Take The Long Way Home

https://www.tiktok.com/@franfloyd/video/7473656464880438551?_r=1&_t=ZT-8uk8PLz9ZhD

I was served this up on TikTok.

I've got a special place in my heart for "Take the Long Way Home" because that's the song I sang in my head after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. This was when California was still hip and natural disasters were not everyday events. Still...unless you've experienced an earthquake you don't really get it. It's so unnatural. I guess because it is natural. You count on terra firma being...firm. And when it's not, your body is not prepared for it.

Anyway, the freeway collapsed, ergo "Take the Long Way Home."

Now I never saw Supertramp in their heyday, even though I was a huge fan. Actually, "Breakfast in America" was the last hurrah. The audience finally caught up with the band, then again the band compromised too...gave up most of the alienation.

That's what made "Crime of the Century" so fantastic. You could resonate with it.

Of course, of course, we can all resonate with love songs, either dreamy or breakup. But the human condition... Today people will testify they're depressed, but not that they're alienated, that's taboo. You've got your tribe. But in reality, you may not. Certainly not in the sixties and seventies, before money was everything and income inequality was rampant.

I'm an alienated f*ck. Have been my entire life. I feel...just outside of life. I'm here, but my mind is elsewhere. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. It seems that everybody else is on a different wavelength, getting with the program, hopping through the steps, investing in a car, a spouse, a house, a retirement account... Where are my people, who are questioning everything?

In a song.

So I'm watching this performance of "Take the Long Way Home" and it's so perfect, I cannot believe it. First and foremost, Roger Hodgson still has his pipes, unlike many of the singers of his vintage. But all the flourishes in the original, they're reproduced, with an orchestra.

These are some of my favorite finds. One of my Napster gems was Neil Finn singing "Message to My Girl" with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. You can see it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-6Ta_8T7QM

"No more empty self-possession
Visions swept under the mat
It's no New Year's resolution
It's more than that"

"Message to My Girl" comes from the last real Split Enz album, before Tim Finn left. And I'd like to say "Conflicting Emotions" is as good as "True Colours," the band's best work, or even "Waiata," but it's not.

However, it's got "Message to My Girl."

He's infatuated, but he's having a hard time crossing the gap, telling his object of affection, but finally...

"I can't spend the rest of my life
Buried in the sand"

These are the moments of every alienated, pessimistic life. You realize that you've got to stop listening to your records and take a risk.

That Neil Finn with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra track/video was recorded in 1996, when was this iteration of "Take the Long Way Home" recorded?

Well, when the camera pulls back, you can see the words "Jazz Open Stuttgart," so I Googled and it came right up.

2013.

Okay, okay... I remember the early days of YouTube, when we'd find amazing things and send them to each other. But that era faded, just like the early days of e-mail when you forwarded jokes.

So Google told me the full show was on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUCNKQyTIQ

So I clicked and...

I went through the track listing and the second song was "School."

"Don't do this and don't do that
What are they trying to do? (Make a good boy of you)
And do they know where it's at?
But don't criticize, they're old and wise
Do as they tell you to, don't want the devil to
Come and put out your eyes"

That's what they teach you in school, to obey the rules. And if you continue to go to school, matriculate at a college, you ultimately realize it's all...

B.S.

The puffed up professors. The grinding students. All for what? A grade that will mean nothing in your future life? Maybe you can trade in your grades for a good graduate school, or a job, but at some point you're going to wake up and realize none of this make sense. Or you're going to get fired and confront reality.

Which is why baby boomers can't understand the techies. You dropped out of college, WHAT DIDYOUR PARENTS SAY?

The concert also includes "Hide in Your Shell," the second longest song from "Crime of the Century," it's got multiple movements, it's a tour-de-force.

"But what you see is just illusion
(What you see is just illusion)
You're surrounded by confusion
(You're surrounded by confusion)
Saying life's begun to cheat you
Friends are out to beat you
Grab on to what you can scramble for"

Now ultimately "Hide in Your Shell" is akin to "Message to My Girl," a hand extended to bring you into the world of love.

However...

"Crime of the Century" closes with the title track.

"Now they're planning the crime of the century
Well what would it be?
Read all about their schemes and adventuring
Yes it's well worth the fee
So roll up and see
As they rape the universe
How they've gone from bad to worse"

Us versus them. That's the way we saw it back then. To sell out was anathema. Now selling out is the goal, that's the backbone of social media influencers. Screw credibility, it's money I want!

But the acts of yore left money on the table. Not everything felt right.

Not anymore.

Now "Crime of the Century" is not a part of the Stuttgart show, it was sung by Rick Davies.

"Crisis? What Crisis?" followed "Crime of the Century," it was for fans only.

But after that came "In the Quietest Moments" with "Give a Little Bit."

That's a Hodgson song, and it's part of this show. But also included is the title cut, my favorite from the album.

"Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun be leaving
Won't you come to me soon?"

There's a reaching out, an optimism.

But the pure sound of the record... It's hermetically sealed. It's not made for dancing, but listening. You want to sidle up to it, try to get inside it.

That's music.

Assuming you're a big fan from the seventies. When the charts meant nothing, even though those who were not there keep referencing said charts whilst depicting a reality that is far from the one those who were there experienced.

So I'm thinking how this music wouldn't float today. Sure, we've got some introspection, but everybody's looking for a way in, nobody is on the outside feeling that they don't fit in and this might be their condition for the rest of their life, people with more questions than answers.

Then again, the outsiders question the status quo, whereas the insiders are invested in it.

Now punk was a reaction to corporate rock, which Supertramp was not, however Supertramp was a bunch of skilled musicians taking their time to create a seamless statement. So the punks didn't embrace it. However, Supertramp and the punks did share a basic trait, the aforesaid ALIENATION!

So you may pooh-pooh Supertramp, not only not watch this video, but feel a need to insult it.

However, for a chosen few...

This is manna from heaven.


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