text:
- Cover Tag with Patterned Paper. Ink all edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
- Stamp pumpkins and wagon on White cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black. Color images with Copic Markers and die-cut them.
- Stamp tree as a background image.
- Add images to tag. Stamp sentiment.
- Add Beige Lace Tape. Tie on ribbon and hemp twine.
- Adhere Glitter to image.
Heartfelt Creations Products Used on this project:
- HCPC 3483 Days Gone By PreCut Set
- HCPC 3484 Pumpkin Harvest PreCut Set
- HCPC3474 Heartfelt Expressions PreCut Set
- HCD 724 Classic Editions Die
- HCDP1 224 Classic Editions Paper Collection
- Antique Rose Glitter Pee Wee Kit
- Dries Clear Glue
- Metal Glue Tip
- Grand Calibur
Other Products:
- Tag (LSS)
- Cardstock: White (GKD)
- Ink: Vintage Photo Distress (Ranger), Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Copic Markers: Pumpinks: YR21, YR16, YR14, Wagon:E11, E35, E37
- Accessories: Beige Lace tape Ribbon (Love My Tapes), Seam Binding Ribbon, Hemp Twine (Darice).
Happy Thanksgiving Decor Frame
- Start stamping bucket in Memento Sweet Cocoa and pumpkinks and apples in Memento Tuxedo Black, color them with Copic Markers, then die-cut images.
- Stamp truck on Watercolor Paper in Balck Stazon Ink. Color it with Inktense Watercolor Pencils. Die-cut image.
- Ink all edges of frame with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.
- Cut a piece of Patterned Paper from "Classic Editions Collection" 5.25" x 5.25", glue it to frame then ink all edges.
- Stamp Stem Spray around edges in Peeled Paint Distress Ink.
- Stamp Corn Sheaves in Vintage Phot Distress Ink. Color it with Copic Markers.
- Add die-cut images as you prefer on your frame.
- Stamp sentiment on Ivory Cardstock in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Die-cut and emboss it with Fancy Tags 2 Shapeabilities Dies. Adhere it to frame.
- Add Glitter to stems and pumpkins, then add Crystal Lacquer to apples, pumpkins and truck's tires.
Heartfelt Creations Products Used on this Project:
- HCPC 3487 Classic Edition PreCut Set
- HCPC 3486 Organic Fillers PreCut Set
- HCPC 3484 Pumpkin Harvest PreCut Set
- HCPC 3483 Days Gone By PreCut Set
- HCPC 3482 Antique Truck PreCut Set
- HCPC 3333 Bold Falling Leaves PreCut Set
- HCD724 Classic Editions Dies
- HCPD1 224 Classic Editions Paper Collection
- Fancy Tags 2 Shapeabilities (Spellbinders)
- Antique Rose Glitter Pee Wee Kit
- Dries Clear Glue
- 3D Crystal Lacquer
- Metal Glue Tip
- Double Dots
- Grand Calibur Die-Cutting Machine (Spellbinders)
Other products:
- Wood Frame (5.5" x 5.5")
- Cardstock: White, Ivory (GKD), Watercolor Paper (LSS)
- Ink: Vintage Photo Distress, Walnut Stain Distress, Peeled Paint Distress, Black Archival (Ranger); Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko), Inktense Watercolor Pencils (Derwent): Truck: 1800, 1700, 1900,0200, 2100, Copic Markers: Apples: R29, R46; Bucket: E11, E35; Pumpkins: YR21, YR16, YR14; Corn:Y17, YG63.
- Accessories: Jute twine (heavyduty), Medium pop dots, Sponges
All the products in blue can be found at the Heartfelt Creations Store
Hope you like my projects!
Have a fantastic day!


text:
Haqqani Network Designated As Terrorist Group
BY Herschel Smith11 years, 10 months ago
From CBS News:
The Obama administration on Friday declared the insurgent Haqqani network a terrorist body, a move that could undermine Afghan peace efforts and test fragile U.S.-Pakistani relations.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she notified Congress of her decision, which bans Americans from doing any business with members of the Pakistan-based militant group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States.
"We also continue our robust campaign of diplomatic, military, and intelligence pressure on the network, demonstrating the United States' resolve to degrade the organization's ability to execute violent attacks," she said in a statement.
According to a senior U.S. official, it will likely take seven to 10 days for the designation process to be completed. The Haqqani network has been behind a large number of the attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, and which U.S. officials have long pushed Pakistan's leaders to target more aggressively.
Designating the Haqqani network a terrorist organization is a complicated political decision as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and pushes for a reconciliation pact to end more than a decade of warfare.
Enraged by a string of high-profile attacks on U.S. and NATO troops, Congress set a Sunday deadline for the administration to make a decision. U.S. officials say there were disagreements within the administration over what to decide.
The U.S. already has placed sanctions on many Haqqani leaders and is targeting its members militarily but has held back from formally designating the al Qaeda-linked network a terrorist group amid concerns about hampering peace efforts in Afghanistan and U.S. relations with Pakistan.
The Haqqani network is also believed to be holding U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl captive – the only U.S. service member held by militants in the region.
Analysis & Commentary
This move shows the degree of disconnectedness from reality of the Afghanistan campaign. We are ten years into the effort, and as my coverage has shown, Jalaluddin Haqqani, his son Sirajuddin, and their network of fighters, have been at the center of the problem from the beginning. His camps trained al Qaeda fighters, and it was from Haqqani that many of the jihadists from around the globe learned their military skills.
They are ensconced in the Hindu Kush in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and freely operate against U.S. forces from both sides of the border. They have done so for a decade, and are responsible for the most recent high profile attacks in Kabul. This interview of Sirajuddin Haqqani is remarkable for its content, in that the network currently operates regionally but thinks globally based on the ideals of Islamic jihad.
And yet it is still begudging. Note that there was debate within the administration as to whether this was undue presusre on our "ally," Pakistan. The State Department took this action because of Congressional pressure. Within little more than one year, the bulk of U.S. forces will have been withdrawn from Afghanistan, and we are just now declaring one of their major military enemies to be a terrorist group.
This is a sign of desperation within the administration. Population-centric counterinsurgency and state-building has been a failure in Afghanistan, as has temporary imprisonment of fighters in the hopes of rehabilitating them (a distinctly American imagination, with the truth here also begrudgingly acknowledged by the plans to retain responsibility for more than 600 fighters even after turnover of the prisons to Afghan authorities).

subset: commoncrawl


text:
To the GOOD PEOPLE of Virginia, on the new
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, by an old
STATE SOLDIER, respecting the influence of great names.
When I first entered the list among the patriotic advocates for the new constitution, which I look up to now as the salvation of America, I had nothing else in view than just to expose the folly of those who made us of the names and characters of private men to support the insignificance of their own arguments.
But alarmed at the thoughts of a dissolution of the UNION, which I consider the greatest curse that could befall America, I determined to suspend my answer to those authors, to which my first address was only an introduction, until I cautioned you against laying the foundation of your own destruction by electing men for the approaching convention, who, under a pretence of amending and perfecting this new work, mean to dissolve the confederation.
And having in the fullest manner, I trust, proved to you in my last the impossibility of amending this new plan of government, at this time, without disuniting the states, I shall now return to my first design.
The adversaries to the constitution have not only held up the chief heroes of their party as the infallible guides on this occasion, but have spoken of some of its friends with such asperity and disingenuousness as would induce those who were unacquainted with the dispute, to suppose, that it was nothing more than a private quarrel among some leading individuals, under whose standards all the rest of America had servilely enlisted as their vassals.
If in answering those ingenuous, polite, and liberal authors, I should bring to view some truths which have not yet appeared, by using their own method of arguing as the only means to refute their folly, I trust I shall be excused, as they have not only taught the useful lesson, but absolutely driven those who attempt to answer them into the necessity.
But notwithstanding all that has been said about the liberty of the press being destroyed by the new constitution, I scarcely expect to find a sufficient remnant of that great blessing even in our present system to bring this paper to your view.
For to those very causes which some attribute the destruction of the liberty of the press, I look up for its becoming more unbounded—since clear it is, there are great restraints of that sort already, not can any thing else be expected in a government as popular as this is.
The liberty of the press is not always one of the most lovely traits of the freest governments:—for as the most popular kinds have generally been thought the most free, it follows that the most free will not be the most favorable to that spirit which is necessary to constitute the liberty of the press.
It is in popular governments that men obtain that very superiority over others, by consent, which is held in other governments by hereditary right; with this only difference, that as the one is always the attainment of superior abilities, and the other too often the right of fools, the just sense we have of the one's being capable of doing us more real good or harm than the other, renders the influence of merit much greater than that of birth.
Whence it follows that men in popular repute over—awe the actions of others much more than those who are only the favorites of fortune. For in kingly governments where men are statesmen by birth, and perhaps only revered for their empty titles, dignity remains protected no longer than it is unattacked—which in general is not long—for superior merit ever anxious to float uppermost in the stream of life, those who possess it necessarily strive to sink others who have only risen above them by the partial hand of fortune. When instantly, that same superiority of talents which adheres to the side of government in the one instance, shifts its influence to the side of liberty in the other.
And thus the press becomes influenced, not by the absolute interference of any government, but by the mere complexion of it—and is nothing more at last than an adherence to the popular side.
In those governments whose heads are the free choice of the people, it is ever to be found on the side of the state, as the same voice which promotes will protect its favorite; and where the success of an author depends on the breath of those who have thus promoted the man at whose character he aims, it would be deemed madness to make the attempt, and nothing less than treason to aid him in it.
When on the other hand, in those governments whose heads are the establishment of birth, and the detestation of the majority, the assistance of the press is to be on the side of the people. And this it is that is called the liberty of the press.
In England where government has always had some of the ablest men for its opponents, with the popular voice of the people on their side, the liberty of the press is such that even the dignity of the crown does not protect men from ridicule and abuse.
