Are you willing to pay twice as much to stream in lossless?

Late last night doing my back exercises I decided to compare streaming services. Spotify is my default, I recreated a playlist in Beats Music and then I did the same thing in WIMP, and I was wowed.

Now let’s be clear, getting lossless music from Norway ain’t that easy, there are streaming interruptions, which is why I decided to sync/download the tracks, and they were a REVELATION!

I’m a big believer we get the music we deserve, that the reason compressed beat-driven music dominates is it’s the only thing that sounds good on the listening devices we’re employing. In other words, you’re not gonna get a new James Taylor if you’ve got to listen to compressed music on your phone via earbuds. But if you improved the quality of the sound would that not only make people take more care in the creation of sounds, but also branch out and put an effort into that which today is so often a second-class citizen?

Now I’m not talking 256kbps, never mind 320. Lossless is equivalent to CD. And we can debate all day long the difference between analog and digital, whether vinyl is superior to CDs, but the truth is despite being tactile, vinyl is not portable, unless you’re at home it’s a pain in the ass, and even there…

You hear instruments you didn’t know were there when you listen in lossless. They become rich, three-dimensional.

Are you willing to pay for this privilege?

In other words, if you’re refusing to pay for Spotify Premium, making a ton of excuses about the sound, are you willing to pay double for WIMP? Despite so few investing in Pono, despite you trumpeting it as the solution, it’s really not, because files are already dead, we live in the land of streaming, get over it.

And when one entity pushes the ball forward, it forces all competitors to follow in their footsteps, because so much in tech is a commodity, and if you’re substandard, you fail.

So this is less about WIMP and more about music in general. Who knows what streaming service will survive, but if WIMP lifts all boats sound-wise that’s good for everybody.

In other words, the techies are not our enemy, don’t listen to the Luddites and the wannabes who want to believe that music will only be healthy when we return to the days of yore, when you paid ten bucks for an album in a physical format and there was a middle class of acts, despite most music makers being unable to participate.

Remember that canard that Napster meant no one would make any music, it would drive all players out? What a bunch of crap that was. Our problem is too much music, even if something is good, oftentimes you cannot find it under the tsunami of product.

Boomers will remember buying behemoth stereos to get closer to the sound, bringing their friends over to see their jaws drop, seeing that Maxell ad in every magazine.

The song remains the same. Quality sound is a revelation.

Once you’ve got WIMP lossless, you want better headphones, you want to spread the word, all the while having a smile on your face.

From MusicAlly Daily Bulletin:

WiMP takes its high-def streaming service to US and UK as Tidal

Scandinavian streaming music service WiMP is launching in the US and UK, and sensibly, has come up with a new brand that has less connotations of weakness. The new service will be called Tidal, and it launches in the autumn. The key selling point will be audio quality: 25m tracks at lossless quality, with 75,000 HD videos and editorial content thrown in too, like the WiMP HiFi service in Scandinavia. This will come with a price to match: $19.99 / £19.99 a month for subscribers, who’ll be able to access Tidal through web browsers and iOS / Android apps. ‘Initially, streaming was all about access to everything, everywhere, which many services now provide. Tidal is not just another one of those providers,’ said CEO Andy Chen. ‘Rather than remaining in background to some other activity, music deserves to take center stage with quality at its heart.’ The key question now is how Tidal will be marketed. With established rivals already battling for telco deals, entering the US and UK with a splash may require some clever partnerships on Tidal’s part.

 

Tidal HiFi

I’m blown away. Where was this movie when I was that age?

Then again, if this were 1979 “Frances Ha” would be famous. It was expensive to make a film, going was the national pastime, we retreated from the theatre to bars to discuss them and we still believed art, if it couldn’t change our lives, could make them worth living.

I didn’t expect much. I love Greta Gerwig, but I expected something a cut above mumblecore. And the problem today is we have too much data. You can triangulate everything. Check out the ratings on not only Rotten Tomatoes but IMDB and Netflix and if something gets less than four stars it can’t really be that good, can it?

With life moving so fast we’ve got no time for not only sergeants, but anything less than perfection. Which leaves us not going to the theatre at all, because what was the last perfect movie? “Pulp Fiction.”

But although “Pulp Fiction” was dazzling, it was not fully comprehensible. And I get “Frances Ha,” only too well.

We’ve got expectations. Not only ourselves, but our parents and our peers. We graduated from elite institutions and we’re gonna set the world on fire, our lives are going to mean something, but what exactly is the path?

Forget the bank. That’s playing it safe. But personal fulfillment, achieving your artistic goal, that’s nearly impossible.

But in California everybody’s upbeat and sunny. They’re winners. And if they don’t emerge victorious, they retreat home or move to where the real estate matches their bank account.

But on the east coast… You don’t want to be a failure. And living is expensive. And everybody’s got attitude. And everybody’s in your business. What do you do?

