Yes Virginia, there was a time when a song like this could make it into the Billboard Top Twenty. Not that it's all that different from the glorified novelty songs topping the charts for months at a time in the last couple of years. However the lyrics are stronger, even when dealing with the aforementioned roadkill, than any silly sex jingle or pointless remake we deal with today. When a novelty track is written by a genuinegeniuslikeRufus' daddy, you just expect as much.
The 1 2 3 punch of Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy makes many a music fan overlook what came next for Pearl Jam. No Code is their most understatedalbum, and in that respect it is unmatched in the 90's alternative movement. The band was just coming off the best selling single day sales in history, which this album would not match. There are no "classic" singles, but the combined whole is undoubtedly one. It is meant to be taken in full, like Weezer's Pinkerton and R.E.M.'s New Adventures In Hi-Fi, both from the same year. It was rumoured that this song is about the soon-to-be drug casualty Layne Staley, but it could be about anyone whose friends have watched them hopelessly descend into addiction. Eddie Vedder has always praised and covered the work of Cat Stevens and John Lennon. In this song, he becomes a mixture of both, a font for uncounted millions who simply cannot do anything to better a situation. Not bad for the third single from a 3 and a half star album, according to the venerable allmusic.com.
This song will always take me back to the fall of 2008, as my girlfriend and I were beginning our relationship. There was a local sports bar in Wytheville, VA that had an internet jukebox. We spent more money in that thing some nights than our bar tabs. Our dear friend, Mr. David Manley, would always play this song, and it would become a rousing anthem for Candice, David, the bartender and myself. There was not a care in the world while it was playing, dancing around the locals in reckless, happy abandon. Sometimes what I miss most about that time in my life is that bar, those friends, and that song. Good work Robert Smith, you made a lastingsoundtrack to an amazing memory.
Wow, remember when MTV would do shows like this? Another fond memory!
You know you've written a fine piece of work when Ray CharlesANDNina Simone cover it. Melanie will always be remembered for "Brand New Key", but this song beats it on all counts for being cute, funny and heartbreaking, describing how a record company can destroy an artist's vision. It's right up there with "The Entertainer" and Workin' For MCA" as the finest portraits of that now dying industry. Check out Melanie's live album Leftover Wine for one of the best singer/songwriter variations of the genre, if you have some time to spare. It will make you a life long convert to this oft-overlooked artist.
You don't expect this from the gods of the power trio that are TheCream. You really don't expect it to have been written and sung by the guitar king Eric Clapton. It is against type for both the band and the artist, which I think is why I like it so much. It has a rambling, light psychedelic feel that I have found intriguing since I first heard it as a child on my father's copy of Crossroads. In fact, this may be the reason I am obsessed with English Psychedelia and Toy Town from the same period to this day. All thanks to the grandaddy of all box sets! Thank you repackaging geniuses at the record labels( if there are any of you left!)!
There was a time when the mere mention of The Beatles being associated with something could help it catch fire. Such was the case with our song today. Produced by Paul McCartney, this was Apple Record's first release and a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a sad tale(also a russian one) of reminiscence that Miss Hopkins drives home with her airy Welsh voice, sweet and powerful at the same time. The Apple records catalog is being reissued this fall, so her excellent debut album will be readily available in the US for the first time in years. With the purchase of physical albums almost the exclusive burden of collectors now, these collector friendly releases are a joy and a respectful thank you to the faithful. These are the days, it would seem.
Dolly captures the same qualities Mary brought to the song,albeit a little older and wiser.
If this song doesn't make you pine for a time when prog rockers camebacktorule the pop charts in the 80's with intelligent song craft as well as radio hooks, then you are probably reading the wrong blog. Ali's Blog is an excellent source for modern pop music.
I Knew I wanted to go to UNC as a child for a reason!
I never knew much about Rupert Homes until I started doing research for this post (Yes, Wikipedia counts as research!). It turns out the man behind this epochal one-hit wonder was anything but that. Here are the top five things I learned about him today:
2.) He played piano on The Buoys' seminal take on cannibalism, "Timothy", itself a top 40 hit.
3.) Rolling Stone once compared him to Bob Dylan, in a review for his sophomore album Rupert Holmes.
4.) He not only wasn't a one-hit wonder as a songwriter and musician, but also as a solo artist. His followup to "Escape", entitled "Him" made it all the way to number six.
5.) He won two Tonys for book and score in 1985 for The Mystery of Edwyn Drood...yes my theatre friends, The Pina Coloda guy wrote that cult classic!
Guys, that was just the first three paragraphs on his wiki page!! It turns out Rupert Holmes is a lot more than this tale of love, boredom and rediscovery!
The Bee Gees are remembered fortheirdisco, but their baroquepopofthe1960's is what has endured them to a generation of indie poppers and psych-folkers. Odessaistheirgrandest statement, and it rewards multiple listens with newinsights. I can't describe how much I love it, how important this album is to me, so I will simply get to the title track: an epic of mood, substance and mystery. Get the recent re-release, because this bad boy sounds different in both mono and stereo!
