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From to Awesome Liner Notes From Back in the Day

Lois M. Kirkpatrick

2 Copyright © 2019 Lois Kirkpatrick All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without express written permission from the author.

3 Back in the day, lovers used to buy physical they could hold in their hands. Back when music was mostly sold on vinyl records, liner notes were printed on the paper sleeves (or “liners”) inside the record jackets. Liner notes helped educate listeners about the music they were about to hear.

Sometimes liner notes described the artist’s inspiration for particular songs; at other times they explained the reasons the record was made. Some liner notes were soapboxes, giving writers a space to rant about pet peeves or political issues.

A few record companies began printing liner notes on the back covers of record jackets. These outside liner notes were often written by publicists, or promotional writers from the company’s marketing department. Their essays had the same purpose as the blurbs printed on the back covers of books: to get you to buy the product.

“The idea was to read the back of the record and decide if this was a piece you wanted to hear,” explains Tim Page, the Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic of The

Washington Post. Page has written more than 200 liner notes, and was nominated for a

Grammy award for liner notes in 2002.

Many of the rock records produced in the late ‘60s had no liner notes. “After awhile rock groups felt was very uncool to seem to be hyping the product,” Page says.

They wanted the music to speak for itself.

When the switched from vinyl records to cassette tapes in the

‘70s, even groups that wanted liner notes could no longer feature them on the back cover; there was no room. So liner notes reverted back to being a special feature that customers could only enjoy after buying the tape.

4 In the ‘80s and ‘90s, record labels began to reissue popular releases from rock’s early years. By this time, music critics had “started taking rock seriously,” Page says,

“and with rock reissues, liner notes are now expected.”

Along with reissues, liner notes are also usually featured on compilation CDs, box sets and tribute albums. For these occasions, they’re often written by famous music journalists, biographers or celebrities.

Jim Steinblatt runs the annual Deems Taylor awards for the American Society of

Composers, Authors and Publishers. (ASCAP, like BMI, is an organization that makes sure music creators get paid when their works are performed publicly.) Each year

ASCAP gives awards to liner notes writers. Steinblatt says, “liner notes are very in reissues, compilations and historic recordings – these naturally lend themselves to commentary.”

He explains that “Pop, rock and R&B reissues excite curiosity among listeners who want to understand ‘the back story’ behind these recordings.”

While liner notes have become almost mandatory on reissues and “greatest hits” releases, most original recordings by rap and pop artists don’t feature them.

“Most pop discs dispense with liner notes entirely these days,” says Tom Piazza, editor of Setting the Tempo: Fifty Years of Great Liner Notes. “The overall trend,” he adds, “is away from text in general -- in liner notes as in all aspects of media. Even in magazines, articles are getting shorter, and the layouts are more graphically oriented than text oriented.”

Page concurs that “we do have a growing problem in this country where some people just don’t read.”

5 “So many of the pop albums out now just list the order of the tracks and the words of the songs,” says ’s Senior Vice President of Awards,

Dianne Theriot. “They don’t go into the history and stories of the artists.”

Will this trend continue? Will record labels avoid including liner notes on work released by rock, rap and pop acts – until each artist has amassed enough hits for a retrospective? Or will labels include liner notes as a bonus feature on recordings by new artists, the way that commentary tracks are featured on ?

“I suppose that they may become a digitally-available option for download,”

ASCAP’s Steinblatt predicts. “I personally hope that the packaging and liner notes accompanying recordings do not disappear.” He adds: “I like to hold and look at something tangible when listening to a recording I've bought.”

“Award-Winning” vs. “Greatest”

Every year The Recording a Grammy for what their judges consider the best liner notes from the previous year. Liner notes for jazz, folk, classical or R&B box sets usually win the Grammy.

The Academy’s Theriot explains that Grammy-nominated liner notes feature original writing that includes “extensive notes, stories, research, legends, or how the album was recorded.” When trying to pick a Grammy winner from among the 200-plus liner notes sent in by record companies each year, the judging committee looks for well- researched writing that flows well and is relevant to the recording.

That’s not the case with the liner notes picked for this book.

6 The criteria used for deciding which liner notes got included on the following pages are these: the liner notes had to be cool, quirky or celebrity-inked. Even more importantly, they had to be available. The author scoured local brick-and-mortar stores, photocopied album jackets, and in some cases, bought the records in order to hand- transcribe their liner notes. Some liner notes had inscrutable lettering on oddly-colored paper, making them difficult to decipher. Care was taken to transcribe them exactly as written, so they are presented here with their original misspellings.

Enjoy 34 of the most awesome pop, rock and film liner notes of all time.

# # #

7 1. Artists: , Rob Zombie, Eddie Vedder with Zeke, ,

U2, KISS, Marilyn Manson, Garbage, , , Rancid, Pete

Yorn, The Offspring, Rooney, and Tom Waits

Liner Notes Author:

Album/CD: We’re a Happy Family: A the

2003 Sony

Sure, you know that Stephen King has written more than 40 novels and inspired more than 30 films and TV projects. If you’re a true fan of King’s “oeuvre,” you also know that the man has actual rock cred.

You know it not just based on the rock references planted throughout his books and movies. Nor because of the fact that he owns WKIT, a rock radio station in his adopted town of Bangor, Maine. You know that it’s also not just based on the fact that he’s worked on a Broadway musical with John Mellancamp.

You know that the man is, himself, a rocker.

Yes. Stephen King played and sang with The Rock Bottom

Remainders.

The Rock Bottom Remainders was a rock group made up almost entirely of bestselling authors. Its various lineups usually included , , Scott

Turow, , Ridley Pearson, Roy Blount, Jr. and others such as Simpsons creator .

The band debuted at the 1992 American Booksellers Association, an event which was described by The Washington Post as “the most heavily promoted musical debut

8 since .” The Remainders cemented their rocker cred by performing at the opening weekend of the Hall of Fame in in 1995.

The Remainders have even gotten Hall of Famers and Roger

McGuinn, the founder of , to perform with them. The Remainders produced a

CD, a video and a book: Mid- Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour

America With Three Chords and an Attitude.

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First of all I want to say that I liked and if you have a problem reading quote/unquote Liner Notes from someone who liked Disco, then it’s a bona fide case of tuff titty said the kitty. Second of all I need to say that I didn’t agree to do these quote/unquote Liner Notes because I thought WE’RE A HAPPY FAMILY, the CD you now hold in your sweaty little hands, would be particularly good. I agreed because I loved the Ramones from the first time I heard them, gabba- gabba-hey and all that, but even more importantly because Rob Zombie asked to do it and one rule of my life is NEVER SAY NO TO A MAN CALLED ZOMBIE. Also Mr. Zombie made HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, a movie for Ramones fans if there ever was one (you know it’s true even if all you know about it is the f***in’ title) and Universal Pitchers is just 2-chickensh** to release it and I thought I might get an advance look if I was on Mr. Zombie’s good side (I’m an optimist and thus believe he must have a good side).

[Note to reader: Paragraph breaks inserted by author.]

But tribute albums? Ogod, I thought. Usually just an occasion for RECORDING ARTISTES to cover songs they could not have thought up in the wildest wetdreams (you know it’s true). Also an opportunity for the record companies to do what they do best, which is to Rake In the Long Green. tribute album? Piece O’ Sh** (Elvis ain’t on it). tribute album? Not too bad, as it was from the movie HAIL HAIL ROCK AND ROLL. Little Richard tribute album? Not a Piece O’ Sh** because it hasn’t been made yet. When it has been, it will probably be a Piece O’ Sh**. But, I thought, I hafta give this thing at least 1 token listen, then I can write maybe 500 words (about the Ramones, not the record. I never thought I’d write about the record) and I might get to see Mr. Zombie’s movie. And at least, I thought, there are some good people on this record and it will be interesting to see how they f*** up the 3-chord majesty (okay, sometimes 4) of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Marky, and (plus C.J. and Richie). I look at the list of trax. Hmmm, I say, only one song over 4 minutes, a good sign. And while the Ramones probably never recorded a 4-minute song in their lives (at least on a stew-dio album), this one is by the Pretenders, who are great. Also I see a lot of people on this record who

9 might be able to do a Ramones song, since groups like The Offspring, Green Day, Garbage, Rancid, etc. kind of sprang from the collective forehead of the Ramones like Thor from the forehead of Zeus (or maybe I’m thinking about Bruce Banner & The Incredible Hulk). But they will f*** it up, I think. Every tribute album is a Piece O’ Sh**, this is the Fabled Automatic, like how if you drop your toast on the floor it always lands butter-side-down where the dog took a piss, or how you can’t get snot off a suede jacket. Only guess what? It’s good. This is the kind of record that you treasure. (And just by the way, I refuse to call recorded songs on round things CDs even if they are CDs, they’ll always be f***in’ records ). This is the kind of record you play until you’re sick of it and then put it away and find it five years in the trunk of your car or under a pile of crusty skivvies and wipe off the dried beer-scum and buff it up and stick it in your player and it sounds just as good as it did the first time. It’s a miracle. It’s impossible, but it’s also a fact. It’s a fine record. The reasons are two-fold. First, the Ramones made great rock and roll music from RAMONES in 1976 to ADIOS AMIGOS in 1995. Second, almost all the players on this record stuffed the Artistes business where the sun does not shine and just made great rock and roll. I think they did it because they respected what the Ramones were and what the Ramones did, which was to sort of save rock and roll, at least for a few more years. That brings us back to Disco. I told you we’d get here. I never had a bumper-sticker on my car saying DISCO SUCKS or DISCO IS DEAD, ROCK IS ROLLING. I wanted one, I was jealous of that in-your-face ‘tude, but I did not in fact believe Disco Sucked. As K.C. of K.C. and the Sunshine Band used to say, “That’s the way (oh-ho, uh-huh) I like it.” It wasn’t the only way I liked it, I’m not that sick a puppy, but yes. I did. Only remember, some people also like kudzu, a plant that grows on just about anything and strangles everything around it. Disco was musical kudzu. While I was playing my new WE’RE A HAPPY FAMILY record and getting ready to pen my Musicological Rumination, it occurred to me that Disco and the Ramones were pretty much simultaneous orgasms. I checked it out, and yep, it’s a fact. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER came out in 1977, the same year the Ramones released the sublime and the even sublimer . K.C. and the Sunshine band? Donna Summer? Same time- frame. And how can you not like songs like “Bad Girls,” “Keep It Comin’, Luv,” or “Disco Inferno,” by ? You can’t. Or at least I couldn’t not like them. But…kudzu, remember? Musical kudzu. Even while I was digging it I was understanding that Disco wasn’t rock and roll exactly, but…something else. The Ramones were rock and roll. “” was rock and roll. Donna Summer, that was what people listened to in the back of the limo while they snorted Peruvian Flake through $100s. The Ramones, on the other hand, sang about getting high on a budget: sniffing glue and huffing various household products like Carbona (“Carbona Not Glue” was cut from their second album). Disco was John Revolta in his white ice cream suit, doing these incredible steps while he looked lovingly down at his own reflection. The Ramones were about old leather jackets and ripped jeans (see 1st ). Disco was Donna Summer crooning “Ooooooooooh luvv to love you, baby.” The Ramones were about screaming until your lungs popped out your nose and just sort of hung there pulsing on your upper lip and banging your head until your f***in’ ears bled.

10 And the Ramones had more than a little range. Yes they did. There’s no rock and roll ballad ever written that’s more straight from the heart than “Danny Says.” (Not on this record, so solly, Cholly.) And what about “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend?” Sweet little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend – there’s nothing in the entire slick, big-bucks Disco catalogue as affecting as that one line. Do you love me back? What do you say? I say that maybe the Ramones, who never had a Top-10 hit, saved rock and roll when it needed saving, and I miss them. I never knew how much until I heard the songs on this record. And one other thing before I go. You heard a Ramones song and you wanted to play that song. Most people never get a chance. I did, because I happen to be in a band with a group of writers – the Rock Bottom Remainders, we call ourselves. At a gig in early 2002, I got to sing “Rockaway Beach” for about 1500 screaming people. “Rockaway Beach/You can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach.” And now that I think of it, maybe the biggest difference of all is hiding in that song – the difference between the Disco People, who probably would have killed rock and roll and walked away from the corpse without so much as a backward glance, and the Headbangers. Disco People put on their expensive disco clothes and went to Studio 54 or maybe the Peppermint Lounge. The Punkers and the Headbangers went to Rockaway Beach. Hitched to Rockaway Beach. Once my radio station in Bangor put on a Ramones (well, Cheap Trick headlined, but to me it was a Ramones concert). My wife and I went out to dinner with the band afterward. Joey ordered “Beef tornados.” And when the waiter went away, he (Joey) turned to me and said “F*** him if he don’t get it.” But Joey got his boeuf tournados and left the guy a $20 bill under his plate. And back in 1983 that was twenty dollars, son. They were a great band, and I miss them one hell of a lot more than I do Harry “K.C.” Casey and Donna Summer. Because some music is harder to make than other music, and in the end it means more. I don’t know if any of this makes sense to you, but it makes sense to my heart. Some bands are tough enough to make it on 3 chords & an attitude. Some bands are tough enough to be tender (“Sweet little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend”). Some bands are . The Ramones were one of those. This record is the proof. The people who play on it showed respect and made what’s almost a Ramones record. I they liked doing that. I bet they had fun. I did, playing “Rockaway Beach” and eating beef tornadoes with . I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Stephen King August 18, 2002

# # #

11 2. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Kurt Loder

Album/CD: Keith Richards: Live at the Hollywood Palladium

Atlantic 1991

When Ramones’ cofounder and bassist was found dead in his home in June 2002, he was fittingly eulogized by Kurt Loder, the elder statesman of MTV

News.

Loder’s been an MTV anchor since 1988, and was the only MTV reporter allowed to interview . Before MTV he spent nine years at magazine, where he became a senior editor (he’s still a contributing editor). His most famous written work is I, Tina, the book he coauthored with . It became the basis for the hit film What’s Love Got to Do With It.

Loder has also written liner notes for compilation CDs by , the

Velvet Underground, the Ramones and . Here he does the honors for one of the elder statesmen of rock ‘n roll, Keith Richards.

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Here’s a novelty. A live concert document that’s not about flash pots, light cues, high-tech synthware, sleek choreography or – god knows – spiffy clothes. What’s captured here instead is the surge and flow of music itself, and the charting of complex routes through what are sometimes thought to be shallow musical waters. It’s about getting into music, and getting off on it. It’s also about Keith Richards, of course. Not the rock god, so much (although he lugs that aura around with practiced grace by now), but Keith the , the player-for-life. His commitment to the creation and performance of a certain kind of soulful music, entirely evident

12 here, is more instructive than any of the many moldy anecdotes he’s figured in over the years. Even the really great ones. As you’ll quickly notice, this tape is unmediated by slick production values. Shot at one show, by a video team that had had very little time for preparation, it was originally intended for Richards’ own personal memorabilia bin. But it turned out to be a rare document. A solid hour of Keith Richards on stage with what he thinks of as the second ace band of his career – not something you find lying around the average home. Keith had never aspired to a solo career. But, eager to continue playing in the tourless lull that followed the releases of ’ 1986 album, Dirty Work, he began ringing up some of his favorite . He’d met guitarist at a recording session in the mid-seventies and liked what he heard. “Waddy’s got touch and feel and sympathy. Playing guitar is one thing, being sympathetic is another.” In the old days, he says, when he was cutting tracks for such Stones classics as “Jumping Jack Flash” or “Street Fighting Man,” I’d do eight all by myself, “cause I’d figure I was the only one that was really in sympathy with myself at the time.” Wachtel was good company. Drummer was another seventies’ acquaintance, a multi-instrumentalist who turned out, rather happily, to be joined at the hip to a childhood buddy named – a rock solid session drummer himself, who was also a formidable bassist. Together they formed a near telepathic . For the keyboard seat in his nascent band, Richards recruited , a scion of ’ celebrated Neville brothers clan and a singer and songsmith in his own right. “He don’t need me.” When all schedules were finally freed up, Keith gathered his “X-Pensive Winos” and started work on his first solo album. Richards and Jordan wrote the tunes, in a bits-and-pieces fashion that Keith likens to “an ancient form of weaving.” To help out on various tracks, he called in other old pals – among them , a singer he’d known since the sixties, when she was one of Patti ’s Blue Belles, and sax player Bobby Keys, a longtime stones confederate. Keys and Richards had cut the basic track for the Keith classic “Happy” (on the Stones’ 1972 Exile on Main Street Album) with only producer Jimmy Miller sitting in on drums and they had remained soul mates over the years. “A baritone sax rumbling away gives the bass player more freedom,” Keith notes. “You can get all that dirt down there that rasp. Bobby and I go back a long way in our ideas about the down at the bottom-end of records.” , the solo album Keith Richards never thought he’d make, was released in September of 1988, slightly preceded by the perfect Keith single, “Take It ”. By this point, the Stones were due to start work in the new year on what would become their album. Richards thus had very little time to promote his own LP. A series of dates was quickly booked and on November 24, Keith and the Winos – with Bobby Keys and Sarah Dash along for the ride – launched a three-week tour at the Fox Theatre in . The Winos’ set was devoted, in large part, to the songs on the Talk Is Cheap album. But the eternal Stones connection had also to be artfully acknowledged. Sarah Dash was given the lead on “,” a song long associated with the Stones, but originally recorded by goddess Irma Thomas (Dash’s soaring rendition, according to Keith, “is the hottest live version I’ve ever heard – and that’s a lot for me to say.”) Then there was “Too

13 Rude”, a Jamaican tune he’d first heard by Frankie Paul, and had flipped for while culling possible cover songs for the Stones’ Dirty Work album. “Happy” was a natural, of course. And so, in an inspired way, was “Connection”, off the Stones’ 1967 album Between the Buttons – the first Stones song on which Keith ever sang lead (having laid down the basic track with only drummer in attendance). As anyone who saw any of the Winos’ shows will know, the band and the material meshed splendidly. On a good night, the group seemed possessed of that same unruly spirit of exploration and discovery that must once have seized hold of and Billy Lee Riley and sainted Elvis himself and as the band tunneled deep inside a riff, or converged in a dazzling crescendo, the sheer, transporting joy of musical communion was demonstrated anew – for a rock and roll audience that, more often than not these days, must content itself with lesser pleasures. “The real pleasure in all of this,” Keith says, “is when you turn around on stage and everything’s workin’. Just like a Rolls Royce. The tappets are going up and down, the fuel’s goin’ in – the machine is running. That is a feeling that cannot be surpassed. Those moments are so special … and so very rare.” As the Winos wound their way through Memphis, Washington, and , from over to Cleveland, and , Keith’s manager, Jane Rose – who’d been chronicling the shows in spare moments with a little Sony handycam – became convinced that this tour was worthy of slightly more professional commemoration. The band expressed a vast indifference, but with the final date – at New Jersey’s Brendan Bryne arena on December 17th, the eve of Keith’s forty-fifth birthday – drawing ever nearer, Rose began contacting prospective documentarians. Every video director she approached about the project, however, seemed to envision it as a major Stones scale undertaking, time would be needed, and copious lashings of equipment, support and, of course, money. Finally rose called Tony Eaton , an old friend who had his own video company in , and who agreed that a full show could be shot simply and with little preparatory fuss. The show to shoot, it would be decided, would be the next to last date on the tour – the second of two nights in Los Angeles, at the 4,000 seat Hollywood palladium. (There’d be some historical resonance, at least – Keith had once been kicked off the Palladium stage by none other than Chuck Berry). The taping was, perhaps inevitably, chaotic. The band remained dubious about the project and Keith refused to allow the use of the Chinese restaurant lighting favored by TV technophiles. Three cameras were employed. Two of them crashed in the middle of “Too Rude”, and one ran out of film during “Struggle”. Nothing was faked or restaged. Richards expressed little interest in this footage until later when winos bootlegs began surfacing. Grotesquely unmixed board tapes were discovered to be changing hands among fans for up to seventy-five dollars a pop, and when an actual video bootleg came to light in Japan, Rose finally persuaded Keith to take a look at a rough edit of the L.A. footage that she’d prepared. It was straightforward and unpretentious, and he agreed that it might make a nice holiday notion for the world’s Keithaholics. As noted at the outset, there’s nothing obsessively polished about this tape – the music and the way the band elaborates it, are the whole point. As Keith puts it, “You wanna hear some good music? Here’s some guys that wanna play it for you.”

