Woman Of Heart And Mind – Spotify

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Sometime, hopefully not soon, Joni Mitchell will die, what will reaction be?

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I think I first heard of Joni Mitchell when Judy Collins had her monster hit with “Both Sides Now.” The irony was the hook was the instrumentation and the changes, the lyrics were secondary, then again it’s said that women get words first, and men, sometimes not at all. It was years before I heard Joni’s take, which is radically different, slowed down, meaningful, but that was because no one I knew owned the LP. At this point I’m enamored of “Clouds,” maybe because I got deeply into it in the eighties, long after its debut, long after Joni Mitchell peaked, when I found a cut-out copy at a store in Los Angeles, record buying was an adventure, I miss that aspect of it, the hunt, the surprise, but I wouldn’t want to go back to those times, when you were a victim of inventory and you only had a limited number of dollars in your pocket. “Chelsea Morning” was also a Judy Collins staple, but the winners on “Clouds” are the darker tracks, like the opener “Tin Angel” and the number covered in the movie “Alice’s Restaurant,” “Songs To Aging Children Come.” And if you’ve ever questioned your status in a relationship, a late night listening of “I Don’t Know Where I Stand” will blow your mind and if you’re familiar with Bonnie Raitt’s more famous version you’ll enjoy “That Song About The Midway,” it sounds like a waif being blown by the wind on the prairie remembering what once was, it’s so intimate, Joni Mitchell was always so intimate.

But I got on the Joni Mitchell bandwagon with “Ladies Of The Canyon.” I went to see James Taylor at Harvard in the spring of 1970, just after “Sweet Baby James” came out, and he sang “For Free,” they were in a relationship then, it was so rare that someone covered the song of another, artists were too busy selling what they’d recorded, but it resonated, it was not something I forgot. But then my sister, the one I’d visited in Boston, came home from college early, after all it was right after Kent State, revolution was in the air, finals were cancelled, and she bought “Ladies Of The Canyon.”

“Ladies Of The Canyon” contains “The Circle Game,” a well-known song at this point in time, something sung in youth group, as well as the trifle “Big Yellow Taxi” which has become famous for its couplet “They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot,” but the heart of the album is much deeper, and once again, darker. Be sure to listen to “Rainy Night House,” especially on a rainy night, it’s like Joni is speaking just to you, that was part of her magic, she wasn’t playing to everybody, just somebody, and “The Priest” is equally haunting but the killer is “The Arrangement.”

You could have been more
Than a name on the door
On the thirty-third floor in the air
More than a credit card
Swimming pool in the backyard

This was back before everybody was playing it safe, society being so rough, having killed themselves to get into a good school, they didn’t go for the brass ring, but in the sixties and seventies people were in search of themselves, of enlightenment, today everybody’s in search of middle management, otherwise known as the bank. But back then our heroes were not boasting that their lives were better than ours, rather they were looking inside and revealing their personal truth, which you turned over in your brain before you made your own decisions, before corporate rock, before disco, before Reagan legitimized greed and MTV made it about image.

Then came the apotheosis, “Blue,” which was chiaroscuro, alternately dark and light, depressed and exhilarated, and at this point “A Case Of You” is well-known but none of the tracks made the radio, but every time I return to the Golden State “California” plays in my head, I want to kiss a Sunset pig, I’m glad I’m back in the land of the enlightened and free. The same people who elected our new President denigrate my adopted homeland, but at this late date it’s where it still happens, Governor Moonbeam is back in office and most of the gadgets you’re enamored of were invented here, and there’s no better place to be in these days of turmoil, after all Joni sang “They won’t give peace a chance, That was just a dream some of us had,” I don’t know how we got here but I’m gonna do my best to soldier on, life went on after Nixon, it will continue after Trump.

Then came “For The Roses.”

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It was eighteen months after “Blue,” the end of the year, and for the first time Joni Mitchell had a hit, “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio,” but its sunniness was not in evidence on the rest of the LP, then again, despite coursing along with a certain relentless drive the lyrics were a bit more complicated, with a turn of the phrase beyond anything you’ll hear on the radio today.

I know you don’t like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don’t like strong women
‘Cause they’re hip to your tricks

Must be complicated if you’re a woman. Men are all about looks. But if you’re subservient to them they treat you like crap, and too often if you’re yourself they reject you. Meanwhile, the guys you know keep protesting they’re looking for someone real, someone who’s not a Barbie doll. And everybody’s judging each other all the time and even back then we were all worried about image, what will satisfy us…frequently nothing, makes me believe we were better off in the days of arranged marriage, truly.