Lie. That’s something people do everywhere. If you want to get ahead you have to earn your decoder ring, which takes about two years, to decipher who is real and who is not.

Or have a rich father. This is another skill, the ability to realize when income doesn’t match the lifestyle that means there’s a rich relative somewhere.

Or sell out and give up. Join the bank. Get married.

Because life is really scary and everything you counted on is resting on quicksand.

You think you know your best friend, you think you can depend upon them, but then they make choices you don’t believe they believe in and in order to survive you’ve got to make all new friends, and that’s hard.

Your parents don’t want to send a check.

And you’re so lonely! You want someone to talk to, someone to understand you. You want love, you see couples everywhere, but you’re in a relationship free zone.

And then you find out your dream isn’t gonna come true. What do you do then?

Hopefully you get practical. Realize that waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right is wrong and life is about settling, and if you’ve got regular sex and companionship and a roof over your head and kids who look up to you you’ve won at the game of life, even if it bears no resemblance to what you thought it was when you graduated from college.

And I don’t want to be in my twenties again, with more questions than answers, but I understand everything in this movie that most people can’t watch because if they slowed down that much and thought about things they’d be on suicide watch.

That’s what America has turned into, a bunch of somnambulant rats who believe if they just get on reality TV or create an app their lives will be complete.

But whether this is true or not, few people can achieve these goals, what about the rest of us?

It’s in black and white, no one’s beautiful and so much of it is depressing.

Frances is awkward. Watching her you wince.

But if you’re honest with yourself you get it.

That’s what art used to be, before it became about box office and climbing the financial totem pole. Yup, if I make a popcorn flick that plays around the world maybe I can fly private. And then there are those pooh-poohing ambition, because they’re too scared to look in the mirror and wonder who they could have become, if they only tried.

So I’m not recommending “Frances Ha.” Because you don’t want to watch it. You want to believe if you’re smart enough and work hard enough and want it enough you’ll get it.

But it don’t really happen that way at all.

Frances Ha the movie

Can I recommend a book?

You remember books, that antiquated media model that requires dedication in our fast-moving society that is usually populated by quick-read genre trash.

“We Are Not Ourselves” is not that. If it were a TV show, they’d call it a family drama. But that would imply it’s all about the interactions between personalities and that a lot of stuff happened, whereas in “We Are Not Ourselves” the only thing that happens is life, and that’s much more scary and complicated and unpredictable than any TV show.

You see you grow up as a child of immigrants and you have dreams. Well, not everyone, but Eileen does, she wants more. She doesn’t want to write an app and be in the WSJ, she wants her own house, a better life for her children, some comfort. Yes, in a world dominated by high achievers with outsized ambitions few focus on the rest of us, who are just trying to get along as we navigate this twisty turny adventure they call life.

Eileen is born in ’41, the child of Irish immigrants. You may not have parents from another country, but almost all of you are descendants of those who decided to come for a better life, or like Big Mike, who were pushed to, because there was no opportunity left in the homeland.

And despite hauling kegs for Schaefer, a legendary New York brewery, Mike is a big man in the neighborhood. That’s the way it used to be before social media. You hung out. We gravitated to those with charisma, who knew people, who gave advice, who could help out.

But Big Mike does have a drinking problem. And a gambling problem. Because no one’s all good or all bad, we live in light and in shade.

But Eileen’s parents are not the focus of “We Are Not Ourselves,” which is quite lengthy. If you buy the hardcover, don’t plan on traveling with it. No, this is the story of a pre-boomer, and her husband and progeny, of work and friends.

And there’s a big plot twist that is foreshadowed and believable which unfortunately is in every review and I’m not going to mention it here, but all I’ll say is if you believe life is all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, this is not the book for you. Furthermore, your life must be very disappointing, because it’s all about the little victories, which most others never see, never mind acknowledge.

“The point wasn’t always to do what you want. The point was to do what you did and do it well. She had worked hard for years, and if she had nothing to show for it but her house and her son’s education, there was still the fact of its having happened, which no one could erase from the record of human lives, even if no one was keeping score.”

That’s the truth, no one is keeping score. You have a game in your head, punctuated by milestones, and if you’re lucky the rules don’t change and you win and smile, but no one knows but you.

And there’s a bunch more wisdom in this book, even though it’s not written to dazzle you, not so rewritten and packed with gems that it no longer resembles real life.

“he lacked that tolerance for superficial interaction every successful adulterer wielded.”

EUREKA, THAT’S IT!

Adultery is all about seduction, getting your rocks off, making sure you still have game. It’s got little to do with the other person and all to do with proving you’re a god and can have a marriage and all this too. Because relationships are more than friction, it’s the mind meld that counts.

“It was the kind of thing she imagined people did when they came to a point where the roads to the past and the future were equally muddy – retreat to the high ground of a major project.”

