13 May 2013 (Day 133) – Acquired Musical Tastes

I’m always on the lookout for new musical experiences.  By that, I don’t necessarily mean that I want to hear the latest rock, punk or blues sensation.  Given a choice, I tend to choose something different as you can never tell where this will eventually lead you.  Sure, sometimes you find yourself at a deal end, but this is infinitely better to just hearing increasing quantities of the same type of material.  This, I fear, results in stagnation and eventually, irrelevancy. 

It’s also lead me over the years to never dismiss something completely out of hand on first listen.  From what I’ve learnt, you sometimes hear material a long time before you’ve acquired the knowledge, framework, context, call it what you like, necessary to appreciate it.  There are acts and musical styles in my collection that I positively used to hate but quite like now.  I’ve also realised that there is something great to be found in the catalogues of every artist and genre, if you’re prepared to dig for it.  Whether you’re prepared to spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money delving through such things as, in my instance - 70s disco, boy bands or today’s auto tune acts - though, is a completely different issue.

And then there is the acquired musical taste.  To my ears, this is something that presents a potential challenge because you’ve obtained or chosen to listen to something with the very real possibility that you’ll hate it. Then having listened and not completely dismissed it, you’re left with a dilemma.  Should I pay it again?  Buy/listen to more of the same in the hope I’ll like it?  My attempts at reconciling that can take years and so, for me, the key is never to sell, donate or delete the music.  You’ll just never know when you’ve acquired that taste.

(# 356) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – The King Of Sufi Qawwali (compilation 2006)

My first exposure to Khan was when he appeared on Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to The Last Temptation Of Christ and later on when he performed two tracks with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack.  On both of these collaborations Khan, or more appropriate his expressive voice, was used to provide an Eastern flavour to Western musical constructs.  Listening to him in his original context – Qawwali Sufi - is an entirely different affair.  From what I can make out, this is music associated with Islam and is played mostly on harmoniums. Lyrics to all the tracks are translated into English in the accompanying booklet relate to recognisable to anyone such as love and faith and do not appear to be associated with any extremist teachings.  This two disc compilation is said to represent some of his very best live and studio recordings, but I’m in no position to judge the quality of the material against other acts in the genre.  To me it is the juxtaposition of his voice against the instruments that creates an droning quality that is quite effective, although I’d doubt whether I’d need to buy any more of his releases.

(# 357) Stanley Clarke – School Days (1976)

Jazz rock fusion.  Now there’s a phrase that strikes fear into the heart of many a listener.  On the surface you’d think that these two genres would “fuse” quite well.  After all, a lot of the best rock is improvised on the spot either live or in the studio just like jazz.  And yet, for so many, the equation jazz + rock = wankery.   This is the album that marks the border consisting of 6 fairly disciplined tracks, Clarke eschewing most opportunities to turn his electric bass into the main soloing tool. (If anything, the album is dominated by the keyboards of David Sancious, Roy Bittan’s predecessor in Springsteen’s E Street Band.)  The first half of the album – the title track, Quiet Afternoon and The Dancer – is pretty effective being more rock than jazz with the emphasis reversed for the remainder.  Whether it inspires me to get more music in the same vein is debatable bit it’s definitely worth the odd listen.