Living in the Wisconsin resort town aptly called Wisconsin Dells in the middle of winter was a sobering experience for me. Every morning, driving to work, I was greated by the sleeping giants of amusement parks, water slides and various other tourist traps closed for the season. I was told that the population was in the millions during the summer, but in the cold days of February, only about 2,000 inhabitants braved the weather. Moz ran through my head the entire time I was there. His paeon to being trapped in a coastal town during the wrong months summed up my experience perfectly. I don't think he ever sang, wrote or gelled better than he did on VivaHate, coming off of The Smiths high, announcing a solo career that would stillbegoingstrong over twenty years later..... Just not as strong as this.
The Beatles wrote many a song about their hometown's streets, fields and girls. Oddly enough, they never hit on the river that flows there, into the Irish Sea. It must have been because that geographical location was already well spoken for by late 1964. The Pacemakers were one of many Merseybeatbands that found success in the wake of Beatlemania. They just happened to pen the movement's anthem in the form of this ballad. It is a sentimental longing for home that pulls the right amount of heartstrings to make it universal. The Pacemakers'catalog has plenty of qualityentries, but this piece is right up there with The Fab Four's best.
It seemed like Gerry Rafferty was done in 1978. Legal battles over contracts for his formerband had left him unable to record for three years. Now, with his second solo album finally coming to fruition, he had to deliver something. Turned out all he needed was a saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft. A global phenomenon after its release, Rafferty never replicated its success. Sometimes the perfect single really is the beginning of the end, although he does have awealthofsolidmaterialtoperuse. However, the saxophone was cool again, and that's all that matters (Even if the riff might have been stolen!).
Release on Wham!'s album Make It Big, this was George Michael's first solo single in the UK, and showed beyond the shadow of a doubt that Andrew Ridgeley was completely expendable. Michael would go on to craft someofthegreatestcontributions to the recorded British legacy, but none would ever match the excitement that this recording demonstrated to all 21 countries where it topped the charts: This is a major talent that we almost slept on. No one would surprise us this much until Justin Timberlake's solo debut.
What does a band do when competing with the folk rock reign of Fairport Convention in Britain? Well, if you are Steeleye Span, you make a fewpopsingles that get you on TopOfThe Pops, and then you RAWK!!!!!! What has always made Steelye stand out from the pack is how they truly put the rock in their beloved genre. No example of this is clearer than this eight minute-plus murder ballad. Electric Guitar replicates traditional instrumental passages so flawlessly that it sounds like these ancient songs were written with a stratocaster in mind. Steelye is largely unknown in America, at least more so that Fairport. Commoner's Crown, their seventh album, is the perfect introduction to their impressive catalog, and its content might even do my purpose for posting one better: It might become one of your favorite lps, regardless of genre.
Never has experimental music been so poppy! Animal Collective can veer from perfection to unlistenable on the same album, never caring if the general public follows. Oddly enough, they always seem to, as they have become one of the most successful indie bands out there. Let's hope they always continue to keep the balance, perfectly manufactured here on their best single, which starts with pointless noise and turns into sunny Am gold. Mark my words, these guys have "career artists" written all over them!
Gary White was a bass player who was a member of such forgotten bands as Circus Maximus (with Jerry Jeff Walker) and The Lost Sea Dreamers. He was also an incredible songwriter. In 1970 he played on Linda Ronstadt's seminal, underrated second album Silk Purse. She must have felt the same about his work because she recorded three of his songs for the disc, including today's selection. The album wasn't the huge hit Capital was hoping for, as they were trying to follow-up her success with The Stone Poneys' rendition of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum" "Long, Long Time" stalled at number 25 on the charts and the album never rose over 103. Retrospect has been much kinder to the song. It is Linda's purest work. Her voice feels every line of pain that Gary stitched into his lyrics, and the Nashville studio cats backing her up weave a gentle pillow for her to cry on. Linda's strength was that atherpeakshesangeverysonglikeshehadwrittenit. It is a feat severely lacking in most non-writing performers today. Studying her body of work should be part of every American Idol's competition process.
Here's a lovely duet with Bobby Darin I couldn't resist posting.
