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Posted by feuer on 04-17-2012 at20:42:

  Unbalanced timing

For musicians... I have always found the timing of "unbalanced" interesting. I find it challenging to "play along" with (especially while driving a standard, texting, and drinking coffee), and holds my attention longer than most rock songs. Am I alone in this? Any theory majors able to explain this to a novice?

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Posted by Doctor Love on 04-29-2012 at00:27:

  RE: Unbalanced timing

It’s funny. For years I harbored the illusion that this tune was in 7/8 for some reason, but it’s actually 6/8 on the verses (and the bridge, I think) and 4/4 on the choruses.

I believe it sounds trickier than it really is due to Bruce’s uneven rhythm pattern, which would have to be analyzed by someone better versed in breaking down polyrhythms than myself. Mark’s bass pattern adds to the confusion quite nicely!

This track is by far and away one of the latter day 77s’ most successful experiments, combining the rhythm section’s penchant for jamming on a funky riff and my desire to boogie woogie it up but still retain a sense of melody on that bridge (which also features a bit of surf music!) I wish it had been recorded a little better, but this tape originated from a jam in a garage studio that belonged to a friend of ours in town. We never thought it would become a master track so there wasn’t a lot of attention given to technical details, but once the ball started rolling we just went with it. This same studio yielded “The Years Go Down” and “Blue Sky”, and I also cut the vocals there for “Sevens”. Bruce cut all the drum tracks for The Strawmen’s Saving Faded Dreams there as well. We just kept working in that garage because it was local, cheap and we got lucky with Unbalanced and hoped it would continue to magically stimulate us towards more creativity.

It did.

We should have kept working over there. I’m not sure that the latter day band ever got better than when we were.

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Posted by 77 bc on 04-30-2012 at16:28:

 

one of the reasons that "ep" is still one of my all time favorite recordings!

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Posted by Kit on 04-30-2012 at20:44:

 

"Unbalanced" is a good song, and that surf bridge is killer, but it's my 4th fav song from that EP. Lyrically, it's got nothing on "The Years Go Down". Also, "Blue Sky" is one of those songs I pull out when I want to play The 77s and melt faces at the same time. That part around the 2:07-2:31 mark is probably out ranked only by "Perfect Blues", "Woody", and "Pearls Before Swine", as far as ass-scorching moments in the 77s canon. And yes, I did consider "Ping Pong Over the Abyss".

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Posted by Doctor Love on 05-01-2012 at01:24:

  all she needed ….

Glad you liked Blue Sky, Kit, but I honestly haven’t heard it in probably ten years. We never felt we got it down right. We didn’t even track it right, and left out parts. Bruce’s drum track then had to be edited and pieced together to make it work. That’s why he’s doing all those weird fills in the wrong places and in the middle of verses etc. He would never have played it that way normally. I think we all just kinda wrote it off immediately, but I salvaged it for myself in my solo concerts by slowing it down and changing the feel of it a la Stephen Stills. It really works for me and is rarely out of my sets.

Is the ass-scorching moment in my guitar solo? I hope so ~~ : D

p.s. I agree with you about The Years Go Down. That one was intriguing ~~

quote:

Originally posted by Kit "Unbalanced" is a good song, and that surf bridge is killer, but it's my 4th fav song from that EP. Lyrically, it's got nothing on "The Years Go Down". Also, "Blue Sky" is one of those songs I pull out when I want to play The 77s and melt faces at the same time. That part around the 2:07-2:31 mark is probably out ranked only by "Perfect Blues", "Woody", and "Pearls Before Swine", as far as ass-scorching moments in the 77s canon. And yes, I did consider "Ping Pong Over the Abyss".

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Posted by Ping Pong Over the Abyss on 05-01-2012 at04:29:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Kit. And yes, I did consider "Ping Pong Over the Abyss".

Thank ya...thank ya very much. Uh-huh.

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Posted by Kit on 05-01-2012 at08:27:

  RE: all she needed ….

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love Glad you liked Blue Sky, Kit, but I honestly haven’t heard it in probably ten years.

Wow.

It actually at one point was probably my least fav from that EP, but the lil' booger snuck up on me over the years.

And yeah, you guys have been doing a cool unplugged version of "Blue Sky" in a live setting. It obviously wasn't the full on rock version, but it had some interesting chords that, to my ears, sounded slightly different from the EP/Late version.

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love Is the ass-scorching moment in my guitar solo? I hope so ~~ : D

Yep, pretty much.

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Posted by MarkyMark77 on 05-01-2012 at19:01:

 

My favorite 7's record. Wish it was a full length. Continues where the best of TTB leaves off. You hit it out of the park with this one, Mike.

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Posted by jason on 05-02-2012 at05:25:

 

quote:

Originally posted by MarkyMark77 My favorite 7's record. Wish it was a full length. Continues where the best of TTB leaves off. You hit it out of the park with this one, Mike.

Agree!

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Posted by 22football.com on 07-03-2012 at00:50:

  RE: Unbalanced timing

Hibernian’s 2012/13perugia shirt had already been released by the Edinburgh outfit around three weeks back.

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Posted by Kit on 07-03-2012 at08:13:

  RE: Unbalanced timing

quote:

Originally posted by 22football.com Hibernian’s 2012/13perugia shirt had already been released by the Edinburgh outfit around three weeks back.

yeah but what is your opinion on rodgertutt?

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Posted by Marti on 07-03-2012 at13:16:

 

I reported the spam. It'll be gone eventually.