Could this be the future of the music business?

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

Oldsters lament the disappearance of this. Wherein labels subsidized the creativity of musicians. The term has been bastardized in the twenty first century, “artist development” means jetting an act from nowhere to stardom over a short period of time, usually in one album cycle. But the artist development of yore was based on seeing something nascent in the act that could shine in the future. It wasn’t about having a hit on the first record, employing songwriters for hire to ensure this, but laying down the essence of the act’s vision on wax and then going on the road and trying to develop a fanbase, one which would spread the word. Sure, radio was an integral element, but prior to the corporatization, classification and codification of FM in the midseventies, with the resulting tight playlists, the goal was to infect the audience and have it spread the word. Fans would beget more fans, and when the johnny-come-latelies came on board there was a treasure trove of material for them to digest, illustrating how the act had gotten from there to here. There just weren’t hits, but different sounds, different producers, experiments, one felt one was invested in a living, breathing entity, it was rewarding.

AUTHENTICITY

Which is another way to say “credibility.” Used to be fans believed in the acts, which is why “Rolling Stone” burgeoned, not only did we want to get closer, we wanted to know what our heroes had to say. Now we’re back to a “16” magazine formula. Which is information with no depth. But the truth is we all need someone to believe in. Unfortunately, that role has been usurped today by corporations, people fight about Android versus iOS more passionately than they do about any acts. If you don’t stand for anything, you’ve got no Velcro to hook people’s loops with. You start outside and then drag the center to you. Which is what Bernie Sanders is doing. He’s focusing on the issue of income inequality, something none of the other candidates wants anything to do with. Oh, they pay lip service to it, but the truth is they depend on the fat cats for cash, they’re not about to undermine their game. But Bernie Sanders has raised nearly as much as Hillary Clinton in the last cycle, $26 to her $28 million. And he’s done it through small donations from individuals. Corporations are no match for the wrath of individuals, never forget that. Individuals ruined the record business. Individuals can turn on a company or a creator in an instant if you don’t treat people right, the news is filled with rip-off enterprises. Whereas if you spread your base wide, you can’t be hurt by a few defections, your house is built upon a solid foundation.

AUTHENTICITY II

Don’t be afraid to tackle the tough issues and don’t be afraid to state unpopular positions. Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest acts in the world, has gone on record again and again about the virtues of Spotify. He’s winning while those bitching about streaming are losing. The public doesn’t care that someone moved your cheese, that you can’t make the money you used to in the old paradigm. The public is living in the new world. Which is why all the vinyl comeback stories are irrelevant, as well as the “Billboard” chart. That chart is incomprehensible. Weighted for sales and track equivalent albums and streaming… They print these statistics in the antiquated press and the consumers completely ignore them. Give me something I can understand, obfuscation is for wimps. You know, those afraid to stand up for what they believe is right because someone might get pissed. And the left is as guilty as the right, with all its trigger notices and other politically correct b.s. If you’re trying to please everybody, you’re ultimately pleasing nobody.

THE INTERNET

Reddit is the epicenter of the Bernie Sanders fundraising campaign. I bet you few in Washington know what it is, and if they do they don’t go there. And Reddit is all about community. That’s one of the reasons Apple Music failed, because Jimmy Iovine’s been living in the bubble so long he doesn’t know how the internet works. There aren’t fan playlists on Apple Music, there’s no sharing. People want to own the campaign and they want to own music. (Not “own” as in CDs or MP3s, if you can’t read and comprehend you’re lost in the new economy. Sign up for an English course, it’ll do you good.) Once you exclude people, you’re dead. You’ve got to welcome them inside, you’ve got to play on their level. Information spreads slow and fast. Usually the fast stuff is evanescent, here today gone tomorrow train-wreck stuff. Everything worth owning, worth paying attention to, takes a long time to gain traction. Don’t cry if the media is not paying attention, this is the same media focusing on Trump and Biden, both of whom have no chance of winning, they do it so they can sell papers/advertising, they’re on to another story tomorrow. Bernie Sanders gets little press because his story is not sexy, he too can’t win but he’s not a buffoon and he doesn’t come from an exalted place and the only people who care are his supporters. But he’s got supporters! Turns out for all his press Scott Walker did not! Proving, once again, not to believe the press, statistics are everything. Data rules. And the data illustrates that Bernie Sanders has a dedicated fanbase which is working for free and ponying up dollars. Never dismiss an army of millions.

