Psychozoic Hymnal 4 - 70's
Led Zeppelin
Lead guitarist Jimmy Page used contrasting guitar effects which sometimes gives the impression of alternating guitars. The bass player could do this too, witness the ‘Rock and Roll’ dual guitars. Later bassist Paul Jones’s keyboards came to add extra colour to the lines, but he didn’t wash in pop effects, he trampled them underfoot. These were sketched inside by singer Robert Plant’s singing which also kicks off the drums, with effects very like a guitar. While that rhythm section pounded along, with often complex to‐and‐fro against the leads. With the interplay and ideas arriving, it’s a modest surprise when the instruments gather into a chord change. There was not much need for sectional composition, which only arrives in odd blurts, like some idea needed a rethink. The three‐part composition of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was reductive and closed, and it seems to have taken decades for fan (and band) favourites like ‘Ramble On’ and ‘No Quarter’ to surface
Hawkwind
They have the driven basslines, bouncing round drums which come from a hardrock place like they’re rolling up and down hills. J.C. I recall said the strummed guitar was like a bonehead baseline. That’s because the electronics and flute/violin decorations are usually warping on top. There’s not much like it, sometimes four layers running at different speeds. If they drop the strum‐guitar they can come on like electronica. The non‐songs, like Chuck Berry, use long lines of repeated melodic fragments. Which flat line is useful because, as people wander on and off stage, some similar but warped inside‐out tune might surface. It may sound simple, but there’s nothing like it.
ZZ Top
When music from the south of America turns to rock, it usually inherits San Francisco, tightened up into hard rock. Right from the start, ZZ Top approached with a beat that was not always faster, but more two‐stroke and heavily accented. I’m at a loss where it comes from, unless the band ’fess up or they heard it out at the Mississippi? It’s proved usable, witness Beau Jocque and The Hi‐Rollers. The ZZ Top aim was to power electric blues boogie, which is either derivative, as reviewers take them for, or in J.C.’s words “groove exploration”. After a while this started to emerge in composition moves unlike anyone else, witness “La Grange”. The good humoured but not‐stupid songs have placed them in the long line of not‐serious, from Louis Jordan through Paul Revere and The Raiders, but try them out on any bloke and ZZ Top go nationwide. They’d probably laugh at that too
Rush
What’s special about Rush? They like an acoustic move, but that wouldn’t split them from Budgie. And they compose in double‐speed eight‐bar sections, though that wouldn’t mark them off from Yes (the possibility of these forms opened up by the sixties bands). Ah, but there is a difference—Rush are but a three‐piece dedicated, within their tight adaption, to the rock dynamic. Geddy Lee’s adventurous vocal lines climb from (usually) or structure Neil Peart’s “I’ll not roll the changes, but maybe the phrases” drum style. There’s so much going on, hard to believe they keep it moving but, within the steady pace, that’s what they care about. I’ve met fans in the oddest places, from lifting carpets to university academic departments
The Ramones
The idea of ‘Punk’ was to strip back to basics—but what are basics? Could be anything. The Ramones stripped down alright. A Ramone would set up a beat and crash a cymbal(s) for emphasis. On top of this were a near‐always unison bass and lead guitar, which proved there could be variation in unison. While Joey sang a couple of lines—often all it was—in an accent so thick most couldn’t hear words. But they cared about timing—the band could hit a verse without a drum fill. Not only did they have an implicit backbeat, but they could roll into the spectacular forms of the tunes. Writers, especially music critics, got their rocks off calling The Ramones as ‘simple’ and ‘stupid’, so realize their yen for primitivism‐as‐authenticity. When it came to the musically‐informed and streetwise lyrics, they would go Parental Advisory. JC wrote how difficult Ramone was, and the Mad Magazine link. The fans were sincere but, a few hit singles aside, the band had to earn their cash at college.
The Sleepers
On and off they lasted maybe 3 years, and their feel was half a ton of iron struggling to make 2/4 inside 4/4. The drummer speeds up and slows down as fit. Chords lumber up and down, seemingly heedless of key. Inner changes of song structure crawl improvised in the darkness. They were too heavy for anything fancy, no solos—the guitar thumps, or grinds like a faulty bearing… Goth‐reverb a guitar that was punk‐slash? Their singer, Ricky Williams, wove a double‐beat propulsion through the murk, only ever singing a song the same way once. Carducci must’ve seen them live, says they were a powerhouse, with tracks that surface and sink on YouTube as testimony. After the EP the singles likely used a drum machine, but they were back as a band for the album. The subsequent Toiling Midgets had some of the same while drummer Tim Mooney was there. Who moved to American Music Club to rattle about. Guitarist Michael Belfer was in early Tuxedomoon, moved to Black Lab, who had good guitar. But the first band are the strongest argument ever against click‐tracks.