SONGSTORY

Changing Opinion - Music: Philip Glass / Lyrics: Paul Simon / Vocals: Bernard Fowler Songs From Liquid Days [1986] By Adam Collier

Back when I was in high school when it got warm out, I would stay up all night writing things in chalk on my street. Sometimes I drew pictures, like from Calvin and Hobbes but mostly it was words. When cars drove too fast over the chalk, it would smear or rise like steam, but if they were going slow, the chalk would crush into the blacktop. One of the first things I copied down were the lyrics to this song. I only found out later its words were by Paul Simon; it was originally the minimalist music by Philip Glass that drew me to this song. Minimalism stresses small changes over big ones, and Simon’s lyrics, well, they build to a fairly profound thought…

Maybe it’s the hum Of changing opinion Or a foreign language In prayer Maybe it’s the mantra Of the walls and wiring Deep breathing In soft air

…but gets there gradually. (I like that). The marriage of polyrhythms–the sequence of changes of note emphasis in the chords we hear on the piano and flute–and Simon’s subtle lyrics, is a good one. I’m in no position to critique the singing. What I can tell you though, is that playing the piano that quickly, making slow variations is technically challenging. When I wrote this out on the street I had also hoped that this girl I had a crush on, who lived just a few houses down the street, would see it and we would have something to talk about. But when I asked her about the lyrics on the street, she said she hadn’t noticed them.

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Dear Bilal,

I hope this letter finds you well. I have an urgent matter I need to discuss with you. I am fully aware that you’re a neo-soul artist who followed in D’Angelo’s vootshteps (props to Young Frankenstein right?) but you don’t have to make us wait a lifetime between albums too, do you? Listen Bilal, you are a virtuoso, nobody disputes that, at least no one who counts and you’ve got a fantastic unreleased album circulating around the internet. This unreleased album is even further proof that that you are a completely unique and beautiful weirdo, kind of like me, except you sing for a living. I understand that you probably have some sort of distribution issues or label issues or maybe you’re a perfectionist, and I know you’re pissed that your album leaked, but lemons to lemonade, right? The longer the album sits on the shelf after getting leaked the less likely that it will ever get released at all, and that would be a big time shame. Take advantage of the buzz created by the leak. Release the album any way you can, generate more buzz and then bask in the glory of all the major distribution offers that come down the metaphorical pipe. In this age of unconventional music distribution and promotion there’s always a way to get a finished product to the masses. I’m no marketing expert, but neither are you-you’re and artist-so focus on that and let the music speak for itself.

Let me conclude with Make Me Over a song from your leaked album.

Sincerely,

The Sentiments of Many

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When an album I dislike gets positive reviews I’ll often question my initial assessment of it. Instead of assuming that the critics are lacking in taste, I’m inclined to consider that I wasn’t in the right headspace, or perhaps failed to appreciate something in the music when I first listened to it. My concern is that I missed something beautiful that the critics spotted and if beauty is to be found in a song I want in on it. Really a music review is nothing more than one persons judgement of how much beauty is to be found in an album. Lyrics, vocals, instrumentation, innovation, whatever, if there is something beautiful there the reviewer is charged with the task of spotting it. Therefore a positive review cannot be wrong and that’s why music reviews (in fact reviews of all art) are such a strange exercise. If the music resonates with someone then they’ve seen the beauty in it, and that cannot be discounted by anyone. So where does taste fit into this? If some dude buys the Kevin Federline album and thinks it was the best rap album of 2006 are they wrong? No. There’s nothing wrong with their assessment, there’s something wrong with the question. The fact of the matter is that art of any kind is entirely subjective, so it is impossible to say there is one album that is objectively superior to any others. A critic can explain an album’s contextual value, but they cannot say it isn’t beautiful.

Allmusic.com, which is a website I actually hold in very high regard, say that the reggae album “Mellow Dubmarine: Tribute to the Beatles” is a worthless piece of garbage–”misguided” and “laughable” are the terms they actually use. Perhaps they were snoozing when this cover by John Holt was on. I love the idea that I found the beauty where others did not. Kanye spotted it too.

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