![]() ![]() Sunshine Lies gives the artist and his fans a reason to get reacquainted, while also providing uninitiated music lovers with a perfect introduction to an altogether captivating body of work from an artist who remains as vital as ever. Sweet is that rare artist who seems directly and intimately knowable through his work, causing his audience to feel a close bond with him-to put them on what they think of as a first-name basis. Matthew Gordon-Banks (born 21 June 1961) is a British former Conservative Party politician who was elected in 1992 as the Member of Parliament for Southport, but lost his seat in 1997. A sophisticated aural architect, Sweet absorbed the work of '60s rock's three "Bs"-the Beach Boys, Beatles and Byrds, along with '70s avatars Neil Young and Big Star-with such a deep understanding of the spirit as well as the craft behind the music of the old masters that he was able to use these timeless palates in a fresh, highly personal way. ![]() While so many of his contemporaries disdained rock & roll's past, Sweet has deftly channeled it, picking up where his inspirations from previous decades had left off. During a decade when cynicism, overstatement, and mean-spiritedness ruled, Sweet found a sizable audience by expressing himself with unselfconsciousness, subtlety, penetrating honesty and the sheer joy of constructing something cool. From there, it was just a few centuries’ leap to ATMs.Of the significant bands and artists to emerge in the '90s, Lincoln, Nebraska-born Sweet is the odd man out. The richest cities in Europe were all in Italy, so good old Ancient Rome stepped up to organize the model of a public bank with a central administration. ![]() Warfare was also becoming more sophisticated and more expensive, and the temple system was no longer cutting it. Major religious texts including the Bible, Torah, and Quran, all lay out their own guidelines on charging interest.Īs merchants, and therefore countries, became wealthier, capitalism developed to support the money and merchandise changing hands. Religion’s role in the history of banking doesn’t stop at its physical structures. As an added perk, thieves were less likely to steal from a temple for fear of divine punishment. Priests were also literate and able to maintain and store records. Temples were also the safest option because there was always a trustworthy person there to keep watch. Every major city already had one in a central location. Even the legendary Acropolis, a temple of Athena still present today, stored money. There’s historical evidence that temples handled currency in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and, of course, Rome. ![]() In fact, the word temple comes from the phrase meaning “treasure houses” and the words money and mint come from the ancient Roman goddess Juno Moneta, whose temple served both religious and financial purposes. People could go to a temple to validate that their coins were legitimate, and people with enough wealth to consider worth storing could make deposits, exchanges, and loans there. The archaeologist who led the discovery of a lost Sumerian temple in the ancient city of Girsu has said he was accused by disbelieving peers of making it up and wasting funding. When the world economy was based on bartering, cows didn’t require a bovine bank, but as governments and wealthier citizens evolved and minted currency, a more structured solution was called for.īefore buildings formally existed for the sole purpose of banking, gold and coins were stored and sometimes even minted out of temples. While the foundation of American democracy makes a point of separating church and state, the history of money is inextricably tied to religion. ![]()
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