Powerage and March 11th 2014

Powerage

(Unabridged Post link from my Music Blog)

I started this journey through ACDC with a few preconceptions.  Many of them were true.  I thought the Bon Scott era was a dirty era with songs about wild rock and roll life; this was true.  Some preconceptions were not true.  I thought Bon Scott had only done 3 or so albums.  I now know that Scott was there for many more hits and albums than I had previously thought.

I knew that early on ACDC took lots of inspiration from the 1950's rockers, like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.  I had figured that the "middle" era of classic hits and THE "ACDC" sound came about largely as the influence of Mutt Lange producing Highway to Hell.

From track 1 to the last, the sound is much more what I hear as "ACDC" than what came before.  Instead of quick power chords, the guitar tones are allowed to breath.  Instead of a bluesy sort of solo, there were some fast play, and unless I"m mistaken there was some tapping. Its like Malcolm and Angus finally let go of their hero's inspiration and started paving their own road.  Anyway, I had assumed that the big transition from an early blues rock band to the biggest hard rock band of all time was because Mutt Lange had taught them a thing or two about recording, and the success of Highway and Back in Black lead to them keeping that voice.

Now I know they came up with the sound themselves as a natural evolution of their touring, writing, and chemistry as a band.

March 11th, 2014

Finished Walking Dead Season 3 yesterday.  I really wished that the first two seasons were this good, because the 3rd season... wow.  They earned it the 3rd season.  Season 1 I enjoyed when they were on the run and just trying to survive, that was really cool.  I realize that they stop and try and find a home just like you would in real life... but season 2 was just so... eh.  I hated the Shane vs Rick love triangle story thing.  I don't know what happened between 2 and 3, but by 3 they had gotten their character writing.  All the characters, new and old, have so much to them.  The actors were given freedom to be great also.  Season 3 has to go with the greats like Dr. Who's 10th Doctor's 2nd year, Star Trek Next Gen's 5th.  With Season 1 and 2's finale, you basically watched to see who died, but with Season 3 you are watching because you're hoping all your favorites live.

I've been watching Rig Rundowns as of late on the Youtubes.  I'm a bit of a tech junky, you'd probably all me a Gearslut if you did not know me better, so these videos are really really fascinating to me.  Its really cool to see who thinks of their guitars as tools and who babies them.  I also like knowing which bands use stomp boxes and which ones have their tech to do that.  You get a feel for who tries to push being "artistic" and who is just trying to "rock".   I have to say that the bassist for Soundgarden(Ben Shepherd) has a lot more personality than I would have thought.  He seems like a really cool person.  Also, everything I learn about John 5 leads me to respect him more.  It is crazy how many guitarists bring up Buck Owens, and I've seen 3 with Buck Owens decorated guitars.  I've seen a PRS done in the Buck Owens style, and a telecaster.  It runs the gamut

Passed up listening to ACDC's next album yesterday.  I"m at the end of the Bon Scott era and I think I'm going to let it sink in a bit before I move on.  I've been keeping a list of songs I like, and so I want to go through the playlist a few times and really get a feel for the era.  I listened to Podcasts.  I generally listen to "Dungeons and Dragons" podcasts, I put it in parenthesis because I'm translating it for people out there.  Dungeons and Dragons certainly features, but they talk/play things like GURPS, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, etc.  Happy Jack's is definitely my favorite, but I'm most jealous of Gamer's Table's stable of gamers they have to pull from and get to play so many varied games.  Their Actual Plays are like Radio Dramas.