Out of the Frying Pan

On Christmas Eve

We stayed in town to go to church. The roads are slick and the sidewalks are icy, not the best recipe for traveling to our downtown parish at the Cathedral.

A few week into the Missal changes, people are adapting well. "And with your spirit" begins to confuse itself into something near silence by the end of Mass, but people are getting the hang of it.

Tonight was, of course, the first outing for the "new" Gloria. The words themselves posed no problems at all, but the setting -- Dan Schutte, I'm calling you out on this -- is atrocious. People are expected to cover fully an octave and a half. That's not possible. Look around at an ordinary assembly. Do you see Roy Orbison? Didn't think so, so enough already with the operatic leaps.

Could we please, please just do the Latin chant? Could we please, please simply be a catholic church?

Hail, Glorious Saint Patrick!

Sung by the magnificent Frank Patterson, may God be good to him.

This is a simple, lovely version with all the verses. I'd listen to this one, too, to get a full flavor of this great day.

For ALL the Saints

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

We attended St George's Cathedral for a time in 2008. As the photos attest, the strong walls of the Cathedral survived the bombings of World War II -- Pugin's sturdy design. You may read more about the Cathedral here and, if you wish, I think there's a way on the site to help to support it. Like so many inner-city churches, it marches in faith even while its finances struggle along.

I thought I had mostly removed the blasted "Ken Burns effect", but like the Cathedral walls, it is apparently impregnable.

"The Choir" on BBC

It's the most inspiring and entertaining bit of television I've seen in a long time. Gareth Malone is the winning choirmaster at the center of things.

If you believe in music in schools or maybe especially if you don't, this is one to see.

More about Crown[ing] Him

An entry from a few years back at Subversive Influence has a nice little background about the hymn.

Subversive's quotation of all the verses reminds me that I think the cathedral's late hymnbook included the stanza, "Crown Him the Lord of life..., which is not included in the image of the hymn in my recent blog entry:

Crown Him the Lord of life
Who triumphed o’er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save;
His glories now we sing
Who died, and rose on high.
Who died, eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die.

Why wouldn't we want to be singing that? It's a real question. Do you know why? Please leave a comment. I'm struggling with the Church on this.

right: detail from stained glass at the V&A, 2008

Ah, vous dirai-je, maman

Recently I've met several people who have never heard of the Mozart "Twinkle" variations (KV 263). This is a straight-forward recording by Clara Haskil with video that simply follows the sheet music.

Want to give it a whirl?

An old anthem of mine, back in the day

These days it's more like "I'll sleep when it's 10 pm" but, you know, that just doesn't scan ;)

...and not forgetting Ray Stevens

Twiturm.com - Ray Stevens - Cooter Brown

Very, very funny. Kind of goes with Bar on A (previous post), except it's in third person.

Bar on A

I'll just go ahead and declare that these are Greg Holden days here. You've heard of YouTube sensation Julia Nunes. She backs Greg Holden on my all time favorite song of his (so far).

Mike Vitale: check him out

Another young singer/song writer: Mike Vitale in SoCal. Check out his preview of We've Been Down This Road Before and his fun blog. He seems not to hold much with blowing up whales; perhaps he's wise beyond his his years. Greg Holden recommends, which is probably all you need to know, one way or the other.

And speaking of musician's blogs, Greg Holden has a spot on blog entry about um getting stuck as an artist. I like his ideas for getting going again. (PS to Greg: cold coffee works almost every time.)

Ambivalent

That's how I feel about this one because there's a lot of new music I like a lot, e.g. my young friend Greg Holden, who just a year ago was bogged down in a job he didn't like on Regent Street. But, although much of "our" music was fit for the Muzak fodder it has become, some was purely great. You know?

Greg just wrapped up his first cross-country tour of the US. He fronted for Ingrid Michaelson, doing songs like this (but not this song; he posted it and apparently wrote it with Joey Ryan yesterday).

What I'm talkin' about

The introduction doesn't do a lot for me, but otherwise this is a very good -- and funny -- cover of two stanzas of what is probably my favorite gospel hymn. The bass is J.D. Sumner, a Guinness Book of Records holder, which he discusses here.

Charlie Daniels and the "Little Talk"

Finally it came to me. What is so perfect about Charlie Daniels' cover of "Just a Little Talk With Jesus" is that he makes it sound like narrative: like testifying, not performing. Love it.

Just a Little Talk

A playlist with my current favorites includes five versions of Just a Little Talk With Jesus, a gospel song that I loved as a child. The line that spoke to me was in the chorus: "Let us tell him all about our troubles..."

It has a lively call and response chorus grounded in a fine walking bass:

(bass) Now let us
(everyone) have a little talk with Jesus...

Male quartets on Sunday evenings often included it in their programs; it was probably considered a little exuberant for Sunday morning at 11. It isn't a good solo, but a choir is too much, probably because the blend can never be as good for 35 people as for just four. If the chorus is done properly, i.e. with bass, it isn't for women's voices.

But some versions of this Cleavant Derricks standard take the call an octave or two higher, which is a mistake. Some have kind of a goofy falsetto, which seems off, too.

The Statler Brothers sing it well, and Charlie Daniels' cover with his band is a decent second. Others I have are the Jordanaires, the Masters Five, and the Stanley Brothers. On the Jordanaires version, the falsetto sounds sincere, but the whole castrato idea makes me kind of wrinkle my nose. The Masters Five wreck the last chorus with an unsuccessful modulation and a shrieking last note from the first tenor. More bothersome is that at times the bass sounds like he's belching. The Stanley Brothers have an arrangement that is peculiarly their own, which is to say I don't favor it wildly, but one doesn't want to listen to the Statler Brothers over and over and over (although sometimes, honestly, I do). The Oakridge Boys' cover doesn't seem to be on iTunes. There are dozens of others, but it's the only other one I'd like to have.

