"Pray Tell Me That I'm Free To Ride" Part One - (Great Big) Seeing Every Reason Why In 'Fortune's Favour' Videos

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Videos of Great Big Sea in the studio recording Fortune's Favour and filming the Walk On The Moon video   (from Canada.com)

Hangman, hangman, upon your face a smile,
Pray tell me that I'm free to ride,
Ride for many mile, mile, mile. - Gallows Pole, Trad. arr. Jimmy Page & Robert Plant

A great deal could be said about all that's there to be seen (and heard) in this batch of "Great Big Sea Making Fortune's Favour" video segments, and I am very tempted to try my best to say as much of it as I possibly can. But there really are times to let a thing speak for itself, even more so to let a group of people speak for themselves. These videos show this particular group of people as the men (and the band) they truly are - not all of who and what they are, of course, but a good deal thereof, so much so that I wonder at times if they realise just how much it is they are revealing of themselves and the dynamics of their band to those who will actually see what is taking place before their eyes. There are moments in these video segments which are in turn foolish, illuminating, touching, irritating, thoughtful, charming, raunchy, thought-provoking, endearing, worrisome, amusing, sweet, and, on a few occasions, acutely painful. As are the moments, so too are the men. 

The glimpse of reality here is so deadly clear that there's scant need for further comment. All that's left to do would be to draw attention, willing or otherwise, to specific moments, which would be more than a little like pointing out the window of a moving car at all the fascinating sights to see along the highway - which is to say that it would be futile. If the other passengers have any desire to see those sights, they are quite capable of looking out the window and beholding them on their own. If they do not have that desire, no amount of pointing or prodding is going to persuade them to see anything they have no interest in seeing.

So I think I will let the videos, and the men, do the speaking to whomever it is who might be listening, and instead limit my own comments to a bit of this and that: It was wonderful to finally see Alan at the piano after having waited such a long time for that sight; I agree with Alan's creative ethic of diligent excellence, and when he was discussing that, he reminded me of Russell Crowe, most of all he reminded me of how Russell's band (which included one Alan Doyle) played their shows in Australia; I have never in my life, will never in my life, ask any person who has told me they are sorry if they know what it is they are sorry for, though I have been asked that question..and, yes, by a woman; those have to be two of the most adorable beagles I have ever seen, and the way they so confidently expect nothing less than total love reflects very well on the fellow who is their Best Friend; some things in this beautiful life, including but not limited to the Rock Legends poster, are exactly as straight as they need to be; I loved the song  - Dear Old Town, perhaps -  that played in the background during the codpiece (sexophone?) and Newfoundland contraception foolery; and even though in a million years it would have never occurred to me that GBS would not only cover Led Zeppelin, but that they would do a cover of Zeppelin's version of Gallows Pole, still, I think it is an absolutely perfect, a brutally and relentlessly perfect, song for them to cover - the ragged and rusty edge of the same hard truth that was the inspiration for Dancing As Fast As I Can or even Straight To Hell, perhaps - and the song (as well as the guitar work) is clearly going to kick some serious ass.  More and more, I am thinking this CD is going to be an amazing work, maybe even a Great Big Seminal work. And if Murray's bass-playing really does have the power to cause that effect with Alan's fly, then all I can say is...Way to go, Murray, and please keep up the good work. 

Oh yes, one more comment that needs to be made before I put up a short burst of screen captures from a few of the video segments of the creation of the Hawksely Workman-produced Fortune's Favour:  Dear God. what a gorgeous man.  Not very articulate, granted, but given the sight to behold in this first screen cap, no apologies at all from me for becoming so suddenly tongue-tied.

And this one has a similar effect.

Just a few more for now; I've got a few really nice ones of Bob from the interview segment I'll put up later, along with some of Sean too.

And to end as I began.

At one point in a video segment, Alan insists that "it needs to be lovely".  Lovely, it most certainly is.

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ETA: Classy-looking website re-design over on www.gbs.com in advance of the new CD's release. Even better is this track list (and liner notes, of sorts) to be found on the site's Fortune's Favour  page:

• 1.  Love Me Tonight
• 2.  Walk On The Moon
• 3.  England
• 4.  Here and Now
• 5.  Long Lost Love
• 6.  Oh Yeah
• 7.  Banks of Newfoundland
• 8.  Dream to Live
• 9.  Company of Fools
• 10.  Hard Case
• 11.  Rocks of Merasheen
• 12.  Dance Dance
• 13.  Heart of Stone
• 14.  Straight to Hell

Looking very, very good, even with what appears to be the loss of Gallows Pole, which I'll have to hope to hear live at shows, I suppose.  And I just noticed that in the home page player, not only can you hear Love Me Tonight, but Here And Now is also there to listen to. Kris was absolutely right: I do think this song is great, so much so that I'm off to spend some more time lost in the pure pleasure and excitement of new music coming from my favourite source.

Comments

[That Chip Guy]

"Here and Now" is one of the best songs I've ever heard.

[Laura]

I love the new songs! This CD is going to be fantastic. But no Zep? Shite. Could they have changed the name? Hard Case? Maybe? Or added it to Straight To Hell? If not I hope they do it live too. It sounded great on the vid.

Do you know which songs are Sean's beyond Merasheen? I love Alan's songs but I want Seannie too!!

Bleh on the gbs.com stuff. I can't believe you have a good word for the assholes who manage it. I don't have any interest in watching Sean get turned into the latest Great Big Clown. You never liked it when Alan was stuck with the comic relief role. Did you read the site bios? Bad on me for taking him seriously, I guess.

Alan's codpiece is sexy (so is the ripped shirt, sex bomb) but I don't think much of Sean's tool. That and soda in his eyeball, is this man into pain or something?! I swear to god the lot of them act like teenagers don't they?

