General Posts | Every Moment Has A Song

18 Cover Songs That Transcend the Originals

11 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: cover songs

(via Purple Clover) by Kevin Haynes

First released January 11, 1971, Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” redefined the limits of cover song success. Here, we celebrate Janis’ classic version and other artistic interpretations gone right.

‘Me and Bobby McGee’ — Janis Joplin

Kris Kristofferson’s vagabond road song was first recorded in 1969 by, appropriately enough, “King of the Road” Roger Miller. But Joplin’s only No. 1 hit, completed days before her death on October 4, 1970, is the ultimate trip down memory lane—a soulful, cinematic look back at love gone by.

Kristofferson, who’d been dating Janis, first heard her version of the song shortly after she died. “Afterwards,” he recalled in a recent interview , “I walked all over L.A., just in tears.”

‘I Shot the Sheriff’ — Eric Clapton

Slowhand played fast and loose with Bob Marley’s sly profession of guilt and innocence—hey, he didn’t shoot no deputy—propelling this reggae groove to No. 1 in September 1974.

‘Twist and Shout’ — The Beatles

The Fab Four didn’t just shake it up, baby, they incited a dance riot in 1963, a year after the Isley Brothers got the party started with their first Top 20 hit. (Bonus points if you knew the song was introduced in 1961 by the Top Notes.)

Did You Ever Realize…

03 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Did You Ever Realize, General Posts Tags: call me, chris montez, la cucaracha

Appreciating The Kinks’ Veddy, Veddy British Period

01 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: the kinks

(via CultureSonar)

by David Stewart

The Kinks are of course well-known in America, or at least several of their quite distinctive “periods” are. Their initial hard-rocking British Invasion period, their “Lola” period, their late 70’s “Low Budget” period and their early 80’s MTV/”Come Dancing” period, certainly. But it’s the period between the first two – to my mind their best – that I’d like to focus on for this piece. The fact that this period – which includes what are perhaps their two best albums –is lesser known to many Americans is largely a function of history and the band’s getting very specifically British for those two albums. But it would be a shame for American fans to miss out on their best work.

The band burst on to the music scene with a particularly noisy entrance. “You Really Got Me” arguably rocked harder than anything the Beatles or Stones released that year (1964), and indeed that record has often been called either the first metal or first punk single (take your pick). Lead guitarist Dave Davies allegedly once said that “They didn’t call it heavy metal when I invented it.”

Americans ate up the band’s early hard-rocking singles, but a legal dispute with the American musician’s union (AF of M) meant that after the band’s first US tour, they were not allowed to tour the US again till the end of the 60’s, guaranteeing that some of their best work would remain underappreciated on this side of the pond. Even “Waterloo Sunset”, the mid-60’s single often considered the best the Kinks ever released, failed to chart in the US at all, though it would belatedly become a staple on rock radio starting in the 70’s…

Musicians We Lost in 2016

31 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: musicians who died in 2016

(via This Day in Music)

10th Jan, English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, painter, and actor David Bowie died from liver cancer at his New York home two days after releasing the album Blackstar on his 69th birthday. His first UK Top 40 single was the 1969 ‘Space Oddity’ which became a UK No.1 in 1975, plus Bowie scored over 50 other UK Top 40 hits including five No.1’s. Bowie has also scored two US No.1 singles, the 1975 ‘Fame’ and 1983 ‘Let’s Dance’. Plus two albums with Tin Machine in 1991 and 1992. His music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music and during his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world’s best-selling music artists.

17th Jan, Dale Griffin, drummer for rock group Mott The Hoople died aged 67. He was a founder member of the group, best known for classic tracks ‘Roll Away The Stone’ and ‘All The Young Dudes’. The band, who made eight albums during their five-and-a-half year existence, reformed to mark their 40th anniversary in 2009 – but Griffin was too ill to take part.

18th Jan, Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey died at the age of 67 in New York City from complications arising from rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia. Frey co-founded the Eagles in 1971 with Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. After the breakup of the Eagles in 1980, Frey embarked on a successful solo career and went on to score the Top 40 hits ‘The One You Love’, ‘Smuggler’s Blues’, ‘The Heat Is On’, and ‘You Belong to the City’…