Some kind of popular music how much 'popular' today? The case of ROMOLO GRANO, Italian composer, arranger, conductor and his amazing music corpus.

If "Rolling Stones" magazine can omit the Third Ear Band's records in its celebrated "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (Wenner Media Ltd. 2005); if "Uncut" special issue "Ultimate Record Collection" (December 2017)  in the 70's section 'forgets' Glen Sweeney & C.... maybe a reason there is.

I think popular music history might be re-written  and I'm very glad that nowadays, in this age of revisionism, some so-called 'cult records' can be mooted; maybe a new age of free minds is coming for fighting nostalgia and commonplaces of culture that are a real damnation for everyone...

The reasons because TEB's music cannot be ignored are first of all related to its musical nature, the peculiar identity of the sound (the instruments played) that advanced world music and all the forms of 'contaminations' of sounds. Their syncretism was so unique and authentic that was just pure sound with no image (fashion), no indulgences on pop star trivial tricks  and other kind of banality.

Other reasons can be found in their implicit contents>: I've tried to explain in a past short essay (read HERE) why "Alchemy" is one of the most dangerous records ever played. And it's possible that this is one of the reasons because rock magazines generally don't consider TEB's work in their useless, boring lists of 'essential' albums.

I don't feel any embarrassment into writing that "Alchemy", "Third Ear Band", or "Music for Macbeth" are more important and fundamental records than all the Led Zeppelin's or The Who's discographies. Or i.e. the Shadows of Knight's "Gloria" or that boring Eagles' "Hotel California"...

In terms of evolution of forms, that specific 'arcane' and 'primordial' traits of the sound, TEB's research was never achieved, also if a lot of bands and musicians are going through the same path...

My only problem is that every time I read this kind of list of records with no a TEB's albums in I have a jump. Well,  I might wait for all of this and pass beyond!

But Third Ear Band's fate is not so isolated: some intriguing, wonderful stories are hidden somewhere to be discovered and one of the aims of this Archive was to document it.

One of these 'wrong fates', regarding a less-known Italian composer as Romolo Grano, is related in some ways to Third Ear Band's music, the same rare sensibility for the form, the same cultural/musical roots, the same result...

Please, listen to this track titled "Taranta" (go HERE!), composed and recorded by Grano in 1972: Taranta is a folkloric south Italian dance form, precisely diffused in Salento, a territory inside the Puglia. Studied by anthropologist as Ernesto De Martino in the first half of last century and more recently by George Lapassade as a modern experience of trance, is an old dance people uses to dance today as a mere form of entertainment, in the past as a reaction to the spider's bite, even if characterised by a strong metaphorical element of social liberation for the low-class people.

Italian composer Romolo Grano.

As musician and composer Alessandro Monti wrote me (letting me know about Romolo Grano), "maybe taranta or pizzica could be related to some sections of the film, and to some kind of prog music of the time... but its mood is the same of the Third Ear Band, if one considers it is from 1972. For myself, it's quite similar to "Earth"... maybe it's not so strange that the film's synopsis talks about magic and spirituality... Surely this is not a coincidence!"

Reviewing the soundtrack, recently published in a pirate CD edition, Federico Biella told the genesis of the tune: "The movie's most impressive scene, when Bosè in trance is vomiting frogs, is moving with "Taranta", Mediterranean dance for violin and percussion with unusual origins.  Around 1965, Giulio Questi was in Macedonia for filming live some folk rituals intended for a docu-film, never finished, by [famous Italian film maker] Gillo Pontecorvo. Visiting the local countryside, he met a violin player who was playing a monotonous folkish tune. He was impressed by it. Years later, planning with Grano "Arcana"'s soundtrack, he remembered that theme who had recorded on a tape.  He gave it to the musician for listening to and he was so excited by it that he decided  to arrange it."
(from http://www.colonnesonore.net/recensioni/cinema/5109-arcana-l-uomo-del-tesoro-di-priamo.html)

So Grano's track was included in the film soundtrack album titled "Arcana", one of the many works composed and produced (often for TV programmes) by this very eclectic artist - spacing through pop, easy-listening, muzak, electronic, avant-guarde music...

 

But who is Romolo Grano?
Friends of Italian avant-garde composer Bruno Maderna, Grano was born in Santa Maria (Cosenza, Italy) in 1929. He was a composer, arranger, and conductor of music used for movies and RAI television programmes from 1964 ("Ca Ira" movie directed by Tinto Brass) to (around) 1978. 

After have been at the legendary Studio di Fonologia in Milan, following the experimental works of Luigi Nono, he was composing music for the most popular Italian TV movies of the Seventies - as "Nero Wolf" or "La Baronessa di Carini" - mixing electronic with classical compositions inspired by Romantic Eastern composers, contemporary jazz, folk music and melodic pop songs in an extraordinary melting pot of sounds created for making a comment to the film scenes.

 

For some critics, just "Arcana" is Grano's masterpiece and "Taranta" the main theme with its catching ritual folk dance structure that reminds to the Third Ear Band.

