Tosh's Jukebox Tunes Volume 4

 

Tosh's Jukebox Tunes: Volume 4

The Greatness of Thunderclap Newman

 

The Greatness of Thunderclap Newman by Tosh Berman

Tosh's Journal: August 13, 2023

 

Tosh's Journal: August 13, 2023

Not A Poor Boy...The Man With Money by Tosh Berman

 

Not A Poor Boy...The Man With Money by Tosh Berman

Tosh Berman on The Who Live At Leeds & The Who Live At The Filmore East 1968

 

Tosh Berman on The Who Live At Leeds & The Who Live At The Filmore East 1968. Read it here: Tosh on the Live recorded The Who

BOOK MUSIK: Peter Stanfield on his Book on The Who

BOOK MUSIK: The Who  

On BOOK MUSIK we discuss the early roots of The Who with the author Peter Stanfield. Gustav Megtzer, Pop Art, Auto-Destruction, Mod culture,and The Who Sell Out. You can hear it now!  

“Gustav Metzger: Writings 1953-2016” Edited by Mathieu Copeland (JRP Editions) 2019

 

“Gustav Metzger: Writings 1953-2016” Edited by Mathieu Copeland (JRP Editions) 2019

I first became aware of Gustav Metzger's name due to Pete Townshend of The Who smashing his guitar against an amp while on the stage. Usually, when one reads about the violence in a Who concert, Metzger's name is mentioned. Even as a child, which was the first time I was aware of The Who, I knew that there was something totally unpractical about smashing an expensive instrument into the ground, or even worse, through the PA system. Still, the theater or spectacle of such an action taking place was exhilarating to me. Perhaps due to the built-up violence at the end of their music set and again, the waste of a perfectly good instrument was destroyed. When Pete was in Art School, he met and studied under the artist Gustav Metzger. Pete took Metzger's complicated and textural process and brought it into the Pop music world. Beyond that, Metzger spent a lifetime organizing and writing press notices about how he saw the arts as in action, not standing still. 

Destruction and creation can share the same dinner table, in that it's two life forces at work. Sometimes against each other, but I see it as a workable union. Metzger, very aware of the effects of World War II in his life, as well as the threat of the atomic bomb and the landscape of the Cold War - knew that destruction was very much only inches away. One can make that into an art form or a large canvas to do one's art on the intensity of such a danger. There is a liberating feeling about specific types of destruction. Metzger, through his visual art and writings, conveys that world. 

Writings 1953-2016 is very much of a work by an artist and not a prose writer. This in itself is an exciting prospect because one can feel the intensity of his thoughts and feelings on how art is produced in a somewhat Capitalist society. Capitalism itself is a combination of creation and destruction. For it to live as an institution, it must also destroy. Sexually it's an S&M relationship. Some must lose in the Capitalist system, and therefore we have the art by Metzger. 

Metzger is very much a political figure in the arts. Reading through this book. He spent a great deal of time organizing conferences, talks/lectures, and art exhibitions. He was wary of the Gallery/Artist system due that is based on business. Not ideas or institutions have a hard time coming to terms that the physical aspect of the artwork is changing and not always on the physical medium of the canvas. Metzger wanted to transform the world, and I suspect that he tried to squeeze all of the poison out of its body or system. Therefore, Auto-destructive art is a very positive method of reaching visionary, moral, and healthy art for society. 

The book is beautifully produced by JRP Editions in a functional design that is somewhat elegant in the manner of a manifesto zine but of excellent quality. The majority of the writings here are press releases Metzger wrote under the banner of his various organizations that he co-started or worked with, such as DIAS and PAGE. Metzger also connected with art communities such as Fluxus and organized lectures and exhibits for Yoko Ono during her Avant-garde period in London and New York City. The Metzger book is essential for one who collects documents of the 'art' 20th-century.  

Apple Music & Spotify Playlist on The Who from Book Musik

 

We at BOOK MUSIK put together a playlist of The Who's deep cuts and some surprises. If you can, let us know if you do listen to these playlists. We don't have a way to tell how many people are listening to the Book Musik playlists that we put together.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7sYE07ukq6HLP4zBOYOiNb?si=fNTzHpC3SJKJ1wS5YIxeuQ&nd=1

Apple Music:

Apple Music: The Who Playlist

The World of Tosh Berman: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 (The Who)

 

https://tosh.substack.com/p/wednesday-april-28-2021  

My commentary on the 1960s era of The Who on my Substack blog. Come to read! And subscribe!

