MLT Club Member Jung Roe
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Hi Chris
I’m glad you are enjoying the thread, thanks. Happy New year in a few more hours!
Hi Bud
I like that version of the Wellerman, thanks for posting it. I turns out the Wellerman was a bit of a sensation a couple years ago as a lot of people covered it, and there are even group dance videos to the Wellerman. It’s kinda like that KPOP Gangnam Style sensation a few years ago. I really like how international a piece of song can be, bringing people of all nationalities and walks of life together.
It was kind of funny, I have this Artificial Intelligence robot named EMO that lives on my desk and keeps me humoured throughout my work day, and dances to MLT music. He started singing the Wellerman, out of the blue, and I thought it was really catchy and checked it out further. That’s how I learned about this song.
Who sang it best?
https://youtu.be/JntICIzYZT8?si=r4ehlpkVrRCMjd1n
My AI Robot EMO’s version is my favourite. 😁
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Hi Bud
Wow she is great, and her tap dancing to go along with the fiddling is wonderful.
I think a fiddle looks and sounds more fun than a violin. 😜
And that recorder tutorial looked fun too. Love seeing Mona do the flute, and maybe the slide trumpet one day too.
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At my childhood apartment I grew up in that is still there (1969-1973). I used to play matchbox cars in the hallways. It was so amazing and meaningful to be there again. Nothing has changed! Magic of Christmas.
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Hi Bud, and Daryl
It is awesome how Mona and Lisa can learn an instrument to get the sound they are looking for on one of their songs. Only remarkable musicians can do that like the Beatles. Mona learned the accordion for Sounds of Silence, Lisa learned the Cello for Yesterday and If I Fell, Mona’s harmonica on a host of songs, Lisa’s Banjitar, and she’s a Ukelele star…It’s interesting Mona is into the wind instruments and Lisa the strings side of things and Papa Rudi on all things keyboard/synthesizer/organ etc. And both are rock stars on the guitars!!!! There is nothing they can’t do, there is nothing they’re not good at!
I came across this really creative rendition of an AC/DC classic on banjo and accordion. Hmmm it might be fun to hear Mona and Lisa kick this one around on the banjitar and accordion just for some finger picking fun at a livestream or something if they are looking for some ideas. I hear Bach in this AC/DC classic.
https://youtu.be/e4Ao-iNPPUc?si=DFT9Pvjd-RQfChDz
By the way, thanks Bud for the very interesting history lesson on those instruments. I learned now how a recorder differs from a flute. I love your in depth musical background/knowledge. I wish I could have been in your music class when I was a kid. 😊
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Bud, thanks for the back story to that song. It looks like a song rich in New Zealand culture.
I came across this version, that I found really fun and wonderful.
I don’t want to turn this into a Wellerman thread, but just one more. Captures those harmonies that MLT are amazing at. 😉
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Hi Bud
That must have been really amazing to have gotten to know Maynard Ferguson, and have him come and perform at your music fund raiser. He sounds like a really kind and amazing person.
Those 2 videos were great, enjoyed them. On the first video at the 3 minute mark that solo part where he takes it away and hits those notes is brilliant. And on the second video too, really shows what an expressive instrument the trumpet is. Among the brass orchestra, the trumpets often take on the most bold part of the music. In high school band class, there were about 20 students comprising the band, and I was one of the 3 trumpet players, and I remember the teacher would point to us, and we would carry away the loudest and most pronounced part of the music, and I loved that.
I don’t want to digress from the music, but there was an old black and white movie called “A Young Man With A Horn (1950)” where a young Kirk Douglas plays the part of a trumpet player who after losing his parents as a young child falls in love with the trumpet and leads a life as a trumpet player, but even after becoming a renowned musician, he has this life long challenge to take the trumpet to the high notes like no one has done before, and learns about life in the process. I saw that as a kid and remember wanting to be a trumpet player, and so when I was in band class in grade 8 and i could choose any instrument in the band, it had to be the trumpet. It was fun, but those high notes are hard, takes everything out of you. When I see trumpet players playing like Maynard Ferguson in those videos, it’s really thrilling for me. Here is a clip of that movie.
