I have just finished reading Charles Williams’ second novel, Many Dimensions, and the more I read of his, the more I like it. Even though his fellow Inklings Tolkien and Lewis are more well known, Williams deserves to be more widely read. He stakes out a unique territory of weird fantasy that is imbued with his Christian faith. Here’s my review of it.
“Every one knows the story of the attack on Fort Wagner; but we should not tire yet of recalling how our Fifty-Fourth, spent with three sleepless nights, a day’s fast, and a march under the July sun, stormed the fort as night fell, facing death in many shapes, following their brave leaders through a fiery rain of shot and shell, fighting valiantly for “God and Governor Andrew,”–how the regiment that went into action seven hundred strong came out having had nearly half its number captured, killed, or wounded, leaving their young commander to be buried, like a chief of earlier times, with his body-guard around him, faithful to the death. Surely, the insult turns to honor, and the wide grave needs no monument but the heroism that consecrates it in our sight; surely, the hearts that held him nearest see through their tears a noble victory in the seeming sad defeat; and surely, God’s benediction was bestowed, when this loyal soul answered, as Death called the roll, “Lord, here am I, with the brothers Thou has given me!”
The future must show how well that fight was fought; for though Fort Wagner still defies us, public prejudice is down; and through the cannon-smoke of that black night the manhood of the colored race shines before many eyes that would not see, rings in many ears that would not hear, wins many hearts that would not hitherto believe.
When the news came that we were needed, there was none so glad as I to leave teaching contrabands, the new work I had taken up, and go to nurse “our boys,” as my dusky flock so proudly called the wounded of the Fifty-Fourth. Feeling more satisfaction, as I assumed my big apron and turned up my cuffs, than if dressing for the President’s levee, I fell to work on board the hospital-ship in Hilton-Head harbor. The scene was most familiar, and yet strange; for only dark faces looked up at me from the pallets so thickly laid along the floor, and I missed the sharp accent of my Yankee boys in the slower, softer voices calling cheerily to one another, or answering my questions with a stout, “We’ll never give it up, Ma’am, till the last Reb’s dead,” or, “If our people’s free, we can afford to die.””–“The Brothers,” ATLANTIC MONTHLY (November 1863).
April 20, 2023
MUNRO: I have known Ruben for almost thirty years and have corresponded with him on and off for all those years. I have always respected him and I think he respects me too even though I have been controversial or unpopular in certain quarters at times.
RUBEN NAVARETTE https://rubennavarrette.com/
In my remarks at Fresno State, I shared with students 25 “nuggets” of personal advice and wisdom.
learned these things the hard way from 35 years of knocking around in — and being knocked around by — a splendid yet difficult self-made career in media, journalism and storytelling.
1)- Follow your passion
MUNRO: Every person must find where his or her talent lies so they can develop expertise and also develop his or her talents. It is sad when people never find out what they TRULY LIKE and WHAT THEY ARE TRULY GOOD AT.
2) Be curious
MUNRO Albert Einstein wrote: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.
—”Old Man’s Advice to Youth: ‘Never Lose a Holy Curiosity.'” LIFE Magazine (2 May 1955) p. 64”
3) Find mentors
MUNRO: “Your goal […] is to be less a product of the times and to gain the ability to transform your relationship to your generation. A key way of doing this is through active associations with people of different generations. If you are younger, you try to interact more with those of older generations. Some of them, who seem to have a spirit you can identify with, you can try to cultivate as mentors and role models. Others you relate to as you would your peers- not feeling superior or inferior but paying deep attention to their values, ideas, and perspectives, helping to widen your own.”
― Robert Greene THE LAWS OF HUMAN NATURE
4) Take risks
MUNRO You have to take risks but they should not be wild chances. And you should never put the financial security and stability of your family at risk. It is why it is easier and better to take chances and travel when you are young and single. In my youth, I served in the Marines, lived and worked abroad, worked in construction. I still took risks when I was married and with children but measured risks. I always maintained health insurance for my family had savings and credit available. I had one car and it was free and clear.
5) Live in other states
MUNRO: I went to school in New York and New Jersey (Seton Hall college and NYU). With the American Military College, four summers with the University of Northern Iowa (in Spain), and Seattle University (5th Year Teaching Certificate k-12 plus credential in English, Social Studies and Spanish.
I served in the Marine Reserves in New Jersey, Virginia, Spain, Italy, Greece. Earned Bilingual Certificate of Competence. Graded AP Spanish exams for 14 summers as an adjunct professor in Cincinnati and San Antonio (Texas). Studied and worked one year at the University of Virginia while on sabbatical. Mentored young teachers and helped them find placements.
5) Travel more in the U.S. & throughout the world
MUNRO: I have traveled to 47 states and Puerto Rico (never been to Idaho, Alaska or Hawaii) plus many countries in Latin America and Europe. I lived for a while in Portugal, Spain and Ireland.
6) Harness “people power” by building relationships
MUNRO
NETWORKING. Networking is very important and I struggled with this because I came from a first-generation family -my father was the only one in his family to go to college and have a professional career and we were somewhat alienated from our American neighbors and community. I had no real connections or “palanca” as the Spanish say. My father was disabled by a stroke when he was 63 and I felt I had to make my own way in the world -which I did. I paid my own way through graduate school and bought my first house (a condominium in Kirkland, Washington). But it took me ten years to get my teacher’s credential and thirteen to get my MA.
Through hard work and struggle I finally made some contacts via ETS (AP), Ron Unz , Linda Chavez, ED Hirsch,jr, Diane Ravitch, Jaime Escalante, Rosalie Pedalino Porter. Letters of recommendation from administrators and Mentor teachers plus some of these well-known educators and authors helped get me a Fellowship at UVA. Later I had a chance to research and edit books for authors such as ANDREW ROBERTS (Walking with Destiny a biography of Churchill) Through Andrew Roberts and the GILBERT HIGHET SOCIETY I have met many authors , journalists and teachers and have corresponded with them (Such as Victor Davis Hanson), Having contacts is very important. Churchill was a master at this and so is Andrew Roberts.
I founded the AP program at my high school in SPANISH, AP US HISTORY and AP US GOVERNMENT. in the beginning years we funded all the books and exam fees by selling chocolates. They said our kids (Arvin High) couldn’t do it and that it couldn’t be done but we did it.
I helped my high school win awards via the We the People program. I published some one act plays and articles in magazines and newspapers. Then I leveraged this into a job and fellowship at the University of Virginia. This helped me max out my credits but proved a dead end because many of the professors were hostile -actually hated E D Hirsch (though he had been at UVA but via the ENGLISH DEPARTMENT not the Curry School of Education).
I found many of the professors to be anti-Catholic and deeply biased. So it was not entirely a happy experience and I was away from my family for almost a year. Fortuately I spent Thanksgiving and Easter with a Scottish cousin in Maryland and also took time out to visit Scottish friends in Scotland (who still write to me!)
In a year I did not make one friend or any useful connection and was glad to go when my time was up.
My advisor said, “You are stuck with me and if it had been up to me you wouldn’t be here.” I did not even see her the last six months I was at the school. She would not admit me to her classes. I was personal non grata chiefly because of my military background and supposed political stance.
