El Burro Volador

Hi all, sorry to have totally bailed on you for the last week.  My habits/schedule have changed, so the morning time I was using for blogging has kind of disappeared.  I am trying to adjust by blogging at other times and just posting it in the mornings, and we’ll see if I can make it work.  Anyhow, let’s not use up anymore time on that.

I recently started my new music experiment.  I mentioned it a while back – each week I’ll be trying out a new recording from 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.  Last week I decided to simply turn to the first entry in the book (it is organized alphabetically) and try that.

The selection was ABBA’s Gold.  Now, considering the fact that I am something of a music snob, and that one of the primary reasons I purchased the book was to uncover obscure artists and new genres to explore, a “greatest hits” album from the world’s second biggest-selling pop band did not inspire confidence.

I was somewhat disarmed by the author’s admission that ABBA’s work can appear to be “air-brushed nothingness” – if nothing else, I am a sucker for a well-turned phrase.  As I read further, he discussed the craft and discipline evident in producing so much perfect pop – the one unforgivable sin in pop seems to be rambling or deviating from catchy hook-and-refrain style writing.  As he discussed how ABBA “polished everything to a blinding sheen”, I began to think that perhaps I was too harsh to a genre which requires such restraint on the part of its writers.  After all, I know first-hand how difficult it can be to crank out a haiku, a form that places supreme value on economy.

So I gave it a try.  Of course I had heard ABBA before – had listened to this very album, as a matter of fact.  The music hadn’t changed, but my attitude had.  What had previously been a guilty pleasure at best is now just a pleasure.  Sure it’s spun sugar – all artifice and sweetness, and occasionally it will stick to things you’d rather it didn’t, like your head just before a long car ride with someone else, but hey, sweetness and optimism take work.

Anyhow, Mr. Moon (author of the book) commends the songs “S.O.S.”, “Dancing Queen”, “Waterloo”, and “Fernando” to your particular attention, and I join him in recommending “Take A Chance On Me” as an especial favorite.

For new converts, Moon recommends Arrival as a good place to dig deeper into ABBA, and in this age of mp3 downloads I feel compelled to add the single “The Day Before You Came” to that recommendation.

For those looking to continue their music exploration in a similar vein, Mr. Moon suggests The Cardigans’ Life, followed by Duran Duran’s Rio.  If you follow these paths, let me know how it turns out – I am pressing on to a selection from the letter “B” later today.