how classic albums can change your life

8/13/2019 How Classic Albums Can Change Your Life

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How Classic Albums Can Change Your Life

Preface

It was the late Spring of 2003 and there I was one late night at my desk, thumbing around in

that aimless way that the Information Superhighway so seems to lend itself to. The balmy

Brisbane summer was almost upon us, and it was one of those golden nights that make one

glad to live here and make up for all the humid sweaty days that have to be endured in this

part of the world (something that, as someone originally from Adelaide, Id never fully

adjusted to). I had my stereo plugged into my desktop computer, a beautiful compact

Panasonic unit that came with a gorgeous amplifier and adjustable graphic equaliser that I

have not seen the like of before or since for that price range. In short, I was in that mellow,

open minded, philosophical frame of mind where one is likely to actively search out forsomething new, a new idea, a new way of thinking, a new recipe, a new anything.

Some weeks earlier I had been striding down Queen Street Mall with my wife Jane and her

younger teenage brother Tim, looking for a place to get dinner in the city. Tim was and is a

gifted musician, and when Id first met him at age fourteen he was already hammering out

pop tunes like those of Crowded House on the family living room piano. I had taken it upon

myself to educate him in the historical classic rock tradition; a somewhat presumptuous

but well-intentioned enterprise on my part. Over the following years I was pleased to see

Tim develop quickly into a thoughtful music student, well read and reflective on everything

he heard, saw or otherwise engaged with in life. He was quickly introduced to the likes of

Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Supertramp, Talking Heads, Happy Mondays, Ian Dury and the

Blockheads, and many others besides. He expressed a keen interest in learning about all this

old music, thereby endearing himself to me yet further. For after all, what better reason to

like someones company than that they like what you like, especially if you were the person

that introduced them to it! Never let anyone say that Generation Y are all a load of brain

dead, trend following sheep with no ability to engage with music on any level other than a

lone track downloaded from itunes, and no interest in understanding the rich musical

heritage behind their favourite number of the moment. Tim sure wasnt, but then Iunderstand he was born in the very last year of Generation X (1982), so perhaps he

represents the end of an era. More on that later at any rate, for I digress. So there we were

walking along when very casually I turned to him and said,

Have you ever heard any of Steely Dans stuff?

This was a common thing between us. I am the type who is always looking for old stuff that I

havent heard before and vaguely suspect I might enjoy. Tim by this stage was, though

respectful of my general tastes, not fully appreciative of the fact that my ability to predict

his interest in a given band or piece of music is virtually flawless. The proper response


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Now rather excited that Id found something really worth delving into, I researched all their

albums, and learned that their 1977 album Aja was commonly regarded as their definitive

masterpiece. I put on Black Cow, the first song on the album, and from the opening bars my

jaw hit the floor in utter dumbfounded shock as I realised that even I, as open minded and

keen to find those nuggets of musical gold as I am, had seriously confused treasure withcrap on the basis of nothing more than hearsay and casual ill-considered whimsy.

**

So what is this book all about then? Well, what it most assuredly is not about is Steely Dan

and their music, or why you should listen to them or share my opinion that they are in fact

easily the best rock band ever. Whilst I certainly hold the above views, I would (not even I)

presume such arrogance dear reader! I happen to think that one of the lamest things in life

is trying desperately to convince someone else that your own taste in music, food, film

whatever is cool or somehow superior to anyone elses. The fact is, there is a lot of merit in

a lot of music that has been produced and is being produced to this day. Neither is it a

compendium of definitive music that I think you need to listen to. There are numerous

books available with titles like 1001 albums to hear before you dieand whilst these serve

an important function, that is not my intention here. Rather, I aim merely to share some of

my own paths and experiences in the endless search for interesting stuff be that music,

books, or whatever else. The best artistic creations are always the ones that make us reflect

deeply and resonate on some kind of emotional level with us, and by doing so, inspire us to

transform ourselves, our thinking, and perhaps even our world at large. The technological

trends of the last decade in particular have opened up whole new opportunities for new

artists to get their material out there in ways that were not possible back in the era of

classic rock. This is both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, it means we can easily

find new material that suits our tastes or challenges us in some way, but on the other, it

means anyone can put any half-baked rubbish into the arena of public consumption. For

that reason, I think its more important than ever to have the tools with which to properly

