You got a small introduction to the Ram album yesterday with our discussion of Too Many People as it related to the on-going feud between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Today, we feature Ram as our album of the week. I mentioned yesterday that Too Many People was my second favorite song from the album…let’s listen to my favorite.
OK….I know this is a silly little ditty but what can I say. I liked it in 1971 and I still like it today, no apologies on my part.
In general, Ram was not initially very well received by the critics (or by the other Beatles who all seemed to chime in with disparaging remarks) but opinions seem to have changed over time. As noted on Paul’s website: “Despite an initially lukewarm Rolling Stone review, it was later hailed by them as one of his best solo albums. As I have said many times in the past, who really cares what the critics think…all that really matters is whether you like it or not. So…here is the entire album. Take a listen and let me know what you think.
By the way, if you are lucky enough to have some spare change laying around you might want to checkout a deluxe book edition of Ram that was released this month with 4 CDs, a DVD, and a book. In the US it goes for around $90 (US) so I don’t think I will be getting it. If any of you buy it, let the rest of us know what you think.
Today I am combining a Long Song Tuesday and an Album of the Week post. What group deserves such attention…the late great Lynyrd Skynyrd that’s who! Yes, I know that a group using that name continues to tour today but unfortunately the real Lynyrd Skynrd ended as a result of a plane crash on October 20, 1977 which killed three of the original members of the group including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.
Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged from Jacksonville, Florida as a fully formed southern rock band that was ready to kick ass. They named themselves after their high school gym teacher and produced an amazing first album in 1973, Pronounced Leh’-nerd Skin-nerd, which is this week’s album of the week. Let’s listen to my favorite song from the album, Gimme Three Steps.
Although there were many good songs on the album, the one that continues to be most closely associated with the group today is Free Bird. Free Bird was a concert staple of the group and has to be listened to live to truly appreciate. I can’t take you back in time to hear it live but I can provide you with this amazing concert performance of Free Bird by the original group as our Long Song Tuesday post.
To personalize this post let me tell you a story about the one and only time I was lucky enough to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was the Summer of 1976 (Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama), the concert was an all day affair which unfortunately started late due to rain in the morning. Lynyrd Skynyrd was the closing act and didn’t make it on stage until around 10:30. Unknown to any of us at the concert, all concerts at Rickwood Field were required to end by 11:00 since it was located in a neighborhood. The concert promoter came on stage at 11:00 and told the band they had to quit playing. Much to their credit they ignored him and kept playing. Things escalated and the promoter ended up turning off the power to the band’s amps midway through Free Bird. The audience went apeshit and things quickly got out of hand. it was one of those situations where you start to fear for your life. As I was trying to get back to my car, the limo carrying the band was trying to drive through the crowd and ended up getting pelted with bottles and cans even though none of the situation was their fault.
Unfortunately, that was my one and only time seeing the group. On one hand, I am grateful that I got the opportunity to see the band at all but on the other hand I am extremely sad that I didn’t get to see a whole show. As an epilogue, to this day I seldom go to a concert in the south without someone yelling out a request for Free Bird (regardless of who is playing). Feelings run deep in the south and Skynyrd are legends!
So you can better appreciate the greatness of Lynyrd Skynyrd, please listen to the full Pronounced album.
In my humble opinion, nothing like them before, nothing like them since! As always, let me know what you think.
I want to admit upfront that prior to the release of American Idiot I was never a Green Day fan. Having gotten that off my chest, I was totally blown away by American Idiot which is the closest thing to a perfect album that we have seen in many years. In my humble opinion it is easily the best album so far in the 2000’s.
The album’s theme had a lot of meaning when it was initially released in the middle of the Bush years and all of those feelings are coming back to me as I contemplate a potential win by Mitt Romney in this year’s US Presidential election. Let’s listen to a couple of my favorite song from the album.
American Idiot (sorry about the ad!)
Give Me Novacaine
As great as these two songs are, you really cannot appreciate how good the album is without listening to it end to end. So….here it is in all it’s glory for your enjoyment. As you listen to the two embedded rock operas in this gem of an album, I think you will agree with me about how good this album is.
Still not had enough Green Day??? Me neither…here is a live version of Wake Me Up When September Ends.
Love, Devotion and Surrender vs. Dominance and Submission
I made this week’s Long Song Tuesday selection while I was thinking about Quadrophenia. I sometimes wonder how one person can like music genres that are so different. For example, in the early 1970’s I loved the collaboration of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin on the Love, Devotion, and Surrender album. This album was a tribute to jazz legend John Coltrane as well as Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual teacher for both men. Let’s listen to a A Love Supreme, our long song selection for this week, and then we will continue our talk.
