What is moondog? To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. As equally as obscure as the word itself, this Band album is pretty good. If you are a fan of The Band this is definitely worth a listen. However, this leads me to an entirely different question...what happened to rock? In 1978, The Band ended their lucrative career with The Last Waltz at Winterland...So, I dont think that they truly ended rock, but by the time of this concert, rock was dead...and then we had to buckle down for all the crappy, packaged, synth rock, thrash metal, emo, and every other crappy form that exists today. So where did it go? Why did rock music suddenly get bad? I have found the answer. Synthesizers. Everyone should just give a big F U to Gram Parsons because that destroyed not only some of the great artists of rock, but also destroyed the genre itself. Sadly, my modern rock friends, would say otherwise, but I must say that regardless, while it makes Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon remarkable, it has been overused ever since and is absolutely horrendous.
To put this in context...here are some bands or people that relished under the domain of synth
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Flock of Seagulls
Cher
and a million others...

I generally object to buying compilation albums because I think it destroys the point of their album...any overlying themes or styles are completely lost when songs are just thrown into a hodge podge of songs on a greatest hits album. I love parliament funkadelic, or funkadelic or the parliaments or George Clinton or Bootsy Collins or one of the other hundred variations. While they have had an indelible impact on our culture, I have struggled to grasp many of their business decisions. Why do artists, like parliament, who have more money than God, feel the urge to sell their music on to crappy discount cds (winning combinations in this case), campy throwback movies (undercover brother), and a variety of other stupid things? I love parliament and will always love them, but why do they have to sell out like that? Does George Clinton (sober) really see it as a wise decision to sell his songs to a crappy discount cd maker so they can mix their songs in with a handful of Ohio Players songs? The two bands are completely different...but aside from that, why not put your creative energy into making more innovative music; Parliament has more money than they know what to do with and almost complete artistic control...so why not use that instead of being lazy and selling your old songs off to discount cd groups.

While it may be impossible to realize from my first two entries, I am slowly moving my way backwards through my cd collection, chronologically that is. And at this point you have caught me at 1974, pretty much right in the middle of my collection. It seems especially fitting, since the name of the album I am presently talking about is called So Far, by Crosby Stills and Nash and Young. Anywho, Crosby Stills and Nash and Young are a spectacular band. They arent unique. They arent anything new to the time. But like many other band of the time, relishing the new folk rock groove (Grateful Dead, Creedence, Flying Burrito Brothers), they are awesome. While I believe they are touring as the bloated remains of their former selves, in 1974, they were on the top of the world and were spectacular. No one in the band is a particularly talented musician, but they are spectacular song writers. It is really too bad that these guys keep touring and taint the beauty of their early music. I would like to think that their music will be picked by future generations, but my guess is they will be lost in obscurity with the rest of the folk rock groups of the 60's.

For those who dont know either of these people...don't read this...in fact...don't talk to me...but for those who have heard of them, these two men are two of the true founders of American rock and roll. These took the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson and electrified it and turned it into something spectacular that even snobby white British people could play. It revolutionized the concept of the Blues and took it beyond the Southern Black crowds that traditionally served as an audience for these two artists. Many of the rock staples of the 1960s and 1970s got their ideas from these two. Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and a variety of others all stem from the ideas of these two and others. In fact, Eric Clapton played on an album with the Howlin' Wolf. However, this 1974 release, titled, MUDDY AND THE WOLF truly represents the bluesy rock that these two pioneered. For Blues and classic rock fans, this album is definitely worth a listen.