Anniversary-Go Deeper: My First---Ship of Fools

World Party: Ship of Fools
[purchase]

The second Star Maker Machine theme was perversely, “My First,” and it was designed to have people post about the first 45, LP, cassette, CD and digital download they ever bought with their own money. After all these years, I can’t remember which was the first 45 or LP I used my own money for, and I have no recollection what my first download was, but for some reason, I do remember my first CD, World Party’s Private Revolution, which was released in 1987. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t even own a CD player at that point, but I knew that I was going to be getting one shortly. I saw it on sale, used, in a small record store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and figured, why not—I knew it was good.

It was a big step for me. I had many, many records—more than is probably healthy, but I also saw that the music world was moving toward the digital, and I knew that I would be following. I’ve never been an audiophile, so I won’t weigh in on the “vinyl through a good system sounds better than CDs” debate, but I did appreciate that CDs didn’t scratch (as easily) as records.

World Party was really just a solo project from Karl Wallinger, who played most of the instruments (although a pre-fame Sinead O’Connor and Waterboy Anthony Thistlewaite contributed a little), and this album, his debut, had a nice pop feel to it, with clear Beatles/ELO and Prince influences. There also was a message of world improvement, and what can be bad about that? “Ship of Fools” was a minor hit in the U.S. and U.K. and a slightly bigger one in Australia. It took Wallinger a few years to release the more successful Goodbye Jumbo, and he spaced out 3 more albums, the last of which was released in 2000. Since then he has recovered from a brain aneurysm (!), worked on films and other musical projects, and toured.

After buying Private Revolution, and an actual CD player, my CD buying ramped up and my LP buying decreased. At some point, I started to replace LPs with CD’s often used from eBay. At a certain point, I stopped replacing the needle on my turntable, and following a renovation of our house, which eliminated the shelves where I had stored my albums, they have remained in boxes in my basement waiting, for, I don’t know what. Getting rid of them seems complicated, because I suspect that most of the collection is worthless for various reasons, and I know that I have a certain sentimental hesitancy to part with a collection that I spent time, money and effort amassing through my youth.

I now find myself buying more digital downloads than CDs, so that collection, which supplanted the vinyl, and is currently bursting out of its shelf space is growing much more slowly. (And the digital collection is pushing the limits of my iPod Classic).

Although as I mentioned, I cannot recall the first song I ever downloaded digitally, because I admittedly partook of the early smorgasbord of Napster and similar questionable services, I do know that the first song I downloaded from eMusic was a song called “AYSO” by #Poundsign#, a tune about the soccer organization to which I have devoted an incredible amount of time over the past nearly two decades, and which I continue to serve, even though my kids have long since stopped playing.

Anniversary: David Lindley again

Click the pic above (or the link  at the bottom/below) for the music
[Purchase song @ amazon: El Rayo X]

Like JDavid, I am a relative new-comer. If I don’t dis-remember, I ran across boyhowdy’s personal site (coverlaydown) before I discovered StarMaker. My communication with him led me to my current role:  when Darius pulled back, I somehow ended up managing SMM – with major support from J David. (Obvious, ain’t it? Who else has posted most of the recent material?)

Several of the SMM bloggers are one-time radio DJs - often from their days in college. I am no different. Way back in the 70’s, I did a middle-of-the-night slot at WQFS out of Greensboro, NC. Some of the SMM bloggers are musicians themselves: 2-3 times a year I myself take the stage to a captive audience. In one form or another, all SMMers “live” for the music.

At about the time I took on the admin role, SMM was reeling from legal restrictions: many of us used to post links to MP3 files hosted in various personally controlled online resources and outside pressures had made hosting mp3s impossible. Despite the blog’s policy of “..[we] post only one song per album for a limited time  … and will take it down…” , many of the 30 plus bloggers from 2 years ago have moved on.  The number of bloggers had seriously dropped off by the time I took over from Darius and most of the links to songs had become YouTube videos.  Speaking of which, I work and write from Turkey, where the powers that be have recently blocked tweets and “the tube” – if you follow international news, you must know. (I hope my link below works, since I had to search and access it using devious/outlawed means.)

The mission of SMM, as I understood it, was that the bloggers posted links to music and associated commentary that would drive the audience to further engagement. It is for this reason that the top of each post includes a [purchase] link.

