Quit while you're behind?

So at this point, I'm 11 books and 17 CDs behind -- a solid 6 months of reading and a full year of new music, since one of my CDs is from Christmas 2014.  Given that this blog was primarily a way to write regularly, and I've done less than one review per month for the past half year, it seems foolish to worry about catching up when I'm this far behind.  So, I think I'm going to pack it in.  Adieux!  Auf Wiedersehen!  Au revoir!  Sayonara!

The Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist (Brandon Sanderson, 2013)

In an alternate universe (The United Isles of America), the people have fought a mysterious supernatural horror for years. Each generation, an elite group, known as Rithmatists, are granted powers to fight these creatures. The school where Rithmatists are trained has become a target, and as more students go missing, fellow-students Joel and Melody are drawn deeper into the mystery.

Brandon Sanderson has created a rich story with winning characters and an intriguing system of magic. Fans of strategy games will enjoy Rithmatic dueling -- it practically begs to be turned into an online multiplayer iPad game -- and the excellent plot will have you flipping pages like a wild person, especially in the last third. Sanderson is a great storyteller, and he delivers a fresh and exciting story in The Rithmatist.

Arbitrary rating:  4 out of 5 strategy games

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde, 1895)

For this one, I figured I would read everything in the Norton Critical Edition.  Way to spoil a fun play... So this review will be in two parts: one for the actual play, and one for all the academic hay that was made out of it.

The play itself is hilarious.  Wilde's farce (subtitled A Trivial Comedy for Serious People) features light-hearted wit, mistaken identities, playful rivalries, absurd obstacles, and an unlikely turn of events.  I just spent about 15 minutes trying to summarize the plot, but what Wilde makes flow effortlessly and hilariously, I make into a clunky, plodding bore, so I won't even try.  Just take my word for it -- if you have a couple hours and want a laugh, give it a read.

The critical essays, on the other hand, are completely without humor.  It's almost like they didn't even read the play, and they rather developed some overly wordy thesis and then found the parts of the play that support the argument.  We run the gamut of topics:  the play reverses gender roles, the play is about strong women, the play undercuts the male romantic lead, the play undercuts Edwardian society, the play is a coded homosexual celebration, the play is a self-fulfilling prophecy about Wilde's incarceration, the play is better in the four-act version, the play is better in the three-act version...  Granted, there are some very impressive arguments in the critical essays, but ultimately they have little to do with the play itself. This just confirms for me that I'm no longer a good English major.  The scary thing is, I can see how one could get satisfaction out of crafting such an in-depth analysis, yet ultimately, it seems like trying to draw blood from a turnip. Just eat the turnip.

Arbitrary rating (play): 4 out of 5 light-hearted wits
Arbitrary rating (essays): 2 out of 5 academic hay bales

The Man of Property - John Galsworthy

The Man of Property (Galsworthy, 1906)

I'm tempted to use the epithet "Nobel-prize-winning trash".  Undeniably well-written, yet relentlessly depressing and somewhat dull, Galsworthy's first novel in what came to be known as the Forsyte Saga is your average adultery novel.  You know the drill -- a beautiful woman is trapped in a loveless marriage with a stuffy middle-upper-class prude; she falls for the handsome young architect who is building her husband's new house, yet their love is crushed by the repressive social strictures.  Blah, blah, blah...

I guess there are a few wrinkles that elevate it slightly above the soap opera realm. The portrait of the extended Forsyte family is masterfully executed, with the griping, gossiping siblings and in-laws painted to perfection.  A side plot focuses on an estranged son reconciling with his father, and there are some good moments here.  Even the affair itself is presented through a fascinating lens.  If it weren't for the fact that their actions drive the narrative, Irene (the wife) and Philip (the architect) would be secondary, almost tertiary characters.  The affair is seen almost solely through the viewpoint of Soames (the husband) and the extended Forsyte family, as a shadowy, uncertain, hinted-at possibility only discovered to be fact when it's too late.  Indeed, there is only one scene that features Irene and Philip alone -- the crisis where they reveal their feelings for each other -- and even that scene is presented almost as if we are eavesdropping and unable to hear exactly what is being said. Galsworthy does a lot with a little, and perhaps that technical ability in prose is alone worthy of the many accolades he received.

