28: Decades

Before I get started on this week’s music posting, I’m going to inform you of yet another stylistic change to the Alzblog. I’ve been spending too much time being angry. I don’t have all the time in the world left, and that time is better spent on other things. I’m going to drop - unless it is pertinent - my political rants and move back into medicine and music. Politics are a distraction right now, with the amount of changes coming from the administration’s statements vs. reality. For every Gaza statement there’s a Musk takeover. For every Canada annexation, there’s an unqualified person being elevated to powerful positions within our rapidly decaying government. And I just can’t do it anymore. I’d rather spend my time researching medical advances and reporting on good things in my life. If you want excellent information - far better than anything I could say - read Letters From An American, by historian Heather Cox Richardson. Richardson definitely leans leftwards, but her reporting is fact based (and cited) and appears to examine each issue from all sides. There are plenty more excellent, unbiased reporters out there. Find them, research them, and learn from them. I read a thread on a friend’s Facebook wall this morning - She made a comment expressing fear about what was happening around her, and someone poo-pooed her. It turns out that he is an uninformed voter (had never, proudly, heard of Project 2025), and after being pressed, admitted that he really had no idea what was going on. This is what’s got to stop - and what I was, I suppose, attempting to defeat. But this is not to my benefit. And this blog is meant to be to my benefit, so I’m backing down a bit. We’ll see how long that holds water.

From a medical standpoint, I’m reading more interesting information about studies being done with GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Mounjaro) on Alzheimer’s patients. I take Mounjaro for Diabetes control, and I can honestly say that since I started, I do feel better. Of course I’ve got no way to quantify this. I’m also taking Leqembi and Lion's Mane while exercising my mind - all of which supposedly will help too. I’ve also read that drugs like Cialis and Viagra might have a positive effect on long term Alzheimer’s prevention. Since I’ve already got the disease, and there is no proof of either of these drugs having any curative effect, I guess the possibility of me running around with a 4 hour hard-on and remembering every second of it is fairly slim!

Today we’re moving back, after our celebration of Black History Month, to the promised decade-by-decade exploration of the music of Steven Wilson. I’m starting the aughts with the excellent No-Man album called Returning Jesus from 2001. Returning Jesus is a transitional album, straddling the line between the pop excursions of their early work (like the previously discussed Flowermouth) and the near-ambient beauty of Together We’re Stranger. There are moments of supreme beauty on this album - chord changes that are perfect - words that speak from the soul, like All That You Are, which to me - are the heartbreaking words spoken to a dying lover. These lyrics are combined with a simple arpeggio based guitar line before building up to a climax including drums and organ and strings. It’s the final song on the original album, and stands with the best of Wilson’s beautiful and melancholic last tracks. The first track, however, starts with nothing but a discordant violin and strings, building in intensity before the sparse lyrics, trumpet (played by Scottish legend Ian Carr, who died from Alzheimer’s related causes in 2009), fractured acoustic guitar and upright bass. More arpeggios and some static usher in No Defense, which also incorporates some tasteful slide guitar and the sound of a full band (all played by Wilson). This is the last pop record from No-Man, who headed further into abstraction and lush ambience with Together… and its follow-up Schoolyard Ghosts before mostly disappearing for ten years. Overall, this was a completely engaging listen (as will be most of the Wilson material covered here), with great music, lyrics and production values. The light kit was right in sync, and my morning was a good one.

The very next year, 2002, Porcupine Tree came roaring back with a vengeance. A new drummer and a major label record deal re-invigorated the band, who headed right off into the harder arena of near-metal music. In Absentia starts with the near perfect 1-2 punch of Blackest Eyes segueing into Trains. It’s hard to fathom, on listening to this album under the lights in the darkened room, how far Wilson advanced as a songwriter for Porcupine Tree between this album and the one previous, Lightbulb Sun from 2000. Musically, this album has so many elements going on that it’s extraordinary. There are harmonies that could rival the best of CS&N (&Y) on the track Lips Of Ashes, crunchy metal guitar, electronica and soaring rock craftsmanship.

Lyrically, the themes of the album relate mostly to the psychology of being a person on the fringes of society - in all aspects. Whether it be the inner thoughts of a serial killer in Blackest Eyes:

A walk in the woods and I will try

Something under the trees that made you cry

It's so erotic when your makeup runs

Or a musician struggling with the corporate nature of the business in The Sound Of Musak:

Soul gets squeezed out

Edges get blunt

Demographic

Gives what you want

[Chorus]

One of the wonders of the world is going down

It's going down I know

It's one of the blunders of the world that no-one cares

No-one cares enough

Or my favorite track on the album, Prodigal, which is simply the lamentations of a shut in. The absolute beauty of this track is in the chorus, which repeats three times, each time with some subtle additions, that end up being an incredibly powerful musical and lyrical statement:

Rain keeps crawling down the glass (Pull yourself together)

The good times never seem to last (No, it's not so bad)

Close your eyes and let the thought pass (Close your eyes and let it pass)

For several Porcupine Tree albums (and No-Man as well) Wilson has chosen to end with the most depressing song he had in his arsenal. In this case it’s Heartattack In A Layby. I doubt I need to explain that (except perhaps to say that in the UK, where Wilson is from, a Layby is a pullout on the side of the road). I’m not going to clip a part here, because you should just listen to the song to get the gist.

