An excellent non-hit example of early-70s country-ish rock, but a non-hit for a reason: it’s just not that strong a song. The chorus isn’t catchy and while the melody is pleasant enough, there’s no underlying fire or passion that makes me sit up and take notice of the song. That’s prolly why The Shape I’m In, from the same album, is remembered so well and this song isn’t. Still, it’s so similar to so many other things going on at the time that, as I said, it’s a terrific example of the early-70s country-tinged rock that was being made by The Band, Skip Spence, Moby Grape, The Allman Brothers Band, etc.
Sticking with the “a little bit country” theme but updating it to the 21st century, here’s Moonshine Bandits with a catchy, fun little barn-stomper: Get Loose (link spoilered because this prolly won’t win you points with the boss; no nudity just a hottie in a bikini dancing)Get Loose by Moonshine Bandits
Ayreon is really just one guy, Arjen Lucassen, plus a bunch of guests, who are pretty much all heavy hitters in metal of one sort or another. The material strays close to power metal at times, but overall, it’s a terrific listen; the album seems to fly by if I listen to it in my car. You should check out his older stuff, too.
In the first few seconds I thought of C.W. McCall, and then right after that of course I immediately though of the Gourds cover of Snoop Dog’s 'Gin and Juice". Unfortunately, it lacks both the cleverness of C.W. McCall and the sensibility of the Gourds. It might be fun to listen to a few times, but ultimately it is simply banal. Sorry.
I’ll toss out My Morning Jacket’s ‘Circuital’. When I first heard this band (though not this song) I really didn’t like them. This track changed my mind. Their contribution to the Red Hot + Fela compilation ‘Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am’ cemented that for me.
Edit: added a link to the second song. Not in the spirit of the thread, but I thought it would be easier for anyone who might be interested.
Not too shabby. Kinda upbeat but not too hyper, guitar and vocals, could be my kind of music. Might have to look up a few more of theirs. My only problem was sometimes I coudn’t quite understand what he was singing.
For my song, I decided to pick whatever came next on my very large and random mass of music I was listening to when I started reading this thread, so the next person needs to listen to their “Mother” from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Might be a familiar one to some people, others maybe not.
Ahh, I know this one well. It’s one of only two songs off that album that I still like as an adult. I’d say it’s probably their best song released after Animals. Roger generally wrote pretty good lyrics, and this one doesn’t disappoint at all. Unlike a lot of lyrics off of the album, they work well outside the narrative of his Pink character. As a bonus, Gilmour turns in some nice solos without wearing you out.
Bits about other tracks:
I liked both of the songs by My Morning Jacket. I hadn’t heard either before. If I have a complaint about their original track, it’s that the production is heavy. I followed a link to a live version of it, and I liked it much better.
I liked “Sleeping”, too. It is guilty of the sins that Snowboarder Bo accused it of. But when The Band was in their slot where country, rock and soul meet, it’s hard not to like them.
Ok, I won’t post anything ancient this time. It’s at least from the last decade. Dan Deacon playing “Ohio” on Costal Sunrise!
It’s the performance that introduced me to him, and I was completely sold. I still like it better than the album version. I think that morning show had no idea who they had booked, and were not prepared for this guy who had picked Radio Shack as an instrument.
[QUOTE=scabpicker;
Ok, I won’t post anything ancient this time. It’s at least from the last decade. Dan Deacon playing “[Ohio]
(Dan Deacon on NBC morning - YouTube)” on Costal Sunrise!
It’s the performance that introduced me to him, and I was completely sold. I still like it better than the album version. I think that morning show had no idea who they had booked, and were not prepared for this guy who had picked Radio Shack as an instrument.
[/QUOTE]
Well that was…different. Don’t really know how I feel about that one. Probably not something I’d buy but the video was worth watching.
My pick is Ay Se Fue by Groupo Mojado. I don’t speak much Spanish but I often listen to the Spanish radio station in the car. I would hear this song but never could pick up on the title. One day while driving it came on again while I was at a stop light. Seeing that the guy in the car next to me looked Mexican I cranked it up and motioned for the driver to roll down his window. I asked him if he knew the name of the song and he told me Ay Se Fue. Ahhh, what a relief. Went out and bought it the next day. Hard to sit still through this one.
