Sledgehammer / Marijuana / Eno

["ROSSI J.A." <rossi@nusc.ARPA>]

I finally heard PG's Sledgehammer this morning.  Guess what? It sounded like
Peter Gabriel to me.  Sure, it is a little more funky than many of his
previous works, and yes, the lyrics have meaning for the 'common-man' but
other than those two noticable differences, it didn't surprise me any more
than say, Shock the Monkey.  As to other comments concerning Sledgehammer,
I agree, that if I had to tell somebody that it sounded like something other
than PG, I would say that the fairest approimation would be Stevie Winwood
(circa Arc of the Diver).  I don't think that it sounds at all like Phil
Collins (presumably accompanied by Earth Wind and Fire).  Also, to call
the sound 'Motown' is like saying that RuTH is an example of Techno-Pop.
One final comment on what Peter Gabriel sounds like.  Remember, when he
was still front man with Genesis everyone associated the vocal sound with
PG, it's remarkable that when he left Genesis, the vocals still sounded the
same.  If anybody, ever sounded like anybody, Phil Collins sounds like
Gabriel, not vice-versa.  Listen to Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte,
and the Collins Vocals then go listen to any 'Ballad' on the Lamb Lies
Down on Broadway album.  Who is singing in the Genesis stuff (Gabriel
did the vocals live on the tour)?  In fact, untill Collins changed his
sound from 'Gabriel-Like' to his new found 'bop' (eg. duet with Phil
Bailey) the only real difference between the sounds of Post Trick of the
Tail Genesis and Selling England and Lamb is in the fact that the
lyrics became generally stupid the music (owing also to the lack of
Steve Hackett's inspirational playing) started sounding 'pop', and the
band started selling albums.  No, I don't ever think that PG will sound
like PC.  By the way, I like Sledgehammer.

Concerning Marijuana being an halucinogen.  Marijuana is the given name
for a plant 'Cannabis' in much the same way Deadly Niteshade is the
given name for the plant which produces atropine.  Colloquially, marijuana
is the name of a 'street drug' and is usually synonymous with it's active
ingredient d,9-THC (although other active ingredients have not been
excluded, yet).  In as much as d,9-THC is a very potent halucinogen, I
would have to agree with Doug that the term Marijuana (as it refers to
the substance smoked, not the plant in general) implies halucinogen.
Although concentrations of THC vary from sample to sample, the actual
halucinogenic potency of Marijuana smoke correlates best with the concen-
tration of d,9-THC.  The only reason that more full blown 'tripping' is
not reported after 'pot-smoking' is that THC concentration falls below
that which is necessary for a 'complete' hgalucinogenic experience.  Unlike
LSD, Mescaline, and Psilocybin which do not produce marked tolerance
effects (i.e., you take a hit of acid every day, you trip everyday), the
brain appears to become increasingly tolerant to the presence of THC (which
incidentally can be reliably detected in urine up to 40 days after usage).
The more you smoke, on a regular basis, the higher your accumulated levels
of THC become.  The reason 'heads' don't reliably trip after each usage
is two-fold.  The increasing tolerance to the full-blown 'tripping' effects
of THC develop rapidly, and marijuana smoking (at least not at todays
strains) is not an effective way of 'spiking' the brain THC concentration
to a point of 'tripping'.  There is a reasonable amount of evidence which
suggests that the halucinogenic properties of marijuana smoke can be
separated from the uphoria (albeit 'stoned uphoria') producing properties.
This accounts for the common suposition (not widely held in the rat lab)
that it takes several usages of 'pot' in order to produce the initial
'stonned' experience.  It is also true, that some individuals are sensitive
to the effects of marajuana smoke, and have exhibited 'full-blown' haluc-
inations upon first usage.  At any rate, tthe fact that marijuana smoke
contains significant quantities (and, incidently the THC concentrations
are getting higher as new strains are crossed [todays 'pot' is remarkably
stronger than the higher quality strains of the 60's such as Gold and
Coloumbian and the strength increase relates to increase in concentration
of d,9-THC]0 of THC, we must conclude that marijuana is an halucinogen,
and will overtly become more apparently so, as we continue to produce
strains with greater concentrations of d,9-THC.  The suggestion that
marijuana is not an halucinogen is similar to the suggestion that beer
is not an alcololic beverage.  Think about it next time you use your
bong.

As for Eno (no analogies here!!) you might also try 1974 (I know that
the title of the album is a year in the 70s) which has an incredible
live version of Babies on Fire on it, as well as some interesting
'pop?' colloborations between people such as Eno, John Cale and Nico
(Velvet Underground fame) on it.  801 which has also been mentioned
previously is a good bet, as is the Eno version of Peter and the Wolf
which is done in colloboration with people such as Chris Speeding, Phil
Collins, and much of the 801 team.  Actually, if you like Here Come
the Warm Jets, and you can stand Bryan Ferry's voice, you might also try
the early Roxy Music albums with Eno as synthesist. [ed. I like Bryan
Ferry's sound, by the way).

'Jon Anderson is not a cunning linguist, however'

John

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