From disc one of Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980-81, this randomly selected first track seems like a highly appropriate jumping off point on a couple levels...
On the surface...
Pink Floyd has been one of my favorites since I was introduced to Dark Side of the Moon 20+ years ago. In fact, I recently joined my brother and friends in Atlanta for Roger Waters' re-imagination of The Wall and was blown away by the production. While this rendition of the song doesn't match the studio version in my book, I might have felt differently had I been at the show back in 1980. Further, I think it's pretty difficult for an alternate version of a song to compete with the way you first hear it - especially given a song this pervasive.
On a deeper level...
Another Brick is a perfect illustration of what should prove to be a ongoing thread in my journey journal - the tension between my musical roots and the evolution of my musical taste. There will be far better examples of where I've been. I am dreading the day I land on those deep tracks of BTO's greatest hits album. Even the "hits" will be tough -- Taking Care of Business? What was I thinking? Even so, Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2 has unfortunately become one of those songs you only listen to because it comes on the radio or your iPod shuffles its way. You listen and enjoy, but it's no longer the track you specifically seek out. There's a great scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise's character is driving a car and pumped about some recent success. He's fumbling with his radio dial (remember when radios had dials?) looking for a song that matches his elation and after passing by some misses, he finds Free Falling by Tom Petty. If you heard Free Falling right now, you'd have to belt out the chorus. Similarly, "we don't need no education" is pretty hard to skip over when you happen upon it.
And that is precisely why I'm doing this. If you truly love music, you're always on the hunt. But that pursuit doesn't happen without what came before. I spent my teens and twenties thinking that bands/songs were shelved when "everybody else" found out about them. But you don't give up on a band because one day you go to their show and everyone else has on the concert t-shirt. They fall out of heavy rotation because their music just starts to fail at some level. I always thought that discovery and discard game was about claiming some level of musical superiority. But in reality, it's not about liking music because it's obscure. It's about finding the next thing based on all the stops you've made before. I wasn't the first to like Pink Floyd in high school, and I won't be the last. But without that stop, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today or where I'll be tomorrow. Taking a look back should only help me with what comes next (or what doesn't).
Ps. Don't expect all entries to be this long. A lot of songs will have stories and life associations, but a lot won't. In the unlikely scenario that I get through my catalog without adding something new, I've got 15,660 more songs to go. At one song a day, we're talking nearly 43 years. At an hour of music a day we're talking over 3 years. And I can't possibly write this much about the 13-14 songs I'd hear in that hour each day. There's not enough time in the day and not enough to say about each song in my library (see my BTO confession above). All I can promise is that I'll listen to every track and list every track I listen to.
On the surface...
Pink Floyd has been one of my favorites since I was introduced to Dark Side of the Moon 20+ years ago. In fact, I recently joined my brother and friends in Atlanta for Roger Waters' re-imagination of The Wall and was blown away by the production. While this rendition of the song doesn't match the studio version in my book, I might have felt differently had I been at the show back in 1980. Further, I think it's pretty difficult for an alternate version of a song to compete with the way you first hear it - especially given a song this pervasive.
On a deeper level...
Another Brick is a perfect illustration of what should prove to be a ongoing thread in my journey journal - the tension between my musical roots and the evolution of my musical taste. There will be far better examples of where I've been. I am dreading the day I land on those deep tracks of BTO's greatest hits album. Even the "hits" will be tough -- Taking Care of Business? What was I thinking? Even so, Another Brick in The Wall Pt. 2 has unfortunately become one of those songs you only listen to because it comes on the radio or your iPod shuffles its way. You listen and enjoy, but it's no longer the track you specifically seek out. There's a great scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise's character is driving a car and pumped about some recent success. He's fumbling with his radio dial (remember when radios had dials?) looking for a song that matches his elation and after passing by some misses, he finds Free Falling by Tom Petty. If you heard Free Falling right now, you'd have to belt out the chorus. Similarly, "we don't need no education" is pretty hard to skip over when you happen upon it.
And that is precisely why I'm doing this. If you truly love music, you're always on the hunt. But that pursuit doesn't happen without what came before. I spent my teens and twenties thinking that bands/songs were shelved when "everybody else" found out about them. But you don't give up on a band because one day you go to their show and everyone else has on the concert t-shirt. They fall out of heavy rotation because their music just starts to fail at some level. I always thought that discovery and discard game was about claiming some level of musical superiority. But in reality, it's not about liking music because it's obscure. It's about finding the next thing based on all the stops you've made before. I wasn't the first to like Pink Floyd in high school, and I won't be the last. But without that stop, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today or where I'll be tomorrow. Taking a look back should only help me with what comes next (or what doesn't).
Ps. Don't expect all entries to be this long. A lot of songs will have stories and life associations, but a lot won't. In the unlikely scenario that I get through my catalog without adding something new, I've got 15,660 more songs to go. At one song a day, we're talking nearly 43 years. At an hour of music a day we're talking over 3 years. And I can't possibly write this much about the 13-14 songs I'd hear in that hour each day. There's not enough time in the day and not enough to say about each song in my library (see my BTO confession above). All I can promise is that I'll listen to every track and list every track I listen to.
nice posting, good luck with the blog
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ReplyDeleteNice post, Paulie. I will enjoy reading these and taking a bit of a walk down "memory lane" as you go.
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