Jim Messina was a secondary character in a troubled band and then a majordomo in an also-ran band and Kenny Loggins was a complete unknown but when they were put together, it was magic.

Yes, Messina was in Buffalo Springfield. A classic band whose frontmen, Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay, got all the attention.

And then he was in Poco, whose first album was a classic without a hit single, a cult favorite that could not break through to mainstream status. The follow-ups weren’t as good, the Eagles came along and usurped the fans of that band and then Messina quit to become a producer. And working with Kenny Loggins…they decided to work together. Kenny added pop to Jim’s sound and Jim prevented Kenny from becoming too saccharine and…

NOBODY BUT YOU

You have to know, these songs were not on the radio. Adoption was driven by the press. Messina was a known quantity and reviews were good and then you bought the album and dropped the needle on this initial cut and…WOW!

And singles could not mean less in ’71, when this LP came out, but a catchy song always helps ignite a career.

You could spin this and everybody would instantly fall into the groove, back when we all sat around the dorm room and grooved with music in the background.

DANNY’S SONG

This wasn’t a hit either, even though it feels like one. But you’re conflating the original with the Anne Murray cover.

Now this was back before we had any idea who Kenny Loggins was, we thought he was just another singer/songwriter in a long tradition which now owned the airwaves, James Taylor and Carole King were…kings.

This is so intimate, the same personalization we got with “Tea For The Tillerman” the spring before. Maybe even Elton’s “Sixty Years On” the year before. Imagine getting someone’s attention by being quiet! So different from today’s in your face paradigm. You leaned in to listen. But one should not underestimate the power of Al Garth’s violin in the break.

Pisces, Virgo rising is a very good sign

I think astrology is b.s., but I know this line and sing along because…IT JUST FEELS RIGHT!

“Danny’s Song” is just as powerful today as it was upon release, if you’ve never heard it before it’s a REVELATION!

VAHEVALA

This was before reggae had broken through, before “Yeah mon” was an expression in the mainstream.

“Catch A Fire” didn’t come out until ’73, the Wailers didn’t mean much in the U.S. until the end of the seventies, “I Can See Clearly Now” was still half a year away.

So…don’t see “Vahevala” as ersatz, rather it was TRAILBLAZING!

Jimmy Buffett’s island-flavored hits were years away.

And although purists can claim that “Vahevala” doesn’t sound like Jamaica, merely references it, this was nearly cutting edge back in ’71…AND IT SOUNDED SO GOOD!

And at the four minute mark, when you hit the instrumental, you’re taken on a satisfying aural journey that enraptures you and when the track ends…you’re left high and dry, you want nothing so much as to play it again!

TRILOGY: LOVIN’ ME/TO MAKE A WOMAN FEEL WANTED/PEACE OF MIND

Eleven plus minutes and no wasted notes, it satisfies for its entire length.

This is the kind of music that cemented the reputation of album rock. I’ve heard this on Sirius XM’s Deep Tracks, but never on the FM of yore. It was too long, it wasn’t a hit, stations were tightening up their playlists, but…”Trilogy” is now my second favorite song the album. It too is a revelation.

BACK TO GEORGIA

The best part is the piano intro and the guitar pickin’.

This is a bit lightweight, foreshadowing where Kenny Loggins ultimately went, but there’s a great pre-chorus and if today’s albums had any tracks as good as this one…music would be in a different place.

HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

This was not a hit. It only made it to number 53.

So, don’t see it as an overplayed lullaby… Rather it hearkened back to our youth and we dug that. Hard to blame a track for your perception of it as a result of its winnowing its way into the culture through no fault of its own. The truth is listeners loved it so much that they employed it as a baby song when they started having those, in the eighties, millennials all heard this, on record or sung to them, they probably still remember it.

Now I must note there was a previous iteration by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album “Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy,” proving that people don’t really go from obscurity to fame instantly… Kenny Loggins had been working it.

LISTEN TO A COUNTRY SONG

Written by Al Garth and Jim Messina and sung by Jim this was close to Poco and it ultimately went to number four on the country chart when country was a different animal. I like it, but I don’t love it.

SAME OLD WINE

Eight plus minutes long, it’s my favorite number on the LP.

