Old Guys Hacking It

Can old guys still hack it?

I sampled four new releases and give my two cents worth.

The Rolling Stones are out with a Martin Scorcese film called "Shine a Light". There were no samples, but the album A Bigger Bang proves that the Stones haven't gathered moss. The C. Watts back-beat, the K. Richards riff-machine and the Jagger wail are still intact, so these guys are still good for one of the best rock chemistries ever conceived. I heard "Satisfaction" the other day and still believe it was perhaps the most phenomenal single ever made in that it reigned at number 1 worldwide for a year. Still, I am only mildly interested in seeing these guys or hearing their new stuff. It is mostly just to hear what new riff Richards has cooked up in his telecaster meth-lab.

I recognize REM as another one of those rock chemistries. They also have a new release called Accelerate and, while it is an intriguing bunch of songs and the same sound, it didn't sound like it accelerates enough. REM lyrics, though, are poetry. In that department they beat the Stones, but the Stones never said they were poets. However, Jagger/Richards have delivered some real poetry on occasion. REM is a great band, no doubt.

Van Morrison is back with Keep It Simple, another phenomenal record, I can tell. The guy just has it, and he is an original. There is that voice like hot chocolate that never fails. It gyrates and escalates and swoons and chatters like its own instrument. Morrison is also a spiritual man with faith in Christ and his lyrics often reflect that sensitivity. But he doesn't come across as religious, ever. The fact is, though, that his jazzy, bluesy, Celtic-tinged music is always inspired and fantastic. But it was his output in the '70s that is the most mind-blowing. Age has moved him into smooth, with a bit of a Sinatra feel. And, for me, he still made the number one rock piece of all time with his band Them, it was that 3-chord masterpiece "Gloria." The first real punk song? I think so.

Only one record I might conceivably buy out of this group, though, and that is Moby's new one called Last Night. Years ago I got a copy of his masterpiece Everything Is Wrong and it is, in my estimation, still a brilliant record. There is that driving industrial electronic beat, the repetitious new-age inflected synthesizer, that wailing female black voice, and often cryptic lyrics that make the best Moby stuff a delight, a kind of cerebral voyage. I found a Moby CD called 18 in a garage I was cleaning out the other day, and I had never heard it. It was a good find. Moby is a Christian who is known as a political activist, but the politic is just not obvious on the records. He doesn't come preaching at you. It is sheer artistry in the alchemy of cool disco inferno. You can exercise to this stuff, too. I am a guitar-band, garage-rock kind of guy, but Moby found a niche in my musical universe.

I guess these guys just go to prove, if you got it you got it, and stay with your groove. That's what you are. It pays off.