"...on this lonely street of dreams"

I've been listening to the same song for the last hour and a half. Over and over... I get like that sometimes. What guitarist can't help but be impressed with Lindsey Buckingham? The man, for all his simplicity is perhaps the most complex guitarist I've ever been blessed to drowse in.

The song is so utterly simple, yet so ethereally beautiful. I can listen to this and Edge of the Ocean by Ivy, over and over and over anover nover over ver er r.

The first ninety seconds, by themselves, are wholly unremarkable, it is the bridge, subsequent verse, and solo-to-completion that give Street of Dreams its raison d'être. Even so, the bridge and solo are equally unremarkable; a bit of monochromatic simplicity held to the refrigerator door by magnets. Simple. Colorful. Beautiful in spite of itself.

And I'm still listening. And will be until something breaks the spell.




On another note, in a previous post I made mention of the complexity of Woman in Chains by Tears for Fears. I call it complexity but it's really quite simple, when you consider how Orzabal layers his elements. Layering... simple, but complexity is the end result. Much like what I do at work...

but with music...

Imagine the picture to the left as a musical composition. Woman in Chains begins with drums and bass working out a semi-complex but unremarkable beat... begin with a palette of colorful hulls. Then layer two flutes; endlessly repeating different melodies, one simple one slightly more complex... two mattes toning down the brash and stark color of primary hulls... or drums. And on and on you layer... logos, script... lyrics... then you put a face to the whole, and there you have a complete song... composition... verse, verse, chorus, bridge, solo, chorus...

Tears for Fears does this one other time-- overtly --to beautiful effect; from the "Songs From the Big Chair" CD, The Working Hour.

Look at any performing group. Think of each instrument as more than a mere layer of sound, but color, emotion....... voice. Think of a conductor's score; baton in hand calling each layer into existence at just the right moment to create something far greater than the individual instruments. Music has more to offer than mere sound. Likewise art has more to offer than mere color. They are both layered, nuanced... complex. Some to very fine effect, some not.

But were it just the solo; the guitar finally given its rein in the end, the song would be nothing. It is the whole composition that makes it so mesmerizing... so repeatable, end over end over end until something breaks the spell...

But all the science, I don't understand
it's just my job five days a week...

...and the spell is broken.

Absolutely beautiful.