“But now let’s talk about your network, which is made up of the people you know–family, friends, acquaintances, current and former coworkers, teachers, and neighbors–and the people they know. These people may be able to help you get informational interviews. And they might even be able to get your resume on the right person’s desk. If, when I refer to networks, you feel, Lady, I don’t have one, I want you to visualize the person who comes to mind when I say, Who cared about you? You can begin to build your network by simply checking back in with this person. Tell them what you’re up to and ask how they’re doing, too. Share your thoughts about where you might be headed in life. Get their feedback and advice. And with all respect due, ask if they’d be willing to help with whatever your next step might be. Their help could be as simple as just telling you that they believe in you so that you can believe in yourself too, or being listed as a reference, or writing you a letter of support. If your life has been such that you do not have much of a network, I want you to recognize that you may actually have different strengths, like the wherewithal to hustle and make good use of whatever resources you can find.”
― Julie Lythcott-Haims, YOUR TURN HOW TO BE AN ADULT.
7) Learn to tell your own story
MUNRO
We all have experiences and stories and we should pass on some this experience to our friends and family and if we are able to a wider community. I gained a lot of experience working with English for the Children but also I made a lot of permanent enemies in my district particularly among Union leaders. The main reason is I opposed the Educational Establishment and openly opposed the Union on the issue of bilingual education reform. I was assailed as a “White Supremacist”, “English-only racist”and “anti-immigrant.” They hated the fact I taught Spanish and recruited along with Jaime Escalante Spanish-speaking students and parents to support our campaign. The hated the fact that I opposed the Union position (considered disloyal). They said over and over I spoke for myself as an individual and not for the Union or the School District. Most teachers and administrators were afraid to support me publicly. My wife and I were principal writers and translators for the English for the Children Campaign and I wrote and recorded ads in Spanish and English with Sherrie Annis (wife of Howard Kurz). We interpreted for immigrant families. We contributed out time and effort without any remuneration. Yet the Union paid big bucks to Stephen Krashen (whom I met and debated). Krashen was surprised that I knew his work and respected it and that I had not political ambitions for myself. He was surprised that I sincerely only cared about students. Unlike Union leaders he was not nasty or hostile to me and invited me to have a coffee and a chat with him (which I did). The president of Cal State Bakersfield walked out in a public forum with other professors as he didn’t want to listen to or encourage a “Right Wing Nativist Extremist like me”. Of course, I am not anti-immigrant. I am a political moderate. I am not an extremist. My chief motivation was to promote standards and academic integrity for students. My parents were immigrants, my wife is an immigrant, my son-in-law is an immigrant my daughter-in-law is an immigrant. My wife and I sponsored an immigrant family -all US residents and citizens today. We did not want to see that family separated and the educational opportunities of the son limited. Other people talk but we acted IMMEDIATELY to protect a family and guarantee no family members would be arrested and deported. The son went to college and became a minister. I am not against VOLUNTARY DUAL IMMERSION or bilingual education. I had a big argument with some of Ron Unz’s supporters. I said if you don’t have waivers for parents to keep their children in bilingual programs they want I and most teachers could never support prop 227. So we continued with Dual Immersion bilingual education in 1998 and we still have it today. Nothing changed at my daughter’s school SHERMAN ACADEMY in San Diego except that for a number of years parents needed to sign a form once a year. They no longer have to sign a waiver which is fine with me. I just believed in high standards and absent qualified dual immersion/bilingual teachers districts should offer sheltered English immersion as an alternative to bilingual programs that didn’t really exist. And of course, all of my grandchildren are Mexican-American and go to bilingual dual immersion schools. I haven’t a nativist bone in my body. But to this day there are Union activists for whom I am, to put it mildly a persona non grata. People like that walk past me and don’t even respond to me. But when you stand up for something you are going to pay a price. I have no regrets. I think I helped kids. I never did anything in education that harmed kids.
8) Ask others to tell you their stories, and soak them up
MUNRO:
You can’t learn everything from books or from your own experience. It is important to get others to share their stories and experiences. Recently a teacher told me the problems he was having in his school district with his department chair and local administrators. I told him to cool it. To keep his head down and not challenge the establishment. It is best in such an unequal struggle to beat a strategic retreat. I encouraged him to apply to another district and vote with his feet which is what he did. And I said know there are some battles you cannot win.
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9) REIN IN YOUR EGO, BE HUMBLE
MUNRO
You have to have humility because NOT ALL CAN BE KNOWN and we are sometimes WRONG. We shouldn’t be ashamed to admit we made mistakes because that is another way of saying we may be sadder and may have experienced defeats and disappointments but that we are a little wiser today than we were yesterday.
10) Build your resilience
MUNRO Yes, you have to “roll with punches” as my old mother used to say. Many a good horseman has fallen off and gotten back on again. As Burns sang “ But Man is a soger (soldier), and Life is a faught (battle; fight).
11) Persevere, get up off the mat when you get flattened
MUNRO
There are few reputations more storied and none more deserving than that of Marine Corps Recruit Training. The difficulties of Marine Corps boot camp are legendary. It is not enough to simply endure, you must prevail as an individual and as a unit. You learn teamwork. Pulling together to prevent all from falling apart. Tapping into the purpose that brought you here, to serve the Marine Corps and for the Nation you fight for.
I always was motivated to defend and protect my family, my church, my students my community and my nation. Nobody had to pay me to tutor kids on Saturdays or after school. That’s why students are and were loyal to me because I was not motivated except by love friendship and civic virtue. I am proud of my certifications and university degrees but proudest of having served in the Marine and earned an honorable discharge as a “peace time ice-cream Marine.” I neve claimed I was a hero but I did serve honorably with heroes. My Marine experience made me tougher, more punctual, and able to work 16-hour days seven days a week when necessary unloading rail cars, and digging ditches to help build homes and apartments. Of course, learning self-defense came in handy on a few occasions. Once I saw a big brute beating a student and pounding him against a concrete wall. I only said, “Hey, what’s going on?” And the brute assaulted me and tried to choke me and knock me down. I broken his hold, knocked him down and put him in a full-nelson. He yelled and threatened to cut me with his knife. I told him calmly “Try it and I will break your neck in self defense. Maybe I have killed men before. Think about that. I learned this hold at Marine Corps OCS in Quantico. “ He settled down until the police came. What bugged me the most was no one wanted to admit they were witnesses to what happened even the victim. Why? Because the brute was a drug dealer collecting money and had a reputation for viciousness and brutality. But one thing I learned in the Marines is we all have one powerful weapon and that is our life and if we are prepared to sacrifice it we can save others and maybe ourselves.
12) Seek out different takes on issues from family & friends.
MUNRO We had a lot of disagreements in our family with prop 208 (traditional marriage) and abortion (my wife and I believe in parental consent and notification for minors). Our basic sympathies are pro-life and pro-family but we can peacefully coexist with fewer restrictions on abortion or somewhat stricter restrictions. But others are strongly ProChoice. But we don’t favor outlawing or criminalizing abortions. So I really believe we are Pro-Choice and Prolife We believe most abortions should be legal but that they should also be rare because abortion is not to be used for birth control, To us miscarriages and abortions are tragedies. Also we can peacefully coexist with Gay Marriage (all civil marriages are equal under the law) But we have an array of opinions in our family.
