Summer was winding down. The leaves were beginning to turn, and as the seasons changed, I found myself looking for a change of scenery as well, at least, musically. Fortuitously I stumbled across one of my favorite albums and decided to give it a listen, the way folks used to, all the way through, first song to last.
This particular listening experience would be via cassette through a pair of wired sony earphones and a casio cassette player.
I emptied some dark roast coffee into a filter and poured some water over the grounds as I rewound the cassette to the first track. When I was satisfied with my coffee I attached the cassette to my waistband and walked out of my house across the yard and into my study. As I did, I pressed play on my cassette and tried my absolute best not to dance to ‘Higher Love’.
I failed.
I skipped across the yard and nodded my head, that song is pure magic. A melody that will forever be locked up somewhere deep inside my soul. I resisted the temptation to rewind the cassette and listen to the track again and instead let the next upbeat song ‘Take It As It Comes’ blast through my earphones. The track was the perfect 80’s epitome, a cheerful blend of horn arrangements optimistic vocals and a combination of rock and pop elements.
I let myself relax in my office chair behind my desk and sipped on my coffee as the first side of the cassette played through. It had been a few years since I listened to the whole album. I was curious if the same tracks would remain my favorites or if I would find that the passage of time had changed my ear and likewise my preferences.
Steve Winwoods vocals were still delightful, masterfully mixed, as I flipped over the cassette after ‘Freedom Overspill’ I mused at how the sound of the 80’s was so unique, lost now to the march of music technology. As the album played on, I enjoyed how Steve and (producer) Russ Titelman had so competently captured such a unique sound. The plucked bass, the synthesizers, the drum machines; all those nuances that were commonplace at the time but now could never be replicated in a world of virtual instruments, reverb plugins and digital audio workstations.
The album was a time capsule. A work of art.
But after the last track played I found myself going back to a song that just stuck out to me. It wasn’t ‘Higher Love’. It wasn’t ‘Finer Things’.
It was ‘Wake Me Up On Judgement Day’. Something about it captured me. The melody of the opening synth giving way to the reverb laden guitar plucking and then Steve’s unique vocals.
It’s an incredible song.
‘Wake Me Up On Judgement Day’ is melody after melody and it’s impossible not to get sucked into it. I listened to it long after the coffee in my cup was cold, and as I did, I mused over why the track was so enticing, so gratifying. The key changes, the pause and start of the drum track, the synth…. it’s just not something we get anymore. Post-modern music is too often style over substance. Too often modern music starts with an idea for the music video and then is written for radio from there.
I took the last sip of cold coffee from my cup and then pulled the cassette from the player and placed it back in its case and thanked Steve for letting me live, if only for a moment, Back in the High Life Again.