#537: Toenail-clippin' music!

...or, if you prefer, Yet Another Jazz Moment....

OPENERS:
Kansas -- Can I Tell You?, Journey from Mariabronn.

THE SORTA REAL STUFF:
Mahavishnu Orchestra -- APOCALYPSE: Power of Love, Vision is a Naked Sword, Smile of the Beyond, Wings of Karma, Hymn to Him.
Weather Report -- 8:30/LIVE: Black Market, Teen Town, A Remark You Made, Slang, In a Silent Way, Birdland, Thanks for the Memory, Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz medley, 8:30....

Kansas's "Can I Tell You?" almost sounds like there R saxes in it -- that's the keyboards mixed with the violin. There R some Xtremely fast unison keyboard/guitar/violin riffs, but the vocals R kinda rough, & the lyrics R nothing much.
However, "Journey from Mariabronn" is The Great Forgotten Kansas Song. A bit over-arranged & show-offy, a bit mock-operatic, it also has sections of great beauty & drive, & it rocks. At almost 8 mins, it's actually 2 short. Right up there with "Miracles Out of Nowhere" & "Song for America," 4 me. It's from the band's 1st album (1974), & is included on NE decent Kansas best-of. These 2 R from THE MUSIC OF KANSAS.

I've tried 2 look at the Mahavishnu Orchestra as King Crimson Without The Tunes, but it hasn't helped much. APOCALYPSE is a later version of the Orch, with Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Narada Michael Walden on drums, Gayle Moran on keybs & vocs, & the London Symphony Orchestra on strings. George Martin produced. I figured: Big guitars, big orch, big production, could B kinda cosmic, right? Well, it's a little cosmic. In places. Mostly it's just ick.
"Power of Love" is an OK opener, but it's not jazz -- more like a soundtrack; very sweet, gentle, lyrical acoustic gtr with strings.
"Vision is a Naked Sword" opens ominously. THIS is more like it, the kind of loud thrashing you'd Xpect from HahaMissedYou, but the thrashing is done by the orchestra. It's almost Happy-the-Man-ish sounding in places -- heavy on the keybs & percs, tho there's not much of a tune. Walden's drumming is a little 2 impressed with itself. John McLaughlin's gtr is solid & nimble, not overbearing.
Then comes a definitely soundtrack-y orchestral break near the end -- it's OK but kinda schlocky, & you've heard the tune B4: it sounds like 1 of those shifting, elemental riffs off the 1st 2 MO albums, "Awakening," say, or "Resolution." There shoulda bn more of this....
Gayle Moran sings on "Smile of the Beyond" -- in an operatic style, unfortunately. THIS is REALLY soundtracky. & schlocky. & where's the guitar? ...Finally, 4 mins in, it goes mostly instrumental Xcept 4 a vocal chorus. McLaughlin does summa his trademarked lightning-fast runs ... under the chorus. Why'd they havta mess-up perfectly good playing with SINGING, huh? Toward the end, Ponty's violin gives McL's gtr a run 4 the money, but it's brief.
The orchestral opening of "Wings of Karma" reminded me vaguely of "Peter and the Wolf." Then more soundtrack -- nice, but it's not jazz. ... A coupla mins in, the jazzers take over. This section sounds a little like David Sancious -- heavy on the keybs & gtr. Then the orchestra returns 4 a subdued ending.
"Hymn to Him" is a monster -- 19 mins! There's some firey gtr work around 7 mins in, followed by some twinkly, cocktail-lounge keybs from Moran. Ponty has some OK moments. Later on it sounds like the old lightning-fast Maha with the orchestra thrown-in. There shoulda bn more of THIS, 2.
Overall, disappointing. It's not bad, it's kinda pretty in places thanx 2 the orch, some of it's OK mood music, but it's still a soundtrack. & where's McLaughlin's huge, crashing riffs & earthshaking drama? I didn't like the MO's 1st 2 albums THAT much, now I'm gonna havta go back 2 'em.
& why is there a guy with a flute depicted on the cover? There's no flute solo-featured in the music. Shouldn't it have bn a guy with a guitar? Or a violin?
The album's liner notes mention ELP's "unconsciously kitschy" versions of classics.... Well, THIS is kitschy 4 sure, & there's very little power on display here. 1 4 the trade-off pile....

Coming 2 Weather Report's 8:30 live album is a relief. WR didn't have NE trouble turning it up 2 play live, & Joe Zawinul's keyboards make everything sound like it's gonna turn in2 "Boogie Woogie Waltz" -- & that's a GOOD thing.
"Black Market" is an upbeat, rockin' opening with some nice honking from saxist Wayne Shorter & some intresting thunder in the background. The late Jaco Pastorius's "Teen Town" is a nice workout, screaming fast by the end. If there's gonna B live electric jazz-rock, it should sound like these 2 trax.
"A Remark You Made" is a nice mellow ballad with lotsa nice blowing from Shorter -- tho Zawinul's keybs sound like they've got a headcold. Pastorius's "Slang" is basically a bass solo, & is as boring as those usually R, tho Jaco had fast fingers & the piece picks up rhythm & funkiness a coupla mins in.
"In a Silent Way" is a pretty, barely-recognizable version of the tune Zawinul wrote 4 Miles Davis. Very pretty sax from Shorter. I made lunch during "Birdland" cos I knew I wouldn't miss much -- but it DOES swing a bit, & it's less schlocky than the original studio version. "Thanks for the Memory" is another Xcuse 4 Shorter 2 blow the roof off the place, & he does -- solo.
The whole album's worth it 4 the "Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz" medley, which is still the same brilliant screaming monster I thot it was when I 1st heard it 4 yrs ago. Far as I know, this is the best thing these guys ever did. Rock & prog fans should love it.
This creature shifts gears & picks up speed at least 4 times as a very definite, vividly visual story is told in a way the original studio track absolutely DOES NOT: A guy who's late 4 work runs breathless 4 his subway train as his wife hollers "honey-do" reminders out the apartment window at him ... Then he catches the train, which -- just his luck -- starts barrelling downtown at top speed, out of control ... See the stations & lites flashing by in a blur? This baby is NOT gonna stop....
The last 3 mins of this thing absolutely SCREAMS: It's impossible not 2 tap your foot or bounce around the room with the rhythm, even tho you know The Big Crash is coming. ... & when it comes at the end, the train sprawls in a steaming, wrecked heap across the stage.... Crank it up, it's freakin awesome.
On the studio side, "8:30" itself fades in on a radio Bing tuned. Zawinul's keyboard sounds like an accordion. This is less impressive than the live trax, kinda moody & washy....

COMING SOON: More Of That Jazz....

#536: Things haven't changed much....

