Songs You May Have Missed #53

15 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

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

arena

Arena: “Riding the Tide” (2003)

An exhilarating rush of instrumental Prog glory from a concept album called Contagion. Arena have survived quite a few lineup changes over the years. This one contains ubiquitous guitarist John Mitchell (It Bites, Kino, Frost, etc.) and that’s always a good thing. The band gives precedence to melody over a heavy rock sound. I find “Riding the Tide” contagious indeed, and I think its grandly anthemic sound would make it a good soundtrack for your kid’s high school sports highlight film. Just sayin’.

Songs You May Have Missed #52

14 Mar 2012 1 Comment

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

version

The New Pornographers: “July Jones” (2003)

The Vancouver band who formed from members of various indie and alt-country entities was coming into their own on their second album, 2003’s Electric Version. With hooks aplenty, and a variety of textures and influences in the music, it’s the kind of indie pop that would satisfy even the average classic rock fan. They created new sounds which incorporated some of the best elements of pop from every era of the past.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/19/songs-you-may-have-missed-366/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2025/08/31/songs-you-may-have-missed-788/

Tom Lehrer: The Elements

14 Mar 2012 1 Comment

Tom Lehrer earned a BA and MA in mathematics from Harvard during the late 1940s, then taught math courses at MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, and UC-Santa Cruz. Math was his vocation. But, all along, Lehrer nurtured an interest in music. And, by the mid 1950s, he became best known for his satirical songs that touched on sometimes political, sometimes academic themes.

“The Elements”, recorded in 1959, features Lehrer reciting the names of the 102 chemical elements known at the time (we now have 118), and it’s all sung to the tune of Major-General’s Song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. Here is Lehrer’s original tune set to some animation created in 2007.

(Source: Open Culture)

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2017/03/10/video-of-the-week-tom-lehrer-we-will-all-go-together-when-we-go/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/04/14/tom-lehrer-teaches-the-new-math/

Video by Ed Cyphers

Bride with Rare Cancer: ‘I Won’t Live in Fear’

14 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Wedding related

Amazing, inspiring story of a bride who not only carried on with wedding plans in the face of cancer, but had her wedding photographer document it.

Image: Joseph Jones shaving Lainie Schultz's hair

Three weeks before their wedding, Lainie Schultz’s fiancé, Joesph Jones, shaves his future bride’s hair.

(Source: msnbc.com)

Story:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46724913

Quiz: Katy or Zooey?

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Quizzes

Can you tell Katy Perry from Zooey Deschanel? Take the quiz!

Songs You May Have Missed #51

13 Mar 2012 1 Comment

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

riverside

Riverside: “In Two Minds” (2004)

Warsaw, Poland’s Riverside is a progressive rock band fronted by Mariusz Duda, whose voice has made him a welcome guest in prog circles. Riverside plays a brooding and atmospheric brand of rock that may call to mind older prog bands such as Pink Floyd, or some of more recent vintage, such as Porcupine Tree and Opeth. At times the intensity is closer to that of a metal band, and on other songs they opt for a more mellow, melodic and acoustic sound such as on “In Two Minds”. Duda handles either style quite capably.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/27/recommended-albums-42/

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