Come timelessly dancing (Jackson Browne)

My eldest son (Keegan) has had Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky album on high rotate (he's a vinyl man like me so I can picture him flipping it over each time). I wrote about JB last year where I listed my top 5 albums (June 30 post if you want a recap) and Late For The Sky was certainly in there.

I checked my 49 song series of posts and was surprised that I hadn't thought to add my favourite JB song - the haunting For Everyman. So I'll correct that now. First of all here it is to refresh your memories.



I can still remember where I was (and who I was) when I fell in love with this song. The time that is immediately evoked is my stint as a varsity student at Auckland University and working at Marbecks Records during my holiday breaks. I'd store up records to take as my pay and worked through the JB back catalogue during this time. I remember playing this song (and the albums) in the basement of Ramelton Road in Mt Roskill (Auckland) where we lived. 'We' being my mum and dad and brother Ross. I'd taken over part of the basement room to use as a silk screening area where I produced screened shirts for myself and Noel Forth, an Australian friend. Ross had carved out an area for constructing his models. During this time I'd play this song a lot.

For Everyman (for me) actually always begins at the start of the previous song on the album - Sing My Songs to Me. The segue into For Everyman is seemless, like Slipstream into Locomotive breath (Jethro Tull on the Aqualung album)) or Taunta (Sammy's song) into Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin) (Mountain on the Nantucket Sleighride album). Each has a symbiotic relationship in that they feed off each other. Much like those other two examples and The Beatles Sgt Pepper album - it is now impossible not to immediately feel the next song coming.

Here are the lyrics to both songs (see if you can pick where one ends and the other begins):

Sing my songs to me
Sing them to me softly
Sing me sunlight and shadows
Orange groves and meadows
Let your voice ring back my memories
Sing my songs to me

Bring my dreams to me
Bring them from the darkness
Let the minutes and hours
Show my mind strange new flowers
But I'd like to know where they go when the morning comes
Bring my dreams to me

Because it seems to me that there may never be
A better chance to see who I am
Come timelessly dancing
Through my dreams to me

Everybody I talk to is ready to leave
With the light of the morning
They've seen the end coming down long enough to believe
That they've heard their last warning
Standing alone
Each has his own ticket in his hand
And as the evening descends
I sit thinking 'bout Everyman

Seems like I've always been looking for some other place
To get it together
Where with a few of my friends I could give up the race
And maybe find something better
But all my fine dreams
Well thought out schemes to gain the motherland
Have all eventually come down to waiting for
Everyman

Waiting here for Everyman--
Make it on your own if you think you can
If you see somewhere to go I understand
Waiting here for
Everyman--
Don't ask me if he'll show -- baby I don't know

Make it on your own if you think you can
Somewhere later on you'll have to take a stand
Then you're going to need a hand

Everybody's just waiting to hear from the one
Who can give them the answers
And lead them back to that place in the warmth of the sun
Where sweet childhood still dances
Who'll come along
And hold out that strong and gentle father's hand?
Long ago I heard someone say something 'bout Everyman

Waiting here for Everyman--
Make it on your own if you think you can
If you see somewhere to go I understand

I'm not trying to tell you that I've seen the plan
Turn and walk away if you think I am--
But don't think too badly of one who's left holding sand
He's just another dreamer, dreaming 'bout Everyman

There are many resonances in these lyrics but I'll focus on one that has haunted me recently. Clearly the line - Seems like I've always been looking for some other place/ to get it together - is in my mind of late. I had a dream a few nights ago - I was in a taxi in Auckland (being driven by Dennis Hopper of all people) and I had no idea where I lived. I couldn't give him the right location so I went from areas in Auckland I'd lived (Royal Oak, Glenfield, Mt Albert, Three Kings etc) hoping that it would come back to me and it didn't. We just kept driving and I become more and more flustered.

Now I'm in Doha, driving around in Taxis and thinking about my place in the world and why I still can't seem to get it together. I'm guessing I never will - I'll be waiting here for everyman.

Love and peace - Wozza

All those born with wings

Time to report on the great ECM experiment of 2010. The initial feeling that I have come away with is that for every CD in the ECM collection that I love I will also buy one that will be recycled.

For instance - I love Jan Garbarek's Madar CD. It does have my latest hero, Anouar Braheim on it, but Garbarek's playing is very lyrical and entirely suits the combined mood of oud and tabla. On the basis of this I bought his 1987 CD All those born with wings. Unfortunately this one turned into a squonking atonal mess. Yeeech - didn't see that coming.

