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Considering Beck’s Morning Phase

Beck: Morning Phase

One of my last purchases from my local record store before closing its doors was Beck’s Morning Phase. The conversation went something like this:

Me:        How is this new Beck album?
Him:       It’s cool, it’s not like his older albums.
Me:        Should I get it?
Him:       Beck isn’t very good at reissuing albums, don’t worry it’s a solid album.
Me:        OK

I tell this story for two reasons. First, as an example why it’s important to have a local record store, the shop keepers help us find music we probably wouldn’t otherwise buy. And second, it really is an amazing album.

I will never forget the first time I listened to this Beck album, I had to work very hard to keep an open mind. I had to work so hard because this album sounded nothing like Mellow Gold or Odelay, and if we know anything it’s that Beck fans love Mellow Gold and Odelay. I couldn’t figure out what happened to Beck, so I actually looked on the internet to see if there are two Beck’s. Well I found out there weren’t, I also found out that he had a few albums before this one, specifically one called Sea Change, people loved it, and it was of similar style. In fact this album was a companion to that one.

Beck: Morning Phase

I tried to figure out what I was missing so I listened to this album over and over again. Oh I said I liked it but I really wasn’t sure, I just didn’t want to be that guy who gave up on artists in their later years. Of course if I really wanted to blame someone for being shocked by his changing style I really have to blame myself. I have to blame myself for one simple reason, I got caught up in the idea that all good music was released while I was in high school or college. I swore up and down that would never happen, but, it did. It was my fault because I stopped listening after Odelay.

After a week of solid listening I decided I was trying to force it so I let it go. Then I wanted to listen to the album and I was looking to see if I could find Sea Change.

Beck Looking Through a Hole

Like all good artists Beck changed, some reviewers pointed out that this was because the world didn’t. He had always seen the problematic establishment, but was now dealing with the idea that it wasn’t changing and he wondered if there was a point. I don’t know whether Beck was feeling that or not, but I know I understand that idea. I get it, I look into the mirror and my beard is becoming grayer every day, silly me I had just assumed I would be a little wiser by this time in my life. Don’t get me wrong I feel like I earned the gray through stress, but if I could at least feel like I was learning something.

Sometimes I walk to my record player and want to listen to something, and when I don’t know what it is that I want to listen to I play Morning Phase. Not because there is nothing to listen to, but it has become a soundtrack for my personal mental noise. If I can’t sleep and I can’t figure out why, Morning Phase helps bring to the surface the block. I don’t know if Beck sat down to write and album that became a tool to calibrate my sanity but he did and I thank him for it.

I have considered writing about this album for months but always felt like I needed to understand it better. The album doesn’t always make sense to me, but then I remember neither did Mellow Gold.

If you think Bohemian Rhapsody is good you should listen to the rest of the album.

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A Night At The Opera

Queen had just come home from a successful tour of their third album Shear Heart Attack and after selling many albums found themselves broke. Apparently there was some impropriety on the side of their manager. The new manager sent them to the studio where they made their most expensive album to that point in time, A Night At the Opera. The album starts with a Freddie Mercury song Death on Two Legs, where the singer has the opportunity to express his feelings over his former manager. I will not quote you any lyrics, I will give you the opportunity to listen to the song and let it speak for itself.

Queen’s new album showed off the raw talent of the band, and the mastery of the engineers. The writing and the music were powerful and the effects never detracted but added a new layer. In one song, Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon, the vocals were sung into a microphone replayed through a set of headphones in a metal bucket to provide a specific sound. We take for granted that songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, and The Prophet Song, sound so majestic and even eerie, but I know that personally I never consider how that work was accomplished.

Cover

I was introduced to Queen sadly through the movie Wayne’s World, I say sadly not because I have any problem with the movie but that I will really only ever remember it as the movie that introduced me to Queen. I loved The Bohemian Rhapsody and for a while that was all of them I knew. But just as the love of this band was being birthed in me they were also growing into the central favorite band of my close friend Chris. It was through him that I placed songs I already knew to Queen. Before I knew that Another One Bites the Dust belonged to Queen It was simply the entrance theme for the Junkyard Dog in the WWF.

