From: John Book (johnbook9_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 2003-09-10 23:42:27
For those who may be wondering what my new album is
about this time, here we go. HOME wraps up a trilogy
of albums that didn't begin that way.
WITHOUT BREATH was the last album that I rapped on,
and I was able to share my hopes, fears and dreams
about coming back to Hawai'i. At the end of the CD,
with a little help from Kono of Hawai'i Five-O, I
basically said as much as I want to come home, I may
end up feeling like a stranger in my own land.
WEEK was my first all instrumental album, and in many
ways a rebirth in my music. The album consisted of
seven songs, each one describing a day of the week
through sounds and samples. It also doubled as a
letter to a friend, whom I tried to describe through
the music. When I recorded WEEK, I was definitely at
a high point in my life and various elements
influenced and inspired me to create those songs. It
helped me get a nomination for the Hawai'i Music
Awards.
---
HOME consists of 10 songs that I feel represents what
home means to me. With these songs, I put myself back
home and tried to create sounds that would resemble my
emotions. I wanted to look forward to the day I
returned to Hawai'i, to be able to start my life again
and start new things. While I got into my fears and
hopes with WITHOUT BREATH, the idea with HOME is that
I look to the future and I am home. No fears, no
major worries, but a sense that home is where the
heart is and always will be. HOME is where I belong.
I looked towards Hawai'i for inspiration in each of
these songs.
It took nine months for me to finish this CD, which is
the longest I've ever taken to do anything. Compare
that to 10 albums I recorded and released in two
years, and yet it's been two years since I released my
last album. After the release of WEEK, I went through
a lot of personal things that took a lot of energy
from me. I had lost my job of eight years, I had lost
contact with someone who I felt was the best friend I
ever had, and I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes.
It felt weird to know that here I was, someone who
just created what I felt was my best work up to that
point, and in a snap the good feelings I had just
faded away.
In 2002, I went through something that definitely felt
like
depression. I was unsure of everything going on in my
life, and I guess I felt that if there was anyway I
could restart my life, I would. I did think
negatively, and yet a few things kept me going:
family, friendship, and Hawai'i. I think if I didn't
have those things, I am not sure if I would be here
today. I reached an all time low, and I used my music
to get me out and up again. I often thought that if I
did drink or do drugs, I'd probably be able to get
myself out of the misery I was feeling. I was in a
point in my life where I felt things were going good
for once, and then everything fell apart. Inside I
knew I would make it out, but as I was going through
it, it felt like it would never end.
I would listen to a lot of Indian classical music
during this period, to ease my mind and help me get
away from any depressing feelings. These sounds would
become another influence in a number of the songs on
the album, although it's not a festival of off-tune
tablas and sarods. As I listen to the album now, I
think I was trying to find inner peace. I can get
metaphorical and say "it's me searching for light in
the darkness", and in many ways that's true. By the
end, I realized that there is definitely light at the
end of the tunnel, and at the end of the tunnel one
will always find a way back home.
Since it was my 20th album as Crut, I wanted to be
able to wrap it up in a cohesive manner. It's 20
albums, what should I do? Hawai'i has always been a
steady thread in all of my music. I think being on
the mainland and seeing how Hawai'i is viewed as
nothing more than a resort area, I wanted to show
people a side of Hawai'i no one knows. I wanted to
share my love of those islands in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean, and in a way share a bit of me. When
you listen to these songs, this is what it would be
like if you entered my home.
I probably shouldn't say this, but when I was feeling
some lows, I did wonder for a brief time if I would
make it out. I never said it, but had this been my
last album, I wanted it to represent me as a person,
as an artist, and to also represent the place that
will always be in my heart. To make a long story
short, it's a very personal album, almost like finding
a diary and reading things you're not supposed to
know. As I got close to finishing up the songs, I was
beginning to feel more optimistic again and oddly
enough that's how the album ends, on a positive note.
---
Here are the songs on the album:
LONG DISTANCE CALL
A brief intro, warming people up for what's to come.
I'm calling people, letting people know... I'm home
again.
OPENING SONG
Self-explanatory. This is the sound of my homecoming.
Bring on the food, the party, the drinks, the music,
the dancing, and the Tatitian women, it's time to
celebrate.
3AM TACO
As R. Kelly might say, after the party it's a round of
tacos. If one has hunger pains, one has the option to
go to the taco wagon down the street and grab a few.
Add some Tapatio, and you're set. 3AM Taco
represents, if anything, being able to go to a place
to eat and have no one look at you. It's the comfort
of being at home, in the wee hours of the morning, out
on an open street, and having no fear.
HAOLE MONARCHY
A recap of Hawaiian history in the last 50 years, in
13 seconds.
50
Hawai'i is the 50th State, and this is a celebration
of the 50th
State. The song moves along in a steady and funky 4/4
beat signature before it switches to a time signature
of:
3+4+5+6+7+7+6+5+4+3
The sum of that is 50. Each signature lasts 12.5
seconds. I did the time signature four times:
3+4+5+6+7+7+6+5+4+3
3+4+5+6+7+7+6+5+4+3
3+4+5+6+7+7+6+5+4+3
3+4+5+6+7+7+6+5+4+3
That equals 50 seconds. The song ends at the 5:00
mark. It's all about the Five-O. I have to thank
Ravi Shankar for the influence on the time signature,
which he had used for composition he did for the 50th
anniversary of India's independence.
