Tag Archives: Friday Vinyl

Hozier’s Introduction to the World

I struggled writing this post on Hozier’s first album. As I sat writing, deleting, and rewriting, I was reminded why I originally decided not to review new music. I listen to this beautiful album and like many reviewers I want to tear it apart and analyze it, but that approach would be inconsistent with my original intent. My goal is to experience the music, not destroy it. In the short time of owning this album I have experienced it deeply.

I was first introduced to the song Take Me To Church. Immediately I fell in love with the simple sound, and complicated words. Watching the video I was transported to past protests and rallies. The video tells the story of two men who love each other, one is murdered for it. The video and the song work together perfectly, we are confronted with struggles of the LGBT community and the isolation experienced by conservative religion. The refrain “Take me to church” isolates the dichotomy of religion that preaches love and acts differently.

Of course the marriage of this song and that video tell a different story than listening to the song alone. The song by itself draws parallels to love and the institution of religion. This song thrives in the heart of the teenager that lives inside of me. A boy who struggles to understand his feeling while still being enveloped by them. What I love about this song is that it works on multiple levels, it works as a scathing commentary faith and as a love song describing someone lost in an emotional tsunami.

My Church offers no absolution
She tells me, ‘Worship in the bedroom.’
The only heaven I’ll be sent to
Is when I’m alone with you—

It connects religion and love, faith and lust, hope and loss. I don’t know if you have ever been lost in love, especially a love that is not balanced but the author seems to understand this carnal desire.

Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

Maybe you’ve never had this feeling or maybe it’s just easier to lie about it, but Hozier’s rock, blues, gospel, pop mix brings to light the love we often leave hidden in the darkness, the love that we don’t admit. Or the feeling of losing ourselves to love. If you have never had this issue you may get bored but if you have, prepare to bring that darkness to the surface.

The album revolves around relational themes, generally about love, lust, sex, and loss. I played the song In A Week for my wife, she listened openly in the beginning appreciating the music, but she didn’t feel the full weight of the song until she heard the refrain:

And they’d find us in a week
When the weather get’s hot
After the insects have made their claim
I’d be home with you

Immediately she wondered whether we should continue listening to this album. But this is not an album one can simply pull one song out and expect to understand the full depth, some albums are just full of great songs that don’t connect with each other, this was not one of them. The order of the songs and the fullness of the album creates a context, and it would be hard to understand any one song without first beginning to understand the whole of the album. That is why I love vinyl, it helps me find that context.

So, If you are looking for simple, look somewhere else, this album is not for you. We have to think about this album, we comb over it, and always listen for something new. So far I hear love songs, joyful and tragic. He delves into love, he embraces it, massages it, and even mangles it.

I look forward to hearing his future albums. This album was very thematic, and I look forward hearing different themes. Love is important but I’d love to hear him pour this much work into other issues. Now, whether he will we don’t really know, but I do know I will blindly buy his next album in the hope that he continues to grow as a musician and commentator.

Taking a Walk With Garth Brooks (On my Walkman)

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I decided I would get serious about my health so I joined Weight Watchers. Of course with dieting comes exercise and even though I had been trying to avoid it, I realized I would have to be more active. So I took these ridiculously blue shoes

Ridiculously Blue

This monster of a Walkman

Sony Walkman S2

And this used Garth Brooks Tape

Garth Brooks – The Hits

I pull up the hood on my oversized gray hoodie (It makes me feel like Gandalf), and walk out the door.

As soon as I started walking, I realized that The Hits by Garth Brooks is the perfect soundtrack for my walk. I don’t know if it’s because deep down, Garth Brooks is just a Rock and Roll singer or if it is that he knew my neighborhood and made a cassette for it. I don’t enjoy walking out the door, it’s not pain, I just struggle with physical activity, but then Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til The Sun Comes Up) comes on and my reticence disappears. How could it not? And as I travel down the road Friends in Low Places comes on and I start to sing. I am aware at that I am wearing a Walkman and no one else can hear the music but I don’t care, I got places to go and songs to sing!!!

The River comes on and I remember my childhood, for some reason we were taught the sign language of this song every year. Of course, the song does lend itself well to anyone with anything going on in their life, whether its issues at home, trouble in relationships, or cancer, The River reminds us that we keep moving with the currant even though we don’t want to, and I continue moving with the currant.

Then I arrive at this cool cemetery in my neighborhood

Ridgeland, MS

And as I walk through the gate I hear the chorus, I’m much too young to feel this damn old. I can’t help but chuckle, I am walking through the cemetery, and I feel old? As I walk through the small road and look at the old and new graves I am forced to keep my mortality in perspective. Someday my body will be laid cold (then heated up shortly when I am cremated) and what is left is the knowledge I pass down. The cemetery reminds me why I work, and the purpose of my work.