Old and New

Later when I found out that the theme to Highlander was written and performed by Queen I went out to buy a CD. At my father’s recommendation I bought their greatest hits album. I loved it and then had the opportunity to fall in love to Queen myself. Over time I bought A Kind of Magic and Live At the BBC. They moved very quickly to an all-time favorite but I don’t know if I ever really felt like true fan until I picked up A Night At the Opera from Shangri-La Records in Memphis TN, used for 5 dollars. I found this album in the early 2000’s and have loved it ever since. I debated for months when I started collecting again as to whether I would buy a new pressing or just continue to use the old one. I decided, just recently, to buy a new pressing and frame my old copy.

This album shows me a band that, even in their hardest work, doesn’t take themselves too seriously. When I play this album I prance around like I’m on stage to Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon and Seaside Rendezvous. I sing along to ’39 imagining a great rocket leaving our atmosphere. When the Prophet Song comes on I am a prophet on the mountainside of some long lost people. I sway to You’re My Best Friend and Love Of My Life, thinking of my wife. When I am really angry at someone I need Death On Two Legs. I chuckle at Sweet Lady and laugh at the innuendo of I’m in Love With My Car. God Save the Queen provides a wonderful ending, and then there’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and I hope there always will be.

I don’t own a CD of this album, I don’t have the digital copies, I don’t know if I want them. Someday I might buy a cassette deck to wire in so I can copy them down and carry a Walkman again but I fell in love with this album on Vinyl. There is something poetic about that. I never knew this album digitally.

If all you know of this album are the popular songs you are missing something big in your life. So one day when you’re lazing on a Sunday afternoon, take some time to listen to this album, and seriously just listen, no better yet, prance around like the rock star you really are.

Inside the cover

In regard to the comings and goings of Mississippi Squirrels

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Led Zeppelin IV

I had the opportunity to visit my Parents in West Virginia and after a nice 16 hour drive I got to see them for the first time since I got married and my grandparents in a few years. Trips home are always significant because, living in Mississippi, I don’t have the opportunity to visit very often. Flying is too expensive and driving is too time intensive. I had some goals for my visit. Most of my goals have nothing to do with this blog, but there was one. I was going to raid my father’s Vinyl collection.

We bought our stereo from Sears when I was a child. At the time the best electronics came from either Radio Shack or Sears, my how things have changed. Our system was not a component system, it was all one piece, with two very large speakers. I remember sitting next to it as a child wearing our Koss headphones and singing with no shame knowing I was the only one who could hear the music.

Years later when I started collecting vinyl again my brother and I set forth a solemn accord dividing my father’s vinyl. My father was not present for this binding conversation, we did this so there would be no fight later (we did the same things with our toys, the GI Joes were his as they had always been and I took transformers.) Our accord was simple, he was not a vinyl collector like me but very much a music lover and a lover of Dad’s really “cool” albums. And though I may be the brother who screams the loudest about music, Aric has a lot more knowledge about Rock and Roll in all of its variants. In fact my taste in music grew out of my brother’s, and though I found my own identity later, Aric had a big part in it. That is why Aric asked only for Dad’s copy of Black Sabbath Paranoid while I asked for Led Zeppelin IV. Of course, after listing everything I brought home I may get an angry phone call from him.

Flashdance

As I said my brother had a big influence on my in Music but it was my mother and father’s influence that surprised me. My father loved classic rock and folk. We had one car with only an AM radio and one with a cassette and FM, and in that car was Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s So Far. Which I have two vinyl copies of.

Sadly many of my father’s records have been damaged beyond repair, and though I listen to Zeppelin IV now it will probably be retired after the reissue comes out next year. There is a scratch right at the end of Stairway. Some of the albums are not playable at all but that is ok. Many of them were in a large enough release that I can either find a good copy or a new copy. Many of these records will end up in frames hanging on my walls as reminders of where I came from.

