Album of the Week: Part Deux

The album of this week is:



Rock of Ages by the Band

As I spent the week pondering what album of mine to review, I couldn't decide until the last day of the week. Throughout my new collection of cds from the past week (a grand total of 9 cds and 10 hours of music), I specifically chose Rock of Ages to help answer the question of what a live album should be.

Throughout the history of the genre known as Rock and Roll, many bands have wondered what the purpose of a live album should be, from the introduction of the first live recordings on the famous rock album by Cream, Wheels of Fire. Many bands promoted the idea that live outings, and therefore live albums, should be similiar to the structure of live Jazz. Bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers band used a Jazz-like approach by taking songs of normally three to four minutes and extending them; they took the frame of songs, using the vocals and melody line, and then extended them into spacy, instrumental jams of up to 40 minutes.

The Band, on the other hand, took a different approach. They were never for hour renditions of their classics, but rather for a revamping of material. The live record was still a new concept when this album was cut, during the days leading up to 1972, and the Band wanted to try something that no other band had really attempted.

The Band's guitarist, and de facto leader, Robbie Robertson introduces what the Band is about to do with the following words: "We're gonna try somethin tonight that we've never done before...We'd like to bring out the best horn men in New York..." all arranged by famous New Orleans arranger Allen Toussaint. Toussaint had worked with the Band before on their catchy single, Life is a Carnival. This time around, Toussaint arranged horn parts for most of the Band's material, making this the first time a band had used an alterior music source constantly on stage.

The ensuing live album does not replace the studio cuts by an means, but instead adds new variations to them. Unlike many other live albums, which either pale in comparison to the studio work or replaces such, this album gave me a new collection of songs entirely.

The album starts with a funky workout of Marvin Gaye's R&B classic (Baby) Don't (You) Do It, which the Band perform to the greatest of their ability, such that electricity practically comes out of the speakers. Throughout the rest of the disk, the Band exhibits their uncanny ability to add energy to songs (King Harvest, Caledonia Mission, Across the Great Divide, The Weight, Rag Mama Rag, Life is A Carnival), their ability to revamp unreleased material (Get Up Jake), add interesting horn parts (The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Chest Fever) and instrumental mastery (The Genetic Method).

The Genetic Method, in itself, could have its own review. Although I am biased, as Garth Hudson is my favorite keyboardist, anyone can hear his genious and mastery of (at the time) new instruments. He weaves strange organ parts, classical organ, synthesizer diddlies and famous pieces into a beautiful solo instrumental. At one part of the song, due to the date of the recording (12/31), Hudson weaves in Auld Lang Syne, to the delight of the audience, and then continues on. The album is worth the purchase for this track itself.

The album closes with a nice little Rock and Roll standard, and brings energy to the listener. Luckily, the album was remastered a few years ago, and the original 2 LP album was put on 1 disc, and Capitol added a second bonus disc. The bonus disc had some amazing pieces, from the introspective Rocking Chair (in which the way Manuel sings "I just wanna get my feet back on the ground" is worth the ticket price), to the R&B standard, Loving You (Is Sweeter Than Ever), to four songs with Bob Dylan, the best by Dylan at the time.

This album is worth every penny, from the horn charts that are so expertly arranged, to the sublime playing by the Band, and should be in every Rock fan's collection.

Vocab #9

Plagiarize
In this representation, one sees the familiar face of Vanilla Ice. The height of his popularity is a plagiarism, that he even denies presently. In his song, "Ice Ice Baby," he takes the familiar motif of the Queen song "Another One Bites the Dust" and excuses his possession over his lick by claiming it had an extra beat in it. What fame does to the mind is one of humorous proportions.



Reciprocate
The human hug is a notion that the population takes for granted. The concept is that one throws one's arms around the other, and the other accepts. It is a great example of a reciprocated motion. One could easily throw it off or back away, as it is a very personal motion, but nonetheless is a great stride in the personal connection between people.



