Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3O7SZtK
LETTING GO
I was going to do this in order, but then I thought it best to start with the McCartney solo track I play most, "Letting Go."
It was the summer of '75, the summer of "Captain Fantastic" and "One of These Nights." The year before had been all about "Band on the Run," the song and the album. It was a huge, unexpected comeback, a return to form. But "Venus And Mars" was not as highly anticipated, not as fervently embraced, probably because of its initial single, "Listen to What the Man Said," which was a ditty made for AM radio, too light for FM, where "Band on the Run" had triumphed. But I had to buy the album immediately, and it's one of my favorites.
McCartney is thought to be lightweight, but he can be quite heavy, ergo the Little Richard workouts early in the Beatles' career, but they were about exuberance as opposed to bottom, kicking the audience in the gut, like with "Letting Go."
"Ah, she looks like snow
I want to put her in a Broadway show"
LETTING GO
Up until this time the biggest tour, the most anticipated, the one with the most press, was the Stones' trek in '72. But McCartney in '76, it seemed impossible to be able to get tickets to see what was then called "Wings," and I didn't. But I did purchase the triple album collection "Wings Over America" when it was released just before Christmas. It's the only triple album live set I found playable, even though I owned "Leon Live" and "Yessongs." By this date live albums were polished in the studio, they were not live, but not "Wings Over America," the imperfections were left in, making the experience more immediate, more powerful.
BIG BARN BED
I lied, this is the McCartney track I play most, "Letting Go" speaks to my head whereas "Big Barn Bed" speaks to my heart. I'd given up on Paul's solo career, not being able to afford everything and not expecting much after the execrable, utterly disappointing "Wild Life," the first post-Beatles LP billed as Wings. But "Big Barn Bed"...
Ahmet Ertegun said that a hit record was something that you heard lying in bed listening to late night radio that caused you to immediately jump up, get dressed and go to the all night record store to buy. If "Big Barn Bed" was ever a single, I didn't know, but I'd long given up the 45 RPM 7" disc, I was an albums-only guy, and you didn't hear "Big Barn Bed" often on the radio, but when you did... I remember hearing it on the drive up to Watkins Glen.
I didn't buy "Red Rose Speedway" until the eighties. I didn't even know it had braille on the cover, like "Talking Book," but even a vinyl record is difficult to play ad infinitum. But once we went to the digital world, once we went to streaming, I'm constantly calling out..."Alexa, play BIG BARN BED!"
Oh yeah, Linda's harmonies add texture, help make the record even greater.
COMING UP
Backstage after Paul's appearance at Musicares I told him his performance of a song that evening reminded me of the live version of "Junior's Farm" that was a hit. He was walking past me with Nancy, he turned around and told me "No, that's "Coming Up." AND IT WAS! You'd be stunned how many legendary musicians are students of the game, know every detail of their careers.
There was a studio version of "Coming Up," it opened "McCartney II," and it's good, but it was the live version, live in Glasgow in 1979, that was the hit. One of the very few songs where the live as opposed to the studio version was the hit. Can you imagine this today?
JUNIOR'S FARM
I was working at Star Sporting Goods on Highland in Hollywood, just south of the Boulevard. I'd graduated from college the spring before, I was planning to quit to go work my job at the Goldminer's Daughter in Alta on November 15th, I ended up breaking my leg before that, but that's another story. There was a radio that played throughout the store, and it was quite large with many rooms. And it was either KMET or KLOS, at the time KMET was hipper, but KLOS was more palatable to the customers so that's what we listened to most. "Junior's Farm" was a hit then, a splash of brilliance after "Band on the Run" that felt so good, when records could still have excitement without melisma, without hitting you in the face, that's the power of rock and roll.
EVERY NIGHT
"McCartney," Paul's solo debut, does not get enough recognition, enough respect, it's an understated masterpiece. The problem was "Let It Be" came out at the same time and Paul was perceived as having broken up the Beatles.
This is the song I liked most, first. I used to play it on the guitar.
MAYBE I'M AMAZED
A masterpiece, its own pocket symphony, could have fit on a Beatles' album, undeniable. Period.
MAYBE I'M AMAZED
I was a huge Rod Stewart fan, which meant I bought the Faces albums too, and i had to go see him live at the Capitol Theatre in the fall of '71. The band started playing and then Rod strutted out from the wings and I've never seen a better stage entrance. And instead of singing right into the mic, he came up to the stand, kicked out a leg, let the stand fall back and then he popped back up and started to sing. Rod was gonna get away with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," but it's the Clive classics albums that eviscerated his credibility, that ruined his career, but before that he sat atop the rock throne, and was one of the best performers extant.
They played "Maybe I'm Amazed" that night.
THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING
It's the sound. And the vocal. Only Paul McCartney can do this, it's unmistakably him, whew!
TEDDY BOY
My favorite song on the album back in 1970. I played this one on the guitar too.
JUNK
Dreamy.
KREEN-AKRORE
You don't get it the first time through, you might not get it until ten times through, but when you do! It's otherworldly and powerful.
TOO MANY PEOPLE
The opening cut on "Ram." A clear step away from the debut, with more production. You've got Paul's growl and you've got to place yourself back in 1971 when we were still licking our wounds from the sixties, but still thought we could execute change, we were worried about the problems in society but we believed we could overcome them.
HEART OF THE COUNTRY
Jaunty, simple and countrified, it could exist on the White Album with no problem.
MONKBERRY MOON DELIGHT
At first you might want to skip it, but the more you listen to it the more you like it, the key is when Paul sings "monkberry moon delight," it's more than a throwaway, even though it seems like one at first.
LONG HAIRED LADY
A hidden gem. There are so many changes, different movements, but being buried deep in the second side on an album that was viewed as an artistic disappointment, not being as good as a Beatles LP nor as intimate as the solo debut, most people were and still are unaware of it.
THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR
Just the other day a famous musician said this was one his favorite tracks. It's the album closer, and it sounds like it. The twists and turns, everything thrown in, all the elements previously exhibited on the LP, and then it becomes so majestic. This was not a hit, you hear it and you can own it, personally.
HI, HI, HI
A single, not on any album, but all over the radio. Was he really singing about getting high? That's not how he spelled it, that was a debate back then. "Hi, Hi, Hi" is a tear, this is a rock band, firing on all cylinders.
LIVE AND LET DIE
The first Bond film starring Roger Moore, it was a must-see back in '73. And it's funny, the theme song has survived more than the flick. At first take it seemed like a sell-out, but the track was so infectious and such a smash it superseded any questioning of its motives. Now the flash pots are an almost tired staple of the live show, but back in the seventies they were quite a surprise.
HELEN WHEELS
Just a single, it was not supposed to be on "Band on the Run," but it was so successful that they decided to strip it in. It's a road song, starting in Glasgow and going down through Liverpool...it's so fast you can't think, you just go along for the ride.
BAND ON THE RUN
The single was "Jet." And that never made it to number one and took a long time to peak to boot. But when the end of the year polls came in "Band on the Run" was on all of 'em as one of the best albums of '73. Huh? Hadn't everybody written McCartney off as lightweight? So even though I'd sworn off his solo projects, I had to buy the LP and see for myself. I vividly remember standing in my dorm room at Middlebury after dropping the needle and hearing "Band on the Run" for the very first time, I'm actually tingling as I write this, holy crap, this is FANTASTIC! And nobody was talking about it, nobody seemed to know about it. It took months for the album to gain traction, and then you ended up hearing the title track on the radio all summer, suddenly everybody knew it, McCartney had reclaimed the throne as the biggest rock star in the world.
LET ME ROLL IT
It's funny, this is the second most streamed track from the album after the title number on Spotify, I never would have expected that. The song seems to stutter. To be holding back, delivering just a smidge too late, it's like being sexually stimulated sans climax, which you're waiting for, which never really comes, you've got to provide that yourself, you're left hanging. "Let Me Roll It" is long and heavy, it makes your body move involuntarily, so simple, yet so right, and that jerky guitar part that wakes you up just as you're drifting away.
MAMUNIA
"The next time you see L.A. rain clouds
Don't complain it rains for you and me"
This is my go-to rain song, not the Doors' "Riders on the Storm," whenever it rains this song goes through my head. As for complaining, if only it would rain today!
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE
That's thirty seven years ago, but far off back in '73, when this album was released. What would happen after 1984, would life go on? Turns out it did, as it also did after 2000, but we thought about this, it was in the back of our minds.
In truth "Band on the Run" was a dark album, "Helen Wheels" didn't fit, but it didn't ruin it. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" is not playing to the audience, it's otherworldly, you feel like you're on the outside looking in, far from home.
MEDLEY: HOLD ME TIGHT/LAZY DYNAMITE/HANDS OF LOVE/POWER CUT
"My Love" made many not buy "Red Rose Speedway," who wanted more of that? Certainly not me. Therefore they missed out on this analogue to the second side of "Abbey Road" at the end of the album, it delivers.
YOU GAVE ME THE ANSWER
The music hall sound that McCartney exhibited with the Beatles, like on "When I'm Sixty-Four." I think this sound is completely unknown to youngsters but boomers were exposed to it, before rock and roll eviscerated it. Takes you away without being sappy like "Winchester Cathedral," then again that's a great song too.
MAGNETO AND TITANIUM MAN
Completely left field, an entire sci-fi crime story. If you bought in it was so satisfying. McCartney may have been the biggest star in the world, but he was willing to experiment, do something outside, which resonated even more with the listener.
VENUS AND MARS (REPRISE)
"Standing in the hall of the great cathedral"
It sounds like it's emanating from a cathedral.
VENUS AND MARS
I prefer the reprise, but the opening instrumental version is worth listening to.
MEDICINE JAR
A Jimmy McCulloch song smack dab in the middle of the second side of "Venus and Mars." McCulloch had crawled from the wreckage of Thunderclap Newman to Wings.
"There's more to life than blues and reds
I said I know how you feel
Now your friends are dead"
And a couple of years later McCulloch was too, from morphine and alcohol, making listening to this song eerie.
CALL ME BACK AGAIN
A new "Let Me Roll It," not a remake but the same feel, slow and bluesy, stuttery, but not as famous because "Venus and Mars" was not embraced like its predecessor.
SHE'S MY BABY
"Speed of Sound" was written off because of "Silly Love Songs," which was quite catchy but the lyrics doth protest too much, and Linda's vocal on "Cook of the House," but although the LP is light, there's some notable stuff on it. Like this music hall number with a change in the middle that youngsters seem unable to replicate.
BEWARE MY LOVE
Play it a couple of times and you won't be able to take it off. The chorus is so catchy, and then the song goes off on a long hejira, it becomes intense just when you were afraid it would be wimpy, it's a great ride.
TIME TO HIDE
A Denny Laine song, probably his best work after "Go Now." Catchy. Gets your head knockin'.
WARM AND BEAUTIFUL
Like floating in a sensory deprivation tank. You feel embraced and safe. This closes "At the Speed of Sound" on a note that makes you feel so good.
LONDON TOWN
"Silver rain was falling down
Upon the dirty ground of London town"
The magic of some songs is hard to articulate, you just feel it, and this is one of those numbers. It was 1978 but you were brought back to the mid-sixties when London was still swingin', when it was all happening there and you wanted to go there. McCartney was plugged in there, he was our conduit to that feeling.
NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS
The hit original from the greatest hits package that was released as the soundtrack to the film "Give My Regards to Broad Street." When the song goes to the pre-chorus it starts to get good, and the chorus is memorable, especially when Paul sings with more and more emotion.
DRIVE MY CAR (LIVE AT AMOEBA)
Paul was launching his album "Memory Almost Full" with an appearance at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. These gigs never start on time and the band punches the clock. But in this case, Paul took the stage not long after the appointed time and immediately launched into this and heads were exploding all over the store, as if everybody had been gifted a Lamborghini. This was him, the Beatle, the man. And he hadn't lost a step. He hit the ground running. He had the best band, he still has the best band, and he knows how great he is, the music will speak for itself if they just plug in and play, and that's what they did and I was standing about twelve or fifteen feet away and had to pinch myself, was this real?
It was and Paul is. Some day he's gonna be gone, but so far he still keeps on choogling. And the funny thing is he's not jaded. Yet he doesn't suffer fools, doesn't have endless time for interrupting fans, he's trying to just live the life of a person on the planet, even taking the bus in New York City, he's living amongst us, most won't know how privileged they are, they won't until he's gone. He seems forever young, and as long as he's here and doing it we feel that way about ourselves too. It's not that Paul McCartney is 80 and old, we were transfixed when he hit 64, this is really about an opportunity to acknowledge his greatness and cherish his presence. It's just a day in the life.
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Saturday 18 June 2022
Friday 17 June 2022
I Am A Child
"The Best of Buffalo Springfield: Retrospective": https://spoti.fi/3baFhYG
1
It comes after "Rock & Roll Woman" on "Retrospective."
Funny, "Rock & Roll Woman" was why I bought the Buffalo Springfield greatest hits compilation, it was the song that sounded most like the Stephen Stills material that generated such success, that was so satisfying on the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album, and now it's been lost to the sands of time, "Bluebird" remains, never mind "For What It's Worth," but not "Rock & Roll Woman."
