My Top 10 Christmas songs

10. Kate Bush – Home For Christmas – A rare B-side from Kate Bush. A charming short acoustic ballad with horn backing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9I7M-nR978 9. Ben Folds – Bizarre Christmas Incident – A dark comical tune regarding an overweight Santa Claus getting trapped in the chimney and dying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N12iwI-suvM 8. The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick – Maybe it’s a rewrite of Little Deuce Coupe but it has the best vocal harmonies in this list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbgxDgVmMF0 7. The Flaming Lips – Christmas At The Zoo – It’s set in Christmas rather than Christmas but it is a touching song about opening up the cage in the zoo and the animals refusing to leave preferring captivity over freedom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3mRC-foSZs 6. Willie Nelson – Pretty Paper – Beautiful song about a disabled man selling wrapping paper on the streets. I prefer the acoustic version from the “Hill Country Christmas” album, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klD8E4fu1ao 5. Joni Mitchell – River – Breakup song that is set at Christmas. I love the melancholic usage of the Jingle Bell melody which reflects the lyrical content of the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHxxBTl71I 4. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – A bit preachy and maybe Yoko Ono’s vocals are a bit loud but it’s a classic song and melodies nevertheless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg 3. The Who – Christmas – The best defence of the nonsense plot of Tommy was from Jeff Blehar’s political beat is that it’s an album where the plot doesn’t make sense but emotionally makes sense. It is a touching story of a parent looking after an intellectually disabled child during Christmas and seeing the child being isolated while other kids are having fun and feeling helpless and pleading for its salvation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu8ZA6GUBlk 2. Sparks - Thank God It's Not Christmas – Probably my favourite song on this list but it doesn’t seem appropriate to put in number 1 considering it’s about disliking Christmas as it forces him to spend time with his partner/family that the character dislikes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEBRzrYKifU 1. Elvis Presley - Santa Claus Is Back in Town – Elvis’ Christmas Album particularly Side A is quite underrated and may well be the beginning of the idiosyncratic Christmas album that foreshadows the likes of Bob Dylan and Jethro Tull’s Christmas album. Instead of the clean-cut traditional standard Christmas songs. We have the 12-bar rhythm and blues, double entendre and a powerful Elvis voice dripping with charisma that would have likely been considered subversive at the time (Irving Berlin tried to have this entire album and his cover of White Christmas banned from radio airplay) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae7CtryWCkc

The Best Version of "Smile"

I’ve been thinking about the ongoing debate over which version of Smile is best—The Beach Boys’ Smile Sessions or Brian Wilson’s 2004 Smile. I recently watched the 2-DVD set: https://www.discogs.com/release/3353665-Brian-Wilson-Smile My personal pick is now the live performance at Center Staging in Burbank, California, recorded on 26 September 2004 and featured on the second DVD. It arguably surpasses both studio recordings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UbNwhm2EX8 It might be one of the most “upgradable” live performances thanks to the visual component. When listening to densely complex music with multiple instruments and layered vocal parts, it’s easy to appreciate the overall sound while missing the intricate individual elements that comprise it. That’s one of the joys of great, complex music: the magic of repeat listening and “discovering” new parts you hadn’t consciously noticed before—even after hundreds of listens. But the Smile live performance on that DVD might be the greatest shortcut to appreciating such detail. You don’t need to listen hundreds of times to discover the intricacies of the work. The camera continually alternates between musicians, perfectly syncing with instrumental and vocal entries. When a new section begins, the camera cuts to whoever is contributing that part, helping the viewer become fully aware of the dense arrangements and harmonies. The DVD draws attention to every important moment that might otherwise pass by in a purely audio experience. You can even see the exact instrument—or sometimes inanimate object—creating a particular sound. It was an absolute joy to watch, and one of the most transformative visual experiences I’ve had in terms of deepening my appreciation for an album. Brian Wilson is also in top form throughout. I didn’t notice any obvious vocal flubs or tuning issues. It’s certainly a more polished vocal performance than when I’ve seen him live. And if there was overdubbing involved, I honestly don’t care—authenticity isn’t the point here; it’s about appreciating the brilliance of the music. I’m not sure if ripping the audio from the DVD would result in a version superior to the studio recordings, but as a complete audiovisual product, this is, in my opinion, the best way to experience Smile. I’ll also add that the first DVD—documenting the original unfinished album and the eventual resurrection of Smile leading up to the 2004 London concert—is deeply compelling. The stress of being rejected by his bandmates over the Smile project (and, I suspect, drug use) led to Brian Wilson’s first psychotic break, which caused the album to be abandoned and left unfinished. The resurrection of Smile was essentially Brian’s attempt to heal from that trauma. The film captures his PTSD-like struggles while compiling and rehearsing the material. There’s a particularly moving scene showing a vocal rehearsal where Brian sits in a dissociated state, while bandmates express concern about his disengagement. Later, he gradually finds the strength and focus to fully commit to rehearsals. The film also reveals that he experienced a return of depression with psychotic features, including command auditory hallucinations instructing him to harm himself. He also had an ED presentation due to a panic attack. His wife and the band were seriously concerned about whether his mental health could withstand the process. Leading up to the concert, Brian was reportedly calling people anxiously, fearing the performance would fail. In a bonus interview, he describes panicking 30 minutes before going on stage and wanting to cancel—but then using meditation to get through the moment and perform. The documentary ends with a triumphant performance, and Brian reflects that, through it, he was finally able to lay his demons to rest. I have to say—it was a deeply inspiring watch.

RIP Brian Wilson

RIP Brian Wilson The Beach Boys aren’t just one of my all-time favourite rock groups. The story of Brian Wilson, along with those of other musicians and composers who have struggled with mental illness, is part of the reason I chose the occupation I’m in today. I had the pleasure of seeing Brian Wilson perform twice: first with the Beach Boys’ 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour in 2012, and then on his solo Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour in 2016, where he was joined by Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin. I remember seeing Brian Wilson shuffling on stage with a parkinsonian gait, masked facies, and clear signs of tardive dyskinesia (involuntary mouth movements). It was apparent that he had endured significant exposure to antipsychotic medications over his lifetime. Brian was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and his mental health struggles have been well documented. The film Love & Mercy vividly depicts his psychotic break during the 1960s and the subsequent exploitation he suffered under psychologist Eugene Landy. Landy exercised abusive control over Brian’s life for years, including administering excessive doses of antipsychotic medications as part of his manipulation made the sight of witnessing the physical lasting consequences of his abuse he receive quite emotionally moving. The celebration of Brian Wilson’s performances during those concerts was never really about his vocal performance, which had significantly deteriorated, with his bandmates and supporting vocalists carrying much of the musical load. Rather, it was the fact that he was still performing at all — after everything he had endured — that made it so inspiring. His resilience, recovery from severe mental illness, and ability to perform in his later years is what moved audiences far more than any technical musical quality. He wrote some of the most beautiful, uplifting, and optimistic music — music that often felt too beautiful for this world, and perhaps for his own life experiences. But the song I want to highlight is Til I Die, which Brian has said he wrote while feeling deeply depressed and preoccupied with death. In the song, he laments his insignificance and powerlessness: he is "the cork on the ocean," "the rock in a landslide," "the leaf on a windy day." He asks, “How deep is the ocean? How deep is the valley?” — implying that the depths of his depression could feel endless. The resignation in the line, “These things I’ll be until I die,” reflects the hopelessness he felt at the time — the fear that the darkness might never lift. That Brian was ultimately able to recover, find happiness in marriage, complete the once-lost Smile album, and return to touring and performing is what makes his story and watching him perform live so profoundly inspiring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46IQu0yuJzU

