AfricaBrass

"I gotta have more cowbell, baby!" The spoof was VH1's Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult. Here we see Jimmy Fallon (on the drums), Chris Kattan, Will Ferrell, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz portraying the band in a recording studio. Walken plays record producer Bruce Dickenson. This is how it began: Announcer: After a series of staggering defeats, Blue Oyster Cult assembled in the recording studio in late 1976 for a session with famed producer Bruce Dickinson. And, luckily for us, the cameras were rolling. Bruce Dickinson: Alright, guys, I think we're ready to lay this first track down. By the way, my name is Bruce Dickinson. Yes, the Bruce Dickinson. And I gotta tell you: fellas.. you have got what appears to be a dynamite sound! Eric Bloom (Chris Parnell): Coming from you, Bruce, that means a lot. Buck Dharma (Horatio Sanz): Yeah. I mean, you're Bruce Dickinson! Alan (Chris Kattan): It's incredible! Bobby (Jimmy Fallon): I can't believe Bruce Dickinson digs our sound! Dickinson: Easy, guys.. I put my pants on just like the rest of you - one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records. [ the group laughs ] Alright, here we go. "Don't Fear the Reaper" - take one. [ exits into the control booth ] [ the group begins the song. Bobby slaps the drums, Eric jams his guitar, and Gene bangs on a cowbell. ] Eric: [ distracted by Gene banging the cowbell ] Okay! Wait! Wait! [ the group cuts off their instruments ] Bruce, could you come in here for a minute, please? Dickinson: [ stepping out of the booth ] That was gonna be a great track. Guys, what's the deal? Eric: Are you sure that was sounding okay? Dickinson: I'll be honest.. fellas, it was sounding great. But.. I could've used a little more cowbell. So.. let's take it again.. and, Gene. Gene Frenkle (Will Ferrell): Yeah? Dickinson: Really explore the studio space this time. I mean, really.. explore the space. I like what I'm hearing. ----------------------------- Ok, to make a long story short, Gene starts banging on the cowbell and dancing wildly about, even running into another bandmate. The music is stopped again and Eric comments that he finds Gene's cowbell playing distracting. So they try to cut another track and this time Eric and Gene start arguing over the cowbell. Gene defends himself by stating that if Bruce Dickenson wants more cowbell, he should get more cowbell. The funniest part of this speech is that Will Ferrell breaks character and starts laughing, wich in turn causes everyone else to do the same. Anyway, they cut another track and this time it works out beautifully.

Call him famed Record Producer Bruce Dickenson! Mule, I'm with you, Walken imitations are always good. :rsmile:

Ah.... you're talking about The Continental. That's one of my favorite sketches too! Walken's my favorite SNL host. :rsmile:

Late, I think you'll enjoy Night of the Mark VII. I picked up my copy when it was still on Muse records. I love that period of Jordan's music.

Thanks Moose!

I know this is a really stupid question. One of my favorite Saturday Night Live sketches is the one in which Christopher Walken is a record producer. He's producing the BOC song, Don't Fear the Reaper. His main contribution to the production is the addition of cowbell to it. Well, whenever I hear that song on the radio, etc... I always hear the cowbell in my head. It just doesn't seem right without it. Has this happened to any of you, or is it just my own psychosis?

Good point, Moose! They're really missing out. That describes how my wife listens to music. It's more of a soundtrack to her life than something she wraps herself around.

Jacman, Here's a link to the Tokai guitar registry website. They have quite a following. Tokai Registry Another japanese maker that made great copies in the eighties was Fernandes. I don't think there newer stuff is of the same caliber, but the eighties Fernandes copies I have played were nice. :rsmile:

My wife also gets agitated by some jazz. I've thought about it and I think in her case, she's used to listening to simple music. I think jazz is too much for her because (in my opinion) there's so much going on and one of the most pleasurable parts of listening for me is hearing how all the different sounds mesh together. It does become multi-dimensional for me.

Paying $1 for an mp3 seems like lunacy to me. I just don't get it.

Congrats Organissimo! I wish I could have been there! :rsmile:

7/4, I checked out your website. Nice guitars! I knew G&L made microtonal guitars, but I hadn't heard any. I'm listening to your mp3s right now. I LOVE overtones! I used to have a band that would use overtones as our base (using a bunch of delays, loops, instead of using drums) and we'd have the songs over them. Cool stuff! I figure you can never have too many guitars.

I'll third Couw's nomination of Expansions! I'd also like to see some late sixties Elvin Jones. Albums such as: Puttin' It Together, The Ultimate Elvin Jones, The Prime Element, Mr. Jones. I know I could pick up the Mosaic set, but since I have quite a bit of the material already that is in the box, some individual releases would be nice.

Great choices, Swede! I'd also like to add Dizzy Reece's Star Bright. I have a cdr copy of that cd and I love it. :rsmile:

Jacman, I've heard great things about those Tokais. I played one in the 80's and it was nice. 7/4, Nice to see a G&L S-500 fan around here. Those are my favorite strat-style guitars. I had two myself until recently. I've been on a Tele kick, so I picked up an ASAT 3 (which is basically an S-500 in a Tele shaped body). I traded one of my S-500's in for a ASAT Z2 (of which there were only 10 made). I have to admit I sure miss my S-500. Red, if you're still reading this thread. Did you ever get the guitar for your brother?

I'd love to see some Conns of BN's early sessions. I loved the 10" series they released a few years ago. It would be great to get more 40's and 50's sessions out domestically. I also want Hill's Dance With Death, and any other unreleased sessions. How about a twofer of that?

I live in Southern California and I barely see any live shows. My main reason is that I can't stand going into LA to see shows. I live about 70 miles south of LA and I rarely go up there. SoCal isn't really the best place to live if you like live music. I agree with Noj, it's too expensive for me. It's not a lack of culture, it's more a lack of opportunity for me. I'm hoping to move to Austin early next year. I'm thrilled at the prospect of readily available live music.

Did you listen to the whole call? That was a Howard Stern prank call.

Thanks Conn! Man, Passing Ships is really good.

Happy Birthday Chris! I hope you have a great B-day!

I just want to chime in and say I'm a HUGE fan of Andrew Hill. I finally got my copy of Passing Ships, yesterday! I love this music. I'm been playing it over and over all day. I wish Mosaic would do a Select set with all the unreleased sessions that are still in the vault. I don't even care if they're train wrecks or not. I'm sure there would be very interesting music in even the worst sessions. I agree that Hill's stature should be elevated. He really is one of the "greats". I love all his music.

I'm back to my regular avatar. I tried to post the original image, but it's too big to post. Sorry!

It's my new avatar! I also saved the original, but it's at work. I'll post it tomorrow. :rsmile:

You guys have probably seen these already, but they're funny anyway.