World History Project: The Notorious L.V.B. 1980 - 2020

Some Smartypants (Possibly Mrs. Jaybee): Uh, point of order!

Jaybee: What?

SS(PMJ): Look at your title. Some people are going to think you're saying that Beethoven was born in 1980 and died in 2020.

Jaybee: Oh, come on, nobody's that stupid.

SS(PMJ): Do you watch the news?

Jaybee: Okay, point taken. I guess I should clarify. No, Ludvig Van wasn't born in 1980.

(aside) Jesus fuck, do I really have to explain this?

SS(PMJ): Yes, you do. You barely typed the title and you FUBARed Music History, possibly forever. Don't you know Jay Leno used to do "idiot on the street" interviews with people who thought it was Fidel Castro on the penny and the Civil War was in the NINETEEN sixties? Let's not even speak of 2020.

Jaybee: All right, all right, all right! Next thing you know you'll be telling me I don't pick up after myself.

SS(PMJ): Uh...

Jaybee: ANYWAY. Ludvig van Beethoven didn't die in 2020 (great Caesar's ball sack!). That was John Prine. But you were close.

The years above and below merely indicate times when I, Jaybee, immersed myself in LVB's music, and unlike Billy Joel, came out of it still loving rock n' roll.

So, now that we've gotten THAT out of the way...

SS(PMJ): You dropped your napkin.

2020: Corona and BLM

I normally try to keep the "research" for the colder months but COVID-19 and the Minneapolis police fucked that up. In late spring and early summer, when I usually celebrate the warmer weather by listening to lighter, "fun" music, was now dedicated to blocking out things like pandemics and crazy presidents, so I listened to some of my old vinyl.

But even there I'd see dead people, either from the 'Rona, or not.

I had just about finished this when George Floyd was murdered and knew I'd need something stronger. Something from before my lifetime, when there was a good reason for people to be dead.

1980: My First Classical Record

When you move out on your own you have an opportunity to know or remake yourself.

After a few months in my first apartment, I noticed I was eating a lot less red meat than when I lived at home. And First Jaybee Roommate and Best Jaybee Friend Mike got me into reading the Sunday NY Times instead of the Daily News.

Music-wise, I took advantage of Mike's records where I found Errol Garner's Concert by the Sea. Then I started getting jazz albums on my own, like Kind of Blue.

On one particular Sunday, the Times had an ad for the Musical Heritage Society, which was essentially the Columbia Record Club for classical music. They were offering an eight-LP set of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies for only $15! (plus shipping and handling!!). So I said what the hell and - six to eight weeks later - that became my first-ever classical music album. 

 

And as with most of my multi-disc explorations, I tended to play disc-one side-one a lot. And only on rare occasions - like a major "recycling" - got all the way through to disc eight.

2000: Banished to the Dungeon

Another factor that made it literally harder to get to these records was moving all our vinyl to the then-dungeon, now more-or-less-basement of mine and Mrs. Jaybee's house. The CDs were beginning to pile up and our living room was looking too much like a used record store, so down they went.

From that point, I was listening almost exclusively to CDs. I didn't get down to the basement unless there was an unpleasant chore or a prisoner interrogation to do. So LVB - along with a ton of other vinyl - sat there unlistened to for years.

I eventually got CD versions of the symphonies and burned them onto my work PC, where I could listen throughout the workday. I figured I’d just play and play them until they sank in, but all this seemed to accomplish was to blend them all together so that when I hear them I recognize them but I'm not even sure they're Beethoven let alone which symphony. As usual, my best-laid plans were blowing up in my face.

And worst of all, the World History Project was stuck - from a musical standpoint - at around 1800 or so.

2020 Again:

But there's nothing like tragedy and mayhem to sharpen one's focus, and I spent the entire month of June 2020 in a Ludvig Van deep dive.

One side benefit of all this is now that I've got two different versions of the Nine Symphonies, I get to do a Charles Emerson Winchester and say things like version x is "tentative" and version y is "sublime" (which for the longest time I thought was a flavor).

I'm still having issues telling one piece apart from another, but I will cautiously conclude that the CD version (by the Revolutionary Orchestra) is faster. Like the conductor had a lot of coffee or didn’t book enough studio time. By the way, I recommend this approach to anyone who's planning to record anything.

So this is a heads up for/warning about the next few posts, where I'll be going over the LVB Symphonies, and throw in a few other works that I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. But I’m going to break it up into chunks. It would be nuts to do otherwise. Figure it'll take all of February, which is Black History Month (Mrs. Jaybee is suddenly eyeing me very closely.) which in this case is really neither here nor there (Okay Mrs. Jaybee? Maybe not BLM though).

So I’ll tackle it by year, covering 1800 to 1825, with no respect intended, or rather none offered blindly. And rather than bore you with technical terms neither you nor I understand, I will try to relate these symphonies to some of my favorite records and artists. 

I’m STILL trying to figure out who his rock and roll equivalent is. Maybe by the end of all this, I’ll know.

 

But I can only share the tiny slice of his vast output that I've heard. Hmm, perhaps his RNRE is fellow curmudgeon Frank Zappa...

So now that the Best of 2020 (and next best) is out of the way, we'll meet up in February 2021 to talk about 1800.  

What?