Aug 31 AOTD: Led Zeppelin IV

Aug 31 AOTD: Led Zeppelin IV

1971


Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIiu0JI3I5g&list=PLXRJ0SLXQeZrRxcRgkjPCffmHzPilLd4D


It's all here - and never better - guitar solos from heaven, bass lines that loosen boulders, a drummer who sounds like he's wielding Thor's hammer, and a singer who can transition from caterwauling that can summon demons to a wistful delivery resonating a wayfaring, melancholy young man.

"Black Dog" puts the listener squarely in the maximum rhythm and blues camp, stealing the torch from The Who and lighting afire Zeppelin's own brand of the delta blues sojourning to Chicago on a heavy metal harmonica.

"Rock and Roll" ramps up the rhythm, sounding like Chuck Berry on steroids. And then the album deftly shifts to an English folk-sounding duet between Robert Plan and Sandy Denny wherein Denny is the town crier and Plant the narrator in a retelling of a battle out of Lord of the Rings. The use of only a mandolin and acoustic guitar evokes a dark,  primal Middle Earth, or a doomed medieval English country side.

The acoustics of "Evermore" make a perfect segue for the opening of "Stairway to Heaven," which begins instrumentally with only an acoustic guitar and recorder.  But the song has two more parts that follow as it increases with electric instruments and intensity. In the 80s whenever I walked into a music store, some young dude would, inevitably, be strumming this tune on a guitar. As one of the most played classic rock songs ever, not much more needs to be said.

The album stays electric and hard-rocking for the next two songs, before it settles down again into one of the finest ballads by Led Zeppelin or any other rock band of that era. "Going to California" showcases Plant capitalizing on lower register, then rising in pitch, much like the rise and fall of the mountains he has to cross to get to California.  This is Plant at his pensive best.

The closer "When the Levee Breaks" is a stomper with enough reverb on the kick drum to resound like the inside of Smog's mountain cave.  As it slides into its groove with harmonica, an ominous tone, like marching Orcs, resounds with an eery heaviness.  Then plant lays down the forecaster's report and his intent to escape to the blues haven of Chicago.

I know, I barely mentioned Jimmy Page or John Paul Jones or John Bonham - I'll let their instruments speak for themselves.

Aug 30 AOTD: Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record

Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record

1976




Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77R1Wp6Y_5Y&list=PLm9smEh4bd5iZqH6lqfxKpq2JCwTVWQn4&index=2

ELO was unabashedly inspired by the Beatles, but this is the album where. though the influences still remain, the band really started to flesh out the vision of Jeff Lynne's sound.  No longer reaching for the esoteric concepts like Eldorado or even some of the songs on the previous album, Face the Music, A New World Record reached for the radio and hit the target.  Seven of these songs have become recognizable hits - four of them the year it was released - all top ten.  Three more grew in strength over the years via assistance from various "essential" and "greatest hits" packages. Rounding out the nine, the other two also deserve repeated listening.

Though the album features all kinds of experimentation from bongos to synthesizers, it's - ironically, given their name - the actual use of a full orchestra embedded in some of the most straight ahead rock rhythms and guitars that make this the best ELO album in the catalogue.

Tha album starts with eerie synths, almost like a fog creeping in at the start of a horror movie, and then the strings, seemingly taking us back to a regal, dark forest.  The strings then give way to Jeff's guitar and a distinct rock and roll pace kicks in with Bev Bevans drums.

Another awesome feature on the album is the use of background singers, who's choruses of "hey hey," "doo wop," "wooo," "do ya," etc. are almost as much fun to sing along with as the verses.

Highlights include the plaintive "Telephone Line" and the blasting "Rockaria," a tribute to opera and classical music with deftly mixed strings, swooping guitar, and Jeff Lynne giving another "Roll Over Beethoven"-lyrical and vocal nod to Chuck Berry.

In my youth, hearing these songs on the radio made me fall in love with ELO. More than other songs though, these are the kind, due to their warmth with lush strings and their adherence to melodic hooks, that still feel like the best, most loyal childhood friends who have grown up beside me.

Aug 29 AOTD: CCR - Cosmo's Factory

CCR - Cosmo's Factory

1970

Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZPG1kEMNVg&list=PLWnVxuqvY7JjwVZcbCVRZlHQaSz9VvPiQ&index=1

This is it the band's zenith of creativity - producing five albums in two years, this one the best - Tom Fogerty walked out of the band by end of the year, having had enough of his brother (John's) overzealous control - so this is the last testament to a lineup that was one of the greatest bands of its time.

