I don’t think I can add anything to this writing. It’s as if you read my mind right down to the Tinnitus. All those years my parents screamed “ turn it down” drove me to the Koss headphones with the volume set to bleeding ears. Music has always been a marker, a milestone. All the music I have listened to over the years can associated to a time, place, person. I can still remember the day my paternal grandmother had a stroke which she wouldn’t recover from. The first song I heard that day was The Bee Gees, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. Till this day I can’t listen to that song without crying my eyes out. I can visualize everything from that day. The weather, my outfit, the Panasonic radio that was playing the song, my father being inconsolable….What else can transport a person like music? I listen when I’m happy, sad, angry, trying to relive a period in time, trying to remember people long gone, it’s an amazing experience. Without music I truly believe I would be a different person. I long for the days when it was a pissing contest on who had the best stereo sound system. I preferred Macintosh with Klipsch speakers with a Revox reel to reel! Today I have a collection of vinyl and CD’s with nothing to play them on. How sad is that? As much as I I hate to admit it, I’m a streamer but I do listen to albums in their entirety instead of skipping around. A lot of albums can only be understood by doing that.
Well with no further ado, it’s time to find my favorite bands that will remind me of July 4th over the years. First ones up will be Supertramp, followed by Brian Auger, Tom Scott and the LA Express…..so much music, so little time. Thanks again Robert for another trip down memory lane.
A group of friends had the “if you had to lose your sight or hearing” discussion and all of us said we could forfeit our sight because the thought of living in a silent world would be unbearable. The thought of never being able to listen to music was at the top of the list for many, including me!
Good to know. Thanks! Now it’s finding room to put it :)
A friend has a Victrola turntable from Cruthfield, all Bluetooth compatible, which sounds amazing but I love the idea of having a good old fashioned, retro system that you just don’t see very often anymore.
If space is a problem small bookshelf speakers are worth a look and listen. An integrated amp and turntable. You seem to know quality audio. I had Klipsch (Model#?) speakers before I traded them in for my PSB Stratus Gold.
I’ve never heard of those!!! They sound expensive. I remember I guy I dated a hundred years ago bought Canton speakers that cost an arm and a leg back then but they were like a piece of fine furniture. Wonder if the bastard still has them :)
Ha! Canton speaks are new to me. I can't remember what I paid for them but they were not inexpensive. They are great speakers. They are not made any longer. I have a direct input Acurus (model?) amplifier and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and Rega Planet cd player. These components were bought over a period of time. The turntable was the only piece I purchase new.
Now you’re speaking Latin!! Give me a Bang and Olufson, Thorens, Marantz or McIntosh I know what you’re talking about! Wow, would love to have a listen. Living in a townhouse, cranking it up is not an option unless there’s a cop that’s willing to work with you or even maybe give a listen😂
Robert, your ruminations on the music listening experience are always interesting. They touch on many universal topics, everything from collecting to suffering through a concert with a few yahoos plaguing the pleasure (mine was at a John Prine show in Vancouver, where the guy behind me knew - and sang loudly - every word of every song).
Sometimes it's astonishing to consider how one can move from listening to 45's on the crappiest little "record player" (the kind that folded and closed like a small suitcase), to the treasured vinyl, played, Gina reflects in her post below this one, on the best speakers, amplifier, turntable, tape deck that one could afford, only to watch it all dribble away, thanks to downsizing over time, from house to apartment living. That's a lot of ground to cover in one long lifetime (I've just hit 78 trips around the sun this week).
I'm fortunate to have not only immersed myself into listening, but also playing guitar obsessively for more than 60 years, starting as a folkie in the 60's, then blues, then teaching, then jazz, and more recently, as a part-time therapist for people with all manner of disabilities in many settings, including via Zoom (egad!). And finally, to add the cherry on top: introducing my 1-year old grandson and a small crowd of toddlers to music, in weekly sessions, where I play everything from nursery rhymes and Wheels On The Bus, to Beatles and jug band songs, replete with kazoo.