It was all about "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Sure, you could hear "Marrakesh Express" on AM radio, but that's not what converted listeners overnight, that was "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."
"It's getting to the point..."
That guitar intro, if you could play that you were a superstar. We all had guitars, we all sat in front of the turntable, dropping the needle over and over again to learn the songs. But it's one thing to know how to play the chords, quite another to be able to replicate whatever Stephen Stills was doing in this track.
"I am yours, you are mine
You are what you are
You make it hard"
It was Judy Collins's birthday. Stephen insisted she stop by so he could give her a gift. Which turned out to be a guitar. And then he proceeded to play "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," and Judy told him she liked the song, but they still weren't getting back together.
Still... Those of us playing the home game saw "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" as upbeat, a source of elation. A stripping down of what came before so all that was left was the essence.
"Friday evening, Sunday in the afternoon"
Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, it's the light. Especially in the fall. It's still warm, but the light is golden, it both warms you and sets your mind adrift, gets you reflecting. It's this change that makes the song so great. And then the whole thing revs up again.
You could drop the needle on "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" over and over again and never get to "Marrakesh Express," the second song on the LP.
As for my favorites on the album, after "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" came "Long Time Gone." The oozy bass, the bottom covering the landscape like Mississippi mud... It was 1969, the country was in turmoil, it certainly seemed like a long time before the dawn.
After that... It was the Stills songs, "You Don't Have to Cry" and "Helplessly Hoping" most especially. I came to "Helplessly Hoping" late. Oh, I'd heard it a zillion times, but it only resonated about a decade or two later, when I realized despite the harmonizing voices the song was really quite intimate, quite inside.
You have to understand, David Crosby was not known as a frontman at this point. In the Byrds it was Jim/Roger McGuinn. Oh, you knew him from the album covers, but not everybody bought the albums, we'd blown all our cash on the British Invasion bands.
As for Graham Nash... So, he was in the Hollies. Seen as a Top Forty band by me, I didn't know a soul who owned an album. In an era of credibility they did not appear to have any, despite having infectious hits that you sang along with, that you could not get out of your head, and I guess Graham Nash realized this and he decamped to Southern California to create something more meaningful. But having said that, to this day I still don't like "Marrakesh Express," it's just too lightweight. And "Lady of the Island" was intimate, but not in the league of other tracks on the album. Yet at the time I thought Nash put out the best initial solo album of the three, "Songs for Beginners." The album hasn't aged that well, but "I Used to Be a King" is a stone cold smash, as in something you can not forget, it's a perfect melding of vocal, music, changes and lyrics.
"Someone is going to take my heart
But no one is going to break my heart again"
"I Used to Be a King" should be a standard, alas it's not, although many still do remember "Simple Man."
But Crosby, it wasn't like today, he hadn't been in jail, he hadn't been pontificating everywhere, his songs on the CSN debut were infectious. "Guinnevere"...it's the opposite if today's in-your-face music. It's like you're invited to a song circle in someone's house in Laurel Canyon.
And "Wooden Ships"... Incalculably great. And the Jefferson Airplane version from "Volunteers," released in the fall of 1969, was different but just as good in its own way. And did you have the pressing of the CSN album where "Say, can I have some of your purple berries" was barely audible? I certainly did.
But I did like Nash's first side closer "Pre-Road Downs," it had a healthy energy that was undeniable. And then you flipped the album over and got "Wooden Ships," bringing you back into the maelstrom once again, far from an easily seen exit.
The second side ended with Stills's "49 Bye-Byes," which started slowly, but then gained energy and finished out the second side just like "Pre-Road Downs" did the first, with energy, leaving you in the quietude, wondering what adventure you'd just been on. If you didn't want to move to Southern California after listening to the Beach Boys, you certainly did after listening to the CSN debut. And they seemed to know how damn good they were. The only show-off track was the opener, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," everything else was understated as opposed to overblown, the band didn't need to convince you, if you were exposed to the music you were closed. And the CSN debut was not an instant hit, it took a long time to build, just like its contemporary, the first Led Zeppelin album, but by time their follow-ups were released word had spread and they were instant smashes, first "Led Zeppelin II" and then "Deja Vu."
2
I'm listening to the album right now in Ultra HD via Amazon Music and I'm positively stunned, these harmonies seem to be a lost art, and this was long before auto-tune, and in truth the Woodstock movie informed us they were hard to replicate live. But you listen to these three voices together and harmony seems like a lost art. Then again, sitting around with acoustics singing songs together is a lost art. You can't do this with beats, and although there's plenty of wooden music out there, none is in the league of Crosby, Stills & Nash, nobody can write the songs and they don't have such exquisite voices to boot.
Now I know some people a bit older than I am who bought Buffalo Springfield albums, but I did not. But "For What It's Worth"???
"There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear"
Pandora's Box is long gone, but now the Sunset Strip riots have faded in the rearview mirror too, almost completely disappeared. This was the American youthquake, this was when the west coast came back to grab the torch from the British. Sure, it started with the Byrds and "Mr. Tambourine Man," hell, even the Turtles with "It Ain't Me Babe," but those were Dylan songs, however good, "For What It's Worth" was an original.
"What a field day for the heat"
Do youngsters know what "heat" refers to here? Do they know that Joni Mitchell was singing about metaphorical swine when she said she was going to kiss a Sunset pig in "California"? The police were the enemy. They were the heat, that's what they brought down on a situation. And they were the pigs. Today the police are heroes. Sure, they seem to randomly kill Black people, and white people will come out and protest when the behavior gets too egregious, but in truth they don't see police brutality as their problem.
"We better stop
Hey what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down"
But today people have no interest in looking. I saw a tweet that said Ann Coulter had written a Substack piece condemning Donald Trump for January 6th and when I clicked through and read the piece I learned this was true, but mostly she hated Trump for not fulfilling campaign promises like the erection of the wall. And I never used to read the comments, but David Krebs told me he did so now I check them out. And what did they say? Coulter was dead wrong, there was fraud in the election, the presidency was stolen, they're still solid in their belief, even if the 1/6 hearings are more of a hit movie than "Top Gun: Maverick" or the latest "Jurassic Park," and with more staying power too, assuming you're paying attention. I went on the Fox News site earlier today and I kept scrolling and I still did not find anything about yesterday's 1/6 hearings.
So "For What It's Worth" is out of time, but incredibly still accurate. They tell us not to draw battle lines but in truth you either stand up for the truth or you don't. History isn't kind to those who don't, even short term history. If everybody else jumps off a bridge should you? Beware of the crowd, think for yourself, at least that's what George Harrison said.
3
Now at this point Buffalo Springfield has more cred than the various incarnations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young. Maybe because except for a brief live reunion almost a decade ago there's never been a Buffalo Springfield get-together, whereas CSNY have soldiered on, at least until David Crosby pissed everybody else off.
People say it's all about the second LP, "Buffalo Springfield Again." But like I said I started with "Retrospective."
You only had to hear "Rock & Roll Woman" once. At least I only had to hear it once. Which occurred in the light of the afternoon at my friend Marc Goloff's house, I needed to own this. "Rock & Roll Woman" had the Stills guitars and the harmonies of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," it was an antecedent, and so satisfying, a Dead Sea Scroll.
"Retrospective" opened with "For What It's Worth." And then came Neil Young's "Mr. Soul," which was the only song of Mr. Young's that had gotten any airplay on underground FM rock radio in New York, I knew it, it wasn't new to me, and it's so satisfying, it's that chorus and stinging guitar.
Next came "Sit Down I Think I Love You," which sounded dated, from the first album. Written by Stills, it was sung by Stephen and Richie. But, it was more 1966 than 1969.
Next came Richie Furay's signature song, "Kind Woman."
But the true killer came thereafter. I may not have bought any Buffalo Springfield albums, but it appeared all the musicians were intimately familiar with the band's material. The James Gang did a great version of "Bluebird" on their debut "Yer' Album," check it out. And almost as obscure is the Bonnie Raitt version that opens her initial LP. The James Gang make the song heavier and Bonnie Raitt makes it acoustic from the mountains and both versions are far from rote renditions, these two acts put their own spin on this song, and end up owning it themselves.
"On the Way Home" is a Neil Young song sung by Richie Furay, theoretically making it more ear-pleasing, more commercial, but it didn't have much of an impact. But if you listen to the lyrics and especially the changes in the pre-chorus and chorus you know quite definitely this is Neil's work.
The side two opener, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" is a Neil song, more dark than light, but the edge is removed by having Stephen, Richie and Neil all sing.
But next came the secret killer, "Broken Arrow," this was the Neil Young of the first solo album, from here you get to "Last Trip to Tulsa." It came before "Rock & Roll Woman" and these are the two cuts people talked about most back then, especially after Neil was added to CSN.
The 11th track on the album, the second to last on side two, was the band's opener from the very first album, at least until "For What It's Worth" became a hit and it was stripped in atop, it's entitled "Go and Say Goodbye." It's a lighthearted romp that is once again a period piece. A compact ditty. Far beyond what is released today, but not up to hit standards in the mid-sixties.
The final song on the album is Neil Young's "Expecting to Fly," it's got a majesty from back when, when we were only slightly disillusioned, as opposed to today when we're about to give up, if we haven't already. "Expecting to Fly" was a bit foreign to the sunniness of the work of Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, but that's probably one of the reasons Neil left the band, he didn't really fit in. And in my mind he never really fit in with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
4
So when you love a track you drop the needle and play it over and over again, like I said above. The CD was such a breakthrough, with programmability, and you've got no idea how good you've got it in the streaming era, hell you can just call out to Alexa and Siri and hear any track you want to, have the machine play it ad infinitum.
But you had to be right in front of the turntable to do this. Or even worse, you had to get up. I don't understand why everyone wants a manual turntable, it's such a pain in the ass to get up and lift the tonearm up at the end of the record.
So it got to the point where I just dropped the needle at the beginning of the second side, I'd hear "Rock & Roll Woman" only once, but I wouldn't have to get up constantly.
So that's why I know "Broken Arrow." I never really loved "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," the second side really began for me with "Broken Arrow." And then came "Rock & Roll Woman."
And then came "I Am a Child."
"I am a child, I'll last a while
You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile"
We were all children, we were delaying growing up. Going to work for the bank? We didn't even want a career!
The verses of "I Am a Child" are reminiscent of "Long May You Run," then again the latter came over half a decade later.
And there's a country feel that was ultimately present in the Byrds and the Burritos, "I Am a Child" is a product of 1968, just like "Sweetheart of the Rodeo."
"You are a man, you understand
You pick me up and you lay me down again
You make the rules, you say what's fair
It's lots of fun to have you there"
NO IT'S NOT! Neil's being sarcastic. The man is messing with his music, the man is manipulating him, using him as his toy, not respecting him, the cash cow, where all the money comes from.
"I Am a Child" is jaunty, and almost optimistic before you dig into the lyrics. Then again, so many Neil Young songs are like this. more glass half empty than half full. Today everybody's a winner. You can't show weakness. You've got to be upbeat all the time. But truly, that's not the life of an artist.
Now the funny thing about getting older is you get younger. All the trappings of being an adult, making your way in the world, fade away. You desire the sensations of your youth. You long for the feelings of yore. You desire to be taken away from the everyday grind. Which is one of the reasons the dinosaurs do such good business on the road. Oldsters don't want to shoot selfies, they want to revel in the sound.
And all these songs are inside our brains, they're part of us, they helped get us through. And they pop up at strange times. They may not have even been your favorites, but you know them by heart. They're in your brain when you wake up, you're singing them to yourself, you never know when a song will grab you. Just now "I Am a Child" was playing in my brain.
I'm listening to it now.
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1
It comes after "Rock & Roll Woman" on "Retrospective."
Funny, "Rock & Roll Woman" was why I bought the Buffalo Springfield greatest hits compilation, it was the song that sounded most like the Stephen Stills material that generated such success, that was so satisfying on the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album, and now it's been lost to the sands of time, "Bluebird" remains, never mind "For What It's Worth," but not "Rock & Roll Woman."
It was all about "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Sure, you could hear "Marrakesh Express" on AM radio, but that's not what converted listeners overnight, that was "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."
"It's getting to the point..."
That guitar intro, if you could play that you were a superstar. We all had guitars, we all sat in front of the turntable, dropping the needle over and over again to learn the songs. But it's one thing to know how to play the chords, quite another to be able to replicate whatever Stephen Stills was doing in this track.
"I am yours, you are mine
You are what you are
You make it hard"
It was Judy Collins's birthday. Stephen insisted she stop by so he could give her a gift. Which turned out to be a guitar. And then he proceeded to play "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," and Judy told him she liked the song, but they still weren't getting back together.
Still... Those of us playing the home game saw "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" as upbeat, a source of elation. A stripping down of what came before so all that was left was the essence.
"Friday evening, Sunday in the afternoon"
Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, it's the light. Especially in the fall. It's still warm, but the light is golden, it both warms you and sets your mind adrift, gets you reflecting. It's this change that makes the song so great. And then the whole thing revs up again.
