...It tastes like "More"
Alan Doyle, Winnipeg 2010
Getting ready to begin what I hope is an awesome year. - Alan Doyle. December 31st blog
Of all the expressions that take a turn on Alan's face - an endlessly rich variety upon the most expressive face I know - there are a few I most love seeing: His gleeful Rock Star Guitar God King Of The Stage grin of triumph; his endearingly vulnerable crooked little Petty Harbour Boy smile; his wickedly satisfied gleam when he's been partlcularly, incisively, clever; his wide-eyed, wide-open wonder when given what he'd hoped for but believed he did not deserve.
And the expression in this photo, his Deeply Pleased With Himself face. Right now, given all that he's already accomplished with his new music for his solo album and how he's moving ahead on the final mix and the album-release and promotion details and the solo-show planning - I can't think of any more appropriate expression he should have on his face than this one. It belongs there.
Alan's got every excellent reason for being Deeply Pleased With Himself. It's a face that he wears so well, a face that suits him perfectly, a face that deeply pleases me. A face I love seeing...now and always.
A face that tastes like "More".
Truth be told, I'm considerably fond of - and deeply pleased by - the belly too. But that's for a later discussion.
More about Alan's "More" - some Solo-Album specifics I've been thinking about and a comment or two about his latest blog - in a bit.
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Another pleasure-giving sight of Well-Pleased Alan, seen here at the Rockin' Big Give, performing a brand new song.
Even if I didn'r think every new solo-album-destined song I've heard from Alan sounds absolutely wonderful, even if this wasn't the album - and the music - I've been waiting for since the very first time I saw and heard him perform...all it would have taken to get me 100% in favour of The Alan Doyle Solo Project is the gorgeous sight of how glad and grateful - how delighted and satisfied - he so clearly and consistently is to (finally) be doing this.
Since I truly do find his songs wonderful - somehow, he's even been able to surpass my over-the-moon expectations of and abiding faith in what he could and would do on his own, quite the impressive accomplishment given the height of those expectations and the depth of that faith - and since I really have been waiting for more than a decade for his music on this album, that gorgeous sight is making me almost as glad and grateful, almost as delighted and satisfied, as he is. Almost.
Thoroughly and deeply well=pleased. As it should always be. As he should always be. Exactly how I would have written it. Or it will be, when he's up there on stage accepting his Juno Award. Make that his first Juno Award.
Hey, if you're gonna dream...dream out loud.
I'm still going to have to wait a bit longer to write the rest about his blog entry and the solo-album thoughts. This past month at home, for various reasons I don't think I ever got more than 2 hours of sleep at any one time and now that I've come back here, I've been rediscovering the Lost Art of Slumber. I'll write again, after a nap - maybe two.
When Alan takes his Solo Album on tour, I am so hoping his gorgeous beard gets to come along too. That beard goes with this music; it goes with the Man who has made this music.
And even if it doesn't come along, I'm still going to see it - right there where it belongs, on the Boy's sweet face.
Not sure. Many meetings this week. Keep you posted. - Alan Doyle, January 2nd, Twitter (response to question about his solo-album release date)
Ever since Alan mentioned his Many Meetings, they've been on my mind. Nowhere near as much as they're on Alan's mind, to be sure; it has to be impossible to think about any aspect of his upcoming solo album that hasn't already occurred to him, and many more times than they have occurred to anyone else. But I do keep wondering how those meetings are going, hoping that they go exactly how he wants them to.
I don't know very much about record labels, even less in these rapidly changing days of the industry, but I do understand goals, the primary one of which remains constant no matter what's going on in the music biz: Get your music heard. The better your music is and the stronger your music is, the greater the desire and the effort should be to bring that hearing about. Whichever ways best make that happen.
Everything Alan has (generously) shared thus far from his solo album makes it very clear that this is music that needs to be heard, music that's going to make its lasting mark and receive its due notice and deserved acclaim once it does get heard. The goods are already there, in full - in abundance. Alan has worked with some of the best and brightest in the business to create and craft an excellent album, which is very nearly ready to make its Grand Entrance to the wide world outside; what he now needs from a record label - if he chooses that route - is the resolve and the means to ensure the greatest possible Grandness of that Entrance.
