Rise and Fall, Turn the Wheel, 'Cause All Life Is, Is Really Just a Circle

I've been experiencing a larger than normal feeling of nostalgia lately, thanks to some local music happenings. I'm a child of the 80's, and while endless arguments can be made as to just how influential that decade's music was, there's no doubt that the music from the 1980's had a huge influence on me. There were several factors that led to me cutting my musical teeth in the decade of greed (at least the first one of those...), but there were two main motivating factors in my case. The first was radio station WSSX, better known as 95SX. When my family moved to Charleston from California in 1982, 95SX was the big rock station in town. I discovered numerous 80's acts both good and bad listening to that station, and it was responsible for me attending my first rock concert (see the earlier entry "I Love Rock and Roll"). The second, and more important, was MTV. Like just about every other teenager in the 80's, MTV ruled my pop culture world. This was back when Music Television still played music videos, and not crap like "Jersey Shore" and "16 and Pregnant."
While I cut my musical teeth in the 80's, I refined my tastes in the 90's, largely thanks to first interning, then working for radio station WAVF, better known as 96 Wave. Thanks to 96 Wave, I broadened my musical tastes beyond what I'd been able to discover myself while in high school and then whie living in Europe while in the army. The full-time folks at Wave, including Woody Bartlett, Dave Rossi, Hollie Anderson, Michael Blaze, Danny V, Richard Todd, The Critc, and Atom Taler, all genuinely loved the music they played for listeners, and while I was already into alternative rock thanks to bands such as R.E.M., They Might Be Giants, and Talking Heads, I soon discovered acts such as Cracker, The Replacements, and The Meat Puppets that blew my twenty-something-year-old mind. Add to that the fact that alternative rock was going through its golden age, thanks to bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, and Soundgarden, and it was a good time to be a rock fan. Another one of the bands that I discovered for myself while in Europe, but really came to appreciate after going to work for 96 Wave, was Drivin' 'N' Cryin'. I had read a review of the band's "Mystery Road" album while in the army, and was intrigued enough to pick it up. Songs such as "Honeysuckle Blue," "Wild Dog Moon," and of course "Straight to Hell," made that CD a favorite of mine. About the time I joined 96 Wave, Drivin' 'N' Cryin' was flying high off the success of the album "Fly Me Courageous," and it wasn't long before I finally got to see the band live. The heart of Drivin' 'N' Cryin' has always been singer-songwriter Kevn Kinney. The guy is a truly gifted songwriter, with a unique vocal style and an attitude that is one part Southern (the band hails originally from Atlanta) and one part Haight-Ashbury beatnik. Kevn Kinney is to Georgia what Bruce Springsteen is to New Jersey, and what Bob Seger is to Michigan.
Both Kinney and Drivin' 'N' Cryin' have had their ups and downs over the year, but Kinney has never lost his creative spark. Proof of that came recently when Drivin' 'N' Cryin' played the popular Party at the Point weekly summer series at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mt. Pleasant. Local signer-songwriter Luke Cunningham played a spirited opening set as the sun set behind downtown Charleston across the Cooper River. If you haven't had a chance to hear Cunningham play live, or to sample his latest CD, "Heart Pressure," then I highly recommend checking either out. When Drivin' 'N' Cryin' hit the stage, it was with new guitarist Sadler Vaden in tow. Vaden, who has played locally for years as a part of various bands, most notably Leslie, got called up to the majors a year or so ago when Kinney asked him to join Drivin' 'N' Cryin'. Charleston fans had already had a chance to see Sadler play with the band a couple of months ago when they played the Pourhouse, but this was my first time seeing the new lineup. In addition to the great new song "R.E.M.," Kinney and his band tore through Drivin' 'N' Cryin' classics such as "Honeysuckle Blue," "Fly Me Courageous," and, of course, the ultimate 80's Southern sing-along, "Straight to Hell." Kinney's a bit older than the last time I saw the band (but then aren't we all?) but the guy can really still bring it live. Add Vaden's scorching guitar solos, and right now is a very good time to be a Drivin' 'N' Cryin' fan.

