We Can’t Rewind, We’ve Gone Too Far

 

Maybe it’s not high art, but poignant lyrics and a thoughtful arrangement

elevate Video Killed the Radio Star above the status of just a silly pop song.

Don’t Think Twice

 

In the run up to Bob Dylan’s 80^th birthday, there have been dozens of articles offering praise, trivia and insights.  As a fan, of course I read them.

 

One of the more interesting tidbits I picked up was the notion that Dylan’s songs are paintings.  You don’t have to understand them.  You don’t even have to like them.  You only have to know whether they speak to you.

 

Speaking for myself, they do.  Yeah, they do.

Don’t You Believe Them

Just   …   listen to Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is.

Butterflies Above Our Nation

Sure, I know that Woodstock started out as a commercial enterprise.  I realize that it was basically a disaster.  I understand that most of the positive things happened by accident.  And I accept that the ‘Woodstock Nation’ was an illusion that would never materialize.

To which I say this: If we don’t grasp at illusions, if we don’t embrace fantasies, if we don’t chase dreams, there can be no magic in our lives.

And what’s the point of that?

Like the Trembling Heart of a Captive Bird?

In case you needed more proof that computers should not be running our lives, check out this article, in which it is revealed that the saddest song of all time – as deftly calculated by clever computer algorithms – is Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I saw Your Face.

Eight Miles High

Sometimes, when I’m grooving to the music and everyone else is busy yacking, I just feel sorry for them.

Don’t Fade On Me

“The soundtrack to your life” may be a cliché, but to the extent that we all have one, mine seemed to be slipping away in 2017.  Check out Rolling Stone’s People We Lost This Year.

Chuck Berry, Tom Petty, Malcolm Young, Gord Downie, Greg Allman, Walter Becker, Fats Domino, J. Geils …  sheesh!  That’s a partial list of cultural icons relegated to our memories.

Back up your hard drives, people.  We need to keep this stuff alive.

Hail! Hail! Rock n Roll!

He might not have invented Rock n Roll, but he defined it.  Everything that’s come after has been built on his foundation.

But don’t read me.  Read Gibson’s lovely tribute to Chuck Berry.  As the article says, “most influential musician ever?  Just ask a Beatle.”

Getting Better

Part II of my rebuttal to Professor Armand Leroi’s preposterous assertion that The Beatles had virtually no influence on pop music.

Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Everlys - played by punks, punks who grew up listening to show tunes, folk songs, sing-alongs, music hall numbers, cowboy movies, and Granny’s weekly performance at the pub.

By the time they had emerged from Hamburg and those 6 hour sets, The Beatles had developed their own unique sound, a sound which incorporated that early rockabilly, 50’s R&B, and yes, their childhood influences.  They had become adept at absorbing other styles and transforming them into their own brand of rock and roll.

Then there was soul music, and the pixie dust of Motown, which had, in its own way, done the same thing.

Dylan, folk-rock, classical, Eastern, psychedelic, singer/songwriter, hard rock, each one studied, re-imagined and grafted on to that ever-expanding base.  Each new experiment set someone else off on another new idea, which looped right back to The Beatles for them to start all over again.  Getting so much better all the time.

There is no scientific way to explain the influence of The Beatles, because it magic.

You Can’t Do That

So, Armand Leroi, a professor at Imperial College London, has concluded that The Beatles had virtually no influence on pop music, having had computers analyze hits from 1960 through 2010.

To which I would say this:  At every step of their career, The Beatles absorbed the music around them, assimilating each style, giving it new life from the raw force of pure rock and roll. Each addition created new opportunities for other artists, which The Beatles then heard and absorbed in turn. And on and on it went.  That’s what you call music evolution.

Computer analysis is irrelevant.  The record shows that all the major artists over that half century have acknowledged the influence The Beatles had on them, and The Beatles freely and frequently acknowledged who they were listening to and learning from.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

Feed The World

The thing about Live Aid - apart from the awesome performances (okay, not all of it aged well, but some of the performances are immortal) - was: after your hope being dormant for a while, you believed that music might change the world after all.

Oh well …

Do You Believe In Magic

It used to be when you bought a new album and put it on, you expected to be astonished.

Admit That The Waters Around You Have Grown

Well!   Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for literature, and I think that’s very cool.

The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be

Fascinating article in the NY Times a while ago called, Which Rock Star Will Historians Of The Future Remember?

Note the singular Rock Star.  The author’s premise is that in 300 years, Rock will have been rendered down to a brief footnote represented by one person.  Given our human propensity for over-simplification, and our attraction to hero myths, this is completely plausible.

Having successfully established that premise, the article goes on to examine – and eliminate – most of the obvious candidates, arriving at Chuck Berry.