Ray Stevens

Of course I haven’t yet mentioned the most important record. I was surprised to find it, and very excited and a little shocked that it is still playable. I remember as a kid, before I started school, I spent a lot of time with my mother she listened to the local AM country station WWVA out of Wheeling West Virginia. One day I was with my mother and I heard the most wonderful thing… I heard a song about a church and a squirrel and at the end I jumped to my feet screamed, “Lord have mercy on me!” I knew then I had found the best song, ever. For Christmas that year I received my first 45, Ray Stevens’ Mississippi Squirrel Revival.

I didn’t understand a lot of the words as a child of 4 like the phrase “In her Ante-bellum world,” that phrase had no meaning to me in West Virginia, but many years later after moving to Mississippi I learned that Pascagoula was a real place. I had to pull the car over when I finally realized that I lived in the state home to America’s most important revival.

So this is what I came home with:

The Mississippi Squirrel Revival –Ray Stevens (Forty-five)
Led Zeppelin IV
Peter Paul and Mary – Self Titled
Peter Paul and Mary –See what Tomorrow Brings
Flashdance – Soundtrack
Fiddler on the Roof –Movie Soundtrack
Jesus Christ Superstar –Movie Soundtrack
ET the Extra-Terrestrial –Narrated By Michael Jackson Music By John Williams
Led Zeppelin IV
Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House – Walt Disney Studios

Summer Trips and Record Stores

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Chess Logo – Friday Vinyl

The summer is a difficult time for writing. I assumed it would be easy but alas with my children home from school, trips all over the country, and family trying to make every moment special who has a time or energy to sit down and write. As weeks of not posting pass more records stack-up that would be perfect for a post.The summer is really a great time for collecting vinyl, as long as we are careful and remember that hot cars can damage our children, animals, and records. Let’s just say that my collection has been growing by leaps and bounds. Three weeks ago my family drove up to Memphis, Tennessee to see a show and while there we visited some of my favorite record stores.

Queen, Bill Withers, Yusuf, Simon and Garfunkel, Pink Floyd

I began collecting used vinyl in Memphis, I never bought reissues. I never had to I was never more than 15 minutes from stores dedicated to vinyl records with hundreds at my disposal. While living in Memphis my proclivity toward old things lead me out Saturday mornings to antique shops and my hobbies lead me out to juke joints at night for dancing. Sometimes if my friends weren’t in the mood for live music we would just gather at my friend Amanda’s house do dance. One night I noticed that the music we were dancing to was being played on a turntable. Watching the record spin while dancing blew my mind. I was just beginning to own a vintage look and nothing said vintage like vinyl.

Vinyl reminded me of my childhood, the smell of records, the sound, and the time spent just sitting and listening, actually listening to the music. I was never nervous about setting the needle down on the record, I never assumed I was holding something special, or at least something that would become special. But that story is for another post, this post is about Memphis. Vinyl in Memphis took on an entirely new meaning, it reminded me of the heart of music.

G-Love and Special Sauce

I was spoiled in my early collecting, I had just assumed that every city has at least one record store. Years later when I walked into Morning Bell, I didn’t realize that it was my only real option in Jackson Mississippi. So the first place I stopped at in Memphis with my family was Goner Records. I had never really been a big shopper at Goner while living there, but the anemia of my Jackson options set me on Vinyl binge. I collected a small stack of vinyl that set me back quite a few dollars, then we stopped at Huey’s Midtown for lunch.

Al Green, Check Berry, Johnny Cash

There are a few very important things that make Huey’s Midtown a great place. First the food, voted best burger in Memphis over and over again makes it a clear choice, second, you shoot toothpicks in the ceiling and finally, there is a record store right across the street called Shangri-La, and it truly is like its namesake. Years earlier I bought my favorite Queen Album there for seven dollars, still my favorite album. But today’s post isn’t about the vinyl I bought there years ago but the vinyl I bought there a few weeks ago.

