[net.music] Time Signatures

wm@tekchips.UUCP (Wm Leler) (04/12/84)

More rock/popular groups/people who play music in other
than 4/4 time:

King Crimson
Gentle Giant
Mike Oldfield
Cat Stevens
Can
Tangerine Dream
Zivo (ooops, that's Bulgarian music)

That's just off the top of my head.  Any others?

			Wm Leler   503/627-5151
			wm.Tektronix@Rand-relay
		{ucbvax|allegra|decvax}!tektronix!tekchips!wm

kissell@flairvax.UUCP (Kevin Kissell) (04/16/84)

(Is this thing on?)

As a big fan of polyrhythms and odd metrics, I've always been quite fond
of Peter Hammill (Van Der Graaf).   Writes marvelous dovetailing lyrics.
The stuff from the 70's is his best. "Pawn Hearts", "Godbluff", and
"The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome".

Kevin D. Kissell
uucp: {ihnp4 decvax}!decwrl!\
                             >flairvax!kissell
    {ucbvax sdcrdcf}!hplabs!/

rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/16/84)

{[<(!)>]}

Speaking of strange signatures, doesn't anyone remember the Grateful Dead
piece "The Eleven"?  (11/8 time)
-- 
...Are you making this up as you go along?		Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd				(303) 444-5710 x3086

knight@rlgvax.UUCP (Steve Knight) (04/17/84)

> More rock/popular groups/people who play music in other
> than 4/4 time:  [...]  Any others?

Let's not forget Pete Townshend.  6/8 crops up in several of his
songs, and "All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" has a cut in
5/4.  Probably some others that aren't springing readily to mind.
-- 
"If you lived here, you'd be home by now."

	Steve Knight
	{seismo,allegra,some other sites}!rlgvax!knight

henthorn@uiucdcs.UUCP (04/17/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uiucdcs:10800039:000:89
uiucdcs!henthorn    Apr 16 18:30:00 1984

GENESIS
YES
UK (Bruford,Wetton,Holdsworth,and one other guy)
Just to mention a few more.

thielges@uiuccsb.UUCP (04/17/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uiuccsb:10200024:000:138
uiuccsb!thielges    Apr 16 20:33:00 1984

There's also : 
	old Kansas
	Genesis (remember apocalypse in 9/8)
	Yello  (Very obscure Ralph band)
	Yellow Magic Orchestra (from Japan)

rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (04/17/84)

One of the neatest thing about Close to the Edge (speaking of
time signatures) is the way that, on Total Mass Retain (second
section---how many Yes slugs out there can actually name all four
movements without looking), Anderson sings, Bruford drums (percusses?),
and Howe strums in 6/8 time, while Squire and Wakeman play together
in 4/4 (8/8?) time (remember those sudden out of nowhere bass guitar
and mellotron "booms" that pop in at seemingly inappropriate times?).

Yes had tried similar "counterrhythmic" (not really polyrhythmic) tricks
on "Perpetual Change" and "Heart of the Sunrise", but it didn't work quite
as well as on Close to the Edge.  Yes was often into using such things as
ways of showing off ("See, we're progressive!!"), but somehow they overcame
that tendency on Edge.  It was one of the hallmarks of their sound that they
never recovered in future work; any attempts at this on Topographic were
muddled by the poor production and the incredible lameness of Alan White
(his inability to do any more than [barely] keep time on this album might
have been the fatal blow; though I don't know if Bruford's eclectic style
would have helped matters---the album was far enough off in space as it
was, and White *was* hired to 'keep one foot on earth').

Enough ancient history...  Crimson's Discipline is full of examples of
Fripp and Belew playing in 4/4 and 7/8 at the same time, and Peter
Gabriel's "San Jacinto" is in 4/4 with a 7/8 sequencer riff in the background.
("Solsbury Hill" is in pure 7/8.)  Polyrock (produced by Philip Glass) has
a number of multirhythmic tricks on their first album.

Funny time signatures are often used as a way to impress impressionable
young aspiring musician types ("Wow, man, it's like jazz, far out!!")
(like me).  The bottom line is always "How does it sound?" and not "What
fancy technique did they use?"
-- 
"You are not morg.  You are not I-morg!!!"
					Rich Rosen    pyuxn!rlr

henthorn@uiucdcs.UUCP (04/19/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uiucdcs:10800040:000:79
uiucdcs!henthorn    Apr 19 09:09:00 1984

I think 6/8 is rather common also.
It's the triple meter "stock part"
of rock.

henthorn@uiucdcs.UUCP (04/19/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uiucdcs:10800041:000:129
uiucdcs!henthorn    Apr 19 09:11:00 1984

The other UK member who appeared on both albums
is Eddie Jobson. He went on to play for Jethro Tull
a few years back and now...?

tynor@uiucuxc.UUCP (04/20/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uiucuxc:30800016:000:340
uiucuxc!tynor    Apr 20 14:28:00 1984

     Take a listen to Eddie Jobson's latest (1983) album, The Green
Album.   I was quite impressed.  There is some very tasteful synthesizer
work, along with a nice semi-classical piano solo (leading into a 
violin solo...

	
	Steve Tynor    
	      
	     ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!tynor 
             University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana

andrew@inmet.UUCP (04/22/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:inmet:6600127:000:592
inmet!andrew    Apr 21 14:26:00 1984

More songs in unusual time signatures:

	Jethro Tull's "Living In the Past" (5/4)
	The Pretenders' "Tattooed Love Boys" (15/8)
	Pink Floyd's "Money" (7/4)
	Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" (intro in 11/8)
	Allman Brothers' "Black Hearted Woman" (intro in 7/4)
	Todd Rundgren's "Cool Jerk" (7/4)

Someone pointed out polyrhythms in Yes' music - listen to Steve Howe's
guitar on "Long Distance Runaround", where he accents every fifth beat of
a 4/4 song:

	ONE two three four one TWO three four one two THREE four...
 
Andrew W. Rogers, Intermetrics   ...{harpo|ihnp4|ima|esquire}!inmet!andrew

rehmi@umcp-cs.UUCP (04/23/84)

Eddie Jobson put out "The Green Album" last year... Does he have anything
else in the works? I really liked it - what do y'all think of it?

					-rehmi
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emjej@uokvax.UUCP (04/29/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:uokvax:4000025:000:155
uokvax!emjej    Apr 28 08:45:00 1984

Anyone out there remember a popular song of the mid-to-late 60's called
"Cool Jerk"? I think it was in 7/4 time...Verification invited.

						James Jones

jmiller@ctvax.UUCP (05/08/84)

#R:tekchips:-69400:ctvax:39000014:000:168
ctvax!jmiller    May  8 14:46:00 1984

The original "Cool Jerk" was in good ol' 4/4, but Todd Rundgren did a rather
twisted 7/4 version of it on "A Wizard, A True Star".

Jim Miller
Computer Thought, Dallas