Fwd: Gravity's Rainbow

[rusty]

Great information, Joe. (But then, I have a job. )

My favorite early Stones is Beggar's Banquet. Maybe that's not "early"
but Brian Jones was still alive. I don't think parody or pastiche is a
severe indictment. Is there anything original? We can be generous and
say these are homages to their R&B and country originals. But I think
the Stones took their sources and created their own sound. I think by
Beggar's Banquet, it is their sound. "No Expectations" can be confused
with country, but Jones' slide guitar gives it an atonal, ambient
aspect. Jigsaw Puzzle is indeed an interlocking masterpiece of politics,
poetry and musical styles with BJ's slide guitar again figuring
prominently, trailing off magically at the end. And hearing the
beginning of Street Fighting Man may make you want to change the station
or skip ahead since it was probably overplayed on classic rock stations
in the 80's. But "My name is called disturbance" is a powerful line,
and, sadly, a forgotten exhortation. Sympathy for the Devil is rightly
immortalized in Godard's film. And yes, Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris
are moving with their Love Hurts, at least on the Live 1973 version I have.

If you haven't read The Stones by Philip Norman, I recommended it. It
can be had used for 30 cents on Amazon. It's one of the more engaging
books of any kind that I've finished in the past couple of years. It's
much better than the more recent Exile on Main Street by Robert Greenfield.

Joe Allonby wrote:
> Got time for a little expansion now.
>  
> The only credit that Gram ever got on a Stones album was for "Country
> Honk" on Let It Bleed. But "You Got the Silver", "Wild Horses", "Dead
> Flowers",and "Tumbling Dice" were all clearly influenced by if not
> actually cowritten by Parsons. His version of "Wild Horses" was
> recorded and released a year before the Stones and in my opinion is
> superior. He was a better singer by far than Mick Jagger. One of the
> finest singers of his generation. Just listen to his duet with Emmylou
> Harris on "Love Hurts". Absolutely heartbreaking.
>  
> He was in the control room for almost all of Exile on Main Street. He
> made a bigger imprint on the Rolling Stones than he did on the
> Byrds who listed him as a member.
>  
> Many of these songs contain humor, that's a staple of country music
> right up there with lost love, economic and natural disaster, and
> murder. They are by no means parodies. Well...mayhbe "Drug Store Truck
> Driving Man".
>  
>  
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Joe Allonby* <joeallonby at gmail.com <mailto:joeallonby at gmail.com>>
> Date: Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 10:53 AM
> Subject: Re: Gravity's Rainbow
> To: Henry <scuffling at gmail.com <mailto:scuffling at gmail.com>>
> Cc: Pynchon Liste <pynchon-l at waste.org <mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org>>
>
>
> Actually, that "country parody" was no parody at all. It was directly
> influenced and in fact often overseen if not out and out written by
> Keith Richards' friend and occasional roommate, Gram Parsons.
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 3:39 PM, Henry <scuffling at gmail.com
> <mailto:scuffling at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I love'em, but the Rolling Stones have never really done anything
>     but R&R
>     and R&B, with a little country parody thrown in.  If I had to live
>     with just
>     the Beatles or the Stones catalogue and no other recorded music on
>     the ever
>     popular desert island, it would have to be the Beatles, who
>     started and
>     ended with R&R, and defined  the "concept album," and touched on
>     Stockhausen
>     and chamber music in between.
>
>     http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu
>
>     HENRY M
>     Information, Media, and Technology Management Consultant
>
>
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org <mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org>
>     [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
>     <mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org>] On Behalf
>     Of Mark Kohut
>     Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 2:23 PM
>     To: pynchon -l
>     Subject: Gravity's Rainbow
>
>     ain't matched by the Beatles at all.
>
>     It is all early Rolling Stones.
>
>     MK
>
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