Whatcha Listenin' To?
Boston
BostonBy many objective standards: album sales, ubiquity on radio, name-recognition, etc. this is a near perfect album. Every single song on this album is a staple of classic rock radio. And what’s most amazing is the fact this absolute “classic” is largely the result of the input of two guys-Tom Scholz’s engineering and Brad Delp’s transcendent vocals. There is just a Boston “sound,” that to me is similar in conception to that of Queen: take your vocals and guitars and layer them ad nauseum and then layer them some more for good measure. It’s a very warm, full sound that I gotta admit- still gets me. I’m a sucker for memorable melodies and this album delivers the goods. Also, I like the idea of an over-educated mad scientist nobody tinkering anonymously in his basement to create a grand masterpiece. Not that this album itself is all that ambitious or epic. It’s really just a bunch of individual songs, (with the exception of the pairing of “Foreplay/Long Time”), polished to a sheen. Its status as “masterpiece” would come later. I really don’t know why this isn’t on that Rolling Stone Top 100 List.
The Kinks
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation SocietyI dare you to try to get the title track out of your head after hearing it! I’ve said before, I’m listening to a lot of classics lately from a pretty tight time period- 1966 to around 1974 or so. This album is full of brit-pop that reminds me of the Zombies’ Odessey & Oracle, but it takes a little bit more time for the melodies to sink in. Lyrically they are looking back at simpler times and places, which is a genius move. If you want the message of your music to remain timeless, simply look back on the past fondly. That will always be an appropriate sentiment for the majority of people!
Mahavishnu Orchestra with John Mclaughlin
The Inner Mounting FlameHearing this album for the first time I am realizing a choice I unconsciously made about twelve years ago when pursuing musical aesthetics. When I chose to immerse myself in the 70s prog-rock of bands like Yes, Genesis and King Crimson, I excluded a whole other world of similar music: jazz-rock fusion. On one hand, the sounds on this album are VERY familiar to me—distorted guitars, weird harmonies, even weirder time signatures and no vocals. But I wonder if these two schools of musicians hated each other for their differences. They seem to be worshipping two different gods, both of which demanding technique from their followers. But the prog version of “difficult” music seems to be in service of some grand, universal message that they may or may not be communicating whereas the fusion version of “difficulty” seems to be more clinical here. Like I’ve said elsewhere, it’s the difference between rock slobs being ambitious and jazz intellectuals “slumming it.”
And this album’s liner notes and artwork seem to want to ascribe some sort of spiritual component that I just don’t hear. Which is not to say I don’t like this music. I really do. There is a hard-edged angularity to the sounds that can only come from musicians who know what they are doing yet are still playing their amps loudly! And I’m a guy who likes a musical puzzle every now and then. I came very close to getting in a car wreck trying to figure out what time signature one of the songs was in. (I never did.) I can’t wait to hear the other fusion from the era- Weather Report and Return to Forever being at the top of the list, but who knows who else I will discover in the process!
I’ve got lots and lots of other stuff I’m thinking about. Just can’t find the time right now. Be patient, my babies.
The Rare Photo
Regularly being around a couple mongo talented photographers (I'm looking at you,
Josh and
Carl), has me stopping to look at photographs a second longer whenever I'm reading something.
This week's issue of
Time had the above photograph and I was blown away by it, which rarely happens. I'm not really a visual-type person.
But this particular photo by Greg MIller left me a little breathless from it's weighty simplicity. There are SO MANY things that this photo could be saying.
I thought of simple dreams: "Oh, if only we could afford a new washing machine of our own."
I thought of a military marriage, (the caption said the couple is engaged), and how hard that would be, especially these days.
I thought of the simple act of physical touch, her laying her head on his shoulder and how it can speak volumes.
I thought of the strange angle from which this shot was taken. The light streaming from the closed store and the frayed overhang-- troubled promises of consumerism, (especially with the latest news about the U.S. economy...)
What a fantastic photo! Now I know why you guys do what you do.
I Love Words
…So today at work I looked at the clock to see it was 12:34. And I was pleasantly reminded of the time a few years ago I was challenged by my friend Jeff to invent a word for that phenomenon, since we didn't know of one. The word I came up with:
Scalanumerochrony, the image being a time in which numbers climb a ladder.
At the same time I also came up with
Homonumerochrony, or "same number time," (i.e. 2:22 pm.) I'm much more pleased with that one. All of the roots come from the same language, so there's a logic to it.
So...yeah. I'm a big nerdy dork.
Two Guitars
Download a recording of Two Guitars
here.
This is an homage to one of my musical heroes, the minimalist composer Steve Reich. I use the term “homage” because “outright theft of concept” lacks a certain subtlety. (But I’m certainly not the first to run with his ideas.)
So, what’s going on here? There are two parts. Guitar 1, (on the left side of the stereo spectrum), plays the seven bars over and over while Guitar 2 on the right side plays the same thing, except with each repetition of the material it gets further behind by an eighth note. This is inspired by the earlier “phasing” works of Reich as well as his essay “Music as a Gradual Process.”
I’ve gotta say, over-dubbing the second guitar part proved to be devilishly difficult as it required from me a middle way between “listening” and “not listening” to the original guitar line.
Enjoy.
Steven Stark's The Twin or the Seed
I just got done listening to Steven Stark’s short album
The Twin or the Seed a scant thirty seconds ago. I just had to get down what a beautiful song “Here or There” is.
The whole album is very pleasant, with acoustic guitar and cello, but the melancholy of the penultimate song in particular made me a little weepy. I’m horrible at processing lyrics but I think it’s about death and saying goodbye. When you combine those themes with Steven’s penchant for the unexpected, harmonically-speaking, well, let’s just say he was on top of his game with this tune.
