“Thief in the Night”. from the Stones Bridges to Babylon LP
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MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVES/WEEKLY ROCK POLL POST
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Name: Keno
E-Mail: keno@fairpoint.net
Subject: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, March 1
Date: Monday, March 01, 2021
Time: 12:06:15 AM
Remote Address: 8.41.160.9
Message ID: 320871
Parent ID: 0
Thread ID: 320871
Let’s get our weekly Poll Post underway for our 4 weekly polls, and as usual we start off with the Stones poll, where we enter week 1,126 of voting, and we continue to rate the band’s songs. This week’s question asks this: Rate the Rolling Stones release of the song “Thief in the Night”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)”.
“Thief in the Night”. from the Stones Bridges to Babylon LP
We haven't yet rated any songs that Keith Richards sang lead on, not until this week anyway. Keith wrote this one along with Pierre de Beauport (who's Keith's main guitar tech man; and whom actually got credited by the Glimmers for his writing on this song!). The tune was released on the Bridges to Babylon album in 1997.
I must be honest with you, I never liked this song, in fact at first it got one of my lowest song ratings ever. But yes, in time I grew to not dislike it so much, in part thanks to a few Gassers who really loved the song. I figured if so many Gassers dug it, then maybe I was missing something in the song. So I grew to not dislike it as much in time.
But this wasn't a Stones like song at all, but of all things, a Crooner song. I hate crooner sung songs; part of the reason why I always hated Frank Sinatra (yuck), I just don’t like to hear any guys sing in this way! But where I could never stand Sinatra for a few other reasons, too, Keith was for years my favorite Stone, until he got diarrhea mouth and he started to put down Mick and Brian in what seemed to be all the damn time. I did lose some love for him after that, but overall, I still half loved the guy anyway, so I tried to like this song and finally after 10 or so years after its release, I got to where I no longer hated the song. But still, I could do without it, yet again, all along it seemed, by reading Gasland, that most Stones fans liked this song, some a lot. So I expect to see many fans give it high marks, including some 10s, even if I'll never totally enjoyed it myself. But rating this kind of question tells me and you something, more so than a question like last week’s rating of a warhorse song tells us.
Here is the lineup for this number: Lead Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar & Electric Guitars: Keith Richards; Electric Guitars: Ron Wood & Waddy Wachtel; Drums: Charlie Watts; Bass: Darryl Jones; Piano: Pierre de Beauport; Saxophone: Joe Sublett; Trumpet: Darrell Leonard; Percussion: Jim Keltner & Blondie Chaplin; Background Vocals: Bernard Fowler and Blondie Chaplin. Mick Jagger had nothing at all to do with this song; he didn't play or sing on it, and he didn't write it, even if he got credited for being one of the writers.
So while my vote for this one will be directly on the Mendoza line, what will your vote be? Let's see just how much the average Stones fan really feels about this crooner song. To rate this song, just click on the following link: Stones Weekly Poll. Plus, please remember, the video that is linked to the song at the voting page is there only so you can hear the song before you vote, but it should have no bearing on how you rate the tune, as the song itself is all that matters when we rate songs for this poll.
Last week at the Stones poll we answered this questionRate the Rolling Stones release of the song "Under My Thumb", from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)”.
“Under My Thumb”. The cover of a book about woman who love music that doesn’t love them back
Well this masterpiece of a song got the highest rating it could score, and I think we all knew before we voted that it would get a ten for its top pick (and why I said above that we learn little from a song like this). That score was the second highest 10 song seen for rating the Stones records, as it scored 98.8% of all the votes cast. “Jumpin' Jack Flash” still holds the record for the highest 10 score in this series, when it took in 99.1% of the vote. You can check out the full results from this poll, here: Stones Weekly Poll - week 1,125. Or, to check out the Stones song updated rating standings for this ongoing series, all of that can be viewed at the Stones List Page 5, which you can view here: Stones Top Picks - Page 3, list page 5, and see where all of the songs rated so far have landed in those standings.
