Rock - what are you listening to?

[cybot]

Double post gremlins ;)

[cybot]

Dermot, your mention of the hourglass also triggered a recollection for me of one of my favourite films, Death in Venice, a film I watched in my teens and was obsessed by and which proved to be very influential for me.  Upon viewing the film, I made a point of reading the original novella by Thomas Mann and then many of Mann's books which I devoured and adore to this day.  The film's soundtrack draws upon the music of Gustav Mahler, specifically the exquisite Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony.  I was entranced by this achingly elegiac piece of music which matched the visual side of the film perfectly and I also began investigating Mahler's glorious music which fascinates and inspires to this day.  

And what of the hourglass, you might ask?  Well, there is a particularly moving scene in the film where the main character, Gustav von Aschenbach (one of Dirk Bogarde's greatest performances) reflects on the passage of time, how it appears to move imperceptibly slowly when we are young and as we grow older, it seems to rush away from us.  

“I remember we had the same hourglass at my parents in olden times. Sand pours through such a narrow neck that when you turn it upside down, it appears that the sand level of the upper part would always be the same. It seems that the sand is waiting for the very last moment to seep into the globe underneath. It goes so slowly that we have time to think about it. At the final moment when it eventually runs its course, there is no more time to think about it anymore – and the hourglass is empty.”

These lines have stayed with me for years and they tug at my heart like few others.  The fugitive and ephemeral nature of time has rarely been so eloquently and succinctly expressed.  I think it's time to re-read Death in Venice.

Ah Death in Venice.....Another colleague of mine was completely obsessed with this film too and particularly the score. He raved continually about it Of course when I watched it, this would have been about 40 years ago, I didn't 'get' it. But, most emphatically, I thought the music was glorious and communicated itself instantly. I still have that score, on vinyl of course, upstairs along with the Fifth symphony itself. So if I sat down and watched the film now would I appreciate it that little bit more, now that the hourglass is getting emptier by the day? No need to answer that one. Time and the River indeed..........

I'll have to check out this Thomas Mann now ;)

Edit:
I forgot to say those 'hourglass' lines are beautifully put. I must write them down sometime and, maybe in times hence, pass it on to someone to hang on their own landing space :)

[mcq]

Every time I have returned to that film, I understand it a little bit more. And, unfortunately, as I get older, its musings on the transitory nature of time become more acutely resonant. But the purpose of art is not to comfort us but, rather, to challenge us. It is like the slap in the face or a cold shower which brings us to our senses time and again. It is not about what we want to learn but, rather, what we need to learn (about ourselves).

With regard to my earlier post regarding "the cool school", I remember fondly the late and much lamented Philip Seymour Hoffman's glorious cameo as Lester Bangs in the film Almost Famous and his words of wisdom regarding the "industry of cool" for the young wannabe music journalist with stars in his eyes:

"…Because once you go to L.A. you’re gonna have friends like crazy, but they’re gonna be fake friends.  They’re gonna try to corrupt you. You got an honest face, they’re gonna tell you everything. But you cannot make friends with the rock stars if you’re gonna be a true journalist. They’ll buy you drinks, you’re gonna meet girls, they're gonna try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs… I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it. They are trying to buy respectability for a form that is gloriously and righteously dumb. Now, you’re smart enough to know that. And the day it ceases to be dumb is the day that it ceases to be real, right? And then it just becomes an industry of…cool. I’m tellin’ you, you’re coming along at a very dangerous time for rock ‘n’ roll. I mean, the war is over. They won. And 99% of what passes for rock ‘n’ roll these days, silence is more compelling. That’s why I think you should just turn around and go back, you know, and be a lawyer or something.

But I can tell from your face that you won’t. I can give you 35 bucks. Give me a thousand words on Black Sabbath.  Hey, you have to make your reputation on being honest and, uh, you know, unmerciful.

The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool. My advice to you, I know you think these guys are your friends, if you wanna be a true friend to ‘em, be honest and unmerciful."

A wonderful monologue and an object lesson in how a great character actor in a cameo part can steal a film.  In this instance, there is an absolute authenticity in Hoffman's delivery  -  simultaneously cynical and world weary yet also genuinely caring about the wellfare of the young man  -  and this is mirrored in the message he wants to impart.  The "dumbness" he refers to is emotional authenticity and honesty of a kind which is utterly divorced from a shallow, self-serving egocentricity that is pampered by a fawning entourage of hangers-on.  A kind of "dumbness" which is perfectly defined by the best line in the film  -  "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool".  

[cybot]

Wow! That's fantastic Paul. It feels great to be 'uncool'.....

At the moment I'm trawling (yet again!) the Who albums in my collection. I just cannot believe the how much I have and yet......and yet, I always considered them very uncool.
That's utter complete nonesense! Complete bo##ocks! What was I thinking? Or rather what was my 'filtered' brain thinking???????. Like a Jack Russell pulling me everywhere.
What an amazing, crazy bunch of people who could not only play but sing too. Those harmonies are to die for. What caused the sudden sea change? All the reasons you've already mentioned in your earlier post. It's worth reading them again I think:

"I sometimes think that something is implanted and gestates over time in our subconscious when we are exposed to interesting music that we are unable to assimilate immediately and our progressive understanding of the music is a combination of active listening and something that occurs on a more subconscious level. There are always two opposing poles at play here - our personal understanding of the music at any given time and the music itself as a discrete object - and what sustained listening over time does is to bring those poles together and take us closer to the music as it formed in the mind of the musician."

