What Song Are You Listening to Right Now

Apart from the already brilliant genius necessary to compose for upwards of a hundred different voices in concert, I'm now almost certain that about a minute into the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, where he deliberately places awkward silent pauses, and abrupt timpani clashes, he has also willfully calculated and accounted for even the very collective clacking of the players' instrument keys against their instrument bodies, as a percussive effect to the piece. Think about that maddening attention to detail for a second.

Edit: & he was deaf when he wrote it btw
 
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Level 42, "Eyes Waterfalling" (live)
Ungodly fast slap & pop on the bass guitar throughout the song...
I can remember a distant time where some other version of me in a younger body could play that. I remember going over The Chinese Way asking him to help me transcribe it, over tape. He listened and said it was multi-tracked, that no one could play that on a single take. I had to show him Wembley Live to show it could indeed be done (since they'd mounted a small camera above the neck on that JD Bass he was playing. But indeed, I never could play it.(edit.. there's this new crop of Young Youtube Bassists who seem capable of anything. It's pretty interesting how the skill set has gone up over the decades)
 
I can remember a distant time where some other version of me in a younger body could play that. I remember going over The Chinese Way asking him to help me transcribe it, over tape. He listened and said it was multi-tracked, that no one could play that on a single take. I had to show him Wembley Live to show it could indeed be done (since they'd mounted a small camera above the neck on that JD Bass he was playing. But indeed, I never could play it.
First several times I tried to play "Eyes Waterfalling," I definitely couldn't make it all the way through--felt like my right arm was about to come off each time. But years of practice and building up those arm muscles finally paid off after awhile. These days, I don't even think too much about it, but I'm also not playing note for note with Mark either, just keeping the overall vibe of the songs.
(edit.. there's this new crop of Young Youtube Bassists who seem capable of anything. It's pretty interesting how the skill set has gone up over the decades)
I know what you mean. Charles Berthoud, Davie 504, and others. They're awesome...
 
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