I believe your have to inform yourself via a variety of sources so I read our local paper and subscribe to WSJ plus via podcasts or the internet read or hear, the London Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, Reader’s Digest and Commentary magazine. I discuss issues of the day with family and friends. I know we don’t always agree. Many are dead set against RFK jr even being on the ballot but I feel trying to keep Trump off the ballot or blocking RFK Jr from being on the ballot is undemocratic and a mistake. I remember Eugene McCarthy was kicked off the ballot of a technicality in New York State in 1976; in New Jersey, he was on the ballot and Ford won that state by a narrow margin. So there is no question a 3rd Party could tip an election one way or another. I don’t know if I would vote for RFK Jr (I admit I loved his father and uncle) but I support his right to be on the ballot. If you don’t like him don’t vote for him. I tolerated Trump but did not vote for him and I tolerate Biden (but think he is too old for the job). Personally, I wish both candidates would go away. It is a relief to know that in 2028 neither one will be on the ballot.
13) Stay ambitious, but also be content with what you have
MUNRO:
This is the virtue of moderation. We need bread but we do not live by bread alone. We need shelter and transportation but we do not need great luxuries. Burns also sang “Contented wi’ little, and cantie wi’ mair (singingly cheerful with more),
14) Always do what scares you most
MUNRO We are always scared at times but we must live each day with courage
15) Talk to strangers
MUNRO Yes, you never know what they might know or where they came from. Unless they are threatening be polite and friendly especially to young people.
16) Listen, listen, listen
MUNRO “There is an old saying God gave man two ears and one mouth meaning we should listen more than we talk a lot more.
17) Consider the possibility that you’re wrong
MUNRO Yes, by their fruits they shall be known but there is much mystery in the world and many paths. It’s possible that smartphone use in classrooms, APEX classes, ZOOM classes and AI will make educational standards higher than ever. But I am skeptical. I believe in index cards, oral testing, note taking, cursive essays. At the very least there should be alternative ways of learning and testing.
18) Be willing and ready to change your position
MUNRO Yes, we have to adapt and make peace with the world and new technologies Somethings can’t be cured and so must be endured. But I am glad I am not young anymore. But I will admit some things I won’t change very easily. My love of America. My love for the Marine Corps. My love for the Dodgers and baseball. My great affection and loyalty to the Roman Catholic church in which I was baptism and married. But political parties? Be damned. They are at best a necessary evil and often are evil and corrupt.
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-19) – Get all the education you can, early on in life
MUNRO:
NEVER STOP LEARNING and READING and LISTENING TO OTHERS WISER AND MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN YOU. “The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King
“If we are to use the words ‘childish’ and ‘infantile’ as terms of disapproval, we must make sure that they refer only to those characteristics of childhood which we become better and happier by outgrowing. Who in his sense would not keep, if he could, that tireless curiosity, that intensity of imagination, that facility of suspending disbelief, that unspoiled appetite, that readiness to wonder, to pity, and to admire?”
― C.S. Lewis, An experiment in Criticism.
“Books were her refuge. Having set herself to learn the Russian language, she read every Russian book she could find. But French was the language she preferred, and she read French books indiscriminately, picking up whatever her ladies-in-waiting happened to be reading. She always kept a book in her room and carried another in her pocket.”
― Robert K. Massie, Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
“Whereas Taft discouraged the young Yale student from extracurricular reading, fearful it would detract from required courses, Roosevelt read widely yet managed to stand near the top of his class. The breath of his numerous interests allowed him to draw on knowledge across various disciplines, from zoology in philosophy and religion, from poetry and drama to history and politics.”
― Doris Kearns Goodwin, THE BULLY PULPIT
20) Be grateful for all you have, and the people in your life.
MUNRO Gratitude is a high virtue. As Yeats wrote “No man has ever lived that had enough Of Children’s gratitude or woman’s love.”
The most difficult part of life is gaining wisdom and a sense of gratitude for all we do have and for the time of good health we do have. The most difficult thing about life is that we have to, sooner or later, say goodbye to those whom we love. Either they will leave us or we will leave them. We should love each other and appreciate each other NOW, this hour, this day, this week, this month this year.
My mother and father died at the beginning of the 20th century now long ago! I am very grateful for my wife, my family, my grandchildren. I am grateful for the many students many thousands by now-I have had over 34 years of classroom teaching. I am grateful to those who have become teachers themselves or other service professions such as nursing, medicine, law enforcement or military service. This includes my daughter and my son who are both Spanish and dual immersion teachers. The highest-ranking NCO in the Air Force was my former student and four years on the Varsity Soccer team. We are still friends.
We should thank some people for merely living at the same time as we do. I am thankful for my parents and grandparents it was a miracle they survived 1914-1945. I am grateful for the fact I met my Spanish teacher and that he introduced me to Spanish culture and language and to my Spanish wife and her family. I will remember him for all my life -and he was an immigrant and an exile and a great and good man.
21) Choose carefully who you marry, what you do, where you do it
MUNRO This second part is good sense and moderation. The first part needs more commentary and explanation.
Frank Delaney, the Irish novelist wrote: “Marriage is very important. Marrying a girl is the most important thing a man can do. Never mind business or politics or sport or any of that, there’s nothing so vital to the world as a man marrying a woman. That’s where we get our children from, that’s how the human race goes forward. And if it’s too late for children, there’s the companionship of a safe and trusted person.”
AGREE this is a topic I have thought about and written about on a number of occasions. When I taught Economics in high school I always point out that merely on an economic basis the person whom we marry will have a great influence not only on our happiness and health but our economic future.
There are at least six reasons NOT TO MARRY (a gentleman thinks of such things for himself , his charges and his friends).
#1 Don’t marry someone you don’t really know. If you are pressured to rush to the altar as my Uncle Norman was you have to ask yourself. “What is the reason for the rush?” If he or she truly cares they will give you time to be sure.
#2 Don’t ever marry someone you don’t like or have anything in common with BESIDES sex and physical attraction. Everyone I have ever known married someone with whom he or she felt a strong sexual attraction. I could be wrong but this is the easiest part of a relationship. Speaking as a man, most women 16 to 60 are sexually attractive at some point in their lives. Once again, speaking from personal experience, most women hit their peak attractiveness from age 25 to about 42. Most women, just like most men, unless they work very hard at it, start to lose the battle of the bulge in their 40’s. Once again, perhaps it is just me, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. If I compare the looks of my friend’s wives who are excessively thin they seem more pinched, more wrinkled and less attractive with each passing year. Other women, with a more matronly look, remain very pleasant to be with and to look at.
Some women are astonishingly beautiful for a short period of time and others have a high lifetime batting average and remain attractive for a longer period of time. There is such a thing as growing old gracefully. The bottom line is if you can’t respect the behavior, habits and values of your potential mate, rethink the situation. What will it be like with this person once the haze of romantic love fades? Could you love your wife (once again, speaking as a man) if she lost her size 6 figure? Let’s face it multiple pregnancies and the years usually wreak havoc with a woman’s figure. And time does not remain still for any of us in any case.
It is a mistake to marry for beauty alone, a very big mistake.
#3 If the people around you who know you well and love you –your parents, siblings, close relatives, teachers, and wise friends- are counseling you against marriage to a certain person, you must pause. Although they don’t know your potential spouse as well as you do, they are not as emotionally mixed up as you are by the strong sexual attraction or romantic feeling you have for that other person. This is particularly true if the couple is sexually active (which I counsel against but I am a realist). Nothing fools you that you have to have your spouse like an active sex life before marriage. I wonder what purpose a honeymoon serves for people like that? And why even wear white? But if people around you are expressing doubts you should at least give yourself some time to think about what you are doing.