assess whats out there. Perhaps even more crucially, as the music industry has grown older

and more conservative in outlook, the risk is that what is considered commercially viable

becomes narrower and narrower until it becomes imperative that we actively seek our

music through channels other than mass media. In short, there is little point in having a rich

vibrant internet musical community and networking channels if we dont know what we are

looking for. For the millions out there who have already made this step, I salute you. You

may see this book as merely a personal reflection on one mans journey toward that

philosophy, and perhaps find some parallels with your own. For those who have not

considered these questions before, for whom music is perhaps just something nice to

hear on the way to work and nothing more, perhaps I might be able to make the case that

another world awaits you if you are willing to put the effort into it. The reward is not simply

finding new stuff you havent heard before, but nothing less than gaining a deeperappreciation of life and our place in the scheme of things in general. These are big


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statements to make, so read on and observe as I attempt to justify them in some measure


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1.Nietzsche and Cultural Decline

Meaning and morality of One's life come from within oneself. Healthy, strong individuals

seek self expansion by experimenting and by living dangerously. Life consists of an infinite

number of possibilities and the healthy person explores as many of them as possible.Religions that teach pity, self-contempt, humility, self-restraint and guilt are incorrect. The

good life is ever changing, challenging, devoid of regret, intense, creative and risky.

In the 19th

century, the German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche grappled with a question

that has been raging ever since and has not adequately been solved to this day. Namely,

how do human beings derive meaning from a world that appears meaningless? Nietzsche

was specifically grappling with the question of how humanity could live meaningfully with

the decline of religious faithChristianity in the western world. But it is not Nietzschesviews on religion per se that interest me here. What I am more concerned with is his

suggestion that life has no intrinsic meaning, and that meaning comes from within

oneself.Nietzsche was a deeply troubled and flawed man, and he carried those flaws

through into his writings and philosophy. But it is difficult to question the enormous

influence his ideas have had on modern thinking. Many of the ideas that we take for granted

in our modern world, like you have the power within to succeed and so on ultimately owe

their source to Nietzsches thinking.

I am going to take as a starting point the assumption that Nietzsche is essentially correct on

this point, and am going to make absolutely no attempt to justify it. Whole tomes needless

to say have been devoted to this issue, and this isnt a work of serious philosophy! However,

it is my feeling that many people tacitly agree with this sentimentprobably a majority

although they cant really say exactly why its correct. If you dont agree with it, it doesnt

matter all that much because everything I say from here on will still stand on its own and

bear scrutiny. But I feel I need to establish right from the outset the basic assumptions upon

which this book is based.

Phew that got serious didnt it? With that out the way lets continue on.

If we accept that meaning in our lives comes from within ourselves, rather than being

something we look outward for that exists out there independently of our own minds and

selves, then I think questions of the purpose and value of artistic creativity and expression

become of paramount importance. For, if as Nietzsche asserts, we as human beings have to

make our own meaning out of the messy stuff of life and the raw materials we find

ourselves with in the modern world, then our capacity to express our own condition and

thoughts, emotions, aspirations and so on is really the only thing we have with which to

make some sense out of our lives. The only other alternative is nihilismthe belief that

there is no meaning at all and that we are born, live and die and thats about all there is to it

and I for one dont think thats really a viable option. The simple reason being that if it is,


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then we might as well not bother with anything and therefore theres no point me writing

this book, you reading it and oh well thats just something too awful to consider.

In a peculiar irony, many have mistakenly ascribed to Nietzsche himself a form of nihilism

and a belief that his philosophy amounts to little more thannihilism. I for one believe this to

be a gross misinterpretation of what he was trying to say. In fact, once one fully digests the

full enormity of what Nietzsche was really saying, his philosophy becomes not one of

negativity and destruction but rather one of the most optimistic philosophes of all. For if he

is correct then, having cast off all the illusions we had that one day we will all wake up and

nod knowingly at one another and say nowwwww I get what the whole point of existence

was X - how could we all be so stupid, its obvious the answer was X all along and it was

staring us in the face, we can then get on with the real business of putting our existence

into proper and honest perspective and thereby we can start the real process of giving true

expression to our lives here on this cold lonely rock in Space. I consider myself an optimistfor the same reason that Donald Fagen of Steely Dan himself gave. When asked if he

considered himself one his reply was yeah we are (meaning he and Walter Becker, the

other half of the duo) because, well, there really isnt any other choice is there?