And the song that follows “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio” on the LP goes even deeper on this topic, “Blonde In The Bleachers” talks about the perks of fame, the “Lovin’ ’em and leavin’ ’em” that ultimately leaves you empty. But the heart and soul of “For The Roses” comes next, “Woman Of Heart And Mind.”

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I am a woman of heart and mind
With time on her hands
No child to raise
You come to me like a little boy
And I give you my scorn and my praise

No one can have it all, neither women nor men. Some of us choose not to have children. While you’re sleep-deprived, changing nappies as you ponder where your progeny will go to school, the rest of us are less selfless, we want to make it all about us, and when you encounter a person like this not only have they thought about where they’re coming from, they’re ready to engage, ready to go mano a mano, and it’s everything you’re looking for and yet sometimes too much. (Now at this late date we know that Joni Mitchell had a child, whom she was not raising, but this was before the internet, this was before everybody knew everything about everybody.)

You think I’m like your mother

Nothing turns off a woman more. They say they want to take care of you, but not in this way. They don’t want you to cry on their shoulder, despite protesting that they want you to reveal your feelings, the truth is they don’t want you to reveal weakness, but they will give you a chance, but don’t disappoint them.

Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don’t it leave you on the empty side

You’re out being a Neanderthal, competing in the business world like you did in sports, claiming your trophies, but the women you desire most are unimpressed, these are not the games they play, especially those not looking for a sperm donor, but a companion. But when they call you on it you run away, you hate to be revealed, but you’re drawn to their truth, ah, the conundrum.

So what works?

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You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don’t try
When you don’t even try

Oh, how times have changed. Used to be boasting was unseemly. Now we’ve got a whole paradigm based on that, known as social media. A President-to-be who employs Twitter to tell us how great he is, no wonder he marries mindless foreigners, who else would put up with this? Why are we putting up with the pretenders of today’s music scene? Who believe dues are for pussies and are willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder all the while purveying their fake stories of how great their lives are. Didn’t used to be that way.

Maybe it’s still not that way.

That’s the story of this year, the disconnect between what we’re sold and reality. And maybe the reality is most of us don’t care about models frolicking on the beach, and have no desire to listen to most of the music on the hit parade. Maybe you should lead with your reputation, your good deeds, your efforts, maybe that’s enough, but society keeps telling us it’s not. You’re supposed to be selling 24/7, not only your product, but yourself. Self-improvement is the name of the game, read books by nincompoops giving advice for those who are not you while you get plastic surgery trying to impress somebody who doesn’t exist. The truth is we’re all flawed, perfect doesn’t exist, but with all these people yelling how great they are we end up feeling inferior, which is just how they want it, it’s a kind of mind control and we used to depend on artists to combat it, to speak the truth, but that paradigm is gone, as soon as anyone gets traction they play by the rules, hell, they’re obeying the rules from the get-go, whereas true artists question authority and convention, but with elected officials putting down arts majors no one wants to be the other, we all want to fit in, whereas the truth is none of us do, all of us are square pegs, you’ve got to stop looking for round holes.

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The breakthrough came a year later, in January ’74, with the release of “Court and Spark.” The sound was slicker, radio embraced the sunny songs and suddenly Joni Mitchell was the beacon for women all over the world, even though she’d begun a decade before. Not that men didn’t cotton to her too, it’s just that she was the guiding light for women who were looking for someone who could speak to their experience, who they thought got them, who could lead the way.

And then Joni Mitchell took a left turn. She refused to be what she was, what people expected of her. She embraced jazz influences, she released her 1976 masterpiece “Hejira” with no singles but more truth than any mixtape. She continued, playing her own game. To the point where a few decades on she stopped, she decided to paint instead.

And Joni Mitchell recently experienced a health scare, but she’s still here. As is her music. But no one ever talks about it. This is not Leonard Cohen, an outsider who came back late in his career and went on tour because he needed the money, no, Joni Mitchell is taking no victory lap, except for Herbie Hancock’s covers album that won that Grammy that probably worked against her as opposed to for her, after all, the victory was undeserved, there was much better product in the marketplace.

But none of it as good as Joni’s best work.

She had a streak.

They talk about the Beatles, they talk about Stevie Wonder, but Joni Mitchell released five killers in a row, and hit peaks thereafter. But everything she represents seems to be done.

Paying your dues, doing it your way, not sacrificing, not playing anyone’s game… There are people who say they do this today, the only problem is none of them are half the songwriter Joni Mitchell is.

