Ed Sheeran may be an excellent musician, but he is responsible some of the worst pop songs in recent memory, and I have to be subjected to them somewhat regularly. Sometimes I can’t tell whether it’s him, a One Direction member doing a solo song, or Justin Beiber. Actually, I think one of the songs is a duet with Justin Beiber. At least I never confused John Mayer with NSYNC. I was pleased to recently bond with my daughter over our shared dislike and visceral disgust at one of his songs. I am a laid back guy with an open mind but his music makes me want to murder puppies.
Not a phrase I ever expected to hear.
I looked up a couple versions of that song and they were all acoustic with no drums. Can you link me up perhaps?
[quote=“TubaDiva, post:33, topic:808505”]
[/QUOTE]This confirms my belief that the tuba should NEVER be a solo instrument. It’s a supporting heavy bass brass piece of amazing construction, but not something for solos. Sorry, Diva.
Well, how do you feel about the contrabassoon?
Dave Bargeron performing with the Jaco Pastorius Big Band. The solo picks up at 2:28.
Bargeron also played trombone in Blood, Sweat & Tears. He’s also amazing at fly-tying. I have a book that he published called Jazz Flies, of old-school salmon flies that he tied…huge pictures, absolutely beautiful. Each fly is inspired by a different jazz musician and incorporates colors and shapes based on that musician’s distinctive style. This sounds ridiculous but it’s actually amazing.
Beatles album tracks get yanked off Youtube quickly. You’ll have to buy it.
Do you have an Amazon Echo? I asked Alexa to play “Cry Baby Cry” by the Beatles, and she did. I don’t have it connected with any types of subscription services, but I am a Prime member. I don’t know if that gives me additional access to music, but I know when I want to listen to the Beatles, I just ask Alexa and she plays it.
Dave is amazing, period. I’ve never heard anything from him that wasn’t absolutely wonderful.
I didn’t know about the fly-tying book but I’m looking for it now, it sounds great.
Here’s a little more Dave with Michel Godard, the French tuba/serpent virtuoso. Ain’t nothing but a good thing. FoieGrasIsEvil, you are excused from listening, wouldn’t want to upset your little world. 
[quote=“TubaDiva, post:49, topic:808505”]
Dave is amazing, period. I’ve never heard anything from him that wasn’t absolutely wonderful.
I didn’t know about the fly-tying book but I’m looking for it now, it sounds great.
Here’s a little more Dave with Michel Godard, the French tuba/serpent virtuoso. Ain’t nothing but a good thing. FoieGrasIsEvil, you are excused from listening, wouldn’t want to upset your little world. 
I ordered two copies of that book last year, one for myself and one for a friend - Dave personally signed the books for us individually, and I had a little email exchange with him about the book…he’s a very nice guy and knows everything there is to know about flies. Even if you are not interested in fly fishing, I would recommend the book. The flies are a form of art. They are a combination of shapes and colors that are inherently artistic even when totally removed from the context of fishing.
[quote=“TubaDiva, post:49, topic:808505”]
[/QUOTE]Holy shit, Kenwood Dennard plays drums on that track! He is the man!
Want some more? Here’s Dave and Kenwood and some other great players. “Be No Evil.”
Sure:
And my personal favorite that I’ve heard from him: Perfect.
I’m sorry, those are not making the case for me that his work displays serious musicianship. I’m not talking about his voice, I’m talking about everything else.
I like a lot of music and I am not a snob. All I ask for is some combination of interesting chords, drums and bass that display some creativity and groove, and a good melodic hook. That’s all I need to enjoy a song. I don’t think any of the songs you linked to display that combination. The one that comes closest would be Nancy Mulligan, which sounds like a poor man’s Fairport Convention. A very poor man. A pauper. Someone with millions of dollars of debt and no liquid assets at all.
The best thing Quincy produced was Rashida.
He seemed nervous, on edge, like he had to prove himself with endless name-dropping. Shoot man, you produced “We are the World,” you don’t have to keep impressing me.
No mention of his most famous composition, The Streetbeater?
The missus and I were watching the original Out-of-Towners movie last night, and who should pop up in the opening credits as the composer? It was interesting to watch it with one ear focused on that; he was definitely channeling Shaft in some places.
That’s your call and of course you are welcome to it. I am a musician, love a lot of music and try not to be a snob and I think he’s amazing. If you don’t hear the hooks in his music I don’t know what you’re listening too. It sounds like you don’t like Pop, again which is fine. Do you respect Taylor Swift and her music?
As for Quincy as a producer, yes, he’s dense. He’s an arranger who produces, and tends to favor “arrangement heavy” album sounds overall. I tend to agree with Uke that Quincy can be too much, but perhaps not as strongly as Uke feels. I really, really prefer recordings with a LOT more space in them - 3-5 instruments each of which can be made out in the mix - but for what he does, he does a great job.
What is frustrating for me is that when I hear bits of Michael’s vocals isolated, or I recall him beatboxing on an Oprah interview for 10 seconds and killing it. I wish we had more recordings of Michael, unadorned and/or unplugged. His voice is so good, it could handle Quincy’s production, but sure didn’t need to.
I adore well-crafted pop music. This is the best new song I heard last year and I consider it pop. My tastes heavily skew towards groups based around the sound of guitar, bass, and drums, rather than solo acts who may or may not have backing tracks featuring those instruments.