Shelter
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Posts posted by Shelter
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Let Me Up you say.. right.. that's what we were supposed to discuss. Haha
Derailed a bit there, but back on track. I too want to hear some more takes on this kind of underrated, yet strange album.
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^^ Oh, wait. If it seemed as if I was suggesting performing the same songs each night, but in different order, that was clearly not what I was aiming at. I was talking of how a certain song could be treated to a jam one night, disappear all toghether the next night and reappear as a shorter version some other night, and so on. That way the jam session aspect, like most everything else I rant about seemingly, comes down to rotation.
(Let me try to be more clear, if needed: If you rehearse.. say 60 songs, at least 10 of which that would be decided as extra suitable for an extended jam, I think that 1) all 60 songs should be rotated throughout the tour 2) a song that works well as a jam session does not have to be a jam session each time it's played and 3) the song or songs they choose to jam on could thus be different ones from night to another. That's my view on how jams work the best and how setlists work the best in general. Rotation. Next. Moving on.)
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I enjoy long concerts, where there are many flavors being served up, so I definitely prefer more than one or two jam songs; it's about balance. I understand that some bands have songs they know are going to open up and explore in the live setting and that seems important to know ahead of time with six musicians on stage but I also, like you, enjoy when a band takes a song off the beaten path as it were.
I also think just even a little variation in a song can do wonders, like the bridge in Even the Losers, sometimes Tom lets that part go on, it's not some giant jam like King, but it's still something different, it's saying we're not in a hurry to get this over with, to get to the last verse, let's enjoy this spot here. Same with the Waiting sometimes.
Ok then. Sounds good to me. "A little variation in a song" is as much key as a good variation of songs in a show. For sure. Perhaps we don't differ as much in this, but given that I am limited to 90 minutes to experience a show, my point just was that while I do love some inspired extentions here or there and plenty of variation, I rather get a couple more songs squeezed in - to ensure at least theoretically - the possibility of a more varied setlist, than to get a lower number of much longer songs that will nail the core of material even further into its cast. After all, each 10+ minute song means some other two or three normal length songs are denied rotation.
To some degree I too understand how it's important for the musicians to know ahead of time what's gonna happen. But I wouldn't want to over stress that. If you rehearse a certain number of songs and feel like you have a handful of them that lend themselves nicely for various extensive improvisations, solos and jams, this doesn't mean it has to end up being the same song getting the same:ish treatment each night. (What happend to King on a few tours was bordeline to me, while hearing Melinda evolve over time was more of an awesome example - and it wasn't even THAT long.) I just mean that it would be awesome to go to an imaginable show and have a 12 minutes King and the next night hear how they switched it for a 8 minutes Mary Jane and a 4 minute Wasted Life and the third night perhaps they could perform just a 4 minutes King and a few shorter kick-#ss rockers in the same slots, saving the onslaught for Shadow People at some other point in the show .. Catch my drift, here? I try to be very specific. Haha.. It is all good, mind you - to a certain degree - but it can easily be overly self indulgent and static if done too much within the rather short time of 90 minutes. There are so much fun to be had within a 3 to 5 minute song, so many ways to skin a cat as it were.
So, I'd say optimally (within the time frame) no more than two songs longer than 6 minutes, unless you are prepared to stay on stage for 2 or 3 hours and maintain a variety. And you welcome more than two. Ok, that doesn't matter, it's an interesting discussion no matter where the line is to be drawn between 30 fast punk rockers and 4 rock opera style opuses on a 90 minute night.
The more they improvise or jam in concert, the more variety within the standard set list.
True. It is a way to keep the dead horse kind of alive. Granted. As for me, suspended animation is less of my forte.
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day off today. can't think of anything. I'm off. will be on again tomorrow and start wondering who did post here in my name....
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How cool! This will be interesting. Thanks for info. The comparative lack of more or less official books (not to mention in-depth discography, session info and so on, for that matter, although such is usually fan generated) in the case of TP/TH always astounded me. This will be a much welcome addition and I hope it will add some fascination and interesting aspects to the story.
