Musical Resonance
Published January 23, 2004
A short e-conversation I had a while back centered on the merits of a certain rock band. Not the particulars or anything, just a plain old "love 'em" vs. "don't" kind of thing. Actually, "don't love 'em" isn't quite right. It was more like "don't understand the attraction".
Being the musical evangelist that I am (and aren't we all...just a little bit?), I decided to describe, as concretely as possible, why I like this band's music.
Now, of course I knew this that this was going to be no easy task. Describing in words what is inherently abstract is tough enough. The added requirement, why I like it...well, that's something else. I let the idea ferment in my head for a few days. Procrastination? No, just my way of giving my subconscious time to have its say.
Except that's not really what happened.
What did happen was that I found this great article by author Louis Menand about "the art of short fiction". A critical review of The Early Stories (a collection of John Updike's early short fiction), it's introduced in the most ingenious way: a parallel is constructed between the 'invisible' technique behind the professional golf swing and the effect that an author is trying to create. "The effect" is that moment when the reader "gets it"...the moment of "ahhh". So, just as each little mechanical element serves to support the swing, each word in the short story is there to contribute to "the effect".
What's this have to do with music? Menard goes on to say that this effect is tough to describe...but it is felt by the reader(or at least that's the author's hope). James Joyce referred to the effect as an epiphany. In his words, "...a revelation of the whatness of a thing".
The whatness of a thing.
Yep, that's what I want to describe. It's an elusive topic. In the past I've put the question "Why does that sound good to me?" down on my writing to-do list. That's as far as it ever gets though...mostly because it has always seemed like a huge undertaking, with too much mental and emotional inertia.
What I want to do now is describe the 'whatness' of the music of the band Rush. The word 'music' is underlined because that'll be the focus here. I'm not a lyrics guy when it comes to most rock music and Rush is no exception. Though Neil Peart is known for his lyric writing (and of course: spectacular drumming) the music is what I'm there for.
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Musical Resonance
- Published: January 23, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
- Mark Saleski's BC Writer page
- Mark Saleski's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
My favorite Rush song is the one they will record after I get my hands around the throat of Geddy Lee for singing like a 6 year old boy who got knocked in the balls.
Man, I love "Working Man" because it sounds like Black Sabbath after detox - IT ROCKS.
Mark, many thanks for a brilliant and readable explanation of the unexplainable. It's the effort that makes it so endearing and meaningful. And yes, my interest is piqued. Great job!
Nice work, Mark. I'm still mulling my response over. I think I may have to write a book to explain it all . . .
thanks tom, don't mull too hard. you might pull something.
My favorite Rush songs are the ones they haven't written yet. I think I just hurt my brain.
Man, I'm glad you linked to this from here. I didn't remember this at all, but I'm glad to have a refresher. (Unfortunately, I also don't remember the conversation you note that spawned it - I'm kinda curious now!)
I certainly get what you're saying. Texture is something I've come to realize is very important to me. If it doesn't "feel" right, it just doesn't work, and it likely never will. Not only that, I often have this visual in my head of a live line-graph to the music, or maybe the raw wave-form of the music as seen in a sound editing program. Up and down it goes as various events happen. No one else seems to understand what I'm talking about.
Jeez, that sounds nuts, reading back on it.
Dynamics come in to play as well; that Dylan quote about modern recordings being atrocious and all. Soft and loud, harsh and rounded... that makes a difference when I listen. Dylan's Modern Times and Wilco's Sky Blue Sky take advantage of textures and dynamics better than a lot of records I've listened to recently.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/11967)
Well, I guess I'll start the "my-favorite-Rush-song" thread by say that La Villa Strangiato is probably my favorite one. A bit over nine minutes long, it wanders through a bunch of different musical idioms (Flamenco, Waltz, Prog-Rock, and those are just the ones that I can think of off the top of my head).
The live verson on Exit Stage Left is even better (the jury's still out on the Live in Rio version).