Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox

10:33am 20 Nov 2009 13 comments

In June of this year Chris Knox suffered a stroke. I was in Auckland when it happened. I received a handful of text messages from friends and family alerting me, asking me how I felt.

I have met Chris a couple of times in passing, spoken to him a couple of times on the phone and a few times via email/Facebook. He has always been incredibly accommodating, whether a semi-formal interview or a relaxed chat. But I would hardly say I know him well at all. Still the text messages flooded in. And some phone calls came in too - to see if I was okay with the news; to see if I knew anything...

We were in Auckland for Simon & Garfunkel - and approximately 20 minutes before the Sunday night show I was called by a Dominion Post reporter saying that word was around that Knox was not doing so well. They were preparing a story. Could I comment? I started talking about him - instantly - in past tense. I felt awful. I knew I was doing it. I knew I didn't want to be. And I guess I knew - straight away - that what I was saying would be kept on file for an if-needed scenario.

I babbled on about the shorts and jandals; about seeing Chris play in the old Bodega - wearing a dressing grown one evening. And the time he asked someone to improvise a keyboard stand so my mate ran down and put his hands out, while on his knees, bowing down to Knox, offering himself-as-keyboard-stand. He received a signed copy of this album for his troubles. And I was passing it off as my story. I waffled on with whatever stories I could about Knox - because I had been put on the spot, asked to offer comment. And I tried way too hard, worried that the next morning I might see myself in print and feel very upset at the reason behind it.

The Dave Dobbyn interview

09:03am 19 Nov 2009 34 comments

Dave Dobbyn is celebrating 30 years as a recording artist - with the new collection Beside You: 30 Years of Hits and with some shows around the country, charging $19.79 a ticket ("a recession-buster", he says, laughing down the line).

It was my great pleasure to talk to Dave Dobbyn. He even managed to re-tweak his schedule for me. And he was - as I had hoped and heard - very friendly, very chatty. Beside You: 30 Years of Hits is, to my knowledge, the third Dave Dobbyn best-of. So I had to kick off by asking what made this one different; and why - beyond the anniversary - this one was created.

"I tried to put it together as if replicating a live set," Dobbyn tells me. "But with different moods..." Dobbyn is pleased with the split, 39 songs over two CDs, "the first disc has all the 'anthems' I guess; the hits. And the second disc has some songs that are perhaps less known - but still good songs," he adds a burst of laughter that almost seems nervous. But, he clarifies, "when you're doing these things - making such a package - you have to consider what you would want to buy yourself; at least that's the way I looked at it. And so that, in the end, is what we have. Two discs of songs that I like - and I think people will like them too. Some songs they'll know - and there'll be some to discover. And maybe, for some people, they'll know most of them, but it's certainly packaged up to create two listening experiences: the hits - and then everything else." There's a pause - and then another burst of laughter.

I tell Dobbyn - as good as the disc of hits is (and we're talking several alternative national anthems) I prefer disc two. "Yeah," he says, "there's some good ones there I reckon, definitely."

Depressing albums that make you feel good

10:00am 18 Nov 2009 69 comments

We have looked at feel-good songs and feel-good albums...I remember writing a post called Because Sad Songs Say So Much; a post that also looked at how a sad song can actually - sometimes - make you feel good. And while we may have looked at some depressing albums, I don't think we have ever looked at depressing albums that you enjoy listening to. Depressing albums that can make you feel good. We have yet to do that, right? Correct me if I'm wrong (you usually do).

And when I talk about depressing albums - I don't (just) mean ones like this guy makes.

I mean albums that have a tone about them, usually a lyrical tone - often carried out across several songs - sometimes it is backed up (echoed) in the musical tone. Some of these albums are even the dreaded: concept album. Some just spell it out in the title, you know you are in for a wild ride: Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate would be one example; Lou Reed's Magic and Loss is probably another...

I remember reading a review when Magic and Loss was released; it said something along the lines of "it'll bum you out the first couple of times you listen to it" and went on to suggest that you might actually dig it after all that. I did. That review spoke to me - so much so I remember the gist of it close to 17 years after it was written.

And I did (and do) feel that way about Magic and Loss. Lou Reed's paean to the loss of two friends - due to Cancer - is a bit of a bum trip. But the songs about loss contain plenty of magic.

Dear John Mayer...

10:12am 17 Nov 2009 145 comments

Hi John Mayer, we have never met, but I keep getting sent your CDs. Just last night I was sent your most recent album (released today in New Zealand). It's called, as you will already know, Battle Studies.

About a year and a half ago I wrote about you, for this blog. This time I figure I will write to you. Anything to try to get the message across...

The reason I wrote last time was because you had just released this - live CD/DVD. You were trying to be taken seriously as a serious musician. You had appeared on Eric Clapton's guitar festival concert DVD and some of your fans who still listed Your Body Is a Wonderland as a guilty pleasure had a new set of excuses for continuing to like your music. They were able to quote you playing The Police's Message in a Bottle and reference your love for the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

And it annoyed me, John Mayer, because, the way I figured it...well here's what I said last time I wrote about you. You probably didn't read it, so anyway, I said:

The Original Wailers: NZ tour this week

01:00pm 15 Nov 2009 6 comments

I spoke with Junior Marvin recently. He was on a bus, between shows, on tour with The Original Wailers, the band he fronts with Al Anderson, playing the songs of Bob Marley.

Born Donald Hanson Marvin Kerr Richards Jr, Marvin played on the Bob Marley & The Wailers classic, Exodus.

Touring New Zealand this week, Marvin says that the shows will use Exodus as a basis, but the band "plays all sorts of great music from Bob's catalogue".

The Original Wailers come from Marvin's commitment to the music. He and Anderson continue to preach the word of Marley, Marvin saying, "this band really comes from a promise I made to Bob, which was to play his music at the highest possible level and make sure the band was always represented".

He has no hesitation in assessing the impact and appeal of Marley's music to this day. "The foundation is so strong - and the words - the meaning behind them is deep."