From Magnificent to Maligned to Nostolgia

My buddy got the recently released Brit Box set from Rhino which, all at once, aged him. "How did the music of my youth suddenly become nostalgia," he asked. he then went on to point out that of the three discs one was jammed full of hits, one had some hits and the third was all filler. Of course filler is only one opinion. When Rhino works on these boxes they are trying to piece together a quintessential snapshot of an era. one man's filler is another man's goldmine.

One could argue (and win the argument) that any three set box intended to encapsulate an era would do the same. My era would be mid-seventies hard rock. But after some Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Kiss, Queen and Thin Lizzy, what's next? I love Judas Priest but someone else might want to hear Black Oak Arkansas. As a fan of seventies rock I had to endure the years that everyone laughed in my face and called it the lost decade of rock and roll. I stayed true to my record collection and a few years ago the seventies finally started to get the recognition it truly deserved.

The same can be said of the new wave which seemed so saccharine and plastic not too many years ago has suddenly come back into vogue and sacchariney and plastically.

The nineties are due for a comeback too. For as popular as Nirvana remains, the countless soundalikes are sure to be recognized as the collective saviours of rock and roll and herald the decade as a sort of renaissance.

Norman Mailer

I lived in Brooklyn Heights years ago. Norman Mailer lived there too and I would often see him out for a walk on Clark St., shopping at Barnes and Noble or leaning over the railing on the Promandae looking at Manhatten (pre 9/11).

I didn't read much mailer, but what I did (Executioner's Song, The Fight) blew my mind. I loved listening to him talk in interviews and always appreciated that he had built a tough guy persona for himself.

One of the romantic notions I always talked about while living in new york City was the fact that I was walking the same streets, past the same brownstones as some of the most important writers in history. Norman mailer could be the last literary hero of our times with no one really waiting in the wings.

All those time I saw him I never spoke to Norman Mailer.

www.slacker.com

This is not a commercial, just an unsolicited recommendation. I was reading Rolling stone the other day and came across an add for http://www.slacker.com/, a website that allows you to build your own customized radio station. I've been listening to it for close to a week now and am thrilled with the service.

You can choose from a number of pre-programmed "stations" or you can choose your favourite band and the site will create a playlist featuring your favourite band and other bands either similar to in genre, influenced by or who were influences. I know that there have been other similar services but my experience is that you have to sign up and then the service times out it's free play. This seems to be unlimited. There are other options including record reviews, t-shirts and a portable player.

I spent the the first few days listening to my Yardbirds channel and am now listening to my Aerosmith channel. Ted Nugent's "Free For All" came on and sent me on an Internet search for that wholly excellent, long lost and under appreciated album.

Enjoy.

Chris Stills - when good artists go missing

A long long time ago when I started working in the music business, a friend of mine said that her distrust of major labels came from the fact that she felt that we only made hits out of the records we liked. I assured her that that wasn't true. If it was that easy, it would be in our best interest to make EVERY record a hit!

I'm sitting at my desk listening to 100 Year Thing, the debut album from Chris Stills, the son of Stephen Stills. This record is completely awesome. There is so much of it that reminds you of classic CSNY in the vocals and melodies but, although the songs are mainly based on acoustic guitar, this record totally rocks! I am loathe to choose highlights since every single song is worthy of the highest praise. I wish I was hyping you on a record that was coming out in January 2008 but, unfortunately, this is a record that was released in January 1998 and disappeared almost as quickly as it hit the record shelves.

It's ten years later and I still can't tell you what happened. The music truly is spectacular but there was no radio that would play it at the time. His story was great (son of Stills and French singer Veronique Sanson) but no media was really interested in covering it. We saw him play once and he was terrific but there was no tour.

There are so many factors that contribute to the current state of the music business and no one is counting the mystery of the disappearance of artists like Chris as one of those factors. By the way his second album came out in 2005. I never heard it but I will say this, if you go to his myspace site, the music you hear there can't touch what I'm listening to on 100 Year Thing.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I went to Best Buy last week and bought the new DVD Runnin Down The Drain. The package starts with a most excellent 4 hour documentary on the band by director Peter Bogdonovich. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to the film. It seems that Tom Petty had a camera on him from the time he was three. There's great 8mm footage of Mudcrutch playing early versions of future hits like "Breakdown." earlier this summer I put the first Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in my car's CD player. It's incredible how many of those songs have become staples and even more incredible how contemporary the album still sounds. It's a testament to the timelessness of Petty's songwriting.

I remember that day (though I don't remember exactly) when me and my friends were hanging out over at our friend Misty's house. Each of us always prided ourselves on introducing each other to new music. That day, Misty pulled out the first Tom Petty album. It was in the midst of the whole punk revolution and the picture of Tom in a leather jacket led one to believe that this was going to be a Johnny Thunders type record. The song Misty played us as an introduction was "American Girl." To steal a phrase, I was gob-smacked! I could believe how cool he sounded and I loved the speed of the track. I must have made her play the song four times before letting her play us anything else off the record. Afterwards I headed over to Sam The Record Man to buy the album for myself.

From that moment on I was a Tom Petty devotee. I would buy all of his records the day they hit the stores. The first time I say them play was at the Palladium in New York City where I was going to university. It must have been around the time of Damn the Torpedoes. The Joe Perry Project opened the show. To the best of my recollection, it was one of the finest live rock shows I had seen in my life up until that point. Petty was in great voice and the band was as tight as any I had ever seen.

What I didn't know that night (and couldn't have possibly known at the time) was that this would be one of the few times I'd get to see Tom Petty live. I don't remember if he played NYC again during my time there (1979 - 1984). He probably did but I didn't get to go to many shows after 1982. After I moved back to Toronto Petty concerts were fewer and farther between. The next time I saw him was 2000 or 2001 around the time of "Last Dance For Mary Jane" when he played the Molson Amphitheatre. Again he delivered one of the great performances. Earlier this year I took Melanie to see the band play at the Molson Amphitheatre. Going in to the show she thought she didn't know that many Tom Petty songs. Coming out she was a fan, realizing that she knew many more of his songs than she thought.

When people talk about the great rock and roll bands of the U.S., Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are almost an after thought which is weird considering they're still making music and selling out stadiums thirty years later. If you sit down with Runnin Down The Drain though, the argument is over. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers belong right beside The Doors, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, the Band and any other great "The" band that you could possibly think of.