Checked-in over the last coupla days with an old friend, a book I hadn't re-read since 1983. & it showed me that no matter how high-tech we R now, TV news hasn't changed much.
I 1st read Michael Arlen's LIVING ROOM WAR (1969/1982) in journalism school, when I was researching how the media covers the military 4 a "term paper" I hadta write. Arlen's book shows clearly that TV news never got much of a handle on the Vietnam war, & we still don't really know What The Hell Happened. Maybe somehow we didn't WANT 2 know, cos we keep making the same kinds of mistakes in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Michael Herr's Vietnam-era psychedelic/autobiographical masterpiece DISPATCHES  was my other research book -- I'll probly B re-reading it next.)
Arlen points out that TV news is VERY good on details. Where they mess up is the overview -- showing what all the little pieces added-2gether MEAN. TV news is still messing up in that area.
When I 1st read the book, mosta the political stuff went right over my head. This time around, I noticed Arlen's amusing look at "media consultants" (who have bn advising politicians about TV at least since the Kennedy/Nixon debates in 1960), which brot him 2 the conclusion that with the help of these high-tech advisers, "even someone like a movie actor could be elected president."
Hahahahaha. Pretty funny, right? & this is B4 Arlen even MENTIONS then-Calif Gov Ronald Reagan....
I know what you're thinking. This book sounds awfully dated. & it is, a bit. But just substitute current names 4 those Arlen uses, & the critiques still work.
Bsides, as Arlen points out, as the use of TV consultants grew, presidential candidates worried more & more about creating an "image" that voters could latch onto, something like a "real person" they could relate 2.
& as a result, Issues were talked about less & less.
& of course this is still happening.
When was the last time your favorite news outlet talked about Issues surrounding the current presidential campaign?
When was the last time you heard CNN talk about how the Republican presidential candidates plan 2 put 14 million unemployed Americans back 2 work?
It's bn MONTHS.
CNN & other daily news organizations R more locked-in2 who won the latest primary, & which candidate said something stupid this week.
Have you seen or heard NE news broadcast discuss the economy or jobs in-depth in terms of the presidential race lately? Have you heard them outline Mitt Romney's jobs plan? Or Rick Santorum's? Or Newt Gingrich's?
No. & do you know why? Because -- at least 4 the purposes of TV news -- they don't HAVE any plans. Look 'em up. I did. It's just rhetoric. The only thing all 3 agree on is tax cuts 4 the rich, under the assumption that the Xtra $$$ will create new jobs. Tho there's nothing in the current economic climate 2 guarantee that'll happen.
& if the rich corporation-owners Dcide 2 keep their Xtra tax $$$, then what?
Obama's no better. Even when he comes up with a jobs proposal, his own party in Congress stonewalls him.
As long as Congress remains a joke, it doesn't matter WHO's president. Nothing's going 2 change much. Americans should stop Xpecting their president 2 somehow "save" them or rescue them -- that sorta feeling was what got Obama elected in the 1st place. & tho I thot he had some good ideas, none of them have come thru in the way he'd hoped. The only thing left is his rather good speech-making abilities....
I would LOVE 2 C CNN or some other network sit down with the candidates & talk IN DETAIL about their plans 4 the future -- apart from winning whatever the next primary-state is. Talk about fixing the economy, putting people back 2 work, fixing Social Security & Medicare, keeping gas & food prices down, making it so people don't havta squeeze every dollar til it screams.
But TV news doesn't do that -- it's 2 busy focusing on Herman Cain's women problems, or Rick Perry's senior moment, or Mitt Romney's inability 2 connect with 1/2 of his own party.
& we all lose. TV news should take the chance 2 B BORING in order 2 do the public good. If the upcoming presidential election really is that important -- & 14 million unemployed people should make it the most important election we've had in awhile -- our media owes it 2 us 2 get us as well-informed as possible. Not just 2 discuss 4 days who's most likely 2 win Ohio....
...Oh, Arlen's book? It's the best, most detailed, most passionate, sometimes most angry book of TV criticism since Harlan Ellison's THE GLASS TEAT. There's even some laffs in it.
There's even a Romney in this book....

#535: What I'm on about 2

Some people drink 2 manage their stress. Some people smoke. I just turn the music up louder.
At work, keeping some music on -- NE music, whether it's the radio or homemade tapes or loaned CD's -- keeps me moving, keeps me motivated, keeps me happy. It works WAY better than a good cup of coffee or hot chocolate. & if I'm stressin cos it's busy & I can't keep up or people R grumpin at me or I've pissed some1 off, I just turn the music up a little louder, & most of the time it all goes away. & all my work gets done. I get thru another nite enjoyably. & I'm another step closer 2 payday.
It doesn't ALWAYS work. Sat nite, 4 some reason, it didn't: Thru the early part of the evening I was playing PET SOUNDS & a homemade late-'60s Beach Boys Best-Of. & tho it's all great stuff & I still love it, most of it didn't keep me going in the usual fashion. Great music, just the wrong environment.
As soon as I switched 2 something else, the magic kicked back in, & I was bouncing around & laffing & joking & dancing a little in addition 2 getting my work done -- & not minding summa the draggier aspects of my job.
Tho it wasn't the best work week ever, it was OK. Least I GOT a job. & I know people can tell when I'm in a good mood, when I'm not letting things bother me, when summa the downsides of the job R'NT getting hold of me. When the music's playing, I'm nicer, friendlier, less stressed, feel less rushed. The bad stuff just floats away. & the evening goes by in a blur. A good 1. & I'm not stressin.
NEthing that gets me thru work with a minimum of stress has gotta B a Good Thing.
+ there R bonuses.
In the past week, I've turned-on people who've Xpressed intrest 2 music like Wigwam's "Bless Your Lucky Stars," Grateful Dead's "Passenger," Golden Earring's "Snot Love in Spain," Sandy Denny and Fotheringay's "The Way I Feel," Pentangle's "Light Flight," & The Mamas and the Papas' "Twelve Thirty."
I usedta B a little Mbarrassed about playing summa my favorite music in-public, worried that the 1st person 2 say "This sucks" is gonna crush me. But now I don't care. I don't care if they hear me howling along with Cyndi Lauper's "When You Were Mine" or Paula Abdul's "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" or Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." Or Bread's "Been Too Long on the Road." I just don't care. Cos I know what works 4 me, what keeps me motivated, what makes me a better, nicer worker, a nicer person 2 deal with & B around.
+ I'm doing my part 4 the good of my neighbors. If I'm not stressing or freaking out or screaming at work thanx 2 the music I play, that's gotta B good. + if some1 else likes this stuff & I can help them track it down, that's gotta B good 2, right?
There's gotta B people all over the country doing this, but I've never heard about them or read their blogs.
As is, I'm now taking a large overnite-bag full of cassettes with me 2 work every day 2 keep me going. & tho I sometimes play my favorite Old Stand-By's, I'm adding stuff all the time. This week I added Fairport Convention & their various offshoots. Last week it was Bread -- even summa their softer stuff rocks pretty good. While back I tried out Camel & Pat Metheny. & nobody's complained yet.
Haven't tried NE King Crimson yet, I don't think. Might B worth seeing what "Frame By Frame" or "Sleepless" or even "The Great Deceiver" might do 2 an unsuspecting audience. Should probly try-out some Caravan & Gryphon & Gentle Giant, 2. Hang on a minute....
-- OK, there, tossed in the bag. I'll B back at it on Weds, inflicting off-the-wall music on unsuspecting members of the American public. The job pays the bills. The Xtras -- turning people on 2 new music, or just getting them 2 relax & talk a little -- gives my life meaning.

There'll B Yet Another Jazz Moment coming up eventually, hopefully including work by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Miles Davis, David Sancious and Tone, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Return to Forever, & possibly more.
I've also bn trying 2 get in2 a supposed jazz-reporting classic, A.B. Spellman's FOUR LIVES IN THE BE-BOP BUSINESS (1966/1985), but am finding it rough going. Spellman's whole point seems 2 B how hard the jazzman's life is -- or was, in the mid-'60s. Well, duh. Especially if the performer's music is "difficult." So hard is the jazzman's life that 1 of the subjects of Spellman's book -- composer/pianist Herbie Nichols -- died B4 the book was published. Parts of it R valuable -- there R long reminiscences from the 4 subjects, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Jackie McLean & Nichols -- but a lot of it so far seemsta B just dead-obvious. Possibly more on this later.
Oh BTW, Philip Larkin's ALL WHAT JAZZ? (which I mentioned last time) is a lotta fun if you Njoy snarky putdowns of jazz stars. Sometimes I do. Mainly what it shows is how much Larkin missed Louis Armstrong/Duke Ellington/Benny Goodman/Glenn Miller-era jazz. It also illustrates at great length Larkin's theory that the more "modern" jazz Bcame, the closer it got 2 pure noise. Sometimes his illustrations of this theory R hilarious -- as when he calls Miles Davis "the Charles Addams of the trumpet -- without the humor, of course," or his description of a side of John Coltrane's MEDITATIONS as "the most astounding piece of ugliness I have ever heard." If this sounds like fun 2 you, go 2 it -- but make sure you get it cheap.

1 of R Regulars came in2 the store Sun nite & laffed: "I have relatives in the house -- I need more WINE!" Then she asked how 2 get unwanted relatives 2 leave -- I said putting on & cranking up David Sancious and Tone's TRANSFORMATION: THE SPEED OF LOVE always worked 4 me -- even tho I loved it, within 5 mins the strange & abrupt twists & turns of this keyboard-based mid-'70s jazz-rock would have my unwanted guests glancing at their watches & looking 4 the door. I also suggested later Coltrane & NEthing by Coleman. She wondered about Barry Manilow or Barry White. "Well, it's gotta B a sure thing," I said. "Just make sure your guests don't get the wrong idea...."

