Slideshow video for "The Dream"

The video is comprised of images which I consider to be "dreamlike" in one way or another. The dove image is from the Holy Spirit window in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. I've been there twice and can't wait to go back again. After I saw the window, I couldn't listen to the line "A dove born from the sky / bathed in Love's Pure Light" without recalling my pilgrimages there, especially with light pouring in from the nearby glass windows.

I hope this video is enjoyable to viewers. I feel that it is highly imperfect, a feeling which perhaps is manifested in all attempts to recall images which one has seen in a dream.

We can't live with or without Bono

If I'm a sucker for anything besides rock and roll, it's got to be deprecatory comedy writing. And I agree with most if not all of this piece even though I remain a hardcore fan of pre-Achtung U2 and Bono, who is probably one of the nicest multi-millionaires out there, albeit not the sharpest crayon in the box. Excerpt:

The wordless, wailing refrain of "With or Without You" still sends shivers down your spine, but Bono is lucky he's such a nice guy and he's even luckier that he makes such an enigmatic frontman because he's one of the sloppiest, wackiest lyricists in the game. Because the tunes are so indebted to that most cliché-ridden of genres (the blues), because his range is truly impressive, and because nobody can mic impassioned, British Isle hollering quite like Eno (just ask David Bowie), Bono gets away with a lot that a lesser man would not. The tropes are inoffensive, since even Dylan rhymes "fire" and "desire," and the clichés are forgivable, since rain and tears are pretty similar, I guess (though he does sing about rain an awful lot for a record that's named after a desert), but two decades on, can someone finally acknowledge how dumb these similes are? The guy clearly never met a mixed metaphor he didn't like: How exactly can "stinging rain" drive nails into "souls on a tree of pain," and since when do bullets "rape the night," even figuratively? Every now and then, though, Bono drops a gem: Has romantic anxiety ever been captured more accurately and succinctly than in the refrain, "I can't live with or without you"?

As for his politics, Bono is often accused of being sanctimonious, but on Joshua Tree he actually sounds detached. There's the blossoming of Bono's liberal outrage in "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared," which were inspired by a trip to South America but which are so mired in hammy imagery and Jim Morrison-posturing ("So how does it feel to see the sky ripped open?/To see the rain through a gaping wound/Pelting the women and children/Who run into the arms of America?") that he completely misses the polemical power of addressing actual pain in actual countries with actual people. It's not a criticism you can level at, say, "Sunday Bloody Sunday."

Still, there's something charming, even refreshing, about the way Bono's lyrics try so hard. It's difficult to remember, but there was a time when Europeans didn't hate America (de Toqueville! The Statue of Liberty!), and aside from the sorta-enraged "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Mothers of the Disappeared," Bono sounds legitimately in awe of our nation's people and topography; depending on where you look, it sure can feel like "God's country." Beautiful sights will bring out the cornball in most anyone, and Bono's earnestness is perfectly supported by Eno's extraordinary production work; rarely has a work of art been so majestic and yet so stupid.

The truth is that Newlin is right about the opening song of the album, "Where the streets have no name" being an awesome feat of rock producing and possibly one of the greatest songs of all time. I mean, the first time I heard it I was blown away, and I suppose at that moment became unconsciously ready to forgive Bono and crew of every cliché and overwrought political commentary on the rest of the album.

As far as politics goes, Bono has never been far left like a lot of recording artists. His criticisms of America have always been couched in terms of the United States not living up to her own high standards and don't bear much resemblance to the patchouli-drenched boomers marching around Berkeley every full moon chanting "America is evil and must be destroyed!" At least from the criticisms I've heard, his views are somewhere to Bruce Springsteen's right. He even met with Bush, a meeting from which a slightly awkward photo exists. Let's just say it was not an "Elvis-meets-Nixon" moment.

Later on I guess I was less ready to forgive U2 for Achtung Baby which I never got, though I tried with all my might. I know that I'm in the minority among U2 fans for this opinion. I guess lines like "Well you lied to me 'cause I asked you to / Baby, can we still be friends?" made me want to hear about bullets, fighter planes, $100 bills and third world people living in mud huts again.

Easter & the Monk

I hope everybody had a great Easter. Let me just say the Fry house was hopping like the Easter Bunny; the kids had a blast.

I finally watched Straight No Chaser -- hey, it's only been out for 20 years -- and it gave me a bit of a jones for the old gigging life. It also made me feel really bad for the man who gave us such great jazz performances and at least two standards (Blue Monk and Round Midnight) that he was haunted by a mental illness which would periodically isolate him from those around him, including his son who was terrified by these bouts with his father's "inner demons".



So the upside of being Thelonius Monk was creative genius, the downside was severe derangement. But the overall nature of the movie is upbeat because it features so many concert performances and studio footage in proportion to the talkin'. Loved to watched the man rotating during breaks, groovily delighting in his own creation.

I have no idea if this video "works" or not...

One of the band's favorite songs ever. I remember a lot of Talk Talk being played at the plant. I found a cassette of Spirit of Eden in a bargain bin sometime in 1988 or 89. It really took awhile to grow on me -- check out the choral Kyrie in the background, just barely audible.



This is a Youtube piece entitled "Video Mashup of Talk Talk to Ernie Kovacs". This was the only vid of the 6 minute version I could find. Here's a cool "real" video of the 4 minute version featuring Mark Hollis, the man himself.

The Dream

Nate sent me several copies of the Dream. I received the parcel last night. Thanks, Nate.

The first thing I noticed about the song "The Dream" was that the strong influence of Talk Talk/Spirit of Eden can be felt not just in the orchestration but in the vocals as well. Nate's note trail echoes reminded me of Mark Hollis's more than ever.

The effect is a little bit accentuated by the fact that the tune is sandwiched between two faster numbers, Like a Child and On Eagle's Wings.

Had fun with the scan. I pretty much re-manufactured it, stripping out the picture then re-adding the border and the lettering.


Didn't mess with the brightness at all.

But back to the music. I've been listening to all the stuff which we had on all the time back at The Plant. I remember picking up a cassette of Spirit of Eden in 1989 -- out of the bargain bin -- and having it just blow me away. Yeah, it went to the bargain bin within a year of it's 1988 release. Needless to say that cassette got a lot of play.

I was reading on the web the other day where Hollis points out that "I believe in you" was a kind of anti-heroin song, and that he never shot up himself, just saw what it did to others. Kind of cool; a lot of people back in the day said they were junkies -- at least that clears up the record.