Between Goner and Shangri-La I left with

On 33 1/3

Bill Withers – Menagerie
Cat Stevens – Greatest Hits
Pink Floyd – Wish you were here
Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubles Water
Queen – Queen 1 (Self-Titled)

On 45

Johnny Cash –Walk the Line
Check Berry – Maybellene
Al Green –Precious Lord

On New 33 1/3

The Black Keys –Turn Blue

On 33 1/3 10-inch

G-Love and Special Sauce –Blues Music

I decided weeks ago I needed to start buying some 45’s they are generally cheap even though they are often in bad shape. I really just don’t have any. I generally buy based on artist and label. I won’t buy an artist I don’t like but I will buy a song I don’t love if it is an original Sun or Chess record. I have a few 45’s and none in good shape but, still worth owning.

My older child spent plenty of time looking and buying records as well, while the younger one sat on a chair in the corner, bored. I don’t blame her it isn’t her thing, but it was exciting to see another generation want to take the time to enjoy music on vinyl.

Walk the Line

All About Fish and Feelings, Whatever Nevermind

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My first experience was Nirvana was not from their ground breaking album Nevermind, nor was it from MTV over playing the video Smells Like Teen Spirit, no my first experience with Nirvana was through Weird Al Yankovic’s song Smells Like Nirvana. I was, at the time, a classic rock fan, I had never been too impressed with modern music so I encountered most of it through satire. I would sit and wait for hours for the video of Smells Like Nirvana to air on MTV. Of course during that time I heard songs, like Come As You Are, In Bloom, and Smells Like Teen Spirit.

www.heptide.com

I was just leaving Middle School when Nirvana hit the airwaves and I missed it. Of course when I found them, finally, they were the first band since Led Zeppelin or Queen to make any sense. Much of my music taste comes from hindsight, in fact, I missed most of it the first time, except the grunge. Once I found that style I never let go, even today I listen to 90’s stations frustrated with the lack of Nirvana. However, there is no doubt that Nirvana changed things for rock music. Glam Rock was reaching its panicle, men in sprayed on leather pants with hair do’s that cost more than most of my wardrobe were prancing back and forth on stage when Kurt Cobain stepped up in ratty jeans, old converse (from before they were popular), and a tee-shirt. From that point on, jeans and a tee-shirt were just fine for me, in fact even today I might just throw a blazer on top and go to work.

I remember hearing a story that when they made it big, Kurt was living in a van. Chris Novoselic said once, “We didn’t come to the mainstream, the mainstream came to us.” This one statement says volumes about the struggle that Nirvana and specifically Kurt Cobain felt about their success. This struggle along with the constant physical pain led Kurt to commit suicide, I remember coming home from school one day, turning on MTV like I often did, and read the scrolling words at the bottom of the screen, “Kurt Cobain has been found dead.” This was the first musician of my era to die, and I will never forget the feeling that day.

I was reminded of Nirvana the other day watching a rerun of the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. I sat with tears in my eyes during the opening clip, the tears stayed throughout the show. Michael Stipe called them “lightening in a bottle.” I agreed. I agreed when Dave Gohl and Chis Novoselic gave their short speeches, and I agreed as Joan Jett sung Smells Like Teen Spirit. I remember thinking about how I would react if I were to ever meet those two men. I imagine I would hug them with tears in my eyes and hope to God that it didn’t come off creepy. I couldn’t help but think about what they were to me, I think I spent most of the rest of my life dressing like Kurt Cobain. They exuded frustration, and that was how I felt so I showed it. Their music helped me give voice to feelings I couldn’t consider touching.

I never understood teen spirit (the spirit not the song), pep rallies never made sense to me. In hindsight I appreciated my high school but while I was there I stood counted with social exiles, I was home there. Through the years the music may have changed but the caliber of people didn’t. We were to the social minority, we didn’t want to be football stars, we didn’t play basketball, and we weren’t ashamed to be part of the marching band. Most of my good memories of high school took place in either the band room or the theater. My lunch was spent with all the “others,” because they weren’t afraid to come as they were.

