Chicago II – Spotify

We wanted to get closer to the music.

We grew up in an era where music came out of a small speaker in the dashboard, a tiny speaker on the side of the all-in-one record player in our bedroom, the muffled speaker on the front of the console in the living room. Meanwhile, recording went from mono to twenty four tracks and there were things to hear, things you could hear, if you just got a better system and a pair of headphones, stereo was the computer of its era. You saved your pennies to afford a separates system with big speakers that allowed you to blast your tunes purely, without distortion, to allow the sound to envelop you.

And the people making this music knew this. It was a mutual acceleration into a technical future where sound was everything, which required the players knew how to play and the engineers knew how to record and you knew how to listen.

And listen we did. We didn’t want no Pandora, background music, our tunes were positively foreground. We bought our albums, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle and luxuriated in the sound over and over and over again, we had a limited number of albums and we played them.

And one of the albums I played was by Chicago Transit Authority. A double LP package for only a dollar more, this is the one with “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, the one with the protesters in the Windy City chanting “The whole world is watching…”, there were no hits but there didn’t need to be, music lived in our lairs, with FM radio as our best friend.

And that initial double LP made inroads over time, and what a concept it was, an expansion of Al Kooper’s paradigm for Blood, Sweat & Tears, a big band with even more horns, Chicago was made up of PLAYERS! And suddenly they had hits and none of the albums were singles, as in they were doubles or more, and then they went for radio play and their credibility evaporated. But before that…

The linchpin was guitarist Terry Kath, who died via misadventure, putting a dent in a band that ultimately never recovered. How much of a rock and roll fan am I that I know his replacement was Donnie Dacus, only Kath could never be replaced, he might have been a player, but he was nearly as integral to his band as Jim Morrison was to the Doors. And you can hear that, on Steven Wilson’s remix of “Make Me Smile,” listen at 2:45, it’s like you’re six inches away and Terry is picking and you instantly see the difference between then and now, then you spoke with your instrument and today you vocalize on social media. You realize how damn good he was.

Not that the rest of the band is not stellar.

I’d be lying if I told you I liked “Chicago II” as much as the debut, but I bought it and know it but haven’t played it in forever although I do hear the hits on the radio every once in a while, the aforementioned “Make Me Smile” and “25 Or 6 To 4,” but listening now I’m reminded of that pre-distraction era, when you’d sit alone in your bedroom and play all four sides of the album, be taken away to another place, put in a mood, and when you listen to Steven Wilson’s remix you’ll be reminded too.

Yes, kind of a strange pick in theory, after King Crimson and Jethro Tull, but like the members of those bands, the ones in Chicago could play, and when you strip away the detritus you’re positively wowed at what is revealed.

It’s a one percent difference. But oh what a difference it makes!

Listen to the remix and then listen to the original. There’s just a bit more separation, a bit more clarity, but it’s like getting glasses after years of not knowing you’re nearsighted, you’re stunned at what you can see, what you can hear.

And on one hand I think nobody cares. These are ancient records that have been remastered and oversold since the CD era, but what seems like a rip-off ends up being a revelation, Steven Wilson has made these tracks new again. And what is revealed is MUSIC!

You remember music, don’t you?

When bands like Led Zeppelin wouldn’t deign to play the Grammys, never mind beg wankers like Ken Ehrlich for permission to do so. When bands said no instead of yes, why duet when the original needed nothing in addition. Want to impress me? Resurrect Sandy Denny to sing along with Robert Plant on “Battle Of Evermore,” bring back Maggie Bell to sing vocal abrasives with Rod Stewart on “Every Picture Tells A Story,” how about a little respect for the music that was  the foundation of our lives before everybody got lost in the chatter that this connected world affords us, when the musicians were Gods and we consumed their work like manna from heaven.

Hearing this remix makes me want to lock the door with my iPhone outside, go on a drive with the music pouring out of the speakers, just immerse myself in the sound and reconnect with what once was and now that Steven Wilson has performed his magic forevermore will be.

That’s right, play this stuff for young ‘uns, they’ll get it. Because it’s crystal clear, it shows the power of players as opposed to performers, it’s a religious experience.

