I love to read.\u00c2\u00a0 I dig the YouTube revolution, but I’d rather create the pictures in my mind’s eye.\u00c2\u00a0 My idea of heaven is sitting at the kitchen table reading magazines while listening to XM.<\/p>\n
Which is where I found myself last night.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the deejay got on a run.<\/p>\n
He started with Frampton’s "Blooze" from his new album.\u00c2\u00a0 Introducing it by saying Warren Haynes helped out.<\/p>\n
This was not the pop of latter-day Frampton.\u00c2\u00a0 It was more akin to Humble Pie.\u00c2\u00a0 There were no looks, only soul.\u00c2\u00a0 And as I marveled at the power of the deejay on Deep Tracks to extract the one cut from an indecipherable album and reach me, the song segued into a Gov’t Mule number.<\/p>\n
Now this was quite a run.\u00c2\u00a0 Subsequent to Gov’t Mule’s "So Weak, So Strong" I heard Procol Harum’s "The Pursuit Of Happiness".\u00c2\u00a0 Which turns out to be from their comeback album on Zoo, "Prodigal Son".\u00c2\u00a0 It was like they never left.\u00c2\u00a0 The music sounded as fresh and ethereal as it did when the band debuted.<\/p>\n
And subsequent to Gary Brooker’s otherworldly vocal, I heard Mr. Tubesteak himself, Billy Gibbons.<\/p>\n
I didn’t sign up for the ZZ Top express until "Deguello".\u00c2\u00a0 Before that they were that little old band from Texas on London Records, the Stones’ OLD label, that toured with farm animals.<\/p>\n
Imagine yourself on a hot night in June, sitting outside by the lake, since it’s too hot to be inside, and you can’t handle another minute of air conditioning.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re slowed down to a crawl.\u00c2\u00a0 Even your mind is running at half-speed.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what "Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell" sounds like.<\/p>\n
ZZ Top aren’t like the Beatles, every album doesn’t sound different.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, they have variations on a theme, the blues.\u00c2\u00a0 Here Billy’s voice sounds world-weary, but not so tired that he’s not going to tell you his story, isn’t going to clue you in.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s the guitar work that takes you away.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody starts with the same six strings, it’s all what you do with them.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about speed, it’s not about raw technique, it’s about getting what’s inside YOU to come out of the speakers in your amp.\u00c2\u00a0 In his playing on this track, Billy seems descended from all those great delta blues musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 He makes it cry and sing.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to look up from my magazine, stare into space, let the music wash over me, remind myself that this is how it used to be, before image triumphed over music.<\/p>\n
Now there was a good Crowded House song after that.\u00c2\u00a0 Another one that seems to have eluded me.\u00c2\u00a0 But the track from this run that startled me, that I couldn’t get out of my brain, was by Gov’t Mule, the aforementioned "So Weak, So Strong".<\/p>\n
I’ve followed Warren Haynes since the Megaforce days.\u00c2\u00a0 Back when indie labels were seen as homes for the second-rate, not the cutting edge.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard a track and was stunned that out in the wilderness was this guy who seemed to be functioning with a seventies ethos, but was brand new.<\/p>\n
Warren’s gained in acclaim since.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s gone on to play with the Allman Brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 And he’s gotten traction with Gov’t Mule.\u00c2\u00a0 But too many of those Gov’t Mule tracks were heavy.\u00c2\u00a0 For stoners.\u00c2\u00a0 I took my last illegal drug in the seventies, I don’t want bludgeon, I want something more mellifluous.\u00c2\u00a0 And I keep hearing songs from this new Gov’t Mule album, "High And Mighty", and they deliver on this level.\u00c2\u00a0 They just SOUND RIGHT!<\/p>\n
Maybe I was open because I heard Warren’s Bonnaroo cover of "Wasted Time" on XM.\u00c2\u00a0 He got the emotion right on that Eagles classic.<\/p>\n
Then I heard "Mr. High & Mighty", the title track from the new album.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era when guitars are an assault, Warren’s guitar was up front and center, but the riff he was playing was not only MEMORABLE, it didn’t kick my ass, but entered my heart.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the work of all those great southern pickers of yore.<\/p>\n
Then on Deep Tracks I heard "Million Miles From Yesterday".\u00c2\u00a0 Which was mellower, but not sans balls.\u00c2\u00a0 Warren’s not thin.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t look like a guy on a poster.\u00c2\u00a0 But inside I could tell he’s just like me.\u00c2\u00a0 Not trading on his looks, but experiencing the world, and using his art to feed back.\u00c2\u00a0 The backup singers were not superfluous, rather they hearkened back to the days when Leon Russell conducted Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear behind Joe Cocker.<\/p>\n
And now I hear "So Weak, So Strong".<\/p>\n
It’s no longer about albums.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the track.\u00c2\u00a0 You hear one, then you want to hear more.\u00c2\u00a0 Cherry-picked good stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 Until you want THEM ALL!<\/p>\n
I started combing my house.\u00c2\u00a0 I know I’ve got "Mr. High & Mighty" somewhere.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t I?<\/p>\n
Bugged me I couldn’t instantly steal this stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to dig to find my Frampton CD and ZZ Top boxed set.\u00c2\u00a0 Do I still OWN "Prodigal Son"?<\/p>\n
But finally I got "So Weak, So Strong" P2P.<\/p>\n
There’s an intro of porch picking.\u00c2\u00a0 And then rock majesty.\u00c2\u00a0 The kind you conduct with your arms when you hear the tunes in concert.\u00c2\u00a0 And then Warren starts to sing with his pure voice and you say to yourself THIS SHIT IS GREAT!<\/p>\n
Just when I think I’m gonna give up on new music because it’s too trendy, too image-based, too much about my head and not my heart, I discover stuff like "So Weak, So Strong".\u00c2\u00a0 And I realize that not everybody is playing along, not everybody has sold out, SOME people still remember when it was about music and are carrying on the tradition.<\/p>\n
Suddenly Gov’t Mule is my favorite new band.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to see them most.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to get this same hit live.<\/p>\n
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I love to read.\u00c2\u00a0 I dig the YouTube revolution, but I’d rather create the pictures in my mind’s eye.\u00c2\u00a0 My idea of heaven is sitting at the kitchen table reading magazines while listening to XM. Which is where I found myself last night. Suddenly, the deejay got on a run. He started with Frampton’s "Blooze" […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-9A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","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=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}