--Cont. (Interested in the influences part 5)

Posted March 24th, 2007 03:48 AM by Kevin Hewick            

Another fascinating post there Wes.I feel a bit lost for words to even begin to respond to such insightful writing as yours.

    I do 'see' something in music I struggle to explain and wonder if many others 'see' it.

    I hear it in many favourite songs of mine, I don't know the theory behind them or anything like that, I just feel the rapture - and I try to get that rapture in my own songs.

    I can give examples, so many, too many, but offhand I can name a few just an attempt to signpost the sort of thing I mean - I wonder if someone more expert than me could find some common thread in their stylistic devices and so forth:

    eg:Hendrix's "1983" or "Drifting" , Kate Bush "Somewhere in between", Lush "Breeze" or "Tiny Smiles", Bowie "Lady Grinning Soul", Annette Peacock "This feel within", Cream "Deserted Cities of the Heart" or "As you said", Syd Barrett "Wined and Dined" or "Matilda Mother" or "Flaming" when he was with Pink Floyd, David Crosby "Laughing" or "Guinnevere" or "The Leeshore", Marvin Gaye "Distant lover", John Martyn "Small Hours", Sophie Barker "Wintertime", The Who "Bargain", Jeff Buckley "So real", Sandy Denny "Carnival", Van Morrison "Into the mystic", Joni Mitchell "The Dawntreader" or "Impossible Dreamer", Yes "To be over", Suzanne Vega "Small blue thing" or "Ironbound/Fancy Poultry", Massive Attack "Be thankful", Led Zeppelin "Ten years gone"..Dusty Springfield doing Randy Newmans "I think its going to rain today"..all 28 minutes odd of Serge Gainsbourgs "Melody Nelson"..on and on, these are tracks I can put on repeat and never tire of..There are instrumentals with lyrical feeling too that send me - Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Lenny" and Steve Vai's "Sister" and loads of Jeff Beck from "Sophie" to "Angel (Footsteps)".

    Then there's the mood of whole albums - Dylans "Blonde on Blonde" and "John Wesley Hardin" - in those two very differing albums of his alone I can hear something new everytime - ditto all four of The Velvet Underground's studio albums..Neil Young, Roy Harper, Sandy Denny, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Tim Hardin..oops - I have to stop before it becomes a big long shopping list of names..  (Continued on next page--)