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I just saw that WPKN included a track from Steve Addabbo's CD "Out of Nothing" and it topped their listeners' ranking of favorites. Steve is a great singer/songwriter, and the owner of Shelter Island Sound where I assisted for over five years.
If you are into great songwriting and performance, put this on your list. It is, in my very biased opinion, pretty great.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Follow Ups:
I will check it out- WW.
"Steve is a great singer/songwriter..."
I very very very very very rarely willingly make the effort to actually listen to some piece of pop music. That's only because of my contempt for it, but in fact, because I already know that whatever it is, it's likely to bore me [because, more than likely, it'll be based on - or consist only of - yet another I-IV-V chord progression - or it'll annoy me. Most of what I hear from the pop/rock world consists of recycled melodies [over I-IV-V progressions].
So, my question is, how did you decide that Mister Addaddo's a "great" songwriter? Are his melodies original? Or, is that something that you wouldn;t even pay attention to.
It boggles my mind how the average person can here the same melodies and chord progressions, differing only that they're played by different bands or singers. One recent "smash hit" simply redid the melody and chord progression of an 80's "smash hit" called "Every Breath You Take", which itself stole the chord progression from a Cole Porter tune.
Today, people don't seem to care that they're just listening to the same stuff, over and over. It seems that some performance art aspect [stage persona] is more important. Or, maybe it' something else. Would you shed any light on that question?
Severius! Supremus Invictus
I very very very very very rarely willingly make the effort to actually listen to some piece of pop music. That's only because of my contempt for it, but in fact, because I already know that whatever it is, it's likely to bore me [because, more than likely, it'll be based on - or consist only of - yet another I-IV-V chord progression - or it'll annoy me. Most of what I hear from the pop/rock world consists of recycled melodies [over I-IV-V progressions].
So, my question is, how did you decide that Mister Addaddo's a "great" songwriter?
> > I listen to his songs.
Are his melodies original?
> > He is a "singer/songwriter" so yes: melodies, harmonies, song structure, lyrics, arrangements, and, in his case, production.
Or, is that something that you wouldn;t even pay attention to.
> > I obviously paid attention to them.
It boggles my mind how the average person can here [sic] the same melodies and chord progressions, differing only that they're played by different bands or singers. One recent "smash hit" simply redid the melody and chord progression of an 80's "smash hit" called "Every Breath You Take", which itself stole the chord progression from a Cole Porter tune.
> > I don't care about smash hits.
Today, people don't seem to care that they're just listening to the same stuff, over and over.
> > I don't.
It seems that some performance art aspect [stage persona] is more important. Or, maybe it' something else. Would you shed any light on that question?
> > Songwriting is an art. So is performance. They can exist separately or together.
> > I come from the classical music world, and used to think pop songs were inconsequential fluff. Some years back I decided to learn how studios work, so I bought the Recording Connection course, which included one day a week in a studio as an assistant. The course lasted six months; I stayed a little over five years. The biggest surprise was learning that writing pop songs is a lot like writing operas. Both have an opening, a dramatic or musical build, a hook/chorus, and a resolution. The big difference is songwriters have one performer rather than hundreds, and a only 4 minutes, rather than 3 hours for the piece.
> > Steve Addabbo's early training was at Julliard. His knowledge of music theory is as good as anyone on the planet; certainly beyond mine, and I'm no slouch. (Is the binding of your Charles Rosen held together with tape?)
> > The great pop songs from Paul Simon, Elton John, Joe Jackson, Eric Andersen, and, yes, that all-time great pop songwriter Cole Porter stand up to anything from Donizetti, Berlioz, or Wagner. Yes, there are pop songs that are just little bits of fluff, and there are pop songs that are great because of the performance, the arrangement, or the other musicians in the recording. Leslie Gore's "It's My Party" comes to mind. That song needed her unique voice, the arrangement that gave it just the right amount of bounce, and it needed to be a simple thing. Yet that simple thing spoke so directly to 1963 teenagers that it became part of our culture. The lyrics are deliberately simple; it wouldn't work any other way. But the combination of it all gave us something that is still works today, fifty years later. (Aside: she was in the studio a few years ago and is one of the most delightful people I've ever met. She was also really tiny, like a lovely little bird.)
You can have as much contempt for pop songs as you want. I've learned to love a great pop song as much as In Questa Reggia. This winter I've been to probably a dozen operas, as many symphonies and recitals, and easily 30 evenings in small clubs to hear singer/songwriters. When it's good, it's good. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece to be good, to say something, and to make you feel something.
Here are a few other singer/songwriters from our sessions, should you want to test your contempt against their art: Gio Moretti, Richard Barone, Valerie Ghent, Nafsica, Deni Bonet, Tracy Stark, Marlon Saunders, Casey Breves, Darlene Love, Eric Bibb, Lisa Fischer, Caitlin Canty, Jenn Logue, Johnny Rogers, and Ana Egge. They are all great musicians, and my life is better for knowing them.
A couple weeks ago I heard (for the last time I'm sure) Levine conduct Simone Boccanegra at the Met, and Marin Alsop conduct the Mahler 5th at Carnegie, and they're pretty great, too.
There is drek in both pop music and the classical world. I listened to the 1958 Bernstein Shostakovich 5th the other day because I forgot how truly awful it is. (Won't do that again.) I try to skip the bad stuff, keep the good, and certainly skip the contempt thing, because it doesn't make my life better.
YMMV.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
Newey thinks he is an authority. He isn't, this has been obvious for some years, when his moniker was Severius.
While it wasn't necessary for you to show him up, because he does that to himself, you did a very good job.
Thank you.
I have a lot of favourite blues-men, have you heard RL Burnside? His 'first recordings' made at his home IIRC are very good.
There is an awful lot of crap around, but good stuff also gets done.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Thoughtful and considered. Well done.
I checked out some clips of the first 4 people on your list of songwriters/singers. Wow, might be something I'd put on if I was trying to get guests who'd overstayed their welcome out the door. I also completely disagree with your view of that Bernstein/Shosty.
So f'ing what? We could call each other deaf idiots and engage in further insults back and forth for 20 posts. Then we could ridicule each other's favorite colors.
Some posters seem to enjoy that kind of bs for some reason, despite the blatantly obvious fact that it never changes anybody's mind and is a complete waste of time.
Rick W has a point - vids on line from these artists, at least the live gig vids, are pretty awful. Gio is a little out there, and combine that with bad sound and she's just "ouch." Looking at Nafsica, I'm reminded her strength so far is her songwriting, but expect her performance chops will develop. (She's *so* young.) So here are examples that maybe won't clear the room.
Gio Moretti - Il sole dell'anima
Richard Barone - River to River
Nafsica - Youll Be Remembered
Valerie Ghent - Right Here Beside You
And what started it off:
Steve Addabbo - Steam
Steve Addabbo - Oasis
Steve Addabbo - Left of Center
Enjoy. Or not.
Cheers,
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
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Severius! Supremus Invictus
When he was a child, his father, who was a dance band leader, explained rock 'n' roll music to him essentially as a simple three-chord progression, much as you describe it. At the end of the story, Simon, who is known for his dry wit, commented: "Later, I learned there are other chords."
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