It’s the one minute and eleven second “So Much To Say, So Much To Give” that’s my personal favorite, with its sing-songy middle, like being on an amusement park ride, I remember getting up off the couch and dropping the needle again and again, before one could isolate and replay with digital.

Night after night.

Day after day.

We used to listen to our music.

There were no mobile phones, never mind iPods or Walkmen, listening was a spiritual experience, a ritual. So what you need to do is pull up this music and plug in your headphones and marvel in the sound as it washes over you.

You’ll be reminded of what once was and still is.

Colbert beat Fallon.

This is astounding news, since Colbert’s show was a disaster that required the hiring of an executive producer, and was an endeavor far from what made Colbert a star to begin with.

Colbert made it on politics. Playing a character. Having an edge.

And then he went on at 11:30 on CBS and did David Letterman’s show just like everybody else at that hour.

And that’s a mistake. Never imitate, never follow, always test the limits, always be yourself.

Prior to Letterman late night was informational. Sure, there was comedy, but not every interview was scripted with a joke and intellectuals and writers got airtime too. But then David made it all about hijinks and everybody else did too. And Leno was canned and Fallon replaced him and the media couldn’t stop fawning over the edgeless Jimmy, the nice guy who was nice to everybody.

But that paradigm is dead.

If you’re playing to everybody, you’re playing to nobody. That’s the story of the past five years, the plethora of information that makes it nearly impossible to get your message heard. Feel lucky you have an audience at all. And satiate it, not those who don’t care.

Trump taught us a lot of lessons. That you didn’t have to pull your punches, that you could have a rough identity and people would identify with it. Now don’t get your left wing knickers in a twist, of course the Donald has said heinous things, but what was most fascinating was that the media believed that his faux pas would derail his campaign and they did not. What are you not doing because you’re afraid of the blowback that would actually help you?

Now don’t think that late night television counts. It doesn’t. The king of late night television is on in the morning, and his show is repeated 24/7, that is Howard Stern. Sirius XM has 31 million subscribers. And Sirius didn’t even have a million before Stern signed on. Stern reaches more people than any of the late night nitwits. If you want to get your message across, go there. As for those bitching the show is adolescent bathroom humor, the truth is they don’t listen and those who do appreciate Stern’s honesty. It’s a fine line Howard walks, he’s an authority but pokes fun at himself. He’s honed his act over forty years, and that’s why the young ‘uns can’t compete.

But Colbert was the odd man out until he went anti-Trump.

Fallon’s being nice to everybody, and his ratings are tanking.

Last year, Fallon averaged 3.6 million viewers. Now he doesn’t even break 3. Colbert had 2.8 million viewers for the week of January 30, 12,000 more than Fallon!

So what this tells us is to ignore conventional wisdom. The publicists have their disinformation campaigns wherein they convince media outlets to print that which is not true. Furthermore, institutions avoid danger. Expecting a big protest at the Grammys? Not. Ken Ehrlich will threaten a ban, some odd person will make a statement, but the Grammys have to be safe for America. Which is an odd concept, since the President is not safe for America, but the point is by time it’s broadcast by the usual suspects, it’s wrong.

Second, every niche is hungry for truth and edge, they want people like them, with an identity. This is what musical performers are getting wrong, never mind the late night nitwits. They’re wary of criticism by those who don’t care. Trump got elected despite the left wing bitching. Ignore the haters, truly!

The opposition is working the refs. Don’t succumb to the blowback.

Want to succeed tomorrow?

Have an opinion. When the press blows it up, stay steady. People will know your name, those who follow you will be impressed, and those who don’t can be safely ignored. This is not the eighties where a limited number of acts were on MTV and spooned out singles from albums for years around the world. Even the biggest acts are unknown by many. I dare most people to sing two Taylor Swift songs and the average adult has no idea who the Weeknd is. Just like you don’t know the number one and two video games and have never been to a live video game competition. If you’re feeling holier-than-thou, the joke is on you. There’s just too much information.

Think Velcro. It only works with hooks. The audience is the loops. Unless you have hooks, in your songs, in your personality, you won’t get anywhere. Think rough, not smooth.

And know that everybody is lonely and looking for connection, and when they resonate with your truth and identity, you’re golden.