You could drop the needle on "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" over and over again and never get to "Marrakesh Express," the second song on the LP.
As for my favorites on the album, after "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" came "Long Time Gone." The oozy bass, the bottom covering the landscape like Mississippi mud... It was 1969, the country was in turmoil, it certainly seemed like a long time before the dawn.
After that... It was the Stills songs, "You Don't Have to Cry" and "Helplessly Hoping" most especially. I came to "Helplessly Hoping" late. Oh, I'd heard it a zillion times, but it only resonated about a decade or two later, when I realized despite the harmonizing voices the song was really quite intimate, quite inside.
You have to understand, David Crosby was not known as a frontman at this point. In the Byrds it was Jim/Roger McGuinn. Oh, you knew him from the album covers, but not everybody bought the albums, we'd blown all our cash on the British Invasion bands.
As for Graham Nash... So, he was in the Hollies. Seen as a Top Forty band by me, I didn't know a soul who owned an album. In an era of credibility they did not appear to have any, despite having infectious hits that you sang along with, that you could not get out of your head, and I guess Graham Nash realized this and he decamped to Southern California to create something more meaningful. But having said that, to this day I still don't like "Marrakesh Express," it's just too lightweight. And "Lady of the Island" was intimate, but not in the league of other tracks on the album. Yet at the time I thought Nash put out the best initial solo album of the three, "Songs for Beginners." The album hasn't aged that well, but "I Used to Be a King" is a stone cold smash, as in something you can not forget, it's a perfect melding of vocal, music, changes and lyrics.
"Someone is going to take my heart
But no one is going to break my heart again"
"I Used to Be a King" should be a standard, alas it's not, although many still do remember "Simple Man."
But Crosby, it wasn't like today, he hadn't been in jail, he hadn't been pontificating everywhere, his songs on the CSN debut were infectious. "Guinnevere"...it's the opposite if today's in-your-face music. It's like you're invited to a song circle in someone's house in Laurel Canyon.
And "Wooden Ships"... Incalculably great. And the Jefferson Airplane version from "Volunteers," released in the fall of 1969, was different but just as good in its own way. And did you have the pressing of the CSN album where "Say, can I have some of your purple berries" was barely audible? I certainly did.
But I did like Nash's first side closer "Pre-Road Downs," it had a healthy energy that was undeniable. And then you flipped the album over and got "Wooden Ships," bringing you back into the maelstrom once again, far from an easily seen exit.
The second side ended with Stills's "49 Bye-Byes," which started slowly, but then gained energy and finished out the second side just like "Pre-Road Downs" did the first, with energy, leaving you in the quietude, wondering what adventure you'd just been on. If you didn't want to move to Southern California after listening to the Beach Boys, you certainly did after listening to the CSN debut. And they seemed to know how damn good they were. The only show-off track was the opener, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," everything else was understated as opposed to overblown, the band didn't need to convince you, if you were exposed to the music you were closed. And the CSN debut was not an instant hit, it took a long time to build, just like its contemporary, the first Led Zeppelin album, but by time their follow-ups were released word had spread and they were instant smashes, first "Led Zeppelin II" and then "Deja Vu."
2
I'm listening to the album right now in Ultra HD via Amazon Music and I'm positively stunned, these harmonies seem to be a lost art, and this was long before auto-tune, and in truth the Woodstock movie informed us they were hard to replicate live. But you listen to these three voices together and harmony seems like a lost art. Then again, sitting around with acoustics singing songs together is a lost art. You can't do this with beats, and although there's plenty of wooden music out there, none is in the league of Crosby, Stills & Nash, nobody can write the songs and they don't have such exquisite voices to boot.
Now I know some people a bit older than I am who bought Buffalo Springfield albums, but I did not. But "For What It's Worth"???
"There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear"
Pandora's Box is long gone, but now the Sunset Strip riots have faded in the rearview mirror too, almost completely disappeared. This was the American youthquake, this was when the west coast came back to grab the torch from the British. Sure, it started with the Byrds and "Mr. Tambourine Man," hell, even the Turtles with "It Ain't Me Babe," but those were Dylan songs, however good, "For What It's Worth" was an original.
"What a field day for the heat"
Do youngsters know what "heat" refers to here? Do they know that Joni Mitchell was singing about metaphorical swine when she said she was going to kiss a Sunset pig in "California"? The police were the enemy. They were the heat, that's what they brought down on a situation. And they were the pigs. Today the police are heroes. Sure, they seem to randomly kill Black people, and white people will come out and protest when the behavior gets too egregious, but in truth they don't see police brutality as their problem.
"We better stop
Hey what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down"
But today people have no interest in looking. I saw a tweet that said Ann Coulter had written a Substack piece condemning Donald Trump for January 6th and when I clicked through and read the piece I learned this was true, but mostly she hated Trump for not fulfilling campaign promises like the erection of the wall. And I never used to read the comments, but David Krebs told me he did so now I check them out. And what did they say? Coulter was dead wrong, there was fraud in the election, the presidency was stolen, they're still solid in their belief, even if the 1/6 hearings are more of a hit movie than "Top Gun: Maverick" or the latest "Jurassic Park," and with more staying power too, assuming you're paying attention. I went on the Fox News site earlier today and I kept scrolling and I still did not find anything about yesterday's 1/6 hearings.
So "For What It's Worth" is out of time, but incredibly still accurate. They tell us not to draw battle lines but in truth you either stand up for the truth or you don't. History isn't kind to those who don't, even short term history. If everybody else jumps off a bridge should you? Beware of the crowd, think for yourself, at least that's what George Harrison said.
3
Now at this point Buffalo Springfield has more cred than the various incarnations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young. Maybe because except for a brief live reunion almost a decade ago there's never been a Buffalo Springfield get-together, whereas CSNY have soldiered on, at least until David Crosby pissed everybody else off.
People say it's all about the second LP, "Buffalo Springfield Again." But like I said I started with "Retrospective."
You only had to hear "Rock & Roll Woman" once. At least I only had to hear it once. Which occurred in the light of the afternoon at my friend Marc Goloff's house, I needed to own this. "Rock & Roll Woman" had the Stills guitars and the harmonies of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," it was an antecedent, and so satisfying, a Dead Sea Scroll.
"Retrospective" opened with "For What It's Worth." And then came Neil Young's "Mr. Soul," which was the only song of Mr. Young's that had gotten any airplay on underground FM rock radio in New York, I knew it, it wasn't new to me, and it's so satisfying, it's that chorus and stinging guitar.
Next came "Sit Down I Think I Love You," which sounded dated, from the first album. Written by Stills, it was sung by Stephen and Richie. But, it was more 1966 than 1969.
Next came Richie Furay's signature song, "Kind Woman."
But the true killer came thereafter. I may not have bought any Buffalo Springfield albums, but it appeared all the musicians were intimately familiar with the band's material. The James Gang did a great version of "Bluebird" on their debut "Yer' Album," check it out. And almost as obscure is the Bonnie Raitt version that opens her initial LP. The James Gang make the song heavier and Bonnie Raitt makes it acoustic from the mountains and both versions are far from rote renditions, these two acts put their own spin on this song, and end up owning it themselves.
"On the Way Home" is a Neil Young song sung by Richie Furay, theoretically making it more ear-pleasing, more commercial, but it didn't have much of an impact. But if you listen to the lyrics and especially the changes in the pre-chorus and chorus you know quite definitely this is Neil's work.
The side two opener, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" is a Neil song, more dark than light, but the edge is removed by having Stephen, Richie and Neil all sing.
But next came the secret killer, "Broken Arrow," this was the Neil Young of the first solo album, from here you get to "Last Trip to Tulsa." It came before "Rock & Roll Woman" and these are the two cuts people talked about most back then, especially after Neil was added to CSN.
The 11th track on the album, the second to last on side two, was the band's opener from the very first album, at least until "For What It's Worth" became a hit and it was stripped in atop, it's entitled "Go and Say Goodbye." It's a lighthearted romp that is once again a period piece. A compact ditty. Far beyond what is released today, but not up to hit standards in the mid-sixties.
The final song on the album is Neil Young's "Expecting to Fly," it's got a majesty from back when, when we were only slightly disillusioned, as opposed to today when we're about to give up, if we haven't already. "Expecting to Fly" was a bit foreign to the sunniness of the work of Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, but that's probably one of the reasons Neil left the band, he didn't really fit in. And in my mind he never really fit in with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
4
So when you love a track you drop the needle and play it over and over again, like I said above. The CD was such a breakthrough, with programmability, and you've got no idea how good you've got it in the streaming era, hell you can just call out to Alexa and Siri and hear any track you want to, have the machine play it ad infinitum.
But you had to be right in front of the turntable to do this. Or even worse, you had to get up. I don't understand why everyone wants a manual turntable, it's such a pain in the ass to get up and lift the tonearm up at the end of the record.
So it got to the point where I just dropped the needle at the beginning of the second side, I'd hear "Rock & Roll Woman" only once, but I wouldn't have to get up constantly.
So that's why I know "Broken Arrow." I never really loved "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," the second side really began for me with "Broken Arrow." And then came "Rock & Roll Woman."
And then came "I Am a Child."
"I am a child, I'll last a while
You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile"
We were all children, we were delaying growing up. Going to work for the bank? We didn't even want a career!
The verses of "I Am a Child" are reminiscent of "Long May You Run," then again the latter came over half a decade later.
And there's a country feel that was ultimately present in the Byrds and the Burritos, "I Am a Child" is a product of 1968, just like "Sweetheart of the Rodeo."
"You are a man, you understand
You pick me up and you lay me down again
You make the rules, you say what's fair
It's lots of fun to have you there"
NO IT'S NOT! Neil's being sarcastic. The man is messing with his music, the man is manipulating him, using him as his toy, not respecting him, the cash cow, where all the money comes from.
"I Am a Child" is jaunty, and almost optimistic before you dig into the lyrics. Then again, so many Neil Young songs are like this. more glass half empty than half full. Today everybody's a winner. You can't show weakness. You've got to be upbeat all the time. But truly, that's not the life of an artist.
Now the funny thing about getting older is you get younger. All the trappings of being an adult, making your way in the world, fade away. You desire the sensations of your youth. You long for the feelings of yore. You desire to be taken away from the everyday grind. Which is one of the reasons the dinosaurs do such good business on the road. Oldsters don't want to shoot selfies, they want to revel in the sound.
And all these songs are inside our brains, they're part of us, they helped get us through. And they pop up at strange times. They may not have even been your favorites, but you know them by heart. They're in your brain when you wake up, you're singing them to yourself, you never know when a song will grab you. Just now "I Am a Child" was playing in my brain.
I'm listening to it now.
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Thursday 16 June 2022
Ziggy Stardust Turns Fifty Today
1
It was not a hit in America.
One of the thrills of going to London in 1972, besides going to the Chelsea Drugstore and the record stores, like Virgin, before there was a label, was the music press. Three weekly tabloids. A cornucopia of information. Nothing was that up-to-date in the U.S. "Rolling Stone" came out every two weeks, and read like it.
So I immediately purchased the three rags and what were they talking about? T. Rex and David Bowie.
Now T. Rex I was aware of, from previously being Tyrannosaurus Rex. I'd see them in the bins, not that I ever heard the music. Supposedly it was arty, reviews were not bad, but one could only afford so much music.
And then came "Get It On." BANG A GONG, GET IT ON! That was a song you only had to hear once. But you didn't hear it too often. FM didn't embrace it and it got spotty airplay on AM but whenever it came on the radio I smiled. I remember driving down the Taconic hearing it on the radio on a drive from Middlebury to a show in New York. Yes, one play can make these incredible memories.
Now in the U.K., T. Rex was having hit after hit. "Telegram Sam," "Metal Guru," but what I heard I didn't quite get. Although eventually I purchased "The Slider" and loved the title track, but not a whole hell of a lot more.
As for David Bowie? Why now? There's not a hit single. But reviews were effusive. This guy had been around for years and had finally thrown down the gauntlet. Hosannas were everywhere. This I had to hear.
And this was back when you had to buy an album to hear it. They certainly were not playing Ziggy Stardust on the radio in the U.S. at the end of August '72 when I purchased it.
Actually, it was called "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." Yes, Bowie employed an alter-ego, even though we never knew of him to begin with. And we also were unaware of Mick Ronson and...
The cover was dark. Remember when rock was the antithesis to the daytime, to light? Back before everybody bragged about how early they got up in the morning? It was all about staying up late, when the straights were asleep, when we owned the town, when anything could happen. As for Bowie's look? Didn't look that outside, after all we'd never seen what he'd been before.
So I'm back from the record store, I've broken the shrink wrap, and I drop the needle. I don't know what I'm going to hear, but it's "Five Years."
Now "Five Years" is slow, back when you wanted to hit the audience over the head with your opener. It was a dystopian tale. That one couldn't really relate to back in '72, which wasn't quite like the sixties, but even though Nixon was re-elected in November everything was pretty good, especially compared to today.
