The 500 - #306 - Odelay - Beck

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 306

Album Title: Odelay

Artist: Beck

Genre: Alternative Rock, Sampledelia (yeah, I'll explain that one)

Recorded: Four Studios in the Los Angeles area

Released: June, 1996

My age at release: 30

How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, 424 (Dropping 118 spots)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Where It's At

Album Cover - that's a dog, in case you were wondering.

Sampledelia, sometimes called Sampledelica, is a style of music that repurposes and manipulates portions of sound from previous recordings (samples) in order to create something new. Usually, audio techniques that include looping, chopping or stretching the sound are done by an electronic musical instrument called a sampler.

An AKAI MPCX sampler, one of many on the market

Simon Reynolds, in his book Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture,  wrote that "sampledelic music abandoned 'naturalistic' recording practices in favor of using studio-based techniques and effects to create sounds that could not be achieved through live performance."

Odelay is the fifth record by American musician “Beck” (David Hanson) and it leans heavily into the world of sampledelic music. This was a departure from his first four releases which are best classified as alternative rock and lo-fi (low fidelity) electronica.

An accurate (and humorous) definition of Lo-Fi.

British-Ghanian author and theorist Kodwo Eshun has offered an interesting take on sampledelia, suggesting that: 

"the sounds have detached themselves from their original sources and (when manipulated cleverly by the sampling artist) induce an experience of "synthetic defamiliarization." 

In other words, the listener enters a auditory world where sounds that may have been familiar transform into something vaguely recognizable and aesthetically appealing.

Kodwo Eshun and his book More Brilliant Than The Sun:
Adventures in Sonic Fiction

Learning about this reminded me of a poetry lesson I have presented to my Grades 7 and 8 students called "The Cut-Up Technique". It is an aleatory (random choice) literary technique developed by the Dadism Art movement of the 1920s, and was brought to popularity by William S. Burroughs, a beat poet popular in the early 1960s.

Burroughs postulated that words from two different sources could be cut up and pushed together to become something uniquely distinct -- perhaps beautiful, alarming or, at least, thought-provoking.

William S. Burroughs (Beat Generation Author & Visual Artist)

He felt that this technique was a way of “freeing words from the straitjacket of language…to create something fresh, interesting and evocative.”

It is not dissimilar to creating a portmanteau, cutting up two words to coin a new word. “Brunch” is an example, combining “breakfast” and “lunch”. “Motel” is another, combining “‘motor” and “hotel”...or even "blog" a portmanteau of "web log"

For sampledelia teaching purposes, I ask my students to print out songs they know containing rich lyrics and, if possible, end with rhymes -- that is, poetry/lyrics that rhyme on the last syllable(s).

I also print song lyrics with which I have experienced success during this activity in the past. For instance, the song Born To Run from Bruce Springsteen (the same name of the album at #18 on The 500 has proven particularly useful.

Once the students have selected two songs (pieces of poetry) they are tasked with dissecting  each line somewhere near the middle. I often suggest they look for a place where they see a natural break. For example, the first lines of Born To Run could be cut as follows.

Once they have physically cut chunks from each song, they "smash" them together to create something entirely new and, as Burroughs suggested over 50 years ago, the effect is "fresh, interesting and evocative". Here is an example using Born To Run and the song Subdivisions by lyricist Neil Peart of Rush.

As you can see, not every line works perfectly. However some, such as...

"Growing up it's a suicide machine,

Opinions all provided while we're young,

The future pre-decided, we were born to run"

...capture the spirit of a disenfranchised and discontented teen.

Once students have finished their avant-garde submissions, I invite the bold among them to perform their "literary sampledelia" live for their classmates -- beatnik style, with groovy jazz playing softly as a backdrop.

The student audience shows approval by snapping their fingers instead of conventional applause, as if we are in a mid-60s coffee house in Greenwich Village, New York. When teaching went virtual during the pandemic lockdown, students developed their own sampledelias by using Google Forms, which  can be found here.

If you have not heard sampledelic music, Odelay by Beck is a wonderful place to start. I'd direct you to the title track, Devil's Haircut, which features samples from such diverse performers:

• Irish group Them, featuring a young Van Morrison (1966) and
• Hall of Fame Funk Drummer Bernard Purdie (1968).

