This is soft rock AKA as Adult Contemporary. I bought this used recently for loose change after reviewing the Best of Bread for MyVinylCountdown.com.
I admired Bread’s songcraft and was impressed with Gate’s guitar and vocals. It was pretty but that’s about it. A little like the Carpenters, a little like America.
In fact some of us debated which one was best (or worst) Bread vs. America. Think that dispute is still ongoing. One colleague said he would pick America but only if they never do ‘Muskrat Love’ again.
So I bought this Gates’ solo album and it is pretty much a Bread album, pretty, but that’s about it.
But maybe that’s enough.
Song picks: ‘Ann’ shows off his voice. ‘SIght and Sound’ shows some guitar skills. Suite Clouds and Rain shows his piano chops. ‘Do you Believe He’s Comin’ shows his aforementioned guitar skills as well as religious faith. In fact for a guy who seems so partial to soft rock, Gates can play a mean guitar as he does here in the “Do You Believe He’s Comin’ and with Bread the song ‘Guitar Man.’
A lively give and take as three influential men get together and talk. And rap. The words are actual quotes or lyrics of those to whom they are attributed – however this author takes poetic license in the context surrounding the meeting, or even if there was such a meeting.
Slim Shady: Now these critics crucify you, journalists try to burn you, fans turn on you.
Donald J. Trump: The media is–really, the word, I think one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with–is fake.
W.B. Yeats: If you have revisited the town, thin Shade,
Whether to look upon your monument
(I wonder if the builder has been paid)
Slim Shady:
Just a feeling I’ve got, like something’s about to happen, but I don’t know what
If that means, what I think it means, we’re in trouble, big trouble,
And if he is as bananas as you say, I’m not taking any chances
Trump: Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time. She just can’t stop, which is so good for the Republican Party.
Yeats:But the gyre is ‘widening’: it is getting further and further away from its centre, its point of origin. In short, it’s losing control, and ‘the centre cannot hold’
Slim Shady, nodding his head to a beat inside his head:You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
Eminem (Billboard.com)
(Here, the bartender turns on the TV showing a pre-season professional football game.)
Trump: The American public is fed up with the disrespect the NFL is paying to our Country, our Flag and our National Anthem. Weak and out of control!”
Yeats: That is no country for old men. … Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
Trump: Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”
(The men order another round of drinks. An Amstel Light for Eminem, a rum and Coke for Yeats, and a low-cal virgin strawberry margarita with a Happy Hour $1 pizza slice for Trump. The day workers were getting off work now and filling up the bar.)
John McCain said before he died, “I love you, I have not been cheated.”
Wow. I love those last words as relayed by McCain’s good friend Sen. Lindsey Graham.
McCain had left a written statement but these words spoken to Graham were the actual last words.
My praise of McCain’s utterances comes from a guy (me) who has been thinking about last words. I’ve also been looking at epitaphs (no brother, not epithets.)
But before I get into some of the best last words of all time, let’s breakdown the last words of John ‘The Maverick’ McCain.
I’m not going to make this at all a political column but I will say I admire Sen. McCain. Anybody who can survive the harsh conditions of a Vietnamese prisoner camp for more than five years, is one tough dude and deserves my respect and my thanks for his service.
Graham, a long-time friend, was reportedly at bedside when McCain made comments before dying.
“I love you,” he told Lindsay.
Those three words.
A connection to humanity. The word love is the most defined, undefined word in the lexicon.
It’s the best thing you can say to somebody — if you mean it.
Forget the fact that we don’t know what it means, love that is. OK, we know what it means, I believe, we just can’t articulate it.
Second part of McCain’s last words: I have not been cheated.
I think he’s saying he lived a full life. And what an interesting way to say it. I haven’t been cheated.
Is that humble downplay or is it a slightly negative way of assessing the state of his life? Instead of ‘I have been blessed …” or “I have been rewarded with a good life” on his deathbed, he was saying “I haven’t been cheated.” Some might interpret that negatively, like ‘not getting cheated’ is the most important point he can break out about his life?