AGE DOESN’T MATTER

Bernie is 74, and his campaign is being driven forward by those a third his age. In music we want malleable, the younger the better, easier to impress the target demo of teenagers, with money and desire. Age is just a number if you’re still cooking, still open to change, if you still care. How is it that Bernie Sanders is relevant at his age while most of his contemporaries are retired? Yet, people still pay beaucoup bucks to see the musicians of his vintage, like the Stones and the slightly less old Eagles. They built upon the above formula. Instead of criticizing the internet, Don Henley should be embracing it, mobilizing fans instead of alienating them. His new music works, it’s just his marketing message that’s all screwed up. The internet may have ruined the record business but it’s also its savior. Maybe Don should go on Reddit. Maybe he should depend upon his diehard fans to market him as opposed to the traditional media. And I focus on Don because he’s still vital, he’s still testing limits, as opposed to those who are afraid to put out new music or employ the hitmaker and cowriter du jour. You dig your own grave. Or climb out of it and keep marching forward.

Income inequality is the story of our age. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yet no one with any power is doing anything to address this issue. Supposedly taxes are anathema, the government can’t shoot straight and socialism is death. But Bernie Sanders is a socialist and his message is resonating with so many? Instead of running from what the bullies say can’t be done, maybe you should run towards it! Deliver what the people want as opposed to what the institutions say you should deliver.

Hillary Clinton will probably win. And that’s fine with me, she’s a professional, unlike the leading Republican bozos. To elect Trump or Fiorina or Carson would be like asking Mark Zuckerberg to produce the new Metallica record. Yup, since he’s rich he must know best. Used to be professionalism meant something in music, you honed your craft and paid your dues and you got a shot at the big time. That didn’t mean you won, it just meant you got a chance. But today’s wannabes believe the crap fed to them by the leeches selling services and the oldsters who can no longer make a buck and we don’t stop hearing how music is broken and you can’t get rich.

Come on, music ain’t broken at all, it’s there for the taking.

Bernie Sanders ain’t good looking, and he’s a member of the tribe to boot! Gays can get married, we’ve got a black President, and just because nincompoops keep asking for Obama’s birth certificate that does not take away from the fact that he was elected twice and still rules.

That’s the power of the people.

And that’s what we’re talking about here. The people will support you. Gatekeepers’ influence is greatly diminished. You’ve got to get your hands dirty and wade into the vast wilderness known as the internet to find out if your message resonates, and if it does you’ve got to build a tribe one by one, like guerilla warfare. Isn’t that why the Viet Cong won, they had the hearts and minds?

Those rules still apply. It’s war out there. Just ask Mike Ovitz. Who ruled until the game changed.

And the game has changed across America today. We’re looking for heroes in a link-bait world where duplicity rules and everybody’s out for a buck.

But there’s plenty of money out there if you resonate, like I said, Bernie Sanders just raised $26 million.

But you’ve got to know how to ask for it.

The revolution will not be televised. It will be streamed on the internet. Everybody clamoring for a return to the past is toast. CDs are history as is manufacturing in America. But that does not mean people don’t want music and jobs! You’ve just got to thread the needle in a new way.

The audience is ready, willing and able.

Give ’em everything you’ve got.

And if you’re not in it for the long haul, if you’re not willing to drip some blood on both the saddle and the tracks, we’re not interested. We’re looking for a few good lifers, who believe in themselves and are willing to play to their fans as opposed to the institutions.

Are you ready?

I am.

Bernie’s $26 million – “Bernie Sanders’s Campaign, Hitting Fund-Raising Milestone, Broadens Focus”

 

“Young Grape Picker Gives Sanders a Cash Boost – Tech-savvy 23-year-old’s Reddit group helps Democratic presidential candidate raise $26 million”

 

I want you to listen to these two tracks from Henley’s latest LP. They’re not singles and they’re at the very end of the album so they’ve been effectively buried, but I point them out to anyone who believes old people can’t make good music that resonates, especially with their core audience. In a world where everybody old seems to want to be young, Henley sings “I like where I am now.” Older is happier, statistics state this, data rules…if you’re paying attention. Furthermore, “Train In The Distance” reminisces about the past without getting smarmily nostalgic. It’s got that album cut feel baby boomers treasure. And through the magic of the internet, you can sample these wares without paying for them. Isn’t this better than keeping the music locked up like in the past? If you like it, you can spread the word. You can pay and get a higher quality stream and pick and choose the songs you want to play on your mobile. This is the new world, everything is different now:
Henley – Spotify

I’m stunned at the amount of love out there for this band.