Okay, let’s take a look at this week’s Classic Rock Poll, where we enter week 766 of voting, and for this one, as usual, we vote in 2 different Rock Polls each week. This week’s first question asks: What was the best Marimba, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, or Flapamba played in a rock song? (Part 2 of 3)
A Vibraphone, left, a Glockenspiel middle, and a Xylophone, right 3 of the 5 percussion instruments we are looking at this week
Week 2 of 3 looking for the best sounding Marimba, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, or Flapamba played in a rock song, with another 22 songs to consider for this week. As I noted last week here, these 5 percussion instruments are played, for the most part, very much in the same way, but each looks somewhat different and are different in size, too. But all 5 are played by holding on to mallets to strike their keys with.
The following text in the next 5 paragraphs is a total repeat from last week’s poll post, so feel free to skip it if you already read this last week….
Let’s look at the differences between the xylophone vibraphone marimba, glockenspiel, and flapamba. We’ll start off with the marimba, which has pretty much throughout the years has been used the most of the 5 in rock music. The marimba consists of a set of wooden bars set up on top of the instrument, which are struck with yarn or rubber mallets (with its shaft commonly made of wood) to produce its musical tones. Resonators or pipes (or tubes, usually made of aluminum) are suspended underneath the bars to amplify their sound. The bars of a marimba are arranged like the keys of a piano, with the groups of two and three notes raised vertically, overlapping the natural bars to aid the performer. It has lower-pitched range than the xylophone has.
The vibraphone, like the marimba, is also used often in rock music today and resembles the marimba. It consists of tuned metal bars and is usually played by holding two or four soft mallets while striking said bars. One of the main differences between the vibraphone and the other instruments we are looking at in this poll, is that each bar suspends over a resonator tube with a motor-driven butterfly valve at the top. The valves connect together on a common axle, which produces a tremolo or vibrato effect while the motor rotates the axle. The vibraphone also has a pedal below it that’s similar to a piano’s pedal. With the pedal up, the bars produce a muted sound. With the pedal down, the bars sustain for several seconds, or until muted with the pedal.
The glockenspiel is composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone, although where the xylophone's bars are made of wood, the glockenspiel's are made of metal plates or tubes. It’s a small instrument and because of both its material and smaller size, is higher in pitch. A pair of hard, unwrapped mallets, generally with heads made of plastic or metal, are used to strike the bars, are how one plays this instrument. When struck, its bars give a very pure, bell-like sound.
The xylophone consists of wooden bars struck by hard rubber, polyball, or acrylic mallets. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. The modern-day western xylophone has bars made of rosewood, padauk, or various synthetic materials such as fiberglass or fiberglass-reinforced plastic which allows for a louder sound. It’s rarely ever used in rock music and it’s sound often gets it confused with a marimba.
Finally, the flapamba is a rare instrument that is seldom played, especially in rock music. Still, it’s very similar to these other 4 already noted instruments. It consists of tuned wooden bars pinched on one side (over the node), and mounted over resonator boxes. Sliding the bars slightly forward or backward affects their tuning. Unlike a marimba or xylophone however, the sound is not as focused tonally, as it is a bit more percussive sounding (closer to tuned log drums).
BTW, (and this is a repeat, too, but needs to noted again and is short), for our first 2 weeks of voting on this question, we have 15 songs that have a vibraphone played on them, 13 a marimba, 10 a glockenspiel, 2 a Xylophone, and just one a flapamba.
To make your pick and see this week's song list and the players for this week’s first Rock Poll question, just click on here: Classic Rock Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 1” to vote in this poll.
For our second Rock Poll this week, we have the Rock Video poll, and we ask this: Rate David Bowie's official video for “The Jean Genie” (Click here for the video), from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
David Bowie with his then girlfriend Cyrinda Foxe, in a film clip from “The Jean Genie” video
"The Jean Genie" was a hard rock song that David Bowie wrote and recorded in 1972 for his groupie girlfriend and sometime lover and Andy Warhol friend/actress, the late Cyrinda Foxe, who appears in the video that we will rate (yes, he was still married to Angie at this time, but they had an open marriage, and Foxe was David’s main girlfriend for a while). Bowie recorded the song with his backing band the Spiders from Mars - comprising of Mick Ronson (lead guitar and backing vocals), Trevor Bolder (bass) and Mick Woodmansey (drums). Bowie played the rhythm guitar and harmonica on this song, and of course sang the lead. Ronson actually wrote the main guitar riff to the tune, but he wasn't credited. The song was a big hit in the UK, going all the way to #2, and was a Top 10 hit in most other countries, other than in the U.S., where it only made it to #71 on the singles chart.
