Hieronymous the Anonymous

Pearl Jam in Melbourne

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I went and saw Pearl Jam play at Etihad Stadium on Friday night. In a week of 30+ degree days I had a heavy head cold that would have seen me opt out of any other engagement but this. I hooped on the tram at about 5 and sat while the tram became progessively more full as we approached the city. It was like a footy crowd in a lot of ways, lively and expectant, though without the warring tribes. Most would have been over 30-35 I guess having grown up with Pearl Jam in the early days and followed them all the way through. The expectation was of a great show, and there was a lot of banter about that going to and fro - do you reckon they'll play A/B/C? etc - but there was also a sentimental take on it. This was taking time out from the usual humdrum to follow a memory.

I did my reflecting as the tram chugged in, remembering things in my own muddled and chronologically incorrect way. Funnily enough the memory that pushed it's way to the front was not of Pearl Jam, but rather Nirvana. They came to prominence roughly at the same time and both from the north west of the US; both leaders in the new grunge movement. Coming out of the eighties it was a movement gratefully accepted by the likes of me, sick of drum machines, teased hair and shallow music. Grunge was well named - it wasn't pretty but it was real; it was authentic music by people passionate about it.

And so as grunge took off there was an occasion sitting on a tram on the way back from work one day in 1992 - can it really be 17 years ago? It is a warm day, the old tram crowded with people after a long day at work. I am listening to a radio through some headphones and peering out the window listlessly as the tram ambles up the middle of Dandenong Road. We are passing the cemetery when Smells Like Teen Spirit comes on. It is not the first time I have heard it, but this is the time I truly believe it to be something great - and to believe that music was changing. I listen, energised, enlivened, stirred by the music and by the thought that once more music might mean something.

It is around this time that Pearl Jam are also kicking big goals with Ten, a great album. Alive is on the radio, and Jeremy, Black, Even Flow, and albums after that and by bands following their lead even as Kurt Cobain self destructs. Music changed back then, was made real again and 17 years later in Melbourne on of the bands that did that was appearing in Melbourne. That's what I was thinking.

I went with a couple of mates, Cheeseboy and Ant. We had a beer art Murmur and then a steak nearby. By the time we reached the stadium it was near full - crowd figure later was 48,000. We took our places and waited.

My memories of the concert are in two separate threads. The first one being that I was disappointed in the sound quality. It was clear enough, but it seemed to stop before us. We listened, we sang along, we applauded, but we did not seem part of the music as you should be. It was like going to the beach and stopping short of where the water surged.

The other memory is more positive. It was a great show. I thought that watching, then had to ask myself what made it great. I'm one of those typical fans who prefer the earlier stuff, some of which is seminal. I can appreciate some of their more recent work, but for me it does not have the power or melodic invention of the earlier work of the nineties. For that reason I preferred the second half of the show to the first, but I was impressed throughout regardless.

You expect a very authentic performance from a band like Pearl Jam. I can't ever imagine Eddie Vedder giving it away. He's one of those guys who'll do it forever because music and all it means is his life. He's not a performer. He's a man plying the trade that he loves. There's no flash in him. When he speaks it's Eddie the guy you might have a beer with at the local pub. What you see is what you get, which is exactly as it should be. The show is basic and without pyrotechnics. The stage is flanked by a couple of tall screens showing black and white close-ups of the action on stage, but that's it.

In character with all this is the sheer musicianship on display. They're a band of great musicians who know and love their stuff. Playing together they produced repeated and prolonged passages of powerful music, more so than any other band I can remember playing live. To be there and listening was a thrill, and sometimes much more than that. There is something almost hypnotic to be witness to the wall of swirling, industrial guitar all in concert. Bottom line, they're a great, old fashioned rock band.

Out front Eddie has never sounded better. Early days he was an adequate singer, but he's improved out of sight. Between songs he has a kind of charismatic and authentic integrity that few can match. I listened to his simple stories between songs as he engaged with the crowd, how he even brought up the just retired Matthew Richardson (though he called him Mark initially - which he later apologised for) in his banter. He reminded me of someone who I finally realised was Bruce Springsteen. Both have a simple honesty about them, Springsteen is an elder statesman, and Vedder is becoming one.

So, what were my highlights? Early on Oceans, Present Tense and Jeremy. I thought Indifference with Ben Harper was mesmerising in the musicianship, and Porch was fantastically rocking. Then there was Black and Alive, both great classics from Ten.

