Sadie Tagged Me
Sadie tagged me on May 25, 2005. So, today I will be “it” and drive my blog even further out of relevance to the popular culture and run off any remaining visitors. My musical tastes are, how shall we say, out of the mainstream. These are definitely tunes which would never make it on to American Idol or the iPod of anyone under the age of 40 (I’m fairly certain… I’ve never even watched AI and I can’t imagine one of those Apple Silhouette Dancers gyrating and thrusting to choral music).
After this, I will talk a bit about what I’ve been reading: obscure works, which will bore any sympathetic hangers on to tears… little, if any, fiction.
Finally, I will nail the coffin shut as I move PietyHill Press to the purpose it was intended: a hub or pointer to essays on even more obscure interests like the occultation of the twelfth imam and the nature of prophecy in primitive Christian gatherings.
The last CD I bought was:
Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991 – 2001 Denise surprised me on my birthday, by taking me to a performance of the Choir of the West at Grace Lutheran in Grass Valley. I absolutely love modern choral music and have searched for exactly the sound I have been longing for. The COTW performed Whitacre’s i thank You God for most this amazing day and I said to myself, “that’s it!” I bought this CD and it is flawless. I wrote to Mr. Whitacre about other artists I might like and he was kind enough to respond. i thank You God for most this amazing day is perfect: I cannot think of any composition of any style or genre, which is so absolutely wonderful.
Song Playing Right Now:
Our Town by Aaron Copland: Copland conducts Copland. This piece was composed for the 1940 film adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Copland was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score. It is melancholy, which I seem to tend towards. It captures the feel of New England.
Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):
I checked iTunes to see what the top 25 I’ve been playing are — the top five were not really a surprise. In my top 25 are Copland, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Concrete Blonde, Beck, Mike Roe and the 77’s. However, I will not use such a cold, empirical measurement to come up with my top five.
Unbalanced by the 77s
This is the perfect rock song with Mike Roe’s signature lyrics about unrequited love, a wide dynamic range of sound, Mike playing lead guitar at the top of his form and one of the most insane, quirky, seductive interplays between drums and bass I’ve ever heard. I get a kick out of playing it for drummers and asking them to tell me what’s going on. They eventually get it, but the expression on their faces says it all – Bruce Spencer is a total original.
The song opens with a muted snare (?) and then Mark Harmon joins with a monotonous groove on the bass. The beat, as the title suggests, is unbalanced and Mike Roe opines an out-of-whack love relationship:
I come with lines, you talk in circles
I own the blues, you rent the color purple
I scream for ice cream, you whisper for wine
You do your life, baby I do my time
I’ve got time, you’ve got none
You know all and I know some
I fall short, you stand tall
You conceal and I show it all
I like playgrounds, you love games
I nail things down and you rearrange
You loved early and I love late
You throw the dishes, babe I just clean my plate
You plant a family, I dig a space
I watch my back while you wash your face
You work for money and I play for fun
Babe you’re so inviting but I still can’t come
The song breaks into extended, crunchy soloing by Mike and slowly tones down into his wafting, melodic, “western” lead and chording reminiscent of the Ventures:
When I think of getting deeper with it baby
You throw on something deep and purple baby
The song builds and builds, frustration and confusion, until poor Mike blurts out:
Unlike me diggin’ Donnie Lee and the Children of Truth babe
Sit down! Shut up! listen to me go crazy…
At that, Mike unleashes a frenetic barrage of wah-wah and distortion with Mark Harmon picking up on the bass and Bruce Spencer wildly banging and crashing everything within reach (is Mike punching the wall? Is she throwing the dishes?). The song fades out with what sounds like the disoriented, surreal confusion following a domestic disturbance. Finally, it concludes with a one-minute restatement of the complaint and then, silence.
Boum! by Blossom Dearie
Blossom Dearie is the most delightful singer I’ve ever heard. Her music simply makes me feel good! She is a jazz singer from the be-bop period and I heard that Miles Davis would have her open for him at the Vanguard Club. She was a great piano player and had to accompany herself whenever she sang — even in the studio. She traveled to France early in her career, so a number of her songs are in French. Boum! is just such a song and it is fun!
Tomorrow, Wendy by Concrete Blonde
This is a sad, haunting song by Andy Prieboy, which I believe is about a young woman he actually knew, who died of AIDS. Johnette Napolitano’s sultry voice is perfectly suited to this complaint to God for the untimely death of someone dear. The lyrics are tough for a Christian to listen to. But, it will take you into the mind of a sensitive, thoughtful skeptic with a religious background, who can’t quite embrace atheism, expressing a resigned anger towards God. This “outsiders” view of the suffering and death of Christ is so accurate, so insightful. One can only conclude that, if they will simply surrender and believe, they will have a stronger grasp of the theology of the cross than the mass of evangelicals. James Mankey’s guitar work deserves mention. It’s almost cliché, because the former Sparks guitarist is so outstanding, but I am amazed at how many effects or sounds he employs in one song. Yet, it never seems overdone or gaudy. He is the master of textures… of applying layers of sound behind a song. Tomorrow, Wendy is a fine example of rough, perceptive “biker poetry.”
The Jig Is Up by Michael Roe, live on It’s For You
I have a feeling this is autobiographical for Mike Roe. It’s a pretty, folky, acoustic song. I have to say that I am drawn to it, because it captures my sense of utter dependence upon Jesus… my total unworthiness… how I always let Jesus down… how He is always there, in the end.
I won’t go gently into that bad earth,
I will fight for you with all that’s in me, for all that it’s worth
Can I run to you forever?
