WOO-HOO ! They All Sound The Same

Instrumentals are one of those things you either get or you don’t. If you love ‘em, there’s a seemingly endless treasure trove of gems; if they’re not your thing, the reaction to even a brief listening session is probably ‘they all sound the same to me’ (similar to a wine lover enthusing over individual characteristics and relative merits of different reds, while the rest of us file them all under ‘red wine’). But, hey, maybe it’s time to recognise that creating a simple instrumental that gets in your head and stays there without the help of a catchy lyric is actually an art form in itself – a fairly basic one, but all the better for it because it’s so easily accessible to both performers and audiences.

I WANT YOU BACK ... AGAIN

By the end of the 1960’s, Berry Gordy had successfully spearheaded a major shift in the landscape of popular music by making the sound of young black America part of mainstream popular music - first conquering America, then moving on to the UK and Europe (which were two different things then!) and finally the rest of the world. This was largely achieved without significantly compromising what the original audience wanted from the music, but by tweaking it so that the mainstream audience gradually recognised what great music it was, and was eager to consume as much as they could get their ears on.

A significant advantage was the pool of musical talent that Gordy was able to tap into, and he used this as the foundation of a Hitsville USA organisation that made sure the performers had songs, production, musical backing and marketing know-how to create commercial success - and for artists who fully got with Gordy’s programme, this could mean a long-term career, rather than just a short burst of hit records that was still the typical experience for many artists.

YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WITH JIMI

Right now could be a good time for hardcore Hendrix fans to cover their ears and close their eyes .... but for the rest of us let’s look back 25 years to an interesting experiment that has never really gained the credit or audience it deserved.

Beautiful People was a UK-based collective of electro / trance musicians who somehow (apparently “Jimi Hendrix Jnr .... was a friend of the band”) gained permission from the Hendrix family to sample his recorded catalogue and use it as they wished.

As we know, many musical crimes have been committed in similar circumstances – in particular the unreleased Hendrix legacy has been plundered many times with a seemingly complete lack of respect until the Hendrix family took a more active role in managing it.

FILE UNDER POP

For a moment in the early 70's it seemed as if pure unadulterated pop might be pushing back against the tide of mainstream music that had gradually become more rock-oriented, and maybe was taking itself a bit too seriously. Overblown self-important opinions of some parts of the music media (Rolling Stone magazine – come on down!) had seeped into the minds of many of the record buying public, and convinced them that the only worthwhile music was found on albums, and singles were for kids, or people of lesser ability to appreciate music.

But occasionally a single came along that seemed like a deliberate throwback to (or celebration of) the early to mid-60's era, when The Beatles and The Beach Boys led the way with short sharp melodic pop songs, and hundreds of other artists willingly followed. These two singles are great examples of what was subsequently christened ‘power pop’ - take a great melody, surround it with lush harmonies, add some melodic twists, then just for the heck of it an extra dash of harmony here and there, and serve it up in a wrapper of guitar/bass/drums to keep it musically tight and stop the final result from getting too sweet and sugary.

TIMI YURO: What's A Matter Baby

I never get far with my ‘All Time Top 10 Favourite Records’ lists before I want to extend it to Top 20 or 30, or divide it into specific music genres or eras.  But if it ever became a matter of survival, I’m pretty sure that this record would be on the shortlist:

To me it’s almost a perfect 45, it’s got just about everything going for it, and I never get tired of hearing it. Although it comes from what some people regard as the post Rock & Roll /pre-Beatles dead zone that preceeded the real golden age of pop, it has many elements that you find on highly-regarded 7” singles from the 1960’s: