Plucked, Bespoken

Date 
May 23


Miracler
Arthur Baker


Location
High atop Mount Tamalpais, CA


Brothers and sisters, this is (another) good day for Miracling: Arthur Baker has come down from the mount to share a new mix with us. And reading your comments about his past ones, you'd think the guy is a musical guru. And who's to say he ain't? 


Witness: One Bright Day in May '11, about which you said, 'Oh my, this is amazing,' 'Arthur, you make a singular style of mix. They take a while to sink in for me, but I go back to them. Your mixes were both faves from past seasons,' 'Wow. Gorgeous mix—just exactly the perfect accompaniment to this cool Chicago morning. Thanks!', 'Thank you for this bold and stunning trapeze walk. Simply beautiful from start to finish—bravo!', 'Yay! Beautiful mix, Arthur. And how you got ANY Radiohead cut to work on a mix titled One Bright Day is a miracle itself,' 'Your mix left me feeling warm, fuzzy, and tranquil. Mucho thanks,' 'What a beautiful mood you've put together! Gorgeous feeling,' 'Perfect soundtrack for a lazy, mellow morning. Great mix.'


Before that: Town and Country in December '10. More fanfare: 'Oh this is fantastic,' 'Another great mix. I'm enjoying discovering a lot of these songs one at a time,'  'Digggggin' this mix—most of it already dumped into my Season 4 faves playlist,' 'Big Miike Snow fan here, so you can never go wrong with them as an opener. Really nice mix of old and new,' 'I enjoyed the great majority of this mix. Thanks for the travelogue!', 'Great comp. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Rickie Lee Jones song is one of my favorites here. WTF is happening to me?', 'Nice, earthy mix, Arthur. And thanks for the alt version of my favorite Bowie tune,' 'Well, I'm definitely a slow metabolizer, but there are some stunning tracks on here. The Brian Enlo/Daniel Lanois tune is sublime. There, I said it. Beautiful mix.' 


And February '09 brought Arthur's Valentine Edition, The Bardo Between, about which you said, 'This is a fine, fine mix—reads like a thick, complex novel. And that first song alone, I could listen to all day. In fact, I just did!' 'You're right—listening to the mix is like being in a relationship—it ain't over til it's over,' 'Thanks for adding dimension to the otherwise flatness of the word 'valentine,' 'After a breakup, I usually just lose a few pounds and then start dating again. Thanks for this personal journey,' 'I'm enjoying this very much, from the lovely cover all the way through. And I hear a story running through it all. Thank you for the goodness!', 'I love this mix, and can't stop hitting repeat on that Traffic song, for some reason,' and 'Marvelous mix, thanks!'


Not a bad showing on his first 3 outings. Let's see what AB's got to say about this week's contribution. (Hint: more of the same! In the best of ways!) 


Liner Notes by AB
With all of the incredible knowledge of music displayed in this project, it started me thinking of the beginnings of my deep love of music, and how it got under my skin.  I started a remembrance list of those songs that really resonated with me personally, songs that hooked me into a heavy rotation of playing, first on record and eight track, even reel to reel, and then cassette, CD, and eventually back to vinyl. I made a very long list of those songs I had to rewind and play over and over again. Songs that to my emerging sensibility got to me, were it through voice, rhythm, lyric or beat, and built my sonic and somatic pallet and taught me about emotion and expression. And so this is a sample of that process and list, that continues to this day, and as such it is far more autobiographical than discriminative. Things that plucked my own heartstrings, or seemed as if written for my life or my moment. I am so grateful for the presence of music in my life, and all the new and old sources I have found through my contact with all of you. Here is a sample of what has spoken to me.


1) Walking in the Rain       The Ronettes
This comes from Phil Spector's Session tapes.  I think you can here him prompting, Go, Go.  But sometimes I think the wall of sound could actually obscure the delicate tremolo and nuance of the voice itself.


2) Let Him Run Wild      The Beach Boys
An original press 45 from the Boys on Sea of Tunes Publishing Co. My friend from High School played it at least 100 times while we played endless ping pong in his garage while he traversed the emotional landscape of his first betrayal.


3) Amor por Alguem   Unknown Artist
Unknown Brasilian singer from the sixties. I found this song in Manaus when I was first there in 1997. Even my friends there don't know the artist's name. Haunting. The prison of the heart that loves.


4) A Case of You (live)  Joni Mitchell 
I remember exactly where I first heard this song.  Walking around the Laguna Beach Art Festival in 1974 nursing (indulging) a major case of unrequited love. I stayed there walking around the sawdust to hear it loop  for a third time.


5)  How Many Times     Cat Stevens
Maybe the first song that taught me about how the ending of something really feels, and how to grow with it.


6) Up to Me    Bob Dylan 
A song from the first attempt by Dylan to record Blood on the Tracks, and preserved on a boot called Blood on the Tapes, mirroring Bob's displeasure with the  reverby recordings. But to me it stood in the  crosshairs of Bob's foray into rhyming storytelling and vocal maturity, and striking his perfect balance between bravura and heartache, pared down as only he could, with humor, depth and panache.


7) A Love You Can't Survive    Richard Thompson
I heard him sing this live a few years ago, and it really floored me, the power of his raw voice. If only his songwriting was as consistently strong as his singing and playing.


8) Beside You     Van Morrison
 An earlier incarnation of the Astral Weeks song played at some sessions in New York in 1967, with a completely different tone and feel, raw and real with a feel all its own


9)   Sweet Thing/ Blackbird     The Waterboys 
A live North Sea seamless fugue of another Astral weeks song with some Beatles played out with such reverence and vitality.


10) Fern Hill   Dylan Thomas    Personal.

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