Friday 80s Flashback for December 6, 2024

[Pulse] -- I knew nothing of the pioneering jazz drummer, Ronald Shannon Jackson, until his second go-round with Last Exit in 1988. But he had been on the scene from 1966 until his death in 2013, and he amassed 165 credits [Discogs]. I have not backtracked through all of his works. I'm primarily interested in RSJ with Last Exit, the Decoding Society, and his solo work. That latter category is where today's Flashback comes rom. 

Now, I'm not entirely certain when Ronald Shannon Jackson released Pulse, but I do know it was in 1984 and AOTY lists the release date as December 3, 1984. So, Pulse turns 40 years old this week!

AllMusic categorizes Pulse as a Jazz album in the styles of Fusion and Hard Bop. Discogs more broadly lists the album's styles as Free Jazz, Poetry, Free Improvisation, and Spoken Word. Discogs might be the more complete description as Pulse features Ronald Shannon Jackson recitation over drum solos, the kind of solos you might expect from an icon of jazz, funk, and the avant garde. As such, Pulse is a sparse album, specifically in terms of personnel. Ronald Shannon Jackson handled the drums, of course, as well as the aforementioned vocals. Two other performers contributed to two of the ten tracks: Onaje Allen Gumbs played piano on "Lullabye For Mother" and Michael S. Harper provided his voice to "Those Winter Sundays." Beyond that, only the producers – David Breskin and Ron Saint-Germain – are listed in the liner notes. 

This is not an easy listen, particularly if you are not accustomed to jazz drum solos. But it is a rewarding one, at least in my opinion. And if you need a break from all the holiday tunes, this album will certainly cleanse your aural palate. 

Flashback: Pulse (December 3, 1984)

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And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

I'll see you in seven!

Super Finale

Tyler Hoechlin (L) as Superman and Elizabeth Tulloch (R) as Lois Lane;
they are standing in profile in front of a rubble-strewn street.
[From Superman & Lois]

Well, that happened. And by "that" I mean the series finale of Superman & Lois (2021-2024). By now, there have been numerous posts and reviews, many of which addressing this series' position as the final comic book inspired show on CW, musing on the quality of the show, sharing glimpses of the work behind the scenes, and probably spoiling key moments for folks who have not yet viewed the episode. 

I'm not doing any of that. 

Well, I'm probably offering a bit of a spoiler here. So, if you are among those who have not viewed the episode which aired two nights ago, stop reading. And definitely do not scroll down to the second image in this post. Go watch the show and then come back here.

Ready?

I love that the reveal of the Super Family – Superman flying with his costumed sons as well as Steel and his daughter (Starlight) – shows the creative team paid attention to the source material... the comics. First, Jordan and John are differentiated by one's emphasis on red and the other on blue. This echoes not only an imaginary tale from Superman in which Supes was split into Red and Blue counterparts (Superman Vol. 1 #162), but also when DC comics brought the split into modern canon by creating the electrified Superman Red and Superman Blue (circa 1998 in Superman Red/Superman Blue #1 and Superman Vol. 2 #132).

Now, Jordan and Jonathan are Superboys. But if you look closely, Jordan's outfit looks very much like the New 52 Superboy while Jonathan's looks very much like the 1990s Superboy who launched during the Reign of the Supermen storyline and got his own series. However, Jonathan wisely does not use the leather jacket or sunglasses (though the alt-universe Jonathan did sport the jacket). The other difference between comics and this TV series was that both of the comic book Superboys were clones, while Jordan and Jonathan in the series are the actual sons of Clark and Lois. 

So, here is an image capture of that in-flight scene from the finale along with a few comic covers to show what I think were some inspirations for the show's creative team:

Super Family in flight and the covers of four comic books that might have influenced the scene. 

Anyway, I loved the TV series and I'm sad it had to end to make room for the upcoming cinematic rebirth of Superman.