Moog Music: Mix Reviews CMC Volume 18: That ROUND SOUND

All hail the Minimoog, released in 1970, and by my thinking, the progenitor of the Round Sound. And Round Sound is a pretty perfect description, though partly for the beauty of its alliteration. This music isn’t round exactly, but it has been smoothed and shaped to remove any sharp edges. Mellow Gold (Volume Two will get you Eric Carmen – or there’s this one) is another term that was applied to various retrospectives of the songs on this volume. Most of it anyway, as there are some tracks in here that seem somewhat pointy to me.

1. 10cc was more than two dudes, at least when this track was released. The band is named for the average quantity of semen ejaculated – which gets them some points from me for cheek if nothing else. Two of the quartet were the later MTV favorites (for a brief shining moment) Godley and Crème, though they weren’t in the band long. G&C brought us the song Cry. It was one of those two that brought that ‘electric piano’ sound to the band (all according to AllMusic).

I remember this song pretty vividly. It received wide radio airplay. I don’t have especially strong feelings about it one way or another from those memories, though it is strongly evocative of that era, whatever that era was. It strikes me now as a pleasant enough tune, hook and all, but that ‘big boys don’t cry’ bit in the middle is completely inexplicable. Is she mocking the singer for his clear denial of the fact that he IS in love? Her tone would indicate no, but the sentiment says yes. As I suspect will become apparent over the course of this collection, that ‘softened’ keyboard sound is not one I especially enjoy from any era. Call it electric piano, organ, keyboard what have you, it really doesn’t float my boat. It seems to flatten the entire song like a sort of white noise, and that may be my general sentiment of the entire genre. It might have been great in 1977, sitting happily in a bean bag chair, stoned and staring off through the beads that constitute the door to your basement bedroom, but it seems really dated today. It’s not that I find it unpleasant in any particular way, it just seems really, really bland.

2. This is one of the pointier songs for me on this collection. It’s not that it isn’t mellow or gentle, but it doesn’t feel especially ‘dated’ (and I don’t mean that pejoratively) like many of the songs on this collection do, and generally the arrangement employs the instruments in their ‘natural’ sound. This seems almost like a little number by a jazz combo, with some laid back dude plucking away on an upright bass, little guitar flourishes, with whatever ‘electric piano’ there is relegated so far to the back as to be inconsequential. The only part that seems to tie it into the Round Sound is the extensive use of effect on the guitar solo.

Additionally, this seems like a song that could have been written by Paul Simon last week. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have some songs that feel connected to the Round Sound era, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” being one that pops to mind. Maybe it’s my memories of that song that makes the connection, but it’s always had a distinctive 70’s feel to me, somewhat unsightly and unwashed. This one is new to me but seems pretty crisp, if gentle, and not especially Round. Good song.

As to the notion of the Pauls, Elton and Billy adapting well to new eras, I really don’t see that with Paul Simon. Not only does the sound of Paul Simon not seem to change to adapt whatever sound is the current one, they don’t seem to fit the current style of music very well at all. They just seem to suit Paul Simon. I think the other three tried to go along and experiment with whatever was going on at the time, but even then were such singular artists as to not get very embroiled. It wouldn’t be hard to make the case that the other three were pandering in order to sell albums and it is only their talent that kept them from becoming cartoons, and one sponsored tour away from turning them into The Rolling Stones. As it is, only Paul McCartney has continued to make new music over the last decade, with Elton and Billy occasionally trotting out their baby grands (often together) to sell some concert tickets but otherwise setting on their laurels.

I’m torn on Paul McCartney. He may actually be insane. I haven’t seen an interview with him since the 80’s that didn’t make me wince. He’s either become slightly sociopathic, or is only going through the motions required when releasing new albums. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, as I will with regards to his possible pandering, but he gives me the creeps.

3. A funny history goes along with this band, one that I would never have guessed but one I feel obligated to explore as part of CMC due-diligence. First and foremost, they are Australian. I would never have guessed that. Second, they seem to have assembled themselves entirely for commercial success. Significant band members didn’t record together, didn’t travel together while on tour, and ultimately these tensions led to the fracture of the band and Shorrock’s replacement with a guy named John Farnham, known to some of us because of his inclusion on the Grenpeace: Rainbow Warriors double CD.

