"Well spring is here I feel it in the air The world is turning green"
"Spring Is Here" Wendy Waldman
What to do with spring. Common wisdom is spring is a relief. Finally, we've been delivered from demon winter. It feels that way the first time you notice the weather change, when it's just hotter than it's been in the past few months. But when spring finally settles in for its run, it's depressing.
Oh, maybe not if you're young. If you're young, everything's still an adventure, everything's still new. You're GOBBLING UP life. But when you get older, the advent of spring just reminds you that another year has gone by, you endured the hardship, you made it through, NOW WHAT?
You can't be depressed in the summer. As the Beach Boys wrote, "Summer Means New Love". Summer means vacation, skimpy clothing, laughing. The fall brings seriousness. Okay, SETTLE DOWN, you've had your fun. And you agree to buckle down. Because it's not only society telling you it's time to go back to work, but nature itself. It gets colder, the days get shorter, if you're outside, it's deserted, you might as well go inside and join in. Hell, it's been an endless run, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Everybody needs money, and those who don't have their own psychological problems, usually exceeding those of the working folk. And then comes winter. It's OKAY to be depressed during the winter, it's OKAY to bitch. It's an endurance test. It's rough. Although physically isolated, we're all mentally in it together. We don't want to let one of the sheep die. We're THERE for each other in this time of need. But what about SPRING?
Maybe it's because my birthday is in April. It's a double whammy. I get to ponder once again, what have I accomplished, where am I GOING? And I don't like these questions. For I always come up with the same answers. Not as much as I wanted to, EXPECTED TO! As for the destination...well, it was clear decades back, but now? Now I'm not even sure what life is about.
BADGE
"Yes I told you that the light goes up and down Don't you notice how the wheel goes 'round And you'd better pick yourself up from the ground Before they bring the curtain down Yes before they bring the curtain down"
"Badge" Cream
Today George Harrison is remembered as a Beatle. If there's any individuality to the man, if you can separate him from the monolith, the myth, he's seen as a mystic, a believer in eastern religion. But first and foremost, George Harrison was a guitar player.
The first thing George Harrison did, prior to thinking about world domination, was pick up an axe. And then he practiced. And then he played. Numerous evenings in a bar in Hamburg. Then in the studio. He developed chops. He introduced the masses to feedback, but he also had a style, a signature SOUND! And this has been forgotten. As we were confronted with all these whizzes, from Eric Clapton to Alvin Lee to even Steve Lukather, all with incredible SKILL, we forgot that skill alone is not the essence. It's HOW you play, WHAT you can wring out of your instrument. And what George Harrison wrings out of his guitar in Cream's "Badge" is TRANSCENDENT! Stunningly, all these years later, the purest, most exuberant moment in the trio's canon. Oh, "Sunshine Of Your Love" has got a more memorable RIFF! There's some fantastic PLAYING in "Spoonful". But when you hear L'Angelo Misterioso BURST out of "Badge", it's like being injected with that hypodermic in "Pulp Fiction". You mentally sit
UPRIGHT! All other input falls away. You can only marvel at, bathe in, the magical sound emanating from the speakers.
If you live on the east coast, it will be hard for you to understand Friday in L.A. Friday in L.A., it was in the nineties. I fired up the air conditioning. It was like spring was saying FUCK YOU to winter, blasting it away in one fell swoop.
I luxuriated in the temperature. Hell, it's like leaving wintry New York and landing in the islands. That blast of air when you get off the plane, it's almost UNBEARABLE, but it's been SO LONG since you felt such a thing.
By time I sat down for lunch, after a doctor's appointment, after some grocery shopping, after a long cell call, it was four p.m. I plunked down my container of coffee yogurt, and just before I dropped the trail mix in, I reached over and turned on my XM boombox. It was playing Deep Tracks.
Oh, there are some new tracks on Deep Tracks. But, mostly by what the radio industry calls "heritage" acts. Then again, there are some new bands. But really, listening to Deep Tracks is like being jetted back to 1968, when music mattered.