Another example? The Dave Holland Trio's Triplicate CD is a constant delight vs John Abercrombie's Selected Recordings, which is a dilly of a pickle - a few 'challenging' tracks left me in the dust (of which there is a fair amount in Qatar).

I'll leave you on a positive note - with another superb discovery - Bobo Stenson. His piano playing has it all for me and is challenging in a good way. This clip has the bonus of some stunning photography as well. Ka kite ano.

The toppermost of the poppermost

The top albums of the year and the decade of the 2000s have been the focus of the magazines I've read recently. I've been back to Jarir bookshop twice now to get the new Mojo - each time it was - 'next week sir'. So in the meantime I had to buy Q and Rolling Stone. Blimin eck. I felt a little shoddy doing it but without the new Mojo - what was I to do?

I really don't like Q. Too smarmy, too try hardy, too cliquey, too ironic, too needy. I bet their list reflects all of those things. I generally only buy it if the Beatles feature in it somewhere.

Rolling Stone - I used to buy it a lot in the pre Mojo days but only because there was no real magazine for me (until Mojo came along). It's too American, too smug, too broad, too glossy, and too obsessed with celebrity. I bet their list reflects all of those things too.

It's an interesting exercise comparing the various lists. My thesis before I go in is that Mojo will have more albums on it that I either own and love or will own and love soon!

Q - The cover folds out three times and features a bunch of talented people with some overhyped people and no one (I've checked carefully) is smiling - not even close! The mirthless cover points to a fairly unfunny list of the decades top 100 albums. To be fair in the comparison I've only checked the top 50 for my purchases. With that I've bought 12 of them. The top ten was as follows:
10 Johnny Cash - American IV: Man Comes Around
9 Radiohead - Kid A
8 Jay-Z - The Blueprint
7 Green Day - American Idiot
6 Arcade Fire - Funeral
5 Coldplay - Viva La Vida
4 The White Stripes - Elephant
3 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
2 The Strokes - Is This It

As well as a top 10 of 2009 (see below), Rolling Stone also had a top 50 of the decade thing going and I did about the same - 11 of their classics are in the lock up in Stratford. Their top 10:
10Kanye West - The College Dropout
9 M.I.A. - Kala
8 Bob Dylan - Modern Times
7 Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
6 Arcade Fire - Funeral
5 The White Stripes - Elephant
4 Jay-Z - The Blueprint
3 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2 The Strokes - Is This It
1 Radiohead - Kid A (like I said - too American - this is the only Brit).

This edition of Mojo listed the top 50 albums of 2009. Of them I actually bought a measly 5. The top 10 are (with the RS top 10 next to them):
10 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (RS Sonic Youth = The Eternal)
9 Madness - The Liberty of Norton Folgate (RS The XX - The XX)
8 F**** Buttons - Tarot Sport (RS The-Dream - Love vs Money)
7 Florence and the Machine - Lungs (RS Neko Case - Middle Cyclone)
6 Bob Dylan - Together Through Life (RS Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca)
5 Tinariwen -Imidiwan: Companions (RS Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown)
4 The Horrors - Primary Colours (RS Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3)
3 Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter (RS Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
2 Bill Calahan - Sometimes I Wish we Were an Eagle (RS Bruce Springsteen - Working of a Dream)
1 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (RS U2 - No Line on the Horizon)

Un sentier d"alliance

Anouar Brahem ( أنور ابراهم ) plays the oud. And he plays it superbly. I don't know much about him or about ouds actually, so I did some research.

Turns out he was born a few weeks after me in 1957. He was born in the town of Halfouine in the Medina of Tunis, Tunisia and, according to wikipedia, he 'fuses Arab classical music, folk music and jazz'.

He began playing in 1967, age 10, and at age 18 he decided to devote himself to music. He produced his first album in 1991 (Malcolm Gladwell would smile here - another example of the 10,000 hours to become an expert idea).

And the oud? Well this pear-shaped, stringed instrument commonly used in Middle Eastern music that is often seen as the predecessor of the western lute, has been around for the last 5,000 years!!!

The nearby souq has a shop displaying various ouds and has an area for repairs. I love the look of the oud and listening to a master player like Anouar Brahem is a joy.

