Sap: Wonder How the Color Taste - Alice in Chains

Sap to this day remains one of the most underappreciated albums from the grunge era. Hidden between two indelible albums, Facelift and Dirt, the early 1992 release somehow snuck in almost unnoticed. Okay, it's technically an EP but it is so good it is album worth.

Layne Staley encouraged Jerry Cantrell to sing on this album that shares credit space with Ann Wilson, Chris Cornell, and Mudhoney's Mark Arm. Lyrically, it is a song about relationships. Musically, the harmonies that are complex yet still retains simplicity making this album a gift to the music senses.


Brother
Written by Cantrell about their parents divorce when his brother went to live with their dad. Gorgeous backing accompaniment by Ann Wilson. 

Roses in a vase of white
Bloodied by the thorns beside the leaves
That fall because my hand is
Pulling them hard as I can

Got Me Wrong

I can't let go
Threadbare tapestry unwinding slow
Feel a tortured brain
Show your belly like you want me to  

Strong lyrics that show more than tell about how we often mistake each other in relationships. 

Right Turn
Credited to Alice Mudgarden, this brilliant chorus of super talent makes you forget this song was performed by the band that brought you Man in a Box. Mark Arm is like the chanter on this song to Chris's full on bag pipe wail. A triad of perfection when Layne, Mark, and Chris round robin the final verses.

Well it's hard to believe that somebody tricked you
When you can see you were only high
It's all up to you so you gamble
Flat on your face and into the fire  

Am I Inside
Layne's solo start makes it feel like you're inside someone's head, hearing the loneliness. Ann Wilson's backing is again tempered slowly towards the end creating the cathartic need this song is begging for.  Lyrically, Yoda proud would be of this song. 

 Black is all I feel, so this is how it feels to be free
Surrounded by empty souls, artificial courage used
And because so, once was mine
I walk this maze alone

Love Song
The 90's were known for their hidden tracks. This gem does not disappoint. Filled with bodily sounds, bull horn lyrics, chanting, and la de da type melody, this song is a conundrum. Jerry Cantrell even said to Guitar World at the time that "this was the most bizarre song they ever recorded" ... and that is saying a lot!

I Will Never Let Your Words Be Washed Away: Michael Hutchence

It's so strange
How my life's changed
I know nothing
About the people that I touched 

~Possibilities

Released December 14, 1999 This self-titled posthumous solo debut from the INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence was a reminder of not only this singer's talents but also his pain. The album is a testament to the music that inspired many of the INXS songs that you may be familiar with. Soul, jazz, R&B permeate each song with the pop and rock sounds you would expect to hear from this Aussie rock icon.

The album does not disappoint, even for those fans expecting to hear INXS sounds. It is sultry and funky with lyrics that paint a picture of a rock star haunted by stardom, paparazzi, and his life's circumstance at the time. Songs like Possibilities and Slide Away are jazz smooth but lyrically sharp edges of pain and doubt.

This is our letter in a bottle, a snapshot of Michael's mind. His songwriting ability never wavered and he never got into the habit of making songs that sound like INXS. Michael made strong emotional and edgy songs even back in the Max Q days. Michael Hutchence was a song writer not just a pop icon.

Many questions remain about what could have been. Would Michael have embarked on a solo tour post twenty- year INXS reunion? Would he have ever found his true happiness? 

Oh the possibilities...

Let Me Show You

Possibilities

Get on the Inside

Fear

All I’m Saying

A Straight Line

Don’t Save Me From Myself

She Flirts For England

Flesh and Blood

Put The Pieces Back Together

Breathe

Slide Away

Be the Song That You Hear in Your Head ... Appreciating U2's POP

Released in March of 1997, Pop is probably one of the most despised of U2's albums, but I love it. First and foremost, it was a huge risk on U2's part. They had just come off a huge tour and poor reception to Achtung Baby's follow up album, Zooropa. It was far different from anything people heard. But I always felt there was something there. With time, this album has aged gracefully. Okay, maybe not the lemon spaceship and muscle shirts. 

The lyrics are heavy; a lot of contemplation, but at the same time, serious fun with a more mature tone. Hanging with Frank Sinatra pre-recording this album definitely translated into some of these vibes. 

Let's review - one of U2's least liked albums, Pop.