So whats it all got to do with music? Well I hardly think that the idea that music can instil in

listeners a sense of almost spiritual (I dont trust that word) awareness and awe is a new

one. Most of us have had that experience at one point or another, and the opening example

from the preface of this book is one of my own. When I listened toAjathe first time, I

experienced something akin to spiritual awe and after hundreds of subsequent hearings,

that sense has not diminished much at all. When I hear John ColtranesA Love Supremea

work which was very consciously spiritual in content and moodI get the same sense. And

for me, these experiences are just confirmation of Nietzsches central idea. When, through

our interaction with the creative work of other human beings, we feel empowered to give

expression to our disparate thoughts and feelings, we begin to constructour own meaning

and raise our existence to more than simply a series of disjointed and disconnected

sensations. We avoid the existential pitfall of modern life for just a while at least. When we

begin this process and journey, we begin to truly be alive and aware.

Nietzsche believed that the modern world, by which he meant the Western world of the

19th

century and beyond, was in serious decline due to the sustained affliction of organised

religious thought (namely Christianity) upon it over centuries. Once we had, in his words,

killed god, there was nothing to replace it with, and therefore no moral or other

compasses by which to live our lives. Political movements such as Marxism and so on were

in Nietzsches view attempts to replace the vacuum left by organised religion in society with

something simple that people could believe in once more. These were in Nietzsches view

misguided, for they repeated the central problem that had afflicted Christianity, namely that

they were systems of belief that convinced the vast majority of people that their essentially

meaningless existence had some value. In the golden era of Christianity, that was a belief


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that there was an afterlife and that we were judged for our actions and that human

existence was part of Gods plan. In socialism, it was the belief that human existence had

meaning in the context of historical class struggle. Nietzsche believed all of these

approaches were doomed because, sadly, very few human beings have the inner capacity to

rise above the morass and detritus of modern existence. These fewthe creative geniusesand risk takersthe true artists of the world were the natural inheritors of the Earth.

Nietzsche gave them the rather modest term Uebermenschwhich is German for

Superman.This is where his philosophy becomes somewhat of a downer. Nietzsche

believed that very very few were destined for true greatness. To put it rather bluntly, you

and I are almost certainly not one of these supermen and are therefore doomed to a life of

mediocrity. Sigh.

I must say that in this, Im far more of an optimist than Nietzsche. Ordinary people I firmly

believe have within them enormous creative potential, and much of this potential is largelywasted. Part of the reason of course is to do with socioeconomic factors. It is well

documented that ones social class and background especially in childhood set major

restrictions upon ones chances for reaching ones true potential. Once again, such

questions are beyond the scope of this book. My belief however is that many restrictions

upon human beings are a result of mental inertia rather than anything specifically to do with

ones position in the social fabric.And perhaps the best example from the history of rock is

that of a musically utterly uneducated man who went on to create some of the most mind

jarring and incredible albums in the rock canon. That man was Don Van Vliet, better known

by his stage name of Captain Beefheart.


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2.Captain Beefheart and the Blueprint for Creative Originality

In 1969 in a house in suburban Los Angeles, over a period of approximately ten months,

a collection of musicians ground out one of the most arduous, mind blowing, controversial

pieces of music ever released by a credible recording label. The name of the album was

Trout Mask Replica and the band was Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

In part one of my book The Elusive Genius Project, the protagonist Rupert Laughton

undertakes with a group of fellow musicians to recreate some of the songs on this album

over a period of ten days, under the exact same conditions as Beefheart and his original

band. These conditions included being locked in the house for weeks at a time by Beefheart

himself, allowed to eat only once every few days and subjected to severe food rationing,

being exposed to brainwashing sessions conducted (again by Beefheart himself) in an

atmosphere on Manson-esque cultism, and even being physically intimidated and assaulted

(yet again by Beefheart himself). At the end of it all, Laughton is asked by the architect of

the recreationthe eccentric billionaire art dealer Walther De Greuwhat could be

learned from the process. Laughton replies that if anything can be learned at all, it is that, in

order to construct anything of real true originality in an artistic sense, the artist must utterly

and consciously break with all the old traditions and assumptions, unlearn everything, and

through the arduous process of reconstructing the very building blocks upon which that

artistic creation is based, can begin to create something that really stands on its own and

can be assessed fully on its own terms.