So now what?

Our heroes have been passing with scary regularity. To the point we honor them for a week and then move on, we just can’t handle the pain. But a lot of the records they made are period pieces, whereas Joni’s output sounds as fresh today as it was yesterday, there’s wisdom in these tracks, stuff people need to hear. Because sometimes it’s the human condition that confounds us most, that confuses us and we need guidance with regard to, that’s what Joni Mitchell did, she illuminated her life which made clear our life, she posited all the questions, it was up to us to come up with the answers.

David Geffen is still in the news, giving away his money, but one thing I know is every time I go out a Joni Mitchell song plays in my head.

That’s right, when I go to people’s parties I’m on guard, everybody seems so comfortable and part of me wants to run while I contemplate navigating the scene.

But the truth is the photo beauty, the banker, the elected official, they’re no different from me or you, Joni Mitchell told us this, not to put everybody else in their place but to level the playing field, and the key is to play, if you stay home nothing unexpected happens, and it’s the unforeseen, the unanticipated that makes life worth living.

Maybe laughing and crying are the same release. Maybe that’s why we crack jokes after someone dies. Maybe we need music to help us get through. Maybe we don’t hear about Joni Mitchell on a regular basis because she’s baked into our consciousness.

She’s baked into mine.

Whipping Post – Spotify

There’s a canard that we’re living in the dark ages of audio quality, that files are lo-res and we’re just not hearing what we used to. But that’s forgetting the fact that for most of the previous era people experienced bad playback systems, the all-in-ones of the sixties, the homebrew speakers of the seventies, the cassettes of the eighties and the boomboxes of the nineties, kinda like all the blowback about Spotify ripping off musicians, which is patently untrue, all streaming services pay out 70% or so of their revenues to rightsholders, yet we keep hearing from Neil Young and recording professionals that today’s sound sucks.

But this is wrong.

Yes, chances are if you’re an earbud kinda person you’re not hearing the best quality, but never forget that Beats sold to Apple for billions, and despite those cans being a far cry from Sennheisers, never mind Sonys, they’re probably the best reproductive system their users have ever owned, and that’s a good thing.

Now the scapegoat for all this sound backlash is streaming services, but these services have unearthed previously unheard cuts that are extremely rewarding. The only problem is you oftentimes don’t even know they’ve been released. I got e-mail about new Beach Boys live recordings from the sixties, who knew?

And who knew that Eric Clapton had recut “Anyday” in San Diego? I’d say to check it out, but even better is the remastered take, from “Layla,” it sounds just a bit different, but satisfying in its own way. Even more interesting is Bobby Whitlock’s live rendition with CoCo Carmel, from the album “Carnival,” the vocal is imperfect, but the guitars have power, the song is driving down the track, you’ll want to listen, once, at least.

But the key to the original “Anyday” is Duane Allman. So I decided to pull up “Idlewild South” on Spotify, who knew there was a deluxe remastered package?

First and foremost, there’s a plethora of live takes, from the Ludlow Garage show back in 1970. Actually, those were released previously, back in 1990, but I don’t ever remember hearing the “Midnight Rider” alternate mix, and I’d like to tell you it’s a revelation, but it’s not.

But “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin'” was.

Actually, many a time I just started at “Midnight Rider,” dropped the needle right there and let the LP play through “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” but when I heard it Sunday, after starting with “Revival,” I suddenly got it, that’s one amazing thing about music, not only that these songs are land mines, waiting to be discovered at some time in the future, but that with age, wisdom and a new perspective you gain insight, can understand them in ways you were previously unable to.

Actually, it’s the screaming guitar riff, that sustains, that sounds like a train coming down the track, that makes the cut. But suddenly the words spoke out to me too.

Oh, tell me ’bout the car I saw
Parked outside your door
Tell me what you left me waiting
Two or three hours for

Oh, this is a song about infidelity.

Right! But not the kind you think.

I love it when rock stars show vulnerability, she’s been keeping him waiting for all that time, I certainly wouldn’t hang around for that long. But what’s truly happening…

Tell me why when the phone rings baby
You’re up and across the floor
Please don’t keep me wonderin’ no longer

Yup, a guy on the other end of the line, he should be worried about losing her.

And he should, but not to a guy, but to…

I think about the bad times
Lord I think about yours and mine
You were lost in the silver spoon
Thought I pulled you out in time

He didn’t. Pull her out in time. The silver spoon? Who in 1970 had even seen cocaine? Musicians. On the road, slugging it out. There’s experience in this lyric that I did not have, that I still may not have.