Steely Dan capture a loser's defiance towards his failures perfectly in today's selection from one of thebestalbumsevermade, Aja. Steely Dan were the kings of character sketches and studio perfection. Try as you might, you will never hear a note out of place on any of their songs. Instead of sounding AOR and over-polished, it has always given Steely Dan an air of mystery and, oddly enough, street cred. They have influenced artists as diverse as Bobby Conn and Mika, and since their 2000 comeback, have been going strong in both group and solowork between Walt and Donald. Let's hope these last ten years was just a preview for what is to come.
I almost put up a cover, but no one could ever make this song any better.
The power in this little girl's voice is mind boggling. Andrea started a longtraditionof Annies with this original recording, but I don't think anyone's ever bettered it. An orphan wondering what her parents who gave her up are doing should never sound this beautiful, but it works on levels that transcend its genre and subject matter. This is the single reason why, as a child, I wanted to be performer..... there, I said it. I've often talked about how Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy are my favorite musicals. Followed by Sweeney Todd, Annie is right up there at number four.
It's odd, but I think Axl led me to my love of progressive rock more than anyone else. Sure, I had been a Genesis fan for years, but in 1993 I didn't even know that Peter Gabriel had been in the group, let alone that they used to wrote songs about Giant Hogweeds. Yes and The Moody Blues had drifted across my periphery, but mainly through singles which compromised their trueleanings. G N' R however, no matter how subliminally, showed me that longer songs with time signature and key changes were badass. Use Your Illusion I and II are never mentioned in the same "classic" breath as Appetite For Destruction. They are seen as overblown extensions of a bloated drug and ego-fueled band that jumped the proverbial shark on their sophomore studio releases. I mean..... there's truth to that. Who in their right mine today would release a double album as separate discs on the same day? Granted, Bruce Springsteen would copy the format a few months later with Human Touch and Lucky Town, but that was The Boss. What were these metal punks from LA thinking? Umm, they were obviously using the old noodles quite well through the haze of substance abuse and power struggles. Never has a major label release been more ambitious in scope and depth. The most growth seen by this band previously was the rootsy sound of "Patience" on G N' R Lies. Here, almost every genre was touched on. Use Your Illusion I is a powerhouse which gave us "Don't Cry", "November Rain", "Coma" and "The Garden". But II? Good God, two is the greatest thing they ever put to wax, Appetite be damned. Never has a seventy minute disc flowed so smoothly from as many different genres as they explore here. "Yesterday", "14 Years", "Pretty Tied Up".... Hell, "Don't Cry" 's alternate lyrics are great. Then, nestled near the end of the album, is G N' R's own "Love Lies Bleeding". I never wanted to be a guitar god more then after hearing Slash's second solo on this 9 minute epic. "Estranged" is their greatest work on their greatest album. No one, not Axl, Slash, Duff, Larry, Curly...... will ever top this gem. For almost twenty years I have listened to this song, and never once winced at its length. Those nine minutes go by in an instant of poetry, musicality and grace. I think I've rambled enough today. Let's hear this beast, and thank G N' R for letting us Gen X/Y cusp riders know that rock and roll could be so much more.
Bobbie Gentry could have rode the residuals of "Ode To Billie Joe" for the rest of her life and lived quite comfortably. Thankfully, she was more of an artist than that, and gave us this ode to prostitution three years later. It shows that she was no one hit wonder. Shelanded11songsonthebillboardcharts and 4 in the UKtop40!
It must have been nice to be The Beatles, that's all I can think. No one would have thought in 1968 of editing "Hey Jude" down when it was played on the radio. Tommy James was not as lucky. His masterwork from his greatestalbum was rarely heard in its original form unless you owned the LP. It's quite a shame because the extended version makes much more sense than the single, letting the song build majestically with fuzz guitar, vocal hijinks and studio trickery until we arrive at the wah - wah sung ending, which fits so much better when heard as it was supposed to be. This album is available in a beautiful reissue, so pick it up for the full picture of some of the finest psych-pop ever produced.
Never has a song about race been so subtle, shocking and powerful all at once. We should expect no less from Miss Simone, who in her lifetime couldmakeanycompositionherown, but took extra care to produce tremors withheroriginalwork. The finest jazz voice of all time? Let's just say she, Ella and Billie have a comfortable three way tie going on.