Imagine, for example, if your spouse had no money, lost all of his or her teeth and gained 100 pounds. My father always said to me that I should look at the mother of the potential bride because it was a reasonable indication of what the daughter would look like in 25 or 30 years with 25, 30 or 50 additional pounds. I would add another proviso too.
I don’t think it is important to marry for money and position. I think marrying for personal happiness and family reasons are the most important. But that having been said there is something one should always consider. It is one thing to marry someone who has next to no money but it is another to marry someone with extravagant tastes and $50,000 in debt!!!! Most marriages fall apart for two basic reasons: lack of sexual compatibility and financial distress.
#4 building upon that last point. Never marry anyone in whom there are signs of unstable behavior. If your beloved needs to be drunk or high to have a good time, I think it is a serious cause to worry. If he or she can never hold down any kind of job at all in the last few years find out why. Can’t he or she get along with the boss or with coworkers.. Is the discipline of work too much for him or her? Once again, I have never been a great success in life but I have always worked. I worked my way up from being an ex-soldier, a laborer in construction and unloading rail cars to sales, to being a bank employee, then finally a Community College instructor and high school teacher. No one has ever asked me for my resume or offered me a job but I have always been respected as someone who was a hard worker, honest and loyal and have so always been gainfully employed in my life.
#5 And lastly to reiterate a point mentioned before if your primary drive for getting married is an overpowering urge to have –or continue to have –sex with this person, STOP. Sex is important for a good marriage but sex is NOT love.
It is absurd to overvalue physical love. Speaking as a man, men are beasts and I think it is true to say, that in the dark, as has been said, women are all the same if that’s all you want from a woman. But once again that is not love. Real love is sharing laughter, sharing experience, sharing children, sharing affection, trust. Physical love (eros) can provide the spark and the glue for the beginning of a relationship but it cannot provide the substance. Being in love and having love in a marriage is something other and something more than being sexually aroused. Not all desire is love though it may always be lust. The desire for a woman period might just be lust but the desire for a specific woman is another. Some people say this is love too but I do not ; love that is merely transitory and sexual is not love merely as Anthony Burgess called it in A Clockwork Orange, “the old in and out”.
I have seen many successful marriages between mature males (25 or so )with young women as young as 18 or 19. I believe that male and female should be about the same age though there is nothing wrong with a woman being slightly older (my wife was 27 when we married and I was 26).
#6 Never get married because you feel you have to or everyone else is getting married. It is chivalrous to treat your date with respect. It is foolishness to marry someone because OOPS she says she is pregnant. I have known friends who married their pregnant girlfriends but did not know if they were the father. That is no way to start a marriage. Once again fidelity and trust are the basis of any good relationship.
22) Don’t waste time, value it; it’ll run out, just watch
MUNRO TRUE we are all mortal. Treasure time because time is fleeting. “Swiftly flow the years!”
23) Listen for the knock at the door, the next opportunity
MUNRO YES THIS IS TRUE especially when one is younger though at my age my chief preoccupation is to spend time with my family, especially my grandchildren. I don’t want to travel anywhere really except to see my family. I have seen much of the world. At my age I just read what I want say what I want study what I want write what I want. I am not eager to influence people or make a lot more money.
24) Read and listen to different points of view in the media
MUNRO VERY TRUE and I made comments on this earlier.
25) a bad list, eh? But what would you add? Name one thing.
MUNRO ONE THING I would add:
TAKE CARE OF CREDENTIALS AND DOCUMENTATION.
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The Tangent (For One) launch “The Single,” next track taken from ‘To Follow Polaris’  The Tangent recently announced the release of the new studio album ‘To Follow Polaris’ on May 10th, 2024. That’s not necessarily a surprise, that’s what the band are known for. But at the same time, it’s something else too. As Andy jokes, playing on the Jaws strapline, he says “well this time it’s actually no personnel”.Today, a brand new track aptly titled ‘The Single’ has been released, and you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/mwdbLOerLH4Andy comments of the track: “’The Single’ was originally recorded by my previous band Po90 some 25 years ago now, on an album called ‘The Time Capsule’. In the spirit of that time capsule, I opened it a quarter of a century later and recorded this updated version of it with new lyrics added to the older version. The old Po90 version was the track that in a way defined what the Tangent would be and giving it the Tangent treatment was a great pleasure. It’s a song about the documenting of history and the new ways this is going to happen, both good and bad…”Watch the previously released video for ‘The North Sky’ here: https://youtu.be/x5CAzcKZXvA Watch Andy discuss the making of the new album here: https://youtu.be/Lbqa5QP77L4?si=b-Xji6zq8UheDJvF In a year when members of The Tangent could be seen onstage all over the world with Steve Hackett, Soft Machine, Karnataka, David Cross, It Bites, Cyan and others, plus on recordings by those artists and The Anchoret, The Michael Dunn Project, Argos and Retreat From Moscow, it became clear that there was not going to be time to get together for anything more than one gig in April 2023. So the band agreed that the band’s leader/main writer Andy Tillison would keep the material coming and would make an album by The Tangent entirely alone. It would still be The Tangent. Just for one. “Besides Which” Andy says, “I’ve always wanted to do this, use what I have learned from Luke, Jonas, Steve, Theo and many other alumni and take it to final production. Now was the time!” What transpired over the following year is in one sense an “absolutist” solo album and is entirely the work of one person in all aspects including artwork, layout, design, lyrics, composition, performance, recording, production, mixing, mastering and authoring. But in another sense it’s totally Tangent. “I could not have begun to make this record without having had the experiences of working with the band. So although the different instruments are not attempted to be played in the actual style of the normal lineup, they are inspired by the kind of things these guys do” ‘To Follow Polaris’ will be available as a Limited Deluxe Collector’s Edition CD Mediabook (including bonus track and extensive 24-page booklet, Gatefold 180g 2LP vinyl (also including bonus track), & as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://thetangent.lnk.to/ToFollowPolaris1.The North Sky 11:36 2.A ‘Like’ In The Darkness 08:19 3.The Fine Line 08:04 4.The Anachronism 21:01 5.The Single (From A Re-Opened Time Capsule) 05:51 6.The North Sky (Radio Edit) 03:42 7.Tea At Bettys (Bonus Track) 17:32  Produced between January and November 2023, the album features Andy using his multiple keyboards system as normal, but adds to the mix his first ever released performance on Bass Guitar and his second on stick driven (electronic) drums. Add electric and acoustic guitars and electronic wind controller and this is a full band recording in every sense of the word. A recording which shows Andy’s lifelong influence by artists such as Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Porcupine Tree, Groove Armada, Earth Wind & Fire, Roger Waters and his bands, Return To Forever, Deep Purple, Gentle Giant, Steely Dan and any band featuring the keyboard player Dave Stewart.Conceptually Andy claims the album is, ahem, “highly optimistic” but regular listeners to his work will anticipate correctly that this optimism will not be ill founded or over-easy and will be highly critical of obstacles to that optimism and the album will look as much into the dark as it does into the light.The album is intended to be thought of as a regular Tangent album – but not as the future of the band. It’s everyone’s intention to make the FOURTEENTH album as The Tangent. For Five.The Tangent online:www.thetangent.org https://www.facebook.com/groups/alltangentmembers/INSIDEOUT MUSIC online: www.insideoutmusic.com www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA www.insideoutmusicshop.comINSIDEOUTMUSIC Spotify Playlist: http://spotify.com/progrockessentials |
This is, of course, the highest and most important day in the liturgical calendar. And, since this website is named for the patron saint of music, it’s only fitting that we consider a few Easter tracks.