When I did the research for the book, I was struck immediately by just how much of an

UebermenschBeefheart sounded in the sense that Nietzsche intended the word. This was

exactly what Nietzsche had in mind in terms of personality although, had he actually heard

the album, I suspect his mental infirmity and insanity might have been hastened by another

ten years. The reaction of most people upon first hearing the album is basically what the

fuck?, and rightly so. The reaction of the majority of people after dozens of listenings is still

what the fuck? and most listeners cannot even endure to that stage. Matt Groening, the

creator of the SimpsonsTV show, has stated that it took him many repeated hearings of the

album as a teenager to properly digest it to the point where he could at least convince

himself that the band knew what they were doing and werent making shitty music just for

the sake of it. Whatever ones opinion of the music on Trout Mask Replica, very few would

deny that the album is utterly original and has no peer, cannot be emulated by any artist

following it and influenced by it, and which defies all attempts at categorisation. The album

is quite simply what it is, and it can only be understood if at all on its own uncompromising

terms.

So what then did Beefheart achieve with this album that was so important and whichprompted famous rock magazines such as Rolling Stone to list it in the top 50 greatest


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albums of all time? On the one hand, the merits of the album in any standard normal

musical sense are highly questionable and still debated fiercely to this day. Many songs for

example do not have a standard time signature, something considered to be a bare

minimum for a coherent listening experience. Instead, the time signature snakes and shifts

in labyrinthine ways, screwing with every accepted rule in the rock and pop songwritingbook. We are presented instead with a deconstructed form of the original style that seems

to question the whole underlying concept of a song itself. For most listeners the experience

is thoroughly unsettling and the instinctive urge is to turn it off. I can remember the first

time I heard the album, again in the company of my brother in law Tim. We had just sat

down to a game of chess, a soothing drink within reach, and I was expecting something a

little different based on what Id heard about Beefheart up until that point, a little

experimental sure but still within the established confines of a normal rock album. But

from the opening lines of Frownland, the first song on the album, when Beefhearts deep

bass almost hysterical voice delivered the line My style is stuck! I cannot go back to your

Frownland!, we both stopped and just stared at one another as if aliens had taken over the

stereo and were controlling it from the mothership above the house. It was very clear that

something very unique and weird was being communicated to us through the medium

of music.

Had Beefheart merely deconstructed the rock genre it might have made the album

revolutionary enough, so thorough was that deconstruction in its scope. But real revolutions

dont just destroy the established order they offer an alternative vision of the future. And

oh boy what a frightening yet awesome vision of that musical future Beefheart presents uswith here. Here is a man who had zero musical aptitude (he couldnt play any musical

instrument, and the standard manner in which he composed the songs on the album was

through humming them or whistling them to his band mates, and sitting at the piano and

banging out groups of notes and phrasings that appealed to his whims of the moment). And

yet I can report that in my case at least, repeated hearings of the album have indeed

confirmed to me that, as insane in his way as Beefheart was, he was every bit the genius

they say he was. Gradually, a completely different musical landscape reveals itself. The

album takes us on a deep journey through the very roots of rock itself in the delta blues of

singers such as Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters. It is akin to watching an automobile slowlypulled apart and each component clearly explained to you and its role in the whole system

demonstrated in its turn. Over the course of twenty songs, Beefheart covers the whole

gamut of influences on rock as a genre up to that point, as well as much more besidesold

sea shanties, spoken verse, and the free and experimental jazz of composers such as

Ornette Coleman and Coltrane. By the end, the reaction is either of simple dumbfounded

shockthe musical equivalent to shell shockor, gradually later, the sense that something

very profound about the nature of creative genius is being demonstrated.

What then is Beefhearts vision of the future of popular music? Because lets beperfectly clearthe poor nave man actually wanted to make music that would resonate


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with the masses. He did not deliberately set out to create an album of songs that people

would find difficult as some more trained musicians do. This was, lets be clear,not the

difficult third album syndrome. On many occasions in his career, Beefheartmade the

point that he believed (at first anyway) that his music would strike a chord with large

numbers of people. Take one listen to the album and you will understand how nave he wasin this. He was clearly way ahead of his time, and what he is asking of his listeners is no less

than a completely and utterly unfettered and open mind. Many of us might think we

possess this, but just stop for a moment and consider how difficult that really is. Everything

we hear is interpreted musically through the spectacles of what we have been taught music

even isup until that point. Something as completely out of the norm as Trout Mask Replica

assaults our senses before we have had the chance to develop any tools to assimilate it.

