By means of selective micro-quoting Lenny’s statement, extracting it, and taking it into a context of my choosing …
I declare that
If I’d seen them 40 years ago, those twins would have
… come to think of it, by context-extraction, I’d be keeping on topic too
[[ < something between> ] & ]
Because full on ROFLMAO at my own ‘funny’ would, by over-amplification, would tend to try to impose governance on the readers’ response, rather than respecting their level foundation from which to assess the statement on the merits of its content.
Larry’s Song is a prime temptation for this kind of behaviour. It IS Twin-Pumping as the horn and precussion parts - those two parts bump and jostle through the piece in a teasing promise of simultaneity, the fulfilment of which Larry keeps us waiting all the way to the end.
As I listen through it, I am moved to grimaces, chair-tilts and sitting squat-thrusts.
I remind me of somebody elses pet dog on a hot day. On a steep grass slope in Kew Botanical Gardens. Bollock-Sledding fantically past outraged picnic cloths - a long approach path, landing and taxiing to a halt in the blanc mange of a kiddies’ birthday party.
What I always liked about James Brown was his precision. A precision which M Jackson, in his dancing, IMO over-tightened to the point of a self-consciousness which diverted attention toward his technique. My view of James Brown is that, like Duke Ellington, he was a ‘True Bandleader’ - the place he defined for himself was IN rather than On Top of the band. His coive was part of, rather than apart from the instrumental matrix. On the other hand, M jackson’s singing demonstrated the interspersal I find in Larry’s work … IMO, Jackson’s ‘tour de force’ instrument was his control of vocalised in and out breaths which became, within his presentation of the lyrical text, an independent yet perfectly integrated instrument.
Larry, I feel to be decidedly in the Duke Elington style of leadership - his instrumental capabilities bear allegiance only to the song-as-a-whole. At the moment, this is to be witnessed, I believe, only on Hunger and specifically supportive and harmonic instruemtns with which he accompanies his daughter in their traditional Christmas Songs. I am fortunate to the party to the previews of his next work.
All the best
Glyn