Enjoy.
Happy Easter!
In an unexpected turn of events, a new supergroup has been formed. It’s a quartet featuring some of the most impressive musicians today — Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Tool drummer Danny Carey. Called Beat, the band will play King Crimson music and they’ve been announced by none other than the King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp. Read more…Easily one of the most mind-blowing lineups you can ever come up with.
Greetings, Spirit of Cecilia readers! In this post, Brad Birzer, Erik Heter, and Tad Wert revisit three progressive classics: Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair, from King Crimson.
Tad: Brad and Erik, I am so looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these albums! We haven’t really delved into the incredibly large and diverse discography of King Crimson, and Discipline is a personal favorite of mine. It came out in 1981, after most fans assumed Robert Fripp had put King Crimson to rest for good. As a matter of fact, on their previous album, the 1974 live set USA, Fripp put R.I.P. on the back cover. That album is another favorite of mine, featuring the formidable lineup of Fripp (guitar), Bill Bruford (percussion), John Wetton (bass and vocals), and David Cross (violin). This is the same group that recorded Lark’s Tongues In Aspic (with Jamie Muir added on percussion) and Starless and Bible Black. This group was ferocious in its ability to improvise, but apparently it was exhausting for all involved.
So it was quite surprising when word got out that Fripp was rehearsing a new lineup for King Crimson: Bruford (again), Tony Levin (bass and stick), and Adrian Belew (guitar and vocals). I was a subscriber to Musician magazine at the time, and it started running a series of “diary” entries from Fripp that detailed his excitement (and worries) about the music they were creating.
As interested as I was in what this new iteration of KC was going to sound like, nothing could have prepared me for Discipline. I was familiar with Belew from his work with Talking Heads and David Bowie, but I hadn’t heard him sing before. I knew Tony Levin was a much-in-demand bassist, but I didn’t realize how much of a pioneer he was with the Chapman Stick. The shift in style from Starless and Bible Black to Discipline is one of the most radical metamorphoses in rock history. And what is so impressive is that they pull it off – pleasing long time fans and attracting new wave listeners.
When it came out, I was in college, and one of my suitemates got a copy. We listened to it several times in one evening, trying to understand what Fripp et al. were doing. To my ears, it was the perfect marriage of challenging, yet accessible rock. The cover art was understated and perfect: Bright red with a basic silver font simply stating, “King Crimson Discipline”, and a Celtic knot that isn’t easily untangled. Rhythmically, it was very straightforward. Melodically, it was almost minimalist in its composition, but it fit in comfortably with what groups like Talking Heads, The Police, Ultravox, and Simple Minds were producing. The more I listened, the more I was taken with it.
Okay, I’ve rambled on for too long! How did Discipline strike you, Brad, when you first heard it?
Brad: Tad, what a wonderful way to start us off. Thank you so much for your many good thoughts on this. Sadly, I won’t be able to match your good introduction. Yet, I loved reading about yours.
Though I grew up with progressive rock–Yes, Jethro Tull, and Kansas, in particular–I knew nothing about King Crimson until my college years. I didn’t start college until 1986 (and the three Discipline-era albums had already come out), and I first encountered the band through a radio station copy of Beat and, in particular, the song “Neal and Jack and me”–which I instantly fell in love with.
I remember being taken with the minimalist cover and diving into the music.
After encountering it at the radio station, I purchased a copy of Beat, and, from there, I bought Discipline and Three of a Perfect Pair. To me, these three albums have to go together, one followed by another. I really have a hard time thinking of any one of the three–red, blue, and yellow–in isolation from the other. As such, I came VERY late to In the Court of the Crimson King, and the albums had progressed so much that I had a very hard time thinking of “my” King Crimson as the King Crimson of “In the Court. . .” Much later, I would buy Thrak–which has far more in common with Discipline-era King Crimson than the original King Crimson albums.
I knew very little about Adrian Belew or Robert Fripp, but I’d been a long time fan of Bill Bruford because of Yes and Tony Levin because of Peter Gabriel. So, I was really curious as to what they were up to.
Additionally–should I admit this here???–though I never had a religious fundamentalist phase, I was returning to my childhood Catholicism (I’m what’s called a “revert” in Catholic circles) at the same time that I first encountered Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair, and I was really freaked out that the band named themselves after the devil! I thought, what a crazy thing to do. Why would you even mess with such a thing?
That stated. . .
I’ll do my best to focus on Discipline, though, for this dialogue. Tad, for better or worse, I often think of Discipline-era King Crimson as New Wave Prog, in the same way I think of Rush’s Power Windows, Yes’s Drama, or The Fixx’s Reach the Beach. It’s definitely progressive, but in such an early 1980s way.
Tad: Brad, I agree that Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair make a seamless trilogy. It must have been deliberate – look at the artwork for them: same font with a single icon on each. As a lover of symmetry, I have always been bowled over by this series of album covers. I even framed them when I was first married, and my understanding wife let me hang them on our den wall!
Your characterization of this music as New Wave Prog is perfect. I think you’ve created a hitherto unknown genre of music, but one that, with hindsight makes sense! At the time, it seemed to just fit in with all the weird and crazy music being produced in the early 80s.
Okay, let’s discuss the songs on Discipline. It opens with “Elephant Talk”, in which Belew bellows,
“Talk, it’s only talk
Arguments, agreements, advice, answers
Articulate announcements
It’s only talk”
while his guitar emits sheets of cascading sound. Levin lays down nimble basslines on his Stick, and Bruford plays a cacophonous yet steady racket on drums. All the while, Fripp is furiously pushing out scales on his guitar and creating a soundbed for the others to play on. Each verse is a list of synonyms for verbalizing in alphabetical order: the first is all A’s, the second all B’s, etc. This illustrates an aspect that I love so much about this iteration of KC: their sense of humor. Even though the music can be crushingly dense at times, there is a feeling of fun and sheer joy in it.
Erik: Like you, Brad, I was a latecomer to King Crimson – for the most part anyway. I do remember hearing Discipline once or twice when it first came out, but to use a Heinlein-ism, I absolutely did not grok it at all. So I put it aside for well over a decade and a half before finally revisiting it. In the meantime, I had purchased In the Court of the Crimson King, Lizard, and most importantly (for the purposes of priming the pump for Discipline), Larks Tongues in Aspic. While the latter is quite different from Discipline-era Crimson, if one listens close enough they can hear a few stylistic threads connecting them (and indeed, Three of a Perfect Pair includes Larks Tongues in Aspic Part III). If anything, I think the music of Discipline and the subsequent two albums is where they would have ended up anyway if they hadn’t broke up in 1974.
Another thing Brad – like Tad, I think your description of Discipline-era Crimson as New Wave Prog hits the nail on the head. The music has so much of that quality in other 80’s music that was described by the phrase once uttered by Yes’s Tony Kaye – dimensionally sparse. No previous Crimson album ever left as much space between the instruments as Discipline and its two successors did. This description applies to a majority of the album, with the notable exceptions of Indiscipline and Thela Hun Ginjeet. Because of this approach, Discipline fit in with the contemporaneous music of the early 80’s as well as the early Crimson albums fit in with that of the early 70s.
