Category: Music

She didn’t do her usual lecture about the importance of maintaining good dental hygiene, but Patti Smith at the Masonic (“My Sonic”) last night did rock the entirety of “Horses” (which just turned 50), and it was glorious. Birdland has always been my favorite track from that album – epic original Beat poetry set to a rocking dirge – and it sounded even better than the album version, IMO. Amazing to learn that “Break It Up” was inspired by a dream Patti had written in her notebook about walking out of a forest and into a clearing, where there was a marble statue with a butterfly inside. Patti realized the butterfly was the ghost of Jim Morrison and was encouraging it to break out of the statue – “Break it up! Break it up!” I loved how lovingly she narrated the experience of turning the record over and dropping the needle on side 2, when they got to that part of the performance. Amazing rendering of “Because the Night” toward the end. She talked some about her relationship with Fred “Sonic” Smith and it got me wondering – Patti was already a Smith before meeting Fred, who was also a Smith. She rocked so hard I mostly forgot how old she was – 79, if my math is right. May we all keep the freak flag flying like Patti.

This is a radically shortened version of my Medium piece Spotify vs. Apple Music (Why I Can’t Switch)

I see Apple Music as having six major advantages over Spotify:

• Better audio quality (but not by a landslide). This is not just my subjective impression – Google it for verification.
• 100,000 track max library size, compared to 10,000 at Spotify (that’s a deal breaker for me – I could not even fit my “favorite tracks” into a Spotify library).
• Full-screen album covers instead of being forced to view tiny thumbnails (sorry, but cover art is really important to me, maybe I’m just old school). Though in the switch from iTunes to Music, cover art is now limited to 600px square, unfortunately.
• Freaking amazing query-based playlists (Smart Playlists). Spotify has nothing comparable.
• Ability to switch any view between Songs view, Albums view, Playlist view. IOTW you can view a Playlist as a collection of the albums they come from, etc.
• Vastly superior/easy to use integration of all of your out of print or manually digitized audio content into your cloud space. Spotify makes this difficult if not impossible. This is a deal breaker for people who spent years digitizing their LP and CD collections.

For me, it’s just no contest. I tried Spotify for a month and found it pretty lame in comparison, given that the pricing is pretty much identical. AM gives you a lot more for your money.

Way to go Apple! Friday is International Women’s Day, and I just realized the entirety of the “Browse” section in Apple Music right now is comprised of female artists, female bands, playlists by women featuring music by women (but for everyone). Nicely done!

I hear the radio it’s finally gonna play *new* music
You know the British Invasion
But what about The Minutemen Flesheaters DOA Big Boys and the Black Flag?
Will the last American band to get played on the radio please bring the flag? Please bring the flag!
Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school all that noble savage drum drum drum
Astronauts go back in time to hang out with the cave people
It’s about time it’s about space it’s about some people in the strangest places
Woody Guthrie sang about b-e-e-t-s not b-e-a-t-s

– X, “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts”

Not sure what to make of Elvis Costello’s “Look Now” tour (last night at the Masonic). His music has occupied a pretty big place in my life, mostly in his early years but on and off in decades since — Elvis is a stalwart. Of course every artist should be able to re-interpret their own music however they like, but there were a lot of moments last night when I felt like he was losing the plot in his own tracks. Butchering his own work, to be blunt. And he is faltering – missing a lot of vocal notes, playing some seriously bad guitar, and completely embarrassed himself at the piano for a while, sitting down without any apparent intent and noodling out scratch – you could feel the audience feeling embarrassed for him, and it was awkward. The Imposters felt like studio musicians, and all the real energy was coming from his backup singers. There were moments of greatness, and his voice is still both tender and punchy (when it’s not cracking). He says his recent prostate cancer surgery was blown out of proportion and that he’s fine. I’m so glad for that, but also thinking it might be time to retire gracefully. Hate to think that, but … hmm. Listening to his new album now, after the fact, and it’s heaps better than the performance was. Maybe it was just an off night? I’ve loved other performances of his over the years.

I’m way too late paying my respects to Hardy Fox, one of the anonymous eyeballs of The Residents, a band I stumbled upon as an adolescent browsing the dusty bins at SLO’s original Cheap Thrills in the Creamery. Duck Stab came first, but it was 1980’s “Commercial Album” that really got me – 60 tracks of exactly one minute each (ask me to recite a lyric). The intersection of surrealism and rock never let go – I still return to it from time to time. In 1989 I finally had the opportunity to see them live, in a performance that turned out to happen in a 400-yr-old German bank, floors and walls of white marble – it was the 3rd installment of the Mole Trilogy, and I was transported. Truthfully, I did not know the name Hardy Fox until he died, that’s how anonymous they were. But thank you Hardy, for a lifetime of strange music.

Super-enjoyed seeing David Byrne’s “American Utopia” tour at The Fox last night – minimalist but energetic. A dozen musicians on stage in gray suits, barefoot. No drum stand. No amps. No wires. Nothing but empty space for them to move in. Mostly quirky choreography, but some of it free-form. Body patterns, shadow dances, energy and sweat. Byrne still a force of nature, traces of the Stop Making Sense film. Have to confess I don’t love all of the new material, but half a dozen or so older Talking Heads tracks woven in – I Zimbra, Naive Melody, The Great Curve, Once In A Lifetime, Born Under Punches, Burning Down the House (ecstatic!). And resurrection of the protest song (there aren’t enough of these anymore, what happened?). Great night out.

Had a blast with Miles last night at Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra – his first stadium show, and it was a good one! A dozen musicians on stage, including two cellos and violin. Impeccable craftsmanship, no slippage in quality with the accumulated years – they hit every mark. Stellar acoustics, and possibly the best light show I’ve ever seen (an orchestra of electric light?) Lynne seems never to age. I mean seriously – check out pictures of him from 1971 and today! Highlights for me: Telephone Line, Evil Woman (“Medieval Woman?”), Turn to Stone, Mr. Blue Sky (can’t miss), 10538 Overture. Byzantine art-rock, baby. Sorely disappointed we didn’t get to hear my personal favorite, “Jungle” – gots to have that vibraslap!

Finally got around to writing something I’ve wanted to write for years: Why I can’t move to Spotify.

I was open to the experience, but the past two weeks experimenting with Spotify has been pretty disappointing. Game over. iTunes has “gotten” me for 15 years, no reason to jump ship now. I gave it the old college try.

Spotify vs. Apple Music (Why I Can’t Switch)