Mark is Cranky

(note: I just stumbled across this article that I'd written a few years back. I guess it kinda relates to (and in some cases, contradicts!) the "moments" I talk about in the Sixpence Review) Somebody once said that there's a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. I moved a step closer to that line back in 1978. One night during high school I returned home from work (LaVerdiere's Drug Store, Madison ME) with a copy of Van Halen I tucked under my arm. When I dropped the needle in the groove I had what I like to call an 'Oh My God' moment. The sounds that poured out of my speakers shattered my idea of what a rock band could be. It wasn't like their lineup was out of the ordinary: guitar, bass, drums and vocals. It was the guitar. There were surely many guitar heroes back then: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Richie Blackmore...but what Eddie Van Halen did with that guitar....I had never heard anything like it before. Nobody had. The twists and turns that his solos took practically defied logic. His rhythm work was something else too. A unique blend of metal riffing with a punk twist. That record stayed on my turntable for weeks. Even now, over 20 years later, giving Van Halen I a spin transports me straight back to that night (when I was so damn mesmerized by the music that I had to hang up on my girlfriend and call her back after it was over!)

I've had quite a few moments like this since. All of them have been cathartic in their own way, either driving me deeper into this obsession or taking me down a new and unexpected area of interest. So here are a few more of the high points in the history of my, uh...hobby.

The Pat Metheny Group - Live at the Capital Theatre. Concord, NH

On the tour supporting First Circle I had my first chance to see the Pat Metheny Group. At this point in time the only PMG record I owned was American Garage...so I'm not sure I knew what to expect. The band entered from behind the crowd...some with marching snare drums, others with various percussion instruments. Pat entered from behind the stage playing his red guitar synth controller - from which emanated sounds that I have come to describe as 'elephant guitar'. The group launched into a raucous version of Forward March. This is a tune that sounds like your average slightly-out-of-tune high school marching band. (Pat has described it as the marching band from Ornette Coleman High). From that point on I was hooked. Fifteen years (and at ten albums later) I still have not tired of the PMG sound.

The Lounge Lizards - Big Heart: Live in Tokyo

One day, while poking around in a friend's record collection, I stumbled across the Lounge Lizards. I'm always up for something new so I popped this one on the turntable. The Lounge Lizards sound like a crazy combination of jazz and blues, but somehow influenced by the great Beat writers (even though Kerouac played no instrument, I imagine him playing with this band). What makes the music so different is the angular, skronky guitar work of Arto Lindsay. For some reason I've always been drawn to unlikely juxtapositions of sound. In this case it was a 'normal' jazz band paired with a guitarist who sounds like he's on the verge of insanity. My taste for the bizarre definitely began here.

Greg Brown - Live at Fat Freddy's. Derry, NH

One big guy, guitar, sunglasses. Out of him comes the deepest voice I've ever heard (ok, not counting Barry White, who's off the low end of the chart!) And the voice growls out an ode to being alone...and enjoying it - Just By Myself. It was like he was channeling my thoughts. It made the hair stand up on my neck.

Joe Jackson - Live at the Orpheum. Boston, MA

This was hot! No, I mean it: it was over 100 degrees outside. The Orpheum's lack of air conditioning (just what the fuck have they been doing with that damn 'restoration fee' anyway?) turned the space into an oven. But the music transcended the heat. The high point came during a smoking cover of the old Fleetwood Mac tune 'Oh Well'...which they managed to use as a segue into 'Nineteen Forever'. I remember thinking that people who judge Joe solely on the merits of 'Steppin Out' are missing most of the story. This guy is able to squeeze every last bit of emotion out of a song and direct it straight into the crowd. I left the Orpheum elated, exhausted (and soaking wet...blech!).

