Blind Pilot-Half Moon
Were you ever a fan of Crosby, Stills & Nash?
You remember, the band with the perfect harmonies that charmed the girls and were loved by the boys too? Who were sensitive without being wimpy…well, except for a few Graham Nash tracks.
Oh, maybe you’re younger than that. Let’s fast-forward twenty years, to Toad The Wet Sprocket, with their exquisite “Walk On The Ocean,” a track they never quite equaled, but I could play incessantly.
Like either of those?
Then you’re gonna LOVE “Half Moon.”
Here’s a Spotify link:
Or you can check it out on YouTube:
I was driving home from Staples last night, I went to see Muse, my main question is HOW DID EVERYBODY KNOW? They’re doing three nights! Tickets are cheap, under $70, but is it KROQ or word of mouth or..? They put on a spectacular show, everybody leaves satiated, and when it was all done I got in my car for the rainy drive home.
And first I heard “Lo and Behold” by Cold Blood. You remember, Lydia Pense! The band had almost no traction outside San Francisco, but I was intrigued by the satellite readout, could this be a cover of the James Taylor song?
Absolutely.
Interesting.
Then I switched to the Spectrum. Where I heard a great Neil Young song, from his later period, one I didn’t instantly recognize. And after exiting the freeway I heard “Half Moon.”
I was wondering if it was the night. You know how sometimes everything sounds good?
But I just pulled “Half Moon” up on Spotify and the harmonies are…DELICIOUS!
You may not be hooked immediately. But the longer you play it, the harder it is to turn off. And then you hit that moment, around 2:40, when the instruments all drop out and everybody sings and it’s like…UNCLE JOHN’S BAND!
But it continues, majestically. And you can’t help but nod your head and feel that life is beautiful.
P.S. Muse’s first album came out in 1999. I saw them at the Mayan half a decade ago. “Half Moon” came out in 2011. Stuff happens slower than ever before, unless you’re the beneficiary/victim of the mainstream hype, wherein you become famous but are oftentimes kicked to the curb shortly after your rocket ride. Stay at it. It takes time to get good, it takes time for people to find out.
