Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
11 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in On a Lighter Note, Wedding related
(source: makemymood.com)
10 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: oceans, rob dickinson
Rob Dickinson: “Oceans” (2005)
Rob Dickinson stepped out five years after the demise of his band Catherine Wheel with his first solo album, Fresh Wine For The Horses. The sweeping, passionate plea “Oceans” was a highlight.
Rob is Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson’s cousin.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/01/29/songs-you-may-have-missed-309/
10 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: go all the way, raspberries, should i wait
Raspberries: “Should I Wait” (1973)
This song is in several ways atypical of what the Raspberries were all about. Eric Carmen was the band’s primary songwriter, for one thing, and “Should I Wait” was written by bassist David Smalley. So it’s like using one George Harrison song to represent the Beatles. Moreover, the Raspberries usual sound was a Wall of Sugar, if you will: snarling and bombastic like Faces or the Who, but sweet and hyper-melodic like the Beatles and Beach Boys. Something like this:
Sounds like this were the very reason the term “power pop” came into being, and the Raspberries were as definitive of the genre as anybody.
I’ll digress to mention that Carmen’s 1972 classic “Go All the Way” is a brilliant synthesis of some great pop singles from the previous decade. Notice the staccato guitar stabs in the verses, straight out of the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby”. Then the chorus comes in with cascading harmonies reminiscent of the Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee”. And for good measure, a call-and-answer “Come on!” bridge that calls to mind the Beatles’ “Please Please Me”. And yet “Go All the Way”, far from sounding like a mere knockoff, is a great pop song in its own right.
Up-front guitar pyrotechnics and thunderous drums colliding with sweet melodic pop were the band’s staple, and I recommend any of the Greatest Hits collections on the market for a generous selection of that proto-power pop sound. But the almost-country rock “Should I Wait” won’t be on those compilations since it wasn’t a single (which is probably because it wasn’t written by Carmen, but that’s another story–one that ends with the band’s acrimonious breakup).
Anyway it’s probably the best of the great-but-short-lived band’s non-singles and it deserves a listen.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/09/songs-you-may-have-missed-386/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/11/17/anatomy-of-a-classic-deconstructing-the-raspberries-go-all-the-way/
09 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Recommended Albums Tags: library voices, summer of lust
Library Voices: Summer of Lust (2011)
This is one of those sneaky ones. If you have it repeating in the car you’ll first notice it’s providing a great soundtrack for the drive–sprightly middle-weight indie rock that compels you (weather permitting) to start rolling down windows. Then little bits of lyric float by on an appealing melody and you find yourself hitting “repeat” while you reach for the lyric sheet because they just nailed a turn of phrase or thought. What? you’re listening to a downloaded version on your iPod and have no lyric sheet? We’ll put aside your contributing to the demise of the pop album for the moment as I quote my lyric booklet (which didn’t come with your downloaded version):
All my friends are buying diamonds for their girls and bringing children into this world/Signing their names to a home on land they captured/Me? I’m still writing songs I’m scared you’ll hear some day
(from “If Raymond Carver Was Born in the 90’s”)
And…
It was Paris, 1949. It was love in a better time/Before photoshopped hips and collagen smiles, when longing meant more than a drunk dial/That’s why I’m always coming back to you
(from “Be my Juliette Gréco, Paris 1949”)
Literary references are sprinkled throughout, but don’t have the effect of an irritant (I’m looking at you, Sting). “Be My Juliette Gréco, Paris 1949” is like an energetic update of “Caroline No”. Honestly the whole album, with its propulsive rhythms and bright melodies, just sounds like summertime’s soundtrack to me.
In fact, it sounds a whole lot more like a great summer record than one from the summer previous that elicited description as a “great summer record” with a “Beach Boys vibe”. That record was Best Coast’s Crazy For You, and I think the shoreline cover art and fuzzy “retro” sound may have convinced some people it was something that, to my ears at least, it clearly was not. Though I feel sure Summer of Lust will sell far fewer copies than that album, this Canadian 10-piece has it all over Best Coast in songwriting terms. So with all that lazy, hazy, crazy just a few months off, it’s time to start that bikini diet and pick up Summer of Lust.
Listen to: “If Raymond Carver Was Born in the 90’s”
Don’t miss: “Reluctant Readers make Reluctant Lovers”
Listen to: “Be My Juliette Gréco, Paris 1949”
Every Moment Has A Song 