I generally leave the cemetery while The Thunder Rolls, and about the time American Honkey-Tonk Bar Association I remember that Garth Brooks and I probably wouldn’t agree about politics, but we don’t have to for me to sing along as I turn the corner toward home. I get home after two slow songs reminding me what I walk toward. If Tomorrow Never Comes and Unanswered Prayers drive me home to my family.

I get home remove my Gandalf hoodie then go on about my day. But there is something simple about carrying my Walkman instead of an mp3 player. It just feels easier. I don’t have to put together a special mix, I don’t have to copy anything to the player (which is more of a hassle than I would have ever thought), and I get to feel the tape in my hand (which makes a bigger deal than you’d think), I get to feel the mechanics begin to move when I push the buttons, it feels, active, to me. I am going through the act of listing to music, not just passively hearing it.

If you know the album you may be asking, what about the B side? Well, good question, that is for tomorrows walk. When I pick up my Walkman tomorrow I will flip the tape being reminded that life is better when I’m not Standing Outside the Fire.

I was Drunk the Day My Mom Got Out of Prison: Why Country Music Still Needs David Allen Coe

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I am not a perfectionist in the the traditional sense, I don’t read these blog posts over and over again to correct grammar or even make sure I have removed all the redundancies, for example, read the opening line. That, however, does not mean I am not finicky, in fact it may just be a different kind of perfectionism. What I mean Is, I work very hard to make sure that my message is clear (even when the messages is “Meh!”).

David Allen Coe: Greatest Hits

My process is a little strange, sometimes these things write themselves and sometimes they are a wrestling match but, I have never been more blocked on a post than when I sat down to write about David Allen Coe. My first version of this post read like an apology for appreciating his music. And if you know anything about his personal life or his beyond questionable taste you might understand my reticence. The problem with my first few drafts of this post was that I was trying to whitewash Coe, however, that brings problems. First, it’s just not honest, second, it is ridiculous to believe in the possibility, David Allen Coe lives down a dark rabbit hole, light may not actually reach that far. Of course, were he to read that I suspect he would laugh call me something inappropriate then tell me through which orifice I can shove his record (after pointing out I must have forgotten he’d been to prison).

But the fact is, his music is too important to overlook, especially for someone like me who purports to like “all kinds” of music. I would even be willing to say that we need musicians like David Allen Coe, because I may have to admit that I don’t care for his personality, he keeps me (and Nashville) honest. There may be no other country artist that understands exile more than David Allen Coe, in fact, he often sings about it. I can’t listen to songs like, You Never Called Me By My Name, or Longhaired Redneck without hearing about a good ‘ol boy system within the good ‘ol boy system.

In You Never Called Me, Coe points out that he fits in a lot better when people think he is Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings. In Longhaird Redneck He is very clear that DJ’s don’t’ go to his shows, and they seldom like to play his music, though he doesn’t really care, and wouldn’t want it any other way. Coe was never afraid to call out the establishment in Country Music, and his fans loved him for it.

On a side note, he may be the progenitor of the oldest country music joke in the world (What do you get when you play a country song backward?) in You Never Called me, he points out that the best country music songs have to mention Momma, trains, trucks, prison, and being drunk. In fact the song is so catchy I am no longer surprised to hear my 13 year old daughter sing, “I was drunk, the day my momma got out of prison.” The song uses thick sarcasm questioning the repetitive nature of country themes. It me of an Entertainment Weekly article that came out a few years ago pointing out that all the top charted country songs of 2013 utilized the same themes over and over again: trucks, Dirt Roads, begging girls to get into trucks, tight blue jeans, river banks, the sunset, and the good stuff. I can’t imagine Coe would have cared much for bro country.

I could give you a lot of examples but the big question is, would I recommend you listen to David Allen Coe? Yes! Do I recommend you like him? Meh! One of the important things I take from Coe after a few songs is that country is not immune to this classic music establishment that like all other establishments, frames one specific narrative, a shiny one (even if it’s depressing). Even among what is known as Outlaw Country Music David Allen Coe often finds few friends, and even fewer supporters. I would be oversimplifying to say that that we should take the message, “Be yourself,” from Coe because he is generally just being stubborn, but there is something deep happening in his music we need to hear. I wish I could tell you what it was, it would make this post much easier to write.