You really truly never asked the sorry question? Jeez, I sure do, kids and hubby get the third degree all time time. I learned at my mother's feet. :D You apologize to me, you better be ready to tell me chapter and verse what your apologizing for. None of this "I'm sorry (for whatever the hell it is your pissed about this time)" for me. LOL!

I watched all the videos a couple of times to see what you meant. Yeah there really is a lot there, more than I'm picking up too probably. They aren't easy men, are they? But they make great music.

L.

[Jenn]

"Here & Now" and "Love Me Tonight" could both be big hits as single releases. Wow for everything I've heard so far from the album. Every song so far has been great! Can you imagine how great the show is going to be this next tour? :D

I sure wish Alan would do some shirt ripping on stage! The boy looks gooooooood!! :P

[Christina]

The songs and videos pack quite a punch, don't they? Wow.

Here and Now is breathtaking. I've been listening to that one and Love Me Tonight over and over. The combination of the two songs playing one after the other is deadly- need and uncertainty and determination and awareness of mortality all in one exquisitely human loop.

And as if all that weren't enough, we have a spectacularly ripped open shirt that reveals an incredibly sexy chest, and a discussion of the importance of excellence that reveals an even sexier brain.

Total sensory overload.

[lynda]

I've been waiting to put these comments up for when I have time to respond and it has not been happening. So here they are, and I will be back some time after the game. In a really happy mood over the final score, I hope.

[Kath]

I really like all I've heard so far too. I wish I could have been at Atlantic City to hear The Rocks Of Merasheen. I'm wondering what else is traitiditional vs original on "Fortune's Favour". "The Banks Of Newfoundland" is trad, right? When I searched Google I got two different songs with that same title.

The videos are very revealing, in several senses of that word!

I don't mean to butt in but I think Laura's being a little hard on Sean. I'm glad to hear something from him no matter what. I may not be able to stomach the squees that follow after but I still like hearing from him.

Did you notice Alan's pre 2006 FTR's are gone from the site now? Are you going to put them up in full now on the blog links? Did you happen to save the old gBS newsletters too?

[lynda]

OK, now that I'm a bit less cranky than I was post-game last night...

Kath, so far for sure there are the two trad tunes you've mentioned on Fortune's Favour - my guess is that they will do the Regatta's "Up The Pond" version ("You bully boys of Liverpool") rather than the "Oh ye may bless your happy lots" version - and I think that is it for the trad this time around. Which is consistent with what they did on Something Beautiful; and before any trad-lover decides to criticise the tally, please recall the makeup of The Hard & The Easy. To every thing there is a season...

The Rocks Of Merasheen sounded great in AC. I hope that Sean's in the mood to keep right on doing that song in the customary GT spot on the set list. It sounds fresh and exciting and new and, at least at this one show, he appeared to be enjoying himself quite a bit performing it.

"Revealing". Very apt choice of words, Kath. Good writing. Absolutely (and beautifully) revealing. More, please.

I'm going back and responding to the comments here in order, which means Laura's concerns are still ahead, but for now I'll just say I'm glad to be hearing from Sean these days too. As long as he's doing what he chooses to do and is alright with it, I'm not going to let who else is responding in what manner play any role in the matter - an approach I have learned via necessity when it comes to Alan's interactions.

Kath, there's no need to apologise for expressing your opinion about what somebody else says here. As far as I'm concerned, any of you folks can talk directly to each other here and as long as nobody's getting personal about it or says they'd rather not have that happen, it's alright by me.

Yes, I checked Alan's FTRs and noticed there is no longer anything before 2006. Sometimes I think OCC wants the fans to believe there was no GBS before OCC began running their website, nothing of any real importance before they took control of things. I have Alan's older FTRs saved; 2002 is already up on that blog link in the full text, and I'll put the text of 2003 and 2004 up too if they don't pull their heads out of their arses and put those FTRs back up on the official site. I'll give it a few weeks. They might be planning to bring all or most of the old content back and just be taking their sweet time in doing so.

Sorry to say, I never saved the old Newsletters, so I hope they bring them back or somebody else did save them and puts them up some place. There was some really good stuff in those Newsletters.

Christina, I do know what you mean by total sensory overload. So much to take in all at once. I'm finding that listening to all three of those new songs - Walk, Tonight, and Here And Now - is a little overwhelming; add in all there is to be seen in the videos and it becomes more than just a little overwhelming. There are times when a heart gets filled to the bursting point, and that's the effect all of this is having on me.

More about Here And Now when I work my way back up to Chip's comment, but now is the perfect time for wholehearted agreement with your definition of "sexy" - both inside and out, which is as gloriously sexy as it gets. He's overwhelming all on his own, in all of his many aspects.

Jenn, good point about how excellent both Love Me Tonight and Here And Now would be as single releases. I'm still thinking the same about Straight To Hell and Oh Yeah, based on the songs themselves, even before hearing the final studio versions.

It's a very good thing to have a lot of songs on your CD be good "singles" too, a very smart approach given how the music business works these days. A lot of people do not bother with buying a whole CD now; instead, they'll buy individual songs off of iTunes or Rhapsody or whatever. I'm not too crazy about the trend (my own favourite song off of Something Beautiful happens to be Track #11, which might have never made it onto a more "mp3-friendly" album, and on TH&TE it's French Shore I most love, another doubtful candidate for iTunes Big-Seller), but any artists who want to stay alive in the biz need to acknowledge that trend and work within it. To wind up making such spectacular music while working within such a trend is a grand accomplishment.