Ornette Coleman & Prime Time. Live at the Berklee Performance Center. Boston,MA

Ornette is a giant of the jazz world (unless you're a fan of Kenny G). His show at Berklee opened my mind to the infinite possibilities of improvisation. In most traditional (or mainstream) jazz the improviser uses this harmonic bed (a set of chord changes played by the rest of the group) as a lunching point. Ornette's music rejects this approach in favor of something he calls Harmolodics. What this means is that there is no key center. Group members may pick improvise over the music of any other player in the group. And the improvisation may be based on either the melody or the rhythm. What does this sound like? I've got a close friend who would say that there's a good reason that Harmolodics begins with the letters 'harm'...but to me this form of group improvisation takes on a life of its own...it's almost like what a Mandelbrot set would sound like. It was most amazing during the show to see the group go off on what sounded like an uncontrolled tangent, only to stop on a dime and then veer off in a completely different direction. Ornette is surely an underrated musician - but in this WonderBread world that doesn't surprise me.

Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band. Fleetcenter. Boston, MA

To me Bruce Springsteen symbolizes everything that is great about American rock music: honest, straight ahead driving energy, passion, and a cinematic attention to detail. There are so many of his lyrics that drop me directly into the middle of a story: "The screen door slams...Mary's dress waves...", Thunder Road. (And for you naysayers I'd like to point out that if you think "Born In The USA" is a chest-beating flagwaver...you have totally missed the point).

This year saw the reunion of the 'original' E-Street band lineup. The show at the Fleetcenter was nothing short of spectacular. It's very difficult to describe the 'why' of this. I've been to tons of concerts but nobody comes close to Springsteen's ability to whip a crowd (an older, ageing one at that) into an absolute frenzy. The show was also special for me because my wife-to-be, Linda, was able to attend. She was finally able to experience the phenomenon that I had been blathering about for all these years.

So the hobby, obsession (mental illness) that started in 1978 continues today. There have probably been other 'Oh My God' moments but none has left the indelible marks that these have.

Hmmm....I think I've gotta go listen to Van Halen.

There was a pretty interesting article in yesterday's Boston Globe about Rick Ocasek signing on as senior vice president of A&R at Elektra Records.

After a wildly successful run as a recording artist and a quarter-century as an A-list album producer -- he's helmed projects for Hole, No Doubt, Weezer, and Iggy Pop, among many others -- Ocasek is going where few musicians have dared venture: the executive branch. In April, Ocasek, 54, was named senior vice president of A&R (Artists and Repertoire) at Elektra Records. Technically his job is to scout and sign new bands. But Elektra is investing in more than a fresh pair of ears.

Could this be the beginning of the return to the days when music lovers had input to the creative process?

We'll see.

What do the following artists have in common: Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant, Lori Mckenna, The Sundays, Bjork, Kate Bush, Ani DiFranco and Dar Williams? Each one, on first listen, made the rest of my world momentarily drop away. This is no joke.

Of course, the first would have been Rickie Lee Jones. I can still remember the way the goosebumps tracked their way up my arms during the first minute or so of "Chuck E's In Love". For a kid who listened to a steady diet of Zeppelin/Nugent/Black Sabbath this music, and my reaction to it, was shocking. It was probably the first time I realized that there was this whole other musical world waiting for me.

I've had a few more of these moments since then. Maybe my level of "shock" has decreased a little. But what remains a common element is the sense of wonder....uhm...I don't mean for this to sound so danged serious, 'cause more often than not I've heard this stuff during a car trip (to or from work), the 'moment' consisting of me thinking "Yow!!! What was that?!!"

The specific songs? "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" (Kate Bush), "Here's Where The Story Ends" (The Sundays), "32 Flavors" (Ani DiFranco), "Birthday" (Bjork/Sugarcubes), "Like The Weather" (Natalie Merchant/10000 Maniacs), "Hardly Speaking A Word" (Lori McKenna) and "When I Was A Boy" (Dar Williams).

Also: "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer. It was probably during Dawson's Creek. As soon as I heard that tune I just knew that Leigh Nash had been added to my dorky "Pop Singer Voice Hall of Fame".

"Kiss Me" came from their runaway hit eponymous CD. A fine pop record. Great music, interesting and uplifting lyrics and that sweet, sweet voice. It's the kind of thing that's immediately ageless...and I bet I would have loved it had I heard it the same day as my Rickie Lee Jones experience.