His albums (all on ECM) =
1991 - Barzakh
1992 - Conte de l'Incroyable Amour
1994 - Madar
1995 - Khomsa
1998 - Thimar
2000 - Astrakan Café
2002 - Charmediterranéen
2002 - Le Pas du Chat Noir
2006 - Voyage de Sahar
2009 - The Astounding Eyes of Rita

Here are a few clips to whet your appetite.

Tributaries (Keith Jarrett)

Okay, I admit it. I'm terrified of the ECM jazz catalogue. I know I'm unworthy. It's such a beast (over a thousand albums in the archive). The (usually fantastic) arty sleeves give you no clue, the names of the artists are usually exotic (Arvo Part? Anouar Braheim?), and the names that are accessible (Keith Jarrett, Pat Methany) have released tons of albums and I have no idea which are the good ones without a guide (for instance - Roger gave me a copy of The Koln Concert and it's brilliant).

So when I came across a pile of ECM CDs in the local souq (market) I freaked out somewhat. For a starter it was so bizarre to find amongst the exotic spices, watches, fabrics and eateries a pile of jazz CDs from Germany!! I am managing to sift through them slowly but it's such uncharted water for me. I enlisted the internet and here's a list of someone's recommendations on Jazzcorner.com.

1. Dave Holland Big Band - What Goes Around (2002)
2. Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin - Stoa (2006)
3. Paul Motian - Garden of Eden (2006)
4. Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin - Holon (2008)
5. John Abercrombie - Cat 'n' Mouse (2002)
6. Louis Sclavis - Napoli's Walls (2003)
7. Dave Holland Quintet - Extended Play / Live at Birdland (2003)
8. Jacob Young - Sideways (2007)
9. Tomasz Stanko Quartet - Lontano (2006)
10. Cyminology - As Ney (2009)
11. Trio Beyond (DeJohnette, Goldings, Scofield) - Saudades (2006)
12. Wolfert Brederode - Currents (2008)
13. Terje Rypdal - Vossabrygg (2006)
14. John Abercrombie - The Third Quartet (2007)
15. Arve Henriksen - Cartography (2008)
16. Arild Andersen - Live at Belleville (2008)
17. Charles Lloyd - Hyperion With Higgins (2001)
18. Tord Gustavsen- Being There (2007)
19. Vladimír Godár - Mater (2006)
20. John Surman - Brewster's Rooster (2009)
21. Charles Lloyd - Rabo de Nube (2008)
22. Louis Sclavis - L'Imparfait des Langues (2007)
23. David Torn – Prezens (2007)
24. Arild Andersen Group - Electra (2005)
25. Tomasz Stanko - Suspended Night (2004)

Mojo recently did a Top 10 in their 'How to buy...' series - and that helped too. But I still feel overwhelmed by the ECM catalogue.

Here are a few clips of worthiness I found, using these sources as a guide.

Great guitar clip - check this bloke out!

I'd like to be somebody else and not know where I've been, I'd like to build myself a house out of plasticine

It has been a long time hasn't it; that does mean peace, not... (to quote Jimi). If you check my other blogsites you'll know why - mainly planning a move to Qatar from New Zealand. That's where I am now - Doha in Qatar and my musical habits have changed. A lot!

I bought an ipod classic (black one left) before leaving NZ and loaded some CDs on it - 30 gigabites worth = because I'm not sure when I'll see my collection again. Could be a while - who knows. That was traumatic enough on its own. I'm not a fan of the compressed MP3 sound but it beats lugging vinyl half way around the world.

I also bought a (reasonable sounding) docking station in NZ and in Doha I bought an armband to hold the ipod while I use the gym at the hotel complex I'm staying in for the next few months.

This is different to blasting away the music at home in Stratford. The volume has to be measured and the content has to suit both my wife and youngest daughter who came with me. Those waters are next to impossible to navigate so I reserve the headbanger stuff for the gym.

Also different is the opportunity to buy music in Doha - only three places I've found. A Virgin megastore at Villaggio mall; a CD/DVD store at the Hyatt Plaza mall; and a tiny little place next the cinema multiplex at the City Center mall.

As a consequence of all this I've only bought two CDs since we left in late November. That's a record - I'm not sure how I've coped. The two CDs? Rory Gallagher BBC Sessions and another called Chill n'Jazz - various obscure artists. I haven't heard them yet - I need to burn them to my ipod first. If I listen to them on tinny computer speakers I'll instantly be disappointed.

I'll report back on Chill n'Jazz as soon as I can.

Currently grooving to Crowded House in the apartment and Cold Chisel in the gym. Rock on!!