New Monday 47
Happy Monday, People!
Here we are, a brand new year! So many things to blow up! Where to start??
Here’s a song to listen to while you read: Time Waits for No One.
Meet Us at NAMM
It’s our first time with a booth, #16124, at NAMM! We are very excited and you’re invited to stop by and hang out! Use this handy map:
Evidently, all roads lead to booth #16124.
We also have a surprise, or three, up our sleeves... stay tuned and we’ll keep you informed in a suspenseful way.
Time Waits for No One
This is a lost gem from the Rolling Stones. Cut in 1974 and released on 'It’s Only Rock and Roll' album, it’s a gorgeous song that no one seems to know.
This was a weird time (pun!) for the Stones. They cast-off long-time producer Jimmy Miller, who had worked with the band since 1968’s 'Beggars Banquet' and through their "golden period.” Miller developed a debilitating drug habit (which seems to happen a lot when you hang around The Rolling Stones) and 'It’s Only Rock and Roll' was the first album produced by The Glimmer Twins, the sobriquet of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
'It’s Only Rock and Roll' is a liminal album for the Stones—liminal is a grad school word that refers to a space between things, a transition point. Hallways are liminal, in between rooms. Liminal albums are snapshots of a moment between stages in the evolution of an artist or a band. Liminal albums are often really interesting, if a bit wobbly. Some liminal albums, like the two The Beatles released, 'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver', are the best moments of a career.
'Beggars Banquet' was liminal, as the band shed founder Brian Jones, threw out pretensions of competing with The Beatles, and returned to blues rock. They did, however, hang onto some of the sonic experimentation with which they indulged (perhaps overindulged) on 'At Her Majesty’s Satanic Request'. The result was 'Beggars Banquet' rocked out, with a rare combination of great songs combined with lots of percussion, and unusual recording techniques, like running guitars and drums through cassette recorders to get a sort of hybrid electric acoustic sound. Street Fighting Man is such a killer track.
Likewise, 'It’s Only Rock and Roll' was liminal, as the Stones transitioned from a bunch of wild kids into “elder statesmen” — everyone in the core band was in their thirties. Guitarist Mick Taylor left (he developed a drug habit), Ron Wood started hanging around, and the band evolved into the line-up that would take them into the 1990s. The next bunch of albums were compilations and the Stones lost their footing until 1978’s "Some Girls.“ Regardless, the adventure and innovation of the early 70s Stones was gone.
'Time Waits for No One' features lovely, modal guitar solos by Mick Taylor, lush instrumentation with acoustic guitars and flanged electrics, percussion, piano, and a synth meowing like a cat in the background. The final mix is cloudy and seems unfocused and lost, but that seems to work with the lyrics, which are some of Mick Jagger’s most poetic.
Yes, star-crossed in pleasure, the stream flows on by
Yes, as we're sated in leisure, we watch it fly, yes
Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman's face
Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste
Men, they build towers to their passing
Yes, to their fame everlasting
Here he comes, chopping and reaping
Hear him laugh at their cheating
Drink in your summer, gather your corn
The dreams of the nighttime will vanish by dawn
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
And time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me
Sounds like someone is considering their age and what’s next, huh?
Liminal indeed.
Liminality in Record Production
The in-between places on recordings, the transitions between sections, were always something I thought about and carefully approached in the studio. About a year ago I wrote a bunch on this, so this is just a quick refresher — some ideas for a New Year.
Consider how the song moves from a verse to a chorus. How is that transition being handled? Is a new instrument coming in to introduce it, or is something dropping out to make room? In rock, often transitions are indicated by drum fills. What sort of fills are happening in that liminal moment? Is it the drums alone, or is there a bit of a guitar or keyboard part in there as well? I think of transition points as gates, a narrow passage between song sections, and part of the job of the arrangement is to figure out how to get through that gate. Do instruments go through it one after the other, or does one lead, or do they all play the same part and go through as a team?
Some ideas and examples:
Drums start then lock in with the bass
Lovely transition here: instruments hand off to each other, like a waterfall or a stairway down
This is a mess, but it works. The whole song is a mess but it works.
Another liminal moment that deserves attention are song bridges and breaks.
A bridge is exactly that, a walkway from one part of the song to another. I also think of a bridge as a moment in which the song "changes its mind,” where there’s a shift in viewpoint. This is especially common lyrically. As an example, you have a song where the singer is complaining about how lonely they are, and in the bridge they realize it’s their own fault.
Army
Great example: Army, by Ben Folds Five. The song is about a kid dropping out of college and wondering what to do next—the chorus is literally “been thinking a lot today.” In the bridge, we hear his actual ideas on what he’s going to do next, and this is supported by a bunch of abrupt changes in style, tempo, and mood, going from a fuzz bass thing, to a tack piano breakdown, to another fuzz bass break, and then into one of the most kick ass horn section parts ever. And then it glides back to “thinking a lot today” and the protagonist is back on his bed staring at the ceiling, stuck in a liminal space, thinking "what do I do next?"
Good lord, what a flipping amazing song.
Happy New Year. I hope it’s a great year for you, full of adventure and meaning, and if you’re stuck in a liminal situation at least make it interesting!
Warm Regards,
Luke