Take a listen to the journey that is the first song, what starts as a simple rock single, but then meanders into a monstrous jam session of beautiful guitar work, eventually returning to the chorus.

Travelin' Band is a scorching rocker with rat-a-tat-tat drum fills spitting out punctuation marks of urgency.  But then the horns sail in with a guitar whining away in the back ground - then another verse/chorus, and then guitar breaks free, loudly claiming its right.

The next four songs - after the opener - are all short and fly off the record like the listener is spinning an oldies radio dial between country, rock-a-billy and some far-reaching mountain, hillbilly station.

Then comes that sound of Vietnam (though it was NOT intended to be such) in Run Through the Jungle - actually, though the song is synonymous with the war - John meant it as a plea against the proliferation of guns in America.

Before the album is done, you will hear SEVEN classic rock staples, something very few other albums can claim. Did I mention ... FIFTH ALBUM IN TWO YEARS.

Last note: Every silver cloud has a grey lining - that massive output eventually took it's toll ... Tom left ... and they never had an albums this good again.  Also, the title refers to the studio where they recorded - it belonged to a guy whose nick name was "Cosmo" - and the "factory" part?  Well, that's what it felt like to some of the other band members as John put them through a daily practice schedule to keep up with his prolific creativity.

Aug 28 AOTD: U2 - Achtung Baby

U2 - Achtung Baby

1991



Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKPnKXZV-4o&index=1&list=PL8a8cutYP7fpX03Ur0pjUmZGOmONeIpS2

Bono and U2 were having a "Sunday morning come down" after the high of Joshua Tree and then the critical backlash that followed Rattle and Hum. They were somewhat lost for a musical direction, not wanting to just repeat themselves and sound like old U2 albums. So they pulled a Bowie and moved to Berlin, looking for inspiration from the cabaret, dark, and sexually mysterious days of the 30's while moving through a newly reunified city filled with hope.  It worked.

But the true marks of success on this album show that U2 is really a giant force made of so much more than just Bono. Take Brian Eno who returned for only about a week at a time, then disappeared for about a month. His only job, he claimed? To listen to what had been recorded since his last visit and make sure the songs "did not sound like U2." Daniel Lanois, who stayed on board constantly (along with Flood) made sure that Eno's commands for more innovation and industrialization were adhered to.

Bono and the band ate it up. Bono himself quit singing full-throated, aiming for those arena nose-bleed seats, and, instead, adopted a more restrained, lower-register-reaching, often hushed, breathy styling.  The Edge quit the trademark chiming and played around much more with his pedals and effects. The effect?  The album shimmers with electricity like no other U2 Album, while at the same time, the vocals and lyrics give it a much more introspective feel. The album also feels more propulsive with charging rhythms on tracks like Zoo Station, Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly and Ultraviolet (Light My Way).

As an album, it contains a perfect structure for what they were aiming for. Bono has famously said that "Achtung Baby is the sound of U2 chopping down the Josua Treed."  And he's right ... obliterating it with a chainsaw might be an even better description. All of the distortion in the guitars and Bono's voice in the intro of the opener Zoo Station is intended to make the listener believe they've got a broken product, or a mistaken album, anything but the next U2 Album.

Highlights for me:
- The Fly - with it's scaling, yowling guitars and throbbing drums - was the first single, intended to introduce the audience to all of the innovative, industrial sounds U2 was playing with. Since the first song I heard off Joshua Tree was With or Without You, this was bold move, one that left me floored.  I had no idea what I was listening to.  But I immediately liked it and now truly heard them as the best rock band around.  It just skimmed across the radio waves like a rocket reeling back to Earth from the farthest reaches of space.
- Even Better Than The Real Thing and Ultraviolet both have that same reverby space sound.
- One is still an enigma to me when I hear it today.  It seems like it should NOT work in the U2 canon (it does not have that diverse of a build, Bono does not do vocal gymnastics, it's not a driving charger), yet it's one of their most beautiful songs by far. I will say this: maybe Bono when he sings calmly, from hushed to strained, voice sometimes seeming to crack ... well a certain pathos of pain is revealed. Also, when we need to feel "carried," we are typically fallen, lost. But to carry each other (love and support each other) is a simple idea, much like the simplicity of Edge's guitar, which can gets more focus with Bono reigning it in.  Bono finally does unleash into the high register, but only for a moment at the very end.
- Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - again, starting with distortion like a wind blowing in from outer space (I know ... a little repetitive with the space theme - but, seriously, listen to it and tell me if you don't agree!!) and then one of Bono's best vocal deliveries on the album, propped up by just the right amount of reverb, and not stretching too high, staying just below the falsetto. The guitar reflects like the broken glass on the beach that Bono sings of.  But Larry Mullen's kick drum is HEAVY and combined with Adam Clayton's bass sounds just like a horse galloping, hooves like hammers pounding the ground, a perfect foundation for the song. Also the mix is perfect, everything getting equal billing.

