Love - Forever Changes

Like many people, I look back at music I used to love and listen to and ask myself, "what the hell were you thinking?" In retrospect, very little of the music that was popular in the 60s and 70s was any good. Most was just simple minded noise with some weird electronics mixed in. At best, it had energy and there is something to be said for that, and it certainly beat the crap out of most of what I hear today.

But, there were a few bands and a few albums that really were good and, here and there, a few greats showed up. My vote for the best album of that era goes to, no, not The Beatles insipid Sgt. Pepper, but to an album by a relatively obscure band, Love. The album was called Forever Changes.

Love was an Los Angeles band starting in the mid-60s. There first 2 albums were okay, nothing special, but interesting. Then came Forever Changes, an album that perfectly captured its time. The mood had almost, but not quite, changed from the over the top happy vibe that held sway in those heady days to the later cynical, dark mood. Paranoia was rearing its head, the acid hangover was coming on and the reality that things were not really changing was setting in, yet there was still the vision of how things could be. A tension between idealistic dreams and harsh reality existed in a kind of dynamic tension and Love, led by its quirky and brilliant lead singer and songwriter, Arthur Lee, embraced that tension and produced a masterpiece.

Lee was a young black man from Memphis. On their first album, that's just what he sounded like. On their second album, he sounded like Mick Jagger trying to sound like a young black man from Memphis. On Forever Changes, he changed and for most of the album, sings like, as odd as this may sound, Johnny Mathis, if Johnny Mathis had a head full of LSD. The music is a very baroque folk rock, the guitars are mostly acoustic, and in places, there are strings that fit beautifully and a horn section that calls to mind mariachi music. Yes, it is strange, but, somehow, it works, and the band produced an album of energetic, happy music. Too energetic, and too happy, sort of like many people get on acid.

And that was the point, they wanted to capture that, "I'm wired and happy and I have no idea why" feeling that acid produces and they did it, only to juxtapose that with some extremely unusual, dark, and brilliant lyrics. This is the brilliance of the album. It captures perfectly the vibe of the era, a longing for freedom and fun with an awareness that the fun is about over and the walls are closing in.

Noteworthy on the album are the songs Alone Again Or..., A House Is Not A Motel, the wonderfully gentle and beautiful Andmoreagain, and the stunning Maybe The People Will Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale.

The band never was as big as they should have been, partially because Lee hated touring. After this album, the band broke up. Lee, from time to time, put together other versions of Love and recorded a bit but never did he do such great work again. Like many others, he drifted through periods of substance abuse and legal problems

For years, he refused to perform any of the songs from Forever Changes and would not really talk about it. Finally, not long before he died, of cancer, he put together a band and rehearsed it meticulously and toured, finally performing his masterpiece. When asked why, he said that the songs were just so good that they deserved to be heard again. He also let onto why he was so uncomfortable doing those songs for so long. It seems that during the time he was writing them, he became convinced that he was going to die before long. That certainly explains the intensity. Why could he never produce anything as brilliant again? Well, there have been many artists over the centuries that have one great work in them. They give it all they have and have little left. There are those who are somewhat critical of such artists but I believe it is better to produce one great work than to turn out a bunch of mediocrity.

The album is still available and I urge you to give it a listen, Also, on You Tube, you can find video of some of those later concerts he did featuring those great songs. The performances are stunning. Forever Changes, along with just a handful of other works, is a rare example of art that completely captures its era.

Raymond Chandler

There is a popular genre of fiction, noir, that has made a comeback in recent years, showing up in books, movies, and TV. Noir is kind of hard to exactly define. It is characterized, as the name suggest, by a dark view, both in the physical location and the mindset.

These are urban tales of crime and suspense. Much of the story is set in gloomy, seedy parts of the city and a lot of the action takes place at night. Its inhabitants are the low lifes; drunks, addicts, hookers, conmen, thieves and worse. Their world has its own morality. Sometimes, folks from the better side of the tracks drift in, for various reasons, usually bad ones, and the interaction ultimately requires intervention by the hero of the tale who may be a cop, a bystander, or frequently, a private investigator. The PI is the traditional choice and Raymond Chandler created the best of the lot, Phillip Marlowe.

Marlowe is a loner, a brilliant man, a masterful chess player and a heavy drinker. He has his own moral code, not judging people who fall prey to humanity's weaknesses, until they harm the innocent. Then, he acts and will not stop until he figures out what is going on and sees justice done and his sense of justice does not always match society's. He has frequent interaction with cops, sometime cordial, often hostile and has been arrested a fair number of times for skirting the law. And, sometimes, he doesn't win, or at least he doesn't completely win. He has learned that in this world, sometimes you just have to settle for as much of a victory as you can get and, sometimes, you just lose. But, either way, you have to be true to yourself if you want to be able to live with yourself.