However, there are plenty of cringe-worthy and reductive moments.  At one point, Irene and Philip are literally described as "pale moths drawn to a flame" -- maybe this is the first usage of the cliche and I'm just judging it unfairly... Soames has a few humanizing moments, but for the most part he is a bloodless figurehead. His final act against Philip and Irene seems incongruous with his character. Maybe I'm just not in tune enough with the depths of human psychology that I'm sure Galsworthy is plumbing...  Long story short, I didn't like it. Even months after reading it (I'm very far behind on the ol' review biz), I wish I had the time back.

Arbitrary rating:  1 out of 5 stuffy upper-middle-class prudes

The Great Deceiver, Vol. 1 - King Crimson

The Great Deceiver - Live 1973-1974, Vol. 1 (King Crimson, 2007)

Disc One
1. Walk On... No Pussyfooting - 0:49
2. Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two - 6:24
3. Lament - 4:39
4. Exiles - 8:57
5. Improv: A Voyage To The Centre Of The Cosmos - 15:03
6. Easy Money - 7:13
7. Improv: Providence - 10:19
8. Fracture - 11:14
9. Starless - 12:04

Disc Two
1. 21st Century Schizoid Man - 8:27
2. Walk Off From Providence - 1:21
3. Sharks' Lungs In Lemsip - 3:22
4. Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Part One - 7:50
5. Book Of Saturday - 3:03
6. Easy Money - 6:41
7. We'll Let You Know - 4:55
8. The Night Watch - 5:17
9. Improv: Tight Scrummy - 8:58
10. Peace: A Theme - 1:01
11. Cat Food - 4:36
12. Easy Money... - 2:20
13. Improv: ...It Is For You, But Not For Us - 9:12

Drummer Bill Bruford might have described this version of King Crimson best when he compared it to his former band, Yes (paraphrased):  "In Yes, we would spend all this time arguing about what to play... In King Crimson, you were just supposed to know." Nowhere is that more evident than in these live recordings, which showcase intense interplay and improvisation that must have been breathtaking both to play and to witness.

The live versions of the studio songs are almost improvisations themselves, with constantly shifting arrangements, on-the-fly instrumentation changes, and unpredictable performances from all four band members.  The observant might notice two and a half different versions of "Easy Money" on this set.  The version on Disc One is terrifyingly stark -- just John Wetton's vocal with unsettling swells from Robert Fripp's guitar before it roars to life -- where the version on Disc Two is more of a boogie-down, feel-good reading. The partial version at the end highlights yet another unique verse/chorus variant before going completely left-field with the haunting, Mellotron-based improvisation titled "...It Is For You, But Not For Us", which leaves its parent song completely behind and never revisits it.

In Fripp's extensive liner notes, he admits that Wetton's bass guitar and Bruford's heavy drumming had taken over the band by the end. Indeed, their raw power defines Disc One and the first track of Disc Two, which comprise the entire next-to-last concert performance of this band. Wetton's bass in particular is a revelation. Dancing lightly over the melody in "Exiles", pounding propulsively in "Larks' Tongues Pt. 2" and "Fracture", mixing menace with swing in "Starless", or flying pell-mell through the "21st Century Schizoid Man" encore, Wetton leaves it all on the stage. For fans of progressive bass guitar (all five of us), this is a treasure trove.

I'll try not to let my bass love obscure my appreciation for the other musicians, though. David Cross on violin and Mellotron provides some truly outstanding performances, particularly on "Larks' Tongues Pt. 1", "Exiles", and "Book of Saturday".  Hearing the early Crimson tunes "Cat Food" and "21st Century..." with Cross's violin, Wetton's bass, and Bruford's drumming is quite a treat. Speaking of Bruford's drumming... yeah, the man poured some serious passion into these performances. And of course, Fripp's unworldly tone and laser accuracy on guitar turns from blaring rock to introspective jazz finger-picking with ease.

But perhaps the main event here are the improvisations.  These are not jams in the traditional sense, where drums and bass start vamping while lead instruments solo.  These are attempts at spontaneous composition, live on stage, with no prior discussion, plan, or roadmap.  To be fair, it usually falls into one of two categories: spacey atmospheric or aggressively violent. But sometimes, the aggressively violent morphs into funk, or the atmospheric morphs into melodic ballad. And sometimes, it's all out the window, like on "Tight Scrummy", where Bruford lays down an unabashedly Latin rhythm, complete with wood block and tuned percussion, which the other musicians successively attempt to derail. You never know what you're going to get, and that's what makes it exciting.