In the world of rock, a singer does not need to have perfect pitch.  It's the character in his or her voice that matters much more.  The same can be said of the instrumentation.  The styling and color of the sound matters a little more than perfect technique.  U2 has not had as much character across 12 songs since this album (though All That You Can't Leave Behind and the new release Songs of Experience come close).

Aug 27 AOTD: The Who - Who's Next

The Who - Who's Next

1971



Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpZmkrA0wEU&list=PLWnVxuqvY7Jh4s8AyVxYaL4vB5QapV7It

It's the first rock album to ever use a synthesizer.

The first song - "Baba O'Riley" - takes it's name from two of Pete Townshend's heroes, his spiritual guru, Meher Baba and jazz experimentalist Terry Riley.

Nicky Hopkins guests on piano throughout the album.

"Baba O'riley" features Dave Arbus of East of Eden on violin at the end of the song.

The guitar Pete Townshend uses in "Won't Get Fooled Again" was given to him by Joe Walsh of the Eagles.

The songs are only a small collection leftover from an abandoned project of Pete's called, originally to have been called Lifehouse.  That project was to tell a futuristic dystopian story of teen girl pied-pipered away by a rock musician and the father that is determined to follow her and then bring her back.  But forget the story.  It's the themes that matter and hold the remnants up, despite the abandoned narrative.

"Baba O'Riley" opens the album and was to have originally been the start of the story as well, with the father taking his wife Sally and two children and hitting the road to escape the pollution of the city. But it's that bridge with Pete Townshend singing "Don't cry, don't raise your eye/It's only teenage wasteland." The line is packed with multiple meanings.  Pete says he was inspired to write it after seeing the teens at Woodstock losing it on acid.  But it also carries meaning within the intended story as an interlude implying that the teenager running away from/leaving home is expected; it's a stage in life filled with emptiness, sowing oats, and adventure - most of it meaningless but also somewhat frightening to adults/parents in the moment. It can also be satirical, questioning the dismissive attitude of friends and family to those young people doing drugs to the point of wasting their minds or lives; after all, Pete had lost close friends like Jimi Hendrix to overdoses, all of these great minds cut down prematurely in a "teenage wasteland."

"Love Ain't for Keeping," details their trip some more as, out in the country during early dawn with the "babes still sleeping," the father beckons to his wife to come lay with him by the fire - one of my favorite rock love songs (not sure that it fits "ballad" description) - and also one of my wife's favorite Who songs. "Going Mobile" round out the trifecta of the "on the road" songs.

Bargain explores spiritual transcendence, featuring a line from Meher Baba: "I'll gladly lose me to find you."

"Behind Blue Eyes" is a great reminder that perceived/real criminals are people too - and, like "Won't Get Fooled Again," plays with the idea of reality vs. illusion.  "Behind Blues" (along with "Love Reign O'er Me") is in the running for one of the most beautiful Daltrey vocal recordings.

In the heart of the album are two songs that highlight everything great about this band, from the writing of hooks and monster choruses to the musicianship to the vocals of both Daltrey and Townshend: "Getting in Tune" and "Song is Over."

The song "Won't Get Fooled Again" is the sound of band flying off the tracks, train cars of heavy musical muscle flying in every direction, yet somehow that train stays, wildly, centered and barreling along.  At a few points it seems like everyone is soloing, yet listen carefully and you'll hear someone applying the glue - Keith on drums (though rare - as he loves his constant fills), John on Bass, Pete on guitar, the synthesizer (yes, the song owes it's cohesiveness mainly to this instrument, which Keith strove to play along to during the recording), or perhaps a vocal refrain to remind us what song we're in.  then comes that synthesizer bridge with all other instruments and vocals suspended for almost a minute. Roger Daltrey's scream that brings the song back to it rock elements is considered by Dave Marsh and Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest scream in Rock and Roll - I'd agree.

