Synth Motion

Archive for May, 2009

Music’s power influences the human spirit and emotions should not be underestimated. Music has a great influence in all cultures and religions. Who has not had the experience of suddenly humming or moving to the rhythm of a tune heard for the first time long ago?

Many of the most important events in our lifes are commemorated with music. Those who have served in the military never forget the stirring cadence of a military march. Even decades later the sound of a military band will take the old veteran back to the days when his step was sure and strong and his new found confidence in his ability to defend his country and his buddies from harm knew no bounds.

Tunes often are associated with important events in our lives. Perhaps it is the song that you danced to at the high school prom with the person who later became your lifetime partner that still fans your passions. Perhaps it is the tune that was playing as you danced with your new spouse at your wedding party. It may be a song or two that was sung by a famous entertainer whose performance you were lucky enough to hear on your 30th birthday.

I still vividly remember seeing Elvis Presley perform near the end of his career. It was my friends birthday present to herself. I was her date for the evening and never expected to be so moved by ‘The King’s’ performance. But I was, and am still grateful to my friend for asking me to escort her to the live show.I wasn’t that much of an Elvis fan prior to his performance but had a far greater appreciation of his talent after seeing the master at work. What a show!

The Internet has created a new important venue for music. Lyrics to just about every song that has ever been written have been archived and can be easily accessed with an Internet search. The sharing of music files has been controversial all be it widespread. Legal means of gaining access to any type of music from Internet sources are under development and have lead to an entirely new growth industry.

The power of music can be a strong unifying force in a world that badly needs unification and cooperation on issues that affect us all. Peoples of the world should rejoice in the rich heritage that music brings to every culture. The sharing of ideas and music over the Internet only adds to the significance of music as a universal medium of communications.

People all over the world love their music. You can bet there is as much enthusiasm for a new Eminem rap song among Eminem fans as there is for classical jazz or a classical piano performance among more conventional music fans. There are different strokes for different folks as they say in Dixie and nowhere is this better illustrated than in the field of music.

However varied musicial tsstes may be amoung individuals we should consider the common thread that music weaves between all peoples and build upon that common ground to achieve a better understanding of how we are connected in our humanity.

People the world over have common basic needs and music is one of them.

One word describes the CD So What from Joe Walsh… AWESOME!

It’s a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I’m more than happy to announce that’s exactly what I must say about this one. There simply is NOT a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all.

Rock music fans will recognize some of the well known contributors on the project including Russ Kunkel and Randy Meisner plus a few other notables as well.

If you’re a Joe Walsh fan this is a CD your collection flat cannot be without. In fact, this is one of those CDs that you don’t even have to be a fan of Walsh, or even Rock to know is good. It’s just good music. Period.

While the entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 5 – All Night Laundry Mat Blues, track 7 – Help Me Thru The Night, and track 9 – Song For Emma

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Welcome To The Club. It’s a great track!

So What Release Notes:

Joe Walsh originally released So What on March 2, 1993 on the MCA Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Welcome To The Club 2. Falling Down 3. Pavanne (Pavane De La Belle Au Bois Dormant) 4. Time Out 5. All Night Laundry Mat Blues 6. Turn To Stone 7. Help Me Thru The Night 8. Country Fair 9. Song For Emma

Personnel: Joe Walsh (vocals, guitar, piano, Mellotron, synthesizers, bass, organ); Leonard Southwick (harmonica); Tom Stephenson (organ); James Bond (acoustic bass); Kenny Passarelli (bass); Bryan Garafolo (bass, background vocals); Joe Vitale, Ron Grinel, Russ Kunkel (drums); Guille Garcia (congas); Jody Boyer, Dan Fogelberg, J.D. Souther, Glen Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner (background vocals).

Engineers: Al Blazek, Bill Szymczyk, John Stronach.

Principally recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles, California; The Record Plant, Sausalito, California; The Record Plant, New York; Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida.

le have the same complaints about classical music and poetry. Some say classical music bores them and poetry just does not make any sense. In reality, they suffer a problem very similar to culture shock, or in other words, they have not learned how to appreciate poetry or classical music. I should be clear that most people fall into this category. Even people who have studied the arts often times do not put forth the energy required to appreciate some classical music or poetry. A look at how people listen and appreciate might help to understand what a listener or reader really has to do if they want to avoid being bored to tears by T. S. Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday” or Pier Gynt’s Hall of the Mountain King. How to Listen Spoiled by popular music, most people have never been taught how to listen to classical music. Popular music tends to consist of about three chords, has a repetitive ‘hook’, and nearly always consists of a four-four beat, three verses, and a chorus, except when it’s even simpler than that. Most popular music will repeat the important bits multiple times with a catchy rhythm just in case you didn’t hear it the first time, so you can learn the words to a song without ever really listening to it. In fact, anyone who happened to sit down and do nothing but listen intently to all the chord progressions, the lyrics, and the subtleties of the popular genre will most likely get really bored, really fast. Although they will come away knowing the song by heart. Which just emphasizes my point, popular music teaches all the wrong lessons for listening to classical music. Classical music also has a melodic ‘hook’, often call a motif. This motif goes around and around, but every time suffers important alterations. The casual listener often finds himself bored to tears as it seemingly repeats itself over and over, but only because s/he is only superficially listening. More careful attention reveals that the composer takes that melody and flips it upside down, sideways, backwards, high, low, fast, slow, and finally pulls it right side up again, all to the counterpoint of an entire orchestra. In other words, you cannot do other things while listening to classical music. Cleaning the house to the sound of the Beatles will work fine, but listening to Mozart’s Requiem with the vacuum cleaner going will make it range from inaudible to noise. The secret to enjoyment lies in paying attention and ignoring outside distractions. I won’t promise that this way of listening will make classical your favorite music, but at least you will know what you’ve been missing. Reading Poetry Poetry compares to popular novels like classical music compares to popular music. Reading a poem one time through and then saying, “I don’t get it” only emphasizes that s/he doesn’t know how to read poetry. Try the following process: Read the poem, read it again, stopping to take note of allusions and new words, look them up and read it again. You’ll appreciate it more. For more information on a classical music, visit http://concertmicroblog.com and http://poetrymicroblog.com