a strange little bit of irony attached to Paul Williams, and it is not just the fact he is still... still alive. He also had a career as an actor for a while. He performed well in the sequels of Planet of the Apes and Smokey and the Bandit. However, as an actor his greatest and most prominent movie role is undoubtedly playing the villainous Swan in the movie Phantom of the Paradise.
      Written and Directed by Brian De Palma, Phantom of the Paradise was intially a box-office flop (except in Winnipeg for some reason), but the movie later achieved success by building a following as a cult-film. After a few showings on late-night television or 'Fright Night' halloween-themed shows, the movie and its characters became familiar in the culture. Slowly, over the years, more and more fans began to rally around the movie. Thanks to it's creative and innovative director and it's impressive soundtrack of songs, written by Paul Williams himself, a movie that in 1974 was a flop now enjoys a stunning 90%+ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is a cult classic. And that is partially due to Paul's performance in the movie.

     In Phantom of Paradise, Paul Williams plays 'Swan' a brilliant but devious record producer and promoter. Swan plans to build a new Rock n Roll theatre, and In order to acquire music for the opening of his new theatre (The Paradise), Swan literally steals the hand-written sheet-music of a songwriter named Winslow Leach, then later frames him for drug trafficking and sends him to Sing Sing. When Winslow escapes prison, Swan attempts to kill the musician. And finally, having failed at murdering the artist, he 'gives in' and signs Winslow to an onerous lifetime contract that includes signing over his everlasting soul. Basically, Swan is the most evil, despicable, conniving, music industry son of a bitch that has ever been portrayed on-screen, and he is a poor songwriter's worst nightmare.
       And now... about forty years after playing the horrible, music-stealing Swan, what is Paul Williams doing now?
       He's the president of ASCAP!
      It's true. Paul Williams is the President and Chairman of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
      This means that the same guy who played the vile song-thief 'Swan' is now in charge of defending the rights, royalties and copyrights of musicians, composers, publishers and performers of all kinds of music, and all over the entire U.S.A.! It's almost as ironic as Ice-T playing a TV cop.

*    *    *

Update February 13, 2014: It has been about ten months since this blog entry was first published, and since then a lot has happened concerning the inimitable Paul Williams. So much that this blog entry deserves an update.

To give a quick review of the movie Still Alive. As far as single-person documentaries go, I would give it four out of five stars. Although, if you're a Paul Williams fan, it's a five-star easily. It may not be the best documentary ever, but it's probably the best documentary that never really wanted to be made. Paul Williams, at this time in his 70s has/had no desire to return to his late-night and game-show television fame of the 1970s. (Spoilers!) The first part of the movie makes clear that Williams has neither the desire to have a movie made of himself, nor does he want to jump in front of a camera and regain the fame that he used to have. Even when director Stephen Kessler makes an attempt to start a PBS-style documentary of his life it breaks down comically within minutes. The second part deals with the director Stephen Kessler, having become part of the narrative, who has his own trepidations following an entertainer to some of those out-of-country shows that we don't usually hear about in North America, in this case in the Philipines, where the country is in political unrest, but a real opportunity for Paul Williams to 'bring home the bacon' so to speak. In the Phillipines, Williams can fill large theatres with performances, sell his CDs & posters and meet large numbers of true fans pandering for his autograph and a picture. Finally, the last part of this movie deals with how Paul Williams addiction and alcoholism led him so far away from both the music and the late-night television fame that people began to think he'd disappeared or died. Williams still claims he 'missed' the 1980s completely due to his use of cocaine & vodka. By the time the documentary has finished, the viewer realizes that the reason it is titled 'Still Alive' is not simply because of the director's mistaken idea that Paul had passed on. Instead, the title reflects the very real possibility that Paul Williams perhaps might not be with us if he didn't get sober and begin recovery from his addiction. His recovery is one that is both good news to Paul, his fans, and hopefully an inspiration to others that want to get sober and recover from addiction.

   Unfortunately, the movie 'Still Alive' did not capture what happened next. In the 1990s, in recovery from addiction, Williams resumed his career by writing catchy songs for movies and television, most famously writing the song Rainbow Connection for the Muppet Movie. So when the documentary ends with a caption explaining that Paul Williams had been elected president of ASCAP in 2009, with that ending, there seemed an unspoken assumption that it's going to be ASCAP duties, muppet-royalties and the occasional cartoon for the remainder of Paul Williams life. But shortly afterwards, and during the promotional tour for 'Still Alive', Williams found himself being included into a major project by the French Electronica robot-duo Daft Punk.

