{"id":1092,"date":"2008-01-31T10:17:12","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T18:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2008\/01\/31\/digging-in-the-dirt\/"},"modified":"2008-01-31T10:17:12","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T18:17:12","slug":"digging-in-the-dirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/31\/digging-in-the-dirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging In The Dirt"},"content":{"rendered":"

1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe it’s just one of those days where EVERYTHING sounds good.<\/p>\n

On the way to the dentist, I heard a live, in-studio version of Los Lobos’ "Peace" on XM’s Loft.\u00c2\u00a0 And Van Morrison’s "Cry For Home" resonated when I heard it on Sirius’ Spectrum.\u00c2\u00a0 But in between, I was elated in the Southern California sunshine as Peter Gabriel’s "Digging In The Dirt" pumped out of the car speakers.<\/p>\n

Like Peter, I was just skiing.\u00c2\u00a0 But I didn’t hit a rock, I’m not wearing a soft boot around my leg.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if I had, I wouldn’t have quite the sense of humor about it that Peter possesses.\u00c2\u00a0 Brooding rock stars?\u00c2\u00a0 For a deep-thinker, Gabriel’s got quite the sense of irreverence.\u00c2\u00a0 An integral element of success for a second wave English rock star.<\/p>\n

Yup, Genesis was positively seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 And by time they came to take Peter Gabriel home, to solodom, most people in America had no idea who he was.<\/p>\n

But "Solsbury Hill" got FM airplay.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era when the free format was done, when Lee Abrams’ Superstars format ruled.\u00c2\u00a0 So casual listeners had an idea who Peter was, or at least knew this jaunty ditty that wouldn’t get Top Forty airplay in ANY era.<\/p>\n

But it was downhill from there.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter’s second album, also entitled "Peter Gabriel", made no dent in the U.S., and his label, Atlantic, refused to put out a third.<\/p>\n

And kind of like Wilco, but with a much more groundbreaking album than "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", Gabriel took his completed disc to another label, in this case the one tied for worst in the business, Mercury (more cred but even fewer hits than the unhip RCA).\u00c2\u00a0 And then I wouldn’t say all hell broke loose, but over time, the third "Peter Gabriel" seeped into the public consciousness, "Games Without Frontiers’ became a staple and "Biko" became legendary.<\/p>\n

In short order, Peter was picked up by Geffen.\u00c2\u00a0 He made an impact on the nascent MTV with "Security".\u00c2\u00a0 And we loved hearing and seeing "Shock The Monkey", but we wished the big splash was for an earlier, better, further from center masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Then came "So".\u00c2\u00a0 Also not as good as the Mercury record, but containing two career defining tracks, "Sledgehammer" and "In Your Eyes".\u00c2\u00a0 The first was possibly the best, certainly the most innovative, MTV video to date.\u00c2\u00a0 And I think Cameron Crowe is a hack, making fantasy movies where nobody loses, but when John Cusack\/Lloyd Dobler holds that boombox over his head in the mist outside Ione Skye\/Diane Court’s bedroom window we experience one of the best marriages of music to film EVER!<\/p>\n

And then came "Us".<\/p>\n

With a headphone mic long before Lou Pearlman’s boy bands, Peter Gabriel appeared on the Grammys in a production number of "Steam" and true fans winced.\u00c2\u00a0 Who was Peter playing to?\u00c2\u00a0 He was OUR artist!\u00c2\u00a0 Had he lost the thread?<\/p>\n

Well, he lost mass appeal.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ah, please talk to me
Won’t you please talk to me
We can unlock this misery
Come on, come talk to me<\/em><\/p>\n

When the revolution comes, when I can post MP3s online without penalty, when all music comes above ground and flows freely, when the public is finally delivered and can partake of the fruits of all performers, I’m going to disseminate one of my favorite Napster downloads of all time, Michael Hedges’ "Come Talk To Me".\u00c2\u00a0 Not as good as his epic cover of Dylan’s "Like A Rolling Stone", but your heart will be touched by the soul of this now dead man.<\/p>\n

