6:17AM EST - I awake to a text message from Ben Martin. "Did you watch the gap?" - a reference to Letterman. No but it is waiting for me on my DVR
6:19AM EST - I download the album from iTunes. I appreciate the offer to "complete my album" but I'll take another version of "Get on your Boots" to ensure the album can be listened to as one piece of art
6:20AM EST - First time I hear "No Line on the Horizon". I wake Cre with the sounds. She does not seem as pleased as I might be :)
6:27AM EST - I formulate and enunciate my first parody to the album's title track. I am not at liberty to divulge the lyrics, but being as it is early and I am not too clever, it involves my wife and my dog Ezra. Sidenote: I am realizing more everyday that I am very much like Michael Scott. "Lazy Scranton" is only a few steps from where I live.
6:29AM EST - My iPhone is updated.
7:10AM EST - I get the idea to write this blog post.
7:19AM EST - My iPod is updated.
7:45AM EST - I am heading to work. My updates will be infrequent now, as I have a very full day and my employer (Mzinga) rejected my proposal to make March 3rd an official company holiday.
7:55AM EST - On the ride to work, the first three tracks down. I am very pleased already and can tell it will be a good day.
11:20AM EST - The day is dragging me down (as it can tend to do), but I remember that it is release day and feel better that lunch is coming. People in the office have remarked that I seem in a good mood. I smile knowingly.
12:25PM EST - I respond to an email from Dale in Santo Domingo. He can't download the album, but the weather is good. I am both jealous of him and sad for him. Waiting can indeed be the hardest part (that's what...)
1:02PM EST - Make it through tracks "Unknown Caller", "I'll Go Crazy", and "Get on Your Boots". Let me in the sound indeed.
1:47PM EST - My day is getting even better, as my grad school course schedule for Summer and Fall is published today. Apparently, I will be taking Hebrew this summer!
4:27PM EST - I have told no less than 20 people that today is the release day. (Would that I become so enthusiastic regarding issues that really matter)
6:27PM EST - I get home with no wife and no dog to greet me. I'm going to make dinner. With the choice before me of whether or not to finish the album or restart it and blast my kitchen with sweet Moroccan-influenced rhythms, I restart and "rock out" as much as a bald white man might. I am reminded of good nights on the roof of a Tunisian beach bar with the wind blowing and good tunes in the streets.
8:43PM EST - It is the rare cat these days who genuinely enjoys most everything an artist produces, but I do with U2. Some would call that sheepish weakness to do so. I choose to consider it one of my pure, unadulterated pleasures - free from the judgment and ultra-criticism that plagues and drives the rest of my life. I like Unforgetable Fire. I like Zooropa. I like Pop and use it as my workout album. I will probably grow to really like this album. I'm thankful to enjoy something without the "but".
9:46PM EST - After sitting through a TiVO'ed edition of American Idol (I do like Simon - big surprise there), I see the boys on Letterman and hear "Breathe" for the first time. I then listen to the last few tracks on my laptop. I wonder what it might be to be like loose electricity.
10:10PM EST - Listen to a few tracks again and look up my first lyrics page.
My thoughts (an initital review if one might be so bold to say):
- The first 3 tracks are very good and appropriately innovative
- Track 3 feels like an alter call - a modern "Just as I Am"
- It might be my orientation, but they seem to be getting more overtly spiritual the older they get... and not Joel Olstein "spiritual"... I'm thankful for that
- In general, I like it very much and I have a sense that I will like it even more in the coming days. When I first heard Atomic Bomb, I eventually determined that I loved everything except "Love & Peace". After I heard that song in concert, I decided that was very good as well. It's a good bet to expect similar results here.
10:35PM EST - I consider not publishing this. Against my better judgment, well... you see.
Cheers - cause I'm so British,
tango
1 comment:
Thought you might get a kick out of this:
http://www.nakedpastor.com/archives/2903
I agree with you: it seems the spirituality is becoming more blatant. They've moved away from their old use of "she" to represent God and just throw in imagery. Nothing as obvious as Yahweh, however.
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