14 That’s a simple enough proposition and not without poetic dimension. “I figure, if you can get five or six guys to work together in total harmony,” Keith says, “it is quite possible that the whole world could. Do you know what I mean?” Kurt Loder

# # #

15 3. Artist:

Liner Notes Author:

Album/CD: More of the Best of Bill Cosby

Warner Brothers 1970

They both had hit records on the charts in 1967: The Rolling Stones, and … Bill Cosby.

Yes.

Long before he was a disgraced comedian, Cliff Huxtable, the Jell-O pudding spokesman, or on the “Fat Albert” cartoon, Bill Cosby was … a singer!

In the late ‘60s/early ‘70s Cosby released several albums that featured him singing: Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings (1967); Hooray for the Salvation Army Band

(1968); At Last Bill Cosby Really Sings Train to Memphis (1974); and Bill Cosby Is Not

Himself These Days (1976). In 1968 he actually had a Top 40 hit single called “Little Old

Man,” which was based on ’s song “Uptight”!

Unfortunately this album doesn’t feature Cosby singing, but it does feature liner notes by Steve Allen.

Allen was the legendary comedian and entertainer who’s listed in the 1985

Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific of our times for having written more than 7,400 songs. Allen also launched “” (in 1953). "He was one of the sharpest guys off the cuff,” Jay Leno says.

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It is in our earliest years that we learn to laugh. If we are , we never lose the ability to be amused by simple, earthy things – funny faces, faux pas, stumbles, tickles, little accidents.

16 One of the reasons Bill Cosby is perhaps the funniest of the New Wave comedians is that he is, richly and purposely, and openly, the most childish. A comedian is defined essentially by his point-of-view, the attitude with which he regards the experiences of life. Bob Hope is the glib, wise-cracking, emcee. Jack Benny the put-upon victim, insulted that we are critical of his stinginess. is essentially the Pour Soul, even as Ralph Kramden, the bumbling, frustrated braggart, driven to distraction by the vicissitudes of fate. Bill Cosby is the child that all of us were, the child that still lives within us, the Thurber- ish innocent in a dangerous world. It is no surprise, therefore, that it was initially young people of high school and college who first took up Cosby’s banner and made him an overnight sensation in 1964. Rural Midwesterners and Southerners could identify with Andy Griffith or Jim Nabors, over-50 New Yorkers could identify with Henny Youngman, left-oriented intellectuals could identify with Mort Sahl, militant Negroes with Dick Gregory; but here was a new voice – Cosby’s – that spoke, oddly enough, not as a Negro, not as a mouthpiece for assembly line jokes by anonymous gagsmiths formerly employed by or Red Skelton, but as one-of-the-boys, just a plain, un-showbusiness guy who talked the language of the streets, the locker rooms, and the high school assembly hall. He almost didn’t seem like a professional comedian at first, at least to ears accustomed to nightclub or Johnny Carson monologues. He scarcely did jokes for one thing; he just told stories. And not preposterous tales but very believable, obviously real stories. Not “funny stories” in the after dinner sense, but with the word “story” meaning what it does in the phrase “short story.” For even if Cosby never commits a word to paper, he stands essentially in the literary tradition of such American humorists as Mark Twain, Artemus Ward and Irwin S. Cobb rather than in the mainstream of nightclub-radio-and TV comedy. The subject matter of his reminiscences is closer to the interests of the average young American male than the sort of Hollywood Freeway, L.A. smog, my wife-is-so-fat that raw material that comprises much TV humor. Consequently Bill enjoys a security in front of an audience that Morey Amsterdam or Jan Murray can never know. Such comics, however gifted, live from joke to joke. They may amuse an audience with five jokes, then lose them with the next two and be forced to resort to “I know you’re out there; I can hear you breathing” and all that sort of thing. With Cosby, not only does it not matter whether a particular line fails to elicit a laugh, the audience isn’t even aware of its own omission, so involved is it with the totality of the picture that Cosby paints. The word picture is crucial, not idly chosen. Not only is Cosby our most-child-like comic, he is also the most pictorial, which is not surprising since the element of visual imagery is an important factor in much of the humor with which children amuse each other. Listen to any nine-year-old boy telling another how fast his new bike went down a certain hill, how he slid into second base to break up a softball game, or how silly his sister looked when she locked herself out of the house in her underwear. The account is certain to be accompanied by outrageous

17 exaggeration, heavily accented by sound effects; to sound, in fact, rather like a verbal account of an animated cartoon. “So then this old wolf he comes down the highway about nine thousand miles an hour and he seems this big old brick wall, man, and he puts on the brakes and EEEEEeeeek – SPLAT!! He crashes right into it.” The style is Tom Sawyer model 1970, which brings us back to common characteristics shared by Twain and Cosby. Compare Tom and Huck Finn lighting up on cornsilk to Bill’s account about getting caught smoking in the high school lavatory. A commonplace of artistic analysis is the reference to influential predecessors. If there are any in Cosby’s past the fact is by no means obvious. Some of his stories and observations about children are similar to those of Sam Levenson, but I’m sure this is a matter of shared interest, not influence. Some of his relaxed, authentically hip speech patterns are reminiscent of Lenny Bruce, but this, too, must be because both men were children of the same age and not because Lenny personally affected Bill. Like Bruce, Cosby shares the ability to people a stage, as the phrase has it, to play four or five characters in a scene himself, and to bring all alive. But Cornelia Otis Skinner is a master of the same art, so again we’re not talking about influence. the fact is that, like most true artists, Bill Cosby is the Original Article, his own man, with his own mysterious gift -- The comic is, after all, as wondrous and essentially inexplicable as musical, literary, mathematical or scientific genius, none of which seem altogether adequately explained by reference to either genetic or environmental influences. Bill Cosby shares with other great American comedians the fact that he is not the master- of-his-fate, not the smooth, in-control wit that Fred Allen or Groucho Marx were, but rather the patsy – the inept, all-thumbs, admittedly cowardly Everyman who in every age outnumbers the Heroes, if indeed there be any such at all. The real-life Bill Cosby is naturally wise and is masculine in an increasingly feminized and depersonalized world, but that’s not what we’re talking about. In his comic guise he is unafraid to reveal the timorous knucklehead that all of us are in our hearts, or at certain times. One of the most refreshing things about Cosby is that he is in a position to teach his contemporaries and those who will follow him that it is not necessary to resort to vulgarity and obscenity to make audiences laugh, even today’s supposedly jaded nightclub and concert habitués. The funny-bell that I ring on my TV show to warn a guest comedian that he has just transgressed the limits of good taste, in the context of television, is really kidding-on-the-square. TV is getting too damned dirty. (The theatre is another matter since audiences know what the product is before they buy it.) But Cosby, as I say, being truly funny, feels no need to go for the cheap laugh that is guaranteed presently by almost any reference to sexual or scatological matters. He can be funky, of course, but that’s another thing altogether. Because he is always conscious of the element of humor in a situation, it is not objectionable when he talks of diapers, or the loss of his virginity, or Adam’s lust for Eve, as it is when less gifted practitioners of the comic to take up the same sort of subject matter. While I should not want to wander too far afield, it may be of some importance that our greatest comedians have rarely resorted to dirt to amuse audiences. The one apparent exception to the rule, of course, is Lenny Bruce. Personally

18 I was not at all offended by his sexual references because almost invariably they were employed to make a philosophical point. He was, therefore, disseminating art, which makes all the difference. Lately one must comment again on the reality, however exaggerated, of Cosby’s humor. The funniest thing I have ever seen on TV was a 5-minute interview – sometimes during the mid-50’s – between a luckless sports announcer and a college basketball player, just before the telecast of a game. It must have been in the days when only one camera was available for coverage of an on-court interview, for the director did not change the shot once during the entire chat, even though the athlete was vigorously, and completely unconsciously, scratching his genitals from the first moment to the last. Whatever else the incident was, it certainly was funny. To wit: Cosby’s insistence, in the role of athletic director in “Hofstra” that, during TV coverage of a football game, “You players will not touch certain areas of your body.” Cos doesn’t miss anything. He is not merely a presently successful phenomenon but one of the great American comedians of the century. – Steve Allen

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19 4. Artists:

Liner Notes Author:

Album/CD: Live at the Hollywood Bowl

EMI Records (Capitol) 1977

Although Bill Cosby’s liner notes writer Steve Allen composed more than 7,400 songs in his lifetime, none of them are as famous as the hits penned by the fab four’s songwriting powerhouse Lennon and McCartney.

In the beginning, however, not everybody thought were fab. In fact, Dick

Clark later admitted that “I was not impressed with The Beatles at first, nor was the

Bandstand audience.” Clark wrote in Life: Rock & Roll at 50 that The Beatles’ “She

Loves You” had only gotten a 73 on Bandstand’s “Rate-a-Record.”

Earlier, had rejected The Beatles’ demo and instead signed a group named Brian Poole and Tremeloes. George Martin, then the head of Parlophone records, saw some potential in the boys, and signed them in late 1962. Martin became their longtime producer, and was such an involved collaborator (playing instruments and creating ) that he’s been called “The .”

Here’s Martin trying to get Americans pumped up for the first Beatles album on

Capitol Records.

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A year ago the Beatles were known only to patrons of Liverpool pubs. Today there isn’t a Britisher who doesn’t know their names, and their fame has spread quickly around the world. Said one American visitor to England: “Only a hermit could be unaware of the Beatles, and he’d have to be beyond range of television, newspapers, radio, records and rioting fans.”

20 Said another: “They’re the biggest, hottest property in the history of English show business.” The foursome – , 23, , 20, , 23 and Paul McCartney, 21 – write, play and sing a powerhouse music filled with zest and uninhibited good humor that make listening a sensation-filled joy. It isn’t rhythm and , it’s not exactly rock’n’roll. It’s their own special sound, or as group leader Lennon puts it, “Our music is just – well, our music.” Whatever it is, the Beatles’ robust, roaring sound has stimulated a reaction the English themselves describe as “Beatlemania.” Consider these manifestations: In Newcastle, England, four thousand fans stood all night in pouring rain to get tickets for a Beatles appearance. In Portsmouth, the queue started 90 hours before the box office opened. Teenagers brought food, drink, blankets and transistor radios, and two determined 16-year-old girls spent four nights outside to hold their place in the queue. In Carlisle, frantic schoolgirls battled police for four hours in a do-or-die effort to gain admission to a sold-out show. In Dublin, Ireland, the Beatles’ first visit set off a mob free-for-all resulting in unnumbered broken limbs. At Airport, reporter Anne Butler had her gloved hand kissed repeatedly by youngsters who saw it accidentally brush against the back of a Beatle. Similar wild enthusiasm has greeted the Beatles in such disparate places as Sweden (where frenzied girls swarmed up onto the stage), Germany, Finland and France, and the acclaim recently brought them one of the highest of all entertainment honors: an appearance before Princess Margaret, the queen Mother and Lord Snowdon at the Royal Variety Performance in London. And their records? In America, a total sale of a million discs calls for celebrations, gold records, trade news headlines and delirious self-congratulations. A recent Beatles recording had an advance order of a million copies in the United Kingdom three weeks before release. And simultaneously the Beatles occupied positions 1 and 2 in the hit singles charts and 1 and 2 in the album charts – a phenomenal achievement anywhere. Now the Beatles are getting a royal welcome in America. Ed Sullivan signed them for three appearances in rapid succession on his Sunday night TV show. They are shortly to film in England a feature length United Artists movie for worldwide release. And here is their first Capitol record – twelve of their most sensational songs in their wildest Beatlemanic style! The Beatles all hail from Liverpool, a seaport city which, because its sailing men bring in the latest hit singles from America, is the hippest pop music spot in England. They wear “pudding basin” haircuts that date back to ancient England and suits with collarless jackets which they’ve made the newest . John Lennon plays and , George Harrison lead guitar, Paul McCartney electric , Ringo Starr drums, and all four of the boys sing. They also work , , tambourine, mouth organ, Arabian bongos and claves into their act. That’s John doing the lead vocal in It Won’t Be Long and All I’ve Got

21 To Do and the double-track solo in Not a Second Time. Paul does the lead vocal in All My Loving and Hold Me Tight, and the solo in Till There Was You, Ringo is soloist in I Wanna Be Your Man and George in Don’t Bother Me, double-tracked.

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22 5. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Timothy White

Album/CD: Ravi Shankar and the Path to Full Circle Carnegie Hall 2000

Angel Records 2001

From the Beatles to a Beatle Mentor.

Ravi Shankar met George Harrison at a dinner party in London in 1966. Shankar offered to teach Harrison to play the sitar, and gave him lessons that fall and summer.

“He was very talented and would have become a great sitar player if only he could have given some time,” Shankar later told the .

Shankar’s reputation as The Beatles’ guru led to him performing at the Monterrey

Pop Festival, the original , and the Concert for Bangladesh. The two of

Shankar’s productions that have gotten the most media attention recently are his daughters , a sitar player who was nominated for a Grammy in 2002, and , who’s CD “Come Away With Me” whisked away a total of eight

Grammys in 2003.

Timothy White used to prowl New York clubs searching for new music talent wearing his trademark bowtie. The former senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine was

Editor-in-Chief of Billboard magazine when he died of a heart attack in June 2002.

White authored biographies of Bob Marley, and , and was a producer on Stevie Ray Vaughn’s album . In 2003 ASCAP named a award in White’s honor.

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23 By Timothy White

There is a concise phrase – karmasu kausalam – in the Bhagavad Gita, the 700-stanza classic of Hindu literature that describes a core achievement in the ancient allegorical tale of the human ordeal of self-identity. The two Sanskrit words denote extraordinary ability in action and the exquisite things attainable when one’s inner resources are focused on the excellence of an activity without undue regard for its outside impact or rewards. Karmasu kausalam is purity of purpose, the humble, intuitive pursuit of perfection. And Ravi Shankar is a devout, sitar- wielding disciple of such spiritually liberating craft. Full Circle / Carnegie Hall 2000 is the culmination of a lifelong artistic and personal journey for the musician, born April 7, 1920 in the sacred city of Varanasi (a.k.a. Benares), the son of Shyman Shankar, a lawyer/diplomat (and amateur singer) and his wife Hemangini. The offspring of this respected Bengali couple were drawn to the performing arts and Ravi, the youngest of five sons, saw such avocations as intrinsically profound. “We have been taught,” says Ravi “that the divine art of music was created by the Hindu holy trinity – Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. It is Shiva, King of the Dancers, whose cosmic dance symbolizes the everlasting life-and-death rhythm of the universe and whose movements are of all movement.” Shankar first appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1938 as a supporting player and instrumentalist in his older brother Uday’s famed Sol Hurok-managed Hindu dance company. It was around that time that the then Paris-based Shankar withdrew from his self-described “dandy habits” as a natty, nightclub-frequenting boulevardier and returned to India to submit to the regimen of guru Ustad Allauddin Khan, that he embarked on the road to musical greatness. Shankar’s training on his instrument was an austere, years-long process of grueling stewardship and abject self-denial, but it led to a stunning career as an executive and resident composer with All-India Radio, a stint scoring the films of legendary director Satyejit Ray (including Ray’s renowned Apu Trilogy beginning with Pather Panchali), and landmark collaborations with violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin (the Grammy-winning West Meets East, 1967), and many other distinguished classical and jazz artists. When Ravi returned to Carnegie Hall in September 1968, it was to headline two shows accompanied by tabla legend Alla Rakha as a serious, well- seasoned and sensationally gifted Indian classical sitarist and composer. As former Beatle, George Harrison, himself a student of Shankar’s beginning in late 1966, told this writer, “Ravi, because of his upbringing and living in Paris and traveling in Europe, could relate to all the musicians, theater people and painters he met in the West. It also made him willing to persevere to reach a mass audience and led to the future role he would have in really bringing to the West.” Circa 1994, Shankar also played the primary role in bringing his then 12-year-old daughter Anoushka’s sitar talents to the attention of Western culture when she became his formal disciple, studying with him in New Delhi. By 13, she was sharing the concert dais with her parent. And it was their two much-praised Carnegie Hall appearances together in 1997 and 1998, during which they not only played Indian folk passages together but also swapped ringing

24 sitar phrases – the proud father ultimately supplying harmonies above his teenage protégé’s fastest lines – that paved the way for this historic live recording of their joint October 2000 date at Carnegie Hall. Ravi says, “A raga is an aesthetic projection of the artist’s inner spirit,” and in the ragas Ravi would offer that night as a now 80-year-old master, he included traditional material taught to him by his own mentor of nearly a century before Baba Allauddin Khan. The overall program was an initially soothing and then increasingly exhilarating blend of older, contemplative evening raga forms and those that incorporate more current textures in an immediate style that sometimes mixes folk melodies with richly satisfying improvisation. All players, particularly the movingly attuned Anoushka, accompanied Shankar with a grace borne of blood ties and intuitive musical bonds, as well as a common belief in the transcendent mission of the moment they were creating together. By the final, blissfully frenetic minutes of “Mishra Gara,” the musicians have disappeared behind the raga and the audience has forgotten itself before its mounting spell. This is karmayoga, a shared sense of emancipation through selfless action, and it is the genius of Ravi Shankar’s century-spanning life and art come full circle. “That’s the way it goes,” said George Harrison, pondering Ravi’s relationship with his musicians and their music. “Their utmost respect is toward their instrument and what that instrument represents, which to them is the spiritual path.” Play this record, follow that path, and discover the identity that Ravi Shankar, still 80 years young, has found within a sound divine. Full Circle / Carnegie Hall 2000 captures a humbly questing artistic spirit who continues to inspire us all.

TIMOTHY WHITE is Editor-In-Chief of Billboard magazine, the best-selling author of Catch a Fire, the Life of Bob Marley and other books, and three-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism.

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25 6. Artist: Stevie Wonder

Liner Notes Author: Stevie Wonder, Theresa Cropper

Album/CD: In Square Circle

Motown 1985

In the same year that Ravi Shankar’s daughter won her first eight Grammys, Stevie

Wonder won his 20th, for his “Love’s in Need of Love Today” collaboration with Take 6.

Stevie Wonder lost his sight right after birth, having been mistakenly given too much oxygen in his incubator. A child musical prodigy, he had his first #1 hit single and album at age 12 in 1963. After 20 years of chart-toppers, he branched out into other facets of the entertainment biz, scoring the film The Woman in Red in 1984. His hit single from the film, “I Just Called to Say I Love You” won an Oscar in 1985. In 1991 he forayed into films again by recording the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever.

Theresa Cropper is a Dean at Northwestern University Law School, and was

Wonder’s legal representative when this album was released. In the liner notes for In

Square Circle, Wonder and Cropper craft a quirky meditation on life and love by weaving together the titles of the songs on this CD.

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It could not have happened at a more appropriate time. The glow of the full moon had bathed them in a circle of energy. The four walls of the room had expanded to include the four corners of the earth. Their hearts were recalling the cycles of love, while their minds were exploring the square root of the universe.

26 It was then that it happened, the process of birth. Yet a very different kind of delivery; the evolution of an idea, molded from the parameters of their essence, rounded into a concept, contained within a fit box and packaged in such a way to orbit the earth.

Those that witnessed this understood that they needed some perspective on how they should received this birth of love. So they looked to “Songlife”; the Cosmic Carrier, the musical midwife, the one who guided this process. It was his psychic assistance that made this message physically possible.

As they came together, surrounding each other, they prepared themselves to travel in the unending spiral of life IN SQUARE CIRCLE; an interesting yet ageless journey into infinite possibilities.

“Please”, they asked, “tell us of this gift that is square but circular; round with corner; whole and of many parts; earthbound yet spiritual.”

And “Songlife” said, “No circle is ever complete. It begins, never ending as it continues on its own path, imitating completion while evolving into lines of repetition. We all live the cycles, each different as it contributes to its growth of the others. Humanity is a circle and .

We re IN SQUARE CIRCLE as individuals and as members of the cosmos. It is how we choose to be closer that we tighten the links that make up the chain.”

As the group pondered this, the romantic one then came forth. “I am curious about the strong tugs on my heart strings. Is it love and commitment that brings us closer tin our circle of sensitivity?”

Our friend, the loving messenger replied, “love and commitment are siblings, first cousins to loyalty and expectation. Sometimes these four are very close, flowing in harmony; other times in their cycle, they are polarized, drifting on opposite sides of the spiral. Commitment and expectation can become combative, manipulating love and loyalty in their foolish games. Father Time often mediates, but every now and then he is used as a measuring tool, evaluating the quantity, not quality of love and commitment. It is that moment in the cir5cle when love can be defined by time, but I ask you to ask yourself – Is it quality or quantity that allows love and commitment to bring us closer together. Expressing of PART-TIME/full-time/all-time/prime-time mean nothing in love without quality and quality cannot be measured by time or distance.”