But I think it is simply McCain saying, ‘I had a good one. No worries.”
Mental Floss, the excellent online compendium of great lists and stories, has assembled the dying words of 64 people in history ith the help of Words of Notable People. I’ll cull it to a Top 10.
Here’s the list, my comments in italics.
Elvis Presely: “I’m going to the bathroom to read.” No no no.
Frank Sinatra died after saying, “I’m losing it.” That’s what I call concise and on point.
Marie Antoinette stepped on her executioner’s foot on her way to the guillotine. Last words: “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur.” Showing the strength of a human being is saying “Excuse me’ to your executioner.
Richard B. Mellon: “Last tag.’
The wealthy man was the President of Alcoa, and he and his brother Andrew had a little game of Tag going. According to Mental Floss, the weird thing was, this game of Tag lasted for like seven decades. When Richard was on his deathbed, he called his brother over and whispered, “Last tag.” Poor Andrew remained “It” for four years, until he died. Life is about having fun and competing. Mellon and brother kept it going to the end. I salute you.
Leonardo da Vinci: “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.” Leo, don’t beat yourself up, but you are right, the Mona Lisa’s smile should have been wider.
Murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah and asked if he had a last request. He replied, “Bring me a bullet-proof vest.” When you got nothing, be a wise guy.
John Arthur Spenkelink was executed in Florida in 1979. He spent his final days writing these last words on various pieces of mail: “Capital punishment means those without the capital get the punishment.” Ah, this guy addresses a sweeping and problematic social issue as he walks to his death penalty.
Groucho Marx: “This is no way to live!” He got that right and died.
Blues guitarist Leadbelly said, “Doctor, if I put this here guitar down now, I ain’t never gonna wake up.” And he was right. Hope he got buried with it.
Bo Diddley died listened to the song “Walk Around Heaven.” His last word was “Wow.”
And my wife’s grandmother Inez Burns lived to be 100. At her bedside she told Catherine her granddaughter who was telling her she was leaving for home in Florida. Inez said: “I’m going to have to go now too. Goodbye. I love you.” And she died.
Got to find a way to bring some love in here today.
Marvin Gaye is smooth and soulfully cool. For good solid soul, Gaye knew no peer. He was the male counterpoint to Aretha Franklin.
I’m not counting out Otis Redding, Wilson Picket, Al Green or any of the other pioneers in this realm. Gaye was a little less of a soul belter than Aretha. His sound was seductive, jazzy soul — sometimes with a social message (What’s Going On.’)
I’m not saying he couldn’t belt either, on ‘Grapevine’ he belts.
Marvin’s life ended too soon, in 1984, tragically at the hands of his father.
I’ve written this elsewhere on the blog: His version of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star game in 1983 brought tears to my eyes as I was hearing it in real time on live television. He did a soulful, and controversial take, on our National Anthem. I thought it was a touching rendition in the style Mr. Gaye sings. Jose Feliciano did a Spanish-tinged version, more than a decade earlier. He took some flak, as well.
The Gatlin Bros. are a little out of my realm. But I remember why I got this. Someone or someones were saying how much I looked like Larry Gatlin. I didn’t really follow the Gatlins but I knew they were wildly popular in the 70s and 9. So with every one calling me Larry I better figure out who he was. Used records, don’t know where. but I picked up “Greatest Hits.” My hair has long ago left me so I don’t think I look like Gatlin unless he has a large hair deficit.
This is the type of country I didn’t like a bunch–county-politan — or something like that. (It’s all right with Dolly).
But I did enjoy some of the songs here: Broken Lady and ‘Statues Without Hearts stand out.
I am also a sucker for good falsetto singing and Larry’s pretty good.
ALBUMS: Peter Gabriel (1977); Peter Gabriel (1980).
