Issue
#74
May '05
We have named May Lost month, not for the TV series and not
for driving purposes, but for an anomaly of factions. Factions as diverse as youth, and
the helpless feeling of being lost in transition. Emotion, and the overwhelming impact it
can have when lost in it. Age, and the stranded feeling of lost youth. Life, and how lost
within it you can actually find yourself. Society, and how whether or not you are a part
of an accepted sect, or one oblivious to the masses, you can still be lost amid the
population. The soul, and how each one of us can experience the earth-shattering, sinking
feeling of hopelessness, that we are alone in our individual journey of heart, mind, and
self.
To that, we offer up an almost mid-year resolution to that which has been
gnawing at you or should I say us, because yes, there is a correlation to the fact
that these words/views/insights are being parlayed your way by a mid-forty-ish product of
the lost generation of the 70s. Who, at the moment, is in the
May of his life and is still attempting to chart a solid course on the
Lost directions of life. Rock-n-Roll is in its May of life,
and while to many it is all but Lost, we say it is simply crossing into the
timeless category where it can no longer be claimed to be solely the rebellion of youth,
but the charted direction of (mid) life. When youre 17 its called rebellion,
when youre 45 its called a mid-life crisis, when 17 = 45 its called the
convergence of time, and Rock-n-Roll now provides both sets with directions.
In the up coming months IndepenDisc will be celebrating the immense
diversity that Rock-n-Roll/music has grown into throughout the years and all the different
sets of directions it now gives to help us all, be it youth, or matured adult, get to the
point we are all looking for - the 3-4 minutes of bliss that can also be translated into a
journey of LPs length and worth to help us overcome, no matter how temporary or
momentary it may be, to help us find that particular spot/moment in time/life where we are
no longer lost, where we have found our purpose, our salvation, our Shangri-La. To get
things started this month we have a double issue Featuring Lost Forty Fives and Lost Weekend (now you can see where all this
Lost reflection and sentimentation is coming from ;-).
So youre hanging out with a bunch of general acquaintances and in an
effort to find something in common you drop a few musical comments, you know to feel these
dudes out to see where theyre coming from, because if theyre into music
youve got a common ground and then you wont feel so lost in this roomful of
people. So ya drop a few general genre/style feelers, fishing around for something
Have you heard this tune? that tune? into
music? Before you know it, you and three other guys are digging this
conversation into the late hours and finishing off a few more brewskis than you realized.
Of course, you play guitar, Rick there plays drums
and soon there after you four guys
are in the garage jamming out cover tunes of your favorite 45s (you know the 7
round vinyl that goes onto a turntable, and who can forget those little plastic thingies
the went into the middle so that it could fit down on the spindle of the record
player) long since lost. But ahh, the ones you still have and the ones you can still
get down to with the pure adolescence of Rock-n-Roll are the ones that offer the reprieve
in life which we all seek at one pivotal time or another (did someone say the crisis of
youth? Or was that mid-life crisis?).
Now that tale of the garage band formed amongst the back drop of early
British invasion Rock-n-Roll served up along side the exploding laid-back California,
beach rolling and rockin sound, as influenced by Canadas finest bunch of
import garage rockers, is retold through both sets of eyes. It is the garage rockers that
produce the true sound of joy in the music for what it is. Whether they are a small
gathering of teenagers rebelling against the conformity of age and society, or a bunch of
middle-aged guys searching for the answers they never found, it is fitting to say that the
music provides the soundtrack of life as it exposes the roads wandered and lost upon.
Regardless of whether lost upon the road of humanity or lost within the road taken by the
music.
The Faith and Glory CD gives us
it all. Lost Forty Fives is the garage band we
were all in at one time or another. The garage band we coulda, shoulda, woulda, joined but
it just never was. The garage band that dug an era so intensely that it drives these 12
original tunes right into the annuals of an era where the master pop song covered
harmonies, guitar solos, organ/keyboard chords, riffs and runs, and galloping backbeats
and rhythms that lay down a wonderfully exciting and refurbishing effect. The garage band
that couldve been formed by a bunch of 17, 24, 32, or 45 year olds (hell we could
even say 52 or 60 year olds as well think about it). And it is the garage band that
writes a mean tune full of life scene sentiment and aspirations. Full of the questions
only the band can provide the answers to, for even in mid-life the agonizing can be as
profound as that of a teen. Thus the results, while maybe a bit more refined and polished,
are the same in the context of musical harmony coming together to defeat (if only
momentarily) what ails us.
You know when an LP such as Faith
and Glory starts with a
1, 2 ah, 1, 2, 3, 4 count off, that what you are going to get is a
flowing pop sound. One that harkens back to an era defined by blues fueled guitar solos
and chiming, high-strung, rhythm guitar work. Fed through amps that produce an
intoxicating dirty sound (a la` The Standells), it mixes with a bass and drum
backbeat that is just that: a Backbeat. A backbeat so pronounced that it gallops the sound
straight through the entire LP and lets us run with the folly of genuine bliss. Its
easy to see that Lost Forty Fives record
collections contained the 45s of the golden garage era. The influence of Al
Andersons pre-NRBQ group The Wildweeds is unbelievably present (Im Ready,
A Day Without You), as well as early Brian Jones era Rolling Stones (Walking All
Alone Today) and Buddy Holly-esque rave ups (Listen To Me,
Faith and Glory). There are also countless reflections both instrumentally and
vocally to such greats as The Young Rascals, The Lovin Spoonful, The Turtles, The
Grass Roots, The Guess Who, Buffalo Springfield, The Hollies, Paul Revere and The Raiders
and if you wanted to break out the Nuggets box set, the list can go on and on.
Whether you are 45 or 17 and Lost, whether you are in your mom & dads
basement, or in your own garage - grab the little plastic thingie that goes into the
middle of the record and grab Faith and Glory.
It offers the reprieve in life that we all seek. Get out those Lost Forty Fives and lets rock-n-roll down
the road of life.
Faith and Glory by Lost Forty Fives
is available now for $11.98 + s/h*
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Add $1.50 per each CD after.
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Everywhere else -$7.00 for the first CD ordered,
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