But what was impressive about "Five Years" was the vocal, its intensity. Bowie was shouting, singing as if he were a star, even though he was not. He was not self-conscious, he was a self-declared seer. And you could understand every word when so much was incomprehensible on records decades before the internet revealed all the lyrics.
But the follow-up, "Soul Love"? I didn't dig that all. The chorus was much better than the verse, but it seemed like an excuse for Bowie to play the saxophone, to demonstrate his dexterity.
And then came "Moonage Daydream."
2
"Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah"
It was that sound at the beginning, that buzzsaw guitar cutting through the atmosphere, demanding attention. And then this descending chorus. Now wait a second, this is good, this I've got to hear again, this is GREAT!
And although it is rock it's the opposite of the southern rock dominating the FM airwaves, even much of the English stuff. "Ray gun"? This was before "Star Wars" and the unending fascination with science fiction. Sure, we remembered ray guns from Saturday morning television, but we outgrew them, right?
And "Moonage Daydream" flowed into "Starman," which was easily accessible in a way that "Soul Love," even "Five Years," was not. With a traditional structure, a catchy chorus and then the incongruous lyrics:
"Let the children lose it
Le the children use it
Let all the children boogie"
Boogie? I didn't think an English act could utter the word, which already had a bad connotation amongst the hipsters who would attach themselves to David Bowie first. We're in full sci-fi mode here now, the rocket ship has blasted from the launching pad, you were either on it or not, on the bus of off as the Pranksters would say, you forgot what you were attached to previously, you went along for the ride.
3
"When you climb to the top of the mountain
Look out over the sea
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be"
Huh? Ron Davies's "It Ain't Easy"? That track is so obscure that it's not on streaming services today, it's not worth it to conquer the rights issues and get it posted.
I mean I knew it, because it was on the free A&M sampler that the label sent to compete with Warner/Reprise's two dollar two disc loss leaders. "Friends" was only one disc, but it exhibited a cornucopia of talent, and there were only two acts I'd never heard of before, Lambert & Nuttycombe and Ron Davies.
You can see the track listing here: https://bit.ly/3xYEwuL
Even better you can hear Ron Davies's original take on YouTube here: https://bit.ly/3zE1k49 There's a lengthy acoustic intro, and then the track settles into the familiar groove that grabs you. The same one Bowie employs, it's essentially the same arrangement, but how did Bowie know it? Nobody else seemed to. But Bowie's vocal makes all the difference, lifts it from a Mad Dogs and Englishmen chorus-type track and brings it right up to 1972. The song has a deeper meaning. Or should I say Bowie MEANS it. This is a voice Bowie completely discarded as the years went by. But when you're breaking rules, why not break all of them? Although the verses are acoustic, there's a stinging electric guitar in the chorus as well as a whole neighborhood of voices. The song is taken out of the backwoods and deposited right into the grit of the dirty city.
4
As for "Lady Stardust"... Bowie's now singing to the back row, it's not the intimate sound of the opening of the record. And the changes are familiar, it's easily understood.
"Star" was a romp. Seemingly out of place on this album, more akin to "Uncle Ernie" on "Tommy." Tony went to Belfast, and the album was otherworldly if you were in America, Bowie was not playing to us, but a cadre of insiders who were definitely English.
"Hang on to Yourself"... Bowie's talk-singing, it's got the speed and the guitars of the soon to arrive Ramones and the rest of the punkers.
As for "Ziggy Stardust"... This was the analogue to "Moonage Daydream," the one listen smash. It was that innovative riff. And the entire story. Akin to Bad Company's "Shooting Star," but that wouldn't come out for three more years. "Ziggy Stardust" was the story of the band, it brought the whole album, the whole concept together.
"Suffragette City" was built from parts from the rock canon, but the guitar was a bit more crunchy and you had the attitude of the vocals, and then... WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA'AM? This seemed a misstep, out of character, would a guy this sophisticated sing this? I guess yes, but this still bugs me today. Like I said, "Suffragette City" was not innovative, but it pushed the faders to ten on all the parts, brought out all the clichés and the end result was better than the usual tripe.
As for "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," this closing track was like "Five Years, the opener, it starts quietly instead of noisy and builds in amplitude and intensity. And it was quite obviously the capper of the story. And in truth, Ziggy Stardust did not live for that much longer, but...
The record ended, there was quietude, and my only option was to start over, I played it again and again, it was revealing itself to me more with each play. Nobody else I knew even owned it. So, it was private, and you treasure records like that. And the more I played it the more I liked it, loved it.
5
"Ziggy Stardust" was followed by "Aladdin Sane," Bowie had made inroads in America, but "Aladdin Sane" was a disappointment, after "Ziggy Stardust" we expected something more, at least I did. One step beyond. We got "Jean Genie," but a cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together"? I mean "Panic in Detroit" was a killer, but you couldn't give someone "Aladdin Sane" and tell them to play it a few times and they'd emerge converted.
I bought "Pin Ups," because I'm a completist, I have to have everything, I was not going to abandon ship. But I can't say that I played it much. It's just that Bowie's versions of the classics...didn't add anything to the classics themselves. The originals superseded them by a large margin. This is a record that really didn't need to be released.
And then came "Diamond Dogs."
Critics said it was the worst Bowie album yet, that it was pandering to the masses. But now AOR radio was in every hamlet and burg. And it was a meat and potatoes audience. And the album had "Rebel Rebel." An almost stupid single. It was all over the airwaves during the summer of 1974, at least the FM airwaves. I went to see the show at Madison Square Garden, Bowie's rep could sell out an arena at this point, and the staging was a take-off on the Guy Peellaert cover, with the backup singers running around in dog suits, the entire thing was overblown, this wasn't what I signed up for.
6
And then Bowie disappeared. Gone. But when he came back...
It was a completely different sound. It was "Young Americans" that started to cement the David Bowie legend, he could have been a footnote, just another rocker employing glam elements to success, but how to explain this R&B album without the affected vocals?
It was a revelation.
Ultimately the hit was "Fame." I didn't love it then and I can still barely listen to it today. But I remember the first time I heard "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
I'd slept in my 2002 behind the Hart ski warehouse in Reno. The sun came up, shined brightly, there was no way I was gonna get any more shut-eye, I shimmied out of my sleeping bag, turned the key and cruised the stations on the Blaupunkt. And that's when I heard "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
There's the exuberance, the tension and the release. The intro is a minute of David Sanborn blowing, he's got no particular place to go, he's not worried about playing too long, and "Deacon Blues" wasn't even in the mind of Steely Dan. It's like Bowie's on stage knowing that he's gonna blow the audience away, they're going to come running like lemmings to the sound. This is not the Bowie of yore, who needs it, who needs to convince you. In this case the sound is enough, one listen infects you.
And I feel the same way about "Fascination."
And then came version two, "Station to Station." "Golden Years" was superior to "Fame," and "TVC15" was infectious, the whole album was solid, but sans the peaks of "Young Americans."
But then Bowie PIVOTED!
7
You couldn't get away with this today. Fans are not that dedicated. Well, maybe some hard core fans are but not the casual listeners keeping superstars in business.
It was now 1977. The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were cementing their legends with "Hotel California" and "Rumours," extensions on what had come before, but "Low"? It had no precedent. Except the ascendant electronic music scene, whose only breakthrough had been Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," seen as a novelty record at this point.
But there was a power in "Speed of Life."
As for the sound of "Breaking Glass," it was even less easily digested, but you were either in or out at this point, on the Bowie train or not, he was on his own artistic hejira, this was not "Diamond Dogs" and "Rebel Rebel," giving people what they wanted.
Who knew the title track of "Heroes" would go on to become a standard, it certainly wasn't back in 1977, when it was released. The album was seen as a more obvious exploration in the "Low"lands, and it wasn't until Bowie came back with the MTV staple "Let's Dance" in 1983 that he was front and center, atop the hit parade once again. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the theme song to "Cat People," the movie which broke Nastassja Kinski, we all talked about putting out fire with gasoline, back when a record could truly be ubiquitous and infect the entire public, far beyond the reach of Drake, never mind Kendrick Lamar or Kanye.
8
Bowie kept experimenting to his death. He didn't want a victory lap, he just wanted to complete his new album.
Bowie is a legend because he kept evolving whereas most of our heroes stopped, are still frozen in amber, playing the hits of yore.
And it all started with "Ziggy Stardust."
Which was followed by the years old nonstarter "Space Odyssey," which finally became a hit in America, helping drive ticket buyers to the Garden and the rest of the big venues, but at this late date, I have to say the best, and my favorite David Bowie album, is "Hunky Dory."
It was "Life on Mars" that got played when he shockingly died.
And "Changes" is now a staple, even though you never heard it in America back in 1971 when the album came out.
And it's songs like "Oh! You Pretty Things" that make an act a legend, because true stars are always embraced first by the outsiders, those who don't fit in.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Andy Warhol" and "Kooks." This was back before it was about becoming a worldwide sensation, when everything was still local, when you felt your own life meant something, you didn't feel overburdened by the harsh community and people telling you how to live and act.
But that brings us back to "Ziggy Stardust."
9
When you're enamored of an act, when they're your new favorite, you've got to go see them live, before everybody finds out and you can still get close. So we drove down from Middlebury to see Bowie at the Music Hall in Boston on October 1st 1972. Through the magic of the internet you can see the set list: https://bit.ly/3QrmhVW But it won't come close to giving you an inkling of the experience.
The Music Hall was not sold out, word was not out, I was what they call in tech an "early adopter." But I was not prepared for the opening of the show.
The strobes started to flash, "Ode to Joy" from "A Clockwork Orange" started to play over the speakers and Bowie and the Spiders from Mars took the stage and began to play. It was almost as dramatic as that Apple TV commercial Steve Jobs dropped on us in 1984. It was completely unexpected. It referenced a cultural landmark. That's right, the hit movies back then weren't fantastical cartoons but brain twisters.
The band came out blasting.
And that suit that looked green on the cover of "Ziggy Stardust"? Turned out it was silver.
I mean my jaw dropped, everybody was shocked.
And when the band finished their set with "Suffragette City" the audience clapped and clapped for an encore, and eventually Bowie and the band returned.
Although this time the house lights were up. There were no effects. And we'd come right down front, like I said the gig was not sold out, not close, and Bowie spreads his legs, plants his feet and starts singing "Around and Around." You know, the Chuck Berry song which opened the Rolling Stones' album "12x5."
But Bowie's performance had more intensity, more guts, than either of the famous renditions. Bowie was showing his roots, linking Ziggy Stardust to the beginnings of rock and roll, winking at us, telling us he didn't just drop out of the sky fully-formed, he had history. We were on an adventure together, and at this point the deal was sealed, you could never get off the train, it's why I kept buying every single Bowie album thereafter.
You see Ziggy played guitar...
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It was not a hit in America.
One of the thrills of going to London in 1972, besides going to the Chelsea Drugstore and the record stores, like Virgin, before there was a label, was the music press. Three weekly tabloids. A cornucopia of information. Nothing was that up-to-date in the U.S. "Rolling Stone" came out every two weeks, and read like it.
So I immediately purchased the three rags and what were they talking about? T. Rex and David Bowie.
Now T. Rex I was aware of, from previously being Tyrannosaurus Rex. I'd see them in the bins, not that I ever heard the music. Supposedly it was arty, reviews were not bad, but one could only afford so much music.
And then came "Get It On." BANG A GONG, GET IT ON! That was a song you only had to hear once. But you didn't hear it too often. FM didn't embrace it and it got spotty airplay on AM but whenever it came on the radio I smiled. I remember driving down the Taconic hearing it on the radio on a drive from Middlebury to a show in New York. Yes, one play can make these incredible memories.
Now in the U.K., T. Rex was having hit after hit. "Telegram Sam," "Metal Guru," but what I heard I didn't quite get. Although eventually I purchased "The Slider" and loved the title track, but not a whole hell of a lot more.
As for David Bowie? Why now? There's not a hit single. But reviews were effusive. This guy had been around for years and had finally thrown down the gauntlet. Hosannas were everywhere. This I had to hear.
And this was back when you had to buy an album to hear it. They certainly were not playing Ziggy Stardust on the radio in the U.S. at the end of August '72 when I purchased it.
Actually, it was called "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." Yes, Bowie employed an alter-ego, even though we never knew of him to begin with. And we also were unaware of Mick Ronson and...
The cover was dark. Remember when rock was the antithesis to the daytime, to light? Back before everybody bragged about how early they got up in the morning? It was all about staying up late, when the straights were asleep, when we owned the town, when anything could happen. As for Bowie's look? Didn't look that outside, after all we'd never seen what he'd been before.
So I'm back from the record store, I've broken the shrink wrap, and I drop the needle. I don't know what I'm going to hear, but it's "Five Years."
Now "Five Years" is slow, back when you wanted to hit the audience over the head with your opener. It was a dystopian tale. That one couldn't really relate to back in '72, which wasn't quite like the sixties, but even though Nixon was re-elected in November everything was pretty good, especially compared to today.
But what was impressive about "Five Years" was the vocal, its intensity. Bowie was shouting, singing as if he were a star, even though he was not. He was not self-conscious, he was a self-declared seer. And you could understand every word when so much was incomprehensible on records decades before the internet revealed all the lyrics.
