An album review (20 years too late)

Almost everybody on my list knows that I LOVE music.  Those of you who know my parents probably assume that my love of music comes from my mother, who is a classically trained soprano with a masters degree from New England Conservatory of music.

But actually, I think my father had as much of an influence on my musical development as my mom did.  The "Old Man" has a pretty impressive collection of vinyl records, everything from Bach to Peter, Paul, & Mary.  There might even be an copy of the Beatles' "Help!" in the mix.  How about that? an original vinyl copy of "Help!. 

I remember Saturday afternoons, Dad would make us soup for lunch and spend the afternoon "DJing" Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, the Kingston Trio, and others for us.  I remember learning that he "didn't like rock'n'roll" (not true, he loves good rock), and I remember telling him that I was going to grow up to be a Lawyer and own a rock'n'roll radio station.

I can also remember being very excited when I got my first "real" rock'n'roll album, Graceland, by Paul Simon.  I don't know when it was given to me but I think it was shortly after it came out.  Back then, I didn't care much about the track titles, I doubt I could name a single one back then.  But I dug the hard beat of the first track ("Boy in the Bubble",) the happy guitar riff of the song about "Your Life is on Fire" ("Crazy Love, Vol II") and that funky accordion beat in a song that mentioned something about slamming into a brick wall ("Gumboots.")  (In fact, I wonder if it wasn't Graceland that got me first interested in the accordion!)

I also didn't care about the political implications of Apartheid and until just the other day I didn't know that Simon had taken some flack for recording in South Africa before the end of Apartheid, although the UN Apartheid Committee released a statement in support of Simon pointing out that he was showcasing Black South African talent and offering no support to the South African Government.  From the Wikipedia entry for Graceland "Simon faced accusations that he had broken the cultural boycott imposed by Western democracies against the apartheid regime in South Africa. This view was not supported by the United Nations Anti-Apartheid Committee, as the album showcased the talents of the black South African musicians while offering no support to the South African government."

Over the years, I kind of forgot Graceland, I don't know why, I guess my musical Horizons broadened and my friend Aaron got me into Hendrix and then I went through a Beatles phase in which I lived, breathed, and ate Beatles.  Then I got into "oldies" and wouldn't listen to anything recorded after about 1975.  But then I started listening to KFOG 104.5, which is the best FM station in the Bay Area.  They play a mix of Old and New music and what do you know, they occasionally play some tracks from Graceland.  One track they play quite often is "Under African Skies," a great track off of Graceland which is a duet that Simon did with Linda Ronstadt.  Its got a very bouncy, African beat that I think is beautiful.  I think there is a lot of hope on the Album, I hear it in the music.  Maybe it is because Simon was trying to send a message that Apartheid could be ended, maybe he felt good about showing off the musical talents of Ladysmith Black Mumbazo, the South African a Capella chorus who accompanies many of the tracks.  Perhaps I am feeling the excitement that the Black musicians must have felt as they sensed they were striking a blow to the Apartheid system.  Apartheid fell a mere five years after the release of Graceland and there must have been some sense of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Recently, one of the tracks off of the album, "Under African Skies," has been "Haunting"  me and I finally Downloaded it from RealPlayer the other day, along with a few other tracks from Graceland (RealPlayer is a lot like iTunes, which allows me to DL songs LEGALLY.)  The nice thing about these tracks is that they are cheaper than usual Downloads on Realplayer.  Usually, music costs $.99/track to download, but for some reason, the tracks on Graceland are thirty cents cheaper, which is really nice.  I've been tempted to just outright download the whole album, which I could do for seven bucks and that would actually save me some money rather than DLing it track by track, but I don't think I "need" the whole album and so I think I may actually save a few dollars this way.  Right now I have only DLed five tracks, although I am sure that if I let myself I would DL the whole album, but I need discipline and so for now I am going to be satisfied (and grateful) for what I have.

I am sure some of you know and love this wonderful album, but perhaps some of you have never heard it, so if you are in the latter group, open up your Music software and download a few songs from Graceland.  Make sure you DL the track called "Homeless," it is a beautiful track.

NOTE: I am sure many of you have I-Tunes or RealPlayer, but if you don't, iTunes can be DLed for free @ http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/.  I am a loser and I run Windows ME, so I have to use RealPlayer, http://www.real.com/, because iTunes won't play ball with Windows ME.


OUT!

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