I never owned Nevermind, I borrowed my brother’s cassette and over the years had a few dubs. I bought this a few months ago as soon as I found it, and as I listen to this record over and over again, I sing the songs, often without thought, the words are just there. Funny, the first time I actually bought this album was 2014 and 180 gram vinyl. Nirvana’s lightning in a bottle fueled my teenage years. Through dating, break-ups, and embarrassing moments, I found my voice while listening to the often ridiculous lyrics of Nirvana, lyrics so pure I never had to actually consider their meaning, mine was good enough. Spoke the alien, “Nevermind.”

You’re Like a Thorn Tree in the Wind.

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I remember many years ago when I was still in seminary one of my suitemates gave us the news that Johnny Cash had died. That statement did not affect me, in fact, I didn’t know really who Johnny Cash was. Sadly, I was living in Memphis at the time. It wasn’t until years later when Walk the Line was released into theaters that I realized what I had been missing. Some of the shooting was no more than a block from where I was living. It was because that movie came out that I began to find my interest in Cash’s music. The first album I bought was this two disc set released for the movie. I loved it, played it over and over, and I memorized all the words. Thing is, those weren’t the first Cash songs I’d heard. The first was actually for a TV commercial, the song was Hurt.

I knew of Nine Inch Nails, my brother was a big fan, but I really wasn’t so I didn’t understand two important things about this song, first, is was in fact Johnny Cash singing, second, it was by Trent Reznor. When I found out, long after the movie had come out, I was even more in awe of this man who was willing to remake songs that came after him. I was intrigued by a man who loved music so much that he didn’t have to be the greatest, he loved music so much that he was willing to make any good songs, regardless of when or who wrote them.

Just think of my shock when I found out that he had six albums worth of other people’s music. He called these albums American Recordings, today I will be talking about the last one released before his death American IV: The Man Comes Around.

I have to admit that the reason I picked this album was because of the song Hurt. I can’t help it, it is amazing. I am in good company though, Trent Reznor, originally thinking the idea was campy, found the song deeply emotional. The rest of us realized Cash might have just owned this song. I think the song is so powerful because of Cash’s history, because of his life story, a life of hurting himself and others. OK, so maybe he didn’t take it from Reznor, however, he made it something new. Reznor considered the video art, telling one newspaper, that it gave him chills just thinking about it. For me, I really became a Nine Inch Nails fan after this Cash song, because I saw something special, an artist wrote an amazingly personal song that was personal for others. I respect the hell out of Reznor for his gift to music in this song, but sadly I will always prefer Johnny Cash’s version.

Of course, if we were talking to Cash about this album he would probably want to talk about The Man Comes Around. The song that became the album title. One of his last songs written, the entire back half of one album sleeve has a note written by Cash to his listeners talking about why he wrote this song. In the letter he says that he spent more time on this song than any other, and that this song started with a dream where he visits the Queen Elizabeth II. The song is full of Biblical imagery, a lot of stuff from Revelation, and one important line from Job. It tells the story of Death walking amongst us after the apocalypse. This is the first time I have heard the song so I don’t have a lot to say, however, it makes me wonder sometimes if he is using some of this Album to say goodbye.

I love music that is about music, from the title of these albums we can know that these were songs that Johnny Cash thought we should all hear, or maybe just songs he always wanted to sing, but that they are a part of our experience. I know that when I die I hope someone plays his version of Danny Boy at my funeral. Maybe I will leave that to my readers, who knows? Though, that is probably sometime away. Cash isn’t afraid of anyone in this album, he sings Hank Williams, The Eagles, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, even Depeche Mode. He says good bye with the song We’ll Meet Again, it is important to note that Cash’s American experience involves music written by and popularized by British artists. Cash knew that we are best when we are willing to look to the people who do things well, and learn from them. I think that is something we should always remind ourselves. So if you ever get nervous that someone else does something better than you remember that even Johnny Cash hurt himself one day.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts,
And I looked and behold: a pale horse.
And his name, that sat on him, was Death.
And Hell followed with him.