Discothèque
So this song confused the hell out of people. Maybe it was Bono's mid-mid life crisis after he had the existential Machphisto

mid-life crisis, Discothèque was an interesting choice to open the album too because there is nothing else on the album like it. And then there is the video --  



Do You Feel Loved
Bono really experimented with lyrics on this album - it isn't clear exactly what this song is about, some say ecstasy, others Bono's fame and fan worship of him, and then other always point to religion. Whatever it is, Adam Clayton is getting some bass love on this album.

Mofo
Bono always seems to pen one song about his mother who was lost to him at a very young age. This song might be the most revealing about Bono -  as it captures so many questions of his existence, sans mother, including filling the void of her loss, his religion, and becoming a father. It also includes many artistic references that many will miss including two quotes from both Salman Rushdie and William Butler Yeats.


If God Will Send His Angels
A beautiful song that never got the recognition it deserved. It is full of so many vivid images of the world we live in, the despair, hope, and questions of the world and the spirituality that many question everyday. Again, Bono goes after faith and the selling of religion, the commercialization of it, and the loss of its true meaning.

Does love...light up your Christmas Tree
The next minute your blowing a fuse
And the cartoon network turns into the news

Staring at the Sun
Bono again goes with the internal review of self with this song. It's catchy, acoustic, and again bass heavy. Let's look at the title alone - what happens when you stare at the sun? Everyone does it right, because you're not supposed to. I'm not the only one whose happy to go blind, Bono sings. We do what we aren't supposed to and then tell others not to do it. Will we ever live in peace? 'Cause those that can't do often have to, Those that can't do often have to preach. It's as much a song about practicing what you preach as it is about looking past the burning blindness of the sun and seeing the real truth. See, I told you this album was deep.

Last Night on Earth
While the video seems very apocalyptic, it's semi-obvious that it is probably about Paul Yates, ex-wife of Bob Geldof, lover of Michael Hutchence, and tabloid fodder. This is what gave it away for me:

She's not waiting on a savior to come
She's at a bus stop with the News of the World
And the
Sun
Sun here it comes
She's not waiting for anyone

The tabloids, News of the World, the Sun and a sad prediction:

The future is so predictable
The past is too uncomfortable

Gone
This is a very rock and roll song and a special one for such a family man. Bono wrote this about loving rock but missing his family while on the road. And again, praise the bass lords on this album.

Miami
This is a silly little ditty, no message but relaxing on the beach.

The Playboy Mansion
There are blurred lines here between the heaven of Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion and the religious heaven. It's a little Vegas at time's and you can feel Bono channeling the Riviera Hotel's  vibes in this song. And again, our sneaky song writers show that years of study at Mount Temple. Then will there be no time for sorrow, then will there be no time for pain is a reference to Revelations 21:4 - curious blurred reference indeed.

If You Wear the Velvet Dress
This is a haunting song about the moments of temptation and the morning after when life seems more clear than the moon that casts shadows and false images:

Sunlight
Sunlight fills my room
It's sharp and it's clear
But nothing at all like the moon

 

Please
A very timely and foreshadowing song, Please was written about the Northern Ireland Peace Process. It's about the love of country that gets people killed. Love is hard, love is though but love is not what you're thinking of. While written and recorded in 1997, in 2001, the following lines would echo in our ears, an eerie premonition from Bono:

September
Streets capsizing
Spilling over
Down the drain
Shards of glass splinters like rain
But you could only feel
Your own pain

Wake Up Dead Man
My favorite song on the album. It's a prayer made in time of question and desperation and an order to wake up, wake up and take care of me and my needs.

Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a fucked up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your father, made the world in seven
He's in charge of heaven
Will you put in a word in for me?

 

Bono and the boys were approaching the ago of 40 when this album was written and released. It's a time of reflection and recollection of those lost and moments that could have been different. For these lads, 1980-1997 was a blur. Red Rocks, Live Aid, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, using satellites to talk to the world. You also take stock in the fact that you've worked hard enough and earned those times of joy, whether it's at the Playboy Mansion or at Miami.

Stick It To Ya - Slaughter

Released on January 23, 1990, Stick It to Ya was released at the end of the makeup era of the hair bands. The PMRC need not worry about the content of this album. The songs were heavier and however the power ballads were all seemingly an octave higher. This album was also safe. It wasn't filled with the angst of Guns N Roses, the songs became anthems, like Up All Night and Mad About You. 