Marlowe's world is not a pretty one but it is a noble one. In our modern version of the noir-type stories, that nobility is often lacking and that's a shame.

Chandler was a fine writer. His prose simply sparkles on the page. And, unlike a lot of detective story writers, he doesn't try to wrap everything in a neat package. Often, he leaves end unraveled and hanging. He has been criticized for that, but I love it because that is the way life is.

My favorite Chandler novels are The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. If you don't have time to read them, at least find the film versions. Robert Mitchum starred in a great version of The Big Sleep. Robert Altman directed a wonderfully quirky version of The Long Goodbye starring Eliot Gould. But, if you have time, read the books.

Children's Books _ A Wrinkle in Time

I would like to, from time to time, as my mind drifts around, to recommend some children's books. Teaching your kids to love reading is one of the greatest things you can do for them. Nothing against movies, I love them, but reading stimulates the imagination. To follow a book, especially fiction, you have to allow the words to paint pictures in your mind and you must allow yourself to give into the emotions of the characters.

The problem, as far as I can see, is that there are not a lot of kid's books that challenge them. Madeline L'Engle wrote a fine one, A Wrinkle in Time. The book is amazing, a science fiction tale that does not talk down to children. In short, it deals with time travel and a battle between good and evil. It is also a book that deals with family love and the possibility that non-human characters possess the same capacities for love and compassion that humans do. I do not want to say more about the plot than that because I hope that parents, if they have not read this book, will read it with their children. I read this when I was about 10, but I have known kids as young as 8 and as old as 13 who enjoyed it. There is enough substance to hold the attention of any adult reading with their offspring.

The book, while well received by most, did stir a controversy. L'Engle was a devout Christian and does not hesitate to bring religious beliefs into her book. The book contains a fairly advanced scientific concept in its explanation of time travel, and scientists, while lauding her explanation of the concept, disliked her religious stance. Christians, some of them, were upset by her deeply scientific views and, perhaps more upset by her non-traditional view of Christianity. While she was Episcopal, she expressed some beliefs more compatible with those of the Unitarian Universalist Church. Both side should be ashamed of their narrow mindedness.

Books like this are hard to find. They are complex without being too difficult for children. They have a very moral viewpoint without being preachy. The story is exciting. And, it never talks down to kids; instead it gently nudges them to use their minds. I urge parents to find this book and others like it for their children.

Sports Media

I used to watch a lot of sports, any kind, any time, but now, I limit my watching. I believe part of the reason I cut back so much is the media coverage.

When I watch an event, I simply want to see the happenings and have an announcer to fill in the gaps. Occasionally, odd things happen and it does help to have a knowledgeable person to explain the fine points of rulings. It is also nice to have a 'color commentator' expound on strategy and technique, to a limited degree.

What I do not like is the constant chatter, multiple replays in slow motion and stop frame. Nor, do I care for a continuous stream of information about the athletes, their personal lives, the size of their contracts, their relationships on and off the field. If I wanted such facts, I would subscribe to one of the countless sports magazines.

I do not know, or care, how Tiger Woods rotates his wrists to make the ball draw or how a pitcher grips his version of a sinker. Just let me see the game unfold.

Also, I get annoyed by the announcers' tendency to make the whole thing overly dramatic. Every game is not life or death. Actually, none of them are. Exciting? Yes. Tense? Yes. Apocalyptic? No.
If a team loses or a player misses a putt, life will go on. They are just games and, if you live or die by the results, you may want to consider finding yourself a real life.

I enjoy watching the various strategies of players unfold. I enjoy seeing the athletic skill and grace of fine players. I can get that without announcers babbling on and on incessantly. Just show the game and fill in a few details and make a clever witty comment or two. If the game is worth watching, it will sell itself.

Adventure Movies

I am a huge fan of adventure movies. You know, those huge, expensive lush, films set in exotic locations where travelers are beset with problems and strife while seduced by the beauty of the land and its peoples. A couple of them leap to mind.

First, Mutiny on the Bounty. A sailing ship, a mean-spirited captain, a rebellious and heroic crew in the Tahitian Islands is about my version of movie heaven.  I have seen 2 versions of this classic tale. One, starring Trevor Howard as the sadistic Capt. Bligh and Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian, was very good. The original, starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable was better. Really, with all of the magnificent scenery, it could have starred any decent actors and I would have loved it; having a fine cast was just a bonus. A tale of cruelty and rebellion, of desperate men risking all for freedom appeals to a spirit that I believe lies in all human hearts. Most of us will never have the chance to do anything so magnificent. The world of such opportunities seems closed to us for awhile and we seem to be stuck settling for small victories, if we're lucky, but I swear, in every heart there is that urge to set sail for fair lands where we can be free.

