Re: Thought Greg Might or Should Know Chords / RE: (TV) WTF, Tom?

[Rex Broome <rexbroome@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Leo Casey <LeoCasey@comcast.net> wrote:

> Hi Greg,
>
> Glad you're still posting.
>
> I thought that if anyone could answer Rex's original question [see below in
> case you missed it] about the mysterious, wonderful [thunderous?] opening
> chords to 'There's A Reason" it might be Greg Grant since you covered this
> very song on one of the Marquee Moon List's infamous Television/Verlaine
> Tribute cds.


I just took a listen to that and it's interesting, Greg actually not only
didn't include those weird screaming "chords on 3" in his version but he
also plays a completely different chord progression throughout the intro
and verse.  It's not just in a different key but a different progression
and rhythm (overall a little more "early Kinks" and in a major key rather
than the sort of, erm, implied minor of the original).  It's quite clever
and exactly the kind of thing you expect and want on a "reinterpretation"
CD... and it really points to what a weirdly complex work the original is
(another case in point being the weird shimmery-jangly "post chorus" bit
which I love)...

Another thing which occurred to me while thinking my way through that
record is that Tom at least twice deploys one of my favorite song kickoff
tricks: starting the riff on a beat other than the one so that it takes the
listener a little while, sometimes until the chorus, to figure out where
the downbeats are, and in essence you can wind up hearing a completely
different riff for the first verse.  It's pleasurably disorienting.  For
comparison you might listen to the Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something to
Hide Except Me and My Monkey" or "Dktr Faustus" by the Fall which really
plays this trick to the hilt.

Anyway, the first instance on Dreamtime is "There's a Reason" itself, in
which the first two unaccompanied guitar hits are in fact on the 2 and 4,
where the snare hits are, but it sounds as if they're a more traditional
downbeat thing in line with where the and then the other instruments kind
of come in staggered (the actual contruction of each measure in term of 1 -
2 - 3 - 4 is bass note - "normal" guitar hit - other guitar "squeal" chord
- "normal" guitar hit, which is pretty odd in itself).

The second and even weirder one is "Fragile" which kicks off with
Fliegler's 12-string riff starting on the "and" of 4.  And then the drum
part comes in and it's really weird, to: you don't get a snare hit on the
verse until the 4 of each measure (which can sound, if you hear the
12-sting riff as starting on 1, as something more like the "and" of 3 and
makes the song sound maybe a little reggae than it really is).  I used to
actually hear the 12-string riff as if it were completely different on the
2nd verse from what it is on the first... maybe some of you still do if you
stop and thing about it.  Anyway, it's cool.

Just realized that "Mr. Blur" starts on the "and" of four as well, but the
drums are normal enough that the listener's ear is pretty well able to make
out that said "and" is just a pickup note.  It should also be noted that
"Marquee Moon" itself also starts on an offbeat that might be disorienting
for a bit, but I rarely even think about that as the song is so massively
familiar to me.

Subconscious ripoff confession: when I was doing my cover songs blog last
year I got assigned a song by a friend of mine, an acoustic number that I
decided to rock up a little bit and use this very trick in my arrangement,
although I wasn't thinking of any of Tom's songs in particular. I came up
with this thing:

http://www.cinemelon.com/files/3940/204%20(Here's%20One%20I%20Bet%20You%20Wouldn't%20Want%20to%20Meet)%20In%20the%20Wild%20rx.mp3

...which featured a riff I made up that started on the "and" of 2.  And
without intending it, I later realized I'd come damned close to flat-out
ripping off "Fragile", and, honestly, the whole thing has a pretty serious
Dreamtime feel to it (excepting, maybe, the harmonies).  So, like, ooops.
 The writeup about the whole tune can be found here:

http://thirtyninefortycovers.blogspot.com/2010/10/104-heres-one-i-bet-you-wouldnt-want-to.html

Anyway, needless to say I've always regretted not being on this list when
those tributes were produced and still have a sort of itch to marshall the
musicians on this mailing list to do a song-by-song cover tribute to
Dreamtime itself, as we idly discussed a year or so ago.

So, like, thanks for your attention and stuff.
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