Sunday, June 24, 2012

Listening Diary

Gone are the teenage days of the sitting in one’s room and letting a new album wash over you. Most people my age couldn’t do that now even if they wanted to.  Well, I do want to, and it’s damn near impossible.

But even back then, when other kids were listening to Pink Floyd lying on their beds stoned, I listening ot it, while sitting at my desk, doing homework. On a Friday night, I’d be reading a novel.

In other words, most of the time, I was rarely sitting there, just listening. In fact, it was a form of not listening. More like absorbing. Through my pores, I guess. And it worked, to an extent.  I still know every note to every solo on Allman Brothers at Fillmore East.

But I fear it’s had the overall effect of making me a slower listener, because it takes me forever to decide if I like something or not. (Meet the Beatles? The jury’s still out...)  Which is why I hate to dismiss music when I may simply have not given it the time it needs.  Like the Green Bay Packers - they never really lost a game, they just ran out of time.

And of course, as adults and parents, our opportunities to just listen are rare. Always “doing something else” is the story of our lives. If we’re lucky, we get to combine activities, like listening to music while surfing the web. I remember reading an article where Captain Beefheart advised his fans to put his record on, and then go mop the floor.  “Music to do something else to”, I guess.

But multi-tasking has been discredited, and neither thing gets done as well as it could have been if done alone. Including actively listening to music. So, these days I’ve got two obstacles to get over: finding the time to listen and finding the time to listen.



So here’s an old geezer’s attempt to listen to and judge new music I picked up on last trip to the record store.

Beck’s Sea Change (2002)
Why did I buy it?  Lots of mentions in my spreadsheet (don’t ask link), despite a mocking Robert Christgau review. And only $8.99!
First Listen – Late evening. I played it at the computer while I sat in the adjoining room. Mrs. Jaybee was at the computer, so she heard it better than me.  She passed on my playing it again for dinner the next night. Too depressing, she said. Me? I thought it was pretty. But then I was in the next room. (Time is bad enough. Space is a whole other blog...)  B+
Prediction: I’ll probably end up liking it a lot.

Bright Eyes Lifted (2002)
Why?: Only one mention, but I loved I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, and it was an allmusic pick.
First Listen– Late that same night.  More sprawling than Wide Awake. More noisy. More warbling. So far, less melody, too.  Not terrible, but not great either. B-
Prediction: I’ll end up loving it.

The Best of Blur (2000)
Why? I don’t know.  A Best of with a bonus CD, used at 8.99?
First Listen: No sooner did I put it on when I realized that the air conditioners needed to go in.  First song, okay. Second song confirmed to be that annoying one my son mentioned. Third is an old favorite. The little I heard of the rest was all right.  Didn’t care for the last song.  B-
Prediction: Disappointment. This is based on the fact that I ended up paying 8.99 for it when I could have gotten it from Amazon for $5. For that alone, I’ll project my self loathing on them and hate them, which is also what I do when I’m slightly disappointed.

Wu Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu Tang (1993)
Why? One of the most mentioned hip hop record.. Plus, that nice young man who helped me charge my car battery years ago in Newark, was wearing one of their tee shirts. First Listen: I kept trying to find the right time to play this.  I settled on a sunny afternoon in the backyard, while the neighbors were barbecueing. I took it off after about 7 seconds, when I heard the first line: “bring the f*cking ruckus!” Okay, maybe another time.  I finally settled on early in the morning before everyone is up, but with the volume low. (Hey, it worked for A Tribe Called Quest!) B
Prediction: Probably not a good bet for summer listening, but by winter I’m really going to like it.


Second Listen:


Beck’s tunes are right there so I almost have no choice but to enjoy them for now. B+
Bright Eyes gets interrupted.  It’s a loooonnng record. Such records make me feel bad. The artist works so hard to create it, and here I am, barely able to find the time to listen. But it’s growing on me. Sloooowly. B
I keep getting up to leave the room after putting on Blur.  This time to clean the grill.  Sounding better, though. B
Tried to listen to Wu Tang Clan again, but Mrs. Jaybee was working and asked me to turn it off.... B


Third:


Beck is sounding better and better. But it’ll peak soon, I fear... A-
Bright Eyes almost makes it thru the early morning, until Mrs. Jaybee wakes up. Incomplete
Blur almost makes it thru the late morning until I have to run some errands. And driving around, by the way, is no way to listen to new music. As if doing chores at home is.... Incomplete
Wu Tang benefitted from a beautiful evening when I’m home alone and everything sounded great. A-


Around this time, I got a few more CDs, which made this experiment even more half assed than it was when I started. But I try to soldier on....