There's scope for some pretty wonderful piano riffs; the Masters Five probably make best use of these. Like the Gaither Reunion recordings, this sounds a lot like the kind of piano accompaniment that was much admired in the church where I grew up: a kissing cousin of honky-tonk. Jerry Lee Lewis on Xanax. Or maybe Jerry Lee Lewis is this kind of gospel on amphetamines.

I'm not much for a literal reading of these lyrics. But they remind me of moments when, as a child, I felt comfort and peace. And it's not hard to hear analogues in late John Lennon, early Billy Joel, and recent Jay Nash.

Something I loved about London

The hymn singing at the Southwark Cathedral.

Our last Sunday in England was the day to which the Feast of All Saints was translated this year. The first hymn was For All the Saints, a customary choice, but when I replay the sound picked up by the little Lumix I used throughout our stay, the fervor of the singing astounds me. I've never heard a cover (if hymns can be said to be "covered") that captures so faithfully the spirit of that grand hymn. The soaring "alleluia" in the refrain was like an overture to the Resurrection.

St George's is on the south side of the Thames in an area strikingly less prosperous than much of the city. But each week we heard the Gloria and the Credo, the other ordinaries and, immediately after the Mass, the Salve Regina, sung vigorously and with feeling.

Some years ago I read a book called Why Catholics Can't Sing. Maybe it should have been called Why American Catholics Can't Sing, because Catholics in England and Scotland certainly can sing, and do.

Have I told you lately?

Probably. Somebody has, anyway. Have I Told You Lately is a great love song. (I don't see it, though, as a "first dance" at weddings: 30th anniversary, maybe.)

In, but not of, this world

Back at Regent Street today, my helper was a low-key, but efficient and completely charming young man who turned me on to Disk Inventory X, a great donationware disk usage untility for Mac users.

We foreigners have a special wavelength; he's not from here, either. He's also not from "Mac world" in the sense that he pins his future somewhere other than Apple: Greg Holden, singer and writer who claims Bob Dylan as his main influence.

Some things just about rip out your heart

...and one of them is listening to Double Fantasy and wondering: what music would they be making now?

I have too much in common with Lot's wife. So let my anthem be "Bombshell" by Lorrie Morgan. It speaks to me, you know?

What are the classics?

Thinking about music that's going to survive for Generation Double A (isn't that after Gen Z), I just cannot be convinced that it's John Cage. But when I was listening to John Lennon's Woman from the last album he made, Double Fantasy with Yoko (that's an absolutely great wiki page), I found myself thinking: they might still be listening in 2080.

What do you think might be a classic?

Jay Nash

I do not understand why this guy is not HUGE: myspace page for Jay Nash. His stuff is on iTunes; preview there or listen to what he has on myspace. I don't think there's a single clinker on his latest, The Things You Think You Need. My favorite: Forgive Me.

Waiting for the documentary

In the meantime, youtube has a bunch of videos (some pretty awful) for the last big night at Shea. Paul McCartney, sure, but TONY BENNETT? Wow.

Not Wonderful Tonight

No one -- not even sensational Harry Connick -- appropriates Frank Sinatra's book as ably as Michael Bublé. World on a String? A Foggy Day in London Town? The Best Is Yet to Come? Now they're his. And, outrageously, Call Me Irresponsible. He's not covering Sinatra, he's covering these songs brand new.

But the new stuff, not so much. If it is possible for record companies, like car makers, to issue recalls, TAKE BACK Wonderful Tonight right now. It's Terrible Today. How Sweet It Is Isn't. Song for You is actually a Song for Leon Russell. Let him have it. There's a little more and it's all sad.

Back to L-O-V-E. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And something, too, that maybe Sinatra didn't get to: It Had Better Be Tonight, which is wonderful. Just not Wonderful Tonight, which is really what started this rant. I now return to my mended Shuffle playlist and some housework.

Another gratuitous Charles Aznavour posting

Emmenez-moi... After last week, the desert appeals to me, but I think I'll stay home and work.

All my life

Seems like this new-ish (out late in 06, I think) Billy Joel ballad is going to be a standard. It's too soon to say that one hasn't gotten tired of a song, but this one is heading that direction.

Play it again for the first time

If your heart needs a little ripping out and stomping on today, take a listen to Johnny Cash's cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. And then try to remember if anyone else ever owned that song.

Today's gratuitous Charles Aznavour posting

Sometimes, life is pretty good

iTunes...

...has a huge (the best ever) collection of old Van Morrison, much remastered in 2007. It also has the funniest yet recording by Ray Stevens, released just this year and (I might have mentioned this a while ago) the John/Yoko Double Fantasy album, one of the best things ever participated in by a former Beatle.

Brahams 2nd Piano Concerto

Full, free video in .mpg -- highly pixelated, but entirely serviceable look at this luscious piece. The Brahms piano concerti are among my favorite pieces of music.

Good night, Beverly Sills

Get it

Memory Almost Full by Paul McCartney. Well, if you're not my age or a little older, maybe you won't get it. But if you do, you really will. You really will.

Nothing will ever make sense to me of Gail's death, but The End of the End is so far the closest thing to consolation.

Mstislav Rostropovich

The extraordinary Mstislav Rostropovich has died. When the Berlin Wall fell, he showed up with his cello, set up in the rubble, and began to play Bach.

The BBC obituary -- but swallow your coffee before you get to the bit where Vladimir Putin lauds Rostropovich as "a firm defender of human rights".