Divine Discontent has been a long time in the making. Contractual wrangling, lineup changes, side projects: none of this has hurt them as this is yet another great pop record. The songwriting remains their unique blend of faith and hope (artists in the non-crossover Contemporary Christian genre could learn a thing or two) starting right off with the opener "Breath Your Name" and peaking (for me) with the orchestra-supported intensity of "Dizzy". That would be the peak of energy. The emotional peak lives in the last two songs: the pretty "Tension Is A Passing Note" followed by the pensive "A Million Parachutes" (I've seen a few complaints about the inclusion of the Crowded House cover "Don't Dream It's Over"...sorry, but that song is a perfect compliment. Both the musical and lyrical influence is so obvious....and it's a great tune!)

Oh, and we can't forget the great arrangements, particularly the way Matt Slocum's guitar supports everything. Really, the perfect complement to "The Voice".

This is the CD you have to recommend to those who say that there's no good music out there anymore. If they don't like Divine Discontent maybe they're not capable of having a "moment".

OK, lemme get this part out of the way: I was really, really excited to see the name "Gillian Welch" on the FleetBoston Pavilion marquee.

Apparently, lots of folks didn't share in my excitement...'cause about 75% of those in attendence kept up a constant drone of blabbing during Welch & Rawlings' performance. Rawlings even asked the crowd for just a little bit of quiet....joking about needing it for just one song. He got it for about fifteen seconds, then the buzzing returned.

Idiots.

Anyway...I was a little worried that this would continue into Norah Jones' set, ruining the entire night. Luckily, the full-band Norah Jones experience was just loud enough to drown out the concert-as-social-event crowd (which drew from a surprisingly wide set of age groups: from pre-teens all the way up to those in their fifties).

Norah and her very talented band started off with Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart". I had wondered how this material would sound live...and was happy to discover that her band put a nice twist on everything. Tunes became a little more bluesy, a little more country, a little more jazzy. Nice. The bulk of the material came from Come Away With Me with the addition of several new songs and some nice covers.

What surprised me the most was how unaffected and genuine Norah seemed considering her "insta-fame". She handled crowd "requests" and "we love you's" with grace and humor (and my wife had to admit that, yes dammit, she's kinda cute).

i'm driving to work this morning and notice an empty baby car seat on the shoulder of the highway.

ever wonder how stuff like that gets there? i mean, i've seen abandoned furniture and shoes...and can imagine how they got there. but a baby seat?

Plasma - Trey Anastasio

It's so danged hot here in the northeastern US. This cd seems tailor made for the Friday afternoon festivities of lounging around with a gin & tonic.

Take one part Phish, add a little Sun Ra...and then back it up with the rhythm section of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. This is one big load of fun. Highlights include a horn-based twist on Magilla (from A Picture of Nectar), a bunch of previously unreleased tunes and a very cool cover of Marley's "Small Axe".

(this morning's listen was really supposed to be Norah Jones' Come Away With Me because I'm going to see her tomorrow night in Boston....but, true to form, I've still got vacation cds piled all over the place....and she's temporary lost under all the Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman and other mind-relaxing stuff).

...did i mention that it's fricken' hot?!!

At this very moment I'm listening to the second movement (7:56) of Glen Branca's Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus).

This is some scary crap.

It sounds like a gamelan orchestra...whose member are all insane.

There are weird electric guitar clanks, spouting horns and martial percussion bits. Phew! This is "world gone crazy" music.

Turn it up very loud, pour yourself and nice Lagavulin, and pretend that the bomb has just dropped.

i'm oh so glad that the RIAA is now going to drag "thousands" of downloaders into court.

yet another sign of big business being allowed to run amok in this country.

god bless america.

Not that this was a conspiracy or anything, but the more I listen to Guster's Keep It Together the more my ears pick up on bits of pop music's past.

First there's the Cure in the intro and chorus riffs from "Careful". Then some Lovin' Spoonful ("Daydream") in "Ramona", with some NRBQ-style vocals...sorta. "Red Oyster Cult" has terrific Beatles/Cheap Trick "bent" vocals.

Oh ya, and then there's the radio hit "Amsterdam", which for some reason I would love to hear covered by R.E.M.

