HOW WE ALL FEEL THESE DAYS

Gosh. Everyone in the USA is very angry right now. Some have legitimate reasons (the poor are getting poorer, crippling health care and student loan debt) and some (in my opinion) don’t. But we’re all very angry and our anger is leading us to make some very poor decisions. We seem to be aiming for a magic bullet, someone with enthusiasum and ideas that will solve everything ASAP. But it’s not gonna work like that. It never works like that. It takes time and patience. It takes balance. Someone who has ideas that are too far towards one end of the spectrum is gonna polarize a whole lot of people on the other end of the spectrum. And you know what’s gonna happen? Those folks are gonna get even more angry. Anger, anger, anger. We have to achieve a balance.

GET UP

Most people probably haven’t thought about Bryan Adams since his 80’s hits or his early 90’s foray into Robin Hood power ballads. His most recent album, GET UP, has really caught my ear. It comes from the fact that it was produced by Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Travelling Wilburys), who is one of my all time favorites. Jeff just has a way with producing albums that gets me to listen to any artist that works with him. I think it has something to do with his quest to make the songs sound as authentic as possible. Well, it really worked with this album, as I have been listening to it quite a bit. I enjoy simple songwriting and production these days, and this album just nails it for me.

THE SUN WILL SHINE ON YOU

And to end, we go back to Jeff Lynne. This song makes me happy. It gives me a feeling that everything is going to be alright in the long run.