#534: Another Jazz Moment....

Due 2 circumstances Byond my control, this isn't quite as BIG a Jazz Moment as I'd hoped, but more stuff is in the works as time & energy permit. 4 now, however....

WARM-UP:
Gong -- Mystic Sister, Magik Brother, Mister Long Shank/O Mother I Am Your Fantasy....

FOR REAL:
Thelonious Monk -- UNDERGROUND (expanded CD): Thelonious, Ugly Beauty, Raise Four, Boo Boo's Birthday, Easy Street, Green Chimneys, In Walked Bud, Ugly Beauty take 4, Boo Boo's Birthday take 2, Thelonious take 3.
Sun Ra -- THE FUTURISTIC SOUNDS OF....: Bassism, Of Sounds and Something Else, What's That?, Where is Tomorrow?, The Beginning, China Gates, New Day....

BOOKS:
ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO JAZZ.
ROLLING STONE JAZZ RECORD GUIDE.
PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ, Richard Cook & Brian Morton.
Philip Larkin: ALL WHAT JAZZ?

Still not sure about Gong. Spacey & jazzy, but often 2 silly 4 me. "Mystic Sister" features Gilly Smith's giggly, gasping voice doing nothing much. Daevid Allen takes over on "Magik Brother," which is much lighter than their later stuff, almost folky. Didier Mahlerbe's distinctive flute & sax is already part of the early mix. But it all turns 2 silly psychedelic mush with "Mister Long Shank." Their later stuff works better 4 me. From ABSOLUTELY THE BEST OF....
Now then. Like John Coltrane's GIANT STEPS, Thelonious Monk's UNDERGROUND is 1 of my fave jazz-blowing albums of all time. I've loved it ever since I found a beat-up vinyl copy of the record in a 2nd-hand store In The Middle Of Nowhere in Wyoming. & Blieve me, there is NO jazz in Wyoming.
2 me, UNDERGROUND just conjures up jazz blowing sessions in smoky out-of-the-way nearly-deserted bars that I'd probly never B caught dead in. I've read some reviews that call summa the performances on this album "tired," but I've got no other Monk 2 compare it 2, so it sounds good 2 me.
I can tell you that, like GIANT STEPS, Monk's themes R memorable, & U can go YEARS Btween listenings (like I did) & still remember the tunes. I can even take the 1 track where Jon Hendricks sings ("In Walked Bud").
I love Monk's sorta "off" piano, his short, jagged phrasing -- the sorta off-kilter or off-balance tunes that sometimes leave you Xpecting more. There's also great work by the resta the quartet -- Charlie Rouse's bright sax, the beautifully-picked-up brush-work by Ben Riley, & Larry Gales' solid bass.
4 me, "Thelonius" is the best thing here, but "Ugly Beauty"'s a close 2nd. On "In Walked Bud," Hendricks' scat-singing of his impromptu lyrics sometimes sounds like another horn. It doesn't much matter what words he's singing. It might B better 2 hear a sax playing that melody line, but the vocal does contribute something Xtra.
The 3 bonus trax R nice but not earthshakingly diffrent from the originals. All the trax R un-edited vs. the original 1968 album which trimmed sevral trax 2 fit on2 vinyl. Summa the pieces run 13 mins.
Now then, the spacey stuff! Or not. Sun Ra's FUTURISTIC SOUNDS is a CD re-release of (what I assume is) a mid-2-late-'60s album originally on Savoy -- Tom Wilson produced.
But here's the thing: Gong is stranger.
"Bassism" has some nice flute from Marshall Allen, & later some nice unison saxes from Allen, John Gilmore & Pat Patrick. "Of Sounds and Something Else" has a swingin' big band sound! The horns mix it up a lot more on "What's That?" Ra also glides all over the piano, but it's not what I would call "spacey."
The trax R SHORT. Not sure what's so "futuristic" or Out There here. This is almost like Monk, but with lots more horns.
"The Beginning" is a little more abstract -- a nice percussion workout with flute & sax coming in later -- vaguely Indian-sounding. "China Gates" has an OK bass vocal, some nice atmosphere with bells & shakers & Ra's lite-oriental piano theme. "New Day" has more nice atmospherics & Patrick's Xcellent baritone sax. Gilmore & Allen join in later. This is also vaguely Indian/African, & there's some nice propulsive rhythms....
Tho time ran out 4 me on this, I'll B returning 2 it. There's nothing stunning here, but there's some nice blowing & atmosphere. Thot Ra was Out There a bit...?

Have also bn trying 2 get in2 some books on jazz. The ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO JAZZ is a huge 1,400-pg monster (nearly as big as their ROCK guide), chock-full of reviews, which is of course why I bot it -- but just a touch thin on personalities & histories of the musicians -- which led me back 2 Richard Cook & Brian Morton's superb PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ, which not only has reviews, but also has great stories about the jazz giants + some really Xcellent writing. They have some Issues with jazz-rock, but then so do I, so....
THE ROLLING STONE JAZZ GUIDE is a thinly-Xpanded version of the jazz reviews originally printed in their original red RS RECORD GUIDE (1979) -- thin & disappointing, but at least it was cheap.
Philip Larkin's ALL WHAT JAZZ? is a collection of jazz reviews he wrote 4 London's DAILY TELEGRAPH Btween 1961 & '71. It just arrived 2day & I've barely had a chance 2 sniff at it. But the 1st thing I read was a vicious & hilarious piece on the death of John Coltrane that -- not suprisingly -- went unpublished at the time it was written. Looks like Larkin doesn't much like Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, or Ornette Coleman, either. & since I enjoy direct, brutal criticism in summa my weaker moments, this could B a lotta fun. Is Larkin the kinda guy hipsters useta call "moldy figs" back in the '40s & '50s? He's hilarious, tho a bit of a stick in the mud. More soon....

Coming next: Yet Another Jazz Moment, featuring Mahavishnu Orchestra's APOCALYPSE & others, Miles Davis's IN A SILENT WAY, Weather Report's 8:30/LIVE, Keith Jarrett's EYES OF THE HEART & others, David Sancious and Tone, Return to Forever, etc etc etc....

#533: Gettin' in tune....

Slightly-off-the-wall music-therapy continues at my job, & I think a good number of my customers R finally starting 2 Get It. Along with all my usual overplayed oldies hits, recent nites' playlists have included....

