It's always made me laugh, this tale, albeit in a bittersweet way (see what I did there! How clever am I?)
The impression I got was that the Stones were pressured into relinquishing their rights because of a certain amount of public backlash.
I did a little bit of work for Ashcroft and he always gave that impression, as well as being rather pissed off that they'd lost over 20yrs of royalties!
Ties into your last post in an interesting way. Reimagining something is far different than simply remaking it - because it ADDS relevance rather than leeches it. An AI attempt to rewrite EE Soc Smith in the style of Gene Wolfe may be fascinating for the first 10 or 50 or 500 pages, but the lack of any intention beyond mimicry and capitalizing on someone else's talent and accomplishments would ultimately render it vapid and meaningless.
All the versions of Bittersweet Symphony resonate because of their relevance to their time, audience and milieu.
Ren is a talent with a capital T. I shared his piece (it's much more than a song), "Hi Ren" with most of my friends when I first heard it a few years ago. His work has heart - and much of it has insight that no AI could duplicate.
VERY good point about how each of those versions is spot-on for the milieu, in a way that AI wouldn't even be able to comprehend. And I'll check out some more Ren!
Ren is amazing: basically the British version of Prince for the 21st century. Not only a world class, completely self-taught rapper, singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist and producer, but an independent self-starter whose last record went to number one in the UK despite being self-released, with no record label. He lives with significant chronic illness after contracting Lyme disease a decade or so ago, and is often in unbearable pain, but his spirit is just a marvellous thing to encounter.
I know posting links here doesn’t always work, but if you search for Hi Ren on YouTube you’ll find the song of his that went viral and relaunched his career, a 9 minute one take live performance that has to be seen to be believed.
As well as the straight rap stuff, he also performs more traditional singer/songwriter material, and narrative jams that combine the two - rapping and singer/songwriter - to tell odd, esoteric stories, often within an intense performance style, collectively referred to as ‘bardcore’.
Check out The Tale Of Jenny & Screech on YouTube for the video collecting this short trilogy of live one take songs, Jenny’s Tale, Screech’s Tale and Violet’s Tale (the last of which may break you a little).
The Money Game trilogy is also on YouTube in its component parts, parts 1 and 3 of which are also live one take performances (part 2 is a lyric video). All three are fantastic. And if you want to hear a stripped down performance, his one take live performance of his song Chalk Outlines with Chinchilla is breathtaking
He used to busk on Brighton’s streets a few years ago, alone and with the band he had at the time, and there are plenty of gobsmacking videos on YouTube of those performances too, mostly covers. He’s a phenomenon.
Wow. Okay, this sounds like someone I need to check out... not least because he's evidently living (and making a success of) an anti-corporate way forward. Thank you for the recommend... I shall head to YouTube!
It's always made me laugh, this tale, albeit in a bittersweet way (see what I did there! How clever am I?)
The impression I got was that the Stones were pressured into relinquishing their rights because of a certain amount of public backlash.
I did a little bit of work for Ashcroft and he always gave that impression, as well as being rather pissed off that they'd lost over 20yrs of royalties!
As you would be!
Yeah, I think I would be! And I do see what you did there but I can't condone it.
Ties into your last post in an interesting way. Reimagining something is far different than simply remaking it - because it ADDS relevance rather than leeches it. An AI attempt to rewrite EE Soc Smith in the style of Gene Wolfe may be fascinating for the first 10 or 50 or 500 pages, but the lack of any intention beyond mimicry and capitalizing on someone else's talent and accomplishments would ultimately render it vapid and meaningless.
All the versions of Bittersweet Symphony resonate because of their relevance to their time, audience and milieu.
Ren is a talent with a capital T. I shared his piece (it's much more than a song), "Hi Ren" with most of my friends when I first heard it a few years ago. His work has heart - and much of it has insight that no AI could duplicate.
VERY good point about how each of those versions is spot-on for the milieu, in a way that AI wouldn't even be able to comprehend. And I'll check out some more Ren!
That Ren song is awesome, thanks for making me aware of him. I’m getting really into rap music since I turned 50!!
He was new on me too... a good find!
You and Hugh grant in Heretic would get on 😊
Haven't seen the movie yet, so I'm not sure quite how to take that ;-)
Love this tale of musical whispers. Evolution and adaptation.
Exactly!
BS one of my favorite songs for ever and ever. Hope you’re well.
I am, thank you — and hope it’s the same for you!
Ren is amazing: basically the British version of Prince for the 21st century. Not only a world class, completely self-taught rapper, singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist and producer, but an independent self-starter whose last record went to number one in the UK despite being self-released, with no record label. He lives with significant chronic illness after contracting Lyme disease a decade or so ago, and is often in unbearable pain, but his spirit is just a marvellous thing to encounter.
I know posting links here doesn’t always work, but if you search for Hi Ren on YouTube you’ll find the song of his that went viral and relaunched his career, a 9 minute one take live performance that has to be seen to be believed.
As well as the straight rap stuff, he also performs more traditional singer/songwriter material, and narrative jams that combine the two - rapping and singer/songwriter - to tell odd, esoteric stories, often within an intense performance style, collectively referred to as ‘bardcore’.
Check out The Tale Of Jenny & Screech on YouTube for the video collecting this short trilogy of live one take songs, Jenny’s Tale, Screech’s Tale and Violet’s Tale (the last of which may break you a little).
The Money Game trilogy is also on YouTube in its component parts, parts 1 and 3 of which are also live one take performances (part 2 is a lyric video). All three are fantastic. And if you want to hear a stripped down performance, his one take live performance of his song Chalk Outlines with Chinchilla is breathtaking
He used to busk on Brighton’s streets a few years ago, alone and with the band he had at the time, and there are plenty of gobsmacking videos on YouTube of those performances too, mostly covers. He’s a phenomenon.
Wow. Okay, this sounds like someone I need to check out... not least because he's evidently living (and making a success of) an anti-corporate way forward. Thank you for the recommend... I shall head to YouTube!
Really curious to see what you think… 🙂 you’ll probably find him interesting as a guitarist too.