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Hi Daryl, Jacki
In regards to Neil Young and Bob Dylan, while not everyone’s cup of tea, I couldn’t imagine their songs without their unique nasal raspy vocals. Their unique vocals give their songs a real folky character that the song’s melody and lyrics alone could not convey with the colour and feel it does. It’s like some of the rock songs sung with rough raspy vocals, it gives it that rebellious feel of the song that otherwise would be lacking. Certainly the rockers and folk singers, while technically not as clean and dynamic as Pavarotti, give their songs the intended character, that Pavarotti could not do justice to.
On the topic of vocal character, one of the greatness of Mona and Lisa is that in their vocals, they can carry any character the song demands. Karen Carpenter is a great singer, and she can do Carpenter songs magnificently all day long, just as Barbara Streisand or Whitney Houston can do their own songs superbly, but I don’t think any of them could do Beatles Revolution justice with the flair and character of John Lennon’s vocals, but Mona and Lisa sure can. In fact they can do anything as their huge repertoire of covers and originals prove, their vocals are that diverse and rich from sublime passages that sound like angels to rough and raspy rockers, and everything in between fabulously. That’s why I think their vocals and harmonies are second to none in any genre or time.
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Hi Bud
In that recording the saxophone is amazing, and then in the second part the trumpet kicks in, just as amazing. The playing is exhilarating, love it. Brilliant musicianship. I could listen to that all day long.
In Mona and Lisa’s Live At the Cavern performances, their playing is so tight, it’s one of the best live playing I’ve ever heard. A lot of it is like they did it in a studio with perfection, but with the energy of a live performance. They ROCK in the studio and the stage. “There’s nothing I can’t do, there is nothing I’m not good at…” said Lisa. INDEED!
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Bud, Jacki
That is some great trumpet playing Bud in those 2 videos. In grade 8 I took up the trumpet in band class, my first foray into playing music, so I can appreciate how hard it is to play like that.
On the topic of diversity in music, the Beatles early in their career during their time in Hamburg Germany while they played in a number of clubs like the Indra Club and the Kaiserkeller, performing for hours each night, in addition to honing their performance skills to a well tuned machine, they got exposure to a wide variety of music too. They had to adapt to a wide variety of genres to satisfy the crowds. They say this period in Hamburg was pivotal in shaping The Beatles’ musical identity and laying the groundwork for their future success.
Ever since my time in the 80s working in Toronto for a while, my boss and friend at the time was Irish, and he took me to some Irish Pubs and I got exposed to Celtic music, and so to this day when I hear a nice song from that genre, I get zoned in. I recently heard this one that immediately grabbed me. Seems it was quite an International hit a couple years ago. It’s originally from New Zealand popularized by this Scottish singer. Has anyone heard it before?
https://youtu.be/qP-7GNoDJ5c?si=ZV4PntP2tkAKN30x
The live version:
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Hey Jacki,
Thank you for your input. MLTs California Dreamin songs are what captured me too. They were the first 3 videos I came across. To me MLT clearly eclipsed the original artists by a long shot.
It’s funny, with my music journey through life its’ been a case of never say never. I never thought I could stand hard rock, country, folk, jazz, classical but it’s like the universe conspired to show me I don’t know everything, and like a domino so far, I’ve come to appreciate that there is only good music and bad music, whatever the genre, and I like good music. Only thing that worries me is that the next dominoes left to fall are opera, disco and rap/hiphop…. If one day I start to go on about how wonderful rap is, someone please push me off the cliff. 🤣
Yes there are truly gifted artists today like MLT, but real artistic music is unfortunately drowned out by the music industry pushing their agenda and their terrible canned music created by entertainers, not artists.
MLT is the future of music, and we have to do everything we can to help proliferate their music around the globe.
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Daryl, if any politician is as GROOVY ❤ as the one in I Bought Myself A Politician, she has my vote! 😁
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Hi Daryl
Agree, the music industry today is more interested in finding acts that will fit their mold, and the record labels/promotors are very rigid. With the Beatles, their Mersey Beat sound, initially got them attention, but back then groups could still create and innovate and drive the direction of their music. There was still room for artistry in the music. Though with Brian Wilson, Capital certainly did not support him when he decided to grow past Surfing and car songs to more complex and innovative sounds, but he still did and there were other record labels and promotors who would support him. That is not the case today. I hope you get a chance to see the other video I posted last night.