It was then that the insecure one quietly said, “Why is it I have feelings of imbalance in love?”

“Songlife” felt his heart go out to this soul. “As you explore the parameters of love, you discover your personal peaks and valleys. It is your own experience that determines your balance in love; for love is not always computed by equal amounts of giving. Love requires that you give what is

27 comfortable for you. When you feel that you LOVE TOO MUCH, expectations become the measuring tool and what should be a positive peak on the road of love becomes a lost journey in the valley of insecurity, leaving you a stranger to love. There can never be too much love, those feelings are only symptoms of a missing person, lost within himself, looking for his WHEREABOUTS.

At this point, the cynical one came forth and said, “How can you be a STRANGER ON THE SHORE OF LOVE when you have bathed in the waters of love?”

“Songlife” said, “You can never be a stranger on the shores of love because love can never leave you. Yet, when two people blissfully swim into the sea of love, they plunge into one of life’s greatest vulnerabilities. The only way to tread in this natural turbulence is to guide each other through insecurity with honesty and self-knowledge. Learn to accept each other’s truths as contributions to your growth. Reject the conclusion that bad times inevitably follow the good times, because if you anticipate the negative while enjoying the positive, you neglect your responsibility to guide each other in love. One is then left to swim alone, leaving the other on the shore, equivocating in doubt.”

The optimistic one leaped up and cried, “Then what do you do when you’ve lost your confidence and hope? Surely there must be something.”

“Songlife” smiled. “There is a special place where everyone is always welcome when they are low in spirit. LOVER’S PARK is there to rejuvenate your soul. Anyone you encounter in lover’s park will consistently question your sorrow because they know of your brighter days tomorrow. If you believe in tomorrow, then you an go full circle, embracing the sun which will dawn after the dusk. Then you must recycle that light of love within yourself in all that you do.”

The doubting one quipped under his breath, “It sounds good, but no one lives like that, not really.”

“Songlife”, seemingly startled, smiled upon him with amazement, saying, “Haven’t you ever met someone who radiates the love of life. That person that carries God with his soul and good throughout his nature. You probably have met these people and your skeptical style prevented your exposure to the messengers of peace. In our societal estrangement, we automatically reject those who walk the light through the day, through the night. The SPIRITUAL WALKERS.” “Well,” the sarcastic one challenged, “Where do you find these so-called spiritual walkers – in the LAND OF LA LA?”

And when the laughter subsided, “Songlife” simply replied, “If you’re lucky. When you are a stranger in a city, may the westerly winds blow you to a place of peace, where someone kind will shine a positive light upon your experience.

28 Yet when you explore opportunities in the land of la la, make sure what you want to be is really what you can be. Equip yourself with the strength to survive all failures and prepare yourself to enrich your talents. Remember, rejection is a temporary condition.”

It was then the curious one demanded, “Well, why did he tell her to GO HOME?”

“Songlife” thought a minute and quietly stated, “With the best intentions, it is difficult to protect someone from the pain you believe is inevitable. His demands for her to go home were inspired by his visions of what he wanted for her life; an attempt to determine her destiny through his perspective. No one has the right to lead another’s life.

If one lives their life through their love for another, then the recipient of that love must be sensitive to that gift whether he can accept it or not.

Inevitably, one discovers that the love we seek to find is there all the time. The continuous perplexity is that our recognition of this love often comes too late.”

The dreamer, who believes in happy endings, wanted to know, “When is it too late? Do dreams dissipate?”

“Songlife” was only too happy to answer, for he, too is a dreamer. “There is no impossible dream. Dreams become infeasible when you cease to believe; afraid to take that chance. The chance to share feelings that are never felt; words that are never spoken and eye contact that is never made.

When you have the faith and courage to expose your heart, mind, soul and spirit, only then can you be OVERJOYED with your dreams that will outlive time and dissipation.”

But the bewildered one looked confused and said, “How can we enjoy the feast of love and the dreams of unity when we can see clearly that others in our circle of humanity are starving? How do we say everything is all right while for some IT’S WRONG?”

“Songlife” reflected on the karma of agony and his analysis helped everyone understand that pain is universal and none of us are immune. “We have all experienced pain and we all appreciate that it is not an experience we would like to repeat. Unfortunately, there is pain IN SQUARE CIRCLE, so it is impossible for any sensitive spirit to digest this hurt without wearing a frown on their face and a tear in their eye. It is up to us to do more than shed a tear. We must cry out to those deaf ears a sound so shrill that will shake their psyche and awaken their sleeping consciousness. We must join our individual forces into one, spanning all corners of the earth, pulling together our voluntary army of soldiers of love. Only then can we begin to protect ourselves from the pain and suffering found IN SQUARE CIRCLE.”

Steveland Morris

29 Theresa Cropper

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30 7. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Johnny Cash

Album/CD: Nashville Skyline

Sony 1969

Back in Hibbing, Minnesota, Robert Allen Zimmerman’s musical heroes were Little

Richard and Woody Guthrie. He was such a Guthrie acolyte that his parents gave him permission – and bus fare – to visit Guthrie in the hospital in New York. There he stayed, playing in clubs. More than 40 years later he’s an international icon, performing for presidents and the pope.

Along the way he wrote a book (Tarantula); the song “Knocking on Heaven’s

Door” for the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and starred in several widely-panned movies, including 2003’s Masked & Anonymous.

Here’s the set that won Johnny “The Man in Black” Cash a Grammy award for

“Best Album Notes” in 1969.

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"Of Bob Dylan"

There are those who do not imitate, Who cannot imitate But then there are those who emulate At times, to expand further the light Of an original glow. Knowing that to imitate the living Is mockery And to imitate the dead

31 Is robbery There are those Who are beings complete unto themselves Whole, undaunted,-a source As leaves of grass, as stars As mountains, alike, alike, alike, Yet unalike Each is complete and contained And as each unalike star shines Each is forever gone To leave way for a new ray And a new ray, as from a fountain Complete unto itself, full, flowing So are some souls like stars And their words, works and songs Like strong, quick flashes of light

From a brilliant, erupting cone. So where are your mountains To match some men?

This man can rhyme the tick of time of pain, the what of sane And comprehend the good in men, the bad in men Can feel the hate of fight, the love of right And the creep of blight at the speed of light The pain of dawn, the gone of gone The end of friend, the end of end By math of trend What grip to hold what he is told How long to hold, how strong to hold How much to hold of what is told. And Know The yield of rend; the break of bend The scar of mend I'm proud to say that I know it, Here-in is a hell of a poet. And lots of other things And lots of other things. – Johnny Cash

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32 33 8. Artist: Johnny Cash

Liner Notes Author: Quentin Tarantino

Album/CD: Murder

Sony 2000

Music plays a huge role in Tarantino films. His cult classic Reservoir Dogs opens with a quote about Madonna’s hit single, “Like a Virgin.” Pulp Fiction, the film that won

Tarantino a screenwriting Oscar, is riddled with pop music references. “I start to seriously consider the idea of doing a movie, I immediately try to find out what would be the right song to be the opening credit sequence even before I write the movie,” he’s said.

The soundtrack for Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier and

Robert De Niro, included a Johnny Cash song “Tennessee Stud.” Here’s Tarantino meditating on music by The Man in Black.

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In a country that thinks it's divided by race, where actually it's divided by economics, Johnny Cash's songs of hillbilly life go right to the heart of the American underclass. With their brutal sheriffs, pitiless judges, cheatin' traps, escaped fugitives, condemned men, chain gang prisoners, unjustly accused innocents, and first-person protagonist who'd shoot a man just to watch him die. Cash songs, like the novels of Jim Thompson, are poems to the criminal mentality.

A balladeer starts off his tale: Early one morning while makin' the rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down.

34 A son sees his father for the first time and yells: My name is Sue How do you do? Now you're gonna die.

At which point the father whips out a knife and cuts off a piece of his son's ear.

A killer sings a song about his dead victim: First time I shot her I shot her in the side Hard to watch her suffer But with the second shot She died.

A convict sings a song to the prison that "warped his mind and bent his soul": San Quentin may you rot and burn in Hell May your stone walls fall and may I live to tell May all the world regret that you ever stood And may the world regret that you did no good.

The unapologetic killer of an unknown woman describes the jury at his trial as: Twelve evil men with murder in their eyes.

A chain gang prisoner a twentieth century slave sings between shovel thrusts: I brought me some water In a little Prince Albert can The boss man caught me drinkin' it And I believe he broke my hand.

A serial killer tells us where he came from: I was born in soul ...

I've often wondered if gangsta rappers know how little separates their tales of ghetto thug life from Johnny Cash's tales of backwoods thug life. I don't know, but what I do know is Johnny Cash knows. Cash sings tales of men trying to escape. Escape the law, escape the poverty they were born into, escape prison, escape madness, escape the people who torture them. But the one thing Cash never lets them escape is regret. Unlike most gangsta rap, Cash's criminal life songs rarely take place during the high times. In fact, most songs take place after the door has slammed shut or a judge's gavel has condemned a man to death. When a man faces a rope or 99 years in a cage for the choices he made, when he tells the story of those choices, he tells it not with bravado, but an overwhelming sense of regret.

35 Regret for the freedom he lost. Regret for the non-life he faces. Regret for the road he chose. Regret for the life not lived, that only now does he realize was decent and noble. Regret for the violence inside of him, that he could have controlled, but which he let control him. Regret for the one moment of violence that took everything from him and cannot be taken back. And even a killers regret for his victim. As the man who shot Delia twice tells his jailer:

Jailer, oh jailer Jailer, I can't sleep Cause all around the bedside I hear the patter of Devil's feet.

Quentin Tarantino Los Angeles, CA January, 2000

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36 9. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Steven Spielberg

Album/CD: Jaws soundtrack

Polygram Records 2000

“Who would have imagined the mood that two simple notes, in a heartbeat rhythm, could create,” Steven Spielberg mused. “To this day, just hearing those two notes from Jaws (1975) immediately conjures shark, adrenaline, and second thoughts about swimming.”

The blockbuster film Jaws scared a lot of beach-goers out of the water and onto the sand. Its impact is still reverberating in pop-culture consciousness.

For example, the Jaws cast and crew nicknamed the mechanical shark they used for the title role “Bruce.” Almost 30 years later, in the highest-grossing animated film of all time, the shark in Finding Nemo was also named Bruce, in homage to

Spielberg’s Jaws.

John Williams received his second Academy Award for Jaws (his first was for Fiddler on the Roof). Williams has worked on almost all of Spielberg’s films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind; E.T.; and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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John Williams has really outdone himself. The soundtrack is a stunning symphonic achievement and a great leap ahead in the revitalization of film music as a foreground component for the total motion picture experience. He has accomplished on "JAWS"

37 what Korngold did for "The Sea Hawk" and Bernard Herrman for "Psycho." Simply, he has made our movie more adventurous, gripping and phobic than I ever thought possible. Right up there with Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and 7,000 pounds of hungry shark, John Williams' musical vision plays a leading role. Unlike so many traditional composer/conductors, John is an artist of numerous styles – He is chameleon- like and vulnerable to the impulses of the film he is about to score. His music on "JAWS" is unlike any of his previous works including "The Reivers," "The Cowboys," "Jane Eyre," "The Towering Inferno," "Paper Chase," "The Sugarland Express," "Cinderella Liberty," "Images" and many others including two full symphonies, a symphony for winds, a flute concerto and more. These concert works have been performed by many major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. Being an insatiable collector of film music, I haven't been this happy with a soundtrack since 's "The of Navarone." What more can I say. The music fulfilled a vision we all shared.

--Steven Spielberg

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38 10. Artist: John Williams

Liner Notes Author: George Lucas

Album/CD: Star Wars: Episode I

Sony 1999

George Lucas is a geek icon. Almost any geek born in the Star Wars era can tell you that Lucas invented THX, a special sound system for movie theaters. Geeks can tell you how Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic company almost single-handedly changed the face of Hollywood special effects. They can tell you how Lucas spawned a multi-billion-dollar, multi-media empire with Star Wars books, games, movies and merchandise.

They might not be able to tell you that Lucas paid well-deserved respect to one of the most influential groups of people in the rock and roll community; a group of people who wielded make-or-break power over the careers of many of today’s household names: radio DJs.

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the local DJ was the pop music gatekeeper, deciding which discs got . Individual DJs influenced what millions of listeners grew to know and love. Wolfman Jack, for example, was a wildly popular DJ on a 250,000-watt radio station in Mexico that could be heard all the way up the coast. Lucas cast The

Wolfman, playing himself, in the seminal 1973 film American Graffiti.

Here Lucas pays respects to John Williams, who won his third Academy Award for Star Wars.

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39 I like to think of the Star Wars films as silent movies, movies whose stories are carried forward visually and by a musical score. It took the musical genius of John Williams to fully realize this vision. His brilliant scores brought the original trilogy to life beyond my wildest dreams. But John's astounding success made composing the score for Episode I a daunting task. Gone were so many of the characters and situations that his music now indelibly evokes. In Episode I, there is no Luke Skywalker, no Princess Leia, no Han Solo, no evil Empire, and even Darth Vader is an innocent little boy. John had to draw upon the signature themes while creating a new, if somehow familiar, musical galaxy. And he had to visit new emotional territory in Episode I. His music had to help tell the story of a pacifist Queen who confronts the need to fight for the survival of her people, a mother who must give up her son so that he might achieve his true potential, and noble Jedi faced with the rise of an unimaginable evil. Once again, John has exceeded my expectations and produced a lavish, rich, moving and thrilling score. Every fan of Star Wars – and of great music – is in his debt.

George Lucas, Director

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40 11. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: James Cameron

Album/CD: Titanic soundtrack

Sony 1997

James Cameron is the Oscar-winning director of one of the highest-grossing films of all time. He was born in Ontario, Canada and moved to the U.S. in his teens. After earning a degree in physics, he became a truck driver to support himself while screenwriting.

He owes his big break to electrified mealworms. To shoot scenes of a dismembered arm for the 1981 film Galaxy of Terror, Cameron covered a severed arm in mealworms, hooked up the arm to a power cord, and had an assistant plug in the cord when the camera rolled. Two producers happened to be strolling through, and didn’t see the assistant working the plug. All they saw was that when Cameron yelled

“Action!” the worms would writhe, and when he yelled “Cut!” the worms would lie still.

They were so impressed that they began talking to Cameron about bigger projects.

James Horner’s first major studio film score was for II: The Wrath of

Khan. The prolific musician went on to earn Oscar noms for his work on A Beautiful

Mind, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Field of Dreams and Aliens. He won an Oscar for the score for Titanic.

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Titanic is first and above all a love story. The passion, the intimacy and the heartbreak one feels in watching a love story on film are created largely by the actors, but we help out where we can with cinematography, set design and the other crafts. Of course music is the most important addition to the actors' work for increasing the emotional impact of the film.

41 James Horner's score for Titanic is all I had hoped and prayed it would be and much more. It deftly leaps from intimacy to grandeur, from joy to heart wrenching sadness and across the full emotional spectrum of the film while maintaining a stylistic and thematic unity. The music spans time, making immediate the actions and feelings of people 85 years ago with full emotional resonance without falling into either of the two dreaded traps: the sweeping conventional period picture score, or the inappropriately modern and anachronistic "counter program" score. James has walked the tightrope by using , vocals and full orchestra to create a timeless sound which tells us that these people were not so very different from us. Their hopes, their fears, their passions are like ours. In the film I have tried to accentuate the universality's of human behavior, rather than focus on the quaint differences between this other time and our own. James has done the same thing, bridging the gap of time and making these people seem so alive, so vibrant, so real that the dreaded event, when it finally comes, is terrifying in its authenticity. And most importantly, he has made us one with Jack and Rose, feeling the beat of their hearts as they experience the kind of love we all dream about, but seldom find. James Cameron

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42 12. Artist: Mark Knopfler

Liner Notes Author:

Album/CD: The Princess Bride soundtrack

Warner Brothers 1987

Rob Reiner’s rock credentials go way back. He wrote the first-ever episode of the TV show “,” and many would argue that his crowning achievement was directing the funniest rock film of all time, Spinal Tap.

Others may remember him for the estro-fest When Harry Met Sally, or the testoso-flick, A Few Good Men. He’s also the director of the comedy film The Princess

Bride, which featured his best friend, Billy Crystal.

Mark Knopfler, who wrote the score for Princess Bride, is the former Dire

Straights guitarist who wrote “Money for Nothing,” the song that features the anthem “I

Want My MTV!” Here’s Knopfler on how that song came about:

“The Police were on MTV all the time doing a thing, they were all saying I want my MTV. MTV was running an advertising campaign for itself and they'd get musicians on saying 'I want my MTV.'

“One of the songs that was big at the time, I believe, was 'Don't Stand So Close

To Me', and so I took that and put it to those four notes. was on holiday in

Montserrat when we were recording the song, so I thought it would be a good idea if he came up and sang it. It was, I guess, very fortunate that he was there."

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43 In thinking about who might create the music for THE PRINCESS BRIDE, I sat down and made a list. I needed someone who could capture a film whose strange mixture of satirical humor, romance and action/adventure, set once upon a time with a contemporary feel, had provoked its author, Bill Goldman, to say, "I think this is an oddball film."

Given the unique requirements of the score, I realized that the list of who might fit the bill was going to be a short one. Mark Knopfler was the only one who made the list. Although at the time I had not met Mark, I had been a huge fan of his, not only from , but his film scores of LOCAL HERO, CAL, and COMFORT AND JOY were all haunting and very special. Realizing that I had no second choice, I sent the script to Mark and held my breath.

Shortly, I had heard back from Mark. He loved the script and was interested in doing the film. I was thrilled! I started to . But he had one condition. What was that? I re-inhaled! He said he would love to do the film, but it was imperative that the cap I wore as Marty De Bergi in SPINAL TAP be placed somewhere in the film. I told him the cap was long gone, but I could find a similar one and possibly place it somewhere in the little boy's room. He agreed. I completed my exhale.

In making a film--and this is no great revelation--I have found that as important as, if not more important than having the film turn out well is having a good life experience. There is, of course, no way to ensure this, but working with people whose company you enjoy is over half the battle. My experience working with Mark has been an absolute pleasure. Not only is he so obviously gifted as a musician and composer, but he is one of the nicer human beings one is likely to run into in this lifetime. His warmth, sensitivity, humor and intelligence come through in his work and in his life. Also he has excellent personal hygiene.

Many thanks amigo. It was beautane. --Rob Reiner

Dear Rob, I was sad it had to end. I was only kidding about the hat.

Love, M.K.

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13. Artists: Spinal Tap

44 Liner Notes Author: Unattributed

Album/CD: Spinal Tap

Polygram Records 1990

1984’s Spinal Tap is the top mockumentary of all time. It stars Michael McKean, Harry

Shearer and Christopher Guest as a goofy British rock band on the downward slope of the rock-to-riches-to-rags stereotype made famous by countless Behind the Music episodes on VH1.

The film was so successful that the three actors later toured in character as

Spinal Tap, and released several albums. Legend has it that after one live performance, the group was met by a 12-year-old boy who wanted an autograph for his dad. “Who’s your father?” one of the faux-rockers asked. The boy pointed to a man in the wings: former Beatle George Harrison.

The liner notes to this album, like the notes for Chris Gaines and The Blues

Brothers, relates a completely fabricated backstory for the band.