Fourth:


Beck continues to maintain a very high level of pleasantness. A-
Bright Eyes gets an uninterrupted play again, and its rough edges are finally starting to smooth out. B
The Mrs. and I had an argument while listening to Blur in the van. I HATED it, and damn near threw it out the window. C-
A beautiful sunny day is not the best time to listen to Wu Tang Clan. The effect of the mayhem gets blunted when I’m lounging in my backyard. B-



Fifth:


Beck is doing just great, but I don’t feel like I really know anything about it except its surface. A-
I’m beginning to notice the individual songs on the Bright Eyes record. A critical development. B+
I no longer hate Blur, but I’m still kinda pissed at it. I will admit that the songs are beginning to become distinguishable. B
I’m enjoying the overall sound and energy of Wu Tang Clan, when Mrs. Jaybee confesses that she hates them. And all I can say is that that nice fellow who helped me start the car - who must now be about thirty-five - will be very disappointed. B+



Sixth:


Beck is in the lead, but I’m doubting his staying power, as I do with all pretty records. A-
Bright Eyes’ ambition and range are now getting clearer. That doesn’t mean that I love the record. If anything, it draws attention to the potential weaknesses. Now that I’m past the noise and conversations, I’m taking in the songs.  Will they turn out to be any good? There’s at least one great one, though. B+
I’m resisting Blur. I don’t quite believe they’re real. In other words, how could they be great if I didn’t know more about them? Unreasonable, I know, but considering what I was going to do with them on the fourth listen, it could be worse. The music, by the way, is in the good, not great, range. They may require good weather. B
Wu Tang is on sabbatical....



Seventh:


Beck continues to sound strong, as my resistance weakens. A-
Now I’m wondering what was so off-putting about Bright Eyes. It’s all hanging together pretty well. B+
Blur is also hanging together well, but it’s just not as compelling. B
Poor Wu Tang....



Eighth:


Beck comes crashing through. On a perfect quiet night for this sad record, both me and Mrs Jaybee love it. A
I’m hearing Bright Eyes now, and the three or so great songs are, well, great. But the length of the record renders the genre exercises a little annoying. B+
And a beautiful afternoon proves me correct about Blur. They’re a pop band, but the songs are stronger than I had hoped. And I like their guitar player.  B+,
Oh where oh where are thou Wu Tang?


And in Conclusion...

I’ll stop now. And here’s how they sound:
Beck:: A
Blur: A-
Bright Eyes: B+
Wu Tang: B+

And here’s how I predict they will sound to me at the end of the year:
Beck: I’ll see through all the beauty and find some flaw to harp on. A-
Blur: Obvious summer records tend to get put away during the cold weather. B+
Bright Eyes: His persistence will eventually win me over. A-
Wu Tang Clan: They’ve been relegated to early morning or late night when Mrs. Jaybee is asleep. But I may finally be getting this music. B+

In other words, despite my wishy washiness, I appear to be sticking to my original opinion. No, not about the music. About what my opinion will be.

Between then and now I hope to formulate a final judgement on Meet the Beatles...

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Secret History: 1977

This may ultimately be the most important year of all, because things were happening and a lot of us were doing our best to deny it.  

Sadly, it’s the year when listeners were presented with a choice, but had long before already made the wrong one. Conditioned by increasingly diluted AOR-type rock music, but then suddenly confronted with punk - on the news instead of the radio - what was the average listener to do, but double down on some very lame music? Hence the complaints in letters to Rolling Stone about songs where “you couldn’t hear the words”, etc.

I was no better. I loved “rock music” and wished that it would get the respect it deserved.  So I wanted it to be serious, and found the, well, glamorous surface of glam rock and spectacle of arena rock excess a bit depressing.

On the one hand commercial success indicated a wider acceptance of rock music.  But sometimes it felt….icky.  Like when I saw Al Stewart on “In Concert” with a full orchestra.  And country rock bands accepting Grammys and American Music Awards wearing tuxes.

The whole point of the music is to not be respectable, and it was finally driven home to me at the time while in a village record store. As leather clad cashier was wearing a button that said “Help Keep Rock and Roll Sleazy”. (He was doing his part.) That was when I knew I was sitting on a fence that would have to collapse at some point.

I have an almost visceral reaction to the records I bought that year – not because they somehow changed my life - but because they didn’t, and as such represent a breaking off point.  The Before of the Before and After.  

I didn’t pick up on the records released this year until at least 1980. But in retrospect. It turns out to have been a hell of a year, with more to come after.

Well, of course, there's the Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks.  You either take this road or you don't.  Well, I took it and I'm glad. This is some of the most powerful rock and roll ever made. And no, I have no love for Sid. I’m a Glen Matlock guy, no matter what John Lydon thinks.  Those tunes didn’t come from outer space. But it was Johnny’s snarl that put them over.

Television’s Marquee Moon has lots of guitar on it.  And lots of solos.  So in that way it’s not punk music at all.  As a matter of fact, it's the perfect record for bridging punk and jam music.  It's got all the speed, passion and harshness of punk, but with all the virtuosity of the Dead or the Allman Brothers. At least me and Roommate Mike thought so... 


