IddoPoP

Prologue

I received my first technological device – a double cassette tape, when I was about 10 years old. As it offered a stimulating new world, it immediately became my favorite toy. The possibilities were endless: listening to two songs playing simultaneously (It was clear, even as a 10 year old, that mashup wouldn’t be anything more than a fleeting hobby), duplicating tapes, and of course producing my own mixtapes. However, similarly to the atom bomb, with technology comes responsibility.

One day my mother asked for my help: to assist her to prepare for a lecture and record an entire tape with only one Beatles’ song ‘when I’m 64’ back to back. After listening to McCartney’s bootlicking/Puffer chorus I ceased to be a Beatles fan in the making, and became a person for which the band evokes a visceral reaction. It took me years to recover.

***

This memory came back to me last night, when I was standing in Yarkon Park, two and half hours before McCartney’s gig. Surprisingly, when it comes to having patience at concerts, Israelis are quite diligent. Among the thousands of fans a father and his 12-year-old daughter stood behind me armed with binoculars. They were following the  large screens on the stage, which projected a computerized photo presentation picturing Paul’s life. In any other fully commercialized concert, the huge screens would have probably brainwashed us with commercials, but Paul promotes only one product, himself and the Beatles (and no mobile phone provider would stand in his way). For the father and his daughter this was an opportunity to impart a lesson in rock history.

Daughter: I recognize Paul and Ringo. And there is John Lennon and the other guy.

Father: George Harrison

Daughter: I always  forget him. They have such similar names.

From there, they discuss the photo on the cover of Abbey Road, which was taken outside the band’s legendary London studio.

Daughter: That is the cover of that album, when they are walking in the street.

Father: Yes, it is a street in Liverpool. I visited there when I went to England.

And so the conversations went throughout the park. Husbands and Wives. Fathers and Daughters. Mothers and Sons. These were parents who besides the Passover Haggada, the most consistent story they pass on to the next generation is which Beatles’ record coincided with which momentous life juncture and where they were when Lennon was assassinated. This is the musical DNA of millions of people all over the world, imprinted so deep in each and every one of us, proving that musical cloning began a long time before the sheep Doli. We were never more ready for a rock concert: we had listened to the songs, saw the movies and endlessly mourned a Beatles show in Tel Aviv that was planned in the mid 60s but never materialized. Finally, after 40 years, the wait was over.

“Hello Tel Aviv, Shana Tova” he opens in Hebrew, grabs a Bass guitar and releases a short song we’d heard a hundred times – ‘Hello, Goodbye’ and then ‘Jet’. From this point onward the formula was evident – a Beatles song, followed by a song from Paul’s solo career. Without any discordance, McCartney and the band zigzag ‘Only Mother Knows’ and ‘Let Me Roll It’ to ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘All My Loving’. McCartney’s own songs stir less enthusiasm from the crowd than the Beatles songs, but it helps to regulate the intensity and also remind us all that no matter how much we want it to be the real thing – these are not the fab four up there on stage.

McCartney delivers the goods. A couple of years after 64 he is still in full swing: switching guitars in a fashion resembling the pace Kylie Minogue changes outfits. For the most part, he sounds great and he is backed by a phenomenal band that steps-in every time he fails to reach the accuracy of his younger days.

The emotional peaks are reached when Paul sings for all those who took part in his musical legacy but had already passed on: his late wife Linda is remembered with a wonderful performance of ‘My Love’ on the piano. George receives ‘Something’ performed on the immortal Ukulele and John is honored with “Day in a Life”. This could have been the best song of the evening if it hadn’t been violently morphed mid-song into “Give Peace a chance”. This is tasteless and unnecessary, but I guess it should be considered as one of those unfortunate side effects of living in the Middle East.

The second half of the concert is pure Beatlemania. As part of the encore McCartney performs ‘Get Back’ and ‘Yesterday’ and closes with ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ which transitions into ‘The End’. The show is over, but the clapping continues. McCartney waves his hands into every possible direction but the crowd does not move. Each person insists on taking a last glance, a final memory to freeze and regurgitate to the generations to come.