Story of my son’s musical journey so far

My son's journey started immediately after birth. As he entered the new world he was crying furiously. Perhaps all the time he heard his dad singing when he was in the womb paid off and when he heard myself singing John Lennon’s Beautiful Boy he immediately stopped crying and locked eye contact with myself. During the early stages of his life, I thought it was a good opportunity to finally complete a discography listen of Brian Eno’s career, in particular his ambient work which I haven’t completely explored previously. The rationale was that now that we have a newborn baby, perhaps having some easy-listening background music would have a calming effect. However, the reality was that it had a relatively neutral effect on the baby and wasn’t as calming and soothing as anything else. However soon I learnt that anything with a strong rhythm or beat, he responded well to. While I can’t speak for other parent’s experience with newborns, I do wonder whether this is universal. I speculate that when the foetus is in the womb, it will hear a loud rhythmic heartbeat as well as breathing and will regularly feel the mother walking around. Therefore, music with a strong emphasis on the beat that you can move and dance to will have a soothing effect as it replicates the environment of the womb. This created a switch of me playing highly energetic music to help soothe the baby and get it to sleep. I became the expert in getting the baby to sleep by putting energetic music on and then carrying the baby and starting to dance around the room. We often joke that he is my ballroom dancing partner. By the end of it, he will be fast asleep. I was far more likely to get the baby to sleep having something like AC/DC playing than gentle music. Hard rock/heavy metal, techno/electronic, and funk music were my son's initial taste in music. It became a regular game of me putting on music like Spark’s Tryout For The Human Race and then moving his arms and legs and creating dance/disco moves while he is lying in bed which normally results in him laughing and smiling. One thing I was proud of was playing King Crimson 21st Century Schizoid Man while holding my son jumping around the room headbanging and then during the extended instrumental jam, I started doing a Stravinsky-esque The Rite Of Spring-like dance. When the solo finished, and the heavy riff returned my son was fast asleep. Of course, while any music with a beat he responds to. There were certain songs that he responded well melodically. His number one favourite song as a baby was Anna (Go To Him) by The Beatles. He responded well hearing me belt out “All Of My Life, I’ve been searching for a girl” which resulted in sudden eye contact and him moving his mouth in sync with my singing. It became the number one song we played trying to soothe him and often he will stop crying even before we pick him up and dance if that song is playing. The bridge section becomes the common song I sing to calm him down. What’s funny is that his most hated song is the very next track on the album Please Please Me which is Chains. Whenever Anna (Go To Him) ends it goes automatically to the next song in the album and when he hears the opening harmonica he starts crying. He just wants to hear Anna (Go To Him) again and again and gets upset when another song interrupts him. As a result, we would often have that song on repeat/loop so that he could hear that song indefinitely. Now just when I thought I could start indoctrinating my son to my music taste. Unfortunately, my wife introduced him to nursery rhymes and children’s songs. Now his favourite songs are stuff like “Five Finger Family”, “Wheels On The Bus”, and “Baby Shark” and his favourite artist is “D Billions” which is a Kyrgyzstan kid's music group. Whenever I have music playing, my son completely ignores it but whenever a child's song is playing, he becomes interested. While lamenting my lack of influence on his music taste, there is a side benefit that it accelerated his language development and most likely contributed to his ability to say words and talk as his early words are often lyrics from songs such as “Where Are You” from Finger family or “round and round”. Now you can see him humming melodies from the song and he will make dance gestures from those songs. Ie. Bring out his hands and look at it when Finger family is on, or move his arms in a circle during the “round and round”. Now even when music isn’t playing he will walk around and occasionally hum those tunes. Despite being less than two years old it’s remarkably somewhat in tune. When we sing part of the song and then stop, he will attempt to complete the line. Bizarrely though one children's song he hates which is “Happy Birthday’ and he cries when we sing that song which is a trait I hope he grows with when he is older. Despite him having a different taste of music so far. I can identify similar music-listening traits to myself. If I abruptly stop the music he will cry out and throw a tantrum which mirrors my irritability if someone interrupts or forces me to stop playing music. It’s pretty clear that he has a developed imagination and that he often daydreams and plays those songs in his head. During childcare the staff will take pictures of them reading children's stories, my son will often be distracted and looking at his hand. He is daydreaming and playing the finger family song in his head. This mirrors myself daydreaming and playing music in my head at school, and university not listening to the teacher or lecturers. So, despite him ignoring 99.9% of “adult music”, I think currently he is a children’s music nerd which is a good prognosis that he’ll become a full-on music nerd when he is older. Regarding the 0.1% of “adult music” that he likes. The Beatle’s Anna (Go To Him) remains a special song. When I sing the bridge of the song and reach the part “What am I, what am I supposed to do?”, he will reply “na, na, na, na, na” to the same melody/tune of “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh”. This is the one remaining song that we can bond together and where there is overlap in our music taste. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3zNKWyLfus

Robert Schumann’s mental illness through the lens of three composition

(Domschke 2010) from http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/196/4/325

Robert Schumann was a romantic era composer who most likely had bipolar affective disorder and subsequently developed neurosyphilis psychosis. As shown by the above genogram with the arrow pointing at Robert Schumann, he had significant family history of mental health disorder. This post will have a look at his mental illness through the lens of three composition. Two by Robert Schumann himself and one from his friend Johannes Brahms.

Robert Schumann - Carnaval

Robert Schumann was famous for writing music portraits of other people. He would meet people and then composed music based on his interpretation of their personalities. Carnaval is a piano work where most of the movements are portraits of people he knew. For example Movement 13 Estrella (13:59) was a portrait of his then fiancée Ernestine von Fricken and Movement 11: Chiarina (11:52 mark) was a portrait of Clara Wieck which Schumann ended up ending his engagement with Fricken and marrying Clara. Apparently the music already hinted that he was more interested in Clara (although to be honest I don't quite hear it). 

However the most interesting movement from a psychiatric point of view is Eusebius (Movement 5 - 5:57) and Florestan (Movement 6 - 6:55). Robert Schumann gave names to two sides of his personality. Florestan which is the embodiment of Schumann's passionate, volatile side and Eusebius his dreamy, melancholic, introspective side. Florestan was inspired by the masculine bold and assertive hero of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio and Eusebius was a 4th Century Catholic priest who was a historian documenting the persecution of Christian and who he was subsequently persecuted and killed as well. 

He was famous as a music critic at the time to write music reviews where he would sign off his reviews with either Florestan or Eusebius depending on his current mental state at the time. One review of Frédéric Chopin’s Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” by Mozart where he structured it as a conversation between himself and the two personalities. 

Robert Schumann identified his melancholic and exaltated side of his personality to these two characters and they seemed to represent his manic and depressive phase of his bipolar affective disorder.

Robert Schumann developed depression around 1833 where his brother Julius died of tuberculosis, his sister sister in law Rosalie died of malaria and Robert Schumann contracted malaria himself. 

He fell in deep depression and anxiety and was quoted in writing “During the night of Rosalie’s death, the most terrifying thought a person can ever have suddenly occurred to me. The most terrible thought heaven can punish you with, that of losing my mind. It overwhelmed me so violently that I was inconsolable, I could not guaranteed that under that circumstances I would not raised my hand against my own life.”

His depression was severe enough to be in near catatonic state where he was kept in the bed for nearly a week where it was described ‘he resembled a statue” which occurred during his tour to Russia with his wife Clara in 1844

In between his bouts of depression he would have phases of ‘exaltation’ where he would led to impulsive behaviours such as hyper sexuality (where he’ll sleep with prostitute and ended up contracting syphilis that would ended up killing him), over-practicing on the piano (where he ended up injuring his right hand destroying his career as a pianist), poor sleep but also periods of composition binge where he would compose non-stop for several days. 

