 |
|
|
|
What's your reaction to this column? Share your thoughts on the MESSAGE BOARD
Also From Modern Humorist: Colin Powell's Pop Pals Dear Dick: A Letter From George W. Boredom in the Court Behind the Music Napsteropoly Macdonna's Wedding Box Set of the Year Rock 'n' Roll Factory Worker Phish Fan Resume |
|
Steady On by Bob Lefsetz In the summer of 1989 I received a tape in the mail from one Ronald K. Fierstein. Mr. Fierstein told me he'd "developed" Suzanne Vega, and this was his new artist. Don't ask me to explain all the lyrics on Suzanne Vega's first album. But I'll tell you in an era saturated with Duran Duran, big-haired metal-wannabe gods, and people more interested in their image than their music, Suzanne Vega's album was an oasis. It was made for all of us who weren't out partying all night, living the good life. Rather, it was for those of us who'd done what we were told to do, get good grades, go to college, and were now wondering what it all meant, if life had passed us by. We felt isolated. Alone. But this record proved just the opposite. Suzanne Vega was the spokesperson for the alienated, disenfranchised thinking person. You got the impression she led the same life you did. Sitting alone in her room, listening to records. So even though everybody claims undue credit in the music business, I decided to listen to the tape Mr. Fierstein sent. With the hope that it would be something special, but knowing from experience, it almost never is. Now more than ever, it's important to start off an album with the best track, a killer. "Steady On" does not fit this description. Still, it was acoustic. It was a song. It had a lilt. A feel. This was not crap made for an audience, this was MUSIC! But, as I approached the Santa Monica Freeway. After "Steady On" ended. There was this eerie sound approximating a snake charmer filling the car. And then a rhythmic guitar. There was a GROOVE! And then a beautiful voice, telling a story, with a bit of anger, with a bit of ATTITUDE! I was immediately convinced. I know it when I hear it. I absolutely LOVED "Diamond in the Rough." And at this point, the following track, "Shotgun Down the Avalanche," is my favorite, but that takes nothing from "Diamond in the Rough," or the rest of the album for that matter. I called Mr. Fierstein. Who turned out to be a lawyer turned music manager. He beat Kodak for Polaroid and returned to his first love, music. He'd found Suzanne Vega in Greenwich Village. Shawn Colvin had been a backup singer on one of her European tours. He signed Shawn up and made this album with her. He said he was going to be in Santa Monica in a few weeks. I went with my estranged wife to McCabe's Guitar Shop. The place was half-full. This was August, and the album wasn't going to come out until November. It was a secret. Only for those tipped off. Shawn came out in black jeans and played almost all of her record, and these INCREDIBLE covers. Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet." Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)." She rearranged them. Made them her own. I was mesmerized. And I told Ronald K. Fierstein when I ran into him in the lobby. Wearing the jacket and tie he described. Shawn Colvin's Steady On is my favorite album of the '90s. My desert island disc. The one I can't do without. I'll tell you there's no better '90s single than Smash Mouth's "Walkin on the Sun." But the complete picture. What music means to me. Is embodied on Steady On. |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
