This week, Pieces discovered that, actually Paul McCartney playing with synthesisers isn’t such a bad idea…
One of the things that riles me occasionally about the state of current music is that there seems to be so little worth caring about. I don’t mean caring like caring enough to listen to it on the radio – cmon, I’ll give anything my attention for 4 minutes, even if it’s rubbish – I mean properly, live-your-life-by-its-principles caring, really grab-you-by-the-unmentionables-every-time-you-hear-it caring. Maybe it’s a lot to ask, and call me an idealist, but I think that’s one of the things that the best music should do: create that feeling of really, deeply caring about the people who made it. On the other hand, there is also a shortage of the opposite kind of music at the moment: the kind that you really, really want to like, but you just can’t. No matter how many chances you give it, no matter how many times you listen to it again, through headphones, on crappy speakers, while walking, just to see if it finally clicks – it’s still just crap.
The roots of this kind of association with certain music can normally be traced back to childhood: we usually have at least one person who we look to for musical inspiration, or one person who effectively chooses most of what we listen to. For people with older siblings, it’s usually those siblings who fill this role, dominating the CD player with annoying mopey teenage music while you want to hear something that actually makes you want to smile. For those, like me, who have only younger siblings, or none at all, the role usually falls to parents. Having someone else effectively choose the soundtrack to your lifeis bound to breed some kind of resentment, and no matter how hard you try there’s just no way you can align your taste in music with another person exactly. If someone doesn’t like mushrooms, feeding them mushrooms over and over again isn’t going to change anything.
People who surround themselves with music are inevitibly susceptible to this condition. There’s always going to be a next big thing that you just don’t get, no matter how cool you think they look, or how nice they seem. When, a couple of years ago, everyone started talking about a band called Glasvegas, I thought they sounded brilliant. Informed lyrics, great. Crunching, but jangly guitars, fine. Scottish accents: score! Then I heard their record. Less said the better, really. In fact, at the moment I’m getting a bit frightened, because for the first time I find myself not liking a lot of music that a lot of people younger than me really, really do. This admittedly means my reasons for wanting to like it are a bit shallow: I just don’t want to feel like the kind of old fogey who says ‘Call that music? Honestly, back in my day…’ But I can't help it. God, the pains of growing up, eh?
Some music can surprise you with its sudden transformation from want-to-like-it-but-can’t to can’t-believe-there-was-a-time-I-didn’t-like-this. I can remember desperately wanting to get excited by the Stones’ 60s records, because I’d heard so much about them, and being so disappointed when I discovered that they were just a bunch of blues and limp rock and roll. I tried so hard, listened to Beggar’s Banquet over and over, but nothing changed. In the end, all it took was to treat them like a story: start with Aftermath, then try them all in order. Aaaaah, finally it all makes sense. And to this day it’s the way I approach any new band I come across with more than one album under their belts.
1. Tito Puente & His Orchestra - Cuando Te vea
2. Eek-A-Mouse - Ganja Smuggling
3. Ornette Coleman - Eventually
4. Richard & Linda Thompson - Dimming Of The Day/Dargai
5. Shorty Long - Here Comes The Judge
6. Arcade Fire - Lenin
7. Kevin Ayers - Rheinhart & Geraldine/Colores Para Dolores
8. Quincy Jones - Just Once
9. Mazzy Star - Bells Ring
10. Madonna - Physical Attraction
11. Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
12. The Germs - Forming
13. The Replacements - Favourite Thing
14. Paul McCartney - Waterfalls
http://open.spotify.com/user/blownawish/playlist/2vxTNKxDgq5rMPP4PHurcL
See you next week for more.
Pieces x
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