Todd Rundgren -- Dust in the Wind, I Saw the Light, Intro/Breathless, The Night the Carousel Burned Down, Saving Grace, Real Man, You Make Me Crazy, The Very Last Time, Song of the Viking, A Dream Goes on Forever, We Gotta Get You a Woman, Just One Victory, Couldn't I Just Tell You?, Bang the Drum All Day.
Carlene Carter -- Little Love Letter #1, Every Little Thing, Sweet Meant to Be, Little Love Letter #2, Heart is Right.
Brewer and Shipley -- One Toke Over the Line.
Christie -- Yellow River.
Jeff Lynne -- Every Little Thing.
Bruce Springsteen -- Rosalita.
Go-Go's -- Head Over Heels, You Thought, Forget That Day, Capture the Light, I'm With You.
Bangles -- If She Knew What She Wants, Let it Go, September Gurls, Angels Don't Fall in Love, Not Like You, Manic Monday, In a Different Light, Walk Like an Egyptian, Return Post, Hero Takes a Fall, Dover Beach, Going Down to Liverpool, Everything I Wanted.
Kate Bush -- This Woman's Work.
Pat Metheny -- Praise, The Search.
Van Morrison -- Caravan, Into the Mystic, Wild Night.
Neil Diamond -- Crunchy Granola Suite, Holly Holy, Soolaimon.
Gordon Lightfoot -- High and Dry, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Summer Side of Life.
Bob Dylan -- One of Us Must Know.
Billy Joel -- All for Leyna, Traveling Prayer.
Jefferson Starship -- Find Your Way Back, All Nite Long, Fading Lady Light, Freedom at Point Zero, Save Your Love.
Blue Oyster Cult -- Astronomy (IMAGINOS version).
Dion -- Ruby Baby.
Chicago -- Critic's Choice, In Terms of Two.
Donovan -- Season of the Witch.
Fleetwood Mac -- The Green Manalishi.
Donna Summer -- I Love You, Heaven Knows.
Stones -- Worried About You, Waiting on a Friend.
Elton -- (Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket, Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Teacher I Need You.
Dave Clark Five -- Catch Us if You Can, Any Way You Want It.
Crabby Appleton -- Go Back.
Beach Boys -- Trombone Dixie, Let's Go Away for Awhile, The Trader.
Boston -- My Destination, Can'tcha Say/Still in Love, Hollyann.
Pete Townshend -- Give Blood, A Little is Enough, North Country Girl, Prelude, Face Dances Part 2, Slit Skirts.
Waterboys -- A Life of Sundays.
Paul McCrane -- Dogs in the Yard.
Stories -- Darling, Love is in Motion, Hey France, Changes Have Begun, Top of the City, Circles, Words, Believe Me, Please Please, What Comes After.
Rollers -- Hello and Welcome Home, I Was Eleven, Stoned Houses #2, Washington's Birthday.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter -- Passionate Kisses, This Shirt.
Tricia Yearwood -- Wrong Side of Memphis.
B.J. Thomas -- Rock and Roll Lullabye.
Poco -- A Good Feeling to Know, Here We Go Again.
Queen -- Need Your Loving Tonight, I'm in Love With My Car, You're My Best Friend, '39, It's Late.
Linda Ronstadt -- Party Girl, How Do I Make You?, I Can't Let Go, Talking in the Dark.
Barbra Streisand (with Fanny) -- Stoney End.
Supertramp -- From Now On.
Steve Winwood -- Valerie.
John Lennon -- Stand By Me.
Bowie -- Suffragette City.
Roxy Music -- Over You, Same Old Scene, The Thrill of it All.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band -- For You, Heart on the Street, Stranded.
The Who -- Daily Records.
Tommy James & the Shondells -- Ball of Fire.
Genesis -- Like it or Not.
Rare Earth -- Under God's Light.
Bread -- Let Your Love Go, Look What You've Done, Truckin', Guitar Man, Been Too Long on the Road, Everything I Own, It Don't Matter to Me, Mother Freedom, Down on My Knees, Too Much Love.
.38 Special -- Caught Up in You, Chain Lightning.
Cyndi Lauper -- Money Changes Everything, When You Were Mine.
Bonnie Raitt -- I Can't Make You Love Me.
Paula Abdul -- Blowing Kisses in the Wind.
Travis Tritt -- T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
EnVogue -- Free Your Mind.
Boz Scaggs -- You've Got Some Imagination.
Journey -- Spaceman.
Bob Seger -- Feel Like a Number.
Cars -- Dangerous Type.
Heart -- Mistral Wind.
Clannad -- In Fortune's Hand.
Foreigner -- Do What You Like, Rev on the Red Line.
Crack the Sky -- Lighten Up McGraw (live).
Bram Tchaikovsky -- Let's Dance.
Jim Croce -- It Doesn't Have to be That Way.
Deborah Allen -- Baby I Lied.
Love -- You Set the Scene.
Albert Hammond -- I'm a Train, Names Tags Numbers and Labels.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur, Three Primates, You and It.
Glass Moon -- Solsbury Hill.
REO -- Roll With the Changes, Blazing Your Own Trail Again.
ELO -- Twilight, The Way Life's Meant to Be.
Wigwam -- Bless Your Lucky Stars, Kite, Do or Die, Simple Human Kindness.
The Pop -- Go!
Golden Earring -- Snot Love in Spain.
Three Dog Night -- My Impersonal Life.
Suzanne Vega -- Small Blue Thing.
Pentangle -- Light Flight.
Jane Wiedlin -- Rush Hour.
Traffic -- Glad.
Mark Knopfler -- Going Home (Theme of the Local Hero).
Dream Academy -- Life in a Northern Town.
'Til Tuesday -- Maybe Monday.
Tracey Chapman -- Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution.
Joni Mitchell -- Coyote.
Byrds -- I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better.
Rush -- Show Don't Tell, Manhattan Project, Time Stand Still.
Monkees -- Porpoise Song, Tapioca Tundra.

I of course vouch 4 the mostly high quality of all the stuff listed above -- & ESPECIALLY the stuff you've never heard B4.
...Most of this went down pretty well. A lot of my customers seem suprised that I'm now rocking out EVERY NITE after about 8 pm. It sure keeps me happier, & energized so I keep movin' & get my work done. Works WAY better than a strong cuppa coffee. & it's probly healthier, 2. Seemsta make my customers happier, 2....
Don't remember much about specific responses -- it was a busy week -- but I remember 1 woman telling me I "always have the most awesome music playing" whenever she comes in2 the store -- thanx 4 that -- & I remember having 2 Xplain that "Life in a Northern Town" was my son's Favorite Song In The World when he was 2. & I remember a young couple saying they enjoyed Manfred Mann's Earth Band (I think it was), even tho the music was older than THEY were.... 1 woman said she was "trippin' out" 2 hear Bread's "Guitar Man" again: "I think the last time I heard it I was about 17 years old, drivin' down the road ... probably smokin' a joint...."
That's about all I remember. This shoddy handling of incoming data isn't gonna do my federal grant application NE good....

Mike Zwerin's CLOSE ENOUGH FOR JAZZ (1983) is an often-hilarious memoir by a jazz-trombonist & VILLAGE VOICE columnist who toured Russia in the '60s with Earl "Fatha" Hines, played alongside Eric Dolphy in Orchestra USA in the early '60s, & tried 2 masquerade as a steel-company president until he realized he was turning his back on his True Calling.
When I 1st got the book & saw Zwerin was gonna open with his (brief) steel-company Xperience, I paged idly thru the resta the book looking 4 something 2 grab me, & the 1st sentence I read in full made me laff out loud. Oddly, this sentence was about 1nce seeing jazz-saxophone legend Charlie Parker throwing up in a gutter. Zwerin immediately adds: "I was 16, anything Bird did was all right with me."
If you're a big jazz fan, I'd urge you 2 start on pg. 169, with 1 of a series of pieces about touring Europe with various bands. These write-ups Rn't all fun&games, tho they mostly R -- but Zwerin's recounting of the Russian tour is pretty grim, & politics plays in2 it heavily.
Europe clearly appealed 2 Zwerin -- he moved 2 France the day Richard Nixon was inaugurated, & was still there when this book was published in '83. That doesn't keep him from looking at the worldwide jazz scene, or from going all the way back 2 the invention of the saxophone in 1840.
Zwerin has a very funny, punchy writing style with a good handle on the Jazz Attitude. The book is full of hilarious jazz stories, + recounts his Xperiences as the VOICE's jazz columnist -- a gig that didn't work out quite the way either party Xpected.
Zwerin sez the VOICE kept pushing him 4 more "hard news" -- the features & profiles that make up this book prove he was on 2 The Right Stuff. ...& it's not all about jazz: 1 long section near the Nd gets Xtremely personal (marriage problems, affairs, etc.), & even offers some tips 4 Growing Old Gracefully, tips I can use.
From his 1st tour of the South with Claude Thornhill's band in the late '50s (all the band's members may have been nuts), thru a stint with Maynard Ferguson's blaring jazz band, 2 his later adventures in France, this is mostly hilarious stuff. There's a great-but-2-short chapter on the uselessness of jazz critics. + there's 8 bonus profiles or "tags" that close the book, & some of them (Chet Baker, Elvin Jones, John Cage, Jaco Pastorius, Sun Ra, ECM Records chief Manfred Eicher) R brilliant jazz-writing miniatures.
Wouldn't have minded if it'd bn 2wice as long. Worth tracking down....

