Interesting article from our local daily paper (Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton MA.) I'll try to find a link for the GoD clip, unless someone beats me to it.
http://www.gazettenet.com/artsentert...oud-cuckooland
Interesting article from our local daily paper (Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton MA.) I'll try to find a link for the GoD clip, unless someone beats me to it.
http://www.gazettenet.com/artsentert...oud-cuckooland
Daily jazz vinyl reviews on Instagram @jazzandcoffee
Thanks for finding it...listening now, very impressed. I'll have to duck into Downtown Sounds and let Jim know how cool this sounds.
Looks like the link to the article expired, and it's a good read.
By KEN MAIURI
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
(Published in print: Thursday, August 27, 2015)
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Todd Rundgren was once nicknamed “The Hermit of Mink Hollow”; local musician Jim Weeks is “The Hermit of Pleasant Street.”
Weeks runs his own recording studio, a Northampton hideaway of creativity called Cloud Cuckooland, and he has much in common with the prolific pop/prog artist Rundgren. Topping the list is his ability to make full-band recordings entirely by himself, playing all the instruments, singing all the parts, engineering, producing (and even making videos and designing album graphics).
In the hallowed sound studios of decades past, to record a song, bigwigs would call in a dependable gang of seasoned musicians (the core group of which was later nicknamed “The Wrecking Crew”).
The 53-year-old Weeks doesn’t need any bigwig, because he’s already a one-man Wrecking Crew, able to create a fully realized recording overnight from scratch with just his own hands and feet, focus and know-how.
It’s a Superman skill hidden underneath an everyday Clark Kent calm, because, also like Rundgren, Weeks has no interest in self-promotion. “I hate real attention. ... The work is what’s important. If I don’t believe that, the dream is over,” he said in a rare interview last week.
If you’ve ever stopped in at Downtown Sounds in Northampton, you’ve surely seen Weeks behind the counter. He’s an employee of more than 30 years, and before that, a regular customer since his late teens. “Joe (Blumenthal) was a very patient owner when I’d go in there as a kid,” Weeks said. “I’m so blessed to have had that music store as an education playground.”
During the decades of dedication to Downtown Sounds, Weeks has also had a deep history in the Valley scene, whether playing live (in mid-’80s bands like Delex and Square One, all the way through the years to more recent projects like Superkart and Half Ached), or learning the ropes and experimenting in local recording studios like Multi-Trax and Downtown Recording before building his own space.
Since 2006, Weeks has been releasing his own material under the name Morbid Man. He writes and records original songs (like on his latest CD, 2014’s “Amusia”) but does covers as well, everything from early Beatles to Steely Dan to Michael Jackson to Green Day, all of which are posted to his MorbidManMusic YouTube page (www.youtube.com/morbidmanmusic).
Sometimes he gives classics his own unique spin, other times he tries to be as faithful as possible to the famous recordings. He’s unafraid to attempt epics, as proven by his loving one-man recreations of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
But earlier this month, Weeks outdid himself, and the stunning result quickly made the Facebook rounds: a cover of the staggering Yes track “The Gates of Delirium.” It’s a 22-minute-long multi-movement song, partially inspired by Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” which originally took up one entire side of an LP. Weeks dedicated the labor of love to Chris Squire, Yes’ genius bass player with an immediately recognizable tone, who died June 27.
The original “Gates” is the sound of five progressive musicians working overtime; Weeks recreated it all alone, on a whim. His friend Kevin Neenan suggested it one afternoon, and that night, Weeks started working on it.
His finished product could only be the work of a super fan who used to listen to Yes albums on headphones over and over (which he did). “They brought me to some other place in time,” he said of the band’s music. “Hard to explain that feeling. It was like liquid.”
Weeks’ Yes tribute is equally transportive — the bass harmonics and synthesizers swirl, knotty guitar lines achieve the toothy tone of Steve Howe’s originals, an orchestra of keyboards fills the air.