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SPINAL TAP (1964 - ?): Veteran hard-rock unit noted for their high-volume assault and dogged persistence. David St. Hubbins (g) and (lead g) formed nucleus of band, THE ORIGINALS, Squatney, East London, 1964. Late 1964 founded THAMESMEN with Ronnie Puddings (bs, ex-CHEAP DATES), and John (Stumpy) Pepys (drms, ex-LESLIE, CHESWICK SOUL EXPLOSION, see Cheswick: Les & Mary). Released Gimme Some Money b/w Cups and Cakes (Abbey, 1965). Toured extensively in Benelux nations, with Jan van der Kvelk (kybds). Returned in UK as DUTCHMEN. Period of intense personnel turnover followed, accompanied by wholesale name changes including: RAVEBREAKERS, DOPPEL GANG, SILVER SERVICE, BISQUITS, LOVE BISQUITS, TUFNEL-ST. HUBBINS GROUP. A-Side of first Spinal Tap single (Listen to the) Flower People: b/w Rainy Day Sun (Megaphone, 1965)

45 penned by Pudding, who left band to form PUDDING PEOPLE, releasing single I Am the Music and album I Am More Music (Megaphone, 1967). With replacement (ex-pioneer all-white Jamaican band, SKAFACE), band recorded first album Spinal Tap (released in U.S. as Spinal Tap Sings (Listen to the) Flower People And Other Favorites), went gold in U.K. Sales of follow-up album We Are All Flower People were disappointing. Tap toured Europe in support of then-hot Matchstick Men, developing harder twin- guitar style. Live recording of landmark appearance at Electric Zoo, Wimpton, U.K. produced third album, Silent But Deadly. Pepys, suddenly dead in tragedy, replaced by Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs (ex-WOOLCAVE). Albums recorded by this lineup included: Brainhammer, Blood To Let, Nerve Damage, and Intravenous deMilo. For ambitiously flawed concept LP The Sun Never Sweats, Tap hired Ross MacLochness (kybds, ex-KILT KIDS) and replaced "Stumpy Joe," dead in sudden tragedy, with session drummer Peter James Bond. This lineup toured Far East in 1975, released second live album Jap Habit. Mach Lochness, returned to missionary work in Namibia, later released solo LP, Doesn't Anybody Here Speak English? On Bent For The Rent, band's late-arriving glitter attempt, Viv Savage (kybds, ex- AFTERTASTE) came aboard. Press attention was momentarily attracted when band sued Megaphone for back royalties, and label threatened to countersue, charging "lack of talent." After Nice 'n Stinky from two-year-old Habit became surprise American hit in 1977, Tap signed with Polymer Records, replaced Bond, who had died with tragic suddenness, with Mick Shrimpton (ex-Eurovision Song Contest house band), released Shark Sandwich (1980) and Smell The Glove (1982). Though neither a critics' nor a public favorite, Spinal Tap continues to fill a much needed void.

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46 14. Artists:

Liner Notes Author: Miami Mitch Glazer

Album/CD: Briefcase Full of Blues

Atlantic 1978

The 1980 film The Blues Brothers is one of the most successful of the “Saturday Night

Live” alumni films. This cult classic stars , and Fisher, who had earlier guest-hosted the “” show on which The Blues

Brothers debuted.

This movie holds the world record for the number of cars crashed on film.

Famous people who had cameos in the movie include Cab Calloway, James Brown,

Steven Spielberg, , , The ’ , and Blood,

Sweat & Tears’ and .

In a 1998 interview for Universal, John Landis, the film’s director (who also directed the world-famous video “Thriller”), claims that the mob helped him get permission from the Cook County Board of Commissioners to film the

Bluesmobile driving through the courthouse lobby.

The liner notes are even odder. They are written as if the characters played by

Belushi and Aykroyd were real people.

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Jake had a vision. It was his, the only real one he’d ever had, and he clung to it. There had been too many messy gas station holdups with only some green stamps and a case of Valvoline to show for the risk. Joliet Jake had always been full of schemes. But this was different: it played across his tiled cell wall 24 hours a day. And the ending was always the same – Jake and his younger brother Elwood cruising out of Calumet City, IL., with the sun in their shades and a full

47 tank of gas. He absentmindedly rubbed his Buddha belly; even on a diet of jail food and Chesterfields Jake had gained weight. Someday they’d have a penthouse on Lake Shore Drive … float around with bourbons and blonds. It was out there for the taking and Jake could smell it like ozone in damp air. It had always been the blues. Even back in the Rock Island City orphanage (that sweaty kid factory with the black windows) Jake and Elwood were saved by the music. Actually, saved by a gray-haired janitor everybody called Curtis. He wore these sinister midnight shades, a narrow black tie and a porkpie that he had kept pushed back on his head. Curtis wrapped his waxy brown hands around his guitar neck and played the most dangerous blues this side of Robert Johnson. The nuns scorched their days with holy threats and Curtis rescued them by night. Down in the coolness of his basement he taught the brothers the blues. Silent Elwood never did put more than two sentences together, but all those lost words burned from his Special 20 blues harp. And Joliet tore that voice from some hidden darkness, twisting his chubby body, snarling at the heavens, a born sinner. They used the basement because it was secret and because the echo gave them a nice dirty sound. Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter, slapping like a bad dream around the chilly room. And then one night, Jake brought in a gleaming E string he said came from Elmore James’ guitar. He held it tight and as it glowed in the bulb light, Jake sliced Elwood’s middle finger and then his own. Now the solo boys with soul in their blood were brothers. Jake and Elwood Blues … the Blues Brothers. When Jake could keep himself outside jail, Elwood took off from the Taser factory and the brothers rode the state bare. They played everywhere; after-hours clubs, black-light bars. Word spread quietly across the steel belt about the two men in the porkpie hats who still played the blues. And soon other musicians crawled out of the night. The Colonel showed up in Decatur with his Telecaster and Duck. The Shiv, Mr. Fabulous, Blue Lou, Bones, Triple Scale, and crazy Getdwa strutted in one Saturday night. Finally, Guitar Murphy, bigger than life, joined up and they were set. One scary soul band as mean and righteous as a fist. Miami Mitch Glazer

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48 15. Artist: as “Chris Gaines”

Liner Notes Author: Unattributed

Album/CD: Chris Gaines

Capitol 1999

Garth Brooks is the most successful solo American recording artist of all time, selling more than 100 million albums. At the close of the 20th century, his records accounted for more than 10 percent of all sold each year.

Inexplicably, Brooks embarked on a strange marketing ploy in 1999. He created a character named “Chris Gaines” and introduced him to the world as an Australian pop/ rock artist. Brooks launched a massive media blitz for his alter-ego, which included TV appearances and a planned film called The Lamb.

Although a single from Chris Gaines reached number five on the U.S. charts, and the album sold a million copies (disappointing by Brooks’ standards), the whole project shocked – but didn’t awe – Brook’s core country music fans. Brooks took a hint and nixed the movie. He also buried the Chris Gaines character and went back to country.

This is another set of liner notes, like the ones for The Blues Brothers and Spinal

Tap, which profiles a totally fictitious character as if he were real.

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Chris was born August 10, 1967 in Brisbane, Australia. His family moved to the Los Angeles area when he was five years old. As an only child, Chris was expected by many to carry the torch in the Olympic waters. The young Gaines, however, defied expectations of an athletic future and developed a life-long passion for music, a passion so great Chris decided to quit school his senior year at Morningside High School to pursue his music professionally (all though he did complete his G.E.D. in 1987).

49 Chris joined his best friend Tommy Levitz along with Marc Obal (?) in the band, CRUSH. The band signed with in 1985 and released their self-titled debut album in 1986. The second single, “My Love Tells Me So,” was a smash and one of the year’s most successful songs. But the band’s success was short-lived when lead singer Tommy Levitz died in a plane crash later that year. For the next two years, Joe Smith of Capitol Records and Chris discussed the possibility of a Chris Gaines solo career, and in 1989, Chris debuted his solo album, Straight Jacket. Both the public and the music industry responded favorably; the album spent an extraordinary 224 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album, which featured the hits “Maybe,” “White Flag,” and “Digging For Gold,” is still Chris’ biggest-selling album to date. Tragedy struck again when Chris’ father died in the fall of 1990 after his long battle with cancer. Almost a year to the day later, Chris released his second solo album, Fornucopia. Even though it was a very dark and angry album, it debuted at #1 and spent a combined 18 weeks on top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. The album included the soulful remake of the 1972 Ramsey Sellers classic, “It Don’t Matter To The Sun,” and the instant classic “Main Street.” In the winter of 1992, Chris was involved in a violent single-car crash that nearly ended his life. Chris spent six weeks in the hospital and over two years undergoing extensive plastic surgery on his fact, shoulder and hands. Although he would not allow himself to be seen or photographed, Chris released his third solo album, Apostle, in the winter of 1994. Without any artist promotion, the album still managed to spend a combined 8 weeks atop the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and featured the singles “Way Of The Girl” and “Unsigned Letter.” Finally, in the winter of 1996, Chris re-emerged into public view for the first time with Triangle. Chris was dubbed “The New Prince” by the media because of his new look and the fact that his music showed a move towards R&B – a distinct change in musical style from his past. “Driftin’ Away,” “That’s The Way I Remember It,” and “Snow in July” are the featured hits on the album. Now, on the eve of the millennium, Chris has assembled his greatest hits, as well as two new songs, “Lost In You” and “Right Now.” Chris’ Greatest Hits, is the perfect bridge between his upcoming solo album, The Lamb (which the critics are already predicting will be the “definitive album of the new millennium”) and the albums that have defined our times over the last decade.

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50 16. Artists: , Little Texas, , John Anderson, ,

Suzy Bogguss, , Diamond Rio, , Billy Dean, Tanya

Tucker, Brooks & Dunn, Lorrie Morgan

Liner Notes Author: Unattributed

Album/CD: Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles

Warner Brothers 1993

Glenn Frey and , two of the original Eagles, met as members of Linda

Ronstadt’s backing band. By the end of the 1970s, The Eagles were the biggest band in

America, having sold 40 million records worldwide.

Hotel California is one of three ‘70s albums, the other two being ’s

Rumours and ’s Frampton Comes Alive, that had such monster sales that they changed the focus of the music industry from single hit songs to hit albums.

Here is the backstory on the band that helped changed the face of rock and roll.

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In the late ‘60s, a cultural phenomenon was sweeping over the . “Baby Boomers” were coming of age and flocking westward from every corner of the nation. In California, conditions became fertile for all sorts of revolutionary mutations and evolutions. One such genesis was the result of the merging of long-haired, scruffy, rock & Roll music with what was then called Country & Western music. Due to the pioneering efforts of a group called The Dillards, bluegrass music had been making substantial inroads on the Los Angles folk scene since the mid-‘60s. But with the release of The Gilded Palace of Sin by the Flying Burrito Brothers in February of 1969, a new and distinct genre was born. Today, “long-haired” Country music enjoys wide acceptance, but in 1969 it was radical – maybe even subversive. Country music, up until that time, had been (with a few exceptions) the province of traditional, conservative America. It was also the music of choice for an element commonly referred to as “rednecks.” “Rednecks” didn’t care for “long-hairs” (witness “Okie From Muskogie”) and vice versa. The nation was divided over issues of race, war, economics

51 and lifestyle. What happened next could only have occurred in the great Bohemian stew that was southern California in the lat 60’s. From the rocky, mysterious reaches of Topanga, through the sun-baked San Fernando Valley, to the hobbit-houses nestled in the nooks and crannies of Laurel and Beachwood Canyons and on down to San Diego, something strange and innovative was happening. Music and cultures that were seemingly at odds were blending, and young people were embracing the results. Some of the other seminal figures in this movement were , , The Byrds, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In retrospect, it all seems quite logical because it was simply a manifestation of the “Back to Nature” movement that was so much a part of the philosophy of the time. The Eagles might be called the second wave or second generation of what eventually came to be known as “” music, and they took it to new heights before changing direction around 1976. Much of the material from the first half of their career was influenced by the aforementioned artists, but it should be noted that the various members of the Eagles and their collaborators (J.D. Souther, Jack Tempchin) had distinct roots of their own. Although they were collectively labeled a “California Band,” the individual members were born an d raised in small-to-medium size towns located in different parts of the country (Texas, Michigan, Nebraska, Florida) and they had many disparate musical influences, including , Rhythm & Blues, Delta Blues, Southern Soul and Gospel, Cajun, Bluegrass, Country & Western, Tex-Mex and Rockabilly, to name a few. Although most of the songs in this collection came to fruition in the hills and canyons surrounding Los Angeles, many of them have their origins in the heartland – the birthplace of dreams and yearnings that ultimately make their way east and west, to one coast or another. It seems fitting then, that these songs have found their way back to the Southern and Mid-Western territories that inspired them, enjoying renewal and reinterpretation through the kindred voices of a talented new generation of Country artists. This anthology was originally going to be called a “Tribute to the Eagles,” but let’s call it a recycling (or, better yet, just a cycling). The natural world will be enhanced through this endeavor because a portion of the royalties from the sales of this collection will go to the Walden Woods Project, a non-profit organization founded in 1990. The purpose of the Walden Woods Project is to purchase, and thereby preserve, environmentally sensitive and historically significant forestland located near Henry David Thoreau’s famed retreat at Walden Pond. This area has long been considered the birthplace of the modern conservation movement and is visited by more than half a million people each year who come from all over the globe. It stands as an important American symbol of man’s need to live in harmony with the natural world, as well as man’s desire for freedom of thought and expression. We gratefully acknowledge all the people who participated in this recording project, and we thank them for their generosity of spirit. If we’re going to have Country music, we need to save some country.

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52 17. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Steve Nicks

Album/CD: Time Space: The Best of Stevie Nicks

Atlantic 1991

The Fleetwood Mac story is quintessential Behind the Music fodder, with more drama than a Shakespeare festival. However, the backstory fails to overshadow the essential fact that Fleetwood Mac was one of the top-selling bands of the ‘70s. Rumours, the second album to feature the golden lineup of Mick Fleetwood, ,

Stevie Nicks and John and McVie, sold more than 25 million copies.

Nicks has had the most successful of the band’s solo careers. Her liner notes for

Time Space: The Best of Stevie Nicks reveal fascinating insights into the inspiration behind some of the prolific singer-’s hit singles.

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Sometimes It’s a Bitch Inspired by Jon

When I first heard this song, I really did not quite understand what Jon was trying to say…but over the two weeks that we sang it together (at my mike), I started to realize that Jon, without knowing it, had sort of taken a time machine back eighteen years and watched my life, the good parts…and the bad. It was not a love song, which of course, I had expected it to be; it was much more than that …to me. Bon Jovi had picked up on the fact, before meeting me, that there was no way he could know what I had lived through…without having lived through it with me…so he dreamed… He dreamed about what the notorious Stevie Nicks had been like…and what it had all done to her…the indulgences, the lifestyle. I felt that if he knew nothing else about me…he knew I had a strong instinct to survive.

53 Someday, maybe all the people who did not go through this with us will understand; that considering the generation we come from…we are very lucky to be alive… “Sometimes…it’s a bitch.”

Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around Inspired by

Jimmy (Iovine) played this song to me while he was still finishing Tom’s album; it was one of those songs that Tom was not going to do, and he told Jim that I could do it. I wasn’t used to doing other people’s songs, so I didn’t really like the idea at first…but I loved Tom Petty, so I agreed to try. So we went into the studio and sang it live, together. I was completely entranced, and I instantly fell into love with the song. Duets were the things I loved the most…maybe this was a second beginning… And we would sing like no one else, and nobody else would ever sing…like us.

Whole Lotta Trouble Written for Tom Petty and Bob Dylan Inspired by Michael Campbell and The Heartbreakers

I recorded this song in Michael’s room in Sydney, Australia, on his 4-Track. I actually played guitar, and almost a year later, Michael had worked up a track right along with what I had played in Australia. He wrote a bridge for it, and when I got home from MY tour, he insisted I come up and sign it exactly as I had played it that night; and he could play his track right along to me playing rock and roll guitar…I was totally flattered. On the other side of the coin, he is the only person in my whole life who has EVER done one of my songs exactly as I had written it. So thank you Michael, for all your wonderful music and for sharing some of it with me…nothing like a tour with Tom petty and Bob Dylan to make you extremely creative. I asked Tom if I could be an honorary Heartbreaker, and he said, “You already are one, Stevie…”

Talk to Me Inspired by Jim Keltner, Chas Sanford and Jimmy Iovine

This was a hard song to sing, but I had loved “Missing You” (co-written by Chas with Hohn Waite), and I loved the words to “Talk To Me.” It took a long time to finish it though, because I couldn’t quite get the right feeling on it…until one night, Jim Keltner came in to do some drum overdubs; and then he stayed to be an audience…to push me a little, to make me get a great vocal. So I had someone to sing to, and I got the vocal…I put some tambourine on it, and it was finished, forevermore. That was one of my unforgettable moments. I’ll not soon…forget it.

Stand Back Inspired by Prince

54 I got married the day I wrote this song. We were driving to Santa Barbara and a new song by Prince came on, so we pulled over somewhere and got the tape. It just gave me an incredible idea, so I spent many hours that night writing a song about some kind of a crazy argument, and it was to become one of the most important of my songs. I’ve been doing this song for years, Fleetwood Mac does it also, and I never get tired of it. “” has always been my favorite song onstage, because…when it starts, it has an energy that comes from somewhere unknown…and it seems to have no timespace. I’ve never quite understood this sound…but I have NEVER questioned it. I become a different person, and I like that, because usually I make up my OWN characters…but the in “Stand Back” was not my idea. By the way, Prince did come into the studio the night I called him and told him about the song, and he played incredible synthesizer on it…and then he just walked out of my life, and I didn’t see him for a long time. It was extraordinary…

Beauty and the Beast Written for Mick Fleetwood Inspired by Jean Cocteau and his early French film about the Beauty and the Beast Dedicated to Vincent and Katherine…

We recorded this live in New York, with playing grand piano, and doing the strings and the orchestra, and me and the background singers, all at the same time. It was like we had gone back in time; we all wore long black dresses, and served champagne, and recorded it all in one room…When it was over, I walked out with this elderly gentleman who played …and the generation gap ceased to exist. I also remember Mick and I years later at the Red Rocks “” video. He had come by himself to play, and he stayed there with me all night (in the rain) to do close-ups… everyone else had left. Who is the beauty, and who is the beast? Which one of you? Have you ever really been able to answer that? I have, it took a long time, but I did finally…find the answer.

If Anyone Falls Inspired by Waddy Wachtel

There was a time when I was falling out of one love and into another, when nothing else seemed to matter except this person. I adored him…he was everything I wanted to be; a real rock and roller…and a lover of the Stones…small and frail sometimes, but in many ways the strongest person I had ever known. His word was law. I became him…he became me, and no one dared intrude upon this union. He is no longer with me, but his spirit twin never leaves him. It was music combined with love, combined with the fact that when Waddy was beside me, I felt completely safe. It is to my great sorrow that we are no longer on stage together, but it is to my great joy that he always seems to be with me, even after all this time. “Love is a word that some entertain…

55 If you find it, then you have won …”

I Can’t Wait Inspired by

I think this was about the most exciting song that I had ever heard. My friend, Rick, whom I had known since I was eighteen and he was thirteen, brought over this track with this incredible percussion thing, and gave it to me asking me if I would listen to it and consider writing a song for it…I listened to the song once, and pretended not to be that knocked out, but the second Rick left, I ran to my little and wrote “I Can’t Wait.” It took all night, and I think it is all about how electric I felt about this music…And that night, that SATURDAY night, Rick and I went into a BIG studio and recorded it. I sang it only once, and have never sung it since in the studio. Some vocals are magic and simply not able to beat. So I let go of it, as new to me as it was; but you know, now when I hear it on the radio, this incredible feeling comes over me, like something really incredible is about to happen… To understand this song, you sort of have to let yourself go a little crazy…love is blind, it never works out…but you just have to have it… I can’t wait…

Leather and Lace Written for and Inspired by Don Henley

I wrote this song because Waylon Jennings called me up and asked me to write a song called “.” It was to be a duet for him and his wife, and I worked very hard trying to explain what it was like to be in love with someone in the same business, and how to approach dealing with each other. It’s probably the hardest thing in the world to do because it falls out of your hands and into the hands of the world, which tends to want you to not be able to handle it. I have to tell you now that Mr. Don Henley was pretty much responsible for this song because he came over every day and told me to either start over, or that I was on the right track, and he made me finish it (because I almost gave up many times). When it was finally finished, Don and I made a very simple demo of it…he sang it with me, and it was…truly wonderful. And then I found out that Waylon and Jessi were breaking up, and Waylon wanted to just sing it by himself. After all the work I had put into the philosophy of two people dealing with this problem, I told Waylon that only four people in this world could sing this song: he and his wife, or myself and don Henley. Don and I had been going out for quite awhile, and, bless his heart, he did sing it with me, and again, as fate would have it…it became on of the most special love songs that I would ever write…and remains that, even today, after all these years. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience, as was he…Blame it on my wild heart.