The music video was filmed in October of 1972 in San Francisco and was directed by Mick Rock. who mixed concert footage of Bowie performing with the Spiders From Mars, at the second of two shows that took place at San Francisco’s Winterlanda, along with other shots, some of Bowie with Foxe, since Bowie told Rock that he wanted "a consort of the Marilyn Monroe brand" in the film clip, and that's where Foxe came into the picture. Everything was recorded live, but later on the studio take of the song was dubbed into the video performance part of the video instead of the live performance.
Today, it's somewhat sad to know most of those involved with this video and song are long gone, with all of them dying rather young (okay, Bowie was 69, so he wasn't that young). 3 of the 4 Spiders from Mars members, all died of cancer (only drummer Woodmansey survives) and poor Cyrinda Foxe died of a brain tumor when still only in her 40s…. To watch, listen to, and then rate this week’s Rock video, just click on this link: Classic Rock Video Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 2” to vote on this question.
Last week in the first Rock Poll we asked this question: What was the best Marimba, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, or Flapamba played in a rock song? (Part 1 of 3)
A Marimba left, and a Flapamba, right 2 more of the 5 percussion instruments we are looking at in this 3-part poll
The top 10 picks from last week will be voted on again in Part 3 along with the top ten that we choose this week. From last week’s voting, those 10 songs and their performers are: Under My Thumb - The Stones - Marimba by Brian Jones, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam - Vibraphone by Gary DeCarlo, Yesterday's Papers - Rolling Stones - Marimba by Brian Jones, Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Glockenspiel by Danny Federici, I Hear a Symphony - The Supremes - Vibraphone by The Funk Brothers, All Summer Long - The Beach Boys - Marimba by Brian Wilson, I Will Follow - U2 - Glockenspiel by Bono, Grow Some Funk of Your Own - Elton John - Vibraphone by Ray Cooper, Sloop John B - The Beach Boys - Glockenspiel by Frank Capp, and Aja - Steely Dan - Vibraphone by Victor Feldman…. You can check out the full, final results from this poll and see where the other songs ended up by clicking on the following link: Classic Rock Poll, week 764, Poll 1.
Last week at our Rock Video poll, we asked this: Rate John Lennon's original video for “Nobody Told Me” (Click here for the video), from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
John Lennon in the “Nobody Told Me” video
The top rating for this song scored one of the highest video ratings seen, in fact it landed in second place all time (but that’s not counting Beatle videos). Both the Beatles and solo Lennon vids do great in these video polls, although I should note that we’ve only rated 2 solo Lennon videos so far – but, both of them two scored the 2 highest 10 ratings out of the 85 different non-Beatle and non-Stones videos that we have rated to date.
You can click on the following link to see the full, final results from this poll: Classic Rock Poll, week 764, Video Poll. Or, to see the updated Video standings, just go here: Rock Video Standings list page. The standings can be found at the very top of the page.
We close up this Poll Post looking at this week’s Beatles Poll, as we enter week 517 of polling and we’ll answer this question: Rate The Beatles' video for “I'm A Loser” (Click here for the video), from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
The Beatles , live on Shindig Show, singing “I'm A Loser” live, before the song was even released
"I'm a Loser" was written by John Lennon and while recorded in the summer of 1964, it wasn't released until the year's end, on December 4, in the UK on the album Beatles for Sale, and then released a week later in the U.S. on the LP Beatles '65. At first this one was supposed to be a single, but when Lennon wrote and the band quickly recorded another song, "I Feel Fine", management felt that one was more a positive a song and decided to go with "I Feel Fine" instead. "I'm a Loser" was one of the band's first negative songs, as up until this time most of their numbers were all positive and about falling in love - and not being rejected, as this one was all about. Lennon years later noted that both Country music lyrics and trying to write a song in the mold of Bob Dylan, were where this one came from.
Now some info on the video we will rate.... This song was performed before its December release dates - for a live performance that we will see on this old film clip. The Beatles performed it for a special UK edition of the U.S. music TV show Shindig!, at Granville Studio in London, on October 3, 1964. This was before anybody had ever heard of the song and its studio recording wasn't even available yet. Up on stage, something else was a bit different, as normally Paul McCartney and George Harrison would be playing together with John off to the other side of the stage, alone. But for this performance. John was where George normally would be on the stage next to Paul, with George playing alone this time. The lineup for this one was: John Lennon – Lead vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica solo; Paul McCartney – Backing vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – Electric lead guitar; Ringo Starr – Drums.