This Music Should be Played at High Volumes: Preferably in Residential Areas

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I was listening to the owner of a local radio station here in Jackson Mississippi a few weeks ago. We were in a forum setting and people were asking him questions about his station. He owns a Classic Rap station, I asked him to define classic rap, and I was happy with the answer. Basically, the rap I like. Another person asked who his biggest demographic was, his answer surprised me but made complete sense, 30-40 year old white men. And though I believe that he might have been exaggerating I could see his point.

The Album for this week’s Friday Vinyl is none other than Doctor Dre’s The Chronic. Let me say for the record early in high school I would have never admitted to liking this album, in fact by luck I was introduced to this album when I was older and not trying so hard to fit into the heavy metal clique. I was first introduced realistically to this album when I was a junior in High School in 1996. I liked bands like the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill but for some reason I could argue that they weren’t really rap music. The first time I considered Dr. Dre was during history class when a kid turned around and sold me the “Nuthin But a G Thing” single on cassette for 5 dollars. I bought it because I knew it had been stolen and it made me feel bad ass. Of course it was still a few years before I acknowledged publically that I liked rap music.

Sadly my reasoning had always been racially based. It wasn’t respectable music, not just because of the content but because of the culture behind it, or at least that is what I told myself. Around the same time Metallica was being referred to as Devil Music, Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osborn always had been, and I defended them to the core. For some reason I could say Black Sabbath had been shafted but the themes in Rap music were just inappropriate.

Over the years and through a lot of introspection I learned the real reason I argued so thoroughly that rap music wasn’t real music. First off, the content did make me uncomfortable. They used a lot of sexual language but even more than that they were explaining a culture that was alien to me. I didn’t understand the culture and that misunderstanding led to fear. Living in a predominately white area I didn’t have the chance to interact with many African Americans neither had my family. Of course an easier way to say it is, I was a racist.

I ask your grace on that point because in all honesty, I didn’t understand, but I do now and work to change my perspective and make amends. Everyone around me even the white people were listening to this music, it wasn’t really considered mainstream even for that day, in fact, it was considered disruptive by the mainstream, in hindsight I think that is part of the reason the people around me loved it, and when G Thing came out I could no longer argue I didn’t like the music. I wonder if it is too cheesy to say that Doctor Dre helped me confront my inherent racism.

Of course, that was 1996 and this album came out in 1992. In 92 I was listening to Nirvana, STP, and Pearl Jam. I don’t regret my music choices for the time as much as I regret the limitations I placed upon myself. Over time I learned that all musical genres contain great works, The Chronic is a great work. This album came out in 1992 after the breakup of NWA and Doctor Dre didn’t release another studio album until 2000. I actually owned that album before I owned this one, in fact, this is the first time I bought a full copy. I think part of what I love so much about this album is the difference between this one and Chronic 2001. 1992 introduced us to this young rapper, filled with angst, 2001 gave us that same man, but this time with the ability to look back and see his mistakes. We all know the story, or at least we should, the breakup of NWA, was not very clean and the Doctor and Easy E leapt directly into a feud, a feud that would later fill him with sadness. Easy E died while Dre was in prison, and never getting to say goodbye stayed with him. The road between Death Row and Aftermath was long and hard, but a moral tale for the ages. The first album introduced us to an angry young rapper the second a retrospective father.

In that time Dre introduced us to great artists, and ushered in what some would call the Golden Age of rap, not everyone but some. I don’t know enough about rap music to say whether I agree or not, I know that the 1990’s produced a lot of rap music that I loved in hindsight and the early 2000’s music I loved the first time out.

I haven’t said much about the record itself or the artwork, and they are great but this retrospective isn’t about how wonderful the record is, it is about a visit to the doctor that helped heal my soul.

Clean Sheets, Incense, and Lots of Fluffy Pillows

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I had to order this record separately, it wasn’t just sitting on the shelf. I Ordered it from a local record store. About two weeks ago I walked in and found the second Stone Temple Pilots album and picked it up because, who knows when I will see it again, but I realized that I really wanted to hear Core. I like to support local stores when I can since this medium is in decline. Sometimes I go online but only when I really have to.

