Before you read further, you HAVE to understand that this blog entry is NEITHER a review, or an advertisement of any kind. It is simply a recommendation from one fellow runner to another.
I am not being compensated in any way for this blog post (well, aside from having some AMAZING music to listen to). No one has asked me to write this and this isn’t some kind of a clever ad campaign that I’ve woven into this blog.
Remember who you’re dealing with here: I am a doofus. Enough said.
The ONLY reason I’m writing this is because I want to share my passion for the music of Paul Durham and his band Black Lab. I want to tell you about their latest (and in my opinion GREATEST) album: Two Strangers.
If you’ve listened to Phedippidations (my podcast) you know that I am an uber-fan of Black Lab. This is true for many reasons, which I’ll attempt to now explain.
I have always been a fan of music that has an underlying passion and intelligence about it. This, we call “poetry”.
My life, as a runner, is all about the passion. I carry within me a passion for family and friends, running, wine, history, astronomy, science, God, and the natural beauty of the universe.
The philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche once wrote that: “In music the passions enjoy themselves.”
If you are without passion in your life, then you are truly not living; and this band: Black Lab is more alive than so many of the other musical artists you will hear through your life. It’s all about the passion: you can hear it in their music.
Myself, I have a passion for music. I spent four years behind the microphone of 91.5 FM Real Underground Radio (WJUL, Lowell Massachusetts
It was at WJUL that I learned about Jazz and Jazz Fusion, Rhythm and Blues, Punk, New Wave…even classical. This radio station allowed the “Dee Jays” to explore music, to test the boundaries of musical styles and themes. We had to play from the “heavy rotation” bin, but were encouraged to dust off some of the older albums (large, black plastic disks called “records”) to play early Pink Floyd, Spyro Gyra, Frank Zappa (and the Mothers of Invention), and Muddy Waters…all within the same show!
So, while I don’t consider myself an expert in the area of music; I do appreciate the art.
Which brings me back to Black Lab and their new album: Two Strangers. This is art. The album fills your head with themes and ideas that remind you of the passion you once felt, and the passion you will continue to experience.
From the first track “This Ship Goes Down Deep” (“I can’t believe that you’d suffer in silence. Is it all just a lie that we all still believe in? if you tell me your lie then I’ll know your name. Cause I have no shame I have no sadness I feel no blame”) to the song “Say Goodbye” (“how am I supposed to feel? you strike at my achilles heel with everything that’s wrong I can’t make right”) these songs strike a nerve buried deep within your heart. They force us to raise our heads above the ennui of our lives and remember the passion of love, loneliness, joy, sadness and anger which we all have experienced.
In the song “Dying Just to Hold You” the lyrics bring back that urgency of our first true love: “I want your love your scent, your touch it’s not enough to dream this baby I want your love you smile, you go but I could show you what I’m made of you’re watching me from above but baby I want your love the wall comes down the dawn shines out I’m dying just to hold you”. I’m reminded of scenes from my youth where I was in love and broken hearted…the music and lyrics force me to face those moments that I’d otherwise prefer to flush from my memory.
But those memories are important, they helped to create the person I’ve become (for better or worse) and it’s important to reflect on those feelings as inspired by passionate music.
Black Lab’s “Two Strangers” offers a poetic injection of passion that reminds us of the fevers that once burned, and continue to smolder within our hearts and minds.
Run long and Taper
Steve Runner
The album “Two Strangers” by Black Lab is available on iTunes and Amazon. You can purchase a CD for $12 US or download it directly from http://blacklabworld.com/music/two-strangers for only $9 US