"The History of Rock" 1965 (UNCUT Magazine)

The History of Rock: 1965  (Uncut Magazine)

One of the great joys in my life, if sometimes not the only joy, is my introduction to the world of pop music.  My parents were consistently into music, and they have brought many recordings into the household that I eventually adopted as my own.   Early Beatle and Stones albums were for sure introduced by my parents, but in 1965,  at the age of 10 or 11, I became a consumer, by buying a 45 rpm single of the Yardbirds' "I'm a Man"/"Still I'm Sad."   How I got the money is something that is lost in history, but the memory of going to a record store in Westwood Village to purchase that single stayed glued to my brain or DNA to this very day.  By my nature I'm not a nostalgic person, but I would be lying to myself if I didn't admit that the year 1965 was an important one on many levels.   That December, we lost our home to a mudslide in Beverly Glen, and that included every possession I had at that time.   For sure, it did a number on my head, that even 50 years later, continues to exist in my DNA.

It pains me that I'm not into the current music world.  I would like to think of myself as being totally devoted to whatever is happening outside my home at this time and age.  But the truth is I kind of hate the world as it is right now.    The sounds I hear at the moment always reminds me of the past, and not in a good way.   On the other hand, the year 1965 was both rich in variety as well as being "new."   Oddly enough when I re-visit the recordings of that year, I'm still hearing new things.   There is a textural aspect of the records at that time, and when you pull back and look at 1965, one is struck how fast everything is.   What the Beatles were doing in January of that year is so different from what they recorded in December.  The same goes for the Stones and the Kinks.

Which brings up the fact that I was totally devoted to the sounds that were coming from the United Kingdom.   For one, I could understand the language, but still, it was from another world.   A fantasy world for me, due to the Beatles "Hard Days' Night" as well as the fashions that was coming out of that culture.   Pure teenage pop music, but for sure, with a tough jagged edge attached to the images.    For inspiration, I often go back to the 1960s to re-discover who I'm through my childhood years, but also for the unreal look of that era through its literature and especially the press at that time.  Which comes to UNCUT's special series of publications called "The History of Rock."

The first issue magazine is "1965," with others are being released on a monthly basis.  So far it is up to 1968.  I will get back to those as soon as I read them.   But now, I want to focus on the 1965 issue.    What it is exactly is re-prints of articles that were published in Melody Maker and New Musical Express in 1965.   Uncut Magazine editors did a beautiful job in making this glossy magazine into a visual treat, by selecting wonderful photographs of that era as well as choosing the right or correct articles of the time.   Besides the original interviews and articles, one also gets letters to the editor, the original advertisements that ran through the publication, and people like Dylan, Lennon and Harrison commenting on the newly released singles at the time.   So, one is getting a great snapshot of England's take on the new music that was being produced and distributed in 1965.

It's interesting to read articles and reviews as it happened, instead of people commenting on these records now in 2015.   Also you pick up trends such as bands making films.   The Beatles of course at this time did "Help" and "Hard Days Night," so it seems to be some pressure for groups such as The Stones making their feature-length film.    As well as others, but none of these films ever got made.   Most I think came from the Public Relations department of the management offices of both publications as well as the band's management.   The other is the "Dylan vs. Donovan" thread that went on in the press for that whole year.  One wonder if the Dylan and Donovan camp decided to promote this aspect of their careers at the time.  The beauty of reading these articles is seeing the genius at work with respect to Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham.   Both orchestrated the media to their liking, as if they had their own orchestras.

One has to presume that NME and Melody Maker had large teenage readership, yet the articles are not dumb down, and very intelligent in its own right.   Oddly enough, when I read celebrity news or magazines like People, it's really dumb.  NME or Melody Maker never took that route.  In fact, it's a world that is in love with the pop music world.  The charts, releases, the bands, the artists, and the managers are all authors in this particular era in England.   There is even a thoughtful interview with Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, so the magazine was willing to branch out to other forms or types of music, besides the teenager's world of music.

This is truly a superb piece of history as it happened, but edited and produced for today.   I recommend it highly.

- Tosh Berman

June 21, 2014

June 21, 2014

What I like about writing is noticing the little moments in one’s life and other’s as well.  What does appear to be insignificant, can be important if it’s framed in a certain fashion.  The songwriting craft of say, someone like Ray Davies of The Kinks is his ability to place emphasis on the trivial and bring it out dramatically in his songs.  It is interesting to compare his songs with Pete Townshend of The Who, because basically they share a country as well as a culture.  Yet, Townshend focuses on the big statement, for instance, “My Generation, ” and Davies write “Waterloo Sunset.” A beautiful song that captures an intimate moment or a series of moments, which speak softly, but has a great deal of meaning to the listener.  Both artists look at the world visually as well as thematic, with respect to class, culture, and how that individual is positioned in that world.  The thing with Townshend is that he takes huge subject matters and presents it that sort of represents the everyday person.   In a way, he’s like Wagner in capturing the immense emotional moment.  Davies on the other hand is more of a sketch artist, or one who draws in pencil, and also deals with a group of people who belong to a specified location and of course a member of the class system of that neighborhood.  The Who is international, and The Kinks are… British.

