Plush (1993) – Stone Temple Pilots

Posted on April 6, 2024 by observationblogger — 17 Comments
Scott Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots during 1993 MTV Movie Awards at Sony Studios in Culver City, California

The Stone Temple Pilots (STP) were one of pioneering grunge / alt-rock groups that arose in the early 1990’s and coursed a new path for music. As I mentioned in other posts; in my new found independence of young adulthood, my league of friends and I burrowed our way into this scene with such fervor like there was no turning back. There existed at the time in the CBD of Canberra, Australia, these shabby dives (if you looked hard enough) which only played and supported alt rock music. That’s where we went on the weekends to watch local garage bands emulate this ‘Seattle’ – alternative rock sound forged by groups like STP, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Alice in Chains & Live.

Today’s featured song Plush was one of the principal songs of this new movement which we devoured. Plush, sounded, looked, tasted and felt more Grunge than just about any other song we could think of. For me at least, this song sits as one of ‘archetypal’ music exhibits for this newly forged genre. Also this song became the number-one song of 1993 in the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
Other followers of this music may have their own ‘exemplars’ which embody their fascination of the scene. Songs from Nirvana, for example might consist of the most cited for a lot of people.

[Verse 1]
And I feel that time’s a wasted go
So where you goin’ till tomorrow?
And I see that these are lies to come
So would you even care?

[Pre-Chorus]
And I feel it
And I feel it

[Chorus]
Where you goin’ for tomorrow?
Where you goin’ with the mask I found?
And I feel, and I feel when the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?

[Verse 2]
And I feel so much depends on the weather
So is it rainin’ in your bedroom?
And I see that these are the eyes of disarray
So would you even care?

Plush was released as the second single from the band’s 1992 debut studio album, Core, in August 1993 and became their first single to top the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart; and as aforementioned it went on to become that listing’s number-one song of 1993. According to the Wikipedia article below: the lyrics were loosely based on a newspaper article by the late Scott Weiland (lead singer) who read about a girl who had been found dead after having been kidnapped in the early 1990s. Weiland had also said that the song’s lyrics are a metaphor for a failed relationship.

Below is the award-winning music video, directed by Josh Taft, which was released in 1993. It had a heavy rotation on MTV. ‘It combines a visual interpretation of the song’s lyrics with footage of Weiland singing with the band as a lounge act in an empty bar‘. 

References:
1. Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Plush’ Tops LyricFind Chart After Scott Weiland’s Death – Wikipedia
2. Plush (song) – Wikipedia

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The Road (2009) – John Hillcoat (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on April 5, 2024 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

  • The Man: Listen, we have to talk. That man back there… There’s not many good guys left, that’s all. We have to watch out for the bad guys. We have to just… keep carrying the fire.
  • The Boy: What fire?
  • The Man: The fire inside you.

Many years ago, I read the Cormac McCarthy novel from which today’s featured movie The Road was adapted. Cormac McCarthy is the author of No Country for Old Men which the Coen Brothers adapted for the screen in their Best Picture Oscar winning masterpiece. I’m not a buff of the ‘post-apocalypse movie’ so I had been holding off to see The Road. When I had nothing else better to do, I saw a recent viewing of it on the Film & Arts channel.

Movie Info:
A man and his young son struggle to survive after an unspecified catastrophe results in an extinction event which caused the death of all plant life and virtually all animal life. The man and boy travel on a road to the coast in hope that they can find safe haven, scavenging for supplies in their journey, and avoiding roaming cannibalistic rape gangs armed with guns.

I’m happy to write I was very impressed by The Road. It is a relatively faithful adaption of the novel although not as bleak and that’s a good thing since a 100% faithful adaptation would have been too heavy to watch. It focuses more on the emotional impact of the unspecified Armageddon; and while at times remaining very upsetting, it is shot through a lens of hope rather than despair. Mortensen is a given to be an actor embedded in his character, so much so that when he takes off his shirt we see his bony torso as being really that, and watching him is magnetic.

The name of the game is Survival, although none can say what the point of it is. The food is gone, and clearly no more will be growing. Humans are apparently the only animals to survive the unnamed global disaster, so they represent the sole remaining, rapidly dwindling source of protein. The voices you hear approaching are not the ‘Red Cross’. There is one scene described below which I found especially creepy, yet gripping and what I consider the pinnacle of the movie experience…Spoiler Alert!:

Exploring a mansion, the father and the boy discover people locked in the basement, imprisoned as food for their captors. When the cannibals return, the man and his son hide. With discovery imminent, the man prepares to shoot his son, but they flee when the cannibals are distracted by the escaping captives.