I don't even know where to start with Mr. Stewart. When I was a kid, I thought he was a new artist on MTV with his '88 comeback hit "Lost In You". Then my patient parents set me down with the Every PictureTells A Storyalbum, and there was no turning back. I, unlike most of his fans, appreciateallofhisworkacrossthedecades, but you really can't touch those firstfivealbumsforMercury. Gasoline Alley is my sentimental favorite, and the title track is perfection incarnate! As my girlfriend's mom would say, "Sing to me Rod Baby!".
This guy had alotmoregoingon then just this seminal hit. Still, I've never stopped enjoying it's melody and calming effect, even though the song deals with suicide and the loss of one's parents. Gotta love the subject matter of 70's AM Pop!!
Released long after theirseminalrecordings, Hard Rope & Silken Twine was the album where I discovered The Incredible String Band. My father had a promotional copy of the record, something he had inherited from his first job out of college. It was never played much in my house, but I was intrigued by the fantasy - inspired imagery pictured on the sleeve, so with eager ears I played the album, not knowing what to expect. After an excellent opening track called "Maker of Islands", I came upon the song we speak of today. It was a live recording with minimal instrumentation. It seemed a showcase for Robin Williamson's voice. Then I paid attention to the words and was floored. Not even knowing of the seemingly eternal strife in Ireland at the tender age of six, I was still struck by the sadness in this lyric. It seems sad songs got to me even back then. I return to this album more than most from that period of discovery in my dad's record collection. It is my record, one that i have kept on my secret playlist, not wanting anyone to hear it, keeping it as my own. Today I relinquish it to you.
This video makes the statement of the song more universal, but I am simply amazed to find it on youtube!
Songs with this much pain shouldn't come from a band that write about sweaters unraveling and star in videos featuring the Muppets, but Pinkerton has always stood out in Weezer's discography. Universally panned on its release, it is now considered amasterpieceofthe90'sAlternativeRevolution. "Butterfly" stands away from the pack even in those heavy words, blanketed as the last track, with just Rivers Cuomo's voice and guitar to tell its sad tale. Cuomo has never before shown us his inner singer/songwriter. We are listening to part one of his confession, one that he seems to have never finished, as the song simply ends like "Her Majesty" and "Redemption Song" before it. In the wake of Weezer's recovery in the musicworld'seyes, this honest chapter of songwriting seems to be lost to the ages. Still, it sits in our collections, waiting for the time when we need it, allowing its perfect imbalance to take hold of our ears and hearts again.
This is perfection in simplicity. Jim Croce's tale of a wide-eyed child of music getting beat by the big city was never a single or even a well-knownalbumtrack, but it is one of the finest examples of hiscraft that is out there, and makes me miss thisgenius even more. Twoalbums (while he was alive) were not enough.
Poor Tony Banks! As the keyboardist for Genesis, he is essentially responsible for their sound. As a solo artist....well, Bankstatement is awesome if you're one of the 8 people who've heard it. Anthony Phillips had new agers, Steve Hackett had aging proggers, Peter Gabriel had art schoolers, Phil Collins had everyone and Mike Rutherford had our attention with The Mechanics, which gave us one of the finest number one hits of the 80's. Listening to it now, I am kind of shocked at how much Mike's guitar playing has been looked over. While synthesizer heavy like every thing else from this period, his licks are both tasty and tasteful, making you wish he would try the solo album route again, now that the Mechanics seem to be put to bed (Smallcreep's Day, his first solo offering, is a surprising gem.). The story in today's song is what grabs you though, and those masterful vocals by Paul Carrack. See Tony, all you need is a surprisingly good guitar player, a lead singer who was in Squeeze for one album and great lyrics and that solo hit you've been waiting for is just around the corner!
The original version of this song was a somber ballad played on the harmonium and sung by Depeche's keyboardist, guitar player and chief songwriter Martin Gore. The band saw something in it and asked to try it upbeat. Gore gloomily gave the ok, David Gahan got the lead vocals, and Depeche Mode was granted its biggest hit ever in the US. Violator is one of those albums that defineanera, and "Enjoy The Silence" wraps up the synth pop scene in a nice little package before grunge came along and moped it away with guitars instead of keyboards. Even in that monumental wave of change, Depeche Mode stayedstrong and are still going so today.
Whitney Houston cannot sing this song anymore. I honestly can't imagine how anyone could do it more than once anyway, without destroying their voice. The power in this performance is staggering, a Valkyrie descending from Valhalla to pummel us with her passion. Somehow the music intelligentsia were not impressed. For an album and song so derided by critics upon its release (for being too much like herdebutsmash), no one has ever commented on the versatility displayed here. Listen to how she slips into a funk bridge out of nowhere. Listen to how good her head voice holds up after belting her face off. These are pipes that have been forged in the steel of Thor's hammer (What is with all the Norse allusions today?). They would serve her for only two morestudio albums and multiplesingleappearances before disappearing forever in a haze of selfabuse and relationship hell. Whitney Houston cannot sing this song anymore. Still, she did once, and that is all that really matters.