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Enough of the same old same old erratic subordinate clause; I think it's way past time you brought back the unattached participle clause...perhaps when you post a residency?
Good thinking! I've been pondering the possibility of writing a residency of more rare arguments at some point. Something to tickle the minds of the passionate and hoist my own spirit and legacy with one stone. It's getting so tedious beating the same old nag every day. I deserve better and so do you. So, I'm working on a masterplan of genius, believe me. I'm gonna let it all hang out. I just haven't decided on which deep thoughts to share, or what section in which to post yet... I know they keep telling me that thinking is best done in the one way and yada yada, that one dimension is all people ask for and can handle, but I know those voices are just part of the evil scheme, trying to brain wash me into stop thinking and start writing in line. So stay tuned.. I've been rehearsing a whole lot of long lost thoughts for my upcoming posts........ Do you enjoy moments like It's Good To Be King? Or the long Saving Grace? I think for the most part, TPATH do a good job between stretching songs out, reworking songs (acoustic Kings Highway or I Won't Back Down, etc.) and playing them pretty much as is, like with Free Fallin'.
Too many extended songs become a slog, not enough and I could just stay home and listen to the album.
cheers
Yes. That is exactly it. Just that.. you seemingly suggest or encourage the "stretching out" as an almost universal remedy in your posts (I might be mistaken here, but hence my comment), while I think it's a tonic better served with severe caution for any band that are not Grateful Dead. But, oh yes, I love reworkings of songs - to do something with a song in the live setting is the whole point in performing it as I see it. Trying to duplicate the record is utter folly. But stretching things out, jamming extensively and what have you, is far from the only way to "do something", imo. But sure, I can appreciate a certain inspired looong It's Good To Be King here, a Chrystal River there.. Certainly. I don't particularly like to know if, when and how it's gonna happen though. As always, I think scripts are for rock'n'roll sceptics.. and to to script the unscripted.. well.. let's not go there. In short, there's no need to extend the same songs every night, or to extend a certain number of songs each night.. Besides, usually one thorough jam session per show is more than enough, and more than two is too much, in the same way a genuine 25 songs sets are better than over baked 15 songs set. Rule of thumb as far as jam goes. Peanut butter though, I like.
I think it could've worked if Stan had stayed in the band. There's nothing that Tom wrote that he couldn't have handled. I understand the reasons given for his departure/firing. I just think it would've been interesting had he remained, to have that many original members with the band all these years.
cheers
Very interesting, indeed. I often stated how I could understand and also much lament that the development of things made Stan obsolete from Full Moon Fever on (in reality perhaps gradually so all the way back since 1982, or even longer if Iovine had a say). However I also often stated that I think the pendelum of development seemingly swung back (like Sonny Liston) his way again towards the late 90s, and that I could now definately imagine Stan doing a fantastic job in TP&TH of the 2000s. (Exception, of course, being Highway Companion and parts of Last DJ, where he and the record may not have been the best match.) For most of the Mojo or Hypnotic Eye kind of stuff, I think Stan's dynamic feverish style would be extremely fitting. Not necessarily better than Steve's, but different, highlighting the soul of it in a way and.. yeah.. perhaps better.. Anyway, to me it's just ironic that Stan was ousted - all personal differences aside, and I know those were key as well - due to musical differences, just to have TP&TH go back towards what could be called more of a "Stan way" within some 10 years of TP letting his Jeff-Jeffs out. Of which Stan already sat through at least 5, before he was let up.
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...and a few club gigs in Sweden and/or Denmark.
Thanks
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Congrats! And such a nice pic with the rasta man too ! Awesome
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Speaking of what the likes of Shelter has to say..