Loves’ a Hard Game to Play Inspired by Bret Michaels

56 This song was just brought to me barely two weeks ago by a most extraordinary young man. One of those men who has everything…beauty, sensitivity, warmth, and a love for life that I had not seen in a long time. I recorded this song, singing it for him to the best of my ability…hoping that the people would love the song as much as we loved doing it. A new friend, in this business, who asks for nothing but for me to be happy, is a very rare thing. I hope he will remain my friend for a long time, because finding someone like him seldom happens in one’s lifetime. But when it does…there is nothing like it. He was happy because I believed in him. And he has brought something back to me that I thought I had lost…My laughter…

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You Written for Joe Walsh Inspired by Joe Walsh

I guess in a very few rare cases…some people find someone that they fall in love with the very first time they see them…from across the room, from a million miles away. Some people call it love at first sight, and of course, I never believed in that until…that night…I walked into a party after a gig at the hotel, and from across the room, without my glasses, I saw this man…and I walked straight to him…He held out his hands to me, and I walked straight into them. I remember thinking, I can never be far from this person again…he is my soul. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, though hid it well. But finally, a few days later, (we were in Denver), he rented a jeep and drove me up into the snow covered hills of Colorado…for about two hours…He wouldn’t tell me where we were going…but he did tell me a story of a little daughter that he had lost. To Joe, she was much more than a child…she was three and a half…and she could relate to him… I guess I had been complaining about a lot of things going on on the road, and he decided to make me aware of how unimportant my problems were, if they were compared to worse sorrows. So he told me that he had taken his little girl to this magic park whenever he could, and the only thing she EVER complained about was that she was too little to reach up to the drinking fountain. As we drove up to this beautiful park, (it was snowing a little bit), he came around to open my door and help me down, and when I looked up, I saw the park…his baby’s park, and I burst into tears saying, “You built a drinking fountain here for her…didn’t you?” I was right, under a huge beautiful hanging tree, was a tiny silver drinking fountain…I left Joe to get to it, and on it, it said, dedicated to HER and all the others who were too small to get a drink. So he wrote a song for her, and I wrote a song for him… ”This is …” I said…to the people…but it was Joe’s song. Thank you, Joe, for the most committed song I ever wrote… But more than that, thank you for inspiring me in so many ways. Nothing in my life ever seems as dark anymore, since we took that drive. “If not for me then, do it for the world… If not for me then, do it for yourself…” I want you to remember…me… “Poet…Priest of nothing…LEGEND…”

57 Inspired by John Lennon and my late uncle (Jonathan William)

I had lived up in the hills with Jimmy (Iovine) for almost six weeks. He was coming to the end of Tom Petty’s album…it seemed I had waited a long time, and so since no one really knew where I was, I was starting to get very edgy to do something…I was also starting to feel very unimportant and very sorry for myself. I was ready to begin “Bella Donna,” and it seemed like it would just never happen. Jimmy had told me many times about his incredible friendship with John Lennon; how John had taken Jimmy in and taught him how to record. He was his teacher… and I was entranced because I could not imaging these two together. Anyway, it was a real life fairy tale, and I believed it. Then one grey day, the fairy tale ended…Jimmy’s friend was dead… but Jimmy’s love for John did not die. A terrible sadness set in over the house, there was simply nothing I could do to help and nothing I could say. So I went home…Jimmy would have to go this one alone. I went home to Phoenix…and went to visit my uncle (who was very sick), not knowing that no one but his son, John, was there…and I sat on his bedside, while John sat on the floor beside him, and we stayed there. My father did not come, nor my mother…nor my aunt…so I sat there and held his hand, and sometime right about sunset, he slightly turned his head to John, and then to me, and his hand slowly let go of mine. I did run out into the hallway, but no one was there…and the white winged dove took flight… “Well I hear you, in the morning… And I hear you, at nightfall… But sometimes, to be near you… Is to be unable…to hear you…” to you both, I said… There was nothing left to say.

Rooms on Fire Written for Inspired by Rupert Hine

The night I met Rupert Hine was a dangerous one. He was different from anyone else I had ever known…He was older, and he was smarter, and we both knew it. I hired him to do the album before we even started talking about music. It seemed that we had made a spiritual agreement to do a magic album…in a fabulous Dutch castle, at the top of the mountain. We recorded it in the formal dining room…where, upon the walls hung all these very old and expensive pieces of art…looking at us…we were never alone. It always seemed to me that whenever Rupert walked into one of these old, dark castle rooms, that the rooms were on fire. There was a connection between us that everyone around us instantly picked up on, and everyone was very careful to respect our space…our “TIMESPACE,” so we all lived at the castle for about four-and-a-half months. I went home with him to England to mix the album at his studio…he left in December. I joined him there in London in January. We left immediately for his studio, Farmyard Studios, somewhere outside London. It was like being in a cottage in Wales, it was a little spooky…the

58 atmosphere was like nothing I had ever experienced. Then something happened to him that simply made it impossible for us to ever be together again. I left him there…the rooms were , but the fire had been stolen from us. I wasn’t over love, in fact…it had nothing to do with love. It was just a bad situation. I came back to Los Angeles, a very changed woman. And now, long nets of white…cloud my …Now I remember the rooms, the music, and how truly magic the whole thing was… “Alright, said Alice, I’m going back… To the other side of the mirror.” “What price love… What price glory…”

Desert Angel Written for all the men and women involved in “Operation Desert Storm” Inspired by Paradise Valley, my desert…and the rain

I returned to Phoenix late last night for a few days – today is May 28th. I have been in Los Angeles since March 3rd, but I was here from December 23rd for a little over two months – the two months the Persian Gulf war began and ended. My friend who takes care of my fan mail, Ginny, began calling me at the end of December telling me that she had already sent a lot of tapes, cd’s and autographed pictures for these guys who were writing to me from the Gulf. Then at the beginning of January, Ginny suggested I write these people a serious letter about how I was feeling about their participation in the Gulf War. Of course, I had been watching nothing else on TV except CNN, and I was totally overwhelmed that they cared about what I thought. So the days went slowly by, all of us thinking that it would never happen, as January 15 loomed ahead of us. So I thought about this letter I would write every day for fourteen days. While all this was going on, there was something the city was doing called “Operation Desert Angel.” It meant that you could go down to the shopping centers or malls and get a little dog tag in the shape of an angel with the name of someone from Arizona who was in the Gulf…and it became a very important and personal way to get to them. It was on TV and radio constantly; all this time I was still trying to figure out what I could write to the ones in the Gulf who are alone and scared…and I also knew I would write a song called “Desert Angel,” and suddenly I knew exactly what to say in the letter to the troops. I would tell them about Rhiannon, and about my treasured gold cross, and I would send them my feeling of sanctuary. I would what do when I sing – I would try to make them forget, even if for a moment, and they could come into my world. I finally wrote the letter – the night before the first shot was fired – and everyone thought I should send it to Stars and Stripes. I mailed it off and four days later, I wrote “Desert Angel,” in my house, here in Paradise Valley. My letter did make it into Stars and Stripes, which I never, ever expected. On February 17, 1991, I went into Vintage Recorders and sang to a track that Michael Campbell had given me a few days after I had sent the letter. There were five songs on it, and as I listened, the second one came on, and I knew without going any further, that I had found my “Desert Angel.” From the beginning, all the people who were around me really loved this song, because it meant so much more to all of us than it did to just me. We had lived through it, we had prayed, and my song would make at least all of us…never forget this war. So, “Desert Angel” is coming out on

59 the “B” side of the first single of my “Best Of” album. I am doing this because I wanted you to have it as quickly as possible. I hope that for all of you that were there, it will always be a lullaby that will remind you that everything will be fine, it is over, you can sleep now. And for us here who felt helpless and scared, a lot of things really do work out for the best in the end…I can only write songs when I am totally inspired…and the flag that you, Sgt. Robert M. Garcia, sent me is something that makes me feel something that I wish I could explain to you, but I can’t. Yes, when you washed it out for me, the colors did ring true… “Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Angels… In waiting.”

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60 18. Artist: Tom Petty

Liner Notes Author: Cameron Crowe

Album/CD: Tom Petty: Anthology

MCA 2000

Anyone who’s seen Almost Famous (the movie that made Goldie Hawn’s daughter Kate

Hudson really famous) knows the Cameron Crowe story. He was raised by a mother who didn’t allow rock ‘n roll music in the house, and yet this rock journo prodigy became a writer for Rolling Stone magazine at age 15.

At age 22 he went underground at a high school to do research for a book about teens. Before Fast Times at Ridgemont High was even published, Universal hired him to write the screenplay. Since then he’s written and directed two Tom Cruise films, Jerry

McGuire and Vanilla Sky. His script for Almost Famous won an Oscar.

In his Oscar acceptance speech, Crowe said, “The movie was a love letter to music and to my family. So, I dedicate this to all the musicians who inspire us, and to my family, Alice Crowe, Cindy Webber, and Nancy Wilson [a guitarist for the rock band

Heart], my incredible wife and collaborator.”

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More than a few times over the years, I've attempted to compile the definitive road-tape collection of the best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It's not easy. In fact, each time I've tried, it's been a hideous undertaking, log-jammed with endless questions like these: "Do you go with the amazing acoustic-intro live version of 'The Waiting' or the walk-away-perfection of the original?" "Is 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" a true Heartbreakers track?" "How about including covers like '' or 'Psychotic Reaction' for flavor?" "What about the

61 live B-side version of 'Change My Heart?'" "And why not throw 'Peace In L.A.' on there?" Arguments like these can eat up days on end.... 'til the point arrives when you just pack up all the albums and drive. See, when the bounty you have to choose from is the work of the greatest and most consistent American band of the last twenty-five years, any Heartbreakers collection is gloriously controversial. Trends come and go, bands of the moment break up, re-form and break up again....and through it all, every year or so, the Heartbreakers unleash a new album full of fire, raw truths, aching melancholy and flat-out jubilation. Any Heartbreakers "best of" is destined to be a great ride filled with road signs leading to the albums that each of the tracks came from. Each album matters. And for every track on this anthology, there's a "No Second Thoughts" from You're Gonna Get It, "Mary's New Car" from , or "Keepin' Me Alive" from the stellar box set Playback. So, daunting tasks aside, let's now celebrate flow of this line-up. From "Breakdown," through the wrenching beauty of "Straight Into Darkness" to the brand new recording of "Surrender," the song Petty wrote in 1977 and didn't get around to recording until 2000, this new collection throws a white-hot spotlight on the truth of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. From their beginnings in Florida, through their journey out west and beyond, this is a band of fans. And by the way, this is one of the very few seminal bands that has actually performed the impossible--they stayed together. So here is a living mix tape, a portrait of a band still growing. These carefully chosen songs, classics and hidden-classics alike, are constant reminders of the way Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers can make you feel, on any given afternoon, when you're craving something real, and one of these songs hits the radio. You can't . You can barely contain it on a couple discs. All you can do is crank it up, and take the ride. Only one question. Is it too late to consider including the live version of "Time To Move On" from Saturday Night Live? And "You Don't Know How It Feels?" And then there's always...wait... see, this is how it all starts to unravel. Best to leave this to the professionals. Cameron Crowe. September 2000

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62 19. Artist: Peter Frampton

Liner Notes Author: Cameron Crowe

Album/CD: Frampton Comes Alive!

A&M Records 1975

A quote from Wayne’s World, starring Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell:

“Frampton Comes Alive? Everybody's got Frampton Comes Alive. If you lived in you were issued it. It came in the mail with samples of Tide.”

Frampton Comes Alive is the most popular live album of all time, selling more than16 million copies. It’s widely credited with single-handedly changing the music business. According to Frampton, his fourth album “woke the music industry up and they said, 'Oh my God, one band can sell this many copies’ … That's when it all changed, virtually overnight.”

Speaking at the 1996 Musicom2, musician explained, “Previous to that, there was no such thing as a multi-platinum selling album. When that happened, other corporate entities aside from record companies became interested in the music business. The music business became this Gold Rush thing. Gulf & Western started buying up companies and they also started determining which artists would and wouldn’t get signed…. That heavily affected which music was made.”

Cameron Crowe, who wrote the liner notes for this milestone album, later hired

Frampton to coach the actors who portrayed the fictional rock band Stillwater in the movie Almost Famous.

63 ------

It's the classic tale of most inspired performers. Be they actor or musician or both, anyone whose art often burns with the passion of a man possessed is more often than not a soft-spoken personality away from their craft. Twenty-five-year-old Peter Frampton is no miraculous exception. He is a quietly good-natured man who, in his own words, lives for the stage. Which is not to say that Frampton, in the four years since he left and began a solo career, hasn't made the studio his stage. Wind of Change, his first effort, was as strong a debut as an artist could hope for. After lacing five Humble Pie and two Herd albums with his especially versatile acoustic and electric guitar playing, singing and songwriting prowess, Frampton had immediately established himself as his own best interpreter. It was about that same time that Peter took to the road - surely his first home - with his own band. "Performing is the best thing for a musician," he said at the time. "It keeps my music alive and breathing. That's too important to give up. I really don't think I'll ever stay off the road for very long." The effect of the stage can be strongly felt on his second album Frampton's Camel, which introduced such live staples as "Lines On My Face" and the "." Somethin's Happening and Frampton, finely-crafted albums that spanned both breezy and gritty peaks, were next. The latter may well be his best studio work yet. Recorded at Clearwell Castle near Wales with his solid backing unit of Andy Brown and drummer John Siomos, it shows an ever-evolving Frampton playing all guitar and keyboards and more confident and relaxed than ever before. Which brings us to Frampton Comes Alive!, the trump he has been holding all along. Two records culled from a series of Peter Frampton , its release finally completes the portrait of a strong young artist. The full range of his live material, both acoustic and electric, is presented here. Even the audience enjoys a major role throughout and, as always, Frampton & Band perform with the earnestness and competence that we've come to expect. Frampton Comes Alive! is much more than a souvenir. It is a testimony to Peter Frampton in his natural habitat. Cameron Crowe - December, 1975

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64 20. Artists: Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same

Liner Notes Author: Cameron Crowe

Album/CD: The Song Remains the Same

Atlantic 1976

Led Zeppelin is all over almost any “best of” rock ‘n roll list. On VH1 alone, they were ranked #4 on the list of Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll; #3 on the list of 100 Greatest

Rock Songs (for “Stairway to Heaven”), and #1 on the list of100 Greatest Artists of Hard

Rock.

The “Stairway to Heaven” legend began on November 8, 1971 when Zeppelin’s fourth album was released. “Stairway to Heaven” went on to become the most- requested song on Album Oriented radio stations. It also has the biggest-selling sheet music in the history of rock: an average hit sells 10,000 to 15,000 copies; “Stairway to

Heaven” has sold more than one million.

Decades after its launch, “Stairway to Heaven” is a cultural touchstone. It’s been

Muzaked. It’s been parodied. It’s been addressed by academia, and by an MTV documentary. It was reportedly temporarily banned as “insensitive” on Clear Channel

Communications radio stations in the week following the September 11 terror attacks.

Conversely, a survey of British funeral directors revealed that “Stairway to Heaven” is one of the most popular “nontraditional” songs played at funerals.

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65 The exact city has faded, but the isolated moment is still clear. Somewhere on the East Coast during Led Zeppelin's most recent tour of America, , John Bonham, John Paul Jones and were speeding from the stage to their touring plane. Now, heading down the runway to the next stop, they collapsed in exhausted heaps around the on-board video tape machine. Little Richard was on the screen, bashing his piano keys, rocking the bandstand and howling "Tutti Frutti" in the 1957 classic film The Girl Can't Help It. Page watched, took a weary slug of Jack Daniels and began to grin. "You know somthing?", he toasted. "No escaping our roots." Three years later, with that credo very much in mind, Led Zeppelin have released a feature film of their own. The Song Remains The Same captures all the power and force of a Led Zeppelin concert from the ultimate vantage point. The view is from the second row, the sound as if the viewer were on stage. A multiple track playback sends the music from every direction of the theatre. The tension takes hold immediately. The opening moments of The Song Remains The Same show the band gather in Britain, fly to the States, and pile into cars that will take them to a long-packed in the heart of . The pace accelerates; there is no chance to rest. They hurtle down the freeways; and then Zeppelin is on stage, tearing into the music, from "Rock And Roll" to " Whole Lotta Love"; it is some of their most blazing live material. Peter Clifton and Joe Massot have admirably captured the total event on celluloid. For the first time, a Led Zeppelin performance is not just a memory. The film as well as this soundtrack, can be experienced again and again. The film, is much more than a movie of Led Zeppelin in concert; it is a rare series of glimpses into the visions and symbolism of the men who make the music. Fulfilling a long-held desire to express themselves in a cinematic setting, each band member and manager Peter Grant, have contributed their own "fantasy sequence". For the first time, one can view the images in Page's mind during "Dazed And Confused", see life breathed into "Stairway To Heaven"... It would be impossible to detail those sequences here. The band has never really discussed their concepts or reasons. Now it's easy to see why. It's been quite a ride since that first album was released in late '68, inventing a new repertoire, raw and brimming with fresh ideas and explorations into rock. Since then, Zeppelin's made six more albums, resulting in an ever-increasing legion of followers, whose loyalty can only be described as staggering, whilst the group record and live their music from L.A. to Kasmir. Now, their first adventure into cinema, The Song Remains The Same, is cinematic proof that amidst it all, while living the reflections of their music, they have neither forgotten nor denied that original premise - . Cameron Crowe - September 28, 1976

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66 21. Artists: Sly & The Family Stone

Liner Notes Author: Tom Sinclair

Album/CD: The Essential Sly & The Family Stone

Sony 2002

Sly & The Family Stone played at the original Woodstock in 1969. Almost 30 years later, their hit single “” was sampled by the socially-conscious rap group

Arrested Development. In between, their influence is evident in artists ranging from

Prince to the various incarnations of the Parliament-Funkadelics-Bootsy Collins collective.

In Craig Hansen Werner’s A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race and the Soul of America, he suggests that two Sly & The Family Stone hit singles serve as bookends to the ‘60s experience: “Everyday People,” with its upbeat, in-praise-of-diversity message, reflects the Flower Power optimism of the mid-‘60s, and “Family Affair,” a pessimistic tune about dysfunctional relationships, ushered in the Watergate era.

Tom Sinclair, a senior writer with magazine, explains how

Sly & The Family Stone helped define an epoch.

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Understand this: There was no precedent for Sly & The Family Stone. Back in 1967, when the interracial, mixed-gender combo burst onto the scene with their aptly-titled debut, A Whole New Thing, the burgeoning rock & roll subculture was, as always, hungry for fresh kicks and different sounds. But no one was quite prepared for the magical, multi-faceted musical mix Sly

67 and company served up. Their music was an inspired blend of rock, soul, pop, jazz, and an emerging genre soon to be dubbed . It packed a powerful, joyous wallop, delivering all the things one hoped to find in music: the thrill of the new, the excitement of the unexpected, a galvanizing groove, and that actually said something. Sylvester Stewart had been a and before adopting the moniker Sly and assembling The Family Stone with the intention of shaking things up. The first Family Stone single, “Underdog” (included on New Thing), had served notice that the group would not remain under the radar for long. Their second album, Dance To The Music, delivered on the promise of the first and became a crossover smash in 1968. The infectious title track was the group’s calling card, serving as both an anthem and a manifesto. Those seduced by the single who went on to buy the Dance LP soon found out that dancing wasn’t the only thing on Sly’s mind; there was social and political commentary on the agenda as well. And the dude was prolific: Before 1969 dawned, S&TFS had released yet another album, the wildly experimental Life. 1969 was a banner year for Sly. It saw the release of Stand!, an album chock full of many of his most enduring songs: “I Want To Take You Higher,” “Stand,” “,” “Everyday People” (which introduced to pop culture catchphrase “different strokes for different folks”), and an ironic, humorous commentary on race relations, “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey.” That same year, Sly blitzed the airwaves with a trio of brilliantly conceived singles: “Hot Fun In The Summertime,” “,” and the amazing funk mediation “That You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” The latter tune provided a hint of things to come, with Sly ominously warning, “Thank you for the party/ I could never stay/ Many thangs is on my mind/ Words get in the way.” Listeners would have to wait until 1971 and There’s A Riot Goin’ On to find out just what was on Sly’s mind. Veering away from the unflagging positivity of earlier releases, Riot was an , moody affair that found a brooding Sly apparently flirting with black militancy. The first single, “Family Affair,” with its percolating rhythms and somber lyrics (“You can’t cry ‘coz you’ll look broke down / But you’re cryin’ anyway, ‘coz you’re all broke down”), was a smash hit, but many were unprepared for this new, darker direction. More than three later, of course, Riot is considered a masterpiece, and regularly shows on critics’ lists of the best albums of all time. In 1973, Sly returned to the charts with the upbeat single “” (later sampled by MC Hammer), from Fresh. He would release two more highly enjoyable albums, 1974’s Small Talk and 1976’s Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back, before entering a period of self-imposed isolation that continues to this day. Yet if Sly were never to record another note of music, his place in the pantheon of musical greats is assured. Just slip this compilation into your CD player for proof. -- Tom Sinclair

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68 22. Artist:

Liner Notes Author: Nat Hentoff

Album/CD: Aretha Arrives

Atlantic 1967

Nat Hentoff is a famous music critic who has written for The Washington Post, The Wall

Street Journal, and The New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. He’s such a noted jazz expert that he appeared as himself in Ken

Burns’ 2002 Jazz documentary for PBS, and ’s film Sweet and Lowdown, which starred Sean Penn as a jazz guitarist.