Written and sung by Messina, it’s subtle. But it gets under your skin.

Isn’t that the power of music?

You can get your lips inflated, pump up your boobs and ass and you’ll get a lot of looky-loos, but we’re enthralled most by those who subtly lead with their personality and identity. Like “Same Old Wine.”

And the lyrics reference disillusionment with the political regime and religion, and the words give the song power, but not as much as the playing. Intertwine the two and you’ve got a magic elixir.

I don’t know if you can slow down enough to pay attention to this, but back in ’71 we had a lot of time on our hands. There was no internet, no mobile phones, only three network television stations, we spent a lot of time sitting in front of the stereo, digesting the tunes. Stuff like this.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MOOD

The final track, and it sounds like it.

It’s more about feel than hooks. It’s like they’re closing the door on the LP, having said all they have to.

It’s about mood, the song is reflective. Remember when we looked back, with more questions than answers? Back before everybody was a winner?

“Sittin’ In” was the soundtrack to that.

Rhinofy-Sittin’ In

Three strikes and you’re out.

Farmclub, Beats Music and now Apple Music. And while we’re at it, Jimmy bears some responsibility for the failed Pressplay, and that’s four strikes.

Not that Jimmy Iovine is not talented. It’s just that his talent lies in the field of…TALENT RELATIONS!

Jimmy’s all about sucking you into his orbit, making you feel good, and utilizing your talent to generate bucks.

But what about Beats headphones?

It wasn’t a technology play, Monster provided the product, Jimmy provided the marketing.

So what’s a guy like this doing at Apple?

Good question.

So Jimmy starts off in the studio. Works his way up from the bottom to be an engineer and then a producer. He sidles up to the talent and gets the gig. The resulting albums were hits, and one cannot argue with success, I tip my hat to Jimmy for these records.

And then came Interscope. A failure until Jimmy facilitated the move of Dr. Dre from Ruthless to Death Row. Jerry Heller will tell you Dre was signed to an exclusive contract. Suge Knight was the author of “Winning Through Intimidation.” In any event, Dre’s hits went through Interscope and Jimmy became a king. We can argue all day what Jimmy provided and what methods he employed and how much credit he deserves, but music is an ugly business where everybody’s hands are dirty so to criticize Jimmy…you’d have to criticize everybody else too.

And then came the 9/11 “Tribute To Heroes,” Jimmy’s finest moment. Sure he stacked the show with colleagues and Interscope artists, the telecast made the barely known Enrique Iglesias a star, but this was the last hurrah of the old music business. Music mattered. It still drove the culture. We all sat at home while planes were grounded and watched, a show that was on seemingly every channel.

And then it all went to hell.

Research Jimmy’s quotes. He was the last person who wanted to blow up the institution. His were rearguard comments..

And then came the Beats headphone success.

What sold Beats?

COOL! All those stars, both musical and athletic. Everybody wanted to be like Dre and LeBron. Meanwhile, every headphone site known to man said the sound sucked. But it made no difference, Jimmy was selling fashion, not technology.

But Jimmy viewed himself a technology king. So he bought MOG and started Beats Music.

A complete failure. A better interface than Apple Music, since it was sans MP3s, but it had no freemium element. There was a brief free trial, but despite the vaunted telco hookup and the usual parade of stars the public didn’t want Beats Music. Because it was a me-too product with no free tier when YouTube was completely free and Spotify had freemium.

And then Jimmy sold the whole shebang to Apple.

Why they need a crappy line of headphones, I don’t know. Hell, they’ve already had to recall some for electrical glitches, that’s how well they’re built…

But they got the guts of a streaming service and Jimmy himself.

Now there’s a long history of Apple buying established products to aid in the creation of something new. SoundJam MP was the basis of iTunes.

And I don’t know exactly who to blame for the writing of the abomination known as the Apple Music app. But one thing’s for sure, Jimmy Iovine is lost at Apple. He’s not even as good as Guy Kawasaki, the famous evangelist. At least Guy could talk.

Jimmy can’t code.

He can’t present.

And his vision is not in tech.

First we had the U2 disaster. ANYBODY who surfs the web and utilizes devices could see this coming. Why couldn’t Jimmy?