For the band, this record launched them from being a cult psychedelic band to a full fledged powerhouse of hard progressive pop music. As a long time follower, I witnessed the fan-base change and saw the attendance at concerts double, triple and then expand exponentially. And they did this with virtually no airplay (radio) or label support (despite being on a subsidiary of the famous Atlantic Records). This is a band that let their music do the talking, and while they lived, they did it really well.

Today I listened to the first album by a duo consisting of Steven Wilsonand Israeli singer Aviv Geffen. The Duo is called Blackfield, and their first album, artfully titled Blackfield came out in 2004. Musically, this is not my favorite of Wilson's vast output, but this is the best of the six Blackfield albums. This is a pop-art-rock record. (Whatever the hell that means). As opposed to much of Wilson’s work which leans toward the bombastic and excessive, this album is loaded with short, radio friendly songs, mostly clocking in around the 4 minute mark. Many of the songs, I’ve been led to understand, are simple reworkings of other, older, Geffen material. I tried out a few Geffen albums without Wilson, and didn’t find them to my immediate taste so can’t really comment on his other output. I do know that Geffen leans to the left politically and deferred out from the required IDF conscription. Wilson’s mark is all over this album though, with his penchant for harmonies, big guitar breaks and depressing lyrics, however, simply because I’m not a huge fan of the 4 minute pop song, I don’t listen to this very often. There’s no doubting the quality of the release though. Excellent playing, singing and production throughout. Fans of the genre should gravitate to this if they’ve not heard it yet. For me though, it doesn’t hold my attention enough.

Wendy mentioned in a comment a few posts ago that when we were in Jordan, we awoke every day to a song on my iPod. It was the opening tune to Blackfield’s second album, called Once, and it is probably my favorite tune by these guys. My alarm clock slowly raised the volume as it woke you, and worked perfectly with the song. We did this routine for quite a while with no changes.

In other news, Jonas proposed to Pickles (whose name apparently, is actually Madeline!) yesterday. She accepted, of course, and we are thrilled for them. I Facetimed with them from the restaurant and they were both just so happy. (I’ve also now seen the actual proposal video and it was super sweet. My kid nailed it!) It was really gratifying. We’re looking forward to a wedding in the near future, and hopefully some little ones running about for me to corrupt before I become corrupted myself.

Porcupine Tree released two more albums, in 2005 and 2007 that found the band, while writing and performing excellent music, seemingly stuck in a rut. There’s only so much one can do in the progressive metal arena, and the band had found themselves pigeonholed by their fan’s expectations. The new crop of fans that I mentioned above, were not discerning listeners like the first adapters, but were rock-n-rollers who didn’t cotton to change well. No-Man, who continued to release albums, was so far removed from the Porcupine Tree matrix that many people didn’t even know of their existence. So, it was no real surprise that Wilson released an album in 2008 under his own name called Insurgentes.

Insurgentes is the most experimental album in the entire Wilson oeuvre to date. This is an artist trying everything new, from avant garde to electronica to pop and other forms of audio experiments. Unlike everything else released by Wilson to date, there is no flow or cohesion to this record. It is simply a collection of songs. A true example of the range of his musical mind. For that, it is stunning - but as a listen it is somewhat less fulfilling. Certainly not the place to start in the canon. There are some wonderful pieces of music to be sure. Wilson is incapable of being bad at what he’s trying. Even if you don’t like the experiment, there’s no denying the overall quality. Because of the great variance of the music, this was a dynamic lighting experience. The album leaps from quiet to raucous, often within the same song. The track Get All That You Deserve, for example starts as a beautiful piano ballad, and ends with dark electronic mayhem. That audio destruction is followed by, again, a beautiful and depressing last track - the title track, which is as good as anything that Wilson has yet committed to wax. Lyrically, It speaks to the state of Wilson’s musical journey, describing the album quite well:

Now out of debt, you speak in tongues

And out of breath, your work is done

And your dream, absolves

And your path, dissolve

It also speaks to the state of Wilson’s best known project, Porcupine Tree, who would release one more album in 2009, tour the world, playing their largest venues to date, including a triumphant final show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and dissolve in 2010 ending the very prolific decade on a note of uncertainty.

I’ve become quite interested in the Vibe, (the FAQ page is here) which claims to use PEMF - Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields to alter cell structure. They specifically mention working for Alzheimer’s (along with sleep issues, blood pressure, insulin issues and more). While it seems like an easy opportunity for scammers, there is a boatload of research being done on the varied uses of PEMFs. We already know I’m experimenting with sound and light, with (I think) very positive effects, so it’s well within my wheelhouse to add this to my regime. I’ve also reached out to a group conducting a clinical trial on PEMF and Alzheimer’s, so maybe this will be my next experiment. I’ve written the Vibe folks for more info as well. If anyone knows anything about PEMF, or knows anyone who’s experimented with it for any ailment at all, I’d be interested in knowing their story. As I’ve said before, I’m not taking this diagnosis lying down!

Thanks for reading!

Dy