At the same time that I was listening to this challenging, improvisational, jazz flavored music I was a huge fan boy for Blue Oyster Cult (BOC). It’s embarrassing to admit it but I sent the group a fan letter, including a drawing of their logo, and received a nice computer printout of their rather bizarre lyrics in return. As strange as it sounds, I found myself bouncing between the BOC Secret Treaties album and Love, Devotion and Surrender. Take a minute and listen to Dominance and Submission from Secret Treaties and you will get a feeling for what a strange mix tape these two sets of music made.
So what can I say, Jimmy and I have a lot in common 🙂
I have two bonuses for you today. First, here is the complete Love, Devotion, and Surrender album. It’s challenging but if you listen I think you will agree it was well worth your time.
The second bonus is a full BOC concert from Largo, Maryland in December 1976. I saw them in 1976, on this same tour, in Hollywood, Florida during Spring Break. It was an amazing show. Watching this recording is a poor substitute for seeing them live but I think you might find it to be entertaining.
Quadrophenia is one of my favorite albums of all time but the reasons might surprise you. Sure the music is great, as we shall soon see, but it’s the theme of the album that I find to be even more intriguing.
I think that we are all more like Jimmy, the lead character in the album’s storyline, that we care to admit. All of us have parts of ourselves that we consciously, or unconsciously, choose to hide from others (and maybe even from ourselves). We may not think of them as different personalities, but they really are and we all have to come to grips with them to be successful in life. This is actually a common theme in music if you look for it. I think Pete Townshend was writing about it again in I Don’t Even Know Myself:
“Don’t pretend that you know me, cause I don’t even know myself”
I also think that Bruce Springsteen was touching on the them in Darkness on the Edge of Town:
“Everybody’s got a secret Sonny
Something that they just can’t face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take”
My favorite rock song on the album is Can You See the Real Me. As you listen to it, I think you will see the theme I was discussing above. By the way, John Entwistle’s bass on this song is amazing.
5:15 is another of my favorite rock songs on the album. I suggest you listen to this one twice. The first time just enjoy the song. The second time through focus on Keith Moon’s drumming which is truly incredible. 5:15 is followed by Sea and Sand which includes vocals from both Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry. The Wikipedia article on the song indicates that Sea and Sand is somewhat of a mini-rock opera inside of a rock opera and I have to agree.
The last individual song from the album that I have for you, The Rock, is probably the best piece of music that Pete Townshend has ever composed. In this song he manages to fuse the four individual themes (representing Jimmy’s personalities) introduced earlier in the album into one amazing song. It is awesome!
If want more details on the album I have included the following excerpt from the Quadrophenia Wikipedia article As a special bonus, the Wikipedia material is followed by a video that provides the complete Quadrophenia album. If you haven’t heard it, you must listen!
Story (from Wikipedia)
“I Am the Sea/The Real Me” – The opera opens with Jimmy Cooper’s introduction with his four personalities. The listener then gets a quick look at his visits to a psychiatrist, his mother and even the local vicar. Mental security is unfortunately not attained by the protagonist.
“Quadrophenia/Cut My Hair” – Jimmy recalls an argument with his parents that culminated in his leaving home. We also hear a news broadcast mentioning riots in Brighton between the Mods and the Rockers, events at which he was present the previous week.
“The Punk and the Godfather” – Jimmy goes to a rock concert (supposedly The Who themselves). He queues up, pays his money and then decides he is going to see the band backstage as they come out the stage door. Sadly, the group is rude to him. He realises that there is nothing really happening in rock and roll; it is just another thing in his life that has let him down.
“I’m One” – Jimmy contemplates how he has not really got much going for him, but at least he has the Mod lifestyle.
“The Dirty Jobs” – Suitably disenchanted with his former ‘religion’, he gets a job as a dustman. Unfortunately, his extremely left-wing views are not appreciated by his workmates and he is forced to pass on to greater things.
“Helpless Dancer/Is It in My Head?” – The listener gets a real look at where Jimmy’s aggression comes from, as he switches into one of his multiple personalities (The Tough Guy). Jimmy has a conscience that bites fairly deep. His frustration with the world only makes him angrier than he already is. The listener sees that he also possesses self-doubt; he worries about his own part, and feels that his outlook is clouded by pessimism.
