Five Songs For The Glorious Spring
Rain falls. Flowers bloom. Taxes due. More daylight. Sunshine. I can start to feel my toes again. I even open the windows and let in the fresh air. And the diesel fumes! Musicians love summer more, but a few had the guts to speak out for Spring. Let us applaud them.
"So Early Early In The Spring"--Judy Collins: Everything Judy Collins sings sounds like a nature study. It's that voice, that serious enunciation thing she's got going on, that feeling that if she hadn't become a folksinger she'd be a stern schoolmarm and take you to task for sticking your gum under the desk. Don't do it.
"The Rite Of Spring"--Igor Stravinsky: Can you believe that classical music could once cause a riot? These days it can't even keep people awake. Every public radio station that plays it knows better than to do so when it's pledge time. Then it's time to break out the Bob Dylan tapes and raise some money. But at one time Igor Stravinsky was like the Public Image Limited of his day, controversial and written about more than listened to. As all music should be.
"Spring Fever"--Elvis Presley: Someone mentioned to me recently that I never fit the King into my column. Oops. No disrespect intended. I'm told this track is from something called Harem Scarem which from my deep research I'm also told is not a good movie. Someone compared Elvis' acting ability to that of Keanu Reeves. Yikes!
"Spring"--Chemical Brothers: Ah, there was a time when the Chemical Brothers were considered the future of music. People with better jobs than me (i.e. everyone) told me how the music I liked would soon be old hat and that a new generation with new values were coming to take over. Turns out these people were right. But it's the Jonas Brothers not the Chemical ones who have come to redefine our reality. I need a sandwich.
"Spring Song"--Daevid Allen: Seventy years old now, Daevid Allen was once a pioneer in sound. His landlord was Robert Wyatt's dad and as a result Allen formed Soft Machine in lieu of rent. Then he screwed up his Visa and ended up forming the band Gong as a result. He has somehow outlived many of his contemporaries despite having made less money than most of them. So maybe, just maybe, money isn't everything.
They are a bit more objective over there.