The circumstances of the apocalyptic event are never explained. Director John Hillcoat said “That’s what makes it more realistic, then it immediately becomes about survival and how you get through each day as opposed to what actually happened.”
The film had a budget of $20 million. Hillcoat preferred to shoot in real locations, saying “We didn’t want to go the CGI world.” Pennsylvania, where most of the filming took place, was chosen for its tax breaks and its abundance of locations that looked abandoned or decayed: coalfields, dunes, and run-down parts of Pittsburgh and neighboring boroughs.

References:
1. The Road (2009 film) – Wikipedia
2. The Road (2009) – IMDB

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Leap of Faith (1992) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on April 4, 2024 by observationblogger — 21 Comments

Bruce is in a spiritual frenzy on Leap of Faith which was released on the latter of his double release albums Human Touch / Lucky Town. He goes the extra yard and is in full -gusto as he celebrates entering a new phase of his life. I always agreed with the Rolling Stone‘s review of the double release which argued ‘the aims of the two albums would have been better realized by a single, more carefully shaped collection‘.
There at least ten songs from both albums that could have been combined to form one classic Springsteen album to rival his best ever. Lucky Town on its own contains the following 6 songs (from 10) I have included in my Music Library Project; all but today’s song remains:

It would never have occurred to me when I undertook this project (and it seems revelatory to me now based on this 0.6 percentile inclusion of music from this record), that according to my musical appreciation, Lucky Town is a top-tier Bruce release. Also how the magnificent Happy was left off the record is anyone’s guess. And yet still, a lot of Bruce fans loath this era. Springsteen said in the 90’s ‘ I tried to write happy songs & the public just didn’t like it ‘ But I think Lucky Town has aged gracefully!
The only other records (for mine) by Bruce which could rival that inclusion rate are:

[Verse 1]
All over the world the rain was pourin’
I was scratchin’ where it itched
Oh, heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring
So I grabbed you, baby, like a wild pitch

[Chorus]
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith, you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart, you must trust

[Verse 2]
Now your legs were heaven, your breasts were the altar
Your body was the holy land
You shouted “jump,” but my heart faltered
You laughed and said, “Baby, don’t you understand?”

[Bridge]
Now you were the Red Sea, I was Moses
I kissed you and slipped into a bed of roses
The waters parted and love rushed inside
I was Jesus’ son, yeah, sanctified

[Verse 3]
Tonight the moon’s looking young, but I’m feelin’ younger
‘Neath a veil of dreams, sweet blessings rain
Honey, I can feel the first breeze of summer
And in your love, I’m born again

The other astounding little known Springsteen fact are that the ten songs on Lucky Town were derivatives of the initial Human Touch project. He shelved the project in early 1991 and came back to it in September of the same year intending to record one more song for the Human Touch album (“Living Proof“), but he ended up with 10 new songs. Once he completed the sessions, he decided to put the 10 new songs on a separate album, which became Lucky Town. Lucky Town peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for over one million copies sold in the US.

I have chosen below the effervescent live MTV plugged version of today’s song Leap of Faith which demonstrates everything that is great about Springsteen, and a Springsteen concert – at least according to those I have spoken to here who have seen him live.

References:
1. Lucky Town – Wikipedia

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Many Mirrors (2022) – Alvvays

Posted on April 3, 2024 by observationblogger — 15 Comments
Alvvays (from left): Abbey Blackwell, Sheridan Riley, Molly Rankin, Alec O’Hanley, Kerri MacLellan

What did Alvvays say about Many Mirrors?
That’s a hopeful song about getting through whatever obstacles and rough times together, and coming out of it on the other side, looking at each other, being amazed that we’re still there. It makes me feel good when I think about our band… It surprises me all the time, but here we are.
– Molly Rankin, Rolling Stone

I don’t think I’ve heard a song I dislike from this Canadian group Alvvays. I’m a big fan of Alvvays’ instant-classic 2014 debut album, but this 2022 song is also some sweet indiepop. This is the fifth time they have appeared here, but today’s featured song Many Mirrors is the first from their latest album Blue Rev; their first album since Antisocialites in 2017. I find Alvvays music pleasantly infectious and they possess impressive musicianship too; just take a look at their various live performances on KEXP, like the video at the bottom of this post.

