What about Baby Huey? Not enough material/sucess to speculate?
i cant say where he would have gone, but he should have taken it farther. that's obvious just from listening to his one album. take away the filler instrumentals that his backup band were forced to add after his death, add a few more vocals, and it may have been the start of something.
who knows, with his strong pipes and living in Chicago he probably could have gotten in on the ground floor w/house music
what up t!
i mentioned Bob. but i think the specifics of the thread may point to him already having had the biggest brightest career already. do you think he would keep adding significantly more and more to his catalog and legacy? id have to say he probably would have. but what could he do to take things next level? sprout wings and achieve sainthood?
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
pickwick33 said:
Another musician that comes to mind: Michael Bloomfield.
Now I know you're probably thinking, especially after my last post about Roger Troutman, that Bloomfield had DEFINITELY exhausted all his possibilities and would have probably coasted on his earlier achievements.
But seriously...even though he had spent most of the seventies as a semi-recluse, towards the end of the seventies he was recording for small independent folk labels and making a minor comeback. Judging from his Cruisin' For A Bruisin' and his posthumous Living In The Fast Lane albums, he was shooting for a general all-purpose eclectic "roots" thing similar to Ry Cooder. Had he stayed away from the hard drugs that took him out in 1981, he might have had a full-on resurgence, considering that decade's blues revival and the heightened interest in roots music of all kinds.
Yeah, that's an interesting one. There was a great Bloomfield anthology that came out on Columbia/CBS not long after he died that I picked up about eleven years ago, and which really sparked my interest in him - prior to that, the only things I knew about him were Supersession and the Dylan connection. I think your observation about how he could have found a new audience in a number of areas would probably have been borne out if he'd been able to come off the brown and stay off. Certainly, I have no doubt he'd have carried on working if he'd stayed alive, and would probably still be working now.
Such an underrated guitar player too. It's a little difficult to gauge the extent of his influence, I think - many of the players upon whom you could conceivably say he'd had an influence, such as Free's Paul Kossoff, also shared influences with him (most notably the Kings), but there's more of a harder-edged intensity to his playing that a lot of the guys operating in that 'blues purist' field at the time (and there were a lot) seemed unable to summon up. He reminds me a lot of Gary Moore in some respects - no interest whatsoever in being a popstar or in pursuing any sort of 'commercial' direction, would only perform as a frontman under duress, and was serious about the music almost to the point of earnestness.
i think marvin gaye would have made it to the mid 80's then resurfaced in the mid 90's ala ron isley.
as far as biggie, i remember thinking he seemed prime for a backlash before he died. he was so big there was no way he wouldn't be challanged for the top spot.
What about Baby Huey? Not enough material/sucess to speculate?
i cant say where he would have gone, but he should have taken it farther. that's obvious just from listening to his one album. take away the filler instrumentals that his backup band were forced to add after his death, add a few more vocals, and it may have been the start of something.
who knows, with his strong pipes and living in Chicago he probably could have gotten in on the ground floor w/house music
The thing about Ramey is that he'd had years to record more than his handful of pre-Curtom singles. He was a live act first and foremost, and I'm not sure that he ever would have gotten his mind straight enough to do much in the way of consistent and focused studio work. But he just might have put out the most interesting Disco/Electro 12" ever.
I'd love to hear just one boot of his stage act. All those years, and no one thought to turn on a mic?
What about Baby Huey? Not enough material/sucess to speculate?
i cant say where he would have gone, but he should have taken it farther. that's obvious just from listening to his one album. take away the filler instrumentals that his backup band were forced to add after his death, add a few more vocals, and it may have been the start of something.
who knows, with his strong pipes and living in Chicago he probably could have gotten in on the ground floor w/house music
The thing about Ramey is that he'd had years to record more than his handful of pre-Curtom singles. He was a live act first and foremost, and I'm not sure that he ever would have gotten his mind straight enough to do much in the way of consistent and focused studio work. But he just might have put out the most interesting Disco/Electro 12" ever.
I'd love to hear just one boot of his stage act. All those years, and no one thought to turn on a mic?
