A-tisket a-tasket: Timeless or Timely

I can’t stop listening to Keith Jarrett’s Koln Concert.

My Dad listened to it in the 70s. My brother got obsessed with it in high-school and I finally fell into it last year.

The record has an amazing story. I’d assumed it was just an obscure thing that I’d lucked into. Turns out, it’s the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best selling piano album of all time.

It was recorded at a concert organised by a 17-year-old German concert promoter.

The piano it was recorded on was “in poor condition“, “tinny and thin in the upper registers and weak in the bass register, and the pedals did not work properly” forcing Jarrett to focus on playing in the middle of the keyboard.

The show almost didn’t happen due to a number of mishaps and started unusually late at 11.30pm.

Within all these constraints, Jarrett created a lasting, timeless, transcendent piece of music.

It still sells well today. And still makes sense to my ears, with no context, no press, no promo or momentum.

I have been thinking about timelessness a lot lately.

I’m reading Paul Kelly’s memoir ‘How To Make Gravy‘. Few artists make me feel the way Kelly’s music does. I can’t listen to the song ‘How To Make Gravy’ without welling up.

In ‘How To Make Gravy’ (the book), Kelly talks about The Triffids’ ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ as a “cathedral” of a record.

I bought it to find that ‘cathedral’ but it doesn’t make sense to me. I can’t hear whatever Kelly’s hearing. And yet, I’ve been listening a lot lately to the Paul Kelly record ‘Comedy‘ which came out a few years after ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ and it sounds incredible.

I was moved by the recent Pearl Jam ‘Twenty’ documentary. My musical ears awakened around the same time ‘Ten’ was released (incidentally, the same year ‘Comedy’ was released).

‘Ten’ has now sold almost 10 million copies. Most of its songs were written as demos by the band in order to try and find a singer. When Vedder was given the demos by the drummer from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, he wrote lyrics to them.

Those lyrics and demos became ‘Alive’, ‘Once’ and ‘Black’. From there, the rest of the album took less than a month to complete.

Pearl Jam followed ‘Ten’ with ‘Vs’ and ‘Vitalogy’. In the last 20 years, I’m convinced this is the best debut, sophomore and third album stretch from any band.

But Pearl Jam’s best work, both culturally and commercially, came in those first few weeks. A band whose legacy stretches 20 years, created its best work as strangers, in its infancy. And now, looking back, the band cringes at the way the record was mixed.

Like Jarrett, Pearl Jam looks at its most successful work with a tinge of dismay. And yet, you could argue that a best-of record from ‘No Code’, ‘Yield’, ‘Binaural’, ‘Riot Act’, ‘Pearl Jam’ and ‘Backspacer’ wouldn’t come close to touching the greatness of ‘Ten’.

I saw ‘Midnight in Paris’, Woody Allen’s latest film, and got to thinking – which writers, artists and musicians will we still be talking about and discovering in 20 and 30 years?

You think of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Picasso, T.S. Elliot, Degas, Rembrandt, Dali and Tolouse Le Trec from the era depicted in ‘Midnight In Paris’ – who are their modern day equivalents?

So much of what we consume now is timely, and not timeless.

You think of Drake or The Weeknd or Two Door Cinema Club. Much as I like each of them, you can’t imagine that they’ll stand the test of time. No-one’s going to be listening to ‘Underground Kings’ 20 years from now.

My favourite release of 2011, was definitely Bon Iver’s self-titled album and ‘Beth/Rest’ was my favourite song of the year.

This is how it was described by Justin Vernon:

“I … feel really good about the “Beth/Rest” lyrics, because they come from this 14-year-old, innocent place where I’m not trying to say something super complicated. I allow myself to say certain things that mean a lot to me …

I love that song. I cried while working on that song. I know what that means, where that comes from, and why you cry for music. It isn’t for ironic reasons. It’s for either sad or joyful reasons. And that song is joyous to me. I don’t think it’s going to end up being the biggest statement of my career because I have so much more to learn and grow. But I love it as the last song on this record. It feels so good.”

In it, he sings:

“our love is a star
sure some hazardry
for the light before and after most indefinitely”

On Christmas day, we listened to Ella Fitzgerald records.

“A-tisket A-tasket
I lost my yellow basket
Won’t someone help me find my basket
And make me happy again? again

(Was it green?)
No, no, no, no
(Was it red?)
No, no, no, no
(Was it blue?)
No, no, no, no

Just a little yellow basket
A little yellow basket”

I’d like to see a return to that kind of simplicity in songwriting.