The Eusebius and Florestan movements are musical portraits of his depressive and manic side of his personality.

Robert Schumann - Geistervariationen

Although Robert Schumann remained functional throughout his life. Around 1850 (40 years old) his mental state deteriorated and he became increasingly psychotic. He most likely contracted syphilis from sex with a prostitute as a teenager that remain latent throughout most of his life and his marriage but became active during this time. He started having auditory hallucination of music where he described as “very strong and painful aural disturbances.”. Initially the auditory hallucination were restricted to a single note where Schumann was quoted in saying ‘I can’t read anymore. I keep hearing the note ‘A’”. Eventually the hallucination became full fledged themes of music that were attributed to angels and ghost of both Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert.  He described the themes he heard as “Magnificent music, with instruments of splendid resonance, the like of which has never been heard on earth before”. He composed these Geistervariationens or  "Ghost Variations" of the theme he heard via his auditory hallucination.

Johannes Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 

Towards the end of his life, the auditory hallucination that were initially angelic in nature, became demonish in nature. He believed the variation themes to be turn into devils and took the form of hyenas and tigers. He started having paranoid delusions of being surrounded by evil spirits. He developed delusions of guilt where he was obsessing that he was a criminal and his destine to go to hell and would repeatedly read the bible in hope for salvation. He started having fears that he may harm his wife and children likely due to command hallucination. Robert Schumann was so distressed by these hallucination that he didn't feel safe around his family and believed that he was a danger to his family.

So Robert believed that he must end his life to ensure his family would be safe from him. He went to the Rhine River bridge and jumped off with the intent for suicide (his elder sister Emilie Schumann who most likely have depression or catatonic schizophrenia committed suicide by drowning at the same area earlier in his life). 

However he was rescued by a passing fisherman and he lived the rest of his life in a mental asylum where he died officially from suicide via starvation. Although in reality it wasn't suicide because he wanted to live but refused to eat due to paranoid delusions of the food he was given to be poison. He died from pneumonia after he become severely deconditioned due to his malnutrition brought on by his paranoid delusions.

Prior to his suicide attempt, Johannes Brahms became friends of Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann during his brief period of lucidity during the end of his life and also formed the most famous love triangle in classical music history. He played his Piano Sonata No. 1 and Robert Schumann briefly went back from retirement of being a music critic and wrote an article promoting Brahms to be the next Beethoven and saviour of German music. After Robert Schumann attempted suicide and admission to mental asylum, Johannes Brahms than lived with Clara Schumann and took care of her and her children and helped out with the finances for many years. There are documented letters from both Clara and Johannes that they admitted they have fallen in love with each other. It is unknown whether he hooked up with Clara during this time but he ended up not pursuing the relationship due to possible guilt of falling in love with his best friends wife while his friend was wasting away in a mental asylum.

Johannes Brahms composed the Piano Concerto No. 1 about Robert Schumann attempted suicide, if you listened to the opening theme by the string instruments, you notice the sudden leap in melody which symbolises Robert Schumann leaps into the Rhine river. This concerto is a representation of his despair for his friend Schumann attempted suicide, his love for Clara Schumann (as represented by the tender 2nd movement) and the ongoing guilt this love caused him to feel. It is one of my all time favourite Piano concertos.

Music (Over)Analysis - Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich, the condemnation of Stalin regime and vindication of Stalin's anti-formalism

While Shostakovich is nowhere near my favourite artist, he's by far has the most interesting story. Shostakovich Great Masters Lecture series by Robert Greenberg should be recommended to even people who have no interest in music in general and would be interesting for anyone just interested in history. I'm going to comment on Shostakovich assuming that the "Testimony" biography is 100% accurate (this is disputed). Robert Greenberg believes it was accurate and the Great Masters series is reliant on it's accuracy and apparently the book Shostakovich Reconsidered defended the attacks on it's credibility.Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 is probably the most interesting background story behind a composition in the history of western music.

The background was that Shostakovich who had the reputation as the leading and most talented Russian-based composer in music at that current time. However this all changed when Shostakovich written the opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". Although that opera was a massive hit in Russia and internationally. One day Josef Stalin personally attended the opera and everything changed that day. Josef Stalin was offended by the sexual explicitness of the opera as well as the modernist dissonance characteristic of the opera that was considered pandering to the bourgeois. The term that was used in denouncing modernist music that doesn't glorify the state was called "formalist" music. Josef Stalin and his officials left the theatre after the first act and was quoted as calling the opera "that degenerate music!" 

Two days later on January 28, 1936, apparently Josef Stalin himself wrote an editorial called "Muddle instead of Music" denouncing the opera and giving an undisguised threat to Shostakovich himself. This is a key quote from the editorial

"From the first minute, the listener is shocked by deliberate dissonance, by a confused stream of sound. Snatches of melody, the beginnings of a musical phrase, are drowned, emerge again, and disappear in a grinding and squealing roar. To follow this "music" is most difficult; to remember it, impossible.

Thus it goes, practically throughout the entire opera. The singing on the stage is replaced by shrieks. If the composer chances to come upon the path of a clear and simple melody, he throws himself back into a wilderness of musical chaos - in places becoming cacophony. The expression which the listener expects is supplanted by wild rhythm. Passion is here supposed to be expressed by noise. All this is not due to lack of talent, or lack of ability to depict strong and simple emotions in music. Here is music turned deliberately inside out in order that nothing will be reminiscent of classical opera, or have anything in common with symphonic music or with simple and popular musical language accessible to all. This music is built on the basis of rejecting opera - the same basis on which "Leftist" Art rejects in the theatre simplicity, realism, clarity of image, and the unaffected spoken word - which carries into the theatre and into music the most negative features of "Meyerholdism" infinitely multiplied. Here we have "leftist" confusion instead of natural human music. The power of good music to infect the masses has been sacrificed to a petty-bourgeois, "formalist" attempt to create originality through cheap clowning. It is a game of clever ingenuity that may end very badly."

After that article was published, Shostakovich became an "enemy of the people" and the public stopped playing his work. the performance of Symphony No. 4 was cancelled due to it's "formalist' nature. Shostakovich fully believed that he would be purged, however that purged never happen. The Russian state believed that Shostakovich could be an asset if he was rehabilitated from his "formalist mistakes". 

So Shostakovich went on composing fifth symphony that would either rehabilitate him or led him being purged. His life was actually in stake with this composition. He was instructed that the composition of music should be accessible to the masses and in the future, the submission of any proposed project was screened by the committee. Immediately before the premier, Shostakovich 5th symphony was performed to party select who would screen it for ideological suitability. Publicly Shostakovich stated that the composition was "a Soviet artist’s creative response to justified criticism." and that the work was about "A lengthy spiritual battle, crowned by victory". 

However no matter how much Shostakovich said publicly that this was about his personal rehabilitation from the formalist composer to the person who is aligned with the doctrine of the state, the audience understood what the piece was about which was about the horror of the "great purges" by Stalin and for the audience who experienced friends and family being purged, emotionally relate to this work and afterwards gave him a standing ovation for hours. Shostakovich seemingly did the impossible, he rehabilitated himself to the state while at the same time tapping into the grief and anger of the public condemning the regime. This is essentially the subversive, underdog version of George Orwell "doublespeak". Instead of doublespeak as a way to subjugate the population, it's doublespeak to rebel against authority.

