OCR Text |
Show 9 Editois' Notk: Bob Crewe knows wkat't happening in music because, as one of the nation's leading record producers, if$ his job to make it happen. As writer, arranger, and producer for top recording stars, he captures the beat of the times so successfully that in the past 10 years he has sold some 100 million records. Occasionally he emerges from behind the scenes to record such hits as "Music to Watch Girls By" with his own group, the Bob Crewe Generation. R , ock V roll is dead. Finished. More and more, it becomes blasphemy ut 6oom-6oom-fco- primitive beat set to simple lyrics. ."Pimple music," they called it then. It's grown up now. The beat has become clarified, the lyrics are evolving into' poetry. Encrusted with ideas and inventions, pop music is now borrowing "musical influences from other times and countries.: Beatle George Harrison grabs a sitar and raga-roc- k is born. If you listen closely toft, record, youll hear classical Tchaikovsky k of Moby Grape changes. Tune in to the or Jefferson Airplane and you're caught up in sounds. Pop music has turned into a selective, electronic form where anything goes, where everything that has ever happened in music is bubbling into a new sound, an art form. All of this has happened at amazing speed. Remember, it was only 1963 when the Beatles hit our shores with a simple, basic beat. The amplified guitar and superloud drumbeat buried the lyrics, often on purpose. The idea was to wrap yourself up in the sound and go dancing. r Today, though, the lyrics come up strong, and people are listening. Adults who shuddered at wanna hold your hand," applaud the poignant words of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." It's still the teenybopper who makes a pop sta who dares to buy . a new record because she likes it, not because someone has told her it's "in." But today she's a scout for her big sisters.. She bounces off the new sound waves, and the older people pick up on them. "I can't stand rock 'n' roll," the older generation still says, "but I love that 'Sgt Pepper album, or 'Aretha Frank-in- ,' or The Hamas and the Papas.' " In 1967 they heard pop music splinter into k many different sounds. There was the of Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Donostarted by the Beatles and van, the raga-roc-k s. quickly picked up by the Byrds and the There was the soul music of James Brown e and Mitch Ryder, .the sounds of the Mamas and the Papas and the Lovin' SpoonfuL-FroSan Francisco come psychedelic or acid- rock by groups like the Grateful Dead. All of this should come together in one supersound in 1968. Folk, rhythm and blues, soul, all , es acid-roc- free-wheeli- - yah-yah-y- ah . 1 Where , Is Pop Music Headed folk-roc- Iri 1968? Yard-bird- good-tim- m v wt 1 pJ f Who's Who on Our Pop Cover: one-cho-rd to call the new sounds the sounds of 1968 by that worn-oname. Rock V roll bean aa a . of these influences will remain strong. Youll still catch the sitar in the background, used as the Beatles do, for sound effect But the Indian music, the monotony of the oriental drum, will wear itself out The music reflects the way the Orientals think, in one straight continuous line, but the Western ear demands more diversity. Coming through strongest in this intricate new tapestry of sounds will be the direct influence of church music It is no longer the wailing, stomping, blues sound of Negro gospel Now we are hearing the influences of medieval and classical church music, the purity of line of an "Ave Maria," the intricacy of Beethoven and Brahms. What has happened is that a generation rebelled against the music of its parents. But a generation rebels in the same crablike motion as' an individual With one outward movement you push away the old 'standard values. Yet another movement impels you toward them, if only to investigate, disprove, and then reject The danger is that the rebellion win backfire and the old values will ring true, after all. Today the young people wind flowers in their hair and bells around their necks; they dress up in bizarre costumes that proclaim their rebellion against the older generation and he traditional beliefs. But listen closely. You can almost hear them singing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" with a rock beat It's their own version, of course, but try fitting the old words of a hymn to today's music Youll see it works. Try listening to the words. They're about love, about honesty. They wail in the dark for people of the ft C ft r ahead to the new sounds that will rock the record world A music-expert'loo- ks 0 Reading clockwise 1. Cake; t. Monkees; S. Byrds; U. Lovin' Spoonful; 5. Jefferson Airplane; 6. Sonny & Cher; 7. Who. world to care, please care, about each other. The new sound in 1968 will be a combination of lyrics and complex, chromatic harmonies. With no disrespect intended, it could be called "Vatican Rock." It will be played by performers who will be more polished and professional than we have seen in pop music for some time. The audience today is a demanding one, and the most fickle we have ever known. They don't amble into a record shop and, as their parents did, casually soul-searchi- ng come and go; a performer is only as good as his last hit record The audience will make an overnight sensation of a Bobbie Gentry, then topple her into obscurity if her second record isn't as good as "Ode to Billie Jo." Only a group with the inventive genius of the Beatles can stay on top for long. They'll still be up there in 1968. So will the Doors, Beach Boys, Four Seasons, and Supreme. This will be Mitch Ryder's year to come into his own. It will be a crucial year for the Rolling Stones, a testing year for Janis Ian, who has shown flashes of brilliance And it will be 1 memorable year for an unknown group who will come out of the blue with the right sound at " the right time. Today's audience will not buy anyone who tries to rhyme moon with June; they're looking for someone who will tell it like it is. The right sound for 1968 will be the sound of honesty. Dy BOB CREWE Family Weekly, December 91, 1$67 |