When I was a kid I was watching the TV show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, with my parents and at the end of the show Ricky Nelson sang a song. My father pointed out that Ricky actually had a pretty weak voice, he was still only a teenager, and that “studio tricks” were what made him sound professional. That was the first time I noticed echo and reverb on a record and although I resented my dad’s attitude toward Rock & Roll, I had to admit he had a point. A couple of years later I went to my first professional rock concert at The Valley Music Theater. It was a theater in the round and the P.A. system consisted of two Vox Super Beatle amplifiers. The sound was great! Because of what my dad had said I spent the concert trying to catch the singers lip syncing. They had echo and reverb on their vocals from the P.A. and to me sounded exactly like the record. I realized Dad was right but also wrong.
I learned something else that night. One of the bands, Tommy James and the Shondells, started playing the new Beatle’s single, Penny Lane. I was impressed they could have learned it so quickly, it having been released only a few weeks earlier. It would take me six months to learn a new song back then. I wondered how they were going to play the trumpet solo in the middle. Tommy James played saxophone so I assumed he would play it on the sax but the organist played it on his little Vox organ using a trumpet sound setting which gave it the approximate feel. They were a very good band, not really what I liked as they seemed a little too dated. It would be a little while before they went psychedelic with Tommy’s fro and the acid rock hit Crimson and Clover, at this point he still had a huge pompadour and glittery suits. But they were tight, probably the best of the half dozen acts on the bill and the solo was note for note. I learned that if the notes are there it really doesn’t matter what sound is used. There’s a guy on Youtube who plays Crossroads note for note on a ukulele and it’s a mind blower.
I learned something else that night. One of the bands, Tommy James and the Shondells, started playing the new Beatle’s single, Penny Lane. I was impressed they could have learned it so quickly, it having been released only a few weeks earlier. It would take me six months to learn a new song back then. I wondered how they were going to play the trumpet solo in the middle. Tommy James played saxophone so I assumed he would play it on the sax but the organist played it on his little Vox organ using a trumpet sound setting which gave it the approximate feel. They were a very good band, not really what I liked as they seemed a little too dated. It would be a little while before they went psychedelic with Tommy’s fro and the acid rock hit Crimson and Clover, at this point he still had a huge pompadour and glittery suits. But they were tight, probably the best of the half dozen acts on the bill and the solo was note for note. I learned that if the notes are there it really doesn’t matter what sound is used. There’s a guy on Youtube who plays Crossroads note for note on a ukulele and it’s a mind blower.
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