But in America where the dignity of an individual depends on the voice of the people at large, the very reverse has already been seen.
In the course of the late war many attempts were made by General Lee to publish different pieces in abuse of General Washington, only one of which ever made its appearance, and for publishing that, the printer was severely handled, not by government, but by the populace. Which we cannot now but consider as improper:—for sacred as the character of any individual may be, yet the voice of another should be fairly heard—since ridicule, when unconnected with truth, not only ceases to be severe, but degenerating into scurrility, renders the author, and not the person pointed at, the object of contempt.
Under this consideration no good man could object to seeing his character fully stated to the world—and much less would HE whose merits like the purest gold could only become the brighter by being the more frequently handled;—and whose character when held up to public view would only serve to dazzle the eye of envy itself.
That however justly General Lee might have merited our hatred on that occasion, we cannot but lament the consequences of such a disposition. For as no one can judge of the merits of another before he hears them fairly investigated, it would be wrong to shut our eyes against an attack on any one until we were convinced thereby of his purity. The impropriety of which however will be still more clearly seen in a much more recent affair0The recital of which will bring me to the principal object of this paper, from which I have already too long digressed.
As late as in the contest now subsisting about the constitution under consideration, a printer in this state for some time refused to publish a piece because it contained some reflections on one Richard Henry Lee—when, had he measured the dignity of that name by the merits of the letter to which we have lately seen it annexed, he would have had no such scruples perhaps.
But it is not at all surprising that folly should come off with impunity where even vice itself meets with protection.
Fortunately however for this country, we are now likely to profit form both. This gentlemen at length, led by his vanity to give us a true attested copy of the powers of his genius, has relieved us from any fear we might have had of being deluded by his abilities; and being long convinced how far we might rely on his integrity, we feel ourselves more and more at ease under any political opinions he may advance. From the commencement of his political career until the publication of his letter, we have been in doubt about the one; but from the stamp—act until the present day, we have been clear in the other.
But whatever could have induced the opponents to the constitution, and Mr. Lee above all, to hint at the designs of its friends, I cannot conceive. Did they expect that the mere name of Lee or Mason would be sufficient protection to such barefaced impudence and folly? Did they expect that no enquiry would be made, and no return given to such uncharitable methods?—Or did they expect their characters, abilities, or designs would bear a stricter scrutiny than those aimed at on the other side?—Nothing but the vain manner in which one of those gentlemen ushered his pamphlet forth, could make us suspect either of them of such ill—grounded hopes.
It is not at all surprising however that Mr. Lee should be opposed to a government, which will probably begin with a man at its head, to procure whose disgrace he has once before convinced us he would cheerfully have sacrificed all America. This is a circumstance too fresh in the minds of all to be forgotten, though it might not have been mentioned at this time, had not this gentleman's own imprudence forced it from me.
Had those two great statesmen but sent forth their objections to the new constitution through the verbal medium of their friends; or, had they, like another author of the same stamp, but sent them forth in the more important for of parables for others to comment upon, they would have had much more weight, I suspect, than even the objections of a Lycurgus or a Solon, supported by the printed arguments of a Lee or Mason.
But how far the dignity of names may go towards making up for a deficiency of argument, I am incapable of ascertaining—Or how far the name of Lee may be considered as such, I only shall appear to his own pamphlet to determine—where, whenever it shall be seen deprived of every other ornament but the genius of the man, the mighty name of—Lee in weight, as well as size, will only be found to be the picture of greatness in miniature at best.
Mr. Lee begins his objections to the constitution by observing that "to say (as many do) that a bad government must be established for fear of anarchy, is really saying that we must kill ourselves for fear of dying."—From which, as simplicity of thought generally denotes a goodness of heart, I should suppose this gentleman to be one of the best creatures in nature, and if considered as similar only to what he meant should follow after, was as just as it is inelegant and inapplicable if intended to answer any other end.
For how does he prove this to be a bad government?—Is it by comparing it with perfection of his own scheme, for I observe he has been graciously pleased to offer us his amendments to the constitution?
It is a pity this gentlemen had not given a sample of what he could do before the appointment to the grand convention was made, that he might have offered his amendments in a more seasonable place. For had he convinced the world that he was superior to either of the nine, who were in the course of the business appointed by this state, I have no doubt but he would have been in that honorable Assembly, where he might have shewn that superiority, of which he thinks himself possessed over the thirty nine who signed the constitution, without exposing his name at this time to the ridicule of the world.
In respect to the tyranny those gentlemen paint in such horrid colours, it appears to me, but little need be said; for it is not only true, that those who are the loudest about liberty, have always been the greatest tyrants themselves when they have had it in their power; but it is also clear that while in the very act of the one, they are even then exercising the very worst kind of the other. For it being a fixed point that human nature cannot exist without the assistance of government, and there being no power to which mankind are incident, more terrible than fear, it follows, that to keep men under a perpetual alarm about what they cannot, agreeable to their own natures, get rid of, is to worry them out with one oppression and thereby fit them for every other. And this too being generally done by the most insignificant members of the community, renders the tyranny of popular alarm much worse than the fixed oppressions of the most formidable government—and in the present instance far more degrading, as it would be much more honorable to be devoured alive by a LION, than frightened to death by a monkey.
But I should not deal thus in trifles were it not for two reasons: The first is, having set out solely with a view of exposing in this paper the meanness and folly of being led away by the mere sound of names, I could not pass by this self—sufficient politician in silence—and the other is, that were we determined to pay no attention to trifles, Mr. Lee's whole letter would go unnoticed—which would be rather mortifying, after the hints he dropped to get it printed;—notwithstanding which, however, it had nearly died in manuscript. For unfortunately that gentleman's correspondent was either too good a judge of literary performances to suppose, as he did, that the mere name of Richard Henry Lee would stamp it with the title of perfection; or else, he had not clearly determined, at that time, on taking his side of the question, as he has since prudently taken both:—and that being the case, I shall say nothing to caution you against relying on his opposition to the constitution; as there are few I presume willing to rely much on the command of a general who will not openly head his own army for fear of offending the enemy.
As for Mr. Mason, poor old man, he appears to have worn his judgment entirely thread—bare and ragged in the service of his country. But however faint his present endeavors may be to render public good, his past services can never be forgot while his great zeal in the Indiana cause remains so lasting a monument of his righteous endeavors, and happy effects of his land—office scheme have shewn themselves so clearly—at least in favor of his own fortune.
To a man thus zealous, the want of authority to pass ex post facto laws may be a great objection to the new constitution indeed, as they might be rendered highly useful to, and a great improvement on, the art of speculation. But in all other cases they have ever been considered a great curse, since they can only be productive of a halter to the innocent and ignorant.
Whatever this gentleman might have intended when he said that this government would "vibrate for some time between aristocracy and monarchy," and then that "it will settle at last between the one and the other," I will not undertake to say, as I would not presume to dive into the meanings of so profound a man. But if its vibrating between the two—and then settling between the tow, proves any thing, it must be that it will not end in either—and this is what we wish."
But what do you suppose are the real motives of such gentlemen for advocating the cause of liberty so strenuously at this time?—Is it that Mr. Mason, who is a man of immense fortune, and Mr. Lee, who possesses as much pride an ambition as he does fortune, are really anxious to see all men raised up to an equality with themselves?—Or is it not rather from a fear that they themselves shall be reduced below the level of some others?
Two things appear to me to operate most powerfully against the adoption of this constitution. The one is dignity—the other debt. And to both of those causes I attribute the opposition of a man whose designs and ingenuity are much more to be dreaded than any I have yet mentioned. The constant propensity he has ever shewn to soar upwards on the breath of popular applause, justifies my surmising the one; and his uniform opposition to the payment of certain debts, in which the majority of this country are little interested, and the establishment of this government will certainly bring about, warrants me in asserting the other.
For he who was willing but a few years ago to vest Congress with the power of raising taxes by the absolute assistance of armies, could have little objection to a plan at this time, which only proposes to raise them by moderate means, was there not something of secret consequence involved in it.
But as this gentleman has been too wise to trust his objections to the new constitution to the eyes of the public, I shall not mention his name; though I should have little scruple in exposing to view the name of a man, who after all his patriotic canting and whining has been among the first to speculate on the unfortunate credit of his country, and that too when he enjoyed one of the first posts in government. And should a proper opening ever offer, I shall let loose such a train of hypocricy and deceit upon you, as will astonish you to behold.
But admitting all the enemies to the constitution to be equally honest in their opposition, that in itself is the strongest proof of the necessity there is of adopting it before we attempt to amend it. For if their different designs cannot be offered as an excuse for their differing so widely as they do about the faults of the constitution, nothing I am sure but an acknowledgement that some of them are wrong can account for it; and since we know on which to rely, nothing but experience can teach us which is right.
Thus having remarked on the designs of some of the principal enemies to the constitution with that freedom which becomes the spirit of an independent man, to which none of those gentlemen themselves can with propriety object, since they are all such great friends to the Liberty of the press, I shall return again to the more pleasing subject of the constitution, and endeavor in my next to answer, in as plain a manner as I can, such objections to it as I think worthy of notice.
(a)The Am. Off. The Centinal, c. of Gen. Washington, Franklin, and Wilson.
(b)The present Governor, who gave out his objections to the constitution, and then left them like a parcel of poor little helpless orphans to be supported by a contribution of arguments from his friends.
(c)See Journals of Assembly of Virginia 1784, resolution proposing to give Congress a right to compel the states to comply with their requisitions by force of arms—Who by?—
Conversation-based seminars for collegial PD, one-day and multi-day seminars, graduate credit seminars (MA degree), online and in-person.


text:
T-059, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, MY
Ultimate Guard
Dragon Shield
Travel back to a land of myths, legends, and wilderness as Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR shape the fabric of time and space! Decidueye, Typhlosion, and Samurott arrive as Hisuian Pokémon VSTAR, joining more Pokémon and Trainers from the ancient region of Hisui. Meanwhile, Shiny Pokémon reappear as Radiant Pokémon, with Radiant Greninja leading the charge in the Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield—Astral Radiance expansion!