I’ve always enjoyed Mariachi music and as it goes, this was quite entertaining. Don’t know that I would go out and buy the album, but certainly good for radio.
Sticking to the Mexican theme, my selection is Jessy Bulbo with Maldito.
I actually heard this one for the first time while playing GTA5. I used sound hound to find out who it was. I loved it! Mexican hard rock!
That’s pretty good. I always like hearing horns used like that, and I love that driving, pounding drumbeat. If only I spoke Spanish, so I could know what was being said.
I found out about these guys in a small record store near my house. The album cover caught my eye, so I decided to pick it up.
That totally fucking rocked. Utterly. That was freaking fantastic. Thank you.
In a similar vein, please allow me to present an Italian duo I found last year (drums (yes, a real drummer) and synths/drum machines/programming/keyboards: Satelleti with Transister.
That was interesting, but the siren-ish parts kinda didn’t do it for me. The drumming was good. I’d probably like it better if I could still wash down Sudafeds with strong coffee.
Here’s “Shoot to Kill” by 1994. I like it because of the guitar work, especially the bridge at about 2 minutes in. I always thought this band should have gotten more attention than it did.
Thanks, california jobcase; I’m completely unfamiliar with 1994:, but I think I’ll have to get more acquainted. I like the basic rock structure of the track, and Karen Lawrence’s vocals are reminiscent of Ann Wilson. Too bad that band was so short-lived, maybe that’s why they didn’t get more attention.
My contribution: The Heavy – How You Like Me Now. I have no idea how well-known these guys are (I discovered them via Letterman’s Late Show; one of the few band appearances where Dave asked for an immediate encore). I posted this video to Facebook a while back with the note “Apologies to the The Black Keys, but this is the most badass piece of music released in the last five years.” They have a great sound that amalgamates soul, rock, blues (and I’m sure other influences) into a sort of “Modern Garage” that just rocks.
Fantastic! I loved the Heavy. Went through every video I could find of them. I’m a new fan and they are definitely going to be added to my itunes collection. You are right Ed, it is a mix of soul, rock and blues. Modern garage describes it well. Thank You!
I’m getting a sense that we want a bit more obscure, not so mainstream stuff. In that vain, my next pick is a Francophone classic. I heard this one when my Dad took me to Paris in 1978. This song was playing on the radio where ever we went. So, I picked it up as a single (vinyl), and played it over and over, driving my mother crazy. Years later, I found out this was pretty much a one hit wonder, and the guy was actually Belgian. And the lyrics are nonsensical.
It is Rock ‘n’ Roll in its most basic sense, very simple, but it rocks. This is Plastic Bertrand with Ca Plane Pour Moi.
Good lord, I was not prepared for that by the word “Zydeco”.
There’s a community radio station in town. They play a lot of blues, and are well supported for it. However, while a good proportion of their catalog is well performed, it’s not innovative, and therefore kind of forgettable. They have Zydeco shows, and they have the same problem of adherence to a form. You absolutely will hear at least one gem every half hour of music programming on the station , no matter what the format, because they are allowed to write their own playlist. But it will probably be in 20 minutes of a 50/50 mix of greats and pretenders.
This song would outshine the best song on the Zydeco shows that I’ve heard. That violinist works the Persian/Arabic scale as well as any guitarist or violinist I’ve heard in years, and then the band mixes in plenty of elements of bluegrass and outright jazz while they’re in the Zydeco song proper. I’ve listened several times, and am surprised by the changes on each listen. I’m not surprised to see it was recorded on Bluegrass Underground, that show almost rivals Austin City Limits for a guaranteed good show. Very nice, thankya.
Well, I’ve been meaning to update this thread with a mega-post and catching up with posting positive things about every linked song that I liked. I really do listen to every song posted to this thread several times, even if it’s not the last post in it. But inertia and a long, well-composed post being eaten by fat fingers made that a problem.
Either way, I love this thread, and want it to go on forever.