In fact I have to say it's a miracle that Shostakovich got away with the Symphony No. 5. If I was a party hack scrutinising his work for ideology suitability, I would have easily recognised that this was an attack on Stalin regime and had him executed. The first time I listened to this symphony with absolutely zero background reading, at no point did I felt this was celebratory glorification music but instead it struck me as essentially as an incredibly disturbing dark music.. Shostakovich must have been a brilliant bullshit artist for him to convinced the party hacks this was his rehabilitation.

The first movement is essentially disturbing horror music of people hiding from a terrifying danger and in the development section it morphed into a violent terrifying marched that seems like a violent caricature of the soviet military music and the music ended in a sombre note. The second movement is like a scherzo (a joke) of a scherzo (which is essentially a joke of the minuet and trio). I mean technically it's a waltz but this time Shostakovich tendency to subvert expectation comes to a fore. Where this seemingly accessible dancing melody becomes off-balanced and gets twisted that feels dissonant. It's a grotesque parody of a dance. The third movement reduced the audience members who were suffering under Stalin rule to tears. When I first read that description, you would think this was some melodramatic "sad" music like "Adagio for Strings" by Barber that tugs on your heart string but instead of this tragic depressing sad music, unexpectedly what we get instead was this horrified shock. The music is quite brilliantly subdued that suits the message of the music. The imagery I get is an aftermath of a massacre seeing dead bodies and be in complete shock and numb unable to process what they saw rather than something really depressing. It's a far more interesting and unexpected slow movement that took me by surprised. 

The 4th movement is one the greatest concert closer I have ever heard. As a first time audience was quoted, it was the sound of "The iron tread of a monstrous power trampling man" and the music depicts a military march but portrayed it with extreme brutality. The military march then fades into quiet despair as people react to the consequences of the violence from organised state violence. The highlight of the last movement was the tense and final build up from the preceding despair via a repetitive ascending stabbing strings that initially sounds violent but resolves in a seemingly celebratory major key. It was perhaps the only thing that could have been perceived to be "optimistic" in the entire symphony and perhaps the reason why Shostakovich was able to lie to the Communist party members that this was a victorious conclusion to a lengthy spiritual battle but considering the incredibly violent and brutal build up to that ending and how the repetitive stabbing like string sounds incredibly brutal still remained when the major transition occurs and how the major key ending seems almost abrupt, I can easily dismissed this happy ending as a red-herring and quite frankly it made a hell of a lot more sense to view the rejoicing to be '"forced" as the major key ending was a result of atrocity and violence as depicted in the previous tension. As stated in Testimony by Shostakovich "The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov. It's as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, "Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing," and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, "Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing."

Symphony No, 5 is a great subversive "doublespeak" composition that makes a mockery of Stalin request to write optimistic music glorifying the state. However as you may notice by the heading, It's my view that despite it's subversive nature, it's as much of a vindication of Stalin's anti-formalism as it is a criticism of Stalin enforcing it.

The fact of the manner is that Symphony No. 5 is one of the most accessible works in Shostakovich career. Shostakovich was forced to tone down his modernistic tendency and create work that is emotionally direct that captures the spirit of the population instead of the bourgeois intellectuals. It's what happen when you meet the audience half-way, tempering your self-expressive values and balancing it with accessibility and the desire for the audience to listened to music that is somewhat pleasurable to listen to. The funny thing is that Shostakovich learned his lesson and exactly addressed what Stalin asked "The power of good music to infect the masses has been sacrificed to a petty-bourgeois, "formalist" attempt to create originality through cheap clowning." Shostakovich wrote music with this symphony that was designed to infect the masses and none of the modernist elements of the composition felt like gratuitous and is completely integrated with the emotions of the music. If Shostakovich didn't have the restriction imposed on him, I wonder whether he could have ever created a work that became a cultural milestone even if the piece had the same message as it could have never touched the hearts of the listeners, it would have never reduced the audience to tears and it would have never brought a standing ovation that last an hour. Sure it was music condemning the Stalin regime but it was music that perversely Stalin right on the fallacy of modernist attitude. Stalin may have been extremely unethical for threatening to purge Shostakovich for writing modernist work but without that restriction his work could have never flourished.

Music (Over)Analysis - Ludwig Van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5

Mozart: "Oh, Papa, you have no education for the wide world, and you speak so few languages"

Haydn:  "But my language is understood all over the world."

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is a pretty generic choice for the favourite work of all time especially considering the opening motif to be the most famous line in concert music history. However just because it's a typical boring predictable choice doesn't mean it's wrong and I'll explain why out of every piece of music I've heard this is my personal number 1. Even though I have barely scratched the surface of the huge world of concert music, I seriously doubt I would ever hear a work that will eclipse it as I simply can't conceive how it's possible for a work to eclipse it.

I'm not going to do a musicologist music theory analysis as I'm simply not knowledgeable enough or qualified for it but I believe the strength of this work goes beyond the intelligence of well organised notes on the scores. To me the whole debate about absolute music vs programmatic music is answered by this symphony and the whole validity of music as a genre of the arts itself is answered by this symphony better than any other work I have heard so far.

First I'll describe the type of imagery this symphony elicits in me personally and I have put timecode which align the described section with the video link. (0:07) The opening motif aka the famous "fate motif" and that description is perfectly apt (even if it wasn't assign by Beethoven himself). To me it represents the feeling when someone broke bad news,  such as you've been diagnosed of a terminal illness, your family member has died, or you found out your deafness is incurable. In the end it doesn't matter what specific event it is but the general universal human principles that a traumatic event has occured in your life. The whole sequencing and transformation of the "fate motif" represents the immediate impact of hearing the bad news where your entire mindset is dominated by that event. No matter what you do, where you look, you can't stop thinking about this tragedy and it completely dominates your life at this point of time as that motif pops up everywhere in the first theme. The entire first theme of the movement just exudes extreme despair at the situation. 

The horn call (0:50) signals the second more lyric and beautiful theme appears and it ends in a seemingly triumphant C major key. This to me represents the person in denial and fantasising the problem away and pretending it doesn't exist and everything is ok. However no matter how much you wished the problem goes away, fate comes knocking at the door as the fate motif of theme one returns back to C minor. In the end everyone has to face the current reality of the situation.

The development section (2:50) has the horn call theme which represented hopeful denial being fragmented and torn apart leaving just a single soft chord beating (3:47) (symbolising the individual beating heart) but barely alive. This development section symbolises hope being torn apart and the protagonist feeling isolated (as shown by the single soft chord beating) leaving the person contemplating suicide before snapping out of that moment (4:00). This leads to the recapitulation (4:15) where the minor key fate motif is more subdue that represent sad reflection rather than the angst at the beginning of the movement and the section end in a more optimistic major key (5:23) that represents the protagonist rescuing themselves from the edge of suicidal despair.

However the darkness returns in the coda (5:38) which I also serves as a second development section and  I can hear (even with no words) during the match-like climax of the coda (6:05) of the protagonist saying 'it's not fair" and raging in anger at the events that surround their lives as the movement ends in a very dark note. The protagonist may well be alive but the person mind is in a dark place.

The second slow movement (7:00) represents behavioural activation as the protagonist picking up the pieces from the first movement. The essential day to day activities has to be attended to and life doesn't stop for any tragedy that any individual faces.  The slow beginning to me represents the protagonist going through the motions of daily activities. However as the movement goes on, each variations of the themes (such as 8:12) are presented more heroically and more trumphantly. This isn't a victory over the darkness in their mind (which will occur later in this symphony) but rather a defiant I'm enduring and surviving despite the problems in my life. The act of enduring and pushing through and maintaining daily activity is therapeutic in of itself as shown by how the C Major second theme of the variation plays the role of hope (as it does in every movement) returning, this hope itself re-energises the first theme in subsequent variations where it is portrayed more energetic. The constant soft minor key melancholy shifts in between the triumphant themes (example 8:28) as well as the rhythmic call back to the "fate motif" (9:49) by the viola represents that the darkness is still very much there but it hasn't defeated the person.

