I was addicted to records.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though I had no stereo, I went to the record store.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a religious pilgrimage.\u00c2\u00a0 And then, finally, I had to convince my sister to come with me.\u00c2\u00a0 To charge up a bunch of the new releases on my father’s credit card, so we could listen to them in her apartment.<\/p>\n
We got Linda Ronstadt’s "Heart Like A Wheel".\u00c2\u00a0 ELO’s "Eldorado".\u00c2\u00a0 Loggins & Messina’s "Mother Lode".\u00c2\u00a0 And the Average White Band’s debut.<\/p>\n
Lord only knows why we bought that.\u00c2\u00a0 I was aware of the fact that the band’s drummer had O.D.’ed just before the record was released.\u00c2\u00a0 But this was BEFORE "Pick Up The Pieces" was ubiquitous.\u00c2\u00a0 Could I have heard the track on KMET?\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe KNX?\u00c2\u00a0 There must have been SOME radio play, otherwise I wouldn’t have partaken.\u00c2\u00a0 I must have heard SOMETHING!\u00c2\u00a0 But I can’t remember it.<\/p>\n
There’s nothing wrong with "Pick Up The Pieces" but it’s not my favorite track on the album.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s "Work To Do".<\/p>\n
Some people have R&B in their blood.\u00c2\u00a0 But I wasn’t even in love with the Motown singles.\u00c2\u00a0 Until maybe the Four Tops.\u00c2\u00a0 I was angry that they were keeping the British Invasion bands off the Hit Parade.\u00c2\u00a0 But this record, wow, it was INFECTIOUS!<\/p>\n
Because it swung.<\/p>\n
Do you have the music in you?\u00c2\u00a0 Can you lock into the groove?\u00c2\u00a0 The Average White Band had this soul.\u00c2\u00a0 They could lock in and SWING!\u00c2\u00a0 "Work To Do" is a MASTERPIECE!\u00c2\u00a0 From the horn intro to the falsetto vocals.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to download it P2P.\u00c2\u00a0 But to my amazement, I never got the rest of the album.\u00c2\u00a0 I realized this when I went into somebody’s hard drive looking for Brian Auger tracks and found a slew of AWB tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 I cross-referenced them against my iTunes library and found out I had HOLES!\u00c2\u00a0 So I set out to complete the album.\u00c2\u00a0 I went to Amazon.\u00c2\u00a0 Found the track listing.\u00c2\u00a0 And started searching.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the titles came down, I started to sample them.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s when I heard the album’s opening cut, "You Got It".<\/p>\n
Have you ever driven cross-country?\u00c2\u00a0 Have you ever gotten behind the wheel and gone out of cell range?<\/p>\n
Today we’ve got XM.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the seventies, we were reliant on cassettes.\u00c2\u00a0 We’d sit in front of the deck for HOURS transferring our favorite albums to tape.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I did before I left my sister’s apartment in Brentwood for Salt Lake City.\u00c2\u00a0 I spent two days transferring all those albums we bought on that Sunday night at Licorice Pizza onto Maxell.<\/p>\n
And it must have been somewhere between Las Vegas and Salt Lake that I got hooked on AWB.\u00c2\u00a0 When I realized it was just me and the landscape.\u00c2\u00a0 For endless HOURS!\u00c2\u00a0 In those circumstances, you give albums a chance, you play them again and again until the album cuts EMERGE!\u00c2\u00a0 Until you’re HOOKED!<\/p>\n
Well you’re making a big mistake girl Oh, "You Got It" has got this resonant bass.\u00c2\u00a0 The kind that’s like a tuning fork.\u00c2\u00a0 The kind you lock onto.\u00c2\u00a0 But, it’s the way the intro tears and then they settle into a GROOVE that kills you, that convinces you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the girl in the bedroom is swinging her hips, and then in one fell swoop removes her top and drops her bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 You go from zero to sixty instantly.\u00c2\u00a0 You know something’s going to HAPPEN!\u00c2\u00a0 With ABANDON!<\/p>\n And cassettes were not like CDs, or MP3s.\u00c2\u00a0 It was hard to play the same track over and over again.