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Sunday 27 November 2011
Mike OLDFIELD: Tubular Bells
(#146: 5 October 1974, 1 week)
Track listing: Tubular Bells {Part One}/Tubular Bells {Part Two}
Although many observers find it easier to consider Tubular Bells the first New Age number one album, particularly given the involvement of an actual New Age pioneer, Tom Newman, as co-engineer, it is truer to consider it the most popular offshoot of an important and under-celebrated British counterculture. Robert Wyatt summed it up best in his remarks in an Invisible Jukebox feature in the December 1995 edition of The Wire, concerning the meeting point between progressive rock and experimental jazz at the turn of the sixties:
"The connection is very simple – Keith Tippett's personality. A West Country bloke with a great big heart and completely unlike the Old Boy Network jazz mafia that was the London scene at the time. He had all barriers down, listened to everybody, open-minded, never put anybody down, and one of his things was to get all these different musicians from different genres together – particularly the South African exiles. He would get together these bands and get us into them and then we'd meet each other. So really you could put a lot of that down to one man."
Tippett had much the same effect on the London scene as another teenager, Kevin Drew, would have on the moribund Toronto indie scene of the nineties; he saw the possibilities, ignored the limitations and set about persuading everybody with whom he came into contact that it would be a great idea if everybody worked and developed together. And so networks developed, and thanks to astute middlemen like Joe Boyd and John Cale, these spread to the States, this time via open-minded musicians such as Dave Holland, Jack Bruce and John McLaughlin.
What I am trying to convey here is that this period – for argument's sake call it 1968-76 – was one of the healthiest, liveliest and most creative periods for British music, and one I am truly sorry to have been too young to live through properly. In 1970 my father took me to the Lyceum theatre in Drury Lane to see Centipede, the enormous band that Tippett put together, containing all his mates, or as many of them as he could cram onto one stage, and to say it was a formative experience is putting it far too mildly; from what I saw, heard and felt – and this would be reinforced, not just by the subsequent double album that Centipede did (Septober Energy), but also by my subsequent discovery of Carla Bley and Paul Haines' not entirely unrelated Escalator Over The Hill - I knew that this was what I wanted from music, a true melting pot where everybody played together, regardless of genre or outside demands, where everything linked to everything else, singular pieces in a gigantic familial jigsaw puzzle.
Talk to any of the great musicians who were active at the time and are still with us – and over forty years of informal chat and note-taking with the majority of these players have provided me with much important information, which I still intend to process into book form as time and opportunity allow (as this generation is now in its sixties and seventies, and over the last few years its members have begun to pass away in earnest, it is doubly essential that this information is retained) – and they will all tell you the same story; nobody made any money out of their music, there was a constant battle with funding bodies and oppressive State radio, but the creativity stakes were never higher, the barriers never lower.
Centipede consisted of fifty or so musicians (fifty-five on the album, frequently more onstage) from all walks of musical life; rock was represented by King Crimson, Soft Machine, Patto/Timebox and the Blossom Toes, jazz by representatives from the aforementioned South African exiles (Blue Notes/Brotherhood of Breath) as well as regulars from the Westbrook/Gibbs/Collier bands, the occasional loose Canterbury cannon, old associates from Bristol whose connection with Tippett went back to the Beat Boom days, and a score of young classical graduates from the Royal College of Music. Septober Energy was a bold attempt to make this musical collision work, and was almost immediately savaged by the critics; indeed, Tom Callaghan's sleevenote to the Beat Goes On CD reissue a dozen or so years ago appears almost to dissuade the casual browser from purchasing, so hard does he find it to summon up any enthusiasm for the music. Yet the intervening decades, and Tippett's steady progress as a musician and band organiser, prove it to have been undervalued; the music is deceptively simple (as opposed to simplistic), largely based on slowly-evolving drones, chants and riffs over which anything from serpentine jazz-rock via Berio-esque classical abstraction and demented Irish jigs to "wa-hey" freeform freakouts is superimposed. Its cumulative power is crepuscular but immense, and the fourth side – a reworking of "Green And Orange Night Park" from the Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening album – remains one of the most imposing and affecting sides of music to appear on any British record; as Elton Dean undertakes his marathon saxello solo, chants and riffs begin to build up behind and around him in a rough "Hey Jude"-type fashion before they finally engulf the solo voice and the music breaks down, or rises up, into a mass collective improvisation, miraculously held together by the iron grip of three drummers (one of whom, Wyatt, pounds merrily on his unmistakeable kit in the centre of the mix). Although not quite carrying the same impact as a concert performance – one of the saxophonists told me that the sequence in question had to be taped at ten in the morning, not the best time of the day for improvisers – the effect is mesmerising and empowering. You come out the other end thinking that anything is, and should be, possible.
If you're wondering why I'm spending so much time talking about Centipede and Septober Energy it is because it was one of the main inspirations for Tubular Bells. This is not immediately apparent on listening; the other main influence, Terry Riley's A Rainbow In Curved Air, is far more palpable. But the teenage Oldfield, already giving a history of folk-rock (Sallyangie, Barefoot) and toe-dipping into avant-improv-prog-pop via his membership of Kevin Ayers' Whole World, came out of the same background and carried the same enthusiasm for adventure. Even at eighteen his invention is evident; he negotiates the treacherous slaloms of Ayers' 1971 Shooting At The Moon, in the company of the likes of David Bedford and Lol Coxhill, with great skill and acuity; his talking bass on "May I?" already marks him out as somebody to watch. Although Ayers developed the Whole World specifically to explore further the mechanics of the pop song (which he felt that Soft Machine had somehow lost), his group is strong enough to move from song to free and back without much prompting and with a great deal of empathy.
But Oldfield wanted to develop his own music, and with some encouragement and material help from Ayers and others, he set about laying down the basic demos for Tubular Bells. Were there other influences? Apart from those stated above, yes, but it is unlikely that Philip Glass or Steve Reich (neither of whom was widely known in early seventies Britain, although Glass' records began to be issued on Virgin in the UK shortly after Bells' success) would have counted, let alone Bo Hansson's oft-cited Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings; since the latter, although available in Sweden since 1970, did not gain a British release until September 1972, by which time the main body of Tubular Bells was essentially complete (and in any case sounds much more like the Pink Floyd of Obscured By Clouds than anything by Oldfield).
Work on the piece continued fitfully, mostly in the room in Ayers' then-home in Tottenham which Oldfield rented out, by clever manipulation of a reel-to-reel tape recorder which allowed instant overdubbing and "bouncing" of individual parts. Over this period he undertook other work to pay the rent, not only with Ayers but also as a part of the original line-up of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (Harvey also secured Oldfield a day job as co-guitarist in the West End production of Hair). Despite all this, he remained anxious about his music's prospects; most established record companies showed him the door, and it was only when nascent indie record shop/label proprietor Richard Branson floated the idea of Virgin Records that the prospect of releasing the music became a possibility. Engineers/talent scouts Newman and Simon Hepworth heard Oldfield's demos, were knocked out and passed them on to Branson, who was likewise bowled over and offered Oldfield a contract and studio time to help knock the music into releasable shape (little change needed to be made to the original demos, which constituted "Part One," while "Part Two" was composed and realised in the studio).
Released in May 1973, the record gathered enthusiastic notices, mostly of the kind which welcomed the kind of experimental rock which didn't need to be dissonant or loud to proclaim its radicalism (which is not to decry, as many ignorant writers have since done, the important loud and dissonant work that was done in this period and write it off as "musical Marxism" – as if that were a bad thing). John Peel was so taken by the record that he spun it in full on his Radio 1 show, which in turn helped propel it into the lower reaches of the album chart; word of mouth, and particularly a BBC2 performance of "Part One" in November 1973, helped raise its popularity gradually. A concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall was also organised (much to the chagrin of the then-shy Oldfield, who took much persuading to participate), involving the likes of Steve Hillage, Fred Frith and Mick Taylor, filling out the record's many guitar parts. Eventually William Friedkin heard the record and incorporated some of its main theme into the score for The Exorcist; although in truth there is little of the demonic about Bells, the gesture worked and the record went global. By the time the record eventually climbed to number one here, some seventeen months after its release, it was as established a part of the post-Beatles rock canon as Dark Side Of The Moon.
So what is there in the record to attract the careful or carefree listener now? It remained on the UK chart for a cumulative total of 279 weeks and sold in excess of 2.5 million copies in Britain alone. Clearly this sort of achievement is not attained without some level of "comfort," even if the record in itself is often far from "comfortable." Although Bells sounds almost nothing like Septober, the latter's influence is measurable in different ways – the reliance on the gradual development and building up of different themes, the rather delightful naivety of its construction (there are many "bum" notes, but these add to the charm, unlike the well-intentioned 2003 note-for-note remake, which loses in spirit what it gains in technical accomplishment), the encyclopaedic embrace that it is the music's intention to offer.
The music is so familiar that a section-by-section breakdown is, I feel, of little use; I do note, however, that Part One in itself offers a modest flick-through history of post-1955 British rock. Developing its two major themes, one despairingly minor and the other hopefully major, the music moves through discreet but distinct emotional peaks and troughs, from delicate single-note post-Jansch acoustic figures to mass electric thrashes. Within the intervening passages there is much reference to the Blues Boom, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in particular, and a reddening sadness which never quite disappears despite such interventions as the Nasal Choir and accompanying pub piano. Eventually, just as the music is about to climb to a peak, it is cut off by bells, as though someone, or something, has died.
