One of the creators of some of the most sophisticated rock of the 70’s (or any other decade) discusses Steely Dan songs “Chain Lightning”, “Peg” and “Josie” in this video tutorial.
Video Tutorial: Donald Fagen Deconstructs Steely Dan Songs
16 Aug 2013 2 Comments
in General Posts Tags: donald fagen, steely dan
Awesome Isolated Vocal Takes: Beatles, Queen, Beach Boys
16 Aug 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: isolated vocal tracks
The Beatles: “Helter Skelter”
Queen: “Somebody to Love”
The Beach Boys: “God Only Knows”
The Beach Boys: “Wouldn’t it be Nice”
Video of the Week: Christina Bianco Sings “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the Voices of the Great Divas
16 Aug 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts, On a Lighter Note, Video of the Week Tags: christina bianco, divas
Flashback: Elton John Sings ‘Your Song’ Across the Decades
14 Aug 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: elton john, your song
(Source: Rolling Stone)
by Andy Greene
Elton John has more famous songs than just about any other man on the planet, but somehow his very first hit, “Your Song,” has proved to be his most enduring composition. The song exploded onto radio in 1970 and really hasn’t left. “I wrote it when I was 17, hence the extraordinary virginal sentiments,” Bernie Taupin said. “It’s a gem. It’s like a good dog, always there . . . I’ve heard it sung a million times.”
He’s exaggerating only slightly. Elton has performed “Your Song” at nearly every one of his concerts over the past 43 years. It’s often the final encore, though he opens many of his solo acoustic shows with it. Setlist.FM says he’s played it 1,861 times, but the real number is surely well over 2,000. Assuming it’s only 2,000 times, that means he’s spent five and a half days of his life singing “Your Song.”
Here’s an incredible video montage of Elton performing the song from 1970 through the late 1990s. It’s great fun to watch his hair begin to thin, get covered up by hats, go gray, and then magically come back fuller and browner than ever. The costumes become more and more elaborate, until they disappear completely in the Nineties. His voice also deepens, particular after major throat problems in 1986, but he never half-asses the performance.
Dueling Divas: Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick Sing Two Classic Versions of ‘I Say a Little Prayer’
13 Aug 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: aretha franklin, burt bacharach, dionne warwick, i say a little prayer
(Source: Open Culture)
Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick are two of the highest charting women in music history. Between them, they’ve made 129 appearances in the Billboard Hot 100. Two of those were with the same song: the 1966 Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition, “I Say a Little Prayer.”
The song was written especially for Warwick. David’s lyrics are about a woman’s daily thoughts of her man, who is away in Vietnam. Bacharach arranged and produced the original recording in April of 1966, but was unhappy with the result. “I thought I blew it,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1998. “The tempo seemed too fast. I never wanted the record to come out. So what happens? They put out the record and it was a huge hit. I was wrong.” The song was released over Bacharach’s objections in October, 1967 and rose to number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 8 on the Billboard R & B charts.
A few months after Warwick’s single came out, Aretha Franklin and The Sweet Inspirations were singing “I Say a Little Prayer” for fun during a break in recording sessions for Aretha Now. Producer Jerry Wexler liked what he heard, and decided to record the song. With Franklin on piano and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section behind her, it was recorded in one take. Franklin’s version has more of a gospel and rhythm & blues feel, with a fluid call-and-response interplay between the lead and backup singers.
Released in July of 1968, the single was less of a crossover hit than Warwick’s version — it peaked at number 10 on the Hot 100 chart — but rose all the way to number 3 on the R & B chart. Overshadowed at first, Franklin’s recording has grown in stature over the years. Even Bacharach likes it better than the one he made with Warwick. As he told Mitch Albom earlier this year, “Aretha just made a far better record.”
You can listen above, as Warwick performs “I Say a Little Prayer” in an unidentified television broadcast and Franklin sings it with the Sweethearts of Soul on the August 31, 1970 Cliff Richard Show. Tell us: Which version do you think is better?
Fourteen-Year-Old Girl’s Blistering Heavy Metal Performance of Vivaldi
11 Aug 2013 2 Comments
in General Posts Tags: vivaldi
(Source: Open Culture)
She is 14 years old, and apparently French. Not much else is known about this precocious young guitarist who goes by the name “Tina S” on her YouTube channel.
Tina became an Internet sensation in late May, when she posted an astonishing cover version of “Eruption,” from Van Halen’s debut album. Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang was so impressed he tweeted, “I need to meet this girl!!!” Writing as “@Tina_Guitare,” the young musician replied, “I need to meet you too! Haha :))” Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also went on Twitter and said, “This girl is incredible. If you know where she is, I want her on my show immediately.” There was no reply to that one — at least not on Twitter.
Now Tina is back with a new video, made by her teacher Renaud Louis-Servais, in which she rips through a cover of “Vivaldi Tribute,” Patrick Rondat’s speed metal adaptation of the climactic “Presto” (very fast) movement of the Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi’s “Summer” concerto from The Four Seasons. It’s an amazing performance for a 14-year-old (although you should also see her playing classical guitar when she was nine). After watching it above you can look below for a little perspective on the music, as famed violinist Itzhak Perlman plays the same movement with a group of young musicians in a 2003 episode of the PBS show Live From Lincoln Center:
Every Moment Has A Song 