Category Archives: Philosophy

Republic of Letters

90125 At 40

90125

Once again, the resident music aficionados of Spirit of Cecilia (Brad Birzer, Tad Wert, Erik Heter, Kevin McCormick, and Carl Olson) turn their gazes onto a prog classic – this time discussing Yes’ best-selling album, 90125.

Tad: Gentlemen, this album came out 40(!) years ago. In 1983, I was a senior at Vanderbilt University and compact disc players were just beginning to become affordable. Against all common sense, I bought a Sanyo player for $399 and three cds: Roxy Music’s Avalon, Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut, and Yes’ 90125. I still remember the awed looks on my dormmates’ faces when I popped in 90125 and “Owner of a Lonely Heart” came blasting out of my stereo without any preliminary hiss or scratching from a vinyl lp.

At the time, this album was a huge hit for Yes, and it jumpstarted their career after it had flagged somewhat (even though I would argue that its predecessor, Drama, was a terrific work). However, we now know that the recording of 90125 was not all sweetness and light. In fact, I believe it wasn’t even supposed to be a Yes album! But I’ll let someone else who is more knowledgeable give us the details of that.

Erik: Sometime around August, 1983, I was hanging out in the rec room of one of the barracks at the ASW (anti-submarine warfare) base in San Diego, a city where I had spent several months prior and would spend a few more learning the intricacies of submarine sonar.  Someone had left a music magazine hanging around, it might have been Rolling Stone, but I’m not 100% sure on that.  Anyway, I picked it up and started thumbing through it and saw a news item entitled “Yes – No.”  A picture of Steve Howe accompanied the short piece, which relayed the news that Yes was reforming, with Jon Anderson on vocals, Chris Squire on bass, Alan White on drums, and newcomer Trevor Rabin on guitar.  While much of the piece focused on Howe’s disapproval of the new lineup, I swept that aside for the news of a Yes reunion – I was absolutely thrilled.  

Later, in October of that year, I departed San Diego, training complete, and headed back to what was then home in Charlotte, NC, for a few weeks of leave before, in late November, I would make my way to my boat (the USS Olympia, SSN 717) that was then under construction in the shipyard at Newport News, VA.  During my leave, Yes released the first single from the new album, followed a few weeks later by the album itself.

Oddly, I was a little bit hesitant when I first heard Owner of a Lonely Heart. While the voice was familiar, as was the bass tone, this was something radically different from anything they had done before.  This one particular song was more commercial sounding than anything they had done, although it was hardly a lowest-common denominator hit.  And the guitar sound (especially that solo) was nothing like I’d ever heard on a Yes album.  There was, however, a bit of a fear that the sound of the album would be so unrecognizable as to not sound anything like Yes.  

That fear was firmly put to rest the night before the album’s release.  Listening to one of the local FM rock stations, a DJ started talking about the new Yes album, 90125, and decided to play another song off the album – Leave It.  I was hooked before they even finished the first verse with that huge, wall of sound vocal harmony that opened the song.  After that, I was ecstatic as I was bombarded to “doos” and “dums” and “deets” coming at me from different vocalists in a number of different directions in a vocal arrangement so complex, innovative, and interesting that only a band like Yes could even dream such a thing up, much less execute it so flawlessly.  This was the music I had been waiting for since the Drama album of three years prior.

The next day (of course!) I wasted no time getting to the mall record store to buy the first of many copies of the album in cassette format that I would own – many copies because I tended to wear them out from so many listens.  In my days of using a Sony Walkman, there isn’t another album that spent as much time being wound and rewound as 90125.  

The first listen to the full album was absolutely magical, revealing a perfect mix of sounds that were simultaneously familiar to Yes fans and yet totally new and different.  Moreover, the sound was very 1980’s contemporary.  And yet even now, 40 years later, the album holds up very well without sounding dated.  90125 showed that Yes could adapt to changing times, that they were anything but dinosaurs as critics had accused them of being.  It showed they could innovate in ways even Yes fans – accustomed to musical innovation – couldn’t have imagined.  It showed they could be commercially relevant in a new decade without devolving into banal hitmaking.  

Oh sure, there were many old school Yes fans that didn’t like the album, the ones who were probably hoping for a redux of Tales from Topographic Oceans.  You can count me out of that group though, because I am one old school fan that loved the album and couldn’t get enough of it.  And while there is some debate about whether the album itself should be classified as prog, the importance of 90125 to the genre cannot be overstated.  A whole new generation of fans was lured in by this album, fans that began venturing into the band’s back catalog and then into the wider world of prog.  Even when I consider the contemporaneous output of another one of my favorite bands – Rush – it’s hard for me to think of a single album that did more to keep the prog flame alive in the 1980’s after critics had gleefully – and, obviously, prematurely – declared the genre dead at the end of the 1970’s.

I’ll get into more of the particulars of the album itself in my next entry, but for now I’m going to turn the floor over to another one of the distinguished participants.

Carl: By reason of age, chance, and the mysterious forces of radio whims, “90125” was my introduction to Yes. I was fourteen and was just getting into pop and rock music, to the horror of my parents, who that same school year—1983-84—made me throw away some cassettes gifted by a friend. Those deeply subversive albums were by Elton John (early, mellow Elton), Pat Benatar, and Foreigner (4, of course). There was only one rock station that reached my small town in western Montana—a bucolic village with a population of 1100, no stop lights, no fast food, and (shockingly) no music scene. 

I recall, quite clearly, being at church youth group one evening and someone, after the more serious stuff, cranking said radio station in their car, doors open in the parking lot. “90125” came on. It immediately grabbed my attention. “What is that?!” I thought. And then came the breakdown, and I was hooked. This was interesting music! It took a while, but I eventually got a tape of the album, and I started to learn more about the convoluted history of Yes and its connections to another favorite group: Asia. Styx, Kansas, Supertramp, Queen, and ELP all followed. I was officially into prog! (And my parents finally gave up trying to control my musical tastes.)