Colbert stopped playing it safe and triumphed.

When are you gonna do the same thing?

“Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Tops ‘Tonight Show’ in Total Viewers”

Steven Wilson’s Benefit – Spotify

RADIOACTIVE TOY

Prog rock bands were kind of like hair bands. They ascended from nowhere and imploded overnight. And one can argue that the pretentiousness killed prog rock, the capes and the multi-sided albums, but unlike hair bands, prog rock did not begin with cynicism, rather it was an exploration, a group of players who knew how to play who decided to test limits, before punk came along as a reaction to all of it and made simplicity a virtue, one can argue that the ability to play has never recovered, it was a badge of honor to be able to not only wail, but noodle, hang together as a band, when Rick Wakeman and Yes peaked they were positively deserving of the attention.

Stunningly, prog rock still survives, but it’s a minor scene, sub-metal, for diehards only, but one of its foremost practitioners is Steven Wilson, most famous for fronting the band Porcupine Tree, and long before they had their ill-fated Lava deal, they were making music deserving attention, and as evidence of this I point to this live rendition of “Radioactive Toy.”

I only discovered it the other night, on my late night hejira through Mr. Wilson’s oeuvre, I searched for the studio take on the plethora of streaming services and all that came up was this live iteration.

“It’s the last song of the evening, it’s called ‘Radioactive Toy.'”

Live recordings usually pale in comparison to the studio versions. Maybe they’ve got more energy, but they fall flat, the instruments don’t soar, there’s not the same atmosphere, but not here.

Run through forests on a hot summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain
Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy

You’re immediately taken away, this is not the immediacy of the Top Forty, this is an aural journey to a distant landscape which only like-minded people inhabit, back when going to the show was a religious experience wherein you paid fealty to the performers, taking photos of yourself and your buddies was anathema. Hang in there until the guitar starts to wail, you’ll be stunned you’re the only one aware of this 1997 rendition of a 1992 original, when Wilson implores the audience to sing along, saying “You!” and everybody comes in on time with the correct words, whew!

(Meanwhile, if you’re interested in the studio original, for some reason it’s not on streaming services, but it is on YouTube:

Porcupine Tree – Radioactive toy

TRAINS

Having been blown away by this live rendition of “Radioactive Toy,” I decided to go deeper, I decided to see what the most played Porcupine Tree songs on Spotify happened to be. And I was stunned that my personal favorite was number one, with 6,232,614 streams.

Andy Karp had signed Porcupine Tree to Jason Flom’s Lava label. A full service enterprise akin to Bob Krasnow’s Elektra, no two Lava acts sounded alike, they were as different as Kid Rock and Matchbox Twenty and the Corrs and Porcupine Tree.

This was back before streaming, before Bluetooth in cars, before the satellite radio revolution, back when you had a CD changer in the trunk and had your six favorite discs installed, one of mine was Porcupine Tree’s “In Absentia,” I used to pull up “Trains” and drive around L.A. in a trance, nodding my head, singing along.

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

I don’t believe in remixes. Because by time they’re done redoing the record it no longer resembles the original, and it’s the one I know I want to hear, kind of like some tracks should only be heard in mono, certainly not fake stereo. So when I heard Steven Wilson remixed Jethro Tull’s “Benefit” I shrugged, I did not care.

“Benefit.”

Purists will tell you the best Tull album is the first, “This Was,” with Mick Abrahams. And the funny thing is once you go back to it you see how special it was, I can see fans being turned off by what followed, but I didn’t hear “This Was” first, I got hooked by “Benefit.”

Now at this late date I’ll tell you the best is the second, “Stand Up,” which did, as in when you opened the gatefold cover the band popped up, but I have such memories of “Benefit.”

It started with “To Cry You A Song,” the one the critics hated, because it was not far removed from riff rock. And it was one quite powerful riff, but it was the soundtrack to one of the most frightening moments of my life, the first weekend of college, when John Morosani gave us a ride back from the President’s reception in his Trans Am and slid through the corners at a hundred miles an hour on Route 125, laughing all the way.

