Japan

I'm in a ryokan in Kanazawa at the moment. Soon, my girlfriend Sharman and I will head to the famous Kenroku-en and a variety of other sights in this lovely town. But before we do, I wanted to post this acrostic poem. I sort of regret not writing a Haiku, but the simplicity of this is similar. Here it is, the creative offering of the week.

JAPAN

Joined together by shared history, identity and Shinkansen

Awe-inspiring, from skyscrapers to gardens to train maps

Polite and patient, even when the language barrier presents a great challenge

Artistic, with extraordinary care put into the tiniest of details

Never-ending possibilities of exploration and enlightenment

Renaissance!

Hello family, friends and strangers. Thanks for visiting Page 43. When I was in university, I updated this blog frequently—writing essays on musical thoughts and dozens of album reviews. But since moving to Hong Kong in 2011, there hasn't been very much activity here. This mostly has had to do with me being busy working, but also because I haven't really been motivated to post anything here. I've posted on my other blog, A Mariners' Fan in Hong Kong, regularly for these three years. But though my love of music remains as strong as ever, I just haven't had the desire to use my precious free time writing about it.

Well, as you may have guessed, I'm trying to resurrect the ol' 43. Staring now, my plan is to post one small piece of art here on a weekly basis. This art may be anything, absolutely anything that can be loosely defined as art. Limitations are for losers! For me, nothing is as fulfilling as the process of creation, so I'm hoping to use this site as a platform for my creativity. It doesn't hurt that in August, I'll be starting a new job as an elementary and middle school music teacher :)

For the week of July 14th, I present, my cover of "Mother Nature's Son." I've played this song a few times at my monthly restaurant gig here in Hong Kong. The accompaniment is from my tenor ukulele, an instrument I dearly love due to its harp-like timbre. 

This song appeals to me for so many reasons, and really hits home in its connection between nature and music. Thanks Sir Paul McCartney. 

Living in the Material World

I just finished watching the Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison with the same title of this post. I can’t believe it had taken me this long, considering that Harrison is as close to an idol as I have. I remember being thrilled when I heard of this film was coming out, then I sort of forgot about it. Busy with other things, as it goes. 

Well, as you may have expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Scorsese is a master documentarian, George was a master human being; master + master = superb. Halfway through the film I wrote an email to my dear friend Evan, whom I share a birthday and deep admiration of the Quiet Beatle. In the message, I wrote the following paragraph. 

“Thinking of George made me begin to think of you and how we now are both about the age George was when he went through some of his big life transitions. You know I'm obsessed with dates and all that so to be exact, George was our age (24 yrs, 3 mos) during June of 1967. Burgeoning as a spiritual thinker, songwriter, Indian influenced musician. Definitely starting to wonder about life after the Beatles, despite the band being more brilliant every day with Sgt. P just coming out. I read a book recently about the importance of NOT modeling yourself on someone else and instead focusing on your own 'inner light' but nonetheless, cautiously, I often find myself thinking of what George was up to when he was my age.” 

Though musically inclined, introspective, Pisces, and occasionally clever, I am quite far from being anything like George Harrison. He had bigger ears for one thing. Still, watching this movie was a gentle reminder to focus on both my spiritual and artistic, gulp, journey. My pretentiousness meter is at max after that sentence, but I’m afraid I’ve gone too far to turn back.

My neglect of this blog is a good indicator of how my own life in the material world has taken center stage from my other pursuits. After writing countless songs and artsy blog posts during university, my post-college life has consisted of a few album reviews and a brief EP. I don’t feel too guilty about this, for I have taught hundreds of children and seen amazing sights around Hong Kong and Asia instead of churning out songs and artsy essays. As my mentor and professor Greg Youtz might optimistically say, I am simply collecting dozens of interesting thoughts and occurrences, later to be explored through music. 

At this moment, I’m sitting in my living room, contemplating when to go to bed. Exciting activity in this brain, as you can imagine. In six weeks, I’ll be in Liverpool. It’ll only be for two days, but I’m thrilled to go to the place where my heroes were born. I have been learning about this city and its significance in the Fab legend since the Beatles Anthology came out when I was six year old. Until then, expect a bit more activity on Page 43. Oh and I'll also visit Dublin, the birthplace of Oscar Wilde, who once said, "Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious."

2000

Gold Medal: Figure 8 by Elliott Smith

Elliott’s name has popped up on this blog many times as he is one of the artists that I adore like few others. And even after showing up on just about every era post he qualifies for, Elliott’s Figure 8 album may be my favorite album of his. Taking the jump from lo-fi to hi-fi, the music here is bigger and bolder than his previous albums, though it’s still got some acoustic gems as well. Every note is precise in creating a totally uplifting album centered around extremely depressing themes. That may be hard to understand, but once you’ve listened to this, you’ll know what I mean.

Silver Medal: Parachutes by Coldplay

In my eyes, Coldplay’s career trajectory ran the opposite direction to the quality of their music. As the group grew more and more popular throughout the 2000s, their music became less interesting. And before they were mega rock stars, Coldplay was busy working on this album, which is simply superb. Parachutes is Coldplay making anthemic choruses before it got old. These tracks are just well-crafted songs, with tinges of mystery and splashes of clarity. Tracks 2-7 all have one-word titles, which is appropriate, as here Coldplay was at its most understated and hence, at its best.