 My years in college—split between Phoenix (1987-88), southern Idaho (1988-89), and Saskatchwan, Canada (1989-91) were filled with musical exploration, ranging from brief flirtations with metal and Bruce Springstreen to more serious dives into Pink Floyd, Rush, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Steve Morse, Queensryche, Kerry Livgren, and so forth. But Yes was always a constant, and I gradually became acquainted with all the earlier work, as well as Trevor Rabin’s excellent solo album “Can’t Look Away” (1989), which I literally wore out. Then, in 1991, having moved to Portland and living with my cousin for a while, I bought my first CD: “90125”. That was a great choice, of course, because it’s a sonic marvel, with Trevor Horn (who I knew a bit about because of his previous work with Yes) at the helm. 

Erik mentioned Rabin’s guitars. As I’ve listened to the album a few times in recent days, they stand out the most to me; they mark the biggest difference between Yes with Howe and the “90125”-era Yes. That’s not a knock on Howe, of course, who is fantastic in countless ways. But the stylistic differences are immense. That, in turn, informs the songs, which are more anthemic and are simply BIG in sound and intention, while containing plenty of complicated parts, harmonies, and arrangements. We’ve all read about how the album came about, how many challenges there were, and how Anderson kind of slipped into the mix; it’s a tribute to Horn and the musicians that they could overcome so much discord and paralyzing circumstances to create one of the great prog-rock albums of the 1980s. 

If Rabin’s guitars set it apart, it is, in my view, Anderson’s vocal contributions that hold it together and make it a real Yes album. It would have been very good without Jon; it is a classic with him. And, again, there is the work of Horn, whose production genius is impossible to overstate. Ironically (or perhaps fittingly?), the same year (1991) I bought “90125” on CD, I discovered the first Seal album and was instantly hooked. It was, of course, produced by Horn, who has been at the helm for several Seal albums—the first three, for me, being one of the finest pop/rock trifectas ever created.

Kevin: Somehow my first memory of 90125 was the hype for the world-premier of their new music video on MTV. “Owner of a Lonely Heart” immediately received heavy rotation on the channel, in part due to the relatively-high production values for a single by an “old” group like Yes were in 1983. The avant-garde film-noir theme seemed an unlikely pairing with the lyrics but somehow it worked and captured a huge new following for the band. But it was simply a great new sound for the band and for the times.

I was fascinated with this new sound and found it to be an engaging blend of progressive and pop. Being in my mid-teens at the time, I don’t think I was as keenly aware of the importance of the “production” of a studio-recorded song, but I was aware that this was definitely a new adventure for Yes. I missed hearing Steve Howe’s guitar, but I also intuited that without Trevor Rabin in the mix this would be a completely different song.

I wholeheartedly concur with both Erik and Carl, that Rabin’s guitar really stands out on that opening track and throughout the album. I love the way the opening track begins with the “heavy distortion” Rabin sound and then quickly pulls back to the clean sound more reminiscent of Howe’s earlier contributions for the band. Whether intentional or not, it was a great way of signaling that this was something new and yet it retains those components that make it Yes.

I caught them live for this tour in Austin in 1984, and they did a great job of capturing that same energy on stage. Rabin seemed comfortable in his new role and had no trouble filling Howe’s shoes on the older material. It was a different style for those tunes, but they were well-played. This being my first chance to catch them live, I had no direct comparison, but I thought it was a tremendous performance.

But that brings up a component of this that I don’t want to miss.  I’ve read various articles about Rabin and Yes and their early incarnation as Cinema. Some accounts claim that Rabin came in with much of the album finished and the band just kind of recorded what he wrote. This is an unjust assessment and really underplays what makes the album so exciting.  I know this not because I was there, but because in 2003 Rabin released his demos as 90124. You can find some of them on YouTube–though I no longer see some of the tracks that better illustrate the point.

What is clear from the demos when compared to the final recording is that his ideas were seeds (some of them quite plain)  waiting to be nurtured and to sprout into full bloom. There was plenty of fluff needing to be pared down. There were plenty of tweaks needed. This was not a collection of hit songs waiting to be recorded; it was a mishmash of some good ideas that needed the rest of the band to make great. Not only did Squire and White bring these germs to life with a powerful rhythm section, but Trevor Horn’s production makes every track completely blossom. Then Jon Anderson arrived in the last few weeks of recording and, as Carl noted, turned a good album into “a classic.” His lyrical contributions alone changed the whole tenor of the work and his vocals are captivating in a way that is simply not there without him.

This was a band effort, an incredible symbiotic musical creation worthy of review forty years on. It will be remembered because it captured and launched the sound of the times both into the prog realm and beyond.

Tad: Kevin, thank you for providing the context in which Trevor Rabin’s contributions were made. It’s interesting to me how a consistent thread in all of our reminiscences has emerged: about how crucial Trevor Horn’s production was. I was a fan of his from his Buggles days – when he and Geoff Downes joined Yes for Drama I was really surprised, because I thought of them as synthpop artists, not progressive rockers! I ended up buying everything Horn produced for his ZTT record label: Frankie Goes To Hollywood (they have not aged well), Propaganda (amazing German group – A Secret Wish remains a favorite 80s album), Art of Noise, and Grace Jones (Slave to the Rhythm). Anyway, I agree that without Horn, 90125 would not be the success it is.

Okay, I’d like to share what my favorite moments on this album are! First, on “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, the opening muffled drum fill that is overtaken by Rabin’s clean guitar riffing, punctuated by Horn’s stabs of synthesized orchestral noise. That mix still sounds new and exciting to me 40 years later.

Second, the massive vocal harmonies on “Hold On” around the 4-minute mark, where they sing “Sunshine, shine on, shine on you”.

Third, the intro to “Changes” where a motif on vibes is played as various other instruments enter playing King Crimson-esque patterns until Rabin’s guitar takes control and gets the proper melody underway.

Fourth, all of “Leave It”. This song is such a vocal and instrumental tour de force! A wall of sound that leaves me wishing it would never end.

Finally, the moment at 5:30 into “Hearts” where the melody transforms from an aggressive, plodding riff to a beautiful, warmhearted tune that is carried by some of Jon Anderson’s finest vocals.

As is my wont, I need to remark on the artwork – what an iconic representation of early 80s fascination with technology! It’s obviously computer-generated graphics that, at the time, seemed futuristic and edgy. And the title came from the catalog number assigned to the album by the label. About as far as you can get from Roger Dean’s fantasy landscapes.