And I'm eating, and reading "The New Yorker", and suddenly I hear "Badge".
I was reminded of the girl I was into who got into Cream late. Everybody got into Cream late. The cognoscenti wouldn't even buy "Goodbye". It was a
PASTICHE! A CASH-IN! It wasn't an album, it was a TOUR MEMENTO, a way to rake in the BUCKS! Nobody in the band had died, but it was if someone HAD! People were snatching up "Goodbye" like crazy, saying Cream was their favorite band. Where were they THE YEAR BEFORE?? When "Disraeli Gears" was released. When the band toured America and DIDN'T sell out. When I saw them TWICE! "Goodbye" wasn't even a good VALUE! What with all those live tracks. But eventually, I caved, because I had to own "Badge".
If you see Eric Clapton today, he often plays "Badge". And, in the break, the part where George works out on the record, Eric throws out some flashy fretwork and starts asking where his badge is. It's utterly ridiculous. It's like he wasn't even there when the song was written, when it was conceived. That's one of the great things about the track, "Badge" isn't even UTTERED in the song.
But, the great disappointment hearing "Badge" live is that Eric can't lock into the groove. Just the same way he can't lock into the groove of "Layla" live. Just can't articulate Duane Allman's part.
What makes "Badge" transcendent is the fact that it SWINGS! That there's this weird rhythm, this GROOVE, under the verses. And then, like a 747 flying ten feet above your head, like a double rainbow, like the prettiest girl in the world knocking on your door, there's this AMAZING sound, this AMAZING guitar work.
Eric Clapton is a great guitarist. But, except for "Layla", which was cut with the aforementioned Mr. Allman, nothing he has done will ultimately be remembered, for although Eric Clapton is GOOD, he ISN'T transcendent. The BEATLES were transcendent. And it wasn't only John and Paul, it was George too.
KNOCKING 'ROUND THE ZOO
What was the last album? "The Eminem Show"?
They don't make albums anymore. Oh, they release shiny discs with ten, twelve, even FOURTEEN cuts on them, but those aren't albums. An album was something you were supposed to listen to whole, at one sitting. Kind of like seeing a movie. You weren't supposed to pick and choose an individual track. Weren't supposed to play a single cut again and again. Hell, this was DIFFICULT! You were supposed to listen to the whole damn thing. The album was a STATEMENT, directly from the artist's heart to yours. And it wasn't made for you. It was a peek inside. It was something the artist made because he HAD TO, he needed to EXPRESS HIMSELF! And, maybe, if he truly plumbed the depths, and revealed his inner truth, you might RESONATE! And that's why the lyrics mattered. The truly great albums not only took you on a tour of the creator's life, the lyrics were a NARRATION of the trip. You felt like you knew the artist, even though you had never met him. And it wasn't because he was playing to you, needed to please you, but just because he was honest. Actually, if the artist became a star and started writing about his newfound glory, that often killed him. Because you could no longer relate, you could only adore. And adoration's cool, but not as cool as possession. And you felt you POSSESSED these artists. They weren't all over television, weren't hand-in-hand with Madison Avenue, they existed OUTSIDE the system, a place where YOU lived.
But that era is over.
You see these album artists, they were CASH COWS! So much revenue was generated that the executives of their labels started living extravagant lifestyles, far beyond those of CEOs of brick and mortar companies. OTHER industries were built on record company profits. Warner Music built Warner Communications. Other corporations came in and acquired the record labels, they wanted this revenue stream too. Only one problem, the golden goose was the RECORDS! Made by ARTISTS! THIS the newfound owners fucked with. For this they didn't like. People who couldn't be counted to deliver on time, who might not deliver AT ALL! And, even if they DID deliver, their productions might not sell. This was ANATHEMA! So, these artists were squeezed out, were marginalized. Replaced by people who would play ball. Oh, they were SOLD as artists, scruffy and dangerous, but they were inherently faux. The public could tell, they weren't the real deal. These whores who'd co-write with anybody, endorse anything, do WHATEVER the label said, just to insure success, and then CONTINUED success.
