A tribute to Storm Thorgerson

The blog you're reading right now wasn't meant to be "just" a place for obituaries.  But lately, it seems, there have been too many deaths involving too many key figures in music -- both performers and those behind the scenes -- to ignore.

Storm Thorgerson is among the great names in the music world.  Again -- just like with the recent death of producer/engineer Andy Johns -- you might not know the name unless you're a die-hard audiophile who's spent a lot of time looking at album covers, checking out the credits, and you see certain names repeatedly.

Thorgerson -- a part of the graphic design studio Hipgnosis -- died Thursday at age 69 of complications from cancer.  He had been battling health issues since suffering a stroke in 2003.

Thorgerson was a unique artist, which helped him to fit in well at Hipgnosis.  Photographers (like me) have greatly appreciated his work through many years of looking at album covers and jackets.  It didn't involve "typical" photography.  It was work that you could sit in front of and examine for the entire time it would take to listen to the music that went along with it.  It was mind-bending ... just like a lot of the music that went along with it.

Thorgerson and music.  It was a perfect match.

Thorgerson himself said it best.

"I like photography because it is a reality medium, unlike drawing which is unreal. I like to mess with reality ... to bend reality. Some of my works beg the question of is it real or not?"

 Now's a good time to remember just some of Thorgerson's art, and some of the music that went with it.  What a legacy he's leaving behind.  Wish he was here.

Some music to remember Easter Sunday by

I have another personal blog out there that's the "older sister" to this music blog.  It was from that blog that the inspiration for this music blog began, by posting music playlists on a daily basis.  It became the most popular part of my personal blog, and those music playlists still get viewed there to this day.

In one of those music playlists, I featured an album from former Genesis singer/flutist/songwriter/keyboardist and major solo star Peter Gabriel.  To be honest, it was an album I'd never listened to before then myself, though I'm a big fan of Gabriel's Genesis and solo work.  The album was the soundtrack "Passion," from the controversial Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ.

As with so much of what Gabriel's music has done for me through the years, it was music that reached deep into my soul and touched me in a special way.  As it is with so much of Gabriel's music, it is pure art with Peter being able to paint pictures with words and/or music.

It's music to celebrate with on an Easter Sunday.

Hoping the "lamb" lies down in NYC, etc.

New York City and surrounding areas have been through some hell lately.  At first, it was the superstorm Sandy.  Now, it's having to deal with the effects of a major nor'easter storm.  There's destruction, power outages, gasoline rationing, people trying to get their lives back together.

The people there need some comfort, some peace.

A lamb can symbolize peace.  A lamb is needed to lie down on Broadway and help spread some of that peace during a hellish time.

Our thoughts continue to go out to those affected by the storms of life being thrown in their direction.

The Battle of the "Solsbury Hill" versions

When Peter Gabriel wrote a tune that referenced -- at least in part -- his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis to embark on what would turn into an even more successful solo career, he may not have given much thought to the different versions that would be recorded or performed by other musicians in the years to come.

There's been the synth pop duo Erasure, a (sometimes) Peter Gabriel sound-alike in Dave Matthews, Kyte, Scala & Kolacny Brothers, and Sarah McLachlan.

To my ears, no one does it better than the writer and original performer.  Feel free to voice your own opinion.

A growing fascination with progressive rock

I may not have been a total and complete newcomer to progressive rock by the time I was formally introduced to it in the fall of 1978.  There were hints at a personal taste for it coming from me going back to the more adventurous days of The Beatles, and then when they broke up I needed to find some other band to awaken more of my senses the same way an album like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" did.

Then, when I started hearing the sounds coming from Electric Light Orchestra -- the same kind of strings I'd heard from a tune like "I Am the Walrus" -- I knew there was hope.

As I got deeper into the ELO catalog, I started to realize just how much of a pop direction ELO had turned toward while still hanging on to that more "progressive" string sound.  When I picked up an ELO greatest hits album, there was one song in particular that I fell in love with.  You could say that there was no "pop" about it.  This was full-bore progressive.  The Beatles didn't even do a song like "Kuiama."

More time went on, and I happened to hear a song on the radio by an American group that caught my ear as well.  It, too, had a violin in it.  What was it about those stringed instruments that got my attention?  It was all so ... progressive.  Rock music with a somewhat classical feel to it.  The song was from Kansas, "Point of Know Return."  That was my first purchase of a Kansas album.  I now have just about every Kansas album ever released.  I could almost start to say, "Beatles who?"

Then I went to college for a year, straight out of high school.  I met a lot of different people from all over the U.S. -- from all over the world, for that matter.  That was where my progressive rock appreciation really began, with bands like U.K., Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant ... the list is too long.

That was still just the beginning.  A seed had been planted, and even well into adulthood -- with a family of my own -- I still kept searching for progressive music that would make my ears take notice.  There are newer bands still out there, willing to "push the inside of the envelope" and stretch things out a bit musically ... bands like OSI, Liquid Tension Experiment, on and on.

It's all out there if we know where to look.

Long live progress!!!

Music to remember 9/11

There was a memorable line of communication between friends in New York City and people hundreds and thousands of miles away from the scene of the crime 11 years ago today when the horrifying attacks occurred at the World Trade Center, as well as the Pentagon and in the sky over Pennsylvania.

(Image:  U.S. National Park Service/Wikipedia)

It came via the internet.  It allowed people from all over the world to communicate with online friends who were witnessing or had witnessed the tragedy unfolding around them from too close of a range.  On that day, with the images beamed all around the world as events unfolded, it was like everyone was seeing it from too close of a range.  We didn't want to see it happen at all.

I communicated with people online through a progressive rock music discussion website, people who had witnessed what happened at the towers firsthand.  They were shocked beyond description.  They needed to pour out their emotions.

One online friend was a retired sheriff and volunteer firefighter from the suburbs of New York City.  He knew way too many people -- personal friends of his -- who ran into the towers to try and rescue people still inside only to lose their own lives.  It was that retired sheriff and firefighter who came up with a perfect song for that time, mentioning it on that music discussion website as people were trying to come to grips with the tragedy.

The song was "Undertow" by Genesis, with words and music by keyboard player Tony Banks.

The curtains are drawn
Now the fire warms the room.
Meanwhile outside
Wind from the north-east chills the air,
It will soon be snowing out there.

And some there are
Cold, they prepare for a sleepless night.
Maybe this will be their last fight.

But we’re safe in each others embrace,
All fears go out as I look on your face -

Better think awhile
Or I may never think again.
If this were the last day of your life, my friend,
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?

Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you,
Make the most of all you still have coming to you, [or]
Lay down on the ground and let the tears run from you,
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven finally on your knees

Let me live again, let life come find me wanting.
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter.
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me,
Telling me the dangers past, I need not fear the icy blast again.

Laughter, music and perfume linger here
And there, and there,
Wine flows from flask to glass and mouth,
As it soothes, confusing our doubts.

And soon we feel,
Why do a single thing to-day,
There’s tomorrow sure as I’m here.

So the days they turn into years
And still no tomorrow appears.

Better think awhile
Or I may never think again.
If this were the last day of your life, my friend,
Tell me, what do you think you would do then?

Stand up to the blow that fate has struck upon you,
Make the most of all you still have coming to you, [or]
Lay down on the ground and let the tears run from you,
Crying to the grass and trees and heaven finally on your knees

Let me live again, let life come find me wanting.
Spring must strike again against the shield of winter.
Let me feel once more the arms of love surround me,
Telling me the dangers past, I need not fear the icy blast again.