I don't mean to imply that Guster is somehow lacking in creativity or is merely derivative. Not at all. Some reviewers have picked the Hollies (I can sorta hear that) but I lean more to the Beach Boys. The arrangements are just so full of nice elements: a little glockenspiel here, melotron there, maybe even some banjo...all on top of their "usual" bass, guitar and percussion.

Keep It Together is a consistently interesting and well-constructed (I wanted to say "crafted" here but all of those danged "hand-crafted" beer ads have ruined that word for me) record. What with all of the sweatin' hot weather that's finally appeared in the eastern US, it just might be the perfect CD for popping in the player on the way to the beach (read: "bookstore in coastal town"...sorry, my 'inner nerd' must be obeyed) this weekend.

ok, it's finally here....it's hot, it's sweaty and it's humid.

did i mention it's sweaty?

...just keeping of my end of the native new englander bargain: complaining about the weather in all seasons.

I didn't really want to go. The mall is not for me.

Especially on a rainy weekend afternoon.

Especially the day after a fun but draining family reunion.

But the kid "needed" a new cell phone...which required his mom's signature (not mine, I stay out of that crap). So I went along for the ride.

Because it was raining I picked out Greg Brown's Further In for the drive up there. For some reason I find myself drawn to Brown's music on rainy days. It must be the intimacy of it. Dunno.

The song "Where Is Maria" was playing as we pulled into the Sears parking lot. Funny, that tune has so many lyrics that can be used to describe the mall's innards:

"...while the whole world struggles to become one bland place" and:

"there'll be one corporation selling one little box it'll do what you want and tell you what you want and cost whatever you got"

...Which is what it felt like inside. I stood for a moment in the center of one of the "intersections", just watching. It looked like a scene from a bad sci-fi movie: with nearly every kid programming, "dialing", or speaking into a cell phone.

I went home and read a book for the rest of the afternoon.

Ya know, I really wanted to dislike this cd. There's a part of me that can't deal with what's being called "punk" these days. I mean, I grew up on The Clash, Ramones and The Sex Pistols. This (Green Day, Blink 182, Sum 41, NOFX, etc) is punk?

But that same part of me is worried that his parents' words are finally coming out of his own danged mouth....those words being a variant of "it all sounds the same to me".

So I've come around to thinking that it's a waste of time arguing about the "purity" of this stuff: look for something to enjoy and just get over it!

Less Than Jake comes from the ska/punk side of the "new" punk. The horns on Anthem take on a supporting role. Not a back thing, 'cause the guitar is pretty damn rockin'...particularly on "She's Gonna Break Soon" and the scorching "Short Fuse Burning".

While grooving along on their 4-chord power pop it struck me that this stuff is a lot more personal than most of my "real" punk. They also seem to lack that nihilism, which is a good thing (tho I've gotta admit that I enjoyed Rotten snarling out "Bodies" during those Friday night college beer fests).

Two things finally won me over. The first was that they feature artwork from indie artists based on each tune's lyrics. How cool is that? A great gesture and... they actually care about the liner notes. A rarity in the cd age. The "last straw" was the smokin' cover of Cheap Trick's "Surrender": a song that cannot be turned up too loud and defintely a pop anthem.

Live at Red Rocks - Rickie Lee Jones

Fellow BlogCritic Eric Olsen's Warren Zevon article got me thinking about how much this stuff (music) means to me. I've got it around me nearly continuously. It marks my passage through time. I remember where I was, who I was with, and how I felt when old songs pop up...or when a favorite artist passes on.

Just a few nights ago I picked up a remaindered copy of Studds Terkel's Coming Of Age. There were a few short poems tucked in before the table of contents, including the first part of Jenny Joseph's "Warning:

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick the flowers in other peoples' gardens And learn to spit.

I kinda hope I can have that same spirit. Rickie Lee sure does. During a short break in the middle of the set-ending "Gloria" she says:

never

Exactly.

Have a nice weekend.

For years and years Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation was the record I went to when the mood struck for some ugly & hypnotic guitar.

The deluxe edition of Dirty now sits in that spot. Actually, it's the second disc of the set: full of b-sides and, more important, a ton of rehearsal recordings.

Blistering and hideous guitar madness.

This isn't for everyone...but if you're up for some guitar torture then you oughta start right here.

