I thought that I had retired from top ten lists. For years Terry Sheldrake (the idiot savant behind the vast media conglomerate that counts Go Metric as a cog in its vast empire) had asked me for top ten lists at the end of the year. Although my rather lengthy Go Metric contract stipulated that I turn in a certain amount of writing per year or else face the revocation of my 10% off croissants at the Go Metric canteen, I had gotten lazy and had regularly been turning in pieces entitled, “Top ten things I ate for lunch last week” or “Top ten annoying secondary characters introduced very late in the plot in A World of Fire and Ice,” but, corporations are apt to catch up to your shenanigans eventually and this year the proverbial boot dropped (by Sheldrake, thrown from his fourth floor office, it was a Doc Marten as I recall) and I am forced to write an actual column about what I saw in music this year. Actually, let me rephrase that. I saw, as usual, a ton of great shows from here and there in the musical spectrum, lots of late nights and groggy days in class after, but some stuck with me more than others. It is a truism that the older one gets; the more one actually notices the passage of time and its inevitable nod to entropy. But, some experiences actually seem to slow time down, make one live in the moment and experience it with all senses. While a lot moved me this year, here are ten moments (I cheated a bit as you will see) that struck me as not just concerts or shows, but totally immersive experiences.
Those Beach Boys and Rolling
Stones weren’t the only septuagenarian rockers celebrating 50th (give or take)
Anniversaries over the past twelve-or-so months, absolutely not. Just about
each and every singer/songwriter/guitarist still standing – well, those with
lucratively deep catalogs ripe and ready for recycling, that is – had multiple
multi-media packages (and, in the Stones’ case, four-figure-plus concert tickets) competing for what
remained of a loyal boomer’s nest egg throughout 2012.
So should you feel so inclined, unless you’re still busy searching for the real
Bob Dylan via David Dalton’s Book Of The Year “Who Is That Man?” that is, may I
wholeheartedly suggest Going Metric with:
Despite shrinking ad revenue and declining readership, there
was some good news in the world of journalism in 2012. Thirty-three percent of American’s now own a tablet or
e-reader[1],
which has led to a bit of a renaissance for “longform” or narrative journalism — well-reported,
character-driven pieces that read like novellas. It’s not a new form, but the
ways readers are consuming this journalism — which is often peppered with multimedia
and interactive features — is spawning websites and apps that connect readers
with content and potentially create revenue streams for struggling
publications.
Below are 10 stories I enjoyed in 2012, in no particular
order.
10. Ryan
Monroe — A Painting of a Painting on
Fire (RCM Records) Monroe is a member of Band of
Horses which, I must admit, I didn't know he was in the band until I read
the press release that came with the album. Monroe created an album that was
much better than the one his main band did this year. I also nominate Monroe
for album title of the year.
Well, it certainly provides the
Perfect soundtrack to the Man/the Legend's latest Rolling Stone interview, for starters. Neat "Duquesne
Whistle" video, too.
2012 was an admittedly slow year
for forever-young Neil: only two albums, one film, one autobiography, one death
scare (this one c/o NBC News!) and
one ear-boggling audio format. Still.
Another veteran, long-lasting
Canucklehead, Edgar spent his own Zuma years flying the proto-legendary Simply
Saucer, landing today with precisely the kind of funk blue folk amalgam which
continues to elude, for one, Robbie Robertson. Instead, Edgar’s textural Patches swirl steadily up and down the
roadways and railways of North America via Michael J. Birthelmer’s nuanced yet
nutty production/arrangement, managing even to take 3:17 out for a reasonably
alt. bossa nova along the way.
David Grahame = was Paul in the
Broadway production of “Beatlemania”
Lane Steinberg = was one of
“three teenage Jews attempting to remake With
The Beatles in Miami in 1982” with his band The Wind (according to Victim Of Time dot
com)
David = has opened for Elvis
Costello and The Pretenders
Lane = has covered Henry Mancini
and The Mothers of Invention
David = co-wrote “To Be With You”
with Mister Big
Lane = co-wrote – and recorded! – an entire album with R.
Stevie Moore
David = some of his songs have
been on “Party of Five,” “Ed,” “Providence” and “Dawson’s Creek”
Lane = some of his songs have
been on Maria Bartiromo, Condoleezza Rice, Lindsey Buckingham’s beard
and Puffy’s handgun
David = once turned down a deal
with Atlantic Records (who wanted to make him “another David Cassidy”)
Lane = once recorded the definitive version of “I Think I Love
You”
Grahame Steinberg = one of the
undoubtedly twelve best of 2012 I have heard...and
the same will go for you.
And speaking of Brian’s Boys, two
of those other much-revered retro-“B”
icons (as in Big Star via Badfinger) are instantly conjured as Chris’ latest
and greatest kicks straight up into a solid half-hour of beaty, BIG, and bouncy P-pop. A special Gary Pig
tip-o-the-virtual-snout must go as well to GYLLsO
producer David Feeny, who records the Subtractions’ six-strings with a raw
stinging power unheard since the storied days of Tim Boykin’s Lolas …not to
mention Steve Jones’ Bollock-ing of
yore.
Of the song “Cold Turkey” (no,
not the fine Plastic Ono 45) (or even the Dick Van Dyke movie), may I quote
this disc’s liner notes: “Cold Turkey was recorded in 1968 at Pete Miller’s
home-studio on Margetson Avenue in Norwich, England on a Bang & Olufsen
Beocord 2000 tape-recorder running at a tape speed of 3 3/4 i.p.s. The
dominating snare reverb came from the reverb unit for a Farfisa organ. Vocals
were sung through a Shure 726 ‘Elvis mic’ and also a Reslo ribbon mic. The WW2
air-raid shelter in Pete’s garden served as the echo chamber”...and that’s just
ONE of the dozen vintage Big Boy beauts you should hear herein!
Meanwhile, bravely home-recording
on the other side of the planet, here’s yet another slyly sonic, all-singing,
sometimes stinging self-confessional from the One and Only Rickenharper; a friendly
Ghost on the Canvas...along with a thin wild "We're In The Money"
that even hearing isn't quite believing!
One terrific sonic stew of Syd,
Eric’s SanFran Animals, indelible String Band, eclectic Prunes, prehistoric
Unit Four + 2, Love ‘n’ Fugs, Gainsbourg and Hazlewood, some Varèse even, all
beautifully buoyed by Alan’s never-fearing lyrical-slash-melodic munificence.
P.S.: and guitarist/engineer/producer Wreckless Eric herein has never sounded so… well, wreckless!
The don’t-ever-be-fooled-by-imitations New Jersey Doughboys resolutely enter
their second half-century making the kind of utterly joyous noise even Raider
rough-houser Mark Lindsay can’t help but contribute liner notes (not to mention
sax!) to.
Honestly, after an entire year
spent listening — and listening — to
this latest Best Record Ever by Nashville's greatest, the only thing I could
possibly fault, if pressed, would be the misspelling of Marcia Brady's given
name on the enclosed press sheet. But, by 2013, I'll be ready to forgive even
that.
PETE TOWNSHEND Who I Am
(the audio book)
(unabridged, I'll have you know) www.petetownshend.com
yes, All 15 ( ! ) discs; all 19 (
!! ) hours of it ....no, Really !!!