NU'UANU RAIN
Nu'uanu is the first area of Honolulu I grew up in.
It is a valley, and it often rains there. I have a
lot of fond memories of Nu'uanu, and even today when I
go back home, I always return to Nu'uanu to see my old
school, and the park that would be the place for many
hours of fun. Today, Nu'uanu is a place that is still
very quiet. When I was doing this song, it sounded
very meditative, and that came from listening to a lot
of Indian music. I wanted it to drone, and I wanted
it to represent inner peace. Nu'uanu itself is about
a mile or two away from downtown Honolulu, where
things work at a rapid pace. I use a number of Indian
samples on this to reflect inner peace.
I also used the sound of Tibetan bells to make a
point. If you have WITHOUT BREATH, I used Tibetan
bells in "Everytime I Look Outside". Its use in that
song was to try to place peace in a land that is often
at war, with others and with itself. I used it to
also say that if I don't make it back there soon, my
time and my energy may run out.
On WEEK, the Tibetan bells were used again in the
introduction
to "manoa (sunday)", only this time the sound was
reversed. In this, the bells represented going back
to a time of innocence. In the song, the bells also
symbolized church bells on a Sunday morning, the sound
one might hear when they wake up. In that song, when
that person woke up and looked outside, it was
raining.
In "Nu'uanu Rain", the Tibetan bells return. I like
the concept
of "musical continuity", something that Pink Floyd and
Frank Zappa put to good use in everything they did.
This time, the bells represent inner peace, and once
again the sound of the bells mixes in with the
rainfall.
I used some flute solos within the sound of the bells.
In Indian culture, the sound of the flute is believed
to be the sound of Krishna playing. When Krishna
plays, it signifies happiness and playfulness, in a
childlike manner. Seeking innocence again.
I am not religious, but I think "Nu'uanu Rain" is a
very spiritual song. If there is a time in my life
when I do fine inner peace, it may sound like this.
OCEAN CHILD
One travels around the world to enjoy what this planet
has to offer. A lot of running around, a lot of
activities, but one discovers in the end, they still
enjoy the comforts of the embrace of home. All of us
come full circle. At 98 we all rotate.
Musically, I wanted to travel around the world and I
did that by
using various worldy samples to show the travels.
Throughout, a
voice calls out. It's something that many Hawaiians
say, that "no matter where I am, Hawai'i keeps calling
me back to return." At the end, after traveling
around the world and trying to discover what I am
about, I realize that everything I ever wanted is in
the same place where I began my journey. I find
comfort again in the arms of an embrace, in the arms
of the "ocean child".
The song also doubles as a tribute to Yoko Ono, whose
first name
translates to "ocean child", a reference John Lennon
makes reference to in The Beatles' "Julia". I have
sampled Yoko in my work before, and I've always felt
she is someone who doesn't get a lot of credit for her
own work. She may forever be "the one who broke up
The Beatles", which is complete bullshit. It also
describes an embrace with Yoko Ono, which is my way of
saying thank you to John Lennon for being one of my
biggest musical and life influences. My love of the
Beatles began in Honolulu, so by the time this song
hits on the album, I am looking back at my life and
everything that influenced the person I am today.
HOUR BEFORE SUNRISE
Now that I am at the ocean, I am able to watch the sun
before it
comes up to greet the day. The sounds represent my
dad, who was a huge jazz fan. When he died, his last
wish was for to his ashes to be strewn at sea just
like his father. This is in many ways a private talk
with my dad, sitting on the rocks and sitting down in
the darkness, an hour before sunrise.
SING (JOY)
This is a reference to a song I did on WITHOUT BREATH
called "808 State", where I said "if happiness makes
us sing in joy, then I'll sing". It is believed that
singing brings people much joy. Now that I have made
peace with myself, and peace with being at home, I can
now sing in joy. My original intention was to have
ended my album with this song, and it was created that
way. The song is a summary of the album, and the
spoken word bits also tell the story. It ends cold,
and the listener is supposed to be happy, where we all
live happily ever after. Life is good, right? As
Frankie Beverly and Rob Base once said, whenever there
is joy, there is pain. Like sunshine and...
UNTITLED (SONG FOR ALLYSON)
The rain returns. On WEEK, I had used rain as a
metaphor for
uncertainty, a hopeful emotional cleansing, and
sadness. The rain that opens "Untitled" shows that
those feelings have never went away, and despite the
happiness I may show outside, there will always be a
bit of sadness for things I can't undo or change.
Within the rain I try to find a bit of sunshine, and
unfortunately the dark clouds keep coming, pouring
down rain to where it becomes a flood. At the end of
the song, one tries to find sunshine behind the stormy
clouds. It is the hope for light at the end of the
dark tunnel, and that returning home will eventually
remove the clouds.
In other words, "in a place known for its beautiful
sunshine, there will always be a storm or two to take
it away". One must get through the storm in order to
feel the warmth of the sun again, even when the sun
seems so far away.
------
If you wish to order a copy, or to hear a few
RealAudio samples, click here:
http://www.john-book.com/Crut/crut20.htm
Mahalo nui to everyone who has waited this long for
the new one, and much thank you for everyone who has
shown support over the years.
p.e.a.c.e.
-John Book
Pick up the SHAPES ONE comp on Tru-Thoughts Records,
featuring an exclusive track by me, "eBay Trauma
Center"
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