As a long-time wedding DJ I curated lengthy lists of songs suitable for the various events of the wedding reception, including choices for the bride’s dance with her father and the groom’s dance with his mom.
When couples asked for suggestions, I had many, but was commonly disappointed when they almost invariably went on to choose “Because You Loved Me”, “What a Wonderful World” or (hack, spit) “Butterfly Kisses”.
Seemed a great way to make a special moment cliched and generic.
I always thought Brother Ray’s “Don’t Change On Me” would’ve made a great choice if someone was looking to stray from the usual.
I even shared that thought with my daughter, telling her if the occasion arose and she let me choose the song, this obscure old nugget would be my choice.
Well, my daughter’s wedding was a surprise affair. I was invited to bring my mom to a “summer party” and had no idea it was anything more than a picnic in the local community park until we arrived and saw chairs set up facing a little white arch.
The modest ceremony was followed by lunch in a small adjacent indoor facility, and sometime after I was surprised to be instructed to join my daughter in the center of the room while the groom cued up a recording on a small portable sound system.
And though the wedding had been a casual, secular celebration, there was Brother Ray bringing a little “church”.
It had been years since I’d mentioned it. But she hadn’t forgotten.
And moments like that, Emily, are why I love you just the way you are.
The Dear Hunter: Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise (2015)
The Dear Hunter are rather like the Suave Shampoo of rock bands.
You’ve seen Suave in your supermarket hair care aisle, in myriad varieties packaged to mimic more expensive brands. It accomplishes the same goal–squeaky-clean hair–without the extra cost.
Providence, Rhode Island progressive rock band The Dear Hunter display great ambition, masterful songwriting, engaging melodies, stellar vocal performances adorned with rich harmonies and compelling orchestration, all in a wide variety of styles.
In other words, they’re a great band–but without the recognition factor of the “name brands”, none of the love-’em/hate ’em preconceived notions of those legends in the Rock Hall or on the cover of Rolling Stone. (They do still put rock bands on the cover of Rolling Stone, right?)
The band known as The Dear Hunter originated in 2006 as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, whose day job had involved another group called The Receiving End of Sirens, with whom he’d come to a parting of the ways. Crescenzo soon after released the first volume of a planned six-album concept project telling the story of the life of a boy (known as “The Dear Hunter”) born at the dawn of the 20th century. Yes, this guy is telling a story that will be six albums long. Take that, Ian Anderson.
To literally make a long story short, installment IV, Rebirth in Reprise, was released in 2015 and was unequivocally one of the best rock albums released that year.
Crescenzo is a confident composer who possesses a deft hand at complex orchestral arrangement à la Brian Wilson, whose Beach Boys harmonies seem to echo here and there on the album as well. At other times you may hear a touch of ELO as backing vocal wallpaper, or the quirky pop smarts of 10cc, or the over-the-top theatricality of Queen, or the genre-flouting intrepidity of Swedish prog band A.C.T. This album veers and careens stylistically in dizzying, spectacular fashion.
It’s a heady mix, but requires a bit more patience than the average rock record. Rebirth in Reprise is a 74-minute musical bounce castle of an album that probably won’t reward the typical listener fully before at least half a dozen plays. (Twice that if you have kids in the car.)
But as with all great records, the time investment yields a substantial payoff–at least, if you consider unrelenting earworms to be a desirable thing.
The elegiac ballad “The Line”, one of the album’s quieter and most sublime moments, is not to be missed. With its moody, acoustic guitar-driven arrangement, plaintive vocal and theme of denouement, it’s reminiscent of the perennial Kansas concert encore and Bic-magnet “Dust in the Wind”. Majestic, sad and elegant.
With other projects, such as the multi-volume Color Spectrum collection, continually pulling his attention away, it remains to be seen whether Crescenzo ever completes the intended 6-part saga.
But even if you only hear this portion of the story, or disregard the story altogether, the great musical moments here make for an impressive melodic progressive rock record.
Listen to: “The Old Haunt“
Listen to: “Waves”
Listen to: “Is Anybody There?”
Listen to: “The Squeaky Wheel”
Listen to: “The Bitter Suite IV and V: The Congregation and the Sermon in the Silt”
Mexican-born Carla Morrison is a gifted singer-songwriter and sought-after collaborator who won Latin Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Alternative Song (twice).
Her El Renacimiento LP marked a 2022 return from musical hiatus and was her first LP in 6 years.
Morrison’s list of collaborative partners reads like a Who’s Who of Latin legends, including Ricky Martin, Karol G, Natalia Lafourcade, Juan Gabriel, Kenia Os and J Balvin.
