The CD above ("Paul Horn in India and Kashmir") is one reason. I recently wrote of flautist Paul Horn's passing -- and completely forgot that I owned this CD!
The 2 LP reissue that I once owned (and the subsequent CD reissue) isn't recorded to pop standards; sounds like a field recording in mono and black & white. But every summer I pull it out because it sounds languid yet focused, a recording of a real-time event in a summery haze, even though it's a Canadian musician performing with Indian musicians. This is NOT some New Age pan-cultural World Music hybrid, but authentic Indian music arranged in part by Ravi Shankar. It sounds, to my ignorant western ears, well, honest.
Paul Horn played on the Joni Mitchell track "For Free", Joni musing about her career as a very well paid performing artist and the street-corner musician she heard who "played real good for free". On the "India" CD, we have Paul Horn, a prominent (and well paid) studio jazz musician exploring authentic non-commercial music. Commerce versus heart -- and I have so many CDs that I freakin' forget I own a particular favorite! Irony much?
My name is David, and I have a problem. (I know, I know, point taken, but that's another discussion for another time...) I'm working on it, weeding my collection down to a manageable size. In my defense, I worked in music retail, so I was exposed to way more music than ever before, I was getting lots of music for free, and the stuff I bought I got at cost. It's just taken me a long time to understand the difference between "cost" and "value". And this understanding has been hastened by the fact that CDs are now practically worthless in the market. (It's not like I have the option of trading them in.) Some would argue that music, hell, ART is considered worthless by most people. So if nobody's buying, what do you do -- add more layers to the landfill?
Anyway, I'm whittling down the collection. I only have so many years of listening ahead of me, might as well focus on the great stuff rather than the okay stuff. It's funny to me how the classics rise to the surface somehow -- as much as I love the Sex Pistols, I'm listening to lots more Duke Ellington and Uncle Dave Macon these days. As the Holy Modal Rounders album said, good taste is timeless. (Mind you, this was the album that featured the song "Boobs A Lot", so...)
No comments:
Post a Comment