I remember watching In Living Color perform at the 1990 Grammies. I loved their song, “Cult of Personality,” but that was the most gawd awful performance I have ever seen. Some bands sound great after the mix, but you have to wonder how in the world they were ever “discovered.” Then there are other bands—you’ve never heard of most of them—who are fantastic live, but lose something in digital translation.
Kenneth Scott is one of the most passionate singers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and hearing. He doesn’t care much for recording himself, so you’re probably not going to find any of his CDs in your local music store. As he puts it, his mission is leading worship for non-believers, which might sound a little self-defeating until he explains it. Songs are catalyst by which he tunes himself into the spiritual vibe of his audience so that the Holy Spirit can speak through him in words, sounds, and emotions that communicate to those unique individuals in those unique moments. Something spiritual and real happens between Kenneth and his audience. You can’t capture that in a recording. CDs are mostly for entertainment. Kenneth says that entertainment is great, it’s just not where he’s focused. To paraphrase what he told me earlier tonight, “Live and recorded are two completely different things. I’d rather play live, but people want to take that experience with them. I tried to think of ways to give that to them. Live recordings are the closest you can get, but it’s still lacking something. Improvisation is an important part of the live experience, and you can’t put that on a CD.” The only collection of his I own is a very limited production live CD cryptically titled 17. At the moment, it is completely sold out.
The lyrics that accompany Kenneth’s voice and music tell real life stories of human relationships: men and women, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters.
“For the Love of Eve” talks about how Adam must have felt about Eve, the first woman he had ever seen. Do you remember the first time you saw a pristine mountain lake, surrounded by white-capped mountains and forest? No photograph or painting can ever capture the intense beauty of the real thing. We have all known women since before we were born. We’ve become inured to their breathtaking presence. Imagine what Adam must have experienced as a full grown adult man seeing the most perfect woman ever created, the first woman he had ever seen, for the very first time. This song tries to capture some of that and all the things that Eve represented to Adam: beauty, mystery, temptation, the Fall, and finally redemption.
Currently, Kenneth is playing with Cosmic Party. He says the band still has some of the southern rock sound for which he’s best known, but they’re a little more “jazzy funk.” Listen to “CosmicSpooning” on his MySpace page, and you’ll know what that means. Listen to “For the Love of Eve” while you’re there. It’s not meat-space live, it’s still pretty darn good.
Other completely different things:
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