Another noticeable aspect of the song is that it’s not sung by Jerry Garcia. In 1970, the Dead recorded two classic, full-length albums: Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. My first observation was the year in which it was recorded. A big part of this turnaround is due to listening more closely to the song “Box of Rain”. But I eventually got to appreciating the Dead without even going to a single live show - the experience that they’re obviously most known for. I would just roll my eyes and continue on with my Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana. In college, this bafflement turned into cynicism.
In high school, I was completely puzzled as to why the small nucleus of deadheads at my school loved these guys so much. It took me a long time to get there myself. Many music fans will just never get the Dead. While synthesizers and Oakey’s vocals and songwriting gave The Human League its identity, its songs like “The Lebanon” that make me wonder what could’ve been had the band experimented a bit more on guitar. It feels like the cities are on fire when you play the track. The song looks back at the Lebanese civil war. It’s dominated by that incendiary guitar riff, relegating the synth chords to a rhythmic role. “The Lebanon” flies in the face of conventional synth-pop music. It is my favorite Human League song by far. But that’s what we have with “The Lebanon”, the lowest-charting single from the band in the U.S., which also failed to achieve the same success as the Dare singles. Most fans don’t think of scorching guitar riffs or political statements first. When music fans think of The Human League, some of the first traits that undoubtedly come up are Phil Oakey’s princely vocals, the shimmery synth chops and the call-and-response duo of Oakey and Sulley. Sons are like birds flying always over the mountain.” “So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten. “Upward Over the Mountain” is two parts assurance, one part wallow, somehow capturing just the right balance. And the distinctive slide solo that appears midway through the song, injecting a bright, optimistic disposition over the song. The rhythm acoustic guitar that seems like it was made for fireside singalongs. The melody and whispery vocals highly reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens. If you ever need to be convinced that less is more, the song “Upward Over the Mountain” is all the proof you need. Iron & Wine’s debut album follows a similar path, recorded initially as a demo on a 4-track, and stayed that way all the way through the album release. Some of my favorite albums of well-known established artists are the ones that take a minimalist approach. Production – or a lack of it – sometimes can be the defining statement of an album. “Walking back to you is the hardest thing that I can do.” And once I’m on, i don’t ever want to come down. It seems to swirl around indefinitely in a hazy slo-mo daze. But “Just Like Honey” was more like a carousel of bliss. “Head On” was like a demon-possessed roller coaster – and the thing wouldn’t stop.
My introduction to the band immediately gave me the feeling that they wanted to take me on a ride. My favorite radio station WDRE (formerly WLIR) was giving the frenetic, electric “Head On” decent airplay and I just couldn’t get enough. I discovered The Jesus and Mary Chain a good four years after “Just Like Honey” was released. This is especially true with the 80’s anthem “Just Like Honey”. The musical arrangements and instrumentation can be just as powerful. But words aren’t always necessary as we’ve seen throughout music history – from Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” masterpiece to The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive”. The lyrics, of course, play a big role in this. And sometimes they prompt rather extreme emotions, like sheer euphoria or utter outrage. Pick a band starting with the day’s assigned alphabet letter and then choose a song from that band. For the month of October, I’m taking the #OctAtoZBandChallenge challenge.
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