And I’m listening to “Idlewild South” and the numbers that never resonated that much do and I’m wondering if my original opinion that the record was uneven was wrong and then I decide to put on my favorite, the debut, made with Adrian Barber, that most people don’t know, it’s the blueprint, for what came later, it’s closer to “Fillmore East” than “Idlewild South,” it contains “Trouble No More.”

That’s right, the initial LP, stiff upon release, one that’s never been fully embraced, is my number one. But when I pulled it up last night, I was positively stunned, it sounded undeniable, from the initial instrumental “Don’t Want You No More” all the way to its finish at the original five minute take of “Whipping Post.”

I wondered what made them decide to begin with an instrumental, then I remembered this was the era of “Abraxas,” but that came later! It’s almost like they weren’t worried about commercialism, but if you listen to this now you’ll want to tell all your friends, it’s mellifluous and overpowering and then…

The whole thing slows down and Gregg starts singing that it’s not his cross to bear and I feel like I’m in an alternative universe, like my head is back in the seventies, ’69 in this case, I GET IT!

And, of course, I have to listen to my favorite cut on the LP, the cover of the McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, classic “Trouble No More.” It’s like you’re in a bar, not a club with a deejay, no one’s dressed up, everybody’s just getting loosened up, via the alcohol, but the real elixir is the music, it’s stirring you up, got your head nodding, got you in the groove.

And then I decided to play…

“Whipping Post.”

The side-long take is the famous one. It’s almost a cliche, with people requesting it at other acts’ concerts, I like it but I never really need to hear it again, and even the Allmans themselves seemed to be going through the motions the last time I heard them perform it at the Beacon, but the five minute take is my secret weapon, I decide I’ll listen for a few seconds, but I can’t turn it off, WHAT IS GOING ON?

Now you’ve got to understand, this was not today, when you spread the word first and practice second, if at all. Listening to this old stuff you realize why Bill Graham had the Allmans close the Fillmore, why he considered them the best live band out there, despite all the legends who’d already broken through, they were so well-rehearsed, they were totally locked-in.

But this is the studio iteration, it’s supposed to be restricted, it’s not supposed to have the feel, the explosion, the sound of the live take, but this cut is playing in my headphones and I’m positively stunned, there’s so much energy, so much drive, I could listen to this all night!

And you should too!

I did some research. I was worried these deluxe versions of the first two albums were remixes, something I pooh-pooh, don’t mess with the original, but the credits say they’re just remastered, how can that be? I pulled up the originals, the instruments were all stuck together, the sound was distant, whereas when I went back to the remasters I could hear all the elements, the detritus had been stripped away, the music shined.

You’ve got to check this stuff out. The better the speakers, the better the sound, but a cursory pair of headphones will do the trick, you’ll be positively stunned.

And you won’t know what to do, the radio station doesn’t care, the press either, all you can do is tell people, the way it used to be, when the English cats listened to the Delta bluesmen and were inspired, this will make you want to go to the show, practice if you’re a musician, raise your expectations and your standards. Listening to Gregg on this remastered take I can truly understand why he felt like he was tied to the whipping post, and that’s what we’re looking for, genuine sensation, feeling, we want our music to express humanity while it levitates us away from this pedestrian universe, we’re living in a golden era, all the hits of yore have resurfaced, they’re right there, PARTAKE!

P.S. I’ve included the original “Whipping Post” at the end of the above playlist so you can compare the sound…

1. Melody

I know, I know, we live in an era of beats. But the public wants something they can sing along with. The biggest act in the business is Adele, and although she faltered with “25,” her previous album, “21,” outsold its competition by a factor of ten. You could sing along with the tracks, and there’s rarely something more satisfying. Hell, you can sing along with most Max Martin productions, think about that. So write songs. He or she who writes the songs rules. Sure, we’ve returned to a pre-Beatle era, where songs are written by guns-for-hire, but the truth is you’re not really in control of your career unless you write, even though there are exceptions. Your first songs will suck, I guarantee it. But if you work at it you will get better. And if you can’t sing and play your songs on an acoustic guitar or piano, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Never follow trends. Once they break, they’re time-stamped. It’s your job to do something new. And that new thing is a return to the garden. Study the hits of yore, with not only their melodies, but their changes. Maybe put the chorus first. Never underestimate the power of a bridge. and if you can’t say it in three minutes or less, chances are you can’t say it at all. We’re ripe for a new sound, and one thing’s for sure, we know it’s going to be pop, Active Rock and Triple A are backwaters and hip-hop will survive but it’s looking to be superseded. You can sing along with the country tunes, which in too many cases are retreads of seventies rock, a paradigm Christian music originated, but we’re looking for something a bit more modern. And your goal is to appeal to everybody. The music business is mostly run by old men worried about money, they don’t want to take a chance. They abhor risk. They’re happy with today’s niche product because it makes them money. And they have their publicity teams get stories in the press to make it look like people care about what they’re selling but few do. We are looking for a great new hope, whether black, white, brown or red. It’s a big tent, you’re not gonna be excluded based on your ethnicity, hits are undeniable and everybody wants a piece of them.

