The cool factor- who has it?

The bass player, usually.

@mylogic - What a shame about Dave Cousins, yeah? We were just talking about him recently... 

Surprised no one mentioned EVH or SRV...

Zappa was on a whole 'nother level,

I was a Roadie and Stage Security for a few Kid Rock USO gigs overseas and got to hang out with his entourage...I don't care for his music but he was genuinely old school Allman Brothers/Lynyrd Skynyrd cool.

Samantha Fish is a stone cold badass.

Buddy Rich (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFe0-pOp_wA)

Bonnie Raitt

John Prine (RIP)

Lowell George (RIP)

Robert Plant

Tal Winlkenfeld

Brian Ferry

Leon Russel (RIP)

 

 

@larsman 

”Dave Cousins” of The Strawbs.

l had not heard he had died. So sad.

He was the soul of The Strawbs. When you read his 60s and 70s lyrics they are like poetry. He had that way with words and wrote about his relationships and places with observations and life’s personal experiences.

l was lucky to have had many fleeting conversations with him over a 35 year period. The most recent was in 2019 at one of the last acoustic Strawbs concerts in Honiton England, 10 miles away from a cottage he had owned during the height of his writings. He lived in many houses quite close together near the coast in East Devon, one being an old school house (Hence “Old School Records”) That’s why he wrote so much about the countryside rivers and sea.

 

“Glimpse of Heaven”

Newborn lambs that sweetly played

Speckled eggs all newly laid

But for you l would have stayed 

l think l must have caught a glimpse of heaven

 

The fields of East Devon viewed from a hill. “If heaven exists, it would look like this” Speckled eggs… he noticed them as a boy in a butchers shop in Branscombe. In London they were all white

 

“Witchwood”  

The interwoven branches

Where laden deep with snow

A rainbow shone so softly

To show which way to go

 

Possibly Wistman’s Wood, High altitude dwarf oakwood with lichens and mosses  on Dartmoor. Spooky at night or day.

 

“The Shepherds Song”

There was no need for discussion

It was surely no disgrace

Her soft skin had the texture 

Of the finest silken lace

Waiting moist and trembling

It was just the time and the place

 

l never asked him who the girl was for obvious reasons.

 

”Shine on Silver Sun”

Once I sat upon a hill

To watch the world go by

My friend the young musician

Had forbidden me to cry

But l was the comedian 

With the laughs in short supply

 

The young magician was his “new love” (documented) after a marriage breakup.

 

After the concert l waited until he graciously had signed all the autographs sat down with his glass of white wine and we talked about those summer days. He was becoming very frail at this time but still enthusiastically answered all my questions. I  reminded him about the Sidmouth “reunion concert” in 1984 at the Radway Cinema and the documentary filmed by local TV. I wondered at the possibility of finding the videos from the defunct TSW network. He thought the project could work with a donation to charity for the rights to release it on disc. That will probably never happen now….. unless the great man had started the resurrection.
One thing that struck me very hard was his resilience even with declining health. He still worked right up to the end with a final Electric Strawbs concert in 2023.  A real showman.

 

David Joseph Cousins R.I.P.

Miles definitely created the cool vibe, but I suggest that Lalo Schifrin popularized it.  Everyone knows the theme from Mission Impossible, but I think some of his best work was the soundtrack for Bullitt.  The combination of the music, the car, the 60's San Francisco scene, the story and the King of Cool in the lead role really sealed the deal for me.

To this day, that soundtrack reminds me of how I got into music and continues to be a touchstone for how soundtracks should compliment and enhance a film.  Today's score writers would do well to learn the lessons Schifrin bequeathed the industry.