This has been the most joyous of my many musical experiences, as I watch kids who can crawl and stagger about bounce to the tunes I pick, as their moms chat and enjoy the freshly baked cookies that my daughter-in-law, Sam, serves. The sessions last until kids begin to rub their eyes, signalling that it's time to go home and nap - for me too!
Thanks for this, Terry - what a tremendous thing to read and to share! I wish my nephew and niece seemed more interested in music - there's so much I would want to share with them - but they have different interests which I also have: sports, humour, board games, etc.
A stunning meditation on music and life, Robert. Relatable. Familiar. But also graced with humor. The questions you grapple with are ones all music lovers know. I think that is why we listen more, because we can reflect more on why.
Robert I just got an email from Legacy Vinyl and Paul Simon’s, The Quiet Celebration Concert will be released on vinyl October 9. 3 LP set or CD. It’s available for preorder. I guess the film was already released on June 26 on Hulu and Disney +.
"Is the purpose of listening to music to attain and sustain pleasure, to educate oneself, to challenge one’s definition of music in the hopes of continually broadening it, something else or a combination of a whole bunch of different things?"
Nup, not nowadays.
I think the point in 2026 is to film and watch the whole concert via your IPhone - blocking the person behind you's view - so you can post a 30 second clip on social-media showing how smart you were to be at the concert.
Also giving yourself spare time to chat to your friend next to you!
I am always impressed if performers stop the show and say they won't continue until everyone puts their phones down!
As a rule, for me, the phone stays in the pocket when at a show. At the Paul Simon show, photos and videos were not permitted and most resisted the urge although by the encore, there were more phones out.
Nice to hear from you, Piers - been a while. Hope all is well!
Another great piece! It is terrible when people around you at a concert ruin your enjoyment. I experienced that at a Mavericks show in Wpg when most of the crowd left their seats and bopped around jostling us more sedate fans...the Mavericks were a cool, underrated band who has one of the last wide appeal pop singles--"What a Cryin' Shame"--but morphed into a straight dance band in their live shows. Their singer, Raul Malo, passed away last year. He and the band are very underappreciated. Funny that you mention EP doing "Impossible dream" at MSG...very subversive ,singing that to that audience,lol. I'm sure most of the audience wasn't there to hear that.Have a great summer!
It was a good lesson for me to just let others be and tune it out which I mostly did. An open amphitheatre is probably not the best venue for the kind of show that Paul Simon puts on these days but it was still enjoyable and I count myself very lucky that it was the 4th time I have seen him live.
I know of the Mavericks and the limited amount of their music that I heard has been good.
I could see why Elvis would be drawn to 'The Impossible Dream' - a big song of bravado - and even as the version at the Madison Square is a tad rushed, he sings it with everything he had. I also like to think that the subject of the song appealed to him as a spiritual seeker and as an artist trying to express his concept of a wide American music. The shows at the Garden are, I think, the peak of his seventies live recordings. He had something to prove returning to New York and scorched the stage.
Great read Robert! Your love of music and articulation brought me back when I first heard and listened to music. I was at home sick from grade school. My father was playing classical music. The strains of music sort of seeped into my consciousness.
Eliminating "Mean Mr. Mustard" from Abbey Road is like cutting out a portion of Marc Chagall's "I and the Village".
It was the same with me - music was just always around when I was young. The whole conversation about skippable songs on an album is heretical to me - I listen from beginning to end, no exceptions.