Anyway, this is one of the ‘pool’ songs that seem to have drilled so deep into my sub-conscious that they will remain there forever. The ‘pool’ is Byrnes Park public pool, a block from my childhood home and the place I spent an insane amount of time at in my childhood. The PA system blared low fidelity versions of all the biggest hits courtesy of whatever radio station was big at the time (I believe this predates KFMW) and this was one. My fondest memory of a song burned into me in that venue was Let My Love Open the Door by Pete Townsend released in 1980. This song predates that one by a couple of years (1978).

As for the song specifically, it occupies a generally favorable part of my memory, and listening to it again it’s easy to understand why. Nothing about it is offensive, such is the primary mission of That Round Sound. The arrangement is far more elaborate than the one found in 10cc and as a result that ‘electric piano’ is less grating to me even when it occupies a prominent position, but it still seems to act as the great neutralizer. I’m not a fan of that drum fill, as it sounds comically artificial to me. Horns good. Strings good. Lyrics good. Overall feel pleasant. Nothing about this song or perhaps any among That Round Sound is going to make me hate them, (they are designed explicitly to do otherwise) but neither does it cause me to reminisce.

4. Apparently Bobby Caldwell is/was huge in Japan, and has thrown off R&B for jazz in the intervening years. Add that to his whiteness and you have quite an enigma.

This song seems familiar, and perhaps I heard it in the pool, but it isn’t stuck in my memory like so many others from this era. It also seems to be more straight-up R&B than most of the other Round Sounders, ignoring his pale skin. He could have been the opening act for Earth Wind and Fire or The Commodores at the Apollo where a very confused crowd would have eventually come around to his infectious groove.

Again, there’s little to dislike about this song, but there are few times in my life where I feel like getting into that 70’s mellow groove.

5. Oh boy. This is such a pool song for me that I can actually smell the chlorine and sense the evening stretching into night, the pool nearly empty, the frenzy of the day long past and only us hardcore and terribly pruned swimmers left. It’s so ingrained in my memory, and so evocative of happy memories that I have a hard time separating the experience from the song, but I shall try.

Elton is one of those artists that I’ve often appreciated but never enough to buy an album, not even a greatest hits compilation. His cartoonish behavior turned me off, crazy costumes and ridiculous glasses, but through his insanely long career (this was from his 21^st album! In 1980!!) he certainly has put out a notable number of songs, some of them just great. This wouldn’t be my favorite, it might not make the top 10, but it’s good.

So all right, the song itself….the electric piano seems to have a lighter uplifting touch than on many songs of this collection, brighter, cleaner with more distinction between the notes. That helps me. The rest of the arrangement has a slight tropical lilt to it that I think adds to my pool association, except for the fake horn sound that shows up before the chorus. That’s a little grating if I force myself to dissect it that far. The saxamaphone is bad…reminds me of the sax guy from the Tina Turner Mad Max song that later showed up with a song of his own on the Lost Boys soundtrack…along with a Roger Daltrey rendition of Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me…by EJ. Weird free association there.

Overall it’s a song that I can happily enjoy.

6. 1973? A song presumably ‘inspired’ by the oil embargo and all the bad associations that developed around ‘Arabs’ in that period, but also looking back onto the weird romantic notions of Arabia coming from old Rudolph Valentino movies, this song is truly inexplicable.

There are plenty of great funky guitar riffs in here, but little in the way of Round Sound, though I’ll forgive you for including it for all the reasons you mentioned. I don’t find her voice to be ‘come hither’ in the way you do, but I do like the way she says ‘harem, honey’ and find the song to be fun generally. I have no recollections of it from age 2, but I have heard it since then, though none really stuck in my mind. It feels familiar, though I can’t say exactly why. It seems to be of no particular era in the same way that the Paul Simon song does for me, with enough unique elements to make it sort of fresh.

She apparently has continued to make albums up until the present.

7. Plenty of moog associated with Paul McCartney. And thanks, it’s now hard for me to get the YouTube video out of my head, waiting WAITING for the guitar solo. WHERE is the guitar solo???!!!!

Paul McCartney, especially as a solo artist and like several other musical phenomena, created lots of songs where the whole is LESS than the sum of its parts for me, and this is one of those songs. It’s plenty likable, and fun, but there are lots of things that leave me flat. The lyrics are corny. The ‘horns’ at the end are excruciating. The keyboard part that kicks off the song and sits underneath the whole things seems completely out of place (more sinister by far than the rest of the arrangement).

