Very cool! The video is deceptively simple and it took me a few views to catch some of the 60s and 70s pop culture references like the streaker at the end. I really like Sandi’s voice and the slow instrument build up. I also find he confluence of hippies and punk references quite amusing as the two are almost diametrically opposed in so many ways. Very subtle, very well executed.
That was FUN! The song’s better sped up and stripped down. Mercifully less ick. But what if you’d never heard the original version for comparison? I have no answer.
Queen - Procession/Father to Son/White Queen (As It Began)
[Apologies for the length; the three songs run together in a sorta mini-operetta.]
The opening is almost a synth-rock parody of late British classical music, and from there it proceeds into something remarkably sincere, which I suppose fits the title - Queen here is contrasting the theme of youthful rebellion against authority with that of the older generation that went through that phase twenty years before and has grown jaded and conservative. The third movement is almost kind of a regression from both those parts - it descends into an earlier sort of English folk tradition, with references to fairy legends and a more general Baroque feel. It’s certainly a tour de force.
Also, I’m pretty sure I heard a call-forward to “Bicycle Race” in there somewhere.
Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don’t Need You. (Also a long one, but IMO worth it.)
I’ve loosely followed Ed Sheeran but I have to say this really showcases just how good a songwriter and entertainer he is. The rapid fire delivery and the fact he appears to be doing this from memory is simply amazing! His use of the looper pedal was noteworthy, I wish I had even half that skill. Thank you for that, Smapti.
I was aware of the existence of this song, but I’d never actually heard it until now. It’s brutally explicit and shocking for its time, and it still sends a shiver down your spine nearly 80 years later.
That was awesome. I am a Who fan but somehow was not familiar with that song. Everything in the piece blends well together and the lyrics are beautiful and sung with harsh authenticity. I am glad to know “I’ve Known No War.”
The guitar on this one is great - good enough that it could just be an instrumental and it’d still be entertaining. The vocals are haunting, but I wish they were a little less distorted - as it is it’s difficult to understand some of what she’s saying and I had to Google the lyrics in order to follow along. Not bad.
Kind of cool that I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath right now and hearing this. I like The Band’s music generally and this is no exception, I’ll probably be humming this the rest of the day.
This one starts out with an acoustic folk vibe that reminds me of the outro to Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well”, and then segues into an Irish-punk tempo that’s more Dropkick Murphys. I love the fiddle solo. Lyrically, I hesitate to call it a drinking song since it’s mostly about how much he hates what drink is doing to him (but isn’t that how it always goes?) All in all a pretty solid composition.
I’ll always remember the first time I heard Counting Crows, it was at an empty pool hall, me and a buddy were the only two there besides the clerk who put “August and Everything After” on in its entirety. It was a rainy day and it just was the perfect mood for everything. I still feel that with all of their subsequent stuff and love the piano keeping the beat in Mrs Potter’s Lullaby as if it were part of the drums (I guess it is technically a percussion instrument.) That said, I would never want to date Adam Duritz. And if any of you do, please dick him around. He writes his best stuff about that.
Amy Speace’s Weight of the World:
The guitar is a little too twangy for my tastes, and some of the lyrics are a bit hokey, but there’s an earnestness to it. How old is this singer? She looks too old to be singing about something that happened to her personally if this song is supposed to be set post-9/11, but I guess it works just as well as a tale about a generic American family than a specific one.
I love Blue Oyster Cult, I have only really listened to their best-of stuff before though. It was nice to hear something from them I hadn’t heard before. This is a fantastic song with some great guitar work. Nice post!
Incidentally, “See You in Black” came on afterward, also a great song, I’ll definitely be putting this album on rotation.
Check this out… Dead Letter Circus - The Drum
Hunh, slow intro, kind of gothic, then…slowly builds…then starts slowly rocking in this smooth sublime groove, kicking out the jams at the end pretty intensely. I like intense music, so I might explore more of their stuff, tho some reviews online indicate that they pretty much stick to this formula. But they would appear to slot in quite well with a lot of my other favorite artists, such as Ride, The Verve, or Porcupine Tree.
Very much a Fixx vibe to it, with a dash of New Order. The Fixx was one of the first bands I ever saw live so I dug into this right away.
Angsty lyrics, prominent synth, classic 80s New Wave and I mean that in a good way. Thanks!
Same era, different result!
Now that’s some good old '80s arena rock right there. The guitarist is utterly amazing, and the drummer’s not bad either. According to Wikipedia, these guys were huge back in the day - how I’ve never heard of them I have no idea.
Love this guys voice, really good intro too. This is just good old relaxing-on-the-porch-drinking-and-relaxing music. The story could have been more exciting, but he has all the tools for great storytelling like Jim Croce.
Some crazy shit here, 80’s rock-opera at it’s height ala Meatloaf. Very well done too. The innuendo kept me smiling all the way through.
Here’s
Iron & Wine - Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)
The drumbeat has an almost hypnotic tribal feel to it. To an extent, the song reminds me of “Rock On” by David Essex. I’m only catching bits and pieces of the lyrics, but I like the way his voice flows from word to word.
Jeff Wayne ft. Richard Burton & Justin Hayward - The Eve of the War.
On Iron & Wine: As mentioned, very much a Rock On vibe but I was listening on cans and I definitely got an early Pink Floyd vibe (Seamus comes to mind) as well. This thread is going to cost me a fortune in music…Dammit! 
The Eve of War: I had this album and absolutely loved it! Richard Burton’s narration and Justin Hayward’s guitar work are stellar! Thank you for the trip in the wayback machine!
How am I supposed to come up with anything to match the last two? Oh well,
Jean Michel Jarre- Oxygene Pt.1
I recommend headphones and a dark room…
I can dig what he is attempting to do here. It just comes off as bland and dated, as far as electronic music is concerned.
OK, so space rock it is, then.
Tangerine Dream - Thru Metamorphic Rocks. Me, I love the wolf howls towards the end…
An interesting mix of state-of-the-art (for the time) synthesizers and old-school sound effects (I’m fairly sure they’re using the old “scrape a pan against the inside of a toilet bowl” trick a few times in there). The guitar work is stellar, though it feels a bit artificial as a result of its, I assume, being fed through the synthesizer and distorted (though maybe that’s the point). It sounds like something you’d hear in the score of an '80s sci-fi movie, or perhaps something you’d listen to while driving down a lonesome downtown street late at night. It gets kind of repetitive for awhile during the second half, and it could probably have been trimmed down by 3-5 minutes without losing much, but overall it’s not bad. (PS: The wolf howls startled my cat. He’s going to be absolutely restless all day now, so thanks for that. :P)