[Chorus]
Now that we’ve passed through many mirrors
I can’t believe we’re still the same
Now that we’ve passed through many mirrors
I can’t believe we’re still the same

[Refrain]
Light years away and you’ve got
So much life to offer in you
Wild out of the place, you called me
Someone figured it out before you
Long time flame and you’ve got
So much life to offer in you
Wild out of the place, you called me

[Chorus]
Now that we’ve passed through many mirrors
I can’t believe we’re still the same

(Read the remainder here)

Rolling Stone described Molly Rankin as one of her generation’s most sparkling lyricists, tracing tender feelings with perfectly understated wit set to bittersweet indie-pop melodies. Underneath the humor and hum of Blue Rev are Rankin’s memories of Cape Breton, where she grew up as part of a celebrated musical family. “The culture there is very unique in that Kerri and I spent the majority of our youth at Celtic square dances with elderly people,” she says. “I don’t know. I guess I do miss Cape Breton a lot.” You can find more information about the Rankin family and Cape Breton at this fascinating post – Music representing the dissonance of loss: Molly Rankin and ‘Archie, Marry Me’

Blue Rev received widespread acclaim from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 86, based on 15 reviews.

References::
1. ‘Ready for Some Levity’: Alvvays Brighten Up Their Indie-Pop Dream – RollingStone

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Pretty Peggy-O (1962) – Bob Dylan

Posted on April 2, 2024 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

Pretty Peggy-O is the second song presented here from Bob Dylan’s debut record after the previous entry Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. For me Pretty Peggy-O was the surprise packet upon rehearing the record many years later. Understandably the songs like Song to Woody (an ode to his folk hero Woody Guthrie who was a significant influence in his early career) and his rendition of House of the Risin’ Sun may be more widely recognised but today I would like to focus on this lesser known traditional folk song. Pretty Peggy-O is perky and animated and I can’t help but admire Dylan’s brazen, but high-spirited harmonica playing here. There are also some amusing expressions which I get a buzz out of.

Peggy-O is a southern american version arranged for the harmonica of an unattributed Scottish folk song The Bonnie Lass o’ Fyvie. It is about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a girl. He starts off the song with the introduction “I’ve been around this whole country but I never yet found Fennario“, as a playful remark on the fact that the song has been borrowed and cut off its original “setting”. Dylan began playing the song live again in the 90s, using the lyrics and melody of the Grateful Dead version.

I’ve been around this whole country
But I never yet found Fennario

Well, as we marched down, as we marched down
Well, as we marched down to Fennerio’
Well, our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove
The name that she had was pretty Peggy-O

Well, what will your mother say, what will your mother say?
What will your mother say, pretty Peggy-O?
What will your mother say to know you’re going away?
You’re never, never, never coming back-io? (Read the remainder here)

The following is cherry picked from the second Wikipedia reference below:

Bob Dylan’s debut album was produced by John H. Hammond who had earlier signed Dylan to the label, a controversial decision at the time. Dylan met John Hammond at a rehearsal session for Carolyn Hester on September 14, 1961. Hester had invited Dylan to the session as a harmonica player, and Hammond approved him as a session player after hearing him rehearse, with recommendations from his son, musician John P. Hammond, and from Liam Clancy. Hammond later told Robert Shelton that he decided to sign Dylan “on the spot” and invited him to the Columbia offices for a more formal audition recording.

The album was ultimately recorded in three short afternoon sessions on November 20 and 22 at Columbia’s 7th Avenue studio. Hammond later joked that Columbia spent “about $402” to record it, and the figure has entered the Dylan legend as its actual cost. Despite the low cost and short amount of time, Dylan was still difficult to record, according to Hammond. “Bobby popped every p, hissed every s, and habitually wandered off mike,” recalls Hammond. “Even more frustrating, he refused to learn from his mistakes. It occurred to me at the time that I’d never worked with anyone so undisciplined before.”
The album did not receive much attention at first, but it achieved some popularity following the growth of Dylan’s career, charting in the UK three years after its release, reaching No.13.

References:
1. The Bonnie Lass o’ Fyvie – Wikipedia
2. Bob Dylan (album) – Wikipedia

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I Try To Act as if God Exists – Jordan Peterson

Posted on March 31, 2024 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

It’s Good Sunday. I have followed Jordan Peterson since the 2017 university fall-out and posted a lot about him. I like this video like I do the previous one from Ben Shapiro. He doesn’t seem like a false prophet nor a ferocious wolf. He’s a decent human whose being struggling with questions like many of us. It’s a good thing.