If nothing else it was great value - 2 1/2 hours of classic music from a classic band. At the end of the night we shuffled our way out with the rest of the crowd all talking about it and battled our way through to the station. It was just like a night at the footy and the crowd full of it.

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Measuring perfection

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Just lately I've been going through my iTunes library creating and refining my playlists and re-rating many of my songs. It's a process familiar to music nerds the world over, and remarkably satisfying given the modest aims of it.

In large part this exercise has been prompted by a new music rating system I'm using. I've long been dissatisfied with the 5 star option that defaults with iTunes. Even downloading an app that enabled me to give 1/2 star ratings did not meet my expectations.

One of the problems with the 5 star standard is that it doesn't measure up to the real world. It's fine for rating movies, and even music if you're some independent arbiter, but it's unrealistic for rating music already in your library. Let's face it, if you rate a song a measly 1 or even 2 stars the question has to be asked: why is it in your library? It makes a mockery of the rating system.

I've overcome this with a bit of mental gymnastics. Instead of 5 stars I rate my music out of 10. I do this by simply presuming that no song rated 5 or less belongs in my library, which is a fair assessment. And so when I go to rate a song I start with 5 stars as the default rating and add a premium to that. In other words, if I click on the 3 star option in my iTunes I'm actually rating it an 8.

This does a couple of things. In the first place it gives me a far greater range of rating options - I can give a song a 1/2 rating and know it belongs in my library, whereas before I pretty well wouldn't rate anything under 2 stars. Secondly it enables me to be a lot more precise in my judgement (particularly with the 1/2 star option), and in a lot of cases a lot tougher.

I would guess that my average rating previously would have been about 3.2. Now it would be about 2.6 - equivalent to 7.6, which seems a good average score.

The other question related to this is how high do you rate a song? Is there any such thing as the perfect song? Is there anything worth a score of 5 (10)? Not in my world there isn't.

I get frustrated watching the Olympics sometimes and seeing the perfect scores they often give to gymnasts, divers and the like. I'm not a big watcher of those sports, but part of the reason is that the scoring is a bit of a wank. Seriously, has perfection ever actually been achieved? No? Then a score of 10 is wrong.

The best any of my music gets scored is 4 1/2 stars (9 1/2), and there wouldn't be more than 10 or 15 at that. Until I can somehow get a decimal rating system (how I'd love that) that's as good as it gets.

Oktobterfesting

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Daylight savings started today. I woke late to find it was an hour later than usual thinking, bugger that, I'm staying put. It was 10.30 when I got up, and that was only to feed the dog, make a coffee and to collect the paper, which I read proceeded to read in bed.

A late night and many steins of German beer have left me congested and sounding very croaky, though I feel fine. Now I'm up I've cooked a late breakfast for lunch, mushrooms with garlic and rosemary, and scrambled eggs with chives and parmesan on English muffins. The sun is shining, I'm feeling mellow and happy to watch the umpteenth re-run of Pillow Talk on TV, just for fun.

Yesterday was a good day. Now that I've written that it occurs to me that it's only infrequently that I could claim that. Not that most days are bad - they're not - they just blur into an indistinct and untroubling average. Yesterday was just right though.

The morning was unremarkable. I had a gardener come over to mow the back lawn, which had become wild in the last month, and to trim and weed as required. I knocked over a few tasks around the house with a replay of the previous night's cricket on TV.

Early in the afternoon I climbed into the car and drove to Carlton to catch up with Fong. I parked the car and wandered up to meet Fong to see a movie. There she told me that the Nova was sold out, what to do? We drove to the Westgarth cinema to catch Julie & Julia there. Walking down High Street I cast an eye at the locals having a quiet coffee and a chat sitting outdoors, at the bakery with crusty bread on display in the window, and the crowd milling around the cinema. We had a coffee in one of those very particular coffee shops who sell premium beans on the side. Mmm, I thought, I know all this, I liked it, very Melbourne, typically Melbourne, but here with a local twist.

The movie was great - but I'll write about that separately.

Afterwards I dropped Fong back in Carlton then proceeded to the Tivoli Club in Windsor. The place was jumping. Upstairs and down there were people everywhere drinking German beer from large plastic steins, sitting at tables or dancing to the eclectic musical choices. The air was thick with the aroma of bratwurst sausages fried with onions.

I caught up with JV and met his new girlfriend and the others there. Two of the girls had dressed up in traditional costume, both colourful and alluring, and fun too, like dress-ups. Through the night we racked up the steins and loosened up, conversation ranging far and wide, playfully, dancing occasionally, or singing along.

