BEST TRAINING SONGS: volume 1, b.
it has been a warm winter here in canada, but i must admit that the bike hasn't left it's spot on the trainer since november. i like the trainer. you can do focused work. my daughter can come downstairs and dance around and say hi to me. i don't have to muck around with base layers, woolies, jackets, gloves, hats under my helmet, booties...sometimes it almost takes longer to get ready to ride than the ride itself...its nice to just head into my basement refuge, play some tunes and ride...bareback, in the middle of winter...
my other refuge from winter is my car. both refuges are also premium places to crank tunes. and lately i have been kind've bored with things, it has been a while since i heard a tune and really grooved on it to the point where all of my neuroses fade and i am free inside the music. this is a beautiful thing when it happens. it is why we train. it is why we crank tunes. it is why the two go so well together.
but i found that feeling again during a trainer ride this week. it is a re-discovery, a blast from my past, and it got me rolling...literally.
so here is this installation's training tune:
"Alive" by Pearl Jam. i have posted the unplugged version here because it is without question the most rockin unplugged version of any song i have ever heard. and eddie veder's vocals are superlative. and the tangible feeling of anger about to burst out of him, to the point where he can barely stay in his unplugged seat, captures something of how i feel at this point in an extended winter training block with my nearest race still months away: i feel like leaping into a mosh pit, yes, even to this acoustic version of one of the greatest tunes of the grunge era.
in fact, this is the only acoustic rendering of any song i could see a mosh pit forming to. i was in a mosh pit once, but that was at a moist concert, many, many moons ago. and alas, i digress.
for those who crave the full on electric experience, try this: alive video, or else this live version, they are both spectacular.
i once owned the cassette version of pearl jam 10. that is how old i am. that is how old this tune is. me and this tune go way back. it probably led to speeding violations. it definitely was part of moments of wanton head waving in a parked car because i just had to stay and rock out to the end of that song.
i was lucky enough to re-discover it during a strong set on the bike, on the retro video station (which is 90% of what i listen to these days in the basement, as i am too lazy to muck around with changing cd's and i am not technologically up to date enough to have an ipod play-list, and sort of proud of it). alive contains a mixture of rawness, subtlety and defiance that just pulls you in and gets you pedalling harder.
i am not all about retro, as my first post in this volume will attest to. but when retro is this good, then i am glad to be old enough to re-discover such a gem from the past. i was an athlete during my adolescence and young adult-hood and PJ were there, in my repertoire of motivational music. and now, in mid-life, i am an athlete again. and pearl jam are there again, spurring me on with their sublime, angry, grunge vibe.
my other refuge from winter is my car. both refuges are also premium places to crank tunes. and lately i have been kind've bored with things, it has been a while since i heard a tune and really grooved on it to the point where all of my neuroses fade and i am free inside the music. this is a beautiful thing when it happens. it is why we train. it is why we crank tunes. it is why the two go so well together.
but i found that feeling again during a trainer ride this week. it is a re-discovery, a blast from my past, and it got me rolling...literally.
so here is this installation's training tune:
"Alive" by Pearl Jam. i have posted the unplugged version here because it is without question the most rockin unplugged version of any song i have ever heard. and eddie veder's vocals are superlative. and the tangible feeling of anger about to burst out of him, to the point where he can barely stay in his unplugged seat, captures something of how i feel at this point in an extended winter training block with my nearest race still months away: i feel like leaping into a mosh pit, yes, even to this acoustic version of one of the greatest tunes of the grunge era.
in fact, this is the only acoustic rendering of any song i could see a mosh pit forming to. i was in a mosh pit once, but that was at a moist concert, many, many moons ago. and alas, i digress.
for those who crave the full on electric experience, try this: alive video, or else this live version, they are both spectacular.
i once owned the cassette version of pearl jam 10. that is how old i am. that is how old this tune is. me and this tune go way back. it probably led to speeding violations. it definitely was part of moments of wanton head waving in a parked car because i just had to stay and rock out to the end of that song.
i was lucky enough to re-discover it during a strong set on the bike, on the retro video station (which is 90% of what i listen to these days in the basement, as i am too lazy to muck around with changing cd's and i am not technologically up to date enough to have an ipod play-list, and sort of proud of it). alive contains a mixture of rawness, subtlety and defiance that just pulls you in and gets you pedalling harder.
i am not all about retro, as my first post in this volume will attest to. but when retro is this good, then i am glad to be old enough to re-discover such a gem from the past. i was an athlete during my adolescence and young adult-hood and PJ were there, in my repertoire of motivational music. and now, in mid-life, i am an athlete again. and pearl jam are there again, spurring me on with their sublime, angry, grunge vibe.
Comments
Post a Comment