Because he’s an insider in an outside world. Music is all about manipulation, shaving edges the public can’t see. Like placement and position, muscling gatekeepers for exposure. The public has no idea how the sausage is made.

But tech is transparent. 1’s and 0’s. And it’s driven by consumers. With everything available online, with comparison shopping easily done, with reviews at your fingertips, it’s hard to pull the wool over people’s eyes. There used to be regional hits in the record business, those went away with the internet, we all live in the same world now, and there are a few winners and a bunch of losers and you win via excellence.

Apple Music is not excellent.

Jimmy went to the labels and asked for a discount, he wanted Apple Music priced at $7.99.

They said no. Jimmy had lost his insider leverage, at least when it came to dough, the bottom line.

But Jimmy could wrangle talent. But getting an exclusive on Drake and Future’s new album is old school, it pisses off more people than it pleases, in tech you win on infrastructure, not penumbra.

So what has Jimmy Iovine achieved?

Well, he got really damn rich. But he put Tim Cook in a pickle. With the U2 fiasco and now the Apple Music disaster. Jimmy was supposed to be the savior, but he’s hurt Apple more than he’s helped it.

Come on, Connect? ANYBODY who used the web knew it was superfluous, unneeded, furthermore Jimmy couldn’t even convince the acts to use it!

Tech is not about perception, but reality. Perception was Apple was gonna deliver a killer music service. Reality is it fumbled the ball. Ask Jimmy about trying to get a radio station to play a second or third single off a superstar’s album after the first one stiffed. VERY difficult!

The reason tech has eaten Hollywood’s lunch for the past fifteen years is because tech is willing to start with a clean slate knowing the customer is king. In entertainment, it’s all about protecting the legacy players, the retailers, the exhibitors, and the inside deal rules. It’s all about windows and distribution games whereas in tech you put it out and let the public decide, usually without even any advertising! Imagine a new Hollywood film without a marketing budget. Then you’ve got the launch of Google, Facebook, Snapchat… They sold on quality, not image.

Apple took the image hit for its new music service, not Jimmy.

But someone’s got to pay.

Volkswagen circumvents the emission standards and Martin Winterkorn resigns, you’ve got to wipe out the dead wood, you’ve got to get a fresh start.

Same deal has to happen at Apple. Jimmy’s got to go. Or at least be demoted. Called a “consultant.” Hell, Will Dana lost his job at “Rolling Stone” after the UVA fiasco, you’ve got to send a message to people that failure won’t be tolerated.

But Jimmy’s gonna be gone soon anyway. There’s no place for him at Apple. He’s a smoke and mirrors guy in a world where that doesn’t play. He’s a street hustler in a world run by nerdy geeks. He needs to go back to developing talent, with its rough edges, the artistic world cannot be digitized.

Or he can just take his money and go home.

But he Peter principled himself right out of relevance. He proved that he was not the man he told us he was. He could not save the music business single-handedly, better curation was not the silver bullet the public was looking for.

The public is looking for ease of use first and foremost. That’s how you get people to pay, through convenience. That’s how Spotify killed P2P to begin with.

And subscriptions soar based on talent, hit records are an incredible driver…

But the streaming service is just the pipe.

Jimmy was charged with building a better pipe.

But his leaked. Sure, it worked, but poorly.

Time to call a new plumber.

They’re not gonna tell us how many subscribers they’ve got.

And they’re not gonna extend the free period, the rightsholders won’t let them.

So what have we learned here…

Apple launched a beta product.

How could they get it so wrong? They have public betas of iOS 9 and El Capitan and they throw this half-baked software at the public?

They were afraid of being late.

But the truth is it’s still early.

And an opportunity was blown.

YouTube owns music streaming.

Spotify owns paid music streaming.

But most people are not paying.

Will they pay Google/YouTube, Spotify or Apple?

I DON’T KNOW!

But I do know that there is a first mover advantage, but if you’re not first, you’d better get it right. That was the essence of the iPod.

But not Apple Music.