Originally realized in few vinyl promotional copies, this soundtrack was a very rare album until Italian label Digitmovie edited it officially in 2015 together with another TV film ("L'Uomo del Tesoro di Priamo"). Other exclusive works are i.e. "Musica elettronica", realised in 1973 and available on the Web  (listen to it on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/broken-music-au/cp109cd), a sampler of a huge amount of abstract electronic recordings based on delays, bloops, analog drones, hums...

As like its author - a real genius! - many Grano's compositions are so interesting  piece of music that can stay with full rights in that same pantheon with giants as Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Piero Umiliani, or Gary Hermann.

 A ROMOLO GRANO'S DISCOGRAPHY 

is available at Discogs at https://www.discogs.com/it/artist/841458-Romolo-Grano

 

no©2018 Luca Chino Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)

Paul Buckmaster's obituaries.

Here below you can read some obituaries of our great musician Paul Buckmaster published on the  main press.
A tweet by Elton John said:

#RIPPaulBuckmaster. So heartbroken. He helped make me the artist I am. A revolutionary arranger who he took my songs and made them soar. Ex pic.twitter.com/Ww2cT8Om2X — Elton John (@eltonofficial) Nov. 8, 2017

                         Paul in studio in 2008.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/nov/19/paul-buckmaster-obituary

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/paul-buckmaster-arranger-for-bowie-and-elton-john-dead-at-71-w511370

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/obituaries/paul-buckmaster-arranger-on-hits-by-bowie-and-more-dies-at-71.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/paul-buckmaster-arranger-for-bowie-elton-john-dead-at-71/2017/11/16/435f98de-caff-11e7-b506-8a10ed11ecf5_story.html?utm_term=.efca1b192abb

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-buckmaster-dead/

 

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/paul-buckmaster-grammy-winning-arranger-on-space-oddity-tiny-dancer-and-more-dead-dies-at-71-1202610433/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/11/23/paul-buckmaster-orchestral-arranger-obituary/

http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/paul-buckmaster-arranger-david-bowie-rolling-stones-elton-john-dies-aged-71-102308 

 

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-paul-buckmaster-20171109-story.html

May 1969: one of the first live apparence of Paul with the TEB at Camden Fringe Festival (photo: Robert Ellis)

 no©2017 Luca Chino Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)     

Interview with Paul Buckmaster about his art of arranger.

This interview with Paul Buckmaster edited by George Cole was published on the The Guardian Web page on September 30th, 2010. Even if there are no references about Buckmaster's work with the Third Ear Band, it's an interesting excursus about the art of arrangement...

Life's a beach ... Brian Wilson in his studio. Photograph: Rb/Redferns

Elton John, the Beach Boys and the fine art of pop alchemy.

"They are music's unsung heroes, yet their work can turn a great song into a classic, intensify the emotional impact of a heartrending lyric or make a stirring vocal performance even more memorable. Arrangers are often said to have "sweetened" the music by adding strings, horns and other musical elements, but such a description doesn't do justice to how much an arranger's work can transform a piece of music. Think of how the swirling strings and plucked violins on ABC's The Look of Love heighten the song's poignancy, or the drama of the brass interjections on Love's Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale, and you can hear the impact an inspired arrangement has on a song.

Even so, it's easy to be unaware of what an arranger actually does. A good person to answer that question is Paul Buckmaster who, over four decades, has arranged songs for the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Miles Davis, the Bee Gees, Guns N' Roses and the Rolling Stones.

So what is the art of a good arrangement? "Being able to enhance the emotive quality and bring out the intent of the lyric and the artist's performance," says Buckmaster. "Adding orchestral passages and textures should give added depth and dimensionality, physically, psychologically and aurally speaking. I feel I've succeeded when the goose-bump thrill factor kicks in."

A good arranger needs lots of skills, Buckmaster says, including a thorough working knowledge of harmony and counterpoint, the ability to sense what is right and proportional in the context of the song being arranged, knowledge of composition, and the art of orchestrating. Buckmaster's work as an arranger has been mainly influenced by classical composers: "However, one cannot deny the influence of arrangers like George Martin, Nelson Riddle and Gil Evans – I particularly love Claus Ogerman's way of writing," he says.

There is no set template for how an arranger works. "Sometimes I work with the artist, sometimes with the producer; sometimes both. Often, I'm sent the basic track or demo and am left alone in relative freedom to make my own choices," says Buckmaster. "On the first three Elton John albums, Elton gave [the late producer] Gus Dudgeon and me total freedom; the only part which was never arranged was Elton's piano. One exception was Sixty Years On, where I decided to transcribe Elton's original demo piano part for the harp intro, changing the last three bars. Gus and I sat in his office and went through each song, and worked out the type of orchestration which would suit each track. We effectively designed each song as an individual piece, giving it its own character."

An example is on Your Song, where Buckmaster and Dudgeon decided to not bring in the rhythm section until the third verse. "The delayed entry of the rhythm section makes it more dramatic, and serves to lift the piece into a more propulsive mood. One general rule is to hold back as much as possible, to give the listener the chance to let the song grow and unfold, introducing new sonic elements, such as new instruments or sectional groupings. If you use everything from the beginning, you have nowhere to go."

