There is a hidden factor regarding the rundown, industrial block of Monterey that fascinates John Steinbeck. Like James Joyce, his writing (also away from home) reveres his beloved Salinas. However, Steinbeck does not necessarily love it for its simplicity or existence out of time. He loves it because it exists as a microorganism continuing to power his empathy.
Its elegant opening does not hide the classes at work on this block of canneries. However, it pulls the lens out to a level of abstraction that makes it appear like a human cell beneath the microscope. They are not simply making sardines, they are lives that are intertwined at multiple strata to ensure that the beast works in favor of everyone from the highest pin-striped executive to the bums that sleep under the huge cypress at the top of the hill.
The only moment that Steinbeck truly employs a "religious" view of this world, he points out the duality of Cannery Row's existence and capitalizes "Everybody" as if the people involved here are some unknown deity. Steinbeck uses his gift of quick characterization to his advantage. We can all understand that Lee Chong must run his grocery with an iron fist, and he must keep close tabs on all the credit he has extended. However, his business depends on people spending money. When a large sum of debt is paid off with Chong's acquisition of a nearby warehouse, Steinbeck takes us inside his head as he negotiates with the "bums" Mack and his boys who ask to "guard" it and use it as their flophouse. These are business decisions, pure and simple. However, it is not all about making money/moving products. Steinbeck astutely notes that by Chong allowing the boys to rent his new storage facility, they will cement their relationship with him and use his services more. In fact, in the symbiosis between these two "species," the boys would never steal from Chong now for fear of losing their resting place.
"Cannery Row" is largely a novel of movement. These are brief vignettes in their lives designed more to induce thought than to explain his love for this place. Steinbeck is less concerned with painting portraits of sympathy for his characters. He is far more interested in how they possess and employ their need for each other. The need for a new boiler at the Hediondo Cannery means the old one is moved out back to sit in the mallow weeds. After the engineers strip what they need from the behemoth, nature embraces what Steinbeck describes as "an old locomotive without wheels" as anise and myrtle grow up its metallic sides. Five years later, the Malloys move into it and make it a home, even as Mrs. Malloy charges her husband with finding a way to hang curtains on its metal walls.
This is not feelgoodery at work. These are calloused hands in play. Even Mack and the boys will work hard for something - when they believe in its result. They work outside of their limitations and exist as if devotion has been on their minds all along. Steinbeck keeps his distance from his characters, just as Doc and Hazel hit the tidepools to gather aquatic creatures for his business. Above all, this is a community and while the weeds may be rising around them - their forced growth is not necessarily the novel's conflict as much as the engine keeps a single facet of Cannery Row running as smoothly as it can after the factory has shut down for the day and the fishermen have hung up their nets.
Mack and the boys avoid the trap, walk around the poison, step over the noose while a generation of trapped, poisoned, and trussed-up men scream at them an call them no-goods, come-to-bad-ends, blots-on-the-town, thieves, rascals, bums. Our Father who art in nature, who has given the gift of survival to the coyote, the common brown rat, the English sparrow, the house fly, and the moth, must have a great and overwhelming love for no-goods and blots-on-the-town and bums.
—
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK AND REISSUES TOO!
ROSE - Rosie [LP/CD](Atlantic)
New Zealand/South Korean singer Rose is perched to break into the crowded world of pure Pop with her formulaic debut. "Number One Girl" is a rafters-reaching ballad that is way too strong - even for a POP hit. Sure, it follows the motives/motifs of K-Pop (BLACKPINK,) but its true reach is back to the classic Britney/Christina days. As far as the smash Bruno Mars co-write/production "APT." (swiftly approaching 500k streams in six weeks,) if you are really looking for the "cheerleader" style hit, Junior Varsity's "Cross The Street" is far more addictive, original, and clever.