Out of the silence emerges a solo acoustic guitar (eventually joined by the ever-present Lowrey organ) which picks out a "Scarborough Fair"-type melody. This soon becomes brooding, however, and an angry crescendo is again abruptly stopped by a nautical line ("What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor"?) which turns into a long riff section sounding like Mayall's Bluesbreakers playing with caps on their amplifiers so as not to awaken the neighbours. After a while the guitars and basses are joined by the voice of Vivian Stanshall, announcing the myriad instruments which will make up the fugal section. Inspired by, and hired because of, his work on the Bonzos' "The Intro And The Outro," Stanshall's delivery works because it is done absolutely straightfaced and with tangible delight (contrast with the regrettably hammy contribution of John Cleese to the 2003 remake; he thinks he's Basil Fawlty reincarnate, whereas Stanshall is funny because he stands stock still and makes no effort to be "funny"). The excitement builds up, and by the time of Stanshall's awestruck "Plus – tubular BELLS!," catharsis is released. The undertow disappears, wordless Stygian voices make the boat float, have raised the Titanic, and the music fades away to a calm sea of acoustic guitar, as though Oldfield had been in the folk club all the time, practising, the soundscapes only in his head.
Part Two is inevitably something of an afterthought, but works too in its own way; much of it is perceptibly a series of seascapes, quiet acoustic meditations conjuring up an introspective skipper, out on the ocean, gazing non-specifically at the horizon. But in the second of this sequence's two themes there comes a heartbreaking move from minor key to major, as if to say; yes, it's simple, but that doesn't make it any less meaningful. Eventually high voices and rippling electric guitar begin to create waves and eddies around the music; this leads to a solemn, timpani-led, Gaelic-derived melody which steadily builds to a climax (with live timpani acting as the bassline); dissonance finally introduces itself to the picture, and a rushing "Day In The Life"-style escalation is stopped in its tracks by…
…Captain Beefheart? Well, it's the "Piltdown Man" section, where in Oldfield has much fun grunting, growling and screaming (if such things can be described as "fun"; the screams in particular exceed those on Lennon's "Mother") over Steve Broughton's drums (hence it's a sort of "Out Demons Out" variant, though complete with bizarre touches, such as the country-and-western hoedown which appears out of nowhere midway through). Is it a parody of post-Percy cock-rock (is even Oldfield joining in the seasonal sport of outstoning the Stones?) or a continuation of "I Am The Walrus"' joke-obscuring anguish?
Suddenly the sequence is over and we return to soft guitars, mandolins, harmonium and organ drone, improvising on the previous Celtic melody; gradually all of the instruments drop out of tempo and begin to issue seagull-like cries or oceanic ripples (here is where the Durutti Column begins). Once again the pacific Lowrey organ leads the final minor-to-major move and all settles down in a satisfactory, dying coda…or does it?
The final sequence gives the game away, and it's a bit like having a custard pie shoved in one's face; yes, all that you have been hearing have been clever variations on…"The Sailor's Hornpipe"! Very classical (Elgar, Walton, Vaughan Williams) in nature, very Lord Berners in its final gesture; the original intention was to have the mix with Stanshall, as proto-Through The Keyhole narrator, chase Oldfield and Newman through The Manor, conclude the disc but it was felt safer to end with a straight reading (both are present on the 2009 Deluxe Edition 2CD set; again there is a cleaned-up 2009 remix by Oldfield himself, and again I have based this piece on the original mix, to be found on CD2). It sends its audience out, slightly baffled but oddly moved.
I do believe that the success of Tubular Bells was the definitive gesture in recognising the importance of the culture which enabled it to happen; the number of impressionable teenagers hearing this and being influenced – especially since, at nineteen going on twenty, this was a record made by somebody almost exactly their age – must be incalculable; in itself it marks the beginning of DIY indie rock – this is almost certainly the first record in this tale to be primarily conceived and performed by one person, the partial exception of Band On The Run notwithstanding. But I imagine a whole galaxy of impressionable young Brits – be they Kate Bush or Jim Kerr – hearing this and delving further, including into the other titles that Virgin was able to make possible throughout the period as a result of the record's success; records by Henry Cow, Comus, Faust, Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, and, as a result of gaining the UK rights to the JCOA catalogue, Escalator Over The Hill itself. Certainly Bells was the record which inspired me to dig deeper into the above, and beyond; I can't imagine anybody of the period not being affected or changed by it in some way, whether directly or indirectly. It presaged a New Age, all right, and it's not Oldfield's fault that the definition of that changed, or was made to change; this initial trilogy climaxed in 1975's Ommadawn (which, since it didn't make number one, won't be addressed directly here) with some of Oldfield's angriest and most pained guitar playing and writing, and an emotional climax involving the members of South African exile splinter group Jabula which is as eloquent a requiem for Mongezi Feza as Blue Notes For Mongezi. He moved on to other things – and there is much to consider in comparing the double 1978 releases from Oldfield and Tippett, Incantations and Frames respectively – but once you come up as part of a mutually dependent culture, it stays, I think, with you, and in you, for life.
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Mike OLDFIELD: Hergest Ridge
(#145: 14 September 1974, 3 weeks)
Track listing: Hergest Ridge (Part One)/Hergest Ridge (Part Two)
Author's Note: The history of different mixes of Hergest Ridge is a complex one. Dissatisfied with the original LP mix, Oldfield remixed the album in quadrophonic sound for the 1976 Boxed set. This mix became the basis of all subsequent LP, cassette and CD pressings until the 2010 Deluxe Edition release, which includes two more remixes by Oldfield - and the main 2010 Stereo Mix is also a rather drastic edit, since over two minutes of material are lost from the original. Happily the original 1974 mix is included on CD2, and since this represents the record which people bought and made possible its inclusion in this tale, I have based my assessment on it.
Before I get going, I should point out that I have not missed out an album; such are the whims and vicissitudes of the album chart that sometimes, not only does the follow-up to a hugely popular album get to number one where the original mostly does not, but that the follow-up can beat the original to the top. In this instance Mike Oldfield monopolised the top of the chart for the best part of a month; I pondered long and hard about whether I should have done this as a double with Tubular Bells, but on reflection the "reversed" order makes some critical perspectives possible which otherwise might not have been conceived.
Not to mention emotional ones. My father bought this album on the day of its release, and I had already been familiar with it for over a week, since it was premiered, in full, on Sounds Interesting, a late Sunday night Radio 3 programme which occupied roughly the same ground Late Junction does now, compiled and presented by the late Derek Jewell. A strange character, Jewell; middle-aged, and already a distinguished jazz and pre-rock popular music correspondent for The Sunday Times for a good two decades, he developed something of a taste for post-Beatles progressive rock and persuaded Radio 3 to run this chink in its classical armour. Essentially an Ellington and Sinatra man - he wrote more than one book about each - he also used the programme to air contemporary jazz and free improvisation releases, as well as some contemporary classical. Eventually punk came along, to which he reacted like a disappointed headmaster, and prior to his death in 1985 he was unfairly reduced to the level of "Derek Dull" caricature.
To return to the main subject, Hergest Ridge was, as I say, premiered on Radio 3, and my father recorded it on our old Ferguson reel-to-reel tape machine (the spool still exists). Already dazzled by Tubular Bells, I was impressed by this subtle forward move. I listened to Oldfield's work intently for a further two years, following which I got distracted by other music; listening to the album anew this week was the first time I had done so in some thirty-five years, and yet every note and gesture came back to me with immediate familiarity, and not a little emotion.
I should apologise for this extended reverie in my own past, since one of the purposes of this tale is not to get too "personal"; yet the task now becomes more and more difficult since we are firmly into "my time," the period of records fondly loved and memorised at first hand (I have already intimated this to some extent with entries from 1973 onward, but this marks the point where it became, shall we say, more fervent).
And with so personal a record as Hergest Ridge it is almost as impossible to separate the listener from the music as it is to separate Oldfield the young, slightly scared twentysomething prodigy. Oldfield had not expected Tubular Bells to explode as it did, and he became extremely wary of the media attention which the record's success not only warranted but now also demanded. Richard Branson was nagging him to come up with a sequel, but there was, by Oldfield's own admission, almost nothing in reserve.
Never a city person, Oldfield searched for somewhere to live in the countryside, and found a rundown house called "The Beacon" near the Black Mountains, on the Herefordshire-Wales border. Cold, draughty and minimally furnished, the musician set to work converting one of the house's rooms into a studio. In the nearest town (Kington) he made the acquaintance of Leslie Penning, a medieval instrument specialist, and began to work with him and retrieve his muse (it is unclear who is responsible for the uncredited tin whistles and recorders which play the main theme at the beginning and end of "Part One" - possibly it is his brother, Terry Oldfield - but Penning certainly appeared on 1975's Ommadawn). From Kington there is a path, partially straddling Offa's Dyke, which ambles along gently for eight miles or so, eventually taking the walker up to the peak of Hergest Ridge, with its comprehensive, heart-stopping views of the hills of Shropshire and Wales; this provided Oldfield with his main inspiration for the record, although he has admitted that making Hergest Ridge was not an enjoyable experience ("My heart wasn't really into it").
Some of this precarious uncertainty certainly flows into the record. Evidently anxious not to present us with Tubular Bells II - that will come eventually, but not right now - Oldfield instead chooses to trace the same compositional structure path with more subtlety and more concentrated variation. The piece begins with a sustained drone over which various rudimentary woodwinds play the first theme (it is a bit like Eno nudging Shirley and Dolly Collins). The theme itself refers back to the climactic theme which closes side one of Bells but the harmonies and arrangement are very different; voices, glockenspiel and vibraharp make themselves evident in sundry corners of the mix before the entry of bass guitar provokes a return to lone mandolin.
The music then works again towards crescendo with military trumpet and snare drum, leading via a modulation to timpani and mild, fuzzed dissonance. A gong gives way to a Lowrey organ bridge, which in turn culminates in the side's second (minor key) theme, played by the oboe of Lindsay Cooper (Comus, Henry Cow, Mike Westbrook Orchestra, etc.). Oldfield's lead guitar superimposes an improvised top line on the basic melody.
