Raw Materials - The Polished Approach 12-1

Games People Play, The Alan Parsons Project, from The Definitive Collection, 1997

The Alan Parsons Project is music I never throughly explored (maybe similar to your experience with Exile On Mainstreet). Sifting through their definitive collection is somewhat overwhelming due to the spectrum of their sound, but I spent a few quality hours introducing myself to what I can imagine will be a long and fruitful relationship. Games People Play stood out in the initial listening phase by provoking a gut level appreciation for rock n’ roll. It has incredible drive (most notably sustained by the synth arpeggio and cowbell) until being swept out over an ocean of ethereal pads and liquid jungle noises in a quintessential breakdown leading up to a three section climactic guitar solo (love the screams in the background). This sound is in sharp contrast to that of Modest Mouse. In fact, this might be one example in which a real polished approach can work. There’s a deep space in the music and all the instruments spread out over vast terrains, while simultaneously leading each other in a primordial dance. 

This live performance in Madrid in 2004 has a different guitar solo which pays a cool homage to Jimi Hendrix by adding a couple licks form All Along The Watchtower at the end. Very tasty. Nice to see old guys rocking out that hard.

End Of The Day, Beck, from Sea Change, 2002

The mellowness of the guitars on this song is refreshing. They slip slide around your head carving a pocket for Beck’s pensive vocals. The chorus is quiet incredible how the incremental melody stair-steps down. Listen for what sounds like a distorted Fender Rhodes in the pre-chorus and chorus playing sustained low notes. The lyrics “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, but it still kills me like it did before,” remind me a little of The National in how personal they sound while maintaining a poetic interpretability.