Man, this guy could writeacatchyditty. It wasn't just Roger Miller's music that got you, it was his clever use of language as well. Like a country Cole Porter, Miller was one of the greatest artists of the sixties, before becoming a Rooster in Robin Hood in the seventies and scoring one of thefinestmusicalsevermade in the eighties. This song captures perfectly these sentiments. Here Roger looks at divorce from an analytical standpoint, recognizing similar patterns that have led to the decline in marriages. Another classic of the western persuasion that I was lead to by Ringo Starr, no less.
Some songs stick with you from the moment you hear it. I have loved this heartbreaking character study since hearing it on Chapin's Gold Medal Collection in 1996. I would listen to that two disc set while playing Super Nintendo games with the sound turned down. This one made me stop playing Super Mario Land II and just listen. Harry's musichasthe power to do that over a bodyofwork that has long been ignored in critical circles. Listen to this track, then go on the 'ol Amazon and purchase a used copy of the aforementioned compilation. It will make you stop whatever you are doing and listen too, I guarantee.
I understand theimportanceofAthens, Ga'sfinestsons'earlywork. I appreciate their commercialbreakthroughsofDocument, GreenandOutOfTime. MonsterandNewAdventuresInHigh-Fi were released when I was in high school, so they take me back to a special time. Theirlaterwork, while dropping slightly in critical favor and quality, are still better songs than bands like Nickelback will ever put out.......... You've noticed I've left something out? Here's my explanation. I believe that everything R.E.M. released prior to AutomaticForThePeople was building up to that moment. It is a rarity even among "perfect" albums because it stuns the listener with just how perfect it is. Nothing is out of place The album flows smoothly like the river we must find in the final track. Along the way we meet angsty teens, sidewinders, assisted suicide patients, Andy Kaufman and Montgomery Clift. Only one obstruction stops us on this serene and powerful journey: What Chris Martin called the greatest song ever written. "Nightswimming" is nostalgia for a time that was sacred. It's not that now is bad, just that for a brief time in the past, life was everything we knew it could be. Maybe we are far removed, maybe we are completely different people now, but those memories always come back. It's not a bad thing. We welcome our reflection of them. We will always hold them in our minds, hearts and spirit. Michael Stipe captures this with Mike Mills' repeating piano phrase and John Paul Jones' beautiful string arrangement. It is an eternity removed from "Radio Free Europe", as well as "Imatation Of Life". Although it comes as the next to last track, it is the centerpiece of their greatest work. They never needed to record anything else. The fact that they did just shows what a remarkable bunch of fellows R.E.M. really are.
Harry, you truly have infiltrated every aspect of my life, including this beautiful song!
Just a beautiful cover with looping pedals, no less!
Sometimes words "pale" next to hard examples. Therefore, I will simply say that this is the most beautiful song off of themostbeautifulalbum made by oneofthemostimportantbandsthateverwas. Based on a college girlfriend of Lou Reed's, it is transcendent in form, substance and meaning. Few love songs even come close to its grandeur. Let's listen.
With today's entry, I have completely covered the bases with Jim Steinman's career (Unless the 365 delves into the Broadway flop Dance Of The Vampires, which I assure you it does not!). Oddly enough, this prog-pop hit was written for Meatloaf for his MidnightAtTheLostAndFoundalbum, but the record company didn't want to pay Steinman for it.....so he gave it to the lady who sing "It's A Heartache"? Actually, it makes sense because he was "Directing" and producing Tyler's finest album, FasterThanTheSpeedOfNight, at the time. With an iconic video, this song basically took over the world, and hasbeenreferencedoutthebum by at least three generations of pop culture aficionados. Does it hold up? I answer that with a resounding yes. Tyler's raggedchordsofpower give the song a strength not found in multiplecoverversions. I honestly don't think Meat could have song it better. The lyrics are repetitive, ingratiating and brilliant all in the same breath, which means it is just what you would expect from a Jim Steinman piece. This, however, is much more than that. As the ages have proven, this is the finest song the man ever wrote, speaking to a teen in 2010 just as well as it did in '83. Kids feel love differently than any other age group on earth. Miss Tyler makes those feeling echo in our ears like a sieve connected to our hearts. This track still gets me every time I hear it, but it does so because I heard it first when I was young. With it's use on Glee, I'm sure it is happening again to millions of other teens as well. That, dear friends, is what makes a timeless tune, and this will always be thus considered.