All in all, just a superb album, and I’m thankful all the musicians with their various agendas were able to gel into a cohesive unit and get it done.

Brad: Well, I’m late coming to this conversation, but I love seeing what Tad, Kevin, Erik, and Carl have all contributed.  Thanks to you each for such great thoughts.

I have this album on CD now as well, but I very much remember buying the vinyl back in early November 1983.  I loved the Apple-esque cover of the album (though, I grew up loving Roger Dean’s work, especially for Yessongs), and, like all of us, I was already taken with “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”  I had grown up with Yes (but had somehow misse free d Tormato and Drama, I wouldn’t come back to both until after 90125).  One of my fondest memories is listening to 90125, whole and complete, with my headphones on during that November and December of 1983.  The lights off in my bedroom, the headphones on, and Yes playing beautifully, me absorbing it all..

As much as I loved “Owner of a Lonely Heart” at the time, it was the album as a whole that really grabbed me.  I remember being utterly moved by “Hold On”–”constitution screwup, shattering the dreams” and thinking it one of the deepest songs I’d ever encountered.

Talk the simple smile, such platonic eye

How they drown in incomplete capacity

Strangest of them all, when the feeling calls

How we drown in stylistic audacity

Charge the common ground

Round and round and round, we living in gravity

Shake – We shake so hard, how we laugh so loud

When we reach, we believe in eternity

I believe in eternity.

These were (and remain) pretty heady lyrics for a sixteen year old.  Yes’s 90125 made me realize the possibilities of rock music, just as Rush’s Grace Under Pressure soon would

Then, “It Can Happen”:

You can mend the wires

You can feed the soul apart

You can touch your life

You can bring your soul alive

It can happen to you

It can happen to me

It can happen to everyone eventually

Followed by the brilliant “Changes.”  

Flip the record over.  

Side two, roaring into life with “Cinema.”  As I understand it, this was originally the introduction to what might have been a twenty-minute epic, “Time.”  As it was, though, it stood alone in its gorgeous production, leading into the magisterial “Leave It.”

“Our Song” is a great rocker.

​​Toledo was just another good stop

Along the good king’s highway

My fortification took me by surprise

And hit me sending me sideways

Spellbound – Roundly – Good for sunshine

Can’t help thinking

Singing the Rule Britannia

And this is where it grabs you

There’s method in the key of C

Toledo’s got to be the silver city

In this good country

“City of Love” and “Hearts” perfectly close the album.

Many moons cascade one river

They light from side to side

As we cross in close proximity

Like rivers our hearts entwine

How we talk – How we teach our children

How we move – We direct our eyes

All the senses tuned discovery

As and as and when our hearts decide

Be ready now – Be ye circle

Be the central force ye life

As the game extends the cycle

Be ready to move

Kevin, I’m jealous that you got to see them live  in 1984.  I’m sure that was an extraordinary concert, capturing all the energy of a reborn-band.  Speaking of which, I’ve always liked 9012-Live: The Solos, the live album that came out in 1985.  Again, it just exudes energy and creativity, a band at its best.

Erik: Great comments all, and a lot of fodder to work off of as I discuss the album proper.  

We’ve talked about Rabin’s guitar, it’s contrast to Howe’s work, and its impact on the music.  But there is another contribution that is also quite notable, and that’s Rabin’s contribution to the vocal landscape of this album.  I am adamant in my opinion that from a purely vocal perspective, the Rabin-era lineup is far and away the best Yes lineup.  Consider a few of the songs.  First, Leave It is simply not possible without Rabin.  Not only does he trade lead vocals with Anderson, but his contributions to the harmonies are critical.  Changes is another song that is not possible without Rabin, due to the lead vocalist role alternating between him and Anderson.  And the “talk the simple smile” section of Hold On is yet another harmony that would not sound anywhere near as good without Rabin’s contribution.

This ability to switch back and forth between Rabin and Anderson on lead vocals, as well as the ability to create the vocal harmonies that permeated 90125 made Rabin’s vocals an excellent addition to the Yes sound.  It’s almost as if Rabin was put on this Earth to harmonize with Anderson and Squire, because his voice fits with them so perfectly.  It’s another reason why the version of the pre-Rabin Yes classic I’ve Seen All Good People from 9012Live is my favorite version of this song – Rabin’s contributions to the vocal harmonies makes what is primarily a vocal-driven song all that much better.  

I’ll also throw in more on Horn’s production with regard to a couple of additional observations to go with those given above by Tad, Carl, and Kevin.  First, neither Rabin nor the band in general was all that fond of Owner of a Lonely Heart in its demo form, but Horn would have none of it.  While he wanted a reworking of the lyrics, he nevertheless recognized the song as a hit – in part due to the intro, and in part due the chorus – where the band did not.  Horn didn’t merely want this song on the album, he insisted on it.  Working with the band to rewrite some of the lyrics (for which Horn himself received partial credit) as well as arrangements on the final recording, Horn helped mold the song into the first #1 single Yes ever had, and one that propelled this album into the stratosphere (also, the band’s only #1 album).

Another aspect where Horn excelled as the producer of 90125 was the underappreciated role of track sequencing, upon which he conducted a clinic of how it’s done.  The sequence of songs begins by a delightful punch to the listener’s face (and ears!) with Owner of a Lonely Heart, especially with the intro guitar riff, before moving into the slow but heavy Hold On.  Similarly, the beginning of side 2 with the instrumental Cinema flowing seamlessly into Leave It is just chef’s kiss perfection.  And closing the album with Hearts was a fitting conclusion to Yes’s 80’s rebirth.  Overall, every track on the album feels like it is placed exactly where it should be.  While such sequencing always seems obvious to us in retrospect, the producer had to start with a collection of songs and figure out what would go where.  To ask Horn to do a better job than he did on 90125 is to ask the impossible.  

I also like Kevin’s observation with regard to Anderson’s impact on the album.  Like him, I’ve listened to the demos, and the contrast between those and the finished product is striking, with Anderson’s influence being undeniable.  It was his presence and his contributions that made 90125 truly a Yes album and not just an album performed by some musicians who had been in that band.  There are lyrical passages throughout the album that the seasoned Yes fan will instantly recognize as Anderson’s words.

