On being a fan of music

Last night I was thinking about my musical tastes and how much they echo my personality. I was recalling that even from an early age, I was a Billy Joel fan. I remember being about 3 years old, wandering into my sister, Laurie's bedroom and asking her 8 track of Billy Joel's The Stranger. At first it wasn't the music that appealed to me, it was the picture on the outside, Billy laying on a bed staring at a porcelain mask.

In hindsight, that was the first indication of my adolescent and early twentysomething personality. I've always leaned more towards Joel's earlier material and it's that material which has recurring themes of loneliness, solitude, keeping to one's self. That's who I was-- to an extent that's who I still am deep down inside. My musical tastes have changed over time, but much like the music of Chicago (which were, for a large chunk of their careers, known as being a "nameless" and "faceless" band-- they let the logo speak for itself).

I think the whole phenomenon of musical fandom has, at its core, a desire of people to be understood. Music speaks to everyone in different ways. And at it's core people tend to flock to other "fans" not just from a mutual appreciation of the music they're fans of-- but because deep down inside they feel that who better can understand them as a person than someone else who can also relate to that music-- someone else who doesn't just hear or listen to the same music they do-- but someone who actually feels the music on a deeper level?

One Track Mind: Chicago - What You're Missing

I've been visiting, re-visiting, and visiting again one of my favorite songs of the 80s.  What You're Missing was the lead single off of what ended up being Chicago's big comeback album. The single, unfortunately flopped but I remember the first time I heard the opening bars of What You're Missing on Chicago 16 and how much I absolutely loved it. There was something so dated, so distinctly early eighties about it. The guitar, the organ... the whole feel of the song.

And each successive song on the album also had that distinctly early eighties feel. Even today when I pop that CD in, I feel like I've been sent back to 1982 with no escape back to the future.

The song was written by Joseph Williams and Jay Gruska. Joseph Williams (for those not in the know) is the son of John Williams as in THE John Williams (composer of the scores to the Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones film franchises among others). Williams would later go on to become the lead singer of Toto (1986-1988) and has since become a TV score composer for a handful of series (Roswell, LA Doctors, and Early Edition to name a few). At any rate, I stumbled upon the demo version of What You're Missing which features Joseph Williams on lead vocals and a handful of session musicians backing him up.

Chicago enjoyed that demo enough to record it for Chicago 16,  There's a certain level of overblown slick over-produced eighties cheesiness to this that I can't help but love in spite of itself!

I absolutely love that feeling. I remember when I used to visit my sister and her family my nephew and I would play pool in the basement and I'd pop the tape in... And suddenly it felt like I was in a pool hall in the early 80s, cigarette butts and dirt on the floors, a jukebox in the corner, and I was even able to mentally conjure the stench of cigarette smoke and stale beer. There was something adult about it-- and for a 12 year old, there was something decidedly cool about feeling that adult.

Now I'm 29, that nephew I used to play pool with... he's 21. Now we finally are adults and there's that part of me that would much rather be a 12 year old playing pool with my 6 year old nephew in his parent's basement.

Harry Chapin Had a Way With Words

When I was in high school visiting my sister in Rochester, I stumbled upon this CD-- Harry Chapin Greatest Stories Live. I knew of Chapin's work due to his hit Cats In the Cradle which I thoroughly enjoyed. So I decided to give the CD a listen to see if Chapin's other songs were as cleverly written.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that his other songs weren't just as clever-- they were actually, in many cases, even moreso than Cats In the Cradle.

I get on these binges where I basically just devour an artist's entire catalog. I went on such a binge when I first "discovered" Chapin's work and I found myself continually more impressed as I devoured more and more of his material. While some groups appeal to me due to their superior musicianship (old school Chicago, Toto, Dream Theater, Genesis, Marillion), other groups and musicians appeal to my sense of strong lyrical craft (Ben Folds, Billy Joel, Elton John, Fish, Jim Steinman)-- Chapin's work falls into the latter category.

And as I find myself re-discovering Chapin's work, I notice I'm falling in love with this music for the first time all over again.

The Mercenaries

It's a slow motion night
In the hot city lights
Past time when the good folks
Are snoring in bed
On a loose-jointed cruise
To recolor your blues
With illegal notions alive,
Alive in your head

You are back from some war
That you've been fighting for
Some old blue blood bastard
In a dark pinstripe suit
and the word from your loins
Has your mind in your groin
And your back pocket burning with blood
Blood money loot

So, you walk past the glow
Of the flicker-picture shows
Where the raincoat men wait
For a child to come by
And the women in doorways
Who have nothing to say
'Cause your money is talking
To the ones that you would try

She owns the block
With the dead pawnshop clock
She's the answer to dreams
That you pay to come true
She's got no heart of gold
But that's not what she's sold
She just sees herself doing what she
What she has to do

And she's all that you're hoping
As her coat falls open
Give her bread she leads you
To a bed on the floor
Where for ten million years
And through ten billion tears
The armies of bootmen have marched
Back from their wars

She's in that state of grace
Before time finds her face
With a mind of old wisdoms
And a body still young
And she tastes as sweet
As a child's chocolate treat
Before the butts and the whiskey
Had wasted the taste of your tongue

Play the music again
Of the grey-stubble men
That groaning blue symphony
Moans evermore
And you watch as she fakes it
And of course you just take it
She's better than others
You never paid money for

You've used up your booty
The girl's done her duty
The turnstile has turned
And you learn you are done
You're back on the street
Joining fresh marching feet
You see more soldiers coming
And your girl chooses one

And you're back in your army
Back shedding red blood
And you dream of the girl
As you sleep in the mud
And you know you'd swap with her
If the deal could be made
'Cause you'd rather be working at love
Love as your trade

Sometimes I find myself wondering what songs Harry left unwritten at the time of his death. I wonder what kind of songs he might have written if he were still alive today. I somehow see him as leading the charge of US musicians participating in events like Live Aid, Farm Aid, the Concert for NY, Live 8, and I even see him being the first to sign up for the benefit concert to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief.

The Verve Pipe - Underneath (2000)

In April 1996, my freshman year of college, Verve Pipe performed live. They'd just released their major label debut, Villains, the previous month and the song Photograph was starting to get some serious airplay (at least in their native Michigan, where I was attending college). I purchased Villains and later their Indie label debut EP , I've Suffered A Head Injury and their 2nd release, Pop Smear. Other than a few tracks I really didn't get what all the fuss was about.

For the next few years I was content to ignore them. Their next eponymous release wasn't even a blip on my radar in 1999. Then in 2002, I stumbled upon one of the songs from Underneath and I had to hear more.

At a small out of the way music store in an out of the way strip mall in Elyria, Ohio I picked up a used copy of Underneath-- and the money was very well spent. Unlike their other albums which were lukewarm at best, Underneath was a prize. One of those rare CDs with not a bad track on it, a solid effort from start to finish.

Now when I put this CD on, I'm transported back to cool spring and summer nights of solitude as I was trying to find my way back to me after getting lost somewhere along the way a few months before. Along with Dream Theater's Awake album this CD was my emotional road map that led me back to the person I'd somehow forgotten I was.