These songs are going to make for a splendid live show, though some of them are sounding as if they might be quite a challenge to pull off live. They've got their work cut out for them, for sure. I'm really excited about the congas on Here And Now, those and the marching snare. I hope Kris gets to bring all of his toys along. I'd dearly love to see Alan at the piano live too, but that might be asking for too much to be taken along on the road. And then there are those orchestral bells...how cool it would be to see those done live. Maybe most of all, I want to hear Here And Now performed in a big arena or a huge rink...maybe they will do it at Molson or Bluesfest, or maybe Gander. God, that would be spectacular.

Speaking personally, any ripping off of clothing at all Alan might feel inspired to do at any place and any time would be perfectly alright with me. "Gooooooooood" is another excellent adjective. You folks are writing circles around me.

Laura, you are nothing if not honest. Alright, first things first:

Yes, this is going to be a great CD. So far, Alan is right on track for his excellent song/excellent lead vocal theory to be proved absolutely true. No, Hard Case is not a re-titled Gallows Pole, and I seriously doubt even they'd be so cheeky as to re-title a Zeppelin tune. I guess there's a chance they might add part of Gallows Pole onto another tune (Straight To Hell would be a great choice, topically and positionally on the CD), or it could be a hidden track maybe, a la Beggarman. Or it is simply another tune that didn't make the final cut, and I will keep on hoping to catch it at a show (with a promise to video it if I do and can).

I'm not sure about all of Sean's songs, but we do know that Merasheen and England are his to sing, and my suspicion is that Banks Of Newfoundland will be his too. I'm very nearly sure Hard Case and Heart of Stone are also Sean's tunes, given who did the writing for those songs.

I'm equally nearly-sure that Dance, Dance is Alan's song, and I think there's a good chance that Dream To Live is the tune we can hear Alan singing in the background of the one video (the song I called Dear Old Town).

So that leaves Long Lost Love and Company Of Fools as more or less complete unknowns and not-yet-guessed. Long Lost Love sure sounds like a SeanSong title to me, while Company of Fools sounds more like Alan, though if there were a BobSong on this CD, that would be a good title for one of his too.

Combining all of that fact and speculation into an only-semi-reliable brew, I come up with maybe 6 or so songs sung by Sean, with the best bets being England, Merasheen, Hard Case, Heart Of Stone, and maybe Banks Of Newfoundland (I can hear Alan singing that one too, as well as Bob...and it might be a true "group tune"). Those are my best guesses, Laura.

I don't really give much of a shit about anything gbs.com does or does not do, or who they are and what they are like, so long as they are doing a good job at promoting GBS, which is what they are being paid to do. So far, the site design, as well as the branching out into Facebook and Twitter and iLike and Myspace, is something that makes GBS look good - they look professional and on top of the market. The new site looks good, it loads well (even on my shitty dialup), and it has the potential to draw new eyeballs and the wallets that follow along after those eyeballs. Good enough for me. I'm not fussy.

I still say - and will keep right on saying - that Sean McCann is not going to be forced into doing something he does not choose to do. He wrote his own bio on the official site...they all wrote their own bios (not sure if Murray wrote that bit about baring his penis that was so hastily - and idiotically - edited out...that part sounded way more like Alan had written it). So Alan wants to be known as the musical catalyst he truly is, Bob wants to emphasise his writing chops, and Sean...wants to be seen as a happy child. After seeing Sean for a very long time playing the role of Unhappy Child, I am delighted to see him take on the part of Happy Child.

And the tongue-in-cheek tone of his bio piece is not all that far removed from the band bio (Bob-written, I am assuming), with its "electrified Alan Doyle" who is "born to burn". Humour and whimsy mixed with fact and importance. Just don't get me going on that "forged from the loins" metaphor. Ouch and ouch again.

I'm a total sucker for animals who treats her cats - and dogs, when I have them - way more like family members than pets (ask anyone who travels with me about how I talk to the cats on the phone, or how I make up songs about them - or ask David how bloody many pictures I take of them), so you won't get any criticism out of me in regard to the DogBlog. I love the idea. I can easily see starting up a JesseBlog to give my pissy cat a chance to bitch to the wide world about his very own abandonment issues.

Actually, it's quite a writing challenge, to do it all from the persona of a pup; I'll be interested to see how Sean brings it off. It could be the first time in the history of the GBS site that a multiple-identity persona was used for a non-hurtful purpose. "He" might even be responsible for a few of his brothers and sisters finding their way out of shelters too. Way to go, Tosh.

And if it's the Twitter thing that's still bugging you, I hope you noticed that Sean recently made it pretty darn clear that there is one TwitterSean for fans (Person A) and another TwitterSean for friends and family (Person B). Or vice-versa. What you read on his public-accessible Twitter page is exactly like what you read in Alan's or Bob's journals: public content put there for public purposes, reflections of their chosen public personae, personae who are a part of, but not at all the sum total of, the men doing the writing.

Sean's chosen to show a sweet side of himself in his current public persona, for the time being at least (the purring cat is always poised on the edge of a deadly swipe with gouging claws); I really don't get why it is some people are having as much trouble with this as they seem to be having. I think he's a very appealing Sweet Man/Happy Child. Come to think of it, the Happy Child is always poised on the edge of the Howling Tantrum. Things could get quite interesting.

The comparison to Alan and how he has been perceived by fans really doesn't wash with me, not as things stand at present at least, and I hope it never does in the future either. You know, I spent the first six months or so around GBS totally befuddled by that perception of Alan as the Happy Idiot. I could not begin to understand it. My first exposure to anything GBS was Alan's songs - intelligent and perceptive songs that laid the foundation for my opinion of the songwriter.

Then I went to my first two GBS shows, and he wasn't acting the same way there as he had acted on the SC show, nor were the fans talking about him or treating him as the man I saw him as being. Reading on the GBS site made it all even more confusing. I wasn't a bit sure what was going on after a few months' exposure to the prevailing opinion about him, but I kept going back to his songs, which spoke way the hell clearer than any fan blather.