A bell - does that ring bells? - leads to another build-up, complete with compressed falsetto voices (sounding like an army of Klaus Nomis). Rather than any outburst of temper, this falls directly into a bass riff, upon which a fugal passage is built with a third melodic theme; this immediately recalls the companion sequence at the end of side one of Bells but is more determined to reach catharsis. A pinprick shift into major key, complete with sleigh bells, introduces a Lowrey organ-dominant melody, highly reminiscent of Robert Wyatt (and I intend to get back to him before the end of this piece).
The theme becomes gradually more animated - exactly where is this leading us to? - and then the gasp, as the air clears, and we suddenly find ourselves (after a suitable rubato bridge) on top of the Ridge, and the staggering, beyond-sublime entry of David Bedford's choir as piano takes over the harmonies from guitar (again, another episode Jeff Lynne must have heard prior to conceiving "Mr Blue Sky"). It is as if pain is being laid to rest, but even here there is little time to pause; the choir suddenly dips down into the original root chord, and the primary melody, and the tin whistles, return briefly before a relatively abrupt fadeout. "Innocence."
If "Part Two" could predictably be entitled "Experience," the music bears this idea out. As with side two of Bells, it begins in a pastoral, acoustic mood with a gradual, guarded build-up of instruments, before a simple, poignant theme is developed (the similarity of many of these melodies to late period Beatles should not be unremarked upon - Picardy third specialists will have much to enjoy here). This is improvised upon by Spanish and electric guitar solos; the harmonies spiral endlessly upwards before mandolins re-enter to state the side's second theme. A short crescendo bursts into the picture before the music dies down again.
There is a return to the original theme (on Lowrey organ) but a bed of more anguished electric guitar rises in a recapitulation of the storm threat posited in "Part One." This gives way to a Philip Glass staccato organ loop, joined by a florid flute line (the latter a variation on the storm motif). Then the thunderstorm breaks for real, and thrashing armies of guitars (reputedly overdubbed one thousand times) muscle their way in for a lengthy workout. At least it sounds mostly like guitars, but the mix is subtly altered such that at times keyboards become dominant, and even the guitars themselves are mixed so closely that they virtually become machines. And somewhere in there is the ghost of punk to come, already trying to sneak in through the door.
A high-pitched organ line steadily makes its way upwards through the dense mesh, now turning into a proto-electronica raga. Characteristic of Oldfield, the music immediately drops back down as it hovers on the point of boiling over, and we are again at peace with nature. But his guitar does not sound particularly happy or quiescent; the side's main theme blooms again with the emergence of Bedford's string section.
Yet this too offers little succour; the music ends on a suspended, restless, discordant, hushed G major seventh. This is the music of a disturbed mind, and as such its point was entirely missed by nearly all of the record's reviewers at the time. I was not able to find it online, but Ian MacDonald led the critical charge with a closely-printed two-page centrespread demolition of the record in NME; I cannot remember too much about the language but the piece's general gist was a rant against this "mentholated Vaughan Williams" (actually, as Lena quite rightly pointed out, there is a quite considerable Russian tinge to much of the music on Hergest Ridge, particularly in its second part, and it is remarkable that the author of The New Shostakovich should have missed this entirely), if not quite a plea for punk to happen.
In retrospect, this can simply be viewed as another example of MacDonald's endless self-projection masquerading as critical commentary (give him something in 1974 that he cared about - On The Beach again; strange how that record keeps turning up here as a reference point - and he transcended the dusty porthole and flew) and I think to miss the anguish and distress at work in this music is to deny vulnerability or multifocal emotionalism in any musician.
Yes, it is "well mannered," like Vaughan Williams, but like Vaughan Williams - and especially like A Pastoral Symphony, a disguised war requiem directly referred to more than once here (especially when the off-stage Margaret Price-esque wordless vocal steals into the concluding picture) - the manners are there to fool the ear. Moreover - and to get back to Robert Wyatt - Hergest Ridge is the more restrained, more concerned (and arguably darker) stepbrother of Rock Bottom (which came out at around the same time, was recorded at the same studio - The Manor - and in which Oldfield plays a small but crucial part); everything here is suggested rather than expressed (the glorious babble of Windo and Feza's horns, Wyatt's own exultation in unashamed nonsense, or should that be supersense?). Unlike Bells there is no humour, hardly any drums, nothing in the way of mischief; all replaced by a deep, consuming concern. The record's lesson, if any? You can go as far away into the back of beyond as you wish, but wherever you end up your demons stay with you. How Oldfield would address this is a story for somebody else to tell; how he got there in the first place I will deal with next.
Sunday 13 November 2011
Paul McCARTNEY and WINGS: Band On The Run
(#144: 27 July 1974, 7 weeks)
Track listing: Band On The Run/Jet/Bluebird/Mrs Vandebilt/Let Me Roll It/Mamunia/No Words/Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)/Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Observant readers will have noticed that it has been quite a while since this tale has had anything to do with Beatles band; two-and-a-half years, to be precise, since The Concert For Bangla Desh. And even Band On The Run patiently inched its way up our charts for over seven months before arriving at the top; it wasn't an overnight success, either critically or commercially. There was little immediate talk of that then newly-minted critical cliché, the Stunning Return To Form; despite the success of "My Love" and "Live And Let Die," I suspect most followers had resigned themselves to a life of indie Macca whimsy, not that McCartney had demonstrated any evidence of a plan or tactic in his post-Beatles life. Not that he needed to, either; wasn't he, of all people (and especially, of all Beatles?) perfectly entitled to do as he wished? If Ram showed a contented man slightly disappointed with the outside world, and particularly with other Beatles, then he continued to drift without evident aim or bitterness; purposely odd singles ("Give Ireland Back To The Irish," "Mary Had A Little Lamb") and albums (Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway) which presented themselves as placid proto-blogposts, as opposed to the incensed and increasingly inward-turning proto-blogposts of Some Time In New York City and Mind Games. Meanwhile George wandered dolefully down his own road (Living In The Material World) and Ringo made the most likeable of all these records (Ringo, the only solo Beatle album to involve all four, though not on the same track). The Beatles had done their work and were dutifully ambling down their own duty-free paths. Did it matter if fewer and fewer people listened?
But something about Band On The Run burned slowly into people's ears and they realised that, in the absence of a twelfth Beatles studio album, this would more than do. Moreover, it became clear that this was the boldest attempt by any Beatle to break free of their past, and in particular the sixties. Look at the cover of Sgt Pepper again; everyone from Huxley to Dylan, against a shining blue sky; then cut to the cover of Band On The Run, taken late at night up against a (stable) wall in Osterley Park, that rootless part of west London which isn't quite Brentford nor quite Isleworth, featuring a ray of light in the centre of a black hole, in which we see a new seventies unlonely, hearty club, full of celebrity chums, whoever Paul and Linda could persuade to come down and participate.
McCartney was acutely aware that this was a tough and dark time, and so the album is mostly about escape in its various forms. Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, more out of boredom than anything else, and in less than comfortable circumstances professionally glossed over in Paul Gambaccini's essay which accompanies last year's deluxe reissue (including a makeshift, half-broken down studio, a mugging at knifepoint which essentially necessitated starting the record again from scratch, protests of imperialism from Fela Kuti), and without Wings' second guitarist and drummer, both of whom had quit just before the journey to Nigeria was due, Band On The Run is basically a McCartney solo DIY record, Denny Laine contributing discreet rhythm guitar and Linda contributing backing vocals and occasional Leonard Cohen-level keyboards (orchestral overdubs were taken care of in George Martin's AIR studios upon their return to Britain, as were Howie Casey's sax parts and Remi Kabaka's conga part on "Bluebird").
It is therefore a tribute to McCartney's resourcefulness under trying (if self-imposed) conditions that Band On The Run succeeds as a "band" record. And, as implied above, it is arguably the first number one album of the seventies by a major sixties artist which physically tries to rid itself of "The Sixties" and position itself in the present. The title track makes it abundantly clear; it begins with a mournful, plodding elegy which could have fallen off the back of Abbey Road's Long Medley and takes up where "You Never Give Me Your Money" left off; "Stuck inside these four walls/Sent inside for ever," sings a saddened McCartney; the "if we ever get out of here" section was inspired by a remark George Harrison made at one of the Beatles' seemingly interminable Apple business meetings.
But then guitars suddenly rev up and a large double orchestral flourish, succeeded by a sunny acoustic guitar, tells us that the wall, the prison, has been broken open, and that its author has fallen, gladly, into the seventies. The mood becomes optimistic, taunting, assured ("We NEVER will be found!" shrieks an ecstatic McCartney); we are out of the sixties straitjacket, ready to live for now. The couplet "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh/Seeing no one else had come" could be a reference to the cover of Abbey Road or even a throwback to "Eleanor Rigby," but there is no mourning here; it has been replaced by hope.
"Jet" follows immediately thereafter, and despite the lyrical obscurantism (almost certainly intended as throwaway; in Gambaccini's notes McCartney refers to "Jet" being the name of one of his black Labrador puppies; elsewhere he has referred to a pony of the same name) is by far the most convincing of post-Beatles rockers; McCartney seems ready to push joy to the foreground and drums, piano, guitar, bass and synthesiser all appear more committed, more ravenous, than before (or perhaps since) – he too is ready and able to outrock the Stones, even including a proto-Neu!/Stereolab Moog-led motorik instrumental break (not to mention his onomatopoeic "ssssssss"s at the end of every "Jet." But his arranging genius remains intact, and unexpected; instead of a blazing rock finale we get a takedown of a coda with Casey's sax settling atop smooth strings.
"Bluebird" is a natural cousin to 1968's "Blackbird" and lyrically similarly concerned with freedom, though the freedom here is more personal than political (love will see us through anything, get us anywhere). But the pace here is more relaxed, less intent on proving something, and it is among the most naturally beautiful of McCartney's post-Beatle ballads, as well as one of the most artful; the strategically stinging cowbell which cuts through the transcendent second half of each chorus warns against complacency. "Mrs Vandebilt" is similarly like a world-weary descendent of "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," with its playground chants (the vocal call-and-responses betraying the very subtle influence of Kuti) but not emptied of hope; the song crawls to an exhausted halt after each of McCartney's weary, exasperated "What's the use of anything?"s, the "thing" hanging like Damocles' sword in the bushy silence before McCartney's shoulder-shrugging to-hell-with-it bass gets the song going again; there is an unsettling bout of maniacal laughter at fadeout.
