That's Entertainment : Michael Penn
Sean Penn - one of the actor’s of his generation and humanitarian. He’s been in stacks of films, my fave being Shanghai Surprise (1986).
Chris Penn - he was in Footloose (1984) which in my books, is pretty bloomin’ awesome.
Then there’s Michael Penn. He’s my Bob Dylan - a pop troubadour and a keen observer of the dark recesses of the heart and human condition. Oh, and the singer/songwriter of his generation. However, unlike his acting brothers, Michael Penn had a brief flirtation with the pop-charts in 1990 with his debut single No Myth.
Now if I had an ultimate Top 10 songs I’d could have for the rest of my life, No Myth would be one of those songs. It’s a song that was a minor hit in Australia and I heard it on the radio before becoming a devotee of Michael’s when I bought the cassingle, and later the album. No Myth is everything a pop-ballad should be - quirky, up-beat, full of warmth, and insanely infectious. The chorus - what if I was Romeo in black jeans, what if I was Heathcliff, it’s no myth…maybe she’s just looking for someone to dance with - is undeniably different and therein lies the magic of Michael Penn. His debut album March is littered with these gems - check out Invisible and This and That. The whole of winter 1990, I was tucked up in my boarding school bed and whilst others shivered in the cold, I was warmed by an album that kept me company and kept me warmer than any blanket could have. And I have quite seriously spun the album a 1000 times and worn it out, which is nigh impossible to do with a compact disc. In fact, I once did a 32 hour flight-journey to Moscow (with all the stop-overs and delays) and listened to this album on repeat the whole way (and munched through a couple dozen or so AA batteries in the process).
The follow up Free For All didn’t have that defining chart hit but it came fully formed with some more delicious slices of wryness. If you want jangle-pop, check out Free Time. Fractured love - Seen The Doctor. For mine, Free For All is the twin of March, but it didn’t sell what the record label wanted it to sell which led to a bitter breakup between artist and label. It would be five years before Michael’s third album - Resigned - on the Sony label. I only found about it flipping through the 2nd hand rack at Red Eye records and it was only a few months old apparently. I bought it immediately and fell in love (this was back in the days when I wouldn’t go anywhere without my discman). It was also one of the first CDs I ever got with interactive PC content. Resigned is a hook-ridden guitar-pop album imbued with emotion in every strummed chord and torched vocal. At any time I want to write something something aching or melancholy, Resigned will get a spin to get me in the mood but I’m selling it short. The album sparkles with wit and wisdom and is a mature album written and recorded and produced to a tee.
The new millennium saw Michael Penn release his fourth album, aptly titled MP4 - Days Since A Lost Time Accident. Other than the lead-in single Lucky One, which seems like an attempt to fabricate an all jingle-jangle radio-friendly hit, this marked the point where Michael Penn stuck his finger up at the industry, radio formats and crafted an album for himself and his devotees…so people like me. It took a long time, even to this day, for me to completely accept it though in 2000 I met Lee and for the first time in my life, my music collection took second place in my life. So maybe MP4 suffered because of that. Listening to a sprinkling of tracks now, it certainly is something worth reinvesting in.
By now, Michael Penn moved away from his pop leanings, and moved more to the family business of film. He’s lent tracks to films - Godzilla?!? - and scored hit films such as Boogie Nights, Sunshine Cleaning, The Last Kiss and Solitary Man but these days does a lot of work for HBO with Girls and Masters of Sex. But there was one more album left in him, and in 2005, he independently released his piece d’resistance - Mr Hollywood Jr, 1947 - a post-war noirish love-letter to his fascination with ‘the year everything changed’. In 1947, the portable radio was invented, the Dept of Defence was established and LA had a spate of UFO sightings, and he has combined these elements in to a sophisticated concept album that twirls and swirls. One of my favourite tracks is an ambient, chiming evocative piece called The Transistor which tinkles along for a minute and a half whilst another mini-opus is The Television Set Waltz. Meticulously crafted, it takes a few spins to sink in, but as always, there’s that one moment of ‘oh wow’ and that’s track 1 - Walter Reed. As a record maker, Michael Penn remains at odds with everything else that has come and gone whilst he creates his music. I wonder if he observes this in Room 712, the Apache where he sings Nothing’s changed. Just rearranged for you to fix…
Since then, he’s released a collection of ‘hits’ Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea. It’s worthy of your attention. Michael also maintains a brief presence on Facebook and has plenty of die-hard fans out there. It’s one of those things on my bucket list to see him play live. I think he’s given up on the whole album thing and once in a while pops out a tune or two that he uploads to the internet.
Oh, and did I mention Michael also acted? Yep. He was in that quirky 80’s dramedy St Elsewhere.
When all is said and done, Michael Penn will steadfastly remain an endearing musician in my musical collection. Whenever I have March on, if I close my eyes, I’m that 14 year old kid again, and I can remember the warmth of that album coursing through by veins on those cold wintery nights.
I encourage all of you to at least check him out…his musical genius is no myth and I know you won’t leave disappointed.
This & That https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c705yxdpMGU
Long Way Down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxqekFB9lZs
Walter Reed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWGL3mPE114
NOTE: There is a video for Seen The Doctor out there…for the life of me I can’t find it. Same as the Damascus Mix of No Myth.