As time passed and I saw more of Alan on stage and off stage, I knew for sure the songs told the truth about the man; I knew for sure that he was all I'd first thought him to be and much more. It took way longer to figure out why so many fans were that deeply invested in thinking him to be so much less than he really was.

And, yes, that bothered me, the same way it bothers most people when someone they care about is not accorded the respect that is deserved. It also bothered me those times I saw him playing into the misperception, even encouraging it on occasion. But no matter how much it might have bothered me, it never made me forget for one moment who he really is, and it never made me stop taking him seriously.

Over time - a very long time, due to my own slowness - I began to understand some of the reasons for why things were the way they were and why some people wanted to believe him to be less than who he is. I began to understand how putting your comic face to the world can help protect you from some shitty people and some inflexible expectations, the kind of people and expectations I didn't know very much about before stumbling into GBSLand. I began to see "comic relief" as more of a relief to the comic himself, a relief from some of the pressures he constantly has to endure.

I'd like to believe that all of this learning and realising would have meant that it no longer bothered me when Alan played into the role expected of him, but the truth is that over the past few years, he's pretty much stopped doing that altogether. He lets more of the real him, his lovely edges as well as his lovely curves, show much more clearly these days. As for being bothered by others' persistent perceptions of him as still playing that role they expect of him, I'm moving quite well into the "shag 'em" point of view, and happily so. Let them think whatever they want to think - better yet, let them think whatever he wants them to think for his own desires and goals to be best accomplished, because that is really all that matters.

And through it all, no matter what, I'm going to keep right on believing in and taking seriously the man he is, all of the men he is - the brilliant writer and the silly goofball and the diligent professional and the ruthless negotiator and the gifted artist and the flamboyant rock star and the pissy old fart and the lewd raunch and the sweet boy and the good-hearted fellow and the sexy, intelligent, thoughtful, very dear man. along with all of his other many loveable aspects. Even the cranky arse has his undeniable appeal, in small doses. I've liked and respected that man from the beginning; the more I see of him, the more I like and respect him.

That's about all I can think of to say right now on this matter, Laura. Hope it is of some small help to you. And, yes, they really do act like teenagers at times, all of them. Newfoundland Jackass, indeed. One of these days I will figure out why it is I still find the 14-year-old male (regardless of chronological age) so frigging irresistible.

"Sex bomb" - another apt description. Great choice. "Love bomb ready to explode" works even better, especially when he is singing those words. Maybe he could find a way to rip his shirt open during Oh Yeah? Since his hands are busy with Les at that moment, perhaps some assistance might be in order to make it come about? Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

My Mom did the same chapter-and-verse routine on us with the "And exactly what are you sorry for?" dissection. All it ever taught me was to be sure to give her the answer she wanted so the cross-examination would end swiftly. I swore I'd never do that to anybody I love, one of the few resolutions I've kept. I've always thought that how a person behaves is good enough to tell you what they are or are not sorry for, without forcing them to detail it all in words.

I'm not all that big on apologies in general. Words are fine and dandy, and if the other person will feel better by saying they are sorry for something, that's alright with me. But the big trouble with "I'm sorry" is that it so often gets mistaken for "I was wrong" or "I won't do that anymore," which might well be true at some times, but perhaps less so at other times.

Sometimes, you can be genuinely sorry about the effect on someone else of things you can't (or won't) change. It can come down to an "I am sorry that this part of who I fundamentally am as a person causes you to feel pain because of who you fundamentally are as a person."

There are times when something that causes grief and/or anger really is out-and-out wrong, but there are also times when something that causes grief and/or anger is more a matter of differing temperaments and basic incompatibility, not a matter of who is right and who is wrong. So if "I'm sorry" automatically gets equated with "I was wrong and won't do that anymore," you get all kinds of trouble to follow.

There are times it really is a matter of "I'm sorry that what I do pisses you off" because that is honestly the only thing to feel sorry about. Just because it pisses the other person off does not necessarily make it "wrong". What happens after that depends on how much that behaviour means to the person doing it, how much that behaviour pisses the other person off, and whether either the behaviour and/or the response to it can be changed/mitigated. Negotiations and love songs.

Sometimes it's more a matter of accepting the other person as they are and learning to live with the things about them you might wish were otherwise. You don't "forgive" somebody for being who they are; you either accept them that way or you don't. If there's enough you are glad the other person is to counterbalance the things you'd rather they were not, then it works. Without having to prod them into being sorry for the "right" things.

All of which reminds me of a friend who finally snapped at being relentlessly disapproved of by his shrew of a wife and answered the "do you know what you're sorry for" question with an intemperately honest, "Yes - I'm sorry you are such a controlling bitch!" He's still paying for that one.

No, they are definitely not easy men, I don't think. Yes, they sure do make great music.

Chip, I think Here And Now is one of the best of all the GBS songs I have heard so far. It reminds me very much of what I heard in Alan's songs that first time at the 2001 SC: An honest courage to face life as it truly is and to make the most of all that life can be, expressed in a song with the power to touch the heart, tingle the spine, and fill the eyes with tears. A song that describes a very realistic and determined hope, something that is very true to much of Newfoundland culture, but also something that has all too often gotten warped and diminished into reality-denying escapism in the GBS world.

"We've already started dying and our time is burning out" is facing reality about as much as it is possible to do; that the hope of "It's the moment that we live for and we just can't live without" can be married to this facing of reality gives an awesome power to that hope, a power that would be stripped away if the hope were grabbed onto in the absence of the reality, all to make the song be suitably "uplifting" and "happy" and "feel good". The same with "The breaking-light morning's done, the summer feel...the winter comes," (which is gorgeous, assuming I have the lyrics right, of course). The hope that accepts the inevitable approach of winter - as well as of the setting of the sun and the need for new eyes - is the hope that exists within reality, not outside of and in denial of reality.