Bonnie's come back to her signature hit a few times
Sinead's biggest hit will always be linked in my brain to two proper nouns: Prince Rogers Nelson and a tear. Prince wrote this song for one of his manyvanityprojects, The Family in 1985. Their synth-washed rendition never charted and was quickly forgotten. Then came that tear. In what is probably the greatest music video of the 90's (and that's saying a lot, considering it came out in 1990),this musical short revels in a simplicity that was the antithesis of the 80's years that had spawned the rise of the medium. It is in that tear that this song resonates, and that voice. We have not seen the likes of Miss O'Connor since, and her rocket-like rise and fall is one of the greatest tragedies ever to befall the pop charts. She's simply toogoodtoignore. So, with baited breath, let us view this tone poem again, and show reverence to the most talented one-hit wonder of all time. No wonder Prince hated her. She stole his song, and even though he has put up a valiant effort, it belongs to our bald priestess for eternity.
Oh, what a joy it was to discover all of the genre-defying classics that white-hared and bearded fellow from "We Are The World" had under his belt. It was the ubiquitous "Gambler" that first made me take notice. Then, the psychedelic country knock-out of "Just Dropped In" opened my eyes to his peerlesswork in the First Edition. Through these gates I listened to him duet with Dolly and Dottie, tell the story of Reuben James, cover Lionel Richie, wonder what his lady saw in him and beg Miss Ruby not to take her love to town. Yet its this tale of knowing when to fight that looms largest in his legend, even more so than rotisserie chicken. A number one hit in the UK, it shattered records in the US as well, climbing to number three on the pop charts. Some stories lose their power through endless repetition. Tommy's final battle with the Gatlin boys never ceases to give me chills. Rick Rubin, get this guy in your studio.
This is the finest Sims-inspired viral video I have ever seen!
Showing that even great songs can be made fun of to hilarious effect, here's some classic commentary from Adam Carolla and Norm McDonald.
Miss Ian has definitely feltsomepain in her time. In fact, she's made a career of expressing it in the singer/songwriter way. Through all of her works of sadness. today's song rings out the loudest. The pain of lost love boils to anger in this tense ballad, one of the hardest hitting gems of the genre. It still stabs after multiple listens.
Ever hear of Pandora's Box....the band? I hadn't either until researching today's post. Turns out they were an all-girl group put together by Jim Steinman to record his Wagnerian Epics. They were the first to record this track. The video, by Ken Russell, makes it all worth it that I found this out. However, the definitive version belongs to that lung-shredding Canuck we love and hate equally. It is her finest moment, plain and simple. In acareerfullofsurprisingmomentsofbrilliance, this stands above them all, towering in its grandeur. It is the ultimate guilty pleasure, capable of making a room full of hipsters scream along to its operatic glory. Don't doubt me. I've seen it. You can too. Just put it on at your next party. PROG POP PERFECTION (Inspired by Wuthering Heights, no less!)!
It's not the full song, but the video's pretty great!
And so's the live version, with choreography by Mia Michaels.
And we can't leave out Meat's own version... I mean, he had to record it, didn't he?
I was exposed to this, the finest of therockera'sinstrumentalhits, through the ending montage of 1987's biopic of Ritchie Valens, La Bamba. It haunted me for years before purchasing the Billboard Book of Number One Hits and finding all about Santo and Johnny. Man, these guys had international staying power! While "Sleepwalk" was their only US number one, they hit that spot in Mexico with a cover of "And I Love Her" by The Beatles in 1964, and stayed at the top the Italian charts for 21 weeks in 1973 with a cover of The Godfather's Theme. George Harrison even acknowledged that he used the track as a reference point for his slide guitar solo in the Beatles' "comeback" single "Free As A Bird". I think we need a definitive career-spanning compilation of these guys here in the states. It would make for perfect late night entertaining mood music.
Covers abound, even one with lyrics written by the boys, though never recorded by them!