I’ve never seen this articulated ANYWHERE! When confused and not sure where to turn we search for and ultimately dig our teeth into something grand, something so big it can’t be finished in a day, but maybe in years, we do this not only to get ahead, but to get our minds off our pain.

“That was one difference between men and women. Men got along fine without revealing anything.”

This is why I’d much rather hang with women. They talk about their feelings, men talk about the game. Concepts versus facts. Women break up and reveal all to their friends, sift through the details and bond over their humanity. Men crack a beer, slap each other on the back and watch the game, in pain.

I’m not gonna tell you any more, because I don’t want to ruin the experience. This is what the highbrows don’t understand, first and foremost it’s a story, and the fun and the joy is in having it unfold unexpectedly.

And I don’t think most of you will buy this tome, because you don’t have time, life moves too fast and you’ve got to get somewhere. But as first time author Matthew Thomas, who took ten years to write “We Are Not Ourselves” while teaching high school, says in the interview at the end of the digital edition:

“I hope it might make some readers who live lives outside the margins of what the media considers ‘important’ feel recognized and perhaps less alone.”

Yes, you are the star of your own movie. It’s a role you cannot abdicate. And chances are, no one’s watching it other than yourself. And it’s thrilling and frightening and if you’re a woman you share it and if you’re a man you suck up everything but the victories and we all turn to art both to reflect back upon us and explain it to us. We want to identify, we want to feel connected.

And “We Are Not Ourselves” makes us so.

“But who knows? We can control only so much in life.”

_____

“We Are Not Ourselves”

HOME SWEET HOME

Somehow I missed this one. Then again, I’d equate listening to the Crue with the title of the album the original emanates from, “Theatre Of Pain.”

Yup, Motley Crue was a product of the Sunset Strip metal/glam renaissance, loved by pubescent girls, but hated by the cognoscenti, until nascent A&R man Tom Zutaut signed them to Elektra and built both their career and his.

And in the San Fernando Valley there was a fan of this music known as Scott Borchetta who has released an album of country Crue covers on his Big Machine freight train.

Of course I knew the Crue’s note for note cover of Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” from “Theatre Of Pain,” and Justin Moore’s cover of “Home Sweet Home” is also not for note, but it feels so good, because of the anthemic chorus, which sounds straight out of a Skynyrd album.

You know I’m a dreamer
But my heart’s of gold
I had to run away high
So I wouldn’t come home low

Yup, “Home Sweet Home” was one of the original power ballads, a paradigm the “metal” acts ultimately overmilked to the point where pop took over MTV and the country as well, but that does not mean it was not a good idea at first.

I’m on my way
I’m on my way
Home sweet home

Switch your allegiance from Active Rock, which has moved so far from center that it’s lost the plot, forget Classic Rock, how many times can you hear “Free Bird,” come over to Sirius XM’s Highway and join the country rock party.

Hell, even if you never even liked the Crue, you’ll get this. Justin Moore is a better singer than Vince Neil, and there are a lot of great pickers in Nashville, the guitarist is a nobody but he’s a killer, and the truth is the digital era makes it much easier to produce songs, but no easier to write them. So, what was good before re-emerges.

AIN’T WORTH THE WHISKEY

Cole Swindell has a slew of writing credits, but the Highway takes credit for breaking him as a performing artist. That track was “Chillin’ It,” and the big hit from his March release is “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight,’ but it’s this that I love.

I don’t care that you done me wrong
‘Cause I’ve already moved on
I don’t care what his name is
Girl, it is what it is

The truth is nobody moves on that fast, and when someone else is screwing your one and only it drives you crazy. But you try to buck up.

It doesn’t matter what your friends say
They never liked me anyway

I LOVE THIS! That’s what girls do when they’re done, they call all their friends and rally around and trash you. The same exact women who were so nice to you just moments before. But love is tribal, and you’re no longer a member of that team.

But I’ll drink to a country song
To another long work week gone
And I’ll raise my glass to a long lost buddy I ain’t seen

Ain’t that Friday night. And it’s hard to drink to rap, but these anthemic country rock songs, they’re great for drowning your sorrows.

CLOSE YOUR EYES

It’s all getting to what we’ve been waiting on
I’m gonna go and turn you and the night on
Coming on strong I’m gonna lay it on your lips
Might wanna close your eyes for this

An interesting turn of phrase. Something that resonates.

This is just another journeyman track by the journeyman band Parmalee, but not everything can be memorable for decades, and while we wait for those superior cuts certain elements jump out of tracks and grab us. Write a chorus like this and you’ll have a career.

IF I DIE YOUNG

I heard this LAST Friday night on the Highway, literally, driving back from Ian Rogers’s birthday at the Malibu Inn, and I didn’t write down the title figuring it’d be easy to find but little did I know it would take almost a week to hear it again, just after I’d given up, last night in an extended Highway listening session.