The happiness in this song is very hard-won and it exists solidly within the framework of a difficult and relentless world, which is what gives that hope its strength and its purpose. For the rage, rage, raging to have any point at all, the dying of the light must be acknowledged and accepted - with the "do not go gentle into that good night" echoes of Thomas's poem - and this song does that facing-up to death as life's ultimate outcome.

I wonder how many of the people who hear Here And Now will listen to it and do that too - how many will choose the realistic hope and the hard-won happiness over the cheap and easy escapism and simplistically uplifting feel-good-ism. How many of them will choose the option to "sing an unwritten song" over "repent for the deeds you left undone". And if they did make that choice, would they still be in such dire and lasting need of the happy fix?

Maybe instead more people could come to the party less out of a need to be made happy and more out of a desire to share the happiness they've already found on their own by embracing the reality of life instead of trying to escape from it. Maybe songs such as this one will draw more of the kind of people who do embrace reality instead of trying to escape from it.

Again, this is what I heard in Alan's songs that very first time; it's what caught my ear and my heart from the start because it immediately struck me as being true, as well as very courageous. It's the heart and soul of what I love the most about Alan's music and about GBS's music.

But even if many or even most choose not to embrace the fullness of what it is about, the song still stands on its own - it is real and it is honest and it is wonderful; it is Great Big Sea at their very best. I'm so glad we agree on a GBS song or two.

Hey, did you decide about Wolftrap yet? If you do come and can get there early enough, we've reserved a table at Ovations big enough to accommodate. Want to have another go at seeing how well Christina can keep the little one occupied and distracted while you worry that I am going to blurt out something unmentionable?

[Ellen]

Well, anyone who didn't already know Sean had to have two Twitters identities was fooling themselves. Otherwise, why would his brother be the only RL person Sean was following? Stands to reason, common sense, etc.

Snoopy soul that I am, I checked out the list of Sean's followers. Guess who I found there? The GBS.com administrator, nicopoop. I wonder if s/he has access to all the responding tweets, like how fan club letters get treated too. Doesn't all the GBS fan mail go to the same people now?

I like all three new songs. I think Here and Now is awesome but I think you're being too hopeful if you think a lot of peopel will hear anything beyond the big chorus that makes them feel good instead of paying attention to what's going on in the verses and how they sound.

It makes sense that a fan group this dominated by middle aged women should be able to get the 'we've already started dying' part but I believe they're in too much denial and too intent on pretending their still teenagers. Mark my words, it's going to become a fave song for great big workouts. I guess it might attract a different kind of person beyond the usual GBS type if they get the chance to hear it. I hope so.

Walk on the Moon is inspiration without effort, this version of it. Alan sings with good effect at the start about push coming to shove and being sick and tired of waiting but the soaring music says the opposite thing. I like how it sounds but it's not connected to the words at the start. I wonder why they didn't start it out quiet and lowkey and let it build from there.

I love how Alan sings all three songs. Love Me Tonight is the one I like best, although I like them all. It has so much heart and emotion and it's so sweet. I really think it could be a big hit for GBS.

So much this year's edition of Ellen the Music Critic in all my pomposity. :) I'm looking forward to the CD and the live show. Maybe if I'm lucky I will see you and them both at a show this autumn!

[Laura]

Okay, you make a good arguement. I still think Sean's going to regret letting himself get entangled with fans and wish he'd stayed distant, but if I ignore the yuck of their response, what he's doing is kinda cute. Isn't there some way for them to be famous without having to have fans? :P

My DH has told me the same thing about teaching the kids to answer however they know will get them off the hook. I did it too when I was a kid. It's not the best way to do it but I don't know how else to with kids. I could probably let the other adult (most of the time) in the house off the hook more though. If he doesn't know by now what pisses me off....

They censored more than Murray's bare penis in his bio. There was something about the inept play of the Maple Leafs costing them his allegiance too. I guess penises and insulting Ontario hockey teams are all off limits there.

I'm not sure yet what I think of the new promo photos. some of the individual shots are good but the group shots are kind of weird. Did you see the pic where Sean has the tie on? Something about that one is off. The bio pix are nice though.

It seems like your not around as much as usual. Are things okay with you? Did you ever decide about Akron? Are your summer plans settled yet? I want to ask about your friend but I'm not sure how so I'll say I hope that's as good as it can be.

L.

[Mari]

I'm sorry in advance for the tainted source of information (some hyperexcited fangirl on an obsessed hormonal GBS high who's listened to it ten million times already and probably thinks the song was written for her and her alone) but I think these are the rigth Here & Now lyrics...

The sun must set to rise
The light will leave your eyes again
Then breaking like morning's dawn
The summer feel...the winter come

I'm not sure what "winter come" is LOL! I think it should be "comes" too. I like your "breaking light morning's done" better too. :) What do you think about authorship of this song? Is it all Alan or a cowrite and if so with who?

The new music is great!! I still have to say I like the quieter more personal Walk On The Moon more, though this new one sounds pretty. Love Me Tonight is perfect from start to finish and it sounds like Alan from start to finish too.

Mari

[lynda]

Mari, I never turn my back on information, tainted and untainted sources alike. Yeah, David already pointed out to me the bit about the light leaving your eyes again. He says he can hear the lyrics way better on his iPod than I can hear them on my tinny little laptop speaker, but I think the many dozens of times he's already listened to Here And Now (which he loves) compared to my single dozen or so times listening might be playing some role in that too. There are times when we can all benefit from the obsessive behaviour of others.

