Listen to 30-second clips of all of the tracks on 15 Minutes!
Even a few clips lay out the story. This is good.
Barry's been telling the story of what is going to be in this record for months (years?) Even the clips have an intimacy to them that I don't think any fan has seen/heard before. I can think of a half-dozen records and singles that talk about fame as an entertainer. I've had Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good To Me" stuck in my head for a while. ("It's hard to handle this fortune and fame. / Everybody's so different I haven't changed.")
But every other song that has been recorded about fame always takes an objective view, like someone trying to explain what they've learned or describing it for someone on the outside looking in. 15 Minutes is like looking through the eyes and feeling through the heart of a person dealing with these experiences as they happen. That takes a few things the average joe doesn't have, even if they're successful in music:
1) They've had to have had that sudden "big bang" of major success.
2) They've had to have survived the fall. There's always a fall, whether it's hard, or whether you roll with it depends on the individual.
3) They have to have enough mental stability to look back on the ride without losing their minds either to insanity or drugs/alcohol.
4) They have to be able to find the words to describe how they felt at each step of the way - high and low - concise enough to fit the hook and make it rhyme. This is harder than it sounds. Most songwriters will lose something in the translation. It's a special type of gift to be able to get the WHOLE point across without losing anything. By comparison in literature, think C. S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. It's similar to that.
5) Finally, they have to have the balls to do all of the above with all of the brute-force honesty they probably aren't used to getting themselves.
First impressions before I get to sink my fangs into the entire CD when it's released:
I cannot WAIT to hear the rest of "Work the Room".
I have never worn yellow to a show - ANYONE'S show - and I don't intend to start now.
I think this record is going to be genius.
More: "Bring on Tomorrow" live from Vegas.
That's got to be why this song grabbed me so much. Over the past few months our family has started to feel that the worst of some tough times were over. You can't help but smile about it.
More Conversations:
The four shows at the 02 in London were better than any of us could have ever dreamed they would be. The huge and wild audiences in front of us and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra behind us was surreal. I never wanted the shows to end. Thanks to everyone who was there.
And now, here we go!
The single "Bring On Tomorrow" comes out in America this week. The album in a few weeks.
Just send Garry out to the newsgroup or something with marching orders, we'll do what we can to help it along.
Creating "15 Minutes" has been such a fulfilling experience. Working with such great musicians, and with Michael, Marc, Garry, Nick, and getting so much encouragement from everyone who has heard it, is so great, that sometimes I wish we didn't have to release it to the reviewers, and the charts, and the radio, etc!
I felt the same way right before "2:00 AM - Paradise Cafe" was released - and right before "Here At The Mayflower" was released.
It shows. I've said this, you've heard it elsewhere, even a novice like me can hear the difference between a project that your heart and soul are poured into, and one you're doing either for the paycheck or to fulfill a contract. 15M is obviously the former. In my not so humble but still embarrassingly amateur opinion, this will blow Paradise and Mayflower out of the water, even as great as they were.
I bet every artist feels like this right before they show their work to the world. It must be like what parents feel like when they show off their newborns.
Bingo. Especially the first one. I just happen to not do it on Facebook. Too many weirdos interested in pictures of kids. >:-P And not just when their kids are born, there's ultrasounds and the new baby stuff. I'm on my third and the house is wall-to-wall kid crap and we're just screaming from the rooftops about school and preschool and when the hell is the baby going to crawl. So if it's on that level, I can relate.
All you can do is create the most beautiful work you can create and hope for the best.
If your heart and soul are there, you don't have to hope. I think you already know that tho. ;-)
Thanks to everyone on line who has been so enthusiastic about the album. We have all been floating on your positive posts.
They're all true. Can't speak for anyone else but if it sucked I would have said nothing. I'm not going to shut up about this one. Hope you don't mind.
Now wish us luck everyone................Here we go !
Dude, just promise us one thing, OK? Don't work *so* hard at it that you get yourself sick or injured. Pace yourself, OK? It's not good PR if you wear yourself out to the point you can't do a show. It can't be worth it for you in the long run so try to be reasonable. Try. 'K? Please?
But if your PR schedule allows a lot of people would be thrilled if you dragged your happy ass back to the ATL. Florida is not the same thing and it's been 3 years.
And if my regulars are still here and you live anywhere near the northeast, consider yourselves lucky you have tickets to shoot for in the morning. Niters!
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