In 1969, Buckmaster's manager Tony Hall introduced him to David Bowie at Gus Dudgeon's office. "Gus and Tony thought I should be the arranger for the forthcoming recording session for Space Oddity," Buckmaster says. "Writing the chart for rhythm section and strings was fun – I was still new to this and tried out some unusual effects." The session took place at Trident Studios in London using an eight-track recorder: "It went smoothly," recalls Buckmaster, "we did the basic track first, with David on jumbo guitar [large body acoustic], together with the rest of the rhythm section and Rick Wakeman's Mellotron, then David's vocal and Stylophone [a pocket-sized, stylus-operated electronic keyboard], and finally, strings and flutes."

Some song arrangements add so much to the finished product that it raises the issue: where does arranging end and composition begin? And in light of the fact that some session singers and musicians have successfully claimed a share of song-writing royalties for their contribution to the music, shouldn't arrangers also occasionally receive a royalty for their efforts? "It's a very good question, and it opens many cans of worms," says Buckmaster, "In my view, arrangers should be paid their one-time creative fee, but I feel they should also be entitled to some kind of percentage at the back end, especially if the record goes gold. The contribution made by the arranger to the success or memorability of a recording, is in many cases, undeniable."

Buckmaster cites the french horn glissando in the introduction to Marvin Gaye's I Heard It Through the Grapevine. "Without the low-register, rhythmic violin/viola answer-phrases, and the rising string counter-lines during the turn-around, would the record be as interesting?" he asks. "There's no doubt that the song is strong in its own right, and I absolutely do not intend any slur on it. But try to imagine the cut without those elements. Jeremy Lubbock's swooping string-phrases on Michael Jackson's Billie Jean is another – the examples are endless."

Five great arrangements

Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy
Arranger: Wil Malone

Massive Attack created a song that featured samples, scratching, a strong groove and a superb vocal by Shara Nelson. Wil Malone, renowned for his string arrangements (he did the arrangement for the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony), was given the rhythm track and complete freedom to write an arrangement for it. It took Malone two days to compose the arrangement, which was recorded with a 40-piece string orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. "What you are trying to do is tailor the arrangement to the band or artist. The challenge is to provide an interesting arrangement that doesn't swamp the tune," says Malone. He certainly succeeded. Listen to how the cellos add tension to the song's intro or the way the violins enhance the emotional intensity of Nelson's soulful vocals. Unfinished Sympathy is a song that moves both your feet and your heart.

Glen Campbell: Wichita Lineman
Arranger: Al de Lory

Composer Jimmy Webb got the inspiration for this song when driving in a remote area of Oklahoma and spotting the solitary figure of a lineman working at the top of a telegraph pole. The result was a mournful country ballad full of yearning. Al de Lory's arrangement uses sweeping violins to evoke a vast empty space and the loneliness of the lineman. A finishing touch was to bring Webb's Gulbransen electronic organ into the studio to create the sound effect of a telephone signal travelling along a telegraph wire.

The Temptations: Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Arranger: Paul Riser

This epic track, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, is unusual in having no harmonic progression – it sticks rigidly to the B-flat minor chord. The track is dominated by a never-ending bass riff and non-stop hi-hat beat, and on top of this, arranger Paul Riser laid violins, cellos, harp and reverberating trumpet. The result is a 12-minute classic, which earned Riser a Grammy award.

The Beatles: A Day in the Life
Arranger: George Martin

For what was to be the final track on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles wanted to include a symphony orchestra, and Paul McCartney wanted a 24-bar gap filled with a spiralling descent of sound, recalls producer/arranger George Martin in his book, Summer of Love. Martin used a half symphony orchestra, instructing each member to start by playing the lowest note on their instrument and end by playing their loudest and highest note. The rest is history.

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows
Arranger: Brian Wilson

On a song whose beauty can make grown men cry, Brian Wilson used an array of instruments including violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and accordion to produce one of the greatest love songs of all time". 

(original Web page at https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/30/arranging-brian-wilson-paul-buckmaster) 

Read the exclusive interview by Ghettoraga in 2013 at:
http://ghettoraga.blogspot.it/2013/01/the-first-cellist-to-go-electric.html 

no©2016 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)    

"Beat Instrumental" interview with Sweeney and Coff on September 1969!

Here's another rare and precious contribute to the knowledge of TEB's history due to Beatchapter of London (bless you Mr. Jon Limbert!). This time in his archive he has found for us an old "Beat Instrumental" piece published on September 1969 with an unusual interview with Glen Sweeney and Richard Coff.

Just after the important appearance at Rolling Stones' Hyde Park concert and at Isle of Wight Festival (with the legendary return of Bob Dylan) TEB talks about its music and the reactions of audience...

 

 Beatchapter - 49 Sebert Road, Forest Gate - London UK E70NJ
ph.: 020 85194590     e-mail: sales@beatchapter.com 

no©2014 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)