As far as some of the other tracks go, I’ll first start with It Can Happen, a track which I absolutely love.  This is one track that encapsulates the old Yes spirit of the 1970’s into the new Yes sound of the 1980’s.  Tying to the previous paragraph, this song is one that really demonstrates Anderson’s imprint on the lyrics when compared to the pre-Anderson demo.

Hearts pulls off the same feat of encapsulating the old spirit in the new sound in a different form, hinting at some of Yes’s earlier long-form epics while keeping things economical.  I love the “explosion” in the middle of that song that leads into the “who would believe you, wise men do” section.  Our Song is a deep cut favorite, featuring a driving, tour de force performance by Squire on bass.  Changes was a perfect FM radio staple for the era, with an ear-catching introduction and huge, dynamic swings between the quiet and heavy sections, along Rabin singing lead on the verses while Anderson takes the lead role on the choruses.  

I’m going to cut myself off right here, because I could go on and on (and on) about this album and I need to give some space for the rest of you.  I enjoy reading your contributions as much as I like writing mine!  But in conclusion, when I think of albums of the 80’s that really define the decade (at least for me personally), this one is alway at or near the top. And as a Yes fan, I continued to be thrilled all these decades later that they were able to pull off an album like this, a commercial and artistic triumph that happened in the context of the band navigating a radically different musical landscape from the one in which they had achieved their previous great successes.

Tad: Erik, I think your remarks are the perfect way to conclude this discussion. Gentlemen, it’s been a blast revisiting this album!

Republic of Letters

My Quiet Book Nook is the perfect place to read, write and study

by Richard K Munro

Elastolin diorama
The Discus Thrower
Santa Maria model circa 1992 made by RUTH, IAN and RICHARD MUNRO at CHRISTMAS

The perfect Book Nook or private library has at least one plush leather chair preferably with a rocker and nice padded as I have in the corner. It is an old friend I have owned it for over 30 years and my father enjoyed using it. I always let my father have my best chair and I would sit in my mother’s chair, my second-best chair. It is a carpeted room. My chair has its own special lamp. I have a ceiling fan for the summer plus some built-in lights. My room has a table for study plus two desks and many bookshelves, some decorated with fossils, busts, baseball memorabilia, and toy soldiers. I have an electric pencil sharpener I use almost daily. I have over 60 composition notebooks filled with language notes and about 20 blank ones for future use.  I have windows that look out towards the garden and in the summer, I see many birds and squirrels dancing about. We live in a very quiet neighborhood next to a nice park with trees, a pond, and paths to walk.  To the left of my desk, I have a French door that opens to the covered patio which has chairs and a table on which I study on find days in the spring, fall, and early winter. It has a screen door from which I can hear music in my rooms. I have no TV in my book nook but I have a radio on my BOSE CD player and many CD’s chiefly classical. And of course, I sometimes watch YouTube videos on my laptop (but not often).  My music is chiefly from SPOTIFY, but also via my phone and BOSE Microlink (Itunes) . In the Spring summer and Fall, I often listen to baseball games on the porch or in the library while reading or doing language studies. I used to listen to the radio a lot but now mostly listen to Audible books or podcasts.

There is plenty of storage for paper. I have a printer connected to the laptop.  In my library I have about ten reems on the shelves and two in a drawer under the printer. I have a larger supply in reserve in the garage. I have three chairs besides the leather chair. Next to the leather chair, I have a side table that belonged to my father with a drawer. Another chair belonged to my mother and is about 65 years old. I have boxes for index cards and coffee mugs filled with #2 pencils, colored pencils Bausch and Lomb magnifying glasses. In a wooden box, I have a chrome Cross Pen that belonged to my father. The box has a spare cartridge I use the pen to sign personal letters or important documents. I have a phone next to my laptop and a brass hand winding, Tiffany clock, hydrometer, barometer, and thermometer. It is my backup case of a blackout, and it serves as a paperweight. I have two staplers on my desk It was a retirement gift to my father in 1976. Next to the phone is a reproduction of Myron’s Discobolus or “discus thrower”, Greek: Δισκοβόλος, Diskobólos). I picked this up at the Vatican circa 1972; they have a wonderful full-sized marble Roman copy found, I believe, at Hadrian’s Villa.  The Greek original in bronze is lost but we know the work from numerous Roman copies.  Munich there is a fine Roman bronze reproduction of Myron’s Discobolus, 2nd century AD.  I have several busts of famous historical figures some American but mostly Greek, Roman, classical composers or literary figures.

I have a tall glass display case filled with a model of the SANTA MARIA, that my mother, my son and I put together one Christmas before her death (1992 I believe). My mother did the rigging. There are also “ruins” and dioramas of charging Elastolin Roman soldiers on food and horses, Huns, Goths, and Normans (the “Barbarians”. They date back to 1963-1971. There are a few I/R figures and French Starluxe mixed in. There are two chariots and some Roman siege weapons. On the mantle of my fireplace, I have cards, models, and toy soldiers. I have a Lewis and Clark Diorama I bought at a museum in Iowa in 2004 (it includes Sacagawea and York).  I have followed almost the entire trail of Lewis and Clark starting in 1982 and finishing in 2004. On the walls I have art reproductions and historical photographs I have collected over the past 60 years such as Churchill holding a tommy gun I have for example a full-size museum replica of ATHENA MOURNING.  At my main desk, I have books of quotations, reference books, and dictionaries. I use the Internet and electronic dictionaries but find book versions easier to study and for annotations.  I have a variety of English dictionaries. The one I use the most is the 4edtion American Heritage. One of my favorites is the Oxford Companion to English Literature – a nice leather-bound edition. It is the 5th edition edited by Margaret Drabble which is the last edition to have complete commentaries on Walter Scott and other classic authors. I have an extensive library of English language books chiefly classics, biographies, and histories but also baseball books and large-sized art reproduction books. I also have a modest library of Latin books (many bilingual), Greek books including the Bible (I am studying Greek presently, Gaelic books (chiefly song books and poetry but some history and nonfiction), many (hundreds) of Spanish books, some Portuguese books, some French books, some German books. I have a German-Spanish dictionary for example and a Latin-Spanish dictionary. One of my favorite reference books is MAMMALS of the WORLD (1964) which is very useful for ascertaining the indigenous names of mammals in many languages and of course which has curious animal facts and thousands of black-and-white photographs.

