Purple Mountains (RIP David Berman, August 2019)

It's very probably not a deliberate "suicide note", but describing an album containing the thoughts of Nights... or That's Just... or All My Happiness... as "hopeful" just seems way off to me. He was in a bad place.

it's hopeful to me because, for the most part, it seems like he was making an effort. there's hope in the effort.

the weird thing about people who kill themselves is often that just before they do it, they seem happy and relaxed. when the decision is made there must be a big load coming off their back.

personally that's not the vibe I get tbh

i think it's an album about facing depression, frankly, with humility and humor. the self-deprecating parts of the album are humane, not self-lacerating, and actually finding that narrow line and walking it.

the disease took him in the end but this is the testimony of a survivor. if it wasn't, then "nights that won't happen" would have been the final track rather than "maybe i'm the only one for me."

otm

Has this made the rounds? I found it today and it made me smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXLcpX2xUt4

For all his grouchy reclusive mystique, I get the impression that it seems like he really enjoyed dishing out little bits of himself like that, little painless things that he knew people would find special.

Mounting mileage on the dash
Double darkness falling fast
I keep stressing, pressing on
Way deep down at some substratum
Feels like something really wrong has happened
And I confess I'm barely hanging on

Yeah, I don’t know if it’s worth arguing whether this album is hopeful or resigned. It’s both. Guy was obviously in a battle. Love it to so much though, still finding corners and lines from it that hit me hard a zillion listens in.

xpost those lines are so good

Just saw this pop up on Spotify, haven't listened yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDE6_NUqagE

could not get through more than 10 seconds of that garbage

some old correspondence from DC Berman to Arthurt, 2004

https://arthurmag.com/2021/10/27/you-cannot-underestimate-how-big-a-deal-this-hair-thing-was-at-the-time-david-berman-on-a-certain-shift-in-punk-culture-in-the-1980s/

is that Shakey’s brother or did I conflate some weird ilx dreams w reality

It is.

?

(Arthur Mag’s Jay B.)

Yeah, been going through the old drives and email folders. I also recently posted an Actual Air-era transcript of an interview I did with DCB; only a very small part of it was published. Happy to share it, nice to remember him just riffing and laughing.

https://jaybabcock.wordpress.com/2021/10/25/live-from-mallard-crossing-david-berman-on-actual-air-interviewed-by-jay-babcock-1999/

nice, thank you for posting that!

thanks for posting this archival and new(ish) stuff, it's been a real joy to see this stuff pop up on the Twitter timeline

LONG LIVE ARTHUR MAGAZINE

^^ hell yeah

also i didn't know about the shakey connection, that is cool as well. i miss shakey over here

Silver Jewel.

The pleasure is mine. I wish I had kept more of our correspondence/etc., but I think this is all there is. Always wonderful to hear from David. Such a bright spark.

Purple Mountains is still a gut punch of a listen. Especially that incredible run from All My Happiness is Gone through Nights That Won't Happen. It seems like so many different ways, equally true, of experiencing and expressing grief. "She's Making Friends, I'm Turning Stranger" manages to perfectly capture that kind of long-term dissolution of a relationship, where you can see it coming and the depression just piles on itself. "Margaritas at the Mall", drinking and temporary rallies alternating with sincere laments that god isn't saying anything, even if you're listening. then the devastating Nights That Won't Happen, which has a heartbreak for the future that isn't wild or rash but is instead well-considered. Knowing that his actions would cause such horrible harm to others, and believing it was still the best decision. that is really hard to capture, and somehow he got the words down and the Woods' arrangement was there in the perfect way for it.

All of that makes Snow is Falling in Manhattan hit even harder, in the middle. It's so melancholy, but it's also like a little light, a very humble grasp toward comfort.

Great post KM, thanks for that and a reminder to pull this one out again.

still find it kind of tough to listen to Berman! but I'm sure I'll get back into it.

big credit has to go to Woods for much of the music and arrangements. I've always enjoyed their musical aesthetic but have been mostly indifferent to the singing and lyrics. in my mind they were a great match for berman. they have a natural tendency toward the light in their music, and at times on purple mountains they sound like they're almost pulling berman along with them to get it done. even in the more poppy songs, he sings stuff like "i confess i'm barely hanging on..." and the music, aptly, hangs uneasily there for a bit before the thwops of the snare drum snap him into the first chorus. there are lots of little moments like that. it's hard to listen to at times, but everything is in there for a reason

https://www.stereogum.com/2196025/bonnie-prince-billy-shares-cover-of-the-ramones-outsider-recorded-with-david-berman/music/

xp - yeah, I was glad to see your appreciation for Woods, I think they brought a lot to that record (though I've been a big fan of them for awhile anyway)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XTrz0yvxe0

https://www.creem.com/fresh-creem/david-berman-purple-mountains-final-days-feature

Looks promising, but damn paywall.

Straight forward to join for a month, if you haven't previously done so.

Happy should be 57th birthday. Still miss you.

The bareness and honesty in that Purple Mountains record is extraordinary. There's nothing quite like it. I loved his art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvogt_5lhkM

incredible

So great

Good candidate for Artist-specific music jokes

Someone apparently asked Gate Pratt about this and he said he had never seen the show when he wrote the original that was sent to Berman. (Berman finished writing it and later arranged it with Woods.) It is amusing how they have a similar vibe though.

Huh, weird that Gate Pratt doesn't get a writing credit on that one. (He does get one on "Maybe I'm the Only One...") Not that I don't believe him, and this was pretty clearly a coincidence in any case.