Cause, if I can’t run to you forever, how can I run to you now?
You live on my doorstep,
Is there room in my heart?
A Tie!
The Lark Ascending and Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams
I think I enjoy Vaughan Williams the most when he takes a traditional English folk song, a poem from the 19th century or the work of an older composer, like Thomas Tallis, and then casts it in a modern classical fantasy, employing modern instruments. This is the best of the genre.
This was too hard… music has been such a force in my life… it could have been a very negative force, if I had not gotten it under control by bringing it under Christ. How can I close without mentioning Bill Mallonee, Ofra Haza, Thelonius Monk, Cowboy Junkies, The Cure, Little Feat, Jennifer Knapp, The Altar Boys, Living Colour, T-Bone Burnett, Charlie Parker, Frederick Delius…
Has anyone read this post to the end? Then you, the reader, have been tagged.
June 4th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
I love Bloodletting but that song is the only song I don’t like on the album. Not just the offensive words on it, but the album itself flows all the way through it until it gets to that song.
June 4th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
How about Jim Mankey, ZS… do you like his style? He’s one of those guitar players I rarely think about, because he seems to be so into the composition… into the finished piece as a whole. It’s like he doesn’t thrust himself to the front, but if you listen to him… he’s just really good.
June 5th, 2005 at 10:55 pm
I don’t know Jim Mankey unfortunately.
June 6th, 2005 at 10:31 am
Cool Beans. I was curious to know what Beck song made it into your top 5 on your ipod though. Care to share?
June 6th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
That would be Golden Age… I was surprised how often I play Sea Change.
June 7th, 2005 at 6:41 am
There’s a certian mood I get into where only a Beck album will satisfy me. There’s something quite unique and first class about his music.
June 7th, 2005 at 11:41 am
When did you buy Sea Change? I love that album…
Camille
June 8th, 2005 at 10:23 am
Hey Bo:
This has nothing to do with your music tastes, but I saw that one of your favorite movies was The Apostle while I was checking through your profile. Is that the one with Robert Duvall? The strange thing is, when I was at UCSC, I took a class that was called “Will the real Jesus please stand up?” Our textbooks were “The Five Gospels”, by the Jesus Seminar, and “The lost gospel of Q”, and one of the movies the instructor showed was “The Apostle.” The cool thing was, as the climax of the movie was playing, I could feel God was really stirring the hearts of the students. It was an intensely powerful moment. So what they showed as an attempt to cut down Christianity was actually a powerful witness! Anyway, thought you’d like that story.
June 8th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
This is just confirmation that we need to have an “Apostle” party at Bo’s house. (Denise, start thinking of little things to make.) I was just thinking about that movie yesterday, and how it’s biblical. Robert Duvall wrote, directed and starred in it, and although he says he’s not a Christian, God worked through his talents;
This is a story about a man who has great faith, great passion, and great sin. God follows him everywhere, takes his mistakes, disciplines him as a son, (by the end, he’s lost everything he loves) and takes those mistakes and turns them to gold, working them to good.
Some people don’t sit all the way through the credits and see how God is still by his side, despite all he’s done, because he truly believes. We must make sure we do this at our party.
June 8th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
Hey, Zombieslayer, take the naughty word off your blog, again, please. My nanny won’t let me read you again. Thank you. PS Don’t everyone think ZS runs a smutty blog. My nanny is super strict.
June 8th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
Hey, Bo, instead of talking to Simon and ZS, I guess I should at least acknowlege your post, instead of going off on such a rabbit trail…
You’re music tastes are rather obscure for me, but I do think Mike Roe is one of the most overlooked musical geniuses of our time. God is most likely protecting him from the fate of a rock star.
June 8th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Beck… Sea Change? I’ve had it for a couple years… yes, when I want something mellow, yet modern, that’s where I go.
Simon: Thanks for the Apostle anecdote. I could totally imagine that happening. The film is almost a documentary and, if you’ve been around pentecostal circles, it’s absolutely accurate. To this day, I still get choked up at the end, which Michele described, and the beginning: There’s an auto accident and Sonny has got to get to the victims before they pass into eternity. He grabs his Bible, leaves his “mama” (that’s his biological mother, to you yankees) in the car and takes off into the field, looking back and forth, over his shoulder to avoid interference by well-meaning, yet earthbound law enforcement and emergency personnel. He gets to the car and finds a young man, who needs to get right with the Lord “today, while it’s still today.” He gets the Lord’s work done and gives the young man some words of comfort for his wife, before being run off. He and his mama drive away praising Jesus for another soul entering heaven. If you’ve ever been there or within proximity of someone or an event like that, you will be irresitably and immediately drawn into the film and lost to the world for a couple of hours. It’s powerful and even the most cynical, skeptical undergrad could not help but be affected somehow.
Now, about the fifth gospel… would that be the Gospel of Thomas? I’ve not read much by the Jesus Seminar.
Now, I would be up for an Apostle party, but wouldn’t that be kinda like the Glory party, when we finished the film and looked around and everyone’s eyes were swollen, wet and red? As I remember, we had to show some Three Stooges videos to lighten it up a bit.
Finally, I don’t know if Mike Roe is a musical genius… I do know that he writes what I’m thinking (not much rattling around in my head), he is probably one of the most diverse guitar players and writers I’ve ever heard, he remains stubbornly faithful to Jesus and he gave up stardom and $$$ for the sake of his daughter. That makes him a winner in my book.
July 12th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
[...] Today, I received my copy of the new 77s DVD Collection, featuring seven official music videos by my favorite band, as well as another disk of “live bootleg” concert footage going back to 1982! [...]