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1. The incomparable solo by Ian Bairnson at the end of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights of 1978. By the end of this one the amplifier was up to 11.
2. Rick Kemp's bass improvisations at the end of Elf Call by Steeleye Span, on their 1975 album Commoner's Crown.
3. (Controversially, no doubt - but I stand by it) Francis Rossi's simple but lyrical solo at the end of Status Quo's 1981 single Rock and Roll.
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Profuse agreement on Wuthering Heights. (I haven't heard the other two.)
ReplyDeleteBut you have to wonder what on earth the producers were thinking to put a fade-out there. Pearls before swine. I'm glad that fade-outs on albums now seem to be a thing of the past.
Televisin's A Dreams Dream can match it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxFPwj5IbWc
Like Jonathan, I definitely agree with you on Wuthering Heights but haven't heard the other two pieces.
ReplyDeleteFade-outs always seemed like a cop-out to me, a way to avoid having to compose a proper ending. Can you imagine a novel that ended that way, with the printed words getting fainter and fainter until they faded to white? (Actually, I'm sure some "experimental" novelist somewhere has done just that. Guaranteed.)
Since you like to talk about genius here, I'll just add my opinion that Kate Bush's albums The Kick Inside and The Dreaming reach the level of lesser genius. Never for Ever and The Hounds of Love are also excellent, though not at the astounding level of the first two I listed.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious. What's your take on modern music and its relationship with the Good and the Beautiful?
ReplyDeleteMany reactionaries despise it and they even think it is ALWAYS an evil force (and, of course, many times it is so, because it is a vehicle for nihilism and hedonism).
Many reactionaries compare it to the good old classical music: Bach, etc (which is an expression of faith in God). I understand that classical music is so much superior (but, being a decadent human being, I find it boring and I am touched by modern music, for example, "Going home" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMwcGPjYAIk).
But you seem to enjoy a lot of the seventies music and you don't seem to be ashamed to say it.
@Imnobody - the music I most love is indeed classical in style; but I retain a keenness for some types of folk music - and at its best pop music is a kind of folk music. But there is also no doubt that as a whole it does more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that applies to classical and folk music too - classical music, for example has been a major force for Leftism among the elites (musicians are extremely Leftist, as a class); while the 20th century folk music revival (in the UK and USA) was pretty much communist-driven.
But this is normal - all social institutions, including the major churches, are rotten with nihilistic Leftism. We can separate ourselves to some extent, but must mostly live in this environment, and try to take what is good, leave what is not.
Thank you for your answer. I agree: in a decadent time, we have to pick and choose.
ReplyDelete@I - I should add, for honesty's sake, that I am sometimes unable to resist the temptation to expose myself for a few minutes to some overtly demonic and almost-purely nihilistic music - such as Motorhead's Ace of Spades, or Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols...
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