This is perhaps the first sign that McCartney's battle to rid himself of both sixties and Beatles may not be as easy as blasting a hole through the prison wall. "Let Me Roll It" introduces the elephant in the Wings sitting room; with a minimalist guitar riff which plays almost like the exact inverse of Clapton's lines on "Cold Turkey," with Elvis echo vocals on full blast against skating-rink organ and an "Oh Darling" rhythm, the song, beyond being a response or reproach to the Lennon of "How Do You Sleep?," sees McCartney actively trying to "be" Lennon. It isn't Stan Freberg parody level but the song's generous openness, together with its similarly minimalist message, comes across as an extended open hand to Lennon (although, in getting his Plastic Ono mannerisms so exactly, it could admittedly be interpreted by some as a mockery; I don't, however, believe that "mockery" has ever existed in McCartney's working vocabulary).
"Mamunia" works through the Nigerian influences more soberly with its tribal-sounding choruses alternating with straight 4/4 medium-tempo rock verses, and although its sentiments ("The next time you see L.A. rainclouds/Don't complain it rains for you and me") never really rise above Guy Mitchell/Mitch Miller level, their delivery is heartfelt. McCartney is even sufficiently moved to issue a triumphant "Whoo-hoo!" after the phrase "Strip off your plastic macs"; still, the spectre of "Penny Lane" is not far removed.
"No Words" contains the album's real open letter to Lennon; moving with as much assurance as "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," McCartney addresses his erstwhile partner straight in the eye:
"You say that love is everything
And what we need the most of
I wish you knew, that's just how true
My love was."
The key words "NO WORDS FOR MY LOVE" are written in block capitals on the sleeve, so as to make things even more starkly clear, but despite the aggrieved guitar solo which is rapidly faded out at song's end, there is no malice at work here; rather McCartney demonstrates that emotionally he has not shifted from "The Long And Winding Road" – his closing words "I wish you'd see, it's only me…I love you" cannot help but touch the heart, and it's only too bad that Lennon wasn't more prepared to listen to them.
"Picasso's Last Words," written as an impromptu response to a challenge from dining partner Dustin Hoffman to write a song, there and then, about anything, in this case a magazine article describing the last night of Picasso's life; giving a dinner for friends, he poured out the wine and exclaimed "Drink to me, drink to my health – you know I can't drink any more." At the end of the evening he retired to bed, fell asleep and shortly thereafter passed away. Back in the studio, McCartney worked on and expanded this idea into a miniature Long Medley; beginning as an appropriately drunken campfire acoustic singalong, the song then mutates into an ambient sequence, featuring some unattributed French dialogue, before breaking into a slow, stealthy, string-led revisit of "Jet" against tick-tock percussion. The strings enter in greater number for a Philly-style interlude; this in turn leads to a percussive workout (featuring Nigerian resident and studio owner Ginger Baker on tin can and shakers) culminating in a refrain of the "Mrs Vandebilt" chant, now wearing its African influences more readily. Clocking in at a shade under six minutes, it works because of its ease and patience; it is not painting an obituary for a group, but rather saying a graceful and respectfully mischievous farewell to a kinsman (as well as summing up the album itself).
The record ends by straddling no less than three decades (thus Band On The Run can also be properly described as the first "eighties" British number one album). "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five" is a wonderful nonsense Little Richard sex chant (or perhaps McCartney is channelling Robert Plant here) set against a varied musical background; a piano riff which anticipates Abba's "S.O.S.," a heavier organ/guitar-driven rock sequence and a poignant chorus/organ ballad section which provides the last link to Abbey Road and the sixties before McCartney cuts the thread; again, it sounds like he is fighting a battle, with his own history, with Lennon (note all the primal grunting and squealing leading up to the track's climax), before whirring synths and portentous "Thus Spake Zarathustra" brass statements combine with strings to work up towards – calamity? Apocalypse? Haven't we been here before?
A gunshot which seems to echo across the universe, then a long closing chord – E major, the same as "A Day In The Life."
We've escaped. But don't fall asleep - there's a repeat to fade of "Band On The Run" itself. The moral: we have to keep freeing ourselves over and over. Does this sound in any way familiar?
Sunday 6 November 2011
Elton JOHN: Caribou
(#143: 13 July 1974, 2 weeks)
Track listing: The Bitch Is Back/Pinky/Grimsby/Dixie Lily/Solar Prestige A Gammon/You're So Static/I've Seen The Saucers/Stinker/Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me/Ticking
His first studio album to be recorded outside Europe, Caribou was named after the Caribou Ranch studios in the midst of the Colorado Rockies where it was made, and was literally done on the turn of a dime, in the narrow space allotted to John, Taupin and their band between two mammoth tours where they were still expected to deliver another album, as per their original questionable contract. If much of the record sounds rushed and on a par with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The B-Sides then that is because the songs were written and the basic tracks laid down in the space of nine days before Elton and band headed off for Japan, leaving producer Gus Dudgeon to put them into some sort of order, do guest overdubs, etc. And still John and Taupin were able to produce at least two classics under such hothouse conditions, if indeed some pre-preparation had not already been undertaken.
While Caribou is not entirely dispensable, it is nonetheless a minor work. More problematically it raises the question of whether, in eagerly being all things to all people, Elton was not turning himself into a branded vending machine. You want New Orleans funk? English vaudeville? Cod-French balladry? Country rock? Press a button here, and it will dutifully fill up the cup. Whether any of it gets us any nearer to, or deliberately places us further from, who or what Elton John was in 1974 is another matter.
Caribou is probably best when it's being purposefully silly, and at its worst when it is simply drifting, or trying to be meaningful. I'm not sure how much a seven-minute-plus ballad like "Ticking," an onomatopoeically angry study of a good but emotionally suppressed Catholic boy (but wait, Bernie; what's with the "Grow up straight and true blue"?) who ends up randomly gunning down fourteen customers in a pub in Queens before himself being gunned down by the cops (violent piano arpeggios echoing the "rifle shells"), would have connected with British audiences, and in any case both song and performance are as mirthless and self-righteously solemn as "I Don't Like Mondays." Infinitely preferable is the dumb music hall of "Grimsby" (as with other tracks, much aided by percussionist Ray Cooper's gallery of effects, e.g. the hissing tambourine after "Strangers have found themselves fathers") with straight-faced backing vocals ("The SKINNERS' ARMS") and sudden flashes of guitar, or the deliberately daft "Solar Prestige A Gammon" (into which Taupin still manages to insert five different fishes).
For a lot of the time, though, Caribou cruises, primarily with an ear to the American market; there are ample helpings of the Tower of Power horn section, to occasional good effect; their El Barrio lines do much to make "She's So Static" more than static (along with the song's eventual evolution into a rock tango), and even within the dull blues trudge of "Stinker," Elton is still able to utter a whoop of appreciation after a particularly inventive brass line. Davey Johnstone, too, does characteristically good work on guitar; his gargles on "Static," the way his tremolo touches the "touched" in "Saucers." But "Saucers" itself is boringly "quirky," a sort of anti-sequel to "Rocket Man" where Elton finds himself kidnapped by aliens, or at least dreams about it; and when he sings "flying in formation," even Johnstone cannot do more than provide the stock effects. What does it all mean - and, more pressingly, who would care? "Pinky" is a standard issue Elton ballad which may or may not be about self-pleasure, rescued only by Cooper's rhetorical congas and some Wilsonian harmonies; "Dixie Lily" is amusing solely for the familiar spectre of Englishmen trying to be as one with American folklore.
This leaves the two classic singles, which alone prove that Elton wasn't quite yet an efficient pop machine. "The Bitch Is Back" engages in the then fashionable sport of making better Stones records than the Stones, and through its deliberately tinny transistor production it succeeds; machine gun guitar, tambourine and brass are all on the mark, and the song may itself represent a premature coming out; he doesn't give a fuck, he'll sniff glue and eat steak - though he's stone cold sober - and although he gets an intimation of his own transience ("I entertain by picking brains/Sell my soul/By dropping names") the mood is ebullient, defiant; and the coming out undertow may be amplified by the fact that partially hidden among the backing singers is Dusty Springfield, by then already someone with an eventful past and uncertain present.
But "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" emerges from the record's faintly pointless bouillabase with a shocking completeness; inspired by "Surf's Up" and bearing a lyric which must have been directed at, or had been intended to be about, the 1974 Brian Wilson, Elton suddenly has to concentrate, and does so with some brilliance - he drops the camp and fake angst and abruptly sounds like a human being again (his desperate "Don't discard me"), while behind him the song builds up with an overarching naturalness (Daryl Dragon, the "Captain" of Captain and Tennille, and an important contributor to the Beach Boys' Carl And The Passions album, was responsible for the arrangement, and Toni Tennille is also on hand among the backing vocalists). Most inspired of all is when the unmistakable voices of Bruce Johnston and Carl Wilson rise like the reddest and most regretful of suns behind Elton's despair; Carl's wordless lines as the chorus reaches its climax are particularly overwhelming and affecting (and having listened to the newly-released SMiLE Sessions collection, probably even more so for this listener) - it is as if something from the promise of the sixties still survives, may yet flourish, if only we could allow it; and this at a time when the seventies were still struggling to free themselves from the apron strings of the sixties. The build-up is epic without being pompous, and if this were indeed conceived within those nine days then its achievement is all the greater, enough to provide a point for the amiable but rather directionless wanderings of the rest of the record. Caribou still did the expected business, both here and in the States; but how much more available could Elton make himself to his audience and yet remain sane and coherent? What was ahead of him but years of work, work, work? The answers, and his responses, were unexpected and often quite contradictory; nonetheless, two terrific singles squeezed out of what was effectively a contractual obligation album are no reason to go crazy, except in ways that are healthy.