I don’t think I can add anything to this writing. It’s as if you read my mind right down to the Tinnitus. All those years my parents screamed “ turn it down” drove me to the Koss headphones with the volume set to bleeding ears. Music has always been a marker, a milestone. All the music I have listened to over the years can associated to a time, place, person. I can still remember the day my paternal grandmother had a stroke which she wouldn’t recover from. The first song I heard that day was The Bee Gees, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart. Till this day I can’t listen to that song without crying my eyes out. I can visualize everything from that day. The weather, my outfit, the Panasonic radio that was playing the song, my father being inconsolable….What else can transport a person like music? I listen when I’m happy, sad, angry, trying to relive a period in time, trying to remember people long gone, it’s an amazing experience. Without music I truly believe I would be a different person. I long for the days when it was a pissing contest on who had the best stereo sound system. I preferred Macintosh with Klipsch speakers with a Revox reel to reel! Today I have a collection of vinyl and CD’s with nothing to play them on. How sad is that? As much as I I hate to admit it, I’m a streamer but I do listen to albums in their entirety instead of skipping around. A lot of albums can only be understood by doing that.
Well with no further ado, it’s time to find my favorite bands that will remind me of July 4th over the years. First ones up will be Supertramp, followed by Brian Auger, Tom Scott and the LA Express…..so much music, so little time. Thanks again Robert for another trip down memory lane.
Thanks, Gina, for sharing about the importance of music. For me, it's essential, life without it is unthinkable.
A group of friends had the “if you had to lose your sight or hearing” discussion and all of us said we could forfeit our sight because the thought of living in a silent world would be unbearable. The thought of never being able to listen to music was at the top of the list for many, including me!
Me too here!
Audiogon.com is a good place to look for audio gear. All of my system comes from vendors on this site.
Good to know. Thanks! Now it’s finding room to put it :)
A friend has a Victrola turntable from Cruthfield, all Bluetooth compatible, which sounds amazing but I love the idea of having a good old fashioned, retro system that you just don’t see very often anymore.
If space is a problem small bookshelf speakers are worth a look and listen. An integrated amp and turntable. You seem to know quality audio. I had Klipsch (Model#?) speakers before I traded them in for my PSB Stratus Gold.
I’ve never heard of those!!! They sound expensive. I remember I guy I dated a hundred years ago bought Canton speakers that cost an arm and a leg back then but they were like a piece of fine furniture. Wonder if the bastard still has them :)
Ha! Canton speaks are new to me. I can't remember what I paid for them but they were not inexpensive. They are great speakers. They are not made any longer. I have a direct input Acurus (model?) amplifier and a Rega Planar 3 turntable and Rega Planet cd player. These components were bought over a period of time. The turntable was the only piece I purchase new.
Now you’re speaking Latin!! Give me a Bang and Olufson, Thorens, Marantz or McIntosh I know what you’re talking about! Wow, would love to have a listen. Living in a townhouse, cranking it up is not an option unless there’s a cop that’s willing to work with you or even maybe give a listen😂
Robert, your ruminations on the music listening experience are always interesting. They touch on many universal topics, everything from collecting to suffering through a concert with a few yahoos plaguing the pleasure (mine was at a John Prine show in Vancouver, where the guy behind me knew - and sang loudly - every word of every song).
Sometimes it's astonishing to consider how one can move from listening to 45's on the crappiest little "record player" (the kind that folded and closed like a small suitcase), to the treasured vinyl, played, Gina reflects in her post below this one, on the best speakers, amplifier, turntable, tape deck that one could afford, only to watch it all dribble away, thanks to downsizing over time, from house to apartment living. That's a lot of ground to cover in one long lifetime (I've just hit 78 trips around the sun this week).
I'm fortunate to have not only immersed myself into listening, but also playing guitar obsessively for more than 60 years, starting as a folkie in the 60's, then blues, then teaching, then jazz, and more recently, as a part-time therapist for people with all manner of disabilities in many settings, including via Zoom (egad!). And finally, to add the cherry on top: introducing my 1-year old grandson and a small crowd of toddlers to music, in weekly sessions, where I play everything from nursery rhymes and Wheels On The Bus, to Beatles and jug band songs, replete with kazoo.