Lyric translation:
Diamantes (Diamonds)
Despertar junto a ti To wake up next to you
Es ya no tener miedo Is not to fear anymore
A tanto desconsuelo All that grief
Que una vez tuve en mí Once I had in me
Soñar junto a ti To dream next to you
Es volver a creer Is to believe again
Lo que sueños prometen In what dreams promise
Ahora que estás aquí Now that you are here
Y no puedo ocultar And I can´t hide
Como me haces brillar How you make me shine
Floto y puedo volar I float and can fly
(y ahora que estás aquí) (and now that you are here)
Ahora puedo entender Now I can understand
Que en tu esencia encontré That in your essence I found
El sentido a mi caminar The meaning of my journey
(y ahora que estás aquí) (and now that you are here)
Que rico es encontrarte How rich is to find you
Son tus besos, diamantes Your kisses are diamonds
Que cuelgan en mi cuello, radiante That hang from my neck, radiant
Me veo con tanto amor I see myself with so much love
Que tú me regalaste That you gave me
Sentarme junto a ti To sit next to you
Es toda una proeza It’s such an achievement
Mis versos manifiestan My verses manifest
Deleitas tanto en mí You delight so much in me
Dormir junto a ti To sleep next to you
Es aceptar que si muero Is to accept that if I die
Seré feliz sabiendo I will be happy knowing
Que sí te conocí That I did know you
Y no puedo ocultar And I cannot hide
Como me haces brillar How you make me shine
Floto y puedo volar I float and I can fly
(y ahora que estás aquí) (and now that you are here)
Que ya puedo entender That now I can understand
Que es amar y perder What it is to love and lose
Y en tus ojos veo eternidad And in your eyes I see eternity
(y ahora que estás aquí) (and now that you are here)
Que rico es encontrarte How rich is to find you
Son tus besos, diamantes Your kisses are diamonds
Que cuelgan en mi cuello, radiante That hang from my neck, radiant
Me veo con tanto amor I see myself with so much love
Que tú me regalaste That you gave me
Me devolviste la flor You gave back to me the flower
Que alguien un día me robó That once someone stole away from me
Contigo todo es mejor With you everything is better
Cada sonrisa, cada emoción Every smile, every emotion
(y ahora que estás aquí) (and now that you are here)
Que rico es encontrarte How rich is to find you
Son tus besos, diamantes Your kisses are diamonds
Que cuelgan en mi cuello, radiante That hang from my neck, radiant
Me veo con tanto amor I see myself with so much love
Que tú me regalaste That you gave me
Que rico es encontrarte How rich is to find you
Son tus besos, diamantes Your kisses are diamonds
Que cuelgan en mi cuello, radiante That hang from my neck, radiant
Me veo con tanto amor I see myself with so much love
I’ve been meaning to tell you about a very special song. It’s very old, very obscure, and very English. It was cherished by my dad and, three generations later, a favorite of my granddaughter.
When I was about four years old, my dad’s 45 collection contained my two favorite songs. Unfortunately, my small but growing assortment of singles and LP’s did not.
Christmas day, with a new 45 record case from Santa
My dad, who preferred putting a stack of albums on the turntable (yeah, I know–but everybody did it back then) did not regularly want to break out the 45’s, which obviously required more frequent attention.
So I nagged him with regularity to hear the Cowsills’ “Indian Lake” and Herman’s Hermits’ “Sleepy Joe”.
And once in a while he relented and busted out the little records with the big holes.
“Sleepy Joe” is just the type of song that was about to go out of style in ’68, and perhaps had already done so in the US.
Despite reaching #4 in New Zealand, #9 in Canada and Ireland, #10 in Norway, #12 in the UK, #17 in Sweden et cetera, the song only peaked at #61 in the US, and was the last of the band’s songs to even reach the top 100 here.
So in June of 2023 when I took my musically eclectic, oldies-informed 5-year-old granddaughter to see Peter Noone and (a version of) Herman’s Hermits, I let her know up front we’d probably not hear “Sleepy Joe”. She was not pleased. She loved the song as much as I had at her age.
Peter Noone sang all the other hits of course, and even gave us unexpected cover versions of songs like “Daydream Believer”, which was one of our favorite car trip sing-alongs.
It was a terrific show and my granddaughter’s joy as she sang along, her face lit up at seeing a live performance by the guy she’d only seen in YouTube videos, was exceeded only by my own.
Peter Noone is the consummate entertainer, and always recognizes his younger fans at his shows. And he actually paused his performance to give a certain starstruck young fan an autographed t-shirt and CD:
Then at a post-concert meet and greet in the lobby, of course my granddaughter wanted to join the line.
Despite it being well past her bedtime with a long drive home ahead, she insisted on speaking with her musical hero. She had a question for the gregarious Hermit.
“Why no ‘Sleepy Joe’?”, she asked.
Peter gave the response I expected, which is to say he didn’t believe many people in America knew that song.
But learning it was a favorite of hers, he offered to sing an impromptu a cappella verse of the song for her there in the lobby while a line of fans watched, not seeming to mind a bit.
Amazing. Unforgettable.
There are lots of reasons why Peter Noone still has a large, loyal following 60 years after his group’s songs were hits–why he still headlines shows rather than simply being part of a nostalgia package tour with four other acts.
I’d submit one reason is that Herman’s Hermits had a lot more hits than most realize. And Noone’s shows bring back one feel-good memory after another.
It’s the wide-eyed innocence of songs like “I’m Into Something Good”, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” and “There’s a Kind of Hush”. It’s the cheeky British charm of “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and the Mancunian “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”.
And the pathos of a ballad like “No Milk Today”, written by Graham Gouldman, with arrangement by John Paul Jones–a minor pop masterpiece.
But as much as anything, the concert venues still fill for Peter Noone because he knows how to make his fans–especially the youngest ones–feel special.
Whether it’s a 5-year-old in 1969 or a 5-year-old in 2023.
Every Moment Has A Song 