I heard this thing about 20 years ago..
I was almost 30 years old when I heard this the first time. It has been with me since. I just listened again and realized it was Friday. So, I am throwing love at it. It is important to me. I am not sure I would have discovered the world of DIY music without it. I still love it. I still cherish the writing, wit, and grooves. I value my takeaway from the whole thing and that is that anyone can do this shit.
“Kelly, why are you talking about a 20 year old album?”
This is an experience that makes me aware of what I seek in entertainment. It minimizes distractions from the message. I honestly think the message is still, “have fun.” I think that is important. A normal dude making a record that manages to say that for 20 years is remarkable. I think that’s a lot of folks’ goals in music. Dan did it with as little as you can imagine. The songs are strong. His personality is stronger. It makes you smile. And, there’s little nuggets like “Havana Burning” that still bring tears and wonderment. This is an indie record, through and through. But it’s also high folk art.
Efficiency and effectiveness.
What I love most about Dan’s record here is how effective it is with how little is in it. This is a minimalist album. It’s loaded with laughs, melody, and harmonies. It has observations that still hold up. The words still ring true. The craft is still impressive. He used as little as possible to convey all that and it still works well, all these years later. That’s marvelous to me.
About the song that changed me up.
Havana Burning is a song that taught me a lot about what music needs and what it doesn’t. It has everything a good song requires and nothing else. It’s lean, mean, and brilliant at grabbing the lump in my throat and shaking it. As it turns out, it isn’t the scales or the tuning. It isn’t the production quality. It isn’t even the performance. It’s a man playing a damn good song he wrote. That’s all it ever has to be. I think that message from this whole album is more important now than it was when it came out.
Mind power.
Just because this record is simple does not mean it is easy. Great craft is like that. It’s a manifestation of a mind and skill at work. Dan’s personality is all over this thing. That takes a lot of work to get to that point. He has to know himself, first of all.. That rules out most people from doing something like this. Gets tougher from there.
Lasting impact.
This record has had a massive impact on me. Without it, there’s a real possibility that I wouldn’t love indie artists today. I might not even aspire to be one without this record drop-kicking me into songwriting mode. I am starting a new record today and I listened to this again. I want to have nothing more than is absolutely necessary to convey the song or message. That whole idea comes from this masterpiece, over 20 years later. Simple but not easy. Goals. It comes from this.
Enjoy
If you have never heard this, I hope you get something out of it. I do, and I’ve heard it hundreds of times already. It changed me. Changed my direction. Changed my priorities. It might have even impacted my beliefs or sense of humor. It’s a very powerful record to me..possibly the most powerful I have encountered yet. But I keep looking..
return to home.
