A Rush To Judgement

 

I have long been a proponent of physical media, especially CDs.  Physical formats play into the relationship between fan and artist in a way that downloads never can.  Downloads are ether.  Holding the work of an artist in your hands is an entitlement and a connection, one that is harder to break, especially with the passage of time and the accumulation of a catalog.  You can debate the virtues of your favorite format (records, CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks), but that physical connection is real (and if you have figured out to get your favorite artist to sign the cover of your download, please let me know how.)

I am all-in on physical media.  Of course, record companies have to try to ruin that through greed.

When CDs replaced LPs, the standard list price for a record album was $8.98.  Think 1987-ish here in the United States.  Record companies set the base list price for the new CD technology at $12.98 for disc, in spite of CD’s costing less than half of the price it cost to produce an LP (vinyls, for you young’uns). So, the record companies basically said, CDs are going to cost us 60% less than LPs, so we’re going to charge you 40% more.  But the CD was new, shiny, would last forever (according to the marketing of the time,) and provide better sound quality (eventually.)

A few years back, record companies decided to try to kill CDs.  They told us LPs were warmer sounding (clicks and pops are not warmer), and by the way, they now cost $25-$30 a pop.  Everyone said the CD was dead – many small artists don’t even press to CD anymore.  Yet, CD is still the most popular physical format out there, and has been growing now for the last several years.  Why?  Sound quality. Permanence (relatively).  The disappearance of songs from streaming platforms.

So now that CDs are making a comeback, I’ve seen outlets pushing prices to $20-$25 per unit.  Yet it still costs $1-$2 to produce a CD en masse.  I know there are costs of recording, etc., but in many cases, we’re talking about repackaged releases from years ago that have already paid for their initial costs many times over.

Today I received an email from the UDiscover regarding a re-release of Rush’s Grace Under Pressure (see it here.)  The new edition has 4 CDs and a blue ray, a book, and reproduced ‘collectables’ from the band, all for $300.  The LP version is $375.  Rush took a lot of heat (rightly so) for the ticket prices on their recent comeback tour, but this just furthers the narrative of a band that has lost touch with where they started.  It’s sad to see, but it is representative of what the music industry does to music, and artists.

There is no real object lesson here, other than to understand that if you’re willing to throw your money around, there will always be a business executive who is happy to take it from you.

And you can find copies of Grace Under Pressure at your local thrift store for a couple of bucks.

 

Hazbin Hotel and a talented editor

 Don't know who this is, but I came across this and thought it might be of interest.  Love the song, and love what is done here.  I don't know if I get the whole Hazbin Hotel thing, but anyway...

Join the Swimteam with Emily Kinney

Emily Kinney – Swimteam
2023, Jullian Records

Like many out there, I first stumbled across Emily Kinney on The Walking Dead.  Her turn on that show was intriguing, as her character, Beth, grew from a frightened child into a warrior heart, and then she was gone.  I knew she had sung a few songs on the show, and thought she had a decent voice, but didn’t think about it further.  This past year I stumbled on a write-up of one of the EPs she had released over the years and became intrigued.  Over the course of a few months, I took in four EPs and two albums and was amazed at what I heard.

Kinney writes with a passionate, diary-like gusto that is both too much and never enough.  Her lyrical observations on relationships recall hours spent on the phone as a teenager listening to friends pour their hearts out over the twists and terrors or love, and yet…  there is something incredibly artful and poetic about it all.  Kinney’s voice is pritely and beautiful, and occasionally shrill in a child-like way.  She interprets her own experiences and stories with a vibrant bard’s bearing, while never letting go the innocence mission she lives in.

Songwriting is an art that is developed, and Kinney has shown steady growth over the years.  It’s safe to say that with Swimteam, she has hit her full stride as an artist.  Low-key but energy filled folk/pop rock tracks hold sway here, and Kinney drives each song with her voice and charisma.  “B or C for Effort” is the lead track, and a post-mortem on a relationship where everyone could have done a lot better.  The angst and observational depth of Lisa Loeb mix with Kinney’s own special brand of magic to make this the standout track of the album.  There is a lot of competition for that honor, however.  “Broken Air Conditioning” explores the realization that a relationship is dying, with some wry humor to turn the storyteller’s wheel. 

“Avett Brothers” muses on relationship keepsakes, while “Let Me In” serves as the entryway into a relationship, but with a few conditions.  “Everything On TV” explores, perhaps, the dichotomy of having career success while your personal life is falling apart.  All of these are told from the highly personal angle that Kinney writes from.  It’s startling at first, but endearing.  Some of the details are comical, in the way that only real life turns out to be.

