R'N'R is not dead (16th of January, 2012)
As we get old, our culture, our little piece of the world, history and civilization dies out with us. Habits, rituals, ethics,
ways, all that gets obsolete together with us until we find ourselves in the world that we neither understand any more nor love.
Artists that we appreciated and appreciate disappear with us. New generations no longer have an ear for them except for a bunch
of weird kids who seek for inspiration outside their own time, unsatisfied with its shallowness.
I was one of those kids, so that the people I appreciate are mostly dead today. It is certainly so in the case of rock and roll.
My rock'n'roll heroes are either senile or dead. I got to that thought recently while listening to the latest album of Tom Waits,
>> "Bad as me". OK, Tom
Waits is not a senile old man and he still makes quite good music (which, by the way, can hardly be classified as rock'n'roll),
but listening to his new songs I couldn't help myself thinking that he got stuck. He is standing in one place and doesn't move.
I heard all that and I am afraid that Waits' nightmare came true - he started to repeat himself. Listening to his fake "double"
CD with the second CD comprising only of three songs and lasting 9:21 in total, I concluded that he is already old
("What is it like after we die?", "I'm the last
leaf on the tree, the autumn took the rest but they won't take me"). And then I though how I already am old and that the rock'n'roll that I appreciate may
be dead.
Still, a couple of days ago I heard the album >> "Let England shake" by PJ Harvey
and, all happy and shiny, concluded that rock'n'roll still lives! The album was released in February 2011.
>> Polly Jean is no longer young (she is 3 years older than me), but she is still frightening,
mean, poisonous, manically emotional and soft, hysterically and ragefully depressive. This time, besides all that, she is also thoughtful and
stable. And she doesn't repeat herself. Excellent and consistent album!
What PJ does can be unmistakably classified as rock'n'roll. This, however, does not in any sense diminish her contribution and
originality. PJ is credible to the point that she can breathe in new life to a seemingly simple and dead form. To make something
strong and new, all she needs is her guitar and voice. It was always like that in authentic rock'n'roll, and PJ is an excellent example
of that tradition which, of course, predates the genre and extends all the way to the stone age, all the way to the first rock'n'roll
drummer who sang along the sound of knocking stones. It takes a special character to make an excellent show out of that. PJ is such
a character.
Definite recommendation.
| << Inexhaustible life | Goga sleeps >> |
Last updated on 16th of January 2012.