This week one of the most artistic covers and creative and crazy albums I know, George Clinton's Computer Games. Like in a lot of George Clinton's work the unpractised listener or in this case (album cover) vieuwer might think it's a mess! If you look or listen closely and repeatedly you will see and hear more and recognize the double meanings , fun and sometimes blunt dadaism in his work. George Clinton starts where the normal musician stops. Sometimes I really do not have a clue, why he's doing it.. but who cares! I learned from listening to George Clinton that having an opinion about music is not that important because if you have to judge everything, you try to put yourself on top and then you will always loose. I think it's better to listen to your feelings and see what the music does with your senses. Does it make you laugh, happy, sentimental, sad? Confused? Angry? Do you feel musically insulted? I felt visually insulted a few weeks ago when I visited a museum. Let's not say which one :-) Vaginas, painted, in a frame. White dots on white backround. haha. Oh yes, one more: "self portrait with dog". All I could see where some gray shadows on a black background. Sometimes I feel touched by one note and it makes me cry. Often when I hear music I think "how smart it is done" and respect it in its context.
George Clinton's music became addictive to me, an elixir to go on and on writing and playing the music I have in my mind. His madness makes me laugh. Of course, when I talk about George Clinton's music, I mean the contributions of the masterminds who worked with him. Some of the masterminds on this album: Bootsy Collins, Garry Shider, Walter "Junie" Morrison and..Fred Wesley. Deep respect also for the technical department.
Oh yes, the lyrics. On Prince's forum there's a funny thread. And of course, "Snoop Doggy Dogg" is based on one of Clinton's major hits "Atomic Dog". George Clinton told in interviews that he was actually not so involved in writing this particular song, But mainly Garry Shider and David Spradley.
So the first time we played the music from Royalty For Real wasn't in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, but in Bengaluru and Mumbai, all the way in India in 2023!Here you'll see me play Au Privave, Classy Cats and Royalty For Real, together with Timothy Banchet (piano), Marius Beets (bass) and Sven Rozier (drums).Au Privave is a well-known blues by Charlie Parker which I often like to start with, almost like a soundcheck tune. Although most of the time a soundcheck is done I found out it's a good idea to play a tune everybody of the band knows very well so we all can get used to the sound of the stage, the presence of the audience and it also gives the sound engineer the chance to adjust microphones last minute. During the soundcheck, the sound of the room is significantly different because of the lack of audience. All that flesh and clothes work a little bit like a totally empty room versus a room with furniture and carpets, if you know what I mean :-)Acoustics are so interesting and full of surprises.. Anyways.. hope you like it! - This week one of the most artistic covers and creative and crazy albums I know, George Clinton's Computer Games. Like in a lot of George Clinton's work the unpractised listener or in this case (album cover) vieuwer might think it's a mess! If you look or listen closely and repeatedly you will see and hear more and recognize the double meanings , fun and sometimes blunt dadaism in his work. George Clinton starts where the normal musician stops. Sometimes I really do not have a clue, why he's doing it.. but who cares! I learned from listening to George Clinton that having an opinion about music is not that important because if you have to judge everything, you try to put yourself on top and then you will always loose. I think it's better to listen to your feelings and see what the music does with your senses. Does it make you laugh, happy, sentimental, sad? Confused? Angry? Do you feel musically insulted? I felt visually insulted a few weeks ago when I visited a museum. Let's not say which one :-) Vaginas, painted, in a frame. White dots on white backround. haha. Oh yes, one more: self portrait with dog. All I could see where some gray shadows on a black background. Sometimes I feel touched by one note and it makes me cry. Often when I hear music I think how smart it is done and respect it in its context.George Clinton's music became addictive to me, an elixir to go on and on writing and playing the music I have in my mind. His madness makes me laugh. Of course, when I talk about George Clinton's music, I mean the contributions of the masterminds who worked with him. Some of the masterminds on this album: Bootsy Collins, Garry Shider, Walter Junie Morrison and..Fred Wesley. Deep respect also for the technical department.Oh yes, the lyrics. On Prince's forum there's a funny thread. And of course, Snoop Doggy Dogg is based on one of Clinton's major hits Atomic Dog. George Clinton told in interviews that he was actually not so involved in writing this particular song, But mainly Garry Shider and David Spradley.