This is in competition for one of the top 10-15 greatest albums of all time.

Aug 26 AOTD: Tina Turner - Private Dancer

Aug 26 AOTD: Tina Turner - Private Dancer

1984



Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdbaDpB9_3w&list=PL7F4952EFF0012323

Back in the 80s, Tina's transformative story from the abused wife of Ike Turner to an independent powerhouse making it on her own was well known.  The album Private Dancer was not just an album packed with big hits; it was her comeback album. She had always been a star too big to remain in the shadow of a blues soul man, especially a megalomaniac like Ike Turner.

Private Dancer seemed to the speak to the arc of her entire career, but especially from this perspective: safe, looking back, and reclaiming her rightful crown of "soul survivor."  Rubert Hine and Terry Britten may have written the hits with her in mind, since Capitol records (not Tina) did hire everyone to make the album to capitalize on the sudden and unexpected success of her cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." But it's the combination of Tina's back story - escaping from Ike with 36 cents to her name back in 1975, working as a cleaning lady to pay bills, having two solo records completely flop, and then rising out of  the ten-year-old ashes of her abandoned career - and that equal-parts plaintive/yearning/threatening voice that packs every song with an emotional conviction that seems like Tina herself is conjuring the words, and is not just interpreting them.

The style of the album fits with other acts/albums from 1984, like Prince's Purple Rain: more anglo-centric than one might expect from a previously blues or soul-focused artist.  The album WAS made in England by two white dudes ... and even Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits is due writing credit on the title song (where Tina sadly states her lonely case as a private escort willing to "do what you want me to do" while keeping her "mind on the money" and keeping her eyes "on the wall."  However, Private Dancer echoes Tina's southern gospel musical roots in "Let's Stay Together" and the soulful rendition of the Beatles' "Help."

"Better Be Good" to me is a personal favorite, a track where Tina seems to be singing to the next Ike-wanna-be that she doesn't take anything at face value. And it's also a great to dance to while mimicking Tina's menacing tone. "What's Love Got to Do With It" won the grammy for Record of the Year, a great look at how attraction sometimes needs a protective, emotion-dismissive plan if a woman (or man) is to survive.  And one last note: check out "Steel Claw," a case for Tina as the hardest rocking woman of the 80s.

In the mid-80s she rivaled Madonna at the top of the charts. It was a long, steep climb from her Nutbush City Limits, so when she sings "Show Some Respect," I have no problem giving it to her.

(Tina Turner is one of my top three favorite women artists of all time - Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox are the other two.)

Aug 25 AOTD: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair

Aug 25 AOTD: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair

1985



Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7FKc1JQe4&list=PLnjEDtbey337PNuRviP-Z3shH1_OWCDMJ&index=1

"Songs from the Big Chair" - the phrase itself - is an allusion to the idea of therapy, speaking your fears or trauma aloud to someone while perched on a couch, or "big chair." The first single, "Shout," also is referencing Arthur Janov's "primal therapy," much like the kind that John Lennon also tried and deeply believed in. The British second-single release of "Shout" furthered the idea of speaking to childhood trauma, fears and repression as a way to undo, or release, the pain. And maybe the chanting chorus was also built for just such a purpose.  This single was the follow up to "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" in the States, and by the time "Shout" followed in June of 1985, spending three weeks in the #1 slot, Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith (the duo that was Tears for Fears) WERE essentially ruling the pop world.

The album has a feel of two kinds: first, a reverb drenched pop album - and by pop I mean hummable choruses, soulful singing, and toe-tapping rhythms.  But for the mid-80s - heck, even for now, it's also an alternative British synth-soul album that would only have worked in the 80s alongside fellow pop acts like the Eurythmics and Simple Minds, fellow experimentalists who were striking it big in the same years. This kind of pop experimentation (outside of progressive rock) had never been accepted to this degree and it never would again.

I would love to hear other people's memories associated with these songs.  The singles were so big on the radio in the summer of '85 that everyone has to remember them playing somewhere.  I can still hear "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" playing over the speaker system at the amusement park Valley Fair in Minneapolis, MN, on weekend away from camp, standing in line, singing along with all my camp buddies.  My fondest memory: instead of a usual camp song, I taught my campers "Shout," and then we (probably obnoxiously, now that I think about it) sang/chanted it everywhere we went around camp for a whole week.