The right side of the blog notes that we are always looking for additions. Let me put it in the middle of the page: if you have an interest in joining the ranks of bloggers, follow the link, top right, and email smmmod2000@gmail.com. We’d be glad to have you on board.

As to “going deeper” - our current theme: I am an inveterate fan of Ryland P Cooder, and it was through his music that I learned about the Cuban music scene. It was through his music that I learned about David Lindley. Nigh on a year ago, I posted about one of his pieces.

Never much of a front-man himself, Lindley has played second fiddle for a number of other folk. Once, previously, in our “work” theme, I posted his rendition of “Do You Want My Job”, a wonderfully island-lilting piece with a message for our times. From his “El-Rayo-X” here is the title track with Jackson Browne:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkU78moGmcg

Anniversary:Go Deeper-Sunday Morning

The Velvet Underground: Sunday Morning
[purchase]

I’ve only been writing for Star Maker Machine for a little more than two years, but I was a reader for some time before that. I’ve long appreciated the breadth of the music discussed here and the knowledge and writing skill of many of the contributors, many who have unfortunately long stopped contributing to this blog. I’ve followed some of these writers to their personal blogs, and have enjoyed learning from them. I may not be the best person to write about the history of SMM, and I hope that some of the writers who have been involved here longer can fill in the gaps in my knowledge, but I’m going to kick things off, as we look back before we move forward.

From what I can tell, this blog was started by a guy named Paul under the name “Six Songs.” The first post was on February 6, 2008, and the concept was that Paul was going to post a song six days a week, hoping to engage readers to create a conversation in the comments. The first song he posted was Emmitt Rhodes’ “With My Face on the Floor.” But on March 23, 2008, Paul posted “We’re Taking a Break,” writing:

“Posting a new song everyday is surprisingly stressful, even with the Sunday rest. So we're off for some R&R. We may be back with a new format.”

Four days later, Paul teased the blogosphere with the announcement that he had come up with a new concept, and, on March 28, 2008, he announced the new name, “Star Maker Machine,” posting a picture of Joni Mitchell, and the song “Free Man in Paris,” from whence the blog name came. And then, on March 29, 2008, Paul announced the new concept—that he would open the blog up to writers who wanted to post about music, without necessarily starting their own blog. And, in essence, the SMM journey began.

On April 5, 2008, in a nod to the original “daily song” roots of the blog, Paul announced the first theme, “Days of the Week.” The first song that Paul posted was “Sunday Morning,” by Margo Guryan. I wanted to “go deeper” with that song, for historical reasons, but, frankly, it doesn’t speak to me, even though the album that it comes from, Take a Picture, was described by Allmusic as “one of the most exquisite and appealing, if little heard, one-shot "California" (although actually recorded on the East Coast) soft-pop gems of the kaleidoscopic late '60s.” So, instead, I decided to discuss the different Velvet Underground song, with the same title, which was also fleetingly mentioned on SMM back on April 3, 2010. (I also thought about writing about the SCTV soap opera parody, but decided against it.)

When you think of the Velvet Underground, you think of dark themes, drugs, and kinky sex. You think of Lou Reed’s twisted, literate brilliance, John Cale’s unusual arrangements and instrumentation and Andy Warhol’s peculiar Warholness. “Sunday Morning” is a little different. The last song recorded for the band’s debut, The Velvet Underground and Nico, it was the leadoff track, and an attempt to create a hit single. On an album that included songs like “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Black Angel Death Song” and “Venus in Furs,” “Sunday Morning” sounds almost benign and friendly, although there is still an unsettling question about what happened the Saturday night before. It was originally going to be sung by Nico, the German singer who was shoehorned into the band by Warhol, but instead Reed took the lead. The song also features a prominent celesta part, played by Cale on an instrument he happened to find in the studio, which makes the song sound strangely happy.

After the first post, Star Maker Machine slowly began to engage other writers and commenters. It appears that Paul stopped writing for the blog in October, 2008, after posting a Pete Townshend demo of “We Won’t Get Fooled Again,” in a piece entitled “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss,” to focus on a personal music blog, “Setting the Woods on Fire,” but it appears that blog is also defunct.

As we move forward with Star Maker Machine, we hope to continue to engage, interest and amuse our readers, and maybe lead them to new musical discoveries.