From the new album by the newly-reunited Five (actually 3 in number). This one’s a lively little workout that includes the antics of Fraggle Rock.
Can Fender Remain a Big Player in an Era of Sampler-Produced Music?
04 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: fender, fender guitar
(Photo and article from The New York Times)
A Guitar Maker Aims to Stay Plugged In
By JANET MORRISSEY
Songs You May Have Missed #185
03 Oct 2012 2 Comments
in Best of the Blog, Songs You May Have Missed Tags: jefferson starship, love too good
Jefferson Starship: “Love Too Good” (1978)
When I was a lad my dad’s living room stereo was generally off-limits to us kids. The sounds of the Tijuana Brass or Bert Kaempfert or Olivia Newton-John would play from this, our home’s “main stage” music source, while if I wanted to listen to my Steely Dan and Elvis Costello albums I usually had to–and preferred tolistenfrom the “second stage” of my bedroom record player.
But the day in ’78 when I came home with Jefferson Starship’s Earth LP, I felt that I was holding a record that deserved main stage status. Maybe the lush, classy, textured cover art made it feel living room-worthy. Or possibly I knew the music (I’d already heard the rich harmonies of “Count On Me” and “Runaway” on the radio) might actually appeal to my dad’s almost-AOR sensibilities. Or maybe I just knew the lyrics wouldn’t offend him (My Aim is True was the previous album I’d brought home–it went straight second stage, closed bedroom door).
But for whatever reason, for the first time I asked my dad if he’d mind me playing my latest music purchase on his prized 4-speaker system, and to my mild surprise he consented.
Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Paul Kantner and company didn’t let me down. The first notes out of those speakers were every bit as classy as the album art had hinted. Track one was “Love Too Good”.
Some songs were just perfectly suited to be an album’s lead track. This song’s unhurried one-minute instrumental intro made it just such a track. (Original vinyl copies of the Jefferson Starship Gold compilation trimmed this intro, effectively robbing the song of its laid-back groove.) Slick’s vocals literally fade in at almost precisely the one minute mark. To this day I listen every time to note the exact moment her voice becomes audible–it’s too smooth to discern.
Sadly for me, this was the last album by my favorite lineup of the band; Slick and Balin would be gone for the next year’s Freedom At Point Zero, and the Mickey Thomas era (shudder) began. Soon they’d be making music completely bereft of subtelty under the one-word Starship moniker. Grace Slick returned to the band in ’82 but Kantner left in ’84, etc. etc. You know how these things always go.
Earth, and “Love Too Good” mark a place in time that couldn’t last. When the keyboards take the song into quasi-jazz territory, especially in the outro, I can’t help but think: This is the sound of a confident band standing atop more than a decade’s worth of accomplishments and acclaim. They had nothing to prove in terms of rock credibility. At the height of punk rock’s influence, they’d make jazzy living room AOR if they felt like it. And apparently they did.
And my dad never complained about the music on that day. And that was the highest compliment he could give.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2024/07/21/songs-you-may-have-missed-747/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/06/08/recommended-albums-19/
Number of Law Officers Killed by Popular Musicians (Based on Verbal Confessions)
02 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
Songs You May Have Missed #184
02 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: can't go back now, the weepies
The Weepies: “Can’t Go Back Now” (2008)
Duo (and couple) Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, otherwise known as The Weepies, create gentle indie folk pop that has steadily gained a wider audience since their formation in 2001, despite limited live performances since the birth of their son a few years ago.
In a pop world dominated by Rihannas, Lady Gagas and their like, the last two Weepies albums actually climbed into the thirties on the Billboard Top 200 album charts and their most recent, 2010’s Be My Thrill, reached #3 on the Top Folk album chart, where it remained for 9 weeks. (Did you even know there was a Top Folk album chart?)
The Weepies’ music has appeared in several movies (Sex in the City, Adam, Morning Glory, Prom) and received wide exposure on TV (Grey’s Anatomy, Everwood, How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Gossip Girl, The Riches, Life Unexpected, Kyle XY). This in addition to appearances on TV commercial ads and even a campaign ad for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Recommended Albums #25
02 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Recommended Albums Tags: david byrne, grown backwards
David Byrne: Grown Backwards (2004)
Just at the point in David Byrne’s career when I’d pretty much lost interest–he’d apparently given up making conventional pop in favor of a world music agenda with his Luaka Bop label–someone who never gave me music before or since handed me a promo copy of Grown Backwards. I’d probably never have heard it otherwise. The promo did precisely its intended work, and dumb luck brought me one of my favorite albums of its decade.
Grown Backwards sounds like nothing so much as Byrne’s “record for grown ups”–intelligent and wide-ranging, but still slightly odd in Byrne’s inimitable way. The tunes bounce from style to style: eclectic, quirky pop, horn-laden funk, a sprinkling of that world music vibe (though not a heavy enough dose to be off-putting) and Byrne even covers two opera duets: the gorgeous Au Fond du Temple Saint, written by Bizet and sung with Rufus Wainwright; and Un di Felice, Etera from Verdi’s La Traviata. This ain’t no “Psycho Killer”. And this ain’t no foolin’ around. This is a guy bringing the richness of all of his musical interests to bear on a single album, and giving listeners credit for being able to handle the diversity of moods and settings.
However, the range of music here would prove to be a challenge to some “fans” with built-in expectations. As some of the album’s customer reviews on Amazon.com attest, many of Byrne’s fans from the Talking Heads days weren’t willing to follow him into some of this territory. Ironic that devotees of a band who once challenged expectations and broadened rock’s palatte would end up complaining that Byrne’s new stuff wasn’t the “same as it ever was”. I was surprised to read this is his only album to miss the Billboard top 200 album chart completely. The “fans” are simply wrong about this one. And if you come to it without expectations as I did you’ll find Grown Backwards contains lots of enjoyable musical moments.
Listen to: “Glass, Concrete and Stone”
Listen to: “The Man Who Loved Beer”
Listen to: “Au Fond du Temple Saint”
Listen to: “Dialog Box”
Every Moment Has A Song 