You Gotta Try To Remember The Way To The Top April 11, 2009
Posted by coqfosters in All your life.Tags: life, los angeles, music
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Cos I’ve gotta win, gotta win, let me win, gotta win…
Some albums were just made for sunshine. The first day I could get to Amoeba in LA, I was desperately looking for that record, but nothing stood out for me, and I left empty-handed. I went back the next day when the new Gomez record came out, more to pick that up to listen on the flight home than with any real expectation about finding a trip-defining record.
Back when I used to drive, I had an iPod connector so that I could constantly soundtrack the scenery without having to deal clumsily changing CDs or the dearth of quality on commercial radio. However, I don’t drive anymore, haven’t got the tools of the trade and was left with a rental car full of dreadful radio selections and one CD. So for the remainder of my week in Southern California, it was all about Gomez.
A New Tide is a solid record. It’s not amazing, and I guess most folks wouldn’t consider Gomez to have had a truly amazing record since Bring It On. That might be unfair. I’ve liked all the records, even if they are a bit hit and miss. And while A New Tide hasn’t been universally well received, sometimes that just doesn’t matter. It was that record that seems against all odds to have been made for sunshine. Like most Gomez records it has a couple of clunkers, but the highlights are simply stunning.
Lead single Airstream Driver is a fantastic singalong for racing through dense traffic, while deeper cuts Win Park Slope and Sunset Gates are hugely rewarding listens against the backdrop of the cool blue sky and mountains around LA. Little Pieces is an absolute gem.
I must have listened to the record 7-8 times driving to and from the office, back and forth from downtown, up and down from the Hills, down Sunset to In-N-Out and back, and then finally down into the OC at the weekend. Of course there have been many more records made over the course of history that have captured the essence of SoCal much better than this one ever could. But on the other hand, for me to have the chance to get away to someplace almost completely foreign and lose myself in almost every possible meaning of the word, it was important to have a record on hand to provide the perfect soundtrack. That I can count on Gomez to still do that for me after all these years since Bring It On is marvellous.
Coldwater Canyon April 1, 2009
Posted by coqfosters in All your life, Music business.Tags: checklist, life, los angeles, music, work
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I forgot what it felt like to swear in traffic, to race through a yellow, to commute in anything newer than an R44. So in that sense, Sunset Blvd in the morning has given me a new lease on life. Turning the corner onto Vine with the Capitol tower in the foreground has been an incredible feeling. Walking over the stars of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and more on the walk of fame has been bizarre. And walking into the tower has been remarkable, one of those things that most folks who work there might take for granted.
This is what getting into the business was supposed to be about, that old school record label feeling, the platinum plaques, the studios, the history. LA as a whole is a special but barely tolerable mess, but the tower is the jewel in the crown, a true landmark – one of few universally recognisable landmarks after the Hollywood sign itself.
I have problems doing the ‘tourist’ thing. I only came out here if I could get them to let me work, and I’m not really fussed about doing the things people need to do. Maybe it’s a New York thing, you live in the best city in the country and you start to think that nothing else matters. Driving across America last year taught me otherwise. There’s something special about LA, but the things you have to tolerate and manage in LA are the things that you never think about in New York. And I’m not a beach person.
But I love a good drive. Especially on secluded, winding roads. For all of the money I spent on getting a car out here, I haven’t been able to really drive on any street at any time that didn’t have any degree of traffic. It hadn’t really been enjoyable. So I ran a few errands in town and then headed out for the hills. That’s when you realise: it isn’t so much the things in the city that make the city special, it’s the things this city represents: stardom and seclusion, the ability to buy yourself a palace far above everyone and with a view of everything. To live a life where you’ll be seen more in a week than most people will in their lifetime, and then be able to bury yourself away in the side of a mountain on a street that bends like a contortionist on Robaxin. And some of them are probably on Robaxin.
So I drove up, away from Hollywood and Beverly Hills, to see those things, to get out on the open road, up Mulholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon and other streets which have had films named after them and if they haven’t, doubtlessly will in future. Simply marvellous: Stopping at scenic stopovers high above the smog, where you can see for miles. Getting lost and not knowing which way is which. Having to be careful to make the hairpin turn and not fall off the side of the mountain.
I may not ever get the stereotypical experience but I always want to get the memorable ones. Stopping at absolutely classic diners in Hollywood off the beaten path, ending up in a plainly bizarre used record store on Ventura Blvd in Studio City, keeping calm on the 101 with the new Gomez record, watching the sun set over Dana Point: all things to remember this trip by. The harsh realities of the greatest city await, but before I go back we might try and have a few more nights of unexpected, if memorable, moments.