But the follow-up, "Soul Love"? I didn't dig that all. The chorus was much better than the verse, but it seemed like an excuse for Bowie to play the saxophone, to demonstrate his dexterity.
And then came "Moonage Daydream."
2
"Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah"
It was that sound at the beginning, that buzzsaw guitar cutting through the atmosphere, demanding attention. And then this descending chorus. Now wait a second, this is good, this I've got to hear again, this is GREAT!
And although it is rock it's the opposite of the southern rock dominating the FM airwaves, even much of the English stuff. "Ray gun"? This was before "Star Wars" and the unending fascination with science fiction. Sure, we remembered ray guns from Saturday morning television, but we outgrew them, right?
And "Moonage Daydream" flowed into "Starman," which was easily accessible in a way that "Soul Love," even "Five Years," was not. With a traditional structure, a catchy chorus and then the incongruous lyrics:
"Let the children lose it
Le the children use it
Let all the children boogie"
Boogie? I didn't think an English act could utter the word, which already had a bad connotation amongst the hipsters who would attach themselves to David Bowie first. We're in full sci-fi mode here now, the rocket ship has blasted from the launching pad, you were either on it or not, on the bus of off as the Pranksters would say, you forgot what you were attached to previously, you went along for the ride.
3
"When you climb to the top of the mountain
Look out over the sea
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be"
Huh? Ron Davies's "It Ain't Easy"? That track is so obscure that it's not on streaming services today, it's not worth it to conquer the rights issues and get it posted.
I mean I knew it, because it was on the free A&M sampler that the label sent to compete with Warner/Reprise's two dollar two disc loss leaders. "Friends" was only one disc, but it exhibited a cornucopia of talent, and there were only two acts I'd never heard of before, Lambert & Nuttycombe and Ron Davies.
You can see the track listing here: https://bit.ly/3xYEwuL
Even better you can hear Ron Davies's original take on YouTube here: https://bit.ly/3zE1k49 There's a lengthy acoustic intro, and then the track settles into the familiar groove that grabs you. The same one Bowie employs, it's essentially the same arrangement, but how did Bowie know it? Nobody else seemed to. But Bowie's vocal makes all the difference, lifts it from a Mad Dogs and Englishmen chorus-type track and brings it right up to 1972. The song has a deeper meaning. Or should I say Bowie MEANS it. This is a voice Bowie completely discarded as the years went by. But when you're breaking rules, why not break all of them? Although the verses are acoustic, there's a stinging electric guitar in the chorus as well as a whole neighborhood of voices. The song is taken out of the backwoods and deposited right into the grit of the dirty city.
4
As for "Lady Stardust"... Bowie's now singing to the back row, it's not the intimate sound of the opening of the record. And the changes are familiar, it's easily understood.
"Star" was a romp. Seemingly out of place on this album, more akin to "Uncle Ernie" on "Tommy." Tony went to Belfast, and the album was otherworldly if you were in America, Bowie was not playing to us, but a cadre of insiders who were definitely English.
"Hang on to Yourself"... Bowie's talk-singing, it's got the speed and the guitars of the soon to arrive Ramones and the rest of the punkers.
As for "Ziggy Stardust"... This was the analogue to "Moonage Daydream," the one listen smash. It was that innovative riff. And the entire story. Akin to Bad Company's "Shooting Star," but that wouldn't come out for three more years. "Ziggy Stardust" was the story of the band, it brought the whole album, the whole concept together.
"Suffragette City" was built from parts from the rock canon, but the guitar was a bit more crunchy and you had the attitude of the vocals, and then... WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA'AM? This seemed a misstep, out of character, would a guy this sophisticated sing this? I guess yes, but this still bugs me today. Like I said, "Suffragette City" was not innovative, but it pushed the faders to ten on all the parts, brought out all the clichés and the end result was better than the usual tripe.
As for "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide," this closing track was like "Five Years, the opener, it starts quietly instead of noisy and builds in amplitude and intensity. And it was quite obviously the capper of the story. And in truth, Ziggy Stardust did not live for that much longer, but...
The record ended, there was quietude, and my only option was to start over, I played it again and again, it was revealing itself to me more with each play. Nobody else I knew even owned it. So, it was private, and you treasure records like that. And the more I played it the more I liked it, loved it.
5
"Ziggy Stardust" was followed by "Aladdin Sane," Bowie had made inroads in America, but "Aladdin Sane" was a disappointment, after "Ziggy Stardust" we expected something more, at least I did. One step beyond. We got "Jean Genie," but a cover of "Let's Spend the Night Together"? I mean "Panic in Detroit" was a killer, but you couldn't give someone "Aladdin Sane" and tell them to play it a few times and they'd emerge converted.
I bought "Pin Ups," because I'm a completist, I have to have everything, I was not going to abandon ship. But I can't say that I played it much. It's just that Bowie's versions of the classics...didn't add anything to the classics themselves. The originals superseded them by a large margin. This is a record that really didn't need to be released.
And then came "Diamond Dogs."
Critics said it was the worst Bowie album yet, that it was pandering to the masses. But now AOR radio was in every hamlet and burg. And it was a meat and potatoes audience. And the album had "Rebel Rebel." An almost stupid single. It was all over the airwaves during the summer of 1974, at least the FM airwaves. I went to see the show at Madison Square Garden, Bowie's rep could sell out an arena at this point, and the staging was a take-off on the Guy Peellaert cover, with the backup singers running around in dog suits, the entire thing was overblown, this wasn't what I signed up for.
6
And then Bowie disappeared. Gone. But when he came back...
It was a completely different sound. It was "Young Americans" that started to cement the David Bowie legend, he could have been a footnote, just another rocker employing glam elements to success, but how to explain this R&B album without the affected vocals?
It was a revelation.
Ultimately the hit was "Fame." I didn't love it then and I can still barely listen to it today. But I remember the first time I heard "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
I'd slept in my 2002 behind the Hart ski warehouse in Reno. The sun came up, shined brightly, there was no way I was gonna get any more shut-eye, I shimmied out of my sleeping bag, turned the key and cruised the stations on the Blaupunkt. And that's when I heard "Somebody Up There Likes Me."
There's the exuberance, the tension and the release. The intro is a minute of David Sanborn blowing, he's got no particular place to go, he's not worried about playing too long, and "Deacon Blues" wasn't even in the mind of Steely Dan. It's like Bowie's on stage knowing that he's gonna blow the audience away, they're going to come running like lemmings to the sound. This is not the Bowie of yore, who needs it, who needs to convince you. In this case the sound is enough, one listen infects you.
And I feel the same way about "Fascination."
And then came version two, "Station to Station." "Golden Years" was superior to "Fame," and "TVC15" was infectious, the whole album was solid, but sans the peaks of "Young Americans."
But then Bowie PIVOTED!
7
You couldn't get away with this today. Fans are not that dedicated. Well, maybe some hard core fans are but not the casual listeners keeping superstars in business.
It was now 1977. The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were cementing their legends with "Hotel California" and "Rumours," extensions on what had come before, but "Low"? It had no precedent. Except the ascendant electronic music scene, whose only breakthrough had been Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," seen as a novelty record at this point.
But there was a power in "Speed of Life."
As for the sound of "Breaking Glass," it was even less easily digested, but you were either in or out at this point, on the Bowie train or not, he was on his own artistic hejira, this was not "Diamond Dogs" and "Rebel Rebel," giving people what they wanted.
Who knew the title track of "Heroes" would go on to become a standard, it certainly wasn't back in 1977, when it was released. The album was seen as a more obvious exploration in the "Low"lands, and it wasn't until Bowie came back with the MTV staple "Let's Dance" in 1983 that he was front and center, atop the hit parade once again. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the theme song to "Cat People," the movie which broke Nastassja Kinski, we all talked about putting out fire with gasoline, back when a record could truly be ubiquitous and infect the entire public, far beyond the reach of Drake, never mind Kendrick Lamar or Kanye.
8
Bowie kept experimenting to his death. He didn't want a victory lap, he just wanted to complete his new album.
Bowie is a legend because he kept evolving whereas most of our heroes stopped, are still frozen in amber, playing the hits of yore.
And it all started with "Ziggy Stardust."
Which was followed by the years old nonstarter "Space Odyssey," which finally became a hit in America, helping drive ticket buyers to the Garden and the rest of the big venues, but at this late date, I have to say the best, and my favorite David Bowie album, is "Hunky Dory."
It was "Life on Mars" that got played when he shockingly died.
And "Changes" is now a staple, even though you never heard it in America back in 1971 when the album came out.
And it's songs like "Oh! You Pretty Things" that make an act a legend, because true stars are always embraced first by the outsiders, those who don't fit in.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Andy Warhol" and "Kooks." This was back before it was about becoming a worldwide sensation, when everything was still local, when you felt your own life meant something, you didn't feel overburdened by the harsh community and people telling you how to live and act.
But that brings us back to "Ziggy Stardust."
9
When you're enamored of an act, when they're your new favorite, you've got to go see them live, before everybody finds out and you can still get close. So we drove down from Middlebury to see Bowie at the Music Hall in Boston on October 1st 1972. Through the magic of the internet you can see the set list: https://bit.ly/3QrmhVW But it won't come close to giving you an inkling of the experience.
The Music Hall was not sold out, word was not out, I was what they call in tech an "early adopter." But I was not prepared for the opening of the show.
The strobes started to flash, "Ode to Joy" from "A Clockwork Orange" started to play over the speakers and Bowie and the Spiders from Mars took the stage and began to play. It was almost as dramatic as that Apple TV commercial Steve Jobs dropped on us in 1984. It was completely unexpected. It referenced a cultural landmark. That's right, the hit movies back then weren't fantastical cartoons but brain twisters.
The band came out blasting.
And that suit that looked green on the cover of "Ziggy Stardust"? Turned out it was silver.
I mean my jaw dropped, everybody was shocked.
And when the band finished their set with "Suffragette City" the audience clapped and clapped for an encore, and eventually Bowie and the band returned.
Although this time the house lights were up. There were no effects. And we'd come right down front, like I said the gig was not sold out, not close, and Bowie spreads his legs, plants his feet and starts singing "Around and Around." You know, the Chuck Berry song which opened the Rolling Stones' album "12x5."
But Bowie's performance had more intensity, more guts, than either of the famous renditions. Bowie was showing his roots, linking Ziggy Stardust to the beginnings of rock and roll, winking at us, telling us he didn't just drop out of the sky fully-formed, he had history. We were on an adventure together, and at this point the deal was sealed, you could never get off the train, it's why I kept buying every single Bowie album thereafter.
You see Ziggy played guitar...
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Mark Farner-This Week's Podcast
Mr. Grand Funk Railroad. Need I say more?
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/mark-farner-98394614/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-farner/id1316200737?i=1000566622187
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sMOMfjYHMosAbgSGgeAFf?si=gZuT8pc7R4-Xw8rrcZBGZQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ea0dd616-0347-48af-bc89-a9403febe7d6/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-mark-farner
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/mark-farner-204120667
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/mark-farner-98394614/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-farner/id1316200737?i=1000566622187
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0sMOMfjYHMosAbgSGgeAFf?si=gZuT8pc7R4-Xw8rrcZBGZQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ea0dd616-0347-48af-bc89-a9403febe7d6/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-mark-farner
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/mark-farner-204120667
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Wednesday 15 June 2022
The Brian Wilson Movie
Stream free in the U.S.: https://to.pbs.org/3QrNJTi
He's completely internalized.
Brian Wilson has been on an endless victory lap since 1976. First with his participation in "15 Big Ones" and its attendant publicity of Brian being back, then in 1988 with his solo debut, then Don Was's excellent film "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" in 1995 and then with the release of "Smile" in 2004. Every time they say what a genius he is, what his music means to us, how can we forget you if you never go away?
I've gone on record many times that I moved to California because of the Beach Boys. There had to be a better life out there, and I must tell you Southern California was and still is, it's just that fifty-odd years ago the world was not connected the way it is now, California was three hours behind and it might as well have been an island in the Pacific. We knew that all the movies and TV were made there, but media kept telling us thinking people, all the business that counts, was in New York. They're still saying that. But in the eighties Silicon Valley raised its head and has never ducked since and people read more books per capita in California than they do in New York. But today California is pilloried by outsiders, whereas previously it was a dream.
People weren't even skateboarding in the rest of the country, that came from Jan & Dean and the rest of the SoCal players. And then in the mid-seventies urethane wheels came along, and skateboarding spread like wildfire from California eastward. But it all started in California, Southern California, where it hardly rains and you live an outdoors lifestyle
So what we've got here is a bunch of talking heads telling us about Brian's music. Well, first and foremost Mike Love and others wrote most of the lyrics. But truly, I don't care what these people have to say, never mind Nick Jonas for Generation Z and Jim James for Generation X. It's like the talking heads were picked based on demographics.
As for Springsteen? Great to know he's a Brian Wilson fan, and he does talk about the joy in the music, but other than that...you see Bruce can't do what Brian can, and that's the most interesting part.