The problem with writing about old music is those who remember do, and those who don’t don’t care. It’s a well-known fact that the Beatles and Zeppelin have survived, that Black Sabbath and the Doors have gotten an unforeseen renaissance, but so many of the old hit bands have faded into the woodwork, and I don’t think they’re going to radiate. But for those of us who were there…they inhabit a sacred place inside us, where we store all our memories, triggered by the sounds.

ANGRY EYES

From the second LP, the one with the unexpected hit, “Your Mama Don’t Dance.” But as obvious a cut as that was, almost lowest common denominator, the album ended with this seven minute and forty second opus that has survived amongst fans longer than the hit, it was even an FM staple, all because of the PLAYING!

That’s right, the first minute and a half was a regular song, but then there began an extended instrumental passage, akin to the fourth side of “Fillmore East,” i.e. “Whipping Post.” And as heretical as that might sound today, back then music was a big tent, you could like everything and be proud of said fact. Actually, we’re returning to that era, today’s youngsters like hip-hop and pop and EDM and…just check the Spotify Top 50.

So, your mind is set free to drift and you’re nodding your head, this is a perfect marijuana song, if you partook of said substance, which was illegal, but widely available, and then… At the 6:45 mark the band lights up and the vocals come back in and…it truly is like that last moment of “Whipping Post.”

A tour de force.

LONG TAIL CAT

Just an album cut on the second LP, but it’s so endearing, so intimate, so heartfelt, from back before anybody could sing, before Auto-Tune. When being able to write and play were not only badges of honor, they were nearly a prerequisite to making it.

A Kenny Loggins song without wimpiness, back when we were all wearing hiking boots at the height of the Back To The Land movement. This played well in the cabin, by the fire. Or maybe you were picking your guitar on the porch in the snow, like Stephen Stills…

WHISKEY

Actually, they spell it without the “e,” it’s WHISKY!

Did you see that article in today’s WSJ about daters evaluating prospects on spelling and grammar?

“What’s Really Hot on Dating Sites? Proper Grammar”

But most people had no idea of the true moniker back before the internet.

But one thing’s for sure, you don’t do ANYTHING mellow at the Whisky anymore. I was driving by last night and the headliner was Trixter. Really? They’re still together? Makes me feel sad that these bands still slog it out and don’t give up and do something else. Then again, you’re bagging groceries at Safeway, you’re practicing law and someone realizes who you are…that’d be hard to handle.

PATHWAY TO GLORY

From the third album, “Full Sail,” which was a return to form. Ultimately there was a hit single, “A Love Song,” but this is the best cut on the LP, another intimate Messina number. You’ll get it.

SAILIN’ THE WIND

You can hear the sailboat noises at the beginning, the spars, the ocean sounds, if you’ve ever been on the water, even on the dock, you’ll recognize them.

Another extended opus, “Sailin’ The Wind,” is mellower than “Angry Eyes” and not quite as good, but just as satisfying in another way.

We used to get bored, we used to be reflective. You’d put this on and lie on your couch and view the waning day and think about what once was and what still might be.

I love it.

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

From the spring ’74 live album “On Stage.”

I didn’t buy it.

Remember this was back when we had bigger eyes than wallets, we could not afford everything, so different from today. Back when every hit group went on a double live album victory lap after a few hits. And then there was the reverse, most famously “Frampton Comes Alive,” which followed four relatively unsuccessful studio LPs and ultimately graduated to monster success.

I’d hear this live album on the radio now and again, and I always liked it, but there were so many other records to buy, the seventies don’t have a great rep, but that spring saw the release of Aerosmith’s breakthrough “Get Your Wings” and Ry Cooder’s “Paradise and Lunch”…and I was still listening to Wendy Waldman’s debut from Christmas ’73, as well as Joni’s huge “Court and Spark” and…

MOTHER LODE

And then comes the piece-de-resistance, the album with no hit singles, that I love best.

You see I was couchsurfing. We didn’t call it that back then, but that’s what it was. From apartment to apartment in West L.A. While I killed time before I left town to start my job at the Goldminer’s Daughter in Alta, Utah.

