n00b's blog: "muse views"

Music has always been a huge influence in my life. I can still remember the first album I bought (1972 Bread “The Guitar Man”) and I still listen to that music to this day. My musical appreciation took an exponential leap in the prog rock era, I grew up listening to albums that were created as cohesive works and not just collections of single-worthy jingles. But for a time I lost remembrance of that, when personal MP3 players hit the market, I was all over them. I had a Diamond Rio long before the iPod was even thought of. I loved, absolutely adored the idea of playlists having lived through the heyday of mixtapes.

Recently though I have rediscovered the album concept, I have many albums saved as entire albums and not lists of singles. I happened to be on an extended road trip and was listening to Alan Parsons “I Robot” and one of the songs really struck me hard. The song was “Day After Day” which includes the lyrics;

Think of the boy with the stars in his eyes

Longing to reach them but frightened to try

Sadly you’d say, someday, someday

I never felt frightened to try, actually I felt frightened NOT to try.

Which has led to some wonderful successes and spectacular failures. C’est la vie.

I was amazed though at the ability of the music to take me back to that moment when I first actually HEARD the music. Sitting in my friends basement bedroom with his jury-rigged crossover speakers that were totally kickass in the dark, lying in a beanbag chair on top of dirty clothes. Totally immersed in the sound that was imprinting itself on my 17 yr old brain. I remember how important certain things were to me at that time. Wealth, fame, impact.

My desires have changed much over the years, I enjoy my comfortable life and the impact I have had in certain areas. But the desire for fame has completely left me. I am very happy to fly commercial and not be recognized, to eat in a restaurant without being accosted, to wear bad clothes and not ever read about it. I have been listening to entire albums now almost exclusively. Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms”, Bob Marley “One Love”, Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here”, The Who “Tommy”, Alan Parson Project “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”. So much more. It has been a trip down memory lane, a reconnection with my past self, a rediscovery of something I lost remembrance of. I hope I don’t lose it again.