Whipping Post – Spotify

There’s a canard that we’re living in the dark ages of audio quality, that files are lo-res and we’re just not hearing what we used to. But that’s forgetting the fact that for most of the previous era people experienced bad playback systems, the all-in-ones of the sixties, the homebrew speakers of the seventies, the cassettes of the eighties and the boomboxes of the nineties, kinda like all the blowback about Spotify ripping off musicians, which is patently untrue, all streaming services pay out 70% or so of their revenues to rightsholders, yet we keep hearing from Neil Young and recording professionals that today’s sound sucks.

But this is wrong.

Yes, chances are if you’re an earbud kinda person you’re not hearing the best quality, but never forget that Beats sold to Apple for billions, and despite those cans being a far cry from Sennheisers, never mind Sonys, they’re probably the best reproductive system their users have ever owned, and that’s a good thing.

Now the scapegoat for all this sound backlash is streaming services, but these services have unearthed previously unheard cuts that are extremely rewarding. The only problem is you oftentimes don’t even know they’ve been released. I got e-mail about new Beach Boys live recordings from the sixties, who knew?

And who knew that Eric Clapton had recut “Anyday” in San Diego? I’d say to check it out, but even better is the remastered take, from “Layla,” it sounds just a bit different, but satisfying in its own way. Even more interesting is Bobby Whitlock’s live rendition with CoCo Carmel, from the album “Carnival,” the vocal is imperfect, but the guitars have power, the song is driving down the track, you’ll want to listen, once, at least.

But the key to the original “Anyday” is Duane Allman. So I decided to pull up “Idlewild South” on Spotify, who knew there was a deluxe remastered package?

First and foremost, there’s a plethora of live takes, from the Ludlow Garage show back in 1970. Actually, those were released previously, back in 1990, but I don’t ever remember hearing the “Midnight Rider” alternate mix, and I’d like to tell you it’s a revelation, but it’s not.

But “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin'” was.

Actually, many a time I just started at “Midnight Rider,” dropped the needle right there and let the LP play through “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” but when I heard it Sunday, after starting with “Revival,” I suddenly got it, that’s one amazing thing about music, not only that these songs are land mines, waiting to be discovered at some time in the future, but that with age, wisdom and a new perspective you gain insight, can understand them in ways you were previously unable to.

Actually, it’s the screaming guitar riff, that sustains, that sounds like a train coming down the track, that makes the cut. But suddenly the words spoke out to me too.

Oh, tell me ’bout the car I saw
Parked outside your door
Tell me what you left me waiting
Two or three hours for

Oh, this is a song about infidelity.

Right! But not the kind you think.

I love it when rock stars show vulnerability, she’s been keeping him waiting for all that time, I certainly wouldn’t hang around for that long. But what’s truly happening…

Tell me why when the phone rings baby
You’re up and across the floor
Please don’t keep me wonderin’ no longer

Yup, a guy on the other end of the line, he should be worried about losing her.

And he should, but not to a guy, but to…

I think about the bad times
Lord I think about yours and mine
You were lost in the silver spoon
Thought I pulled you out in time

He didn’t. Pull her out in time. The silver spoon? Who in 1970 had even seen cocaine? Musicians. On the road, slugging it out. There’s experience in this lyric that I did not have, that I still may not have.

And I’m listening to “Idlewild South” and the numbers that never resonated that much do and I’m wondering if my original opinion that the record was uneven was wrong and then I decide to put on my favorite, the debut, made with Adrian Barber, that most people don’t know, it’s the blueprint, for what came later, it’s closer to “Fillmore East” than “Idlewild South,” it contains “Trouble No More.”

That’s right, the initial LP, stiff upon release, one that’s never been fully embraced, is my number one. But when I pulled it up last night, I was positively stunned, it sounded undeniable, from the initial instrumental “Don’t Want You No More” all the way to its finish at the original five minute take of “Whipping Post.”