The third movement "scherzo" (15:54) is the famous confrontation between light and dark or "C Major" and "C Minor".  The bombastic "A" theme (16:12) with the rhythmic "fate motif' by the horns represents the imposing depression that dominates the mind of the protagonist that threatens to overwhelm the listener (and hence the protagonist). However the "B" the contrasting C Major theme (17:36) responds with humour and life. What defeats the internal forces of darkness was the ability to look at the problems facing in your life and laugh at it. It's really an example of cognitive restructuring where by viewing the same problems via a different lens and thought process, the problems no longer seems so big. In a way the message of this symphony is laughter/humour is the best medicine and an example of how Beethoven uses humour as a coping strategy and used that to challenge his negative thoughts. So when the "A" theme returns (18:53) it's a shadow of its former self as the protagonist no longer put fuel on his negative thoughts as shown by the theme is played softly with pizzicato strings which represents the impending defeat of the depression of the protagonist life.

The depression in the mind is defeated by the joys of life that transitions to the celebratory final movement where it's pure emotional ecstasy (20:30). C Major has triumph over C Minor. The movement documents the defeat of depression as man heroic triumph over adversity.   The rhythmic pattern of the fate motif returns (21:38)  with the horns but instead of being used to represent despair it represents triumph as not only did the protagonist endured and survive the traumatic event but that event built character and became a stronger person due to prevailing over adversity which matched how Beethoven composing flourish due to his personal battles over his fluctuating deafness. There is also a moment of nuance as there is a transition to the minor key in the modulating bridge (23:00) that leads back to the dark C Minor "A" theme from the scherzo made a brief return in the final movement (24:00). This represents that the underlying trauma and damage is still there and will always be there for the rest of the person life and there is always a risk of return or relapse back in the darkness. After all whatever traumatic event happened in the first movement (terminal illness, death in the family, chronic illness etc) is still there but it's not going to defeat the person mentally as the triumphant C Major return (24:33) movement wipes away the darkness.

Beethoven's 5th symphony is an inspirational tale of how a person can triumph over adversity. However what made this the ultimate quintessential piece of western music is that it told this story purely from the music without having to say a single word. I find this symphony as the most direct example of communication purely by music without words in western music. Now what I've written previously may be my own personal interpretation of the symphony however plenty of people out there have very similar interpretations of what I mention and that was derived purely from the music.

If someone asked to justify the validity of music as a genre of the arts. Beethoven Symphony No. 5 to me is the best example of this because it shows how music is a form of universal language of emotions that is able to communicate with people that words can't adequately portray. Sure Beethoven could say in words that he felt depressed after finding out his hearing loss is incurable but if he was alive today and told me that i wouldn't be able to understand because I can't speak German (despite doing German lessons up to Year 10). There is a language and cultural barriers that prevent verbal communication between two people. 

However listening to this Symphony not only do I understand what he was feeling, I felt the same emotions along with him. If someone told the person how they feel, they may be able to understand how they feel  in an abstract sense and they can only feel what other people feel by using their imaginations and putting themselves in other peoples shoes. Music directly transports you into the other person shoes. As the quote from Gary Oldman portrayal of Beethoven in the film "Immortal Beloved" "It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice." This type of communication crosses cultural barriers as even someone from let say Asia (judging by the popularity of Beethoven in Japan due to the annual New Years Ode To Joy) could understand the music and the message. I feel that Beethoven understood more than most that music is the "language understood all over the world" than any other composer.

Now there are plenty of examples of elaborate programmatic music that tells a story such as the brilliant Hector Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" where it's instrumental narrative goes beyond even what Beethoven was trying to do. However can anyone derived the plot purely from listening to the music without referring to the program notes? I really don't think so and I believe that only by reading the program notes that describe the plot of the symphony does the message of the music and it's cleverness reveals itself.  This is the reason why I rate Beethoven symphonies higher because the message from the symphony is derived purely by the music. Hell this is the reason why I rate Beethoven Symphony No. 5 higher than No. 9 (which is my second favourite piece of all time) as even though Symphony No. 9 is brilliant, it requires words to make sense of the last movement as I don't believe the utopian message could be derived from the music without lyrics.  Due to that it lacks the music purity of Symphony No. 5. Ironically Symphony No. 5 is probably more universal and more inclusive than Symphony No. 9 due to that. The message of a person struggling and overcoming adversity in their life is probably more universal theme than a utopian all men are brothers which although I agree with that message, certainly there are plenty of people who don't agree with that message.

Beethoven resolved the programmatic vs absolute music debate that was popular in the romantic era even before it even started. Symphony No. 5 is absolute music that tells a story. It has the drama as any programmatic music and represents extramusical concept without any program notes or vocal text. This is music that transcend the whole debate.

Now I'm first to admit that I'm not familiar with the massive repertoire of concert music to make definitive statements about what is the greatest work of all time. However I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can topped that work but I'm open to suggestions. Can anyone tell me a piece of work that is able to communicate an emotional journey purely by the music as good as what Beethoven achieved in Symphony No. 5? 

Live Performances (Over)Analysis - Sunday Bloody Sunday (Rattle And Hum DVD Version) by U2

The performance that U2 gave in the DVD is my personal all-time favourite live performance I have seen. To explain why I see things that way, I’ll go through what the song Sunday Bloody Sunday represents to me personally first.

To me the song is essentially a militaristic rallying call. Although instead of call for arms, it’s a call to drop their weapons. If we see in a military action movie where the hero makes a rousing inspirational speech to their soldiers that inspires them before they march out to battle. Sunday Bloody Sunday is a music representation of that phenomenon but with an opposite message.

Songs that call for peace are fairly common in rock music but what I feel is unique about Sunday Bloody Sunday is that it is taking the anger, feelings of injustice that could have potentially inspired people to take up arms and used that same emotions tho fuel peace. Essentially the same emotions that could cause people to pick up weapons could also cause people to drop it.  

The way the song achieves this was done with my personal favourite drumming moment in rock music, which is the military band drum intro. Sure there’s nothing technically difficult and there’s nothing particularly special about it in isolation but to me it’s the most emotionally resonant drum beat in context of the song due to what it represents and how integral it is to the message of the song. The idea of pacifist marching in the same discipline unity as any soldier marching to battle is quite a powerful message. It’s much as part of the DNA of the song as Edge guitar riff or a Bono vocal melody.

Due to the unique nature and message of the song, I don’t believe a studio version can possibly be the definitive version of the song. What is a rallying call without a crowd? Sure perhaps an individual could be emotionally move listening to the song on headphones but the only way the message of the song can be maximised if there is a large audience responding to it because that is consistent with the artistic direction of the song.

Now the popular definitive live version of the song is generally the Under The Blood Red Sky Red Rocks performance. It was considered by Rolling Stones magazine as one of the “Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll” particularly due to the iconic imagery of Bono marching with the white flag . However as brilliant as that live version, I believe that the Rattle and Hum version tops that.