I can’t say I have been EXTREMELY productive as a writer in my life but I have read and studied much and been able to teach many. Review reading via rote rehearsal is effective but it is always better to note take and create study cards from notes and use colors and pictures whenever possible. ’

I know Spanish very well, for example, and often speak it but I read and review Spanish at least 20-30 minutes a day (I don’t usually take any notes). For new languages such as Italian or Greek, I take notes sentences dialogues, and translations and write new vocabulary, I draw colored pictures and copy words that give me difficulty three times over and highlight them with yellow. I probably practice 5-7 languages a day. I read Portuguese very well but found I speak it less well since I have not used it daily for more than 40 years. But I practice listening and speaking via Duolingo and so have regained most of my former fluency. I never lost my ability to read but found my writing had declined due to lack of practice and when speaking I tended to fall into Spanish. My book nook is my quiet refuge from the world.

Republic of Letters

1955: A Year to Remember

by Richard K. Munro

Thomas Munro, Jr and Richard Munro at Camp Watonka circa 1967 with our dog Albert II.
WINSTON CHURCHILL DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE UNITED KINGDOM The Prime Minister Winston Churchill poses outside 10 Downing Street, London, England Churchill retired in 1955.
famous scene from 1955 film THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
Hank Aaron’s 1955 baseball card. Ironically it mentions Babe Ruth under the T/F

1955 D uncirculated Washington quarter.
1955 Hank Aaron TOPPS baseball card.

  • Richard K. Munro (That’s me!) was born in New Jersey, Dec 12, 1955 just after midnight. I was named after Richard Strauss, the famous composer and one of my mother’s uncles whose name was Rickard. As a boy I was often called Rickard, Ricardo or Ricky Ricardo. My sisters had both been born in Brooklyn. We moved to Livingston, NJ in 1958.
  • 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers won their first and only World Championship against the Yankees. My mother was pregnant with me and my grandfather (Auld Pop) said, “Ruthie, it’ll be a boy for sure!” (all my cousins and siblings were girls). I went to Ebbets Field in 1955 in utero.
  • 1955 was Hank Aaron’s 2nd year and first big homer year (27HR, 106 RBI and .314 average). He later became my favorite player. I first saw him play at the Polo Grounds vs the Mets in 1962.
  • 1955-D quarter was fairly rare. Mintage at Denver was only : 3,182,400 I know this because in the 1960s in order to complete a Boy Scout project I had to have all the coins of 1955. I tried all summer to find a 1955 D but in the end I bought an uncirculated one. I have all the years of silver quarters from 1932-1964 but lack some of the 1932 S and D coins.  I lost interest in coin collecting when they switched to cupronickel coins. After 1966 it became harder and harder to find old coins in circulation. I still like silver coins but do not actively collect coins in a serious way anymore but I give half dollars as gifts or tips for fun.
  • Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger…this I know from history books.
  • I know Eisenhower was the US president in 1955. In 1955, President Eisenhower planned the interstate highway system. It would begin in 1956. Initially planned as a way of moving troops and military hardware from one end of the nation to the other. Gas was very cheap less than 30 cents a gallon.
  • In April 1955 Churchill retired as Prime Minister. The leaders my parents and grandparents praised and talked about the most were FDR, Churchill, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and John F. Kennedy. My father met MacArthur in the war and my uncle served under Eisenhower in ww2 and met Ike while Ike was president of Columbia University.
  • The St. Lawrence Seaway opened I always loved maps and geography and this was always mentioned by my elementary school teachers just like the Panama Canal or Suez Canal.
  • The USS Nautilus became the first operational nuclear-powered submarine I know this because I made a plastic model of it as a boy. I also know the name because it was the name of Captain Nemo’s submarine in the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues under the Sea based on Verne’s work. One of my favorite films as a boy.
  • Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine is declared safe and effective I was inoculated with the polio vaccine in elementary school.
  • The Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies signed the Warsaw Pact I know this because NATO was founded in 1949 and I taught World History for many years. Every year we made maps of the Warsaw Pact/ Nation and East and West Berlin. I know it ended in 1991. I know Germany became fully independent in 1955 and joined NATO in that year.
  • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a leader in the first major event of the U.S. civil rights movement, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. I heard a lot about him as a boy and remember his assassination in 1968 and Robert Kennedy’s famous speech.
  • World War II Allies signed a treaty restoring Austria’s independence.
  • Murder of Emmett Till This I did not know until many years later, It was never mentioned in school or in AP US history as far as I know. I was aware of JIm Crow and lynchings in the Old South, however. A horrific tale really.
  • BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK with Spencer Tracy was a notable 1955 film.
  • The Desperate Hours by William Wyler Humphrey Bogart and Frederic March
  • THE LADY and THE TRAMP was one of the great Disney musical cartoons
  • 12 Angry Men and Inherit the Wind were famous plays that opened in 1955. I later saw the film versions.
  • Lord of the Rings by Tolkien was published.
  • Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis was published.
  • The Wasteland was published by T S Eliot
  • Mister Roberts (John Ford) starring Henry Fonda was a notable film one of Jack Lemmon’s early films
  • “Seven Year Itch” was a notable Marylyn Monroe comedy by Billy Wilder one of my favorite directors. Marilyn Monroe famously appears in a scene where her white dress is accidentally blown up around her legs when she walks over a subway grate in New York City. 
  • I know I LOVE LUCY was one of the top TV shows in 1955 because my parents mentioned that was their favorite TV show of the 50s. Later I saw it in re-runs.
Daily writing prompt
Share what you know about the year you were born.
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Republic of Letters

Cyan and Galahad: Double Fun and Greatness

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Cyan_Galahad

There are two new releases that have created a buzz here at Spirit of Cecilia: Cyan’s Pictures From the Other Side, and Galahad’s The Long Goodbye. The usual Proglings take some time to share their impressions.