I wondered what made them decide to begin with an instrumental, then I remembered this was the era of “Abraxas,” but that came later! It’s almost like they weren’t worried about commercialism, but if you listen to this now you’ll want to tell all your friends, it’s mellifluous and overpowering and then…

The whole thing slows down and Gregg starts singing that it’s not his cross to bear and I feel like I’m in an alternative universe, like my head is back in the seventies, ’69 in this case, I GET IT!

And, of course, I have to listen to my favorite cut on the LP, the cover of the McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, classic “Trouble No More.” It’s like you’re in a bar, not a club with a deejay, no one’s dressed up, everybody’s just getting loosened up, via the alcohol, but the real elixir is the music, it’s stirring you up, got your head nodding, got you in the groove.

And then I decided to play…

“Whipping Post.”

The side-long take is the famous one. It’s almost a cliche, with people requesting it at other acts’ concerts, I like it but I never really need to hear it again, and even the Allmans themselves seemed to be going through the motions the last time I heard them perform it at the Beacon, but the five minute take is my secret weapon, I decide I’ll listen for a few seconds, but I can’t turn it off, WHAT IS GOING ON?

Now you’ve got to understand, this was not today, when you spread the word first and practice second, if at all. Listening to this old stuff you realize why Bill Graham had the Allmans close the Fillmore, why he considered them the best live band out there, despite all the legends who’d already broken through, they were so well-rehearsed, they were totally locked-in.

But this is the studio iteration, it’s supposed to be restricted, it’s not supposed to have the feel, the explosion, the sound of the live take, but this cut is playing in my headphones and I’m positively stunned, there’s so much energy, so much drive, I could listen to this all night!

And you should too!

I did some research. I was worried these deluxe versions of the first two albums were remixes, something I pooh-pooh, don’t mess with the original, but the credits say they’re just remastered, how can that be? I pulled up the originals, the instruments were all stuck together, the sound was distant, whereas when I went back to the remasters I could hear all the elements, the detritus had been stripped away, the music shined.

You’ve got to check this stuff out. The better the speakers, the better the sound, but a cursory pair of headphones will do the trick, you’ll be positively stunned.

And you won’t know what to do, the radio station doesn’t care, the press either, all you can do is tell people, the way it used to be, when the English cats listened to the Delta bluesmen and were inspired, this will make you want to go to the show, practice if you’re a musician, raise your expectations and your standards. Listening to Gregg on this remastered take I can truly understand why he felt like he was tied to the whipping post, and that’s what we’re looking for, genuine sensation, feeling, we want our music to express humanity while it levitates us away from this pedestrian universe, we’re living in a golden era, all the hits of yore have resurfaced, they’re right there, PARTAKE!

P.S. I’ve included the original “Whipping Post” at the end of the above playlist so you can compare the sound…

1. Melody

I know, I know, we live in an era of beats. But the public wants something they can sing along with. The biggest act in the business is Adele, and although she faltered with “25,” her previous album, “21,” outsold its competition by a factor of ten. You could sing along with the tracks, and there’s rarely something more satisfying. Hell, you can sing along with most Max Martin productions, think about that. So write songs. He or she who writes the songs rules. Sure, we’ve returned to a pre-Beatle era, where songs are written by guns-for-hire, but the truth is you’re not really in control of your career unless you write, even though there are exceptions. Your first songs will suck, I guarantee it. But if you work at it you will get better. And if you can’t sing and play your songs on an acoustic guitar or piano, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Never follow trends. Once they break, they’re time-stamped. It’s your job to do something new. And that new thing is a return to the garden. Study the hits of yore, with not only their melodies, but their changes. Maybe put the chorus first. Never underestimate the power of a bridge. and if you can’t say it in three minutes or less, chances are you can’t say it at all. We’re ripe for a new sound, and one thing’s for sure, we know it’s going to be pop, Active Rock and Triple A are backwaters and hip-hop will survive but it’s looking to be superseded. You can sing along with the country tunes, which in too many cases are retreads of seventies rock, a paradigm Christian music originated, but we’re looking for something a bit more modern. And your goal is to appeal to everybody. The music business is mostly run by old men worried about money, they don’t want to take a chance. They abhor risk. They’re happy with today’s niche product because it makes them money. And they have their publicity teams get stories in the press to make it look like people care about what they’re selling but few do. We are looking for a great new hope, whether black, white, brown or red. It’s a big tent, you’re not gonna be excluded based on your ethnicity, hits are undeniable and everybody wants a piece of them.