Kinney will not bore you.  She doesn’t beat you over the head.  She writes and sings with finesse – with a storyteller’s ear, and melodies that please the ear.  It’s highly consumable music with a bit of magic in the margins.  Kinney has arrived as a songwriter, and is stretching her wings on Swimteam.  It will be fascinating to hear what comes next.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Visit Emily Kinney at https://emilykinneymusic.com/

What's this?

 Lurking.  Several years of lurking.

After a number of years of writing about music, focusing on volume of posts at the cost of quality of posts, I was burned out.  What started out as a passion became a burden, and then something I just didn't want to do anymore.  So I stopped.  Oh, I've posted here and there, now and again, over the last eight or nine years, but never with frequency or much gusto.

What happened in between?  Raising children.  Professional growth and development in my "real" jobs.  Losing one, gaining another.  Recalibrating the finances afterward (still working on that).  After a number of years of closing off to new music (there had been just too much for too long), in the last couple of years I've begun to discover some new and interesting acts. (The Fratellis, Emily Kinney, Emma Langford, Chris Trapper, Christina Custode, to name a few).  Many of these aren't new, per se, but they were new to me.  And they started to open up the yearning to discover more again.

In the time in between, I also became a buyer and seller of second hand (mostly) music on CD.  Anyone who has read this forum over the years knows that CD is my preferred delivery system.  I don't understand how people will pay twice as much for vinyl that breaks down over time, and costs twice as much.  But to each their own!

I do a lot of thrifting - stores, garage sales, flea markets, etc.  I collect, but I also sell off some of what I find.  If you're interested in checking out what I sell, I am on both Discogs and eBay.

I will revive doing music reviews here, pacing myself as I go.  

I will also spend some time talking about interesting things I find along the way.  Highlighting old releases that come to my attention through the random flux of thrifting.  More to come on that.

For now, if you're still here and still have Wildy's World on your radar, I thank you.  It will be a little bit different going forward, but hopefully still worth your time.

If you are interested in my more mercenary activities, details are below.

Have a most excellent day.

Wildy

Discogs has mostly CDs, some some DVD/BluRay and a handful of cassettes and 8-tracks.  Thousands of titles are $3.00 or less.  My rating here is 99.8%.

https://www.discogs.com/seller/wildysworld/profile

Ebay has, primarily, autographed CDs I have collected over the years.  Many of the autographs are indie or regional bands that I have picked up in thrift shops.  You might just find something odd you've been looking for for years here.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/amherstcds

Marc Cohn and the Evils of Streaming

I am something of a dinosaur.  Let’s get that out front.  I refuse to pay for digital file licenses for music.  My CD collection is north of, well, it’s a lot.  I’ve even spurned releases from some of my favorite artists because they didn’t release hard copies (here’s looking at you, Ron Hawkins and Barenaked Ladies.)  I also have an aversion to vinyl, but that’s for another day.  Suffice it to say that from the standpoint of sound quality, ownership and longevity, nothing beats the CD for this music fan.

Of course, I do have teenagers, so things like Amazon Music and Spotify have made it into our way of life.  I don’t generally mess with either, although I will admit to spicing up my morning routine of feeding animals and checking glucose levels with a shuffle of songs from Amazon for whatever artist occurs to me that morning.  It’s often a frustrating experience, but easier than asking for a specific artist.  “Amazon, play music by Antje Duvekot.” “I wasn’t able to find songs by that artist, but here are songs by Two Cats.”

On this morning’s menu, besides a conglomeration of kibble (what the hell is kibble?) for the dogs and a split can of Friskies for the felines was Marc Cohn.  The first I heard of Marc Cohn was a quote from Billy Joel way back in 1991, where Billy prognosticated that Marc Cohn was next great American songwriter.  “Walking In Memphis” was just catching on at radio and you could hear the song six times an hour if you were switching radio stations.  He is an artist that has stayed with me through the years in spite of changes in musical taste because his songs have substance.

He popped into my head this morning and so I asked Amazon to play songs by Marc Cohn.  Seven songs in, and I had heard “True Companion”, “Strangers in a Car” and “Walking in Memphis.”  Wait, that’s only three songs, but “Walking in Memphis” had played four times.  FOUR!  Now I love “Walking in Memphis.”  It’s a brilliant piece of songwriting that captures a moment like an Ansel Adams photograph turned into song; and I don’t even mind listening to it four times in half an hour, but this is really a disservice to Marc Cohn, in a way.