Examples of this can be found in many areas of artistic expression, such as film and in

painting and abstract Art. But whereas to some extent it is accepted that bizarre artistic

statements are part and parcel of the output of a modern painter or sculptor (Beefhearts

actual stated vocations before his foray into music), in popular music the tolerance for such

avant garde behaviour is much lower. After all, rock was created as something direct and

straightforward, something that anyone could play with just a basic musical palette (three

chords and the truth). What business did Beefheart have in mucking around with such a

tried and tested entity as rock and roll?

Well, every business actually. Because by the end of the 1960s, it was obvious that the

simple singalong pop appeal of the likes of early Beatles couldnt be simply regurgitated

foreindefinitely. For one thing, it didnt reflect the state of the world as it was. Theinnocence of the early Kennedy era had given way to the Bay of Pigs disaster, intractable

Cold War, the Vietnam War, racial riots and revolution on the streets of Paris. Rock and roll

would indeed continue on in its standardised form of two guitars, a vocalist and drummer

throughout the 70s, and indeed to the present day. But Beefhearts music, Trout Mask

Replica in particular, demonstrated that we always have a choice of which way to go. It isnt

always inevitable. We can play it safe, and we can even produce some damned good music

in the process. Bands like Led Zeppelin demonstrated the safer routeabsorbing their blues

roots whilst expertly crafting them into something more immediately palatable and

accessible. Led Zeppelin IV (1971) is perhaps one of the best examples of this (see laterchapter) and make no mistake, deserves every bit as much admiration as a musical

statement as it has garnered over the years. But the point isit didnt haveto be that way.

The other alternative was, as Beefheart showed, not simply to take the hard earned,

suffering, oppression-laden blues of Howling Wolf and make it into hugely marketable

stadium filler musicalbeit awesome and inspiring stadium filler musicbut to create

something entirely ones own out of it. For as brilliant as bands like Zeppelin, the Stones, and

the Beatles were, this they did not do. The genius of these bands was not to create

something entirely original and their own, it was to utilise their influences in original ways

and thereby to offer new ways of looking at long established genres like the Blues. That is a


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form of genius in itself. Beefheart however, with Trout Mask Replica, shows us that there is

always another and potentially more risky and dangerous path, the path of uncompromising

and fierce experimentation. Not simply the aimless experimentation that comes out of an

urge to smash something down in frustration, but the kind of experimentation that derives

from a total refusal to allow the influence of anything other than its own vision to definewhat it is. In the history of rock and popular music, it is difficult to find a work or album that

does this more definitively than Trout Mask Replica.

Perhaps the most important thing to take from Beefhearts incredible vision of music is

that, of all qualities, it is the capacity to think outside the box and question all

assumptions that is the mark of true genius. This is not itself enough; Beefheart was

fortunate to have a fantastic and flexible band in the likes of John Drumbo French, Mark

Boston, Bill Harkleroad and Jeff Cotton. There was an enormous cost involved to all involved

in Beefhearts uncompromising demands on his band, and yet it is hard to deny that thissame uncompromising approach was required to gain the last drop of each musicians talent

and abilities. To build something of true artistic originality, we must be prepared to totally

start over again from the very basic foundations, and yet we need sound technical

knowledge in order to carry the vision through. The 1960s were perhaps the end of this

fierce and unflinching experimentalism, and this has not been seen since. Frank Zappa,

Beefhearts friend and the owner of the record label that dared to allow Beefheart the

freedom to create his astounding musical vision, explained in an interview that by the

1980s, a deep conservatism had penetrated the industry to the point where real risk taking

was no longer viable. Whereas in the early days of rock, cigar chomping capitalists weremore or less happy to bankroll an artistic visionbecause they knew that in the long run,

the creative people were in touch with what the kids wanted by the 80s, slick younger

marketing types had taken over. These guys believed they knew what the kids wanted, and

if an artists vision didnt tally with that, they were highly unlikely to give it their support.