It is also interesting to read “Who I Am” by Townshend and Ray Davies “Americana.” The Pete book is very much grand in its scope of The Who’s history, but I found it lacking a certain amount of feeling or details of people around him at the time.  On the other hand, Ray’s book is filled with insightful and detailed observations of the world around him.   The Who is great, and Townshend is a fantastic songwriter, but Ray Davies strikes me more of a skillful artist to my liking.  He’s in the same league as his fellow British writers such as Noel Coward, Alan Bennett, and perhaps Morrissey.  Hearing The Kinks’ classic “Village Green Preservation Society,” one can practically smell the British town or countryside off the vinyl record.  The observation of that world is pictorially clear, and you can taste the English tea and the seasons off that album.  In something like “Tommy” or “Quadrophenia” one gets the huge scope of one’s life, but again, it lacks specific details.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a huge Osamu Dazai fan, due to his attention to a specific environment,  and when I read or listen to a Ray Davies song, I get the same charge out of it, as reading Dazai. I know my limits, and I will never be as good as those writers, but still, I try to reach up to the stars, and will settle for a rooftop at the very least.   We all have choices to make, and it is important to engage into that precise choice.  Commitment is very imperative, and to follow through that journey, wherever it may take us, is part of the adventure, and not fully the destination.  I often admired (but not loved) the poetry of Paul Élaurd, due to its sweeping brush-strokes of a time that must have been difficult for him and the whole of Europe between the world wars and dealing with the Nazi occupation of France.  Nevertheless, what was touching in his work was his intense, perhaps even obsessive, love for his wife, Nusch, who I know little about, but I do know that she served the poet as a muse of sorts.  So yes, one gets the big picture of his work, but in the end I know a little about his inspiration.  A poet can do many things, but for me, I like the poet who sees the world as it is mapped out, and put their stamp on that world as they see it.   A lack of detail can make the work seem lazy, and it is difficult as a writer to fulfill that vision that is a clear picture of one’s subject matter, whatever that maybe.

I cannot make comments on the whole world, but perhaps if I focus on the little things around me, one can gather enough information, or even a feeling, that can somehow be of some interest to a reader.  Then again, who knows?

Pete Townshend's memoir "Who I Am"

Without a doubt The Who was a major band in their time and place.   Also Pete Townshend surrounded himself with great eccentric figures - Keith Moon, Kit Lambert,  Nic Cohn, Chris Stamp, John Entwistle,and the first Who manager and visionary Pete Meaden.  How I would love to hear stories about these guys from Townsend, but what we get instead is (very) basic tales of insecurity, doubt, "woo me being a star," etc from the mouth and brains of Pete Townshend.

There is nothing wrong with that, for he is very much the engine of The Who, but what made the band great are the characters surrounding The Who.  Through Townshend's writing I don't get a clear picture of the individuals around him.  He touches on it, but its totally reflects on his own ego or thoughts about his role in the mess of being in The Who.   On paper this sounds like an ideal book, but reading it, I find it very normal, plain, and basically not exciting. Without a doubt Townshend is a superbly talented songwriter, who in the end thinks too much about his work.  It is interesting that he admires Ray Davies of The Kinks, who I think is not only a better writer, but also a much more intense individual than Pete.

Reading this book right after the Neil Young memoir is interesting.  Both are legendary without a doubt, and both are egotistical to the max.  I think Townshend is much more of a charmer, but still he comes from a stock where he sees the world from only his pain, pleasure, and of course the doubt that is always there.   Both Neil and Pete think a lot about their role in their lives, which is perfectly normal for any man in their mid-60's.  But unlike someone like Bob Dylan or Patti Smith (both books by these artists are more superior than Pete or Neil's) are basically unique figures who rock because it is in their instinct to rock.

Pete praises John Entwistle, but I feel he doesn't give him credit for the great songs he wrote for The Who.  "Boris the Spider" is a great classic Who song, and maybe my favorite Who song after the High Numbers material "I am the Face" and "Zoot Suit" two brilliant (and early) Who songs.  And to be honest, to me, they were a great unstoppable band from The High Numbers to The Who Sell Out album.  After that, "Tommy" and so forth -not that interesting to me.   Classic rock albums yes, but essential Who... No not to me.

The book is an enjoyable read, but I wished it went further into the world with the guys he worked with as well as the Mod world.  There is material in this book, but not enough of it.

The High Numbers at the Railway Hotel, 1964.

Ground zero or right there or yeah this is perfect moment. But here it is ladies and gentlemen. The perfect modastic moment.

The Who, Ossie Clark, and Paul Jones/ Uber-Mod London Freak Out

This is a little fascinating TV history- super early footage of The Who with an interview with one of my all-time favorite singers Paul Jones. London designer Ossie Clark is also featured as well. The documentary is from 1966, and I believe it's from a Canadian TV show.



Part One



Part Two



Part Three