MVC Rating: 1st self-titled: 4.5/$$$
2nd self-titled: 4.0/$$$
Hope everybody has had enough time with ‘The Gaugin Years’ The History of Music and Dance in Tahiti. (Scroll down if you haven’t). That was the start of my G-music section and up now is Peter Gabriel, a political, intelligent, supporter of world music. We’ll see more of him in this blog soon as his longtime band, Genesis, comes up on my alphabetical course.
I have the first and third Gabriel albums. Oddly, he didn’t name his first four albums. They are called Peter Gabriel. To ID them people add a descriptor like ‘melt’ for the third one because it has a face appearing to melt on the cover.
I fell out of Gabriel’s thing about when “Shock the Monkey’ and then ‘Sledgehammer’ — MTV’s all time favorite video – propelled Gabriel from cult status to star. One thing I didn’t like, and others feel free to chime in, is that he seemed to employ an echo effect on his voice, especially in the “So’ era. Am I correctly hearing that? It is almost as if he didn’t have confidence in his natural sound. But the songwriting on Solsbury Hill, about a spiritual experience the Gabriel had, is about as good as it gets.
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing, stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom, boom, boom
“Son”, he said, “grab your things, I’ve come to take you home”
Biko’ on the second album is also a favorite of mine. It’s a powerful song with African rhythms lamenting the death at the hands of police of Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid protester.
September ’77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
The man is dead
The man is dead
ALBUM: The Gauguin Years: Songs and Dances of Tahiti. (Recorded on location by Francis Maziere 1972)
MVC RATING: 3.5/$$
So how did I pick up this? ‘Field recordings; of the songs and dances of Tahiti.’
I have no idea, though I’ve been known to poke around at library book sales, which sometimes had records, like this one.
From the liner notes on this Nonesuch record: The music on this record is not for the tourist trade; It’s Old Timey Polynesian. Yes there are love songs and hulas here — but also war chants, histories, prayers and protest songs.”
It is exotic — but to my ears it sounds about what I would expect, Drum beating, interlocking chants with harmony.. Maybe the movie depictions of Tahitian singing and dancing weren’t far removed from authentic.
All I need now is a coconut drink.
BTW, this is my first ‘G’ record (for Gaugin). We are now done with the F’s unless aI find another lurking somewhere,later. Now it’s time for the G’s as in (Grateful Dead, Dexter Gordon, and Peter Gabriel., among many others. I’ll also catch up with the numbers today.
This is one of an occasional series of opinion columns on Lewy body disease, other dementias, and end of life issues written by a writer who happens to have the brain degenerative disease. A previous version of this appeared on AL.com.
As I’ve pointed out before, we live in a world where Lewy body disease is virtually unknown. That’s not good for the more than a million folks that have the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s.
That’s not good for the uncounted others who have it but don’t know they have it, either because the doctor didn’t make the diagnosis, missed the diagnosis, or the individual is passing off early stages of the disease as something else.
“It is shocking how few doctors, even neurologists, recognize this condition,” said Dr. Samantha Holden, assistant professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “Alzheimer’s gets most of the attention, even in the research community, and DLB is relegated to the category of “Related Dementias”, which is unacceptable.”
Holden is also the co-principal investigator in the Lewy Body Dementia & Neurology Center of Excellence at the university.
Like me, Holden has been scratching her head over LBD’s anonymity. Part of it, we both agree is the complicated nature of the disease itself and its wide ranging symptoms, which leads to an alphabet soup of disorder names.
Holden says this chart is a great way to start understanding.
As you can see by the chart the broad category is Lewy body disease. That’s describing a brain disorder that creates the proteins believed to be the culprit of damage through brain cell loss. That includes Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia. (Guess which one people have actually heard of.)
Both Parkinson’s and Lewy body, as you can see, are sisters under Lewy body disease.