You can get this album at:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/stevenstark4 or on itunes.
Steven, if you’re reading this, leave me a comment. I’ve got some questions:
1) “When I Hear the Message”—lots of layers, which reminds me of your first album. Are you ever hesitant to really go crazy when recording arrangements for fear the song won’t translate in a solo setting?
2) I’m curious about your compositional process. You seem to straddle two worlds: chamber music and some sort of folk-pop idiom. How do tunes start for you? Sitting around experimenting on the guitar or cello or isolated melody lines that you later harmonize?
3) “I Love Thee” sounds like a theme and variations on a tune that could easily be a hym from the 1700s. Is that what you were aiming for?
A Tree
I’ve got a stump in my front yard where a large oak tree used to be
It’s a good thing trees can’t think or cry out in pain
I don’t think this tree would have liked the last few weeks
First, there was the ungodly cold day when everything started to go to hell
(Wasn’t it Robert Frost who talked about the world ending in ice?)
The weight of the ice slowly pulled the tree close to the ground
It hunched like an old, graying widow
One huge branch was leaning on my house to catch some rest
Others snapped off violently and threw themselves across my yard, defectors from a sinking ship
But the huge trunk still stood there, naked in its infirmity
Then came the men with saws to finish the deed
I can’t help but consider the “life” of this tree
By my estimate, it was thirty-five years old
Imagine-
standing in silence
inauspiciously observing a neighborhood:
homeowners
renters
kids
cars
since 1973
That tree probably survived a dozen or so ice storms
But then here comes this self-important homeowner
protecting his investments
What right does HE have to tell me to leave?
I was here first! the tree probably thought to itself
if it was able to think
Good thing it can’t.
Whatcha Listenin' To?
As usual, lots of new-to-me music resounding in my world.
John Lee Hooker
Best Of: 1965-1974Remember how a few months ago I talked about James Taylor’s voice and how it’s hard to believe him because of the beauty of his instrument? Well, listen to these Hooker recordings and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Admittedly, a little blues goes a long way for me, but “Serve You Right to Suffer” is transcendent! Other notables: “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and the unlikely “I Cover the Waterfront.” When you think “Blues Singer,” this is probably the voice that pops into your mind.
Paul Simon
Rhythm of the Saints Partially on Steven’s recommendation and partially due to years of curiosity, I finally heard this follow-up to my beloved
Graceland. And an interesting follow-up it is. With
Graceland Paul introduced the pop world to the music of the world at large with African rhythms and Ladysmith Black Mambazo and this album kind of continues along the same lines. But not really. Whereas the earlier album is tightly produced and in your face with story-telling songs and instantly graspable melodies,
Rhythm of the Saints hides its charms a little bit, underneath ambiguous Van Morrison-esque visions and hypnotically large arrangements. The “Rhythm” in the title is definitely to be taken seriously, though. Pretty much every song is supported by a bed of foreign percussion instruments. This is one of those rare albums that warrants and rewards further investigation.
The Grateful Dead
American BeautyFriend of the blog Mark compared the newest Wilco album to the Grateful Dead and until now I’ve only heard a random smattering of Dead songs. I thought this “classic” album would prove to be a good remedy to that. Little did I know that this is actually atypical of their overall “jam-band” aesthetic. This album featured concise songs devoid of Garcia’s leads and an emphasis on layered vocal harmonies. (One listen to the vocals on some of the included live versions of these songs and their strengths as a band became readily apparent. Hint: It ain’t the singing.)
I’m finding out that some music is just not meant for picking apart on theoretical and thematic levels. This would be that kind of music. To appreciate this stuff I have to shut off the musical analyst side of my personality and create in my mind an ideal listening scenario- cruising down the highway out west in a VW micro-bus and talking life with a few good friends. Or get high.
In other words, the best way to appreciate this stuff is to ignore it.
Dusty Springfield
Dusty in MemphisNow I know. Now I know why this album is so revered! The sounds on here are somehow
instantly affecting. One- there is her voice. My God, what a beautiful instrument! So soulful, but with such restraint, a concept that has been lost on today’s “divas.” This is one of those rare occasions where the strengths lie in what she
doesn’t do. “So, what doesn’t she do,” you might ask. She never sings an unnecessary note. No gratuitous vocal gymnastics or “listen to me” histrionics, the absence of which belies an even cooler confidence. You know someone knows they’ve got the skills when they don’t feel a need to convince anyone.
As beautiful as this woman’s voice is, she is also supported by music that sits somewhere in between orchestral Motown and Nashville countrypolitan. (How cool is it to be backed up by a vocal group called “The Sweet Inspirations?”) And all this is not to mention strong songwriting by Carole King, Burt Bacharach, and Randy Newman, (a man very much in my zeitgeist as of late.) I
highly recommend you give this album a listen, (a nice palette-cleanser after the total deconstruction that is John Lennon’s
Plastic Ono Band.)
Randy Newman
Sail AwayAs Steven mentioned, the title track is a genius of a conceit- selling a future slave on the beauties of America, and is just one example of an intelligent wit. In “That’s Why I Love Mankind,” Newman speaks for God with an irony you’re not likely to hear anywhere else and talks of the primacy of America in “Political Science.” This is a far cry from the 1,778,564,098,432,892,673,124th time a singer has told the listener why he/she loves him/her.
Also impressive is Newman’s ability to write his own orchestrations, probably a skill he learned from his old man.
I intend to hear more from this guy.
