I notice many blogs are posting poems related to autumn, capturing many of the attributes of fall through imagery and descriptions of the season. I’d like to volunteer a recording that, for me, aurally captures autumn, although it may be by association because of personal experience.

The instrumental collaboration of Basic between Robert Quine and Fred Maher sounds and feels different on every track but generates an overall feeling (gestalt?) that meshes well with autumn. The stripped down sound of the guitar/drum mix matches the changing look of the season. Despite sounding bare on the first listen it reveals a complexity that unveils itself the more you listen. I realize it’s not for everyone, but I enjoy it.

A friend in the music business, knowing my tastes, sent me a pre-release cassette of this album. Driving across a desolate section of Arkansas I put the tape in and the sound matched the cloudy, fall-like skies perfectly. The line of migrating birds, stretching for miles on both sides of the road, is an image that stays with me from that drive.

For those who enjoy football-this was the first weekend of November 1984, etched in my memory because of the brutal Chicago Bears/Raiders game where players were carted off the field after almost every play. I remeber McMahon leaving the game due to internal injuries, never to be seen the rest of the season. While Raiders quarterback Marc Wilson was getting roughed up and more or less getting knocked out of the game, backup quarterback Jim Plunkett came in and out of the lineup, and punter Ray Guy had to fill in for many plays as QB when both of them were ailing (he ran the opponent’s offense in practice—shades of George Blanda). But then, I didn’t mean this to be a football post…

If it sounds your cup of tao, download the Quine/Maher collaboration for this season and enjoy …