If you live in Southern California, you've encountered Brian Wilson. He's not hiding, he's around. It's well-known that he eats regularly at the deli atop Beverly Glen.
But this wasn't always the case.
The first time I encountered him was in the lobby of a movie theatre in Westwood in 1978. He was wearing a jacket with his name embroidered on the front. And I went up to him and testified, he did not say anything back.
About ten or fifteen years ago I went to this BMI awards dinner and he was seated at my table. He kept his head upon it almost the entire time, even during dinner. He ultimately got up and got his award and went home.
Since then I've talked to him on his bus, but I can't say I connected with him. I don't think anybody can truly connect with Brian Wilson. But what this movie, "Long Promised Road," tells us is Brian is still there, he's just locked up inside.
So they're driving down to Hawthorne to go see the homestead. Dedicated fans know it's been torn down. And Brian asks to hear "It's OK.," from the aforementioned "15 Big Ones," which was mostly covers, truly a cash-in, the originals LP didn't come out until the next year, "Love You," where Brian had greater participation and the results sounded whacked and unfinished and he was shunted into the background once again. You see Brian Wilson was the band's meal ticket. He's still many people's meal ticket. Not that he seems to be worried about that. He seems oblivious to most of the matters of everyday life.
Now if you go on Wikipedia you'll learn that "It's OK" went to #29 on the singles chart, but in '76 everybody was listening to FM and #29 means the label used pressure to get it played in the hinterlands, because it didn't penetrate major markets, I've never ever heard "It's OK." on the radio. But it's a complete return to form, it's got the summer sunniness that drew me to SoCal, never mind infected the rest of the world.
Brian knows what to listen to.
But when they pull up in front of his own home, where there is now a monument, Brian doesn't want to get out of the car, BECAUSE IT HURTS TOO MUCH!
Great artists feel deeply. Much more than the average person. And they channel this in their work and it's what the hoi polloi can relate to, especially since it's illegal to talk about these feelings in regular life, the artist does it for them. How many artists are doing this today? I can't think of one, then again, they're truly not ARTISTS!
So next they drive by the first house he lived in with Marilyn and Brian says he wrote "California Girls, "Help Me Rhonda" and "She's Not the Little Girl I Once Knew" there. He knows everything, the year...
And the next house on Laurel Way, that's where he wrote "Pet Sounds" and "Good Vibrations."
It's utterly amazing. It's like the movie of his life is still in color and accessible to Brian. The years, the studios, the songs, he seems completely checked out and then whoa, he knows every last detail, he blows your mind.
You see Brian can't tell a story. You know, you ask the average person a few questions and they start to roll, especially when they know you're interested, they start waxing rhapsodic, telling you details you're not even interested in. Brian gives one word and one sentence answers. And you realize this must be the best they've got, because if they had anything better, they'd have used it.
And Brian resides in his own world. He never heard "Pacific Ocean Blue." And is shocked to learn Jack Rieley died. Me, just a fan, I own Dennis Wilson's album, and the fact that Jack died certainly flew on my radar. And ultimately Jack was seen as a charlatan, singing on an album? But Brian can't say a negative word about almost anybody. Except maybe Eugene Landy. Then again, when peppered, he starts talking about some good stuff that came out of that nine year "relationship."
Do you know many celebrities? Almost all of them are acutely aware of their environment. Paparazzi. Quotes. Brian Wilson doesn't live in that world and doesn't care.
Do you know any genius musicians? Well, I do. And just about all of them are maladjusted. They can do this one thing, but there's a gulf between them and the rest of the public.
Brian talks about Dennis being so popular with the ladies, but says he's too shy. Bottom line, Brian was using his music to connect with people, it was the only way he could do it, and once it stopped working...he retreated.
Yes, Brian Wilson is inherently lonely. Even though he says he's doing well, even, and talks about others being lonely. That's his default.
And if you've seen Brian live... It's kind of embarrassing. He's like a deer in the headlights. He sits at a piano he doesn't play and then the rest of the band covers for his vocals.
But then he's in the studio in this movie and sits down at the piano and can play no problem. Then he starts arranging the song, telling people how to play, when to play. This all comes naturally to Brian Wilson, but it doesn't even come naturally to many hit artists!
Don Was says he can't do what Brian Wilson does, I believe he's too self-effacing, but when he isolates the track so you can hear a banjo in "God Only Knows"...I never noticed there was a banjo there. What was Brian thinking? A banjo isn't as bad as an accordion, but most rock musicians don't want to go anywhere near one.
And in truth the window of success is very brief for most of these legendary musicians. If you live through them, they seem endless. But for Brian and the Beach Boys, in reality it was less than ten years, arguably even less than that. Now in truth, once these damaged people realize that becoming a great success, demonstrating their talent, doesn't make their life whole, they can't do it anymore. Also, popular music goes through phases, the music you play is now out of favor. But when Brian works with Joe Thomas he can sometimes get back to where he once belonged.
Brian's on his own pursuit.
And it's like he's locked in the sixties, he uses the word "groovy," other affectations from his youth that nobody uses today.
So in truth I don't think this movie will do anything for Brian Wilson's legacy. We know the Beatles are forever, but we can't say the same thing about almost any other act from the rock era, not even the Beach Boys. The kids of the boomers know the Beach Boys hits, but the Beatles' songs were inherently universal, whereas with the Beach Boys music you had to buy into the whole ethos, the Southern California breezy fun. I get around? Kids today turn 16 and don't even get their driver's license. Hot rods? Summer? Kids today go back to school in August! Yes, a lot of what the Beach Boys purveyed was of a time lyrically, if not musically.
Of course there are exceptions, like "Good Vibrations." But where does a song like that even exist today? And "'Til I Die," one of the most beautiful records ever made? I didn't think anybody else was even aware of it when it was featured in the Don Was movie, never mind this production.
And, it's the music that will determine whether Brian Wilson will remain in the public consciousness. Movies like this really won't help, like I said, he's been on an endless victory lap, for the last 45 years!
But the magic is still there, if you know those songs, especially if you grew up with them, when they were de rigueur, just another song on the hit parade, before the formula was lost.
So you want to watch this film to see Brian talk. To watch tears come to his eyes. To see him get excited about his music. That's where you can see the genius, the talking heads don't add much.
Brian attributes his emotional downfall to a bad acid trip. Then again, schizophrenia doesn't usually rear its head until you get older, your twenties, when Brian had success and episodes.
But even if he was totally normal...he wouldn't be.
Try talking music with some of these geniuses. They can't do it! They can write it, they can feel it, but they can't articulate it, and Brian is no different. It's not that he refrains from sharing secrets, he doesn't even know they're secrets, they're normal for him, but we can only sit outside and marvel.
You can work for 10,000 hours and not be Brian Wilson. Genius is not a skill, not something you can achieve, it's something you're born with, that you build upon.
Brian was inherently isolated, anybody who's been constantly berated by their parent ultimately is. Then again, some get over it, whereas Brian has just gone deeper into himself.
Not that I can truly define genius. All I know is when I hear that intro to "California Girls" my heart melts and everything is all right with the world. No other song had an extended intro like that before, it carried me not only through the summer of '65, but ever since. You usually burn out on songs, you play them for a week straight and can never listen to them again. I still will push the button on "Whole Lotta Love," I bought "Led Zeppelin II" the day it came out and played that album incessantly. And soon thereafter, the rest of the public, the average Joes, caught on and that's all you heard. But "California Girls"? An even bigger hit? That's never a button-pusher, that's my life!
Well, not really. But "California Girls" evidences hope. Makes you believe there's a more beautiful world out there, and if this group can sing about it, maybe you can get there too, bite off a chunk of the good stuff.
And in truth nobody's life is constantly an upper. But a great track can make your life work. Not any track. Certain tracks are transcendent. Not the ones they make today, that's commerce by committee. Brian Wilson was a dictator, and when they undercut him, when Capitol put out a greatest hits album mere months after the failure of "Pet Sounds," he was demoralized. You may be able to pick yourself up by your bootstraps, but someone who feels this much is always on a tightrope, walking a thin line, needing that approval to keep going.
Forget what I say, just watch Brian in the car in this movie. See him be uncomfortable, scared, seem completely out of it but then be able to answer a question directly. You don't know people like this, they only made one, and by translating his feelings into music he impacted the entire world.
That's Brian Wilson.
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He's completely internalized.
Brian Wilson has been on an endless victory lap since 1976. First with his participation in "15 Big Ones" and its attendant publicity of Brian being back, then in 1988 with his solo debut, then Don Was's excellent film "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" in 1995 and then with the release of "Smile" in 2004. Every time they say what a genius he is, what his music means to us, how can we forget you if you never go away?
I've gone on record many times that I moved to California because of the Beach Boys. There had to be a better life out there, and I must tell you Southern California was and still is, it's just that fifty-odd years ago the world was not connected the way it is now, California was three hours behind and it might as well have been an island in the Pacific. We knew that all the movies and TV were made there, but media kept telling us thinking people, all the business that counts, was in New York. They're still saying that. But in the eighties Silicon Valley raised its head and has never ducked since and people read more books per capita in California than they do in New York. But today California is pilloried by outsiders, whereas previously it was a dream.
People weren't even skateboarding in the rest of the country, that came from Jan & Dean and the rest of the SoCal players. And then in the mid-seventies urethane wheels came along, and skateboarding spread like wildfire from California eastward. But it all started in California, Southern California, where it hardly rains and you live an outdoors lifestyle
So what we've got here is a bunch of talking heads telling us about Brian's music. Well, first and foremost Mike Love and others wrote most of the lyrics. But truly, I don't care what these people have to say, never mind Nick Jonas for Generation Z and Jim James for Generation X. It's like the talking heads were picked based on demographics.
As for Springsteen? Great to know he's a Brian Wilson fan, and he does talk about the joy in the music, but other than that...you see Bruce can't do what Brian can, and that's the most interesting part.
If you live in Southern California, you've encountered Brian Wilson. He's not hiding, he's around. It's well-known that he eats regularly at the deli atop Beverly Glen.
But this wasn't always the case.
The first time I encountered him was in the lobby of a movie theatre in Westwood in 1978. He was wearing a jacket with his name embroidered on the front. And I went up to him and testified, he did not say anything back.
About ten or fifteen years ago I went to this BMI awards dinner and he was seated at my table. He kept his head upon it almost the entire time, even during dinner. He ultimately got up and got his award and went home.
Since then I've talked to him on his bus, but I can't say I connected with him. I don't think anybody can truly connect with Brian Wilson. But what this movie, "Long Promised Road," tells us is Brian is still there, he's just locked up inside.
So they're driving down to Hawthorne to go see the homestead. Dedicated fans know it's been torn down. And Brian asks to hear "It's OK.," from the aforementioned "15 Big Ones," which was mostly covers, truly a cash-in, the originals LP didn't come out until the next year, "Love You," where Brian had greater participation and the results sounded whacked and unfinished and he was shunted into the background once again. You see Brian Wilson was the band's meal ticket. He's still many people's meal ticket. Not that he seems to be worried about that. He seems oblivious to most of the matters of everyday life.
Now if you go on Wikipedia you'll learn that "It's OK" went to #29 on the singles chart, but in '76 everybody was listening to FM and #29 means the label used pressure to get it played in the hinterlands, because it didn't penetrate major markets, I've never ever heard "It's OK." on the radio. But it's a complete return to form, it's got the summer sunniness that drew me to SoCal, never mind infected the rest of the world.
Brian knows what to listen to.
But when they pull up in front of his own home, where there is now a monument, Brian doesn't want to get out of the car, BECAUSE IT HURTS TOO MUCH!
Great artists feel deeply. Much more than the average person. And they channel this in their work and it's what the hoi polloi can relate to, especially since it's illegal to talk about these feelings in regular life, the artist does it for them. How many artists are doing this today? I can't think of one, then again, they're truly not ARTISTS!
So next they drive by the first house he lived in with Marilyn and Brian says he wrote "California Girls, "Help Me Rhonda" and "She's Not the Little Girl I Once Knew" there. He knows everything, the year...
And the next house on Laurel Way, that's where he wrote "Pet Sounds" and "Good Vibrations."
It's utterly amazing. It's like the movie of his life is still in color and accessible to Brian. The years, the studios, the songs, he seems completely checked out and then whoa, he knows every last detail, he blows your mind.
You see Brian can't tell a story. You know, you ask the average person a few questions and they start to roll, especially when they know you're interested, they start waxing rhapsodic, telling you details you're not even interested in. Brian gives one word and one sentence answers. And you realize this must be the best they've got, because if they had anything better, they'd have used it.
And Brian resides in his own world. He never heard "Pacific Ocean Blue." And is shocked to learn Jack Rieley died. Me, just a fan, I own Dennis Wilson's album, and the fact that Jack died certainly flew on my radar. And ultimately Jack was seen as a charlatan, singing on an album? But Brian can't say a negative word about almost anybody. Except maybe Eugene Landy. Then again, when peppered, he starts talking about some good stuff that came out of that nine year "relationship."