What he also needs is to be working with people who are aware of (and can make the most of) the Great Big Sea connection while also having a clear understanding that this is Alan Doyle Music. If they can't grasp what that means - that a part of his music is what GBS does, and then there is all the rest, so much more - then they can't serve the music as it should be served. He needs someone who will put Alan Doyle's best interests first, not Great Big Sea's; GBS already has its own capable people for that job.
Ideally, Alan will find someone to work with who will be right for him for the Long Haul. Unlesss he wants this to be his sole and single solo album - and, honestly, I can't bring myself to believe that's true for one moment - this is only the beginning for him, the first few steps along a brand new path, a path which will lead him to the opportunity to create, craft, and share all of the rich variety of his songs that live outside the framework of GBS.
I've thought a great deal about Alan's solo shows - not much of a surprise that I'd think a great deal about those shows, I suppose - and come to some opinions that a few folks might find surprising. As much as I would personally love for Alan to play his solo gigs at multitudinous venues all around the world - as much as I would love seeing him perform in each of those multitudinous venues - it's probably not what's best for his music, let alone not what works best for his always-tight schedule, to be slogging away night after night in dinky little places, playing for the already-converted, many of whom have come to get their substitute GBS Fix.
Again, it comes back to goals. Nobody knows better than Alan does why travelling musicians play those Endless Road gigs, a different city every night, set it up and tear it down and set it up again - all to build an audience and, with luck, make a living too. At the risk of engendering a somewhat-derisive snort from Himself for being a bit cavalier with his Bottom Line, I'll screw up my courage and point out that Alan doesn't need to earn a living from his solo shows, not right now he doesn't; he has the rare and wonderful luxury of being able to choose shows strictly on the basis of what best gets his music heard by those he most wants to hear it.
I might provoke another snort or two from him when I add that the one luxury he most assuredly does not possess is that of Time; with all of his other professional and personal obligations, even if he wanted to do Endless-Road slogging, it wouldn't be a viable option for him, and doing that slogging for the few free weeks he does have wouldn't go very far toward building the audience his music deserves.
But the simple truth is that Alan already has an audience, a huge audience. He's known by the GBS people and the Russell Crowe people and Scott Grimes people and the Republic Of Doyle people and the Hockey Night people; his is one of the most recognisable names - and faces - in all of Canada, with all of the media contacts and connections that go with possession of such a high profile. Alan's challenge isn't to build an audience for his solo music so much as it is to make sure that an existing audience, perhaps most of all those who have never seen beyond his Great Big Sea Guy persona, gets the chance to know that his solo music is now available and the opportunity to hear how wonderful that solo music is.
Some music only comes fully into its own when performed live; this is especially true of music that finds its best and most complete expression with interactive participation. It's especially true of much of GBS's music. Other music can be as strong and as true when shared heart-to-heart as it is when shared live with an audience. As wonderful as I know without a doubt at all that each and every one of Alan's solo shows will be - and, again, as selfishly as I still hope for a pile of those shows, for sure as many shows as he wants there to be - I genuinely believe that Alan's solo music - unlike GBS's music, perhaps more like Ron Hynes' music - will not need to be seen performed live in order to be experienced at its best.
To experience Alan's solo music at its best...hearing it, however and wherever it is heard, is going to suffice. Though seeing it will surely make it that much sweeter.
What does all this mean, pragmatically? Lots and lots of TV and radio spots aimed directly at that audience who already know who Alan is and who just need to be shown how much more he can do than they may have thought he could. Carefully chosen gigs at venues in cities that will get him mainstream media coverage - a friend of mine calls these "more cluck for your buck" gigs - again, for the same reason. His music needs to be performed in places commensurate with its worth.
Well, that and at the places that make him feel really cool. As much as common sense says he needs to concentrate mostly on Canada right now, I'll confess to hoping to see him play solo in New York and LA and wherever else he's got his heart set on...just because he's going to enjoy it so much. Absolutely guaranteed to put the much-loved Deeply Pleased With Himself look on his face. And that is what I am going to enjoy so much.
Alan Doyle finally venturing into solo music is a Big Deal; that venture needs to be treated as such. I sure hope that at one of this week's Many Meetings, Alan finds someone willing and able to do just that. Even if it winds up being himself.
Whatever it takes to get his music heard.
I do love that beard. It tastes like "More" too.
Probably enough of this for now. I'll save all those Alan Dpyle Back-Up Band thoughts for later. I'll also try to add in a few of the comments and questions some folks have made here about Alan's solo album.