Posts Tagged ‘2016’

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Independence Day

Posted: February 2, 2020 in 1978, 1980, 2010s, 2016, 2020, 2020s, Bruce Springsteen
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Diane and I were driving in the car this morning, on our way to brunch, with SiriusXM tuned to – what else? – E Street Radio, which was playing the February 2, 2016 concert from Toronto. It was the sixth date on that year’s River tour, which was tied to the 35th anniversary of the album and, too, the Ties That Bind box set released in 2015. (We’d see him 10 days later in Philly.)

For those unfamiliar with the specifics of that tour, Bruce and the band performed The River from start to finish. In this Toronto show, he introduced “Independence Day” – a song he wrote in 1977, debuted in concert in 1978 and recorded in 1980 – with a monologue similar to what we heard in Philly. “It was the first song I wrote about fathers and sons,” he explained. “It’s the kind of song that you write when you’re young and you’re first startled by your parents’ humanity.”

Today, the fourth verse stood out to me: “Well, Papa, go to bed now, it’s getting late/Nothing we can say can change anything now/Because there’s just different people coming down here now and they see things in different ways/And soon everything we’ve known will just be swept away.”

It’s about the father-son dynamics unique to Springsteen’s own (self-mythologized) life, obviously, and yet it’s also more. It’s about the changing realities everyone confronts, at some point, in his or her life. When young, such change is expected and embraced. In the song, it leads the narrator to set out on his own. But for the old? Though the world we knew is no more, the memories – and our faded hopes – remain. That’s when bitterness sets in.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions

Posted: February 4, 2017 in 1980s, 1990s, 2010s, 2016, 2017, Hope Sandoval, Mazzy Star, Opal
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Last night, with some time to kill prior to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I found myself surfing the algorithmic waves of YouTube thanks to a hankering to hear Best Coast’s title song to their 2015 album California Nights. I’d never heard of the band until reading a review of the album in, I think, Mojo; and I was instantly smitten with that trippy song’s thick and hazy tones, which creep in like a dense fog at dusk. I ordered the CD the same day and, a few days later, featured it in this post – while mentioning its similarities to Opal and Mazzy Star.

And after listening to it yet again last night, I found myself diving head-first into Opal’s sonic undertow. Their 1987 Happy Nightmare, Baby album, as I’ve said before, is a true lost treasure. For those unaware of them, the band had its roots in L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene, and – if they’d stuck together – could’ve carved out a Sonic Youth-like career. But, while on tour promoting that LP (their one and only), lead singer Kendra Smith quit the band and, after releasing a few albums over the next few years, disappeared into the woods of Northern California, never to be heard from again. A true shame, as she was a talented artist and that version of the band was intense.

Dave Roback, Opal’s remaining musical architect, recruited Hope Sandoval to step into the void in order to finish the tour. They were already friends, having worked together on never-released recordings for Hope’s folk duo, Going Home. (In the clip above, that’s her to the right of Roback in the studio intro.) Here’s a full set of that version of Opal in 1988 Italy –

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I’m sure it was difficult to sub for Smith on such short notice, but Hope pulled it off – and then some; and, as the decade faded into the next, the group morphed into Mazzy Star. While they maintained the same languid shoe-gazing psychedelia, Hope’s vocals are far more dreamy, ethereal and inviting than Smith’s. And, too, the dark-hued dissonance was imbued with splashes of color. (Or something like that.)

Here’s “Halah,” from the 1990 Mazzy Star debut, She Hangs Brightly.

Three years later, they released the So Tonight That I Might See CD, home to a classic song that (almost) everyone of a certain vintage will remember: “Fade Into You.”

There’s far more to the story, of course; and the Wikipedia entry does a thorough job in explaining it. For the purposes of this post, though, while jumping from one video to another to another last night – such as this one, “Flowers in December,” from a 1994 appearance at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School benefit concert –

– I discovered that, last year, Hope collaborated with Massive Attack (for the second time) on the song “The Spoils.”

She also released the album Until the Hunter with her own group, the Warm Inventions – which will likely be most of what I listen to for the next few weeks. Now that I’ve listened to it not once, but twice, I can say: It follows the Opal/Mazzy Star blueprint; and is, in a word, amazing. Here are two songs from it:

Today’s Top 5: River Deep, Valli High

Posted: January 24, 2017 in 1960s, 2010s, 2016, Brooklyn Bridge, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Lights Out, Spanky & Our Gang, The Association, The Supremes
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On Saturday afternoon, while the world erupted into peaceful protests against Putin’s puppet, Diane and I – and two likewise liberal friends – weren’t marching in the streets, though we were supportive of those that did, but applauding, laughing and singing along (some more than others, granted) to Lights Out, a Four Seasons tribute band, at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, Pa.