Do you know many celebrities? Almost all of them are acutely aware of their environment. Paparazzi. Quotes. Brian Wilson doesn't live in that world and doesn't care.
Do you know any genius musicians? Well, I do. And just about all of them are maladjusted. They can do this one thing, but there's a gulf between them and the rest of the public.
Brian talks about Dennis being so popular with the ladies, but says he's too shy. Bottom line, Brian was using his music to connect with people, it was the only way he could do it, and once it stopped working...he retreated.
Yes, Brian Wilson is inherently lonely. Even though he says he's doing well, even, and talks about others being lonely. That's his default.
And if you've seen Brian live... It's kind of embarrassing. He's like a deer in the headlights. He sits at a piano he doesn't play and then the rest of the band covers for his vocals.
But then he's in the studio in this movie and sits down at the piano and can play no problem. Then he starts arranging the song, telling people how to play, when to play. This all comes naturally to Brian Wilson, but it doesn't even come naturally to many hit artists!
Don Was says he can't do what Brian Wilson does, I believe he's too self-effacing, but when he isolates the track so you can hear a banjo in "God Only Knows"...I never noticed there was a banjo there. What was Brian thinking? A banjo isn't as bad as an accordion, but most rock musicians don't want to go anywhere near one.
And in truth the window of success is very brief for most of these legendary musicians. If you live through them, they seem endless. But for Brian and the Beach Boys, in reality it was less than ten years, arguably even less than that. Now in truth, once these damaged people realize that becoming a great success, demonstrating their talent, doesn't make their life whole, they can't do it anymore. Also, popular music goes through phases, the music you play is now out of favor. But when Brian works with Joe Thomas he can sometimes get back to where he once belonged.
Brian's on his own pursuit.
And it's like he's locked in the sixties, he uses the word "groovy," other affectations from his youth that nobody uses today.
So in truth I don't think this movie will do anything for Brian Wilson's legacy. We know the Beatles are forever, but we can't say the same thing about almost any other act from the rock era, not even the Beach Boys. The kids of the boomers know the Beach Boys hits, but the Beatles' songs were inherently universal, whereas with the Beach Boys music you had to buy into the whole ethos, the Southern California breezy fun. I get around? Kids today turn 16 and don't even get their driver's license. Hot rods? Summer? Kids today go back to school in August! Yes, a lot of what the Beach Boys purveyed was of a time lyrically, if not musically.
Of course there are exceptions, like "Good Vibrations." But where does a song like that even exist today? And "'Til I Die," one of the most beautiful records ever made? I didn't think anybody else was even aware of it when it was featured in the Don Was movie, never mind this production.
And, it's the music that will determine whether Brian Wilson will remain in the public consciousness. Movies like this really won't help, like I said, he's been on an endless victory lap, for the last 45 years!
But the magic is still there, if you know those songs, especially if you grew up with them, when they were de rigueur, just another song on the hit parade, before the formula was lost.
So you want to watch this film to see Brian talk. To watch tears come to his eyes. To see him get excited about his music. That's where you can see the genius, the talking heads don't add much.
Brian attributes his emotional downfall to a bad acid trip. Then again, schizophrenia doesn't usually rear its head until you get older, your twenties, when Brian had success and episodes.
But even if he was totally normal...he wouldn't be.
Try talking music with some of these geniuses. They can't do it! They can write it, they can feel it, but they can't articulate it, and Brian is no different. It's not that he refrains from sharing secrets, he doesn't even know they're secrets, they're normal for him, but we can only sit outside and marvel.
You can work for 10,000 hours and not be Brian Wilson. Genius is not a skill, not something you can achieve, it's something you're born with, that you build upon.
Brian was inherently isolated, anybody who's been constantly berated by their parent ultimately is. Then again, some get over it, whereas Brian has just gone deeper into himself.
Not that I can truly define genius. All I know is when I hear that intro to "California Girls" my heart melts and everything is all right with the world. No other song had an extended intro like that before, it carried me not only through the summer of '65, but ever since. You usually burn out on songs, you play them for a week straight and can never listen to them again. I still will push the button on "Whole Lotta Love," I bought "Led Zeppelin II" the day it came out and played that album incessantly. And soon thereafter, the rest of the public, the average Joes, caught on and that's all you heard. But "California Girls"? An even bigger hit? That's never a button-pusher, that's my life!
Well, not really. But "California Girls" evidences hope. Makes you believe there's a more beautiful world out there, and if this group can sing about it, maybe you can get there too, bite off a chunk of the good stuff.
And in truth nobody's life is constantly an upper. But a great track can make your life work. Not any track. Certain tracks are transcendent. Not the ones they make today, that's commerce by committee. Brian Wilson was a dictator, and when they undercut him, when Capitol put out a greatest hits album mere months after the failure of "Pet Sounds," he was demoralized. You may be able to pick yourself up by your bootstraps, but someone who feels this much is always on a tightrope, walking a thin line, needing that approval to keep going.
Forget what I say, just watch Brian in the car in this movie. See him be uncomfortable, scared, seem completely out of it but then be able to answer a question directly. You don't know people like this, they only made one, and by translating his feelings into music he impacted the entire world.
That's Brian Wilson.
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Tuesday 14 June 2022
Favorite Canadian Act Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0RLWPdtnUbSNB234IRRIJ4?si=238e064e80e9437d
Bryan Adams - Fits Ya Good
Neil Young - I've Been Waiting For You
Joni Mitchell - A Case of You (not on Spotify)
The Band - King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Leonard Cohen - Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
Guess Who - No Time
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care of Business
Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Rush - Fly By Night
Barenaked Ladies - Baby Seat
Triumph - Magic Power
John Kay-Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
Bruce Cockburn - Last Night of the World
Paul Anka - Diana
Kate & Anna McGarrigle-Heart Like a Wheel
Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah
Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
Barney Bentall & the Legendary Hearts - Something to Live For
Odds - Wendy Under the Stars
The Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking
Alanis Morissette - Hand in My Pocket
Amanda Marshall - Dark Horse
Diana Krall - The Look of Love
deadmau5 - Hypnocurrency
Lighthouse - One Fine Morning
Michael Bublé - Feeling Good
Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean
Sarah McLachlan - Drawn to the Rhythm
the Weeknd - Wicked Games
Drake - Over
Celine Dion - To Love You More
Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill
Feist - How Come You Never Go There
k.d. lang - Constant Craving
Corey Hart - It Ain't Enough
David Foster - Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Blue Rodeo - Hard to Remember
Sebastian Bach - Skid Row - I Remember You
Kathleen Edwards - Hockey Skates
Jeff Healey - See the Lights
Tegan and Sara - Closer
Shawn Mendes - Stitches
Kim Mitchell - Go for Soda
Ron Sexsmith - Gold In Them Hills
Pat Travers - Boom, Boom (Out Go the Lights)
Andy Kim - Rock Me Gently
Loverboy - Turn Me Loose
The Pursuit of Happiness- I'm an Adult Now
Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You
Simple Plan - I'm Just a Kid
Ian & Sylvia - You Were On My Mind
Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach
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Bryan Adams - Fits Ya Good
Neil Young - I've Been Waiting For You
Joni Mitchell - A Case of You (not on Spotify)
The Band - King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Leonard Cohen - Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
Guess Who - No Time
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care of Business
Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Rush - Fly By Night
Barenaked Ladies - Baby Seat
Triumph - Magic Power
John Kay-Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
Bruce Cockburn - Last Night of the World
Paul Anka - Diana
Kate & Anna McGarrigle-Heart Like a Wheel
Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah
Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
Barney Bentall & the Legendary Hearts - Something to Live For
Odds - Wendy Under the Stars
The Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking
Alanis Morissette - Hand in My Pocket
Amanda Marshall - Dark Horse
Diana Krall - The Look of Love
deadmau5 - Hypnocurrency
Lighthouse - One Fine Morning
Michael Bublé - Feeling Good
Justin Bieber - What Do You Mean
Sarah McLachlan - Drawn to the Rhythm
the Weeknd - Wicked Games
Drake - Over
Celine Dion - To Love You More
Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill
Feist - How Come You Never Go There
k.d. lang - Constant Craving
Corey Hart - It Ain't Enough
David Foster - Love Theme From St. Elmo's Fire
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Blue Rodeo - Hard to Remember
Sebastian Bach - Skid Row - I Remember You
Kathleen Edwards - Hockey Skates
Jeff Healey - See the Lights
Tegan and Sara - Closer
Shawn Mendes - Stitches
Kim Mitchell - Go for Soda
Ron Sexsmith - Gold In Them Hills
Pat Travers - Boom, Boom (Out Go the Lights)
Andy Kim - Rock Me Gently
Loverboy - Turn Me Loose
The Pursuit of Happiness- I'm an Adult Now
Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You
Simple Plan - I'm Just a Kid
Ian & Sylvia - You Were On My Mind
Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach
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Your Favorite Canadian Act-This Week On SiriusXM
Tune in today, June 14th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
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Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
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Sunday 12 June 2022
Gas
I paid $7.13 a gallon.
Actually, the sticker price was $7.15, but I got a two cent discount for using my 76 card. I might have gotten a few cents more if I used the app, but every time I've tried there's been a hurdle I couldn't jump. Like my PIN. I mean really, how many PINs/passwords am I supposed to remember? I contemplated looking up the requirements earlier in the day, but I was so damn busy, wasn't my time worth something?
I used to go to the Shell on Van Nuys. It's one block north of Ventura. I was always in that neighborhood now and again pre-Covid. But now I don't go anywhere, other than at night to hike. So to go to Van Nuys is a time-consuming and now expensive schlepp. Yes, I'm willing to drive there, but with gas so expensive it's gonna cost me $3.50 or so to do so! And my tank isn't that big, how much can I save?
I buy my gas in Bel-Air.
I know, you're chuckling now. But ever since my friend Andy was involved in a holdup at a gas station on La Cienega Boulevard, during broad daylight, I've been wary of stopping at gas stations in sketchy neighborhoods. Saving a few cents is not worth my life.
And no, I'm not ignorant, I don't stop at those insulting stations where gas is a buck or more more, like the 76 in Beverly Hills. I mean I'll overpay for my safety, but I won't be ripped-off.
My car uses premium. I know, I know, you say that's all B.S. But not in my machine, it needs the octane.
So I'm paying a bit more.
Then again, I don't use that many gallons.
And brand is important too.
So I was driving east on Sunset and I saw the Chevron station at Barrington was charging $6.99. I laughed, I was not going to stop there, it always charged a few cents more. And it's a weird station, the lights are very low, maybe so the luminaries in the neighborhood don't have to wear their sunglasses at night.
And I'm off of Chevron.
Back when I owned my 2002... Leaded gas started to disappear. Starting in 1975, cars used unleaded. But mine was a '74. And ultimately the only company that sold leaded was 76, so that was my preferred brand, ergo the card. Yes, I've got gas credit cards, a relic of the eighties, or maybe the influence of my father, this was before the points extravaganza. To tell you the truth, I never use points. I've got no idea how many I have. Even with the airlines. I'm my mother's son, she refused to clip coupons and... Oh, did I tell you about earning a free trip to Paris using Sprint? This was when it was a long distance company, before it even sold cellphones. You had to dial extra digits. And I got a letter and was intrigued...but what would I do once I got there? That wouldn't be free.
So I've got 76, Chevron and Shell credit cards. I used to have Mobil, but the only Mobil I pass by is the one at Olympic and Westwood, and it's one of those rip-off stations. You can tell them, because they're always empty. There used to be three gas stations at that intersection, now there's only one. The strip center with the Poquito Mas used to be the BMW dealership, and before that it was a Chevron station. And across the street, where the Bigg Chill is, the best frozen yogurt on the westside? That used to be a gas station too, but so much time has passed I no longer remember which brand.
So, after my 2002 got totaled, I ultimately favored Shell. My 325e got just a little more oomph. I'd mash the accelerator and the car would jump a bit.
But then I ran out of money and started using ARCO. I could put in three bucks and drive for a week. That was back in the nineties. But Arco dried out the rubber in my fuel pump so I swore off it and went back to the brands that took credit cards, yes, ARCO, Atlantic Richfield, was cheap, because they gave up credit.
So I'm at the exit by Sepulveda, having just been on the 405 for less than a mile. I'm my father's son here too, he'd go out of his way to get on the freeway, although it was called the "Turnpike" back in Connecticut, and at the time it wasn't free.
And I'm sitting at the light, which is very long, and I'm looking at the prices, the Chevron and the 76 stations are across the street from each other. And they were both over seven bucks! I couldn't believe it, six was one thing, SEVEN? What, are we living in Europe? I wish we were, then everybody would think about the size of the automobile they drove, its fuel efficiency. Then again, SUVs have made inroads on the Continent, but electrics are now too.
So I'm sitting there contemplating this. The Chevron is $7.09, but the 76 is $7.15, and usually they're the same damn price, but every once in a while one is less expensive than the other, but not by much.
Yes, in Bel-Air I feel safe. Especially at eleven o'clock at night, when I was stopping.
