I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead. Hoping we are all holding up … from the virus and elsewhere.
ART NOTES— an exhibition of works entitled Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom— which he based (in part) on FDR’s “Four Freedoms”— is scheduled to be at the Denver, Colorado Art Museum through August 23rd.
HAIL and FAREWELL to the drummer Jimmy Cobb— who had been the last surviving musician on Miles Davis’ 1959 Kind of Blue (the best selling jazz album of all-time), yet who released a new album just last year — who has died at the age of ninety-one.
In LEWISTON, MAINE…. at a hockey arena.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this essay on how the Administration bungled the Covid-19 response by the US editor of the Financial Times— that ties together items we already knew into one neat package (and not too long a read) that is not behind a paywall.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Herschel the Cat— an Iowa kitteh who went missing ten years ago but was reunited with a woman … due to his microchip.
ECONOMIC NOTES— a native of the African nation of Benin — who is a professor at Princeton today — wants to change the fact that most conferences about Africa do not take place there (nor does most scholarship) due to a lack of opportunities at home … so he has founded the African School of Economics, in a suburb of Benin’s capital city.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Smidge the Cat— who jumped out of a family car in Georgia, and when found: over a dozen strangers came together (in a relay) to return Smidge (in a carrier) to her family in Wisconsin.
THE NATION of Colombia has one of the world’s highest number of migratory bird species, with a popular ecotourism site with over thirty-two varieties of hummingbirds— and now having difficulty feeding those birds (due to a lack of tourist income) as a result of to the coronavirus epidemic.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #2 is this essay (originally from ProPublica) that notes that Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) shares an important trait with you-know-who …. being a wealthy businessman who attempted to stiff his contractors and employees.
INTRODUCING Jo Jorgensen — 2020’s Libertarian Party presidential candidate.
BRAIN TEASERS - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC …. and there is also a New York Times quiz (may/may not have a paywall) that is much easier.
SEPARATED at BIRTH— Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the CDC for the state of Maine and pardoned GOP criminal/pundit Dinesh D’Souza.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… in the old days of analog recordings, the public was used to imperfections (and in vinyl-only days, imperfections in the medium themselves) — and that is why listening to recordings with obvious mistakes was not uncommon. Sometimes they were released with mistakes that were obscure (such as background noise), some involved faulty musicianship, yet the record company did not want to incur the expense of more takes … and then there were some that the musicians and producers smiled and said, “Leave it in!”. Tonight, a look at some.
With modern digital recording, there need not be any such releases … yet even many modern recording engineers argue for a more human performance. And a side benefit: it can cause an immediate discussion among listeners … and years later, such items are recounted (this essay, just one example).
Especially with live recordings, there were imperfections that overall did not detract much from the performances. An example was The Who’s 1970 album Live at Leeds— with its handwritten label reading “Crackling noises OK; do not correct” — which was aimed at the engineers who worked on the finished product. Today, the re-mastered CD versions read, "Crackling noises … have been corrected!"
And while live recordings are a different category, this subject needs to cite Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 recording in Berlin of Mack the Knife— where she forgets the lyrics and just ad-libs with scat singing. That did not have to be released — yet it may well have been more famous than if she had rendered every lyric faithfully.
There are numerous lists of errors of all varieties — such as here, or here, or here, just take your pick — here are five I will note in passing, with two in detail.
→ On the 1978 break-out single by The Police, Roxanne— in the first five seconds, Sting accidentally sits on the piano, creating an atonal chord (and there is a quick laugh). The band left it in.
→ On Pink Floyd’s 1975 title track of Wish You Were Here— at the :26 second mark, you can hear guitarist David Gilmour (the singer and co-writer of the song) cough: it’s been widely speculated that this annoyed him enough to quit smoking.
→ On the 1989 song Love Shack by the B-52’s — at the 3:49 mark of the song (where the entire band lays-out) singer Cindy Wilson comes-in early, singing “Tin roof, rusted” (a reference to a cabin that inspired the song) … but was left-in, as the band felt it complemented the free-wheeling spirit of the song.
→ On the 1977 song Aja by Steely Dan — the ace session drummer Steve Gadd (in an extended solo on top of some chords in an instrumental break) at the 4:57 mark of the song … accidentally hit a drum rim rather than the head …. and ever since, drummers have replicated this in cover versions.
→ And while many bands take a sly sort of pride in these mistakes: on the 1983 recording of Seek and Destroy by Metallica — guitarist Kirk Hammett said in the year 2002 of his performance,“On a couple of notes in that solo, I bend the notes out of pitch; for 18 years, every time I’ve heard that guitar solo, those sour notes come back to haunt me!”
On the 1969 break-out single from the Led Zeppelin II album, Whole Lotta Love— which today is half-credited to the bluesman Willie Dixon, as it seems to come directly from his song written for Muddy Waters, You Need Love— the song was first recorded at Olympic Studios in London. Jimmy Page brought the tapes to New York for the final mix, as he wanted the nonpareil recording engineer Eddie Kramer to handle this. Kramer, a South Africa native who fled his homeland to emigrate to London (where he became famous as Jimi Hendrix’s engineer) had subsequently relocated again to New York.
And from the 4:00 to 4:12 mark, a previous guide vocal had a bleed-through, just before the main vocals … which Kramer and Jimmy Page could not erase. What to do? Add echo/reverb to the bleed-through echo, and “Leave it in!” was the word.
And on the 1966 hit single by the Mamas and the Papas, I Saw Her Again (Last Night)— my favorite of theirs, due to the driving rhythms underneath — in the final chorus, it appears that singer Denny Doherty comes-in too early at the 2:42 mark (which was the subject of many a debate, as to whether it was intentional).
Years later, the recording engineer Dayton “Bones” Howe claimed it was all his fault, as the vocal tracks were recorded separately — and he “punched-in” the vocal track for Denny too early. Howe thought he had removed it, but upon playback it was still there — and yet producer Lou Adler was delighted with the mistake, and told Howe to leave-it-in, as Howe explains on this short video.
Whatever the truth, it was an interesting twist to the song: Paul McCartney (upon hearing it) is alleged to have said, “That has to be a mistake; no one is that clever”.
Feel free to add your own examples in the comments.