I gave my piece. But perhaps I should also add, that apart from the unusually boring example of '87 sound (being it the mix or whatever else) and the bunch of songs that don't feel quite ready to me - there is also an aspect of TP vocals that drags this album down from what could have been half grand. The singing at times seems.. squeezed, shall I say.. forced.. or even whiny.. and at the same time with a bit of singing while chewing tobacco feel to it, which add a certain slapstick vibe to the whole thing. Perhaps that is just me. I've been searching my soul to find the itchy spot, but it struck me today that that's what it is, and it doesn't help this album's well farings in my record collection, I'm afraid. (I know I once mentioned how I feel Echo suffers from a few off-key notes from TP, adding to the misery one could argue, for better or worse, but here it's not about key, it's just a.. strung.. quality that I don't particularly fancy.)
Runaway Trains could have that extended moody jam like Shadow People or Tweeter & the Monkey Man, while Let Me Up could have its ending stretched out.
You don't say?
As you may know, I'm generally not a jam man myself. I prefer short, sweet and intense, if I get to choose. But I do try to strech out the endings of my posts at times, which perhaps is to your benefit then, and is something that perhaps you can tell from this totally erratic subordinate clause, for example, or this whole second part of my post if you like................ -
@martin:
I'm glad you named it "thesis".
As such I very much like it. And I do apreciate that "chaos" angle. I also recognize all those sorely dated, yet splendid and/or fascinating albums, of which the 80s especially - but let's not forget the 90s shall we - were so rich. Sometimes albums are great not despite being dated, but almost because. I love many of them. Generally though, at least it takes some recognition and hit value in an album's own right, in it's own time, before the whole reason for it being disregarded now is sweeped under the argument of it being our times not understanding what it was and all that.. Not always a dated album was hailed even in it's own time, is my point. Just as sometimes an album that were misunderstood simply because it was out of sync with it's own time, can later be hailed as a true and inovative classic. LMU wasn't that big of a hit then, and it isn't now, so.. Nuff of that.. just a side note really..Thus far I'm all for your thesis. And that's why I do admit LMU(IHE) is underrated. But it's also why I did chose the word "potential". Cause to me - as true as it is that this album carries the vibe of band and dynamics to a considerable degree - something I am usually a fan of - and while it's true that it's nothing wrong with sounding like 1987 if you happen to be from 1987, and while furhtermore true that some songs are really great on paper yet a few carries great promise - it kinda stops there. In theory.
Cause, in reality, this particular 1987 vibe - if ever so cool in theory, as such in fact even cooler than most things in 1987 - does still not sit quite right with me (and I'm not sure it sat more than moderately right even with 1987 itself, if years had a say in retrospect, and if we should even listen to what a bastard of a year like 1987 has to say...). The aim and method may be ok, but it falls flat on my ears. The sound being state of the art or very modern even then is not what drives the album's charm if you ask me. But it may still be ok, sure why not. The arrangements as such, the "chaos" aspect and all that may be good enough - I am prepared to say all that is great. But if so, it's still butchered by the mix and the resulting sound still doesn't impress me, as it didn't seem to have impressed 1987 that much.
Still, it is when this is combined with the level or style of much of the material, I guess, that the final nail is really in for me. The total of it just fails all it's great promise. I like the concept, just as I like your thesis - I just don't like the resulting album that much. I really want to, because of some of what you say and some of the songs. But it just sounds so much better when you say it, than it does on record.
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In some article I read, around that tour they had to throw a curtain over some areas of arenas because of the empty seats.
To that I would just like to add that the people who decided against going to a 1987 show on the back of their experience with the album, really pulled a blank. Suckers. The shows from around then were business as usual, rocking good and lightyears ahead of the somewhat clinical album vibe.
Still, those were the days, hu? Days when a set could actually change enough from tour to tour, for people to be cautious as of what to expect. Moreover, days when a new albums worth's of material actually was expected to have a great impact on what was likely to happen on stage. Enter Full Moon Fever and soon those days were no more. Soon all the ingredients and the go to formula was arrived at. LMU material were not to be part of that and neither were much else.