What makes these albums familiar to Crimson fans was the presence of Fripp and Bruford, who were well-established by the release of Discipline. What made them fresh was the presence of newcomers Belew and Levin. Belew brought in the quirky, New Wave-y 80s vocal stylizations that he learned during his time with the decidedly non-prog Talking Heads. Meanwhile, Levin brought in not only a new way of playing bass, but also introduced to Crimson the Chapman stick and the new sounds that came with it. When it was all thrown into the same pot, the result was a type of music that was eclectic and often intricate.
If I had to pick some favorite songs off of the album, there are three that really stand out to me. First is the easy, breezy Matte Kudasai, the uptempo romp of Thela Hun Ginjeet, and the instrumental The Sheltering Sky. The latter two of these tracks include some of the best percussion work Bill Bruford has ever performed in any of the bands he’s been in – which is quite a statement considering his pedigree. In Thela Hun Ginjeet, Brufords drumming comes in fast and furious yet with exquisite precision. In The Sheltering Sky, Bruford’s percussion is almost understated and yet still manages to demand the listener’s attention. This track also includes both Belew and Fripp on the weird, wonderful guitar synthesizer.
I’m still relatively new to the latter two albums of this trio, so I’ll visit those in my next entry. For now, back to you guys!
Tad: Erik, thank you for your insights on this album! I’m glad you brought attention to Bruford’s contributions. One thing I remember from those articles Fripp published in Musician is how he kept trying to rein in Bruford, because he wanted this music to be disciplined.
If I had to pick my favorite songs, it would be “Frame By Frame” and “The Sheltering Sky”. In the former, I really like the relentless groove that Fripp, Levin, and Belew set up, while Belew’s and Levin’s vocals hover delicately above it all.
I agree with you about Bruford’s excellent percussion work in “The Sheltering Sky” – I have a DVD of a concert they performed at the time this album came out, and Bruford is masterful on congas while Fripp wigs out on guitar. I love the way the song takes its time building – it’s quite a while before Levin enters on Stick, and when he does, it brings the music to another level. I don’t think Fripp ever had another guitarist as empathetic as Belew was with him. The two of them traded phrases off each other as if they were of one mind.
Fun fact: “Thela Hun Ginjeet” is an anagram for “Heat In The Jungle”!
Brad: Dear Tad and Erik, what excellent responses. One of the things I love most about Discipline is that it starts off with the utterly bizarre “Elephant Talk.” The band could’ve easily and victoriously started the album with the much more radio and listener friendly “Frame by Frame.”
Instead, they begin with the offbeat one. Again, I love this about the band. They definitely define their own path.
I’m not sure I have specifics about this album. Again, to me, it’s an intimate part of a trilogy of releases, and, Tad, I love that you had the artwork displayed. What would we do without our loving and forgiving wives!
And, I would agree, my favorites among these tracks are “Frame by Frame” with its relentless roar, and “The Sheltering Sky” which feels like a Talk Talk song from the same period, at least in terms of its rhythm.
I mentioned this above, but my favorite album of the trilogy is Beat, as it combines the weirdness of “Elephant Talk” with the accessible and intense sounds of “Frame by Frame.”
“I’m a 1952 Studebacker coupe!”
But, I also really love the title track of Three of a Perfect Pair. So wonderfully quirky.
Tad: It’s a tough call, but I think this iteration of King Crimson is my favorite. At least, I come back to these three albums more than any others in Crimson’s long, long career. I don’t think Fripp ever assembled a more talented crew than these four guys, and they are at the top of their game. I never saw them live, but as I mentioned, I have a couple of concerts on DVD, and they make this difficult music look effortless.
As I have revisited this trio of albums in order, I’m struck by how much the “accessible” songs sound more accessible, while the “out-there” songs are more and more out-there. Brad, maybe that’s why Beat is your favorite – it hits the sweet spot between pop and experiment. While it contains beautiful and gentle love songs like “Heartbeat” and “Two Hands” it also has the atonal and terrifying “Requiem”. I think that’s why this iteration of King Crimson packed it in after Three of a Perfect Pair; by the third album, “things fell apart; the center couldn’t hold” (to paraphrase Yeats!). That album contains their most pop song ever, “Sleepless”, while also giving us “Industry”, which is close to pure noise in places.
Erik: While my familiarity with Discipline dates back to about the mid-90s, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair are both relatively new to me. Yet one thing that strikes me is the consistency of sound across these albums – it’s almost as if they could have all been released as one triple album instead of as three separate albums. From a production standpoint, these albums really stand out as being of a particular time. One odd thought I’ve had listening to these – particularly Beat – is how similar the production (not the music!) was to the first two solo albums of Robert Plant. Indeed, I had to go back and look it up to find out who the respective producers were, but they were different. It must have been just something in the air at the time.
Another observation about these three albums – they mark some of the best, if not the best work of Bill Bruford in his entire career. As a hardcore Yes fan, I do not say that lightly. One great example of this is Sartori in Tangier from Beat (which, for some reason, I keep reading as Santoni the Tiger … I think I need some Frosted Flakes, but I digress). Another is Sleepless from Three of a Perfect Pair. Sleepless is also one of the songs in this trio that includes Tony Levin’s use of the Chapman Stick, along with Neurotica and The Howler (from Beat), as well as Industry and the title track of Three of a Perfect Pair.
All that said, by the end of Three of a Perfect Pair, I start to hear a certain sameness in the music, and thus it’s not surprising to me in retrospect that Fripp broke up the band again. Maybe that’s just how Fripp worked best, in bursts followed by long breaks. I do get the impression he wasn’t easy to work with, and have read that both Bruford and Belew were a bit miffed when Fripp split them up again in 1984.
That being said, I don’t want to close on a sour note, so here goes. You guys, being in the same age range as me, might remember the early 80s TV show Fridays, which was basically ABCs attempt at creating their own version of Saturday Night Live. Both had the same format – sketch comedy, a “news” break, and musical guests. And on one glorious night during the 81-82 timeframe, they had as their musical guests Fripp, Belew, Levin and Bruford, under their collective name of King Crimson – preserved for posterity thanks to YouTube. Enjoy!
BY RICHARD K MUNRO
When I feel disappointed or have negative feelings I turn to literature. I like to re-read Stoic Philosophers and the Bible. I have a wonderful little book called LINCOLN’S DEVOTIONAL which was edited by Carl Sandburg. I also write little quotes in the book which I review from time to time. O often carry it in my pocket when walk in the park. I wrote (from Ovid) Temporis ars medicina fere est (Time is a great medicine or healer). Yes, this too shall pass. I have an other quote by TR: “Do what you can where you are with what you have.”We have a situation in our life: We are older and feel more pain and have less energy. But we count our blessings- we can still walk and hear and see and think reasonably well. If my eyes are sore I use eyedrops. If I am still fatigued or have a headache I listen to Audible Books or music. Sometimes I just sing an old song from memory.I remember my father used to say. “God made man strong only for a while so we can help others.” As Romans said. “We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.”
