Jonn tolerates my random mental wanderings here.\u00a0 And I\u2019m about to wander \u201coff the reservation\u201d again, so consider yourself forewarned.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n
Music was a huge part of my youth.\u00a0 I won\u2019t try to give a rundown \u2013 I\u2019d be writing all night if I did.<\/p>\n
But I was always fond of music that was both literate and well-crafted.\u00a0 And because of that, one of my favorite artists while a youngster was an English group called Pink Floyd.\u00a0 Perhaps you\u2019ve heard of them? (smile)<\/p>\n
Seriously:\u00a0 once Floyd moved past their early psychedelic fascination and began making serious music \u2013 in the early 1970s \u2013 they were IMO a creative force rivaled by few in the music industry.\u00a0 Beginning with Meddle<\/em> in 1971 and continuing for well over a decade, their work was truly exceptional.\u00a0 It\u2019s still eminently listenable today, and IMO ranks among the best ever produced in the modern popular music genre.<\/p>\n Yet life has a way of changing your focus.\u00a0 By the late 1980s, because of what was going on in my life at the time I wasn\u2019t following music as closely as I had in years before.\u00a0\u00a0 As a result, I missed something truly special at the time it happened.<\/p>\n I’ve since discovered it.\u00a0 I thought it was worth mentioning.<\/p>\n In the 1980s, Roger Waters and the rest of the members of Pink Floyd parted ways.\u00a0\u00a0 Waters was at the time the creative driver, and most thought Floyd would fold.<\/p>\n Wrong answer.\u00a0 Change?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Fold?\u00a0 Um, no.\u00a0 Floyd’s work in the late 1980s and beyond was to prove that rather definitively.<\/p>\n David Gilmour took over as primary songwriter.\u00a0 The band carried on, almost without missing a beat.<\/p>\n One tune of that era I missed is IMO truly special.<\/p>\n I relatively recently discovered it.\u00a0 In a way, I\u2019m glad I missed it originally.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just say that one would have been a bit difficult to handle at selected times between the late-1980s and today.\u00a0 There were some times it would have hit home pretty closely.<\/p>\n The song\u2019s been decried as being lyrically simple by some.\u00a0 I\u2019d beg to differ.\u00a0 (Although I will ask, David:\u00a0 \u201c. . . hand of Fate that fit just like a glove\u201d?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Why not \u201c. . . hand of fate, which gave us both a shove\u201d?)<\/p>\n IMO, it works on at least 5 different levels:<\/p>\n I don\u2019t really know which Gilmour intended.\u00a0 Yet if I had to guess, I\u2019d guess the last.\u00a0 One mistake of any type \u2013 \u201ca momentary lapse of reason\u201d, so to speak\u00a0 – certainly can bind a life for life, in any number of different ways.\u00a0 I think that was Gilmour\u2019s whole point.<\/p>\n One slip can indeed lead to a fair number of sleepless nights.<\/p>\n Yes, the tune is called One Slip<\/i>.\u00a0 It was released on 1987\u2019s A Momentary Lapse of Reason – <\/i>the album actually takes its title from the tune\u2019s lyrics. \u00a0It was prominently featured at the end of the video version of Floyd\u2019s concert film, Delicate Sound of Thunder<\/i> (but not, for some reason, the CD version; you\u2019ll have to find an old VHS or Laserdisk version, as it’s never been officially released on DVD). \u00a0It was the first tune of the encore at most stops of that tour.<\/p>\n Frankly, it\u2019s IMO also one of the few tunes for which the live version is substantially better<\/em> than the studio version – which itself was damned good.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s the case on Delicate Sound . . .<\/em> ; the version is excellent aurally, and the video (especially in HD) is stunning.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also one of the few tunes I can think of with a truly kickass<\/span> bass solo.\u00a0 Maybe that was Gilmour\u2019s way of telling Roger Waters, \u201cYou\u2019re not the only bass guitarist in the world, fella.\u201d\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested, the lyrics can be found in many places using Google.\u00a0 An excellent HD clip of the tune taken from Delicate Sound . . .<\/em> was formerly available on YouTube; sadly, that video clip is no longer available in the US due to copyright issues.\u00a0 But the full version of\u00a0Delicate Sound . . .<\/em> does seem to be available here<\/a>, albeit not in HD video (and perhaps only temporarily if it\u2019s illicit).\u00a0 One Slip<\/i> begins at approximately 1:25:00 (yeah – that’s 1 hour 25 min<\/em> 00 seconds).<\/p>\n Provided just FYI if interested.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be heading back to the reservation now.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n