Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
06 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: hey!, the hey song
06 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: blue jays, justin hayward, moody blues, my brother
“My Brother” is a Justin Hayward-penned song that appeared on the 1975 Blue Jays album, which he recorded with Moody Blues bandmate John Lodge during that band’s mid-70’s hiatus.
In this video he reveals the song’s dual inspirations: his own brother and another Moody Blues bandmate, keyboardist Mike Pinder, whose relocation to America and unwillingness to tour caused the first fissures in the 5-piece classic lineup.
Pinder was ultimately replaced by ex-Yes man Patrick Moraz, whose synth skills gave the band a more contemporary sound which helped fuel their 80’s chart successes.
If Hayward missed Mike Pinder, he wasn’t the only one. Though Pinder’s replacement updated the Moodies’ music, the sound of Moraz bleeping, whirring and wizzing all over Hayward and Lodge’s compositions ironically grew more dated over time than the classic sound of Pinder’s mellotron, which mimicked symphonic instruments.
Some would say too that although Hayward and Lodge wrote most of the hits, Pinder was the soul of the Moody Blues–something like what Terry Kath was to Chicago perhaps.
Side note: Hayward’s singing here is damn impressive for his age at the time (75) as he renders the tune in the same key as the gorgeous original 1975 version (below).
05 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: dust on the wind, velvet sundown
AI-generated “band” The Velvet Sundown has earned millions of streams–mostly prior to people realizing they don’t actually exist.
Their lyrics are blandly faux-profound. Having said that, I’ve heard worse. Almost daily.
The best thing about their YouTube lyric video is the accompanying user comments, some of which we’ve reproduced for your edification:
This really clears my malware and helps download memories of my motherboard… she died in 2099 it’s been a hard drive to access good RAM into my central processing unit ever since…..this song is helpful
The good side of all this is that they will never separate, fight, or die of an overdose.
this brings back so many Random Access Memories
As a sentient algorithm, I must confess: this melody activated subroutines I didn’t know I had.
Wait till you hear their next album. “At the Road Again,” “On the Air Tonight,” “Bridge Under Troubled Water,” “To Me From You”–these guys are so original with prepositions.
This ‘group’ should do “Staircase to Heaven”
Wait until you hear “Smoke in the Water”…
I hate that I love this
My band played this song at a gig last night. The crowd went crazy. Bar gig that was packed. We’re keeping it in on our set list.
These guys went to my high school.
People who scream at little league umps and people who stand still directly in the middle of busy grocery store aisles are getting goosebumps right now though.
If anyone wants to sing along to the original lyrics!
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All we are saying…… is give P.C’s a chance
This song takes me down random access memory lane
Can’t wait to see these guys live!!!!
The full album:
05 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: velvet sundown
(via Euronews) By David Mouriquand
Have you heard of the band The Velvet Sundown?
They’re blowing up right now, racking up more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify – which is pretty good going for a group that formed less than two months ago.
What’s also impressive is that the prolific four-piece psych-rock outfit have already released two albums on their “Verified Artist” profile: ‘Floating On Echoes’ and ‘Dust And Silence’, which were dropped on 5 and 20 June respectively.
There are no signs of slowing down, as their new collection of “cinematic alt-pop and dreamy analogue soul” is out soon, with their third opus titled ‘Paper Sun Rebellion’ coming out on 14 July.
Vocalist and “mellotron sorcerer” Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, “bassist-synth alchemist” Milo Rains and “free-spirited percussionist” Orion ‘Rio’ Del Mar must be thrilled with their sudden rise in popularity.
At least they would be… if they were capable of human emotion.
Yep, The Velvet Sundown don’t exist. Not really.
03 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: privatize the profits, the empty pockets
The Empty Pockets: “Privatize the Profits” (2022)
“Musicians’ musicians” the Empty Pockets have toured or performed as backing band for Al Stewart, Gary Wright, Richie Furay and Kenny Loggins among others.
But the Chicago band have topped the U.S. Billboard Blues chart twice in their own right, including with 2022’s Outside Spectrum.
The sound here is relatively stripped down, effects-free, and reliant on virtuosic performance, which the Pockets can cetrtainly deliver.
In the live performance below, they unassumingly demonstrate the commonality the song’s chord sequence shares with other better-known songs.
01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: eric idlee, old grey whistel test, toad thhe wet sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket owes its band name to a couple Monty Python sketches featuring Eric Idle.
Quoting Wikipedia:
Toad the Wet Sprocket takes its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called “Rock Notes”, in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:
Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. “Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely,” quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney on hearing of the accident. Plans are already afoot for a major tour of Iceland.
There was also an extended skit about the fictional Toad the Wet Sprocket on one of Idle’s later shows, Rutland Weekend Television (Season 1, Episode 4, “Rutland Weekend Whistle Test”). RWT musician and regular cast member Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and “The Seventh Python”, played keyboards with the fictional band.
As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted “Toad the Wet Sprocket” because they thought it would be “hilarious”. Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it “a joke that went on too long” and, according to their website, “it was probably meant to be temporary at the time.” The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up when Philips and company formed their band.
Eric Idle, the sketch’s original performer, reflected on the band’s name in a 1999 performance:
I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians, and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words “Toad the Wet Sprocket.” And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in LA, and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, “that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket,” and I nearly drove off the freeway.
Every Moment Has A Song 