Actually, I really don't give a shit if this fangirl or all of the ones just like her want to think the song is All About Her. She can be completely convinced it's all about her great-aunt Wilhelmina so long as she buys the single, and the CD, and a few show tickets. A bit of merch as well, perhaps. If she calls in a few requests to the local radio station and votes for the video a few times when it comes up on MMM, then she can call herself GBS's Muse for all I care. As long as she does her part in making it so GBS can keep on creating this kind of music, it's all good to me.

Anyway, that's how a really good pop song works: it makes a whole bunch of people feel like it is all about each one of them because it touches something that is shared among many people, the shallow ones as well as the not-so-shallow ones. That how universality works, as well as success. To wish only approved or respected people will like a song is to wish niche status on your favourite band. Again, whatever - and whomever- it takes to keep the music playing.

I like "breaking-light morning" too, not surprisingly. I might use it myself someday, since it is not yet taken. Do not get me going on "winter come". I agree Alan sings it with no "S", but if it is indeed "come," it needs that "S". You can say wintertide, but not wintercome. Well, of course you can say it, but when you do, people like myself wind up thinking all sorts of things you never intended.

Total guessing here, but I'd say the chorus of Here And Now is pure Alan. It sure sounds like his writing, totally natural to his writer's voice and his singing voice. The verses do sound like a collaborative effort, the lyrics and most of all the melody line. I'm not sure with whom...they sound a little like Sean, but maybe Hawksley too. Or it could be somebody way removed, such as Russell or Chris Trapper. The miitary-march bridge also sounds collaborative, more Alan and Sean this time, though maybe Hawksley too since his style is sometimes rather similar to Sean's. I hope that when they do Here And Now live either Sean or Bob plays a fife-like whistle part during that bridge...and I sure hope Kris has the snare too.

But that chorus...I hear so much of Alan in there. If that isn't all his, then he's got somebody who's sincerely flattering him. I agree about Love Me Tonight too - even though Alan's already said it's a four-way co-write (him, Sean, Hawksley, and Jeen O'Brien), it's his voice I hear throughout.

I have a feeling that the Walk On The Moon we get at the live shows is going to be somewhere in the middle between the two extremes of range in the different versions, some place between individual introspection and collective celebration. I am very much looking forward to those performances of a song that is always going to hold its own place in my heart. Though the same is true about Love Me Tonight, for very similar reasons.

Laura, the time for Sean to decide not to be entangled with fans was about 20 years ago, though it would not at all surprise me to find out he has asked himself that same question you just asked. Many times.

Much of the simply silly fan stuff is innocent and harmless enough, but ignoring the truly "yuck" part of fandom as best as you can is, I am so-very-belatedly learning, the real secret to survival in GBSLand. I think credit for this better-late-than-never realisation is going to have to go to Bob. Something he said not long ago about wars over band ownership finally penetrated my thick skull. That really is the fundamental dynamic among what I term the "aggressive" fans - the struggle over who can be the Bestest, Most Importantest & Insiderest Fan (or Chief Bimbo, or Wannabe Bimbo, or Best Drinking Buddy, or Funnest Naughty Girl, or OKP Queen, or Top Twitter Twat...it's pretty much all the same at the end of the day) and thereby own the biggest chunk of attention, envy, reflected glory, parasitic self-worth, stolen spotlight, secondhand specialness, momentary escape from reality, and so on.

The common denominator would appear to be the need, pressing and insatiable. That, and the ubiquity. It makes absolutely no sense to get in a jousting match against the windmill of ubiquity - you have to either accept and endure, or surrender and walk away.

I was so hopelessly stunned that for the longest time I thought all of the pushing and shoving and pursuing and maneuvering actually had something to do with the band members themselves, more fool me. But over time I have come to understand that nearly all of it is really nothing more than a means to a self-absorbed end. It's really way more about the fans/bimbos/buddies/naughty girls/queens/twats in competition with one other, about who believes they own a bigger part of the band than somebody else does - among the most pushy and persistent group, that is. Yuck, indeed. Is that anything you really want to be spending a bit of time or energy or concern on?

And once you commit to the belief that the band members themselves are the only ones who own the band...that's when all of those fan wars become utter nonsense, totally meaningless and pointless when it comes to any lasting reality, let alone any genuine affection. Let the yuck pass on by, Laura. Give it no more importance or attention than it deserves. You'll help me feel a bit less stupid for taking so long to realise this myself if you'll learn from my mistake and not waste any more time of your own.

Back to speaking of the cute (and clever), have you read the first entry of the dog blog? I am going to have to hand it to Sean - not only does he have fangirls sucking up to a canine persona, he has also managed to write about ball-licking in such a way that the gbs.com censors, as well as all of the scrutinising and bitching-to-high-heaven stick-up-their-arses (said stick being all that will ever be going up such arses) biddy-prudes, cannot do a bloody thing about it.

What ratchets the joke up to an even higher level is that now Sean's got a group of people laughing uproariously about ball-licking, a group of people the majority of whom would most likely rarely (if ever) themselves be participating (giving or receiving) in this particular expression of mouth love. With certain exceptions, of course - certain doubly amused exceptions.

And at least one of the doubly amused is reading a rather thoughtful (and somewhat worrisome) subtext beneath all of that multi-edged "the joke's on whom?" jesting. As well as wondering why Sean is neglecting to add some P&C to his tasty deathwish. Perhaps to avoid even the illusion of healthy eating.

Overall assessment: very good writing, excellent beginning, and I am looking forward to the next installment. I guess I need to add a DogBlog link here too, along with the other two journal links.

I remember reading that bit about the Leafs in Murray's bio, did not even think twice about it beyond "Yes...Leafs inept...true enough". That is gone now too? Hmmm. Now I really suspect that someone (Alan gets my vote even more now, with that shot at the hapless Leafs) slipped a few "editorial" comments into Murray's bio.