Tad: Gentlemen, I suggested we pair these two albums together, because in some unexplainable way they seem to complement each other. To my ears, both are extremely enjoyable listening experiences, and I’m eager to see what you think of them.

I’ll start things off with Cyan’s Pictures From the Other Side. This is a resurrection of an old Rob Reed (Magenta) project, but it is a totally new sound. What immediately leapt out to me was Peter Jones’ (Camel) terrific vocals. He has a bit of that Peter Gabriel/David Longdon vibe, and he is incredibly powerful. Angharad Brinn joins him on several songs, and her soprano melds beautifully with Jones’ baritone. 

The first song, “Broken Man” is an awesome starter to the set – it begins so softly I can barely hear it, then what sounds like Celtic bagpipes show up, and then the entire band explodes! The melody is first-rate, as well as the lyrics:

A broken man always knows what he’s lost

A broken man always counting the cost

A broken man on his knees always prays out loud,

“Give me one more, give me one more chance.”

Brad: What a great suggestion, Tad.  When it comes to Cyan, it’s hard to do better than either Rob Reed or Peter Jones.  Both are men with incredible vision and incredible integrity, exuding class.  I, too, am really taken with “Broken Man” as the opening track.  I’m so glad that the band didn’t turn it into a three-minute pop song, but instead gave it some real life.  I say this as a compliment–the song lingers when it should linger.  It comes to a head when it should come to a head.

As to influences, I hear a lot of Big Country, a lot of U2, and a lot of The Call.  Not sure if Reed or Jones would see it that way, but all three bands sound like forerunners to me.

It’s probably unfair of me–of all people to say this–but the second track, the title track, “Pictures from the Other Side,” sounds very much like a Bardic Depths song.

“Solitary Angel,” track three, just feels like solid rock, a Journey-esque ballad, but with a bit of Marillion (vocals, especially) thrown in.

Track four, “Follow the Flow,” continues in a ballad-esque way, soft but captivating.  Again, I’m hearing a lot of Marillion in this track.  Delicate without being prissy.

Again, track five, “Tomorrow’s Here Today,” continues the intense but soft sound.  And, again, I can only state this is precious in the best sense.  I feel like I’m holding the most fragile flower imaginable while listening to it.  Then, about ½ through the song, it really, really picks up, becoming a rather blistering prog and rock song.  Excellent guitar work here, but also keyboards, bass, and drums.  The last third of the song feels a bit like a Yes/Jon Anderson track.

Not surprisingly, given its name, the sixth and final track, “Nosferatu,” rocks, possessing a Glass Hammer or post-Neal Morse Spock’s Beard sound.  At nearly 18 minutes long, this track gives everything a prog fan would want.  An amazing journey through music.  The keyboards and guitar are especially well-finessed!  Towards the end of the song, there’s even a glorious Star Wars moment!  Or, maybe it’s inspired by Queen.  Regardless, it’s epic.

Tad: Brad, that is very perceptive of you to make the connection to 80s groups like U2, The Call, and Big Country. I did a little research, and these songs were actually first done on Cyan’s second album in the early 90s, and then rerecorded for this album. 

I agree with you that the overall sound of Pictures From The Other Side is good, solid rock. It is definitely prog, but prog grounded in the tuneful hard rock of the 70s and 80s. I think we both give it a strong recommendation for our readers.

Okay – on to Galahad’s latest! Brad, I am so impressed with the music Galahad is producing these days. I thought their previous album, The Last Great Adventurer, was terrific, and the song, “Blood, Skin, and Bone”  off of it was just fantastic.

Their latest offering, The Long Goodbye, is just as strong. The title track, in particular, really moved me. I think it is about saying goodbye to a loved one who is dealing with senile dementia, and it is an outstanding track.

I also think the first three songs are a 1-2-3 tour de force. The opening track, “Behind the Veil of a Smile” is a synth-laden beauty that sets the energy level at high. It has an addictive hook for a melody, and I hit “Repeat” a couple of times before I even listened to the rest of the album! The second song, “Everything’s Changed” is just as good – a perfect mix of retro synths and crunchy guitars. The third track, “Shadow In The Corner” is my favorite. Once again, it starts with some retro-sounding synths and sequencers before a killer guitar riff jumps in. This is the kind of music U2 should be making now! As a matter of fact, I think that’s what links the Cyan album to this one – they both take what’s best from 80’s rock and combine it with 21st century production sensibilities. In both cases, there is no question of sounding nostalgic or cheesy – both groups have an appreciation for the music that was made nearly 40 years ago (Oh my gosh, can you believe that?!) and have brought it into the contemporary prog scene.

Brad: Dear Tad, I very much appreciate your enthusiasm regarding the new Galahad.  I must admit, it’s taken me a bit longer than usual to appreciate.  I’m on several listens now, and I like it very much, but I’m still–even after numerous listens–surprised by just how electronic the album is.  Galahad has had this side to them as far back as I can remember, but it was always on the sides and in parts of the albums rather than at the core.

“Behind the Veil of a Smile” reminds me very much of Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree but without Wilson’s trademark scratchingly-hard guitars.  And, I very much appreciate the lyrics, which Galahad always excels at writing.

Track two is really pop excellence, reminding me a bit of New Order, especially from the mid-1980s.  The refrain, “everything is changed and nothing will ever be the same again. . . the same again” is pop perfection.

I like very much how track three, “Shadow in the Corner,” steps back from the hyperactivity of the first two songs and gives us something intense and low.  Again, I’m very much reminded of New Order and, even possibly, all the way back to Joy Division, especially at the beginning of the track.  After about a minute, it resumes hyperactivity, becoming a more “mainstream” Galahad song.

Track Four, an acapella-esque folk song, “The Righteous and the Damned,” lovingly takes us back to Galahad’s masterpiece, “Empires Never Last.”  The middle of the track sounds very central European, right before becoming a brilliant flaring guitar track that sounds very much like Fish-era Marillion.