Now, some on the right will think us daft for embracing progressive principles and me misguided for my view of the charlatan in chief; others on the left will ding us for drowning out the din of the day with the sweet sounds of yesteryear; and plenty from all political persuasions will likely find common ground in their contempt for tribute bands. Fair points, all. On the last: Lights Out are but the second tribute group I’ve seen; and like the first, a Laura Nyro act, we enjoyed the show, though exiting the theater at 5pm instead of 11pm was a tad disconcerting.

I hasten to add, my memories of Frankie Valli and/or the Four Seasons does not begin here –

– but, instead, on the Saturday Night Oldies show on WPEN-AM in late 1977 and early ’78. They were among the ingredients of the delicious sonic stew that the deejay, Michael St. John, routinely brewed. The first time I heard anything by Valli beyond that show, I think, was in a movie theater:

And, yes, “Grease” and other Valli solo tunes, such as “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” and “My Eyes Adored You,” were performed alongside such Four Seasons hits as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Dawn,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Rag Doll,” “Working My Way Back to You,” “C’mon Marianne” and “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night).” Falsettos flew fast and furious, the dance steps and hand motions did, too, and the entire night – I mean, afternoon – was just plain fun.

After the intermission, the group performed a medley of songs that influenced the Four Seasons and songs influenced by their hits. Not to quibble, but I can’t help myself: I doubt that the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” a ruminative ode about the high life, was descended from “Sherry.” It was the only flat note of the night – er, afternoon.

Anyway, for today’s Top 5: River Deep, Valli High – the Four Seasons & Similar ’60s Groups.

1) The Four Seasons – “Working My Way Back to You”

2) The Association – “Cherish”

3) Brooklyn Bridge – “Worst That Could Happen”

4) Spanky & Our Gang – “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”

5) The Supremes – “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”

 

Today’s Top 5: Curated Classics

Posted: January 2, 2017 in 1960s, 1969, 1970s, 1975, 2010, 2010s, 2016, Dusty Springfield, Emmylou Harris, Harriet, Rumer, Top 5
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Life unfurls like a flag on a windy day. Though it may seem that the cloth never ripples the same way twice, over time certain patterns can be discerned. For example, just like last year about this time, one of my first self-appointed chores of 2017 consisted of digging through the dusty virtual bins of Amazon in search of the perfect CDs to send my niece for her birthday. “Perfect” takes on a double meaning in this context – perfect for her and perfect, overall.

As last year, I used Amazon’s free gift tags to include short notes about each album.

dusty_memphis1) Dusty Springfield – “I Can’t Make It Alone” (from Dusty in Memphis, 1969). I wrote: “Although it didn’t sell well in 1969, this album is now considered a classic. It blends pop and soul in a way that no one had before; and Dusty’s vocals are wondrous.” I’d add: Make that a stone-cold classic; and luscious in addition to wondrous. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 89 on its 2012 list of the Top 500 Albums of All Time; I rank it higher – possibly Top 10. It smolders, yearns and burns, and sounds as fresh to my ears now as it did when I first heard it in the early 1980s.

emmylou_pieces2) Emmylou Harris – “For No One” (from Pieces of the Sky, 1975). I wrote: “Although she’s rarely topped the charts, Emmylou is an integral artist within the modern history of country music. This, her second try at a debut, explains why.” I’d add: Emmylou embraced and made her own the expansive “Cosmic American Music” vision of Gram Parsons, her musical mentor, who passed away in September 1973, on this classic from 1975. In essence, she helped forge the foundation that generations of female country and folk performers, including Taylor Swift and First Aid Kit, have built upon since.

harriet3) Harriet – “Broken for You” (from her eponymous debut, 2016). I wrote: “I discovered this gem on Christmas. Although the songs conjure the Carpenters and pop music of the 1970s, Harriet is a relatively new 20-something singer from London. It should make you smile.” I’d add: This set certainly makes me smile, at least. If I’d been aware of it when I created my Albums of the Year list in early December, I would have ranked it No. 3. It’s everything that’s good about pop music.

rumer_soms4) Rumer – “Aretha.” (from Seasons of My Soul, 2010). I wrote: “This is an atmospheric song cycle that’s teeming with soulful, knowing lyrics & melodies that wrap themselves around the heart. Among its themes: love, longing, loss & acceptance. It’s magic.” I’d add: I borrowed part of that from my first blog post on the Hatboro-Horsham Patch, since moved here; I’ve also written about it here and here. I rank it among my Top Albums of All Time, which I plan to share at some point later in the year.

rumer_vinyl5) Rumer – “This Girl’s in Love With You” (from This Girl’s in Love: A Bacharach & David Songbook, 2016). I wrote: “Burt Bacharach is a legendary songwriter who, with collaborators such as Hal David, crafted some of the world’s greatest songs. This set from Rumer was my Album of the Year for 2016.” For more, see my Album(s) of the Year, 2016 and Today’s Top 5: The Promise of Tomorrow posts. (By the way, that’s Bacharach singing at the start.)

 

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