Sowing Seeds at the Saban

I have never seen such perfection and am not sure it exists outside of LB’s presence. Still, when Brett called him an American Treasure, I wasn’t sure if ... has Brett ever seen Mount Everest??

The show was scheduled for 8:00 and Lindsey came on closer to 8:30. Lindsey gave a very cute intro. He emerged from the wings to meet a standing ovation and said, “Save it. Save it. You can stand up when I make a more formal appearance.” He said he was just coming out now, informally, to let us know what was going on. The show is being taped for a DVD (and possible tv broadcast, I'd read). They had to scramble to make this show happen as quickly as it did. The DVD and the album and the tour that goes with it won’t come out until September. So, this is all in preparation and there will be some moments of artifice that we’ll witness. He said that there will be some times when he won’t know what to say and he might have to consult his notes [he was joking, notes were hardly necessary]. So, he said he was going to leave and when he comes back out, we can stand up again and clap. “This never happened,” he cautioned us, before disappearing.

Lindsey looked like he gained 5-10 pounds since the tour ended. You could see it around his waist and stomach (visible when he raised the guitar over his head, in a now patented move).

Kristen was in the audience with her 3 kids and their friends, about 8 kids in her row, altogether. Will was taller than his friends. I don't know if he's tall for his age or just older than the other boys. Will and Lee Lee seemed to enjoy the show, although Lee Lee kept her hand over her ears for most of it. I guess she didn't bring any ear plugs with her.

Stella seemed bored and sullen. During GYOW Kristen held her the whole time, while standing up, dancing and bouncing to the beat with the child in her arms. Since Stella is 7 years old and not a toddler, this was no small feat.

His voice was strong and powerful. He slowed down the temple for Go Insane and sang it in a deeper tone, which kind of took me by surprise, not sure if I liked that as much as the other arrangement.

All of the new songs seemed to be about lost love, yearning. I’m sure someone recorded them, but I didn’t try. They were all rockers except for the title song.

"All My Sorrows" with Neale and Brett sounded very Beach Boyish and lovely.

After a few songs Lindsey said that he had a new solo album, but that he started as a boy with just a vocal and guitar, listening to his older brother's records. Even after everything that has passed since his boyhood, he says his center "is and has been" that guitar. So, he wanted to start with songs that showcased him, a vocal and a guitar.

For Big Love he mentioned how it started as a bad song and became a solo song, a conduit for so many things that followed. He said it used to be a "contemplation on alienation," but now it's a "meditation on the importance and power of change."

After Big Love the band joined him for Under the Skin. Neale is sporting a mustache I don't remember from before. Someone yelled Happy Birthday to Neale and he made a "shhh" gesture, as if he didn't want to acknowledge age.

He said that his new album, Seeds We Sow is a microcosm of two worlds. One world is family and relationships and the other is the world in general. But even if the songs are about 2 different things, they all have one thread: all of our choices have consequences and ripple effects and they come together to collective good or ill ends.

He didn't plan on making a solo album at this time. He thought something else would be happening [an FM album and tour, I assume]. But no matter how the music came about, he thinks this is some of the best work of his career. He then sings two of the new songs.

Later he talks about FM being the big machine, with collateral parts. "All entities step up to the plate when commerce is robust." His solo career is a small machine. It's like movies. Fleetwood Mac is a big film, with mainstream appeal and his solo career is a small independent movie. I was disappointed he didn't carry the analogy farther. I expected him to say that Fleetwood Mac was Twilight and his solo career was Lars and the Real Girl.

The audience recognized all of the Fleetwood Mac songs and responded warmly to them, but only a smattering of people stood up. That was until we got to Tusk. After that one, everyone stood up and they were wild for the end of ISA and for all of GYOW too. The whole place was on its feet. Following Tusk, someone yelled out, "You're killing us Lindsey." He replied: "You're killing me too."

When Lindsey introduced Neale he said he was a fine guitarist with a fine mind. He said when Walfred joined the band, their energy level shot up through the roof. He said Brett was a great spirit, a writer, guitarist, and bass player, night after night and said that he loved Brett to death.

Then, Brett said he wanted to say something about Lindsey [I think he doesn't get paid unless he does this]. He said LB's an America treasure and he's so glad to have him back.

Anyway, I left thinking that "Stars" was my favorite new song, but today I'm liking "In Our Own Time" even more. It's all good. We know what 7 of the songs on the new album will be (It's also going to include his Rolling Stones cover of "She Smiled Sweetly") and there's not a clunker in the bunch.

These batch of songs are like a combination of Under the Skin and Gift of Screws in that I think UTS had the sentiment but was too sappy for me. Then GOS had the rock that was incredible from the title track, to Love Runs Deeper, to Great Day. But those rockers didn't have the introspective aspects that, say, Bel Air Rain did. So far, the songs from Seeds We Sow seem to both rock AND weep.

Most of the new songs performed are now on You Tube. As for the last one, the whole song hasn't surfaced yet on Youtube. I only have a sketchy idea of what some of the lyrics were:

SEEDS WE SOW: Penny arcade of Edgar Alan Poe [groan]. Oh, ta ta ta, Oh ta, ta, tah [yikes]. I dreamed you reached for me in the night. Touched me soft and slow. Everything was wrong, but everything was right. Ooooh, the seeds we sow. [very nice crooning]

Before starting that title track, Lindsey asked us if we wanted to hear one more song? The answer's always yes! So, he reminds us that he spoke of the choices we make earlier tonight. He thinks we as people are the sum total of those choices. And it takes the perspective of time to know whether the choices you make are the right ones. You don't know if they are when you're making them, but as he looks out into the audience and sees his beautiful wife and three beautiful children and the people in the crowd, "I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be, so I believe my choices turned out all right."

Then he starts off with Seeds We Sow, which has some incredibly corny lyrics about Soldiers of Fortune being afraid to show . . . penny arcade of Edgar Allan Poe Rather dismal stuff. But as we get to the end of the song, we go from the general (and generic) to the specific and personal and it's very moving. A soft and slow touch. Everything was wrong, but everything was right . . . "ooooh the seeds we sow. Oooh, the seeds we sow." There's joy, ache and triumph in the last lines.

Bliss.