It was curiously flat.

I don’t detest the new single and the "Like A Prayer" finale worked but a rock star never wants to risk being upstaged.

And the game walked all over the Material Girl.

I get it, it’s all about awareness, it’s all about selling tickets. And from what I understand, if you’re a fan, you liked this extravaganza, you’ll wanna go to the show. But on a musical level…

It just wasn’t about music.

Great performances are about that little something extra, something indefinable that touches your core. And that’s what was missing here. There was no sense of majesty, no soulfulness, just a middle-aged woman trying too hard to impress.

But I’m not sure she was trying to impress us. Rather she seemed to be playing to a higher tribunal, maybe St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, giving it all she’s got in order to get into heaven.

She’s left us behind.

And when the stage was dismantled and the game resumed her performance was forgotten, not execrable like the Black Eyed Peas, but not mindblowingly fantastic like Prince.

Then again, as well as the diminutive icon moves, he’s all about the music. He can play, he can sing, video only made us aware of his greatness, it did not define it.

Furthermore, the whole production seemed dated. From another era where excess was applauded, when life was fun and problems were pushed under the rug. Only now, our problems are front and center. And it’s clear that Madonna, like the rest of the 1%, really wants nothing to do with us, she only wants our money. Sure, everyone still likes to party, but you got no impression that Madonna wanted you up on stage, celebrating with her. If anything, you felt if you ran up, you’d get kicked off.

Today’s music is all about inclusiveness. Tastemakers like television and radio mean ever less. The swell of public appreciation is what truly matters. And you won’t get universal approval of Madonna’s Super Bowl appearance, it was a niche event on the main stage. And this is dangerous. You only want to play for naysayers if you can convert them.

And Madonna did not.

P.S. What’s up with the narcissism in the new single, the endless repetition of her own name? Didn’t that peak with Wang Chung back in the eighties?

P.P.S. Never do someone else’s act. The magic disappearance at the end smacked of nothing so much as Michael Jackson, another superstar who became so enamored of his fame that he lost touch with his audience.

I can see Jimmy play the guitar!

I stayed up all night April 30, 1975 listening to "Physical Graffiti", not because I wanted to, but it was my last night in Utah and the dope dealers across the street were the only people I knew still in town, everybody else had disappeared with the end of the season, and they were spinning it as they got high.

I was a Zeppelin fanatic.

But I burned out with "III". Oh, I played it plenty, but even though I came to know every note, it just didn’t have the majesty of the very first album. Sure, the second was a monolith, perfect in every way, accessible to the masses, but I always had the debut to myself…well, relatively speaking.

And then I dropped out. After seeing the band perform the tunes from "III" in a mediocre fashion at the Yale Bowl.

But I was exposed to "Physical Graffiti" so much, I came to love it, it brought me back to the band, I bought the intervening albums, even "Houses Of The Holy", with the overplayed "D’yer Mak’er", I wanted to get close.

And I wouldn’t put Zeppelin past reuniting a couple of more times in the future, after all they did for Atlantic’s 40th and Live Aid, but they’re never going to go on tour and all we’ve got left are the records.

And our memories.

The best time I saw the band was during the legendary Forum stand in ’77. They played for hours, they played everything you needed to hear, it was a victory lap that of a type unknown today. Hype was limited, you could not reach everybody. But everybody who needed to know did. And tried to get a ticket.

And unlike Madonna, Robert Plant has aged gracefully, made music unforeseen by fans but fully satisfying, yet still, when I want the essence I put on "Ten Years Gone".

The first track on "Physical Graffiti" that hooked me was "Kashmir". It was the sound, the power, the majesty, you conduct the band with your hands as the notes descend. It’s like you’re ascending a mountain in the Himalayas and with this soundtrack you’ll have no problem making it to the top, with a great track in your ears you may not be able to move mountains, but you can certainly climb them!

And from there I got into "Night Flight". Then "Trampled Under Foot" and "The Rover".

But one afternoon on Chair 3 at Mammoth, a riff started going through my head. I had to go back to the condo and play Jimmy’s complete 8-track to discover it was "Ten Years Gone".

And it’s about the riff, but the intro is like Jimmy Page opens a door to a castle and you step inside, you leave everything behind and go into an all-enveloping darkness.

And then the door shuts, and the riff begins.

It’s not only one instrument, but many, thundering from every corner of the room, then it gets quiet again, and Robert starts to sing:

Then as it was, then again it will be
And though the course may change sometimes
Rivers always reach the sea

You can listen to all the new music, even go to the show, but you always come back to Zeppelin, the band excoriated by the critics but the one that lasts.

And it’s classic Zeppelin, going from quiet to loud and then back again. And two and a half minutes in, the track completely changes, its like a walk on the beach, like suddenly someone turned on the lights and everything’s bright, you’re happy, optimistic and then…

Do you ever really need somebody
Really need ’em bad

That’s the essence of rock and roll, the need, to be known, to be understood. The music does this, and if you find a like-minded person, someone else who knows the tune, you’re at the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

But the track plows on, and Jimmy’s squeaking out accents, Robert’s singing, you’re locked right on.