Other standouts include "The Working Hour," "I Believe," and "Head Over Heels," another monstrous hit that same summer."

While Curt Smith handled vocals and Bbass, it was really Roland Orzabel who the mastermind of the two.  He wrote the songs, sang and played guitar and keyboards.

Aug 24 AOTD: Supertramp - Breakfast in America

Aug 24 AOTD: Supertramp - Breakfast in America

1979

Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMxW7O6yL-jAmJtqVKe3TVP02-2RvQ27f

There's a few cases to be made for this as a must have album - if not at least a must-hear album. The cover alone - with waitress Libby replacing Lady Liberty in a scene outside an airplane window, behind her New York City is reconstructed with common diner items and breakfast cereal boxes stacked up as skyscrapers, all spray painted white. Genius design - is a rare piece of art certainly worth the ticket.

The album is an excellent collection of English art rock at the end of the 70s. Instead of guitars, saxophones often top the arrangements like syrup on the already-sweet foundation of Wurlitzer piano.

The melodies are gorgeous, lulling and fun. For the most part it is quite an upbeat album - mainly mid-tempo pop songs with hooks aimed straight at radio. In fact during the producing of the album, some band members encouraged Roger Hodson (Rick Davies is the other main writer in the band) to strip out some of the darker lyrics to keep the songs fun, especially in Gone Hollywood, where the star of the song starts out struggling but then, in the final version, gets his big break. Ironically, though, the biggest hit of the album IS a darker, more satirical song showing a man bemoaning his youth when he was sent away to become more "logical, a vegetable."  Another great song for me that coincided with my own circumstances of being sent away to military school.

They composed their songs first on a piano or Wurlitzer - and then brought them to the rest of the band to finish them.

The first half is packed with hits, four of which went on to become top-ten hits: "Breakfast in America," "Take the Long Way Home" (a lyrical high point, amongst many peaks on the album), "Goodbye Stranger," and "The Logical Song." They could just as easily had hits with "Oh Darling" or the epic piano-driven finale "Child of Vision," with a fantastic sax solo wafting out into the ether of end of the 70's.  Interesting ... that song, which gets at how two individuals creatively clash, was originally intended as the main theme of the album, what was supposed to be a concept album detailing a conversation between Hodgson and Davies.  But that, like the darker lyrics, was scrapped for the album that now exists.

Aug 23 AOTD: Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles

Aug 23 AOTD: Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles

 * Special Bonus * In honor of my concert tonight - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats Live at Red Rocks - check out the album by the same name to get a taste of what I'm witnessing out here in Colorado.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0K4oI3JOco&list=PL4wGwko1DhrOPJLBODlq9JgBPigFmdJKS

1985



Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbDWuw6swbY&list=PLVSmE10fWX-AFWSnMjV3azN3moNJ9OwEu

When Sting broke off from the Police, many thought he was crazy; after all, they had just released the biggest selling and just down right BEST album of their career - Synchronicity - which was packed with hits.  They had become a constant on classic rock as well as Top 40 radio.

But the Police's decision to go on hiatus was the perfect time for Sting to assemble a team of the best young musicians who knew Ellington-style swing, rock and jazz - and who were wiling to challenge Sing himself. He raises his vocal game when Branford Marsalis unspools curlicues of sax around his lines. And the rhythm team of Omar Hakim (drummer from the jazz band Weather Report) and Daryl Jones (of the Miles Davis Group) at times pound harder than Stewart Copeland (Police's drummer), forcing Sting to really bust from the diaphragm, and not just sing louder.

They stretch out in the middle of the plodding "Children's Crusade," which bemoans lost generations.
And the improvisations in Hakim's drumming and the swing of Marsalis on shadows in the Rain is as fun as Kenny Kirkland's wildly sprinkled keys.  But when they come together in the dance jam that eventually fades out the song, the teamwork is as impressive as the solos.

But then, at other times, like on "We Work the Black Seam" and "Russian" things slow down to perhaps better showcase Sting's socially-aware themes (mining and cold war insanity).  Sometimes the lyrics wax a little too simplistic or maudlin, but in every one of those cases, the music still delivers.

Sting shines best on three singles from the four that swarmed the radio: "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free," "Love is the Seventh Wave (a Caribbean flavored pop song that may be my favorites)," and "Fortress Around Your Heart."