Empathy
Even when one feels the comforting of another, the only real consolation is a sense of empathy. People constantly push away help that has not experienced what one has gone through. This picture is a true representation of two people, both affected by the same event, yet one takes the role of consoler, and one consolee.

The Establishment of a Thought Process Through Extrapolation

When one sees an extreme difference in society in a text, one can never imagine the time period and ideals expressed when the piece was written. Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tries to eliminate such a problem. Mark Twain utilizes Huckleberry Finn as a primary narrator to express his views on those ignorant of the racial and social standings around them. Twain's point of view at the time was very negative toward racial and social issues, and his tone is expressed through the narration and plot direction, while Huck represents the neutral perspective of the time.

Throughout the book, Huck describes concepts in a nonchalant way that does not conincide with Twain's obviously vulgar material. Such when Huck is witnessing the duke dressing up Jim as a sick arab. He describes it with uncaring and without surprise, as it is an everyday event. "Then the duke took and wrote out a sign on a shingle so- Sick Arab - but harmless when not out of his head" (Pg. 159) and Huck blandly shows the prejiduces not only to African slaves, but of any nationality that is not caucasion American.

Additionally, words that are normally used as durragotary, or in an angry fashion, are simply listed by the main character. Twain obviously chose specific words in the book to express the racial standings in society, but also to show how ignorance can fuel the words. Throughout the book, Huck addresses Jim as a "nigger" and consciously talks about how dumb they are, yet he considers Jim a father figure throughout the book.

Therefore, the narration and plot direction in the book express Twain's negative outlook on the society he lived in. When the author lands on a touchy racial topic, he broadens it to an extent that is almost unbearable in this day and age. He continually brings up stereotypes and how untrue they are. The book labels stereotypes of African slaves, such as being highly hostile "(saying that) if I hollered, he'd cut my livers out" (Pg. 214). Contrarily, Huck describes Jim as the character with the most caring for him, and the least hostile aggression towards anything, including the race that enslaved him.

Thus, Huck Finn is the character in the book that is meant to represent the blank slate. He supports the story with his blind ignorance, but Mark Twain utilizes him as an ignorant main voice, that shows the negative consequences of issues at the time. Once one sees the social commentary, one can argue that Twain was against all his society stood for. Twain definitly helps the reader imagine the ideals of the book and the time period it was written.

Album of the Week

Every week I will do a review for an album I have recently recieved, either recent or classic, and will do my best to analyze it.

This week's album is:



Nick Drake's Pink Moon

As I slipped into the cold rain on a beautifully rainy Saturday morning, I casually walked to Starbucks. I ordered a nice, hot drink and found myself a nice place to sit and watch the pitter patter of the rain on the street. I realized that I had delayed my purchase of some album that my friend suggested to me, but remembered that he said it was perfect for rainy days. I lazily made my way to my car and found the nearest cd store and immediately found a nice brand new copy of the cd. Something felt right about the purchase.

I ripped open the cd shrink wrap (triumphantly, no doubt. don't you love that feeling of tearing off the plastic?), and found an intimidating picture of the man known as Nick Drake, glaring at the owner of the cd. I popped the cd into the cd player to hear a nicely strummed guitar leading into a lulling whispery voice, remnant to me of a more emotionally disfigured Jack Johnson. The singer singing to me about a Pink Moon coming to get me, which at first seems scary, assured me with his voice that it would be alright.

The album keeps its dreary, but pleasant, tone throughout the whole album. Drake sings to the listener about moons, mornings, love, the process of aging and mostly unsurity and weakness. The lyrics, as Allmusic put, are definitely not upbringing ("you can say the sun is shining if you really want to", "I am the parasite of this town"),but also are definitely not depressing. They express a tone that is beautiful and longing, almost emotionally scarred by the tragedy that the singer went through.