And I pulled into the 76 station and it was a ghost town, and it normally isn't at this time, there are always a few automobiles coming in and out. An Aston Martin SUV was filling up right in front of me a while back, and then this teenager came out of the mini-mart and got behind the wheel. That's Los Angeles. A giant suburb where as Rod Stewart put it, people have a lot more money than sense.
Oh, I've got to back up. I couldn't go to the Chevron station. Yes, I've experimented, multiple times, the gas there just isn't good enough, there's a problem with it. Is it at every Chevron station? I'm not sure, but I don't want to risk it.
Here's what happens. I'm driving up a hill, and the car starts to buck, like a bronco, like one of those mechanical bulls they have in bars. And it's frightening, and only one time was it dangerous, but my main concern was...WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAR??
At some point you've got to call it quits, give up the ghost, crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. I wasted too much money on my 325e before killing it, I don't want to do that again. Especially now. You don't want to be forced to buy a car now, during the chip shortage, you're gonna pay a fortune.
But it turned out to be the gas!
No problem at 76 or Shell, but terrible problem with Chevron. So I'm not gonna buy Chevron unless my car is on E and there's no other station for miles.
And as I look at the price on the pump at the 76 I'm wondering whether I should bolt for the Shell on Van Nuys. I mean I'm the only car in the station. But then a twentysomething in a brand new SUV pulls up and I decide to go for it.
So I inserted my card, and I got that two cent savings, WHOOPEE!
Oh, that's another reason to have a gas credit card. For a while, at that Shell station on Van Nuys, you didn't have to push any buttons after inserting it, and this was a huge advantage, at least during the early days of Covid-19 when we were all panicking.
And I'm kicking myself for not figuring out how to use the app, but I'm here. Gas... Used to be you didn't think about it. But now you go somewhere and you realize it's a four dollar trip. Like I said, driving out of your way to save a few cents is no longer worth it.
So as I'm washing my windows, the pump pops to a stop. And I see that I owe $84 and change. Yes, I have a small tank. And I always remember my father saying there was dirt at the bottom of the tank and not to run it too low and if you haven't lived in the east you don't know all these issues...not only dirt, but if you don't have the tank at least half full you risk the gas freezing during a cold spell. You learn to put anti-freeze into the gas, and to keep the tank topped-off. Which is all to say I used to fill up like my father, when the needle dropped below halfway, but that's too much of a pain, but when it hits three-quarters, I fill.
$84. That's essentially a C-note. Does anybody even use that term anymore? I got $600 cash to go out of town fifteen months ago, and then I couldn't, because the vaccine didn't work, and that same $600 is still sitting in my wallet. We live in a cashless society. Oh, they're forcing businesses to keep taking cash because poor people don't have credit cards. (Can you use the word "poor" anymore, do you have to say "financially-challenged"?) But still, there are so many places that will not accept cash.
I mean a hundred dollars, that still means something to me. But after filling up Friday night I realized my money perception was way off. I know someone who made 90k only a couple of years out of college, and was not a professional or in banking. And a pastrami sandwich is twenty bucks and...I realized I've got no idea what a dollar is worth.
But my car is small, I only needed eleven gallons. What if you were one of those people who purchased a big SUV because of social pressure, sat high and had an inherently less safe driving experience just so you could look cool?
Oh, that's another dirty little secret, the rich don't care about gas prices. If you're making five hundred thousand dollars or more, what do you care about the price of gas?
But what if you have to drive to work, like everybody in Southern California, commuting is necessary, no one lives close to their job. Then, through no fault of your own, even if you drove a relatively fuel-efficient car, you were burning bucks.
I mean I don't have to leave the house. I'm driving less than ever. The price shocked me, but I could cope. But what if you're driving your kids around or..?
And I'm mad at the oil companies, booking record profits. But those who think it's all Biden's fault...
Someone tweeted FDR today. This is what they said:
"'Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations, not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion and government weakness through lack of leadership,' he said in a 1938 radio address. 'Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat'"
The authoritarians make the trains run on time, and then your vaunted freedom is down the tubes.
It's like the entire world didn't think beyond tomorrow. Let two plants in Asia make all the chips, after all it's less expensive than making them here. And the electric car and climate change naysayers say it's all a hoax, fossil fuels forever!
And having lived through two plus years of Covid-19, it's been made clear that the government doesn't have that much power, and even worse you can't make people do what they don't want to. We're on the verge of chaos 24/7. And I always knew you couldn't live in Northern Idaho, not as a Jew, yesterday confirmed it.
So I'm glad I live in SoCal. And I don't mind paying gas taxes for clean air. Bad air shortens lives, not only views.
But man, I feel your frustration.
--
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Actually, the sticker price was $7.15, but I got a two cent discount for using my 76 card. I might have gotten a few cents more if I used the app, but every time I've tried there's been a hurdle I couldn't jump. Like my PIN. I mean really, how many PINs/passwords am I supposed to remember? I contemplated looking up the requirements earlier in the day, but I was so damn busy, wasn't my time worth something?
I used to go to the Shell on Van Nuys. It's one block north of Ventura. I was always in that neighborhood now and again pre-Covid. But now I don't go anywhere, other than at night to hike. So to go to Van Nuys is a time-consuming and now expensive schlepp. Yes, I'm willing to drive there, but with gas so expensive it's gonna cost me $3.50 or so to do so! And my tank isn't that big, how much can I save?
I buy my gas in Bel-Air.
I know, you're chuckling now. But ever since my friend Andy was involved in a holdup at a gas station on La Cienega Boulevard, during broad daylight, I've been wary of stopping at gas stations in sketchy neighborhoods. Saving a few cents is not worth my life.
And no, I'm not ignorant, I don't stop at those insulting stations where gas is a buck or more more, like the 76 in Beverly Hills. I mean I'll overpay for my safety, but I won't be ripped-off.
My car uses premium. I know, I know, you say that's all B.S. But not in my machine, it needs the octane.
So I'm paying a bit more.
Then again, I don't use that many gallons.
And brand is important too.
So I was driving east on Sunset and I saw the Chevron station at Barrington was charging $6.99. I laughed, I was not going to stop there, it always charged a few cents more. And it's a weird station, the lights are very low, maybe so the luminaries in the neighborhood don't have to wear their sunglasses at night.
And I'm off of Chevron.
Back when I owned my 2002... Leaded gas started to disappear. Starting in 1975, cars used unleaded. But mine was a '74. And ultimately the only company that sold leaded was 76, so that was my preferred brand, ergo the card. Yes, I've got gas credit cards, a relic of the eighties, or maybe the influence of my father, this was before the points extravaganza. To tell you the truth, I never use points. I've got no idea how many I have. Even with the airlines. I'm my mother's son, she refused to clip coupons and... Oh, did I tell you about earning a free trip to Paris using Sprint? This was when it was a long distance company, before it even sold cellphones. You had to dial extra digits. And I got a letter and was intrigued...but what would I do once I got there? That wouldn't be free.
So I've got 76, Chevron and Shell credit cards. I used to have Mobil, but the only Mobil I pass by is the one at Olympic and Westwood, and it's one of those rip-off stations. You can tell them, because they're always empty. There used to be three gas stations at that intersection, now there's only one. The strip center with the Poquito Mas used to be the BMW dealership, and before that it was a Chevron station. And across the street, where the Bigg Chill is, the best frozen yogurt on the westside? That used to be a gas station too, but so much time has passed I no longer remember which brand.
So, after my 2002 got totaled, I ultimately favored Shell. My 325e got just a little more oomph. I'd mash the accelerator and the car would jump a bit.
But then I ran out of money and started using ARCO. I could put in three bucks and drive for a week. That was back in the nineties. But Arco dried out the rubber in my fuel pump so I swore off it and went back to the brands that took credit cards, yes, ARCO, Atlantic Richfield, was cheap, because they gave up credit.
So I'm at the exit by Sepulveda, having just been on the 405 for less than a mile. I'm my father's son here too, he'd go out of his way to get on the freeway, although it was called the "Turnpike" back in Connecticut, and at the time it wasn't free.
And I'm sitting at the light, which is very long, and I'm looking at the prices, the Chevron and the 76 stations are across the street from each other. And they were both over seven bucks! I couldn't believe it, six was one thing, SEVEN? What, are we living in Europe? I wish we were, then everybody would think about the size of the automobile they drove, its fuel efficiency. Then again, SUVs have made inroads on the Continent, but electrics are now too.
So I'm sitting there contemplating this. The Chevron is $7.09, but the 76 is $7.15, and usually they're the same damn price, but every once in a while one is less expensive than the other, but not by much.
Yes, in Bel-Air I feel safe. Especially at eleven o'clock at night, when I was stopping.
And I pulled into the 76 station and it was a ghost town, and it normally isn't at this time, there are always a few automobiles coming in and out. An Aston Martin SUV was filling up right in front of me a while back, and then this teenager came out of the mini-mart and got behind the wheel. That's Los Angeles. A giant suburb where as Rod Stewart put it, people have a lot more money than sense.
Oh, I've got to back up. I couldn't go to the Chevron station. Yes, I've experimented, multiple times, the gas there just isn't good enough, there's a problem with it. Is it at every Chevron station? I'm not sure, but I don't want to risk it.
Here's what happens. I'm driving up a hill, and the car starts to buck, like a bronco, like one of those mechanical bulls they have in bars. And it's frightening, and only one time was it dangerous, but my main concern was...WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAR??
At some point you've got to call it quits, give up the ghost, crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. I wasted too much money on my 325e before killing it, I don't want to do that again. Especially now. You don't want to be forced to buy a car now, during the chip shortage, you're gonna pay a fortune.
But it turned out to be the gas!
No problem at 76 or Shell, but terrible problem with Chevron. So I'm not gonna buy Chevron unless my car is on E and there's no other station for miles.
And as I look at the price on the pump at the 76 I'm wondering whether I should bolt for the Shell on Van Nuys. I mean I'm the only car in the station. But then a twentysomething in a brand new SUV pulls up and I decide to go for it.
So I inserted my card, and I got that two cent savings, WHOOPEE!
Oh, that's another reason to have a gas credit card. For a while, at that Shell station on Van Nuys, you didn't have to push any buttons after inserting it, and this was a huge advantage, at least during the early days of Covid-19 when we were all panicking.
And I'm kicking myself for not figuring out how to use the app, but I'm here. Gas... Used to be you didn't think about it. But now you go somewhere and you realize it's a four dollar trip. Like I said, driving out of your way to save a few cents is no longer worth it.
So as I'm washing my windows, the pump pops to a stop. And I see that I owe $84 and change. Yes, I have a small tank. And I always remember my father saying there was dirt at the bottom of the tank and not to run it too low and if you haven't lived in the east you don't know all these issues...not only dirt, but if you don't have the tank at least half full you risk the gas freezing during a cold spell. You learn to put anti-freeze into the gas, and to keep the tank topped-off. Which is all to say I used to fill up like my father, when the needle dropped below halfway, but that's too much of a pain, but when it hits three-quarters, I fill.
$84. That's essentially a C-note. Does anybody even use that term anymore? I got $600 cash to go out of town fifteen months ago, and then I couldn't, because the vaccine didn't work, and that same $600 is still sitting in my wallet. We live in a cashless society. Oh, they're forcing businesses to keep taking cash because poor people don't have credit cards. (Can you use the word "poor" anymore, do you have to say "financially-challenged"?) But still, there are so many places that will not accept cash.
I mean a hundred dollars, that still means something to me. But after filling up Friday night I realized my money perception was way off. I know someone who made 90k only a couple of years out of college, and was not a professional or in banking. And a pastrami sandwich is twenty bucks and...I realized I've got no idea what a dollar is worth.
But my car is small, I only needed eleven gallons. What if you were one of those people who purchased a big SUV because of social pressure, sat high and had an inherently less safe driving experience just so you could look cool?
Oh, that's another dirty little secret, the rich don't care about gas prices. If you're making five hundred thousand dollars or more, what do you care about the price of gas?
But what if you have to drive to work, like everybody in Southern California, commuting is necessary, no one lives close to their job. Then, through no fault of your own, even if you drove a relatively fuel-efficient car, you were burning bucks.
I mean I don't have to leave the house. I'm driving less than ever. The price shocked me, but I could cope. But what if you're driving your kids around or..?
And I'm mad at the oil companies, booking record profits. But those who think it's all Biden's fault...
Someone tweeted FDR today. This is what they said:
"'Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations, not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion and government weakness through lack of leadership,' he said in a 1938 radio address. 'Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat'"
The authoritarians make the trains run on time, and then your vaunted freedom is down the tubes.
It's like the entire world didn't think beyond tomorrow. Let two plants in Asia make all the chips, after all it's less expensive than making them here. And the electric car and climate change naysayers say it's all a hoax, fossil fuels forever!
And having lived through two plus years of Covid-19, it's been made clear that the government doesn't have that much power, and even worse you can't make people do what they don't want to. We're on the verge of chaos 24/7. And I always knew you couldn't live in Northern Idaho, not as a Jew, yesterday confirmed it.
So I'm glad I live in SoCal. And I don't mind paying gas taxes for clean air. Bad air shortens lives, not only views.
But man, I feel your frustration.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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