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Attention, Audiophiles! My friend Craig and I have begun a new eight-part series here on G&P called Re-Roxy, wherein we will examine each of the studio albums of the iconic band Roxy Music. Our aim is to re-make/re-model the oeuvre of Bryan Ferry & Co. in our own image so that we can apply what we have learned as songwriters, musicians, producers, and listeners. Making every effort not to talk talk talk talk talk ourselves to death, we begin our exploration of the Roxy catalogue with a discussion of the debut(ante) eponymous album of 1972. Press play above to hear our complete analysis and breakdown of Roxy Music and/or watch the video on my YouTube channel:

Here’s lookin’ at you, kids!

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Show Notes

• CPL-593H!

• Click here for a live version of “Re-Make/Re-Model” recorded for German TV. (For some reason, Substack is blocking the thumbnail.)

• The original is better of course, but this is interesting:

• Siouxsie’s cover, on the other hand, may be as good as the original:

• Craig recommends:

• For what it’s worth:

• Remember there would be no Chic without Roxy Music:

• Put this on the reading list:

• The phrase “brilliant parody” does not do Linda Thompson’s album cover justice:

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In Part 2 of this episode of G&P, I elaborate on an idea suggested in Part 1—namely, that the Rolling Stones at their best should be considered rock ’n’ roll shamans who help us dispel the psychic contagion known as wetiko so that we can integrate the shadow aspects of our personalities, thereby allowing ourselves to individuate and not be controlled and manipulated by the darkness within us and without us. Press play above to hear the full development of this idea in the last six or seven minutes of the podcast. Before that, Craig and I also glean the following lessons for songwriters, musicians, and producers:

• “Bros before hoes” is a legitimate topic for pop songs.

• Falsetto background vocals and choruses can be very effective.

• As Craig so eloquently put it: “Skinny white boys from Kent can play country, blues, and gospel just as well as their forefathers.”

• The Stones catalogue is vast and various beyond measure.

• “Start Me Up” should henceforth be banned from public performance.

As for our final setlists, they are as follows:

CRAIG

Set 1:

1. Play with Fire
2. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
3. Get Off of My Cloud
4. Under My Thumb
5. Paint It Black
6. 2000 Light Years from Home
7. Sympathy for the Devil
8. Let It Bleed
9. Monkey Man
10. Brown Sugar

Set 2:

1. Wild Horses
2. Dead Flowers
3. Rocks Off
4. Rip This Joint
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Shine a Light
7. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
8. If You Really Want to Be My Friend
9. It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)
10. Fool to Cry

Encore:

1. Miss You
2. Beast of Burden
3. Waiting on a Friend
4. Undercover of the Night
5. Jumpin' Jack Flash


MARK 

Set 1:

1. Let’s Spend the Night Together
2. Doom and Gloom
3. Out of Time
4. 2000 Man
5. Saint of Me
6. She Was Hot
7. Terrifying
8. Stray Cat Blues
9. Midnight Rambler
10. Bitch

Set 2:

1. Gimme Shelter
2. Stupid Girl
3. Live with Me
4. Far Away Eyes
5. Loving Cup
6. She’s a Rainbow
7. No Expectations
8. The Spider and the Fly
9. Shattered
10. Star Star

Encore:

1. Ruby Tuesday
2. All Down the Line
3. Salt of the Earth

Once again, go ahead and tell us why you’re right and we’re wrong.

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Show Notes

• Less well known than “Take My Breath Away,” but actually Berlin’s best song:

• #GuiltyPleasures:

• Ian Stewart’s Zeppelin connection:

• The name of the channel in question is Country Music Television:

• The Beatles were country when country wasn’t cool:

• My dream concert:

• The magic of not letting a song “marinate” too much:

• Kenney Jones (not Charlie Watts):

• Inspired by “Heartbreaker”:

• It was Marsha Hunt (not Merry Clayton) who gave birth to Jagger’s lovechild:

• The Stones cover Stevie (brilliantly):

• Is she “the worst thing in this world”?

