Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
27 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: apeman, the kinks
The Kinks: “Apeman” (1971)
It only peaked at #45 on the pop charts in 1971, but for my money this is one of the great rock songs of all time.
The desire to escape the everyday routine was a perennial theme in the songwriting of Ray Davies (see below).
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/08/26/songs-you-may-have-missed-469/
17 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: the actor, the moody blues
The Moody Blues: “The Actor” (1968)
Outside the loyal circle of Moody Blues fanatics (the ones who’ve helped them remain an in-demand touring entity to this day despite the lack of a top 40 single since 1988) the band’s reputation is built on but a small handful of songs–songs such as “Tuesday Afternoon”, “I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)”, “Your Wildest Dreams” and, most especially, “Night in White Satin”.
But the transcendent grandeur of 1968 album track “The Actor” is surpassed by nothing in their catalogue, not even the aforementioned “Nights”. This is the sound that won them such adulation that they felt the need to remind their legions of American fans that they were “just singers in a rock and roll band”.
If this whets your appetite, the seven albums this band’s classic lineup released between 1967-72 with mellotron ace Mike Pinder and flutist Ray Thomas still in the fold could not come more highly recommended.
Pure ecstasy.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/11/21/songs-you-may-have-missed-253/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/09/16/songs-you-may-have-missed-173/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/11/06/songs-you-may-have-missed-500/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2025/10/22/songs-you-may-have-missed-800/
06 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: i see the rain, marmalade
Marmalade: “I See the Rain” (1967)
Some things just don’t travel across the pond well.
Dan Fogelberg never had a Top 40 single in the UK. John Denver was a one-hit wonder (with “Annie’s Song”) there.
And bands like Madness and Small Faces, who were significant hit makers in England, somehow missed the boat, as it were, when it came to success here.
Cliff Richard was a monster in England: fourteen #1 singles, his first in 1959. In America he was a virtual non-entity until “Devil Woman” went to #6 in 1976, and he never charted any higher here. ABBA had nine #1’s in England to only one in the US (sadly, “Dancing Queen”).
Remember Take That? I didn’t think so. While they topped the British singles chart eleven times, they were a one-hit wonder to us with “Back For Good” in 1995.
Scotland’s Marmalade (called The Marmalade on some record labels) only hit the American Top 40 one time, with their transcendent “Reflections of My Life” in 1970. But both before and after it they produced music that fans of the Kinks, the Zombies, Badfinger and similar bands will surely appreciate.
“I See the Rain” is a great lost psych nugget with some fine harmonies (Graham Nash guested on the session) that sounds like a standout Badfinger album track. Jimi Hendrix called this the best song of 1967–a year that didn’t lack for great songs.
Despite the fact that the single never charted in either the UK or the US, it’s attained a degree of cult status in recent years.
31 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: guster, kid dreams
Guster: “Kid Dreams” (2015)
We’ve previously extolled Guster’s penchant for cheerful melody and their 2015 release, Evermotion, overflows with more feel-good tunefulness.
At times the band also demonstrates an ability to reach a deeper place with a lyric, as is the case with the poignant “Kid Dreams”:
So there I was, fifteen, stuck in
High school was no prom king
Zoned out in a daydream of a
Pretty girl, my own beauty queen
I was too shy to talk
I was round and soft
All the kids would drawl, “You got some beady eyes, boy”
Then I’d start to shrink
Became too hard to see
They got what they need
I got the beady eyes
You can get what you want
Make a plea to the dark
Not as hard as it seems, kid dreams
What did I want?
What did I need?
I got three squares a day, I got a bed for sleep
I couldn’t shake a deep belief in a
Pretty girl who would save me
And then sure enough, they would call my bluff
They’d jab and trip me up
Hit right between the eyes, boy
Fill my cuts with salt
Slowly I’d dissolve
That was all they saw, the boy with beady eyes
You can get what you want
Make a plea to the dark
Not as hard as it seems, kid dreams
Oh God now here she comes
My perfect lady luck
I never did give up, I never did give up
The once and future king
The best it’s ever been
If only they could see, see with my beady eyes, boy
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/17/songs-you-may-have-missed-364/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2019/03/23/songs-you-may-have-missed-633/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/01/recommended-albums-9/
22 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: Ásgeir, king and cross
Ásgeir: “King and Cross” (2013)
At 21 years of age, Ásgeir Trausti Einarsson released his resoundingly popular debut, an album now owned by an estimated 10% of the population of his native Iceland.
With American songwriter John Grant assisting in the translation of lyrics mostly penned by Ásgeir’s 72-year-old retired school principal father, these gorgeous harmonies and ethereal melodies receive wider release in the English-language version of that debut, titled In the Silence.
The record features mostly soulful vocals and a combination of acoustic and electronic instruments which alternately evoke bands like Kings of Convenience or Midlake (with whom Grant also collaborated) but “King and Cross” stands out with its gentle faux-disco vibe.
16 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: everything twice, mariachi el bronx
Mariachi El Bronx: “Everything Twice” (2014)
Band name that references NYC? Check. Sombreros? Check. Cheerful, ear-tugging melodies? Yup. Mariachi El Bronx have everything you’d expect from a hardcore punk band from L.A.
That’s what The Bronx have been for the better part of their existence. But since 2006 they’ve put out three albums of the punchiest, most party-friendly mariachi music this side of…wherever you’d usually go to hear mariachi music. “Everything Twice” is not quite typical of their mariachi sound, owing more to the Tex-Mex style of Texas Tornados. But it’s as catchy a tune as anything these guys have come up with.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2019/04/19/songs-you-may-have-missed-635/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2025/03/01/recommended-albums-94/
Every Moment Has A Song 