What makes the Rattle and Hum version special and elevates this above every other version of the song in my opinion is that there is a character arc in this song due to it’s rearrangement. Using the “heroes inspirational speech to the soldiers before marching to battle” analogy that I mention before, instead of heading straight to the speech and then the march. The songs starts with a preceding trigger that made the march necessary and shows the steps that led to the marching to battle. It begin with Bono talking about the Enniskillen massacre and when the song begins, it’s not with a marching band but it’s a stripped down arrangement with just Edge on a guitar and Bono singing on top of that. The meaning behind  “I can’t believe the news today, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away” with a marching band on top and one with a strip down arrangement is completely different as the former is a display of righteous indignation but the latter is someone with utter shock and sorrow which is the natural reaction that everyone has to a tragedy like that. Of course the band eventually did kick in and the righteous indignation came in but having the sorrow preceding the indignation follows the reaction to a terrorist attack in a more realistic manner. People mourn the dead first before focusing on the perpetrator. Then what happens after the guitar solo is where the song combines the symbolic rallying call of the music with a literal rallying call. Bono goes on a passionate speech denouncing the terrorist attack. What happens in the movie when a leader makes an inspiration speech to their soldiers, well the soldier cheers. Well in this song when Bono shouted out “Fuck the Revolution” the crowd cheers along with him. When Bono screams out “No More” the crowd responds and shouts along with him buying into Bono rallying call for peace. At the end the iconic drum intro that was absent at the beginning returns symbolising that the crowd that Bono won over during the speech is now marching along with him to the battle lines with discipline unity in calling for peace. There’s now an arc to the song with the shock and sorrow at the beginning that turned to righteous indignation that inspired the protagonist of the song to make a rousing speech denouncing the attack that inspired the crowd to march with him for peace. It’s a story with the beginning, middle and end while the studio version really only focus on the last part of the story.

Now there are two common complaints to this live version. The first is the absence of the marching band drum intro at the beginning who some people claim that the absence of the iconic drum lines at the beginning defeat the purpose of the song and remove a lot of the power. However I will argue that by delaying that intro and turning it into an outro, it makes the drum line even more powerful. As in this arrangement it is the culmination of every preceding event of the song. The second complaint is that people hate it when Bono goes on a speech in the middle of the song which I can somewhat sympathise with. However I will argue that in contrast to every other time Bono goes on a speech, this time it compositionally fits. As I already explained, the events naturally led up to that speech, the speech naturally led to the conclusion and the speech is simply an extension of the call to arm atmosphere of the music.

So this arrangement is my all—time favourite live performance because I believe it’s the most emotionally resonant live performance I have heard. It’s a live performance where the fact that the song is played live is critical to the message of the song as in my opinion the song is composed specifically. It’s the performance where the audience interaction is perfectly well placed and critical to the message of the song that it sounds like the song was composed with the interaction was meticulously scored out in the arrangement. Other great live performance that improve over the original  song occurs because the band is inspired by the crowd that elevate their performance or a change in arrangement. However in those circumstances, I feel that if the identical performance or arrangement was captured in studio the song would be just as good but with Sunday Bloody Sunday if the same arrangement was played with the same spectacular performance it wouldn’t be the same as the spirit of the song in my opinion is intrinsically linked to being played live. 

Album (Over)Analysis - Lil' Beethoven by Sparks

Lil' Beethoven is a modern masterpiece and in my opinion the best album of the 00's. I could go on describing the sound of the album especially about the whole innovative orchestral techno aspect but that had been covered to death and I believe that music reviewers such as Mark Prindle John McFerrin, Nick Karn and Evan Lublinski had adequately described the sound of the album pretty well in their respective reviews. All you need to know about what the album sounds like can be found in the above links. What I'll concentrate on is the emotional resonance, introspection and narrative of the album which I believe is the more overlooked elements of this album.

One of Sparks arguable weakness as songwriters is their emotional resonance and hence this album is very much unique in their career, as although they were always witty, insightful, thought provoking and funny, they weren't always touching beyond a few songs per album. While people can make an argument that humour is an emotional resonance in of itself and even though I agree with that attitude, the very best comedies are always simultaneously funny while at the same time touching. Sparks can be accused of lacking this combination on a consistent basis ... until this album.  This is quite an achievement to create that combination considering how minimalistic and repetitive the lyrics are in this album.

So I'll go through the tracks from this album from an "emotional resonance" perspective and my interpretation on why I believe this album to be Sparks most introspective and perhaps even personal album of their career. In fact I interpret this album to be a thematically linked album with a coherent narrative. I believe this album is a concept album about the protagonist trying to be a famous musician, failed to achieve commercial success and the negative consequences of that on his personal relationship. 

The Rhythm Thief

"He came home
And instead of hearing the usual drums and bass
He heard
Violins, violins, violins
Senseless violins, senseless violins, senseless violins
Senseless violins, senseless violins, senseless violins
He heard
He heard
Violins, violins
Senseless violins"
From the song "Senseless Violins" from the album "Gratuitous Sax And Senseless Violins" that foreshadow the huge impact of this song

Is there a grander declaration of artistic vision than this opener? 

I imagine the impact of this song would be greater if people followed Sparks career chronologically and see how their career led to this moment. While I always enjoyed this song, I never was blown away until I started listening to Spark's 80's and 90's albums during the time period where I was listening to Sparks entire career in chronological order. Decades of techno, synth pop, disco, and electronica signify by pulsing bass and drums were dramatically stolen as the Rhythm Thief arrived to take it all away. Now I am a fan of Sparks 80's and 90's work including their electronica output but it was clear that they were stagnating and creating music that was generic (with the exception of Music That You Can Dance To). Generic Sparks is still catchy and well written enough to be some of the most enjoyable music in my music collection (and perhaps all time) but it isn't music that would leave any sort of legacy on pop music. Lil' Beethoven on the other hand does deserves a legacy (whether the powers who control pop music narrative will grant them that place is another issue).

The best way to summarise my emotion when listening to this song is imagining an old, aging and worn down theme park that although enjoyable was clearly past it prime being closed down for renovation. Then there is a grand reopening of the park where it is transformed into an almost magical fantasy land with Russell Mael as the "Rhythm Thief" at the gate, opening it and welcoming you to the brand new world of Sparks. I can not listen to this multilayered strings without the sense of wonder and awe that Sparks created a brand new world, a world not made out of drum machine and pulsing bass but a world crafted by strings and tympani. The impact of Rhythm Thief will become more clear as the album progress.

 

How Do We Get To Carnegie Hall 

I actually find this song emotionally devastating to listen to. The song was based on a famous joke by violinist Mischa Elman who was asked for direction “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” and replied with “Practice”. This song is the opposite of what Sparks normally do which is finding humour out of macabre or awkward situation and instead finds serious drama out of what is essentially a witty joke. The protagonist of the song has the goal to play in Carnegie Hall and then work incredibly hard "practice man practice" to reach the goal and imagining crowds cheering and applauding in glory driving his determination to succeed. The repetition of the lyrics of the song and the piano riff represents the protagonist "practicing" to reach this goal and hence the music itself is interwoven in the narrative as much as the lyrics which I always react positive to. However despite all the practice and all the effort the goal is just as distant as it was when he first dreamt of success as shown by the line "Still there is no sign of you". The whole idea of a person with a single minded drive dedicating their entire life working towards  their life's dream with no result is such a powerful message to me and I can't help but get teary eyed whenever I listen to this song.

It also gives a good insight to the Mael brother’s state of mind and I believe this song is introspective despite their denials that they don't write autobiographical song. Sure the story doesn't literally match their lives but I'll be really surprise if there isn't a personal emotional connection to the message of the song. I have a feeling with Sparks that although the story isn't real, the emotion is real.

One of the quotes from Daryl Easlea’s “Talent Is An Asset: The Story Of Sparks.” was when the Mael brothers was at the UCLA football game and there was substantial roar from the crowd, Russell Mael said "Wouldn't it be really nice if that was for us?" and it was clear from their surrounding friends that being stars were uppermost in Russell Mael mind.

