As much as I absolutely love and worship the British fantasy prog nirvanas of Foxtrot and Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down Broadway is slowly becoming my favorite Genesis album. Of course, the reason this one took its time to really make its impact on me is the approach itself was bound to be enigmatic: the fairy tale sound and lyrical themes in their 1970-1973 albums were prisms for Gabriel to use to express his deeper feelings and fears about himself and the world around him, but the music and lyrics of Lamb were clearly aimed directly at exploring the crevices of Peter's subconscious in this highly complex and encoded rock opera that fans still struggle to decipher fully. That's why this album pushed me and so many away at first because you have to fully put yourself in his shoes to even understand what is going on, but the album transcends that problem by the sheer raw but subtle vocal power of Gabriel, the way he can make lyrics that sound so pretentious and obtuse on paper sound so personal and tear-inducingly beautiful. This is easily the most confessional album he ever made, and it is the sheer power of sincerity that pushes this album to such intense emotional heights.
Most of all, the rest of the band clearly understood this fact, and they worked hard to keep the melody and arrangement standards as high as they were on Foxtrot and Pound. This song, in particular, is the perfect demonstration of the magical synergy between Gabriel's thematic vision and the band's ability to build the musical world around it. Just hearing Banks's synth riff that opens "Back In N.Y.C." is enough to move me to tears. It is a cold and spacious sound that persists throughout this album, yes, but the riff's majestic shimmer is utterly cosmic and mystical, amplifying the spiritual effect of each and every verse Gabriel wrings out from the depth of his heart. It expresses such a transcendent but deeply humane feeling that I have no ability to put words to the power it has over me: it manages to be a very personal confession and a universalistic anthem of freedom that never fails to blow me away. And even if the rest of the song is not quite the same out-of-body experience, both the chillingly sinister overtones of the "cuddled the porcupine" and the bouncier "off we go" themes add even more emotional depth to the composition rather than take away from it.
It is just such an incredible piece of work, yet just one among the many treasures that this album has to offer. Compared to other rock opera classics like The Wall, Lamb is much less accessible, but like Pete Townshend's rock opera masterpieces Tommy and Quadrophenia, it is better to listen more closely to the depth of emotion they attempt to express rather than try to make sense of something that was so personal to their authors. It really is one of the pinnacles of progressive rock in general, so I think everybody with even a passing interest in art-rock should give this album a try or two. It is rare that something so bombastic and ambitious can sound so intimate, and that is more than enough of a reason it should endure as the masterpiece that it is.
Hello everyone! I know it's been a little too long since I have posted regularly about music, especially since this is about 13 days late. Somehow, it just didn't feel right to post about music for a little while, and since I already had a lot on my mind and just wanted to enjoy music as is for a while, I decided to hold off until I really wanted to get back into it. I will say these last 45 days or so have been a very reflective period, where I've taken time to really look back and think about whether the way I am living and doing things is right for me. Much of this was spurred on by watching Moonage Daydream, recommended to me by a very close friend, and in a way I can't express, it made me readjust my thinking in a healthier pattern and gave me clarity to really evaluate things. I've made drastic cuts to things I felt weren't doing much for me (I've already been minimally engaging with social media, and now I've really taken measures to cut myself off from a large part of the internet for good). I've begun to build up some habits I felt were lacking in my life (such as cooking, exercising, and just thinking more about my future in general). It's been a good period overall, and I've felt much better about trying to improve certain things than coasting through everything without thought.
As for the essay I wrote earlier this month, I'm aware that many of you might have been shocked and repulsed by it. It was written when I was feeling very depressed and emotional in general, very much a spur of the moment where I tried to get out a lot of the ideas and feelings that were in my head. I even considered taking it down since I don't think it really had a coherent message and might have been a bit too over-the-top, but I decided to keep it because it does, to a large extent, reflect how I feel about modern society. If it reads as a bunch of overdramatic tripe, just ignore it and feel free to even tell me such in the comments. If some people find it something they resonate with, that's great as well and more the reason I'll keep it up. It was certainly not what a lot of my friends were expecting, and if it rubbed any of you the wrong way, I apologize for that.
Yet, I still feel really deeply about the idea that this loss of humane ways of acting and living in the modern world, and it really is responsible for so many problems we see today, from political extremism to collective inaction to the mental health crisis. The thing that really bothers me is that this crisis seems to be something few people care about. People do see social media, extremism over moderation, and turf wars over empathy in personal relationships as the norm that should be upheld (even if people don't realize that they are upholding these things), and the fact that such a small number are talking about this core crumbling and degradation is concerning. On some level, I think everybody knows this is happening, but until enough people start to evaluate whether a good chunk of our modern innovations is actually improving society, I see no way of making serious progress in any sphere because if we aren't looking at things from the human perspective, what good will it do? I do honestly believe there might still be hope for a great "spiritual humanist" revolution, but as of now, it is still an idea that is not shared by many. At the very least, even if everything I am talking about is pure nonsense (and I am open to that being the case), it is better, for balance, to be a devil's advocate for a lot of these modern innovations than sing the same hosanna most people do these days. For what it's worth, the modern world has, at least, done one amazing thing: working on stopping a lot of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination, and that is one improvement I am very, very thankful for.