2. Reaction

If no one cares, you’re on the wrong track. You want people to demand the song from you, so they can play it and spread the word. If you’re forcing it upon people chances are it won’t succeed. We live in a pull economy, despite the usual suspects pushing. If push worked, the tracks off Bruno Mars’s new album would be topping the Spotify chart, but they’re not. Sure, Mars made it because of previous great work and endless exposure but the truth is today’s cycles are faster than ever before, we’re hungry for new blood, it’s hard for the old to sustain. It’s nearly impossible to break through but some people do, we want you.

3. Playlists

Radio comes last. You want to be on Spotify playlists. Apple Music is a walled garden, there’s little virality and Spotify dominates. If you can get on a Spotify playlist and your music reacts, the company will work with you, they’ll spread the word by putting you on more playlists, helping to break your record. It’s a data-driven game, fakery is a thing of the past and radio is the icing on the cake. You live and die by the numbers.

4. Team

You have to be aligned with someone who has relationships, who knows people, you cannot do it by yourself, no way. Oh, you can play in Poughkeepsie and try to spread it from there, town to town, your live rep preceding you, but the truth is that takes too much time and you’re probably gonna burn out and give up before you make it to the middle. Then again, if you’ve got anything going on the labels and agents will find you. They’re combing the data constantly. If you’re an unknown with big grosses or big streams they’ll find you, even if you don’t have an address, they’re just that interested. But they’re not interested in much. Your goal is to get aligned with the person with the most relationships who cares about you. Not the biggest person who’s cutting you a break nor the amateur who is passionate. And careers are brief with few shots so the truth is you’re gonna get in some nasty disputes, you’re gonna fire your original manager, you’re gonna have to pay him off, sounds ugly but this is what it takes to make it, you’ve got to be monomaniacal in service to your career. Nice guys don’t finish at all in the music business, they barely get started.

5. No bitching.

Unless it’s over an artistic issue. Fight to protect your vision, your music. But don’t complain about streaming payouts and getting ripped-off and missing out on opportunities, no one cares. And be ready to work ’round the clock, that’s how you know you’re tied up with the right team, you no longer have free time, they’ve got you promoting and interfacing all the damn time. But the truth is you say yes before you say no. You have to take all opportunities until you become a star, then you can say no.

6. Don’t second-guess yourself.

Do it your way, you’re the only person on your team. The manager and label can get new acts, if you don’t make it you’re done. So, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. And don’t be influenced by the naysayers, there are professional sour-grapers who don’t want anybody to succeed unless it’s them and or someone they approve of. Ignore the hatred, no one’s got time to hear it but you.

7. Try to save the world.

One person can do it. With one song. That’s the power of art, that’s the power of the individual. Shoot high! And know that if success comes, it’ll be long after you’ve almost given up two, three or more times. Show business is not fair and despite the internet you need middlemen to make it, and to convince them, to move them, is a very slow process at best, and never forget they’re risk averse. But someone will break through, why not you?

They’re afraid.

The dirty little secret of the last tour is it didn’t go clean, there were tickets available here and there. With all that production, with all those breakthroughs, with all that press…

People didn’t want to hear the new songs.

Ed Sheeran put out a couple of numbers last week and broke records. The tracks were streamed millions of times. Double digit millions, in fact.

But no one wants to listen to new U2 music. Not in quantity.

What happened? They got old, they can no longer capture the zeitgeist, and rather than be embarrassed, rather than play to less than full halls, they’ve decided to become an oldies act, give the audience what it wants, and once you do that, you’re artistically bankrupt.

I don’t know why they’re making an album at all. Actually, they’ve got a set in the can, but the Edge says they’re afraid to release it because it’s no longer timely, not in the age of Trump. But what age are they living in? When you polish a collection over years to dribble out singles and go on the road for twelve months. That era’s done. You make it today and you release it today, and it’s all about singles.

