I never realized the Temptations got this psychedelic. Definitely still rooted in soul, socially conscious, and reminiscent of Edwin Starr’s “War”, but it’s definitely on the experimental end of what you could do in R&B in the late '60s/early '70s. It’s kinda hard to jam to just because there’s so much stuff going on at any given moment that it never really settles into a groove - it’s more just the kind of song that you just have to sit back and take in.
I’m only familiar with the hit singles from Marshall Crenshaw’s debut album and this song’s pretty much in the same style – pleasant, folksy pop. Didn’t even realize it was a cover song until I checked the wiki since the lyrics sounded slightly familiar, which shows just how much of a Bob Dylan fan I am. :smack:
Love the opening with the heavy bass and the guitar. This really reminds me of some of Blue Oyster Cult’s more operatic songs, especially in terms of how it’s arranged musically. The guitar solo is great. The round it breaks into at the end fits in great with the nautical theme. According to Wikipedia, this song is part of a rock opera - I definitely think I’m going to have to check out the rest of it. Thanks!
May as well answer one heavy metal opera with another;
It’s got all the elements of classic early 80’s L.A. heavy metal – fantasy themes, galloping guitar riffs, piss-poor production and an absolutely crappy lead vocalist. 
Could’ve been featured on the Metal Massacre album series, quite nostalgic.
The overall sound is really reminiscent of early Black Sabbath, though the singer is more Ritchie Blackmore than Ozzy Osbourne. Pretty simple musically, but it’s got a driving thrash rhythm that you could definitely mosh to. The solo is a little underwhelming - I’d prefer if they’d sped it up a little, dropped the solo, and gone a little more punk.
Zombifying the thread. Because it’s Christmas, and it’s time for a song which these days is usually performed without the intro, and which is actually much longer and more meaningful than most people realize it is;
Very, very nice; piano and vocal nail it. Simple arrangement, lovely voice, excellent keys. Yeah, the intro is almost comical in contrast to the rest of the (familiar) tune. A winner all around.
From their Christmas album:
This is not a Christmas/holiday/religious song I was previously familiar with. The vocals are golden, and the instrumentals are just subtle enough to fit in perfectly with them. I like the way the singer is plaintive and regretful, asking the innocent child to intervene on their behalf. One can only wonder at what deeds the singer has committed, that they need such a child to speak for them.
…
Hoo boy. That was not Weird Al at his best. The music was actually a lot of fun, but the lyrics and delivery were hammy even for him. I think I have a headache now. 
The Kinks, “Father Christmas”
Now here we’ve got a classic punk anthem on our hands. I was first introduced to it by a cover some emo band did on Leno years ago, and didn’t discover for some time that it was originally by the Kinks. I still have trouble believing it because it sounds so different from everything else the Kinks did that I’m familiar with. It’s a fun song, and the mental image of these kids beating up and mugging Santa Claus Clockwork Orange style is so horrible to imagine that it becomes hilarious.
This played literally three songs ago in the YouTube Christmas mix that’s currently rocking my office. I love it. I know every word; I can bust this out at karaoke without even looking at the screen, and have done so many times. Musically, even though Run-DMC’s flow was getting dated even by the time this came out (Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid in Full and BDP’s Criminal Minded both came out before this song!), they still had a knack for lyrics that painted a vivid picture - the first time I saw the video for this song, it looked exactly the way I expected it to.
This isn’t my favorite version of this song - that would be Death Cab For Cutie’s cover - but it’s one of the few U2 songs that doesn’t drive me to change the channel. (Pride in the Name of Love is the other.) The Edge’s guitar work here is better than usual, the vocals are good, and overall it strikes a nice balance between paying homage to the original and being its own thing.
Meco - What Can You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns A Comb)?
That was just AWFUL–and I loved every nano-second of it!! I always wondered how Meco was going to follow-up Disco Star Wars and here it is; it’s precisely what I expected it to be. This is the second-to-last song that should be played at every drunken Christmas party (just before you toss the [del]free-loaders[/del] revelers out!).
I hope Meco made a ton of $$$ off this! 9.5/10.
Just for laffs:
You know, I was kinda expecting more from a title like that, but I didn’t get a single chuckle out of it. I guess this would have been funnier 20 or 30 years ago when “men having sex with men” was joke fodder rather than something we accept as a normal part of our society. The “twist” at the end was clever, but it didn’t really get a laugh out of me either.
I love Dee Snider, but he is one of the loudest, most unsubtle singers ever, even by 80s hard rock standards. This song is just not kind to his voice.
Love the incongruous mix of semi-traditional folk music with controversially dirty lyrics. Certainly wouldn’t want to play it in mixed company! (Oh, and isn’t Shane MacGowan the poster child for the state of dental care in the British Isles, or what?)
I’m not familiar at all with Rob Halford’s solo work, but the instrumentals here are definitely intended to emulate Judas Priest’s sound. His vocals are decent enough here, and he does the song justice. It kinda feels like the guitarist is trying too hard on the solos in between verses; it comes off as rehearsed and inorganic, which is really not the vibe you want a speed metal solo to be giving off. The break near the end is nice.
The holiday has passed, so I’ll offer a new track for your listening pleasure, from the beginning of the career of a man who lived a long life and still left us too soon;
This is one of the few Hawkwind songs I know well. It’s interesting how different it is from the Motorhead version, in spite of the vocals and chugging bass being pure Lemmy - this one is really sludgy and psychedelic sounding, and gives few clues as to the stripped-down speed machine Motorhead would become.
Next: Motorhead, “Overkill”