The nostalgia trip will continue this weekend out at the Family Circle Stadium on Daniel Island, as the Last Summer on Earth Tour lands in the Lowcountry for a trip back in time to the 90's. The show will feature Blues Traveler, Cracker, Barenaked Ladies, and Big Head Todd and The Monsters. I'm a fan of all four bands.
I first saw Blues Traveler at the now defunct Carolina Concert Stage in North Charleston back in 1994. John Popper is an amazing blues harmonica player, and over the years the band has eased itself into the jam band genre. I saw them up in Columbia a couple of months ago, and they still put on an amazing show.
Cracker released it's debut album in 1992, the summer after I got out of the army. I knew of David Lowery's previous band, Camper Van Beethoven, but Cracker was something else entirely. Teaming up with guitarist Johnny Hickman, Lowery made that self-titled debut, as well as the followup, "Kerosene Hat," staples in the 90's alt-rock catalog. Twenty years later Cracker still writes, records, and releases albums, and still blows the roof off of whatever venue it happens to be playing. I'll never get tired of hearing "Euro-Trash Girl" at a Cracker show.
When Barenaked Ladies played the Music Farm in 1997, I skipped the show thinking they'd be back soon after. Big mistake. From what I heard afterward the show was amazing, and it wasn't until just a couple of years ago that I had the chance to see the Canadian band live. By that time one of the band's frontman, Steven Page, had left the band, but that hasn't affected the band's music much, and seeing them live was everything I expected. A Barenaked Ladies show is kind of like a group sketch comedy show where the comedians pause every few minutes to play really good (and more often than now, really silly) songs. If BNL doesn't put a smile on your face, then you need to check your pulse.
Finally there is Big Head Todd and The Monsters. The Colorado-based band's 1993 album "Sister Sweetly," is still one of my favorite albums of the 90's, and lead singer and guitarist Todd Park Mohr has this awesome growl of a voice that punctuates every song. I first saw them back in the mid-90's at either Myskyns or Acme (can't remember which. The band played to a packed house, and I actually held a friend of min on my shoulder for the entire show because she was too short to see over the crowd. I'm looking forward to seeing the band play songs such as "Broken Hearted Savior," "Circle," "Bittersweet," and the band's well-known cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom."
Sure, I may be looking backward at my musical past more than usual these days, but I'm also still looking forward. That's part of what draws me to music; succumbing to the nostalgia is every bit as exciting as discovering a new band or hearing a new release from an old favorite. I may never be able to hear it all, but I'm going to absorb as much as I can while I'm here.  

You're A Shining Star

"Are you Earth, Wind, or Fire?" - Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) upon first meeting the flamboyantly-dressed disc-jockey Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) on WKRP in Cincinnati.


There are some classic musical acts that go one way past their prime years and eventually become an embarrassment. Take the Rolling Stones for instance; while Mick Jagger and his boys are one of the greatest rock bands ever, the fact that the band is considering one last tour next year is insane. When The Stones toured in 1989 on the famous Steel Wheels Tour, critics back then dubbed it the "Steel Wheelchairs Tour."
That was almost a quarter-century ago.
Yeah.
Anyway, the reason I'm even bringing the subject of past-their-prime musical acts up is because occasionally a band keeps on touring and actually is able to maintain the magic. A perfect example of this was on display Tuesday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, as Earth Wind & Fire tore it up before a full house. I'd had the chance to see EWF at the Dock Street Theatre last year when the local concert club Music with Friends brought them to town. It was a pretty amazing experience to be able to see one of the best R&B acts ever in a venue that only held about 300 people, and the band all but blew the roof off the place. When it was announced that EWF would be coming to town to help the City of North Charleston celebrate its 40th anniversary, I was all about seeing the band again.
Although EWF only currently features three of its original members, Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson, and Verdine White, the band, which has been performing for longer than North Charleston has officially been a city, still sounds spectacular.
The night started with a performance by local rock group The Explorers Club. For the uninitiated, these young guys have a sound that is like a mixture of all the best parts of The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, and the early days of The Rolling Stones. Armed with a brass section and matching flowered shirts, The Explorers Club ran through a set of original music, including "Run Run Run," my personal favorite from the new CD "Grand Hotel." They also busted out a cover of The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," which, given my extreme aversion to anything Carpenters related, sounded nice enough. There were a few technical problems during the set, but the guys handled the glitches like pros. Was the band just a bit out of place opening for EWF? Perhaps, but they still sounded great and the crowd seemed to dig them.
When EWF finally hit the stage, the Coliseum audience erupted as the band dug into "Boogie Wonderland." I don't think there was a single butt in any of the coliseum's seats when that song started. Part of the reason that EWF hasn't relegated itself to the stack of classic bands that make a spectacle of themselves when continuing to tour is that the musicians they hire to round out the band are top notch. Bailey's son, Philip Jr., performs with the band, and the horn section is out of this world. Another part of what made Tuesday night's show especially good was the inclusion of the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, which was nestled on a raised platform at the back of the stage. The inclusion of symphonic strings and brass to many of the songs Tuesday night made what was already great music even better. Bailey and Johnson are now both in their 60's, but the voice of each man hasn't seemed to age. Bailey in particular can still hit all of the high notes, and he did just that on songs such as "Sing A Song," "Shining Star," and "Kalimba Story," which began with Bailey playing a kalimba (also called a thumb piano) during the song. Even at 61 Bailey's voice is strong and pure, sounding just like he did when EWF was just starting out in the early 70's.
The band continued to tear through its hits, including "That's the Way of the World," "After the Love," and EWF's classic cover of The Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life." Bassist Verdine White, who is also 60 years old, amazed my by the way he never stopped moving, dancing wildly while laying down his famous bass grooves. The encore included "September," "Let's Groove," and "Mighty Mighty."
I personally hope that I have even half the amount of energy that White does when I reach his age. Watching the band perform, it was readily evident that these musicians truly love what they do. Some bands go through the motions like robots, all the while with one eye on the end of the current tour. That's not EWF. These guys are for real. If you weren't there to help North Chuck celebrate it's birthday, you truly missed out.