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I think the case can, and perhaps should be made that LMU(IHE) indeed is a somewhat overlooked, underrated album. It's pretty far from my favorites, but as is the case with some of the other "lesser favorites" we've discussed, it's not as easy as bad or good. It rather depends on what angle you take, and for me LMU have some promsing song Writing that doesn't normally get the credit deserved. The key word might be "potential".
To me there is a general problem of the LMU album being more dated than the average TP record. Not to say the most dated of all TP albums. While Southern accents went over board with the "contemporary experiments" (in the context of TP recording history that is) on a some tracks, and while the Lynne era carried all the 1990:ish Jeff:iness, for better or worse, LMU doesn't go anywhere fast. That is, I find the sound to be largely.. flat(?), shiny(?) and boring(!), not to say a bit dead in a quite typical 1987 fashion. To make matters worse, the mix is far from optimal in terms of how the vocals was treated and where they ended up. It's supposed to sound contemporary and mature, I'm sure - a Here's a rock band coming of age with style, sort of thing - but to me it sound less that than anything else they recorded in the 80s up til that point. Even 1981's Hard Promises, from when they were practically still youngsters, sounds a lot more thought through and multi dimensional. Not to mention timeless - the least and last of all things that can be said about LMU.*
As for the material, this is where things start to happen to this album as I see it. Or could start to happen. On the face of it, a few truly great compositions anchors this records: Jammin Me, Runaway Trains, It'll All Work Out and the title track (right - that is one forgotten gem!) are all absolutely great. Runaway Trains and the title tracks stands out as the mistreated classics here, as I see it. Then at least two, somwhat leighter weight but fairly solid tracks: The Damage You've Done, How Many More Days. All of these decent enough to ensure a really great album, had the sound and aesthetics been elsewhere.
As for the rest of the tracks - well, here's the catch - I don't find one really bad song in the lot but I don't really find a really good single hit either and not more than three or four really great songs. But I do find plenty of potential. Much like Southern Accents, but from largely other reasons, LMU feels like the album that could have been. Cause, to me both the lesser of the ones mentioned and the tracks I haven't listed suffer from some kind of.. sketchy:ness.. there is something missing in the way they are composed. Tracks like My Life/Your World, A Self-Made Man and All Mixed Up don't even feel finished to me. A decent idea for an intro here, an ok verse or a nice bridge there.. but something seems to be missing to make those really good songs. (Especially absurd I find it that All Mixed Up was the advance single in the CD format. If I knew this band and had that land on my desk in 1987, I would surely have lost faith for the time being.) This vagueness in a lot of the material combined with the dated vagueness in sound makes for a less than optimal album experience as I see it. It is what it is, but the least they can do is to revive some of it's best moments in a live setting. At least three or four of these songs would have a glorious second life dressed in the much more fitting sound and attitude of the contemporary TP&TH, I'm quite sure.
Finally - In the thread about Let Me Up (the song) MJ2LD wrote about "hearing Jamming Me and expecting a really good rock album and the second song is Runaway Trains!" implying disappointment. As far as the argument is that Jammin Me promises something that the rest of the disc don't deliver, I can perhaps agree slightly, but it's not what I'd call a deal breaker. Besides, speaking of disappointments.. To me Runaway Trains is among the most underrated songs in all of the TP cataloge. Sure, the sound, as much of this album, leaves a lot to be desired, but the song.. the song is an awesome piece of writing and one of the most mature and finished tracks of the bunch. Oh how such a song would have swung had it been cut during Mojo sessions or performed live in the 2000s! It's so disappointing that they never revisit songs like that, giving them a second chance to proove greatness.