“I’ve Had Enough” – Jimmy finally snaps when he sees the girl he likes with one of his friends. In a desperately self-destructive state, he smashes up his scooter and decides to go to Brighton where he had such a good time with his friends chasing Rockers the week before (as recited through the news broadcast earlier in the story).
“5.15” – This song recites Jimmy’s train journey down to Brighton, sandwiched between two city gents and notable for the rather absurd number of amphetamines he consumes in order to pass the time. He goes through a not entirely pleasant series of ups and downs as he contemplates the gaudier side of life as a teenager.
“Sea and Sand/Drowned” – Arriving at Brighton, Jimmy’s mood heightens. He talks about the rows at home and is a little sarcastic as he recalls the evening on the beach with his former girlfriend. The Mod scene is already falling apart and all he can do is stay in Brighton just to remember the days when the Mods came to Brighton; it was only three weeks ago, but he is already living in the past. It is here that Jimmy goes down to the sea and sees it as a mirror of a higher power in which he is going to submerse and lose himself in the ocean.
“Bell Boy” – He meets a former Ace Face who now holds the position as a bell boy at the very hotel the Mods tore up. He looks on Jimmy with a mixture of pity and contempt. The two argue, as Jimmy feels the Ace Face has “sold out”. Jimmy is now feeling that everything, even the Mod lifestyle, has let him down.
“Doctor Jimmy” – Jimmy begins to damage himself so badly on drugs and alcohol that he gets to the point where he is so desperate that he will take a closer look at himself. This part of the story shows the lunatic within him. The chorus line “Doctor Jimmy and Mr. Jim” is an ambiguous reference to “DoctorJekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which closely links to the multiple personality theme running through the story.
“The Rock/Love, Reign O’er Me” – Jimmy steals a boat and takes it to a rock in the middle of the sea. Here, when he comes down off his high, he finds the boat has drifted away and that he is now stranded, alone and forgotten. As a storm rages around him, Jimmy has an epiphany. After all the different people he has been, he finally knows for sure who he is: “himself”.
Musical structure (from Wikipedia)
Townshend noted in 2009 that, rather than Jimmy’s personalities representing a Who member, he chose the personalities of each member to illustrate each of Jimmy’s four personalities, or “personality extremes” or mood swings.
The liner notes illustrate this concept as follows (names added):
A tough guy, a helpless dancer. (“Helpless Dancer” – Roger Daltrey)
A romantic, is it me for a moment? (“Is It Me?” – John Entwistle)
A bloody lunatic, I’ll even carry your bags. (“Bell Boy” – Keith Moon)
A beggar, a hypocrite, love reign o’er me. (“Love Reign O’er Me” – Pete Townshend)
In addition to describing a personality/band member, the four descriptions refer to four musical themes that portray Jimmy’s personalities in the opera: “Helpless Dancer”, “Is It Me?”, “Bell Boy”, and “Love Reign O’er Me”. The four themes (or “leitmotifs” as described by Townshend) are mixed together in both the title track (bridging “The Real Me” and “Cut My Hair”), and the penultimate track, “The Rock” (bridging “Doctor Jimmy” and “Love, Reign O’er Me”). The two pieces were the most musically complex pieces that Townshend ever wrote for The Who, combining all four themes into two six-minute instrumentalmedleys. The two pieces have neither a definite beginning or end, as they begin with a fade-in from the previous track, starting with the theme of “Bell Boy” (Moon’s theme). This is followed by the themes of “Is It Me?” (Entwistle’s theme), “Helpless Dancer” (Daltrey’s theme), and “Love, Reign O’er Me” (Townshend’s theme). “Quadrophenia” fades into rain sound effects after the “Love Reign O’er Me” theme. “The Rock” however ends with a combination of the four different themes, using the “Bell Boy” theme as the chord sequence, the “Helpless Dancer” theme as the melody, the “Is It Me?” theme as a lead (played on guitar and synthesiser), and the keyboard part to “Love Reign O’er Me” as a countermelody. The whole song abruptly ends on a downbeat layered with the sound of thunder and descends into “Love Reign O’er Me” proper.
The four themes also surface on many other songs throughout the album; the most subtle example being when the “Helpless Dancer” theme appears on “Bell Boy” (the main song) played on synthesiser as a brief interlude. Some themes from other songs also make “surprise” reappearances here and there. These leitmotifs help give the work an impression of a cohesive unity.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 