Also read most of Philip Harbottle's VULTURES OF THE VOID: THE LEGACY (2011), which I thot was a history of bottom-dwelling British pulp-science-fiction publishers of the '40s, '50s & '60s. & there is SOME of that. But mostly the book (which I'm pretty-sure is self-published) is a reminiscence about Harbottle's lifelong efforts 2 get forgotten British SF writers like John Russell Fearn back in2 print. There's also an Xcellent LONG chapter about Harbottle's adventures editing the British SF magazine VISION OF TOMORROW at the end of the '60s.
There R neat insights from SF writer E.C. Tubb & others. & tho I'd hoped 4 lots more dirt on low-level British SF publishers like Curtis Warren -- companies that had writers cranking-out 120-pg novels in 2 weeks for $60! For YEARS! -- there is unfortunately not enuf of this.
This is an intresting book about a lost time-period in British SF, & some of Harbottle's memories about The England That Was R pretty neat. But I think you'd havta B a pretty hard-core SF fan 2 get much enjoyment out of it....

#532: A Jazz Moment

Most acoustic "Real Thing" jazz goes right thru me. Most electric jazz-rock sounds like noise 2 me. So this should be fun....

WARM-UP:
Florence + The Machine -- Only if for a Night, Shake it Out.

GETTING SERIOUS:
John Coltrane -- GIANT STEPS: Giant Steps, Cousin Mary, Countdown, Spiral, Syeeda's Song Flute, Naima, Mr. P.C.
Weather Report -- Birdland, Mysterious Traveler, Boogie Woogie Waltz, The Elders, Night Passage, Freezing Fire, A Remark You Made; Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz (live).
Miles Davis -- KIND OF BLUE: So What?, Freddy Freeloader, Blue in Green, All Blues, Flamenco Sketches.
John Coltrane -- A LOVE SUPREME: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, Psalm.

In case you missed my previous raves, Florence's "Shake it Out" is still the best thing I've heard in years. "Only if for a Night" gets better with each listening, 2....
Now then, Coltrane's GIANT STEPS is 1 of my favorite jazz-blowing albums ever, right up there with Thelonious Monk's UNDERGROUND. It's got great, memorable themes & lotsa activity; I love Coltrane's sax & Art Taylor's breezy drumming, & just the SOUND of the thing. It's not 2 heavy, & it makes great waking-up music. Not much more 2 say, Xcept that you can go YEARS Btween listenings & still remember the themes -- I know, Bcos I DID. "Giant Steps" is probly the most memorable track here -- but as they say, it's all good.
Weather Report. Hmmm. Wish I could like them more. The "live" version of "Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz" on their 8:30 album is an absolute screaming monster -- I put it on as a comparison against the 1st 7 above-listed trax on WR's BEST OF. NE rock or prog-rock fan would probly love the live track, which is probly the best thing these guys ever did, near as I can tell. In the studio, well....
"Birdland" sounds like a TV game-show theme, but it DOES build up some bouncy drive. I still think Manhattan Transfer's vocal version is marginally better. It should just HIT HARDER, & it doesn't.
"Mysterious Traveler" ... is mysterious. "Boogie Woogie Waltz" bubbles & simmers 4 a LONG time -- almost 9 mins -- B4 it gets where it wants 2 go, but the beat is unstoppable & tough 2 ignore. These guys R at their best when saxist Wayne Shorter is screaming & keybsguy Joe Zawinul's massed machines R burbling away. But there's no big finish here. This just sounds like a blueprint 4 the screaming live version.
"The Elders" is a little eerie & inconclusive. "Night Passage" features an almost big-band horn sound. "A Remark You Made" has some nice soaring sax. But overall, all this stuff is 2 lite & airy, not heavy enuf. It should HIT HARDER. Check out the live album instead, you'll have no complaints....
As I said, most acoustic "Real Jazz" leaves me cold, I miss the electricity. But Miles' KIND OF BLUE also makes 4 good waking-up music. "So What?" has nice bass work from Paul Chambers & good sax from Coltrane & Cannonball Adderley. The horns jump right out at you. There's also swinging backup from Chambers & drummer Jimmy Cobb.
"Freddie Freeloader" has swinging Xtroverted piano from Wynton Kelly, & Miles plays more here. There's more nice sax from Adderley & Coltrane, & the brief theme statement at the end with all 3 horns blending 2gether is really nice.
I should note that my only previous Xperiences with Miles R the moody IN A SILENT WAY, the unlistenable LIVE/EVIL, & the rather nice AURA. I'm tempted 2 say the rock&roll influence didn't do Miles much good, but mayB I've just heard the wrong stuff. KIND OF BLUE is much more open & approachable than the later electric stuff -- that's probly why it's a jazz classic, right?
"Blue in Green" has Miles on muted trumpet in a very quiet duet with pianist Bill Evans. Moody late-nite jazz. "All Blues" starts swinging about 4 or 5 mins in -- after 11-1/2 mins it still seems like it gets cut off 2 short.
The closing "Flamenco Sketches" is hushed & beautiful, & again the horns jump right out at you. 9-1/2 mins seems 2 short....
Onward. Coltrane's A LOVE SUPREME is VERY diffrent from GIANT STEPS. It's WAY noisier & a LOT more active. Elvin Jones's drumming is all over the place on "Acknowledgement." So is Coltrane. Sometimes he screeches. & I LIKE the chanting by the members of the quartet.
"Resolution" is amazingly active, with Coltrane SCREAMING & Jones all over the drum kit. 7-1/2 mins of this seems awfully short.
"Pursuance" opens with a torrential 90-second drum solo from Jones, a brief statement from Trane, & then FINALLY some nice McCoy Tyner piano -- he's bn in the background 4 the whole 1st 1/2 of the album. Jones is still all over the place. These guys R FEROCIOUS -- like they've got energy 2 BURN. Certainly they didn't need NE electric instruments 2 get their point across. There's another brief solo from Jones, then a rather Indian-sounding bass solo from Jimmy Garrison -- a chance 4 everybody else 2 take a breather?
"Psalm" has lotsa hushed drama ... that doesn't really lead 2 a big finish. This is more like letting out a deep breath, a sense of resolution & not-quite-calm at the end.
It's gonna take me a few more listenings, but I can see why this was acclaimed as a jazz classic -- even if it's just 4 Jones' amazing drumming....

COMING SOON: Another Jazz Moment....

#531: Messin' 5

Hello, Mothership? TAD here.
Think there might B some hope 4 these humans after all. Am continuing 2 use lite Strange Music Therapy on them at every possible opportunity while "working," & Fri nite's session had more responses than NE evening so far. Research & testing will continue. Recent playlists have included:

Go-Go's -- Head Over Heels, You Thought, Forget That Day, Capture the Light, I'm With You.
Bangles -- If She Knew What She Wants, Let it Go, September Gurls, Angels Don't Fall in Love, Not Like You, Manic Monday, Different Light, Walk Like an Egyptian, Return Post, Hero Takes a Fall, All About You, Dover Beach, Going Down to Liverpool.
Wigwam -- Bless Your Lucky Stars, Kite, Do or Die, Simple Human Kindness.
Golden Earring -- Snot Love in Spain.
The Move -- Do Ya, Message from the Country.
The Pop -- Go!
Camel -- Sasquatch, Manic.
Tears for Fears -- Broken, Head Over Heels.
'Til Tuesday -- Maybe Monday.
Icicle Works -- A Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly).
Cream -- Badge.
Van Morrison -- Wild Night.
Paul McCartney -- No More Lonely Nights.
Youngbloods -- Get Together.
Tracey Ullman -- I'm Always Touched by Your Presence Dear.
Squeeze -- Pulling Mussels from the Shell.
A Flock of Seagulls -- I Ran, Space-Age Love Song.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band -- Stranded.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.
Glass Moon -- Solsbury Hill.
Roxy Music -- The Thrill of it All.
REO Speedwagon -- Roll With the Changes, Blazing Your Own Trail Again.
Journey -- Feeling That Way/Anytime.
Dave Edmunds -- Information.
Jeff Lynne -- Lift Me Up, Every Little Thing.
Heart -- Never.
ELO -- Twilight, The Way Life's Meant to Be.
Kansas -- Can I Tell You? (demo), Journey from MariaBronn, Song for America, Carry On Wayward Son, The Wall, What's On My Mind, Miracles Out of Nowhere, Questions of My Childhood, Cheyenne Anthem.
Easybeats -- Friday on My Mind.
Bobby Fuller Four -- I Fought the Law.
CCR -- Who'll Stop the Rain?
Stones -- Tumbling Dice.
Raiders -- Hungry.
Badfinger -- No Matter What, Baby Blue.
Cheap Trick -- Surrender.
Bob Seger -- Rock and Roll Never Forgets.
Five Man Electrical Band -- Absolutely Right.
Spencer Davis Group -- Gimme Some Lovin'.
Martha and the Vandellas -- Dancing in the Street.
Cyndi Lauper -- Money Changes Everything.
Buffalo Springfield -- Bluebird, Mr. Soul.
Jefferson Airplane -- Somebody to Love.
Three Dog Night -- Celebrate, Out in the Country, Shambala, Let Me Serenade You.
Chicago -- Feelin' Stronger Every Day.
Fanny -- Charity Ball.
Blue Ridge Rangers (John Fogerty) -- Hearts of Stone.
Freddy Cannon -- Palisades Park.
Brotherhood of Man -- United We Stand.
Bram Tchaikovsky -- Let's Dance.