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*In the light of this, the most amazing thing of all is that something that sounds like Full Moon Fever could be reached by largely the same bunch of people within two years! I am stunned every time I realize how little time elapsed between LMU and the Wilburys/Fever era. Seriously - just think about it. As much as most things are floating, this definately is where some kind of line has to be drawn in terms of TP creative eras. Whatever the touring with Dylan may have done, whatever Harrison may have told him, whatever Lynne may have showed him, TP seemed to have reached another level all of a sudden, suddenly becoming the mature heavy weight classic rock star he had the ambition to become through most of the 80s. I can hear the trace of this vision lingering extra clear in the one song that perhaps comes closes to showcase what the LMU album could've sounded like if we'd been more lucky - in Love Is A Long Road - to me it feels like a brilliant left over of sorts. But apart from that Jeff Lynne really tore TP's own type of 80s sonic confusion up most effectively and the break/development couldn't be more evident. It's an abyss, and quite dismal at that. At least that I feel prepared to thank Jeff a lot for.
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To me, this never was my favorite. Sure a good song though, and certainly a better contender as a keeper than a few of the others that made it on the album.
What I take to be Ben's contributions on this song I especially like. Simple, yet effective.
Somehow I always thought - at least musically - it would feel the most at home on Highway Companion.
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^^ So.. no one heard this 93XRT thing? Nothing was mentioned about it anywhere? About what was said and what was played? Must have been nothing then, I take it..?
Years since it's first mention, rumors changing it's shape and form.. Even quite a while now since TP said it was done, just sitting on the WB shelf waiting for the mercy of a date. "All The Rest" is starting to feel like yet another one of those "Chinese Democracy" things. C'mon WB, throw us a date already!!
Such bummer if it's gonna be another case of old-school tardy record label logic and just sit there til christmas. Lame. (Not to mention that if they manage to get a Mudcrutch album out this side of new years, what are the odds then that this one gets postponed indefinetely..)
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I believe Stewart's involvement was brief and limited to the three Petty/Stewart collaborations that were included on the album.
That's what I always figured, yeah.. Never really knew to what extent they tried his "vision" on other stuff, or the actual number of left out tracks. So thanks for clarifying that.
Either way it seems to me that TP&TH's own work, pre-work or what it should be called, for this album, would not only be good enough, were we ever to have an archival release of this stuff - it would be the whole point. Given that TP & MC produced the title track themselves, and that one stands out as one of the really great moments on the finished album, and given the amount of material mentioned, I see no reason why some cleaned up "casual live tracks" or some "Amaricana a la Basement Tapes" type recordings, would not make for at least a disc worth of "Southern Accents - All The Rest". Seems like one of the most suitable albums, or projects in the whole of tha catalog, a side from Wildflowers, to be treated to such revisit. I would very much love that to happen. But I won't hold my breath.
TwoGunslingers reacted to this -
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Oh no. To me a precondition for any "Bootleg Series" or "Basement Tapes" type release from the SA sessions at this stage, would be to take the best material from whatever masters that remain, treat them carefully, clean up the sound to modern standard, present them as pure and de-Stewart:ified as possible* If needed have someone trustworthy do some remixing here and there to finish the tracks. Period. Thus presenting what could have been. If it's good enough. As few hindsight overdubs as possible and please no contemporary re-recording of songs! Personally I see no point in a 2015 reanimation of a 1985 corpse. That wouldn't be an archival release at all, would it? It wouldn't be about this project, this album or this concept any more. Move on then, please! Next!
But, speaking of re-recording.. Who said TP hasn't already raided the vaults for certain rehashing of ideas, whole songs or part of songs, in his song writing years since 1985 to date...?? After all, these things happen all the time.
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*If the "closet full of tapes" remark still holds, I really want to believe that most of that stuff got abandoned early on, so that it never got to being destroyed by Stewart, or, to the extent that they were, they were so just briefly or just by overdubs that could be mixed out when aiming for the heart of the matter.
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That is absolutely wonderful! Thanks for posting. Only too bad those kids had to be seated.. some of them are on fire!
An honor to watch. Thanks again!
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^ Yeah, "Cleveland rocks" right?!
I was third in line at the Ticketmaster outlet so I figured I'd get good seats. What I got was second last row in the upper level of the arena behind the stage.