I'm waiting for his 1968 MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW appearance to make it to Youtube, myself. Even if it's a straight lip-synch job, I'd just like to see old boy in action.
what up t!
i mentioned Bob. but i think the specifics of the thread may point to him already having had the biggest brightest career already. do you think he would keep adding significantly more and more to his catalog and legacy? id have to say he probably would have. but what could he do to take things next level? sprout wings and achieve sainthood?
yeah, i'm to sick to go digging in this thread & knew marley was likely already mentioned,
and his body of work was great, the amount of music not released is insane
i'm sure he would have expanded into other genres, working with other artists, etc
but
much like i would also include a foundation artist like john lennon in this thread
the true big future that may have been denied by their death would have been
in organizing , advocating , supporting causes, popularizing political change
both john & bob would have had a big future in changes beyond music
what up t!
i mentioned Bob. but i think the specifics of the thread may point to him already having had the biggest brightest career already. do you think he would keep adding significantly more and more to his catalog and legacy? id have to say he probably would have. but what could he do to take things next level? sprout wings and achieve sainthood?
On the reggae side with the brighest career ahead of him I would say Garnett Silk, he died at 28 (1994) and would definitely had made many more classic albums.
Changed what was musically and sonically acceptable in their chosen fields. Shit, they done made the fields.
I am a massive Coltrane apologist but can't see his later work being the foundation or definition of what artists in that field should be working to - he was a one-off. It would be like expecting everyone to come out of math class with Einstein-like ability.
Aaliyah? Really? She, herself, would have taken her chosen artfrom to another level? Doc is right in saying she made it without a church voice, but for me that was down to production and the technology. If you look good and can kind of hold a note, you can make someone some money then make way for the next one. Look at Brandy (whose voice was waaay better IMHO), Ashanti or Amerie. Popular singers these days are interchangeable video candy sponsored by ProTools. I never heard anything from Aaliyah that marked her out as special. Can you see her slaying it live a la Beyonce? She didn't have that level of charisma, for me, to be engaging.
Redding is my favourite male singer, unique voice, perhaps could have had a career like James Brown in terms of longevity. But would you agree disco kind of reined in the opportunities available to "Soul" artists through the 70s in terms of fame? It took people like the Mizells and Chic, with a producers-eye-view, to put the art back into it. Was Redding going to make moves at this level?
Redding is my favourite male singer, unique voice, perhaps could have had a career like James Brown in terms of longevity. But would you agree disco kind of reined in the opportunities available to "Soul" artists through the 70s in terms of fame? It took people like the Mizells and Chic, with a producers-eye-view, to put the art back into it. Was Redding going to make moves at this level?
.
Interesting point, I guess it's how far you look into the future really, Al Green continued to have massive sales figures well into the mid seventies and may have continued to do so for a bit longer if he hadn't switched up his style when he did. I see Redding taking a similar route, fronting the change to the smoother polished production that Hayes n all set down. I think he could undoubtedly have done funk, disco, it's hard to tell.
I'm still not convinced about Hendrix's longevity, talent wise obviously he had it all, and I'm admittedly in no way an expert in his career beyond the albums, I can't tell if he would have gone down the funk rock path (weren't his last gigs with War?), embraced the heavy rock scene then blossoming or just forged his own music. I have horrible images of him Derek and Dominoing it by the early seventies. Like I say though, far from expert so happy to be corrected.
what up t!
i mentioned Bob. but i think the specifics of the thread may point to him already having had the biggest brightest career already. do you think he would keep adding significantly more and more to his catalog and legacy? id have to say he probably would have. but what could he do to take things next level? sprout wings and achieve sainthood?
On the reggae side with the brighest career ahead of him I would say Garnett Silk, he died at 28 (1994) and would definitely had made many more classic albums.
I'm still not convinced about Hendrix's longevity, talent wise obviously he had it all, and I'm admittedly in no way an expert in his career beyond the albums, I can't tell if he would have gone down the funk rock path (weren't his last gigs with War?), embraced the heavy rock scene then blossoming or just forged his own music. I have horrible images of him Derek and Dominoing it by the early seventies. Like I say though, far from expert so happy to be corrected.
Hendrix would have been with Miles and made Bitches Brew come about before it actually did. He would have made fusion harder and would have hooked up with Weather Report, maybe even got in with Zep. Jaco/Hendrix starshowers for days. The coak would have ravaged them to near-death by now though.
I never heard anything from Aaliyah that marked her out as special. Can you see her slaying it live a la Beyonce? She didn't have that level of charisma, for me, to be engaging.
let's be real now. the only charismatic thing about beyonce is her body
Redding is my favourite male singer, unique voice, perhaps could have had a career like James Brown in terms of longevity. But would you agree disco kind of reined in the opportunities available to "Soul" artists through the 70s in terms of fame? It took people like the Mizells and Chic, with a producers-eye-view, to put the art back into it. Was Redding going to make moves at this level?