In the future you will hear about Willie and Waylon but I felt like I had to start with Coe, for some reason it just felt more honest. Believe me, I wanted to start with Merle Haggard, Merle would have been easy to write about. But, why is it more honest to start here? Some people call it piss and vinegar and some say it’s just being stubborn, but I think that anyone who isn’t afraid to call out their establishment even when it can hurt their career is worth a listen. It is something we have to hear, so that when we need to call them out we can stifle our fear.

Because at the end of the day, standing up reminds us what it’s like to be left standing in the rain.

Weezer: Because Everything Will Be Alright in the End.

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Everything Will Be Alright In the End – Cover

It is difficult for me to write about modern albums, I feel like. I try to make sure that if I am going to dedicate the time to learning the new music (by learning I mean a lot of listening) it had better be good. My attention span isn’t what it used to be, and I find little desire to decode the lyrics of complicated songs. And though I support the idea that all musicians should grow in depth as they mature, the fact is, I am a much older man in spirit than body, and am very much a fuddy duddy, even though my last three posts were about modern albums.

Many of the bands singing pop rock when I was a kid had their start in the 70’s before I was born. I found them in the late 80’s and respected them into the 90’s. When it comes to bands that started during my middle to teenage years in the mid to late 90’s I wonder what they are doing now. For some reason I had assumed Weezer had simply stopped making music after Green. Then I realized why I was missing their new albums, when I saw “Everything Will Be Alright In the End,” at the record store.

Everything Will Be Alright In the End – Record

My ascension to Fuddy Duddydum had left me listing to classic rock channels and 90’s grunge and alternative channels (which is considered classic rock in some circles). I forgot that classic Weezer, though very good, was not the only Weezer. I looked over while picking my daughter up from school and heard her singing along to Weezer’s new album and realized that Weezer had gained new status in the world, a band that survived its beginnings and grew into something bigger, something that made them into a new classic. I was just old enough to have been there when they started, but my daughter, learned of them many years after their beginning. Of course it can often be difficult reconnecting older bands, but Weezer’s “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” made it easy. Cuomo’s intent in this album was to look back while moving forward, using their classic sound.

Everything Will Be Alright In the End – Insert

I don’t know what it is about Weezer and Cuomo’s writing that makes me pour over lyrics, regardless of whether I want to, it is compulsive. Sure, I could try to just enjoy this album, bobbing my head as I listen to the catchy tunes, but I feel like I would be treating the writer unjustly. These songs make it hard to just listen to I want to hear them as well. In fact I had to google Foucault before writing this paragraph. I can imagine saying that to Rivers Cuomo and Rivers just walking away shaking his head. When I listen to River’s words and music I cycle through few basic thoughts that progress in this manner.

I’d love to meet this guy for coffee
We could talk about his music and theology
I’d love to hear about his writing process
Shit he went to Harvard
Am I smart enough to talk with Rivers?
Uh oh I’d better prepare how do you pronounce Foucault again?
Can I call him Rivers?
And I’d better bone up on my Greek, where did I leave my old professors email?
I’m tired

Would Someone Please Translate This For Me? My Greek is Terrible.

Weezer produces great and catchy music, which seems extremely unpopular today. Cuomo writes amazing lyrics, in fact he went to college to make himself a better writer, to better delve into the depths of his soul. The songs in this album are broken into three topics, Women, Work, and Father Issues. These three topics show up often in Weezer songs, but that’s not a bad thing, because these three topics show up often in our day to day lives. But Cuomo doesn’t sing about these three things the same way as he did in Pinkerton and Blue, instead, his songs engender growth, and one of the greatest truths, sometimes we have to return to the beginning to really know who we are in the end.

Saying Goodbye While I Turn Blue, My Introduction to the Black Keys

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The Black Keys, Turn Blue Album Cover

If I were to write a review of The Black Key’s new album Turn Blue I would probably have to tell you which studio album they were on, how this album interacts with their past albums, and what new influences obviously lead to their blue turn. I would probably also have to mention 100 other bands or producers before ever talking about the Black Keys themselves, especially British Cartoon Character Danger Mouse who has something to do with this album. And it would be important to mention they are from Akron, because I guess… the Akron Music Scene? I know that would be the case because I made the mistake of reading reviews of Turn Blue before writing this post.

It is astounding. It astounds me because they never really get around to talking about the album itself, and they never give me the sense that they experienced the album. The goal from the beginning of their review is, simply, to tell you whether or not they think the album, from a critical standpoint, is good. Which apparently they can do without ever really talking about The Black Key’s music, and quite possibly listening to the whole thing. I obviously do not understand the business side because their reviews make no sense to me.

I bought this album at a record store in Memphis because I heard them sing on The Colbert Report. I don’t remember the song they sang because that was a long time ago, I just remember it was catchy and the album cover was cool, that was enough for me.