Turns out it’s an old hit, from 2010, when I guess I wasn’t listening to country radio, but if this doesn’t make you feel good, you don’t like women and you’ve got no heart.

I checked out the latest Band Perry album when it came out, but the act seems to have been caught up in the sophomore slump, the tracks are just not as good. But this is a killer. This is what Taylor Swift used to sell, before she decided to appeal to everybody. But that may grant you a momentary hit, but what lasts, what bonds people to you, is stuff much more personal, like this.

If you’re a boomer, if you’re a soft rock aficionado, if you think there’s no good music, you’ll positively marvel when this comes out of the speakers.

SURE BE COOL IF YOU DID

He’s married to Miranda Lambert, he’s all over TV, how’d Blake Shelton get there?

Via songs like this.

One of the rewards of being at the top of the country heap is you get the best material, if you don’t hear the quality here you’ve got no ears, if you work in the music business make sure it’s in marketing, not A&R.

This was a hit a long time ago, back in 2010. How are we supposed to find all this stuff?

I’ve got an unimpeachable source in Nashville who gives me recommendations. We live in an incomprehensible world, we’re all ears, but where do we start?

When we elevate tastemakers to the perch they deserve, when we pay them like techies, music will rise like a phoenix.

FIRST ONE TO KNOW

Stoney LaRue. Know him? Not me, only the name, not the material. But my country connection sent me this and I was stunned, it’s the closest thing I’ve heard to Ryan Adams’s “Winding Wheel” since Ryan cut that.

The acoustic instruments, the sound… Be sure to listen to the end for the picking. This is close. Check it out.

GIMME SOMETHING GOOD

Listen to that guitar sound!

Speaking of Ryan Adams, here’s the man himself.

It’s country without the fiddle, then again, this is the sound Tom Petty perfected, if only he did it as well as Ryan here.

I first heard this on Sirius XM’s Spectrum. That’s the problem with good music today, there’s not one place to hear it all. There are strict divisions between genres.

The guitar sound and the changes of “Gimme Something Good” will wow you. Unfortunately, the song doesn’t go anywhere. And the other released song from Ryan Adams’s new album, “My Wrecking Ball,” is not as good as this.

But…

This demonstrates the difference between the greats and the also-rans, it illustrates the difference when you write the material as opposed to using hired guns, when you pursue your individual goal as opposed to giving the machine what it wants.

Adams can write and now produce. He gets it.

How come we don’t elevate those who deserve it?

In other words, Ryan Adams blew all his cred and became a joke. But he’s proof if you ever had it you still do, you’ve just got to dig down deep. If “Gimme Something Good” doesn’t make you want to hear more of what Ryan Adams has to say, you’re not listening.

ROLLER COASTER

This is a giant hit from Luke Bryan’s giant album “Crash My Party” and it’s all over the radio but the reason I include it is Cole Swindell is a cowriter.

I was pissed “Beer In The Headlights” was not the next single, but as much as the concept of the roller coaster seems hackneyed, the more you hear this the more you get it, it sneaks up on you.

And what I love about the material Luke Bryan sings is he’s not the triumphant all-knowing nothing who populates the pop charts. He’s insecure, he’s not sure, like the guys who’ve been tarred and feathered along with the bad boys, despite not deserving it.

BEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS

The URGENCY!

Cole Swindell is one of three writers on this, whereas he was one of only two on “Roller Coaster,” but still…

This is so TIGHT!

The intro gives you no idea where it’s going, it seems like pure country, and then the guitars SLASH and then Luke Bryan RAPS?

And then he wastes no time getting to the chorus!

Sittin’ right here out here in the middle of nowhere
I swear I’ve never seen, ever seen nothing like you anywhere
I got the key turned back, windows down, I’m turning it up and you’re spinnin’ around
Takin’ a sip, swinging’ your hips, girl you’re looking so fine
With your beer in the headlights

You can stand there in your skinny jeans and nerdy glasses and decry this but the truth is this is exactly what you’re looking for, to be pulled up at the lake with your heart’s desire as she’s demonstrating her wares.

CONCLUSION

None of the above tracks is as great as Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy.” Too many are unfinished. They’ve got the hook, but they don’t add more, believing one cute line is enough, and it is to make a hit, but not to be remembered.

And mainstream Nashville country has no room for the young outlaws, the thread Steve Earle began and others have picked up and carried.

Then again, Steve Earle has never quite equaled “Guitar Town” himself.

Yup, every week there’s a new alternative country rock/Americana hope. And they might have one great song, but the rest of their albums are not up to snuff. And if your voice is not radio-ready, your material must be, it must be an A.

Then again, things could be worse. All of these cuts have elements, they’re listenable, and that’s a START!

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