Three appearances of the same Paul Bowles's text about the blink-and-you'll-miss-it transience of our earthly span.
Scenes from the Second Storey and Enemy of the Sun were both released in the same year, 1992. I guess the movie of The Sheltering Sky had come out in 1990.
This next appearance was 25 years later, on Sakamoto's Async.
Freakily a member of God Machine - the bassist Jimmy Fernandez - died unexpectedly young, cutting short the group's existence after just two albums.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The God Machine - a much hyped band of my era that somehow I never heard
I think my feeling was that after God and Godflesh, this lot were pushing it a bit on the nomenclature front. Reading the rave reviews, I detected a similar redundancy to the sound and thematics - like they'd set up shop in a rather narrow terrain between Prong and Loop. I did not seek them out, and for some reason, no one thought to send it to me, even though it would appear to have been "right up my street" at that time.
I was moved by this post to check out The God Machine, who also passed me by at the time, and I decided I hadn't missed much, mostly because they seem to have had no feel at all for melody. It might seem irrelevant if you are in the arsequaking business, but it really isn't.
ReplyDeleteThere's a funny passage in Rock and the Pop Narcotic where Carducci writes about Supernaut, fairly considered by many (eg John Bonham) to be the greatest rock performance ever. As Carducci points out, one reason it is great is that it has such strong melodies. Both the main riff and the vocal line have tunes that you can hum in the shower or whistle on the way to work. Even if most of the song's fans would vehemently deny ever being won over by anything as effete as a tune.
Whereas Alice In Chains had great tunes and that's why their similarly doom-and-death fixated heaviosity works so well
ReplyDeleteDid Jon Bonham consider 'Supernaut' to be the greatest rock performance ever? If so, quite generous to give the nod to a different band in the same game.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good contender for greatest rock performance but there's several Zep in contention too I should think - 'Black Dog' for starters. 'What Is And What Should Never Be' possibly. 'Four Sticks' and 'Misty Mountain Hop'.
Greil Marcus once said the winner in those stakes was "Gimme Shelter' and that's something I can nod my head to.
But I'd also nominate The Stooges's "TV Eye" and "Loose". And Sex Pistols's "Bodies". Actually also their (the Pistols) version of "No Fun" could be in the running.
I think Carducci's own verdict on "Supernaut" is phrased slightly different - something like "the most physically powerful rock recording to date". That emphasis indicative of his belief in the band as a rhythm engine and in the physicality of the Heavy Aesthetic.
ReplyDeleteBut there might be greater - or as great - rock recordings if you have a different aesthetic perspective, less visceral and more mind's eye oriented. Or differently physical even - ascension or rolling trance state. 'Eight Mile High', the first track on the first Neu! album, Television's "Marquee Moon". Or even "How Soon Is Now'.
'Tomorrow Never Knows' is a great feat of recording - phonography as art form - but it's already going beyond the live performance model that Carducci prizes, into the phantasmagoric. It's the birth of post-rock.
Hmm I may have misremembered both the Bonham and the Carducci quotes. The internet tells me that Bonham thought Supernaut was the greatest Sabbath performance, which is clearly not (quite) the same as being the greatest rock performance.
ReplyDeleteTony Iommi and Bill Ward both have stories about Bonham enthusiastically leaping into Supernaut when they played together:
https://societyofrock.com/step-inside-the-absurdly-awesome-black-sabbathled-zeppelin-jam-session-you-never-got-to-hear/
https://rockcelebrities.net/bill-ward-shares-john-bonhams-favorite-black-sabbath-song/
I was sure Carducci noted the tunefulness of Supernaut, though. I will have to dig out my copy and check.