TAH has a wide age range in it’s readership – from teens to those in their 80s (hello, Sam). Though many of our older readers may enjoy what follows, I’m writing this primarily for our younger readers – those who are maybe 30 and younger.
For those younger readers, here’s a bit of unsolicited free advice. Take it or not as you see fit.
I’d suggest you get high-quality audio copies of the tunes below. Set them aside for a while – maybe a couple of decades or so. When you turn about, say, 50 . . . give them a listen.
They might not exactly be your “cup of tea” now. But I think you’ll view them differently at that point in your life. As one age, one’s perspectives and tastes change.
These particular tunes age quite well.
Youth and Infatuation
A Unique Time and Place
and, with apologies to Marcel Proust:
Remembrance of Things Past
FWIW: the above can be found on Al Stewart’s albums “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages”. The sound quality on both is exquisite; Alan Parsons engineered both albums. They’re also on at least one of his “Greatest Hits” collections.
As I said above: unsolicited advice, so give it the value you deem apropos.
. . .
We now return you to your regular TAH programming. (smile)
Im more than happy to follow your advice, simply for the fact that you lumped me in with the younger readers. (For 6 more months at least) that doesnt happen to often
Yer welcome – youngster. (smile)
I only had the opportunity to see him perform live once, and that was an acoustic tour he did back in the 1990s. He is still touring, doing a show at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA April 11.
http://www.birchmere.com/calendar/
You have inspired me to play some Al on the IPod for Sunday morning breakfast. Yesterday’s playlist was the soundtrack to Honeymoon In Vegas and the tribute album The Last Temptation Of Elvis.
#BringElaineRicciHome
Two others worth a listen are “Roads to Moscow” and the live version of “Nostradamus/The World Goes to Riyadh”. I’ve done an article based on the former here previously ( https://www.azuse.cloud/?p=39103 ); the other can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6PxOUYDDf0 .
Enjoy. Al’s always worth a listen.
Another of my favorites by Al Stewart – On the Border.
Guess not a lot has changed since he wrote this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2L_OyS21lM
You beat me to it. And as far as Road to Moscow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ZG6tRGMYk
Hondo…Thank you for the head rush back in time. Yes to any younger, a few decades more than me, save a lot of music you don’t think you like now and just wait. Decades later I’ve found, music I only passingly sang along with on the radio is so meaningful now. I knew the lyrics by heart but as age and time passed, the meanings sunk in and became, how shall I say, metaphors of the life I now look back upon. Wish I had had the wisdom then to appreciate the things I do now.
Who? I thought it was someone from the 90s, maybe earlier, perhaps an 80s disco guy. It wasn’t until I saw “Time Passages” that a familiar chord was struck. Al Stewart. But that’s okay, I guess. I don’t know who Elaine Ricci is either.
Elaine Ricci is like the red haired girl that is the cause of Charlie Brown’s morning wood; always talked about, but never seen.
#BringElaineRicciHome
Oh. Thanks–I think. Hey, what if she doesn’t want to come home? Do they have to bring her home against her will?
I’d also throw in the works of Jane’s Addiction, especially “Sweet Jane” and “Heroin”.
Might not be everyone’s cup of tea. I get that. But when you think about the lyrics, and realize when it was written, it’s some good stuff still.
YMMV, of course, but that’s how I see it. 🙂
AW1 – Jane’s Addiction my ass, that’s Velvet Underground (fronted by Lou Reed.)
Saw both performed live when I was a teenager.
Here’s one about something that all too many don’t figure out until they’re too old for it to be useful. I sure as hell know I didn’t.
It’s the bad times, the hard times, that show us all the truth about ourselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoqH9irCn3o&list=PLFE9758CC61399A95&index=1
It don’t matter if the cold wind blows
I’m gonna wind up working in the thick of it
sunshine through the rain and snow
there’s an oily brine bilge water baptism waiting below
that’s just the waves slamming against the topsides’ sound
don’t let the ever rolling motion go and get you down
don’t let it shake your steady thread cutting hand
keep stealing ribbons from the steel and giving hell
to every halyard you can
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I will face it all
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I’ll embrace it all
when everyday’s like a war between the will to go on
and a wish that the world would spiral into the sun
turn your head toward the storm that’s surely coming along
if the sun was always shining and our load always light
we’d be shaking like a leaf with every God given night
and we’d break under the weight of any pressure
that was ever applied
will you be ready when the straw boss calls?
he’s got an ever loving bone to pick with one and all
don’t let his condescension get you down
just have the strength to know you’re wrong
and when you’re right the strength to stand your ground
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I will face it all
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I’ll embrace it all
when everyday is like a war
you find no strength from your usual source
there’s no peace, there’s no rest
your fortitude is feeling put to the test
when everyday is like a war between the will to go on
and a wish that the world would spiral into the sun
turn your head toward the storm that’s surely coming along
if the sun was always shining and our load always light
we’d be shaking like a leaf with every God given night
and we’d break under the weight
of any pain that ever came in this life