Aug 22 AOTD: Van Morrison - Moondance

Aug 22 AOTD: Van Morrison - Moondance



Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuyENi0cPjg&list=PL94gOvpr5yt2oRgbkjGW1V4ikHgq0R3hD

This is one of the best albums I know for a road trip - or any kind of trip where you see pleasure - spiritual or carnal - in nature.  "And it Stoned Me" speaks to the liberty of being on foot and just seeing where life will take you, every person and location thematically intertwined by images of water: from rain to a swimming hole, to moonshine to a mountain stream.  And he still has time to pay homage to his jazz pianist hero Jelly Roll Morton.  That song rests atop a mountain of songs that bring me to nature - and I always choose to accompany me when I am heading out into the canyon, mountain, woods or even just strolling down a country road.

The album continues with two more massive hits appealing to romantics, "Moondance" and "Crazy Love," filled with sweetness and more beautiful imagery.

Songs of gypsy spirit and mysticism follow. 

Moondance is a calling card, an invitation to Van's fellow travelers on his musical, mystical, romantic travels.

So turn it on, "turn it up, a little bit higher ... just so you know - it's got soul - turn it up!"

Written at the Bear's Den in Black Hawk, Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains - bless you, Van.

Aug 21 AOTD: Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

Aug 21 AOTD: Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

Link to the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-YQA_bsOU&list=PLIFqMjxyKaIYPn-m4GeKhsS03cSEOEYNN

For today’s AOTD, I decided to do something different.  I have been on the road,

traveling to Colorado, via car to Minneapolis, where I visited with my friend of 30 years, Eric.  

Later he, my friend Evan (who is making the entire journey with me),

and I all attended a concert of Dr. Mombo’s Combo in the city at Bunkers -

these are band mates of Prince, who have returned to the band they had before he recruited them.

It was a massive jam. We were out late, dancing, enthralled with the scene.

We were up early this morning, anyway, out to the airport.

And now I sit here on the plane, writing a prose stream of consciousness piece that transforms

into a poem, the text intertwining my thoughts of the album, certain lyrics, and the experience of my

 last 14 hours on this journey.  But I realize the journey started many years ago when music became

 by escape from some crazy times.  Simon and Garfunkel’s “Greates Hits” was the first CD I ever

owned. “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” was the last album (of five) that they made in the studio as a

duo. Here were my thoughts ...

“Flying high over troubled times, pursuing pasts and fruitful futures - I am a bridge - between the

slap of a mother and the hug of a boy.

A span of 40 years between.   

My friend’s son explodes out a door to hug me - he’s only met me once before - and that trust -

that beauty of kind human contact - surges in me like Art Garfunkel saying “ like a bridge over

troubled water, I will ease your mind.” Though he’s a towering 7 ft man, Eric is a new-age father

who understands what it’s like to be small. He has “laid it down” for his family.  I hope I can live up to

THIS human bridge, where still waters run deep and bubble to surface - in solid rock

and playful laughs.

I have my companions

On rivers running mad

On streets paved dark

And in skies suspended cold

But I’m inside the womb of this plane

I’m inside the warmth of the present

And I’m moved by drums, strings, Brooklyn voices - and memories of Minneapolis guitars,

adept axemen, popping bass fingers,

Black women in heels

White men in t-shirts

Shuffling feet

Swiveling hips

Eyes turned up to stage

Lured by these

Soul musicians.

WHAP!

A hand-clap beat

baits my arms up,

Hooks me in,

And I’m on the floor

We’re a school of dancers

Swimming upon beer-soaked wood

I have my memories

Here beside me like so many violins

Reaching, running

In slow motion gallup

Before the drums crashing like waves.

Pause with me here like a sparrow in the haze

It’s the beginning of the end,

And even Paul’s voice sweetens - like Art’s  - to run like mallards

Flying parallel - skimming, dipping over mellow ripples

with blue sky above

If only life could hang like

this airplane

in the sky,

Precarious, streamlined and destined

My safety momentarily in the hands of another

My thoughts momentarily in the confines of my mind

My words momentarily in the screen between my hands

Behind me, family waiting on return

Before me, music and mountains

Beside me, a friend and brother,

My fellow boxer laying it all down -

Seeking “health, wealth, love and happiness.”

For a moment

We ride on this bridge

In harmony.”

