Doom & Gloom Dispatch #35: In The Light Of A Miracle
Trevor Graham-Wilcox, Van Morrison, Arthur Russell, Steely Dan, Sonic Youth
Trevor Graham-Wilcox - Finding It
A new masterpiece from the shadowy southern California singer-songwriter Trevor Graham-Wilcox! Actually, he’s not shadowy at all — he’s my brother! But even if we weren’t related, I would still be recommending this homespun collection of excellent tunes. It’s primarily acoustic, but there’s a melodic inventiveness and rhythmic ingenuity that takes the whole affair several notches above the standard guy-with-guitar fare. Catchy hooks galore, lyrics that expertly straddle the personal/universal line, ragged-but-right harmonies … this one’s a winner.
Van Morrison - Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 14, 1974
Who’s that happy guy up there?! It’s Van Morrison! Or at least an artist’s portrayal of Van … I’m not sure if the Man has ever been photographed smiling quite so brightly. But this recording of Morrison with the 1974 lineup of the Caledonia Soul Orchestra does have a warm and friendly vibe.
That vibe is especially apparent in the opening acoustic set, wherein Van and Co. play a number of beautifully rendered tunes from Astral Weeks — "Ballerina,“ the title track and "Madame George,” not to mention a preview of the then-unreleased Veedon Fleece in the form of a magnificently brooding “Streets of Arklow.”
Why so Astral? Well, if you’ve read Ryan H. Walsh’s terrific Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968, you know that Morrison wrote a good portion of the LP just a short walk away from the Harvard Square Theatre. Being back in Cambridge must have brought back memories of those days — only a few years back, but it probably felt like a lifetime for Van.
After the mystical moments, Van and the Orchestra get funky with a rowdy, R&B-heavy electric set. Not as transfixing as what came before, but damn good anyway. The whole thing ends back on “Cypress Avenue” … it may have been too late to stop then, but Morrison would soon take a long sabbatical from live performance.
Arthur Russell - In The Light Of A Miracle (Suite)
There’s a new Arthur Russell album out — and it is amazing. The guy left us more than 30 years ago and somehow he keeps giving us more extraordinary / otherworldly music. Thank you, Arthur (and thank you to Audika Records for tending to the legacy with such care). It’s a miracle!
And hey — the latest release closes with a dazzling version of one of Russell’s signature tunes, “In The Light Of A Miracle.” A song that you wish would just go on forever. The “suite” above doesn’t go on forever, but it does clock in at 37 minutes, stitching together various performances into a very satisfying whole. Live in the light for a little while, my friends.
Joyce Bowden: Arthur spoke of the importance of using music as a tool to strive for a heightened awareness beyond the normal state of ego. He advocated using a continuous, unified flow of attention until the movement of sound would become more vivid and fewer distractions would occur. His point was to wait until the music became a meeting point between the finite and the infinite. This happened more often than not, and sometimes it would become an enlightened moment, with the music unfolding or revealing itself to us in a magical way.
Steely Dan - “The Second Arrangement” (Roger Nichols Tape)
A few weeks back I hopped on Zoom to chat about all things Steely Dan with Joan LeMay and Alex Pappademas about their great new book Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan — and now, you can read my little feature on the Uncut website now! The book is a very fun and illuminating journey through the expanding Dan-iverse, with LeMay’s absorbing artwork complemented perfectly by Pappademas’ keen insight … recommended!
And hey, that’s Joan’s depiction of a key piece of Steely Dan arcana up there — the “Second Arrangement” cassette! Amazingly, the kids of engineer Roger Nichols recently unearthed it, and now the Gaucho outtake sounds better than I’ve ever heard it before. I’ve seen the tape called a “holy grail” which might be a little hyperbolic, but whatever, it is cool as hell.
From Quantum Criminals: It might have been the first single; instead, it’s the Gaucho song with the most tragic backstory. One night a junior engineer who’s been asked to prepare “The Second Arrangement” for playback accidentally erases about three-quarters of the master tape instead. Donald and Walter spend considerable time (and reportedly tens of thousands of dollars) trying to re-create what they had, but eventually they scrap the song entirely … “The Second Arrangement” is a crucial part of the Gaucho picture because it’s the sound that got away; it represents the ideal they were striving toward, the music that refused to stay recorded.
Sonic Youth - CBGB, New York City, June 23 & June 24, 1988
“This song is called ‘Public Rehearsal Is A Good Idea,’” Thurston Moore announces during the first of these two remarkable tapes. And indeed, that’s pretty much what we’ve got here, with Sonic Youth sounding like they just stumbled out of their practice space and onto the stage at CBGB.
Steve Shelley set the scene in my interview with the drummer a few years back: “Before we went to the studio and recorded Daydream Nation, we did a couple weekends where we would go to these different places and try to play the album. We played in Boston and we played CB’s and Maxwell’s, and probably a few other places. During those shows, people are still getting lyrics together and we’re still, you know, winking and jumping for arrangements. Like, “Here’s the big change!!!’”
So yeah, things are fairly ragged and wild at points, sometimes going off the rails entirely. The quartet sometimes sounds a little frustrated/embarrassed, but they're also having a blast as they wrestle with the new stuff. There are also some good early titles for these songs — “Dinosaur (Wombats!),” “UBU/Mellencamp,” “Huskerrific,” etc.
No matter how loose things get, it’s thrilling to hear this familiar Daydream Nation material being pieced together — and falling apart — in real time. The arrangements more or less in place; the lyrics more or less not in place (a fact most hilariously illustrated when Thurston takes the lead on “Cross The Breeze”). They’d figure it out, of course. But until then, enjoy this cool snapshot of Sonic Youth hitting their stride, when so many of their peers were hitting the wall.
Photo: Michael Macioce
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From The Doom & Gloom Archives
Patti Smith w/ Lou Reed - Central Park, New York City, June 27, 1977
A few weeks back, the excellent Lou Reed-centric Instagram account weapons.etc posted this remarkable, new-to-me pic of Lou playing congas in Central Park. I repeat, Lou on congas! Turns out he was backing up none other than Patti Smith during the 1977 NYC Gay Pride Parade, which was particularly important since it came in the wake of Anita Bryant’s infamously dumb “Save Our Children” movement (check out some great photos and info about the event over here). It further transpired that there was even a tape of this historic occasion — and Michael at weapons.etc was kind enough to share it with us. Thank you, Michael — all Lou-heads should be following him.
This is not a high-quality recording by any stretch, but again: Lou on congas! He gamely follows Patti and keyboardist Richard Sohl for an extended/exuberant “Gloria” that goes in all kinds of directions (and just as a heads up, Patti uses some language that is definitely racially insensitive at some points). Perhaps most affecting is the brief and sincere speech Lou gives at the end (you can even watch it via weapons.etc) that gets right to the point: “We want everybody to walk on the wild side. Everything Anita Bryant and those people represent … I don’t. And I really hope that you all realize how good you really are.” Amen.
Currently Reading: Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members by Ray Padgett