Throughout the book it was pretty clear that commercial success and being stars were important to them and that their commercial failure really affected them and in some cases they are quite bitter about it. I believe that Carnegie Hall represented Spark's ambition to be pop stars and the song represented their own failure to reach that goal. The added weight to the song is that it naturally follows up "The Rhythm Thief" as that song crafted a brand new unique vision of music to the world, while "How Do We Get To Carnegie Hall?" fatalistically predicts its commercial failure (Lil' Beethoven failed to chart) no matter how much work was put into it. To me this is Sparks’ most resonant song of their career and the best song of the album.

What Are All These Bands Are Angry About
“We’re supposed to be flattered, But you’re in a band and therefore an egotist, so when you see people taking our surface element and — because they are not so stylised — selling more records, you get pissed off. Especially when you know how difficult it is to sustain a career. It’s hard to talk about because you don’t want to come across as bitchy, but I think we’ve written a lot of Pet Shop Boys tunes. ” Ron Mael Q Magazine

Excerpt From: Easlea, Daryl. “Talent Is An Asset: The Story Of Sparks.”

"We once thought about pursuing a class action against the entire New Wave movement. It would be: ‘Sparks versus The New Wave your honour" Russell Mael 2009  http://metro.co.uk/2009/10/27/russell-mael-636908/

Most of the time when this song is discussed, it takes the point of view that this is a satire of all these angry nu-metal groups who have no reason to be angry and making fun of the idea of them trying to "out-anger and out-profane each other". Certainly that is a reasonable interpretation but I feel this song has meaning beyond that.

If you look at lyrics like "Someone's stolen our spotlight” and "Something's stolen our thunder," and "Someone's bounced us from center stage". You could interpret this as those bands reliance on creating controversy by using profanity will always be knocked out of the spotlight by a band even more profane fitting with the previous interpretation. However I like to see this all these bands who were "influenced" by Sparks and took the surface elements of Sparks and stolen their spotlight, bounced Sparks off from the center stage and became more commercially successful then Sparks ever were. Then Russell Mael wonders "What Are All These Bands Are Angry About?" implying that they are the band with legitimate cause to be angry and bitter unlike any of those angry nu-metal groups.

The song finish off with Russell Mael singing "Some might have done it, broken on through" referring that there are artist who succeed commercially and critically and then name checking a few artist who have succeeded. However Sparks concedes that it is something that they will never do “Some might have done what we'll never do".

This song is more than just a dig at "angry bands". In fact this song reveals that the protagonist themselves are part of the "angry bands" as well. I interpret that this song is Sparks’ concession that they will never become the stars that they wanted to be. “How Do We Get To Carnegie Hall” sets off with the protagonist driving to be a music star, this song has the protagonist seeing all his less talented competitors reaching Carnegie Hall by copying them and conceding that Carnegie Hall is beyond his reach. I feel that this interpretation adds a certain poignancy and emotional resonance to the song.

I Married Myself

Sure this song could be considered a tongue in cheek joke song following the spirit of  ‘Falling In Love With Myself’. However while I don't doubt that there is a bit of tongue in cheek, I can't help but feel that this song is a beautiful ode and a grand celebration of bachelorhood. The romantic Beach Boys-esque music with lyrics about enjoying the solitude of being single seems an interesting message that the bliss that people associate with marriage can be replicate being single. Unlike "Falling In Love With Myself" I believe there's sincerity to the music due to the general tone of the song as well as reading more about the Mael Brothers attitude towards marriage.

"“Much has been made over the years of the fact that the Mael brothers have never wed; there have been relationships that simply got in the way of their principal concern — making music. “Neither of us is married — we’re too busy having a good time,” Russell said in BAM Magazine in 1983. “On the surface, maybe we look less ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ than the average group, but on the other hand we’re more ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ than those pictures of Led Zeppelin on the farm with their wives and kids, Rock ‘n’ roll lifestyles mean you have a wife and then cheat on her, so rather than do that, we’re honest and stay unmarried. I don’t know anybody in any other band who’s as un-tied down as the two of us. We dislike homey things — for ourselves anyway.”

“We have friends who have families,” Ron told The Word magazine in February 2006. “I get it vicariously; having a traditional family would be a real restriction on what we do.”

So how does this song relate to the concept?

If being committed exclusively to music as shown in "Carnegie Hall", it must impact on personal relationship to be solely driven on the goal. The Mael Brothers are married to their music and married to their goal of reaching "Carnegie Hall" and the idea of having a tradition family is a restriction to that goal. Hence the protagonist is happily single or alternatively "married to himself".

Ride Em' Cowboy
“For anyone who says ‘It’s lonely at the top’, lemme tell you — it’s great at the top”
Russell Mael, 2003

That quote was him reflecting on the time where Sparks temporarily became the pop stars they always wanted to be with their hit single of "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us"

This song is a general commentary on the up and downs of life using the analogy of the cowboy riding on the bull and how the highs can quickly and abruptly switch to the lows. Although I admit this is purely my interpretation, I can't help but feel that Sparks own tumultuous career where they were stars one minute and then obscure the next informed the feelings behind this song. That their fleeting commercial and critical success abruptly ends but despite all of that they "Get back on again" trying to reach the heights they once achieved. That despite being a musician is a tumultuous career, Sparks will continue to 'ride em'" due to commitment and passion in being musicians.. Perhaps this is a nice follow up to the likes of “Carnegie Hall” and “What Are All These Bands So Angry About” with them continuing to riding the music business despite knowing that they will never be on centre stage of Carnegie Hall. It's quite a positive message of the idea that knowing you will never succeed commercially in the music industry the protagonist is maintaining his commitment to being a musician due to the passion for music.

Like I mention before, despite some of the funny rhyming that represent the contrast of good going to bad, I do feel there is sincerity behind the songs that I find emotionally moving especially when supported by the dramatic music.

My Baby's Taking Me Home

This song is a great example of music carrying the narrative of the song instead of the lyrics. A song that repeats the lyrics ‘My Baby's Taking Me Home’ for the entire song seems like recipe for disaster. However with gradual alteration in arrangement where it creates a picture of the protagonist with his "baby" walking him home. First there is the jaunty piano line and the ‘bom’ ‘bom’ backing vocals signifying footsteps of the couple. Then the couple is crossing from one neighbourhood to another as demonstrated by the shift in arrangement throughout the song that signifies the changes in the surrounding environment on the route home. When the Ron Mael reads out about the 'chorus singing" the song burst out in absolute joy and ecstasy about the euphoria of being in love with the girl taking him home and probably anticipation to the expected night out with her. That moment creates an almost religious experience whenever I listen to this song.

It's actually an interesting contrast in message to "I Married Myself" on the euphoria of relationship. I guess despite their statement of "marrying myself" and being content with that fact, the "right" girl comes in and changes everything.

Your Call's Very Important to Us. Please Hold.

This song is usually interpreted as a satire of the frustration of being put on hold by a telephone operator. The whole dramatic music that this is a traumatic heartbreaking experience certainly adds to the humour of the song. However since I'm the type of person who likes to find tenuous connection between songs and construct a concept album despite the artist never once claiming it is a concept album, I believe this song is a little bit more than that especially considering it's location in the track list sandwich between "My Baby's Taking Me Home" and "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girl". The reason why it's so devastating being put on hold is that the call-center is that the call-center girl is his girlfriend from the previous song or at least a representation of the protagonist's girlfriend from the previous song giving him mixed signals about the relationship. That’s why there is the desperation in Russell Mael voice throughout the song.

Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girl

Of course the relationship with the girl that is taking him home who ended up putting him on hold and giving him mixed signals predictably ended in disaster. After all, what does it say that the girl is the one taking him home instead of him being the person taking her home in a nice car like a good provider should do? As demonstrated in the first half of the album, the protagonist is financially poor due to a failed music career and this song brings that to its head.