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Can being grateful actually make you healthier? Several studies say yes. In fact, there is a great deal of evidence that shows being thankful benefits your health both physically and mentally. Researchers have found that an attitude of gratitude helps you have a stronger immune system, a healthier heart, more energy, and a happier outlook on life.
Table of Contents
The Science of Being Thankful
When you are grateful, just like any other emotion, it affects your outlook. Gratitude is particularly powerful when used as a way of viewing the word, of interpreting and perceiving your life. There are other positive emotions that come attached to gratitude and these work in the body to provide powerful physical health benefits.
According to research, the simple act of thinking about the things you are grateful for, causes the parasympathetic nervous system, the part that promotes calm and peaceful feelings, to be triggered. This can cause chemical reactions such as increasing oxytocin (the hormone that helps with bonding in relationships and increases good feelings) while decreasing cortisol (the stress hormone that can cause a variety of health issues).
Studies on Gratefulness
Several studies have been done over the past few years exploring the connection between gratitude and health. One study published in the European Scientific Journal in June 2017, drew a direct line between gratitude and coping with PTSD. It found that the more gratitude increases in a person the less psychological distress decreases. A research report published in June 2017, found that gratitude could be a viable means for helping ease fibromyalgia symptoms. In
November 2016, the American Heart Association published information on a study that was conducted on heart patients who had asymptomatic heart failure. The researchers measured evaluated their levels of gratitude and found that the patients who were more grateful slept better, experienced less anxiety, and had decreased depression. These people also had healther hearts and lower levels of inflammation. The lower levels of inflammation as well as a more positive outlook also help patients better manage pain.
7 Tips for Being more Grateful
Even if gratitude does not come naturally to you, it is possible to learn it. It can become a habit that can be cultivated and incorporated into everyday life. Try these tips for developing gratefulness in your life.
1. Think about being grateful. The more you think about it, the more you will find that you are grateful.
2. Avoid comparing up. There will always be someone who has more than you do or is more advantaged. Seeking them out and ruminating on what you don't have or don't have enough of is a recipe for discontent, anger, and frustration.
3. Keep a gratitude journal and write down the things you are thankful for. This will not only serve as a reminder, it will also help to develop the habit of being grateful.
4. If you don't think you have anything to be grateful for, find just one thing and focus on that. Gradually add things you are grateful for and you will find them.
5. Change your perspective. When something doesn't go your way, look for the positives in it. This can be internal or external. How did you grow? What did you gain?
6. Change your thinking. Choose positive language and banish negative language from your vocabulary. Don't allow negativity to color your life experiences. Choose to be happy and maintain a positive outlook.
7. Say it out loud. Use your voice and tell people that you are grateful. Tell them you appreciate them, that you are grateful for things. Let yourself hear your positive words of gratitude so that it can take hold in you and become a part of who you are.
Being thankful makes you a healthier, happier person, so take some time to find several things that you're grateful for (or a lot!). You'll love the benefits.
This article is copyrighted by Blogging Chiros LLC for its Doctor of Chiropractic members and may not be copied or duplicated in any manner including printed or electronic media, regardless of whether for a fee or gratis without the prior written permission of Blogging Chiros, LLC.


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Re-Financing with Shorter Loan Terms
For some homeowners there is the possibility of making a sound re-financing decision even when interest rates are stagnant, the homeowner does not have a great amount of equity in the home and the homeowners credit score has not increased significantly. You might wonder how this is possible. It certainly isnt an option for every homeowner but those who can afford to pay significantly more each month can yield huge financial benefits by refinancing their loan terms from 30 years to 15 years. The benefits which may result from this type of re-financing include significant overall savings, the ability to gain equity quicker and the ability to repay the balance of the loan quicker.
Higher Monthly Payments Increase Overall Savings
Re-financing with shorter loan terms is definitely not an easy option but homeowners who have a large monthly cash flow or who receive a sizable promotion at work might be able to consider the possibility of re-financing by decreasing the loan terms from 30 years to 15 years.
The result of this type of re-financing will be a significantly higher monthly payment which is not conventional but can be worthwhile if it meets the needs of the homeowner. In particular this type of re-financing option is a viable solution if the homeowner can afford the increase in monthly payments and has an overall goal of reducing the amount of interest they will pay over the course of the entire loan.
Reducing the amount of interest is critical to the overall savings plan because the homeowner does not have the option of reducing their original debt but they can drastically reduce the amount of interest paid over the course of the loan. Consider two loans with a 5% interest rate. One loan is to be repaid over a period of 15 years while the other loan is to be repaid over a period of 30 years. It is clear that in this example, the homeowner with the 30 year mortgage will pay more during the course of the loan.
Equity Gained Quicker
Another major advantage to re-financing by reducing the loan terms from 30 years to 15 years is the ability to gain equity in the home at a significantly faster rate. The amount of the equity in the home is equal to the amount of the principal loan which has already been repaid by the homeowner. Under a conventional loan, the homeowner typically pays a combination of principal and interest with their monthly payments. The amount of the principal which is repaid on two mortgages for the same amount and with the same interest rate will be different if one loan is a 30 year term and the other is a 15 year term. The homeowner with the 15 year mortgage will be paying more of the principal each month and will therefore be accumulating more equity each month. Gaining equity in the home quicker is ideal because it gives the homeowner greater flexibility. The equity in the home can be used for a number of purposes including home improvement projects, travel, educational pursuits and small business ventures.
Loan Repaid Quicker
One advantage of shortening the loan terms, which cannot be denied by some homeowners, is the ability to repay the loan quicker by re-financing to shorten the loan terms from 30 years to 15 years. In this case the homeowner will have completely repaid the home loan a full 15 years earlier than they would have under the conventional loan. This is advantageous because it can enable the homeowners to enjoy living mortgage free a full 15 years earlier. Once the mortgage is fully repaid, the homeowner may be able to make significantly more sizable contributions to his retirement plan. Some homeowners may even be able to afford to retire once their mortgage is repaid in full. This ability can have a significant impact on the quality of life for the homeowner. Homeowners may find themselves with the financial means to travel, assist family in educational pursuits or invest in a small business.


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All City Street closures and restrictions are now shown in the Geosmart Mapping System Travel and Transportation tab. Please visit https://geosmart.casperwy.gov/ for more information.
The following road construction projects are managed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. For details on the project and current closure and restriction information, please visit the Wyoming Department of Transportation web site.


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'Enter Sandman' Pitcher Mariano Rivera Won't Listen to Metallica for Religious Reasons
New York Yankees pitching legend Mariano Rivera will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. Rivera was known for taking the mound to Metallica's "Enter Sandman," but in a new interview, the athlete revealed he doesn't listen to Metallica for religious reasons.
Rivera became the first player to be unanimously inducted into the Hall, getting the "yes" vote from all 425 ballots cast. Metallica appeared in a video to share the news, with James Hetfield saying, "We, Metallica took a vote here, and it's unanimous. Congratulations from the entire Metallica family, Mariano, on your induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame."
"It's well deserved," Lars Ulrich added. "We look forward to watching you enter the Hall this summer."
"That is amazing," Rivera said on MLB Network. "It's a blessing on top of blessings. I have so much respect for those guys. I met them and they're great people. Thank God [for] everything they have done, being there for me at the moment that I retired."
Despite being eternally attached to "Enter Sandman," Rivera actually isn't a fan of Metallica, as his Christian beliefs keep him away from heavy metal. "With all due respect to the guys, I've never been to one of [their shows]," Rivera told the NY Post. "As a Christian, with all due respect to Metallica, I don't listen to that kind of music."
In a 2006 New York Times interview, Rivera explained how he detached himself from "Enter Sandman" during games. "I never said I didn't like it, but I didn't care about the song. I didn't pick the song. I don't pay attention to the music. When I go in there, I'm going to business. I have a job to do, that's it."
All Metallica Songs Ranked


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Osee (Hôsheá'—Salvation), son of Beeri, was one of the Minor Prophets, and a subject of the Ephraimite Kingdom which he calls "the land", whose king is for him "our king", and the localities of which are familiar to him, while he speaks of Juda but seldom and does not even make mention of Jerusalem.
According to the title of the book, Osee prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II in Israel, and in the time of Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda, hence from about 750 to 725 B.C. The title, however, is not quite satisfactory and does not seem to be the original one, or, at least, to have been preserved in its primitive form. None of the historical allusions with which the prophecy is filled appears to be connected with any event later than the reign of Manahem (circa 745-735); there is nothing concerning the Syro-Ephraimite war against Juda, nor the terrible intervention of Tiglath-Pileser III (734-733). The era of the Prophet, therefore, if it is to be judged from his writings, ought to be placed about 750-735; he was perhaps contemporaneous with the closing years of Amos and certainly with the first appearance of Isaias. The reign of Jeroboam II was marked by great and glorious external prosperity; but this prosperity contributed to make the political and religious decadence more rapid. Political dissolution was approaching. Zachary, son of Jeroboam, was assassinated after a reign of six months. His murderer, Sellum, retained the sceptre but one month, and was put to death by Manahem, who occupied the throne for ten years, 745-735. Israel was hastening to its ruin, which was to be completed by the taking of Samaria by Sargon (722).
It always occupies the first place among the twelve minor prophets, most probably on account of its length. In point of time Amos preceded it. The book is divided into two distinct parts: chapters 1-3 and chapters 4-14.
