& The Other
Despite the delay getting it to the streaming services, "& The Other" was released to the the distributor on June 7th, 2024 and was finally made available last week. It sums up a lifetime of observation of the Ecological state of planet Earth, It's politics and religion. I almost called the album "Opiate of the Masses", and I toyed with the idea of sub-titling it "Things We Believe".
At any rate, it addresses my personal lack of Faith, in spite of my knowledge of many belief systems. I recently told a Christian believer friend of mine that if "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", I don't have any... that is to say Hope or Faith, that Mankind will ever be anything more than the animals that we are. Not terribly positive, I know... but I have always called it like I see it, and in 2024- I don't see anything positive coming down the pike.
The first track, The First Day? (Doxology) What Say You? is an indictment of the creation story in Genesis and revisits the first tune that I was ever recorded singing on (at the age of 7 in 1970). This recording of Doxology that is superimposed over the track is not the original Arnold Family recording, but my own voice harmonizing; even though it does sound very much like it. The child's voice in this song is also my own, age regressed voice. This is also true of the child's voice on the cover of XTC's "Dear God", it is my own voice that has been age regressed. When the archival Arnold Family recordings are released, it will become clear what a remarkable technology that is, as you will be able to compare my actual 7 year old voice with this one and I can already tell you that they sound the same.
"These Signs" is an indictment of 21st Century Christians, who do not know or understand what is in their book. These Signs shall follow them that believe.... Follower of Jesus, Have you healed anybody lately? or Maybe raised the dead...? The song addresses the Christian Nationalist ideology that threatens to overthrow democracy in the United States in 2024.
Another Acoustic Piano instrumental, "Requiem for Mother and Son/Jimmy's Blues", was written for my Mother and Brother, who passed away in '20 and '21 respectively, during the Covid Crisis; and the latter tune revisited my time spent playing Blues music.
"Namaste, Namaste" speaks to the things I have come to believe about life, death and karma.
"Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind" is both a Biblical and a Political reference, as it was used by Chief Justice Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearing where he lied about whether he thought Roe V Wade was settled law- and then voted to overturn it. The piece contains the voices of citizens calling C-Span to give their opinions on the subject of abortion prior to Roe's overturn. Overlaying the voices of the people is the voice of former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell talking about filling a Supreme Court vacancy with Kavanaugh, after preventing the then sitting President Obama's choice Merrick Garland from being seated.
As is typical, when a politician quotes The Bible, It doesn't ever mean what they think it does....
"This... Again? (Jesus Ain't Comin' Back)", while it is the same title as my re-released and expanded first album, there was never a song, until the last track of "& The Other". It's a bouncy, happy little ditty that shoots down the idea of Heaven and Life after Death, in exchange for the idea that there is life after life, after,life. Born again, if you will.
My next recordings are going to be singles and mostly live recordings, now that this trilogy, first begun more than 10 years ago, is complete. I am also going to be doing wildly different things production-wise from here on out. I've found that a lot of the more modern approaches I have used to produce music for these albums have been problematic at release time, so my next releases will be entirely organic.
I hope you find this album thought provoking, if not anything else. A cover version of the Norman Greenbaum one hit wonder "Spirit in the Sky" will be released in August 2024.
Peace ~
Jimmy
Listen to "& The Other" on Spotify