Kinda reminds me of my HCC days.. Oh, how royal the screws. But with TP there was always good sound and a good show though, admittedly! Always a pro that way. Besides - you have to be happy for all the golden circle crowds of sponsor guests, sweepstake winners and Facebook give-away ticket holders. They too deserve to get lucky sometime.. to quote a phrase. And they probably even liked a couple of the songs too..
From my vantage point way up there I could see the teleprompter on the stage at Springsteen's feet and something occurred to me. He can't remember the words to the songs he wrote, and I know all the words but can't understand what he's saying.
Ironic, isn't it? I am no BS fan myself, as I often professed. And what you say about the low brow ticket proceedures and sound quality is clean-cut - there's simply no excuse for such b-band behavior at this level - especially not the combination of the two - even if fans are demoted to custumers, the way most artists do these days, we are not cattle. However, the implications of the above are otherwise somewhat tricky when I start thinking of it.
I mean, what would you rather have:
a ) Frequent three hours, 30 songs, energetic, sometimes curfew breaking shows - more often than not with deeply varied set lists, with more than a pinch in there for everyone, including the band - delivered in parts with telepromter aid? Or
b ) A usually 90 minutes maximum, 18-20 song set with 90% predetermined, even scripted, material night after night, not to say year after year. (And even then there's been discussions of teleprompting in the TP camp too from time to time - about which I have no clue, but find rather.. shall we say.. unlikely.. ).
Oh, I know.. those remaining 10% , in the b ) alternative are sometimes to die for and alone worth the ticket- no denying that. And the bulk 90 is always nice enough of course, but still.. Speaking of telepromters, I am curious where people stand. Seems to me, personally, that if someone rehearse an honestly asserted and fairly large number of songs before kicking off a tour, a real fan would be happy to hear at least half of those performed during the cause of the tour, even if one or two of them, on some night would take a glimpse at a teleprompter. But that's me. And I am even known - not only to be a rascal - but also to have voiced the firm opinion that telepromting is NOT for rehearsed songs, but for what you might decide to to in the spur of the moment, and that, shall we agree, is not the name of the game for TP.
That said, I've been to fantastic shows where there's even been sheet music present on stage, on prominent racks.. Ok.. we, might be leaving the realm of rock'n'roll here. But honestly.. how Rock'n'Roll is Ticketmaster anyway? We all know who we are and who's King, right? Which brings us, just in time, back on topic...
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It was the Last DJ who defied Joe, who inspired the boys who play that rock and roll who to go down to Lilians Music Store to buy a black diamond string!
Well. It was either him, or that cat namned Johnny who talked rock and used to walk it too. That is, way before he played for VIP circles and co-deal sponsors and crowds talking through all the music, paying little mind to anything real in the music but the symbolic anthems and the myths. Johnny rock that golden circle, and all those VIP's, before the Music had become a routine, before you could see his face in close-up trying to give it all he had, and sometimes his eyes betrayed him, you could see that he was sad. Seems to me that the lesson we learn from this album is that Joe was right all the time. Evil prevail. That it doesn't take all out commercial add deals to have rockers end up in an ages old image of themselves, a juke box as it were. Still I try to rock on with Johnny, but I slowly I become bored. Oh, I do. But still.. no, I'm not bored at all. Cause Johnny still deliver ass kicking wonderful records for me to dwell upon and the DJs with their heads screwed on right and the people who care to make a difference, still play those records and all that music that free us, no matter how much routine it gets up there on the big stage and how little of it Johnny himself care about. There will always be the ones who know and care about this aspect, this dimension, of music, and the ones who don't. So what. There still is a real world here and it's spinning. It's all that matters. And I still like the message. I really like the DJ message a lot. Thanks for reminding what a nice message it it. Now the actual world on the other hand.. Oh my precious..