Alternately, consider the track Where It's At, which has samples from 

• Pop-soul singer Lee Dorsey (1966),
• Electro-funk, hip-hop trio Mantronix (1985) and
• Wisconsin alternative-comedy-rock duo, The Frogs (1989).

Much like Cut-Up Poetry, Odelay can sometimes be beautiful, evocative or alarming but it is certainly thought-provoking.

The 500 - #307 - A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 307

Album Title: A Hard Day's Night

Artist: The Beatles

Genre: Pop-Rock, Rock, Beat

Recorded: EMI, London, UK & Pathe Marconi, Paris, France

Released: July, 1964

My age at release: Not Yet Born

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, 263 (Moving up 44 places)

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: And I Love Her

A Hard Day's Night was the third record by The Beatles. It was released in England at the height of Beatlemania on July 10, 1964, exactly one year and a day before I was born. It was released two weeks earlier in the U.S., with a slightly different track listing (including four instrumentals).

Album cover for the US release

There is a part of me that wishes I could have experienced Beatlemania – that wild period of anything goes and “I’m all right, Jack” that gripped the Western world between 1963 and 1966. It was a cultural upheaval and music revolution of a kind that might never happen again.

In the mid-90s, my beer league hockey team won the unlikely chance of playing at the renowned Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Before taking on our competitors we were given a guided tour by a local historian who shared fascinating stories about the famous building.

The iconic Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario

At a loading area at the back of the building the guide told us about the first time The Beatles played in the arena in 1964. It was where the group had been shuttled in a heavy-duty police van for protection. Earlier in the week, their limousine had been set upon by hundreds of female devotees who, seemingly against the laws of physics, managed to claw their fingers into the seams of the doors and rip them open. The four pop idols had their shirts torn from their bodies before escaping with the help of police.

On the day they made their Gardens debut, 4,000 police officers and Mounties were assigned to clear a five-block area around the arena for 12 hours.

A Hard Day's Night became a milestone in the Beatles’ compendium of hits. In contrast with their first two releases, it contained songs exclusively written by the Fab Four  – mainly John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Its issue coincided with the opening in movie theatres of a musical-comedy film by the same name, in which they starred.

My favourite bit of trivia about the film is that it features a young Phil Collins as an uncredited extra. Collins would go on to become the drummer and eventually the singer for one of my favourite bands, Genesis. He would also enjoy a massively successful solo career. I remain a little frustrated that there are no records from Genesis or Collins on The 500 list. I think The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or Selling England By The Pound have the artistic merit and Collins' No Jacket Required was a monster hit with smash singles that dominated the chart for most of 1985. Oh well -- as podcaster Josh Adam Meyers often says "we just accept the list....even when it's butt cheeks."

There are still seven more Beatles records on The 500 list, but we won't get to the next one until #53, Meet The Beatles. That's nearly five years I have to think of more things to say about the four Lads from Liverpool. No prob, mates.

The Cross-Curriculum Power of the Shapegram

An engaging tool that I have brought into my classroom is the Shapegram, developed by educator, innovator and presenter Tony Vincent. These are a series of Google Drawing activities, complete with step-by-step instructions, that are easily connected to multiple expectations in the Ontario curriculum. From simple ice cream cones to complex time machines, these drawings can be utilized to integrate a wide range of subject matter. But that's not all.

I think it was during the 2018/19 school year that I came across Tony’s on-line Shapegrams. At the time, I was working as an Instructional Partner (Coach) for my board (Thames Valley) in Southwestern Ontario. I was assigned to four schools and it was incumbent on me to make connections with colleagues in those buildings in order to “help build pedagogical capacity”. Consequently, I was always looking for a short, quick activity that I could present to a class within (60-100 minutes).

I've always been comfortable with tech-based options (Scratch coding, Google CS First, WeVideo, Hour of Code and Google Suite options), and teachers generally respond well to my offer to present them. When I saw Shapegrams posted in a tweet by Tony, I was intrigued by the link to make your own Google Draw Ice Cream Cone. I presented it to a Grade 5 class and the reaction was palpable. The teacher who had invited me to work with them was quick to ask: “Where do you get these? I want to do more?”