Tesla was not the first electric car, just the best. The only people you can get to say anything negative about Tesla are right wingers invested in fossil fuels and the “Wall Street Journal” editorial page which carps about federal subsidies. But the public LOVES Tesla. What broke Tesla through? The “Consumer Reports” ratings. Best ever. The “New York Times” tried to quibble with that, a snarky writer said the car did not have the range promised and…ELON MUSK WENT NUCLEAR ON HIM! Just like Steve Jobs used to. Needless to say, Tim Cook is not going nuclear on me, because I’m right and he’s wrong. And that’s a sorry state of affairs.

Tesla won because their cars just worked, and unlike their competitors’ automobiles they had RANGE! Over 200 miles, and that made a difference. And Tesla went after the early adopters with money, who love to spread the word. Instead of launching a cutting edge music service, Apple was so busy trying to involve the rearguard that they ended up with a platform that pleased nobody. Apple Music ain’t good for streaming and it ain’t good for files. Pick a lane.

If Tesla ran its operation like Apple Music every car would come with a gasoline engine, kind of like a Volt. But the Volt failed because… People don’t trust General Motors, I’d never buy one of their cars. AND the Volt had substandard electric range. So the Volt was adopted by wonks, it just wasn’t cool enough, it failed in the marketplace, they had to give the initial iteration away at the end of its life cycle, whereas Tesla’s Model S still has customers.

But forget Tesla, what about social networks?

Yes, you drive Teslas in the real world. Apple Music is an internet product.

Do you know ANYBODY who uses Connect?

Talk about a ghostland…

How could they get it so wrong?

It’s so hard to start anything these days, there’s so much noise that you’ve got to double-down, be innovative, entice people. That’s Snapchat. Connect is an antiquated concept that is not only unnecessary, the acts didn’t adopt it and neither did the listeners.

So now Apple puts out how-to videos.

Did you catch that story?

Probably not. Because, once again, there are too many stories out there, and Apple Music’s window in our frontal lobes has passed. Would it have been that hard to have how-to clips upon launch? It’d be like launching the Mac without a manual, no one knew how to use it! And no one knows how to use Apple Music, which is even less intuitive than the 128k Mac. Who blew it here? Who didn’t realize the product was hard to use? Who skated on developing help videos?

I’m not sure, but I do know it’s too late.

The ninety days are up.

I’m not paying.

Apple could reach out and give me a free account, but that’s not their style. But that’s what you do when you’ve got a developing enterprise. And you endure the hate as well as hope for the love. Spotify works better for me. If Apple Music improves…how am I gonna know?

First impressions count. How are you gonna get all those people back to Apple Music? The ones who signed off today, and the ones who’ll sign off in a month when they’re surprised by the bill?

Only through free, my friend.

That’s what’s funny… Apple didn’t want to pay the acts for the trial period and now, if they’re smart, they’ll pay them for a freemium tier.

But, as stated above, the rightsholders don’t want this.

Because the rightsholders are greedy, unlike tech companies they can’t wait for riches.

Even the vaunted Google had no monetization plan upon launch.

But it’s even worse… Because music blew it. Still selling CDs and then files it didn’t see streaming coming. It blew a hole in its revenue plan and now it wants the public to just jump up and pay?

FAHGETTABOUDIT!

Even worse is the book publishers. Kindle copies now cost more than paperbacks in some cases. Everybody knows that a file is cheaper for the publisher, there’s no printing, no shipping, no returns. But the publishers and writers want to preserve their old model, not realizing that it’s dying and there’s more money in getting everybody to play at a reduced rate. The cell phone companies realized this, it’s not a mystery.

But not as many people read books as listen to music.

But the music customer is pissed too. He has to hear again and again the bitching of acts when the truth is fans give their favorites so much money, overpaying for concert tickets and merch… A successful act is making more money than any other time in the history of the music business, albeit less from recordings, and the customer is struggling to make rent. Telling people to pay for a second-rate service or be bounced back to YouTube… Let my Apple Music subscription lapse.

But the last chapter has not been written on streaming music. If for no other reason than most people are not subscribing. There’s a lot of runway. Which means…

Apple’s still got a chance. Hell, there are tons of people who never signed up for the ninety day trial!

But Spotify is friendlier, both in terms of usability and payment. There are more options.

So, the advantage goes to Spotify…

Apple used to act like a startup.