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I think it was great. As for me, they could have gone even more heavy on the news. But seriously, I do believe there is a logic to what TomFest says and what seem to be the prevailing view on what is wise and what is not, even what is possible and what is not, i general terms. That is, there has to be hits and a momentum. Of course. Strictly new stuff or deep cuts for a whole tour would simply be preaching to a diminishing crowd of very few people in each town. So, in order to throw what I would like to call the "ignorant bastards", a bone... well, yes, intrwoven would be a better and more fun way to do this.
As it went down in 2010 more than a few people went to the bathroom during the Mojo segment. But then I went during I Won't Back Down, so I guess we're even...
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Even if the concept was never fully realized, just documenting the marathon sessions as an archival release (like Dylan's Basement Tapes box set or Springsteen's The Promise) would be worthwhile. Most artists don't seem to have much appetite for going through old recordings though.
Yes it would! And no, most artists don't. Simply because they don't have Dylan's understanding of what music really is, I'm sad to say. That it's not primarily a product, it's a process.
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This thread offers a lot of insight. Been doing some more listening and thinking myself, because of it. Can’t say I discovered much of news value upon my revisits, but here’s some further ponderings anyway, cept for what I’ve already been saying.
I think it may be more to Iovine actually saving this album from derailing completely in a haze of confusion and state of the art 1985 sounds, than I have realized in the past. One could argue though.. that perhaps.. if it wasn’t for him, maybe SA would’ve derailed so badly that it may never have been finished at all. So, good or bad.. I think, after all, that Iovine may have been more key than he usually gets credit for. I don’t know. That is my guess and my feeling.
I don’t have any detail facts as far as who did what goes, but it seems to me that everything Stewart touched somehow pulled the album off center and in hindsight his contributions generally seems to weaken the album. A more than subtle added touch of the pop sensibility and shallow, stylish (almost new wave:y and posing) edge that Stewart was so famous for in the mid 80, wasn’t exactly the cure for what may have ailed the outfit that came straight out of Long After Dark greatness. And it’s surprising that they needed a some kinda brains that they didn’t seem to have on the payroll to tell them that. Being it the overall production values that Stewart contributed, or the words or music he co-wrote for some of the songs – I mean this must have been just before he made the Eurythmics super hit album Revenge. And frankly.. Make It Better, for example, sounds like a perfect contender for that one, completed with Annie Lennox vocals. Would make a lot more sense that way actually. Make it Better would’ve melted right in between the likes of Miracle of Love and Thorn in My Side. (But even in that romantic pop rock context, the lyrics of Make it Better would be among the more pointless and less impressive. Which says a lot, coming from an album by an a lot more merited lyricist – TP).
I personally see next to no merits to Stewart’s work on this album. I never did – cept for perhaps the warped coolness of Don’t Come Around Here No More (but like I said before that song don’t fit the album, or any TP&TH album and would be SOOO much better off as a single only release). The more I listen to SA, the more I see what it perhaps could have been without Stewart’s “assistance”. Again, the hype in LA that surrounded DS as a cult star, outlandish party thrower and cool dude, is in no way matched by anything TP actually needed in terms of music. Friendship aside, seems to me like a very bad judgement in characters from TP and perhaps.. just perhaps.. a good thing Iovine was there to put a lid on this soup before it fried.
From a lyrics perspective it could even be argued that the only Stewart co-written song that holds up even remotely to any (imagined or actual) theme here, is the much debated It Ain’t Nothing To Me.
I always leaned towards something similar to MJ2LD’s view of IANTM myself – cept for the fact that I think the song stinks. J To me there seems to be an “I” who speaks throughout most of SA, that can be heard in this song as well. And this, sort of, makes it belong on this album, despite the musical and arrangement goofyness that seems so at odds both with what is and what in a juster world should have been. It seems to me that the particular angle of the person, or that particular character that speaks to us in It Ain’t Nothing to Me – given there’s something slightly more than love behind his ignorance – seems like a kin of sort to the “21st Century Man” of Shadow People..