(a) In the first part, Osee relates how, by order of Jahve, he wedded Gomer, a "wife of fornications", daughter of Debelaim, in order to have of her "children of fornications":—symbols, on the one hand, of Israel, the unfaithful spouse who gave to Baal the homage due to Jahve alone; and, on the other, figures of the children of Israel, who in the eyes of Jahve, are but adulterous children. The outraged husband incites the children against their guilty mother, whom he prepares to punish: while for the children themselves is reserved a fate in keeping with their origin. The first is named Jezrahel—the reigning dynasty is about to expiate the blood shed by its ancestor Jehu in the valley of Jezrahel. The second is a daughter, Lô-Ruhamah, "disgraced"—Jahve will be gracious no more to his people. The third is called Lô- 'Ammi, "not my people"—Jahve will no longer recognize the children of Israel as his people. However, mercy will have the last word. Osee is commanded to receive Gomer again and to prepare her, by a temporary retirement, to renew conjugal intercourse—Israel was to prepare herself in captivity to resume with Jahve the relationship of husband and wife.
Is the marriage of Osee historical or purely allegorical? The hypothesis most in favour at present says that the marriage is historical, and the grounds for it are (1) the obvious sense of the narrative; (2) the absence of any symbolical sense in the words Gomer and Debelaim; (3) that the second child is a daughter. It appears to us, however, with Davidson (Hastings, "Dict. of the Bible", II, 421 sqq.) and Van Hoonacker, that the first reason is not convincing. A careful reading of chapters 1-3 discloses the fact that the action is extremely rapid, that the events are related merely in order to express a doctrine, and, moreover, they appear to take place within the single time requisite to one or two speeches. And yet, if these events are real, a large part of the Prophet's life must have been spent in these unsavoury circumstances. And again, the names of the children appear to have been bestowed just at the time that their meaning was explained to the people. This is especially the case with regard to the last child: "Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my people …" Another reason for doubting this hypothesis is that it is difficult to suppose that God ordered His Prophet to take an unfaithful wife merely with a view to her being unfaithful and bearing him adulterous children. And how are we to explain the fact that the prophet retained her notwithstanding her adultery till after the birth of the third child, and again received her after she had been in the possession of another? That the second child was a daughter may be explained by dramatic instinct, or by some other sufficiently plausible motive. There remain the names Gomer and Debelaim. Van Hoonacker proposes as possible translations: consummation (imminent ruin), doomed to terrible scourges; or top (of perversity), addicted to the cakes of figs (oblations offered to Baal). Nestle also translates Bath Debelaim by daughter of the cakes of figs, but in the sense of a woman to be obtained at a small price (Zeitsch. für alttest. Wissenschaft, XXIX, 233 seq.). These are but conjectures; the obscurity may be due to our ignorance. Certain it is at least that the allegorical meaning, adopted by St. Jerome, satisfies critical exigencies and is more in conformity with the moral sense. The doctrinal meaning is identical in either case and that is the only consideration of real importance.
(b) The second part of the book is the practical and detailed application of the first. Van Hoonacker divides it into three sections, each of which terminated with a promise of salvation (iv-vii, 1a … vii, 1b-xi … xii-xiv). We may accept this division if we also admit his ingenious interpretation of vi, 11-viii, 1a:—And yet Juda, I shall graft on thee a branch (of Ephraim) when I shall re-establish my people; when I shall heal Israel. In the first section he speaks almost exclusively of religious and moral corruption. The princes and especially the priests are chiefly responsible for this and it is on them that the punishment will principally fall; and as he speaks simply of the "house of the king" it would appear that the dynasty of Jehu still occupied the throne. It is different in the following chapters. In vii, 1a- viii, the political and social disorders are especially emphasized. At home there are conspiracies, regicides, anarchy, while abroad alliances with foreign powers are sought. No doubt Menahem was already reigning. And yet the religious disorders remained the principal object of the prophet's reprobation. And in spite of all, mercy ever retains its prerogatives. Jahve will gather together again some day His scattered children. In the last section it is felt that the final catastrophe is close at hand; and, nevertheless, once again, love remains victorious. The book ends with a touching exhortation to the people to turn to God who on His part promises the most tempting blessings. An epiphonema reminds at last every one that the good and the wicked shall receive the retribution each has merited.
St. Jerome has described in a few words the style of our Phrophet: "Osee commaticus est, et quasi per sententias loquens." (P.L., XXVIII, 1015.) An intense emotion overpowers the Prophet at the sight of his dying country. He manifests this grief in short broken phrases with little logical sequence, but in which is revealed a tender and afflicted heart. Unfortunately the notorious obscurity of the Prophet hides many details from our view; this obscurity is due also to many allusions which we cannot grasp, and to the imperfect condition of the text. The question has been raised as to whether we possess it at least in its substantial integrity. Some critics claim to have discovered two main series of interpolations; the first, of small extent, consists of texts relative to Juda; the second, which is of far greater importance, consists of the Messianic passages which, it is said, lie outside the range of the prophet's vision. It is possible to detect several probable glosses in the first series: the second assertion is purely arbitrary. The Messianic texts have all the characteristics of Osee's style; they are closely connected with the context and are entirely in accordance with his general doctrines.
It is fundamentally the same as that of Amos:—the same strict Monotheism, the same ethical conception which paves the way for the Beati pauperes and the worship which must be in spirit and in truth. Only Osee lays much more stress on the idolatry which perhaps had been increased in the interval and was in any case better known to the Ephraimite Prophet than to his Judean predecessor. And Amos had in return a much more extended historical and geographical horizon. Osee sees but the dying Israel. His characteristic point of view is the bond between Jahve and Israel. Jahve is the spouse of Israel, the bride of Jahve,—a profoundly philosophical and mystical image which appears here for the first time and which we find again in Jeremias, Ezechiel, Canticle of Canticles, Apocalypse, etc.
Jahve has taken to Himself His spouse by redeeming her out of the bondage of Egypt. He has united Himself to her on Sinai. The bride owed fidelity and exclusive love, trust, and obedience to the spouse; but alas! how has she observed the conjugal compact? Fidelity.—She has prostituted herself to the Baals and Astartes, degrading herself to the level of the infamous practices of the Canaanite high places. She has worshipped the calf of Samaria and has given herself up to every superstition. No doubt she has also paid homage to Jahve, but a homage wholly external and carnal instead of the adoration which must be above all things internal and which He Himself exacts: "With their flocks, and with their herds they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him…" (v, 6). "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts" (vi, 6). Trust has failed in like manner. Costly alliances were sought with other nations as though the protection of the spouse were not sufficient:—"Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers (viii, 9). He hath made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt" (Vulgate, xii, 1). The very favours which she has received from Jahve in her ingratitude she ascribes to false gods. She said: "I will go after my lovers, that gave me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax" (Vulgate, ii, 5). Obedience:—All the laws which govern the pact of union have been violated: "Shall I write to him [Ephraim] my manifold laws which have been accounted as foreign" (viii, 12). It is a question here at least primarily of the Mosaic legislation. Osee and Amos in spite of contrary opinion knew at least in substance the contents of the Pentateuch. Anarchy is therefore rife in politics and religion: "They have reigned but not by me: they have been princes, and I knew not: of their silver, and their gold they have made idols to themselves" (viii, 4).
The root of all these evils is the absence of "knowledge of God" (iv-v) for which the priest especially and the princes are to blame, an absence of theoretical knowledge no doubt, but primarily of the practical knowledge which has love for its object. It is the absence of this practical knowledge chiefly that Osee laments. The Prophet employs yet another symbol for the bond of union. He sets forth in some exquisite lines the symbol of the chosen son. Jahve has given birth to Israel by redeeming it out of the bondage of Egypt. He has borne it in his arms, has guided its first feeble steps and sustained it with bonds of love; he has reared and nourished it (xi, 1 sq.) and the only return made by Ephraim is apostasy. Such is the history of the covenant. The day of retribution is at hand; it has even dawned in anarchy, civil war, and every kind of scourge. The consummation is imminent. It would seem that repentance itself would be unable to ward it off. As later Jeremias, so now Osee announces to his people with indescribable emotion the final ruin: Jezrahel "Disgraced". "Not my people." The children of Israel are about to go into exile, there they "shall sit many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without ephod and without teraphim" (iii, 4). National authority shall come to an end and public national religion will be no more.
Yet the love of Jahve will change even this evil into a remedy. The unworldly princes now separated from the people, will no longer draw them into sin. The disappearance of the external national religion will cause the idolatrous sacrifices, symbols, and oracles to disappear at the same time. And the road will be open to salvation; it will come "at the end of days". Jahve cannot abandon forever His chosen son. At the very thought of it He is filled with compassion and his heart is stirred within him. Accordingly after having been the lion which roars against his guilty people He will roar against their enemies, and His children will come at the sound of His voice from all the lands of their exile (xi, 10 sq.). It will be, as it were, a new exodus from Egypt, Juda will be reinstated and a remnant of the tribe of Ephraim shall be joined with him (vi, 11- vii, 1a). "The children of Israel shall return and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king" (iii, 5). The new alliance shall never be broken: it shall be contracted in justice and in righteousness, in kindness and in love, in fidelity and knowledge of God. There shall be reconciliation with nature and peace among men and with God. Prosperity and unlimited extension of the people of God shall come to pass, and the children of this new kingdom shall be called the sons of the living God. Great shall be the day of Jezrahel (the day when "God will sow"); (ch. ii), ch. i, 1-3 (Vulgate, i, 10-ii, 1) ought likely to be set at the end of ch. ii. Cf. Condamin in "Revue biblique", 1902, 386 sqq. This is an admirable sketch of the Church which Christ is to found seven and a half centuries later. The doctrine of Osee, like that of Amos, manifests a transcendence which his historical and religious surroundings cannot explain. Digitus Dei est hic.
Among Catholic commentaries cf. especially VAN HOONACKER, Les douze petits prophètes (Paris, 1908). Among Protestant works HARPER, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Amos and Hosea (Edinburgh, 1905), a commentary of Liberal tendencies.
APA citation. (1911). Osee. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11337a.htm
MLA citation. "Osee." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11337a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron. With thanks to Fr. John Hilkert and St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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