THE PAUSE BUTTON IS LAVA
[SINGING, WHILE SEMI-CONSCIOUS IN THE BACK OF A POLICE CAR]
I’ve always had this weird issue with the “pause” button. Maybe it’s the convenience of it [and by now you’re all fairly familiar with my frustrations of the convenience of the modern music world], or maybe it’s something more. I fully understand how convenient it is and why it exists, and I hit “pause” all the time. So what’s the deal then? Well, it’s not so much the act of pausing a song - more on that later - it’s more the act of putting a song back on once it’s been paused.
Every song has a vibe, as does every album. I’ve been over that ad nauseum. However, when I put a song or an album on, I’m strapping in for the duration - no breaks. I’ve signed my name on the proverbial dotted line, bartered my soul for a given amount of time, and I shut the fuck up and enjoy the ride. When you pause a song though, for whatever reason, you’ve broken that vibe contract with the artist and severed ties with the purveyor of sounds.
What? You think you can just jump back on the boat once it’s left port? Nah, man. The metaphorical conga line of the song was broken by the pause and I find it exceptionally difficult to jump back in where I left off, no matter the duration of the pause.
Sometimes it comes at the worst part of the song to pause. Can I drop back in? Nope. Vibe contract broken. Skip to the next song and roll the dice. Do I like having to do that? No, not at all. But there’s a lot of things I don’t like having to do, that’s life.
So we put our headphones back on and roll the dice on the next track. I hear you asking, “But Slayvy, can’t you just restart the song?” Sure, I could. I could do a lot of things. But that is a kind of blasphemy I do not enjoy. I don’t aim to cheat the devil of delicious tunes and vivacious vibes, and neither should you. As they say, if you aim to cheat the devil, you owe him an offering.
How do you feel about pausing and restarting songs? Let me down below in the depths.
So anyway, here’s July.
“JUST GET YOUR PAUSE OFF ME JULY”
JULY 1 - DOLLY PARTON - HALOS & HORNS, “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”
JULY 2 - THE MISFITS - SELF-TITLED, “LONDON DUNGEON”
JULY 3 - OFF! - LIVE FROM THE BBC, “LEGION OF EVIL”
JULY 4 - RICK JAMES - FIRE IT UP, “LOVE GUN”
JULY 5 - ZZ TOP - ELIMINATOR, “SHARP DRESSED MAN”
JULY 6 - THE BEACH BOYS - ENDLESS SUMMER, “GOOD VIBRATIONS”
JULY 7 - THE POLICE - SYNCHRONICITY, “EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE”
JULY 8 - METHOD MAN & REDMAN - BLACKOUT!, “FIRE INA HOLE”
JULY 9 - THE CLASH - LONDON CALLING, “LONDON CALLING”
JULY 10 - DUKE ELLINGTON - A DATE WITH THE DUKE VOL. 8 1945-46, “HOLLYWOOD HANGOVER”
JULY 11 - PJ HARVEY - TO BRING YOU MY LOVE, “DOWN BY THE WATER”
JULY 12 - LINDA RONSTADT - GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (1980), “BACK IN THE USA”
JULY 13 - THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD, “GAMES PEOPLE PLAY”
JULY 14 - ALICE COOPER - KILLER, “BE MY LOVER”
JULY 15 - THE DAMNED THINGS - IRONICLAST, “LITTLE DARLING”
JULY 16 - DR. DRE - THE CHRONIC (2001), “WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?”
JULY 17 - WITCH - WITCH, “SEER”
JULY 18 - VAN HALEN - FAIR WARNING, “SINNER’S SWING”
JULY 19 - THE USED - SELF-TITLED, “SAY DAYS AGO”
JULY 20 - THE STOOGES - FUNHOUSE, “1970”
JULY 21 - DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES - ANTHOLOGY (1974), “STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE”
JULY 22 - JOHN DENVER - ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, “ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH”
JULY 23 - SPICE GIRLS - SPICE, “SAY YOU’LL BE THERE”
JULY 24 - BETTE MIDLER - THE DIVINE MISS M, “LEADER OF THE PACK”
JULY 25 - ORCHESTER ROBERTO DELGADO - LATIN SPECIAL ‘72, “GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES”
JULY 26 - JOHN ADDISON - SWASHBUCKLER [MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE], “TORTURE: EROTICA IN WALTZ TIME”
JULY 27 - THE CARS - THE CARS, “MOVING IN STEREO”
JULY 28 - MARVIN GAYE - THE BIG CHILL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK, “I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE”
JULY 29 - SALT ‘N PEPA - HOT, COOL, & VICIOUS, “PUSH IT”
JULY 30 - SUGAR HILL GANG - LIVIN’ IN THE FAST LANE, “LIVIN’ IN THE FAST LANE”
JULY 31 - THE HELL’S GATE STEEL BAND - BRUTE FORCE STEEL BANDS OF ANTIGUA, “CANTATA”
You know the drill by now. I’ll surface again sometime next month with yet another rambling and playlist. As promised, here’s that playlist of savory savvy selects from this months albums. Enjoy blasphemously.
Skål, scalawags.
In Hesh we trust,
S. Jones
