Songs You May Have Missed #79

12 Apr 2012 1 Comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

the school

The School: “Never Thought I’d See the Day” (2012)

Farfisa organ plus girl group giddiness plus sweet, breathless young love equals pop bliss! This song makes me think of Brian Wilson’s melancholy “Please Let Me Wonder”–but is anything but melancholy itself. How does a song capture so perfectly the spirit of the Beach Boys without sounding anything like the Beach Boys?

I’ve known this tune for less than ten minutes and I already know I’ll love it for the rest of my life.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/07/02/recommended-albums-20/

Songs You May Have Missed #78

12 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

rich

Charlie Rich: “Rollin’ With the Flow” (1977)

Four years after “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl” were monster hits on both country and pop charts, Rich delivered one last modest crossover hit, this philosophical and unapologetic nugget from 1977.

This is how the best country songs did it: with a lyric portraying a tragic character, but not in a maudlin, self-pitying voice. This aging n’er do well isn’t asking for your sympathy; he’ll get by. We all have one alcoholic uncle like him. Let him alone, as long as he’s not hurting anybody. He just wants to burn out rather than fade away.

They don’t write country songs like this anymore. That’s why they keep covering them.

Songs You May Have Missed #77

12 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

lake

Great Lake Swimmers: “New Wild Everywhere” (2012)

Canadian folk rockers the Great Lake Swimmers plow the same field as Bon Iver or Fleet Foxes but without the critical acclaim. It’s a homespun sound with just enough sheen. Nothing world-changing here, but it’s the kind of song that deserves a place on one of those compilations you kick back to.

Amazon to Let Music Fans Trade CDs for Store Credit

12 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts

CD

Used CDs have just been added to the list of goods accepted by Amazon.com’s Trade-In program, Smartmoney reports. On Wednesday, the online retail giant announced that users can mail in used CDs in exchange for store credit. Amazon’s trade-in program has previously accepted a variety of media and electronics including books, movies and video games. The site collects eligible used titles from customers and resells them to third-party merchants.

If anything, Amazon’s new CD trade-in program underscores impressions of the compact disc format’s declining value. According to the site’s estimates, a used copy of Madonna’s new album, MDNA, will trade for up to $5 – a little more than enough to buy five tracks from the album on Amazon MP3 – while Skrillex’s Bangarang nets a measly 65 cents.

(Reprinted from Rolling Stone)

…and Now

12 Apr 2012 2 Comments

When you think rock ‘n’ roll, you think electric guitars. And when you think electric guitars, you think about Fenders and all of those Telecasters and Stratocasters played by legendary musicians, from Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, and Keith Richards, to Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company first started operations in Fullerton, California in 1946, but didn’t start making Teles (originally called Broadcasters) until 1950, and Stratocasters until 1954. And they’re still making them today.

The first video above, “A Strat is Born,” takes you through the making of a contemporary Stratocaster in four timelapse minutes. The action all takes place at Fender’s factory in Corona, California. The second video below offers a vintage 1959 tour of the Fender factory in Fullerton, CA. Put the two videos side by side, and you can see how much times have … or haven’t … changed.

(Source: Open Culture)

Video by Ed Cyphers

Making Fender Guitars: Then…

12 Apr 2012 1 Comment

Fender Factory tour, 1959.

Video by Ed Cyphers

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