Adam's Music Reviews #10 - Protest Songs & Thoughts on A.I.

 

The job of writing satirical songs and skits is becoming increasingly hard, not least because the world is so bonkers now that you can't really exaggerate it for entertainment. I decided to re-record a couple of my old songs recently with updated lyrics for the modern age and I've put them out on a digital E.P. called 'Trumped.' Check it out on Spotify, YouTube, iTunes or whatever online music conduit you use. Having recorded many albums with my mother in recording studios (as Adam Colton and Teresa Colton), this one is just a 'lo-fi' production, simply because the main emphasis is on lyrics rather than polish (and because it costs so bleeding much!). It was good enough for Woody Guthrie after all...

One of the songs, 'This Song Wasn't Written by A.I.,' although heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, is about a modern issue that worries a lot of people. Creativity is a release of tension and a form of communication for many, in the way that sports can be for others. The fact that creative fields are being handed over to computers seems a particularly mercenary decision to me. Producers and managers no longer have to pay a human to create when they can get a computer to just copy what humans have already done and reconstitute it for a new market. It is surely the most cynical thing the 'fat cats' of this world have ever done – literally turning machines into expressive humans and humans into consuming machines. And all in the name of money, of course.

That said, so far I would quote the trade descriptions act when it comes to 'A.I.' Unlike in Kubrick and Spielberg's excellent film of the same name, what we call 'A.I.' isn't a sentient entity capable of it's own thoughts but really a very advanced search engine that simply scours the Internet for information / misinformation and presents it in the way that a human would present it (coherent but flawed). Somebody demonstrated it to me by instructing it to 'write a book in the style of Adam Colton.' The 'A.I.' then scours the Internet for things I have actually written and approximates the style and content. Personally I wasn't convinced, although my mum said that it was indeed the kind of thing that I write. Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

I went to watch the film 'No Direction Home' at the local cinema a while back. The film presented the early life of Bob Dylan in a slightly fictionalised way. It is certainly not a glamorised perspective of him, whereas I found the musical 'Sunny Afternoon' to present a much more affable version of Ray Davies than I encountered in Johnny Rogan's biography 'A Complicated Life.' What the lyrics of both songwriters have in common though, along with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters in particular, is a desire for fairness, which is increasingly seen as a lefty tree-hugging minority view.

I realise that my own views and lyrics are somewhat to the left of the majority of local people down here in the Garden of England (Kent), but thankfully free speech still exists. I find the shift towards money as an end rather than a means to be a worrying one, with Trump as its ultimate representative. As children back in the eighties we were taught that we would have much more leisure time in the future because computers would be doing all the mundane tasks, but now humans get to do the mundane tasks while computers create. What the technological Utopian dream didn't account for was the fact that the owners of the technology are generally unwilling to share the benefits. If half the work can be done by computers, they are not going to keep all staff on the same pay doing half the work, even though their own profits would be exactly the same. Instead, half the workforce will be laid off. And meanwhile, it's very convenient for the elite to get everybody blaming each other for the problem. Down in this southeast corner of Britain politicians have cleverly channelled everybody's anger in the direction of er... the Channel. Meanwhile, the elite and bankers can laugh all the way to the...

OK, enough puns, but I sincerely hope Britain doesn't continue down the same rabbit hole that gave the world Donald Trump. Time will tell...

So, aside from my latest release, what other angsty protest material stands out from the love songs and party anthems. Here's a few I know well...

Bob Dylan – 'The Times They Are a Changin' (1964) – After writing the anti-war anthems 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Masters of War,' Bob gives the world his only all-out protest album. In particular, 'With God On Our Side' expresses weariness of the litany of wars that never ends. The title track refers to the generation gap, but yesterday's idealists are sadly today's tax dodgers. Bob's songs would be mostly personal after this release, with occasional 'protest' dabblings such as the songs 'George Jackson' (1971) and 'Hurricane' (1976). His Christian album 'Slow Train Coming' has some thinly veiled anger at the state of things too.