The finished Ice Cream Shapegram

Tony’s Shapegrams are simple to learn and powerfully engaging. They include step-by-step video instructions and there are additional, enrichment activities on the side to complement curriculum connections. Rather than explaining a Shapegram, I always encourage teachers to go to the site and build the first four (they are free). At the very least, you will enjoy Tony's Dad-Joke worthy puns.

Tony with the Ice Cream Shapegram

When I returned to my own classroom in September, 2019, I integrated the four Shapegrams into my curriculum. The first connection with the Ice Cream Cone was descriptive writing. I asked my students to recreate it, following Tony’s instructions, but also invited them to remix it in some way. In education, we often call this the “low floor, high ceiling approach”. This is when success is always achievable, with the opportunity to “go beyond expectations” or “flex your creativity”.

To connect this to my literacy program, students were asked to describe the ice cream they had created and tell me about their favourite dessert. Using the “cut & copy” feature, their individual, frosty creations were easily transferred to a collaborative Google Slide that provided space for their writing. As a result, students were able to see the work of their peers – both their artistic endeavor and their writing.

Four examples from previous classes

The first activity was a success, a slideshow of examples can be found here. I continued with two of the other free options. The House Shapegram connected to our Geography studies of Relative and Absolute location and the Lion Shapegram fit in perfectly with our study of endangered animals in the Ecosystems unit of science.

An annual subscription is required to access the growing collection of Shapegrams. I have been a subscriber for three years now. It is $35 US (about $45 Canadian). The Google skills that my students master by the end of the year are incredible and the learning experience energizes other subject areas including literacy, science and geography. 

Additionally, their other Google work, including slideshow presentations, take a momentous leap forward. Not only can students work on these platforms more efficiently and quickly, they also begin to recognize (through teacher feedback) how to make their presentations more aesthetically pleasing for their audience.

A major feature of Tony’s program is being able to work at a pace that fits your classroom. Furthermore, there are tips, tricks and shortcuts that raise the bar for teaching and learning. Check it out at the Scope and Sequence chart provided on the site.

I will include a few examples of some collaborative activities we have done below. Feel free to modify them for your needs.

Additional Shapegram Slideshows

Robot Shapegram Slideshow

#OneWord Snow Globe Shapegram Slideshow

Dolphin Shapegram Slideshow - connected to aquatic ecosystems

Giant Sequoia and Building Shapegram - This one includes music clips in Presentation Mode

Remix your own Emoji Shapegram - Literacy task included

Groundhog Shapegram -  What day would you like to live over?

Pot of Gold Shapegram - What would you do with a pot of gold of money?

Time Machine Shapegram - Where would you go in time?

Statue of Liberty Shapegram - What city/place would you love to visit?

 

The 500 - #308 - Songs For Swingin' Lovers - Frank Sinatra

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 308

Album Title: Songs For Swingin' Lovers

Artist: Frank Sinatra

Genre: Swing, Traditional Pop, Jazz

Recorded: Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California

Released: March, 1956

My age at release: Not Yet Born

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? No

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: You Make Me Feel So Young

To summarize the life of arguably the greatest singer of the 20th Century isn't possible in a single blog post. Even listing the accomplishments of Francis Albert Sinatra, the son of Italian immigrants from Hoboken, New Jersey, is daunting. Instead, I'll focus on this week's record and share a story about the time I had the opportunity to see the legend known variously as "The Chairman Of The Board", "Ol' Blue Eyes", "The Sultan of Swoon", "The Voice/La Voz" and "Swoonatra".

By the early 1950s, Sinatra had already hit the heights of fame in the entertainment world. He was a hit-making singer, a movie star and a heartthrob who could sell out the biggest venues in North America. However, his career was about to hit a rough patch as audiences began to look toward younger, newer artists. The 1952 film in which he starred, Meet Danny Wilson, was a commercial disappointment and his studio contract with Columbia Records came to an end.

Additionally, his reported ties to organized crime and his tumultuous relationship with Ava Gardner caused many of his former fans (and entertainment associates) to turn away from him. When Sinatra and Gardner first began dating in 1949, it was powerful tabloid fodder. Sinatra was still married to his first wife, Nancy Sinatra (nee: Barbato).

Sinatra Family, Nancy, Frank Nancy, Tina and Frank Jr.

