Paul Simon - Live from Webster Hall, New York

[Pete Askew]

I don't own a TV but I do occasionally watch something on the BBC iPlayer. For those of you in a region that can access it, and if you haven't already seen it, I urge you to have a loot at the above on BBC 4. It is an honour to watch a master at work with a wonderful group of musicians.

 

[Brian Moore]

I don't think we can access that from USA but I wish I could. Paul Simon is a great talent. Thanks for posting the tip, Pete.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Agreed. Genius. I have a student who is a singer- songwriter, and I gave her the advice to study Paul Simon to learn the craft of what great songwriting is all about. She ended up buying nearly everything he put out. We made four videos of her songs, with me improvising alongside her to help her out. Some good songs:

One

Two

Three

Four

 

[Pete Askew]

Thanks Rob, I enjoyed those. Were they done in that sequence? Only she seemed most relaxed in the last. Number two reminded me very much of Natalie Merchant both in the composition and the voice. Is she an influence too? At first i found number three to be the weakest but after the half-way point I think she relaxed and the vocals worked much better. Again, thanks and, when you see her, tell her that her audience is growing!

 

[Brian Moore]

I only had a moment to glance at the first video and unfortunately didn't hear it too well as I have Count Basie playing on the stereo. I'll look at them all when I have a moment later on. For now, however, I'd say she has a very fine voice and also Rob you really know your way around the fretboard. Which of course I already knew. I'm always amazed that guitarists can actually hold onto a pic. I could never find the magic pressure point that would allow me to simultaneously strum lightly yet hang on.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Pete, Natalie Merchant might be an influence, I'm not sure. Her songs sound nothing like Paul Simon, or, her favourite, Suzanne Vega, but she is developing her own style. She needs a few musicians around her - I don't have the time - and she needs more experience performing. But she is doing very well, and I hope she finds a space for herself in the musical world.

Brian, picks or plectrums, or fingerstyle, it takes endless hours of practice. I know my way around a fretboard, but every day I find new things to keep me curious and involved. Much like photography!

 

[Paul Lange]

Just had a listen to these, what wonderful songs. I had the thought of Nick Drake in my mind but couldn't work out why as none of the songs were his as far as I can tell. Took me while to realise it was the title Riverman. Same title but different songs. You might want to tell her that the radio station Absolute 80s will shortly have an interview with Susan Vega. Cant remember when but I would imagine the info is on the website. Sometimes you can listen via the website as well.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

She wrote all these songs herself - I should maybe have made that more clear. Don't think has ever mentioned Nick Drake. She wrote Riverman after seeing my photo (which appears at the end of the video) which I had called Riverman, again without knowing of a song with that title.

They're not bad songs, really, and with a bit of experience she might make a niche for herself. Go Tina!

 

[Brian Moore]

Just listened/watched all 4 songs on YouTube. Very nice. (The actual songs are not my cup of tea, to be honest, but I can appreciate the talent.) I love your guitar work on number two especially, Rob.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Cheers, Brian. What IS your cup of musical tea?

 

[Brian Moore]

Blues mostly. John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, others. (Although, I'm not a fan of the best known modern bluesman: BB.) But, like most people, I find myself listening to and enjoying other genres. For example I love the sound of big brass bands, too. And I love Sinatra (Nelson Riddle era), Tony Bennet, Dean Martin.

What are your musical influences Rob?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

All of those you mentioned. All of them. Although how can you not appreciate this: B. B. King - The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Montreux 1993) - YouTube - skip the ad at the beginning. Yes, it's a bit cheesy, but the singing and guitar playing are astonishing. I play it to my young gun students, to show them it doesn't all have to be fast and furious.

I bought Hard Again by Muddy when I was 14, and became an instant fan for life, and through him, Johnny Winter.

Love the Blues. But I also got into lute music, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven - three giants. Then there's Captain Beefheart, and the Sex Pistols. Like most people, eclectic.

 

[Brian Moore]

That's a great song,...and there's no doubt in my mind that BB deserves his stature among the other Gods in the Blues Pantheon. But in general, he just doesn't appeal to me.

I have a great blues album that features Muddy. The music on it was recorded by a well-known musicologist (I think that's what he was) named Alan Lomax, who, at the behest of the National Archives or something traveled the Mississippi Delta and other parts of the South recording the music of the locals. He recorded Muddy Waters when Muddy still lived on the Stovall's Plantation. There is some Q&A on the recording as well as music. For example, Lomax is heard asking Muddy what the form of guitar work was that he was using (bottle neck slide it was) and who he learned it from (Son House). In another case, he asked what tuning Muddy was using for a particular song. (Answer "Spanich." I'm not sure but I think that was a colloquialism for Open G.)

The album is called The Complete Plantation Recordings. Wonderful stuff.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Yeah, I've got that album, and love it. Muddy comments on the recording in his autobiography, saying that other farm hands told him a white man was asking where he was. Muddy panicked and went into hiding! Later though, things were explained to him and he met Lomax. He had to borrow Lomax's guitar for the recording.

Lomax was an amazing character - he even came to Perthshire in Scotland to record the songs of the travelling folk. Great recordings.

 

[Ahmad Bhai]

[video=youtube;9hUy9ePyo6Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUy9ePyo6Q[/video]

 

[Larry Bolch]

I was delighted that Simon wrote the Kodachrome song. Photography is not a common subject in songwriting. However, his Leica song always baffled me. "Leica bridge over troubled water..." just did not make sense.

 

[Davie Hudson]

I was delighted that Simon wrote the Kodachrome song. Photography is not a common subject in songwriting. However, his Leica song always baffled me. "Leica bridge over troubled water..." just did not make sense.

HAhahaha Brilliant