This situation has continued to the present day more or less unchanged. It is very difficult to

see how another Beefheart could gain a hearing in the present environment. Perhaps the

best hope is the emerging social networks. It will be a long hard fight to break through the

power of the mass media for genuinely original and creative artists, but Beefhearts body of

work shows just how crucial it is that it does. Unless we fight the good fight, all the evidenceis that mediocrity and bland derivative music is what we have to look forward to in the

future of popular music.


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3.Four guys crossing the road

In late 1969, an album was released which represents the end of an era, not just for the

band who released it, but rock and roll as a whole. The album was of course The Beatles

Abbey Road.

To analyse or comment upon any Beatles album is of course fraught with danger, for so

much has been said about the body of the Beatles work already. Happily this book is

assuredly not an attempt to analyse their music from any kind of objective angle in terms of

technical or artistic merit. Millions of words have already been expended on that task by

people far more qualified than I. Personally, a taste for the Beatles came rather late to me

but, like all true works of genius, Abbey Road, when it fully hit me, left me dumbfounded

and awed. For perhaps the greatest challenge of all is making something that, whilst simple

and elementary, remains at its heart an enigma and a source of endlessly complexity. For

me,Abbey Roadepitomises what makes the Beatles worthy of their accolades and explains

why six of their albums find their way into Rolling Stones Top 50 Albums of all time.It is not

routinely listed as their greatest album, and perhaps in many measures it is not. But for the

casual listener wishing to work their way into their catalogue and to begin to appreciate

their appeal, it represents for me, their definitive statement.

The whole thing begins with the album cover, which must surely be one of the most

iconic images in all of rock history. As John, Ringo, Paul and George stride with grim purpose

across the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road studios we are given an elegant snapshot of

something that sets the Beatles apart from all their peers both during and since their

ignominious end in 1970. Rock and roll began in the early 60s (at least for mainstream white

audiences) with the initial poppy phase of the Fab Four along with bands such as the Stones

and the Animals. It began without any real form of pretention, with four white guys banging

out a catchy tune, influenced to varying degrees by the Blues. By the end of the 60s, the

genre had blossomed into a fully fledged art form. Ironically it was the Beatles themselves

who spearheaded this charge, beginning perhaps with their 1966 album Revolver. The

process reached its apogee with the startling Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Bandin

1967. At once a sprawling mess and a work of mind boggling originality, the album has

routinely been hailed as their masterpiece. So why do I choose Abbey Road as the album to

examine here? One look at the album cover of Abbey Road tells you in a nutshell what made

and still makes the music of the Beatles so vital and important to this very day. And that is

this. For all of rocks subsequent artistic inclinations and ambitions, it is ultimately simple

directness of musical expression that sets it apart from other musical genres. But whilst the

Blues upon which rock and roll is ultimately based sought to give expression to oppression

and poverty and heartbreak, rock and roll was a musical movement that sought to utilise

the structures of the Blues and infuse them with a restless energy that could give expression

to the idealism, passion, and openness of youth. By the end of the 60s, the Beatles, havingexperimented with every single trick in the book and given a nod to virtually every musical


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style as well, had come full circle to where it all began; four young guys having some fun and

using their musical talent to express themselves. Abbey Road, whilst it gives a nod to a

range of musical styles and makes use of an array of clever songwriting tricks, ultimately is a

return to the simplicity and directness of musical expression that makes rock and roll so

appealing and cool. The danger of artistic expression has always been that one becomestrapped in ones own delicately constructed world, before long losing sight of the initial aim

of simply having a little fun and playful experimentation. Abbey Road, I would argue, is

possibly the most simultaneously charmingly childlike rock album ever produced, whilst at

its core retaining a coherence and satisfying wholeness that ensures it stays relevant and

holds up to this day. As the band members file across the quiet London street, the

overriding image is one of a return to simplicity at the end of a tumultuous decade which

was beginning to lose its way and to lose sight of what had made the revolution so powerful

and appealing in the first place. A sense of the joy of living and the opportunity of artistic

freedom had been replaced with increasingly dark and pretentious musings. Bands such as

Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and other Progressive Rockers

were pushing rock into hitherto unmarked territory. It was all becoming a little serious. Even

bands like Led Zeppelin and The Who were turning away from the essential raw direct

appeal of their earlier work to more experimental and darker compositions. But here, at the

end of the 1960s, was the definitive rock band offering us a different vision of what rock

could and should stand for. Over four decades later, the challenge remains as great as ever.