The music was one of the more amusing aspects of the night. The DJ downstairs was a guy of about 60. He had a good, strong voice, but he sang reading from a book to the pre-recorded music, exhibiting not a skerrick of emotion or passion, like an automaton. The musical selection was all over the place: Sweet Caroline; New York, New York; Quango, Quango, Quango; Glory, Glory, Hallelujah; Love Me Tender, and so on. In the end it was just fun anticipating what he might play next, and suggesting diverse possibilities that seemed quitewell on the cards, Like A Virgin, Funky Cold Medina, and the like.

In general the place was filled with a great vibe. A large part of that was the quirky nature of the place - tables of elderly Germans amid young partygoers. The music, the lederhosen, the excess. All good.

It was late we left, back to JV's home 5 minutes walk down the road. There were about 7 of us, by now all pretty friendly. A bottle of wine was cracked, the TV switched on to a music program, the 500 biggest hits of the eighties, people spilled out onto the balcony. I was invited to a party next week by a couple I talked music with. They were into their music big time, but when an old clip of Steve Winwood from the eighties came on the TV they didn't know who he was. Man, I said, don't you know the Spencer Davis group? Mmm, no. I shook my head wondering what the world was coming to, and then pulled out my iPhone to play a few old Spencer Davis songs for them (Gimme Some Lovin', Keep On Running, I'm a Man). Well it was familiar, sort of, and isn't it great?

I left a little while later. It was about 2.30. I drove thinking that it's a sign of the era, maybe the generation, that for all the passion, knowledge of rock roots is shallow. Sure, the big bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are known to everyone. But what of bands like The Spencer Davis Group or Cream, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Byrds or Sam Cooke?

All these bands are before my time, but I'm of a generation when looking back they are within touching distance. Maybe my generation is the last to look forward knowing where it all came from. All the same, half the fun is sharing these things, and teaching a little as we go along.

All in all, a good, complete day.

Do yourself another favour

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In the way you do I happened across a Brisbane singer-songwriter I think is just great. Tara Simmons performs this very catchy, melodic pop with very creative arrangements that work. Her voice is pure and clear, and in tone reminds me a little of another Australian singer, Angie Hart - and another singer I am struggling to place in my head. She sounds warm and engaging, her songs intimate and intelligent. Her music is a combination of electronic beats overlaid by her voice and the backing vocals, with the occasional string accompaniment and the odd but effective background 'sound' used.

I'm no expert on her, I've only listened to a few songs and downloaded a couple (her latest album - Spilt Milk - is digital only), but I reckon she''s well worth checking out. I'll definitely keeping an eye, and an ear, out for her.

One Country

Great band. Still sound god. Wish they were still making music.

I Still Call Australia Home

Pretty awesome this. Hard not to be moved as an Aussie to watch the whole crowd sing along:

The Dead Flag Blues

Interesting track: The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emporer. Compelling, hypnotic, an apocalyptic tale set to brooding, dark and jangling music. Worth checking out.

No idea where I found it.

What I'm listening to now

There's an awful lot of crap music these days. I caught one of those video hit shows on TV the other day, counting down the chart hits. Listening to it I thought this is the sort of music I don't listen to, and the sort of music I don't want to listen to. It's no accident.

I guess I sound like one of those curmudgeonly old fellas complaining how things were better in 'my day'. I was complaining to someone the other day what slackers generation Y dudes are in comparison to us worthy gen X'ers. So I guess that's the way of things, whether you like it or not you bring with you the golden imprint of your time.

Okay, so I've put that out there but, jeepers creepers, music was better in my day. Or least it seemed to have more substance (and here I deliberately turn my head from the dispiriting sight of the New Romantics). A lot of it was more substantial then, it meant more because it was grafted for, in Oz anyway, there was more meat on the bone because most of it emerged from deep passion followed by years of struggle. It came from inside.

These days much more music seems manufactured. Is manufactured, in fact. Mainstream music anyway, but that's the point really. Once upon a time it seems to me the top 40 charts were much more eclectic. Sure, there was always some crap, but there was also a lot more room than there appears these days for 'authentic' bands. Unless you're an established headline act these days very little of of this music that makes it to the charts. It remains underground, played on the edgier radio stations only, and followed by the knowledgeable few.

I spoke of Miley Cyrus the other week expressing a cynical admiration of her, but she typifies what I mean. It's a business these days, it's a formula to be followed, the business plan aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the audience - teenage girls. Even much of the boy rock is fabricated - how can Nickelback ever be taken seriously?

