Prince is dead

[Kevin Bresnahan]

50 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

Brother, I play drums, albeit poorly. This song is 4/4 from beginning to end.

So on the second beat in the first measure, he adds that electronic double knock. The second time through, he makes it a triple knock and covers the first knock with that electronic pow. That must be what's making it harder for me to catch the beat. It just gives it a start-stop feeling that I often get with odd meters. What can I say? I'm a man with no rhythm (but I can clap on 2 & 4)

1 hour ago, Scott Dolan said:

As for doing everything on that song, Lenny Kravitz used to do that, at least on his first couple of albums. Including the vocal harmonies, which were really well done. 

John Fogerty did it on "Centerfield" and got sued for copying himself.

[Bluesnik]

1 hour ago, Scott Dolan said:

As for doing everything on that song, Lenny Kravitz used to do that, at least on his first couple of albums.

Lenny Kravitz's first two albums were really good. Afterwards it all started to go downwards, until he was only a joke of himself. I really love Mama Said, his second album. From the cover to the songs.

[CJ Shearn]

13 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

So on the second beat in the first measure, he adds that electronic double knock. The second time through, he makes it a triple knock and covers the first knock with that electronic pow. That must be what's making it harder for me to catch the beat. It just gives it a start-stop feeling that I often get with odd meters. What can I say? I'm a man with no rhythm (but I can clap on 2 & 4)

John Fogerty did it on "Centerfield" and got sued for copying himself.

Exactly, I think the knock is what makes it seem odd......  it seems to me like it comes on the "and" of 1 and then a bit displaced on the "and" of 3, but like Jim and Scott I never thought the song was in an odd meter sounds like 4.  On Pat Metheny's "So May It Secretly Begin" the bass ostinato throws you off that it's something other than 4, but it's still 4/4, "Have You Heard" is even weirder as the head's in 7/4, but seems like 4.

[JSngry]

You can make 4 sound like a lot of other things, especially if you displace the accents or phrases. A lot of times it's just easier to wite it in 4, if you wote the displacements as bars unto themselves, it would look all crazy and people might be shy. But everybody can read 4, at least up to a point. So if you got a phrase in 5 followed by one in 3, just write it in two bars of 4, that's still 8 beats, and people don't have to worry about "meter changes".

[catesta]

Not a favorite song of mine and it's now stuck in my head.

[Scott Dolan]

1 hour ago, Bluesnik said:

Lenny Kravitz's first two albums were really good. Afterwards it all started to go downwards, until he was only a joke of himself. I really love Mama Said, his second album. From the cover to the songs.

I agree with you 100%. Let Love Rule and Mama Said were brilliant. Are You Gonna Go My Way was a huge dropoff, and it just got worse from there. 

[JSngry]

Sidney Bechet kicked all they asses!

And although not my wheelhouse, are y'all too young to remember Todd Rundgren?

And Roy Wood, here his name comes again, is it time for a rediscovery?

[catesta]

McCartney

Edited November 8, 2018 by catesta

[Daniel A]

Sorry for going largely off-topic, but loosely related to confusing 4/4: listen to this live Stan Getz recording from the start and tell me how many seconds it took before you were sure of when the first beat of the bar is (keep counting for a few bars). 

The intro is not super-clear, and it takes a few bars before everybody is in sync. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Daniel A

[JSngry]