Lockdown Blues

 

It’s been eight years since I posted anything on my music blog here. I think there have been many reasons for this :-

 

·        There’s been such a wealth of writing on the old favourites that all the best angles have been taken.

·        The way we consume music has become much more of a personal rather than a communal activity.

·        There’s less inspiring rock writing around today. There’s plenty of biographical writing in the likes of Mojo and Uncut but nothing as exciting as (for example) the “think pieces” in the NME of the 1970s.

·        Music has lost its social purpose. Anyone with any serious interest in politics knows that the current situation in the UK is obscene beyond anything we have ever known. There is such a consensus on this, and yet so little hope of change, that it is hardly worth writing or singing about.

·        Until recently there haven’t been any gigs for a while and music fans have not been socialising as much.

Which brings me to the nub of the article. Musicians who have spoken out for other musicians during the pandemic have been treated as pariahs. I’m thinking particularly of Van Morrison and Eric Clapton. Yet Abba’s comeback album contains two explicitly anti-lockdown songs and has been universally lauded. Why ?

 

Van Morrison

Van Morrison has made consistently marvellous music all through his career. His latest pre-pandemic album Three Chords and the Truth is one of his very best and it also alludes to his concerns re growing authoritarianism and populism within the UK. The record was universally praised in the music press.

All that changed during the pandemic. He has had scorn poured upon him for his views about lockdown and the double album he released during that time was totally dismissed. At first I went along with this, but I’m now of the view that all the pleasure and inspiration he’s given to millions of people over the last fifty years more than outweighs any harm he might have done with his views. Great music is all too rare and we must treasure it where we find it.

The reason why Van has been so consistently brilliant is that music genuinely is his world. He loves music of all types and often pays tribute to other artists via covering their songs or discussing their work. Music has been his livelihood and lifeblood since he was a teenager. During lockdown he spoke up about the distress it was causing to young musicians and started a charity to help. You might view this as a more honest stance than that of his contemporaries sending their well-wishes from the comfort of their home studios and “gifting” us with the odd Youtube clip.

I’m yet to hear the double album, having been put off by the media reaction. It’s possible that it is one of those “awkward” records such as A Period Of Transition which sounded raw and confused at the time but has stood up well. Whatever, it certainly deserves a fair hearing.

Eric Clapton

Mr. Clapton is a more problematic case. He has a history of dubious political sentiments such as the 1976 “pro-Enoch” on-stage rant. He has also had a long career decline since the heights he reached with “Layla” in 1970.  

I had almost forgotten just how important he was in the past until I heard a Cream 1967 bootleg recording the other day. The fire and intensity of his playing on the long jams reminded me that :-

·        He was the first of the “big three” Surrey guitarists to feature in the Yardbirds and was probably the first person in 60s music to become noted chiefly for lead guitar playing.

·        His work with John Mayall created a whole new genre of heavily-amplified electric blues guitar playing. His tonal control at such loud volumes was – and is – unprecedented.

·        In Cream he more than lived up to the challenge of being pushed so hard by Jack and Ginger. Although other rock bands made more consistent and better-produced albums, in concert they were three brilliant musicians who constantly listened to and bounced off each other’s playing. No other live band has achieved this at such a pitch of intensity.

·        He then took the art of blues guitar playing to even greater heights by pairing up with Duane Allman for Layla.

In the last few decades we tend to forget just how much he has contributed. He has become an unsympathetic figure whose truculence over the pandemic has been hard to tolerate. And if I ever have to hear the “Unplugged” version of Layla again I’ll probably go so mad I might become a Monarchist.

Let’s just remember all the great times and be thankful.   

Abba

Abba could have filled their latest album with renditions of Three Blind Mice and still be lauded. So it is to their credit that Voyage seems to me to be their most consistent album, albeit lacking obvious classic singles.

But few appear to have noticed that they’ve snuck a couple of anti-lockdown songs on there (Don’t Shut Me Down and Ode To Freedom). Either their audience doesn’t listen that closely or it’s a case of the afore-mentioned “Three Blind Mice Syndrome”. Hugely popular as they are, few music fans would argue that they’ve contributed anything like as much to music as Van and Eric.

They are a problem for a populist like me. They’ve sold more records worldwide than anyone outside Michael Jackson, and many people seriously rate them – The Times compared the longevity of their back catalogue to The Beatles ! But for me they are like a classic pop songwriter of the pre-Elvis era – their music is well-crafted, full of all the tricks which make up classic pop singles, but without anything at its core to engage the listener. I could well imagine dancing to a few of their classics if drunk enough, but I couldn’t see myself wanting to put the headphones on and focus on their stuff.

I guess that’s the point – they are a throwback to the pre-rock era. For those of us who had their lives changed by The Beatles in 1963 that’s a hard one to stomach.