I consider this song as the revenge of "Throw Her Away And Get A New One". If one of the worst fears for woman in a relationship is that they will be disposed of by their husband for a younger girl when their looks fade. This song takes an opposite perspective of the man being disposed of for a better provider.

While I find this song hilarious especially when Russell Mael starts going on about scientific studies disproving how opposite attracts and get into neurotic detail in this story. The song transition to the protagonist confessing to his personal connection to this phenomenon have bitterness dripping from those lines and is terrific acting by Russell Mael and I can't help but feel a lot of sympathy to the character especially when the final "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls" at the end that calls back the intro sounds like a lament.  As funny as the song is, the song is also a tragedy mixing comedy and drama perfectly.

Suburban Homeboy

The album ends in a fairly funny satire of rich white guys pretending to be black and it's a nice lighthearted end to the album. However some people reading this may wonder how this connects to the "concept" and narrative of the album I was spruiking about.

The whole "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls" was a song about being burnt by a gold-digging woman. The protagonist had a more idealistic view on relationship and I can only assume that this was a relationship where the girl was attracted to his "artistic" nature. However the protagonist was struggling to make ends meet he was disposed of for a richer guy which shattered his core and he realised that "things would have turned out differently" if he was more wealthy.

So the protagonist gave up his music career and focus on a steady career and succeeded. Got himself a nice suburban home, got a girlfriend or "suburban 'ho" right by his side who has no intention of leaving him for a better provider as he is financially secure as he is rich enough to have someone cleaning his pool and now has an upper class Oxford and Cambridge mentality.

This is a logical but humorous connection to him using "rapping" language as well. He ended up relating to the lyrics of rappers where gold-digging women is often a topic of that genre of music (The Mael brother are big fans of rap music as well so I can't help but think there is a little bit of 'Suburban Homeboy' in them as well). Where he openly called his partner a "suburban 'ho'" because he realised that the partner is with him due to his new-found wealth and hence the relationship is a transfer of money from him to his partner in exchange for sexual relationship. Essentially the protagonist found solace in the message of rap music that drives his desire towards economic security that led him to be a ‘Suburban Homeboy’.

I feel is that this is an interesting and inventive ending capping up the themes of the album. After all the first half of the album goes on about the protagonist determination to becoming a music star and yet failing but still decide to pursue it regardless. The second half focuses on the negative consequences on his personal relationship because of that choice.

The question resulting that is to ask whether the protagonist/Sparks regretted the choice?

The answer at the end of this album is an overwhelming no due to the complete mockery of the alternative choice, the stylistic differences of Suburban Homeboy from the rest of the album (which some people have pointed out that it seems out of place as it has nothing in common with earlier songs in the album) and the presence of “The Rhythm Thief” as the opening track.

At the end of "Ugly Guys With Beautiful Girls" the protagonist realised that money was important and there was two pathways he could have taken. That the protagonist could have gotten a "real job" in a safe career and live a regular suburban lifestyle as depicted in "Suburban Homeboy" or he could continue his career as a poor musician who still just as motivated in creating innovative, intelligent and creative music without a care for commercial success that the protagonist desired in the past. "The Rhythm Thief" the perfect representation of that as thief stole the pulsing bass and drums that define the band for the last 20 years to create this brand new genre of music without consideration whether it would sell or not.

I like to believe that “The Rhythm Thief” was the final end product of the story where the protagonist took the high road knowing full well the consequences of that decision. The subsequent songs on Lil' Beethoven was the preceding plot explaining the roads that that led to "The Rhythm Thief" with "Suburban Homeboy" as a fake funny alternate ending.

I interpret Suburban Homeboy to be a mock ending of a parallel universe where Sparks gave up being musicians and took the boring option instead of trying to be successful musicians. The protagonist sold out and now lives in a rich neighbourhood but tries to remain hip and cool and relevant like he was still the struggling poor musician in the past. This ending is essentially Sparks telling the audience that they could have gave up and become "Surburban Homeboy" but instead they became "The Rhythm Thief". Aren't I'm grateful they took that choice.

Now people may ask why I find this message to be so powerful?

Anyone who has ever had any outlandish dream as a kid to be famous musician, sportstar, millionaire, leader of the country etc, most people who have those fantasy will reach a situation where they realised that they will never fulfil their dream either due to various reasons and then give up and get a "real job".

Lil' Beethoven was the album that shows Sparks acceptance that they will never be superstars they originally dream but then conclude it doesn't matter because being musician is more important.

That's what makes Surburban Homeboy and interesting ending of the album, it brings the alternate reality where Sparks face with commercial failure and say I give up, i'm just going to live a comfortable middle class existence. The vast majority of musicians when face the reality that their dreams was unrealistic will ended up becoming the "Suburban Homeboy". However the album is about Sparks maintaining their passion in music despite knowing they will never reach the heights as demonstrated in "Ride Em Cowboy" where despite the lows that followed their highs, Sparks will always "get back on again'

To me as someone who decided to "give up" being a musician, I look at Sparks "get back on again" to be absolutely admirable. So many bands break up when they no longer financially viable and out of popular consciousness and then some only reform when they become relevant again. I don't have a problem with that as it's perfectly understandable that people have to make a living

Nevertheless, this album symbolises Sparks longevity where they continue for over 40 years in relative obscurity. The longevity could only be due to commitment and passion to music that is independent of being popular where Sparks resisted the urge to become "Suburban Homeboy". In a way this album encapsulates the entire career of Sparks where it seems like every preceding album culminated to this moment. I find this story absolutely admirable and perhaps almost inspirational. If only I had that same degree of single mindedness passion and commitment to music as they have.

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This concludes a complete masterpiece of an album and is a serious contender to being Sparks’ best album as it's really a toss up between this and “Kimono My House” for me personally. Ron Mael even self-described it as his “career-defining opus” and who am I to argue with him about that? What makes this album unique is that it's the only album of Sparks’ career that is emotionally resonant and the only album that combines their sense of humour with drama. So while the other albums of the trilogy may have arguable claims of being superior to “Lil' Beethoven” such as “Hello Young Lovers” having more thicker and more interesting arrangement especially with the introduction of rock instruments or “Exotic Creatures From The Deep” being more catchy and melodic, however Lil' Beethoven reigns supreme over all of those album because it's the album that strikes my emotional centre as well as being an inventive, unique and innovative album.

The only weakness is that it technically contradicts one of my criteria of judging music which is "Pacing" due to some repetition and that there are plenty of albums out there that are more melodic than Lil’ Beethoven. Nevertheless those "weakness" never bothered me at all and in fact they turn it to strength at times. So this album essentially challenges me to my very core by questioning the whole validity of my criteria of judging music. For that achievement, it’s an essential must-buy masterpiece.

PS: Now I'll just say that all of my interpretation on Lil' Beethoven is purely my own personal interpretation and it is me trying to connect snippets and quotes from the Mael brother's  personal life and attitudes and transfer them over the lyrics of the song. I'm fully aware that it's quite possible that the Mael Brother's never intended the song to mean this and I don't want to put words in their mouth. However since there is no "word of god" statement from the creators, my interpretation is just as valid as anyone else.

PSS: Funny enough the beginning of Dick Around from "Hello Young Lovers" is about a high achiever that breaks up with his girlfriend and no longer is interested in pursuing the corporate career which seems to directly follow the narrative of ‘Suburban Homeboy’ which seems to match my opinion that Lil' Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers and Exotic Creatures From The Deep are a trilogy of albums. Hmm... perhaps another few TL:DR essays analysing the next two albums :)