Dear Bart,
Why not compare Neville to Caucasion people in his home genre (easy
listening) instead of African Americans in other genres
(Armstrong:jazz, Wonder:R&B)? The soundscape of popular American music
is more complicated and diverse than "drum pattern recycling" as you
call it. If you do not educate yourselve in the distinctions, you end
up making irrelevant comparisons based on skin color.
> And by the way, fathoming how much ethnical or national
> identification could have been at stake in the mental cogs of
> those masters is and should always remain our last and least
> concern as listeners
You brought it up - it was your opening statement.
> Can't a weak rendition simply mar it all?
I doubt anyone else could do Neville songs as well as he does, because
they are often written for him. They capitalize on the quirks in his
voice. In that sense, they are strong renditions. The recorder is a
limited instrument in range and pitch, but there are some gorgeous
pieces written for it. I don't think the recorderist needs to
apologize for being a recorderist.
> Unless your motherly soul is forever desperate for living proofs
> of the oh-so-touching Human Touch, of course...
It is, actually. It makes me sad when music turns into a technical
contest. Mind you, I consider myself a competent technician, but I
consider my technique as subservient to the music in all cases.
> You' ve got no idea how much we western europeans get submerged by
> less-than-good american sound (with an average 5 years lag from you all, to
> take the cake).
I'm sorry for that, but it's not really Neville's fault. He's just
trying to make a living. Try writing to the record companies.
> What a bore for older generations like mine to hear a poor rendition of
> "Stand by me" for the umpteenth time, featuring a nondescript rap passage
> (twopence remote ghetto nursery-rhymed gossip nobody grasps but their
> writers), and to take it in the face from an all-but-bright youngster that
> this is the last new thing, an actual original tune from so and so's album,
> with the kuulest gruuve, and so on...
Remember that:
1) There has always been crappy music in every age and genre. The
newest stuff has a higher proportion of crap because it has not been
filtered out yet. There are some terrible Baroque operas out there,
they are simply not done anymore because they could not withstand the
test of time.
2) Some new music is great, and you can't assume you'd recognize it to
be so, anymore so than Beethoven's last quartets were appreciated in
his time.
Peace,
Tako
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