The collective obsession for musicians who never quite cared about making money from their work and, in fact, created eccentric works that often alienated their existing fanbase shows no signs of dying down. As we speak, twelve different writers are working on their Captain Beefheart biographies.
But what about the people who really love them?
There’s a great story in Rob Chapman’s book “A Very Irregular Head” in which a middle-aged Syd Barrett is stopped from his gardening work by a child debating with his friend if a make-believe horse can fly from one town to another. The usually cranky Barrett puts the shovel aside and proceeds to meticulously explain how, in make-believe, something like this is not just permitted, but encouraged.
Chris Portka is an artist who truly loves unusual, adventurous ideas and, oftentimes, dissonant sounds. He also loves 60s art-rock pioneers like Syd Barrett or Skip Spence enough to let their influence seep into the material on “The Album Everyone Wants,” along with that of the stories that he has accumulated.
The opening track, the breezy but loud folk-rock of “She Looks So Good Tonight,” describes a love affair developing while a new counterculture boom is assembled in the background.
And if artists of his ilk are supposed to be miserable by the time that they hit the studio, Chris Portka isn’t falling for those suggestions. The Lou Reed-inspired “Fun in the Summer” is a hopeful highway song that works up the good vibes.
Still, Portka is willing to share some of the stories that brought him to this point. On the country-infused, pedal steel-featuring “Tennessee Whiskey,” the singer-songwriter talks about a love affair rescued from the jaws of vice and inevitable destruction.
Where does it all leave us? Finding ourselves while discovering everyone else around us, hopefully. On “The Observer,” Portka comes clean to himself and accepts his role as the artist in the corner watching those around him and making notes for his next work. And, I believe that, if asked, Portka would tell you the same thing about imaginary horses as Syd Barrett, one of his heroes, did.
If you’d like to buy Chris Portka’s album in vinyl form, here’s the place to do it.
