Re: [Harp-L] Re: Popper (was Ben and Frank)



I was a big Blues Traveler fan early on -- I remember them (or at
least John Popper) playing at Nightingale's when it was still a dive
bar -- and like you, pretty much lost interest after "Straight On Till
Morning" although I did also buy "The Bridge" and have played neither
since the day I bought them. But I still go back and listen to the
first few albums, and I think that the band has changed more than I
have. Popper used to write great hooks and tight songs ("But Anyway"
remains perhaps my favorite song of theirs) but now seems to have
evolved/degenerated (depending on your point of view) into a jam-band
where the songs are way too long and the music more and more just
uninteresting noodling.

As far as Popper's playing, I've always enjoyed it, but not as a harp
player. It works with their music and I enjoy it, and he certainly
works hard at it. It doesn't inspire any admiration in me (I never
think "What I wouldn't give to play like that" listening to Popper the
way I do listening to, say, Phil Wiggins) .

And it's not even about speed -- there's nothing wrong with speed on
its own. I play a lot of bluegrass, so I do play a lot of notes
sometimes and play them very very fast, but the melody always always
always comes first.

Speaking of speed players, I haven't seen Sugar Blue come up in this
conversation; I think he's even worse than Popper nowadays. It's all
about the pyrotechnics and he doesn't even have Popper's musical
breadth. He has done some gorgeous work (listen to Brownie McGhee's
RAINY DAY album) but his last few Alligator releases leave me feeling
"Enough already!" It's a shame because when he slows down and digs
into the bluesier side of the instrument, he's a monster player.

Ken




On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 13:53:16 -0500, jpavlik@xxxxxxxxx <jpavlik@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Ben sez:
> 
> <<I can't imagine loving BT and hating the harp though, especially as a
> harp
> player, that must be horrible ! I feel for you, man !>>
> 
> Oh. I don't hate his harp; it just doesn't do anything for me. And I
> should have added, that I'm not much of a BT fan now. I started liking
> them .... golly...1992-ish. I was with them until the release of Four. I
> liked Four enough, but it was already progressing into a kind of music
> that I was having less and less room for in my life. The the live album
> came out "From the fall" I think it was called, which was OK. I bought
> Straight on Til Morning on the day it was released...and I haven't bought
> one since. I just can't care anymore. (although one of the four times I
> saw them was after that album came out.) I wasn't playing harmonica when I
> started liking them and I don't feel that I really matured into a real
> aficionado of the instrument until after seeing both Madcat and Buddy
> Greene and consecutive Beanblossom Bluesfests. After that I really haven't
> turned back from the kinds of harp I love. Phil Wiggins, Sonny Terry,
> Buddy Greene, Madcat, Jimmy McFadden, and Charlie McCoy, (Howlin Wolf, too
> holds a special place in my heart) . I love all the Chicago greats too but
> they come second to my first love.
> 
> But your sympathies are much appreciated. Thank you.
> 
> 
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-- 

Ken Ficara
Music, quotes, writing and more at 
http://www.kenficara.com




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