Eminem was successful because he wasn't this.
Now, like so many artists before him, he's lost his way. He couldn't cope with the success. His whole shtick was based on being OUTSIDE, a REBEL! But now that he's INSIDE, now that he's accepted, NOW WHAT?
Now we get 50 Cent. Whose pedigree is not that he's got MUSICAL ability, but that he was SHOT nine times. Eminem revealed the hypocrisy of society.
Whereas 50 Cent is just talking about the "Candy Shop". Hard to take seriously. Oh, easy to count the cash if you're Universal, but if you're on the street, you shrug your shoulders, you just don't care. And really, very few people DO care. Because the whole system, MTV, terrestrial radio, SOUNDSCAN, that's for the casual fan. The real fan, the heart of the business, has moved on.
Now what happened to Eminem didn't happen to most of the artists of yore. Nobody mainstream WANTED Led Zeppelin during their career. They were ALWAYS outside. There were no shortcuts. You had to continue to release great music and tour if you wanted continued success. Everything was dependent on YOU, not your HELPERS! Therefore, dependent only on yourself to sustain your ability to avoid drudge work, you continued to dig deep into the well and deliver. Not everybody, but the greats. You had to make great album after great album, because a great single got you nowhere. Most of the audience had rejected Top Forty radio. And, by the early seventies, people wouldn't go to the show only for the hit. They wanted you to have a complete REPERTOIRE!
RAINY DAY MAN
"What good is that happy lie All you wanted from the start was to cry girl"
"Rainy Day Man" James Taylor
James Taylor's first album didn't sell until the second one came out. It's funny working in obscurity. Either you give up, or you deliver greatness. James Taylor's third album, "Mud Slide Slim", had some great stuff, but by that time, scantly two years later, James was done. He blinked. He was affected by the success. He was the alienated son of a southern gentleman who'd spent time in a mental hospital, and now he was America's SWEETHEART? If that doesn't fuck you up, what will? You're labeled a degenerate troublemaker, and then suddenly you're a HERO? Deep inside James Taylor always thought he was viable, worthwhile, had something to say. But when people were suddenly LISTENING, it FREAKED HIM OUT!
Not that this happened to most artists thirty five years ago. James was an anomaly. You see, with the sixties drawing to a close, the press was looking to get hip, looking to ACKNOWLEDGE the youth market. So they glommed on to him. Jimmy Page was doing drugs and dripping wax on little girls' abdomens in the Ryatt House, James was safe.
But he wasn't safe at first. At first, he was a product of where he'd been. We're ALL products of where we've been. We all have our own unique stories. It's just that society tries to drill them out of us, wants us to conform. It's never been worse. I think many people are Republicans because the Republican party RULES, is the MAJORITY! It's about being a member of the group, not individuality. But artistry has ALWAYS been about individuality. The artist exists OUTSIDE the mainstream, he's our best self.
Most people are not familiar with James Taylor's first album. Primarily
because of its relative unavailability. It was on Apple. It took a long time to come out on CD, and for years before that it was truly unavailable. But that debut JT record, it's a true album. Oh, if you look at the track-listing today, you'll see a few hits. But they weren't hits then. Hell, many people didn't even hear its two most famous tracks, "Carolina In My Mind" and "Something In The Way She Moves", until over half a decade later, when they were recut, much slower, for James' first greatest hits album.
Maybe that's just the point. The difference between the two versions of
"Something In The Way She Moves". The recut is slowed down, it's pregnant with meaning. It can slide off of you. The original is a naked RUSH! Really, compared to the recut it's positively FAST! And, the vocal is completely different. It's this weird combination of confession, depression and optimism. Kind of like life, if you think about it. Not the life of a star, but the life of an artist, the life of you and me.