Now it’s an ocean liner with too many hands and they can’t seem to turn it around.

Tell me two music business people winning in music tech.

I CAN’T EVEN NAME ONE!

In other words, it was a huge mistake to hand the reins of Apple Music to Jimmy Iovine and Trent Reznor…they just don’t get it. Their mind-set is inured to the past.

Or, to quote the Firesign Theatre, HOW CAN YOU BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE WHEN YOU’RE NOT ANYWHERE AT ALL?

That’s Apple Music. A lot of press, but very little action. Another Cupertino failure.

Not hard to believe when you lose your visionary, someone unafraid to make the hard calls.

John Lennon was an asshole. He wasn’t about getting along, but getting it right.

They need more of that spirit at Apple.

Until that time…

I’m gonna use my Mac and my iPhone but I see no reason to own a Watch, I returned mine because it did the one key thing lousily, and that’s tell time.

And Apple Music does the one key thing lousily too…

And that’s play music.

All the curation, all the b.s…

Just let me play my tunes.

And give me comprehensible playlists.

Even better, give me a comprehensible interface.

One free month as a Christmas gift… Apple’s loaded, they’ve got to find a way to get trial subscribers to come back, it’s their only hope.

But they’ve got to fix the product first.

Fisker failed. Looked just as cool as a Tesla, but it broke down.

Let that be a lesson to you.

Looks are for Kardashians.

But we want soul.

Failed technology went out with the twenty first century. We expect everything to work right out of the box, and if it doesn’t we abandon it.

I’ve abandoned Apple Music.

And I’m not the only one.

People with the Watch can’t stop raving about it!

But there aren’t that many of them.

And there won’t be many Apple Music subscribers either.

And I wonder if anybody’s smart enough in Cupertino to make it right.

I’d start by firing Jimmy Iovine…

Who has the best farm team, Lorne Michaels or Jon Stewart?

The latter is retired, but he spawned Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.

Who has Lorne hatched for us lately?

NOBODY!

But Lorne controls the media, he’s the King of New York!

But there’s a new emperor in town.

Welcome to 2015 where there’s so much noise even excellence can’t rise above. John Oliver is doing a show so good, so now, that all you can do is watch and marvel. It’s a weird combination of irreverence and truth, of the seemingly off the cuff and the researched. Whereas SNL is the same tired formula.

But every week we’ve got to hear who’s on SNL, as if we care.

Then again, the hosts and musical acts use it as a promotional vehicle, everybody’s selling, everybody’s looking for notice. It’s like the Girl Scouts are knocking on your door looking for money every damn Saturday.

And what do we know about SNL? We’re going to get broad pokes at politics and public tropes. Lorne is right, it’s tough times for SNL because there are few national reference points. Therefore, I ask, why do the same show?

But that’s America. Everybody repeats himself until someone steals the thunder.

Kind of like musical acts, insisting on making albums, promoting them not only on SNL, but in scorched earth media campaigns, believing if you just yell loud enough people will care.

But they don’t.

But what I can’t fathom is why John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” is not bigger. SNL launched in 1975 and it was part of the national discussion within a month. John Oliver’s been on HBO for over a year and he still does not have mainstream traction. What is going on?

Well, it’s a different universe. When SNL launched, there were three networks.

Now there are a zillion outlets.

Meaning, that in 1975, pre-cable, John Oliver wouldn’t have even gotten a show. Jon Stewart either. It was all about playing it safe, the edges were cut off. Which is why the original SNL was so revolutionary. It was a clubhouse where limits could be tested, the hijinks spoke to a generation. SNL is speaking to Nielsen and advertisers today, young people don’t watch and oldsters DVR it and barely screen it. As for me, I stopped even looking up the clips on YouTube, they’re not funny.

But John Oliver is.

John Oliver reinvented the paradigm. Lorne is about skewering that which we all know about. But the problem is most of us don’t know much. Which is why Oliver educates us. He’s got a running gag poking fun at our ignorance, where he puts a country up on the map and then ultimately says that’s not where it’s located. We’re Americans, we can barely find Kansas. That’s right, John Oliver is insulting his own audience. You can’t do that on SNL, it’s a big tent trying to include everyone. But by being so cool, and such a nerd, Oliver appears an original and we just want to get closer.