Late one night in 1949, Gardner and Sinatra went for a drunk drive outside Palm Springs that ended in reckless gunshots being fired at lamp-posts and a hardware store window. Police were alerted and arrests followed. Sinatra was in love, but his career had officially hit a slump.

In 1952, Sinatra's comeback began. Not only did he sign a lucrative contract with Capitol records, he also secured the highly coveted supporting role as Private Angelo Maggio in the film From Here To Eternity, also starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed. The film won seven  Academy Awards, including one for Sinatra as Best Supporting Actor.

Sinatra celebrating his win with fellow winner Donna Reed

Sinatra’s first Capitol Records release was Songs For Young Lovers (1954), followed by Swing Easy (1954), In The Wee Small Hours (1955) and then this week’s record, Songs For Swingin’ Lovers. Appropriately enough, this phase of Sinatra’s career became known as his “Swing Period”. He began working closely with musician and conductor Nelson Riddle. The two collaborated on arrangements that helped shift Ol’ Blue Eyes from his earlier “crooner sound” toward musical phrasings that won over an older, more mature audience – exactly what Sinatra needed to reinvigorate his flagging career.

Sinatra with Riddle

In September, 1984, I had the chance to see Sinatra perform in Toronto. I just didn’t understand the opportunity.

Happenstance determined that I, at 17, would meet a group of individuals a few years older who shared a common interest in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), even though I was still in high school.

The dungeon master was Roderick Macintosh – a mountainous man -- burly, broad shouldered and bespectacled with a cascade of black, curly hair. Roderick was a masterful storyteller and eschewed commercially published fantasy “modules” – preferring to craft original adventures. He was also a university student and knowing him felt like having a cool older brother -- with his own apartment, car and independence (he came from a wealthy family).

A typical, commercial D&D module

In August, `984, a few years after building a friendly relationship with Roderick and a few of his friends he turned to me and said:

"We're going to see Frank Sinatra in Toronto next week, we have an extra ticket, do you want to go?”

Being a confirmed prog-rocker, I demurred, wondering: “Why would I want to see some old guy sing songs he didn’t even write?”

And therein was cemented a lifelong regret, although the performance on September 4, 1984, wasn’t particularly notable except for the heavy rainstorms that battered the outdoor venue, The CN Exhibition grounds. The heavily soaked crowd enjoyed only ten songs before Sinatra and his orchestra pulled the plug and left. Still, I shouldn’t have said “No” to the invitation to see “The Chairman of the Board”.

Toronto news-clipping from the show

The 500 - #309 - Willy And The Poor Boys - Creedence Clearwater Revival

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 309

Album Title: Willie And The Poor Boys

Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Genre: Rock, Folk Rock, Southern Rock

Recorded: Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, California

Released: November, 1969

My age at release: 4

How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, 193, Moving up 116 places

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Fortunate Son

I watched a lot of television as a kid, much to the chagrin of my parents. "The Goggle Box" was a pejorative I often heard bandied about by my father. In my defence, I also spent plenty of time outside with my friends. Growing up in a farming community in southwestern Ontario, I put hundreds of miles on my bicycle every summer. I swam (in Lake Erie and in friends' pools),played hockey (road and ice), baseball, soccer and football. I was an active kid. Television was, in a time before the internet, one of my few windows on the world and I devoured the information it provided.

Even television commercials were part of my media literacy education in the 70s. When I try to explain to my students that some commercials were up to two minutes in length and we couldn't fast-forward them, I am greeted by befuddled stares. After all, they live in a world of commercial-free streaming services and social media sites where a ten-second commercial  is  an exhausting inconvenience. Imagine their surprise when I tell them that my TV received stations via an antenna and  limited to about six  channels.

The location of our home, on the northern shore of Lake Erie helped us receive several U.S.-based stations, including a UHF (Ultra High Frequency) channel from Lorain, Ohio -- WUAB TV.

The station catered to kids and pre-teens in the early afternoon, with plenty of sitcom reruns (Gilligan's Island, The Monkees) and my favourite, the Marvel Comics Superheroes Animated Series.