Only a strange thing happened a week before I was supposed to leave.

I broke my leg in a freak ski accident.

A long story. Driving to Big Bear in the push-button Valiant of a German national the car’s transmission caught fire on the way up the hill (which is long, winding and steep). A fire truck serendipitously came by and put out the flames but then we were standing in the middle of nowhere with no transportation. So what did we do? HITCHHIKE! And thinking no one would have a ski rack in early November, and that my 207 Dynamics wouldn’t fit inside anybody’s car, I took along the shorter shop skis which had bindings which would not hold and ten feet in the air, in the middle of a jump, one ski came off and I landed with one foot in the snow and the other foot on its ski and I twisted and tumbled and I didn’t experience extreme pain but I knew something was wrong.

They had to carry the basket over dirt, I had x-rays, my fibula was broken. They set it and I rode back to town in the back of a VW bug, with the distressed extremity lying over two other people in the back seat.

Really.

And therefore I was in L.A. during Christmas, unexpectedly. So, jonesing for music I went with my sister to Licorice Pizza with my dad’s credit card and purchased eight albums, one of which was Loggins & Messina’s “Mother Lode.”
And when my college buddy John Hughes showed up after losing his job on the Ford assembly line, there was a recession going on, he had his cassette deck with him and I taped each and every one of those albums and they were the soundtrack to my driving for the whole next year, to Utah and Mammoth and points beyond.

Like Ketchum, Idaho, otherwise known as Sun Valley.

I was on the interstate in a raging snowstorm. Yes, I had snow tires, I wasn’t an idiot. Studded, actually. Driving through southern Idaho towards Twin Falls the cassette in the Blaupunkt was “Mother Lode” and it was so scary I couldn’t risk scrounging for another tape to insert so I just listened to “Mother Lode” over and over and over again. Not only was it the soundtrack to that trip, it still is. I think of either the drive or the tunes and then I think of the other, they’re intertwined.

Imagine yourself on a gray winter day, snow blowing sideways, in the middle of nowhere, no sun in sight, alone in your automobile, with no cellphone, no outside communication…

And then play this record.

CHANGES

My second favorite Loggins & Messina song at this point (number one is “Same Old Wine”), “Changes” is a tour de force with an indelible guitar sound, changes as fast and furious as any ride at Disneyland and the memorable couplet…

Turn around there’s Uncle Sam
He’s got his hand down in your pants

Some lines just stay with you, these are at the front of my brain. But they’re part of a longer verse…

You work yourself to death
So you can have a home
You put your money aside
To call it all your own
You finally save enough
And you’re thinking you’re gonna advance
Turn around there’s Uncle Sam
He’s got his hand down in your pants

In the internet era, we romanticize the days of yore, the old record business.

But the truth is the old record business was a killer, this was long before Don Passman’s book, acts were unsophisticated and regularly got ripped-off. And even if you were on the road, tickets were only a few bucks. The ten dollar ducat was years off.

Yes, being a rock star was hard…

You give your life away
For what in return
A chance to see your name in lights
While you learn
Your manager he’s home
And a-workin’ away
To keep you on the road
And a-movin’ from day to day

BE FREE

This is another quiet Messina number.

All the pieces are here.

Incredible playing, listen to that mandolin in the left ear, yes, I’m listening on headphones. Great lyrics, changes and vocals.

I want to get away and live my life
In the rivers and trees
I want to spend my days making wine
And be free, and be free, and be free

Actually, I always thought it was “making RHYME,” but all the lyric sites, even Spotify itself, say otherwise.

But what difference does it make?

I graduated from college and went on a two year journey of discovery. Skiing the world’s best powder and getting the world’s worst case of mononucleosis.

Nobody does that anymore. Not anybody who graduates from a good college. You’ve immediately got to start your career, money is most important.

But it wasn’t back then. Developing yourself, experiencing life, those were paramount. And the music instructed you to do so. Who you were as opposed to what you owned was key. Sure, a nice car and a nice bod helped, but they weren’t everything, we could see through those.

GET A HOLD

It starts around the bend, over the hill, and then comes into view.

Incredible guitar picking, never mind great horns.

Back when Kenny was still credible, great voice, and…

We were all trying to get a hold of ourselves, constantly.

When we weren’t letting go.