What a band!

"Won't Get Fooled Again".........

[cybot]

[cybot]

Forgot to show that fantastic photo from inside the Fillmore set in previous post. Taken by none other than Linda Eastman.....

[mcq]

The unforced casual nature of that photograph reminds me of another Linda cover shot which was rejected against the artist's wishes and which strikes me as far superior to the cover art that was insisted on by the label.

[cybot]

The unforced casual nature of that photograph reminds me of another Linda cover shot which was rejected against the artist's wishes and which strikes me as far superior to the cover art that was insisted on by the label.

Ah Jimi would have loved that cover! Astute of you to recall that Linda took the photo.Though I'll always associate Electric Ladyland with that nude cover as it seems to capture the times perfectly. Still remember my poor mother's face when it arrived in the post one day. My first ever mail order!

Anyway I actually had the vinyl box set of Electric Ladyland in my hands only last week in Tower. Being a total Jimi bore I amazed myself by walking away. First time I've ever done that. Well I asked myself do I really, really need yet more barrel scraping from Janie and her Hendrix estate? Sadly the answer was no, as I already have multiple copies of said album plus a bootleg double of the sessions. The only caveat is the live double and the blu ray (of the sinking sun ). If that ever gets a separate release then maybe i might be tempted just to hear the watery acoustics ;).

[tweber]

The unforced casual nature of that photograph reminds me of another Linda cover shot which was rejected against the artist's wishes and which strikes me as far superior to the cover art that was insisted on by the label.

Ah Jimi would have loved that cover! Astute of you to recall that Linda took the photo.Though I'll always associate Electric Ladyland with that nude cover as it seems to capture the times perfectly. Still remember my poor mother's face when it arrived in the post one day. My first ever mail order!

Anyway I actually had the vinyl box set of Electric Ladyland in my hands only last week in Tower. Being a total Jimi bore I amazed myself by walking away. First time I've ever done that. Well I asked myself do I really, really need yet more barrel scraping from Janie and her Hendrix estate? Sadly the answer was no, as I already have multiple copies of said album plus a bootleg double of the sessions. The only caveat is the live double and the blu ray (of the sinking sun ). If that ever gets a separate release then maybe i might be tempted just to hear the watery acoustics ;).

Lads, as someone who only has an 80's vinyl copy of Electric Ladyland, nudie cover, is it worth the €150 for the vinyl box? Love Jimi but hate barrell scraping when I can invest in better.
Oh Dermot, my copy used to mysteriously hide itself away whenever I left the house back in the days I live with my parents:-)

[cybot]

The unforced casual nature of that photograph reminds me of another Linda cover shot which was rejected against the artist's wishes and which strikes me as far superior to the cover art that was insisted on by the label.

Ah Jimi would have loved that cover! Astute of you to recall that Linda took the photo.Though I'll always associate Electric Ladyland with that nude cover as it seems to capture the times perfectly. Still remember my poor mother's face when it arrived in the post one day. My first ever mail order!

Anyway I actually had the vinyl box set of Electric Ladyland in my hands only last week in Tower. Being a total Jimi bore I amazed myself by walking away. First time I've ever done that. Well I asked myself do I really, really need yet more barrel scraping from Janie and her Hendrix estate? Sadly the answer was no, as I already have multiple copies of said album plus a bootleg double of the sessions. The only caveat is the live double and the blu ray (of the sinking sun ). If that ever gets a separate release then maybe i might be tempted just to hear the watery acoustics ;).

Lads, as someone who only has an 80's vinyl copy of Electric Ladyland, nudie cover, is it worth the €150 for the vinyl box? Love Jimi but hate barrell scraping when I can invest in better.
Oh Dermot, my copy used to mysteriously hide itself away whenever I left the house back in the days I live with my parents:-)

Good 'ol Shane ha ha ha If I was a Jimi nudie,sorry newbie, I'd go for the set. Just to drool stupidly over the contents and listen avidly to the Gods making love

Seriously...... it's a hard one to call especially if you're a massive Jimi fan. I know for a fact if I get some nice vouchers I'll probably get it anyway and promise myself it'll be the last. Surely there's no more stuff out there? I believe the (re)mastering by Bernie G is only slight and as for the outtakes? Well my own bootleg of them is......not stellar. But then I don't have the complete set. Ah that's another reason for buying it! As for the live official bootleg recording in front of an audience swimming around? Well that doesn't sound too enticing either lol!

Then we have the Beatles four vinyl set of the White Album vs the standard release. What to do? I bought the standard edition and thought it was worthwhile to hear the Giles Martin production effort. It's different, less flashy and obviously warmer and with more heft in the bass and drums. So yet again Ringo comes through with flying colours. As for the Esher sessions? I think I'll pass after all all things must pass.....eventually