While the band was at first synonymous with Up All Night, many of us remember where we were the first time we saw and heard Mark Slaughter singing Fly to the Angels. That voice hitting those notes of song written for someone long lost, of course romanticized by a Amelia Earhart figure in the video.

Even with a follow up album and a song in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, coupled with the loss of their guitarist, Slaughter wasn’t a long standing 1990’s band. However, their impact still stands as a great of our 90’s music legacy.


Eye to Eye
Burning Bridges
Up All Night
Spend My Life
Thinking of June
She Wants More
Fly to the Angels
Mad About You
That's Not Enough
You Are the One
Gave Me Your Heart
Desperately
Loaded Gun

Why I Float: My Journey Of Float Tanks And Sensory Deprivation

PMCarlson 2016

Floating was introduced to me by a friend who, like me, was looking for the perfect way to get rid of stress. I always seemed to have that nagging knot in my shoulder or persistent headache that neither my chiropractor nor massage therapist could end. I started to do my research ... just what is floating?

I discovered it wasn't just floating in a tank of water. It was being suspended in a tank of body temperature epsom salt water in complete darkness and silence. I was sold. 
My mind is constantly going, which I figure, meant the stress could never be turned off. The mere idea of having an excuse to be anywhere in silence and darkness and not have to answer a phone or email felt heavenly. 

So I went to Lift/Next Level Floats in Brooklyn for my first float. The facility felt so very zen. You remove your shoes and can sit and have some water or tea while you're given an introductory video to watch. I also had some insider tips from my friend ... all seemed to end with 'don't get the water in your eyes.' I had options: a float room or a tank. I  chose the room (I have since tried both). You can keep the lights on or turn them off. After showering, I was ready to climb into the water. 

PMCarlson 2016

It really was the perfect temperature. I placed a small towel around the door handle (in case I had any water anywhere near my eyes) and then closed the door. The magic blue lights and overhead stars were still on. I am guessing everyone tries to not float in the tank when they first get it. You just cannot. The epsom salt give you buoyancy like the Dead Sea...don't fight it. I decided to forgo the ear plugs and neck rest and just laid back and floated. Seemed easy enough. 

Eleven from Stranger Things

But what do you do for an hour in the tank? Once I was ready to turn the lights off, I was ready to discover. I made a list of what I didn't want to think of in the tank: work, work, and to do lists. I used some Transcendental Meditation techniques and I have to say that set me on a pretty clear path about what the float tank and sensory deprivation tank was about: self. 

Letting my mind go, I ventured to the purpose of self through my family lineage, felt as if I was traveling down a river, and once realized I thought my eyes were closed but they were really open. My muscles relaxed. My mind wandered. If thoughts wandered to work, I imagined putting thoughts on the shelf, but then they turned into kittens. Your mind is a wonderful thing, friends. The hour sped by.

 As floating guru Michael Hutchison made clear in his book, floating isn't just about being in the tank. Floating benefits also occur for hours and days following a session. 
I've noticed myself paying more attention to details in the sky, in people, and in myself. Physically, the benefits of floating for being a type-A and an athlete are astounding. No more knots in my back and shoulders, quicker recovery time after workouts, and problems don't seem to get me rattled so much. 

Do I recommend floating? Absolutely. If you're claustrophobic or afraid to be in a space without the lights on, you can leave them on.  If you're afraid that you can't go an hour without your phone, then you really need this. You need to get get re-introduced to your mind. 

It's been over a year since I have been floating. I've even tried extended floats. Nothing has helped me mind, body, and soul as much as floating and sensory deprivation have. I am forever indebted to Lift/Next Level Floats in Brooklyn and to my friend who introduced me to this life changing practice. 

This song is always in my mind when I float, because I am in my Blue Room.

Blue Room by U2

November 22, 2004

Many who know me, know my love of the band U2. Yes, their tunes are catchy - but did you ever really listen to them? Their songs are cries for the helpless, modern psalms for the spiritual, and praise for those who stood against oppression. Yes, Vertigo is a cool song, but I am more of a Pride or Running to Stand Still Girl.

I wrote papers on their songs in Dr. Wrabley's classes at Pitt. I was going to use Love Come Tumbling in my movie (when I eventually finish that screenplay). I saw them in concerts and knew every word to every song. U2 became a part of me, their albums the soundtrack to my 20's.