"Something In The Way She Moves" was not the opening track. Rather, it ended side one. You had to listen all the way through to get there. And then, silence. The record was over. You got up and flipped over the vinyl just to rid the air of that scary mood. And, on the other side you got "Carolina In My Mind". Sunniness.
And I woke up to "Carolina In My Mind" for a month straight back in the spring of 1970. A weird time. The snow melted quickly, skiing was done. And so was nearly high school. I thought I was in love, but I wasn't. Or, maybe I should say she wasn't. But things were somehow easier back then. Because adventure, in the form of college, loomed. Very little strange and different looms anymore. Actually, that's untrue. Maybe it's just that I'm now ANXIOUS
about the new and different, whereas long ago I embraced it.
And, if you listen to James' debut today, what you'll find most striking is the segues, the way the songs were linked. But, it's the songs themselves that resonate. A couple of years back, I got hooked on "Circle Round The Sun", a traditional number that James covered. It's the pure need, the pure JOY of having someone there for you. Knowing that if they were NOT there, you'd fall apart. But what inspired me to revisit the album today was hearing a live take of "Night Owl" on my iPod in the mountains last night, It was just me, the song, and the hills and lights of Los Angeles involved. This was not a track that people were dancing to at some club on the Strip. This music was made for me, and the creator didn't even know it. But listening now, the song that jumps out is one of the most famous, "Rainy Day Man".
"What good is that happy lie All you wanted from the start was to cry"
Funny how you get insight into a song a lifetime later. Actually, I'm still working this out in my mind. I used to think this was a ditty about a guy BEING THERE for some girl. Then, I thought it was about a girl who was DEPRESSED who needed somebody. Then I thought it was more about the GUY, and how HE'S depressed. But now, I think it's about drugs. "Rainy day man" is a metaphor for drugs. When nothing else will help.
We live in a society where nobody cares. Oh, they SAY they care, but they don't, it's all lip-service, or AFTER the fact. While you're in it, when things are not going right, you're just a loser. And that's when people turn to drugs. Oh, there are people who EXPERIMENT with drugs. Maybe YOU'RE one of them. You're PROUD that you can live a productive life, dot all the i's and cross all the t's, while you do your drugs. But you're not the problem. The problem is people who crawl into a hole with drugs to escape. The problem isn't the drugs, but their mental state. THIS is what needs to be addressed. But first you've got to start with understanding.
"It looks like another fall Your good friends they don't seem to help at all When you're feeling kind of cold and small Just look up your rainy day man All I need to do is look up my rainy day man"
I was never much of a drug user. My drug of choice was music. I just went into my room, shut the door, put on m headphones and listened to a record.
They don't make too many of these records anymore. Or maybe it's the people who are making them are not like me, like they used to be. The record, the album, is just a VEHICLE, to STARDOM!
But that's not the way it used to be. Used to be the album was your statement, a statement more personal, more honest, more TRUE than that found in any other creative medium. And that is why music blew up. Not because of the number of baby boomers. And the reason the major labels are in trouble, not because of file-trading. The music, the album, is now just a cog in the machine. Concert promoters are not rugged individualists desiring to give the attendee a glorious experience, rather the show is promoted by the corporation, and
you'd better not stand on the seat, because someone paying a lot of bucks has got to watch basketball there tomorrow. As for radio and TV, the music doesn't even matter, it's all about the COMMERCIALS!
Now maybe you've got a new record that speaks to you. That's great, I love that. Unfortunately, too many of these records speak ONLY to you. Their main attraction is that they're outside. Whereas the albums of yore were not a REACTION to other music, rather they were THE music, which ITSELF was a reaction to the rest of society. Hopefully, album artists will reemerge. Not that their productions have to come on one disc. It's just that they've got to speak from the heart, with no consciousness of the audience, and CONTINUE to do this on a regular basis. Music and advertising are like oil and water. And now, music and major labels are also like oil and water. Will we be resigned to utter mainstream crap and obscure niche product or will a new wealth of artists who won't sell out emerge, saving souls? Here'
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