Of course, this “I”, can either be seen as one character speaking from different mindsets or moods in the different songs of the album – and of course this is a not bad method for a concept album, if so. Alternatively, the “I” is a few different characters speaking to us in Rebels, It Ain’t Nothing To Me, Southern Accents, Dogs on The Run, Mary’s New Car, Best of Everything, respectively… Either way, these songs could be different chapters or sub-parts, short stories, of a greater story about life in the south. Spike too, of course, even if the perspective seems to be more of a “he” than the usually stronger “I” presence.
In many ways the two songs that really seems to miss this mark quite noticeably, ironically, is the big hit Don’t Come Around Here No More and the lesser song (in every way) Make It Better. The latter of which – again – at best seems to speak to some kinda dreamy pop sensibility, but either way seems totally pointless. I mean, just read those lyrics. Would it even help if the music that they were set to was just a fraction of as horrible as it is.
So, I always end up thinking that…
- DCAHNM should’ve been lifted for a single.
- Make It Better should be scrapped, no questions asked. It’s just among the worst ever.
- It Ain’t Nothing To Me could perhaps be a keeper – despite being utterly bad at first glance, it somehow seems to belong here - but it would take a major rearrangement (where the 1985 live version is just the first of at least three or four steps needed) to save it from misery.
- Mary’s New Car should perhaps have benefited from something little extra in terms of arrangements, an extra verse a middle eight or just something weighing it down a bit.
- Dogs On The Run - a certain keeper, that perhaps would’ve benefited from a slightly more “dog:ish” production, and perhaps some additional quality lyrics.
- Rebels, Southern Accents, Spike and Best of Everything could be left as they are – a splendid core of the album that crashed, burned, but thanks to those same songs still have allure.. even a magic somewhere.
- This leaves us with a partly re-made 7 songs album. Add to that Trailer (another “I” song that fits the concept) and perhaps another one or two songs that I’m not sure they actually had (unless of course they put older left overs like say.. Keeping Me Alive.. on there too, which would kinda work in this context, I think). Any additions would need to be produced and mixed accordingly, needless to say.
Oh, well.. history.. and actual history..
SA is a good album. An extremely interesting one, most of all. Like someone said – the same year documentary seems to tell the story more effectively, it seems to hype a project and an album that don’t even exist outside of the film. Standing alone the album is both lesser and paler and weirder than it could have been to make that documentary more proud. Most of all, I have a strong feeling that SA could have been so much better, and that the concept vaguely aimed at, and so beautifully hinted at on the front and back cover was a goal worth pursuing. They could always have partied with Dave some other year, or let him have a field day with the less sensible ideas for Let Me Up, perhaps.. Actually.. now, that could’ve worked…
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Do you play any TPATH on an instrument?
in The Waiting
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^ I think many do, yes! On various levels. In fact, don't we all know how some gentlemen among us here at the Farm are quite knowledgeable in the field, and further more how they have lots of awesome gear on which I'm sure they are.. making some noise. And that goes for other fellow fans/musicians I've got to know over they years as well, over at the the officials and IRL and here and there. A very groovy and well equiped bunch of people are humming and strumming the TP stuff from what I can tell.
As for myself, I have a decent collection of old string instruments, and while I'm not in any band at this point, I've always been trying to bring up this or that certain TP angle whenever I get the chance to play with people in some context. I see it not only as great songs to play, but also as educational for whomever gets to play it or hear it that may not be overly familiar with it since before. Mostly then I play guitars. 6 or 12. Fairly basic level, I guess.. but that can get you far in this context. Also, there could be the occasional mandolin or, on a wild day perhaps a banjo. Bass too, if circumstances forces me.
When I play on my own, for pleasure or therapeutic reasons..
it can honestly end up being almost anything. I tend to move my focus over time, but it seems I often return to the ITGWO songs and Mudcrutch for some reason. Somewhere Under Heaven on an off lately.. Favorite songs I tend to try on others include The Waiting, King of the Hill, Letting You Go, Walls, Wild One, Forever, Lost Children among others.