I appreciate this band first, because they include a copy of the CD with the record, and they gave me a poster. That is important because I don’t care to buy CD’s or simply download mp3s, they make it worth spending more money on the analog copy. Without the record there is nothing to touch. Many bands offer a free download, but these guys went the extra mile and gave me a CD.

The Black Keys: Turn Blue Record Sleeve

Secondly, something strange happens when Fever comes on. My disco ball finds a way to entice me into turning it on and I start to dance. Not quite sure why this happens EVERY TIME!!! But it does and that is something I am just going to have to live with it, as will my wife and children. Right away that song grabs me and pulls me from my seat. At that point it doesn’t even matter what the song is about, I’m already in. The whole album goes back and forth from this psychedelic blues to pop, and by then end, I have lost like 45 minutes and I’m covered in sweat.

Of course it starts strong, Weight of Love introduces something delightfully forlorn, and the message continues as I slow dance through the album. The album helps me say goodbye, and who doesn’t need to say goodbye to something? Turn blue makes me confront a certain kind of baggage, baggage that I am ready to let go of. I can’t stay angry long while listening to these guys. Their mellow mix of forlorn sadness and slow drive leaves me with the feeling that everything is going to be ok, even if the process takes a long time, even amidst the bullshit serenade. And quite honestly, sometimes I need that. This album gives me the permission to turn blue without the expectation that I stay there forever.

And Finally, I think I was hypnotized by the artwork.

Turn Blue

And as much as I would love to end this post with that idea I can’t. I have to say that of the reviews I read lack something very important when it comes to this album, a fresh ear. The reviewers spend so much time defining context that they miss something important, that this album creates its own context. Turn Blue made me a Black Keys fan. Not because there is anything wrong with their other albums, I just haven’t heard them. Sure, this may be a their 50^th album, and often I agree that most things don’t exist in a vacuum, but for the first time in my life I might just have found something that did.

And it turned blue.

In Search of Lead Balloons Part 2: Air Guitars Unleashed

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Led Zeppelin I Side One

I had planned on letting my new Zeppelin LP sit in its box for the weekend because I was going on a camping trip the next day, the kids were running around, and I had work to finish before I left. Then I told myself I would just open the box and look at the sleeve, admiring the work. Well, after opening the box I decided I would just hold the record and enjoy the touch, then somehow the record ended up on the record player. I figured by this time I would go ”all in” and pull out my old air guitar, moments later I was strutting through the music room playing and singing about the days of my youth when I was told what it means to be a man.

This band was not created but evolved out of the work of many musicians. We can’t actually talk about this evolution without mentioning “The Yardbirds” which involved not just Page but Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, and somehow Keith moon got involved with John Entwistle. And when Page thought it would be great to form a band with these two but one of them said, “That would go over like a lead balloon.” They played a series of shows together and even recorded a song, but in the end this groups never solidified for one reason or another, the chemistry just wasn’t there but it is good to know the family history. It is good to know that all the good musicians played together but didn’t try to force something that wouldn’t work. Two years later when Page with Robert Plant, Jon Bonhom, and John Paul Jones decided to form a band Page remembered the old conversation about lead balloons.

Led Zeppelin I

As a teenager I didn’t know much about the history, I didn’t need to, I just knew how the music felt. The music filled me, when the song started I could see strobe lights and lava lamps, I could hear screaming fans, but more than that I could hear the moan. As a teenager I felt this feeling through all the girls that said no and the masses I was too afraid to ask. As a medical chaplain I heard it in the cries of those who were left behind when a loved one died, and as a Mississippian I heard in the crickets and juke joints. The moan was something more than just rock and roll. It is heartbreak, love, hate, joy and sadness, it’s blue.

This music became a major part of the soundtrack to my youth. It would be playing in the background when I was playing Nintendo, or writing in my journal. It played while my friends and I sat and did nothing on short summer days. And it mattered that it was old, it mattered that it was classic. I never really looked at the song breaks, the changes in the midst of the song would walk me down brand new path so often I thought the albums were made up of 30 different short songs. I appreciate that, during the middle of the song, the band seams to take a break just so they can take their guitars for a walk. There was something fearlessly heartbreaking in the music.

In an earlier post, I said this album was close to impossible to obtain before the reissue. I asked once if the record store clerk had Zeppelin 4 in stock, he laughed. In fact, he told me that when a copy would come in it didn’t last the day. I remember passing on a copy once in Memphis Tennessee 10 years ago I often think back to that day in sadness, and I have no clue what happened to my father’s copy. However, I had never seen any of their other albums. Sure I could get one of the compilations but that just wouldn’t be the same.

