The Friday Morning Listen: Daniel Lanois
Published February 10, 2006
So what happens when you're removed from your normal environment for a week? When you're surrounded by the beautiful chaos of a family in bloom? When you're attempting to actually get work done (in my case, trying to pour over a design document while stuffing as much of an existing software project's code base into my head as can be mustered) amidst the swooping sounds and frayed emotions?
What happens is that you don't get to listen to a whole lot of music, is what. One of the most frustrating situations a person such as myself can be put in. Music is a basic element of life. Not nearly as important as, say, breathing....but not too far away from being its own food group.
I should probably explain.
Some very close friends of ours just had their second child. The mega-cute little guy (named Alden) arrived in much better shape than previous baby doctor forecasts had indicated. There was perhaps to be problems that would have required immediate open heart surgery. Turns out that he does have an issue or two, but nothing as grave as we had all feared.
Me and the wife volunteered to visit and help out around the house. The wife is just fantastic at this sort of thing (having had two kids of her own), especially when it comes to dealing with the adorable two year old named Savannah. Holy smokes, Aunty Linda just about walks on water around here! Not sure if the same thing can quite be said for Uncle Mark. I mean, she wanted to see what I was doing on my computer....and wasn't so impressed with the screen full of text and the design doc with all of the boring boxes and arrows and stuff. Not that I'm complaining or anything. It's been very rewarding to have been a part of the arrival of Baby Alden.
Except for that lack of music thing. I've been going through withdrawals. Each night I slip up to our room (a very cool bedroom/bathroom suite on the third floor) to get some writing done...and just about pounce on the iPod. Now I know what it feels like for a cigarette smoker going cold turkey. OK, maybe it's not that bad, but you get the idea anyway.
So this morning, before heading downstairs for my first "Hi, Uncle Mark" and first cup of coffee (to be followed by hours of slippery C++ code investigations), I popped in the earbuds and poured in some Daniel Lanois.
Many people know Lanois for his production work (U2, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, The Neville Brothers...it goes on) but have never heard his records. Belladonna is his most recent solo release. Many of the trademark Lanois sounds are evident: Dark and moody with reverby guitars, plinky piano notes, murky horns and samples of only Lanois knows what. It's all instrumental and just complex enough to satisfy my cravings for wiggling air molecules.
Yes, the sound of an infant's cry has it's own beauty and musicality (probably more so to the mom & dad), but after four days I needed something just a little different. Now I can head downstairs.
Welcome to the world, little Baby Alden.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
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.
- The Friday Morning Listen: Daniel Lanois
- Published: February 10, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Part of a feature: Friday Morning Listen
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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i honestly only have this one cd. though what pushed me toward it was a one-song performance i have on an Austin City Limits dvd. just him, a Les Paul and a pedalboard.
he tore it up.
Ever heard of Martha and the Muffins?
Danseparc was their best.
Daniel made them good.
i've really only heard the Echo Beach record. did he produce that?
The following is picked from the M&M website:
Daniel Lanois / This Is The Ice Age / Danseparc / Black Stations/White Stations
Two positive things happened. We now had a manager, Gerry Young, whose enthusiasm and protective ferocity lifted our spirits and shielded us from Virgin's meddling in band affairs. Secondly, we found a new bass player, Jocelyne Lanois, (who was so nervous about auditioning with us she didn't show up for our first meeting!) It turned out that Jocelyne had two brothers, Bob and Dan, who had a studio in Hamilton, an hour's drive west of Toronto. After doing some demo tapes there we decided to ask Dan to co-produce our third album.
With Daniel Lanois, we finally found someone who understood, appreciated and encouraged the more experimental/textural/noisy side of the band - qualities that had never been fully realized on "Metro Music" and "Trance and Dance". Virgin reluctantly agreed to let us do the album with Dan, (having no idea who this marvellous person was), but only if we agreed to a cut in the budget. We went along with this as the price for being left alone to do the album our way.
You need to check out early Lanois: "Acadie" and "For The Beauty of Wynona." "Shine" is also good.
beautiful, Sir Saleski. i am one of those types who heard only his production tomfoolery, an how astounding it is, particularly on the Dylan records.
now i may well slink t'wards his own stuff. why not?
I went and bought this album yesterday. Like I mentioned above, I had considered buying a Lanois CD more than once. Your FML column nudged me over the edge.
I have gotten to listen to the first half of it a couple times and it is growing on me. Thing with Lanois, my view, is sometimes he puts his fingerprints on things maybe he shouldn't or he gets a little heavier than necessary. That said, when he puts his fingerprints on something needing his unique touch he gets some gorgreous sounds and some beautiful records.
I think Belladonna (so far) is a beautiful record.
Most definitely. I am now listening to the album for the second time this morning.
I am going back and forth on something and would be curious to hear your thoughts. I find a certain 'sameness' running throughout the album. On the one hand, it's a beautiful sameness and translates to an overall 'album' feel and the listening experience is pretty seemless. I love that. On the other, a little more sonic and melodic variety might have brought a good energy to the album. I find this especially in the middle of the record. He does vary things a little more toward the end. It's a small nitpic. I still really do like this album. I enjoy the airy, seemless, meditative feel.
the 'sameness' very much reminds me of the 'sameness' on the American Beauty score.
it's probably one reason why i like Belladonna so much.
Newman does that... choosing a 'theme' or two and working it/them throughout the rest of the score. It is one of my favorite soundtracks ever.
Belladonna could prove to be excellent 'writing' music. I use the Newman stuff that way as well. I think his score for Road to Perdition is terrific as well.
i've got to get more of Newman's work. American Beauty totally blew me away. so much so that i had to stop the movie 30 minutes in and restart...because i kept missing stuff because of paying attention to the music.
Mark, you definitely need to run and get a copy of For the Beauty of Wynona. It's very obvious from that album where U2 got their "revolutionary" new sound on Achtung Baby - it's all Lanois (and, of course, Eno)! Definitely one of my favorites, in general, actually.
I dusted this one off today. I am glad I decided to come back to this thread. I have definitely come off my nitpic of the sameness. This is an album, not a collection of songs. It's a beautiful piece of music.
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Glad to hear things are looking up for Alden. You know, I have seen Lanois discs in the racks at the store and thought about picking one up and never have. Which is your favorite? I might have to take a stab at one.