2. Reaction

If no one cares, you’re on the wrong track. You want people to demand the song from you, so they can play it and spread the word. If you’re forcing it upon people chances are it won’t succeed. We live in a pull economy, despite the usual suspects pushing. If push worked, the tracks off Bruno Mars’s new album would be topping the Spotify chart, but they’re not. Sure, Mars made it because of previous great work and endless exposure but the truth is today’s cycles are faster than ever before, we’re hungry for new blood, it’s hard for the old to sustain. It’s nearly impossible to break through but some people do, we want you.

3. Playlists

Radio comes last. You want to be on Spotify playlists. Apple Music is a walled garden, there’s little virality and Spotify dominates. If you can get on a Spotify playlist and your music reacts, the company will work with you, they’ll spread the word by putting you on more playlists, helping to break your record. It’s a data-driven game, fakery is a thing of the past and radio is the icing on the cake. You live and die by the numbers.

4. Team

You have to be aligned with someone who has relationships, who knows people, you cannot do it by yourself, no way. Oh, you can play in Poughkeepsie and try to spread it from there, town to town, your live rep preceding you, but the truth is that takes too much time and you’re probably gonna burn out and give up before you make it to the middle. Then again, if you’ve got anything going on the labels and agents will find you. They’re combing the data constantly. If you’re an unknown with big grosses or big streams they’ll find you, even if you don’t have an address, they’re just that interested. But they’re not interested in much. Your goal is to get aligned with the person with the most relationships who cares about you. Not the biggest person who’s cutting you a break nor the amateur who is passionate. And careers are brief with few shots so the truth is you’re gonna get in some nasty disputes, you’re gonna fire your original manager, you’re gonna have to pay him off, sounds ugly but this is what it takes to make it, you’ve got to be monomaniacal in service to your career. Nice guys don’t finish at all in the music business, they barely get started.

5. No bitching.

Unless it’s over an artistic issue. Fight to protect your vision, your music. But don’t complain about streaming payouts and getting ripped-off and missing out on opportunities, no one cares. And be ready to work ’round the clock, that’s how you know you’re tied up with the right team, you no longer have free time, they’ve got you promoting and interfacing all the damn time. But the truth is you say yes before you say no. You have to take all opportunities until you become a star, then you can say no.

6. Don’t second-guess yourself.

Do it your way, you’re the only person on your team. The manager and label can get new acts, if you don’t make it you’re done. So, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. And don’t be influenced by the naysayers, there are professional sour-grapers who don’t want anybody to succeed unless it’s them and or someone they approve of. Ignore the hatred, no one’s got time to hear it but you.

7. Try to save the world.

One person can do it. With one song. That’s the power of art, that’s the power of the individual. Shoot high! And know that if success comes, it’ll be long after you’ve almost given up two, three or more times. Show business is not fair and despite the internet you need middlemen to make it, and to convince them, to move them, is a very slow process at best, and never forget they’re risk averse. But someone will break through, why not you?

They’re afraid.

The dirty little secret of the last tour is it didn’t go clean, there were tickets available here and there. With all that production, with all those breakthroughs, with all that press…

People didn’t want to hear the new songs.

Ed Sheeran put out a couple of numbers last week and broke records. The tracks were streamed millions of times. Double digit millions, in fact.

But no one wants to listen to new U2 music. Not in quantity.

