Just One of Those Albums

I truly do believe that with music, the songs, albums, and artists that mean the most to us have a corresponding moment in which the connection was formed. This can be someone suggesting a listen of an album, an accidental discovery of a song, or admiration of an artist being passed down from a parent in a moment in which a dissertation on the artist's greatness was explained in a manner in which only a seasoned listener could.

For me, London Calling by The Clash is just one of those albums. I just love it. I have loved it through a parade of new music. CDs have been bought, some good, some great, and some not so much. But I have always returned to this 1979 release that took Punk Rock to places Joey Ramone had no time for (not that's a bad thing.)

It was Easter Break my freshmen year of college and I was out for the day running errands. I took a turn and "Spanish Bombs" came on. The sixth track on the album played as the sun joined me via my driver side window. The sounds and sunshine came together in a moment in which I was entrenched in the stories of the song. I listened intently to the mix of Spanish and English being sung together in a manner both political and pop. I sang along about strife I had never heard of prior nor fully understood.

Needless to say, I finished the album, all 19 tracks (a solid number for an album if I do say so myself), and was hooked. Going back to the range of the album, all the songs seemed to be entry ways leading to worlds of emotions and feelings both rooted in the time in which they were recorded and relevant to the time I found myself in: late adolescence. They were expressed in a whole slew of genres that the album can be heard as a reader into all that is Rock. I was living in a time of discovery of experiences all known as life.

Now, on the other side of turning 20, I still dig the album as much as I did that. It still allows me to enter into a world other than my own, as I enter into a life all my own. It is a self-contained reality of unique and authentic artistic expression (the same can be said about Sgt. Peppers, but that is a post for another day). It is an aesthetic escape.

I enjoy hearing the songs for another time and dialing into the music and lyrics for few minutes, knowing that another one awaits me. And with each one, I turn up the tunes a little more and sing with more a smile. All of my joy and glee reaching its peak by the time things wrap up with "Train in Vain(Stand By Me). The album closes with me musically satisfied and already excited for my next time in the world of London Calling.

Always Going to Be A Jam

Since my introduction to it, Bob Dylan's "Jokerman" has been a jam for me. I recall discovering it Summer 2011 following an endorsement from Coldplay's Chris Martin. In an issue dedicated to Dylan, Martin was asked to name his favorite Dylan track. Martin named this song citing its Biblical lyrical range and inclusion of several noteworthy musicians on the track, amongst them former Stone Mick Taylor. Always a fan of Martin's own music, I reasoned that if it was good enough for him, it could potentially be good enough for me.

But before I begin, I would like to first define what a "jam" is to me. Quite simply, it is a song that I listen to no the situation I find myself in. I turn to it and turn it on because for me it leads me to smile. It amuses me in all the best ways possible. It just makes me happy.

In the case of "Jokerman"I am filled with the creativity and intentionality behind it. I anticipate the next lyric Dylan sings with one his last passable voices, his aged 80's cry. It came in the what would later be revealed as the middle part of his career, a decade that began with religious conviction and ended with the founding of his "Never Ending Tour."

"Jokerman" is heard as in response to his three religious albums he released leading up to Infidels, the album housing "Jokerman." Still painting with a lyrical palate rich in religious imagery, this time Dylan uses it not testify to the salvation offered by a prophet, but to create a character is explained through a composite all the stories found in the good book. As I listen, I aim to identify all of them and process what their significance is in this story Dylan is telling, all before the next one appears.

Throughout this process, I am treated to a relaxed landscape of sound. A snare drum taps in beat, coming to the front of the sound, and joining Dylan's voice for a second. Meanwhile in the background, an ambient organs plays with guitars, rhythm, lead, and bass alike, all holding their own and contributing to the sound of the song.

It is a song I continue to return to when I am in need of something I can sing along to and smile.