The White Album

the beatles lost their minds!

they did not listen to reason

they were the kings of the world

hit after hit

the money was rolling in

then they recorded the white album

a double album of electro shock therapy

it changed people

it scared people

the mop tops were dead

long live the free thinkers!

imagine the white album getting released in this day and age

taking ‘piggies’ or ‘revolution #9’ into a record label

i think the conversation would go something like this:

JOHN: Well, Mr. Record Company Executive, when are you releasing our album?

RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE: This album is unreleasable! You’ve got too many songs and not enough singles. For goodness sake, you’ve got an eight and half minute song of nothing but sound FX!

PAUL: “Mother Natures Son” is a lovely track.

RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE: And what’s all this about hiding a monkey?

RINGO: I like me drums on that one!

RECORD COMPANY EXECUTIVE: Can’t we get back to the happy, snappy songs like ‘She Loves You’ or ‘Can’t Buy Me Love?’ This Bungalow Bill fellow! He’s a murderer!

GEORGE: I don’t like your tie

the white album is a trip

a journey

it’s a war of acoustic vs. electric

arrangement vs. improv

john vs. the world

this is massive music

a full continent of music

detached from the rest of the world 

and viewed through a kaleidoscope

i’m 57

when this album came out in 68

the people who were 10 years older than me

made it an event to listen to this record

it became an energy

a movement

so much so that it was the biggest selling album of the 60s

we know how to perform this album

we care about this album

we - dare i say - understand this album

and dammit - we love the beatles

unraveling this album on the roy thomson hall stage is going to be a journey

all aboard

craig martin

october 19, 2018

toast and tea

5 Albums You Didn't Know You Needed

5 Albums You Didn't Know You Needed

ram - paul mCartney

i’ve been raving about this albums for years

linda sounds great

and the songs flow seamlessly into one another

creating a homey vibe

if i could travel back in time

i’d choose to go to paul’s farm and sit in on the recording

perhaps make tea and soldiers 

and make myself available to do a funny voice

on uncle albert / admiral halsey

play this album on sundays

marvin gaye - what’s going on

a concept album 

a lot of people don’t realize this

but marvin had a firm grip on what indeed was going on

and this album was a warning shot for society

vietnam

global warming

injustice

it’s all here 

marvin takes the issues and through the beauty of 

his voice

his lyrics

his arrangements

he makes it all sound hopeful

plus this is a great album to put on when you’re having sex

the pretenders

this is a rock ’n’ roll record

chrissie is open and honest 

the first feminist for me

she can snarl

and she phrases her songs like joni 

the band is crisp and a little bit angry

i put this album on when i’m cleaning the house

statistics showed a surge in effective cleaning

all motivated by the sound of 80s kicking in

gord downie - introduce yourself

for all of our american cousins

i implore that you buy this album

and consider it an introduction to canada

it’s not a geography lesson

nor a history recital

but it’s poetic and graceful

and it understands that canadian heart 

i wrote a previous blog about this album

the scratch of sadness that shows through 

makes me ache a little bit

and it makes me feel alive

gord wrote this album knowing that the great gig was coming

every song is about someone

and every song is about us

the rolling stones - goats head soup

this album is for all the bad girls and boys

who remember their teens 

and what a saturday night felt like

maybe you were alone

or maybe you were in somebodies basement

but goats head soup was probably on the turntable

and it made you feel good

and bad

lyrically mick’s at his best

‘winter’ is the stand out track for me

it makes me wish for snow in june

just so i can tap into that vibe of being bad

i love the stones

i don’t like people who don’t like the stones

craig martin

august 26, 2018

tea and soldiers

Summer Ends

sometimes it feels 

like the only true thing in my life is music

i’m tired

there’s so many messages

it wears me down

music is as true as it’s going to get for me

i can’t see clear of much else

life has altered expectations

this past weekend

we played a small club in austin

the bar smelled like a bar should

we all changed in front of each other in a small room backstage

and we crammed up against each other on stage

it was glorious

emotional

after the show we all spoke about how much we loved dark side of the moon

and how performing it felt important

everyone spoke like there was iron in their voices

it was a true thing

you could feel it

we’re so protective of this music

all of it

i have no claim other than caring

but i feel like it’s our job to make sure the music is properly performed

librarians 

that’s what we are

the performances are books

i just posted a video of us doing CSN’s suite judy blue eyes

it’s so beautiful

the song is transcendent 

rob soars 

i wonder if it’s just me who gets so emotional about performances like this

but then i get emails from people 

and posts

