Comments for Wall of Sound

Comment on Some points about the UK Northern Soul scene and US soul music. by foster

foster — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:49:25 +0000

fantastic

Comment on Dudu Pukwana Discography by Bruce Walton

Bruce Walton — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:58:11 +0000

Very informative. thank you. Are you familiar with a cd called Black Horse? I downloaded it from emusic, and the cover says “early ’70′s” and “Black Lion vaults”. Two of the six tracks are actually the Blue Notes in 1964, and the other 4 do not appear in Tom Lords discography at all. A mystery . . . .

Comment on Dudu Pukwana Discography by Andujar

Andujar — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 06:06:58 +0000

According to Uchenna Ikonne’s liner notes to this collection, the Blue Notes backed up Oyelana on a few cuts ca 68, and three of the four are available on this compilation: http://www.soundwayrecords.com/catalogue/a-nigerian-retrospective-1966-79.html

Comment on Dudu Pukwana Discography by Owen Keenan

Owen Keenan — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:57:12 +0000

FYI There is a Mike Cooper EP from 1971 which features not only Dudu, but almost all the Blue Notes! Mike has recently posted one track at http://soundcloud.com/mike-cooper/mike-cooper-goodtimes Unsure if Dudu is on just this track or the entire EP.

Cheers,
Owen

Comment on Case study: The Joy of Disco rewrite by wallofsound

wallofsound — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 17:24:28 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Bob. You are, of course, right that record companies responded to the success of records for dancing in different ways. Some, like Salsoul, focused on adapting previous genres (salsa and soul) into a fully rounded musical form which responded to the African American and Latin roots of much of the music played on late 70s dancefloors, while majors, like Warners, played catch-up by setting up boutique labels and developing dance divisions.

However, I meant my statement in a factual, rather than evaluative way, and I was talking about the formation, rather than the existence of the genre. Disco as a genre is the product of record company imperatives (“here’s a new market. let’s sell records to dancers through club DJs”) rather than in any simple way a product of dance culture or musical developments. People danced to soul or salsa before it was called disco. I think there’s a direct analogy here with rock and roll (a term and an idea developed within radio to re-order the meanings of black Rhythm and Blues for white audiences). Disco has coherence as a recognisable ‘sound’ now, but it didn’t when it started. It is not that the sound has changed, but our cultural ability to recognise it.

Comment on The X Factor in a thousand words by Live Music Exchange Digest – w/c 20/08/2012 |

Live Music Exchange Digest – w/c 20/08/2012 | — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:12:02 +0000

[...] The X Factor in a thousand words: As The X Factor returns to a slump in ratings for its first episode, here is a link to Professor Tim Wall’s exploration of the its myths and functions. [...]

Comment on Case study: The Joy of Disco rewrite by Bob L. Sturm

Bob L. Sturm — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:37:11 +0000

I like you synopsis of the programme, but want to comment on what you say here:
“Overall, the music we here hear, the things we see, and the points the interviewees make in the documentary actually all point to the fact that there was no coherent thing called disco music. … Record companies learnt that discos were a new promotional opportunity and dancers were a new market for record sales. The economics of disco is as important as its culture.”

First, I think it a bit disingenuous to lump together all record companies. Should we treat Salsoul Records as one and the same as Warner Brothers?

Second, how can something lack coherence yet be so identifiable at the same time? I can play you some music created in Bulgaria in 1979, something you would never have heard before, and yet you would immediately recognize it as Disco. Also, many movies, TV programs and commercials in the US began featuring music that was nothing more than formulaic Disco.

Comment on Reading Don’t Flop Rap Battles by The flyting of Blizzard and Grist « thesociallinguist

The flyting of Blizzard and Grist « thesociallinguist — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:49:23 +0000

[...] of masculinity to the use of taboo language (there’s a good commentary on the performance here if you don’t want to/can’t watch the video). But crazily enough, what Grist and [...]

Comment on The new age of music consumption by andy richardson

andy richardson — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:50:03 +0000

Good paper.

Political economy – the record companies once owned the means of production, their power lay in that. However, just as the internet has caused the long-term decline of print media, so digitisation obviates the need for record companies. The internet is now the world’s biggest quasi record label. The internet has greater utility for artist and consumer alike. Unlike record companies, it’s business model is not based on it working as a bank or loan shark might; offering an advance in exchange for extortionate return. Similarly, as you point out in discussions of last.fm, the internet offers the consumer a degree of choice and flexibility that exceeds anything that might be offered by a record company or music retailer.
Finally, I agree with the point relating to historic context. The record industry has profited from changes in technology since its inception. It woud be naïve to thin that a new model will not emerge enabling it to do just that, or that existing companies will not develop new technologies enabling them to recapture their market share and increase profitability to former levels.
I enjoyed reading the paper. Arguments well presented, erudite and coherent.

Comment on Dancing, Northern Soul Style by Gill

Gill — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:56:40 +0000

Hi Sharon – have emailed you.

Gill