It’s interesting that at the fortieth anniversary of the Summer of Love and the musical revolution of concept albums that accompanied it, we are seeing a reversal of a general trend ... but only in certain music genres. Most recent articles report that album sales are down, and folks are buying singles instead.

     That makes sense with many albums. There are only one or two songs you really like. Sometimes other songs are just filler. But sometimes, you never know what you’ll be missing by never experiencing the complete vision that artist has manifested in sound.

     It also makes sense if you want to create a certain mood, and many albums jump all over the place for “variety.” Many of my friends and I were early adopters of making our own mix tapes so we could listen to what we wanted, how we wanted.

     And it’ll probably not come as a surprise to you that one of the reasons I began recording my own music is that I wanted an uninterrupted soundtrack for meditation, yoga, massage and other feel-good moments.

     Most albums intersperse a fast song or a sonically shocking moment (think of Pink Floyd’s alarm clock shocking your system as you floated on the Dark Side of the Moon). When I released my first album, in fact, I included a fifteen minute jazz/rock/R&B finale in which I played all the instruments except drums.

     I’ll never forget the letters I got which stated in very clear terms that my audience did not want to have to jump up to stop the album before it got to that song (remember, this was way before remote control had been invented). I was faced with the existential choice: include the variety that critics wanted and required in order to receive a positive review, or serve the desires of my audience.

     I, of course, chose the latter, and have never looked back. Alas, it’s also meant my music has received many fewer reviews than it may have had I chosen the sonic road not taken.

Notes on the Secret Connection Between Pop-Punk Bands and New Age Healing Music

     In the February 7–13, 2007, edition of the Village Voice, Garrett Kamps writes that 2006 saw a bit of a trend of various artists and bands releasing albums that were designed to be listened to as a whole, rather than just for the almighty best-selling single song so beloved by marketing mavens and digerati.

     Not being very familiar with bands like Green Day, My Chemical Romance and The Killers, and even less so with Mastodon and other death metal bands, I was surprised that the attention-deficit listening habits were at least partially open to organic whole-ism. That’s certainly been the case with many of the classic albums in our genre, from Kitaro, Eno and Deuter to myself, Iasos and Paul Horn. (Be sure to check out my comments on the iPod shuffle and scrambled fields in the April 2006 edition of my e-newsletter: www.innerpeacemusic.com/newsletter.html.

Scrambled Fields, DWD, iPods and Driving

     USA Weekend (August 17–19) had a feature article by Dr. Tedd Mitchell titled “Driving While Distracted” (DWD). Dr. M. focused on cell phone use by teenage drivers, following recently released studies showing an alarming increase in accidents among this age group. Teenagers are traditionally a high-risk group. Driving while talking on a cell phone is a distraction for many people.

     Text messaging while driving is even more dangerous. Either of those activities is even more dangerous if the person has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

     Driving while listening to music that makes it hard to concentrate only adds more fuel to the fire. Dr. Mitchell writes, “Everywhere we go, our brains are stimulated by a barrage of sensory input from TV screens, MP3 players, cell phones and computers ... resulting in what I call ‘environmental ADHD.’ We’ve taken our tools of distraction from the home, school and office into the automobile. This has become the new drunken driving.”

     And it’s killing and injuring innocent victims as well as the offender.

     If you’re an inventor, why not work up a device that shuts down your car if you’re text messaging, like the technology that shuts down a car for DUI offenders if they’re drinking (although that didn’t stop Lindsay Lohan).

     Of course, it’s not just today’s pop or hip-hop music. Before I go on, however, I’d really like to see some brainwave research done exploring the hypnotic trance response to this music. Anyone interested in funding such a study?

     I remember writing in my first book about the time I almost lost my life driving “under the influence” ... of classical music! Seems I had channel-surfed into the middle of an incredible symphonic masterpiece as I was driving to the recording studio around noon in the early 1980s. Without realizing it, I really got into the music ... and forgot that I was driving.

     I was rudely—though happily—awakened by the blaring horn of the driver to my right, into whose lane I had drifted.

     I exited the freeway at the next off ramp, and parked so I could safely enjoy the music—and find out what it was. I did, and I did.

     What was the composition? Well, the hint is, I almost became part of the title.

     The music was Richard Strauss’ “Death and Transfiguration.” Why wasn’t there a warning issued before it was played? Could there be? Should there be?

     All the more reason that we need to publicize the power of music, in its many forms, much more than we have.

Aural Sex in the News

     As I’m writing this months’ installment, Sen. Larry Craig is still singing the airport bathroom blues. I wondered, when I first saw the re-enactment of the arrest on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown, whether the “code” was actually a secret rhythm, a special beat for ... well, I’ll let you complete the phrase. Doesn’t seem like there is, but I found it more than an interesting coincidence that news of a new product is tapping into a broad market.

     Have you heard about the latest development in aural sex? Have you tried it? If so, does it really work?

     A company in England appears to be the first to offer an iPod sex toy that vibrates in time to the music. Do some beats work better than others? Would Sen. Craig still be a senator if he had known of these, instead of just tapping his foot in the reverberant confines of an airport bathroom?

     If you’re interested, by the way, visit www.ibuzz.co.uk

     Until next time, stay tuned.

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In an earlier incarnation as a jazz-rock trumpet player and guitarist, Steven Halpern performed with bands at large festivals in New York, Chicago, Miami, San Diego and San Francisco. His most recent release, Drum Spirit, honors the power of rhythm and trance-formation. Hear samples at www.stevenhalpern.com.

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