ENO

Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy)


The first time I heard Eno’s second solo album was when I was about 15 years old.
It was recommended to me by an older sibling who intrigued me with talk of this English conjurer who was too busy to be in a band, and strove for a higher form of aural expression. Eno was more interested in treatments of sound, and playing his tapes in order to experiment with pitch, timbre, and effects.

Tipped off that this album could be taken out at the town library of all places, I hopped on my 10 speed bike, library card in hand. I could tell right away that this was going to be a demanding journey (the album, not the bike ride). The record jacket itself was daunting, with it’s mosaic depictions of our hero in varying sizes and clarity. It turned out that the cover art was a metaphor for the ingredients inside. This music is very much a mosaic. Some of it very big, some of it very small. Songs appear that strike you right away, while other tracks insist that you explore them, too distorted to even make an initial impact.

Luckily, I was up for the challenge. One of the first things I picked up on was the element of whimsy. With an opening track titled “Burning Airlines Give You So Much More”, this was going to be either a terrorist manifesto, or groovy tongue-in-cheek beat poetry. Fortunately, the latter won out. I would later discover that Eno’s lyrical approach was basically him riffing random syllables on top of his backing track over and over to himself. Once he hit on a combination that complimented the music, he plugged in words that most closely matched those syllables.

The comedic elements don’t end there. Over the course of this LP we are confounded by all sorts of random sounds. Typewriters, whistling, goat-bleating sax riffs, blatantly spooky keyboard sounds, drums and other instruments intentionally recorded to sound like toys, and guitar solos that have been severely manipulated with pitch control and other types of “Enossification”.

Underneath it all though, is a very complex beauty. The basic tracks anchor the whole statement. They are extraordinary in their musicality. The backing vocals seem to emulate Gregorian Chant, but in a much higher octave. Today, we would refer to them as “soundscapes”. Eno was on the precipice of defining an actual approach toward music that had never been explored before. This would eventually be coined by him as “Ambient”. Music that exists in the background, at a volume level so low as to not call any attention to itself. The very beginnings of this approach can be found here, buried under all the mischievous overdubs and off-kilter dark lyrical themes. Eno was soon to discover that by peeling everything away, an entirely new musical language was available.

Avocado Video

If you can make it through this cinematic marvel, you will hear applause at the end from my dog. This video is not for instructional purposes. This is merely documentation of a random occurence. Do NOT prepare avocado this way. Honestly. Dont.

Listen To The Band

Everything is a myth. This needs to be established first and foremost. Even the reality that exists behind the myth is probably a myth too. Case in point “The Wrecking Crew”. In the genre of pop music these people are most commonly known as the studio musicians that played on just about every hit record that came out of Los Angeles, CA during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. I’m going to repeat that for emphasis. Just about EVERY hit record that came out of L.A. employed the same core group of musicians. Forget about all the glitz and glamour of the teen magazines and the album covers. Most pop stars simply did not do the heavy lifting when it came down to the business of making a record. There was a system in place and they were not part of it.

I promised myself that when writing this I wouldn’t fall into the trap of providing a laundry list of bands to back up my statements. However, to provide the appropriate context, I’m finding it necessary . So here goes. Artists such as The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, The Association, The 5th Dimension, The Carpenters, The Byrds, Johnny Rivers, Jan And Dean, The Ronettes, Bread, The Turtles, The Grass Roots and dozens of others all used paid professional studio musicians to make their records.

This “scam” if you will was perpetuated by the record companies themselves. The environment grew out of the ashes of the old Hollywood studio system. With no staff orchestras on the payroll, there became a growing need to hire musicians to do commercials as well as movie and television soundtracks. Add the birth of rock and roll to the equation, and you’re faced with the classic scenario of supply and demand.

So, there really was no “Wrecking Crew” per se. The moniker was in fact coined by session drummer Hal Blaine long after the fact. It was simply the way things were done. If you were in California and you wanted to make a record, you had to hire musicians. If you wanted the optimum chance to get the maximum return on your investment, then you hired the BEST musicians. Similar policies were in place at Motown studios in Detroit, as well as New York and Nashville.