The two 'robot' members of Daft Punk had lofty goals for their 2013 album Random Access Memories. Rather than pump out another Electronic-Dance album for a bunch of teenagers high on ecstasy, they sort of 'put together a dance band', by gathering together musical talent from several eras of dance music varying from funk to disco to pop and rock and this led to the creation of a much more thoughtful album of danceable songs. It turns out that Paul Williams writing and singing style fit in rather well with Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Giorgio Moroder and others. The album was released on vinyl, not as an afterthought, but as an initial release (Which very much impressed us here at Very Us Mumblings) Both the Vinyl version and CD sold very successfully, and Paul Williams involvement was not short-shrift with a quick credit for back vocals, but instead he wrote lyrics for two songs and sang lead-vocal on one (the 8 min song 'Touch', which is about as progressive as dance music gets). On January 26, 2014, Daft Punk's Random Access Memories won several Grammy awards including the big one: Best Album.

Far from being forgotten or presumed deceased, Paul Williams is, understandably, now once again a sought-after song-writer and collaborator for both movies and original musical works. He is the living epitome of the idea that truly good songwriters don't just outlive their popularity, but actually get better if they keep themselves involved in their craft, and steer their minds clear of the more damaging addictions of society today. If we at Very Us Mumblings ever wanted a comeback story, this would have to be the one. Paul Williams is back, not just from an addiction, but to the forefront of songwriting.

Paulwilliams Official Website   
Gratitude & Trust (Recovery Blog) WebSite


Links of the other actors in Phantom of The Paradise:
Phoenix: Jessica Harper www.jessicaharper.com
Beef: Gerrit Graham - www.gerritgraham.com short interview on his role can be found here.
The JuicyFruits/BeachBums/Undeads
Peter Elbling - www.peterelbling.com (did an interview for StudioKaiju in 2010)
Archie Hahn - actor/comedian
Jeffrey Comanor  - musician 
Winslow Leach/The Phantom -- William Finley -- Deceased April 14, 2012
Philbin -- George Memmoli -- Deceased 1985

Who the heck is Eddie Cochran?

   One of the true pioneers of rock n' roll, Eddie Cochran's career literally begins at the beginning. He starts performing as a teenager and his life as a professional musician ran concurrent to the very first and greatest rockers such as Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and even Elvis Presley. But somehow, in the U.S.A. and Canada, Eddie Cochran is not known as well as some of his colleagues.
   To examine the story I'd like to explain an era that I like to call 'the gap' in Rock & Roll.
   Many people talk about a certain gap in the era of early rock. They are usually referring to a period, in North America, that begins in 1960 and ends with the Beatles arrival in the U.S.A in 1964, marking the beginning of the British invasion.  Between these two dates, rock and roll either floundered or became a much tamer version of itself. On radio, if not in clubs, the rhythm and blues influence had toned down it's temperament and no longer aroused the same sort of emotions and 'reckless abandon' of it's early days. In looking at the top-selling singles charts of the early sixties, a person finds Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, the Everly Brothers and even Connie Francis took over from the 'real' rockers, and these artists had a much kinder and gentler message than some of their R&B-influenced predecessors.
    There were many reasons for this gap. Many of the original rockers, the supposed 'bad boys' that gave early rock & roll its' rebel image were removed from touring and recording for a variety of reasons. Little Richard found religion, Jerry Lee Lewis was ostracized for his marriage to a teenager, Chuck Berry faced a long court-battle and jail-time for allegedly having transported a 14 year old waitress across state lines. Elvis Presley was drafted, Bill Halley & the Comets supposedly disbanded after some near-riots during their European tour, and, of course: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson all died in a tragic plane crash.
    Into this mix of rebellious rock talent, we add the enigmatic Eddie Cochran. Eddie Cochran was actually booked to be on that same tour that took the life of Buddy Holly, however he survived them by missing the tour to do a fairly cheesy movie called 'Go, Johnny! Go!'. Cochran did not have a long list of smash hits, but his most popular songs were 'Three Steps to Heaven', 'Something Else' and a somewhat presumptuous tune called 'Summertime Blues'. A song obviously aimed at a teenage audience, but clear in it's rebellious message. I imagine the song left some parents wondering: 'How dare some punk kid with a guitar complain about working all summer?" and then those same parents danced along with the guitar riff because it was just too cool.
     One song that Cochran wrote, titled simply "C'mon Everybody" turned out to be a much bigger hit in Britain than in the U.S.A. and so, in 1960, Eddie Cochran and his friend Gene Vincent left on a tour of England hoping for a new level of success that they hadn't found in America. During their tour, the two of them entered a taxi cab. The cab was speeding down a highway, blew a tire, veered off the road and hit a lamp post. Eddie Cochran was thrown from the car. He died of his injuries later in hospital.