I was sitting on the transmission hump in the back, where there was no seatbelt, I saw my life ending before classes had even begun. But I lived through the experience, Moron’s time at driving school paid off. And after removing “Benefit” from the 8-track he inserted Frijid Pink, which I have not heard since, but after that ride I needed to own “Benefit.”

And late at night, long after midnight, when I cannot relax, I oftentimes pull up aged classics on Spotify and wallow in the sound. But what’s fascinating is these records have been reissued and remastered so many times that you oftentimes get hooked on songs you weren’t planning to hear to begin with. Like Elton John’s “Bad Side Of The Moon.”

“Tumbleweed Connection” is a better LP, but at this late date it’s the American debut I keep spinning, it’s the sound, like it was cut in a cathedral, just listen to “Sixty Years On” or “The King Must Die,” you’ll get what I mean. But the remastered version of the American debut has a studio take of “Bad Side Of The Moon,” which most people have never heard but dedicated fans know, because it’s the opening cut on side two of “11/17/70,” one of the four albums Elton put out that year, a live recording that originated as a radio broadcast on that date. The rest of the tracks had been previously released, all except for “Bad Side Of The Moon” and “Can I Put You On.”

But, a studio take of “Can I Put You On” came out, on the soundtrack to “Friends,” with the dynamite title track and…

I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day
Like a blind street musician I never see those who pay

Now you’re a member of a secret society, you’re one of the very few who’s ever heard this cut, and if you’re an Elton fan you’ll swoon, first and foremost there’s that intro guitar sound, enough to make you feel you’ve died and gone to heaven, and then Elton tickles the ivories and sings about that blind street musician and you feel like you’ve been transported to Newcastle Upon Tyne, even if you’ve never been there before.

And this is what my late night listening is like, I get inspired to hear one record and that leads me to different tracks and that initial Elton album was a staple on my turntable at the same time as I was spinning “Benefit” so I searched for that Tull album and found this Steven Wilson remix. And of course I started with side two, so I could hear “To Cry You A Song,” but it was the following track, “A Time For Everything,” that was the revelation.

Hold on to your hat, grip your seat, put on your headphones and be prepared to be blown away.

First there’s Martin Barre’s stinging guitar, it always got you in the gut, but today you can feel the sting.

And Ian Anderson’s vocal is not buried in the mix, he’s at the center and you can hear every word, along with his flute, and suddenly you realize you can hear each and every instrument and it sounds like the original only more vibrant and more immediate, it’s a REVELATION!

SOSSITY YOU’RE A WOMAN

This is ultimately the best cut on “Benefit,” and you need to listen to it, you need to hear this entire remix of “Benefit,” even the unearthed bonus track “17,” which is dark in a way most people who hate Tull don’t realize is an element of the canon.

“Sossity” is the closest to what came before, what came thereafter was gigantic, “Aqualung” made Tull superstars, and then they pushed the envelope with “Thick As A Brick” and became legends, because that’s what you did back then, you used your success as a platform to innovate, to jump off and do something different.

And if you think these LPs are set in amber, irrelevant, you’ve got to listen to Steven Wilson’s remixes, because he makes them sound like they were cut today, they’re so alive. He demands that Tull be completely reevaluated, and you never would have heard these recordings if it weren’t for streaming services, wallow in your good fortune.

I went to public school. When taxes were high, there was enough paper for the mimeo machine and Mr. McCann taught music in the basement.

We pledged allegiance, learned that anybody could be President, but it don’t really happen that way at all anymore.

Ever get the feeling the game is rigged? Those who voted for Trump famously say this, but I feel this way too. I grew up and never saw a Ferrari. An exotic vacation was a family trip on Eastern Airlines to Florida, a journey I never took, and we all agreed that Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor were speaking the truth.

Of course there was that blip on the radar screen called the Vietnam War, and as one got older it scared the living daylights out of you, because you realized you might get your ass shot off in an unjustified meaningless conflict, but LBJ countered his aggression with his Great Society plan and even Richard Nixon opened China and now I’m looking for the silver lining in Trump’s victory and I can’t find one.

