The Past Was More Than A Walk Man – More A Transmitter to The Future and We the CMC are The Fortunate Ones – Volume 16

The Past Was More Than A Walk Man – More A Transmitter to The Future and We the CMC are The Fortunate Ones – Volume 16


So Steve Cummings is back. Not black. Back. Though it would be perfectly OK if he was suddenly black. Or even gay. It would be just fine. Interesting, but fine. But it is straight and white Steve, though his musical tastes and interpretations are anything but. From being locker neighbors trying to convince him to share his poetry with me, (he would not, but instead claimed to have thrown it away, which was powerful, mind-blowing poetry to me) to a musical knowledge God with, yes, Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction. To the disappearance of the man, the occasional rumor that he was in Atlanta to the whispers behind the bushes in China Town, graduation ripped him from out of our background, inserting him into another which we can now only imagine.

I cannot piece together those years and this would not be the spot for it, instead I will focus on the songs and offer my opinion of them and some contextual information. I must note two items before continuing.

a-Usually I do not READ anybody else’s comments before writing mine – this is not the case this time, possibly due to the length of time it has taken me to reach this point of comment-making. I will not make too many mentions, but I wanted to bring that to everyone’s attention – not that it is any big deal, just a slightly different approach.

b-I found it extremely fascinating, this other slice of Iowa City. What I mean, Mark Anderson was a big Iowa City guy and though there are many many deep differences between the two individuals there are some striking similarities in FLAVOR, separated mostly only by a generation…which is cool. Bringing to light differences in the FEEL of the University of Iowa and Iowa State and then UNI and Indiana State.

I enjoyed the paper-folding and the Lennonish ‘YES’. How Yoko of you! Yes Steve is among us, a ghost no more, and it is a positive force. Fragile and human and still searching.

And now…the songs…



1-Havalina

I really really love this song. Some guitars that may have informed future Radio Head bits. Love it! And again with the Pixies. And though Mix has never responded to my memory of us walking along a stone wall and some girl that he knew or Faith knew was playing or talking about the Pixies….Mix….please…

I love the airy feel of the singing and the dreamy words. I wonder though, is it literally about a pig or is it a song about a girl whom the singer is “referring” to as a pig? One of those sweetly sick sentiments that can so nicely be expressed in music. Great song!



2-I Don't Know

I shared Dan’s view about The Replacements and Paul’s ability to inspire boners in local DJs and local musical authorities – perhaps it was only a form of jealously. Anyway, I really like this song. Though it hails well north of the Iowa City, it reminds me of Iowa City culture – or maybe on a grander scale – other large like schools. And maybe it has to do more with people who went to Iowa. More Artsy, less Aggy is really what I’m getting at here. Most colleges or universities will have an artsy component but the scale can be wildly different.

Love the horns, the responses, and the driving almost “live” feel of this song.



3-Way Down Now

The famous Green Peace compilation. I think I’ve heard this song before. Not a bad song. I wonder who would win in a fight. World Party or Stetsasonic?

“In your face, elitists!” – good for you.

Rolling Stones, Soup Dragons, it’s all good. I like the words, and always good to hear more than just ‘Ship of Fools.’

4-Futterman's Rule

Love the B-Boys. Love all the Basketball allusions in their lyrics. I saw them live once and have four of their albums and continue my search for a particular mix of Body Movin’ – it remains elusive. I consider Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head as their best, but the others all have their charm. I think the fun began to fade just a bit with Ill Communication only because I feel their politics and religion, wonderful as they are, just didn’t translate well into B-Boy songs, but it was 1994 and that was a pretty intense year and then you have the Beastie Boys playing their own shit, and it was awesome. That pic of Mike D playing drums in the liner notes was inspiring. Intense and ferocious.

This song is cool, A Rockford Files for the nineties with a whole new lineup of awesome guest stars. One of several excellent instrumentals. The Beastie Boys are awesome awesome and at their best have and continue to be one of my favorite bands.



5-Pool

I love mysterious feelings. I had one just last night as a matter of fact. A very catchy song – Japanese – if I were to guess the language without any connection to you, I would not have guessed correctly. It sounds as if it was recorded in a home studio – which is awesome because it sounds good; it just has that non-big record label sound and feel to it.