Alzheimer’s is not on this particular chart because it is not a Lewy body brain malfunction. With Lewy body disease, the proliferation of a protein, which when clumped together are called Lewy bodies. They are named after their founder, Dr. Friederich Lewy, a German neurologist.
And please understand I am not an expert in the science by any means.
What’s in a Name
So to recap and offer questions I have for further exploring.
Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is an umbrella term taking in both Parkinson’s Disease with Dementia (PDD) and Dementia with Lewy Body (LDB). Are the proteins the killer here or are they just what have been left at the crime scene and another unperceived entity is the triggerman?
Alzeimer’s does not fall under that LBD spectrum because it is a different type of malfunction in the brain. However, sometimes people get both — (Really? As if we don’t have enough to worry about.) What is the relationship between Alzheimer’s and Lewy body? If any?
I know this is confusing. But in many cases whether you have LBD or whether it’s PDD, eventually you will see the same (bad symptoms), physical impairment and cognitive impairment. Although some diagnosed Parkinson’s may never get dementia, correct?
That’s because every Lewy is his own person and afflicts different folks in different ways. Which leaves wide paths for optimism that the symptoms may be slow and mild. That’s the hope for those with the disease but, of course, those hopes can also be dashed.
ALBUMS: Firesign Theater: ‘Don’t Crush that Dwarf, Hand me the Pliers” (1970); Eat Or Be Eaten (1985); and, The First Family Vaughn Meader. (1962)
This is comedy which is hard to keep fresh once infused in beloved vinyl.
Firesign Theatre was a brilliant comedy troupe from another time. America’s Monty Python, sort of.
They did live shows, radio and lots of records.
The two FT albums I have are considered among their best, ‘Dwarf’ is often cited as groundbreaking in 1970 when it came out. In 2005, Dwarf was added to the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the U.S.’ Dwarf was also called by Rolling Stone Record guide as the best comedy album of all time.
I’m throwing in a non-Firesign record, Vaughn Meader’s First Family, a successful parody of the JFK White House. It is definitely dated coming from 1962. But you wouldn’t believe how popular this was at one time.
Dwarf and Eaten use similar techniques even though 15 years separates them. Firesign use what I’ll call the ‘drop-in’ method of listener interaction. The listener is dropped in to the middle of something, anything,. It could be a fake advertisement, or the middle of a dialogue between friends.
But while it sounds random, there’s a narrative thread running through, at least In Dwarf. It’s a story about George Tirebiter, a former child actor who lays around and watches late night TV. The narrative frequently is interrupted when Tirebiter changes channels.
Lots of a great work on the recording using voices on radios, TV, or telephones, ambient sounds galore and that effect where it sounds like someone is in another room. And walks by in stereo.
WIth Firesign, the aural presentation is an art; the records demand audience attention to stay on their toes as funny bits just parachute in without warning.
As I said earlier, humor on vinyl is a difficult medium to stand the test of time. I’m guessing there’s not a lot of market out there for old comedy albums, unless deemed a classic.
But in some way I guess you could say that about music. There are timeless songs but there are also a lot of songs that don’t date well: I don’t think we’ll have to wait until 2525 to see if Zager & Evans had a point. And that was their best song!
One piece on the’ Eat or be Eaten’ album is an advertisement to see Bob Dylan live at the Met where he’ll be singing opera in Bavarian and German languages.
“It’s just like the 60s,’ the advertisement spokesman says. “No one can understand a word he’s saying. And that’s when Dylan’s at his best.”
Vaughn Meader’s White House with JFK was apparently all the rage back in the early 1960s. It’s amusing in spots such as when all the world leaders gather together and give their sandwich orders.
But there’s a lot of jokes and laughing about stuff that in 2018 sounds sounds like an inside joke.
According to the Wikipedia page, the album, issued by Cadence was honored as “the largest and fast selling record in the history of the record industry’ selling at more than a million copies per week for the first six weeks.