In other news, as far as music writing goes, I've tried out way too many things with mixed success and satisfaction for me. Some have told me I should have stuck with some of those schedules for longer, but looking back, it seems the song of the day reviews were the most successful. So I think I am going to go back to those for now. I'll probably be writing two fully-fledged articles eventually (one on Otis Redding, the other on pre-war blues), but expect many casual reviews in the coming days.
So, I guess I am standing at the crossroads for many things in my life, but so are most of us, and I'm glad I even have an opportunity to be at such a point than having to plow through one path for the rest of my life without my own choice being involved.
Music Stats for June
Total Listening Time: 210 hours. Didn't think I'd ever hit such a number, but I'm also not surprised that it happened.
Top Artist:The Beach Boys. Revisiting one of my favorite bands ever will always be both fun and rewarding, especially since music tends to take on new meanings as you age and grow.
Top Album:The Complete Blind Willie Johnson. It's still my benchmark for sheer emotional expression in music, just because the slide guitar + vocal attack of Blind Willie Johnson is still so powerful even a whole century later. There has never been a song more direct and emotionally devastating than "Dark Was The Night - Cold Was the Ground", and it isn't even by far the most intense song he ever recorded. He also is probably the most accessible pre-war blues great to get into, so if you are interested in getting into classic folk and blues, this is an awesome place to start!
Top Song: "Wave" - Antonio Carlos Jobim. Whatever reservations I have about Jobim, I can't think of many songs that can soothe my nerves like this one. It's absolutely serene.
Video of the Month for June
"Have You Ever Loved A Woman" - Freddie King
I was listening to some Freddie King this month and decided to watch this video again, and oh man, is this an incredible performance. Maybe lacking in subtly for some, but listen, Freddie sings and sweats his heart out more than almost any electric bluesman and makes his guitar live and breathe like a human being, so why complain? This is absolutely incredible stuff, way more devastating than his original studio recording and makes you feel the electrifying power this guy had as a performer and musician. Most of all, it shows why Freddie King was the electric blues veteran to survive into the late 60s/early 70s and how could easily hold his own against the Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers Band, and Led Zeppelin in this highly competitive era.
Articles & Reviews
Well, I started June with song reviews and then jumped to doing general music thoughts about all sorts of things. Here is everything I wrote this month:
The playlist should also reflect my growing interest in getting into jazz and bossanova, though much of it is still in the rock-blues-soul axis you expect from a playlist of mine (along with one of the guys who got me into music in the first place, Scott Joplin). This playlist feels like a disorienting mish-mash of many different things, but I love all the tracks on there, and I hope you guys enjoy it as well. Here is the tracklist:
"Doin' The Cockroach" - Modest Mouse
"Wave" - Antônio Carlos Jobim
"The Girl From Ipanema" - Stan Getz & João Gilberto
"Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" - The Spinners
"Floyd The Barber" - Nirvana
"Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" - Skip James
"Drunken Spree" - Skip James
"Blue Rondo à la Turk" - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
"Dumb (MTV Unplugged Live)" - Nirvana
"Construção" - Chico Buarque
"Deus Lhe Pague" - Chico Buarque
"Alameda" - Elliott Smith
"God and the Devil In the Land of the Sun" - Antônio Carlos Jobim
"Shhh / Peaceful" - Miles Davis
"Let Your Light Shine On Me" - Blind Willie Johnson
"Third Stone from the Sun" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Crosscut Saw" - Albert King
"Undenied" - Portishead
"Come On Boys Let's Do That Messin' Around" - Blind Blake
"Heroes and Villains" - The Beach Boys
"Floating Bridge" - Sleepy John Estes
"This Whole World" - The Beach Boys
"Whatcha Doin'" - Sleepy John Estes
"Kiss Me Baby" - The Beach Boys
"Shake It and Break It" - Charley Patton
"Gladiolus Rag" - Scott Joplin, performed by Joshua Rifkin
"Bitches Brew" - Miles Davis
"Shelter From The Storm" - Bob Dylan
"Devils Haircut" - Beck
"I Belong To The Band" - Reverend Gary Davis
Anyways, it's been a hell of a month and a half, but music happens to be a helpful guiding force no matter wherever I am. Thank you all so much for allowing me to express my love of music here, and let's hope I can write a bit more to get some of that love out regularly!