A sampler cd I purchased at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, Virginia my freshman year of college has gone on to inspire the placement of many an artist on this list. Without Island 40, Vol. 3: 1968 - 1975 -- Acoustic Waves, I would never have heard such choice cuts by bands like Incredible String Band, Traffic, Morris On and these dear purveyors of renaissance folk, THE BLONDEL! Underrated as all get out, their music inspires me, not just for the period instrumentation, but for the fact that the majority of their work are originals written in the traditionalBritishfolkstyle. This track is poetry in tunic-ed motion, floating along on a gentle woodwind solo, and calling forth babbling brooks, fair damsels and um.... chastity belts! All five of their 70's albums are well worth searching for, and if you are ever in the old country, they tend to play quite a few folk festivals there. If you see them, please write a comment, describing your experience vividly in three part harmony, on this humble page.
Another Q99 classic! Bertie would never again enter the top ten, but who needs another hit after a song like this? Your immortality is carved in stone. Hell, you can even write about "Bogie" again, in a song that was huge in Japan, "Casablanca". Regardless, you are Bertie Higgins, and with a name and a song like that and this respectively, you will be remembered!
Thus, we have our first selection in the 365 inspired by the author's parent's love of Q99 FM in Roanoke, Virginia. Said station was always on in my childhood home, and this song, as well as many others, were played constantly on their airwaves. I always liked this one, but I didn't know for that it was performed by the original lead guitarist of Traffic! This is a long way from "Feelin' Alright", but I love the tune's acoustic guitar wave that has always reminded me of the sea (or a lake, as I was severely landlocked as a child) and those bass vocals announcing the end of a love affair with simply a shrug of the shoulders. Apathy never sounded so good!
Whatever happened to country singer Billie Dean? Off to Wikipedia I go!
Nothing affects a hipster more than growing old. While they can still listen to the newest music, wear the trendiest vintage t-shirts and rock the coolest facial hair around, age still comes in a wave of un-hipness. This song has affected me more as I have entered my 30's. It makes me happy that I am at least taking baby steps towards adulthood, and that I am not the sad narrator of this song. Rufus clearly isn't either, at least not anymore.
Yes, it is a novelty song. Yes, the band who sang it weren't really a band. Yes, it is a one-hit wonder of the highest order (although otherchartappearances happened in the UK). Yes, it is a classic, and one from a woe-be-gone time when pop music was trying everything, even 1920's style vaudeville numbers, and succeeding in stride. Celebrate this fun little ditty with me, and hope that one day the pop charts become this experimental again (Who's starting to sound like a broken record? This guy writing this blog, that's who!).
Concert films have been one of my favorite cinematic creations, from the early days of The T.A.M.I. Show, through the mastering of the craft with Woodstock, on down to U2 3D. Along the way, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen has always stood out as one of the pivotal pieces in the genre. Touring the US with a rag-tag group of musicians, Cocker pulls off some of the most impressive live performances ever captured on celluloid, giving off the vibe of a traveling tent show, all lead by musical director Leon Russell. My favorite moment in the film however, is the closing credits. As the words scroll the screen, a piano ballad drifts into the viewer's ears, with Leon Russel's piano and voice leading the way through thick strings. It is that song that we praise today, a perfect summation of what has come before, and a masterclass in songwriting from a legend that is too often looked over (The man wrote Superstar, for Pete's sake!) Hopefully, that will change this year with the release of a Leon/Elton duets album, which I am beyond excited about!
Ever since The Beatles introduced America to this master of song, we have been fans. We have loved his hits and we have loved his misses. We have held on to his past in our hearts, while hoping the new material that came along every few years would match those seminal recordings. Time and again, his later work has surprised, delighted and moved us. If not in the same way as his greatest hits, than in a way that is of the same kindred spirit. They are works of a survivor, surprised by the longevity of his life, and the power of his work. Over time, many of them have joined the ranks of the immortals, like today's selection. It is as perfect as every song on Sweet Baby James and Mudslide Slim are. In fact, now almost twenty years removed from New Moon Shine's release, it is safe to put it in that cannon as well. Now, although the covers albums and tours with Carole King have been fun, we wait for the next installment in a storied career that we know will come, right on time, when we least expect it.
The Video with the single edit is too good to pass up. James is so amazing!!!
I can't even talk about this song. Written by Randy Newman for the Toy Story series. It is the saddest song I have ever heard, even more so than Sarah's song that is used in the commercials with all the mistreated pets! If I write anymore, the tears will begin.....ENJOY :)