Core was one of the first CD’s I owned. And though I don’t refer to Stone Temple Pilots as my favorite grunge band they are the reason I stuck with the music style as long as I did. There were three or four bands that started the grunge era, STP was one of them. Of course I still like them all.

My memory of this album though, doesn’t really come from the CD but the dub to cassette that I shortly made that Christmas morning after receiving it from Santa. Because, though I was now moving into the digital age I couldn’t afford to fully convert to digital music. I still had a Walkman and a paper route that required steady music to keep me sane through the process of chucking papers onto porches. In fact the reason I know this album so well, and so fully is because I immediately converted it to analog. Do to the conversion I couldn’t skip ahead to songs, listen to the same song over and over again, and I had to flip it over to listen to the B side so I wouldn’t have to rewind.

Of course with this album the B side is the side that has all the popular songs, at least the early ones. Plush comes to the end of the Album and so does Creep. And yes, I know Wicked Garden was released as a video on MTV. This well mastered 180 gram vinyl record however has to break the album into 3 sides. Creep and Plush actually appear on two separate records. So it is good this is a good solid album, because otherwise spamming my favorite songs would be impossible.

Of course I can’t help but comment about how “Shiny” the album cover is, and how wonderful the art on the unused portion of the record is. They used the blank space on the back of non-existent side four to recreate the cover art in negative space. That is what I love about vinyl re-releases, the art work in the extra space. Due to the size of the record, there is so much more to look at. But then, that is part of the reason I am willing to go the extra mile and buy vinyl.

This album is full of great music, especially for those of us who were going through “Things” as teenagers and young adults. It is apparent now that the band itself was going through “Things.” We know that Weiland was in and out of drug treatment centers, and could not get along with the rest of the group. We also know that Velvet Revolver (the band Weiland went to after STP) did not want him to return. I would always hear that he was difficult to deal with. Of course, that is just gossip I have never met him, but I will always be thankful for the albums they did together… And though water cleanses, washes dirty away, and makes new STP may never come together again.

The Party After the Show: Weezer’s Blue Period

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Music speaks to me for different reasons. Some music feeds the militant activist, some the eclectic mystic, and some feeds the lonely teenager. Weezer’s Blue album does the latter two. During high school I would struggle to enjoy bands, sometimes because there were only a few songs that spoke to me, others spoke only to one major part of me. The fact was, that if Weezer had only fed the lonely teenager who was scared to talk to girls I probably wouldn’t have been near the fan I am. In fact if it is was just going to be about girls I’d have listened to country Music.

Weezer did something different than a lot of bands at the time, well maybe I shouldn’t say it that way. Weezer utilized the basics, and they were good at it. They didn’t pave new ground, and still they weren’t like anyone else. They knew their music, they knew their instruments but in the end they knew how to make music that would speak not just through its words but its droning melodies and drive. But one of the best examples of this is during Surf Wax America I wasn’t a surfer so I didn’t understand the theory but the descending harmony between the two singers was simply beautiful.

We were introduced to this band before Windows 95 came out. I know that because the Windows 95 CD that was standard at the time had the video for Buddy Holly embedded into it. The introduction came through the cacophony of The Sweater Song, there really wasn’t much to this song, and it was basically about a sweater that one can choose to destroy or keep. It wasn’t hard to destroy this sweater one would need to simply hold string while they walked away. I imagine most fans have attributed the lyrics to this song to something special in their lives. Maybe the singer’s sweater represents the willingness to put our own security in the hands of someone we care for. It might represent to some the first time we say, “I love you,” with the fear of it not being returned, or even maybe just, “I’m sorry.” Regardless if one chooses to walk away, we will be left naked, with nothing. Though, it could just be a song about a sweater. All I really know is that in the end is that when Patrick Wilson starts running around his drum set banging on the cymbals, I was hooked.