One of the things that was eaten was my opinion on whether the music posted should be “obscure” or not. I feel that the question is moot. There are things that some posters take for granted, and have never really heard. That might be the song that you live by. By the same token, there’s some songs that people think are widely heard, but just don’t penetrate into another person’s bubble. I swear that for every song I’ve posted so far, I can say that the majority of my friends knew of it around I when I first did, and probably have an opinion on it today. I cannot say that about every song in this thread. Even if it’s from an artist I’m familiar with, it may be new to me.
Even then, if you feel like making me listen to Bach’s “Toccata y Fugue in D minor” closely 3 of 4 times, have at it. I can already honestly play the Toccata on bass, and fake the Fugue, but I could always learn from a few more listens. DO IT!
But by now, you’re probably asking: “Enough rambling, old man! what actually got you off your butt and broke your inertia, scabs?”.
Well, my Texas music thread got resurrected (I swear, it’s not a zombie!), and that got me listening to things this morning. And, I ended up on Rapeman - “Just Got Paid”.
Why post it? Well, it’s due to a combination of a lot of things that have been percolating in my mind grapes. It’s a guitarist that shaped my playing a lot*; covering a band from my home state, who also did a great deal of shaping what my idea of what music should sound like. In Albini’s production style, it’s presented warts and all. For anyone who ever thought “I want to hear what a band really sounds like, before all the overdubs and production”, my advice is to listen to Albini recording himself with a band. Everything is mic’d as perfect as it’s going to get, and if they flub things, they flub things. But don’t listen to that artsyness, at least not at first. Even though Albini probably does engineering it in its purest, best sounding form; listen to the guitar playing. Listen to him love that guitar riff. The solo is the definition of meltdown. In In the end, it’s evidence that in even Punk Rock is an extension of The Blues. If not strictly harmonically, then surely thematically. Don’t even begin those silly arguments about who’s punk or not, if your band’s name is Rapeman, you’re in at least the top 10% of punk rock.
*I am an Albini worshiper to the point that I’ve had his band’s album cover painted on the back of my jacket for literally 20 years. I have made close lifelong friends because of it. That jacket no longer seals out the elements, and I now have a new jacket. What to paint on there as its successor borders on an existential dilemma, as I don’t think that repetition is the answer.
I like that. I don’t play and don’t know shit about music, so my range of critique for the actual playing is almost a like it/don’t like it rating. But I like that.
Speaking of things I like, here isBombino - “Aman”. I just love the way the guitar sounds.
That was fantastic. Incredible guitar and I do love that Middle Eastern sound. I’m going to have to put this in my collection. Awesome!
From the Middle East, let’s go further East…(and West?), to the Indian subcontinent.
I confess I like Indipop and whenever I go to India, I always try to get to a music store and I buy the top three best sellers off the rack. It’s a bit of a hit and miss, but once I came back with Bally Sagoo’s Greatest Hits and I loved it. It’s a mix of Indipop and western rap. In this particular example, it’s even got a bit of Jamaican reggae in it.
I later found out that his popularity wasn’t limited to India, but he apparently gets a fair amount of radio play and popularity in the UK. In fact that’s where he lives now and he’s moved on to becoming a music producer. What a life!
Enough said. Here is Bally Sagoo with Mera Laung Gawacha.
It’s been awhile since I’ve visited this thread. I’ve just spent almost two hours getting caught up! This is a time consuming thread.
Scabpicker, that recording of the Rose of Cimaron isn’t the best, I admit. I really appreciate your comments, it’s making me listen to the music in a new way.
I’m planning to buy the Get Loose song Bo linked. It’s perfect for my walking playlist. I loved it.
I’m also going to give Morning Jacket some more of my time. This has serious promise for me. Also Probably going to buy some music from The Heavy, I like their sound.
And lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed Plastic Bertrand. I bet I could learn those lyrics in no time.
So here’s my addition Kings Of Leon - Talihina Sky (Live) - YouTube. This is the *Kings of Leon, Talahina Sky. * I love everything about this song. This man has the sexiest voice, especially when it cracks.