I sort of see solo Paul as an exceedingly (possibly insurmountably) talented guy who no longer had an equal to bounce ideas off. No one that would tell him when he’d gone too far or when he’d gone completely off the rails. He was surrounded by yes men and Linda, the worst yes ‘man’ of all. And so he was completely free from beneficial criticism and thus created lots of great songs in a sea of much more ordinary songs, simply because he had no one to tell him he was being a wanker. His talent was such that he managed to succeed and occasionally excel, but never with the degree of consistency he had enjoyed as part of a viable creative and critical group.

8. I would guess I’ve heard this song more than a hundred times without ever really listening to the lyrics. If I had, I might have spent the better part of three decades completely and utterly confused. The sentiment of this song and the implication of the title is the Blue Bayou is a sad place…but NO, it’s not true. Damn Roy Orbison! Playing with my mind like that. It’s not right. And what the hell was I doing the other dozens of times this song crossed my path.

‘…fishing boats with their sails afloat…’ is a stretch, if understandable from a rhyme scheme point of view. Like the sentiment of this song that particular bit of lyrical prestidigitation escaped me until now, and also for the better.

Her voice is remarkably evocative, though it would be interesting to hear the Roy Orbison version, as his voice also seems tailored to this song. I like the simple spare arrangement, though again this doesn’t seem particularly Round. They clear everything out of the way when the time comes and make room for her booming plaintive calls, and it works.

It’s hard for me not to hear the Johnny Alter song from the Al Franken Show when I hear her sing – it being my most recent association with her.

9. No love for John Oates! There’s got to be something to having Oates in there. For all we know Oates wrote all of the songs, in between moustache trimmings and while Hall was out brushing his luxurious hair. It’s not like Daryl Hall had a spectacular solo career. Sure, he could’ve been a crooner and released album after album of soul hits (for all I know that’s exactly what he did) but he sure didn’t make it without Oates. And vice versa of course.

Sara Smile was one of their first hits (1975) and one that I knew, but clearly not from when I was 4, so somehow I got exposed to it over the years.

Again, by the defined standard of the Round Sound, this ain’t exactly it. This is ‘blue eyed soul’ or so it is apparently called when white people sing soul. Even with the gentle singing, most of the instrumentation feels very organic, where the instrumentation in 10cc and LRB feels inorganic, and thus seems to defy my sense of That Round Sound. This song dates itself by virtue of its soul sensibilities rather than by virtue of being that mellow 70’s sound.

It’s a lovely little song, one that sadly led to the later execrable Maneater, which I loved at the time, but now look back on and wince. Clearly their 70’s hits are the ones to be sought out and enjoyed, as you say, and this one is very enjoyable.

10. She was hot, though her country bona fides made me struggle with that at age 7 or whatever. She was all over the airways, especially on Hee Haw as I recall, a show that my family endured to please my father. Jesus, her sister was Loretta Lynn.

This is ‘country music’ I can get behind. It has the country sentiment without resorting to cartoonish accents. It’s also not especially round. I like the tinkling keys of the piano and the rest of the arrangement, organ and all, as it all seems to work together. The organ is used in a way that doesn’t just muddy up the sound that everything sits on. It makes itself known when necessary and the recedes, as it should.

Sub-executive summary: do I know what the Round Sound is? Maybe…but very possibly not.

That Round Sound:

10cc

Little River Band

PM

Elton John? (also below)

Somewhere in the 70’s sound:

Bobby Caldwell

Elton John (also above)

Sara Smile

Blue Bayou

Crystal Gayle

Lost in time:

Paul Simon

Maria Muldaur

I would agree that this is not some bullshit 70’s collection. It’s a generally enjoyable snapshot of an era, and maybe a sub-genre, if not a sub-sub-genre. The songs that fit closest to what I understood as That Round Sound are the ones I like the least (though still happily listen to for the tenth straight time on repeat as I write this) The others are mostly evocative of the era and also enjoyable, but different to my ears. Maybe I’m not getting the sound. Maybe I put too much into the moog. The world may never know…

BS: Paul Simon

SIWHI: something by Air Supply? (this may invite an ass kicking)

Keep up the good work. Of all the participants yours have varied the most from disc to disc and that’s a good thing.