In Hentoff’s many books on jazz artists, he’s profiled the Duke (Ellington), and a few princes: Charlie Parker, , Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie. Here he does the honors for the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin was also the youngest recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, and she has had her voice declared a natural resource by the state of Michigan (Franklin lives in Detroit).

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I heard about Aretha Franklin before I heard her. , wise in the lore of gospel singers, told me that Reverend C. L. Franklin of Detroit had a daughter who could go tell it on the mountain and make other mountains shake. Eventually, I heard her as a soloist with the choir of the New Bethel Baptist Church, and marveled at the size of feeling in that voice. Later, Aretha began to explore the secular trails as a blues and ballad singer. In person, accompanying herself on the

69 piano as her voice soared through smoke, she was as stunningly powerful as in her gospel years. But on records, something was missing. The form was there, but not the substance. I wondered when and if a machine could capture and hold all of the strength and glorious release of feeling she was capable of. And then she came to Atlantic with first the single, and then the album, called “I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You.” It had happened. Aretha, in the fullness of her power, had arrived. Further evidence was Respect, an insistently pulsating hit as a single and also part of that first album. Now there is Baby, I Love You, and there is this seizing second album. With a foundation in her exultant gospel beginnings and the capacity to plunge into the marrow of the blues, Aretha Franklin has become, on record as in person, one of the magisterial musical presences of this decade. This second celebration of Aretha’s arrival consists in part of Ralph Burns’ arrangements for strings, and sometimes for strings and horns, of such durably contemporary anthems of love, loss and renewal as I Wonder, That’s Life, and Night Life. The other part, without strings, is driven by horns and an irresistibly blood-quickening rhythm section from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Memphis. In Baby, I Love You, Satisfaction, and Going Down Slow, among other tracks, Aretha reveals the depth and pride of her roots. A particularly mesmeric event is her moaning chase chorus with King Curtis on Going Down Slow. The horn parts on these tracks were written by , and the designs of all the vocal backgrounds throughout the album are by Aretha. This is a woman of unremitting, overwhelming vitality. For example, the sessions for this album were delayed because Aretha had shattered her elbow in an accident during a Southern tour. After her elbow had been in a cast for some time, she decided she could record, notwithstanding her doctor’s order to the contrary. On the date, she still didn’t have complete mobility with her elbow but nonetheless in several of the slow numbers, she provided bedrock accompaniment on the piano. For the faster tracks, she couldn’t play with her right hand, but on You Are My Sunshine, undaunted, she used only her left and the resultant rhythmic drive is a witness to the extent of spirit within her. This album continues to illustrate the scope as well as the emotional depth of Aretha. An incisive dramatist, a conjugator of soul, she gets inside lyrics and shapes them into extensions of herself. As Jerry Wexler, who produced these sessions, put its: “She’s an endless source of creativity. The experience of working with her is tremendously rewarding.” And in fact, there are few occasions when one comes anywhere near the elemental force and the truth-telling fervor of Aretha Franklin. NAT HENTOFF

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70 23. Artists: Diana Ross and : Greatest Hits

Liner Notes Author: Carol Channing

Album/CD: Diana Ross and the Supremes: Greatest Hits

Motown 1967

Would the Supremes still have become one of the top pop groups of the ‘60s if they had kept their first name -- The Primettes? Probably – but political analysts and journalists would have had far fewer word-play jokes for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Where Did Our Love Go” became a #1 single and a worldwide hit in 1964.

Between 1964 and 1969, the group earned 12 number one hits. In fact, The Supremes held the title of most successful female vocal group in pop history until TLC came along in the ‘90s.

1964 was a good year for Diana Ross and The Supremes; it was also a good year for Carol Channing, the author of the liner notes writer for this record. That was the year Channing beat out in with her Tony Award for Hello,

Dolly! The original cast album for Hello, Dolly! also knocked the Beatles off the charts in

1964.

Although Channing received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995, she counts as one of her greatest honors her appearance on Richard Nixon’s “hate list.”

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The Supremes and I have a lot in common. They make records. I buy them. Also, Detroit has been a for both of us. It seems like ages ago that I first opened “Hello Dolly” on November 18, 1963, in the motor town. And that was just about the

71 time that Diana, Florence and Mary started to make that Motown sound famous around the world. I guess I can number myself among the very first fans of The Supremes. You see, I knew them when they first hit. I remember meeting them in Detroit and thinking to myself: “What lovely girls. I hope they make it big.” You don’t need me to tell you how big they made it. Just think, these dear girls – and fortunately, they are just as dear and unchanged with success as they were before it – are the only singing group ever to have six consecutive Number One records in one year. Even The Beatles can’t top that, although their is longer than the girls’. In case you forgot, and this album is here to remind you, those six hits were, “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “Back in My Arms Again” and “I hear a Symphony.” This album also spotlights great platters of The Supremes, including “My World is Empty Without You,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “The Happening.” Great as The Supremes are on records, they are even greater in person. I remember one night in New York while “Hello Dolly” was on Broadway, my husband, Charles, and I took our producer, David Merrick, to see the girls at the Copacabana. You know David, the lovable one. Oh, you know him. He kept saying he didn’t want to hear any rock’n’roll group and he grumbled all the way to the Copa. But when he heard the girls sing ballads as they should be sung, and show tunes – especially those from Mr. Merrick’s hits – he became their biggest booster! And when you have Mr. Merrick boosting you, you are in a very select club. So, dears, play this album and when The Supremes come to town, go see them. That’s one favor I want to ask of you kind folks. Carol Channing.

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72 24. Artists: The Temptations

Liner Notes Author: Bill Cosby

Album/CD: The Temptations Greatest Hits

Motown/Gordy Records 1966

In 1998, 23 million viewers tuned in to watch NBC’s Emmy-nominated miniseries about

The Temptations, which beat out a showing of Lost World: Jurassic Park aired the same night on Fox. Even though 40 years had passed since the group first formed, and four of the original Temptations had died, Americans were still interested in an R&B phenomenon that had scored five platinum albums, six , 12 gold singles, and millions of fans all over the world.

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“Since the first time my wife Camille and I saw them perform at the Apollo Theatre in New York a few years back we have liked their style. In my estimation there are three things that improve with time, #1.. a good tobacco, #2.. a woman, #3..and the Temptations’ performance. “My particular favorite on this album is ‘My Girl’, cause I certainly have enough girls at the house to make this one really do something for me! “Since I made that last statement I had better select for my favorite “I’ll Be In Trouble” since I am sure I will be when Camille reads this note about my daughters again. Temptations, thanks for asking me.” “Bill” Bill Cosby

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73 25. Artists: The Beach Boys Today

Liner Notes Author: Dick Clark

Album/CD: The Beach Boys Today

Capitol 1965

The question is: if there had been no American Bandstand with Dick Clark, would there ever have been a TRL with Carson Daly? The answer is: doubtful!

American Bandstand became America’s first network TV pop music show, and it literally changed the face of rock and roll.

In the mid to late ‘50s, rock and roll was dominated by black artists. That made a lot of white Americans nervous.

American Bandstand showed up on America’s TV screens in 1957, hosted by a white, clean-cut and boyish Dick Clark, and featuring lots of white teen dancers from

Catholic high schools in Philadelphia. This made a lot of white parents relax.

Then Dick Clark changed the rules. He insisted on allowing black high school kids on the show, and on featuring black artists as guests. American Bandstand became one of the first racially integrated shows on TV, and gave the first national exposure to

African American artists like Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker.

American Bandstand also launched the careers of other rock notables such as

Jerry Lee Lewis, and Bill Haley and the Comets. Here Dick Clark inked a testimonial to a ‘60s global supergroup, The Beach Boys.

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74 A MESSAGE FROM DICK CLARK:

When fame came to the Beach Boys, it came in a big way and almost overnight. They began with talent, a lot of it, and some avid interests that they turned into hit songs. And soon their first recordings were helping to shape the big trend in surfing music. A little later they did the same thing again with their big hot rod hits. And now they are themselves a trend – important leaders in today’s music industry. Their records and personal appearances have been consistent triumphs, and many of ’s compositions have become teen “classics.” Today they still care about the same things their audiences care about. Fame is important to them, but not as important as their music and their teen fans, toward whom they feel a true allegiance. It is a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to pay tribute to these great young guys, for we in the entertainment industry are proud of their success … proud because they and their music deserve it.

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75 26. Artists: The Beach Boys

Liner Notes Authors: Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, , , Al

Jardine

Album/CD: The Beach Boys: All Summer Long

Capitol 1964

Most former teen sensations like Justin Bieber, and Beyoncé owe their success to an ambitious parent. So did The Beach Boys.

In their case, it was Dennis, Brian and Carl Wilson’s father Murray who helped his sons get their show business starts.

Murray Wilson was an established songwriter who introduced his sons to his . The rest became rock history. The Wilson musical dynasty continued when Brian’s daughters Carnie and Wendy teamed up with (daughter of

John Phillips from The Mamas and Poppas) to form the ‘90s trio .

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Hi – They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life of driving my Sting Ray and XKE, playing my drums, and meeting so many girls and guys (especially girls). I wouldn’t give up this life for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either, but the memories will. Thank you for writing so many great letters. I hope I can answer them soon. I’ll see you in your town. Dennis Wilson

They’ve given me this small space to express something a guy could write a book about. There are a thousand memories. Like being on stage in our own state capital, Sacramento, California, and seeing so many happy swingin’ kids goin’ wild! And then there’s the helpless feeling of seeing a girl, who maybe spent her last dollar to see us, crying or something, ‘cause the cops wouldn’t let her stay and get a Beach Boys autograph.

76 Some of the people I’ve met since The Beach Boys started have become really special to me. I hope you know what I’m trying to say – it’s more than just “thank you.” Like I said, you can’t really say it all in such a small space. Maybe I’ll get another chance sometime, Mike Love

People ask me sometimes how I come up with my ideas. Sometimes I don’t know. The feelings you get from going to school, being in love, winning and losing in sports – these are my inspirations. A sociologist might say I am trying to generate a feeling of social superiority. I live with my and I love to make records that my friends like to hear. The fellas have worked so well with me – you’d never know we were brothers and cousins. Thank you for giving me the incentive to create our records. Sincerely, Brian Wilson

Well, I may not be in the family, but being in the Beach Boys has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Recording sessions are a real panic and the life of an entertainer is very fulfilling: two hours of sleep a night and tranquilizers before each meal. I play rhythm guitar and sing various background parts with the fellas. Thanks to everyone for being so good to us.

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77 27. Artists: Tito Puente, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, Celia Cruz, Arturo Sandoval,

Antonio Banderas, Mambo All-Stars, Beny Moré

Liner Notes Author: Oscar Hijuelos

Album/CD: Mambo Kings

Elektra/Asylum 2000

Oscar Hijuelos is a second-generation Cuban American who was the first Latino to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He won the award in 1990 for his book The Mambo Kings

Play Songs of Love, which became the 1992 film Mambo Kings starring Antonio

Banderas and Desi Arnaz, Jr.

The film was nominated for an Oscar for the song “Beautiful Maria of My Soul,” which appears on this soundtrack.

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I have to confess that I was too young to make it to the most famous mambo dancehalls of the fifties, like the Palladium where the fabulous Cuban dancers Cuban Pete and Joe Piro, and movie actors – Henry Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Rooney – yes, Mickey Rooney – and , among many others were to be found. My take of that time comes from old mambo party records that I heard as a kid and later collected as an adult; compilations that feature the compositions of great bandleaders such as Puente, Rodriguez and Machito, their beautiful and energetic performances always (it seems to me) punctuated by an inevitably whispery corrosion of the old hi-fi grooves. People loved to play those records – it’s rare to find an old recording that has not been spinned over and over again at parties – as happy dancers segued from mambo to rumba to cha cha cha, danced close and fell in love. This was going on all over America during the fifties – and not just with movie stars at the Palladium or the population in ever hip New York. The mambo was popular everywhere – with bands performing in civic centers and resorts from coast to coast. It was a craze that took place in a jittery post-war America, hungry for a new music. A benevolent response to a standard of the square. We know that music through the great musicals of the forties, through chic and modern fusion records. The mambo was so hip that it’s an important aphrodisiac to this day.

78 Lately, I’ve heard mambo groups in Sweden, Finland and Germany, mambo on the radio in Italy and I’ve heard it on FM in the latest avant-garde fusion grooves. But if you want to hear a nice sampling of the authentic music from the period in the fifties when Mambo was King, this soundtrack gives a heady taste of what people young and old were very much enjoying and dancing to in those days. The selections here are performed by some of the greatest practitioners of the art Beny Moré, one of the finest male vocalists to have come out of Cuba; Tito Puente, whose musical genius remains consistently fresh and influential and the impossible-to-praise enough Celia Cruz, sublime chanteuse of la musica latina, whose talent and inner beauty IS AS DEEP AS THE MAMBO SEA. Here, too, is an inspired and dazzling update on the fifties mambos by Arturo Sandoval, the smoke and fire of the mambo all stars. Romantically inclined listeners, day dreamy and nostalgic, will be delighted by Linda Ronstadt, whose lyric voice will certainly evoke two-in-the-morning love. Finally, there are the renditions of “Beautiful Maria Of My Soul,” performed soulfully by Mambo All-Stars featuring Antonio Banderas and another by Los Lobos, who offer their own dynamic interpretation. With wishes that you will find yourselves open to the influence of the mambo and songs of love – Oscar Hijuelos

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79 28. Artist: Sting

Liner Notes Author: Sting

Album/CD: Nothing Like the Sun

A&M Records 1987

Gordon Sumner went from being a Police man to being a protester. He founded The

Rainforest Foundation with his wife, Trudie Styler; played on the Conspiracy of Hope tour for Amnesty International with , Bob Dylan and Tom Petty; and was also featured on the Human Rights Now tour with Bruce Springsteen.

Sting’s tried acting as well as activism, having starred in the films Dune, The

Bride, and on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera. In the liner notes for Nothing Like the Sun, he claims that “Shakespeare is always useful, I’ve found, for calming down violent drunks.”

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I was accosted late one night on Highgate Hill by a staggering drunk who grabbed me by the lapels and, after tranquilizing me with his foul breath, pointed to the moon which was swollen in its fullness and demanded of me threateningly, “How beautiful is the moon??? How beautiful is the moon?” he repeated. Thinking quickly and not wishing for an early toxic death, I fixed him with my eye and declaimed, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” Shakespeare is always useful I’ve found for calming down violent drunks if only because it gives them the impression that you’re crazier then they are. “A good answer…” he said. “A good answer” as he set off on a tack for Kentish Town like a listing Galleon.

“Sister Moon” is a song for lunatics everywhere, for all of those whose sanity is dependent on the phases of the moon.

I wrote “Englishman In New York” for a friend of mine who moved from London to New York in his early seventies to a small rented apartment in the Bowery at a time in his life when most

80 people have settled down forever. He once told me over dinner that he looked forward to receiving his naturalization papers so that he could commit a crime and not be deported. “What kind of crime?” I asked anxiously. “Oh, something glamorous, non-violent, with a dash of style” he replied. “Crime is so rarely glamorous these days.”

“They Dance Alone” On the Amnesty Tour of 1986 the musicians were introduced to former political prisoners, victims of torture and imprisonment without trial, from all over the world. These meetings had a strong affect on all of us. It’s one thing to read about torture but to speak to a victim brings you a step closer to the reality that is so frighteningly pervasive. We were all deeply affected. Thousands of people have “disappeared” in Chile, victims of murder squads, security forces, the police, the army. Imprisonment without trial and torture are commonplace. The “Gueca” is a traditional Chilean courting dance. The “Gueca Solo” or the dance alone is performed publicly by the wives, daughters and mothers of the “disappeared”. Often, they dance with photographs of their loved ones pinned to their clothes. It is a symbolic gesture of protest and grief in a country where democracy doesn’t need to be ‘defended’ so much as exercised.

“Rock Steady” A great uncle of mine who was a seafaring man once gave me the following advice “Never board a ship unless you know where it’s going”. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the game shows from the TV evangelists.

“We’ll Be Together” “I shall meet you outside the railway station, you shall know me by the cut of my clothes and the smell of my cologne”.

“History Will Teach Us Nothing” I once asked my history teacher how we were expected to learn anything useful from his subject, when it seemed to me, to be nothing but a monotonous and sordid succession of robber baron scumbags devoid of any admirable human qualities.. I failed History. The most palatable history of the world I ever read is only 120 pages long and part of Buckminster Fuller’s book, “Critical Path”. The robber scumbags are still there but some attempt is made to explain their pathology and Marxist revolutionaries. Ben Linder, an American engineer was killed in 1987 by the “Contras” as a result of this confusion.

“Be Still My Beating…” “Straight To My…” “Lazarus…” Why does tradition locate our emotional center at the heart and not somewhere in the brain? Why is the most common image in the broken heart? I don’t know… I do know that “Lazarus Heart” was a vivid nightmare that I wrote down and then fashioned into a song. A

81 learned friend of mine informs me that it is the archetypical dream of the fisher king … Can’t I do anything original?

“Secret Marriage” “Secret Marriage” was adapted from a melody by Hans Eisler. Eisler was a colleague of Bertolt Brecht, who like him, fled to America to escape the Nazis who hounded him for the rest of his life in various disguises.

“Little Wing” I met one night in Ronnie Scott’s club in London. He’d been a hero of mine since I was fifteen. He reminded me of one of those wise elders from Star Trek who are the only survivors of a planet after some holocaust, the sole guardians of all the knowledge of their race. I went backstage after the show to introduce myself and was amazed and flattered that he had ever heard of r. He told me he liked the bass line of “Walking on the Moon”. I went home on cloud nine. I sang with his bad a couple of years later in a little club in Greenwich Village called Sweet Basil. His fifteen piece band was crammed onto the tiny stage so that there was no room for me. So, I sang on the floor, squashed between two tables. One day I aspire to the stage. Anyway, we did three songs together. One by Tony Williams, called “There Comes a time”, and two songs by Jimi Hendrix that Gil has performed for years, “Little Wing” and “Up From the Skies”.

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience” was one of the first bands I ever saw. I was fifteen and had just bought Jimi’s first single “Hey Joe”. He was appearing at the club Go-Go in Newcastle. I’d never seen or heard anything like it in my life and don’t suppose I ever will. This album is dedicated to my mum and all those who loved her.

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82 29. Artist: : The Buddha of Suburbia

Liner Notes Author: David Bowie

Album/CD: The Buddha of Suburbia

Arista 1975

Long before Madonna conquered pop culture by making herself over with each new album, David Bowie became an international rock star with his hit song “Changes,” and was christened “The Chameleon of Pop.” His tactic of adopting a succession of personas, plus his revolutionary investment strategy known as “Bowie Bonds,” in addition to his forays into CD-ROM products and online music, paid off: at one point

Rolling Stone magazine listed David Bowie as the richest rock star in the U.K.

On his way to the top he peppered his musical career with roles in more than 20 films. The master of epic, theatrical world tours, he also appeared on Broadway in The

Elephant Man. This astute businessman also managed to shock, outrage, confuse and mesmerize critics and fans for almost 40 years. He followed the first dictum of show business: be anything but boring.

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"This collection of music bears little resemblance to the small instrumentation of the BBC play of "Buddha". That project was maneuvered & focused primarily by Roger Mitchell the Director, who guided me around the usual pitfalls of over arranging against small ensemble theatre. However, left to my own devices these same pieces just took on a life of their own in the studio, the narrative & 70's memories providing a textural backdrop in my imagination that manifested as a truly exciting work situation. In short, I took the TV play motifs and reconstructed them completely except, that is, for the theme song.

