1
It's the best Bonnie Raitt song you've never heard.
With fewer places to go, fewer obligations to meet, I've been allowed to web surf and let my mind drift. You know how it is, you look up people from your past life, arcane subjects only you are interested in, and let the music play in the background. And if you go down the rabbit hole long enough, marinating in the tunes, your identity reveals itself to you, you remember your entire life, the songs make entire eras come alive in color.
I was listening to Paul Simon solo tracks. In "Herrens Veje" the two brothers sang "Still Crazy After All These Years" and it resonated, whereas it never had previously, I could see the old lovers meeting in the street, and it made me go to "Rhymin' Simon," which is my favorite, and I was astounded how good they sounded, as in sound. No one spends the time, which costs money, to get pristine sound anymore. But that was the goal back then, to nail the essence, to make it true to life such that if you had a good enough stereo you could feel like you were right in the studio. But that was back before the era of boom boxes, back before headphones with boosted bass, back when accuracy was king and people cared about it. It's funny, today most people listen to music on systems barely better than the speaker in the dash of the old AM radios in Oldsmobiles and Fords, never mind Chevys. How far we've devolved.
And then I went back to Simon's first solo after Simon & Garfunkel, the hits were the reggae inflected numbers that opened each side, but they were not the best. "Duncan" was haunting. "Everything Put Together Falls Apart" insightful. "Peace Like a River"...was a drift down a lazy river in the winter, when the album came out. But the absolute best cut was "Armistice Day."
"On Armistice Day
The Philharmonic play
But the songs that we sing
Will be sad"
And maybe that's why Simon's first solo has disappeared from consciousness. It was oftentimes sad. And it was so personal. But, the playing on "Armistice Day" is positively ASTOUNDING! Jerry Hahn plays the guitar like a master. You remember him and his Brotherhood, right? No, probably not, but this was back when there were only a couple of thousand albums released a year, and the ones you did not buy you saw in the bins, you were familiar with.
But Hahn is not the only legend on "Paul Simon." There's Hal Blaine, Ron Carter, Stéphane Grappelli, Larry Knechtel, Fed Lipsius, Airto Moreira, Joe Osborn, David Spinozza, even Cissy Houston! Back when we knew the players, back when you could make a living as a studio musician making pop records.
And it's all embodied on a pristine recording by Roy Halee, and on one cut Phil Ramone, who ultimately became Paul's main man.
And to tell you the truth, I'm listening to "Armistice Day" right now and I can't take it off, it's so damn good, I'm listening to Amazon Music HD via the Genelecs and..."Paul Simon" is encoded in Ultra HD so it's like the old days, feeling like a fly on the wall in the studio.
So, on a Simon sound kick, I decided to listen to his and Artie's most beautiful song ever, "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her," and it too was in Ultra HD, but it was not quite as present. So then I went to "Bookends," but it didn't sound as good either, even though "America" brought me back to a different era when road trips were king and we were all on a journey of personal development.
So then I'm sitting in front of the computer contemplating the best engineered, best sounding records, and I think of Bonnie Raitt's "Luck of the Draw." It's her best album, even though critics never acknowledge this. All the attention went to her breakthrough "Nick of Time," which came before. "Luck of the Draw" got accolades, but people seem to only remember it for its opening cut, "Something to Talk About," but that's nothing compared to what comes thereafter.
And my old friend Ed Cherney cut "Luck of the Draw," I always used to tell him how great it sounded. He's no longer with us. I remember hanging in Rio three years ago, what a great guy. Tears come to my eyes as I write this.
And for a long time my favorite track on "Luck of the Draw" was "One Part Be My Lover." But I felt it would bring me down, so I played my present favorite, the title cut.
"These things we do to keep the flame burnin'
And write our fire in the sky
Another day to see the wheel turnin'
Another avenue to try"
"Luck of the Draw" is the best song I know about the process of making it as a writer in Hollywood. When you've moved to the city and are working a day job to pay the bills while you keep trying and trying...people have no idea how hard it is to make it.
"Luck of the Draw" was written by Paul Brady. He wrote a lot of Bonnie's classics. And listening to the song I got a hankering to hear "Trick or Treat."
2
Paul McGuinness was flush with the success of U2. He decided to make Ireland's native son, songwriter Paul Brady, known in his country but far from everywhere, into a star. Paul pushed the button, he got Gary Katz to produce Brady's 1991 album "Trick or Treat."