“I don’t think the world is made out of matter. I think it’s made out of what matters“

It reminds me of the post I wrote about the Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh.

‘Seeing suffering in another will bring you to compassion as a power to heal you and then the other person. To meditate means to generate that energy of compassion‘.

‘When people create this at the same time we can create a collective mindfulness and compassion. When this goes to your heart, you get the compassion‘.

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These Fish Have Manners (Good Friday Edition)

Posted on March 29, 2024 by observationblogger — 9 Comments

I’m sorry, but it’s a fact! – that there is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people. These fish have manners. These fish have manners. In fact, they’re coming with me. I’m starting a new company, and the fish will come with me. You can call me sentimental.

Jerry Maguire 1996, see clip here. 

Ben Shapiro raised a point in his discussion at 3.20 (below) with Russell Brand about how Christians and Jews act out their faiths. Shapiro even admits before he goes on, that this is his Jewish interpretation. Personally, I feel so attuned with what he said and yet I imagine few people are cognisant of it. I’ll quote parts of Ben’s message below:

What Judaism says, you are a human being with a capacity for great good and great evil….These things a battling in you literally at all times. And what your job is to do, regardless of what you believe, you do the thing. The thing that is front of you is the thing that you do. So, we have these arcane set of rules to reify (?) the presence of God in your life. Even if you don’t recognise that is what it’s doing, by you doing these things over and over you are cultivating virtue through action. So it’s like you reach God by doing the thing.

I think Christianity comes at it from the other way. There’s reward in it and a risk in it. Christianity says you believe the thing, then you do the thing. Judaism says you do the thing therefore you believe the thing…. The access point for Christianity is a lot easier..you experience a transcendent moment and the moment is supposed to animate your life. The danger is transcendent moments disappear real fast…5 minutes from now you are not feeling God. That’s the book of Exodus. They receive the ten commandments and five minutes later they are building a golden cow.

But I think the gap has been sort of closed in the sense Christianity re-ritualised a lot of things. Christians still go to church even if they are not feeling it that day. They are still going to give charity even if they are not feeling it that day…all discipline is this.

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Whistle Down the Wind (1961) – Bryan Forbes (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on March 28, 2024 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

  • Charles: Who’s that? Who’s that fellah?
  • Nan: It’s not a ‘fellah’; it’s Jesus.
  • Charles: That i’n’t Jesus!
  • Nan: Well, is too, Mr. clever dick!
  • Charles: Jesus wore a long dress!
  • Kathy: Well, that was in them days.

Whistle Down the Wind is an apt movie to present here on Good Friday. It is also my first recalling of a movie which impacted me as a youngster. As someone as curiously engaged as the young actors, I found myself wanting to believe. This movie didn’t seem to have a trounce of adult sensibility impinging it which led Whistle Down the Wind to feeling like a real and enchanting childhood adventure where the stakes couldn’t be higher even for a naive viewer such as myself.

IMDB Storyline:
Little Kathy (Hayley Mills) discovers a man wanted for murder hiding in her family’s barn. When she asks him who he is, he says Jesus Christ just before he goes unconscious. Kathy and her siblings are convinced that he is Jesus, and try to hide him from grown-ups.

I remember seeing the magnificent childhood actress Hayley Mills play Pollyanna way back when and it was a terrific film. Whistle Down the Wind also seemed to me to be a great film as it dealt with the deepest questions of my little human existence up to that point, like belief, faith, and the meaning of love. I loved the photography of the bleak Lancashire countryside and the facial expressions of the actors interacting naturally, curious and questioning. In many ways the film is an elegy for a lost part of a former youth where we roamed the lands freely and the nearest telephone was back at your house which could be miles away. You lived in relative material poverty but with strong familial love, and the simple pleasures of life are enjoyed – playing in the open air.

The film has since been broadcast for the general public as seen below. I admit my rewatching of the film as an adult four decades later was a sobering and a detached experience since it didn’t correlate with my fascination of it in my youth. It was a sad realisation in all because I couldn’t recall that allure and mystique in my psyche of the children having found a criminal in their barn. I could only think Kathy, you silly girl.

Young Kathy like I once felt, needed to believe in him, even after the police come to cart him away. He even drops a picture of the Savior, which seems to symbolize not only the prisoner’s fall from grace but one more sign for Kathy that, yes, this mysterious man might be Him. Whistle Down the Wind is a hard-shelled movie that says we lose hope and faith as we mature.