He Is A Foreign Man, He Is Surrounded By The Sound..

I put out a question a couple of weeks ago to my Facebook friends, asking them to name what they considered to be the perfect album. I was expecting a myriad of responses, and I wasn't disappointed, as folks chimed in with albums from just abut every genre out there. I threw in a few of my own to keep the conversation going, and all in all it made for some fun reading. One of the best things about the exchange of ideas, at least for me, was that several of the albums mentioned by my friends were ones that I'd honestly forgotten about. You're probably thinking that if I'd forgotten the album, then it couldn't have been all that great to start with. Well, considering that I listen to between five and ten albums a week as a music critic, it's easy to forget even a few epic albums.
One such gem that was lost to me, at least at the time I initiated the Facebook conversation, was "Graceland," the spectacularly good 1986 comeback album by Paul Simon. I say "comeback," because his previous release, 1983's "Hearts and Bones," because despite being filled with Simon's usual musical genius, as well as featuring "Rene and Georgette Magritte with their Dog after the War," one of my favorite solo Simon songs, "Hearts and Bones" was a commercial disappointment at the time it was released. Simon, who had already released a string of successful solo albums after parting ways with his longtime musical partner, Art Garfunkel, didn't let the failure of "Hearts and Bones" deter him. Instead, he  became inspired by a cassette tape that featured The Boyoyo Boys' instrumental "Gumboots," and wrote some lyrics to sing over the tune. Simon envisioned a collaboration with the African artists he'd heard on the cassette, and before long he found himself in South Africa, recording a new album with primarily African influences.
I remember my father, a longtime Simon & Garfunkel fan, bringing home the LP of Graceland right after it came out, and playing it over and over. I remember being blown away by the variety of sounds on the album. I was already a Simon fan just by being immersed in his music by way of my father's interest, but Graceland stuck with me. It truly is a perfect album, and one that by all accounts shouldn't really have ever happened, given the way the world was back in the mid-80's. Apartheid was in full swing in South Africa, and Simon basically ignored the boycott of performing in the country by many popular artists of the time. In the end though, what Simon created was something that brought blacks and whites all over the world closer together. I'm not suggesting that "Graceland" was some magical body of work that pacified the differences between the races, but it did once again find Paul Simon ahead of the curve. He basically released a world music album way before it was hip for an established white American artist to do so. I've seen Simon live twice; once on the Rhythm of the Saints Tour in Stuttgart, Germany in 1991 and again last summer in Atlanta as he toured in support of his latest release, 2011's "So Beautiful or So What." During both tours he incorporated a big chuck of "Graceland" into the show, and toured with some of the artists with which he recorded on the album.
By complete coincidence, as I was listening to my well-worn CD of "Graceland" while reminiscing about that album's effect on my musical makeup, a package arrived in the mail this week from Legacy recordings. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the success of "Graceland," the fine folks at Legacy have released a special package that expands on the original album. I've been reviewing music for about fifteen years, and this is easily one of the nicest and most lavish box sets dedicated to a single album I've seen.

 

The whole thing comes housed in a linen-covered slipcase with the Graceland album art embossed on the outside.

 

 A 76-page book tells the story of the album and lists all the song lyrics, along with a treasure trove of photographs. A folded poster of the album art is also included.

 

A cardboard foldout contains four discs; the original album completely remastered, a second CD of outtakes and demos, a DVD of the 1987 live performance "Graceland: The African Concert," and most importantly a DVD of the documentary "Under African Skies." The documentary is an amazing piece of filmmaking, documenting the creation of the album back in the 80's, while also showing Simon reuniting with many of the musicians with which he recorded back then. The documentary alone is worth the price of the entire box set.

 

 Finally, there is a second book shaped like a yellow legal pad that is full of facsimiles of Simon's handwritten ideas and lyrics for all of the songs on "Graceland."

 

It's pretty amazing to see how each song evolved from rudimentary lyric ideas to the finished product. To be honest, had the record company not sent this to me I definitely would have went out and bought it. If you're a fan of Simon's music, and more importantly a fan of "Graceland," then this is definitely worth the money. I'll be revisiting other albums that I consider to be perfect listening experiences from time to time, but I doubt any of them will ever get the gorgeous treatment that "Graceland" just received.