Karl Wallinger World Party An Appreciation

Karl Wallinger was an enormous talent. Think Pet Sounds only across the board a million light years better melodically, lyrically, consistently and production wise. Karl was the legit GOAT.

Fame did not elude him. Chances are you know "She's the One" The Waterboys and World Party. I didn't stumble into Karl for real until World Party's 2000 release of "Dumbing Up" I was gobsmacked still am.

The song list just pours out effortlessly with dynamics, pacing, tempo and chops. There isn't a weak cut on the whole effort. Think of the best concept albums that flow track to track and then raise your expectations by a million. Prepare not to be disappointed even for a moment.

"What Does It Mean Now" still hit's me squarely in the solar plexus every time. "Who Are You" effortlessly does Dylan better than Dylan at his upper most. It's mind blowing and I love his voice. "Are you the problem or the answer who are you" just jaw dropping. The shredding on "Here Comes The Future" is delicious. Talent oozes out of him as he just breathes.

After track six you can't possibly think he will meet or exceed expectations and that's where the tracks just effortless float you along on a cloud of "High Love" in a higher mind. Slow dance with someone you love with this one.

Shortly thereafter in 2006 we got to see him briefly in a small club at the Beach. We sat basically in his lap. It was a warm up gig before a bigger show in D.C. but it was a real treat. Who doesn't enjoy spending quality time with the band at the bar.

I was just thinking about him last week wondering what he was up to and now this. In a time when we need all our voices for words of positivity, insight and laughter Karl's will be missed.

Here comes the future hope that you can work it out.

When boys and girls are laughing in every nation
When the Truth is pursued for relaxation
When living with the world is our aspiration
When there's no mileage in hate, and no gas-stations
And the creatures are protected from mammals to crustaceans
And the soul has found it's liberation
You know this is always on my mind

I'll miss you Karl

It's like a light surrounds your face.

New Song Alert: Waiting On Abigail

New Song Alert: Waiting on Abigail

Written: 9/8/2023

Lyrics:

Swinging on a tree swing

Down by the river

Flying in the air no despair

Breeze in your hair

 

Down by the old fishing hole

Paddling on the lake

Given all my old friends a hug

Not one half baked

 

Plowing up the old cornfield

Running behind the barn

Looking for Abigail

Without fail

 

Giving all the laughter a shrug

All alone here with you

Counting time looking in your eyes

Nothing new nothing better to do

 

Swinging on a tree swing

Giving my life a fling

Save that I’m not sure oh well

Goodbye and farewell

Cotton skies and Hawks sing

Watch them fly and sail

 

Hanging on the old brick wall

Waiting for Abigail

Singing an old river song

Swings without fail

Swinging on a river song

Waiting for Abigail

All Rights Reserved ©2023 Paul Burke DiMarco

90 Miles Outside of Vegas - New Song Alert

Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters

Brothers and Sisters has taken up residence in my player. Bill put together a beautiful "Super Deluxe Edition" and Scott wrote a beautiful essay with Kirk and many others including EJ contributing. There is a ton of music.

And so now the band's sound has changed. Of course it has how could it not? You cannot take the human element away from the creation and not have that creation change in a profound way. No gear or person can substitute step in for another and have it be the same. It’s a physical impossibility. It doesn't matter if you have the licks down, it doesn't matter if you have the gear, it doesn't matter if you have the throat. The human factor, the heart, the hands, the journey, the affinity for the music, the vibe, the understanding, the knowledge, the study, the dedication, the humility, the ego, the upbringing all speak to the particular individual the intent, the focus, the clarity it’s all a part of the mix. Remove something as dynamic as one human individual and it changes. It's in the blood.

The beauty of the ABB is that they knew this quite clearly as Duane and Berry were their own men. And so they forged ahead without their brothers and created a new version of themselves as a band, a group, but more than that they stayed on the mission to stay as pure to the music as they could. They were still listening to each other both on and off stage.

Time doesn't stand still it morphs and changes as we do as well. Along the way it informs us as we mold the clay that is ourselves with our decisions, intentions, actions, thoughts, words and deeds. That is who we are and that is what comes out after we plug in. It sounds like you because it is you and you are who you are and what it is, what it becomes depends on those very factors, those points, that DNA that road you traveled and no one else has – hopefully it’s a good one and you are the hero of your own story. The guy on the left sure as hell was.

Duane Allman - Little Martha/Ain't Wastin' Time No More

Little Martha - whether Duane was referring to an old girlfriend or not is irrelevant. The fans have designated this young soul as Martha. How could we not? After all she stands watch forever forlorn in Rose Hill Cemetery just the way we feel after the smoke has cleared and the show has ended. And the fans do get a say about all of this the ABB fire and passion, life and journey, the gothic southern novel of it all and the revelation of the music.

Little Martha: Two minutes and seven seconds is never going to sound so complete and pastoral. When I finally arrived at performing a facsimile of this song I was there. It was one of my goals to try and learn it and it takes time. There are so many moving parts and I'm not a full time musician but a labor of love and love is after all what it is all about. Of course my version pales to the original I’m only two hands but when I get it moving and it starts to transcend and I follow the melody and inspiration where it takes me well the muse is floating there smiling and I feel as one feels when they get after it and hit the note, take the journey and feel the vibe. That’s why we play isn’t it and why we share of ourselves to bring it all out and bring it all together?

And so we have the closing of Eat a Peach but what about the opening?

What better tune than Ain’t Wastin Time No More expresses lyrically each of our precarious positions in this reality? It’s as much of a lyrical touchstone as Little Martha is an instrumental touchstone. Both are gigantic in their beings complete and resounding at once effortless and complex. A lyrical milestone Ain’t Wastin Time No More covers the whole realm of existence in stanza after stanza. That’s right its poetry and more than a song. Gregg has composed words to live by. I had a friend once say to me, "you can always make money but you can't make time." I fully encourage everyone to play hooky as often as you can. Life is so much more than punching the clock, collecting a pay check and paying a bank. Listen to Ain't Wastin Time No More back to back with Little Martha and hit repeat it's kind of a revelation of juxtapositions with Gregg's lyrics sitting beautifully next to Duane's acoustic poetry.

If you do run the tunes together back to back after Little Martha ends the intro to Ain't Wastin' Time No More is an acoustic piano. There seems to be some righteous acoustic symmetry to that and righteous was the way the brothers – all the brothers in the band - treated their music their creation and that’s why the payoff was so huge.

There’s a lesson in that for all of us in how we choose to live our lives, what we say, how we act and what we do. The lesson is quite literally in the lyric of Ain't Wastin' Time No More and that feeling embodied by that lesson is in the song Little Martha as it translates those words into a painting of notes awakening across the sky of your soul. One preceded the other so perhaps we have Gregg translating for us what Duane was trying to tell us in his music and all you really need to live a life well fulfilled with joy and happiness and prosperity brothers and sisters is to bring some righteousness to what you do and how you live and breathe.