I agree about that one group photo. Is that on the gbs.com site or just on Facebook? It looks like it's been photoshopped more than was good for it; both Alan and Sean look a bit off, and Bob just looks trapped. The main-page group photo is a really good one of Alan - still the focal point no matter if you put him in the background (there's a really good SoNC promo photo that has that same effect), and I like the mischievous look on Bob's face, but, again, Sean looks a bit off.

There is one new group photo I saw somewhere (ETA: found it...on the main band bio page), with all five of them in it, that I really like, both the composition and the lighting (I especially admire the way Alan's tops of hands are lit/edited to show up the way they do along his pockets...nice touch/retouch). I'd like to see a hi-res version of that photo. They all look both good and real, and like they mean business too, serious business. That photo would be an excellent one to use for the new tour posters .

I really love that shirt Alan's wearing in these photos too, his lowest layer, that is; he looks frigging great in it. He was wearing that same shirt at the Grey Cup show; The First, The Last, The Everything...oh yeah. Now if only that gorgeous beard could come back too; it was far too lovely not to be seen again, soon I hope.

I agree about the bio shots being very good. It's not often a photographer captures what role the subjects are playing at the present moment, and these do that really well. Bob's is his usual persona, same angle and expression and he's looking good in it, hair and beard just right, the perfect condescendingly bemused expression on his face. Kris looks pretty much like I bet he felt during the photo shoot, patient and serious, which is probably a lot like how he is with GBS much of the time. Murray looks great, and the way his hands distance him is damn suggestive. Even more so that distancing effect with Sean, who has his "winsome laddie" thing going behind a keep-away extended hand. A sharp photography student could write a whole essay about that shot alone.

Most of all, I love Alan's bio pic. He looks absolutely gorgeous in it and the light along the side of his face is technically lovely, but most of all I love that photo because it is so real. That's Alan there in that picture - no practiced stage grin, no carefully cheery pose...that's the expression of an intelligent, somewhat impatient, sharp-witted man who is being himself, and I think it's wonderful that he's going with that - that he is going with himself - for his bio pic. Excellent choice: I like the man in that photo.

No, I haven't been around online as much lately, but it's been because I've been trying to get caught up with a whole bunch of other things on the home front. while I can, and there has not been much time for any kind of writing - though I have been finding a bit of time to work on a piece I am writing for the birthday of somebody special.

And, to be more honest than usual, I tend to back off of this blog a bit when the readership spikes the way it has in the past few weeks. I am quite content with my "regular" readers over here a safe distance away from the "mainstream" of GBSLand. God forbid I overstep my bounds and risk becoming "dominant".

There's the hockey too, of course, even post-Habs. I still love the pursuit of the Cup. That final Sharks/Stars game was one of the most exciting exhibitions of goal-tending I've seen in a long time. I wish there were some way ties, real ties unencumbered by stupid shoot-outs or sudden-death, could take place in playoff games. There are some games that really need to end in a tie, the demand of fairness toward an excellent effort on both sides. Or at least something better than either shoot-outs or sudden-death to decide an outcome. I love what the one golf tournament - I think it's the British Open? - does with ties...another full 18 holes the next day. I'd have loved to have seen that Game Six called a draw and simply replayed.

I am doing alright, and thanks for asking. I want to come to Akron (that grain silo hotel is still very intriguing), want to come to whichever shows I can, but this summer and fall have a few things happening during them that I have to do and can't control the timing of. I don't think I am going to know some of what's up till late in the game, so I think I will just go to the shows I can get to whenever I can and let the rest sort itself out as things progress. So far, the July shows look good (Quebec City! Dear God, I love QC), but even that I am not 100% sure of - they are very likely, but not sure. And I am planning on that week of shows in August, but time will tell if those wind up becoming the best-laid plans.

It's OK to ask about my friend. He's still here - here and now, I guess you could say - and the chemo may have bought him a little more time with his family. He's not in very good shape, but right now he wants to hold on for as long as he can. He got all the will and funeral and medical directive arrangements taken care of and then he insisted that all of the people who love him say goodbye now to get it done and out of the way for the rest of his life. Now there's just as many todays as he can hold on for. Which is as good as it can be.

Thanks for asking, Laura. Thanks for your concern. And I finally noticed (thanks to you) and responded in on the entry before this one to your comment about liars. Sorry I took so long. Thanks again for the nudge.

Ellen, I think you'd be a good music critic. You bring up some salient points. You're a good snoop too. I thought with Twitter you could only see who the person is following, not who is following them? Oh, and thank you for the giggle, but it is "Nicopop" who admins the GBS site.

Yes, all GBS fan mail, snail mail and emails, still goes to Official Community Corporation addresses.

I said before that I tend to look at songs the way I look at people. With Here And Now, I see an intelligent and honest song with depth and purpose and power. Even if some who hear that song wind up seeing it as less than it is because they themselves lack the intelligence and honesty and depth to accept the rest of what the song is saying, their limited response does not lessen the intrinsic worth of the song.

As long as those kind of people buy the CD and show tickets and they don't prevent others from seeing all the rest that's there in the song, then let them have their feel-good moments and their denial and let them work out to that song to their heart's content. Other really good songs have certainly suffered far worse fates...the worst fate of all being having hardly anybody ever hear them at all.

I do believe there are many current fans who can embrace all that the song is saying, and I also believe that if others who are not already locked into a narrow opinion of what GBS is capable of can just hear the song, many of them will see it for what it is too. Increasing your appeal and widening the scope and makeup of your fan base is definitely a goal worth pursuing, even if it's perhaps best done carefully, as they seem to be doing it now.