• A solid duet:

• Another Stones-Zep connection:

• If you haven’t seen this yet, you should:

• According to Johnny M, this is the Smiths’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (included here especially for Steve):

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Long, long ago, when we both still resided in the Land of Morning Calm, Craig Branch and I played together in a Seoul-based Rolling Stones cover band called Sticky Fingers. I was cast in the unlikely role of Jaggeresque frontman while Craig kept time and generally held things together with his credible impersonation of Charlie Watts. In the dark corners of YouTube there still exist artifacts of our collaboration. The particular video I’m embedding here also features Stormin’ Norman Schwagler on bass and New Brunswick’s own Jeff Valley absolutely slaying the Gibson SG:

It’s only rock ’n’ roll, but we like it. So why not celebrate that fact, I recently asked myself, in a self-indulgent fanboy podcast? When I first mentioned to Craig the possibility of doing an episode of G&P titled “The Ultimate Rolling Stones Cover Band Setlist,” he texted me the following:

It’s a fair question. How does one choose a mere 20-25 songs from the Stones’ vast catalogue? What criterion should one employ? As it turned out, Craig went with a chronological approach. I, on the other hand, opted for a more idiosyncratic mix, with a decided preference for “deep cuts.” During this first installment of the pod we each share our first 10 choices, which together comprise what we are calling Set 1. (You’ll have to tune in to the second installment for Set 2 and Encore.) Press play above to hear our justifications and rationalizations. In the meantime, here are our respective first lists of 10:

CRAIG

1. Play with Fire
2. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
3. Get Off of My Cloud
4. Under My Thumb
5. Paint It Black
6. 2000 Light Years from Home
7. Sympathy for the Devil
8. Let It Bleed
9. Monkey Man
10. Brown Sugar


MARK 

1. Let's Spend the Night Together
2. Doom and Gloom
3. Out of Time
4. 2000 Man
5. Saint of Me
6. She Was Hot
7. Terrifying
8. Stray Cat Blues
9. Midnight Rambler
10. Bitch

I’m sure you have own opinion on the matter, so go ahead and tell us why you’re right and we’re wrong.

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Show Notes

• The title for Part 1 of this episode is lifted from bassist Bill Wyman’s chronicle of the band:

• This book is the source of much of my information on the Stones:

• Keef’s bio is also good:

• I recently watched this and highly recommend it as well:

• See the Stones at Altamont:

• See the Stones as seen by Godard:

• Was Jagger inspired by Bulgakov?

• Who killed Brian Jones?

• Not a bad vocal performance at all:

• “It’s no rock ’n’ roll show”:

• A different *bitch* altogether:

• Those who would cancel and condemn the Stones for their transgressive lyrical content would do well to remember Jung’s counsel that we all cultivate an “imagination for evil.” As Paul Levy notes in his fascinating book Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil, we must confront our shadow selves in this way “because being able to imagine the scope of evil that human beings fall prey to, become instruments for, and act out empowers us to see the evil more clearly, as it appears both in the world and in ourselves, and thereby deal with it more effectively.” In that sense, I would argue that the Stones’ exploration of the dark side of life serves a shamanistic purpose. Levy adds: “Like living organisms, artists are mouthpieces for the time in which they live. Like psychic scribes, they are able to inwardly tune in so as to outwardly express and explicate the contemporary social context, the emerging zeitgeist, the implicate spirit of the age, while simultaneously giving shape to the deeper archetypal, timeless, and unconscious process which informs all ages.” So forget the nay-sayers (or “the fun police,” as Craig calls them) and crank up the volume because THIS MUSIC SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD.

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Originally recorded almost six months ago, the latest episode of G&P has finally been edited into a more palatable form (thanks to the chief production officer at WITLUUF) and is now ready for release. Press play above to hear Mark (Sp/Sx 8-5-4) and a “generally disgruntled” Steve (Sx/Sp 4-5-8) analyze and react to what may very well be Morrissey’s best solo album, You Are the Quarry (well, the first seven tracks of it anyway). During their lengthy convo, the Gemini Pig Brothers discuss, among other things, the “8 side” of the normally “waspish, flaky 4” known as Moz, the dialectic between misanthropy and self-deprecation, male archetypes and The Brothers Karamazov, the flute in ancient Greek music, the plague of “uniformed whores,” and the transatlantic cultural significance of “mooning.” Of course, the eternal question of Music vs. Lyrics—otherwise known as Sound vs. Vision—otherwise known as Guitar vs. Pen—is also addressed. But how can anybody possibly know how they feel about all this before listening to the pod and/or watching the videos below?

