Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
10 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: annie you save me, graffiti6
Graffiti6: “Annie You Save Me” (2012)
British duo Graffiti6, comprised of singer/songwriter Jamie Scott and DJ/producer TommyD, make unclassifiable classic soul/rock/funk/folk inflected melodic pop that’s great in turns for dancing, romancing and unpantsing. Or to cook breakfast to. It’s uplifting stuff.
See also: Songs You May Have Missed #675 | Every Moment Has A Song (edcyphers.com)
10 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: badfinger, meanwhile back at the ranch/should i smoke
Badfinger: “Meanwhile Back At the Ranch/Should I Smoke” (1974)
And speaking of Badfinger…
Sooo many stories associated with this song. First, it’s from an album, Wish You Were Here, from which promotion was withdrawn by Warner Bros. due to money that was stolen by Badfinger’s manager, Stan Polley. For years the album was unavailable, even into the CD era, and the music never got the recognition due it. It was just one more tough break for a band who had more than anyone, leading eventually to the suicides of two of its members. The story of this band is one of the most heartbreaking in all of pop music.
The song itself was created by stitching together parts of songs by Pete Ham (“Meanwhile…”) and Joey Molland (“Should I Smoke”), a tactic that had previously proven successful, to say the least, when Ham had written the verses and Molland the chorus of what would be a monster hit by Harry Nilsson, “Without You”.
Ham’s lyric was inspired by an affair he was having with the wife of a band roadie, and the condemnation he received for it.
10 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: love is in motion, stories
Stories: “Love is in Motion” (1973)
Stories had a number one hit with “Brother Louie” in 1973, a song that you probably either remember or you don’t know.
You see, there are two kinds of 70’s songs: there’s the “Take it Easy” kind of song, which never left radio playlists and resultingly many are sick to death of. Then there’s the “Baby Blue” kind, which were on the radio airways then but faded from collective memory. (For more such examples, search “Forgotten Hits” on this site for dozens of memory triggers)
“Brother Louie” was a ubiquitous four-minute piece of the soundtrack of the Summer of ’73. Kind of surprising then that the band responsible for it didn’t issue a follow-up single from the album that spawned it. And in truth, there were no more “Brother Louies” on the record, but there was this gentle little ditty that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of McCartney’s first couple solo albums–or one of Badfinger’s from the same era.
09 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: oregon shores, yukon blonde
Yukon Blonde: “Oregon Shores” (2012)
Yukon Blonde are a Canadian Indie rock band who may bring fellow Canucks Sloan to mind. This is 70’s-style pop rock with sweet harmonies, a nice biting guitar solo and reverb that carries echoes of transistor radio days.
Folks, these guys are really good.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/08/01/recommended-albums-23/
09 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: bad religion, prodigal son
Bad Religion: “Prodigal Son” (2007)
If Bad Religion are a punk band, or a hardcore band, as is commonly asserted, they aren’t a typical one. Let’s start with the fact that they’ve been together for more than 30 years. Punk bands have a life expectancy of next Tuesday.
Also, punk bands don’t tend to use wall of sound harmonies to back up strong melodic hooks–unless they’re latter-day Social Distortion. And they don’t typically have the vocabulary and wordplay skillz that Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz put on display:
Modernistocrat Horatio Alger…ever waiting for that canticle of manacles abating…he’s a mourning star with a champagne heart at his curtain call…you better redress the level of the cowardice rising to drown you…
A little more Elvis Costello than Ramones in the lyric department. Actually, this band sounds to me like a power pop band slapped up against chugging hardcore guitar and punk drumming–a pretty thrilling combination to me when you throw in intelligient lyrics.
I really always thought smart punk–or at least snarky punk–was more powerful than the dumbed-down kind anyway. Elvis Costello was more artful than the Ramones, and therefore spoke more directly even to my visceral receptors. (I’ll have to check to make sure I have visceral receptors, but I feel like I do…)
09 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: candy butchers, mike viola, the wonders
Candy Butchers: “You Belong to Me Now” (2002)
Mike Viola and his New York power pop band Candy Butchers. Although their catchier material draws comparisons to Neil Finn and Crowded House, Viola can be acerbic and Graham Parker-esque at other times:
Heaven knows, but Hell knows better/I wear my heart like bells on a leper
And if his voice sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because Mike Viola is the voice of the lead singer of these one-hit Wonders:
So if you want you can fantasize that “You Belong to Me Now” is a solo single released by lead singer Jimmy sometime after the breakup of the band…or not.
See also: Video of the Week: Making That Thing You Do! | Every Moment Has A Song (edcyphers.com)
Every Moment Has A Song 