I love the language or words at 3:23 for example – the little tripping phrase that must be characteristic of the language – very nice. The Sundays, if they sang instead, it could easily have sounded like an early Sundays song – a credit to their pop-writing craft.


6-On Earth

I like this song – an excellent “album” song from the college rock or when alternative was just becoming not alternative age or from that handful of bands with lead female singers possessing some quality of alluring beauty, at least enough to scrape up a bit of the market’s share.

I really do love her voice and also own Static and Sunday, I bought it for Trista way back when. I do not listen to it much, but enjoy it when I do or if a song happens to pop up on the ole shuffle. Speaking of the shuffle – I use it often though try hard not to let it replace listening to albums – it still excites me, when out of 4000 songs (pales in comparison to Mixdorf, but still enough to make it seemingly vast) I wonder what is next. I especially enjoy the fact that it allows for an opportunity of PURE MOOD-MATCHING. What I mean – it is impossible to articulate a “musical mood” so let me just say that when you are in a certain mood you can just skip ahead – it is pure because it is SO honest. You just skip until the mood is sated. Your mood never has to settle for a song that you cannot wait until it is over. A dangerous road to be sure, especially coming from me because I believe the “album” as an art form is nearly lost, iPods and fancy phones and mix CDs are escorting albums to their graves.

I like the brevity of the song and the ending lends itself to some interesting interpretations. The song is probably just typical alternative girl poetry, but maybe it is about the people of earth’s expectation about the eternity of our world and how that expectation is being eroded into hope, a hope losing ground like a glacier at the end of the ice age.


7-I See Monsters

Wow – your write up reminded of “The Dead” by Joyce, right at the end, actually kind of gave me shivers. Something terribly familiar about this song – not sure – maybe it is just when I first heard it months ago. Hee! I haven’t been a fan of what I have so far heard from Ryan Adams, but gee if I don’t kinda like this song. I do. Some really nice moments and the words are stirring.
I think there is something about his voice that usually turns me off. I think with this song, placed within the context of this compilation, it has been a good way for me to hear Mr. Adams in a new light. I also think I heard a couple of covers that he has done that I couldn’t stand.

Is he related to Bryan Adams?

Kidding.



8-Automatic Stop

Really neat song. I dig it. I love the faraway vocals and the words. Great! It had to end that way – there was no other way. I love the interplay of rhythms between all the guitars and the drums, really keeps the song moving along nicely.

Your: “For a song with such despair in the lyrics, I find it strangely affirming.” Is exactly the way I feel about my love for the Velvet Underground.



9-The Shadows

Funny Onion!

Neat voice – I really like this song and the melody. The slightly cheesy lyric is made up for in terms of melodic delivery, and it works quite nicely. I like the drum taps off in the distance.

At times it smacks of a 70s AM radio melody. I like the horn – a really nice touch. Great ending, love hearing her sing about the Shadows…very likely my favorite voice on the album.

I have heard of Yo La Tengo, but have NEVER heard anything from them. I would have guessed them to be a “Black-Eyed Peas” sort, but man would I have been wrong, thankfully.




10-Cleaning Windows

On Dan’s industrial accident comment…it is amazing..he isn’t the most handsome man in the world, but close-ups of his face are easily found. The VM stands for Vanity Man. More importantly, I have been kind of interested in listening to more Van Morrison – there seems to be some pretty cool songs out there with nice arrangements. Interesting, loose, garbly voice. Steve: 20 albums – wow!!

Not a bad song though a bit too “We Didn’t Start The Fire.” I do appreciate the sentiment, especially after a bullet wound.


Wrap:

Excellent collection Steve – thanks for putting it together and another warm welcome to the club.

Other:

Talking and discussing music can be such a joy and should not be rushed. We are not the CMC Music Factory.

Mixdorf: When you speak of Steve being ahead – do you mean in terms of quantity of music listened to? I felt constantly concerned that you were putting yourself down in terms of your own wonderful musical journey and thought how odd it was that you assumed a competitive tone. Anyway – I am sure there is a perfectly logical explanation…



BS: Havalina, but the Shadows were looming large

SIWHI: “Temporary Sanity” by Todd Rundgren