Among the many commercials I watched between the adventures of Iron Man or the hijinks of Gilligan were advertisements for Greatest Hits record compilations by artists from the previous generation. I saw ads for Roger Whittaker, Frankie Vally & The Four Seasons and Engelbert Humperdinck, but the one that stood out most for me was this commercial for a three-record set by band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

It was the first time I had heard of the band and the song snippets from the commercial had me hooked. This was great music. I'll admit, I was confused by the band's name. I was familiar with the word "revival", but it had negative religious connotations for me. I could only think of  evangelical hucksters preaching the Gospel while bilking their congregation of money.. Even at the age of 12, and long before their eventual arrests, I knew that Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker were sleazy fraudsters. Was this a record by a religious group?

Bakker being arrested for fraud in 1998

Creedence Clearwater Revival (often shortened to either Creedence or CCR) was an American rock band formed by three high school students near the San Francisco area in the late 1950s John Fogerty (guitars and vocals), Stu Cook (piano and bass) and Doug Clifford (drums). Eventually, John's older brother, Tom, joined the band and they began playing instrumentals and "jukebox standards" initially under the name Tom Fogerty and The Blue Velvets.

Tom Fogerty and The Blue Velvets (1961)

Prior to settling on the name CCR, they, unfortunately in retrospect, temporarily called themselves The Golliwogs. As a child, particularly during my time in England, the golliwog was a ubiquitous soft cloth doll. Much like CCR, those British schoolchildren had no idea of its racist roots and the pain it caused the black community.

"The Golliwog" was a character created by children's cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton (1873-1922). Inspired by the black-faced minstrel performers at the turn of the last century, it was a racist caricature of African Americans, and was ultimately decried

Wisely, the band changed their name to CCR in January, 1967, and released their debut, self-titled album in 1968.

The following year, 1969, was a busy one. The group released three records, Bayou Country in January, Green River in August and this week's title, Willy And The Poor Boys, in November. This productive period and a string of hit singles quickly established the group's trademark "swamp rock" sound -- a distinctive genre of music created by CCR that borrowed heavily from the Louisiana blues of the 1950s. Although he was a California native, singer John Fogerty sounded like a Cajun, straight out of the Mississippi backwaters.

John Fogerty (1969)

When I first heard CCR on that television commercial, it was the raspy, high tenor of Fogerty that grabbed  me. It’s  a voice I enjoy hearing today. I selected the track Fortunate Son for my "500 Spotify Playlist" because it captures the raw, fiery power of Fogerty's bayou-esque voice. It is also a powerful anti-war and counter-culture protest song that, for some odd reason, politicians (including Donald Trump) keep mistaking as a "pro-American" anthem to play at their rallies...until, invariably, Fogerty sends them a cease and desist letter.

The band released three more records before breaking up in 1972. Tom died in 1990 from AIDS complications, contracted from a tainted blood transfusion during back surgery. Cook and Clifford eventually formed a tribute act dubbed Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which kicked off a personal and legal battle that continues today between them and John.

Creedence Clearwater Revisited - Stu Cook in the middle
Doug Clifford to his left, flanked by new bandmates

When the surviving members were inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 John Fogerty created some controversy when he refused to play with Cook and Clifford at the ceremony. In his autobiography Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, John Fogerty detailed the acrimonious relationship with the pair.

John Fogerty speaking at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony

John was disappointed Cook and Clifford had continued to work with record executive Saul Zaentz, who controlled many of the distribution rights to the original music. To bring this full circle, it was why their hits were available, inexpensively, as a Greatest Hits package through television commercial offers on TV in the seventies.  These releases generated less income for John than he felt he deserved. Additionally, he wrote in his autobiography:

“The truth was, they had turned their backs on our group, dishonored the music, and sold out to Saul Zaentz, taking money and making a side deal that didn’t include me.”

Why and how was that ever allowed? he continues. “Stu and Doug had a letter from Trisha (Tom’s wife)  giving Tom’s vote to them; it gave them a majority, and in business a majority vote wins. But we’re not IBM; we’re four guys who made a vow, a pact. Try explaining that to a judge.”

It must be frustrating to have such a powerful musical fellowship end in legal battles and acrimony. However, even the lyrics from the title track from on week’s record remind us that it’s still show business …without the business, there is no show.

"Down on the corner,

Out in the street,

Willy and the Poor Boys are playin'

Bring a nickel, tap your feet."