Time Signatures
TFW u reelin' in the years.
The irony is not lost on me that on Thanksgiving weekend, a fraught time for many, HBO pulled off a holiday miracle…
Old people we want to hear talk.
Yacht Rock! As the subhead portends, this “dockumentary” gives praise to the once-denigrated genre as well as the MySpace-era goofs who named it.
Mercifully, it’s not a bit.
Instead, the doc is refreshingly studio-focused; even those sketch comedians provide real insight and cultural context on a brief, shining moment when some of the world’s waviest session cats found themselves in and around Los Angeles, where they’d spend the Carter years crafting smoothed out, structurally complex, wildly popular jams before vanishing like the Village Recorders highway.
I enjoy rock music of all stripes because it is the sound of himbos (gender non specific) striving for transcendence. Inchoate ragers, obsessive seekers, poets, punkers, Canadians, all expressing themselves through the riffs and yelps that say what actual language cannot.
“More Than Words,” if you will.
What the yacht-ers brought to this gumbo was some real nerd shit, the intellectual acumen to name your band after Burroughs and learn Mixolydian modes. Lyrically, the material also felt older, if not fully wizened — dudes in their 20s penning wistful bangers about regret and mistakes and aging lotharios trying to seduce teenagers.
And now, we hang with these old young guys as old old guys...
There’s useful perspective in watching the rise, fall and eventual equilibrium of these multi-decade careers. No one comes off particularly grumpy (except for Donald Fagen, but it’s on brand and I won’t ruin the joke). Kenny Loggins has the energy of a tall man, Christopher Cross was the consensus fav amongst my group chats (we would also like a proper deep dive on the Porcaro brothers and Steve Lukather), and Michael McDonald remains a national treasure.
The tunes aged like fine wine.
And my wife now knows and cares about Jeff “Skunk” Baxter.
Five stars!
PAM x Rough Rice Borscht Seasoning — collab of the year?
Behind The Donkey Kong Country Soundtrack — “Aquatic Ambience” 4L.
Patrick Cowley, “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night” — Electric Prunes cover via the Castro’s own Giorgio Moroder. Cover art / title goes crazy!
spill tab, “PINK LEMONADE” — love this band (and anything Solomonophonic touches). “CRÈME BRÛLÉE” makes me want to backflip off the couch, which is my highest form of praise.
Vintage Echobelly Tee — Schnipper just sent me the Joint Custody page and while appreciative, I had to explain that am presently in a PayPal embargo until the new year. We purging! “King Of The Kerb” going on repeat rn regardless.
Playlists updated!