I know, he won, we lost. I got it. Fair and square. I won’t even complain about the Comey letter or Russian hacking. Hell, I won’t even bring up the lopsided popular vote. But I will bring up gerrymandering. Where Democrats win the House but lose it. Where Republicans lose their seats to right wing zealots. Where our country is pulled in a direction where it’s every man for himself, women and minorities are second-class citizens, and the rich run herd over the rest of us.

Amway is a pyramid scheme. And its heir, with no experience in public education, seemingly no experience in education at all, is now in charge of the learning of the nation’s students. Expect the gap to get bigger. Expect the disadvantaged to fall further behind. Meanwhile, all the blame is heaped upon the backs of unions.

Did I have lousy teachers in school? Of course! Did people get tenure who I wish had not? Of course! But please explain to me what society you want, one in which no one can ever lose their job or a pure meritocracy with no safety net.

The truth is there are inefficiencies in all businesses. Money falls through the cracks. But there’s a fiction that when it comes to government, all dollars must be accounted for, spent wisely, or else the beast needs to be starved.

Well, education is being starved right now.

I went to one of America’s finest colleges. My father paid full freight. And the truth is that although I learned tons outside of the classroom, the teachers I had in my public high school were more influential. Mrs. Hurley taught me to challenge authority. Mr. Harrity taught me how to write. Mrs. Spitalny took a student with a progress report in Algebra, who was doing it by trial and error, and made him the smartest guy in the class, with an A+ in both Geometry and Alegbra II. And none of these educators got rich, they were doing it for the love of inspiring students.

And there was no religious instruction. And we thought that the world was our oyster.

And today most students cannot contain two opposing thoughts in their brain at the same time. They don’t know how to analyze a situation. The focus is on creating automatons who can perform on the test when the truth is education should be about developing the person, making not only good workers, but good contributors, people who make our society whole.

But a segment of the population wants to leave the rest behind. Take their God and their privilege to create private enclaves where the rest of us are left out and told either to follow in lockstep or be forgotten.

How did we get here? Where everybody believes they’re entitled to every dollar they make and the general good is irrelevant, where those who triumphed financially believe they can run herd over those of us who have not?

So the same Republicans who fought Trump now support him.

And the President is a one man disinformation campaign.

And there’s no accountability because the proletariat can’t understand the issues and isn’t paying attention anyway.

We are in this together folks. And the best candidate for a job may be a woman. But not this woman.

P.S. We may be winning the immigration battle, but not only have we lost the education battle, but we’re going down for the count on financial issues and truth just went out the window. And if you wonder how the President can lie and get away with it I’ll point to an entertainment industry that lies for a living, which the news media does not call them on, busy boosting their false heroes. All those shows the newspaper says sell out? Oftentimes they do not. But if the media can’t get it right on the small stuff, what are the odds it can get it right on the big stuff? What are the odds that an abused public is gonna be outraged when a President spews falsehoods when everybody is lying and cheating to get ahead? Bill Gates is a national hero, yet Microsoft succeeded by charging for Windows whether it was installed or not.

P.P.S. It can’t happen here, but it has. Ever since election day I’ve been in a black mood. And I understand those who voted for Trump out of frustration with the status quo, but this guy has thrown the baby out with the bathwater, he’s a bull in a china shop. And if you think he’s making you more safe, getting you a better job with a higher wage, keeping the immigrant from taking your gig, then you should have lobbied your congressperson to vote against DeVos, because you got a bad education, you can’t see that they want your support, but they don’t want you, you’re just a pawn in their game.

P.P.P.S. The only way we can reach the vast swath of voters and change this country’s direction is via entertainment, because it’s the only thing people are paying attention to. It’s incumbent upon movies, television and musicians and other artists to stand up and speak truth. But they’re all silent, because they’re afraid of jeopardizing their income. Tech companies lobby against immigration nonsense, musicians sign sponsorship deals. One can argue strongly that the plight of the native American didn’t reach national consciousness until Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather on stage to accept his Oscar. He was derided at the time, made fun of, but he brought the issue to a head. And his performance in the “Godfather” lives on while I challenge you to name the head of the Academy at that time, never mind the channel the show was broadcast on. You’ve got to start somewhere. There are more of us than them. Our only hope is to mobilize. This is a long hard slog that so far is going in the wrong direction and until you and me start standing up and organizing, we’re doomed.