Inspiration on the iPod
I don’t often write about music, though that world was where I spent over 30 years of my professional life before diving down the rabbit-hole of Pinot & Burgundy. I’ve been away from the music industry long enough now to have rediscovered my pure and unadulterated love for the music itself (working in the star-maker-machinery for so long nearly robbed my of that love near the end.) Fortunately, I can’t imagine ever tiring of great old bottles of Burgundy or Oregon Pinot or Champagne – so hopefully there’s no burnout ahead down this road. But back to the music.
I spend a lot of time in the car back and forth from Portland to Carlton and our vineyard sites in the Dundee Hills, Ribbon Ridge and Chehalem Mountains – and the iPod (actually these days it’s an iPhone, to be precise) is my constant companion. When the music isn’t stirring my soul, I catch up on my favorite soccer podcast – World Soccer Daily. And then occasionally something comes along that I literally can’t stop listening to. (A huge point of difference with wine – that stellar bottle of ’49 deVogüé Musigny is not likely to be repeated anytime soon, one can only savor the moment and the memory. The great song or album, however, you can crank on endless repeat if you’d like…)
If you’re an aficionado of great, pure “pop” – of the Brian Wilson/Beatles school – you may want to check out an amazing album called “Under the Covers Vol. 1″ by Matthew Sweet & Susannah Hoffs (He a bit of a music geek’s insider secret and mid-90s alternative star, and she the main lead voice of the Bangles.) Together they selected some of the greatest pop nuggets of the 60s – some of them were major hits in their day, and others totally obscure but brilliant slices of the pop pie. They’ve remade them with love and reverence, and the upgraded technology that we all wish they’d had back in the 60s!
At any rate, this is some of the most delightful stuff I’ve heard in ages. I thought I was the only person on the planet who knew the Left Banke’s lost classic “She May Call You Up Tonight” (I actually have the original on my iPhone) – but obviously they did too. Also featured are lost treasures originated by the Zombies, Fairport Convention, and the Marmalade, along with well-known classics from Neil Young, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Mamas & Papas, Bob Dylan, the Who, the Stone Ponys and more. In all, it’s breathtakingly gorgeous stuff – the voices and harmonies are captivating, the production is sonically brilliant, and I’ve been listening non-stop for days.
This album actually came out in 2006 – I just discovered it last week when I ran across a pre-release blurb on Under the Covers Vol. 2 – which is coming out on July 21st. Vol. 2 is their take on a bunch of killer 70s nuggets – including the Raspberries, Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, Derek & the Dominoes, Carly Simon, Tom Petty, Yes, Rod Stewart, Bread, and more! I literally can’t wait. If it’s anywhere near as good as the first one (and from sneak-previewing samples on Amazon it sure seems so) it will soon be in hot rotation on the iPhone. (For the record, I have zero connection to this project, I’m just a major fan. I did interview Sue a couple of times back in the radio days, but that’s the end of it.) And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