Who knew "Come Talk To Me" was such a classic?\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly not the public that didn’t buy "Us".\u00c2\u00a0 "Us" stiffed.\u00c2\u00a0 It appeared to be a "So" remake.\u00c2\u00a0 Conventional wisdom was we’d seen it, and you didn’t need it.\u00c2\u00a0 But then, two years later, Peter Gabriel released what was seen as an obligatory live album, and all those songs imprisoned in a sterile mix and a bad mastering job on "Us" CAME ALIVE!<\/p>\n

The takes of "Come Talk To Me" on "Us" and "Secret World Live" may share the same changes and lyrics, but they’re COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!\u00c2\u00a0 This isn’t Michael Hedges’ intimate version, Peter is positively IMPLORING, PLEASE COME TALK TO ME!<\/p>\n

Oh, you’re together, and it’s not good, but then you break up.\u00c2\u00a0 And the LONELINESS!\u00c2\u00a0 You feel like you’re in free-fall.\u00c2\u00a0 Won’t you call?\u00c2\u00a0 Won’t you please come talk to me?\u00c2\u00a0 Connect me to the Earth, to the UNIVERSE?<\/p>\n

There’s pain in this version of "Come Talk To Me", and a band that plays with thunder.<\/p>\n

But the masterpiece is the title track, "Secret World".\u00c2\u00a0 It’s longer than the original studio take, it’s not a dirge, but a pied piper MARATHON!\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t help but march along.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the track explodes close to its nine minute finish, you experience something akin to aural orgasm.\u00c2\u00a0 This is why you went to the show.\u00c2\u00a0 For these moments.\u00c2\u00a0 When you threw your arms into the air, pointed your head to the sky and SANG ALONG!\u00c2\u00a0 These moments are religion.\u00c2\u00a0 Far deeper in meaning than any I’ve ever experienced in a traditional house of worship.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll take the Staples Center over the synagogue ANY DAY!<\/p>\n

And buried in the middle of this live double album is a monster version of "Digging In The Dirt".\u00c2\u00a0 This ain’t no men with shovels, this is heavy equipment.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not scratching the surface, they’re going all the way down.\u00c2\u00a0 Back to your childhood, to your first marriage, to find the places you got hurt.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digging in the dirt
Stay with me, I need support
I’m digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt
Open up the places I got hurt<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s not a lot of digging going on in today’s society.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want to know the derivation, the causation, we just want to see the train-wreck, the explosion.\u00c2\u00a0 We haven’t got time to look backward, to find out how we got here.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want to be left BEHIND!<\/p>\n

But then something terrible happens.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually romantic.\u00c2\u00a0 But sometimes health-related.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re stopped in our tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 We can see no way out.\u00c2\u00a0 Some people fall on their swords.\u00c2\u00a0 The inner pain is too much.\u00c2\u00a0 And if they reveal it to anyone, they’ll be seen as second-class citizens.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you truly let go, truly know you can’t fix your own problems, that your friends and family care but don’t understand, you make an appointment with a therapist.<\/p>\n

Still, you can’t tell anyone.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a sign of weakness.\u00c2\u00a0 Of sickness. You’re not man enough to solve your own problems.<\/p>\n

This is when music comes alive.\u00c2\u00a0 There are records, the truly great ones, that speak to you when you’re in this condition.\u00c2\u00a0 They contain all the angst, all the questioning, all the PAIN you’re feeling.\u00c2\u00a0 The artists have been where you’ve been.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why you give them all your money, need to see them live.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you don’t only respect them, you BELIEVE IN THEM!\u00c2\u00a0 They’re your better you.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re who you want to be…<\/p>\n

The more I look, the more I find
As I close on in, I get so blind
I feel it in my head, I feel it in my toes
I feel it in my sex, that’s the place it goes<\/em><\/p>\n

It always comes down to sex.\u00c2\u00a0 Your fantasies don’t mesh with reality.\u00c2\u00a0 Your fantasies stop working completely.\u00c2\u00a0 One day you thought you were a red-blooded human, now you find you’re a cripple.\u00c2\u00a0 Orgasm is on the other side of the impassable mountain.\u00c2\u00a0 Impossible even alone in the sanctity of your own home.\u00c2\u00a0 As for another person…\u00c2\u00a0 Who could love you, you steaming sack of laughable shit.<\/p>\n

