Led Zeppelin, U2, Queen, Pink Floyd, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli… What do they all have in common? They’ve had shows promoted by Harvey Goldsmith. A Commander of the Order of the British Empire, even though he has no airs, Harvey Goldsmith has not only been a promoter, he’s been the manager of Billy Connolly, Jeff Beck, the aforementioned Pavarotti… We start with the return of live shows and then move on to explorations of Brexit, Harvey’s trials and tribulations in the concert business and even his bus trip across America in the sixties where he met the Grateful Dead. Harvey has been there and done that and is still doing it. Listen to one of the masters.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/harvey-goldsmith/id1316200737?i=1000511556636

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3kJeRxZ

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3e7RFIj

I found this on Spotify’s “Discover Weekly.”

Since the service is run by algorithm there are more misses than hits on this playlist, but I go back every now and again to see what’s shaking and…

I’m not at a loss for recommendations, it’s just that too many are of acts where the hype exceeds the music. Everybody’s fighting for attention and most don’t get it.

I’d never heard of Neal Francis, at least I didn’t think I had. The name rang a distant bell, but maybe that was the DJ with a similar name, or the rugby player, who both spelled their first name “Neil.” I found this out when I started to research, and I also found out that Neal Francis does not have his own Wikipedia page, but if you Google him you find that he overcame his addiction to deliver this music… WHO CARES? I know you’re looking for a marketing angle, a story, but I’ve never even heard of this guy. Today you lead with the music, which oftentimes is the weakest part of the package.

I was completely burned out. That’s the best time to listen to new music. During the day there are too many distractions, and in the twenty first century everybody’s multitasking, seemingly no one sits alone on the couch and devours a new album and only a new album anymore.

I’d done my Sirius show, I had a couple of things to take care of on my computer, and I did, but then being mentally blitzed I decided to just surf the web and listen to music, and after hearing the oldies I wanted new stuff, which is what led me to Discover Weekly, not that it’s always new stuff.

Like the second song, a live version of “The Weight.” Actually, I skipped right over that.

As for the first, it was Low Cut Connie, which has a great rep, and this song had the right sound, just not the right changes, the song itself was substandard.

And the third song, “Domino” by Nicole Atkins,” was decent, but I didn’t let that play through, just like with the Low Cut Connie tune.

The fourth track was by the Brothers Osbourne. In the news lately because one of the brothers came out, brave of him, kudos. And I like the Osbornes, but this playlist had thirty songs in it and if I was gonna make it through, I had to skip, to…

Who knows. You get to the point where you’re not paying attention. Actually, that’s how I normally listen to playlists, on my phone, hiking, and I only check out the name when something catches my ear, otherwise I’m skipping through.

And “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” started slow, I knew there was a change coming, so I didn’t hit the button to fast-forward, especially because the intro didn’t feature beats, a turn-off, very few employ them innovatively. And about thirty seconds in it came. With a guitar reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall.” And to tell you the truth I was not completely paying attention, and then, just shy of two minutes in, there was this strange horn riff, short, not extended, as if a note or two had been left out and I immediately looked at the second screen, where I keep my Spotify window, wanting to know…WHO IS THIS?

And that’s when I started Googling.

Meanwhile, the song keeps playing. There’s a guitar solo. Those horns… I’m not fast-forwarding past this! I told myself I had to hear it again, but it turned out I was barely halfway through, the song was six and a half minutes long. WHO ELSE KNEW ABOUT THIS? Obviously not too many, none of Francis’s tracks had a million streams on Spotify.

And now I’ve got the song on a loop. Loving the groove. Remembering the thrill of the old days, buying a record, getting stuck on it, playing it over and over again, high as a kite, not on drugs, but the tune itself, it being the only thing needed to make you feel good, to make you complete.

And then I’m wondering if it’s just the space I’m in. So I switch to hear other Neal Francis tunes, and they’re good, but not as good as “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2.”

So, further research takes me to a KCRW concert: https://bit.ly/3uPF1nb Okay, the hipsters knew, and what usually happens in this case is there’s a show and it gets press and you become aware. But there are no tours now.