.
Interesting point, I guess it's how far you look into the future really, Al Green continued to have massive sales figures well into the mid seventies and may have continued to do so for a bit longer if he hadn't switched up his style when he did. I see Redding taking a similar route, fronting the change to the smoother polished production that Hayes n all set down. I think he could undoubtedly have done funk, disco, it's hard to tell.
I don't know how Otis would have fared into the disco era, but as far as the late sixties and early seventies, I see him not so much as a smooth-talking loverman like Al Green, but more of a "progressive soul" type ala Curtis, Donny, Stevie or Withers. The moves he was about to make in 1967 indicated that he was looking beyond the usual soul boundaries. Otis seemed to have a boundless curiosity about the rest of the musical world beyond the usual soul circles. After all the groundwork he laid in '67, it would have been counterproductive for him to wind up in a tuxedo in a Vegas casino like several R&B acts were doing as the sixties came to a close.
Redding is my favourite male singer, unique voice, perhaps could have had a career like James Brown in terms of longevity. But would you agree disco kind of reined in the opportunities available to "Soul" artists through the 70s in terms of fame? It took people like the Mizells and Chic, with a producers-eye-view, to put the art back into it. Was Redding going to make moves at this level?
.
Interesting point, I guess it's how far you look into the future really, Al Green continued to have massive sales figures well into the mid seventies and may have continued to do so for a bit longer if he hadn't switched up his style when he did. I see Redding taking a similar route, fronting the change to the smoother polished production that Hayes n all set down. I think he could undoubtedly have done funk, disco, it's hard to tell.
I don't know how Otis would have fared into the disco era, but as far as the late sixties and early seventies, I see him not so much as a smooth-talking loverman like Al Green, but more of a "progressive soul" type ala Curtis, Donny, Stevie or Withers. The moves he was about to make in 1967 indicated that he was looking beyond the usual soul boundaries. Otis seemed to have a boundless curiosity about the rest of the musical world beyond the usual soul circles. After all the groundwork he laid in '67, it would have been counterproductive for him to wind up in a tuxedo in a Vegas casino like several R&B acts were doing as the sixties came to a close.
Comments
maybe already mentioned
i cant say where he would have gone, but he should have taken it farther. that's obvious just from listening to his one album. take away the filler instrumentals that his backup band were forced to add after his death, add a few more vocals, and it may have been the start of something.
who knows, with his strong pipes and living in Chicago he probably could have gotten in on the ground floor w/house music
i mentioned Bob. but i think the specifics of the thread may point to him already having had the biggest brightest career already. do you think he would keep adding significantly more and more to his catalog and legacy? id have to say he probably would have. but what could he do to take things next level? sprout wings and achieve sainthood?
Yeah, that's an interesting one. There was a great Bloomfield anthology that came out on Columbia/CBS not long after he died that I picked up about eleven years ago, and which really sparked my interest in him - prior to that, the only things I knew about him were Supersession and the Dylan connection. I think your observation about how he could have found a new audience in a number of areas would probably have been borne out if he'd been able to come off the brown and stay off. Certainly, I have no doubt he'd have carried on working if he'd stayed alive, and would probably still be working now.
Such an underrated guitar player too. It's a little difficult to gauge the extent of his influence, I think - many of the players upon whom you could conceivably say he'd had an influence, such as Free's Paul Kossoff, also shared influences with him (most notably the Kings), but there's more of a harder-edged intensity to his playing that a lot of the guys operating in that 'blues purist' field at the time (and there were a lot) seemed unable to summon up. He reminds me a lot of Gary Moore in some respects - no interest whatsoever in being a popstar or in pursuing any sort of 'commercial' direction, would only perform as a frontman under duress, and was serious about the music almost to the point of earnestness.
Albert Ayler
Albert Stinson
JImmy Blanton
Jaco Pastorious
and Charlie Parker.
as far as biggie, i remember thinking he seemed prime for a backlash before he died. he was so big there was no way he wouldn't be challanged for the top spot.
Who has? His run would have been over by the time she would blown up. Unless those nelly furtado tracks were withheld for her.