Bronze Medal: Kid A by Radiohead

Here it is. Pitchfork’s Number One album of the decade. Since Radiohead is my favorite modern artist, this may be a surprise down at #3. But honestly, Kid A hasn’t shaken me the way some of the bands other work has. Nonetheless, it’s brilliant and revolutionary. “Everything In It’s Right Place” is one of the great openers of all time and a great foretaste of the delicious electronic textures Radiohead would create on this album and many more to come.  The album is inseparable from its album art, which gives us a view of the bleak, frigid environment where Radiohead was coming from at this time.

Favorite Ten of 2012

10. Tramp by Sharon Van Etten

9. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

8. Plumb by Field Music

7. Lonerism by Tame Impala

6. The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

5. Swing Lo Magellan by Dirty Projectors

4. Bloom by Beach House 

3. The Lion's Roar by First Aid Kit

2. Shields by Grizzly Bear

1. There's No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man on Earth

1980-1

Gold Medal: Remain in Light by Talking Heads

I remember the first time I heard this record as a teenager, I thought, “What the hell is this weirdness?” But after a few listens, I caught the funky bug and was hooked. I’ve heard this album described as a man’s life summed up in 40 minutes, from the opening shout of “Born Under Punches” to the droning fadeout of “The Overload.” Who knows if that’s what Byrne and company desired but no matter how you think of it, this album is one lively set of songs. Inspired by African rhythms as much as sonic experimentation, Remain in Light is a true classic never to be replicated.

Silver Medal: Peter Gabriel (Melt) by Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel is one of the great dramatists of rock. Though I’m more familiar with his work with Genesis, this thespian touch carries over into his solo career. Melt kicks off with “Intruder”, one of the creepiest tracks you’ll find from a mainstream rocker. And as the record continues, PG adopts a multitude of different characters, such as the amnesiac of “I Don’t Remember” or the children’s narrator of the satirical war tale “Games Without Frontiers.” Oddly enough, African influence is also found on this album, particularly in the civil rights anthem, “Biko.” Add the synthy production and you have another remarkably original record.

Bronze Medal: Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police

The last of the so-called early Police albums, Zenyatta Mondatta is simply a crisp record. A lot of this has to do with Stuart Copeland’s able drumming, but the blonde trio had just about perfected their special brand of punky reggae at this point. Their sense of humor was still intact but the group was starting to mention real issues such as bombings of Afghanistan (“Bombs Away”) despite the danceable rhythms. “Man in a Suitcase” reflects the busy schedule of the band at the time, and though it’s a cute and catchy, conflict about this and other issues would soon mark the end of the Police. Fortunately, they left behind a handful of fine releases such as this one.

1970

It’s no secret that I’m rooted in the music of this era. 1970 holds four absolute treasures in my collection and I had no choice but to include all of them in this post.

Gold Medal: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel

“The Only Living Boy in New York” is easily in my top five favorite songs of all time. It is perfect in every way and there may never be a song that hits me so hard. But even after that, the rest of Simon and Garfunkel's final album is nearly as good. Paul Simon was on the top of his game and the wave of success he'd been riding gave him the resources to dabble in whatever new styles he wanted to. The result is a masterpiece of wit, power and creativity. The songs ebb and flow between plain fun (“Cecilia”) and  breathtaking beauty (“The Boxer”). This record makes me proud to be an American.

Silver Medal: Déjà vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

While we’re talking about top five songs of all time, “Carry On” may be another.  After their folky debut (see 1969) CSN added Y and became a bit more serious and ambitious. In the end, this may have gotten the best of them as the quartet never made another great album. But for one brief moment, CSNY was recording some absolutely incredible music. Each of the four were writing classics and adding their talents to each of ten outstanding songs. Crosby had his paranoia, Nash his beautiful simplicity, Stills his bluesiness, and Young his strange darkness. Together they captured lightning in a bottle until the bottle broke soon after.

Bronze Medal: All Things Must Pass by George Harrison

To put it simply, this was the best solo Beatles album. In his own words, George Harrison was constipated with songs in the late sixties after Lennon/McCartney put a strict cap on how many songs he could contribute to each album. Once the band broke up, he recorded a triple LP of songs, mostly devoted to his God, like the biggest hit "My Sweet Lord". The songs here are superb but what makes this album special is the unforgettable production by the now infamous Phil Spector. It may not have always worked on Let it Be, but here, the Wall of Sound is huge and heavenly. This album went to number one on the charts and it seemed that George may become the most successful ex-Beatle. But admirably, he focused less on commercial appeal and more on solid material until the end of his days.

Bronze Medal Two: After the Gold Rush by Neil Young

As if recording the silver medal album on this list wasn’t enough, Mr. Young recorded his finest solo work in 1970 as well. That’s saying something considering that he has literally dozens of great solo albums. Part of what I like about After the Gold Rush is that it’s how transparent it is. An androgynous voice with a unique guitar style AND piano style, Neil’s one of the greatest songwriters ever and this album is the best example why. I tried to perform it with many of my friends in high school at rehearsing the songs over and over again showed us just how well-crafted this record is.