What happened? They got old, they can no longer capture the zeitgeist, and rather than be embarrassed, rather than play to less than full halls, they’ve decided to become an oldies act, give the audience what it wants, and once you do that, you’re artistically bankrupt.

I don’t know why they’re making an album at all. Actually, they’ve got a set in the can, but the Edge says they’re afraid to release it because it’s no longer timely, not in the age of Trump. But what age are they living in? When you polish a collection over years to dribble out singles and go on the road for twelve months. That era’s done. You make it today and you release it today, and it’s all about singles.

U2 needs a hit single.

They don’t need an album, which will be instantly forgotten, they need a track, everybody needs a track.

Just ask the streaming services, they’ll give you the data. A track can climb the chart, a track can be playlisted, an album just sits there waiting to be discovered, which it usually isn’t. Furthermore, an album drops all on the same day, which means you get a smidge of attention and then there’s a new new thing. That’s the world we live in, if you’re in the popular culture game you must be creating all the time, be in the marketplace all the time.

And you can fail. No one cares about your stiffs, as long as you make hits. Stiffs are forgotten, chalked up as experiments. Little Big Town did a project with Pharrell, as hot as a personage as there is in music. Hell, Justin Timberlake was involved too. The eight track compilation was released on May 24, 2016 and it went straight to the dumper, their previous album, 2014’s “Pain Killer,” went to number 3 on the country chart and number 7 on the overall chart but “Wanderlust,” the name of the spring collection, only made it to number 103 on the overall chart and it didn’t even make the country chart, not at all! And now, mere months later, Little Big Town has a single, “Better Man,” and it’s climbed the chart all the way to number 4 when not a single track off “Wanderlust” made a dent. What is U2 so afraid of? Experiment, isn’t that what artists do? Test the waters. Don’t be so precious. They poked fun at their image in the “Pop” era, what happened to their sense of humor?

Then again, “Pop” failed, the public didn’t get the joke. But that was back in 1997, the pre-internet era, at least in music, when everybody was paying attention, and most people aren’t paying attention to U2 today.

Hell, work with one of the Nashville titans. Start with Dave Cobb. Then move on to Dann Huff. And let’s not forget Max Martin! And the truth is, a couple of years back, in search of a hit, U2 did work with everybody hot, but it was in an effort to ring the bell, and that’s a hard game to win at. Whereas if you see yourself as an artist and you take a risk you never know what will result. Assuming you’re playing the game.

But U2 has to do it the same old way. Building tracks slowly. Why?

Then again, they had a good long run. Everybody’s career peters out, at least when it comes to new music. But they should give it a shot. And last time they played too big, with the Apple tie-in/delivery. The truth is in today’s world no one’s a star, everybody’s dirty laundry is exposed, if anything, people laugh at/resent Bono trying to save the world. For him and his band to poke fun at themselves, take a risk…there’s a better chance of that being embraced.

And no one listens to albums anymore.

Save me the e-mail, I know you do, but if you U2 fans ruled the world then “Songs Of Innocence” would have been a hit, but it was a stiff.

But you’ll go to see 1987’s opus live, to relive your college days, not wanting to admit that you too are over the hill.

But that’s the modern music paradigm. Everybody wants to believe they’re hip. When the truth is we’re all overloaded with input and many are oblivious to new music and what they’re looking for is direction and leadership, playlists only go so far, we need some hit singles by our legends, but they’re too busy making albums, playing by the old rules.

So there’s image.

And there’s money.

No matter how big a star you might be there are running costs. The receipts from a stadium tour will be much greater. And they’ll get some looky-loos, casual fans, young people, who want to see what once was.

But make no mistake, U2 blinked. It’s not terminal, but it’s a step in the wrong direction. Their producer Eno puts out a new album trying to harness the new reality

Brian Eno Details “Generative” Editions of New Album Reflection

but his charges are too big to take a risk, not wanting to fall on their face.

But we love you when you fail, almost as much as we do when you succeed. It humanizes you, it means you’re taking chances.