Now subsequent to loving the LP I had to go deep into Brady's catalog, the songs were there, but not the sound, the legendary Steely Dan producer elevated Brady into the stratosphere, forget that nobody paid attention.
Katz called the A-list.
Jeff Porcaro played drums.
Freddie Washington and Jimmy Johnson played bass.
There were a slew of keyboard players, from David Paitch to Betsy Cook to Paul Griffin.
And the guitars were played by Elliott Randall and Michael Landau.
AND IT SOUNDS LIKE IT!
And the push single, the focus was on the title track.
As far as the rest of the LP, you got into it after devouring the single. You got deep into the other cuts. And "Nobody Knows" is great, but "Can't Stop Wanting You" is stellar, SUPERIOR! And unlike Brady compositions like "Steel Claw," made famous by Tina Turner, there's never been a breakthrough cover of "Can't Stop Wanting You."
It's the heat of the summer, and you've had a few too many drinks, you're not quite loaded, but the emotions are flowing, and you start to argue but you can't stop loving each other, you know there was makeup sex when the song was over.
But the emphasis was on "Trick or Treat."
There was a pregnant intro, that birthed an immediate groove, with Elliott Randall's guitar zooming all over the track, like a falling star with a SpaceX engine attached. And then...
"Sometimes the things that you say
Can hurt me so bad
You know that it's true
Sometimes your love lifts me up
So high I could cry
Can't live without you"
The duality. That's the nature of love, there are highs and lows, otherwise you're not doing it right, someone's holding back, you're too busy trying to get along to truly bond.
"Like a knock on the door
Open it up
What do you see
Could be a trick or a treat
Bitter or sweet
Which one you gonna be"
You've got to play to get the rewards. Unfortunately, the lows come along with the highs. But that's the nature of love. Don't be afraid, partake, it's the most important game you will play, it's the essence of life.
And Paul Brady sings the first verse. He and Bonnie Raitt the second. And then Bonnie takes over the third.
"Sometimes I fill up your cup
So your river flows
You know that it's true
Sometimes my love makes you pay
Though baby I swear I'm not wanting to"
Bonnie Raitt built a whole career on this. On being present. Being real. Being willing to play. Not a passive romantic like too many Top Forty pop singers, but a real person. And it's true, you don't intentionally try to hurt the other person, but that's what happens.
And then it's a duet, Paul then Bonnie and then Paul and then both together, like Sonny & Cher, but better.
"Look at what this love can do
Send us out into a world that's new
You no compass baby me no map
No one to show us where they laid the trap
Trick or treat baby that's the game
One day passion one day pain
You can try to change the rules but
Trick or treat make you the fool"
Just to hear Bonnie sing "compass," WHEW! Love is an adventure, brand new, and the key is to stay the course to experience the highs, the rewards and the pitfalls.
"Sometimes a moment of bliss
That starts with a kiss
Can end up so blue
'Cause I might say something wrong
And then comes along
A whole different you"
And now you know why Paul Brady is a legendary songwriter. We all say something wrong sometimes, and then our significant other's facial expression changes and the situation becomes completely different!
But even back in 1991, there was no place on the radio for this magic. "Trick or Treat" was not hard enough for AOR, not soft enough for AC, and this is not what Top Forty was ever looking for. "Trick or Treat" is just music, great music, before it became solely about money and this was enough. This is what listeners listened for!
3
Now to tell you the truth as I was grooving on the "Trick or Treat" album, switching to the big rig to truly make the room reverberate, my emotions started to sink. You see I realized that was thirty years ago. When I played this album incessantly. I can remember what I was thinking when I was doing so. The music put me in a good mood, but back then my life was a mess. And continued to be for quite sometime.
And now I'm on the back nine. When you've got to fight to make headway, when you can choose to rest on your laurels, retire and give up, or continue to try and break new ground.
But even if you plow deep grooves, people still might not pay attention, especially in today's cacophonous online society.
And too much of today's music is not good enough. Either it's rote. Or the elements are substandard...a great band can never supersede a mediocre singer, and a great band can't make a mediocre song a classic. Then again, back then it was about getting it exactly right, that last 1%. You spent a fortune to nail it, to get to the zenith, to resonate with the listening public.
You'd read about a record. There'd be a buzz. Something in the scuttlebutt resonated. And you'd decided to wade in and take a chance.
But you never knew exactly what you'd get. You'd drop the needle and might end up smiling or wincing, angry you blew your dough.
That's life. You've got to take the risks to get the rewards. But your efforts do not always pay off.
Trick or treat indeed!
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