imPermanence Series, on music, personal experiences, personal work, Put It Directly Into My Veins

Put It Directly Into My Veins – 1

Posted by fernand de Beauvoir on
« I don’t know just where I’m going
But I’m gonna try for the kingdom, if I can »
from the series imPermanence — Kyoto, Japan 2013
[ photo by fernand de Beauvoir ]

Let’s start with a random beginning, but naturally, with the root of (most) all as the first track. it is not like I heard the song when it came and was changed forever, but it is perhaps the song that I can find embedded in most of the dearest music over all this time.

songs affecting one listener, in no particular order,
just grouped whimsically, yet with some intuitive connection:
either historically, situationally, or for the groove of it all.
  1. “Heroin” : usually said in a pontificating way: 1- “the 60s was the best decade for rock” and 2-“if you love Joy Division, then you have to listen to The Velvets“. #1 is a verisimilar aphorism, which does not work under further inspection: truly specious. #2 did hold true, but it took many years for this to be realized, and go all the way to think that it is perhaps, in many regards, the best rock song ever.
  2. “Just Like Honey”: too many to pick from Jesus & The Mary Chain, as the first two albums are magnificent, with the accessibility of Darklands giving it an edge. this sound, in particular Psychocandy, was very new. Like with Joy Division and The Velvets, here was not only The Velvets (among many), but a group that I rarely gave a listen: The Beach Boys.
  3. “Cigarette in Your Bed” : there was a lot of commotion about this album, and like many other groups in this long list, I had to find everything by them… though in fairness, there were scarcely a link into the Isn’t Anything album. even with this shift in style/sound, I was not quite prepared for Loveless… but this album remains fundamental to the changes in my interest with music in general.
  4. “Eight Miles High” : this was such an incredible song, very impactful indeed, so I rushed to get the album and a compilation. ohmy… ok, they have this incredible song, and the cover by Husker Dü is utterly fantastic, and a big reason why this song is here.
  5. “I Wanna Be Adored” : they were a thing? digging into their catalog, or playing them years later, and it was not as big as it felt at the time. yet, the song is here because at the time it was great… and culminated with “Fools Gold”. (I also came to enjoy Ian’s singing with UNKLE.)
  6. “How Soon is Now” : I heard it through club nights, and then a countdown of the best 80s songs by a San Francisco station. (#1 was always “Blue Monday”, though at least in one year, this song topped the listener’s survey.) I did buy the album, and I did grow to like most of it, but I cannot say I could overcome Morrisey. like with The Byrds, and quite a few other bands, this song did not find anything else similar with The Smiths. decades later, and yes, I enjoy them more these days— perhaps antagonized then by the hype from so many around.

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