AURORA - What Happened To The Heart? [CLEAR LP/CD](Glassnote)
Norwegian singer Aurora has carved out a nice existence on the outer orbit of modern Pop. However, her powerful voice and pensive lyrics keep her compared to Bjork more than what we envision as Pop. Surviving a breakup, Aurora embraces the ultimate freedom sounding one hand like classic Kate Bush ("To Be Alright") and the other Folky/Electronic/Pop ("Your Blood.") Her healing is what you are feeling.
CHRISTOPHER OWENS - I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair [LP](True Panther)
The former lead singer/writer/de facto leader of Girls, Christopher Owens has been through a LOT. Dumped, homeless, and recovering from the death of his former Girls bandmate Chet "JR" White," "Barefoot" is nearly ten years in the making. If the songs feel long and involved, they are supposed to."No Good" may be the ultimate breakup song, while the seemingly light "I Think About Heaven" is where you can sense that Owens is finally smiling about something after a long, dark period. While there is no real resolution here, Owens is coming back out of the woodwork to - not find success - but finds himself.
WALLICE - The Jester [LP/CD](Dirty Hit/Polydor)
Los Angeles' singer/songwriter Wallice is a study in both what is wrong (the overbearing opener smartly titled) and right (the 60s lounge love on "Flash In The Pan") with modern Female Pop. Wallice proves that she is a dexterous singer and malleable in the hands of multiple production styles, However, to truly standout she clearly has to stop worrying about tapping into a sound that is hitworthy ("Look At Me") and write lyrics that use her double-edged sword style of delivery.
CAMERON WINTER - Heavy Metal [LP/CD](Partisan)
As the lead singer of Geese, Cameron Winter is the band's emotional engine. While the group pounds out their frustrations (the live version of "2122") or find their pocket of Psychedelic Funk ("I See Myself" or the underrated "Crusades,") Winter dives between his lowest register and a sunny, almost soulful falsetto. For his solo album, Winter stretches out into weird Tom Waits-ian drift ("$0") but sadly leaves off the amazing solo single "Vines."
SILVERBACKS - Easy Being A Winner [LP/CD](Central Tones UK)
Quite possibly doomed for making hits Dublin's diverse Silverbacks have again expanded their sound well beyond the terse Post-Punk of early albums ("Dunkirk" on "Fad") toward what we can only describe as a "nuclear paradise" where they get Artsy (the enticing female-led "Giving Away An Inch Of,") Funky ("Hideaway") and Rocky (the riffy title track.) Like Album of the Year nominees Fontaines D.C., Silverbacks find a way to unlock Post-Punk's raw energy (the awesome stinging guitar/propulsive "Selling Shovels") to fire off should-be hits in all directions.
NORA ORLANDI/FRANCO TONANI - Sfere Luminose [LP](Light In The Attic)
After being used by The Neptunes on Clipse's underrated "Hell Hath No Fury" and Quentin Tarantino's film melange "Kill Bill," the music of vocalist Nora Orlandi and drummer Franco Tonani receives its focus. Like all the best Italian Library Music, "Sfere Luminose" is a bundle of themes that typically skew romantic and dreamy ("Dushilka Maya") but still swing ("Orme Di James." Orlandi still stands out as the lone female in this Sixties/Seventies cabal of brilliant composers. Tonani (like his counterpart Piero Umiliani of the fantastic I Marc 4) keeps things simple instrumentally so that these tracks float along.
OSAMU OKUNO [LP](Super Fuji Discs JPN/URP)
Japanese Folk in the early Seventies typically follows an interesting pattern of growth. While the lyrics are lost on us still fifty years later, it works best as a synthesis of influences. So with Okuno's 1972 starts with the heaviest, dark Folk ballads, you have no idea that he is going turn it into a Beatles-meets-The Band-meets-Traffic style hippie Folk/Rock extravaganza. At its best on the opening of Side Two, Okuno finds a slow, methodical beat and builds upon it with girl-group harmonies, double-tracked vocals, stinging "White Album" style guitar and a spellbinding percussion break complete with sawing.