On that first-ever listen, I couldn’t wait for the vocals to kick in. How in the heck could Weeks (or anyone) be able to capture the spirit and encompass the range of the one and only Jon Anderson? When the first sung syllables appeared in a sonic clearing over a strummed acoustic guitar, I couldn’t stop grinning. Weeks’ own versatile voice, strengthened by his lifelong passion for the music, was able to do the impossible.
‘The only language I’ve got’
Other musicians also captured Weeks’ young imagination, including Buddy Rich, Aerosmith, Gentle Giant, Joni Mitchell, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Stevie Wonder, the aforementioned Rundgren and many others.
“These artists have mastered communication and I’m just trying to beef up the only language I’ve got,” said Weeks, a self-taught musician who found musical inspiration all around.
“My brothers Jon and Rudi always had their jazz and Latin Jazz rehearsals at our home. ... I’d listen to all that cool stuff and wanted to be that good. They had some amazing drummers come over,” he said.
Weeks admired the discipline of high school friend Chris Young, a keyboardist who took lessons from Smith College professors and was into the classical side of things. The buddies played Genesis and Yes songs together.
“I took chorus every morning in high school, so singing was a passion,” Weeks said. “I don’t think I’m any good but that’s what kicks me forward. My cover of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ shows a little of that training.”
Weeks also appreciated Sunday drives with his dad, listening to big band music, in awe of the sounds of the drums and appreciating the engineering skill necessary to capture such intensity in a recording.
All that sonic input informs Weeks’ original songs, and he said creating his own music is a painstaking process. “Good tunes take me a long time. I weed and weed. Look under every carpet.”
The results know no stylistic boundaries — riff rock, funk-electronica-metal fusion, straight-ahead jazz, power-pop, piano ballads, Beatlesque moments ... there’s room for it all.
“The more you do, the more fascinating all styles become,” he said.
Ken Maiuri can be reached at clublandcolumn@gmail.com.
For free copies of the Morbid Man CDs or more information about the Cloud Cuckooland recording studio, send an email to Weeks at Morbidmanmusic@hotmail.com.
Extraordinary
I can't believe that the KASMIR has only 40 something plays (counting me).
Jim
I am kinda amazed he got so close to all those crazy percussion bits in the battle sequence.
Could any member of Yes have done a version this convincing?
Dayum!Originally Posted by rickawakeman
Thanks for posting that.
People are amazing.
Quite a talent, amazing stuff, thanks for sharing the links.
I agree that his guitar recording is not as harsh sounding as Howe's.
I was hoping for a few more variations. There is a synth noodle early on that sounds more like Wakey than Moraz. I like the ambient section prior to Soon. I also like the more prominent acoustic guitar.
The bass parts during Soon are also a great tribute to Chris. What a tone he had. Nice job, MorbidMan!
It's amazingly accurate, but... I guess I don't understand why somebody would want to put all of that effort into making carbon copies of music that already exists. I suppose I find it more acceptable with Rachel Flowers because she's young and figuring out stuff that has been done is part of the learning process for many musicians. But this is a middle aged man who's been playing music for a long time. That was my first thought anyway. Then I found that he's made two albums of his own original material. I checked out about half of his first album and it was good, but didn't really grab me; imo, he's better at aping other people's stuff than creating his own. Of course, that's just my skewed perspective. Anyway... here's Morbid Man's first album (and he's got a second one on YT as well):
Wow, introduce him to Rachel Flowers and start a dream-team prog band!
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
I've know Jim for years, having shopped at Downtown sounds since the late 1970s. He was the engineer on a recording my mid-80s band did. I honestly never knew he was a Prog head, or at least a Yes head. I'll tell him I heard this the next time I see him. It's pretty spot on!
I just sent this to two high school friends who I'm in another band with who know Jim even better than me. I don't think they've ever hear this. Freaky.
Bill
WOw so much better than the real Yes lol--this is when Yes was extraordinary and top notch---I hope Howe will tour with them in an Evening of Yes music---would be there---like Hackett did with Genesis--get the best guys--form a band and play Yes music.
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