Continue 2 think that -- at their best -- these humans might B worth some consideration B4 we take over their planet. On Fri nite, 1 guy asked me about Wigwam while the ominous, rumbling "Bless Your Lucky Stars" was playing -- he said they never heard much music from Finland while he was growing up in Detroit. When I asked if he thot it was turned up 2 loud, he said "Are you kidding?" 1 woman asked who was singing "You Thought" & was shocked 2 learn it was the Go-Go's, tho she thot she recognized the singer -- "Man, that's a blast from the past," she said. 1 woman way 2 young 2 have heard it the 1st time around recognized "Friday on My Mind" & sang along with it! An older gentleman asked "what group" was playing on "Ur" & was suprised 2 hear it was just 2 guys..... 1 guy asked about "Hearts of Stone" & wasn't suprised 2 hear it was really John Fogerty in disguise. 1 guy said while Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels" was playing "You always have something good playing in here." Coupla women said at least I had some good tunes goin' while I worked. 1 older guy bounced around pretty good 2 "Information"....
...& as 4 me, I actually figured out a few more words to "Palisades Park" -- & I've only been listening 2 it 4 45 years....
So, I urge that this slightly-strange music therapy should continue. The humans seem to like it. Even stuff I hadn't played in awhile (Bangles, Go-Go's, Wigwam, Golden Earring, The Pop) sounded really good on Fri nite. & if I'm hearing new things in music I've bn listening-2 4 yrs, it must B doing good things 4 me, 2.
Hope 2 try out some new & even odder music in the evenings ahead.
More soon....

#530: Messin' 4

Continuing 2 crank-out the sometimes-off-the-wall homemade hits 2 help get me thru work nites. The past few nites' playlists have included:

Kansas -- Song for America, Carry On Wayward Son, The Wall, What's On My Mind, Miracles Out of Nowhere, Questions of My Childhood, Cheyenne Anthem.
The Nice -- America.
Nektar -- Do You Believe in Magic?, The Dream Nebula Parts 1 & 2, It's All in Your Mind, King of Twilight, Wings, Astral Man, Fidgety Queen, Good Day (live), It's All Over.
Fanny -- Charity Ball, Ain't That Peculiar?
Marvin Gaye -- Ain't That Peculiar?, What's Goin' On?
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell -- You're All I Need to Get By.
Dave Clark Five -- Any Way You Want It.
Todd Rundgren -- Just One Victory.
Mark Knopfler & Gerry Rafferty -- That's the Way it Always Starts.
Sally Oldfield -- Fire and Honey.
Bruce Cockburn -- Badlands Flashback.
Pete Townshend -- Give Blood, A Little is Enough.
Waterboys -- A Life of Sundays.
Uriah Heep -- Easy Livin'.
Guess Who -- Road Food, Star Baby, Clap for the Wolfman.
Blue Ridge Rangers (John Fogerty) -- Hearts of Stone.
Mason Williams -- Classical Gas.
Fendermen -- Mule Skinner Blues.
Trashmen -- Surfin' Bird.
Dramatics -- Whatcha See is Whatcha Get.
Freddy Cannon -- Palisades Park.
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart -- I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight.
Beau Brummels -- Laugh Laugh.
Ricky Nelson -- Hello Mary Lou, Stood Up, Be-Bop Baby, Waitin' in School.
Steam -- (Na Na Hey Hey) Kiss Him Goodbye.
Dion -- Daddy Rollin' (In Your Arms).
Del Shannon -- Runaway.
Cowsills -- Hair.
American Breed -- Bend Me Shape Me.
Beatles -- Eight Days a Week, I Saw Her Standing There, Baby You're a Rich Man, Old Brown Shoe, Paperback Writer, I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, Misery, Roll Over Beethoven, You Know My Name (Look Up the Number).
Richie Valens -- Come On Let's Go.
Diamonds -- Little Darlin'.
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers -- Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
Silhouettes -- Get a Job.
Chuck Berry -- No Particular Place to Go, You Never Can Tell.
Joe Walsh -- Meadows.
Sweet -- Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive -- Tramp.
Ten Years After -- I'd Love to Change the World.
Status Quo -- Pictures of Matchstick Men.
Jimi Hendrix -- The Wind Cries Mary, Purple Haze.
Blue Oyster Cult -- Godzilla.
Chantays -- Pipeline.
Leo Sayer -- Long Tall Glasses.
Bobby Freeman -- Do You Wanna Dance?
Barry McGuire -- Eve of Destruction.
Peter, Paul and Mary -- Don't Think Twice It's All Right, For Lovin' Me.
Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies -- Different Drum.
Seekers -- I'll Never Find Another You.
Michael Murphey -- Carolina in the Pines.
Raiders -- Do Unto Others.
Loudon Wainwright III -- Dead Skunk.
John Fogerty -- Rockin' All Over the World, Almost Saturday Night.
Glen Campbell -- Gentle on My Mind.
Petula Clark -- I Know a Place.
Blue Haze -- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
Troggs -- Wild Thing.
Kingsmen -- Louie Louie.
Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs -- Wooly Bully.
Young Rascals -- Good Lovin'.
Music Explosion -- A Little Bit of Soul.
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels -- Devil With a Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly.
Santana -- Everybody's Everything.
Gary Lewis and the Playboys -- Count Me In, This Diamond Ring.
Strawberry Alarm Clock -- Incense and Peppermints.
Association -- Windy.
Beach Boys -- Kiss Me Baby, Susie Cincinnati.
Johnny Rivers -- It Wouldn't Happen With Me, Memphis.
Elvis -- Promised Land.
Stones -- 19th Nervous Breakdown, Paint it Black.
First Class -- Beach Baby.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band -- House at Pooh Corner.
Isley Brothers -- Shout (Parts 1 & 2).
Teegarden and VanWinkle -- God, Love and Rock and Roll.
Robin MacNamara -- Lay a Little Lovin' on Me.
Brotherhood of Man -- United We Stand.
Focus -- Hocus Pocus 2.
Jethro Tull -- Love Song.
Fleetwood Mac -- Dissatisfied.
Turtles -- Grim Reaper of Love, Outside Chance, We'll Meet Again.

...Some of this went over pretty well. 1 guy was thrilled 2 hear the Beatles, & I hadta laff cos "You Know My Name" was playing at the time. 1 guy my age sang along with the choruses of "Everybody's Everything." 1 guy asked if I'd bn watching ANIMAL HOUSE while "Shout" was playing. 1 guy said he hadn't heard "Hair" in quite awhile. A couple in their early 20s bopped around pretty good 2 "Lay a Little Lovin' on Me," which I was suprised by cos it's so bubble-gummy.
In fact, a lotta this list is pretty bubblegummy, which may B cos of what I've bn reading lately....
But "Susie Cincinnati" has that 1 great line: "Her looks aren't exactly a plus...."
& "Eve of Destruction" still sounds great. & it's still pretty accurate....

