Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Talkin' Box My Generation: Talk Box Songs v2

Hope you enjoyed the first set of talk box tunes.  Stinky chose some of the big hits and classic songs that feature the device. Today's set features some deeper cuts from the 70's and 80's. 

Here's a video of Bobby Valentino playing violin with a talk box during the Fabulous Poodles' song "Mirror Star".  Thanks to astute readers steVe and Simon Reynolds for recommending songs by Steppenwolf (talk boxin' on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert) and Fox (taking the talk box on Top of the Pops).  In each video, you can see how the performer shapes words and sounds through the tube in his mouth.

One of the songs from Volume 1 ("Those Shoes" by The Eagles) has been sampled a number of times.  Some DJ's have used the song's distinctive drum pattern, and others sampled Joe Walsh's simple but effective talk box riff. Today's set begins with Ten Years After and concludes almost twenty years later with the Beastie Boys' cinematic High Plains Drifter.

10 comments:

  1. Talkin' Box My Generation: https://www.imagenetz.de/fwnDg

    Jon-Ky Records #8

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  2. Thank you Jonder & Stinky for another great collection. I'll enjoy exploring these. Who'd a thunk you could hook a talk box to a violin? And how could I have forgotten about Aerosmith. Some of these songs were around before I knew what a talk box was. Good job you guys. Here is a video of John Kay for Jon-Ky where you can see the talk box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rOr2tN95kM

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    1. You got the talk box fever, steVe! Thanks for the viddy. There's a talk box epic called "Sex Machine" on Sly & The Family Stone's album Stand! -- but it's as long as Iron Butterfly's "Butterfly Bleu" (or "Do You Feel Like We Do" from Frampton Comes Alive). That's some long winded talk boxing! I wonder if it would be possible to have a talk box tube in each corner of the mouth, amplifying two different instruments, and play both of them at once like Rahsaan Roland Kirk?

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    1. Good to see y'all -- Crab Devil, MrDave, steVe and zipper!

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    2. Thanks for this, but is there anyway to renew the links? Seems like the talk box ones do not work. If not, thanks for your continued work.

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