This set is the first reissue of the original source material since Atlantic stopped pressing the records. As a child I listened on cassette to Led Zeppelin I and II, but had my father’s copy of IV to listen to. I only know the rest through the compilation albums. I look forward to my new walk through of Led Zeppelin albums on LP. There is something special about holding this record in my hands… Strangely, when I feel the smoothness of the vinyl and the ridges of the grooves I can’t help but hear an echo saying, “They call me the hunter… that’s my name”

Don’t forget to check back for part 3 that will focus on the bonus material of the LP.

In Search of Lead Balloons Part 1: You’re Time is Gonna Come

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Friday Vinyl

I didn’t hear the knock at the door, I didn’t hear the door bell, and I didn’t hear the dog bark at the mail carrier. In fact I sat wondering why my record had not yet arrived, so I checked the tracking numbers. I noticed that that my package was reading delivered, so I opened my front door and saw sitting there, the square box containing Led Zeppelin I.

Since renewing my vinyl record hobby I had been trying to find used copies of Led Zeppelin albums to no avail. Used copies of Led Zeppelin records didn’t last long in used record stores. There is a good reason for this, Atlantic stopped producing vinyl because record players were on the way out and the mainstream was switching from cassette to CD. Vinyl records were not only outdated tech but had been on their last legs for a long time.

There were still bands putting out records in the 90’s but they were mainly new bands and the vinyl releases were small and only served the purpose of getting a cassette out. Then the world switched from analog to digital so many labels asked, “What’s the point of producing vinyl?” A starting band could record a track in their garage on a 4 track and make a decent cassette. Today that process is even simpler. But there were bands that still recorded in Vinyl, and over time a small subset of people decided they missed what I like to call the religious aspect of music. The touch of the media, the physical process of playing, and the ritual of old tech.

Many bands, including rock bands, new age, rap, and even techno, started releasing and re-releasing their original recordings in vinyl, Led Zeppelin did not. And though, they did re-release their songs on vinyl in different sets the original albums were never released. Over the last few years they had made plans to re-release, finally. Originally it would be over a year but then they realized if they took their time they could add more tracks, so they switched to the idea of three a year. So I now have the first of three.

I had big plans for my record arrival with a special post used to relaunch my blog, I had been under hiatus since planting my garden, and had also moved it to a self-hosted address. I ordered the record three months before the release date at my local record shop so I thought this would work out perfectly. Of course, since the closing of the locally owned store I had to go to a chain store. I am fine supporting chains because at some level they are still local and they bring money back to the community though I will always wish I could have stopped in and talked about the release to the owner of Morning Bell Records in Jackson Mississippi. I remember going the day of the release and to my dismay, the record had not been shipped, they had plenty of the CD’s but not the records.

It wasn’t the fault of the store clerk, it was supposed to be shipped it just wasn’t because the chain doesn’t really care about the buying and selling of vinyl records. Of course, I may be too harsh, maybe they do care but figured the re-release would go over like a lead balloon and they wouldn’t have a problem with the item being out of stock. The clerk sadly told me he didn’t know if they would get it anytime soon.

So I figured I would just order it from Amazon then I would still have time to write my blog, but Amazon was now back ordered. I tried other online retailers and they too were back ordered, and though I better understood the problem the local store had in getting the record, I was still a strange mix of sad and angry.

Come to think of it, it was the same feeling I got when I found that the locally owned Jackson Mississippi store Morning Bell was closing. The store struggled to stay open for two years and I like to think that the owner, who had become a common conversant with me, would have made sure I had the record on time (whether that is true or not). The reason this is sad because some of us love the ritual of the thing as much as the thing itself. For me music is personal and all aspects of it should be. I don’t want to be 1 of 2000 people in a concert hall just to hear my favorite band. I would rather slow dance to the local blues guy with my wife in a small juke joint. If it isn’t personal I don’t have enough interest to sustain the show. And if you think that is crazy you should see me make coffee.

I envision a future where everything will be bought online and I get nervous. I am a fan of online shopping, but there are some things that will always be better local: fruit, vegetables, restaurants, and music. These are things that make a community a community and not just a collection of living quarters. It was sad that I couldn’t get Led Zeppelin I at the record store on the release date because it means that part of what makes a community a community is dying. I would have loved standing in a long line out the doorway to get my record that day it was released. I would have camped out. I wonder if there is a way to strike a balance, to have it both ways, Amazon.com and Morning Bell. How do we save community from ourselves?

Led Zeppelin I the deluxe edition comes with 3 records. The original studio recording and newly released live material. I will respond to this release in two posts. The first will deal with the original release material and the second the live material. Happy reading, and please leave feedback or tell me about your experience in music.

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.