and we all connect for a moment in time

our summer is soon coming to an end

it was planes and vans and stage doors and after show pool hangs

it started at the wolf trap on june 1

and gets close to ending this weekend with the white album shows

fitting

and another season begins

lots of shows

lots

i’m figuring it out

i’ve got a good behind the scenes staff

our mandate is simple

note for note - cut for cut

keep the musicians working

and stay true

craig

august 14, 2018

starbucks coffee and egg bites

The Stones

oh i love the stones

always have

when i was a boy in the 60s

my dad - knowing how much i loved music

called me in from playing 

to show me a tv show with them on it

baited and hooked

years later 

when keith had to play the benefit concert in oshawa

our local new station went live (CFTO - scarborough baby)

and there’s mick leaning into the crowd singing ‘starfucker’

i remember writhing about because my favourite rock star

was swearing on national TV and the censors didn’t have a clue

that was 79

mick’s lyrics are amazing

fat nouns and jangly adverbs

and keef is riffalicious

and with that i realize that

i don’t like people who don’t like the stones

i got to see the stones play the club shows in toronto

RPM, horseshoe, phoenix

i have all kinds of stories (just ask me)

i remember the set lists

the clothes

the audience

it was like seeing royalty

and isn’t that the point?

the stones are still out there

enduring well past the 'getting old' jokes

and riffing their hearts out

touring like no other band ever has before

committed man!

a while back - i spoke the above comment

someone retorted with ‘the beach boys have endured!’

i punched them in the face

i’m writing this from prison

drunk on cell block booze

we’ve been rehearsing the sticky fingers album

it’s been emotional 

and i’m happy to be amongst people i have genuine love for

the other night - i looked around the room during ‘waiting on a friend’

and realized that for 15 years, we’ve all been touring together 

in and out 

up and down

through and through

like bastardized royalty

one month bobby spent more time with us than he did his family

we belong on the road

that’s where the real musicians go

away

tonight we return to the roy thomson hall patio for 2 nights

the band is smart and tight

and happy

and i’m excited to be back on stage

it will be emotional 

i’ll be carrying the canoe 

but these songs elevate your mojo

and get you kicking at the stall

we’re playing in delaware this weekend

so expect the RTH shows to have a heavy dose of sticky fingers stuck to them

and of course my love of 'exile on main street' is well documented

so an unhealthy dose of those songs will also be featured

we won’t be playing miss you or satisfaction

this is a musician’s show

we want to shine

the entire week is being filmed for a episode of undercover boss

sometimes the world gets spinning on some kind of axis

that throws me off balance

and makes me feel out of sync and untested

but getting on stage with people you care about

and playing music that vibrates your soul

in venues that cloak you in cool

that’s the stuff that raises the dead off the battlefield 

hoists the flag

and gets you fighting another day

craig martin

august 1, 2018

amanda’s smoothie

Gord Downie's "Introduce Yerself"

i’ve been listening to nothing but this album for two months straight

gord downie was a family man

and this album takes you into that side of him

he had a nice big family

i’m jealous of that

i have a tiny family

for our american cousins

gord fronted a band called the tragically hip

he was one of the greatest frontman ever

right up there alongside mick, freddie, scott

i've seen the hip so many times

i lived in kingston for a while back in the extreme early 80s

i think i saw them at the lakeview manor

those were different times

but i am so happy to have seen the hip with my son lucas

he kept looking over at me and smiling during the show

as if to say 'he's weird but cool'

the songs on introduce yerself are each about a person

you can only guess 

lyrically ol’ gord’s colouring life with a small observations

and deft philosophy

‘love over money’ i think is about the band

“love over money - that’s how we got good”

great line

there’s songs about putting his kids to sleep

buying T shirts at concerts

and my favourite - the title cut - introduce yourself

about writing a message on your hand 

with the exception of AC/DC 

my music always needs to have an element of poetry to it

my son jackson goes to the same school as gord’s kids

kids with tragedy printed on them

ours has been private and theirs has been fireworks

i wonder how they’ll deal with it all in the years to come

of course they’ll be fine

stronger

kevin drew co-wrote the album with gord

just excellence and nothing more from their pairing

if anyone knows kevin

please send word that his work has touched me in a profound way

and i’m a better person for having this album in my life

music finds us 

we don’t find it

we’re bombarded with music - shell shocked

but there’s that beautiful moment when you find an album

and that album starts to bind to you

and heal you

and help you remember

and then you share that album with people you care about

craig

feb 19, 2018

poached eggs and coffee