Music of the Day, 3 December 2024

the years run too short and the days too fast

As a child in the ‘60s (with uncles just over 10 years older), I was dimly aware of the decade’s turbulence. My parents watched the nightly news¹ regularly but rarely spoke about what was going on in my presence, as I recall. Looking back, my vague memories are buttressed by the repetition of iconic photos and footage. My attitudes and thoughts tend to be more vague, almost certainly because they were rather unformed and uninformed.

But I remember believing that the social upheaval of the ‘60s and ‘70s would bring about enduring and positive change. Thinking about that now, it seems part of my faith was underpinned by buying in, to some degree, to the myth of American exceptionalism.

I thought that had long ago been completely excised from my belief systems. An email exchange with a dear friend this morning revealed that not to be the case. Just as I was preparing myself for a difficult and unpleasant internal spelunking session, I was rescued by a song starting up on the radio station in my mind.

“Time Passages” is the title track from Al Stewart’s eighth studio album and was co-written by his longtime collaborator, Peter White. The song cracked the top 10 of two Billboard charts—#7 on the Hot 100 and #1 on Easy Listening—and propelled the album to RIAA-certified platinum status in just six months.

The lyrics are what took me to this song today, but listening to it for the first time in a while, every element of the piece is hitting hard. That makes sense, as the legendary Alan Parsons produced Time Passages. Al Stewart is an underappreciated legend himself,² so putting the two together had to yield excellent results.

Back then, “Time Passages” was considered soft rock. It occurs to me that these days, it might be included in the “yacht rock” subgenre. I have no idea what the boundaries might be for that concept category though. Anyone who has thoughts on the matter is welcome to share in the comments.

I owned Time Passages on vinyl but have yet to replace it in my digital music library. I adored Al Stewart back in the day and very likely still would if I remembered to listen to him more often. My head is just so full of music that he doesn’t get his due: I mean, I’ve only featured him once before, not long after I’d launched MotD. Seeing that he has released albums into the 2000s, I’m torn between rediscovering the familiar and exploring what’s new. I’m quite sure I can’t lose, whatever I choose.

1. “And that’s the way it is …“

2. if you’re skeptical, please skim his Wiki page.