And then it gets quiet once again, just like life. It’s not pedal to the metal 24/7.

This is album rock. This is what built this business. Extended tracks Top Forty would never play that you spun incessantly, that changed your life.

I just want to jump inside the Thiel SCS4‘s and join the band, it sounds that damn good.

P.S. Just in case you’re under ten or you’ve been living without electricity, I’m linking to a YouTube clip of "Ten Years Gone".

But you’ve got to hear it on the big rig, on YouTube you can see it, but you don’t become it. In this compressed rendition you can take or leave it, but if you hear it in full-dimension stereo, with all the notes and no distortion, "Ten Years Gone" is UNDENIABLE!

Led Zeppelin – Ten Years Gone

My cable broke.

The last time I bought stereo equipment it was 1999 and the MP3 revolution was still a year away. I was in the bathroom when an acrid smell wafted through the house. My Sansui burned up. My trusted integrated amp was no more. And unwilling to live without sound in my house for a single moment I went up to the hi-fi store and replaced it. Not that they wanted to sell me a stereo amp. Was I sure that I didn’t want home theatre?

No.

TV is something you see, music is something you hear. It was mixed for two speakers and that was all I needed.

And this transaction begat a conversation about cables. And they convinced me to lay down for some ultra-thick jobbies that they cut on the spot and I went home and experienced top notch sound. For a year or so. And then everything emanated from the desktop, Napster eclipsed CDs and MP3s ruled.

Now unlike Guerinot I saved my CDs, and all my vinyl. But I’ve been thinking about selling the CDs recently, they sound so lousy to begin with.

But today I’m glad I kept them. Because through these Thiel SCS4s, they sound MARVELOUS!

I got an e-mail from somebody I don’t know wondering if I wanted to audition them. The speakers, the Thiel SCS4s. He was an intermediary, someone who knew the family, who’d recommended them to a couple of rock stars, you’d recognize the names, I was sworn to secrecy.

I said sure.

And schlepping them from my girlfriend’s house where I had them delivered to mine just about gave me a hernia. The pain in my gut woke me up the following morning. So I wasn’t eager to finish the job. But I set aside today for the task.

But as I was plugging in one of those expensive cables I noticed something…the connection had come undone. And not being a crimping expert, not having the appropriate tools to rebuild the connection, I started rummaging through a cardboard box so old the sides had collapsed, looking for my old speaker wire, from the seventies.

It was unfindable. So I went with even a narrower gauge. No, not that clear stuff, but just a bit heavier lamp wire.

And I’d like to say the hookup was easy. But there’s so little room and so much dust I was getting more frustrated by the minute.

But stunningly, when I hit the on switch, I got sound.

Now these speakers are not that big. Not as large as the JBLs I set them upon, with woofers that can shake the house. They’re heavy, but they don’t dominate, only a true nitpicker would have a problem with them being displayed.

But there’s a clarity and enough punch. And what emanates from these speakers is MUSIC! You remember music, don’t you? Not that white noise that comes from earbuds, not that bass-heavy thump that comes from Beats headphones, but that sweet sound that goes straight to your core, makes you feel all gooey inside, makes you feel positively alive.

It’s like we listen with steel wool in our ears. There’s so much garbage between the sound and our ears that we lose touch with the essence. It’s like going around with dirty glasses. Would you watch the flat panel with these?

And remember that first HD experience? Most of today’s listeners have never had that with music. That jaw-dropping wow. That eureka moment. That startling sensation that you’re living on the cutting edge.

Now this guy sent me these Thiels because he thought they were affordable.

They’re $1190 apiece. And that might sound like a lot, but back in the seventies we spent $333 apiece for our JBL L100s, and with the pace of inflation, these cost less.

Then again, you do need an amplifier, a CD player.

I’m running an NAD 317, with 80 watts per channel into 8 ohms. And if you know NAD, that’s a very conservative statistic, if you want to compare it to the crap, double that number, maybe add even more:

NAD 317 Stereo Integrated Amplifier

And I’ve got a Sony CDP-XA20ES CD player. It only stores one disc at a time, and it utilizes a weight and the CD moves, not the lens, and you can read a review here:

Sony CDP-XA20ES CD Player

And you’ll notice that the Sony is over a decade old and cost $700 back when.

And the NAD was just a bit more expensive.

But this is cheap in the realm of stereo aficionados.

But you don’t even need an amp and CD player this good.

For $3500, you could build quite a system.

WHAT?

Then you have no idea what plasma televisions cost when they were introduced. Not everybody owned one, but enough people were blown away at their early adopter friend’s house that they purchased too and the price came down.

So, if we all went out and bought stereo, I imagine price points would drop.

But you still might not be able to afford these Thiels.

But if you can…

I’m hearing stuff I never knew existed on albums I know by heart. It reminds me of way back when when we listened deep, when music didn’t bounce off of us, when we put on our thinking caps and dove in, marinating in the experience.

Thiel SCS4

Thiel SCS4

So my friend Cathy says she’s going to go to work for Rob Gordon at W.A.R.?

Huh?

You mean the guy who used to work in A&R at EMI, who started his own label? Those never went anywhere, not twenty years ago.

