I like what Bob "French" Lefsetz said today:
"They call this the music business. It's not the agent business. Or the manager business. And although radio and television can help, it's really all about listening. By ourselves."
There are so many albums that I know by heart. I will start to hum the next song when the one before it has not even finished fading out. These times of listening were done alone. Later the music was enjoyed together, but it's those alone time listens where you almost "bond" with an album. I mean, you DO bond with it, but it's not the same as a flesh and blood relationship. It's artificial. It's man and machine, but it's still real. It's just a modern version of the expression of music.
When Led Zeppelin put 8 songs on the un-labelled IV album, they all took up the space quite nicely. There wasn't a throw-away song on there. Some may argue that the partly-instrumental "Four Sticks" was a throw-away track, but those that know the song can probably hear it richocheting around in their mind right now. It's a drag when an album has 13 tracks and some of them are forgettable. Sometimes it's fun to hear the artist indulge themselves. Some of the tracks at the end of The Fundamental Elements of Southtown seem kind of self-indulgent and less than par (maybe "Image" and that hidden bonus track), but they do have a vibe. And that's cool. I had to pop in Fundamental just now and check it out. Man, that album still stands the test of time. Good stuff! I hate to complain about it! I hear this Bob guy complain about music today being temporal and shallow, but I can think of a lot of albums he's not talking about -- like Age of Reptiles by Showbread or the self-titled Mute Math album. There is a lot of great music out right now.
I just got up to get some coffee and noticed a Fed Ex European-styled van backing away down County Road 423 like a sneaky teenager trying to creep away from an act of vandalism. For some reason, they don't want to open the gate, drive in and knock on the door. They put the envelope or package in a plastic bag, tie it in a knot over the gate, and leave. Inside was a very special package though -- 4 copies of the new (Nov/Dec issue of HM). Wow! It looks great! The black ink is really dense and dark. I like that! Even the "glitch" I recently noticed in a PDF of the cover looks like it was repaired. (There is a black image box on the cover that's not as black as the surrounding black, but it all looks black in the final product. I'm so relieved.)
A recent Kid Rock quote about his new album, Rock & Roll Jesus, landing at #1 on the Billboard charts its first week out: "...And to everyone else, welcome to Haterville, population YOU."
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at October 17, 2007 10:47 AM