U2 needs a hit single.

They don’t need an album, which will be instantly forgotten, they need a track, everybody needs a track.

Just ask the streaming services, they’ll give you the data. A track can climb the chart, a track can be playlisted, an album just sits there waiting to be discovered, which it usually isn’t. Furthermore, an album drops all on the same day, which means you get a smidge of attention and then there’s a new new thing. That’s the world we live in, if you’re in the popular culture game you must be creating all the time, be in the marketplace all the time.

And you can fail. No one cares about your stiffs, as long as you make hits. Stiffs are forgotten, chalked up as experiments. Little Big Town did a project with Pharrell, as hot as a personage as there is in music. Hell, Justin Timberlake was involved too. The eight track compilation was released on May 24, 2016 and it went straight to the dumper, their previous album, 2014’s “Pain Killer,” went to number 3 on the country chart and number 7 on the overall chart but “Wanderlust,” the name of the spring collection, only made it to number 103 on the overall chart and it didn’t even make the country chart, not at all! And now, mere months later, Little Big Town has a single, “Better Man,” and it’s climbed the chart all the way to number 4 when not a single track off “Wanderlust” made a dent. What is U2 so afraid of? Experiment, isn’t that what artists do? Test the waters. Don’t be so precious. They poked fun at their image in the “Pop” era, what happened to their sense of humor?

Then again, “Pop” failed, the public didn’t get the joke. But that was back in 1997, the pre-internet era, at least in music, when everybody was paying attention, and most people aren’t paying attention to U2 today.

Hell, work with one of the Nashville titans. Start with Dave Cobb. Then move on to Dann Huff. And let’s not forget Max Martin! And the truth is, a couple of years back, in search of a hit, U2 did work with everybody hot, but it was in an effort to ring the bell, and that’s a hard game to win at. Whereas if you see yourself as an artist and you take a risk you never know what will result. Assuming you’re playing the game.

But U2 has to do it the same old way. Building tracks slowly. Why?

Then again, they had a good long run. Everybody’s career peters out, at least when it comes to new music. But they should give it a shot. And last time they played too big, with the Apple tie-in/delivery. The truth is in today’s world no one’s a star, everybody’s dirty laundry is exposed, if anything, people laugh at/resent Bono trying to save the world. For him and his band to poke fun at themselves, take a risk…there’s a better chance of that being embraced.

And no one listens to albums anymore.

Save me the e-mail, I know you do, but if you U2 fans ruled the world then “Songs Of Innocence” would have been a hit, but it was a stiff.

But you’ll go to see 1987’s opus live, to relive your college days, not wanting to admit that you too are over the hill.

But that’s the modern music paradigm. Everybody wants to believe they’re hip. When the truth is we’re all overloaded with input and many are oblivious to new music and what they’re looking for is direction and leadership, playlists only go so far, we need some hit singles by our legends, but they’re too busy making albums, playing by the old rules.

So there’s image.

And there’s money.

No matter how big a star you might be there are running costs. The receipts from a stadium tour will be much greater. And they’ll get some looky-loos, casual fans, young people, who want to see what once was.

But make no mistake, U2 blinked. It’s not terminal, but it’s a step in the wrong direction. Their producer Eno puts out a new album trying to harness the new reality

Brian Eno Details “Generative” Editions of New Album Reflection

but his charges are too big to take a risk, not wanting to fall on their face.

But we love you when you fail, almost as much as we do when you succeed. It humanizes you, it means you’re taking chances.

So for the next year we’ll be subjected to stories about the “Joshua Tree” tour. How amazing it is, reflections on 1987, the huge grosses. Ignore them, they’re irrelevant, a somnambulant press feeding the desires of the purveyors, an endless circle jerk that the public does not care about.

Not that the show won’t be satisfying.

But an artist takes chances. An artist surprises us. An artists hangs it all out.

Once you second-guess the audience, once you give the people what they’re looking for, you’re done. You’re not an artist, you’re a businessman. Artists lead the way and change the culture. That’s what U2 used to do. “The Zoo TV” tour was one of the most innovative of all time, featuring music that was a hundred and eighty degrees from what had come before, a reaction to the overblown “Rattle and Hum” and the resultant backlash. It was even better than the real thing, it was a mysterious endeavor wherein they tried to throw their arms around the world. And they succeeded. I’ll remember it until the end of the world, because I was wowed by the Trabants and swayed by the music. “The Joshua Tree” is already a memory, seeing it performed live is akin to going to a school reunion.

And I haven’t been to a reunion yet.