Do I need an intervention? (Read before you respond, wiseass.)
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One of MOG's saving graces is that there is practically no genre or artist that we, collectively, are incapable of tolerating. Once in a while someone'll get a hard time for owning up to a love of country and western or....oh, say, Vikki Carr. But those instances are rare, as they should be.It's pretty well-established by now, I guess, that my tastes are...um, pretty catholic. When I listen to music, I try to leave personal prejudices and social considerations ("Eww, I can't like this band, their fans are dorks," or "Gotta like this band because people who like them have attained a level of coolness I can only dream of")out of the equation. The only thing that should matter is this: Is it good or isn't it?I probably take undue pride in how open my ears remain - though I will never hold a candle to truly eclectic MOGgers like Fistula Spume and Spike. But once in a while, that pride is brought crashing to earth by circumstance. One begins to doubt oneself. The depth and hideousness of one's musical vanity suddenly become clear. Obviously, because I am writing all this, I'm going through one of those moments now.It came about as a reult of my buying the most recent CD by the Brazilian singer Luciana Souza, called "The New Bossa Nova." Souza, whom I gather is now based in New York, has decided that being blessed with one of the loveliest voices and most discerning ears for a great song is not quite enough. She wants commercial success. And honestly, I want it for her too. Anyone with a voice like hers deserves to be wallowing in acclaim and yachts. So she has decided to record a CD of songs by artists popular with an older - dare I say boomerish? - audience. Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Steely Dan, Leonard Cohen, Brian Wilson, Sting (gulp). And, um, James Taylor. But that's not where I'm balking. Reconfiguring these songs as more-or-less traditional-sounding bossa novas (no electronic gimmickry here, pretty much all acoustic instruments), Souza pulls off the trick of making them all (even Sting) seem both new and hers. I can kinda buy the conceit of these tunes being contemporary standards when they're done this well.It's the James Taylor song, "Never Die Young," that's really giving me problems. It's one of my favorite songs on the album. I'd probably be OK with that except for one thing - James Taylor himself makes a guest appearance on the track.Why is it that I find him so maddening, the idea of enjoying him such an exercise in humiliation? Is it guilt that, in high school, I exaggerated my appreciation of "Sweet Baby James" in order to worm my way into the heart of that delectable, arty girl with whom I shared a lunchtime? Is it anger that he pissed away a promising beginning in a druggy haze? Bewilderment that he married Carly Simon? Revulsion that he became a boomer icon? (People my age really are capable of appropriating music for themselves in a way that infuriates me. How dare anyone refer to Motown as "Big Chill music," as if the Four Tops had no significance unless paired with Kevin Kline and Mary Beth Hurt?) All I know is when I hear his voice, there's an unpleasant clenching feeling in the pit of my stomach. So, I can't get this song out of my head. And this fact is quite upsetting. Please someone - anyone - tell me that this is actually a lovely little song and that appreciating it is not a sign that I am surrendering myself to a life of musical choices largely dictated by PBS. Either that, or please stage an intervention and take me away to a remote location with a CD player and only two CDs: "The Best of Jimmy Reed" and Captain Beefheart's "Lick My Decals Off, Baby."
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