Aug 20 AOTD: Rush - Moving Pictures

Aug 20 AOTD: Rush - Moving Pictures



Link to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpGJFL56_30&list=PLBFC6BD3AF940B013

Ok - folks - hitting the road today for Colorado.  Feeling like a modern day man, rebel, traveler, individualist, which means it’s time for ... TOM SAWYER!  That 1981 smash hit by hard prog rockers Rush from the transitional album Moving Pictures.

I used to love mimicking Geddy Lee, entertaining my junior high mates on bus rides to swim meets and on long camping trips in the boundary waters.  Hitting that high register required singing completely from my upper throat, and I couldn't pull it off soon it after that.  But the best part was I believed in the lyrics and I was delighted to find in a hard rock song that "love and life are deep/maybe as his skies are wide."

Falling for an intelligent hard rock band, also, finally gave me some social capital at an all-male military school, where a guy like me who loved Simon and Garfunkel, the Cars and Devo was just down-right weird.  The rest of the boys were listening to Black Sabbath and Dio.  And Rush!!

Tom Sawyer was written and recorded differently than their older material. The intent this time around was to make a leaner record that could be performed live as it sounded on vinyl by the three members of the band, without the aid of backing tapes.  So, for instance, when you hear Alex Lifeson's guitar solo, you will notice that there is no rhythm guitar under it.

The rest of the album is just as excellent, mixing synthesizers with heavy guitar riffs, scintillating solos, and metronome-perfect drumming by Neil Peart, who also writes lyrics to every song.  The lyrics alone are worth listening to.  For proof, just closely listen to "Red Barchetta," which starts in mid-tempo story mood, spooling out a setting of a farm in the future where "Motor Laws" and "Eyes" inhibit any kind of a leisurely drive.  Then the songs pace picks up like a car's motor roaring to life, and a litany of imagery ensues: "well-weathered leather, scented country air, sunlight on chrome."  The song is so packed with excelled imagery that to this day, I have always pictured autumn leaves swirling up as he races down the country road... only to find (this morning as I was researching the song and re-listening) that that line is NOT in the song.  But with imagery that good, other accompanying images naturally come to mind.  The song finishes with a mini story of how he eludes a two-lane-side machine that is chasing him.

The rest of the album is just as good, every song a master piece.  If you like intelligent lyrics and excellent instrumentation, you, too, might fall for some harder rock.  And if you're already into the harder side, I'm guessing this is a staple for you, too.

Ok, I am committed to having an album each day as I travel to Colorado over the next week, but I am not sure how much time I will have to write.  So bear with with me as the text might be a little sparser than usual :)  Or ... enjoy the break from my musical blathering - Ha Ha!

Aug 19 AOTD: Neil Diamond - Moods

Aug 19 AOTD: Neil Diamond - Moods



Hey I can't find a way to a get you tune link to work - here's a link from Spotify - but you still have to log in to your own spotify account to hear the whole album - YOU SHOULD JUST OWN IT, PEOPLE: <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/37n9Egkr4udITqxPb4UdGt" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>


OK - I know Diamond is belittled by critics and serious music fans, but to deny him or to ignore any of his several excellent albums would be to deny my own self, my true music-loving, silly, be-bopping personality.  I must submit.  And here's one of the greatest albums he made with enough diverse styles to satisfy any one willing to just let go and indulge.  It's an album about music, sung by a man who knows and loves music. 

There are pop songs like "Song Sung Blue" and "Play Me" that speak to just how entwined we are with songs.  There are the nonsensical lyrics of "Porcupine Pie" and "Gitchy Goomy," where anyone of any age can easily sing along.  The album is a follow up to Tap Root Manuscript, where Diamond merged African rhythms and pop sensibilities, and you can hear a refrain of that marriage in "Walk on Water." 

You want a little honky tonk country and gospel, check out the spritely "High Rolling Man."

But the album's best moments revel in the sonorous warmth of Diamond's baritone - sometimes liquid, sometimes vibrato. He reaches deep into his heart, the depths of soul to deliver "Cante Libre" and "Captain Sunshine," both arriving at the midway point in the album, giving it its heart.

My mom and I did not have many great moments, but when "The Jazz Singer" came out, I was in 8th grade I believe, and "America" had me dancing in the kitchen. She walked in - I expected her to start yelling at me.  Instead she grabbed my hands, half embraced me, and began dancing with me - a rare moment in an otherwise volatile home.  That's the power of Neil Diamond.

This AOTD is dedicated to everyone of us who embraces a guilty pleasure as a REAL pleasure.