***

Epilogue

I wake up around 4:00 AM. The experience does not let go. I go over it again in my head and find myself thinking about a line from “The End’: ‘oh yeah, all right, are you gonna be in my dreams tonight?’. I think of Paul and of my mother, then I close my eyes and fall asleep.

Hypothetical questions can be titillating pastime. Some of my favorite moral dilemmas include: would I jump on a suicide bomber to save a bus full of passengers? (Of course); would I keep a suitcase with a million dollars I found even if I am sure no one will ever know? (No way); would I be willing to lose a vital organ just to realize my fantasies with Scarlett Johansson? (Depending on the organ and only after I watched her in “Match Point”); would I steal/pirately download Radiohead’s new album even if it was offered for the price I decide it to be? (Nope)

The one nice thing about evenings dedicated to hypothetical questions is that they end when the alcohol is finished and everybody goes back home in one piece but without Johansson. But Radiohead must play it smart, musn’t they?

The answer is yes. I am one of those who paid (3 Sterlings, if you must know) for Inrainbows, their latest album. I did it for several reasons. It took me a while to figure them out them, but while waiting for the album to slowly drop onto my hard drive, I had some time to ponder. There are two significant reasons: I feel guilty for years of illegal music downloading: Songs and albums that brought so much joy to my life, with no apparent return on my behalf to the people who created it. And the second reason is that Radiohead left me without any excuses. I always justified illegal downloading in the insane CD prices – a result of greedy record companies, mega expensive mega stores and New York talk music agents. What can I say to a band with no music label offering me to purchase their entire new album for as little as 1 penny.

This is what I like so much about Radiohead and what makes them one of the most intriguing bands in the world. They will always make you think. The listening (and now consuming) Radiohead experience is a thought provoking one. Listening to ‘OK Computer’, ‘Kid A’, ‘Amnesiac’ or ‘Hail to the Thief’ is a demanding mission. You have to think, not just feel, anyone who thinks that it is forced, unnecessary or outright snobbish, misses a fascinating process that very much defines the development of our world in the last two decades.

The opening of In Rainbows aligns with all prior expectations: a fast pace and precise tempo of cold electronic drums, accompanied by Thom Yorke’s sharp voice. Taking note on previous albums, from this point onward the song should disintegrate with no recurring chorus, without a familiar verse structure, maybe with a singular line repeating 46 times. Yet, 41 seconds into the song something surprising happens. What is it? Guitar, bass, Yorke’s voice softening, it is melodic, nice and comfy. Radiohead suddenly sound like five people playing together in an alternative rock band and not in the most important band in the world (which is a completely different musical style). The music sounds familiar, serene, it ceases to constantly challenge the listener. ‘All I Need’, for example, is one of the most simple, direct and beautiful love songs Yorke wrote in a long time. “House of cards”, which opens with the words: ‘I don’t want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover’ is a sexy song which explains what Yorke meant when he said this is the ultimate bedroom Radiohead album.

Anyone following the interviews with Radiohead right after the release of their previous album could hope/fear (depending on the reader) that this was bound to happen. Talking to Chuck Klosterman they said they took ‘this music’ (or however you choose to define it) as far as possible. In the following years Radiohead changed and this makes the listening experience very different. It is almost too easy to fall in love with this album even from the first time. The entire compendium of electronic manipulation, filtering and meaningful/meaningless play on words, is left outside. Instead, In Rainbows is a dark atmospheric album with mysterious songs that excite through the heart, not the brain. Yorke’s voice sounds great, the production is spot on, Radiohead doesn’t strain themselves anymore; they are relaxed, even friendly. I find the songs so surprisingly likable I start to wonder whether my mother will also like them. In the next few listening sessions something happens. I can’t help thinking that something is missing. What first sounded simple, direct and meaningful became just simple and unsophisticated? This is a disturbing thought and it takes me a few days to further analyze it. I think I’ve got it now.

But first, I must confess. I lied earlier. I am not sure I will ever have the guts to jump on a suicide bomber and perhaps I will not have the morality to give back a million-dollar suitcase. I would like to believe I would, but I am not certain.

So here is one last hypothetical question. If I would’ve listened to the latest Radiohead without knowing it is their album, would I be disappointed? Would I be bored after the tenth time? The answer to both questions is no. I would probably file it under one of my favorite albums of 2007.  And in that I am certain.