I caught some Bruce the other night, he was singing Hungry Heart. Now that's a great song, but I can't imagine it being written these days. Though it's not a particularly dated tune, the whole process that made it seems of another time. I listened and sang along and wished there was more of this being written these days.

Which is not to say there isn't any decent music. There is, plenty, and some of it's great. It's just that for this set of ears attuned to another era you have to sort through a lot of other stuff you don't want to hear to find it.

Any case, there is a bunch of music I've been listening to lately which crosses over musical eras. This is what I've been listening too since Christmas.

Coupla Aussie bands playing the sort of Aussie rock that never seems to change, heavy on guitars and attitude. Don't You Know Who I Am? by the Small Mercies; and Whole Lotta Love by The Androids (they're the band you had the I Want To Do It With Madonna song). Lot of energy in this music, good stuff.

Listening to some Gomez too, particularly How We Operate; some Mogwai both old stuff and new. Mogwai have a very distinctive, occasionally discordant, very compelling sound that is more than ambient.

Speaking of ambience I've discovered Clint Mansell (ex Pop Will Eat Itself) and his film music. Very brooding, atmospheric, orchestral. He wrote the music for The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Smokin' Aces, and some of his music appeared in one of the Lord of the Rings films. Lux Aeterna and Dead Reckoning are my two favourite tunes.

To change the tune completely listening to Duffy. That's a great voice, and a style that takes me back to an era I was barely alive in - the era of Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black and Julie London. I grew up with my mum playing that singing and often singing those songs while cooked or did something else. Mercy is a great song, and Rain On Your Parade has an interesting retro styling to it that works. She'll be around for a while to come, and I reckon I'll be listening to her much more than the Beyonces, Mileys and Kylies of this world.

Now Latin! This has a sex vibe, man, get's you cooking. This is by a Spanish band I'd never heard of before and had a lot of trouble tracking down the tune, Manuela by Negritos.

Otherwise, some random Pogues, and would you believe some ELO? Was mucking around with my iTunes and they came up. I loved them when I was a kid I'm unashamed to admit. Much of their music seems very much of that period - the mid to late '70's - but listening to it again today some great music.

Sweet Talkin' Woman has to be one of the most perfect songs of it's ilk. Great hook, great production, just infectious. Then great songs like Mr Blue Sky, Strange Magic, Rockaria, Evil Woman, and a whole lot more. For me this is feel good music.

Not my cup of tea, but...

Caught a bit of Miley Cyrus latest song - 7 Things I Hate About You - on the TV before. Now it's not my kind of music, not by a longshot. Let's face it, I'm not the intended audience for that girly, teen sort sort of pop. So, if I hear it on the radio I'm going to switch stations.

Having said that I paused this morning to listen a bit longer than I would normally. I was struck at first by the confidence of the girl, which is a sign of the times really. She's had early success, and the adoration of teenage girls just like her. It was attractive though, that bouncy, innocently happy attack on the song, on life. She's on top of the world and it shows.

As for the song. Well my first impression is that it is forgettable pop fodder. And in a way that's true, for the likes of me anyway. But there is a kind of genius in it too. It's a perfectly crafted, even classical pop song. There might be something a tad cynical in how formulaic it is, but it hits the right spots, inoffensively so.

I thought something similar the other day catching Beyonce on screen. Miley Cyrus may become one, but Beyonce is a phenomenon. She just keeps churning out these songs that go to the top of the charts.

Once more, her music is not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate that she has a distinct and alluring style of her own. I admire her in a way, but she is absent from my playlist but for a duet with Sean Paul. I may often wonder at some of her songs - the worse of which seem stupid, and even offensive - but the 'best' have some of the same classical qualities I wrote of before.

That's the thing, you don't always have to like the music to appreciate the craft that's gone into making it.

I've kissed a girl, and others I wouldn't mind

I never thought I'd say this, but I've found a Pusscat Dolls song I actually like. I woke up in the middle of the night with a tune going around in my bed I couldn't recognise at the time. Today I've been humming and whistling I Hate This Part Right Now pretty well from the moment I walked in the office. Pretty sure I'm annoying people, but I have aplogised.

As for Katy Perry. Well, in actual fact I don't mind her music thus far, though it is purely simple and fun sort of stuff. Think she has a great voice - and quite a presence. There is something very sexy about her. Part of it is physical - she's cute without being stand-out. A lot more is attitude. Reckon she'd be fun and maybe a little challenging.

I'd go there.