So for the next year we’ll be subjected to stories about the “Joshua Tree” tour. How amazing it is, reflections on 1987, the huge grosses. Ignore them, they’re irrelevant, a somnambulant press feeding the desires of the purveyors, an endless circle jerk that the public does not care about.

Not that the show won’t be satisfying.

But an artist takes chances. An artist surprises us. An artists hangs it all out.

Once you second-guess the audience, once you give the people what they’re looking for, you’re done. You’re not an artist, you’re a businessman. Artists lead the way and change the culture. That’s what U2 used to do. “The Zoo TV” tour was one of the most innovative of all time, featuring music that was a hundred and eighty degrees from what had come before, a reaction to the overblown “Rattle and Hum” and the resultant backlash. It was even better than the real thing, it was a mysterious endeavor wherein they tried to throw their arms around the world. And they succeeded. I’ll remember it until the end of the world, because I was wowed by the Trabants and swayed by the music. “The Joshua Tree” is already a memory, seeing it performed live is akin to going to a school reunion.

And I haven’t been to a reunion yet.

If you didn’t go to Yale or Harvard, if you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, if you’re not boasting about getting no sleep because you work all day and go to charity events all night…

You don’t count in America.

Donald Trump’s election was a wakeup call.

And the mainstream media is still asleep.

I’m not talking politics, I’m talking culture. The “Times” is an echo chamber of self-promoters who believe their interests are relatable to others. I used to be a believer in the paper, but after it got the election so wrong, I’m reconsidering.

Because of the blowback, the writers for the “Times” don’t get any. They’re all faceless and clueless. I weighed in on the election and my inbox went nuclear. The Trump supporters came out of the woodwork with their hatred for Hillary and it was unrelenting. But if you’re in the ivory tower, you don’t hear these messages.

Used to be we blamed the media for shaming women.

Now it shames all of us.

Let’s forget Fox, with its agenda. What makes the “Times” a special case is it keeps telling us it has no agenda. That it publishes “All The News That’s Fit To Print.” But that’s not true, not at all, it prints all the news it deems worthy of those stories pitched to it by publicists. Other than wars and political shenanigans, the rest of the paper is fluff for those who are part of the club.

But most people are not.

This is different from television and online.

Television is about the money. Whores who will go wherever the cash is. They anoint stars who believe their press and the rest of us sit at home and scratch our heads.

Online is oftentimes lowest common denominator, it’s trolling for doofuses and the easily swayed, but America is all about the con-man, selling that which we do not need at inflated prices to the uninformed and uninitiated. And every once in a while the “Times” prints a how-to, but it’s a bone to those who don’t care anyway, because they know better, because they’re educated and have their own advisors.

So what’s a paper to do?

Either admit it caters to its audience or open the window to what’s really happening.

This is the conundrum of film. Wherein they make flicks appealing to base emotions yet trumpet highbrow product at awards time. And then self-congratulate when the live-tweeting paradigm makes their ratings go up.

But then the ratings sank. These shows have entertainment value at best, if they’ve got that. Who wants to watch a program about that which you do not know and do not care about?

Kinda like reading the “Times.”

The other day an athlete slid along a chairlift cable to save a suffocating skier, one who was being strangled.

“Arapahoe Basin: Daring Rescue from Chairlift, Unconscious Man Dangles By His Neck”

I’m not saying this is the kind of news the “Times” should cover, I’m saying it should dig down deep and ask what kind of person puts his own life at risk for another. That’s one thing the readers of the “Times” rarely do. They play it safe. They’ve been taught that from Day One. Let someone else do the dirty work. But how about those doing the dirty work?

How about saying no to those selling books and records and TV shows, who cares about the endless hype, and how about more investigative journalism on those who truly make this country work? Engineers keep crashing trains, how about a story on that.

Don’t tell me no one cares. How did we get to this point in our nation where everybody’s worried about the buck and efficiencies are key. That’s for techies, not newspeople.

