This should have come out via Wal-Mart.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we’ve come to, if you want to sell physical product you’ve got to be with THE big box if you want to move tonnage.\u00c2\u00a0 And Wal-Mart wants your disc.\u00c2\u00a0 As long as you’re willing to blow it out cheaply.\u00c2\u00a0 You see it’s the equivalent of a stocking stuffer.\u00c2\u00a0 Something to grab while you’re stocking up on the essentials of life. Which may include coffee, but the price point is just too low at Starbucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Your CD costs more than your latte.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas your CD at Wal-Mart is almost an afterthought, just a drop in your shopping cart.<\/p>\n
But, but, THERE’S NOT A WAL-MART IN EVERY TOWN!<\/p>\n
You’re absolutely right.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you think James Taylor’s "Covers" is an artistic statement, meant to expand his career, you’re completely out of touch.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s only about the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Other than giving him twelve more tunes to play in concert.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of them familiar, so the audience won’t jump up to pee and refresh their margaritas while he sings.<\/p>\n
Maybe we need an industry wide ban.\u00c2\u00a0 NO COVERS!\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the cheapest shot imaginable.\u00c2\u00a0 Since no one will listen to your new material, your originals, you’re going to mash up your product to be palatable, like squished peas to an infant.\u00c2\u00a0 No one’s got enough time to digest a whole original album, so you’re going to make it easy for them.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re going to whore yourself out, and only be about the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Pretty sad if you think about it.<\/p>\n
But it’s sadder that the acts still think it’s about the album.\u00c2\u00a0 That anybody cares about their disc long opus.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is usually interminable.\u00c2\u00a0 Give JT credit, at least "Coves" is only 42 minutes long.\u00c2\u00a0 You can play it and understand it.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, you already understand it.<\/p>\n
Problem is, the choices are too obvious.\u00c2\u00a0 And instead of being sung from the perspective of an alien outsider, tramping into your house, kicking the snow off his boots and telling his story, they now seem to be the warblings of a country gentleman, without a complaint in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that I want James to be unhappy, but isn’t that the human condition?\u00c2\u00a0 To have more questions than answers?\u00c2\u00a0 And are any of these artists ever truly happy?\u00c2\u00a0 Is Don Henley HAPPY?<\/p>\n
The song choices are just too obvious.\u00c2\u00a0 Wow, how long did it take him to come up with "Wichita Lineman"?\u00c2\u00a0 And, he does it faithfully.\u00c2\u00a0 Fearful you’re going to puke if he fucks with your favorite.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s so little innovation on "Covers" you’d almost think it’s the work of a lounge singer.\u00c2\u00a0 A very good one, but no one in the audience would be asking a la Billy Joel, "Man, what are you doing here?"<\/p>\n
Because we respect the writer.\u00c2\u00a0 Which James used to be.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the interpreter.\u00c2\u00a0 But there’s very little interpretation done here.<\/p>\n
But two left field choices do resonate.\u00c2\u00a0 John Anderson’s "Seminole Wind" and the Spinners’ "Sadie".<\/p>\n
With my newfound country addiction, I stumbled upon "Seminole Wind" on XM.\u00c2\u00a0 Buy the record just for this.\u00c2\u00a0 Better yet, just buy the single.\u00c2\u00a0 Or steal it.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the territory James used to plumb.\u00c2\u00a0 A cross between ""Riding On A Railroad" and "Sleep Come Free Me".\u00c2\u00a0 Someone real is living in this song.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas most of the numbers tired from overuse sound like ancient baby boomers partying on a yacht.\u00c2\u00a0 Not losing their inhibitions like on a Jimmy Buffett cruise, but staring into the sunset with their sweaters tied around their necks as they sip their gin and tonics and discuss the level of SPF they’re using.<\/p>\n
James sings "Sadie" straight, even including the spoken intro.\u00c2\u00a0 The imitation soul works, maybe because a white guy can never truly compete with a black soul singer, and the original has an inner city feel, with family being the most important thing in the vocalist’s life.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas we know whites covet BMWs more.<\/p>\n
Do we need another redo of "Not Fade Away"?\u00c2\u00a0 We could have stopped after the Stones’ rendition forty odd years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought "On Broadway" was retired after George Benson’s killer take.\u00c2\u00a0 To do "Summertime Blues" is to compete with Pete Townshend.\u00c2\u00a0 As for "Hound Dog", Elvis is rolling in his grave, assuming his girth allows this.\u00c2\u00a0 "(I’m A) Road Runner" is better.\u00c2\u00a0 And then there are a few more obscure tracks, but none of them kills.<\/p>\n
Speaking of obscure…\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn Colvin got this right back in ’94.\u00c2\u00a0 Other than the fact that David Kahne fucked with the record by occasionally overproducing it, laying strings unnecessarily on "Every Little Thing (He) Does Is Magic".\u00c2\u00a0 THAT, the opening track, is the most obvious thing on the album.\u00c2\u00a0 Other than the Police cut, you’ve heard NONE of the tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 A dedicated Tom Waits fan might know "(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night", but back in ’94, Tom was still obscure (and, in fact, STILL IS!)\u00c2\u00a0 I could go track by track, but I’ll bet most of you STILL haven’t heard Willis Alan Ramsey’s "Satin Sheets".\u00c2\u00a0 And you SHOULD!\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn kills Steve Earle’s "Someday".\u00c2\u00a0 Uncovers an unreleased Band cut, "Twilight".\u00c2\u00a0 And redoes Talking Heads’ "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" so dramatically that only a hard core fan would even be able to place it.<\/p>\n
But Shawn had something to prove.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas James Taylor is just coasting.<\/p>\n
People don’t want new music by just about ANY baby boomer act.\u00c2\u00a0 And there’s no repetitious radio to break new records.\u00c2\u00a0 They could try, by just cutting a killer single, working with Mutt Lange.\u00c2\u00a0 But they don’t want to do this.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re lost in the seventies, needing to make an artistic STATEMENT!<\/p>\n
But if "Covers" is a statement, then Sarah Palin is a foreign policy expert.\u00c2\u00a0 "Covers" is expedient.\u00c2\u00a0 Made for a market.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything James Taylor and our music was not.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s sad.<\/p>\n
You won’t be disappointed if you buy "Covers".\u00c2\u00a0 It’s perfect to play in the background as you’re sipping wine, talking to your next door neighbor, reading the newspaper.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s never foreground, it’s wallpaper, it’s meaningless.<\/p>\n
How did we come to this?\u00c2\u00a0 How did this powerful medium become so irrelevant?<\/p>\n
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This should have come out via Wal-Mart.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we’ve come to, if you want to sell physical product you’ve got to be with THE big box if you want to move tonnage.\u00c2\u00a0 And Wal-Mart wants your disc.\u00c2\u00a0 As long as you’re willing to blow it out cheaply.\u00c2\u00a0 You see it’s the equivalent of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-md","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}