Nick Drake, musically, has interesting chord tunings, useful picking styles, peculiar rhythem movements and chord patterns. His voice falls over the chords with an ageless easyness. He constantly lulles the listener into a state of awareness, and self-realization. He sings with a kind of vulnerability that no other artist could emulate.

The lack of additional instruments gives Drake's voice and ethreal quality. With just an acoustic guitar, the singer-songwriter gets his message across clearly. He puts his voice on record, in such a way, that its a gorgeous, heart-wrenching listen. The album made me feel a little saddened that this was the man's last effort, only to overdose on anti-depressants.

As each song flowed into the next, I took a long sip of my warm drink, only to think that this was the perfect album for the day.

Vocabulary

A representation of three of this week's vocabulary words:

tempo - the rate of some repeating event. I feel that all of our lives is put to the tempo of a minute, day, hour, year or moment. We all confine ourselves to a set parameter of a continious schedule or routine. If we look at our lives, we can all see that life is just a metronome clicking back and forth.










unanimous - consentaneous: in complete agreement We all need to find a unanimous ground for anything and everything: borders, business agreements, and any decision.











flourish - thrive One and all should know what needs to flourish and grow. Man naturally doesn't realize the beauty around itself, and such things are prevented from their growth.

Late as Always

Our teacher assigned us a writing prompt in which we needed to create a story around the items and facial expressions of those going through the turnstile in the New York subway, as photographed by Bill Smith. The link to his project, where my photo is from is here


Bill had been becoming increasingly senile. Not only does he lack the work ethic and energy that he had when I hired him, but he makes excuses for his actions.

Today Bill stumbles into work three hours late. Panting and gasping for air, he starts telling me his reasons for being so late. "Steve...Steve... I was late because..."
"I don't want to hear any more excuses Bill! I've had enough
with your horse crap."
"But Steve," he pleaded, "this time is serious!" Hearing his pleas, I agreed to listen to his story.

Bill had woken up early (I was already skeptical of the story at this point). He got his paper outside when he noticed that his house was starting to sink. At the very moment he started inspecting the house it started to rain. He quickly ran inside for his umbrella and noticed that he needed to hurry up to get to work. He quickly grabbed a piece of toast and stuck the paper in his pocket, for reading on the subway. On his way to the subway, he remembered that he had put his laundry in the cleaners, as such, he needed to obtain it because the laundromat charges extra if the clothes are left there.

He reversed directions and made his way through the crowd, only to find that the laundromat was closed. He noticed a small child playing in the street, and asked him what he was doing. He saw that the kid was playing with something with a blinking red light. Bill thought that the kid was cute and went to go tell him to get out of the street. As he was walking over, he suddenly realized what was blinking. He did a complete 180 degree turn, and started running in the other direction. As he heard a large bang behind him, he was thrown to the ground. He then went back to find the police interrogating him, asking him why he was there and what his affliation with the kid was. Bill nervously answered the question while he got on the subway.

The subway was an adventure in itself. When Bill got on the subway, so did the same kid that he saw before. Bill was so confused and scared that he ran away, only to find the kid following him. He ran away hurriedly. Quickly, he realized the kid wanted something with him, so he turned around to the kid holding his dry cleaning. "What the..." Bill started, but the kid interrupted with "you're welcome," only to turn around and walk away. His brow covered in sweat, Bill sat on the train and let it take him to work. He needed to switch from the B train to the F train, so he needed to get off at the next stop. As he got off the subway, he noticed that the bus he usually takes just left, and he had to wait for the next bus to come in fifteen minutes. After he got off the bus, he noticed that he caught every red light on the way to work, only to run into the same kid. As he got to the front doors of the office, he asked the kid, "Who are you?" The kid simply smiles, and replied, "You'll never know."

I simply shrugged Bill's story off, "next time you're late, Bill, just call and tell us." As I sat down at the couch in the worker's lounge and watched the news story about the terrorist attack near B street, I murmered to myself, "I wish I were paid every time I heard one of his stories."