Re: Blues plate special

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>> Hmmm.  I'd say "Mirror, Mirror" qualifies hands down.  It's got the 
>> traditional beat and the sound both.

>It may be that you're putting too much emphasis on the beat. Rock has 
used every imaginable beat, so would that not disqualify the beat as a 
method of detection? I would say so.  Mirror Mirror is a ballad, is it 
not?

I still think you have to classify rock according to the beat as well as 
the style.  If it doesn't have the right beat, it's not rock.  It's easy 
to take any old 4/4 song (Twinkle, Twinkle) and rock it up, but try it 
with a 3/4 waltz.

Listen to B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.  Those are masters of the 
traditional blues, and their technique doesn't vary much.  That 
syncopated beat isn't confined to blues, of course, but when you combine 
it with the chord intervals and the style, you can pretty much define 
what you've got.

>Mirror Mirror is a ballad, is it not?  

Right off I don't know that much about the song, but it seems to come 
from a blues tradition.  What Roger sings on "Rocks" is blues.  I think 
I've got Leon Russell doing it (somewhere) and as I recall, he does it 
that way, too.  I'll check it out.


>Being Blues (or Rock) has nothing to do with being upbeat or laid back.

I agree that the style has a lot to do with it.  Still, I think Rock has 
more potential as a hot medium because of the regular beat.  Blues and 
jazz are generally cooler (more laid back).  If you compare rock to 
blues of the same meter, the blues will sound more relaxed.


>> I'd qualify "Blues Man's Road" as contemporary blues because of the
>sound.
>
>It's about Blues, but it's not Blues. It just doesn't have the Blues 
feel.

A little too hot.  It's right on the verge, though.

keets


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