83 Overall the pace of work was frenetic, taking only 6 days to write 7 record 'through a full fifteen days to mix, owing in part to some technical breakdowns-nothing serious but enough to put our team out by five or six days. I'll tell a little of the working methods: I took each theme or motif from the play and initially stretched or lengthened it to a five or six minute duration. By means of time-code I experimented with various rhythmic elements, drums, percussion, temple blocks et al until I found a sense of companionship to the primary motif. Then, having noted which musical key I was in and having the number of bars, I would often pull down the faders leaving just the percussive element with no harmonic information to refer to. Working in Layers I would then build up reinforcements in the key of the composition totally blind so to speak. When all faders were pushed up again a number of clashes would make themselves evident. The more dangerous or attractive ones would then be isolated and repeated at varying intervals so giving the impression of forethought. On two pieces, "The Mysteries" and "Ian Fish", the original tape was slowed down, opening up the thick texture dramatically and then Erdal would play the thematic information against it. On my favourite piece, "South Horizon", all elements, from the lead instrumentation to texture, were played both forwards and backwards. The resulting extracts were then intercut arbitrarily giving Mike Garson a splendid eccentric backdrop upon which to improvise. I personally think Mike gives one of his best-ever performances on this piece and it thrills on every listening, confirming to me at least, that he is still one of the most extraordinary pianists playing today. My personal brief for this collection was to marry my present way of writing and playing with the stockpile of residue from the 1970's Here is my partial list: Free association lyrics Harry Partch Costume Blues clubs Unter de Linden Brucke museum Friends of the Krays Roxy Music T.Rex The Casserole Neu Kraftwerk Bromley Croydon Eno Prostitutes & Soho

84 Ronnie Scott's club Travels thru Russia Loneliness O'Jays Philip Glass in New York clubs Die Mauer Drugs

The list is actually endless but the above initially springs to mind. Fifty percent of the lyrical content is used merely semiotically, the rest either with implied abstruse connotation or just because I like the sound of the word. There has always been a hazy rootlessness to my writing. I put it down to an overwhelming sense of transience, or is it a case of imagination being rearranged? This leads me often to re-complicate much of my composition writing, something I'm working earnestly away from. I should make it clear that many of my working forms are taken in whole or in part from my collaborations with Brian Eno, who in my humble opinion occupies the position in late 20th century popular music that Clement Greenberg had to art in the 40's or Richard Hamilton in the 60's. In general, Brian's perceptions on form or purpose within culture leave most critics tap- dancing on the edge of the abyss spouting virtually nothing but fashionable blathering. With a little coercion they will happily swan-dive into the vortex of their own making.. However , Brian 'he singe lik a litul gerl ha ha all mixed down and dubul-track' so I'm one up on him there. A major chief obstacle to the evolution of music has been the almost redundant narrative form. To rely upon this old war-horse can only continue the spiral into British constraint of insularity. Maybe we could finally relegate the straightforward narrative to the past. On the other hand, modern circumstances having had a dysfunctioning capacity upon pure chronological perspective, my writing has often relied too arbitrarily on violence and chaos as a soft option to acknowledging spiritual and emotional starvation. I know I'm not alone with this dilemma. On yet another hand, chaos itself has been expressed intelligently, contextually, virulently and in vital ways by Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Fall, Glen Branca, Television, Suicide, to name but a few. Now this chaos, chthonic and Apollonian mush, harnessed and ordered, can work for us. It could be recorded within a formal harmony to recreate focus and, to some degree, rebalance the often loutish nadir into which we have blundered. Our prodigious British talent is more than able to revel the real gems submerged under this swaggering, violent and ignorant millennium. We have been parading a numbed, self degrading affair over this last decade, requiring of our art no more than, to quote Paul Valrey, "the sensation without the boredom of the conveyance".

85 I am constantly bewitched by the actualization of form, to use the rhythmic element as an armature of sorts, placing, rather like decorations on a Christmas tree, blobs of arcane information. The real discipline is then to pare down all superfluous elements, in a reductive fashion, leaving as near as possible a deconstructed or so called 'significant form', to use a 30's terminology. The irony, of course, is which is the most captivating - psychologically provocative form or mere aridity? Having said that, I am completely guilty of loading in great dollops of pastiche and quasi- narrative into this present work at every opportunity. By virtue of its subject matter this collection is in danger of being regionalist even parochial, a criticism leveled at nearly all British work this century. Maybe because of our inherent love of the narrative form we anchor ourselves a little too firmly to our arcadian self-image. It seems to me a deeper evaluation of the international position of British artists (I include all the arts here) is currently gathering momentum as we approach the year 2000. A jolly good thing too. It isn't all Pollack, Springsteen, Warhol and Nirvana. As with most craft to which we turn our hand we are extraordinarily inventive, 'though quirky, raising the stakes, but, alas, incapable of following through in pure hard sell. As of writing there are but five British artists in the US Top fifty, and a demoralizing TWO British albums in London's ' "50 Essential Albums" rack. This is not as it should be, and could be rectified by our insistent proselytizing that what we accomplish is as important internationally as it so obviously is nationally. We have so much un-nurtured talent in this country that it borders on criminal. No other country, least of all the States, has been able to smoothly incorporate unpatronizingly so many diverse cultural elements into a cohesive and socially stable music form as we have on this isle. In America modern popular music has never been more divisive, both racially and socially. The great danger over the next few years is the further escalation of the Great American Cultural Blanket. From within its homogeneous threat emanates the mock adoptation of grievance against a short-lived and out-moded emphasis on productivity and material success over and above any speculative interest in the deeper mysteries of our beingness. As they say, a generation with or interest in its past will surely eat itself. Rarely now do we artists tell us much of ourselves. We are without history, interest or spiritual life. Our thoughts are often scattered and banal. Those occasional strands that have some merit are often stunted if not still-born. Although I get the sense that all art is somewhat autobiographical it seems increasingly hard for the artist to relinquish his solipsistic subjectivity. My own personal ambition is to create a music form that captures a mixture of sadness and grandeur on the one hand, expectancy and the organization of chaos on the other. A music that relinquishes its hold upon the 20th century yet searches-out that which was stimulating and productive as a basis from which to work in the 21st century.

86 This collection has brought me immense pleasure as a project and I cannot thank Hanif Kureshi and Alan Yentob enough for asking for my participation in such a dynamical and irreverent drama. Also thanks to Kevin Loader and Roger Mitchell for their good sense and guidance to my approach to my first attempt at soundtrack. David Richards, a 'silent' producer for far too long, along with multi-instrumentalist and longtime friend Erdal Kizilkay, make their mark as more than inventive in their individual capacities.

Hip-Hip Harangue. and Manifesto returns to you all. Bowie Sept 15th 1993

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87 30. Artist: Prince

Liner Notes Author: Prince

Album/CD: Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic

Arista 1999

Like Stevie Wonder, Prince Rogers Nelson was a child musical prodigy. He fronted his first band at age 12, and for his first album Prince: For You, which he wrote, produced, arranged and sang, Prince played all 27 instruments. Branching out into film, he won both an Oscar and a Grammy for the music from his movie Purple Rain. His soundtrack for the blockbuster hit topped the U.S. charts for six weeks.

Prince was in furthering the careers of future uber- producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; singer-actress Apollonia, actress Carmen

Electra and singer-drummer Sheila E. He also wrote hit singles for Sinead O’Connor,

Sheena Easton and The Bangles.

He’s probably best known for changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993 to protest his record contract with Warner Brothers. Prince often expresses himself with symbols in his liner notes; on one set he used an Egyptian pictograph of an eye instead of the word “I,” and the numerals 2 and 4 instead of the words “to” and “for.”

Although his liner notes are usually long, stream-of-consciousness shout-outs to various collaborators, Prince switched up on Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic and inked a

PETA-applauded rant against sheep abuse.

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88 "If this jacket were real wool, it would have taken 7 lambs whose lives would have begun like this......

Within weeks of their birth their ears would have been hole-punched, their tails chopped off, and the males would have been castrated while fully conscious. Extremely high rates of mortality are considered normal : 20-40% of lambs die before the age of 8 weeks; 8 million mature sheep die every year from disease, exposure, or neglect. Many people believe that shearing helps animals who would otherwise be too hot. But in order to avoid losing any wool, ranchers shear sheep before they would naturally shed their winter coats, resulting in millions of sheep deaths from exposure to the cold.

Respect all of God's creatures.

"To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than the life of a human being"

-- Mohandas Gandhi

'Cherish the Gift of Life & Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic'

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89 31. Artist: Branford Marsalis

Liner Notes Author: Delfayo Marsalis

Album/CD: Bloomington

Columbia 1993

Like Prince did on the previous set of liner notes, Delfayo Marsalis uses this essay as a political soapbox. Marsalis inked these liner notes for brother Branford; both are siblings to jazz sax star Wynton, and sons of jazz pianist Ellis.

Branford may be best known by middle America as the bandleader of The

Tonight Show With Jay Leno from 1992 – 1995. Rock fans might know the three-time

Grammy winner as a soloist and musical director for Sting.

Movie trivia buffs may know Branford Marsalis as the real artist behind Sean

Connery’s sax licks in The Russia House and Wesley Snipe’s in the Spike Lee film Mo’

Better Blues. Marsalis has performed on a number of Spike Lee , including

School Daze, Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing.

Like Spike Lee, Marsalis’ brother Delfayo doesn’t hold back when it comes to making candid observations about race relations. He launches his liner notes for

Bloomington with a brief but scathing overview of racism’s impact on black jazz artists in

America.

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Branford Marsalis: Bloomington

The Negro is a natural musician. He will learn to play on an instrument more quickly than a white man…. They may not know one note from another, yet their ears catch the strains of any

90 floating air, and they repeat it by imitation… Inferior to the white race in reason and intellect, they have more imagination, more lively feelings and a more expressive manner…. With their imagination they clothe in rude poetry the incidents of their lowly life, and set them to simple melodies…. Blessed power of music!… It is a beautiful gift of God to this oppressed race to lighten their sorrows in the house of their bondage. “Songs of the Blacks,” Dwight’s Journal of Music, IX:7 November 15, 1856

This quotation, a failed effort to define or explain the spirit and exuberance inherent in the most comprehensive American music, appeared in an anonymous American article. Though one might denounce the author’s cowardice, certainly his forthright honesty must be applauded. The Emancipation Proclamation – while moderately affecting Uncle Sam’s peculiar institution – did nothing to abolish this misguided, reductive portrait of the Noble Savage. Over 130 years later, the struggle against stereotypes of this nature continues. The conception of the Noble Savage characterized the thinking of certain Europeans and their American descendants who were not willing to accept slaves and their descendants as intellectual equals. This, the common opinion about extraordinary Negro artists was, “Genius by night, nigger all day.” The legendary pianist Blind Tom provided an excellent example for these theorists, as he was able to replay any music he heard after only one listen. But Blind Tom was an exception, not the rule. In the 20th century, high-brow jazz improvisation began with , progressed through to Charlie Parker and continued with . These particular individuals were geniuses – not intuitive geniuses – cerebral geniuses, who represented our most sophisticated ideals with immediate clarity. Due to the warm racial climate in America, however, Armstrong appeared in various movies as a “spook,” a butler (with maid servant ), and as a field hand playing to a horse. A man who was as financially wealthy as any Negro could hope to be, heralded as the greatest trumpeter / entertainer of all times, honored by the king and queen of England, and worshipped the world around for his unique personality, was also greeted by a generic actor in a grade B movie as “Uncle Tom.” It is no longer socially acceptable to overtly promote such narrow-mined attitudes. Consequently, today’s youth enjoy a kinder, more subtle indoctrination to this insidious American tradition. Branford Marsalis’ Bloomington, with its broad range of dialects and comprehensive vernacular, provides a sociological analysis of the sophisticated racism that dominates our country today. Over the past century, the language of America and its music has experienced both an expansion and a diminution, simultaneously. While words have become more personalized and refined, their underlying message remains fixed – we hold these truths to be self-evident… with one major exception. What Marsalis expresses through his music is the firm knowledge that human beings are responsible for upholding the ideals of their society. Though we have made significant technological advancements, commerce has forced mankind to compromise his honesty and therefore sacrifice its resultant enlightenment. As the 32-year-old virtuoso explains, “People think that the gospel and blues musicians were singing about how terrible their lives were slaving on the plantation and how everything would be cool at Judgment Day. Those types of songs were

91 actually a way to avoid dealing with a grim reality.” It is often difficult for people who maintain a refined level of integrity to embrace acts of flagrant dishonesty, lest they are accepted as the will of a supreme being. In this fashion, Negroes have justified virtually every conceivable injustice. In the late 19th century, when law books stopped supporting slavery, an unwritten code of ethics was birthed, nurtured and preserved. Jim Crow, as this practice of enforced segregation was affectionately named, exhibited a capacity for humbling that only the Grim Reaper could surpass. Though many try to dissociate Jim Crow from American art, his existence has always been directly related to the development of jazz music. Crow was responsible for the defection of America’s first great saxophonist, Sidney Bechet, who moved from New Orleans to Paris early in his career and never returned to the South. Many jazz musicians preferred the financial and personal support of Europeans more than the “Southern hospitality” of down-home good old boys. In fact, the term “paying due” was developed as a polite description of work under Crow’s management. It appears that not all early 20th-century musicians had to pay dues in the same fashion or to the same degree. During the bebop era, Crow emerged under the guise of “cabaret” identification cards, issued by the police to perpetuate legalized harassment. Police officers would confiscate a performer’s card if he/she were arrested for any reason. Without the card, an artist could not work in New York city night clubs and was subject to confinement. A hallucinogenic narcotic, heroin, introduced a new form of escape from this everlasting reality. For the brave musicians who chose to confront old Jim rather than deny his existence, any sedative would suffice. The high volume of substance abuse could have been prevented, however, if genius minds had been cultivated, not violated. The racist attitude in this country led many great artists to “live on the fringes, and pass on long before their time,” in the words of legendary bassist Milt Hinton. Hinton, a progenitor of American music, vividly recalls both the accelerated dynamism of the bebop era and the melancholic effects of several lynching incidents from his childhood years in Mississippi. Though society scorned the seemingly evil lifestyle of Negro musicians, it never directed attention to the cause, only the result. At the height of our nation’s greatest internal conflict since the Civil War – the 1960s Civil Rights Movement – the music was enjoying a revolutionary movement of its own. , Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, , and Ornette Coleman all had rebellious bands that were swinging and stretching the boundaries of acoustic music, yet never compromising their beliefs. Oddly enough, as the Civil Rights Movement began to lose steam, so did jazz. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968 would coincide with the last great years of contemporary jazz until the 1980s. This new generation of musicians would be the first in American history to address democracy (as described in our constitution) without the psychological bondage of legal segregation. Branford Marsalis was unquestionably a vital part of the 1980s jazz resurgence. With this recording, jazz music’s most contemporary saxophonist reaffirms his philosophical convictions with brilliant clarity and eloquence. It is his recognition and acceptance of the American odyssey – from the chitlin switch to the penthouse, slave quarters to the big house – that give his improvisations an unrivaled originality. In its most revealing moments, Bloomington displays a spiritual potency capable of conjuring optimism in the face of the most daunting adversity.

92 Confidence that tomorrow will invite All of America’s children Closer to realizing Dreams long deferred; Promises not kept, But ignored….

About the Music The music of Branford Marsalis reflects the seriousness and intensity that confrontation demands; against one’s own personal limitations and dogmatic indignation. In a strictly improvisational setting, this trio is performing the most sophisticated, contemporary, and innovative music today. Very few instrumentalists in jazz history have been able to function in this setting comfortably, non with the stylistic diversity of Branford Marsalis. The saxman credits Duke Ellington as his primary inspiration. Though there is an obvious contrast in styles, Ellington’s broad musical horizon has assisted all succeeding American musicians in a manner similar to William Shakespeare’s influence over Western writers. Marsalis is quick to point out, “Duke was a master author. Like any great storyteller, he realized the need for different grooves, tempos, and formats. His conception was light years ahead of everybody else…melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, form, counterpoint, call-and- response. Just compare his catalogue of music in any decade with other big bands and it’s very obvious what the deal was. As far as soloing goes, Pops, Bird, and Trane are the pivotal instrumentalists in American history. They extended single-line improvisation to a spiritual level far beyond technical description. I can feel their presence whenever I play in this context.” Marsalis and associates’ powerful performance in Bloomington must be recognized for many advancements. In “Xavier’s Lair,” for instance, all melodies are self-governed, not restricted by patterns or clichés…(:56-1:19*) 28 bar phrase, (1:19-1:52) 39 bar phrase; fluent juxtaposing of different time meters (5:39-7:09); extended imitation of melodies and rhythms (7:31-9:49); call-and-response (10:12-10:29). Almost all of the saxophonist’s melodies are inspired, acknowledged, contradicted or co-signed by Watts or Hurst. An excellent example of the group’s overwhelming power is the Nebulous Neb section (4:38-4:50), so named because neither the chord changes nor the time meter is discernible. “Citizen Tain” is a tour-de-force exhibition of the trio’s ability to interpret complex solo forms and mathematical equations. Each musician seems to thrive off such challenging structures, for example: (5:41-6:13) or (7:43-9:46). The group definitely sounds more convincing performing abstract, crazy people’s music than imitating some else’s style. One profound aspect of Branford Marsalis’ personality is his ability to accurately interpret different musical styles. In addition to his jazz musings, he has played and composed several types of popular , Middle-Easter, African, gospel and mellow mood material. Actually, the Ringling Bros. Came into town one year and I could have sworn I saw him playing a wooden flute, wearing a big red nose and peppermint pantaloons! Because of his role as an endearing sideman on many projects that are not associated with his own music, Marsalis has bewildered those individuals intent on describing a personal

93 philosophy with a catchy slogan; the same ones who managed to reduce the genius and unparalleled accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to a dream. If elitism is equated with intelligence and comprehension, so be it. Though this writer would never postulate whether Branford Marsalis is a “purist” or not, Bloomington is as pure as it gets. -- Delfeayo Marsalis *To hear these examples, cue your CD player to the indicated (time settings).

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94 32. Artist: Barbra Streisand

Liner Notes Author: Barbra Streisand

Album/CD: Higher Ground

Sony/Columbia 1997

Ten Reasons why Barbra Streisand rocks:

10. Thirty of Streisand’s albums have gone gold, more than those of anyone except

Elvis and the Beatles.

9. Streisand has sold more than 68 million records, with 47 Gold, 28 Platinum and 13

Multi-Platinum.

8. Streisand has sold the most albums of any female artist in the U.S.

7. Streisand is the only artist to achieve Billboard #1 albums in four decades: the '60s,

'70s, '80s and '90s.

6. After Steven Spielberg saw Yentl, he told Streisand, “I wish I could tell you how to fix your picture, but I can't. It's the best film I've seen since Citizen Kane.”

5. Streisand has the highest-grossing single concert, raking in $14.6 million at the MGM

Grand Garden Arena on New Year’s Eve 1999.

4. Streisand is the first woman since the silent era to direct, produce, write and star in a feature film (Yentl – she also sang!)

95 3. Streisand has had Grammy nominations in more categories than any other artist: nine.

2. Streisand is the only artist to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe,

CableACE and Peabody awards.

And the number one reason why Streisand rocks:

1. Streisand originally wanted to play Kris Kristofferson’s role in A Star Is

Born. The award-winning film was featured in the 2002 documentary Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s, narrated by David Bowie.

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THIS ALBUM IS INSPIRED BY AND DEDICATED TO VIRGINIA CLINTON KELLEY

On a January morning in 1994, I was one of hundreds of mourners at the funeral of Virginia Kelley, mother of President Clinton, professional spitfire, and a precious friend of mine. She had been a great role model for me, an angel on my shoulder, utterly unafraid to show unconditional love, kindness and appreciation to everyone she met. Sitting there in that sanctuary of sadness, I heard many wonderful stories about Virginia, and beautiful songs sung in her memory. As the music filled the room, I felt my spirit moved to joy, my heart swelling with emotion. I knew Virginia was in safe hands, having a ball at the great racetrack in the sky. At one point, a singer named Janice Sojstrand sang the opening lines of “On Holy Ground.” It’s heard for me to describe that electrifying moment. The music united us, invoking Virginia’s essence and elevating our spirits with every note. I knew then that I had to sing that song, and others like it. The idea for this album was born at that moment. When something tragic happens, whether it’s Virginia Kelley’s death, Princess Diana’s or that of anyone close to you, it wakes you up to the more important things in life. That’s why I needed to sing these songs. Music is the connective tissue among souls. Moreover, I believe it is incumbent upon each of us to put positive thoughts out there in the universe, where they can be free to do their good work. is extraordinary. These songs, to me, are like prayers.