Arbitrary rating: 5 out of 5 spontaneous compositions

The Great Leap - Phideaux

The Great Leap (Phideaux, 2006)

1. Wake Up - 4:03
2. You and Me Against a World of Pain - 5:35
3. The Waiting - 3:33
4. Abducted - 6:10
5. Rainboy - 6:15
6. I Was Thinking - 4:24
7. Long and Lonely Way - 4:18
8. They Hunt You Down - 3:54
9. Tannis Root - 4:52
10. One Star - 5:14
11. Last - 5:50

A rock song cycle dealing with authoritarianism and apocalypse, The Great Leap paves the way for the band's more ambitious progressive rock opuses Doomsday Afternoon, Number Seven, and Snowtorch.

Subtitled "A Celebration of Lemmings" and epigraphed with Revelations 4:1, The Great Leap is suitably dark, moody, ornate, and dramatic. Crunchy electric guitars and basses interweave with vintage Hammond organ, Minimoog, and Fender Rhodes piano. The drumming is spot-on, and guest instrumentalists on violin, cello, flute, trumpet, trombone, and French horn add a feast of musical color to the turbulent proceedings. Bandleader Phideaux Xavier handles almost all of the lead vocals with his buoyant rasp, while the ladies contribute essential background vocals and countermelodies.

The songs paint surreal pictures, fitted perfectly by the Dali-inspired album art. The concept of the album is more of a mood than a story -- a mood of menace, paranoia, evil forces, and dogged resistance. The song structures are simple and effective, with some unexpected twists. Highlights include the bracing "Wake Up", the stately "Rainboy", the icy folk of "I Was Thinking", the driving rocker "Long and Lonely Way", and the haunting "Last".  Though I prefer the trio of albums I mentioned above, The Great Leap is quite delectable in its own right.

Arbitrary rating:  4 out of 5 feasts of musical color

Joy of a Toy - Kevin Ayers

Joy Of A Toy (Kevin Ayers, 1969)

1. Joy Of A Toy Continued - 2:54
2. Town Feeling - 4:51
3. The Clarietta Rag - 3:21
4. Girl On A Swing - 2:49
5. Song For Insane Times - 4:00
6. Stop This Train (Again Doing It) - 6:05
7. Eleanor's Cake (Which Ate Her) - 2:53
8. The Lady Rachel - 5:17
9. Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong - 5:35
10. All This Crazy Gift Of Time - 3:57
------------
11. Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning), Take 9 - 4:46
12. The Lady Rachel (Extended Mix) - 6:42
13. Soon Soon Soon - 3:23
14. Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning), Take 103 - 2:50
15. The Lady Rachel (Single Version) - 4:51
16. Singing a Song in the Morning - 2:52

A whimsical avant-pop concoction, Joy Of A Toy finds Kevin Ayers's considerable songwriting talent in full flower.  Eclectic and eccentric, the album includes music hall songs, jazz-tinged psychedelia, minimalist experiments, folk epics, marching band parades, and dreamy lullabies.

Hints of Ayers's musical personality can be heard on the first Soft Machine album, but he really bursts out here.  The jaunty "Clarietta Rag" is miles away from the uber-hip Soft Machine, as is the delicate "Eleanor's Cake" with its tender piano swells, calming flute, and close vocal harmonies. There are a few connections: "Stop This Train (Again Doing It)" merges the repetitive minimalism of Soft Machine's "We Did It Again" with a Dylanesque allegory (plus a fantastic organ solo from Soft Machine's Mike Ratledge).  "Song For Insane Times", which features all of Soft Machine as the backing band, is classic Canterbury prog, complete with clever lyrics, jazzy instrumentation, and a fun 13/8 riff. David Bedford's lush, romantic orchestrations elevate "Town Feeling" and the title instrumental, while evoking mild disturbance and unease during "The Lady Rachel" and "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong" (based on a Malay folk song). The acoustic-guitar-with-harmonica closer "All This Crazy Gift Of Time" owes a lot to Bob Dylan again, but in a much more melodic mode.

My favorite song comes from the bonus tracks.  "Religious Experience (Singing a Song in the Morning)" is the song that got me into Ayers.  A simple pop song with jangly guitars, bouncy bass, fun drums, and feel-good vocal harmonies, it just repeats the same four vocal lines over and over, with instrumental breaks to punctuate the mantra.  He takes a very limiting musical idea and infuses it with joy. It's truly representative of the album as a whole.  You probably won't find much revolutionary or impressive here, just a bunch of people enjoying music.

Arbitrary rating:  4 out of 5 whimsical avant-pop concoctions