When weaker people we despise, we do the great Redeemer wrong. For God, the gracious and the wise receives the feeble and the strong.Let us do good to all men especially to those in the household of faith. (Galatians).We have people in our lives who worry us and disappoint us. Arguing and accusing does nothing positive. Sometimes one has to be patient and listen and pray for that person.Praying for the well-being of a person is often more effective that fighting with that person. Why am I frustrated with that or this person? Is it because I really care about that person or is it because I find it embarrassing for me personally?So following Epictetus it is NOT THAT PERSON who spoils or affects my life. It is how I emotionally think about the situation. I can be angry and confrontative OR I can be philosophical and patient and pray with sincere love. I can tell the person I will be there in reserve any time I am needed. Ultimately you cannot do that person’s exams or work. You cannot force them to stay home or stay sober. You cannot force that person to love you our be your friend.All you can do is encourage them to make good choices. You choose how you want to respond. I like to think of the good side. This person is not dead. This person is not sick or injured (he survived a car wreck). This person did not hurt or kill anybody else. It is unfortunate to total a car and lose the use of it but the car is just so much rust and metal anyway. This person could have parked the car on the street, clean and shiny and in good repair and then walked across the street and been killed by a passing bus. What is better to have the person you love or a late model car? We all have ups and downs in life and hopefully and thankfully we can learn from mistakes and do better in the future.We choose how we spend our hours of lucidity and reasonable health. It does not good to be sad and bitter that we do not have the energy when had when we were 25 or 35. Be glad you worked hard in youth to provide some security in your old age! Quien joven no trabaja viejo duermo sobre paja (If you don’t work when you are young you will regret it -suffer humiliations even homelessness when you are old.).I remember my father always had two great worries:
1) being evicted and then homeless
2) not having enough to eat or fresh water to drink.
3) not having a regular job.I used to call him on the phone long distance, and he would always say “HOW’S YOUR WEE JO-AB? (job). He figured if you were working you are in reasonable health and gaining a reasonable security. He also advised me NEVER TO SPEND my “bottom dollar” (better to go hungry) and try to have always a free and clear car, some food on hand (even if it was just peanut butter and crackers or oatmeal) and enough money for gas or transportation.Your next goal was to own your own home. In itself it was a good investment (or could be ) and forced savings. I am glad I took an economics class in high school and one year of economics in college! I am very glad that when I studied to be a teacher I was working FULL TIME at a Bank (including nights and weekends) to provide insurance and some security for my family but ALSO TO LEARN about CREDIT, INTERESTS RATES,
FRAUDS, IDENTIFY THEFT, BANKRUPTCY and FINANCE.We started modestly with a condominium then a home in a reasonable neighborhood (we were considered rich) than a home in a nicer neighborhood (we were considered poor!). My son was a boy scout in his old school. When we moved to the new neighborhood he had to join another troop. He wasn’t accepted. Each parent had to organize activities. Ours were not fancy enough. Once we organized an outing to the local minor league baseball team. No one showed up. My son was very disappointed be we had a good time. He decided to quit the Boy Scouts. But instead he took SPORTS OFFICIATING and later made money officiating SOCCER, BASEBALL and BASKETBALL. He played soccer, basketball and baseball in high school. In college he played on an all-boys practice basketball team against the Varsity Girl team. He did that for one year. He tried to get scholarship. They didn’t offer him one so he quit that and played on intramural teams. Eventually he became a teacher and a successful coach in baseball and soccer. His knowledge and experience prepared him for a satisfying career which he enjoys very much. His coaching led to him meeting people in professional baseball and now (part-time) he tutors and mentors rookie players from Spanish-speaking countries.None of our children had cars in high school. But many of their classmates had luxury cars of their own and had active hedonistic social lives. Parties, ski trips, secret drinking. When our children were in college they helped pay their own way. When they had jobs and NEEDED a car for safe transportation, we helped them by sharing our second car with them or helping them buy a used car. It turned out, over the years, we never have a second car for ourselves which mean I did not have my own personal car. But we lived perfectly happy.
By working during college our children reduced their school debt to a minimum and gained a great appreciation for studies and leisure time. Our children paid their own rent and daily expenses themselves. We helped them 1) get their first car -a used car 2) we gave them AAA cards and gas credit cards (FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY). They never abused the privilege and in fact I remember my daughter would send tip money to my wife to help pay the Chevron bill. We never paid a penny of interest on those cards!Children have to learn the value of money and the value of work early in life. By 18 a youngster should be contributing to his or her upkeep. The most important thing is to get EXPERIENCE and to develop the DISICPLINE of getting up every day and showing up on time for work. That means sometimes working nights or weekends.Yes, it is hard to work and easier to play and sleep in.But we choose how to respond to our problems in life and if we work hard and are sober and judicious we can create the outcomes we want or at least outcomes that are better if we had not planned and made good choices. In each life some rain shall fall But if we have a roof over our heads, an umbrella, a hat and a raincoat we will get through the storm more easily
I wish I had profound things to write after the untimely death (he was only 66) of World Party’s Karl Wallinger. Though I’ve listened to Goodbye Jumbo too many times to count, I’ve never written about Wallinger or World Party. This seems bizarre to me, especially as I regard Goodbye Jumbo as one of the finest pop statements ever conceived.
My great friend, Kevin McCormick, first discovered World Party and turned them on to me back in 1989 or 1990. While I don’t think that Wallinger ever quite topped Goodbye Jumbo, I do very much like everything he recorded
From the opening notes of the album, Goodbye Jumbo, Wallinger invites us into his basement for a private concert. At least that’s how the album feels to me.
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Wallinger somehow mixed anxiety with hope, turning us onto the larger world and finding our humanity within it.
Though it came on a later album, Bang, my favorite Wallinger song is his ode to western civilization, “Is it Like Today?” I always encourage my western heritage students to listen to it.
Again, I have nothing profound to say, except thank you, Karl. You’ve definitely made my world brighter over the past thirty-four years. May you rest in peace.
There are a select few artists that Spirit of Cecilia will always love and greet with joy any new release. One of them is Big Big Train, who have just released a new album, The Likes Of Us. Big Big Fanboys Brad Birzer and Tad Wert discuss this latest chapter in their long and varied career, and what it means for BBT’s future.
Tad: Brad, my fellow Progling and good friend, it’s always big news when Big Big Train graces us with new music. I have you to thank for making me aware of this wonderful group of musicians. It was when The Underfall Yard had just been released, and we were connecting via social media. You insisted I check them out. I had never heard of BBT, and it was an ear-opening experience to explore all of their music. I fell in love with The Difference Machine along with The Underfall Yard, and the rest is history.
As I became familiar with their career, I soon learned that The Underfall Yard was the first album to feature vocalist David Longden. He, along with founding member Greg Spawton, went on to produce some of the finest albums of the 2010’s: English Electric, Folklore, Grimspound, Grand Tour, Common Ground. And then tragically, David Longden passed away. I was afraid this was the end for BBT as we knew them.
However, they found a new vocalist, Alberto Bravin, and have recorded a new album! Brad, I’m really interested in hearing your first impressions of this iteration of BBT. Is it a worthy successor to previous ones?
Brad: Dear Tad, thank you so much for this, and my apologies (as usual) for being late in replying. Things have been chaotic (good and bad chaos, it turns out–one so quickly and readily becomes the other) in the Birzer household. Let’s just say, I’m not unhappy to see February 2024 in the rear-view mirror, and that all ills (flu and otherwise) have found happy resolutions!
As I type this on my laptop, I sit beneath an original Jim Trainer painting from The Underfall Yard that proudly adorns my college office. Below it is an award I won over twenty years ago, and above it is an original photo of Geronimo. Next to it is a signed and framed autograph from Neil Peart.