96 My plan was to sing a collection of songs that spoke to the hearts of all persons of faith. Certain familiar melodies like “Kol Nidre” or “Silent Night” – were, I believe, inspired by God. And so, for this album, I sought songs that inspired me (inspire from the Latin, “to breathe in any one religion”). It’s taken over three years, but finally, here we are with HIGHER GROUND. May these songs fill your soul with the breath of life and faith. Barbara Streisand

I BELIEVE / YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE Beautiful melodies, beautiful thoughts. One was a hit for Frankie Laine in 1953, the other is from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel.” Though both are familiar to most people, I heard “I Believe” as a classical tone poem. Both songs are simple stories about faith and I wanted to revisit them in a less traditional way

HIGHER GROUND I wanted to call the album “Higher Ground” because it’s a road I want to take myself. We’ve all seen how common it is for some people to tear others down, to diminish them and their accomplishments in order to feel better about themselves. The only way to fight back is to do good work and leave a legacy of some kind, one that is positive, uplifting, and, hopefully, motivating. When I first heard this song, I was told the writers had conceived the lyrics in a religious context. I thought it was a love song … but then again, aren’t all religions about love?

AT THE SAME TIME I adore the lyrics of this song which reflect exactly what I think: knowing how fragile the planet is, how fragile souls are, and how desperately we need unity. Look how the world came together after Princess Diana’s death. We all saw how people need to be close, to love each other, to cry together, to feel together. I wish we could live like that all the time without having to wait for tragedy to strike.

TELL HIM (Duet with ) Many years ago, my friend told me about a brilliant young singer from Canada named Celine Dion. He said she was really someone to watch. Over the years, I definitely did watch her, and I think she’s absolutely fabulous. She has a kind heart and an amazing voice! As for the song, it’s about an older (and hopefully wiser) woman advising a younger woman in love. I figure Virginia would have said, “Tell him … tell him you love him.” It’s better to err on the side of generosity when it comes to life and love.

ON HOLY GROUND This is the song that started the whole project. I love the sound of a gospel choir, with all its earthly passion, so it was a real thrill for me to work with these fine singers. The lyrics say that whenever we stand in the presence of God, we’re on holy ground. But since Gold is all around us, that would make every inch of this beautiful planet holy ground.

97 IF I COULD For Jason Song from a parent to her child. “If I Could” meant a lot to me as a mother. It’s about how we have to let go of our children, eventually, something we moms and dads have a hard time doing. Though we wish we could, we can’t protect them forever.

CIRCLE It’s been pointed out many times before but it bears repeating: life is a circle. Generations of the past are now dead, as we will be too someday. But love and faith endure.

THE WATER IS WIDE / DEEP RIVER I first heard “Deep River” at age sixteen when I bought my first record at the supermarket for $1.98. He sang it so beautifully, the song always stayed with me. I thought it would be interesting to pair it with “The Water Is Wide.” The two images, connecting “deep” and “crossing over” also resonate with me. I suppose we’re all trying to get “to the other side.” exist on a higher spiritual plane, one way or another.

LEADING WITH YOUR HEART This song was a surprise! When my friends and Alan & Marilyn Bergman heard I was doing this album, they set out to write a song for it. They knew how much I loved Virginia Kelley, so they titled the song after her autobiography, Leading With My Heart.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED Though I always fight for the truth, I’ve had to accept the fact that there are negative forces out there that are quite strong. But the Bible says love is stronger than death, and so I continue to have faith that the truth will emerge eventually. This song explores that questioning side of faith, when we wonder why had things have to happen to us. But in the end, the lessons we learn, from both the good and the bad, only strengthen our spiritual nature.

EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE I first recorded this song in 1974, but I wasn’t happy with the , so the song was shelved. Now 23 years later, I’ve come back to it. I love the pastoral quality of the melody, and how the lyric so succinctly describes the cycles of life. We all change, grow, age, and evolve. Learning to embrace that change, to celebrate it, is one of the most important lessons we’ll ever learn.

AVINUE MALKEINU Sung during Roth Ha’Shanah (the Jewish New Year), Avinu Malkeina (“Our Father, Our King”) is a supplication to God to treat us with kindness and generosity, even when we haven’t always lived up to His ideals for us. The melody I sing here is so beautiful, surely the hand of God touched the composer.

(Translation)

98 Hear our prayer We have sinned before Thee Have compassion upon us and upon our children Help us bring an end to pestilence, war, and famine Cause all hate and oppression to vanish from the earth. Inscribe us for blessing in the Book Of Life. Let the new year be a good year for us

Avinu malkeinu sh’ma kolenu Avinu malkeinu chatanu l’faneycha Avinu malkeinu alkenu chamol aleynu V’al olaleynu v’tapenu

Avinu malkeinu Kaleh dever v’cherev v’raav mealeynu Avinu malkeinu kalechchol tsar Umastin mealeynu

Avinu malkeinu Avinu malkeinu Kotvenu b’sefer chayim tovim Avinu malkeinu chadesh aleynu Chadesh a leynu shanah tovah

Sh’ma kolenu Sh’ma kolenu Sh’ma kolenu Avinu malkeinu

Avinu melkeinu Chadesh a leynu

Shanah tovah

Avinu malkeinu Sh’ma kolenu Sh’ma kolenu Sh’ma kolenu Sh’ma kolenu

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99 33. Artist: Michael Jackson Liner Notes Author: Michael Jackson

Album/CD: Dangerous

Sony 1991

Michael Jackson’s Invincible hit #1 in its first week of release on record charts in the US, the UK, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, ,

Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

His TV specials – and special reports about him – continue to dominate TV ratings, blitzing whatever programming they’re run against.

All this comes in spite of Jackson’s being continually slagged by the talking head elite. And also in spite of more than 1,500 lawsuits, and the never-ending tabloid allegations.

In spite of what hipper-than-thou media mavens would like to believe, Michael

Jackson – the man who broke the color ban on MTV; the artist who’s won every major ; the philanthropist who’s given away millions of dollars to charity – is still greatly admired and appreciated by millions of fans around the world.

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The Dance

Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on. On many an occasion when I am dancing I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. I become the stars and the moon. I become the lover and the beloved. I become the victor and the vanquished. I become the master and the slave. I become the singer and the song.

100 I become the knower and the known. I keep on dancing then it is of creation. The creator and creation merge into one wholeness of joy. I keep on dancing … and dancing … and dancing … until there is only … the dance. by Michael Jackson

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101 34. Artist: Janet Jackson

Liner Notes Author: David Ritz

Album/CD: Design of a Decade

A&M Records 1995

Many artists have been invited into the celebrity arena by famous parents – or, as in this case, by famous older brothers. The family rep will only carry an artist so far; the public quickly demands that the performer display her own talents. Janet Jackson is one of the very few members of a singing dynasty who’ve earned the admiration of pop fans and critics on her own merits.

In many ways, Jackson has gone beyond the success of her other show-biz siblings; for example, she’s the only member of her famous family to be nominated for an Academy Award. It was as co-writer of the song “Again” from the 1993 film Poetic

Justice, in which Jackson also had the starring role.

Jackson does share one record-breaking credit with her brother, icon Michael

Jackson: they are the first siblings in the rock era to both have #1 songs as soloists.

David Ritz wrote the following liner notes for Janet Jackson’s Design of a

Decade. Ritz shared a 1992 Grammy award for liner notes with record execs Jerry

Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun and others for Aretha Franklin’s Queen of Soul: The Atlantic

Recordings. Ritz went on to coauthor Franklin’s 1999 biography Aretha: From These

Roots.

Ritz is also a three-time winner of the Ralph Gleason Music Book Award, and is the bestselling biographer of Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, B. B. King, ,

102 and Sinbad. Interestingly, Ritz also co-wrote one of Marvin Gaye’s last hits, Sexual

Healing.

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In 1985, the future of Janet Damita Jo Jackson, then 19, was uncertain. Her initial two albums showed a strong promise but skimpy sales. Her days as a child actress on TV were behind her. The public was fixated on a far more famous Jackson sibling. Politically, America was in the throes of conservative Republicanism. Pop music was adrift, aimlessly propelled by the inoffensive sounds of groups like Journey and Foreigner. Where was Janet’s place? What was her identity? Few gave her a chance. “Don’t be surprised,” a confident label executive told me, “if Janet Jackson disappears in another two years.” Ten years later, Janet Jackson is a superstar and the record exec is selling car phones. The music business, a cruel and mercurial taskmaster, has discarded and rewarded any number of entertainers in the past decade, but no one has survived, matured and dominated with the spunky style and funky sweetness of Janet Jackson. Beyond her role as recording artist, she has offered up a vision, stepping forward as youthful spirit, youthful woman, youthful African-American woman, multi-dimensional in character but singular in her decision to sing sincerely about freedom. Freedom – personal freedom to explore one’s destiny, political freedom to realize one’s potential, sexual freedom to enjoy one’s body – has been Janet’s theme. A sense of emerging freedom in her life and the life of young people coached by her artistry, has captivated a major segment of the music-loving world. I leave the litany of her multi-platinum sales and glittering industry awards, to others; I’m more interested in getting the story of this remarkable decade from the key players themselves. With that in mind, I’m off to , where, musically, Janet Jackson was born again. Social critics may hate the Mall of America, situated in the faceless suburbs of Minneapolis. They may point to its 400 stores and 4 million square feet of retail space and claim, as the largest structure of its kind, it symbolizes all that’s wrong with our consumer-crazed culture. Personally, I like the place. It makes me happy. There’s a mammoth Camp Snoopy amusement park, a bustling Bloomingdale’s and, most improbably, there’s Janet Jackson sitting in the corner of a high-tech coffee bar. The fragrance of fresh java permeates the air. Janet is sipping water. She’s wearing a red-nylon windbreaker, torn jeans, white canvas shoes with fat- stacked heels and an easy smile. Her hair is gathered into a tiny ponytail and, among the passing shoppers, she looks like our neighbor’s teenage daughter from down the street. She remains unrecognized. “Minneapolis,” says Janet, taking me back to the start of the story, “was a refuge for me. It was an escape and also an entry point.” Janet’s voice is soft against the noise of the busy mall. Her manner is intimate. Her genuineness is apparent. her storytelling style has the lilting sing-

103 song rhythms of her records. She’s easy to listen to and, without a hint of makeup, appears years younger than her actual age of 29. “Ten years ago,” she continues, “I was coming off a brief and misguided marriage. I was looking for direction. Or rather looking for a new direction. I had been directed by others – good-hearted people, but no one who understood me as I was beginning to understand myself. My initial music was way too bubble-gummy for my own taste. I wanted something I could sink my teeth into, a way to express a mess of pent-up feelings. What I’m saying, I suppose, is that I wanted to be taken seriously.” A&M executive, John McClain, suggested that Janet work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who, only a few years before, had left the Time, the extraordinary cutting-edge bank of new-fangled funk initiated by Prince. “I remember seeing The Time in concert,” Janet recalls. “I was with my mother, and wish I hadn’t been. Their music was too much for Mother. I loved it. I was on my feet the whole time. The guys were talking trash and grabbing their crotches and slammin’ so hard they wore us out. When I finally met Terry Lewis over at A&M and heard their songs, though, I wasn’t sure. They played beautiful soft tracks done for , but I was scared that’s what they had in mind for me.” “Janet’s father Joe was still managing her,“ Jimmy Jam will tell me in separate conversation. “He took us aside and told us, “You guys are from Minneapolis. Prince is from Minneapolis. Well, I don’t want my daughter sounding like Prince.” “When I was in junior high,” says Janet, “I was crazy about Prince’s grooves. Raw funk touched the most sensitive part of my soul. Funk was the place where dancing and singing came together. Funk was what I wanted.” Funk is what she got. Jimmy Jam explains: “The idea of our first album with Janet was simple – we wanted to make the funkiest record in the history of the planet, a record that would have to be in every black household in America.” “I wanted to participate,” Janet explains. “I wanted to explore lyrics and melodies that were running through my head. Terry and Jimmy said, ‘Fine, we’ll give you all the freedom you need. Just get out of L.A. Get away from your past. Come to Minneapolis; kick it with us; record in our studio; let the ideas flow and the good times roll.’ That’s how I wound up here that first time.” “Wasn’t easy,” Janet continues. “On some level, I was still a sheltered and protected little girl. In contrast, Terry and Jimmy were raw and real. They shocked me. They took some getting used to. Tooling around Minneapolis on my own, I had some difficult encounters with men – on the street, in the movies. There were times when I wanted to run home. But I didn’t. I stood my ground. I turned those experiences that bordered on the traumatic into the emotional basis of my songs. Tried to turn the fear to energy. That’s when I understood that I needed to take control – first of myself, then the messages inside my music.” Control exploded. Suddenly we heard Janet’s voice, an instrument of uncommon subtlety; suddenly we saw Janet’s attitude, defiant, feisty. At the same time, we felt her humor and determination to reveal herself as a living, breathing human being. We identified. Here was someone fighting for a place in the world, someone willing to put her behind on the line. Beyond the charms of the music, the blissful marriage of Janet’s messages and Jam and Lewis’

104 blistering grooves, there was the discovery of Janet as a go-for-broke dancer and, even more provocative, Janet as a conceptual artist. Control became more than a title. Control was literally a key, both the logo to Janet’s independent company and Janet’s independent frame of mind. The key dangled from her ear, the key symbolized her joy, her future, her claim to self-fulfillment. In a series of splashy videos, she proved not only her skill at acting, but an understanding of autobiographical narrative. “What Have You Done For Me Lately” and “Nasty” transformed her scary encounters into celebrations of self-assertion. Her tongue-in-cheek retort, “Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty,” has become an updated version of Aretha Franklin’s hallowed “Respect.” Like Diana Ross in the sixties, Janet’s alluringly sexy style has inspired a large school of followers. Unlike Diana Ross, though, Janet writes from her life. The dramatic prologue to “Control,” in which she stands up to her father and joins the Jam/Lewis gang, is a touching piece of verisimilitude, a metaphor for Janet’s movement from her family of origin to her adopted family of outrageous funksters. “During Control,” says Janet, as we leave the coffee bar and walk through the endless mall, “I began to assess the place and purpose of videos. I began to see that, like songs, videos should reflect my deepest feelings and truest moods. When it came to the storylines, the costumes, the choreography and especially the choice of directors, I decided to exert my influence. By then, Rene Elizondo had become my best friend. We went to see Julien Temples’ Absolute Beginners and were knocked out by the opening sequence. It was so seamless. I asked him to direct “When I Think of You”. I loved Julien’s smooth sense of cinematography.” Janet Jackson is a smooth driver. Behind the wheel of a black Ranger, she negotiates the web of freeways with cautious aggression. My mind is still on the variety of videos that came out of Control, the intermingling of Hollywood musical comedy and street sassy hip hop. “Control helped me see that my instincts were good,” says Janet, her eyes on the road. “It wasn’t easy leaving the care of my father, it was painful for everyone, but there was no going back. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had given me the confidence to search for my own stories. Control did so well that I started feeling pressure from executives to repeat myself, to exploit the formula. When I thought about it, though, I couldn’t find a formula. I saw it only as a stage of my natural development. The next stage would have to be different. I would have to let my heart guide my direction.” Flyte Tyme Productions is the Jam/Lewis headquarters in Minneapolis, a slick, sprawling complex of studios and offices, replete with glass bricks and neon flourishes, comfy and super- clean. While Jimmy works in his private studio preparing two new songs for this Design of a Decade 1986/1996 package, Janet sits on a couch in an adjoining office, eating sliced melon. “After Control,” she says, “I wanted to reflect, not just react. I re-listened to those artists who moved me most when I was younger – Stevie Wonder, , Marvin Gaye. These were people who woke me up to the responsibility of music. They were beautiful singers and writers who felt for others. They understood suffering. In my own life, I knew about the ’nations’ in New York, different groups of painters, dancers and singers whose artistic and political interests were reflected in their private lives and public work. I admired these ‘nations’ for standing up and saying something positive. They had their own identity. Suddenly, I realized that among my friends, we actually had a distinct ‘nation’ of our own. We weren’t interested in

105 drugs or drinking, but social change. When we were alone, we’d talk about the pain of racism or the injustice of unequal education. We were serious. We were intense. We also loved music and loved to dance – we loved having fun – and wanted to put our passion in movement and song. That’s how Rhythm Nation 1814 was born. The magic of the Jam and Lewis was vital. But it was just as vital that the music reflect real life and my real concerns. That’s what made it powerful. You could feel our desire to make a difference in other people’s lives. I envisioned the story in black because I wanted to stress racial pride.” The result was Janet’s second straight sensation, Rhythm Nation 1814 with its sense of solid purpose, introduced a uniformed style all its own. 1814 was the year Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.” Some saw “Rhythm Nation” as an alternate – a younger, hipper, better anthem for a better day. “R” is the 18th letter of the alphabet and “N” is the 14th. According to Janet, “!814 is also the year women were finally granted education beyond the eighth grade. That was a key fact for me.” In the title song, Janet assumed a leadership role. To many, and particularly young black women, she stood as a symbol of achievement. Her no-nonsense power plant videos energized the music industry – and were widely imitated – while her light-hearted extravaganzas (“Alright” and “Escapade”) rivaled the campiest musicals of the Forties. The dazzling chair routine in the long-form “Miss You Much” reinforced Janet’s prowess as an original dancer, just as “Come Back To Me,” set against an impressionistic Paris, elicited her sensuous skills as a balladeer. “Black Cat,” the record’s one nod to unabashed rock’n’roll, was written solely by Janet. Her growing role as a writer was underscored by the narrative strengths of Rhythm Nation 1814. She wove stories within stories, altering moods from heavy to frivolous to, in the case of “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” frankly sexual. Herb Ritis’ video, with its Robert Mapplethorpe-molded physicality, was a chiaroscuro study of anatomical delights. Janet toured behind Rhythm Nation 1814 – her first ever. In fact, the world-wide venture became the biggest debut tour in history, establishing her as a performing artist of extravagant flair. “That’s The Way Love Goes” was the first single from her third and most successful project, realized after her critically acclaimed film debut as a home girl in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice. She called the album Janet. The record, which spawned a slew of long-lasting hits, traces a seamless pattern established by Marvin Gaye, who followed the socially conscious What’s Going On with the erotic Let’s Get It On. “The pressure,” she remembers, “was to start Janet off with a bomb. But I wanted to slide through the side door, real quietly. This song just sorta sucked you in. It’s the kind of jam you can hang with.” Rene Elizondo’s video echoed Janet’s super-relaxed sentiments, showing her kickin’ it with her friends. The groove will forever be remembered as the soundtrack to the Summer of 1993. Now in the Summer of 1995, Janet moves into the studio to cut two new tracks. Jimmy Jam is his own engineer. It’s just him and Janet. After a decade of working together, they proceed largely by telepathy. Few words are spoken. Jam is a warm and supportive colleague. Their rapport has a sister-brother feel, and their mutual respect is obvious. Janet stands in the singing booth, dark except for a red lamp illuminating her lyrics. Through a small window, she sees Jimmy handling the controls. They interact quickly, effortlessly; simplicity is the key.

106 After some gentle jesting, they get to work. The first song is “Runaway” a series of word pictures evoking memories of Janet’s recent tour. “I’ve had such fun around the world, it’s true,” she sings, naming the exotic – “Nairobi, Tuscany, Australia, Mexico” – while lamenting “one thing was missing . . . that’s you.” Jam sees the song as an homage to her fans. “That’s who you’re missing,” he suggests. Janet likes the interpretation. In less than two hours, her vocal ideas are committed to tape. Another night, another mood. A stick of incense labeled “Black Love” slowly fills the studio with a dark, dusky bouquet. “Twenty Foreplay” is a smoldering ballad, one of those Janet Jackson lovemaking rhapsodies that seem to stop the hands of time. She infuses the melody with a lethal combination of carnal heat and emotional sensitivity. As she sings, she closes her eyes, touches her throat, places her hand upon her face. The effect is chilling. Dreamily, methodically, she lays on a sequence of close harmonies. She states the case for satisfaction with such sweet precision that, after the first version is complete, the studio remains eerily silent. Jimmy Jam finally speaks up. “What was true ten years ago,” he says, “is even truer now. Janet is unique.”

David Ritz, biographer of Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and , is working with Aretha Franklin on her life story.

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107 Sources Include:

Interview with Tim Page, Washington Post music critic and 2002 Grammy nominee.

Correspondence with Tom Piazza, editor of Setting the Tempo: Fifty Years of Great Jazz Liner Notes.

Correspondence with Jim Steinblatt, Director of Media Relations, ASCAP.

Interview with Diane Theriot, Senior Vice President of Awards, the Recording Academy.

Correspondence with music journalists.

Clifford, Mike. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock (7th Edition). New York. Harmony Books, 1992.

Life: Rock & Roll at 50. New York. Life Books, 2002.

People/VH1 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. New York. People Books, 2003.

IMDB.com

MTV.com

RollingStone.com

Amazon.com

VH1.com

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