I’m trying to get back into the blog thing. Years ago, I used to keep a pretty ridiculous blog at this web address. That was 2003-2005 (about). I think I can be more articulate and focused now than I was back then.

The Internet exploded yesterday after the news of Michael Jackson’s death broke. Darcy James Argue wrote about how stunning Michael Jackson’s talent and work ethic were, even from a young age. At work today, The first thing I did was put on The Essential Michael Jackson. “Got To Be There,” the title track from his album of the same name came on. The studio track is impressive, but I found this earlier today on YouTube. Listen at 0:53.

Incredible.

In 1972, MJ was 13 and already years into his career as a professional musician. I believe when I was 13, I had just made the decision that wearing sweatpants to school everyday was not going to happen anymore. Whatever. I had my accomplishments and he had his.

Because of the sheer volume of pop music produced, statistically there are going to be a lot of good songs heard. Michael Jackson wasn’t great because he had a hit or two. He was great because he made great songs consistently for DECADES. Songs that I (and pretty much everyone else) can listen to over and over again. This is because his songs are valuable.

Especially with the addition of Quincy Jones to his musical world, Michael Jackson’s songs are astonishing. Sean “Philly” Jones and I had a pet project last summer of trying to recreate “Rock With You.” It took a really long time and by then end of summer we had a lot of stuff going on. Initially, Philly had laid down the drums (a direct transcription I believe) to a click track. I a placeholder bassline which Scott Mulvahill eventually replaced. Kelyn Crapp laid down guitars and Melissa McMillan did vocals. We then added the little details (horns, strings, synths) piece by piece. The summer ended before we completely realized this project, but it was an eye opening experience. There is SO MUCH going on in the original track, yet it sounds so well blended.

Here’s what we came up with. It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to it.

So I haven’t really updated this very much, but that’s ok.

My summer has consisted of a good bit of practicing, and recently a fun project. My friend, drummer Sean Philly Jones called me to do some keyboard parts on a track he’s recording. The idea is to meticulously recreate “Rock With You,” from the Michael Jackson album Off The Wall. This project was started so Philly could learn to use his recording program, Digital Performer, better. At the beginning of the week, all Philly had down was a completely accurate drum part.

One day, I played the main rhodes part and a functional synth bass part. Over the next few days, we added synth string parts (which will later be replaced with real strings) and additional synth parts. Yesterday, Scott Mulvahill added the true bass part and Kelyn Crapp laid down the guitars. I also played most of the flugal and trumpet parts. The track has a ways to go (Quincy Jones as producer made the original track immensely and intricately layered), but it already sounds really good. I may post it when it’s finished.

Even though Philly is doing all the tracking and mixing, I’ve probably been the next most involved person and I’ve adopted it as my own project too. The most likely candidate for our next project is “Peg” from the Steely Dan album Aja. Philly, Brian Stark and I are going to see Steely Dan in August when they come to the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie, TX.

Today marks the first time I have listened to Prince’s eponymous album. I’m really enjoying it. I had heard Prince’s original version of “I Feel For You,” but hadn’t heard anything else from this record.

A brief Wikipedia expedition has revealed that Prince was recorded and released at nearly the same time as Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall. The bassline in “I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince reminded me of that of “Off The Wall” and I subsequently checked on those facts.

Prince played most of the instruments on this album. The production is very tight, subsequently. Every so often, there is a musical curveball, which I like. The early syncopation of the main riff of “Bambi” (1, &2, 3) caught me off guard. The track as a whole is more rock than the funk/disco inspired first half of the album, which is a good change of pace.

There is a strong presence of the IV-iii-ii progression, which I am fond of and have used sometimes in my own pop music.

I will certainly be giving this album repeated listens. Minnesota music is something that I have been increasingly interested in in recent years.