A check of Amazon reveals...what...Patti Dahlstrom's CD is now a $40 collectors item? Is that good news or bad news?
It would seem like good news. If a re-issue on Patti's CD is sold out, it means there's a market for a second pressing. There's a market for releasing ALL FOUR of Patti's albums and giving them fresh, perfect CD treatment, complete with booklets. There ARE people out there who like quality sound, and who want to read a booklet and find out more about the artist and the songs.
According to Rolling Stone, the best-selling category is no longer rock, it's rap. Second best is probably prap -- the pop-rap crap from Taylor "Look What You Made Me Do" Swift, Cardi-B and the rest of the stale tarts. Still, if rock fans can buy up the print run on a Dahlstrom album, it sends a message. PS, it would be nice if people not in the business, and with no knowledge of how it works, would stop giving away whole albums thinking it does no damage. It fucks up supply and demand, to put it politely, and can prevent rare vinyl from turning into digital CD with bonus tracks. And it can take money out of the hands of deserving artists, too.
There's a generous TWENTY songs on this re-issue:
1. Emotion (1973)
2. He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right (1975)
3. Sending My Good Thoughts To You (1975)
4. Get Along, Handsome (1972)
5. This Isn’t An Ordinary Love Song (1972)
6. Without Love (1976)
7. And I Never Did (1972)
8. Changing Minds (1976)
9. Give Him Time (1973)
10. Ollabelle And Slim (1972)
11. Cleveland Snow (1973)
12. Comfortable (1972)
13. Wait Like A Lady 1972)
14. For Everybody’s Sake (1973)
15. I’m Letting Go (1972)
16. Innate (1973)
17. One Afternoon (1976)
18. Rider (1972)
19. The Way I Am (1973)
20. What If (1972)
It's hard to find fault with the choices. They've included the darkly poignant ballad "For Everybody's Sake." You'll find good advice on the tender "Give Him Time" and the sassier "Wait Like a Lady." Everyone can enjoy the erotic "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did it Right," (still best in her version, though it's been covered by some very fine ladies). Also here, the elegantly wistful "And I Never Did," and two songs demonstrating the Texas girl's true grit, "Olabelle and Slim" and the moody masterpiece "Rider." Gotta love her down-home lyrics on "Emotion," mated to the exquisite French star Veronique Sanson's melody "Amoureuse."
One missing song is "If You Want it Easy." So...by way of a sample, and since it's unavailable otherwise, you'll find it below.
Some would say "but it's easy to offer the entire album. It's out of print." Yes, but if you want it THAT easy, then you're not an adult. Sure, we all "like it free," to quote Puzo (no, not Mario, the forum making money off everyone else's creativity.) "Sharing" with some of your friends is one thing. Giving away entire discographies to strangers is stealing. No rationalization about it. Look at how few record stores there are. It's galling that few vintage artists from the 70's can get into a studio and make new music without begging on Kickstarter and making it a vanity album to sell on a website or at a few gigs. Artists deserve dignity. Royalties. Respect.
People who aren't in the business, aren't creative, aren't owners of record stores, aren't trying to make a living from music, and aren't even able to speak English because it's a second language, decide "piracy is good publicity," "artists should give away music and sell t-shirts at gigs" and "here's an album and a link to feed MY ego; I'm retired with nothing else to do but act like I'm in show biz and own music that I give away because I'm so lovable."
The inconvenient truth is that it wasn't exactly easy to get a record deal when Patti Dahlstrom was starting out. Now, thanks to ProTools, "everybody's in show biz" and everybody puts out albums and it's almost impossible for a new artist to get noticed amid the huge volume on Spotify and YouTube.
"If You Want It Easy" is on the "Your Place or Mine" album. For those who aren't sure that true love travels on a gravel road, here's the smooth advice of Ms. Dahlstrom: "If You Want It Easy you don't want love." The album includes "Louisiana," a co-write with the well known typing error Al Staehely. As she often does, Patti shines a light in the darkness and comes up with something positive, like the line "The only chance of holding on is letting go within."
It's nice that the unique, original, and different (or, to use her unique Texas drawling pronunciation of it, "diff-a-rawnt") Patti Dahlstrom did get a Rev-ola revival re-issue. Hopefully they, Cherry Red or Omnivore will bring it back or offer a box set of all four of her albums. Patti's in the U.K. so, to use a stupid slang word, it would be ace if she's invited to the offices of ACE so they can plan a re-issue with her own album notes and recollections. How about a combo CD set and autobiography?
IF YOU WANT IT EASY (instant download or listen online. No dopey ego password, no dodgy spyware-malware crap, no pop-ups or sending you suddenly to a spam page).
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