If you're looking 4 a fast, lite, breezy rock&roll read, you might check out Tommy James & Martin Fitzpatrick's ME, THE MOB AND THE MUSIC (2010), which follows James' & his band The Shondells' 6-year string of hits on the Roulette label from 1966 thru '71.
& I mean it when I say fast -- by 1/2way thru this 225-pg book, James has already covered his early life & his 1st batch of hits -- "Hanky Panky," "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mirage," etc. The book takes a big jump in intrest around pg 50 when "Hanky Panky" -- a record James cut 2 years earlier -- finally gets some radio airplay in Pittsburgh in '66 & then starts climbing the national charts. There's another jump on pg 60 when James meets the notorious Morris Levy, the head of Roulette & the man who will run James' life 4 the next 6 years....
James is not a Deep Thinker. He gets his highschool sweetheart pregnant, they marry, they have a son -- & then the wife & son R both pretty-much dropped from the story. James moves in with a Roulette secretary after arriving in NYC & causes her 2 lose her job -- tho they stay 2gether. James briefly reflects while touring the country after his 1st couple hits that none of the people who were in his life a year earlier R in it now. & tho he returns 2 his hometown, he never mentions seeing his wife & son....
James is very good on some of the tactics used 2 get his songs on the radio back then. He's solid on summa the ugly behind-the-scenes details about how those songs came 2 B created. & he's real clear on how the only person getting paid at Roulette was Morris Levy.
There is of course a big final Xplosion Btween James & Levy, but it all works out OK. James has 1 more hit after he leaves Roulette, & gets married 4 a 3rd time ... & almost feels guilty when he doesn't attend Levy's funeral.
This is all handled breezily enough. But it's THIN. The book could easily have been 100 pgs longer. Members of the Shondells come & go, some of them R never more than names mentioned 1nce. There's a lot more that coulda bn told here. It woulda bn a better book.
Maybe the biggest punchline is on the back cover: "SOON TO BE A BROADWAY MUSICAL." Hmmm.

Also looking good is Kim Cooper & David Smay's BUBBLEGUM MUSIC IS THE NAKED TRUTH (2001), a collection of short pieces about the "artists" that made bubblegum music happen -- Archies, Banana Splits, Monkees, Partridge Family, Turtles, Raiders, Cowsills, Greenaway & Cook, Katzanetz/Katz, etc.
Have only peeked at this volume, but I like the editors' approach -- the articles look hilarious, but the writers R also absolute fanatics about this stuff. Looks like it could B lotsa fun.
More soon!

#529: "Love Chronicles"

OK, so tonight, Early Al Stewart. & later, Later (post-Classic-period) Al Stewart. But 4 right now:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, 1966-1970: The Elf, Turn into Earth, Bedsitter Images, Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres, The Carmichaels, Scandinavian Girl, Pretty Golden Hair, Denise at 16, Samuel Oh How You've Changed!, Cleave to Me, A Long Way Down from Stephanie, Ivich, Beleeka Doodle Day, Lover Man, Clifton in the Rain, In Brooklyn, Old Compton Street Blues, Ballad of Mary Foster, Life and Life Only, You Should Have Listened to Al, Love Chronicles, My Enemies Have Sweet Voices, A Small Fruit Song, Gethsemane Again, Burbling, Electric Los Angeles Sunset, Manuscript, Black Hill, Anna, Room of Roots, Zero She Flies.

I was pretty-much addicted 2 Scottish folk-rocker Al Stewart in the late '70s & in2 the early '80s, from the time I heard "Year of the Cat" on the radio & then went out & bought the enjoyable but sometimes rather cold & distant album it came from.
Then while I waited 4 more new releases, I worked my way backward: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE had a brilliant 2nd side but I still don't think I've ever heard the 1st side all the way thru. I still think the underrated MODERN TIMES is Al's best album ever -- amazingly consistent songs & a solid-gold 2nd side.
Then came the 2-slick-4-its-own-good TIME PASSAGES, which nevertheless included a few hidden gems like the rockin'(!) "Valentina Way," the thotful "Almost Lucy" & the moody "Life in Dark Water." But some of it was just TOO COMMERCIAL!
24 CARROTS had great high points (the cloak&dagger theme "Running Man," the gorgeous folky "Rocks in the Ocean"), but a lot of it was mood music, pleasant enuf but not very deep. By the time of LIVE/INDIAN SUMMER, the romance was wearing thin.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN repackages Al's 1st 3 albums (BEDSITTER IMAGES, LOVE CHRONICLES, ZERO SHE FLIES) + an early single. I'd heard summa this stuff on Al's 1977 2-record THE EARLY YEARS, where I thot it was mostly flat & dull & a little overwrought. & it sure as hell didn't rock much.
But 35 years later I mighta bn wrong, & I got a copy of TO WHOM cheap, so I figured whathehell. The songs I'd heard B4 at least SOUND better here.
Al reportedly disowned all this stuff years ago. Not hard 2 see why. The 31 songs here mostly break down in2 3 diffrent types -- grim & depressing drawn-out folky ballads, Donovan/Incredible String Band soundalikes, or folky acoustic-guitar instrumentals. 1 of the big selling points of EARLY YEARS was that folks like Jimmy Page, Rick Wakeman & members of Fairport Convention helped out with the trax -- it usually didn't help much. 
& you think Nick Drake is depressing? You ain't heard nothin' yet. & I LIKED Al, when he was at his best.
We gotta lotta ground 2 cover here, so this is gonna B quick. Hang tight on the curves, Al fans....
The opener "The Elf" is bouncy, folky, lite & optimistic, & shoulda bn included on his earlier best-of's. Even tho it sounds most like Donovan. "Turn into Earth" is sorta pop-jazz.
BEDSITTER IMAGES: By the time of the orchestrated pop of "Bedsitter Images," Al's voice had already softened. Al's manager reportedly was able 2 convince EMI 2 use an orchestra on the album, but it doesn't help much -- the songs mostly get blown away by the over-production. You start wondering whether the orchestra or the singer is sposta B the star here. "Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres" has strings + horns.
"Swiss Cottage," "The Carmichaels" & "Scandinavian Girl" R all kinda charming songs about love affairs, OK tho not earthshaking, long as the production doesn't get 2 heavy. But the orchestra often swamps them.
"Pretty Golden Hair" is a deceptively lite-hearted song about a victim of male prostitution. The lyrics R pretty brutal. But it's done so straightforwardly & almost heavy-handedly that it can't really B taken ironically. Which makes it kinda uncomfortable -- the 1st of sevral trax 2 have that effect.
"Denise at 16" is a vaguely pretty acoustic-gtr instrumental, the 1st of sevral. "Samuel, Oh How You've Changed!" is kinda haunting -- sounds like it might B narrated by a little girl's toy, unless I'm missing something. Again, closer 2 Donovan or the Incredible String Band.
"Cleave to Me" mostly features the orchestra showing off. A minute in, Al starts singing. "Ivich" is another, more forceful acoustic-gtr instr. The tune sounds a bit like it mighta bn recycled 4 the later "Nostradamus" or "Roads to Moscow."
"Beleeka Doodle Day" -- despite its silly title -- has some of the same ominous, doomy atmosphere that can B found in some of Al's better later work. The production is thin -- just gtr, organ & drums. & tho it goes on 4 almost 7 minutes, it ain't boring.
"Lover Man," however, IS silly, & it sounds JUST LIKE Donovan, probly on purpose. This is another of those comedy songs Al did periodically thru his career, like the later "Mondo Sinistro" & "Red Toupee."
LOVE CHRONICLES: No more orchestra! "In Brooklyn" sounds a little more like later Al -- much more folk-rocky, with definite signs of life. But then there's "Old Compton Street Blues," another painful life story, despite what sounds like some rather nice Richard Thompson gtr. "Ballad of Mary Foster" is the story of another sad, empty life, & it drags on 4 almost 8 mins -- but it's actually pretty hypnotic. "Life and Life Only" is even more grim folk-rock, but also pretty hypnotic, & with more pretty-good gtr.
Coming after this grimness, "You Should Have Listened to Al" is a nice break. Tho it's about a breakup, it's lite-hearted & brief & maybe coulda gotten some radio play. "Love Chronicles" was Al's magnum opus back in '69 -- an 18-minute recap of his romantic conquests. Sounds kinda boring, but it's not -- it's involving, even funny. There's some occasional OK gtr (possibly from Jimmy Page?), + Al snuck the F-bomb in2 the lyrics & got away with it....
ZERO SHE FLIES: "My Enemies Have Sweet Voices" is kinda stark & bluesy, with lotsa harmonica. "Electric Los Angeles Sunset" almost rocks & has some nice electric gtr -- it's almost good. "Manuscript" is notable as Al's 1st journey in2 historical topics. "Zero She Flies" is a pretty good closer, with a memorable construction & some good gtr -- it might B the best thing here. It's also the closest 2 "pop."
ZERO's songs R more forceful, less depressing -- Al's getting better. But the problem is, there's only 5 real songs here. The rest R all brief song fragments or acoustic-gtr instrumentals. "Burbling," "Black Hill," "Anna" & "Room of Roots" all have some striking gtr work -- but it's like Al didn't have enuf material 2 fill an entire album.
Overall, a decent minor talent, based on the evidence on display here.
COMING SOON: What Al's bn doing since the early 1980s....

