sleeping in a jar wrote:
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SW: For 20-30 years, classic progressive music was incredibly unpopular and unfashionable. I was talking to Steve Hackett about this. He feels for the first time that people actually appreciate the work he did in the ‘70s.
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Actually this is incorrect, and Steve Hackett knows it. At least one show in this world, in Santa Barbara, and Steve went through there a couple of times, btw, was playing this and treating the music with the credit and appreciation that they deserved. And Steve knows that Guy played "The Lamb" in its entirety sight unseen the first day he saw it ... and the station could not figure out which song to play yet! ... and then Guy also played "Voyage of the Acolyte" in its entirety. I have tapes of that show saved that prove it .. Steve! THERE WERE ... many people out there to whom the media was a ruse that should not have been trusted ... but everyone called him, and even me nowadays, a hassle to deal with ... because I have no "credibility" ... and this has been the biggest fight I have had with the Progressive Archives board, who refuse to appreciate articles like mine that are trying to help put ART in its proper perspective.
The really hard part? ... folks like Robert, or Steve, and others, were too busy being "stars" and "dinosaur's" to stop by and give these folks like Guy a very appreciative handshake and pat on the back so many of the other megalomaniac radio station owners would not have been so abusive and pathetic with Guy ... to the point where today he says stupid things like ... "I've made so many enemies" ... when in reality, the folks around him, thought he was a jerk playing all this crap for 25 years ... think about it ... surviving the insults for 25 years in Santa Barbara ... a place known for Channel Diesel or Channell Federale! Others did stop ... Bryan Ferry, Mike Oldfield, Prunella Scales, Gary Green, Robin Williamson, Trish Butler ... but some, specially those around the really big bands, were too busy and tied up to say hello ... well, Bill Bruford did!
sleeping in a jar wrote:
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He feels it’s only in the last three or four years that he’s begun to feel people value that work as his greatest achievement. For 30 years, he was told it was shit, that he was a dinosaur, and that the music was worthless and no-one was ever going to want to listen to that hippie stuff again. I cannot underestimate how these guys were brainwashed. Robert Fripp and Ian Anderson feel the same. They were brainwashed by the media into thinking everything they did in the ‘70s was worthless junk. It’s almost like abused child syndrome. It took a great amount of reassurance for them to begin to believe that people love that stuff and that it’s the work that their reputation will ultimately rest on.
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It didn't start there!
The whole media insult thing started with Jimi Hendrix and one of the worst fudgers that we kiss out there named Scorcheese! Maybe he was too stoned to know the difference, and I will accept that one, but he is not intelligent enough to talk about it, and only does things for money ... he should go back and revisit the work he did at Woodstock and talk about it ... but he's not man enough ... and will instead go do a movie on the Rolling Stones, because he knows he can cash in a quick million ... for his pet movies!
Jimi played the national anthem in front of trash ... and just a few people. I'm positive that he did this intentionally, because he knew how important the music was to him and others, specially in Europe, with Germany, France, England having massive experimental and new musics running around that the American labels did not like ... and continuously trashed as "not rock'n'roll" or some other sublime term ... to show their intelligence in music! We do NOT know the difference, or wish to know that difference, lest it makes us feel low and ... well ... we screwed up ... but I certainly do not think that the whole generation were just a bunch of kids having fun, and the music was not important! You know that is total bullshit ... and Foreign Sons was buried as quick as it could be ... and replaced by the commercially friendly ... have another hit! ... almost as good as making sure you put flowers in your hair when you go to SF! The meaning of the whole thing was corrupted and replaced by a plastic sign and dove that didn't mean a thing ... to anyone! ... we gave up! We quit! ... what do you think that scream by Roger Daltrey in Who Are You is all about?
That was the first insult ... and none of us is smart enough to stand up and say ... thanks Jimi ... and MAKE DAMN SURE that the important music is not just a hit ... and survives ... but no ... like the majority of folks here ... it's just fun talk about the guitar and the star ... no one would be here if it was just for the music itself, and it was a "serious" discussion ... which is another forum that I have requested to be added here ... but it won't happen because Gail, Dweezil, Moon and the Trust do not know what "serious" music was, and ABOVE ALL how many of these people were in it because they were serious about the music ... it was not just another song for radio!
sleeping in a jar wrote:
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I experienced that with Robert when we worked on the remix of King Crimson’s Lizard. He said “Why do you want to do this Steven? No-one likes the record. Everyone hates it, including me.” I said “I’m going to change people’s minds.”
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Sometimes the person behind it might not be the best critic of his/her own work, and it takes the hands of a magician to make it work better and help him/her see something else they did not see then.
Almost any of the things that Steven has done in production have all been faultless and incredible. But what this really tells you is that the folks that recorded this, and put it on an LP, did not have the ability, desire, or care ... to see the music as better and more important than just antoher rock song in the garage!
This is a design thing and idea/concept that the person behind the board/controls can help the band with ... PERIOD ... what do you think that George Martin was about? Or Tom Dowd? ... and many of these cheap folks -- specially today with those DAW's -- are just that ... over rated studio folks that are not worth their dime or time!
sleeping in a jar wrote:
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“Lizard is revealed to be the greatest King Crimson album of all.” Mojo gave it five out of five stars. Robert was astonished. And I was vindicated because I really believed all those records that had been ignored and sidelined for years, mainly by the media, but also by fans, were really coming of age. In a sense, they were so far ahead of their time, and now is their time. They sound extraordinary. This is really key for me.
As I like to say all the time ... "power in the hands of fools is an accident..." and that person ended up wrecking a car! In the case of music, you kill it's spirit ... and I'm sorry ... Steven saw in it the wonder and the sound that I have seen all this time inside my minds eye when listening to these things ... they still shine ... they still color the vision ... they still (above all) ... live ... and refuse to die. And someone making sure that the whole thing is dressed even better ... all I can say is ... thank you Steven for helping vindicate what many of us have been talking about for 40 years ... that we're still ignored.
I will post a copy of this to the King Crimson thing ... and hopefully it gets accepted. Will not post this at the PT website as it is not user friendly and they do not have a User Forum. Will not post this at the Progressive Archives board as they do not like people that do not kiss the commercial model of top ten ... the original thing we fought against 45 years ago! But it doesn't matter to them if the fans don't think it's progressive, and is prog instead!
But it is exhausting to continually fight for the spirit of life, when some folks around me don't see it, and even in a board like this ... one does not get the credit and appreciation for the words said ... and while I love Robert's work, he is not the only one that has great work out there that is still not appreciated and is ignored!
There is a lot more work out there that is ignored, than work that is appreciated!
But thanks, Steven, all the same ... for having an appreciation ... for work that others do not ... and I would like to state that I loved your talk to Klaus Schulze as well, but I really wonder if it was that DVD special of him talking about a small part of his piece and how to clean it up ... that helped define who and what you are ... the excellent producer and technician with music in your hands ... and you deserve a pat on the back for this work.
And we should not forget your own work and with your band ... priceless is probably the only thing we can say ... maybe one day we can even have something done to Amon Duul 2 and Guru Guru ... and some of the other outstanding groups that made a point of doing what Jimi showed us to do that most did not have the courage to do ... stand up and say it!
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