Okay, so it’s time view and then vote on this vid by clicking on this following link: Beatles Weekly Poll.
Looking back at last week’s Beatles poll, we voted on this question: Rate The Beatles' video for “Two Of Us” (Click here for the video), from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
Beatles playing “Two of Us” , from the Let it Be album and Get Back sessions
87.1% voted this one a 10 for the top score. Again, should we be surprised? But for the books, that noted percentage is the third highest ever video rating seen, behind two other Beatle vids. To view this poll’s full, final results, just go here: Beatles Weekly Poll – week 516. Or you can look at the Beatles’ Video standings both over at the regular Rock Video page (see the link at the Rock Video poll results above) or at the Beatles own video and movie page, here: Beatles Movie and Video Ratings and Standings list page.
In closing out this Poll Post, I have something important to tell you that I half decided on several months ago and haven’t said anything about, but it’s something I'm planning to implement perhaps as soon as before this summer rolls in. This is the ending of the weekly Beatles poll. While it's been run the least of the 3 main polls, dealing with a band that was only really around for less than 10 years, and still coming up with new questions each week after 517 weeks of voting, isn't easy to do anymore. Yes, for now, coming up with video questions, as I've been running for the Beatles poll of late, isn't that hard to do - for now, but sooner or later we will have rated all of the official ones. Yes, with the new release of the old movie Let Be/Get Back, that could open up the door for more videos to rate (it actually already has a bit, as you know), and at least until we get through all of the Fab videos, this poll will continue. But in my head the countdown to finishing up these weekly Beatle polls has already been started, even if I have no date set yet to its final week. But I felt I might as well note to you voters so you are aware. I could wrap up the weekly Beatles polls (the Ongoing Beatle Polls will continue) as soon as this summer, or maybe it could last another year? But the latter is unlikely to happen. As far as the other polls go, next poll to retire after the Fab's poll would be the Rock VS poll, depending on what I find we have left to vote on. Truth is, while that poll is only run in the summer months, I'm running out of good matchups for it, too, unlike our Rock video polls that we vote on during the fall, winter and early spring, will never really run out of videos to vote on and are easy enough for me to put together.
As far as the Stones and regular weekly Rock polls, they would more than likely be the last two to go on. I was out of good, new questions for the Stones polls after 20 plus years of running it with new questions and never missing a week in all of those years - but when we started rating songs last year, that saved the day for keeping this one going for a long time. I don't have to tell Stones fans or anybody who knows Rock music that the Stones have a ton of songs to rate, and just doing that alone could keep this weekly polling going longer than I might live! Since my grandson Cooper is slowly taking over running parts of the domain for me already - he's in charge of the Colorado Cam site now and helping me with some of the other non-music sites up on the domain, and he could if he wants to, keep all of my Rock/Blues sites up, too, after I'm gone, or at the least, totally retired. I think he will do that, as now today, 100% of the money made from ads on this domain goes to him. But he isn't into the same kind of music that I am, but he also understands how much his grandpa loves the Stones, Beatles and Classic Rock, and for that reason alone he told me that he wants to keep these classic rock sites going after he totally takes over the domain from me. But that doesn't mean he will keep the weekly polls going. While the On-going Rock polls would continue, since no classic rock knowledge is needed to run those polls, that isn't the case with our weekly polls at all, and while I'm teaching him how to forecast the weather for our town's official weather site that I also own and run (he's actually been helping me with that since he was a little boy), it’s a lot harder to get him or any 20-year-old kid interested in classic rock music if they are only into rap and reggae music, as he is. Oh well, at least I made his mom a true Stones fan, but with her she automatically was into the same music I and her mom were into even as a little girl. But other than the Stones’ SFTD, which Coop loves, there aren't too many other Stones songs that he's into. So once I'm gone, at that time also gone will be the Stones and Classic Rock weekly polls, too. But for now, since I continue to get very lazy in my old age, the Beatles weekly poll is next on the block to become history at keno.org (yes, it will soon go the way as Gasland went), but hey, it's had a great run, don't you think?... and it ain't over yet, either!... Anyway, I do hope you all have a great week ahead, keep warm since it’s still cold outside at most places right now, and keep thinking positive about the future, too!
Keno
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