#528: The smallest Air Force base in the world

I've bn stuck in some pretty small places. Ankara Air Station in Turkey (where I was assigned by the US Air Force in 1990-91) was about 4 blocks long & 3 blocks across -- a home 10,000 miles from home 4 the 2,000 or so Americans assigned there. It's all closed up now.
Onizuka Air Station in Sunnyvale, Calif., was even smaller. Not counting the 3-story parking garage, you could almost throw a baseball from 1 side of the base 2 the other.
But that'd B leaving out "The Blue Cube" -- a 4-story, windowless high-tech block, "shrouded in secrecy" (as the local newspapers put it), that was the whole reason the base was there.
Unfortunately, the Blue Cube sat right next 2 US Highway 101, where hundreds of thousands of cars passed by every day, possibly with 1,000s of people inside them wondering what went on inside that huge light-blue building....
Onizuka's whole mission was satellite tracking -- including GPS satellites that I assume were used 4 enemy surveillance & target-spotting during the 1st Gulf War. But in 1992, when I was there, We Couldn't Talk About Any Of That. It was all still Top Secret. This was LONG B4 everybody & his brother had a GPS system in their car.
I'd bn in other places where we Couldn't Talk About Our Mission -- in the 3 years I was at Francis E. Warren AFB in Wyoming, I could never Confirm or Deny the existence of nuclear missiles at any particular location. Everybody just knew they were Out There ... somewhere. That's about as detailed as I could get.
Onizuka AS was even MORE secretive. Imagine being a public-affairs guy at a place like that. Sure you could talk 2 the local media -- you just couldn't tell them what the base DID.
Imagine being a base newspaper guy at such a place. What the hell could you write about?
Well, somehow I found SOMETHING to fill the 8-pages-per-week of the Xerox-copier-reprinted typing-paper-sheet-sized ONIZUKA ORBITER. Since I couldn't talk much about the mission, I tended 2 write lots of humorous pieces, & focused on base intramural sports & people with intresting off-duty hobbies -- the 1's who'd talk 2 me about those. 1 guy wouldn't talk about being a member of a local rap group (when he was off-duty) Bcos he thot it would signal 2 his superiors that he didn't take his job seriously.
I had 2 put up with this heavy-handed Big Brother take-your-job-deadly-seriously stuff EVERY DAY. It was the kiss of death 4 a reporter who tried 2 have fun with his job. & it helped me decide 2 get out of the Air Force that much sooner.
In an AF base newspaper, 1 of a reporter's highest callings was sposta B 2 write a "mission feature" -- a slice-of-daily-life-style piece that would vividly show how 1 person's or 1 unit's job helped get the mission (national defense) done. In a place as secretive as "Oz," mission features were tough 2 write. Impossible, even.
1 unit didn't like the fact that I led off a story by focusing on the 9 empty 3-pound coffee cans they had stacked up in their break room. I thot the coffee cans showed the kind of demanding, ongoing, routine kind of job they did -- as important as it was. They wouldn't let me print the story with that description in it. I was able 2 convince their section chief of my reasons behind including such an image -- she even agreed with me. But she said publishing it would cost her her job. So I backed off.
Another unit (as close as I could get 2 the satellite-tracking center of the base's mission) was offended when I pointed out that their main work area (a cluster of huge satellite dishes that sometimes had 2 B climbed out on 2 B cleaned) included a "Pigeon Attack Zone" -- this area ID'd by big signs next 2 the door out 2 the dishes.
The guys thot the signs were hilarious -- so did I -- but they didn't want the signs (or the kind of "attacks" the pigeons often dive-bombed them with) mentioned in the base newspaper. We talked it over, & I held on. & the story ended-up winning an award.
But after that, fewer offices & work areas around the tiny base would talk 2 me in NE depth. Mission features got tougher 2 find. So much so, that 4 an April Fool's Day edition, I wrote a mission feature on the base's janitors -- a dozen guys who spent hours each nite vacuuming carpets & mopping miles of tile floors. I thot the story was hilarious -- so did the janitors. & when I printed the story under a "Mission Feature" banner, nobody could miss the joke. That story also won an award.
I fought the overly-secretive silliness every way I knew how -- not always good-naturedly. & I told every1 I knew there that I couldn't see why everything was so hush-hush -- we hadn't bn THAT secretive during those 3 years I served at the biggest missile base in the world (which I promise 2 write more about soon).
...It wasn't all bad. Tho I wasn't there 4 the very 1st issue of the ORBITER, they let me re-design it a little with the 2nd issue. Since the Sunnyvale/San Jose area was even then known as a high-tech mecca 4 computers & such, I chose a modern, high-tech look 4 the paper, with a sorta computerized-looking sans-serif typeface that let me squeeze even more info in2 every issue's 8 (or sometimes more) pages.
& despite the frustrations, I wrote some stuff I was pretty happy with. 1 piece was on 1/2adozen base guys who had up&coming parts in the Bay Area rap music scene. I wish I coulda done more of that stuff. I hadda lotta fun with base intramural sports -- usually attracted 2 the losers, but trying pretty conscientiously 2 get everything covered. It was a small base & pretty EZ 2 keep up with.
Possibly the best story ever while I was there was on a base golf tournament -- & naturally, I followed around some REALLY BAD golfers, including R base Chaplain who was still learning how 2 play. He was hilarious -- after he scored a 9 on the 1st hole & a 10 on the 2nd, we were all crying from laffing so hard. & luckily the comedy came over in the story.
But all the stuff I Couldn't Talk About left me with a lotta stuff I Couldn't Write About -- & sometimes if I tried, people I'd never met would rewrite me 4 reasons unknown. Certainly not Bcos of National Security. I was able 2 convince most of these folks that I Knew What I Was Doing. But their rewrites would always stand. I started taking my name off of lots of stuff -- the only way I could noticeably protest.
I'd bn planning on getting out of the AF since B4 coming 2 Oz. When things started going bad, I started sending out a dozen resumes a week 2 Real Newspapers, begging 4 a writing job. Finally, in Sept 1992, The Smallest Daily Newspaper In The World -- located in Worland, Wyoming -- offered 2 hire me as a managing editor. It was the beginning of a whole new adventure.
After 10 years of service, the AF did at least let me out when I asked nicely. & I left Oz with a couple of end-of-the-year awards, 4 AF Space Command's Best Feature Writing & Best News Writing of 1992. (The 2nd of these was kinda a joke. There was no "news" at R base. Not Officially.)
...Oh, music was important in all this, 2. The cheapest house we could find 2 rent was 45 mins away from the base in San Jose (which then had the most Xpensive rent prices in the nation, we were told). 2 dare California's freeways (101, 680, 880, etc), music was ESSENTIAL. It was while driving these freeways that I realized Madonna was an Artist -- a mix-tape of her songs that I could actually STAND ("Open Your Heart," "Live to Tell," "The Look of Love," "Oh Father," "Dear Jessie," "Dress You Up," etc.) probly kept me from wrecking the car a dozen times. On the way 2&from work I also played the HECK outta mix tapes I'm still playing 2day.
& that 45-minute commute was on the Good Days. When it rained -- which it seemingly always did each Fri aft -- the drive home could stretch in2 3 hours....