This has been the most joyous of my many musical experiences, as I watch kids who can crawl and stagger about bounce to the tunes I pick, as their moms chat and enjoy the freshly baked cookies that my daughter-in-law, Sam, serves. The sessions last until kids begin to rub their eyes, signalling that it's time to go home and nap - for me too!
Thanks for this, Terry - what a tremendous thing to read and to share! I wish my nephew and niece seemed more interested in music - there's so much I would want to share with them - but they have different interests which I also have: sports, humour, board games, etc.
Your music colletion looks fantastic. I hear you on the tinnitus as I have it too and prefer to counter it with music.
People talking during films or plays and singing during concerts, arrrrgh!
Always a pleasure to read your posts, Robert.
Thanks, Ellen!
A stunning meditation on music and life, Robert. Relatable. Familiar. But also graced with humor. The questions you grapple with are ones all music lovers know. I think that is why we listen more, because we can reflect more on why.
Thanks, Emm! Very glad this resonated with you!
That is very true
Robert I just got an email from Legacy Vinyl and Paul Simon’s, The Quiet Celebration Concert will be released on vinyl October 9. 3 LP set or CD. It’s available for preorder. I guess the film was already released on June 26 on Hulu and Disney +.
I knew about the film but not that it was going to be released an album - must-buy for me. Thank you for the head's up!
"Is the purpose of listening to music to attain and sustain pleasure, to educate oneself, to challenge one’s definition of music in the hopes of continually broadening it, something else or a combination of a whole bunch of different things?"
Nup, not nowadays.
I think the point in 2026 is to film and watch the whole concert via your IPhone - blocking the person behind you's view - so you can post a 30 second clip on social-media showing how smart you were to be at the concert.
Also giving yourself spare time to chat to your friend next to you!
I am always impressed if performers stop the show and say they won't continue until everyone puts their phones down!
Powerful stuff.
As a rule, for me, the phone stays in the pocket when at a show. At the Paul Simon show, photos and videos were not permitted and most resisted the urge although by the encore, there were more phones out.
Nice to hear from you, Piers - been a while. Hope all is well!
Another great piece! It is terrible when people around you at a concert ruin your enjoyment. I experienced that at a Mavericks show in Wpg when most of the crowd left their seats and bopped around jostling us more sedate fans...the Mavericks were a cool, underrated band who has one of the last wide appeal pop singles--"What a Cryin' Shame"--but morphed into a straight dance band in their live shows. Their singer, Raul Malo, passed away last year. He and the band are very underappreciated. Funny that you mention EP doing "Impossible dream" at MSG...very subversive ,singing that to that audience,lol. I'm sure most of the audience wasn't there to hear that.Have a great summer!
..
It was a good lesson for me to just let others be and tune it out which I mostly did. An open amphitheatre is probably not the best venue for the kind of show that Paul Simon puts on these days but it was still enjoyable and I count myself very lucky that it was the 4th time I have seen him live.
I know of the Mavericks and the limited amount of their music that I heard has been good.
I could see why Elvis would be drawn to 'The Impossible Dream' - a big song of bravado - and even as the version at the Madison Square is a tad rushed, he sings it with everything he had. I also like to think that the subject of the song appealed to him as a spiritual seeker and as an artist trying to express his concept of a wide American music. The shows at the Garden are, I think, the peak of his seventies live recordings. He had something to prove returning to New York and scorched the stage.
Enjoyable read, thanks Robert.
Thank you, Paul, for the kind words!
Robert sorry for hijacking the conversation to audio gear.
No worries at all - glad to provide a space for talk about audio!
Great read Robert! Your love of music and articulation brought me back when I first heard and listened to music. I was at home sick from grade school. My father was playing classical music. The strains of music sort of seeped into my consciousness.
Eliminating "Mean Mr. Mustard" from Abbey Road is like cutting out a portion of Marc Chagall's "I and the Village".
It was the same with me - music was just always around when I was young. The whole conversation about skippable songs on an album is heretical to me - I listen from beginning to end, no exceptions.