But then she unfolded the story of the Samples, how they left Arista and put their next record out on W.A.R.? and she was doing radio promotion.

Cathy used to work at Atlantic. The big time. But now she was working for this pisher label and was getting adds on this act I’d never even heard of before.

Then she sent me the album, "No Room". It was good, it was professional, I really liked it.

Start with:

1. "When It’s Raining"

It sounds like Colorado crossed with the Police. How did an indie band do something so professional? I could break down every element, but just listen, you’ll be hooked, by the changes, the vocal, the texture. This has been labeled "white music", but last time I looked there were plenty of Caucasians in America. If you went to Hampshire College and didn’t get into Phish, you might just be into this. If you ever go to Colorado, fire this up when you put the top down, draw the sunroof open, it’s the perfect soundtrack, it’ll put a smile on your face.

It’s the little things that enrapture you, like the keyboard texture at 2:16.

2. "Summertime"

No, it’s not the classic song, but it’s classic in its own right. Very dreamy, great on a hot sticky night after you’ve pulled on the pipe, had a few gin and tonics.

A great band is not limited to only one sound, they’ve got a whole repertoire. "Summertime" sounds little like "When It’s Raining", but you certainly know it’s the same act.

3. "Did You Ever Look So Nice"

Sure, it’s white reggae. Pioneered by the Police and put out of business by the Outfield, but there was nothing wrong with that sound. This is minor, yet infectious.

4. "Nothing Lasts For Long"

Epic. The anti-Top Forty track. If you’re into album music, this is for you. Stuff made to sound right as opposed to what fits on the radio.

5. "Giants"

Hang in there until :53, when the acoustic guitar starts picking. This is so intimate, it feels like you’ve been awoken by someone singing right outside your window. Somehow music is now seen as for everybody, something to bump butts to in the club, but the best stuff is positively PERSONAL!

And if you liked the foregoing, be sure to play all of "No Room", it’s up there on Spotify for your perusal, but I want to pull out some other Samples gems, there are so many.

Now if "No Room" had been on a major, everybody would know the Samples, it’s just that good, there’s not a loser cut on it. And it’s beholden to no corporation, it contains an indie spirit. And "No Room" is the best, but the follow-up, "The Last Drag", although a bit of a disappointment at first…I’ve come to love it too.

6. "Carry On"

No, not the CSN&Y song, but it’s as intimate as anything Stephen Stills has ever sung. You want to go see the band live just so you can telepathically connect with the singer.

7. "The Streets In The Rain"

I’m looking for people
That I used to know
And I’m looking for places
We used to go

That’s how it was in the pre-Facebook era. You always wondered…WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? You remembered the good times, you wanted to reconnect. And the fact you rarely could allowed you to feel warm all over, especially when you heard music like this.

8. "Little Silver Ring"

It’s got a circular feeling, you start rotating your head in time, from the very beginning. How could someone this talented not be known by everybody?

9. "The Last Drag"

The title track. Listen to the dog bark, it sounds like it was cut on a porch in the middle of summer, you can see the moths flying around in the lamplight.

"Transmissions From The Sea Of Tranquility"

This mostly live album is now my favorite Samples work.

10. "Watching The Wheels"

Just as good, if not better, than the John Lennon original.

11. "Indiana"

Now after slogging it out on an indie, the Samples went back to a major, MCA, and messed up their moment, "Outpost" was not as good as the W.A.R.? albums.

The original "Indiana" is on this album, it’s ok. But listen to this live take from "Transmissions From The Sea Of Tranquility"…WHEW! It’s like you’re driving in a car cross-country and a buddy is singing his story, but you can’t be buddies with this guy, he’s just too TALENTED!

12. "Flying"

This is like listening to your favorite seventies album, and like so many classics, it never goes out of date. So heartfelt!

13. "Little Silver Ring"

The instruments TWINKLE! Like there’s pixie dust in the air!

This takes you away from the workaday world to the private space that only music inhabits…you’re thrilled to be able to go there!

14. "The Last Drag"

And this is why I’m writing this whole piece, I can never forget hearing this and continuing to play it. Life is so complicated, so often you feel alone. But this take on this song fills up the whole listening space, you feel okay, that you can make it through.

And you can’t find "Wild River (Colorado)" on Spotify. I think Sean controls that one, not W.A.R.? But it’s fascinating when someone can still hit the peak long after their moment is gone.

The Samples lived the life. They owned their own bus, twenty years ago, when that was unheard of. They lived the life of rock stars, going on the road, getting high, getting laid. But businessmen they were not.

The original band split up. But Sean carried on with new players. Didn’t seem to matter, he could still hit the high notes, literally and figuratively.

But then he burned out a few business partners. And ultimately it all came screeching to a halt. He left Colorado and wound up broke back in Vermont, where he started. He sold his equipment, he gave guitar lessons. You’ve got to get by.

And I haven’t heard from him in eons. It’s got to be so frustrating to put so much effort in and at the end all you’ve got is the good times.

But that’s not true. You’ve got the music too!

Spotify link

Previous Rhinofy playlists