I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: YES-90125 (1983).

We had a snow day Monday, and since we were all home, I thought it would be fun to bust out some old records.  As soon as the opening chords of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” crashed out, Sarah gave me a “What made you think of playing this?” look and then said “What made you think of playing this?”

And there is no answer.  I saw it and figured it would be fun to hear. And it was.

Now, as an olde Yes fan, I should probably not like this album.  My favorite Yes album is Relayer, so really I have no business liking this.  First, it has no really long songs, second, it’s totally poppy, and third, it tries so hard to create hit singles.  And yet, I loved it then, and I still enjoyed now.   What’s interesting about it is that even though it was rather state of the art at the time, it doesn’t sound dated now.  Probably because, for instance, the orchestral hit in “Owner” has been sampled so much, it still sounds contemporary.

And so side one (for so it was at the time) has three songs that were hit singles: “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “It Can Happen,” and “Changes” (which is probably the most “Yes” sounding of the bunch).  Even “Hold On” while not a single, gets recognition for being on the popular side one of the disc.

Side two features another great hit song, “Leave It” (with vocal sampling galore).  Although I think by the end, the disc loses some steam, and “Hearts” is a bit of a drag.

I knew that Trevor Horn was involved with this disc.  But since there have been multiple members in Yes, including two Trevors (!), I’d never really kept it all straight.  So, Trevor Horn was responsible for The Buggles (“Video Killed the Radio Star”) as well as The Art of Noise.  Their song “Close (to the Edit)” was a great video staple on MTV back in the 80s.  It features three gentlemen in suits and a very disturbing little girl smashing the hell out of musical instruments.  This song, which came out the same year as 90125 samples “Owner of a Lonely Heart” so the circle is complete.

Trevor Horn clearly had a big impact on the band and on 80s music in general, which is probably why the disc sounds so good all these years later.

[READ: February 27, 2009] Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country

I couldn’t recall the exact title of this book, so when I typed on Amazon.com “letters obama” I was surprised (although I shouldn’t have been) to see TWO books that fit this description already.  I suppose it makes sense that such compilations are being made (in fact, it seems that Obama could reignite the economy through merchandising of himself alone).  The second book isn’t due out till April, so I guess McSweeney’s have expediency on their side.

The letters in the book come from the kids at the 826 National Workshops that the McSweeny’s folks set up and run.  The intro explains that after the election, so many of these kids were excited that the Workshops thought it would be fun to write the President some letters and eventually collect them in a book.

And so this collection has a group of letters by kids ranging from age 6-12 from several metropolitan areas: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago etc.

The letters are really great.  Some are funny in ways that only kids can be (“I would fill the White House with chocolate and gravy (but not together)”).  Some are funny/serious in ways only kids can be (“Here’s a list of things you should do as President… 1. Health care for everyone!!! 2. Eat a donut (or two)”), and some are actually quite sensible in ways only kids can be (“Maybe you could lower the prices for health care, especially for people who can’t afford medicine and are dying because they don’t have it”).

There’s not too much point in excerpting too many letters as most of the letters are quite short, and I don’t want to give away too much.  But if the partisan politics that are hindering the passage of Obama’s policies start to get you down, this book is a great pick me up.  It reminds you of the excitement that the country felt when Obama was elected.  And it will make you laugh.