By 1977 the Ramones had already made a lot of waves and had become the target of  ridicule from disc jockeys.  So just how did their seemingly simplistic formula result in a brilliant third album Rocket to Russia? I don’t know either. One of the greatest punk albums ever with classics such as  “Rockaway Beach”, “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”, and, my favorite “We're a Happy Family” ("Daddy likes men…")

I'm putting The Clash here because this is when the UK version came out, which I'm not totally familiar with.  In 1979 the American version would be released, which would contain much of the UK version, along with a number of singles they released since then.  I'm happy with the US version because there's so much on it.  Being a punk record, its sound isn't that great, but it contains some of the greatest rock songs ever, including what might be my favorite – “Complete Control”.

How can a record be punk and still be pretty? Because punk is an ethos not a genre. Anyway, aside from the occasionally weird hiccups in David Byrne's singing, and odd subject matter, Talking Heads 77  is very sweet. Especially "Psychokiller". jk

I was never one for cults, though, so don’t get the idea that once I fell for punk music, I’d never like anything else.

Back when I was even whiter teenager , I bought records by singer songwriter or the above-mentioned Allmans and Dead.  But while in the record store I couldn't help but notice the flamboyant record covers of bands like Funkadelic and Parliament.  Of course, I was a snob, and assumed such covers were needed to hide crappy music.

Little did I realize that Funkadelic was quite an ambitious outfit, with a damned good guitar player (the recently deceased Gary Shider). My first plunge was One Nation Under a Groove that has the greatest opening five seconds of any record ever recorded, but which then makes its way into the classic funk music of the era.  It's a bit more confident and sure of itself than I'm comfortable with, so I went back to Best of the Early Years, an early greatest hits record, which has more in common with the hard rock and Sly Stone records I was happy with.  An alien (to me) universe every bit as valid as the one I was inhabiting at the time.

Rough Mix is a misleading title.  It may be fun, but it's also pretty tight.  Pete Townsend joins up with Ronnie Lane (from the Small Faces).  They also have some friends join them, like Eric Clapton.  And against all expectations – they were all in decline by then - the result is wonderful.   “Heart to Hang Onto” is my favorite, but not by much.

If you find “Heroes” a bit harsh, so you might prefer David Bowie’s Low, which is  experimental and catchy at the same time. Great on vinyl, since the two sides are so different.  Side one for parties, and side two for late at night.

Just around the demise of Elvis I, the new one - Costello, that is - arises. You can fault My Aim is True for an dull production and sameness of some songs, but that’s about it.  This is the beginning of an explosion of songwriting (the best since 1970?) that would last for years.

“Being German” and “being into electronic music” aren’t the first two things I’d look for in a band, and Kraftwerk looked like a bunch of robots with all the soullessness that it implies.  But that's clearly untrue within the first minute Trans Europe Express. Sounds great in the summertime, of all things.

I’ll finish up with a record that is almost forgotten now. Karla Bonoff is a guilty pleasure. It’s  the epitome of LA studio hotshot smoothery.  Her voice resembles Linda Rondstadt, who actually did a few of these songs, too.  It's very middle of the road, and perhaps because it brings back some great memories I'm going easy on it.  Karla can really write a tune.  The one 1977 record I actually bought that year that’s worth remembering.

It’s embarrassing to admit how clueless I was about the things that would end up having such lasting value. But the next few years would be thrilling as I slowly caught up. In 1977, my musical world was cracked in half and I didn't even know it.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Pazz and Jop: Officially Sanctioned Music

I guess a legitimate question would be why Pazz and Jop?  Why not Rolling Stone?  Metacritic?

There was something about that combination of iconoclasism and thoroughness that appealed to the rebel and nerd in me simultaneously. Rolling Stone had already begun to seem very politically correct by then. And I was usually disappointed with the records they recommended.  It was as though they wanted you to like what you should like instead of what was really good or bad.

Sometimes I have an issue with Pazz and Jop (although last year’s winner - tUnE-yarDs - was right on) but I’m not sold on Metacritic as a replacement yet.

Of course, the deeper and yet more obvious question is Jaybee why do you care what other people think? Can’t you just make your selections based on what you hear?

Well, no.  And here’s why:

  1. I really don’t hear much that I like on the radio, unless it’s genre stuff, like old jazz or blues.
  2. I’ve been burned too often by loving a single song only to find the album wanting.
  3. I’ve also been turned around - as I’ve said before - too often by records that sounded strange or outright bad the first time I heard them, but then came to love. Notice the contradiction here with number one.  Maybe I don’t hear good stuff because I need more time, so it’s not you, radio, it’s me.
  4. There are just too many records out there, and I have a limited amount of time and money. I need a buffer, a filter. Okay, a Fuffer.

To this day I have to remind myself that there is no officially sanctioned good music. (George Bernard Shaw had no use for Shakespeare. I have no use for Rush. Yeah, I said it.) The closest things we have to it is popular opinion - critical consensus runs a very distant second, and I’m sorry to tell you that it’s much more reliable. But I’m not sorry to say that I prefer a thinking person who gets it wrong sometimes, to a dope who occasionally gets it right.

What if I didn’t have that critical recommendation to encourage me to give a questionable record a chance? I’d just be tossing aside records that would otherwise open new worlds for me.

So I work a little at it.  So what? It’s been worth it.