I have no idea what’s going on in America anymore. Because there’s not one news outlet I can trust, that’s trying to get it right, everybody’s playing to their audience.

I don’t want to hear about a rich writer microdosing LSD to deal with her depression, a tireless self-promoter who’s selling a book…

I want to hear about a woman with no money and no high profile career who deals with depression every day. I want to see America in the news, not just the elite.

The elite have lost the plot. They’re busy arguing amongst themselves over identity politics, they’re no different from the bankers pissed they weren’t getting their bonuses in 2008. The elite feel entitled. They feel they earned it. What makes them so special?

If I have to read about one more party with famous names without portfolio I’m gonna puke. You built up these nobodies and now they’re stars in your firmament and what did they ever do, appear in a couple of movies?

But supposedly fame sells.

And Donald Trump is famous, I’ll give you that.

But those who elected him are not.

And the elite could dig down deep and invest in toppling the right wing juggernaut, but that’s just too much hard work. They’d rather point their fingers and feel superior.

Which road did you take? Did you sell out? Are you doing it all for the money?

Then the “Times” probably appeals to you. It gives you lifestyle tips, it makes you feel included.

But for the rest of us, even those who had advantages but questioned not only authority but our path going forward, the “Times” resonates less. It’s just another business trying to make bank by appealing to its core audience. Only in this case, it’s telling us it’s the source all the while, bedrock, the pulse of the nation, and that’s not true.

And for all you “Times” defenders…

What kind of country do we live in where we can’t criticize our institutions, try to make them better? That’s like saying you can’t criticize the President, you have to respect the office.

Utter hogwash.

And this is neither a right nor a left issue. This is an American issue. How the rich pulled away from the poor and believed they earned their status. Left behind the rest of us, laughing all the while, saying they know better.

And there’s nothing that pisses a person off more than telling them they’re not worthy.

And the problems of this nation are deeper than the “New York Times.” The self-reinforcing power of the elite is a danger. Most people have no idea how the rich truly live, the advantages they have, never mind being uninformed that college is free if you’re poor and smart and you want to go to the best schools.

Then again, we live in a nation where banks, which we trust the most, because they hold our money, stab us in the back. But Wells Fargo’s CEO had to deliver to Wall Street so he could get rich.

There’s this left wing canard that Trump will have his time and then we will return to normalcy. But that’s not gonna happen. Our problems are endemic, and we are not addressing them. From income inequality to opiate addiction it’s just getting worse. Because everybody’s retreating to their corner and saying they know better. You don’t want to help anybody else because you’re too busy helping yourself.

But the truth is these are not the values of the underclass, which lends a hand expecting nothing in return.

Come on, if you can’t pay your rent how much sympathy are you gonna have for a challenged news business that can’t stop bitching that someone stole their cheese? The same people laughing at you for being stuck in an old wave job and not waking up are asleep themselves!

We’ve got a lot of work to do on ourselves. We used to rely on artists to point the way. But now the artists are all tied in with corporations while they’re not bitching too, they gave up the ghost decades ago.

So it’s every person for him or herself in the USA, the supposed greatest country in the world. And we need leaders, but we also need honest commentators, who just don’t want to hang with their rich subjects but also get it right.

Who do you trust?

I’m just not sure anymore.

The right rankles the institutions and the left circles the wagons and I’m outside dumbfounded in a world where you tread water to fall behind and they keep selling you mediocre stuff that’s not soul-fulfilling all the while portraying the winners as kings and queens of the universe that we should pay fealty to and emulate even though there’s no path for most of us to the throne.

But the truth is the throne is empty. It’s a parade of pretenders. Cheaters employing subterfuge shouting us down, telling us about their glory.

And the “Times” soaks it all up and plays it back to us.

Flying private is nice. Vacationing in a third world country is enlightening. Access to the rich and powerful can be stimulating. But they’re no match for food on the table and rational discussion about where we are and where we are going.

We need more of that.