But recently, I was hired for a monitoring project and it sounded eerily familiar: "funk lite" instrumentals, a steady flow of vocal and instrumental cover versions, and precious few inspired classics. For God's sake, if you're gonna air Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," do not play the short version; perhaps the network that hosts this awful radio epidemic doesn't wish to promote the record's mournful, apocalyptic finale, so a significant piece of the long version has been sentenced to their cutting floor. It's important that the audience is reminded of the full take on the What's Going On (1971) album; climate change is real and will inevitably impact the generation after me, and MPG nailed it.
Smooth Jazz is the story of high musicianship gone to waste. It's technically perfect, hollow and as passionate as your favorite cocktail party--indeed, it makes me unable to determine if I should take a nap or smash a window. Well, musicians have to make living, I suppose. Hearing Kenny G's "Silhouette" again instantly brought back every memory of unintentional morgue music that has passive-aggressively tried to dent my love for the MC5, the Clash, John Coltrane or Etta James.
Eek! Smooth Jazz is truly timeless. I hate it as much as I ever did.