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raw dawg:

cooked to perfection by Steve:

customized for G&P:

Show Notes

• also from WITLUUF:

• the “black dog” of depression:

• Was this the beginning of my half-assed Anglophilia?

• The Life and Opinions of Steven Patrick Morrissey, Gentleman:

• Meet the Kray Brothers:

• Was Macca the original “Anglo-Saxon Celt” of Pop?

• Who knew?

• The ancient Greek flute was called the aulos (αὐλός). It probably more closely resembled the modern oboe—or even the modern bagpipes, as one of those double reeds was likely a drone—but it was definitely used in Dionysian rituals to induce states of ecstasy and frenzied abandon:

• my jam:

• literally, MY jam:

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You may have noticed that whenever I release a new song (have you heard this one, for example?) I credit myself as follows: “Words & Music by Mark Will.” This is an unsubtle nod to Samuel Beckett’s 1961-1962 radio play Words and Music, which just so happens to be the focus of the latest episode of Guitar & Pen. Friend of show Craig Branch, host of the Can’t Find My Way Home podcast, stopped by the Riverside studio again to help me try to make sense of this specimen of Beckett’s “musicalized fiction” and then apply lessons learned therefrom to the craft of songwriting. During our wide-ranging chat, we discuss, among other things, Schopenhauer’s philosophy of music, Wagner’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the potential meaning of Beckettian “love and soul music,” the etymology of “lyric” (from lyre, not liar), what exactly constitutes an “earworm,” why the emotional impact of Morton Feldman’s music is “lacking,” the influence of music on James Joyce, the mystery of Beckett’s brother (we know he was a composer at least), the role of the tyrannical editor-author-producer-director in the production of masterpieces, and the compositional importance of dynamics, silence, space, and repetition. Press play above to hear the full convo, which we consider our contribution to the nascent field of “Word and Music Studies,” and remember what is perhaps Beckett’s most important insight:

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Show Notes

• Music by Morton Feldman, despite all our disparagement:

• What you’re hearing at the beginning of the pod is from a live performance of Barry Guy’s first “Fizzle”:

• There’s also a studio version:

• I need to read this:

• This too:

• More Beckett-inspired music:

• Words and Music on the stage:

• Play with Alan Rickman and Kristin Scott Thomas:

• Billie Whitelaw in Not I:

• Why Steve Reich is better than Morton Feldman:

• Why Arnold Schoenberg is better than Morton Feldman:

• Coming soon to G&P:

• Macca, we hardly knew ye:

• Rhymes with UB40:

• Thanks to Idiot 4 for turning us on to Derek Bailey:

• The Police explain “semantic fluidity”:

Next on G&P

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On this latest episode of Guitar & Pen, Craig Branch of the Can’t Find My Way Home podcast joins me once again to discuss a new release by a Pink Floyd alumnus. The topic of G&P #5 was Roger Waters’ The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, a “reimagining” of the 1973 classic which needs no introduction. Today we present its companion episode, G&P #6, in which we review David Gilmour’s Luck and Strange, an album which the guitar hero himself rather unbelievably describes as the best he’s been involved with since that aforementioned 1973 classic. Press play above to listen to the full audio and/or press play below to watch the livestream and/or the final edit.

According to Google, Luck and Strange has an approval rating of 98%, whereas opinion on DSOTM Redux is split at exactly 50%. Which album do you prefer, audiophile?

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Show Notes

• To my ears, nothing on Luck and Strange can match the energy of this track (a collaboration with Pete Townshend) from Gilmour’s second solo album:

• The prototype of the Gilmour Family Singers:

• Father and daughter deliver live:

• But are you familiar with the original?

• I knew I had heard of the Montgolfier Brothers before!

• Steve Gadd showcase:

• The inspiration for “Dark and Velvet Nights”?

• “A Single Spark” is not the first time Nabokov has been channeled in a pop song:

• The obligatory self-promotion (shameless, as usual):

• Pentangle sample:

• Yes, Roger can still play bass:

• DG and Ice-T?!