And watching the video all I can see is MONEY! A full band, a horn section, WHO IS PAYING FOR THIS? The label was Karma Chief Records. Never heard of it. But is it another one of these indies distributed by a major? I keep researching, and I cannot find a connection. Although it does turn out, and I only found this out today, digging even deeper, that Karma Chief is a division of Colemine Records, from Ohio of all places, but it turns out this is the company that releases the Black Pumas. So now it starts to come together. Someone’s got a deep pocket. But who is investing in this music, which falls between the cracks, out of date, anything but hip, but so SATISFYING!

The truth is listening to “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” I thought all the track needed was a different singer, and then it would be a smash, I could recommend it. But that’s not how they form bands these days, you can’t tell anybody they’re not good enough, they insist on being the singer.

Meanwhile, this track is so FUNKY! It’s like everything that happened in the past two decades didn’t. Maybe three or four. But, “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” is not retro, other than in influence. It’s anything but hip-hop, and it’s far from pop, and if you think they’d ever play this on Active Rock radio you’ve never made the devil horns. Where in hell would they play this stuff?

Non-comms I guess. But the old idea of starting in non-commercial radio and crossing over to the big time, that’s done. Non-comm is its own universe. Mostly middle-aged people wanting to hear new rock-influenced music. And some of it deserves a wider audience, but most of it does not.

So, what is a hit song?

It’s something you FEEL! Something you hear and have to hear immediately once again. Something you need to tell people about. Other than that, a song can sound like ANYTHING! Ergo, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” There’s no recipe, you’re always starting with a blank slate. And the key is to digest the influences and concoct them into something new, with your personal input. Which is why me-too does not resonate. We’re all looking for that which is indescribable and fresh.

But I did not write about “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2,” because I wondered if it would still sound as good today. That’s the test. AND IT DOES! I don’t want to turn it off, I don’t want to leave this mood!

And I could look up the words online, but I don’t really care about them, that’s not what the high of the track is. First and foremost it’s the changes, too often nonexistent in today’s one chord world. And then those damn horns. It’s like Al Kooper called the recording studio and told them to use them, because no one else is, at least not real horns. They were all over soul music, more than white rock and roll, but horns are not the sound of today’s popular Black music.

And along with recovery, the hype talks about Neal Francis’s influences being Dr. John and Leon Russell. Dr. John’s material was not as great as his playing, sorry, but Leon Russell fired on all cylinders, could deliver everything, and was in the background until the world was ready for him as a solo act. His ticket to stardom was his work with Joe Cocker, the Asylum Choir stiffed.

But who is going to lift up Neal Francis? There is no scene, nothing universal we’re all hooked into. But, then you hear something like “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” and wonder why it isn’t front and center, it being more fresh than almost anything in the Spotify Top 50. Come on, you can fast-forward through an entire playlist without stopping, nothing reaches out and grabs you, demands attention. That’s the case with most popular stuff. It doesn’t touch your SOUL!

And maybe “Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” won’t touch yours. But play it twice and tell me it doesn’t. Those horns are like cocaine, the effect is brief and intense and then you just want more, more, MORE! And your mind is on this wild adventure, akin to the one you used to take in your bedroom, in the basement, maybe with the speakers turned up, maybe with headphones on, drowning out the world that did not accept you, burying yourself in a world that did. That’s why the best and the brightest just had to be involved in music.

You’re either on the bus or off the bus. Either you get “”Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” or you don’t. And if you do?

You won’t want to turn it off, you’ll be smiling, getting that feeling you thought was gone, but it turns out it was just dormant inside you.

Maybe you have to get up and dance, even if you’ve never done so with anybody around. The music gets inside you and your body must move, even if you’re just sitting in your chair.

THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS!

Doing it your way, in a way one without history/practice cannot, following your own muse to create something that satisfies you and thus satisfies US ALL! The major labels are not in this business, more than ever they’re about commerce, who cares what they’re worth on the stock exchange, that’s not what it’s about.

And almost all of the people clamoring they’re not making enough money to live their lives as a musician don’t deserve to.

But Neal Francis does.

“Changes, Pts. 1 & 2” at Coachella would be a smash. It’d kind of be like having Sam & Dave front the Blues Brothers. But with much younger players. This music is forever, it’s undeniable, I’M SO EXCITED!