Of course the version on the LP is very different. There is talk about a ride to the party after the show. One woman who wants to go but her friends don’t want to go, I don’t know It doesn’t make sense. Over the years I have tried to make sense of it, and the best I have read is that he was going to try and tell a story based on the songs of the album, but that fell apart so they just added it as it was.

The album is so well loved by those of a certain nerdy persuasion because it dealt with important themes around security and feeling safe. In The Garage deals with this theme directly. When do we feel safe? When we can put our hands directly on our dungeon masters guide and 20 sided die. The garage, in their song, was where they could be themselves. They pay homage to this on the inside artwork, the instruments are set up on a concrete floor, probably a garage where they write the words to their songs.

Say it Ain’t Soapproaches, so well, the depths of our souls, is talks about what makes us who we are through a story. The bridge tells us the background of the story set in a letter to the singer’s step-father.

“You’ve cleaned up, found Jesus, things are so good so I hear.This Bottle of Steven’s awakens ancient demons, like father, step father, your son is drowning in flood.

But as a teenager no song affected me like Only in dreams. I was afraid to talk to girls, at least tell them how I felt, but I would dreams of the dances, holding a girl and floating. The song proved that even guys dream of romance.

After this album Weezer took a break, Rivers Cuomo went to college and nothing came out. This became a traumatic time for Rivers, but that is another story for another Friday. But don’t worry, I have every intention of telling that one as soon as I can find some vinyl.

I ordered my copy of Weezer’s self-titled album (the blue one) and came out with the Original Master Recording. This album was rereleased and repressed from the original masters. The nice and heavy record came in a special static bag, which I love because I am tired of shocking myself. I love this addition to my collection. This album holds a special place in my own story. In fact I didn’t realize until later that not everyone gets some of my life references to this album. I noticed I kept having to explain what I meant when I referred to the after party of my Wedding (as opposed to the reception) as the party after the show.

Sweet Songs to Rock My Soul

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A few years ago I was working as a chaplain in a children’s hospital. This one Thursday I was attending a seminar on music and healing. The woman hosting the seminar was a folk singer and guitarist. She and I had spoken earlier of the healing nature of the Grateful Dead, in fact, a few specific songs. My supervisor and I had a difference of opinion about what I was supposed to be doing at the time which ended in an assertion that I would not follow her orders. Later that day I found myself crying, the folk singer was playing Ripple right behind me, my supervisor was holding me, and a fellow chaplain, a man like a brother, was dead. Later that night while I listened to Broke Down Palace the words, “When there were no wings to fly, you flew to me,” came alive.

That night I listened to American Beauty over and over again, and got excessively drunk. I can’t help but think about that day that place, those tears, and my friend Wade whenever I hear this album. And it is that simple fact that I have a hard time “rehearing” this album. The connection is so strong that I had felt for a long time there was nothing new to learn from this album. I found over the years when I needed to return to reality or find inspiration from the heavens I would play this album, sometimes the whole things, but often simply the B side, starting with Ripple.

Of course there is always something new to learn, or maybe even something old, like meaning before that occurrence of death. I bought the album originally on CD because it had a few songs I knew and one I wanted. I knew Sugar Magnolia, Truckin, and so forth but I wanted Friend of the Devil. In fact, I had always assumed the latter song a good title for my autobiography. There are other personal draws to this album, it frequently references places I have been, or even lived. Candyman is its own little trip, I don’t think I actually heard the words until I was living in Memphis learning to talk the jive.

I spent a lot of time trying to “figure out” this album, and over time I have figured out that all I really figured out is that, trying to understand the dead is a deep pool of confusion and joy. I think that is why it’s my inspirational music, my personal hymnody. There is always something I missed, something they intended or something they didn’t. When I get stuck, there is beauty in this music, when I feel alone there is love. This album rests upon a fountain that was not made by hands of men.

Their name alone reminds us that time Box of Rain is short, that from the moment we start breathing we start dying, but there is something great about that. Encouraging us to own our moments, because there is such a long long time to be gone and a short time to be there.