Forgive me if this is a bit of a rant and moan. Chezus and George Wobblyou
Bush has only been in two months. God help America and that's a promise from
............ Better watch out, better take care. (NJC there).
I dunno, maybe I'm getting old and cold and settled in my ways here. The
Grammys, The Crummies, The Hammies. I bought 2 Against Nature when it
arrived here and thought yeh ok. Not a patch on Aja, or Groucho, or The
Nightfly. Donald Fagen's Kamakiriad was a nine out of ten in a respectable
mag's estimation I remember. Nightfly a ten. I was listening to 2AN today
and to be honest, I turned it off thinking I'm bored listening to this.
There seemed to be so many recurring earlier riffs and bits that had been
put across better in previous albums. Namely Donald Fagen's solo work. 2AN
seems like the collection of songs he omitted from the TN and K albums. It
won the best album+ACE- Something's afoot.
There's an element of that feeling I have about Joni's work too.
Productions seem more stretched out, clinically polished, emotionally
diluted, less arty more farting around in the studio by other people - ish.
California or Sex Kills? I read recently that Lennon was pissed off at
George Martin coz his songs were never given the production attention that
McCartney's were. Ho+ACE- There is a doG. I often wonder if I'd never heard Joni
before 1980, if I'd be the least bit interested in any of her albums
thereafter. If WTRF had been her first album would I have been at all
interested in purchasing subsequent ones? I buy all her albums out of
loyalty for the wonderful early songs she heavenly sent us, as I do with
Steely Dan, George Michael, Sting. CSN and The Rolling Stones I did give up
on a long time ago. Even that Beatles one, now what was it called? Free as a
Bird. Can you sing it all the way through note for note like Day Tripper?
These guys just ain't got the edge they used to have. Eminem, dim as a
faulty neon light that will burn out right there before us. He speaks highly
of my career. As Dylan said, (and there's another one who's sold his soul to
Corporatism - how could he? He of all people), I'm getting weary, looking in
my baby's eyes, when she's near me, she's so hard to recognise. The cutting
edge has gotten somewhat blunt and is in need of resharpening. A minor to A
major to A 7th. Don McLean said all in the day the music died which was
circa 1970. Art for art's sake, a pretence of music for money's sake. James
Brown's Sex Machine or Dick'ead Martin's She Bangs? Music today is
pornographic. Rock and roll was a form of rebellion. Now it's a form of
bullion. As I said, maybe I'm getting old and cold and settled in my ways.
Enough Guillaume. So looking forward to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage
Festival and hopefully meeting my first JMDLer Michael Paz whilst there, or
any New Yorkers from 1st April to 5th. I'm staying in Queens and hoping to
visit Greenwich Village to perform some Joni to anyone who'll listen. Have
y'all a glass of champagne on me. Coz I could drink a case of .....
Willy the Shake