As I've said before, the only concert I've every walked out of was by Depeche Mode. The primary reason was musical: just too much, uh...sameness.....slamming beats, bland vocals and what seemed like music being "delivered" via tape and/or sequencer. The other factor was David Gahan. To me he came across as a pompous twit. As it turns out, that should have been drug-addled pompous twit.

Of course, I was probably wrong about both the pompous and the twit parts of this. I mean, what the hell do I know about the guy except that he sings for Depeche Mode and that he had substance abuse issues?

Not much. I take it all back. The more I think about it, I was probably just annoyed that evening because I had driven all that way (to Mansfield, MA) only to get a mailed-in performance....it also didn't help that the singer from the opening act (Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark) berated us for not dancing (sorry dude, but your band was fricken boring). The ironic thing about all of this is that even though the show disappointed, I still went out and bought Music For The Masses and Black Celebration. There were definitely some tunes at the show that stood out among the gothy synth pulp (Pimpf, Behind The Wheel, Strangelove, Black Celebration, Stripped).

So it doesn't surprise me that I'm enjoying Paper Monsters so much. While this kind of pop isn't generally high on my list, there's a certain moody & atmospheric quality (I wanted to use the word ambient here, but that's been so overused recently) that I heard in the fore-mentioned Depeche Mode songs.

There are some great touches on this record: a little glockenspiel, vibraphone, some twangy guitar, cello, and viola...all suspended in not too much reverb.

Lyrically it seems a little more direct and personal than Depeche Mode (maybe Martin Gore should listen to Gahan and allow him a larger role in the songwriting process...it wouldn't be a bad move). There are several relationship/love/breakup songs (this is a pop record, after all) as well as some pretty introspective "confessionals" dealing with the whole addiction issue. In the folk world reviewers tend to dump on material like this by trotting out the "navelgazer" cliche...which I think is crap. If you've got a thought bottled up in you, you gotta let it out! In this case, Gahan almost died. That's gotta spawn a few demons in a guy's head. Anyway...I thought the songs were pretty damned powerful.

All in all, a pretty good record. And maybe for more than just Depeche Mode fans.

Hey, who let Fagen and Becker into the musical viagra bottle?! First it was 2000's Two Against Nature. Now, with Everything Must Go these guys, by their own standards, have become downright prolific.

But hey, I'm not complainin'. It's great to see Steely Dan still around. There aren't a whole lot of artists still standing,and still relevant, from the early days of classic rock (just think...Steely Dan's Can't Buy A Thrill was released way back in 1972...the same year that Eat A Peach and Fragile came out).

What's interesting about the "modern" version of Steely Dan is that their music seems to have been influenced not at all by the passage of time. A ton of musical genres have come and gone since the release of Aja (1977)...none of which have found their way into Fagen & Becker's music (note: this doesn't apply to the lyrics. cripes, listen to "Pixeleen"...the phrase "keep it real" appears...yo!)

Why is this interesting? Well, the other constant in Steely Dan's music is the overall style. You know it when you hear it. Ten seconds (maybe less) into a new tune and you just know who it is. But...the songs stand on their own. Maybe it's the jazzy elements that took hold on Aja...or their use of reggae and funk rhythms...or the angular guitar licks...or the horns that step in once and a while. All I know is that I end up listening to Steely Dan tunes like I listen to jazz (and other instrumental) records: because the arrangements they put together manage to be both familiar and new every time you listen.

Examples? I love the way that , during the verses of "Things I Miss The Most", the descending piano figure and choppy guitar stabs provide support for the vocals. Then there's the snappy little guitar lick in the intro to "Godwhacker" that becomes the motif used for the rhythm guitar for the rest of the tune. And how about the short bebop-y sax in the intro to "Pixeleen"? It's an odd little bit...but then the sax reappears later for a short solo.

Everything Must Go isn't going to knock Aja out of its place as my favorite Steely Dan record...but that's ok, it doesn't have to. There's a lot here to enjoy, every time I listen.

ps. check out the frightening picture of Fagen & Becker on the back of the cd booklet. Man, they're startin' to look like characters out of David Lynch's Blue Velvet!

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