References:
1. Whistle Down The Wind – IMDB

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I’m Alright (1998) – Terri Clark

Posted on March 27, 2024 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

Referring to her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on the 18th of May, 2023 alongside the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Anne Murray, Terri Clark recalled ‘There’s not a lot of country artists in there. The last one was Shania Twain in 2011‘.

Today’s featured track I’m Alright is the final in the trilogy of songs (in fact the first 3 songs on the record) I added to the Music Library Project from Terri Clark’s 1998 record How I Feel. For more information on Terri Clark’s personal history and music backstory I refer you the first two song articles presented here: Now That I Found You and Everytime I Cry and her recent interview at the end of this post.
Nostalgic Italian wrote in response to my first song article on Terri Clark:

‘I have loved her stuff for a long time. I had the chance to interview and meet her and she is so down to earth. She’s a fantastic songwriter and singer. Great song.’

I wore out her album How I Feel after I procured it and I still like hearing these songs. Also I found out years later, my brother also remains very fond of it. How I Feel, the third studio album by Terri Clark achieved two top 10 places on the US Billboard Country Charts and was certified platinum in both Canada and the US.

After all was said and done
There was nothing left to do
The hardest mile I ever walked
Was the one I walked away from you
So maybe I’m a little ragged around the edges
And I’ve been keeping a little more to myself these days but

Chorus
I’m alright
Shot down but I’m still standing
I’m alright
A little banged up from the fall
But I’m alright
Still shaky from the landing
I’m alright, after all

You know it’s really not that bad
No matter how bad it might feel
Cause there ain’t nothing time won’t fix
This ain’t nothing that some time won’t heal
So maybe I’ve been walking a little wounded
I move a little bit slower now but that’s okay cause…

Terri Clark’s albums have accounted for more than twenty singles, including six Number Ones. In 2004, Clark gained one of country music’s crowning achievements when she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. She was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2018 and as aforementioned a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on May, 18 2023.

At the end of this post you can find a very recent interview (Jul 7, 2023) with Terri Clark. She talked with On the Record about the journey to Nashville, playing on Broadway, and catching her big break after eight years.

References:
1. How I Feel (album) – Wikipedia
2. Terri Clark – Wikipedia

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Contigo (1998) – Rosana

Posted on March 26, 2024 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

Contigo (With You) was the first song by the Spanish singer songwriter Rosana recommended to me, but it is the third so far presented here after Llegaremos a Tiempo and Pa´ ti no Estoy. It comes from Rosana’s second album Luna Nueva (New Moon) where it is said most the songs emerged from ‘magical nights’. This pop/acoustic genre album is a mature and deep album that maintains the freshness, naturalness and feeling which characterise Rosana. It was recorded in Miami, Spain and Italy. The album entered directly at number 1 in sales in Spain and Latin America, and sold 1,600000 copies.

As you can read from the lyrics below, this song has an alluring essence and great romanticism. Rosana has never abandoned this authentic yet simple style or been corrupted by new trends. Also, what a beautiful voice, so sweet, so tender. Contigo (With You) is a heartfelt song which describes the pure love we all long for and dream of, even if it never comes to us.

A crude English translation follows:

all the salt
all the sugar
all the wine
all my life, I only wish
to live it with you
all the light
all the dark
everything I write
All the way, I burn with desires
to walk it with you

With your love, I feel calm
And on the river bank
Your heat grabs me and fills me
The soul of light and dew
With your love I feel like
In the five senses
And you take me so far, that I barely
remember where we come from
all the heat
all the clouds
All the cold
All the rain, I burn with desires
to get wet with you
All the love
all the memory
Everything I forget
All the silence become songs

sleeping with you
All the flavor
All the perfume
Everything I long for
All the seas, I only wish
Browse them with you
Everything without more
I also ask for eternity
Life or punishment, I only wish to have it with you
Life or punishment, I only wish to drink it with you
Life or punishment, I only wish to die with you!

Rosana (Rosana Arbelo Gopar) was born in Lanzarote, Canary Islands. She is the youngest in a family of eight siblings. At 5 years old her father gave her her first guitar and at 8 she composed her first song. At age 20 she moved to Madrid where she studied harmony and guitar. At the beginning of 1996 and encouraged by her friends, she decided to sing her own compositions herself and sent a demo to MCA, where she got a record contract. Her natural talent for composing and performing songs made her one of the most successful Spanish music artists of the 90’s.

References:
1. Rosana – Wikipedia
2. Luna nueva (álbum de Rosana) – Wikipedia

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