Some of these people were new to the scene such as Glen Campbell. Others were making a steady living in Hollywood for a very long time. Someone like Larry Knechtel who played on sessions for Billie Holliday in the early 50’s as well as Beach Boys albums in the mid ‘60’s. Some had jazz backgrounds, others had country chops. This was a true melting pot of styles. In many instances they were encouraged to go over and above the sheet music that was handed to them. Commonly referred to as charts, it was understood that these were rough outlines of what was expected of them , and if they felt that they could embellish, then feel free to go for it.

The music is a permanent part of our lives. The story behind it, not so very well known. The accolades given for it, somewhat misplaced. So what you end up with is a group of cracker-jack musicians not being credited for collaboration on some of the most revered musical works of the pop era. Like I said, everything is a myth.

It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding, Ho,Ho,Ho.

It used to be that I would give my ‘60’s musical icons lots of leeway in regards to anything they would release in the present day. McCartney, Wilson, Stones, you get the picture. My reasoning being that they gave us enough great stuff, so that anything else they do should be looked at as if we’re lucky to still have them around. Around 10 years ago or so, Bob Dylan laid waste to that line of thinking by releasing a run of albums that arguably approach the quality and timelessness of even his best work. Although “Time Out Of Mind” suffered in my opinion from the broad brush strokes of Daniel Lanois’s production, it was still the best batch of Dylan songs in a dog’s age. Plus it won a “Best Album” grammy, so what the hell do I know. Proving this was no fluke, Bob followed up with the immaculate “Love And Theft” , and then the beautifully bluesy “Modern Times”. This trilogy of records proves that ‘60s icons can in fact create vital works of art if they decide to get off their ass and do so.

I’m embarrassed to say while writing a Dylan piece that I have not heard his latest, “Together Through Life” as of yet, but I have heard that it’s solid, if not spectacular. Off the heels of this, Bob’s next move is to release a Christmas album towards the middle of next month. With all the proceeds going to charity, and his recent run of solid records it would be more than ok for Dylan to “mail this one in”. Fat chance. If the 30 second sound clips recently uploaded onto Amazon.com are any indication, this record is destined to be a Christmas classic. What shines through here initially is a steadfast loyalty to THE SONGS. All of the arrangements are traditional, all instruments organic. No attempt is made to try and put forth a musical style. By taking this approach, Dylan appears to have created something timeless in a vein where timelessness is all too often the exception and not the norm. Honestly, we shouldn’t be surprised.

Soon----TOFU SHIRATAKI NOODLES

If I can find them.
They are purportedly the low carb answer to Lo Mein Noodles.
We shall see.

Breakfast

I love eggs but sometimes I lose my appetite for them right while in the middle of eating them. Usually it's my own fault through either under cooking them or worse, over cooking them. It's hard to explain, but suffice to say that cooking eggs is an art. This time I got it right, so i'm attempting to document it here. I started by sauteeing some green pepper and scallion over medium high heat. Salt and pepper this mixture using butter as the lubricant, about 1 tablespoon. Once peppers start to look tender,crank up heat to high. Wait a minute or so to get that pan super hot. Pour beaten eggs on top of the mixture. After about 5-10 seconds you have to mix the whole thing together just as if you were going to make scrambled eggs. The eggs cook quickly, so you have to work quickly. Once it starts to solidify stop mixing and turn down the heat to medium. I might even take it off the heat briefly just to try and control the cooking process. Use a spatula to push it together from the sides. Now bring it back to the heat. As soon as it looks like the eggs can handle it, I added some Jarlsberg (cheese) and folded it over to a half moon. If you are using two eggs, the omelet should be done. However, the omelet pictured above is a four egg behemoth. Two reasons for this. One, I probably have a big breakfast once a month so I wanna make it memorable. Two, my dog will bark at me if I dont give her some. So this is what I did. I took the pan off the heat and left the pan on the stove for about five minutes. It continued to cook in the pan while it was off the heat. It ended up perfect. Now the trick will be in trying to replicate the process next time.

