Let's show some love for Penguin and Heroes!

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I'm a bit of an odd bird when it comes to blues and blues singers... but a white dude from England is NOT an authentic blues singer . About the furthest thing you can get from authentic, in my book. When I hear white English dudes like Walker, Joe Cocker, and others trying to emulate gritty Delta blues men, it just puts a sandy pinecone up my orifice of choice. Those type dudes don't know anything about being a black man in the Southern US, where you couldn't drink from the white man's water fountain, and had to go to separate schools, etc. White English dudes who try to sing gritty blues are just a caricature emulating the real thing, in my book. And they always end up profiting from the sound they're aping, while the original folks never get rich off their craft. I think that's why I at least respect Peter Green's approach to the blues a bit more... he made it his own. He didn't try to sing like anybody else. He didn't try to carbon copy his pacing and tone on his guitar.

But alas, that's not the big reason why I don't care for songs like I'm A Roadrunner and The Derelict. To me, they're just sorely, sorely out of place on Penguin. They have nothing to do with the rest of the album. They're a wart. If the entire album had that sound, it'd be a different story. These tunes could have worked on Bare Trees, perhaps... but not Penguin. To me, the '73-'74 Mac albums were starting to get a quite progressive sound to them... and I'm A Roadrunner and The Derelict just seem like two steps back. Just my humble opinion tho, folks!

I have a fond appreciation for odd birds, and agree with your insightful comments. I never understood how so many lily pale white english blokes were able to gain credibility co-opting the blues; a very strange period of time in music for UK/Europe.

I guess a bunch of wimpy white guys singing the blues was much more palatable and less threatening to the masses than a bunch of big black guys. Reference how rock and roll emerged: white guys borrowed and stole many aspects of old blues, modified it and resold it. They got famous and made a lot of money, while the original creators were often left uncredited, and wallowing in obscurity and poverty. That's rock and roll!

But now I diverge...kudos to you for using the word "Alas."