I wish they'd gone with more of a build on Walk On The Moon too, Mari, for the same reasons. Sound and sense, and being a word person - especially when it comes to the words of a writer I admire so much - I always want the sound to accommodate the sense. It could be there was a concern that if it started too quietly, the radio station might get changed before they got to the soaring parts.

I think Alan's vocals in all three of these songs are stellar. If you go back and listen to Up or Play or Turn, there is just no comparison to the strength and discipline he sings with today, and most of all his range of emotional expressiveness. I love that one scene in the videos where Alan talks about how no excellent song has a good vocal...every excellent song has an excellent vocal. And then he went and did just that.

Love Me Tonight is very sweet, and it comes across as the most purely honest of the three studio versions. I think it would be a wonderful second single release, but I do love how there seems to be so many to choose from.

I firmly believe you will be seeing GBS at a show this fall, Ellen. And I sure hope you will see me there too.

[Laura]

LOL! Well if you're gonna put it THAT way I'll be glad to help you feel less stupid! How often do I get an offer like that?! :D

I hope things settle down and get orderly for you soon. Then you might have time to put up some new pics that Sean looks really good in? I'm starting to suspect you want to keep Alan's bare chest on top. ;)

*snickers* You left out wanting to be the Mermaidiest Love Boat Goddess.

L.

[Roger]

Say what you will in defense of what "Walk On The Moon" was turned into, I still think it was a mistake.

Have you seen the CD presale announcement yet? "Gallows Pole" and a song called "Belong" are being used as special bonus bait to get people to order presale CD's through the GBS site. If "Belong" is "Where I Belong" and if it's half the song you said it is, it deserves to be more than bait to bring in a few dollars more to the corporate coffers.

It's not even good business sense. How much more could it have brought in if they put it on the CD or sold it direct at home? Newfoundlanders are the ones who want to hear a song about us leaving home and we're the least likely ones to preorder the CD from a fucking GBS fan site. How many of us even bother with that site?

I like most of what I've heard of the new music. I'm not happy about how corporate GBS is functioning.

[lynda]

I hadn't seen the CD presale announcement until just a few minutes ago, Roger. I'm really delighted, purely selfishly and thoroughly delighted, to be able to hear Where I Belong again (assuming it's the same song, which seems likely). I heard it the one time in Kalamazoo and have not been able to forget it since. It is a wonderful song, heartbreaking and beautiful and it tells a true story. It's all that I said it is and more.

My own personal delight aside, I simply can't argue with your points. It's been enough of a battle to try to find solid ground in opposition to your Walk On The Moon opinions; I can't see much solid ground at all on that other side for this one, let alone middle ground. Not right now, at least. I guess I need to think about it some more first. I'll say something about it in the next entry I'm going to work on later tonight, if I can come up with anything middle-groundish to say.

But there's one thing I can say right now, something that doesn't require further thought or time to figure out: No matter what I think about how Where I Belong winds up being treated, I believe in the song. I believe this song will find its own audience, regardless of whatever role business decisions play in how it starts out. There's not too much corporate anything that is often very impressive, Roger. Yet another reason to care first and foremost about the individuals.

And I believe that Where I Belong is worth the full price of the presale purchase all on its own. How excellent it is then, that so much other great music will come along with it, including Gallows Pole. I can't wait to hear Where I Belong again. And again and again.

That's all I've got for now, buddy. More later, though I am not sure yet more of what.

You caught me out, Laura. Oh, yes I do like Alan's bare chest on top. And on the bottom. And, perhaps best of all, in the middle. But I have another delightful view of a dear man to lead off with for the next entry, which I will work on tonight, post-hockey. I've been fooling around with some screen caps of the latest set of videos from canada.com, and I have a few I think you will like of Sean too. I'll eventually go back and get started again on the backlog of show photos, I promise.

[That Chip Guy]

I'm of two minds about the the value and benefit of "exclusive" tracks in an a la carte music marketplace. But if GBS was trying to draw a more diverse audience to their website, a Zep cover and a nationalist song (if I recall your comments about "Belong" correctly, noting that the nation is Newfoundland and not Canada) would certainly do it. IF listeners like Roger were able and willing to find them.

[Ellen]

Omigod. "Belong" is amazing. The lyrics are so moving and Alan's singing is awesome. It's an amazing song. It really is all you said and more. Omigod.

[lynda]

Ellen, I am glad to hear you are enjoying the song. That really is a spectacular vocal, isn't it? I have high hopes of hearing him sing that live every now and then, maybe as a show-closer in the right places and at the right times, kind of a new spin on Rant & Roar perhaps.

Notwithstanding my own perturbation over Belong being turned into "bonus material," and assuming that it is true that both of these songs are going to be "exclusive" to this presale...then I recommend that everyone who plans on buying Fortune's Favour go ahead and take this route for their CD purchase. Even those who are in my shitty-dialup situation could probably find a similarly kind-hearted friend to help them out.

Both of these songs are must-haves, as far as I'm concerned, and Belong is priceless. I really would think the whole purchase price would be worth it for that one song, if that were the only way to get it.

Chip, I really don't have a lot of belief that the purpose of this went very much beyond trying to pump up CD sales through the site, sales that would have otherwise been made through other merchants. This is like the presale tickets...more profit for both the band and the Official Community Corporation with a direct sale, a guaranteed sale.

Plus, maybe doing it this way will also pump up the numbers for the CD the week it's released when all of the presale orders go through at once. I hope that's how it works. If so, that's a cause I could get behind for sure. Higher sales numbers would mean more buzz...then maybe people who would not have bought it otherwise will become interested because "everybody else is buying it".

I've no objections to using the bonus-material tactic to lure people into buying here and buying now. But nothing is ever going to persuade me into thinking that Belong did not deserve better treatment than this. I will argue that point in perpetuity with anyone - including Alan, if need be...though I tend to suspect that's one argument that would not be necessary.