Trustfall
By
Leonard Zwelling
I really do try not to sound like my parents when they saw and heard the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in February of 1964 when I hear new pop music. My folks dismissed the Fab Four out of hand. The Beatles weren’t exactly Frank Sinatra after all. Little did my folks know that just a few years later, Old Blue Eyes would be recording the Beatles’ songs.
I avidly pursue new popular music of all kinds. I read about the latest artists in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. I watch Saturday Night Live every week if for no other reason than to hear the musical guest. Every single Friday I go to Amazon.com and click on Amazon music, new CDs and vinyl. I peruse the new entries and hit Spotify for anything that looks like it might be appealing. It almost never is.
My musical tastes were firmly set in the 1960s. I even go to Dosey Doe north on Interstate 45 to hear aging rockers like The Association, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, John Sebastian, Jefferson Starship, Janis Ian, Jimmy Webb, and Jorma Kaukonen. I simply love this stuff even when the voices of the artists have seen better days. They can all still play and more importantly I can actually listen to what they play. Each artist clings to the definition of music that I was taught so many years ago—melody, harmony, rhythm. Not just rhythm.
That being said it has been a long time since I heard a new record (that’s a round, black vinyl platter with a groove on each side over which you pass a phonograph needle to allow music to emerge from large speakers) that I played over and over again because I simply could not get enough of it. (Okay, I admit, I do have records, but I am addicted to Spotify.)
Then came Trustfall.
First, a definition from Google:
Noun. trust fall (plural trust falls) A trust-building exercise in which someone lets himself fall without trying to stop it, relying on another person or people to catch him.
Trustfall is the new album by Alecia Beth Moore, better known as P!nk. Now I understand that a 74-year old aging rocker ought to stick to his Jefferson Airplane eight-tracks and not get into the pop lane of 2023, but P!nk is something else and this may well be her best record ever.
If anyone since Cole Porter or Paul McCartney ever wrote an earworm it is P!nk on the first three tracks of Trustfall. Don’t take my word for it. Open up Spotify or Apple music or whatever app you use to stream and just listen to the first three tracks of Trustfall—”When I Get There,” “TRUSTFALL,” and the absolutely infectious “Turbulence.” This is pop music as I remember it used to be with all three music elements glistening and exploding from the speakers.
P!nk is coming to Houston on September 27. I already have my tickets. You should have yours. She puts on the most spectacular show I have ever seen. Three times we saw her at the Toyota Center swinging and singing on wires to the farthest reaches of the arena. I can’t even imagine what she will do at Minute Maid Park, but I’ll be there.
If you love old-time rock and roll and a great pop show, this is the one not to miss. She is as good as it gets.
Did you know? Dr. Zwelling’s new book “Conflict of Interest” becomes available Spring 2023. Check LenZwelling.com for the latest on this book and information on how you can purchase a copy.