How can working class kids take the best that high art and culture has to offer and use it to

give expression to their experiences without falling into the trap of alienating their core

audiences with overly complex arrangements and structures? For, whilst Abbey Road might

be teeming with complexity beneath the surface, the overriding impression must surely be

one of playful abandon and quirky humour. In this the Beatles never lost the plot, in a way

that their contemporaries most certainly often did. When it boils down to it, rock and roll

should be about four or five ordinary young kids telling you about how they see the world.

The Beatles had becomes multi-millionaires by the time Abbey Road was released of course,

and yet, looking at that iconic album cover and listening to the songs on the album you

would never know that. The same sense of fun and humour remains. Its as if all the fame

and success had barely even touched them. What more hysterical media hype could we

witness than the height of the Beatles fame? And yet despite all this, it is clear listening to

albums likeAbbeythat it all made little difference to their ability to focus on what matters.

The Beatles were assuredly affected by their massive fame, but the important point is that it

didnt affect their output in any real sense. We get the impression that their vision was so

singular and determined that nothing could get in its way.

Looking at the popular musical landscape of the present day, the need for such assured

cocky independence in spirit becomes even more obvious. For can we look at any of the

massively popular acts of the present day (on a scale even approaching the Beatles at their

height) and honestly say that these bands and artists have anywhere near the sense of


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determined vision? Even if so, the machine unfortunately submerges that into a sense of

safe playing conformity. It is very, very hard, almost impossible, for bands to enjoy the same

sense of independence and freedom as the Beatles enjoyed. Of course, owning their own

recording label certainly helped, but so too did a receptive public and audience. The Beatles,

with their swansong album, left us with a blueprint for keeping the fun and play that mustsurely lie at the heart of all works of art, be they music or whatever. That challenge remains

as important as ever.

4.The sprawling canvass of Nerdy Genius

In 1972 a double album was released by a young fellow barely known to the general

listening public. A veteran of a handful of progressive rock albums, he had begun to move

into music production for which he would become well known in future decades. The album

was a sustained barrage of startling creativity and originality. The artist was Todd Rundgren,

and the album was called Something..Anything.

As with Abbey Road, you can get a very good sense of what you are going to be in for

with a quick glance at the cover. Four roses twist in various directions, and by golly does this

album twist in various directions. If you want fearless experimentation guided by a firm

sense of vision, look no further than here. By the end of the whole thing you are left with a

sense of just how exciting and wonderful the possibilities for popular music can be when a

talented musician really puts their mind to the task. You are also left with a sense of disquietas well, for, as quirky and humorous as Rundgren is, hes also guided by a sense of the

bizarre and his humour comes in a very black and unsettling guise. That dark humour would

reach its zenith in his following albumsA Wizard a True Star(1973) and Todd(1974). But it is

here on this album that Rundgrens sense of fun and enormous talent comes to the fore in

as essentially accessible form.

The album opens with two gorgeous ballads. With It Wouldnt Have Made Any

Difference, youd be forgiven for assuming that the album was going to be one pretty

memorable pop song after another, and you get the distinct feeling that, if Rundgren wantsto, then by god he could for the duration of the double album. But the sensation does not

last long, as by gradual degrees you are ushered into the headspace of a gifted yet also

distinctly oddball man. This album is an exploration of one mans meandering yet strangely

focused mental wanderings. It is no surprise that a lot of it is fuelled by experimental drug

taking, but not in a Syd Barrett Piper at the Gates of Dawn manner. There is something very

controlled and deliberate in Rundgrens shifting musical landscape. Much of it is not coming

from a good place in the usual sense and yet, neither is this gloomy or dark music. There is

an overriding sense of fun here. It is as if, having faced every strange inner demon and

disturbing innervision, the conclusion is yes and its good!. I have faced my innerdemons and my precariously balanced sanity, I have looked into the heart of the unhinged


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mind and after all this, I am still laughing and I am still functional. In this Rundgren shares

much in common with the intellectual music of bands such as Talking Heads and Steely Dan

(of which more later on).

how classic albums can change your life

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