KEEP ME IN MIND

Written by Messina, but sung by bass player Larry Sims. Imagine that! Sure, John & Paul let Ringo sing their compositions, but by the seventies, everybody was starting to look out for themselves, ultimately the coke exacerbated this, made everybody paranoid.

“Keep Me In Mind” is only three and a half minutes long, but it plays like one of the band’s extended numbers, with a dreamy, yet nefarious solo section.

They don’t make music like this anymore. It’s seen as wimpy, we want in your face.

To our detriment.

SAME OLD WINE

In a brand new bottle.

It was 2005, Loggins & Messina had been broken up for decades. Kenny’d had his solo success, but then…

He was dead in the water, he turned once again to his old friend, they went on the road…

Five or seven years too late. All the seventies bands whose members were still alive had already reunited, new sounds had come in, this would have been a much bigger deal before Napster, before the internet destroyed the past.

But…

The shows were so satisfying!

This recording comes from the beginning of the tour, and it’s good, but it was part of the promotion for the gigs, I’d love to hear a recording from deeper in the journey.

But having said that…

I saw the band at the Greek.

They came on when it was still light, usually anathema, the mystery, the ju-ju, is absent, and then they started to play…WHEW!

And sure, they played all the hits.

But it was the album cuts I came for, and they whipped out those too, like “Same Old Wine.”

It’s the same old wine in a different bottle.

Trump is no Ross Perot, but he gets even more press.

The Republicans keep telling us trickle-down economics will work.

The only difference is the musicians are on the wrong side, they’re no longer leaders, just suck-ups to the corporations. Free-thinking? HOW AM I GONNA GET RICH!

That’s what everybody wants to know, how they can become wealthy, as if they’re entitled, as if that’s life’s highest purpose.

But we baby boomers who lived through the era know…

That’s not the case.

You might drive a BMW, you might live in a five thousand square foot house, dine at the finest establishments, drink $100 wine, but you still remember when… We were all in together, rich was not a billion, not even a million, and no one you knew had it, when there weren’t even any scalpers, who’d pay that price, when you went to school to learn, as opposed to get a job.

That’s what it was like back then.

And I’d say the music rode shotgun, but the truth is the players were our leaders, religious icons.

They wore street clothes on stage, playing well was more important than looking good, and they could say no… They weren’t begging, but delivering.

As did Loggins & Messina in their not quite ten year reign.

And like I said up top, I doubt I’m gonna make any converts here.

Kenny’s got a lightweight image and Messina’s been all but forgotten and having had hits the band is not hip but…

GOOD FRIEND

I had a good friend sometime ago
We had a good thing and we let it show
Oh, I was a fool, I let him go
Oh oh oh, how I miss him so

I miss the old days.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love the internet, my mobile phone, it’s the greatest antidote to depression and loneliness ever invented, even better than Prozac.

But I remember when music was king, when you couldn’t get a ticket to the show, when we had to go to communicate with the band, to make our lives complete as opposed to a badge of honor.

Forget the charts, they’re irrelevant.

As was AM back in the day.

Music was in the hands of the people, that’s where it lived. It was as important as water and power, the first thing you did when you moved was set up the stereo, and believe me you had one, with as good a set of components as you could afford. Forget the death of record stores, how about the death of stereo stores!

Music was my good friend.

Actually, it still is.

And I like some of the new stuff. But it’s not quite coming from the same place. You see, music used to be part of the revolution, it was us against them.

And we were winning.

We’re losing now.

But you never know, the good times could come back.

I certainly hope so!

Spotify A Little More Loggins & Messina

 

Dear Bob,

Thank you for your kind mention and generous observations.

I would enjoy sending you (if you wish) an album I recorded entitled JIM MESSINA “Live” at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts. I am in the process of mixing another Live album I just recorded at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara.

These days… for me… it’s more about performing live in small theaters and small performing art centers. An intimate evening at an venue where my audience can come to listen to the music I’ve created over the years, sit back and enjoy a glass of wine at a reasonable volume level,and be out of a concert no later than 9p or 10p is the name of the game. It works for me!

In fact…I just did that last night myself. My wife and I hired a baby sitter for my 9 year old daughter Josey and went to see the “Time Jumpers.” They, in combination with Vince Gill, are one phenomenal group of musicians and singers! If you have never seen them live… you are in for a real surprise.

Again, my deepest appreciation and kindest regards,

Jim Messina

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.