\u00c2\u00a0 You just couldn’t find the sweet spots between songs that easily.\u00c2\u00a0 So that’s how I discovered track 2, "Got The Love".\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, hearing it now brings me right back to Snowbird.<\/p>\n I used to keep my cassettes under the seat of my 2002.\u00c2\u00a0 The ski day would end, I’d pop in a tape and drive back to Sandy, at the southern end of Salt Lake City.\u00c2\u00a0 When you’re worn out from a day on the hill, music resonates.\u00c2\u00a0 "Got The Love" is a song of darkness whereas "You Got It" is a song of light.\u00c2\u00a0 "Got The Love" is after you’ve laid down and done it.\u00c2\u00a0 And are caressing each other on the way to doing it again.<\/p>\n And then there’s "Pick Up The Pieces".\u00c2\u00a0 Which I started fast-forwarding through as the season wore on.\u00c2\u00a0 To hear "Person To Person".\u00c2\u00a0 Which is the flip side of "Got The Love".\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the ANXIETY after the act.\u00c2\u00a0 When they’re gone.\u00c2\u00a0 And you’re wondering whether you’re going to connect again.<\/p>\n Person to person Yes, it was a type of telephone call.\u00c2\u00a0 But it also represented connection.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing like being together.<\/p>\n And then came "Work To Do".<\/p>\n Talk about a first side!<\/p>\n Funny what motivates you to see an act.\u00c2\u00a0 The people who e-mail me are just trying to get ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 Believing I’ll capture the energy of their act and write about it.\u00c2\u00a0 But I was NEVER about going to hear unknown bands.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I didn’t even want to SEE the band unless I had their record and KNEW IT!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the joy.\u00c2\u00a0 Hearing them play the songs you KNOW!<\/p>\n So when I heard on the only AOR in Salt Lake that Average White Band was coming through to play the ballroom I got in my car and drove to the box office and got a ticket.<\/p>\n I got to the gig early.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you do when you’re a fan.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to be in the perfect location.\u00c2\u00a0 Centered, but not too close, so you can hear the vocals through the PA, back when ONLY the vocals went through the PA.<\/p>\n And I’m milling around the venue feeling lonely.\u00c2\u00a0 Not knowing a soul in the building.\u00c2\u00a0 Killing time till the band hits the stage.<\/p>\n How many times did I have that experience.\u00c2\u00a0 In venues ALL OVER THE WORLD!\u00c2\u00a0 I gave up convincing people to come with me, they were only going to trample on my good time.\u00c2\u00a0 They wouldn’t be into it enough, they’d want to leave, I’d get uptight, I wouldn’t be able to CUT LOOSE!\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what I lived for, to CUT LOOSE!\u00c2\u00a0 Not get fucked up and rage, but let the music enter me and transport me, leaving this world I couldn’t quite figure out behind me.<\/p>\n I listened to that cassette on the way to Sun Valley.\u00c2\u00a0 To Mammoth on May 1st.\u00c2\u00a0 All over the west.\u00c2\u00a0 But I haven’t played it in eons.<\/p>\n And it’s not about the band’s complete oeuvre.\u00c2\u00a0 They peaked with this record.\u00c2\u00a0 After their success they were different.\u00c2\u00a0 They played it safer.\u00c2\u00a0 "Cut The Cake" was a remake of "Pick Up The Pieces".\u00c2\u00a0 It had no adventure.\u00c2\u00a0 But for that one moment, that one album, they got it EXACTLY RIGHT!<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was addicted to records.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though I had no stereo, I went to the record store.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a religious pilgrimage.\u00c2\u00a0 And then, finally, I had to convince my sister to come with me.\u00c2\u00a0 To charge up a bunch of the new releases on my father’s credit card, so we could listen to them 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Tryin’ to hold back your love from me<\/em><\/p>\n
Face to face<\/em><\/p>\n