     Despite the tragic ending to the tour, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent had, through their performances, placed their stamp on England in such a way that they would forever be remembered as two of the true great rock and rollers of the early era. To this day, while most of the U.S. and Canada think of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent as a footnote to Elvis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry, most Britons view them as equally influential if not as famous.
      It was uncommon, in the fifties, for a performer to write all his or her own material, but Eddie Cochran did more than most. Being both a writer and performer, Eddie might have, had he lived, filled some of that dreaded gap between 1960 and 1964 and he might have taken up the Rock & Roll cause where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and others left off. Instead.... after he died and a few years had passed, some musicians took up where Eddie Cochran left off...and they started playing his songs back to the rest of us in a different way.

Video: 1) Eddie Cochran performing Summertime Blues at The Town Hall Party Tv Show.
2) 1969 Blue Cheer performing "Summertime Blues" on German Television.
3) 1970 Led Zeppelin performing two of Eddie's songs: "C'mon Everybody" and "Something Else"

The Five Most Unusual Female Subjects of a Fawning Love Song.

Another list. This time a top five.

We've all heard them before, the song by the rock band or the boy band that fawns over the love a precious woman who is incredibly beautiful and stunning and wonderful. The song that takes an otherwise normal human being, perhaps named 'Edie' or 'Sherry' and puts that woman on a pedestal, lifting her up with music, and praising the gods that made her. Sometimes these songs are great, sometimes not so much.
Well, this is a list of the best of a more unusual type of fawning love song. One where the female subject is perhaps... not so statuesque.


5) Whole Lotta Rosie: It isn't often that a song is written describing a sexy woman as having a few extra pounds, but AC/DC's very best song dedicated to a woman is the one about the inimitable and heavy-set Rosie. Having a few extra pounds make Rosie no less the lover, though. Excuse the pun, but Whole Lotta Rosie is both one of the heaviest and coolest of AC/DC's repertoire of riff-based straight-ahead rock and recognizable from the opening riff. A favourite among fans, and still an integral part of their live concerts. I would say that an AC/DC concert isn't quite complete without a visit from beloved 'Rosie'.

4) Maggie May: Rod Stewart's hard-rocking days with the Faces and Jeff Beck Group don't come up often in conversation anymore. The once wild front-man has since become a tame version of himself, singing sappy stuff that invites married ladies to buy his CDs as a way to rekindle the romance. But one romantic song crosses over from his wild days to now, and that was the song about an older woman and a younger man called Maggie May. I have not yet heard any other song quite like it, and I don't expect to. In the current world of corporatized music and video, young and old don't mix, it seems. But maybe that's what makes this song so special. It's both romantic and taboo at the same time.


3) Charlotte the Harlot: Iron Maiden wrote two songs about a woman named Charlotte. The songs were apparently based on a real-life prostitute from East End London who (supposedly) stole the hearts of at least two members of the band. Such rumours have gone unsubstantiated for years, but the band and certain ex-members are believed to be protecting Charlotte's true identity. Later, on the Number of The Beast album, the follow-up song 22 Acacia Avenue tells the story of how Charlotte is rescued from her seedy situation and taken away to a better place. In this first song, however, our poor hero's heart is broken by Charlotte, who makes her ends as a 'bloody whore'. Nevertheless Charlotte is still beloved by the band and their fans as well.

2) Lola: The Kinks wrote one of the most legendary (and perhaps one of the most famous) fawning love songs about .... a man. It's true, and yes, I'll wait while you go look up the lyrics to prove it to yourself, (Copyright prevents reprinting of lyrics) but Lola is a man. The reason that so many never realized that Lola is a man is because everyone sings along with the chorus, but no one seems to pay much attention to the verses. Without using any supposedly 'filthy' words, the lyrics suggest some fairly kinky behaviour, and they really got away with it, way back in the late sixties, when all of this was not the sort of subject matter that most people expected.





---> So, at this point your saying to yourself: "BIG DEAL! So what? So what if your girlfriend is a little heavier, a little older, a prostitute, or even a man! This is a modern 21st century world, and she could be all those things at once and you might still take her home to meet the parents after the first date!"

Well, all I can say to you is: Leave it to Alice Cooper to go one step too far.

1) Cold Ethyl: How in the world this song made it onto national television without so much as a bleep is beyond me. And yet somehow, in the late seventies, Alice Cooper performed his entire album Welcome to My Nightmare on a televised special that included a song about making love to a corpse! How did they miss it? It says so right in the song! Ethyl's dead!

PS: Mrs. Robinson is not in this list, for one simple reason, while the movie the Graduate contained a Mrs. Robinson who was an older woman who had an affair with a younger man, the truth is that the song Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel contains no such amorous relationship, nor the suggestion of it. I've looked through the lyrics, and no...it isn't there. So here's to you Mrs. Robinson, jesus blah, blah, blah,....nothing. Nada. Sorry. No go.