Level 43 (Completion Backwards mix)
July 29, 2011 2:11 PM
While looking for riffs for the Aug challenge, I unearthed this oddity from about 2003. At the time I was addicted to Boss COSM amp/effect sims, and the results are quite interesting. The track itself is derivative white-boy funk schlock that sounds like the advert soundtrack for a bucket-shop holiday outfit. A load of Balearics, in other words....
and......the intro guitar figure counts as a riff. Possibly. Oh, please yourselves...
and......the intro guitar figure counts as a riff. Possibly. Oh, please yourselves...
posted by MajorDundee (9 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
Yeah, this is good. It's like you unearthed a track from a little-known, unfinished mid-80s side project by Walter Becker and Colin Hay.
posted by mubba at 11:28 AM on July 30, 2011
posted by mubba at 11:28 AM on July 30, 2011
I love the guitar riff before the vocal starts (and repeats later). That guitar and the vocals just stepped it up. Digging this. Nice... like the funky little section with the wah, and the bass just got way meatier. Pretty cool little piece, Major.
posted by empyrean at 7:50 AM on July 31, 2011
posted by empyrean at 7:50 AM on July 31, 2011
I love the leftfield stuff you post, Major. The kind of thing I would never come up with in a trillion years. There's so much that's been thought out in this -- I really admire that.
Seconding empyrean on the little funky riff that comes in before the vocal. That's really the signature of the song for me. And it does have that Walter Becker thing going on, doesn't it?
It has the Level 42 thing but I also detect bit of 23 Skidoo in that sampled section.
I'm gonna forgive you the pinch harmonics and the widdly parts just cos I like you.
posted by unSane at 5:57 PM on July 31, 2011
Seconding empyrean on the little funky riff that comes in before the vocal. That's really the signature of the song for me. And it does have that Walter Becker thing going on, doesn't it?
It has the Level 42 thing but I also detect bit of 23 Skidoo in that sampled section.
I'm gonna forgive you the pinch harmonics and the widdly parts just cos I like you.
posted by unSane at 5:57 PM on July 31, 2011
Fank yew, fank yew, fank yew - eyefankyewverymuchly.
Never fails to make me smile when everyone desperately plays the "sounds like" game (hey, I'm as guilty as the rest)! Walter Becker. Pardon? I'm familiar with Becker's work with Donald Fagen and with some of his (not-very-good) solo and (rather better) production stuff. I've also had the misfortune to sit through Walt embarking on one of his godawful noodling guitar solos live - looking for all the world like a professor of entomology concentrating intently as he dissects a gnat's cock under a powerful microscope. Now I'm sure Walt is a cool guy, but someone needs to have a quiet word about his delusional and ultimately unrequited affair with guitar soloing. Walt, mate, she just don't love you man. She's just taking you for a ride and will break your heart baby. Stick with the bass. Anyway never in a million years would I have made a connection with Walt and this demo. Never ever ever. Ever.
And the best bit in my biased view is the opening guitar soloing - which is melodically of the finest stadium-filling lighters in the air qualitee maaaaan. The rest of this, including the funky guitar riff, is shite. Quality shite I grant you, but shite nonetheless.
And apropos of sweet fuck all - unSane, ever thought of taking a shot at a screenplay of Saul Bellow's "Humboldt's Gift"? I've just finished it - hugely enjoyed it - and felt it would make a terrific Coen Brothers-style movie given the cast of oddball characters and the farcical left-field plot.
posted by MajorDundee at 9:59 AM on August 2, 2011
Never fails to make me smile when everyone desperately plays the "sounds like" game (hey, I'm as guilty as the rest)! Walter Becker. Pardon? I'm familiar with Becker's work with Donald Fagen and with some of his (not-very-good) solo and (rather better) production stuff. I've also had the misfortune to sit through Walt embarking on one of his godawful noodling guitar solos live - looking for all the world like a professor of entomology concentrating intently as he dissects a gnat's cock under a powerful microscope. Now I'm sure Walt is a cool guy, but someone needs to have a quiet word about his delusional and ultimately unrequited affair with guitar soloing. Walt, mate, she just don't love you man. She's just taking you for a ride and will break your heart baby. Stick with the bass. Anyway never in a million years would I have made a connection with Walt and this demo. Never ever ever. Ever.
And the best bit in my biased view is the opening guitar soloing - which is melodically of the finest stadium-filling lighters in the air qualitee maaaaan. The rest of this, including the funky guitar riff, is shite. Quality shite I grant you, but shite nonetheless.
And apropos of sweet fuck all - unSane, ever thought of taking a shot at a screenplay of Saul Bellow's "Humboldt's Gift"? I've just finished it - hugely enjoyed it - and felt it would make a terrific Coen Brothers-style movie given the cast of oddball characters and the farcical left-field plot.
posted by MajorDundee at 9:59 AM on August 2, 2011
But no superheroes, Major, which makes it a non-contender in the current climate.
(Only the Coen Brothers are allowed to make non-superhero movies right now. And they're on borrowed time).
posted by unSane at 1:17 PM on August 2, 2011
(Only the Coen Brothers are allowed to make non-superhero movies right now. And they're on borrowed time).
posted by unSane at 1:17 PM on August 2, 2011
Who says Charlie Citrine isn't a superhero?
posted by MajorDundee at 1:32 PM on August 2, 2011
posted by MajorDundee at 1:32 PM on August 2, 2011
Great stuff.
Become solo time, though, all falls apart.
You can do better major!
posted by Zenabi at 12:49 PM on September 10, 2011
Become solo time, though, all falls apart.
You can do better major!
posted by Zenabi at 12:49 PM on September 10, 2011
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posted by snsranch at 5:05 PM on July 29, 2011