You’re not good-looking enough.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re not rich enough.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t own the right clothes.<\/p>\n

But really, it all comes down to words.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you convey your feelings?\u00c2\u00a0 Can you tell someone else how you feel?\u00c2\u00a0 Can you stumble through the wilderness to find a like-minded person?\u00c2\u00a0 One who’s been hurt, but is still willing to play?<\/p>\n

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.\u00c2\u00a0 Life was supposed to be an endless upward spiral.\u00c2\u00a0 You were no longer supposed to feel like you were sixteen.\u00c2\u00a0 You no longer were supposed to be inhibited, afraid of other people…who you desired SO MUCH!<\/p>\n

Are you willing to look?\u00c2\u00a0 In a country where the President never doubts his vision?\u00c2\u00a0 Where our biggest pop stars believe life is about partying?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t it all supposed to be good times?<\/p>\n

But it’s not all good times!<\/p>\n

4<\/strong><\/p>\n

After becoming addicted to "Secret World Live", I went back to the "Us" CD.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a blueprint.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of being in-your-face, it was cut in a rarified, removed atmosphere.\u00c2\u00a0 The studio’s sterility obscures its essence.\u00c2\u00a0 At first.\u00c2\u00a0 But when you start digging…<\/p>\n

5<\/strong><\/p>\n

"Not long before Led Zeppelin’s reunion in London in November, Gabriel said he got a call from singer Robert Plant, wanting to know one thing: ‘He asked which of us was going to sell out first.’"<\/p>\n

\n

The future is Peter Gabriel’s to download<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To Michael Cohl and Arthur Fogel, it’s just money.\u00c2\u00a0 A deal, a mathematical equation.<\/p>\n

But to the fan, it’s a matter of life and death.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, everybody needs to eat, but we see our musician heroes as above life, as Gods.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want to know they’re mortal, consumed with the trivialities of life.\u00c2\u00a0 We need to look up to them.\u00c2\u00a0 We need to believe they’re always one step in front of us, paving the way, illuminating the path.\u00c2\u00a0 We DEPEND ON THEM!<\/p>\n

Once the illusion is suspended we feel ripped off.\u00c2\u00a0 Our whole lives come into question.\u00c2\u00a0 Were these really just records, not wafers from God?<\/p>\n

Peter Gabriel has never stopped searching.\u00c2\u00a0 At least not yet.\u00c2\u00a0 Not every nook and cranny he’s gone into has paid dividends, has been fascinating, but he’s struck gold, hit the mother lode, more than once.<\/p>\n

Whether it be pure theatre, seeing him passed overhead by an adoring, supportive audience…\u00c2\u00a0 Or testing musical boundaries, helping to end apartheid…\u00c2\u00a0 Or finally looking inward, allowing us to go along for the journey…\u00c2\u00a0 One always pays attention to what Peter’s doing.<\/p>\n

Most times when you hear the oldies you get nostalgic, for a time and place a long time ago.<\/p>\n

But when you hear a Peter Gabriel record, you feel vibrant, alive, IN THE NOW!<\/p>\n

I dug in the dirt earlier today.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve still got more questions than answers.\u00c2\u00a0 My shrink is there to help guide the way.\u00c2\u00a0 But when I leave his office, I rely on music.\u00c2\u00a0 To help me, to not only get me through, but show the way.<\/p>\n

This music is my life.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m like the Nazi in "The Producers".\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t fuck with my memories.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re pure.\u00c2\u00a0 I need to believe these artists are still searching, still guiding the way.<\/p>\n

So far, Peter Gabriel hasn’t disappointed me.<\/p>\n

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1 Maybe it’s just one of those days where EVERYTHING sounds good. On the way to the dentist, I heard a live, in-studio version of Los Lobos’ "Peace" on XM’s Loft.\u00c2\u00a0 And Van Morrison’s "Cry For Home" resonated when I heard it on Sirius’ Spectrum.\u00c2\u00a0 But in between, I was elated in the Southern California […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-hC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}