If I were a new fan who stumbled across one of Cohn’s songs by accident and then looked to take a deeper dive on Amazon music, I would presume that he was a one-shot wonder (although “True Companion” is a pretty compelling piece of songwriting in its own right.)  Attention spans are short these days, and a potential fan probably moves on to something else (and even an established fan probably moves on somewhat quickly because of the repeats.)  The Algorithm, part computer programming and part Payola, defeats artists at almost every turn.  This is just another example.  The repeats of “Walking in Memphis” probably put another ha-penny in Cohn’s next residual check, but at the cost of the opportunity to expose people to a deeper catalog that is rich in well-crafted songs (His recent turn with the Blind Boys of Alabama, Work to Do, is utterly brilliant, and totally absent here.)

This is but one of the facets of the larger problem with streaming.  Great artists (like Cohn and Duvekot) get lost in the shuffle.  Compelling voices with something to say are not heard unless you know what to ask for (and if Alexa has cleaned her ears recently.)

Meanwhile, CDs and (for those who like media that deteriorates every time you play it) LPs are plentiful in the marketplace, from the grossly overpriced records at standard retail joints to thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets.  If you truly want to support an artist, go to their website, listen to song samples there that you enjoy, and if you like it, by an album/cd/download from them directly.  It puts more $ in their pockets and ensures that they have the resources to continue doing what you love them to do.

Going Back to Roseland in Style

Dennis DeYoung - 26 East, Volume I

2020, Frontiers Records    

During the late 1970's and early 1980's there weren't many bands who could keep up with Styx.  From 1977 to 1980 Styx released four consecutive multi-platinum albums (The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone and Paradise Theatre.)  Styx was a mix of musical contradictions and complements that worked, in large part, due to the vision of Dennis DeYoung.  Forty years later, and 20+ years since DeYoung was pushed out of the band, Dennis remains the heart and soul of Styx to many fans.  His shows recreate the past for Styx fans 150 nights per year (or did pre-Coronavirus), and do so with an energy and vocal intensity that few 73 year old could match.

DeYoung thought he had hung up his spikes for new material until old friend Jim Peterik (Survivor, Ides of March, Pride of Lions) pulled him back in from the recording pasture.  Working together, DeYoung and Peterik wrote close to 20 songs.  One, "Proof of Heaven", appeared on Peterik's 2019 album Winds of Change.  DeYoung was just getting started, however, and dropped 26 East, Volume I in late May.  It mixes the best of Styx' rock sound with classic DeYoung ballads and wonderfully tongue-in-chic rock/pop.  

The album opens with "East of Midnight", a Jim Peterik tune enhanced with some classic DeYoung keyboard work.  The song fits nicely with DeYoung's looking back to look forward concept album, and sounds like a classic Styx tune.  "With All Due Respect" unleashes DeYoung's dad-humor style of the cognoscenti of television's talking head class in an irresistibly danceable rocker.  The chorus, "with all due respect, you are an asshole..." rings true with most people regardless of your thoughts on current events.  "Run For The Roses" and "Damn That Dream" take altering looks at the pursuit of success; the former a Pilate-like soliloquy on what really matters, the latter a paean to siren call of the life of a creative.  These two songs perhaps perfectly capture the tension that has driven DeYoung all of his (now eight) decades.  Longtime fans will appreciate DeYoung's ode to the American dream, "The Promise of This Land", calling for all Americans to work together to ensure the dream remains alive for all. 

The magic moment that seems to have inspired DeYoung to undertake this recording is the duet with Julian Lennon on "To The Good Old Days".  The song was written as an ode to his musical roots and where be began, and the inclusion of Lennon brings it full circle.  Musically this is the biggest surprise on the album; the song doesn't have the same tenor as the rest of the album, and I suppose that's the point.  It's well written, but will probably be hit or miss depending on what fans are looking for.  The album wraps with A.D. 2020, an ode to Paradise Past.  Get out the tissues, it's an appropriate ending to a brilliant career.

Except it's not the end.

26 East, Volume II has seven songs in the can with two to be recorded.  If Volume I is any indication, Dennis DeYoung still has plenty of gas in the tank.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2020

 One of the many casualties of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 is San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.  Scheduled for October 2-4, 2020, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival cannot celebrate it's 20th anniversary in person, but will offer an online show entitled Let The Music Play On.  The show, live from Buddy Miller's studio, will include live performances as well archival footage from festivals past.   Announced guests include:

 Emmylou Harris

Buddy Miller

Amythyst Kiah

The War and Treaty 

Steve Earle & The Bluegrass Dukes, featuring Tim O'Brien and Dennis Crouch.

The festival's organizers also launched the Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund in 2020 in support of the music community as it grapples with the COVID-19 crisis.  The fund includes $450,000 for musician relief and additional support for local music venues and their employees.  Musicians interested in grant opportunities can visit https://www.actaonline.org/program/hardly-strictly-music-relief-fund/. Venues can visit http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2020/music-relief/.

Details on the broadcast and lineup will be announced in the coming weeks via http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2020/.