The longest song on the album, track five, the title track, “The Long Goodbye” incorporates a number of different musical styles.  As you note, Tad, the song deals with the very difficult topic of dementia and Alzheimers.  It is a beautiful wrought exploration of the subject, and Galahad should be praised for handling it with such class and delicacy.

Track six, “Darker Days“ takes us back to pretty straight-forward Galahad electronica, sounding here like a harder version of 1980’s Asia.

The album ends with “Open Water,” a gorgeous and gentle tune and ballad–absent all electronica and ending the album on a positive note.

Tad, I’m in full agreement with you, Galahad has very successfully bridged the past and the present with The Long Goodbye.  What seemed jarring to me on the first listen now seems incredibly complex and clever on the 10th listen.  This album took a bit to grow on me, but now that it has, I’m deeply thankful for it.

Tad: Brad, I don’t have as much experience hearing Galahad’s music as you do, so your perspective is very interesting. The Last Great Adventurer was my first exposure to them, so, as far as I’m concerned, the electronics are all good! I hear the New Order vibe you mention, and I think that is a feature. Hopefully, we’ve put enough distance between us and the 80s to appreciate the innovation and variety in music that blossomed during that decade. Yes, some music from then can sound “dated”, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t great music.

Okay! So it looks like we have two thumbs up for both Cyan’s and Galahad’s new offerings. Dear Spirit of Cecilia readers, take some time to check these two albums out. And, like Brad, give yourself time to really absorb them. They will repay the effort – we promise!

Republic of Letters

ELI GORELICK, Spanish Teacher

Daily writing prompt
Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.
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There are numerous individuals who have positively influenced my life but the one who led to a dramatic change in my future prospects personally and professionally was Mr. Eli Gorelick of Livingston High School. He was my AP Spanish teacher 1970-73. He was born in Cuba of Sephardic Jews who had lived in Salonika and Constantinople. So his people were Ladino-speaking, originally.  He was a Korean War veteran and passionate for music, literature, plays and sports. He transformed me from a mediocre Spanish student more focused on Latin and history than Spanish. He did it by incorporating authentic Spanish culture via music, sports, movies, and cuisine. I was fascinated by the history of Spain including the Arab conquest and Jewish Spain during the Convivencia.  It was he who recommended the (then) wonderful and challenging University of Northern Iowa program in Spanish.  I was a strong AP Spanish student but Mr. Gorelick felt there was no substitute for living and studying in Spain to gain authentic Spanish fluency. So I did and it changed my life.  Spanish (along with typing and authentic bilingualism) ) was my one real expertise and it always helped me get job opportunities. Spanish was and is a very practical language second only to English. Along the way, I married a Spanish woman. We have three children and so far four grandchildren. All of them are bilingual and native Spanish speakers. From my early years, I realized what it took to cultivate children who were authentically bilingual (indeed potentially multilingual). We made many sacrifices but I believe it has paid off and will pay off. Two of our children are teachers (one is a k-6 Dual Immersion teacher and another is a high school AP Spanish teacher as well as a tutor/mentor for a professional Sports team. When he interviewed for his job the people were astonished at his total fluency in Spanish and his complete command of sports and particularly baseball terminology. The roots of that fluency were with Mr. Gorelick who had us read EL DIARIO sports page in Spanish and listen to Buck Canel broadcast Yankee games and the World Series. Mr. Gorelick is no longer with us but I will never forget him and he is a great example of how a teacher can change lives for the better.

Republic of Letters

LA CONVIVIENCIA: Peaceful coexisting

BY RICHARD K MUNRO

Richard Munro, Thomas Munro, Jr and Ruth Munro MADRID SPAIN CASA DEL CAMPO ZOO circa 1980

  1. “It’s not enough to not teach hatred, and it’s not enough to simply teach tolerance. A more promising solution is direct and routine contact with those who look different or worship differently or speak different languages. ”  JOHN MORROW
  2. Yes and as the Spanish say CONVIVIENCIA a word translated as “peaceful coexistence or living and interacting every day together and getting to know and have a basic respect and affection for.”

One of the reasons, I suspect, you looked at “Negroes” (the 1950s and early 1960s term) as others is that you lacked conviviencia. I came from a cosmopolitan immigrant family but even for us our CONVIVIENCIA was limited via some groups in the NYC area.

My parents knew many Jewish friends, many Cuban friends (interestingly multiethnic), and many British friends but my father had only one close relationship with an African American (he and his wife were the only African Americans at my father’s retirement party in 1976). I remember they talked about meeting Jackie Robinson in the 1960s and having seen the Dodgers play in the 1940s and 1950s. I mentioned to my wife the other day the only racially diverse group I knew as a boy were the Cubans and Brazilians we knew in New Jersey and New York chiefly from sports (baseball and AYSO soccer). My father and I went to see (in color) the 1970 World Cup on closed-circuit TV in Harrison, NJ (in Portuguese). Almost everyone there except for us was Brazilian or Latin American. I also mentioned that I did not have a single African-American teacher k-12 or in the university (NYU). I had many Hispanic teachers by contrast (chiefly Cuban and Puerto Rican). The first time I had daily interaction and CONVIENCIA with African Americans was 1975-1977 when I served in the United States Marine Corps. I knew African American officers and NCOs and we worked closely together, trained together, and listened to sports on the Armed Forces Radio together. Today we have African-American friends and neighbors and coreligionists (we are Roman Catholic). As a Catholic, I have never attended a segregated Mass in my life if you exclude visits to rural Ireland in the 1970s.

And the world has changed dramatically since 1959. We recently attended the wedding of our godson (an African American of Irish and French Canadian origin) to Mexican American woman of French and Spanish origin. Very diverse population at the wedding. Soon my daughter will be attending a Hindu wedding for Indian-Americans. Soon we will be attending a local wedding of one of my daughter’s high school classmates. The bride is African-American (a graduate of Yale) and the groom is Australian.

Our son is married to a Mexican immigrant; our daughter is married to a naturalized Mexican immigrant. All of our grandchildren are racially mixed (and growing up as native Spanish speakers). I have met dozens of African immigrants (millions have immigrated from Africa to the USA in recent decades). I asked a number of them if they had been reluctant to emigrate to the USA because of her systemic racism. Most had experiences in other countries (Japan, France, Britain) and said the USA was the least racist and classist country in the world. Most appreciated the almost complete religious and political tolerance.

