The following is a republication of a comment I left on Michael Lally's blog in response to his very interesting trilogy of posts wherein he explores the premise that in the arts, the "cream" does not rise to the top.
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The three "cream" posts got me thinking about another angle that the Lal did not cover -- curdling some of the legitimate cream that rises to the top.
Let me explain. Especially when I was in my twenties, I thought I was the coolest, hippest cat around. I was all too ready to dump on anything that I perceived as "mainstream" or an example of what I deemed to be "selling out." In looking back now, I am embarrassed over how I put down some souls who had risen to the top, but deserved to be there. In other words, I curdled my cream! I just started thinking about this today, so I don't have a huge list at this point, but here are five examples that painfully spring to mind:
1. Louis Armstrong: I, the ultra-hip jazz fan was always pooh-poohing Satch. I think a lot of it was because he was on the Sullivan show and did do some pretty pitiful stuff in those appearances. Later, a friend pulled my coat to the real Satch and I had to spend a year just listening to his old shit and wondering how I could have been such a fool. One day, about a year ago, I was driving around on a beautiful sunny day and the FM jazz station played the Ella-Louie version of "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" and I couldn't stop smiling for days.
2. Lionel Hampton: Same deal. Some pretty awful appearances on the Sullivan show. Years later, I was listening to FM jazz and heard Lionel's version of "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Literally blew me away! Again, a year spent listening to his older, and surprisingly some newer material, and realizing how totally cool that cat was.
3. David Bowie: I don't know what the hell I was thinking on this one. I used to rail about Bowie and how he wasn't really a musician, etc. Duh. Now I can't get enough of the double CD set "Best of Bowie." Now, I realize he was way ahead of me. For doubters, one of my favorite things is to play Bowie's smoldering, incredible take on the old Johnny Mathis hit "Wild is the Wind." But all the rest of it is pretty glorious too.
4. Steely Dan. Ouch. I came back from three years in Germany in 1973, and a guy at work was telling everyone how great Steely Dan was. I had heard a few things of theirs, but of course I dismissed them as being "too slick," "too commercial." Only after I hooked up with my wife in 1991 did I get hipped to how truly innovative and pioneering these guys were. Nuff said. I am REALLY embarrassed about that one.
5. James Taylor. I remember being in Europe for three years and hanging out with a guy whom I really dug, who in turn dug Baby James. I would argue with him about whether Taylor was really that good. Like everyone at that time even I recognized Carole King as irrefutable "cream," but I was just too cool to accept Taylor whom I deemed too slick, too commercial, and in addition, getting famous on Carole's coattails. The revelation in this case was gradual. I would hear one of James' great songs, with those invariably impeccable musicians and backup singers, and realize I dug it immensely, and more weird, it would flash me back to happy times in the past. Pretty soon I realized I was having that experience with pretty much everything of his that I was hearing, so I went out and bought that great double CD of his live performances, which was one of the first all-digital live recordings ever made. I still listen to it all the time.
2 comments:
I enjoyed and replied to your curdled cream posting, but when I told it to post my comments it told me to go fuck, the server was down and to try later. So I went back and the whole thing went away, and damned if I'll go back and write again.
Anyway, as my CC I gave Tony Bennett and Chopin, and I added that I still think Phillip Glass and Elvis are Sucking Chest Wounds, but that maybe with age I will come around.
Dave
[copied from an email from Dave to me. ~~ Tom]
Like the Curdling your cream post, Tom. It's funny how "freeing" it is to see someone acknowledge certain music as actually good, or even just that they like it. James Taylor was always a guilty pleasure of mine. The guilty part was just silly, which I came to realize years ago, at least with respect to JT. I had the same experience with Steely Dan that you did. Never owned any of their music. But I hear it now on the radio and it takes me back to some really nice places, mostly connected to things I did and people I hung with in the '70's. I always thought Billy Joel was too pop to like publicly, but I got over that in the 90's sometime. Music is a good teacher that way; if it resonates on some level, it's good. And if it's just good for you, that's good enough. Forget about that voice that wonders whether it's cool to like this musician. Which of course applies to other aspects of our life beyond music.
Tom
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