Musings On Fish

The unfortunate pancake

WARNING-INTENTIONAL RUN ON SENTENCE AHEAD
Memo to self...
If your doctor gives you a physical exam,declares you fit as a fiddle, and decide to celebrate by having pancakes for the first time in like, a year then dont use pancake mix with a 2008 expiration date.

The Mexican Monologues

Native Peppers

Need a good Tuna recipe.

Internet comes in handy in these cases, i'll give it that much.
Found a great marinade that calls for 2 limes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 crushed clove garlic, and grated ginger. Instead of fresh ginger (which I did'nt have handy) I used this prepackaged ginger product that looks like a tube of toothpaste. Really handy to have around, so I squeezed out a liberal dollop of it. It does have some sweetner added, so if you want you can use a little less honey. Added salt,threw it over the steaks in a plastic bag and let marinade for an hour, tho' it could go up to 4 hours.

Tuna steaks are tricky to cook, at least for me. I like my tuna pink or "translucent" in the middle, and it's a very narrow window timewise between undercooked, perfect, and overcooked. The first time , I overcooked it and it was the equivalent of what comes out of the can. So this time I was determined to do better. I used medium high heat for the gas grill, and cooked them for 8 minutes on one side. You can rotate them after four minutes if you want to get those nice cross-hatch grill marks. I turned them over and went about 2 minutes tops, before pulling them off. The wife doesn't eat tuna, so I can be a little adventureous here.
The result was pretty good. Nice crusty outer shell, and good texture in center. The only thing i'd change going forward is maybe going 6-7 minutes on the first side instead of 8. I will definitely make this again and try to have pics next time.

Disclaimer: This is not a recipe. This is an actual account of a random occurance.

Hank Williams Essay

You say Country, I say Western. Let’s call the whole thing incredible.


My biggest musical pet peeve is labels. I hate ‘em with a passion. This is a not an easy argument to defend though, because you need labels to discuss certain types of music accurately. Then there’s the whole promotion thing. How do you advertise tickets to say, a jazz festival without labeling it as such? It’s a lofty goal, but I really try to avoid categorizing music into anything other than “good” or “bad”. My reason being that practically every one of my favorite tunes have elements of SEVERAL different musical categories. In other words, the best music transcends genres. I would further offer up that many people miss out on great music simply because of how it’s labeled.

Now, having said all this I furthered my musical journey earlier this week by jumping head first into Hank Williams’s 40 Golden Greats. It’s right about now where I start to realize why my “evolved” state of being regarding music categorization will never work on the population as a whole. You can’t hear this without thinking “Country”. However, de-construct it a little and we get more. There are subtle percussion techniques that pre-date rock and roll .This is 1947. People like Elvis and Bo Diddley evolved out of this. Stuff like Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock”. Through the ‘70’s and onto the ‘80’s,where bands like Bow Wow Wow and Adam Ant took this rhythmic template to ride a “New” wave. Specifically, I’m talking about that “chunka, chunka, chunka” usually on the 2 and the 4 beat. My ears told me initially that this was Hank’s guitar. He’s actually using the guitar as a percussion instrument. Listen closer though, and the guitar is “doubled” with snare drum, more often than not played with brushes. Two instruments recorded together to form an entirely different sound.

You could argue that there are elements of opera in Hank’s voice. Some of that yodeling that he does is incredibly complex and difficult to sing. The pedal steel and fiddle players show off some virtuoso chops that I can only describe as jazzy. These lyrics of sorrow, jubilation, of love and love lost. Country Western cliché’s were born from these words. He didn’t just help create a musical style, he romanticized an entire class of people. They could relate to what he was saying. That’s why I wouldn’t call it Country. Because it’s much ,much more. These are touchstones in American culture and templates in popular songwriting structure. At least a handful of his songs could be considered “standards” and many, many more can be considered Country standards. There I go again, labeling things. I hate when I do that.