Oliver just doesn’t play Volkswagen for laughs, he shows clips of continued idiocy. “Last Week Tonight” is a well-researched show. Facts are almost as important as delivery/writing. That ain’t SNL.

But the media never writes about Oliver, at least in comparison to SNL.

In the old days, you could start outside and triumph seemingly overnight, when word spread. Today, word spreads so slowly that you start outside and stay there. And I defy you to watch last week’s Oliver episode and find flaws. He’s at the top of his game, he’s delivering something we haven’t seen previously, yet he’s plying his wares in the wilderness.

Well, not completely. There are the HBO viewers/subscribers. And also those on YouTube.

How can musicians get it so wrong and a comedian get it so right? How can labels have their heads up their rear ends but HBO be so au courant?

That’s right, HBO is selling subscriptions, but you can see John Oliver for free on YouTube, every episode. Because HBO knows your enemy is not piracy, but obscurity. There’s plenty of money if someone knows who you are. But that’s a huge hill to climb, you’ve got to give it away to entice people, since you’re competing against so much other content, and you’ve got to be better than everybody else.

A tall order, I know.

But what I do know is this…

1. Age and experience count. We want ’em ever younger and malleable in music, but John Oliver is old and experienced with a viewpoint and that’s why he’s so great. Max Martin has paid his dues, most of the people he works with have not.

2. There’s excellent and everything else. If you’re not better than everybody else, don’t even start. The ascent will be so gradual as to frustrate you. Not everybody can be an entertainment icon. If you’re just good, get better or give up.

3. No one’s got any time. They don’t even have time to find John Oliver, and he’s PHENOMENAL! Don’t ask for anybody’s time. Just be so great that word of mouth spreads. If there’s no word of mouth, go back to the drawing board.

4. The road is long, and heavy, even if you’re being carried by your brother. Jon Stewart gave John Oliver a head start, but Oliver is still struggling. Oh, Oliver is delivering for his fans, but he hasn’t become a national icon, and he should be. Used to be, one hit and you’d made it. George Carlin with his “Seven Dirty Words.” Oliver has a bunch of catchphrases, but they haven’t spread beyond acolytes of the show.

5. Old forms die. If you’re invested in them, watch out. You’re here to be replaced, people want something new. Abandon the past and enter the future. Don’t compromise your vision.

6. Artists need no interference. HBO lets you go. If you can’t test limits, you’re not gonna do your best work. The A&R man might be able to tell you what’s not a hit, but he can’t tell you how to break the mold and be completely different, and he doesn’t want to invest the money, time and effort to help you do so. In other words, you’re alone. But the conundrum is you can’t complete the effort alone, you need help. So, you start it and then sign up with a label. If John Oliver can’t be bigger than SNL with all the help of HBO, you’re not gonna do it independently.

7. Is this the new reality? Is almost nothing ubiquitous? We thrive when we’ve got common meat we can tear apart and discuss. That’s what we love about Donald Trump, we all know who he is and politics are important. But in music, we’ve got Taylor Swift and maybe Kanye. And neither of their records are known by everybody. And then there’s everybody else. Should you just be happy being everybody else? Society doesn’t like this, society likes cohesion. But, if the best TV comedian in the business isn’t garnering the most mindshare, what hope is there for you?

I don’t know.

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Migrants and Refugees”

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – Volkswagen Car”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZzDK8qAVzk

P.S. If you view this VW clip you’ll see Oliver poking fun at Lenny Kravitz for being the has-been he is and selling out to Volkswagen. That’s right, while you were out beating the bushes for sponsorship money, screaming that you just can’t get rich without it, these corporations have literally been killing people with impunity. Yes, VW diesel pollution killed people. Isn’t it best to be on the side of the public, mostly obeying the law, as opposed to these lawless multinationals? Art used to stand separate, speak truth to power…and you wonder why music is culturally bankrupt.

P.P.S. Oliver is more innovative and more consistently great than Jimmy Fallon. But the media has anointed Fallon. We don’t need another host behind a desk talking to inane guests… There are no guests on Oliver’s show. He’s blown up the paradigm. And someone’s gonna come along and do the same in music.