It was 2004 and I was working at the Office of Emergency Management under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was about 6am when the first call from the PD assigned out front, Yeah, there are some trucks that need to block the entrance for the U2 concert tonight. The what? Some more phone calls later and it was confirmed: U2 was playing under the Brooklyn Bridge. I was off for the afternoon, so the cards were in my favor.

Trucks of equipment, a stage, fans began to congregate. I was getting so excited. We would be able to get right up front. But would I meet them? After all these years? Would it happen?

Limos rolled up, was it them? Anticipation...it was Christy Turlington and Ed Burns. I could have called it a day right there. Ed Burns, the man behind the reason why I write, was there to see the show. People that I work with who were not even fans were excited as well. Who wouldn't be, it was a small show to preview U2's new album. We watched as U2 made it over the Manhattan Bridge on a flatbed truck ...and...waited...

Finally, the limo came, it was them. Adam, Larry, the Edge and Bono. In front of me. After all those years. I would be that close.

I had seen U2 perform, and Bono was at the top of his performance. He hadn't sounded that good in years! They opened with Vertigo and went into All Because of You. I remembered at that moment the significance of the date. Michael Hutchence had died on that date seven years prior. Bono and Hutchence were apparently dear friends. 

After about 5 new songs, the Irish Flag came out, I was at the front of the stage, and they took it back to the beginning. Back to The Bottom Line, where it all began for them in NYC. They played Out of Control as if they were four fresh-faced Irishmen from Dublin. It was something I will never forget. The perfect U2 moment...for the time being. 

The show ended and I was waiting around. I was still determined to meet them. What felt like an hour went by and there they were, taking pictures. I was able to get in the back of one, but still not too close. Patience finally paid off. Almost everyone had gone, I was ready to go back for a night tour so I could spare the time. I can't remember who was standing in front of me, but it happened. I met him.

Bono shook my hand. Then I said, you were so on tonight. This show was for Hutch! And then he hugged me. He thanked me. Then he walked away. I am still looking for a picture of that moment. The moment I had been dreaming of for what seemed like an eternity. It was over like that.

Bono wasn't the first celebrity I had even met, but it had the most impact on me. I had yelled at Ethan Hawke, chit chatted with Cyndi Lauper, held flowers for Steve Buscemi and played the umbrella dance with Kevin Bacon on Spring Street. Nothing compared. 

It will be a memory that I will cherish. When I hear those songs I will go back to that chilly November night, the Manhattan skyline in the background.

Vertigo

All Because of You

Miracle Drug

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

City of Blinding Lights

Original of the Species

She's a Mystery to Me

Beautiful Day

I Will Follow

Out of Control

Vertigo(reprise)

Tears Fall Down My Face

Michael Hutchence Memorial - Sydney 2000

27 years ago on November 22nd, the music world lost an enigmatic soul. Michael Kelland Hutchence was more than an 80s pop icon. To his fans, he was a free-spirited artist who helped to change the music and video world. He was a musician, actor, father, husband, brother, and son. And yes, he had his demons, but don't we all? 

Michael will forever be remembered as the sexy bad boy with cinnamon curls and caramelized skin. INXS wasn't a stranger to the Australian pop scene in the early 80's. It really was not until Kick in 1987 that they broke through and became known internationally. But like with any band, it was Michael, the lead singer who got all of the attention. Even today, mention Kirk Pengilly or Andrew Farriss and people will just look at you quizzically. 

From Kylie to Helena to Paula, Michael's exploits were tabloid fodder and paparazzi dollars. Once the star began to fall, everyone wanted to know his next move. His death, shocking and heartbreaking, became even more tragic when Paula Yates also died soon after, leaving their daughter without parents. It is also his death that most will remember. For me, it doesn't matter how he died. He's gone. End of story. 

While I love their earlier albums just as much as Kick, X, or Welcome to Wherever You Are, the X tour and subsequent Live Baby Live at Wembley Stadium in 1991 is when Michael was at the very top of his career. My God, they filled Wembley!  This show and tour was a testament to not just INXS, but to Michael's ability to entertain an entire stadium full of fans. 

His loss was not just felt in the world of his fans but in his music family. The band tried to go on, but the night I saw them in Sydney in 2000 was just not the same. The night I met Bono under the Brooklyn Bridge, which just happened to be November 22nd, we hugged over the memory of Michael. 

But you tore a hole in space
Like a dark star, falls from grace
You burn across the sky
And I would find you wings to fly
And I would catch you
I would catch your fall

 Michael Hutchence and Bono - Fly Away