• GN’R meets AC/DC (meets Aerosmith):

Next on G&P

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It was a long time coming, but my friend Craig Branch and I finally scheduled time to discuss Roger Waters’ “reimagining” of his former band’s most celebrated album. Press play above to hear the full audio and/or press play below to watch the slideshow flanked by our two ugly mugs.

And then let us know the answer to the all-important question: Team Waters or Team Gilmour?

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Show Notes

• Subscribe to Craig’s podcast:

  

• Prophetic words indeed:

The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime

• The essence of the empathy which is the theme of “Us and Them”:

Strangers passing in the street
By chance, two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can?

• Straight from the horse’s mouth:

• Bowie also repurposed his past:

• A Momentary Lapse of Reason pretty much sucked, but Gilmour & Co. redeemed themselves with The Division Bell:

• Rick Wright’s “aquatic” solo album from 1978:

• The title of G&P #5 alludes to Waters’ 1984 solo album, on which Clapton plays the role of Gilmour:

• Shameless self-promotion:

The flag that you embrace
Is the flag that you erase

• Bring it on home, Bill!

Next on G&P

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It’s been a minute since the last episode of G&P, but I hope you’ll find my new interview with Lionel Doe to have been well worth the wait. Lionel is the creative force behind the Toronto-based musical project So Dirty the Flamingos. I first met the man in 2005 when we were both living and working in South Korea, and over the years I have benefited greatly from his insights into the songwriting process, his feedback on mixes and arrangements, and his unstinting encouragement of my creative efforts. I am blessed to call Lionel a friend, and though our friendship has been maintained mostly online due to our living in different hemispheres, we recently had the opportunity to chat face to face via webcam, I from my home library in Taipei and he from his studio bunker in Toronto, for the first time in eighteen years (!). We discussed So Dirty the Flamingos’ breakout single “Miles Away,” which has now racked up 100K listens on Spotify, and then explored such topics as the origin of the band’s curious name (it’s not what you think), Lionel’s teenage infatuation with Eddie Van Halen (a phase I went through as well), the pleasures of “genre-hopping,” the evils of Taylor Swiftified algorithms, and the manner in which Fellini’s 8 1/2 is not only an allegory of the filmmaker but also of the songwriter. Most importantly, we reflect on the importance of “leaving good shit behind”—which is the only reason to create anything—regardless of financial reward (or, as is more often the case, the lack thereof). Press play above to hear the entire conversation, which often tends toward the philosophical.

Notes:

• Here’s a video of So Dirty the Flamingos performing “Miles Away”:

• As it turns out, Lionel was able to find that demo of the song “Porno” (mentioned around the 35-minute mark), so I’m sharing it here with his permission:

• And here’s the full quote I read around 41:45 from that inspirational FB message Lionel sent me a couple of years ago:

• Lionel knows he has an open invitation to return to G&P to discuss more specific issues. At some point, I hope we can chat about the following:

  • songwriting methods

  • the recording process

  • distribution and promotion

  • editing decisions and knowing when the work is “done”

Any other ideas? Let me know!

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The video version of Guitar & Pen #3 has now been posted to YouTube. If you don’t feel like sitting through the full episode, stay tuned for some clips, which I hope to upload anon. The next episode of G & P will focus either on Samuel Beckett’s Words and Music or Roger Waters’ Dark Side of the Moon Redux. What’s your preference?

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Does it really matter what your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile thinks about a pop song, especially when a genocide or an ethnic cleansing or a humanitarian catastrophe (choose your own terminology) is happening in “The Holy Land”? Perhaps not, but as a lifelong Beatleologist I felt compelled, for what it’s worth, to weigh in on the newly released track which has been dubbed “the last Beatles song.” In this episode of Guitar & Pen, after providing some background information on the Lennon demos which Yoko Ono gave to the surviving Beatles in the early 90s as they worked on the Anthology project, I therefore discuss and analyze “Now and Then” and, as is my wont, try to deduce aesthetic principles which might be of use or interest to songwriters, musicians, producers, fans, and casual listeners. I also rank “Now and Then” in relation to the other two Lennon demos which the Beatles completed and released as the Beatles: “Real Love” and “Free as a Bird.” (Since recording, I learned that there was actually a fourth song on the archival tapes Yoko gave the boys called “Grow Old with Me,” which Ringo covered in 2019.) Press play above to hear my complete breakdown of “Now and Then” and let me know what you think.