I first encountered The Underfall Yard fifteen years ago. Our very own Carl Olson sent me a mix of his favorite tracks of 2009, and a song from the TUY album was included. To say I was floored would be the understatement of my adult life. I immediately ordered the full album, and I was completely blown away by its brilliance, its creativity, and its unique voice. As to the latter, there’s nothing quite like a classic BBT sound–a perfect mixture of exhilaration and melancholy. I also immediately emailed Greg Spawton, who kindly responded. For years, we had a fairly serious correspondence. We even sent each other books we each loved. I cherish those emails and that friendship.
From there, I closely followed the band, and, as I’ve noted elsewhere, we founded Progarchy originally as a BBT fansite. Years later, you and I collected our various essays on the band and e-published Dream of the West through Amazon. That little e-book did very well, I’m proud to say, and I’m deeply honored that our names will always be linked together, Tad. I also had the chance to praise them at National Review, at The Imaginative Conservative, and elsewhere.
This is all a very long way of stating that I’ve followed the band as closely as possible for a decade and a half. I’ve cheered with and for them, and, with the immense loss of David Longdon, I’ve mourned with and for them.
They’ve been a part of my life as much as anything else (except for family) over the past fifteen years.
This past weekend, BBT played its very first show in the United States. It was in Fort Wayne, Indiana–just a 1.5 hour drive for me–but I was, crazily, already committed to leading a seminar/conference in Philadelphia, a commitment I made.
Ok, Birzer, shut up and tell us about the new album!!!
To be sure, BBT has had a rough couple of years, and many folks have wondered if the band could recover after the tragic loss of vocalist David Longdon. Additionally, many of the essential bandmates–such as David Gregory–had left the band for a variety of reasons.
The Likes of Us proves that BBT is more than the sum of its parts, an idea and concept as much as a concrete band. Whereas the band was once incredibly and quirkily English, it is now quite cosmopolitan and, well, trans-Atlantic. I write this last bit with only the slightest bit of irony, as the new album has, in part, a Neal Morse/Spock’s Beard feel to it.
Tad: Brad, as always, I appreciate the context you provide for your love of BBT. I think you have hit the nail on the head with your preceding paragraph: Big Big Train is an idea and concept now, much like King Crimson and Yes are. The personnel may change, but there is definitely a constant thread through all of their albums that makes each one a uniquely “BBT” work.
As I write this, I am listening to “Beneath the Masts”, Greg Spawton’s ode to the radio masts that dominated the landscape of his childhood. As long as Greg is involved, BBT will always be BBT. He truly has been the anchor of the band, regardless of who sings or plays guitar.
I am intrigued with your reference to Neal Morse/Spock’s Beard. I love their music as well, but it has always been more, hmm… turbulent, than BBT’s in my opinion. BBT’s music has, until this album, always struck me as being pastoral. Kind of like Vaughan Williams’ music is in the classical realm. I could see BBT performing “The Lark Ascending”, but never Spock’s Beard, if that makes sense!
Okay, let’s talk about The Likes Of Us! I love the opening chords of the first song, “Light Left In The Day” – the acoustic guitars are reminiscent of Steve Hackett-era Genesis. It soon develops into quite a majestic production, and, now that you’ve mentioned it, I really hear that Morse influence in it. Another favorite moment is the seamless segue into “Oblivion”, which is a terrific rocker. According to my Spotify app, I’m not alone in really liking this track – it far and away has the most listens. I think it’s a great choice for the single, because the melody is so appealing. Bravin’s vocals are superb here, and despite my initial impulse to compare him unfavorably to Longdon, I think he does a fantastic job leading the band. He’s a wonderful choice to replace an irreplaceable artist, and I am excited for BBT’s future.
“Beneath the Masts” is the big epic, clocking in at 17:26. I have to admit that after several listens, this one hasn’t resonated as deeply with me as previous long-form BBT songs have. It’s very pretty, and there is nothing to not love, but for some reason it’s just not sticking in my memory. However, I do especially like the bit at around the 15:00 minute mark where, after a relatively quiet section, the whole band comes in again and Bravin lets loose with some very good vocals.
“Skates On” reminds me the most of “classic Big Big Train”. It’s just a delightful little tune with wonderful vocal harmonies. The lyrics celebrate going out and having some fun: “Enjoy the Ride/It’s time to get your skates on/We’re here then gone”. I think the more I listen to the album, the more I enjoy this track.
Alright, I’ve written enough – what are your thoughts on the new songs?
Brad: What a wonderful and thoughtful response, Tad. Thank you. Whenever I get a new album–especially if you and I decide to review it–I immerse myself into it fully, allowing it to wash over me multiple times before writing about it. For whatever reason, I had a really hard time getting into The Likes of Us the first few times I listened to it. I definitely heard a Spock’s Beard influence (the new singer sounds VERY much like Nick D’Virgilio), but my initial thoughts were that the band–now labeled as an “international progressive rock collective” had lost its distinctive English voice and that the band was producing someone one might call “generic prog.”
As I’ve continued to listen to the album, though, I think I was very wrong in my initial assessment. The band has definitely lost its distinctive English voice, but it has also adopted a new one and one that is truly international. And, frankly, it’s quite beautiful in its own, new way. The band really has become something more than it was.
And, you’re right, of course, Tad. The center of the band–from its beginning–has always been Greg Spawton. He’s the touchstone and fountainhead of all things BBT. With his bass, his songwriting, and his voice, he will always define BBT whatever other members are there. I’m so glad you reminded all of us of that.
This said, I’m now utterly taken with the first three tracks of The Likes of Us: “Light Left in the Day” (a pastoral gem for the first few minutes), “Oblivion” (a NVD rocker), and the magisterial “Beneath the Masts” (what BBT does best–long-form prog). Like you, Tad, I love the segue between tracks one and two, and I also agree that “Beneath the Masts,” while excellent, does not quite live up to “Broken English,” “The Wide Open Sea,” or “The Underfall Yard.” Still, it’s close, and, frankly, it’s a privilege to hear such prog beauty, especially when it comes from Spawton’s pen.
As you note, “Skates On” is simply a delight, something that might have appeared on Grimspound or The Second Brightest Star.
Tad: Brad, I’m glad you have had a slight reassessment of the album, and it looks like you and I are in agreement that the first “side” (if albums can have “sides” these days) is really nice. As far as the final four tracks go, “Miramare” is the standout song for me. The vocal harmonies are wonderful, and the guitar solo is very tasteful.
In the press release that came with the album, the band remarks that this is the first time in a long time that the members recorded the songs together in the same room: In May 2023, six members of Big Big Train left their homes in England (Spawton and Lindley), the United States (D’Virgilio), Sweden (Sjöblom) and Norway (Holldorff) to gather for a week in Bravin’s home town of Trieste in north eastern Italy, at Urban Recording, a studio recommended by Alberto, to lay down the basic tracks. Being face to face in a room, as opposed to emailing sound files, the intimacy of the process generated moments of inspiration that would otherwise have gone unheard.
The process would prove emotional. “There were some tears; I cried a few of my own,” recalls Nick D’Virgillio, the band’s drummer since 2009. “There are many reasons to explain why we hadn’t worked that way in quite a while, but the process brought out the best in everybody.”
I’m glad that they took the time and trouble to work in person – that bodes well for future music. I always think songs are improved when musicians can bounce ideas off each other in real time.
Well, I think that is a good place to wrap this one up, Brad. I’m going to say that The Likes of Us will probably be thought of as a transitional album when put in the context of their long career; they have successfully incorporated a new vocalist/songwriter into the fold, while maintaining ties to their past. It will be interesting to see what they produce in the years to come!
Spirit of Cecilia 
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