“I wanted to drop you a line to thank you for your support, I hear you and it is much appreciated.
You know I still get a kick out of hearing our music on the radio myself. There’s something about rock music and driving that goes together well, uplifting and freeing.
So thank you for your words and stay well in these troubled times. God Bless and Cheers Paul Rodgers”

Last week I called an audible and we discussed Morgan Wallen, so THIS WEEK we’ll be doing Bad Company.

To fire you up, I’ve created a playlist: https://spoti.fi/3sINExQ

Tune in tomorrow, March 2nd, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

Everything you’re told is big is actually getting smaller.

You used to feel inadequate because you didn’t have enough money, now you’re made to feel inadequate because you just don’t know enough, when the truth is everything is less important and no one knows it all and no one knows what is going on.

GOLDEN GLOBES

The story here is that NBC hasn’t canceled this bogus fracas. The “Los Angeles Times” did a marvelous excavation of the self-serving policies of the fewer than one hundred members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association but there wasn’t a peep whatsoever from NBC, proving that dollars triumph over truth, proving that we can no longer believe in our institutions. And, that silence is the best defense. If you’re accused of anything, just STFU. There’s so much information in the channel it will soon be forgotten. Naysayers move on to something else, and everybody judges by clicks, and if you don’t generate any, the spotlight moves on from you. The internet loves skirmishes, do your best not to participate. And beware of those who employ skirmishes to raise their profile.

CPAC

When there’s no credibility, what kind of country do we live in? One where the individual is king. The future is about those who stand up for their beliefs, which are grounded in truth and science, and stick to them irrelevant of blowback. That is what draws strong acolytes. And passion is always more important than numbers. A hundred thousand passionate fans, who will stay on course and spread the word, are more important than a million ultimately silent looky-loos.

FOOTBALL AND BASEBALL

Ratings are falling through the floor. The more you put in the channel, the more options you give people, the truth outs that many vaunted sports just aren’t that popular. Yet, you read the paper, assuming you do at all, and you’re made to believe these sports rule the universe, have everyone paying attention, but they don’t.

SKEW YOUNG

Unless you want to die, that is. Tina Fey is 50. Amy Poehler is 49. They are not heroes of the younger generation, to a great degree they’re unknown by the younger generation. Now I should expect blowback for mentioning women’s age. Which, of course, is nitpicking and missing the point. Ricky Gervais is 59, but he didn’t host the Golden Globes this year, so the focus is not on him. If you’re heading for extinction, stay with the old and true. But take your wisdom from MTV, before the internet came along and killed the paradigm. MTV refused to age with its audience, it remained the youth clubhouse. Oldsters bitched when their favorite VJs got canned, but MTV kept its ratings until it missed the internet. Either plan to sunset your company or embrace change, even if you might have a momentary blip in revenues. The best example here is Adobe, which went from boxed software, i.e. purchase, to subscription. Revenues sank and then they went back up and have not only stayed up, but increased. Meanwhile, their customers think about the company, are bonded to the company all the time, the relationship is secure, it’s harder to be undermined by competition.

CONSUMPTION RATHER THAN SALE

It’s no longer about the instant musical hit, but how long you can sustain. You want longevity, and the short term thinking of the major labels and the bitching about streaming by oldsters takes the focus off this sea change. Music can be an annuity, assuming you create stuff that people want to continue to listen to, which tends to be different from what everybody else is creating.

INSTITUTIONS ARE LOSING CONTROL

This has been the story of the past few years in the music business, the lack of control of the major labels. First and foremost, a lot of what is consumed is not under their umbrella, unless it’s a distribution deal. Second, major labels controlled exposure, i.e. radio and press, which mean ever less in an era where you can hear what you want, on demand, for free, and you can promote yourself online for free too. Yes, major labels’ influence on playlists is troubling, but playlists are a lot less influential than commonly believed, otherwise Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous” would have tanked when it was removed from them. The truth is playlists are for passive listeners, active listeners choose their music, they’re the ones that drive choice and consumption. And, once again, we learn that influence, disruption, always comes from the outside. Not only with streaming services, but TikTok. Turns out what people want to embrace might be different from what the major labels want to sell, and usually is. You can try to seed a hit on TikTok, but it’s hard to do. Which is why a video of a worker skateboarding to Fleetwood Mac can be bigger and more memorable than what’s on the hit parade.