Most say they rarely experienced overt racial discrimination in daily life and in their jobs. Many have intermarried (or their children have intermarried) with Whites, Hispanics and Asians.

So from where I stand the Melting Pot (perhaps somewhat segregated 100 years ago) bubbles on.

I think only through CONVIVIENCIA and intermarriage can we overcome or diminish racial animus and prejudice over time. I am generally optimistic.

However. class prejudice and national prejudice will endure in some form.

People will always be prejudiced in favor of the rich, the young, and the slender and scorn the less rich, the less young, and the less slim. People will prefer their religion and their native language over the languages and religions of others.

President Obama’s daughters are beautiful, well-connected, and wealthy. Those factors, not their racial ancestry, give them many advantages. I doubt very much if their lives and careers (today and tomorrow) will be hampered by systemic racism.

I could be wrong of course.

I have lived a long time.

Some people have treated me with fairness and justice and others have not.

No one ever asked me for my resume or offered me a job.

I think it is not easy to be a first-generation American with a slight foreign accent without any money or family connections.

My father was the first and only one in his family to graduate from high school and go to college (Brooklyn College). During WW2 he rose in the ranks from E1 to O2 serving from 1942-1946 (remaining in the reserves until 1953). In my father’s time it was definitely an advantage to have been a military veteran (he went to NYU business school on the GI Bill).

By contrast, my experience as a veteran was very mixed. Many people have shown prejudice and negative attitudes towards my service. I was told, for example, not to list my military experience on my resume something I was reluctant to do. But when I did not include my military experience I got interviews and when I did have my military experience on my resume I did not get interviews.

Naturally, I gravitated towards places and jobs where my military experience was valued because I was proud of my service. I am prouder of having graduated from Marine Corps OCS than NYU.

I worked in construction for five years and the man who hired me was former Marine DI. Then later I worked at a bank and the man who hired me was a Korean War Air Force vet.

After years of struggle to get a full-time job a former Army Major (Korean War veteran) hired me as a full-time high school teacher in Arvin, California. I got the job because I had the qualifications because I spoke Spanish (most of our players were Spanish-speaking) I was willing to coach Soccer and baseball because I was willing to teach night school because I was willing and able to support the high school JROTC program and because I was willing to move to rural Kern County. For over 32 years I taught mostly poor and immigrant students. I taught History, English and Spanish for Native Speakers. I founded the AP program at my high school and taught AP Spanish, AP Spanish Literature and AP US History.

My first job after the military and college was unloading railcars (something I did gladly and successfully I was young and strong then).

I worked very hard at many jobs so as not to fall out of the middle class ( I felt at age 21-26 my middle-class existence was very precarious). I did not have a phone, just a PO box and a 1972 Chrysler with over 100,000 miles. I never was quite homeless (slept in the back of the car or camped out showering at truck stops) and had very little money.

But I was careful with my money, stayed sober (usually), and worked nights for years eventually getting my 5th Year Certification in Spanish, Social Studies, and English which led to a solid career in k-12 education with some stints in JC and as an adjunct professor for ETS grading AP exams. I have taught in Spain, Virginia, Washington State and California. All of our three children are college graduates. All three worked during college (IHOP etc.), and all three are fluent in Spanish and English. We made many personal sacrifices to raise our children as educated Spanish and English native speakers. Two are teachers and one is an engineer. I can honestly say sending three children to college was a group effort. We helped, their siblings helped and our children helped themselves by hard work and modest lifestyles.

Republic of Letters

Duolingo

Since I retired I have reviewed LATIN by completing two books of Latin readings and then by studying MODERN GREEK and ITALIAN. I also review Scottish Gaelic, GERMAN, SPANISH and PORTUGUESE about 10-15 minutes each. Those languages I have studied formally and know reasonably well. It takes me about 25-30 minutes to do a Greek lesson and only about 10-15 minutes to do Italian so I figure Greek is twice as hard as Italian. I find language study engrossing. I lose myself in “Grammar Land”

Daily writing prompt
What skills or lessons have you learned recently?
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Republic of Letters

THE WISDOM OF MBUTI TENIENTE

BY RICHARD K, MUNRO

Thomas Munro jr. circa 1945 in Manila while serving in the US Transportation Corps. The cagardores called him the GOOD LIEUTENANT (Mbuti Teniente)

“Some people bring out the best in people. Try to be that person. It especially happens when you believe in greater values than merely your own self-interest. When you believe in something bigger than yourself -in your school, your nation, in the human brotherhood, in God, in your school, your Regiment, your unit- you rise to the occasion because you are part of a team with a definite goal and you don’t want to let down your comrades in arms.

Remember you can’t do it by yourself and you owe a lot to your family, your country, your Regiment, your school, your team, your friends, your teachers. Above all, cultivate the virtue of gratitude. One can never promote one’s own highest good without at the same time furthering the good of others. A life based on narrow self-interest cannot be considered honorable by any measurement.

God made us strong only for a while so that we can help others. Our human social contract is not only with the few people with whom we have daily dealings and with whom our personal lives are immediately entwined, nor to the rich or the prominent or the famous or the well-educated but is with all our human brethren. View yourself as a citizen of the world as well as an American -Kosmopolites- and act accordingly. This is the only life you have this side of paradise. Don’t be an S.O.B. ”

“Mbuti Teniente” (the Good Lieutenant) THOMAS MUNRO, Jr. 1915-2003 1st Lt. USAR 1942-1953 US military police 1942-1943; US Transportation Corps 1944-1946, Pacific Theater. Hawaii, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

He was a kind and generous soul. He was a wise man who valued wisdom over wealth. He was a faithful husband and a good father. I remember the afternoon he died. I recalled an old Western we both loved. GARDEN OF EVIL.  Richard Widmark, the gambler is mortally wounded. The sun is setting. He says to Gary Cooper “THERE IT GOES HOOKER. Every day it takes someone. Now it’s me.” I stopped the car and watched the sunset. remembering my father and realizing I would never again wake to a morning with my father but grateful he was in my life for 47 years.