Roger Waters – 'Is This the Life we Really Want?' (2017) – War was always a major issue for Waters, with Pink Floyd's 'The Final Cut' being the first obvious sign of this. This album touches on the 'normality' of accepting man's inhumanity to man and refers to Donald Trump as a 'nincompoop.' The title track is extremely sad and 'Smell The Roses' has a Floydian feel. Mind your language though, Rog!

The Kinks – 'Muswell Hillbillies' (1971) – Perhaps the clearest sign of songwriter, Ray Davies, dabbling in politics, as he longs for a simpler life and a Britain that was fast disappearing. 'Uncle Son' sums up conservatism, socialism and liberalism in three concise lines while his panacea for everything is to 'Have a Cup of Tea.' In truth, there was often a satirical streak even in some of band's the big hits. 'Sunny Afternoon' satirises the moans and groans of the rich, while 'Dead End Street' highlights the struggles of the poor. So little has changed but we are constantly persuaded that this is the natural order of things.

Rage Against The Machine – 'Rage Against The Machine' (1992) - An angry diatribe against society's norms delivered over some seriously heavy funk riffs with regular cathartic screaming. The anti-Ku Klux Klan anthem,'Killing in the Name,' was Christmas number one in 2009, this in itself being a protest against the annual 'X Factor' festive chart domination. Colourful lingo, but generally justified IMO.

John Lennon / Yoko Ono -'Sometime in New York City' (1972) – Whilst 'Plastic Ono Band' (1970) angstily questioned society's norms, this album is more overtly political, dealing with everything from misogyny to perceived miscarriages of justice to the Northern Ireland conflict. Be warned, you get a lot of Yoko on this album too and an extremely indulgent live disc featuring the next artist on my list...

Frank Zappa / Mothers on Invention - 'We're Only in it for the Money' (1968) – This is Zappa's most obvious drift into the protest genre, as he tackles everything from police brutality to the naivety of the hippie culture with a send-up of the 'Sgt. Pepper' album cover to boot. The earlier album, 'Freak Out!' (1966) contains a brilliant song about race riots, while 'Absolutely Free' (1967) bemoans 'plastic people' and hints at predatory behaviour by the elite. Zappa would mainly focus on comedy / experimentation after this, although regular lyrical lashing out would still occur, most natably on 'Broadway the Hard Way' (1988). Hypocritical TV preachers, look out!

Next month I reach the grand age of fifty. I've had a go at marriage and two attempts at being a 'townie' but like a boomerang, here I am back in the village where I grew up, living the single life again (lots of cycling and walking with the odd pub visit thrown in). Although I was always writing stories as a child, my first published piece was written when I was seventeen - an account of a five-day cycling trip for the local parish magazine. 

It was when I was 28 that I finally got a book into print, realising a childhood dream as a collaboration with my father who sadly now has Alzheimer's. The content hasn't changed greatly as you can tell from my regular travel posts, although I've ventured into other genres, such as psychological fiction and music reviews. I wonder if I'll still be writing my travelling tales in another 33 years time. Or will A.I. will be writing imaginary trips for me with imaginary meetings with imaginary characters? I think that's called a novel. Please check mine out on Amazon before my digital clone takes over. Toodle-pip!

Leatherhead and Dorking - a Cycling Perambulation

 

Remember the furore when plans were announced to do away with railway station ticket offices? After such an outcry locally, it amazed me that while buying the train ticket for my most recent cycling trip, I observed the majority of people walking straight past the ticket office to use the machine. When it comes to saving any amenity, it's the usual thing - use it or lose it. I used it!