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N.B. The title of today’s episode is a paraphrase of a quote by Picasso which I’m no longer able to locate.

The focus of this completely meta second episode of Guitar & Pen is . . . “Guitar and Pen,” Pete Townshend’s “songwriter’s song” from The Who’s 1978 album Who Are You. Once again, I’m joined by Craig Branch, host of the Can’t Find My Way Home podcast, with whom I analyze the lyrics and the music of Townshend’s “allegory of the songwriter’s predicament.” Highlights of our chat include meditations on the necessity of solitude for the songwriter and the inevitability of frustration in the songwriting process, as well as the sage advice, echoed by Andy Partridge of XTC, to never throw out one’s “bits and pieces” as one may find uses for them later—even “after years of delay.” As always, I hope songwriters, composers, musicians, music producers, and music fans find something inspirational and/or of practical value herein.

Recommended reading:

Errata:

1. The album for which members of The Who were expected to share songwriting duties more equitably was A Quick One, not The Who Sell Out.

2. The song “A Quick One, While He’s Away” is from the album A Quick One, not The Who Sell Out.

3. Pete Townshend’s unrealized musical project was called Lifehouse, not Lighthouse.

Today I’m pleased to announce the launch of Guitar & Pen. The mission of this new musical podcast, which I describe as “a songwriter’s notebook,” is to discover, analyze, highlight, and celebrate musical and lyrical ideas and concepts which songwriters, composers, musicians, sound engineers, and music producers might find not only inspirational but also useful in a practical sense as they engage in the creative art of music-making. Of course, it is also hoped that the album/song reviews, musician interviews, book discussions, reflections, and rants featured on the pod are of interest to the general music fan as well.

For the inaugural episode of G & P, I’m joined by my friend Craig Branch, whom I’ve known since my days in Korea, when we played together in various bands on the Seoul club circuit. He was in fact the drummer of Princess Disease, the vehicle for my Korea-themed songs which were later re-recorded by my Taipei-based musical project [ai] for the album No Cure for the Princess Disease. Now living in Germany, Craig is the host of the Can’t Find My Way Home podcast, which features interviews with expat musicians and artists.

At Craig’s suggestion, we chose The Smith’s 1986 album The Queen Is Dead as our focus for Guitar & Pen #1. After providing some essential background information on the classic album and the seminal band which created it—did you know, for example, that the album title was inspired by a Hubert Selby Jr. novel and the band name may well be an allusion to the characters in a play by Ionesco?—we proceed with a track-by-track analysis and then offer some concluding thoughts on the record’s impact on the music of the 80s and its continuing relevance. The songwriting partnership of Johnny Marr—the Guitar of the equation—and Morrissey—the Pen thereof—is obviously key to our discussion, but we also consider the importance of The Smiths’ rhythm section, which showcases the aggressive punk-funk attack of bassist Andy Rourke and the rock-solid, no-nonsense drumming of Mike Joyce.

One thing I became acutely aware of when revisiting The Queen Is Dead’s jangle pop rock grooves overlaid with melancholic poetry is Morrissey’s use of the refrain at the end of a song. Several tracks on the album conclude with a kind of chant or mantra repeated in a loop: “Life is very long when you’re lonely” on the title track, “I can feel the soil falling over my head” on “I Know It’s Over,” “I’m a living sign” on “Vicar in a Tutu,” “There is a light that never goes out” on the song thus titled. (Note that Morrissey also makes use of this technique on the title track of his fantastic 2014 solo album World Peace Is None of Your Business as he chants: “Each time you vote, you support the process.”) I don’t think I’ve ever concluded a song of my own with a device of this sort, but it’s something I’d like to try at some point.

I hope you enjoy our discussion of The Queen Is Dead. Let me know of any other musical topics you’d like me to address in future episodes.

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Here are links to videos mentioned in the pod: