Rediscovered Gems
Well, I’m back home and off the road again. And as usual, while traveling I took the opportunity to listen to some music.
Hey, I was behind the wheel for a bunch of hours. What the hell else was I supposed to do while driving to help pass the time?
And yeah, that means you’re about to get another musical walkabout. Consider yourself forewarned. (smile)
. . .
It’s no secret that our tastes change over the years. I think that’s largely due to the fact that we ourselves change over time.
As we change, so do our druthers. Our experiences in life give us new perspectives, and that modifies what we like.
Why? Well, for starters we change physically. But that’s only part of the reason – the smaller part, IMO.
My theory is that the main reason is that when we’re young, we haven’t yet had the experiences necessary to understand certain things fully. We haven’t yet been hurt – physically or emotionally – to the degree, or in the particular way, necessary to always “get it”. Or we haven’t had some other experience that’s a prerequisite to understanding a particular idea, or concept.
When we’re older, we’ve generally had those necessary experiences. So it seems to me that as we age, we develop the framework to interpret and appreciate things we couldn’t before. I can’t speak for others, but I’ve seen that in myself. I’ve become far more introspective and reflective over the years.
Hell, I could well be wrong about all of that; I’m no shrink. But it makes sense to me. So: “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” (smile)
“So . . . what’s yer point?” you ask? Well, sometimes that means revisiting old favorites yields a completely different experience. In fact, it can mean you discover treasures you’d formerly overlooked for whatever reason.
And since Jonn lets me “play in his sandbox” here, well, here ya go.
. . .
During a recent move, a number of CDs “went into hiding”. One of those AWOL CDs was my copy of The Who’s Who’s Next.
I recently acquired a replacement copy which was a later version (the first copy was the original version). And the new version contained a number of tracks absent from the original.
The Who are known as a rock band; they’re best known for their uptempo numbers. However, they’re English – and England has a long tradition of ballads. Pete Townsend on occasion would write slower tempo ballads; “Behind Blue Eyes” from Who’s Next is an example.
This tune is another example; it’s one you might not have previously heard. It’s titled “Too Much of Anything.”
Like Who’s Next, it was recorded in the early 1970s. But it wasn’t released until some years later, on the collection Odds and Sods. It was included on later releases of Who’s Next as well.
I think anyone past their 30s (or maybe their 40s) can probably relate to it. And I don’t really think further explanation is necessary.
. . .
Another CD that went “in hiding” during the move was U2’s The Joshua Tree. I also recently acquired a replacement copy of that one as well. And here, it’s strictly a case of changed perspective due to age. The two tunes I’m about to discuss were there all along; I just wasn’t ready to appreciate them properly when the original was released 30 years ago.
Like The Who, U2 is known as a rock band; they’re best known for their uptempo songs. But like England, Ireland also has long turned out ballads – and U2 has as well. These are two slower ballads from U2. They’re both IMO beautiful; and they both hit home.
The first of the two is titled “Running to Stand Still”. While the song’s subject matter is quite dark, the underlying metaphor (e.g., being caught in a bad situation requiring extreme acts that merely gain temporary respite while not knowing how to cope over the long term) is universal. I daresay that anyone who’s ever served in uniform has felt at times like they were indeed executing the song’s title – albeit not in the same manner as the song’s subject.
(For what it’s worth: if you are close to someone who’s engaged in self-destructive behavior (or have ever lost someone close to such behavior and haven’t fully come to grips with that loss), maybe you should pass on viewing the vid.)
The second tune is titled “Red Hill Mining Town”. The song was based on the closure of many British coal mines in the mid-1980s and the effect that closure had on the towns’ inhabitants.
This one especially hits home for me. As I’ve written previously, my father was a first-generation American; his parents were both immigrants.
After coming to America, my immigrant grandfather was a coal miner.
The mines and steel mills in and near his adopted hometown closed; as a result, the town damn near died. Today, it’s recovered somewhat – but you can tell it’s still just a shell of its former self.
Medical issues associated with coal mining shortened the man’s life substantially; because of that, I never met that grandfather. I don’t think he lived long enough to see his adopted hometown slowly fade and nearly dieas , the namesake town for this song did. But I think he lived long enough to see the decline begin, and to perceive what was coming.
I wasn’t as concerned 30 years ago about family history as I am today – so 30 years ago, the song didn’t really register. But today it connects.
Given all of that, let’s just say that listening to this tune while driving through an old, now partially (but not totally) defunct industrial area in different city was . . . a rather intense experience.
. . .
Well, anyway, that’s all for today. Walkabout’s over now; hopefully it wasn’t too boring.
. . .
Postscript: The two U2 tunes are intense and powerful live, too. The first can be viewed here (from Rattle and Hum) or here (Chicago, 2005, from the Vertigo tour). The latter can be viewed here. This was first public live performance by U2 of “Red Hill Mining Town”; it happened on the opening night of the Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Tour in Vancouver, BC, on 12 May 2017. The audio was taken from the concert’s mixing board – complete with what appears to be some timing chatter for the accompanying brass band. (smile)
Category: Pointless blather, Who knows
All this makes me wonder just what we are supposed to do with the various types of musical delivery systems around the house. Some of my favorite pieces of music are on old (some VERY old) LP’s, cassette tapes and CD’s. But I do have players that can play most of them.
OK, am adding a line item to the “To Do List.” Gather, sort, and find a way to connect the electronic gear so that most, if not all, of these ancient musical interludes may be enjoyed.
Always enjoy these retrospectives, Hondo. Much of it I have never heard, or had only a passing acquaintance with it. Hard rock, acid rock, heavy metal, and pretty much all forms of pop rock through the years was never my genre, but there certainly were a bunch of great musicians among them.
As of a few years ago, software existed that allowed tracks from CD’s to be stored in MP3 format for use in portable devices. Ditto also turntables with USB interfaces that would do the same for LPs. I presume those devices and software still exist today.
I presume the same is true for cassettes, but I haven’t ever looked and thus can’t confirm that for personal knowledge. But I’d be shocked if such a device is not available.
Hahahaha. We’re talking turntables from the 60’s and dubbing decks from the early 70’s here. They do have plenty of ports for connecting them together, and some of them once were. With all that comes an interesting assortment of speakers, just for grins and surround sound.
Have an old iMac that might work as a CD player with it all. Just thinking it might be fun to put all these museum pieces to work.
OK, thought you were looking to convert existing music to a portable digital format.
If you’ve got a desktop computer with audio input jacks and want to use that in the loop, you’re most of the way there. Pretty sure CD and cassette/reel-to-reel audio outputs are compatible with those inputs. Plus as I recall the computer’s audio output is compatible with the line input for most stereo power amps (most receivers of that era also had a “line input” or “aux input” jack or three.
You might need a preamp for the turntable, though. Most receivers from that era (and many power amps) had the RIAA-spec preamp built-in and had separate turntable inputs. Might be easier to just run the turntable directly to the existing preamp – won’t be able to easily convert LPs to MP3 with that config, but it should work for listening. Though I guess you could in theory connect the turntable to the turntable input and use the preamp output (if available) to the computer audio input to record those too. Might involve temporary re-cabling, though.
Make sure that if you run a line from a stereo to your sound card input that it is a line (unamplified) feed and not an amplified line like for a speaker. Quick Google search will give specifics of how to bring in music from LP/cassette. CDs can be imported via iTunes; just specify to import as MP3s. You can buy RCA Y-splitters to avoid constant recabling. I have a similar problem… 8+ feet of albums, over 800 cassettes, not to mention a terabyte or so of MP3s to sort. Part of my retirement bucket list.
Speaking of “Behind Blue Eyes”, Daltry performed it with the Chieftains on traditional Irish instruments once in concert – proving that a great song is great no matter what instruments are involved.
Two solid albums. I really love “Who’s Next”. There are some songs that can put you in a good mood no matter how bad a day you’re having. There are two for me, “Listen to the Music” by the Doobies and “Going Mobile” off the aforementioned Who album.
Also, Hondo, you talking about tastes evolving over time and changing over time (maturity?) also applies to music. What would you say about someone who started out as a child prodigy on steel guitar, played on the same bill as Hank Williams at age 13, started a doo-wop group in the late 50s, had a a Top 40 hit that many thought was a British Invasion tune (thanks to a creatively deceptive band name), split to California and made some interesting tunes, jammed with Jerry Garcia, made solo albums with guest musicians including Dr. John, Bob Dylan, and Flaco Jimenez. Played everything from country, western swing, rock and roll, blues, and tejano, and played everywhere from Austin to Stockholm? I’m pretty sure you can figure out who I’m talking about.
Oh yeah! You’d be speaking of the legendary Doug Sahm; I was lucky enough to see him live a few times. His old compadre Augie Meyers is still at it; a very versatile musician in his own right.
I knew someone would pick up on Doug Sahm, alias Sir Douglas, alias Doug Saldana, alias Wayne Douglas. I knew he had some talent, but finding live performances of his on YouTube brought it home. And I’ll tell you, he had some awesome songs on “The Return of Doug Saldana” album such as “Stoned Faces Don’t Lie”, which I think sums up the early 70s post-hippie comedown better than any other song I ever heard on the topic.
Also, as regards Augie Myers, he would be seen playing guitar when required and would also be squeezing on an accordion when Flaco Jimenez wasn’t available.
Sorry, Hondo, but I’m a hard rock/metal guy. While I do have favorites from pretty much every genre (I do like a lot of late 60’s/70’s stuff, The Guess Who being one of them), I usually fall back to what I enjoy listening to most. Right now, this morning, I’ve been listening to Skillet, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, etc. But, that’s just me. It’s funny when my truck windows are down and I’m at a stoplight and someone pulls up next me and sees this guy with salt and pepper (mostly salt) hair listening to Bullet For My Valentine, Volbeat, or something like that. They give me the craziest looks, but I don’t care.
More specifically, “Running to Stand Still” is about a loved one who is addicted to heroin. Always been a favorite of mine along with the entire album. There couldn’t be a more sanctimonious prick on earth than Bono, but U2 used to put out some great music. I bit the bullet and went to see them on their Joshua Tree 30th anniversary tour last summer. They opened by playing the entire album in order and then another 10-12 songs. Good show but yes, the sanctimony is still there. At the very least Bono does give credit to W for combating AIDS in Africa.
Actually, it’s about a couple Bono knew who lived in Dublin’s Ballymun housing project who were both heroin addicts. The reference to the “seven towers” in the song is to the former 7 high-rise housing buildings there.
You might want to review the definition of “sanctimonious” also. Accusations of being sanctimonious seem misplaced when someone puts as much of their own time and effort into philanthropic effort as Bono does. Or when someone is in fact as devoutly Christian as are Bono and at least 2 of his 3 band mates reputedly are. (Maybe all 3; I’ve read accounts that differ regarding one of them.)
Bono may “talk the talk”, but he also appears to “walk the walk” – bigtime. And he has for over 30 years. He and his band mates appear to be rarities in the music world: fairly good, morally upright people. And they do seem to try to use their success to help others.
In my book, that’s not being sanctimonious. It’s being who you are.
North Dublin… was introduced to it by “The Commitments” (“The Hardest Working Band in the World”) and wound up spending time there, preferably on Upper Drumcondra Rd. Can do a respectable pub crawl just within a few blocks, starting with the gravedigger’s pub, to the place where the former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) drank and on north. The housing project buildings have been torn down, I’m told.
I’ve also read that the Ballymun towers no longer exist. Haven’t ever been to Ireland, so I can’t verify that personally.
one can be as charitable and publicly christian as possible and still be sanctimonious. Bono is sanctimonious.
Anyone living in the “jet set” lifestyle but working overtime to prevent 3rd world citizens from having the energy they need to progress is sanctimonious. But that is being generous.
Thanks Hondo- hadn’t heard the Who song before, and I’m a big fan.
Thank you Hondo. It is true, I did not dwell on the things of my fathers until I was approaching their age. Seems at times the blocks all of a sudden fit in the holes for the first time and I have an ah-ha moment, if you get my meaning.
Ok since Hondo always likes music here is my contributionhttps://www.dr.dk/event/melodigrandprix/hoer-vindersangen-danmarks-nye-grand-prix-haab-rasmussen-synger-higher-ground
So what do I do with all my Beatles’ LPs, Hondo? Yeah, yeah, I know – they’re all in a boxed set of CDs or something, but it’s not the same as going to the concert at the Amphitheater and sitting in the balcony at stage left.
Same album, but the one song I’ll never tire of hearing is, “In God’s Country,” especially when played along with some of the other music I listened to at the time, like Crowded House, Midnight Oil, INXS, and Peter Gabriel.
Some tastes change, but you’ll pretty much always finding me listen to that.
Of course, like Old Trooper, I’m not above jamming out to some Avenged Sevenfold, etc., on occasion.
Just before I moved down to Florida when I retired, I donated all my wax/vinyl 1950’S 45’s/LP’S to the DJ’S at Hofstra College out in Uniondale LI NY. My originals were thrown out by Mom when I joined the Navy so in later years I collected second pressing’s and re issues. Also bought the CD sets which I brought down to FL. which I still have. Can only play standards because my friends were not and are not collectors so playing the non standards are like greek to them. An example of this is that if you lived in California and heard Diamonds and Pearls by the Paradons on the milestone label you would know the song but if it didn’t top the charts and you were from NYC, you would not have heard the song. The Paragons from NYC covered that song so when a New Yorker heard the song, they didn’t know that the Paradons from Calif. originaly did the song. Songs had to be nation wide chart toppers to be recognizable to the non collectors.
A bit related. In the 70s JBL made the venerable L100 speaker, some people at the time considered it perfect for reproducing rock and roll music. They are bringing it back again, pricey at near 4K/pair. Believe the 70s iteration were about $500 a pair:
https://jblsynthesis.com/syn-newsdetail/~/item/jbl-by-harman-introduces-updated-iconic-jbl100-loudspeaker-at-ces-2018.html
Thanks to Old Trooper for the hard rock band names. Will give them a listen.
I considered L100s “back in the day”. But I was floored by the sound of the L166s – same speaker, but with an aluminum/phenolic dome tweeter that had far superior high frequency responce. They were about $200 more per pair.
Buying a pair of those rather hurt financially, but in retrospect was worth every penny.
I still have them.