Another such film is Papillion, a film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. McQueen, as the title character, is a petty criminal, falsely convicted of murder in France and sentenced to Devil's Island, the infamous French penal colony surrounded by water and thought to be inescapable. So, of course, he sets out to escape. Repeatedly, he is caught and placed into the wretched hell of solitary confinement. Each time, when released, he tries again. It is a tale of the indestructible human longing for freedom. It is a beautiful film.

From Tarzan, through the great Errol Flynn movies like Robin Hood and Capt. Blood, on through Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, adventure movies are a way artists have found to capture the essence of the human heart. Full of fighting, plotting, traveling, wonder and, here and there, love, they are a lot of fun and downright inspiring. After a dull day at work in this era of dull uniformity in a world that seems small and tame, let your mind go into these dreams of adventure. They're good for the soul.

America's Music - The Blues

America has produced a few kinds of music original to our Country, well, as original as any music can be. Of course, all music has a link  or two back to earlier times and the obvious root of the blues is Africa. However, African music became American blues after its creators were exposed to the folk music of Europeans. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

For example; there is a great blues song called I Know You Rider. I have heard this song done in several styles: blues, country, folk, and even rock. The Grateful Dead used it as a takeoff piece occasionally  for their long extended improvisations, taking it into outer space before bringing it back to Earth. Early blues was deeply influenced by the other music of its time. Robert Johnson was known to play many pop tunes of his day and his favorite song was, by all accounts, a country tune, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds. Those guys made a living playing for live crowds, for tips, and had to be ready to play whatever was popular. The Mississippi Sheiks were often booked to play at square dances for white audiences simply because they were so good. Shamefully, at those gatherings they were forced to play from behind a curtain because of their color. So, as I said, while Blues has its roots in Africa, it did not develop in isolation from other cultural influences.

Why has the blues always been so popular with musicians? Beside its deep emotional appeal, it is a simple loose structure. The basic form is a-a-b; state a line, repeat it, then answer it. That expanded to a-a-b-a; state a line, repeat it, answer it, then restate the original. Later of course, more complexity was added, but the basic form is so simple that it allows the player freedom. Between the basic lines of the form, you can do most anything, as long as you come back to the form. When those players played weekends at bars, folks wanted to dance a but and they tipped according to how much they liked the song. If you did a 2 minute song, no matter how good. they were apt to not tip because that is not enough time to really get into dancing. However, if you stretch that out by improvising, both words and music, to 6 or 7 minutes, giving them a chance to move around with their partner, they were likely to be generous.

And thus, you see the roots of America's one truly native musical form, Jazz. No Blues, no Jazz, it's that simple.

I love all of the many forms the Blues has taken from Charley Patton and Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf on through Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn. It is possible, many have done it, to spend a lifetime  devoted to tracking down old Blues recordings, and through the efforts of those who did so, those of my era rediscovered the older masters of the form. Players as great as Son House and Skip James had all but disappeared until collectors stumbled across old, forgotten recordings, then tracked down those guys and brought them back to public attention in the folk revival of the 1960s.  I'm glad they did.

Forgotten Writers - James Michener

Here and there, from time to time, I am going to write about a few authors that  are now, undeservedly, forgotten. One of these is the great James Michener. Michener was never considered a great writer by those who proclaimed themselves experts on fine literature but, who cares. He was the author of many fine novels that, in their day, sold in huge numbers.

Early on, he wrote The Bridges At Toko-Ri, an excellent war story that was also made into a pretty good movie. War stories are generally not my favorite but he did a good job with it. Then, he hit on a formula that proved popular.

Michener's other novels always followed the same pattern. He chose a location, began at the dawn of time, the forming of the land, then traced the development of life in the region, the coming of early man, and then, focused on one family and traced it through the centuries. This was his formula and it worked. He gave you a chance to see the land and its peoples through a long lens, giving you a chance to see the interplay of land and people. This gave the reader a way to understand why things turned out as they did.

The characters are all realistically drawn, some great and famous, some obscure and average, all presented as a blend of good and bad. Ambitions, love, loyalty and treachery motivate them and you can see that we all are the sum of the past actions of our ancestors. He also does a fine job when  he presents the pre-human days, making sure you get an understanding of the simple fact that animals, just like humans, are aware beings and that, like us, they are trying to succeed, leave offspring and figure out, as best they can, this strange wonderful universe we inhabit.

Some of the areas he tackles are Hawaii, Iberia, the Chesapeake region, Israel (in The Source), and the Rocky Mountains (in Centennial). Michener is an entertaining writer, the books are full of action and adventure. They are sort of history lessons taught by the most entertaining teacher ever. I will say  that all of the books are long but, you can cut in  and out of them at your leisure without  losing the flow of the story.

James Michener is a case of an author somewhat scorned by academics, loved by readers, and now, pretty much forgotten. Try some of his epic stories and you will understand why I think it regrettable that he is now overlooked.