The thing about Ramey is that he'd had years to record more than his handful of pre-Curtom singles. He was a live act first and foremost, and I'm not sure that he ever would have gotten his mind straight enough to do much in the way of consistent and focused studio work. But he just might have put out the most interesting Disco/Electro 12" ever.
I'd love to hear just one boot of his stage act. All those years, and no one thought to turn on a mic?
I'm waiting for his 1968 MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW appearance to make it to Youtube, myself. Even if it's a straight lip-synch job, I'd just like to see old boy in action.
yeah, i'm to sick to go digging in this thread & knew marley was likely already mentioned,
and his body of work was great, the amount of music not released is insane
i'm sure he would have expanded into other genres, working with other artists, etc
but
much like i would also include a foundation artist like john lennon in this thread
the true big future that may have been denied by their death would have been
in organizing , advocating , supporting causes, popularizing political change
both john & bob would have had a big future in changes beyond music
i feel 2pac had that kindof future ahead of him too
'Pac definitely had the more promising acting career.
He would have for sure ended up on some CSINYPDblueSVU
aww hell nah!
On the reggae side with the brighest career ahead of him I would say Garnett Silk, he died at 28 (1994) and would definitely had made many more classic albums.
Jaco
Parker
Changed what was musically and sonically acceptable in their chosen fields. Shit, they done made the fields.
I am a massive Coltrane apologist but can't see his later work being the foundation or definition of what artists in that field should be working to - he was a one-off. It would be like expecting everyone to come out of math class with Einstein-like ability.
Aaliyah? Really? She, herself, would have taken her chosen artfrom to another level? Doc is right in saying she made it without a church voice, but for me that was down to production and the technology. If you look good and can kind of hold a note, you can make someone some money then make way for the next one. Look at Brandy (whose voice was waaay better IMHO), Ashanti or Amerie. Popular singers these days are interchangeable video candy sponsored by ProTools. I never heard anything from Aaliyah that marked her out as special. Can you see her slaying it live a la Beyonce? She didn't have that level of charisma, for me, to be engaging.
Redding is my favourite male singer, unique voice, perhaps could have had a career like James Brown in terms of longevity. But would you agree disco kind of reined in the opportunities available to "Soul" artists through the 70s in terms of fame? It took people like the Mizells and Chic, with a producers-eye-view, to put the art back into it. Was Redding going to make moves at this level?
Lauryn. RIP. I'd laugh if it wasn't true.
Interesting point, I guess it's how far you look into the future really, Al Green continued to have massive sales figures well into the mid seventies and may have continued to do so for a bit longer if he hadn't switched up his style when he did. I see Redding taking a similar route, fronting the change to the smoother polished production that Hayes n all set down. I think he could undoubtedly have done funk, disco, it's hard to tell.
I'm still not convinced about Hendrix's longevity, talent wise obviously he had it all, and I'm admittedly in no way an expert in his career beyond the albums, I can't tell if he would have gone down the funk rock path (weren't his last gigs with War?), embraced the heavy rock scene then blossoming or just forged his own music. I have horrible images of him Derek and Dominoing it by the early seventies. Like I say though, far from expert so happy to be corrected.
ditto
Hendrix would have been with Miles and made Bitches Brew come about before it actually did. He would have made fusion harder and would have hooked up with Weather Report, maybe even got in with Zep. Jaco/Hendrix starshowers for days. The coak would have ravaged them to near-death by now though.
I don't know how Otis would have fared into the disco era, but as far as the late sixties and early seventies, I see him not so much as a smooth-talking loverman like Al Green, but more of a "progressive soul" type ala Curtis, Donny, Stevie or Withers. The moves he was about to make in 1967 indicated that he was looking beyond the usual soul boundaries. Otis seemed to have a boundless curiosity about the rest of the musical world beyond the usual soul circles. After all the groundwork he laid in '67, it would have been counterproductive for him to wind up in a tuxedo in a Vegas casino like several R&B acts were doing as the sixties came to a close.
I don't know how Otis would have fared into the disco era, but as far as the late sixties and early seventies, I see him not so much as a smooth-talking loverman like Al Green, but more of a "progressive soul" type ala Curtis, Donny, Stevie or Withers. The moves he was about to make in 1967 indicated that he was looking beyond the usual soul boundaries. Otis seemed to have a boundless curiosity about the rest of the musical world beyond the usual soul circles. After all the groundwork he laid in '67, it would have been counterproductive for him to wind up in a tuxedo in a Vegas casino like several R&B acts were doing as the sixties came to a close.