I always found AC/DC lyrics and subject matter juvenile and that part never appealed to me, but Angus and Malcolm Young’s driving guitar work at one point mesmerized me. For me their powerful instrumentation work had the same effect as some of Beethoven and Bach’s instrumental wizardry. Took me to the same place. Now the refined music of classical is much preferred for me, but occasionally I do enjoying turning up the volume of an old AC/DC song if I hear it on the radio or something. I liked more of their earlier stuff during the Bon Scott days. “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)”
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Hi Bud,
Thank you for your thoughtful and valuable insight. Being a music teacher, I know you look at music from all perspective and depth. I agree, whatever the genre/style and what ever the time period, new or old, there is just good music and not so good music, and all the elements melody, rhythm, and harmonies play critical factors if the music is good or not. I also find melody is the most important aspect for me. If I find the the song has a melody I like, then I tune in. In the post Beatles solo careers, I was always drawn to more of Paul McCartney’s (melody genius) solo works over the others, though John Lennon had some amazing ones like “Imagine”, which is perhaps my favourite of the FAB4 solo songs.
To your point also I learned the musician’s unique perspective/experience makes a huge difference. When I first got into classical music, I bought up a whole bunch of CDs of Beethoven and Mozart’s piano works, oblivious to who actually played the piano, thinking it will all sound the same. I wasted a lot of money initially. Then as I got more and more immersed in the music and heard other version by different pianists in some of the classical radio stations, I found certain pieces I thought was just OK, was actually remarkable by another. One musician that made a huge difference for me was Glenn Gould and his Bach keyboard works. Bach was always too abstract for me initially preferring Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. But Glenn Gould’s interpretations were very pronounced on every note almost, that it made Bach’s keyboard works suddenly come alive. So now I have most of Bach’s piano works exclusively by Glenn Gould only. I also was lost to a lot of Bach’s Violin solo pieces until I came across interpretation by Arthur Grumiaux that made Bach’s Violin works suddenly come alive. Listening to other performers, it is not the same.
I always felt with rock music, especially Beatles and Beach Boys, a cover by anyone was not worth the time. Why listen to a cover by someone else, when you can listen to the Beatles and Beach Boys original version. Well that all changed when I came across MLT. Their interpretation, especially with the harmonies, add another dimension to the songs. For example, the Beach Boys God Only Knows I listened to for decades was a good song, but it wasn’t until I heard Mona and Lisa’s take on it, that I realized just how amazing that song is! All of the covers MLT do are like that. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a great song, but MLTs version when I first heard it is out of this world! I lost interest in rock/pop by about the late 90s in favour of classical because there was nothing interesting any more, and I was tired of the old stuff. Mona and Lisa brought me back to the Rock/Pop genre with their originals and covers as they breathed new life into the music.
In the female super star realm, while I was not familiar with Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift’s music, I did enjoy some of Madonna’s stuff over the years, in fact some of her later songs I thought were brilliant, and is a culmination of her decades of experience coming together. It’s her “Power of Goodbye”, and “Frozen” I think are some of the best works by any pop artist.
With current pop music today, I think the problem is that it lacks creativity and innovation. It’s just the same “pop formula” being recreated over and over again. It all sounds the same. And I think it is because the Record Labels are unwilling to take any risk with promoting new sounds and innovation, and are only willing to promote an artist that will fit into their mold singing songs that conform to their “pop formula” that they feel will make money. And they rely on “familiarity” that the current listeners are brain washed and addicted to. It’s a cash cow for the record labels.
I found this brilliant video about what is wrong with the music industry today a few years ago, and I think it sums it all up. The future of rock/pop music is in the hands of MLT and other independent artists, as mainstream pop/rock music is dying. If you have a chance, I would love to know what you think of this video Bud from your professional perspective.
Music today as an art form is dying, and here is why.
https://youtu.be/oVME_l4IwII?si=DHVZUUZNNP-ZJjt5
Happy New Year
Jung
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Hey Bud
If you click the reply button for the post you were originally replying to, the text may still be there when you open the reply window again. That has happened to me a few times and, and so I try to get in the habit of copying the text to my clipboard as often as possible when I am typing a long message, or if it is something really long I compose the text in another app, and then copy paste it in to the reply. Good luck, I hope you are able to retrieve it.
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Hi Daryl
Here is an interesting video that gets to the heart of why music is so lame today. I advanced it to the part where it talks about why today’s mainstream music is so mediocre and uninspired, but the whole video is interesting.