joe carducci

again, i wish i'd written this (from joe carducci's absolutely essential text rock and the pop narcotic):

The music is rock when it is guitar, bass and drums at the center and they are played by musicians that know the language of the instruments well enough to be expressive with them while playing hard. It is a musically risky proposition; mistakes will be made. It is difficult; practice is required. With the band's individual musicians each aggressively supplying their element, the sound made together can become more than the sum of its parts. This surplus value is the jam, and if it's there in the performing then a rock band is effecting a transubstantiation nearly as sublime as any priest's.