TRUMP

Will fade away with reduced coverage. He thrives on oxygen. But his delusional acolytes are a force to be reckoned with. We must all stand up for truth, for facts, not only the media but individuals. Here is where we need a zero tolerance paradigm, otherwise we are screwed as a society.

BIDEN

Isn’t it pleasant to not be glued to the workings of Washington 24/7? Think of all the energy that can be devoted to other efforts.

RESPECT THE YOUTH

Climate change is their number one passion. Acknowledge this and do something about it. The youth are our future, because they get old and become us after we die.

COMPASSION

Is history on a national level. The right says government is bad and the church will save you and the left is burned out. Compassion, like politics, which was reinforced in Georgia, is always local. Build from there. And know the less people have, the more compassionate they are.

CHANGE HAPPENS OVERNIGHT

Republicans might be bitching about electric cars, but Europe and China are all in. Keep saying you won’t drive an electric automobile, just like you said you wouldn’t buy a computer (assuming you’re old enough to remember this), and you will be proven wrong. The train has left the station. Forget range anxiety, recharging stations, they’re the penumbra. VW is all-in. In Europe the government is subsidizing the industry. Once again, we’re backward in the U.S., other than being the home base of the biggest outfit in the business, Tesla. Which still is light years ahead of the competition, five years according to Dan Neil, America’s number one automotive writer: https://on.wsj.com/37ZCygb

IMPERFECT RULES

If you’re waiting to get it right, you’re missing your window. Forget the gotchas, forget the grifters, if you’re doing your best don’t wait to get it exactly right before releasing or publishing, fix along the way. Society is fluid and you have to be fluid too, changing and improving as you progress.

BELONGING

That’s the key to society today, everybody wants to belong, to show their stripes. Which is how BTS got so big, it was not only the music, but a whole culture fans could invest in, which is why those not infected, not members of the fan base, don’t get it. This translates to so many other clubs, unfortunately many based on falsehoods. Get a good idea and then organize, make people feel they’re part of a cause, that they count.

IGNORANCE IS RAMPANT

With all this information at people’s fingertips, truth has suffered.

EMOTIONS HAVE TRIUMPHED OVER FACTS

Let’s start with the anti-vaxxers. They don’t want anyone touching their precious bodies. If we listened to them, all forward movement would be stopped. It’s the early adopters who get it right, and nothing in life is a hundred percent safe, NOTHING! Same deal with boomers and tech. They’re in future shock, they want to return to simpler times, kind of like the MAGA crowd, but that is never going to happen, NEVER!

MOVIES/TV

There is nothing we all watch, NOTHING! The most talked about shows of the past year were “Tiger King” and “Queen’s Gambit.” Quick, poll people, how many have seen both? Nowhere near as many as you think. Yet, media still reviews everything on network TV and considers streaming a second class citizen when both of the aforementioned shows are on Netflix. Too many reporters leave their brains at the door. They’re so busy getting the story that they can’t see the story, they can’t analyze it, they can’t put it in context. Unfortunately, if you want to see where things are going, you’re going to have to find your own seer online.

THE TYRANNY OF CHOICE

The more you give, the more people are overwhelmed and refrain from participating. If you’re trying to garner new fans, seed them with very little product. Best to have a steady flow of little product than an overwhelming dump of a lot.

COMPLAINTS

Go nowhere today. They’re forgotten. And oftentimes there’s not even anyone to complain to, try tweeting Apple, it cannot be done! Your goal is to improve your own little life. You need to seek out your own answers. Google is your friend. When you don’t know something, immediately go to Google, don’t ask the purveyor, you just look dumb, they put in the effort, why can’t you? Same deal with tech help. Figure it out yourself, once again Google is your friend. This is a huge sea change between the past and the present and future, between the young and the old. If you need to call someone to fix your problem, forget it, you’re already history. If you’re complaining your product didn’t last, you’re forgetting that if it was available at all, in the past it was ten times the price and it doesn’t pay to repair it.

MONEY

Everyone’s got an angle, look for it. You can no longer be passive, you’re your own information repository, you must learn to analyze and seek truth, knowing that there are charlatans who are trying to influence you falsely. That’s what America lacks most, intellectually anyway, the power to analyze. How do facts fit together, where are things going. I’ll give you a clue, altruism is out the window, everybody’s trying to get rich, put this viewpoint into your mental mix, it will help you see the landscape more clearly.