Soon, I was being whisked across the Weald on Kent to Tonbridge and the Surrey town of Redhill. Upon alighting in the Dorking, the drizzle intensified to a steady downpour, so I eschewed my plan to cycle to Leatherhead and caught another train. Why Leatherhead? In truth, the hotel was cheap. Now, this may seem an unusual choice for a 'short break' destination, being a place that you usually bypass on the M25 without so much as a thought, but I can confirm that it is a pleasant little town and it was the home of Michael Caine for many years. And not a lot of people know that! The many-arched road bridge over the River Mole is perhaps the town's most striking feature. The Mole discharges into the Thames in West London. 

On the day of my visit I frequented the local branch of Wetherspoons and asked the friendly barman what the 'must see' features of Leatherhead are. He struggled to come up with any and consulted an equally bemused local. In short, it's not a tourist hotspot. I also found a pleasant 'local' down by the river.

The weather was slightly better the following day and I rode northeastward. I bridged the M25 on a footpath which led to the suburban Green Lane. Eventually I picked up a wooded byway. The fallen leaves were a particularly striking russet in this area. Climbing steadily, I eventually turned right onto another byway which was once part of Stane Street, the Roman road that ran from London to Chichester. The modern A29 is a significant part of this route and the 'South Downs bridleway' section is a lot more open than its 'North Downs' counterpart which undulates through woodlands, eventually descending to the village of Mickleham.

Here, I did a U-turn northward to ride a loop on farm roads almost back to Leatherhead and down along the sweeping curve of the A24 (the London to Worthing road), which must be one of the most picturesque sections of dual carriageway in the southeast. The above photo reminded me of the 1990s TV series 'Twin Peaks' somewhat. Alas, there was no diner serving cherry pie, but there is a cafe which is claimed to be the oldest biker cafe in England.

I was unlikely to fit in with the 'Easy Riders' on my pushbike, so instead I chained up my steed and sprinted over the seventeen stepping stones across the River Mole (learning from observing the people before me who got wet feet by taking it slowly). I then climbed the stepped path up Box Hill to the summit, with stunning views over Dorking town to Leith Hill, six miles away, which is the highest point in Surrey. Whilst Box Hill is on the chalky North Downs, Leith Hill is on the Greensand Ridge which runs parallel to the Downs. A long-distance footpath, the Greensand Way, follows the ridge all the way from Hamstreet in Kent to Haslemere in the southwest corner of Surrey. I once wrote a book about hiking this route called 'Mud, Sweat and Beers.' Kindle or a physical copy? It's up to you!

I descended from the busy viewing platform via Zig Zag Road, where a lot of cyclists were testing their mettle on the ascent, replicating the cycling event in the London 2012 Olympics. The Olympians, however, had to do nine laps, which must have been absolutely gruelling. I cut off one of the zigzags by using a steep footpath, which was slightly perilous in flat-soled shoes.

Tweaking my brakes, I returned to my bike and rode the paths beside the A24 and A25 to Brockham, a pleasant village around a central green – typically 'Surrey' in feel. I headed for the pub and a man let me put my bike in a shed, informing me that he hoped to fill this with meerkats. Well, why not? I had visited this pub in 2006 on a the aforementioned 'MS&B' walk, and I guess this is what makes the perfect exploration – something old, something new. Adventure with a splash of nostalgia!

Next up, was Reigate. The town centre had the feel of a country town which wouldn't have seemed out of place in the Kentish Weald. I rode through a road tunnel where the access to Reigate Caves can be found, and as I pounded the A25 to Redhill the drizzle began again, and in the words of the gambling adverts, 'When the fun stops, stop.' So I did, and caught my three trains home.

And that was 2024. Not the most cheerful year in terms of world news. When COVID struck, wars stopped, homeless people were brought in from the cold and people worked together to defeat a common enemy (the virus). As soon as it was over, the fighting began again and the homeless were booted back out onto the streets. It's not a good advert for our species, and goodness knows what 2025 will bring now that the Americans have decided to take a second trip to 'Trumpton.' Testosterone is back in fashion around the globe. It looks like humanity had a go at tolerance and went back to hate again en masse. Something old, something new, hey? :-(