That’s a very good conclusion, eminently argued in the article.  But my money is on John Lennon.  Yes, as the article explains, he was part of the Beatles, and groups don’t qualify for the hero myth.  But Lennon has all the attributes ascribed to Chuck Berry – and then some.  He also has the advantage of being a martyr, and the past 35 years would suggest that his hero-martyr persona will ultimately relegate the other three Beatles to walk-on roles in the larger Lennon legend.

It’s not a stretch. 

John Lennon took a passing American musical fad and, with his band, turned it into an international sensation, defining the music and the culture of the times.  He died tragically, but his influence lived on for generations. 

So says the as yet unwritten music history textbook.

On Time

Gibson’s 10 Classic Rock Bands That Deserve Another Look shows how reductivist corporate radio has denied us some fantastic music.

All of these bands used to be mainstays on the radio – but sadly are now rarely heard at all.

Chicago created a revolution.  Three Dog Night were massive.  Rare Earth were fantastic musicians who cranked out monster hits.  Spirit were regarded as geniuses.  Everyone loved Steppenwolf.  The music has aged well.  So how come no airplay?  It’s a mystery.

What strikes me most about the list is the range of musical styles covered, and the fact that you could hear of of these bands on the same station in the same afternoon - a happy reflection of the time when these bands thrived, and perhaps another sad reflection of today’s radio.

Thanks for the reminder, Gibson.  Luckily, I have most of this music on my iPod.  Time to go have a listen.

Forever Young

If he had never made another record after Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan would still be regarded as one of the most important artists in the history of music.

But has Rolling Stone Readers Poll of Bob Dylan’s 10 Best Post-60’s Songs nicely proves, he had a lot more to say.  And if the list had been expanded to 40 songs, every one of ‘em would be a powerful tune.

Tangled Up In Blue, Hurricane, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door … every song on the list is a masterpiece.  And, unlike a lot of 60’s stars, he didn’t just drift into the 70’s and then peter out.  Time Out of Mind was one of the best albums of the 90’s and easily rivals Blood on the Tracks or Highway 61 Revisited (or Freewheelin’, if you prefer) for the title of Best Dylan Album Ever.

Five and a half decades into his monstrously large career, the man is still going.  I hope he never stops.

You’re So Bad

I can’t decide which is worse about Rolling Stone’s 20 Wildest Censored Album Covers: the holier-than-thou attitude of the censors, or Rolling Stone’s insistence that it should treat Spinal Tap as a real band when it compiles its lists.

Before The Dawn

I don’t know: maybe all the protest songs have already been written.

Have a listen to Long Time Gone by Crosby Stills and Nash.  Sure, it’s about the assassination of RFK, but it’s about more than that right? 

Turn any corner
Hear what the people say
You know that something is going on around here
It surely, surely, surely won't stand the light of day

Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness
You got to speak your mind
If you dare

RFK spoke out against racism, inequality, a stupid war …  Wow!  That sounds like today.

But why use a 45 year old song – as compelling as it is - to talk about today?  How can that work?  Old fogeys like me will hear it and think about the 60’s.  Younger folk don’t listen to CSN(Y).  Who is singing out about today’s issues?

There’s Something Happening Here

There is unrest in the land.  Check the headlines.  Turn on the news.  Things are not right, and the people are ticked.

How come, then, Rolling Stone’s 10 Best Protest Songs of All Time has one song from 1992, one from 1975, and 8 songs from the 60’s?  How come Dylan gets on the list four times?  Wait a minute: that’s obvious.

OK, but how come half the songs are about the Vietnam War?  Like nothing bad has gone down since?  No, that’s not true.  Check the headlines.

Is the musical world in denial?  Is its collective head in the sand?

Why are we singing “I’m coming up so you better get this party started,” when “there’s a battle outside and it’s raging?”  I thought art was supposed to imitate life, not avoid it.

Back over to you, Bob, I guess.

Music in the Cafes at Night; Revolution in the Air

Beale Street, Bleeker Street, Haight-Ashbury, Sunset Strip, Music Row and Motown.

These are the streets that changed music history, according to Rolling Stone - or is it Chrysler?  And of course, by Motown they mean West Grand Boulevard, but we’ll let that slide, shall we?

Elvis, Dylan, The Dead, The Doors, all those Motown hits, all that Country … no one’s gonna argue that some pretty important music came off these streets – and still does.

Here’s another one, though, that’s kind of a glaring omission:  Abbey Road.  A little band called The Beatles made a few hit records there, and I’m told they enjoyed a bit of influence in their day.  Oh, and The Hollies, The Shadows, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Oasis.

Oh wait a minute!  Guess they don’t get many Dodge Challengers driving around London.