Aug 18 AOTD: Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Aug 18 AOTD: Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

1962



Here's the link to a playlist of the entire album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9mk0OF6Bw&list=PLowQCq3Ss89i5nQZtPFsFj4kpuAzippZy


As we are still grieving Aretha Franklin's death, that great lady that influenced almost every singer that came after, I thought we should look at a black artist who opened the doors to her and other African American musicians and singers: Ray Charles, aka The Genius (and yes, that was his musical moniker bestowed upon him, just as "Queen of Soul" was given to Aretha).

Ray had been trying to make it in the business for 20 years, and actually, by 1962, he already had a number of huge hit singles like "What'd I Say?," which had been banned on several radio stations, supposedly for its sexual content. He already had invented soul (a musical epithet that had not existed until after Ray's recordings) by combining gospel, blues and jazz.  But he had yet to have a smash album, so now he set out to make a r&b, country, big band crossover, commercial hit.

ABC had recently signed Ray and had given him complete control in the studio.  He is one of the very first artists to demand to the financial rights to the master recordings of his own originals, the earnings of which were now giving him freedom to do what he had always wanted.  Since he had grown up in the South, Ray had listened to the sounds of Nashville and the Grand Ol' Opry.  Now he wanted to make an album that blended his beloved country with the then modern sound of popular music, which included big band, jazz, and orchestration.  The record company and his manager were against the idea of Ray switching to country songs (remember, you young blog-followers, country music sounded nothing then like it does now, and then Ray changed the sound even more with the lush orchestrations and swinging big band arrangements), saying he would lose fans.  Ray countered that though he may lose fans, if the company and musicians listened to him and did the arrangements right - his way - he would GAIN even more fans.  He was right.

Except for the orchestration of the songs, they was originally arranged by Ray himself, whereby he would either make a tape and then play it to the other musicians or he would talk them through the progression, chord by chord.

He did not care to make any singles on this record.  He wanted to make an album that would be listened to from beginning to end.  That makes this the perfect "album of the day."

It was the number one-selling album of 1962.  He stayed in the number-one spot on the billboard charts for 14 weeks, and the single "I Can't Stop Loving You" stayed at number one on the singles chart for five weeks.  Unheard of at that time for an artist who was blind, black and a heroin addict! Genius, indeed.

Aug 17 AOTD: Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aug 17 AOTD: Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You



Here's the link to the album on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9tKKsqI919g

Yesterday, Aug. 16, 2018, Aretha Franklin passed away, ending a span of six decades as the Queen of Soul.

If "Respect" were the only hit off this 1967 Atlantic album, it would have been enough to justify Aretha as the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She did receive that honor in 1987. But there is so much more - in fact the first four songs alone could be dissected to find the tell-all primer on how to sing soul and the blues.

"Respect" jump starts the first side, like the first piston of many blasting hits to come, Aretha's voice exuberant and earnest. Also, it features a hallmark of her phrasing, the holding of certain syllables, giving them swagger: "... foooor a little respect ..." and "... aaalllll I'm asking ..." And then the entire instrumentation hangs in the balance, momentarily disappearing as she whips out "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," like her voice is so powerful that everyone in the room knows to give it its own "PROPERS."

On "Drown in My Own Tears," each of Aretha's wails resembles a deluge of desperation, a soulful sob. And in the third track "I Never Loved a Man the way I loved You," she whips out "no" and "never" leaving no doubt as to her loving convictions for her man.  Her voice rides the drums, her testimony rising and falling to their rhythm. Then "Soul Serenade" drips with caramel, languid flourishes, an electric piano plunking away in the background. Aretha starts soft and breathy, but then rises to a brassy delivery herself, matching the cornet and tenor sax in their comfortable confidence.

If those first four songs were all this album contained, it would have been enough to knock down the door for all other women R&B singers.  And so many did follow, like Tina, Whitney, and Beyonce.  But there is SO much MORE to the album. Those first four songs coupled with the run of hits on side two blasts away any doubts as to her Queen of Soul crown.  Woman everywhere could identify with the charge laid out in "Dr. Feelgood" - Stay Away!; "Good Times," the first of two Sam Cooke covers, snaps along in a danceable groove. And then three gems, one after another, flesh out the masterpiece: "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man," seems to be speaking to every man - and the line "They say it's a man's world/But you can't prove that by me" and then "She's not just a plaything/She's flesh and blood just like her man" seems to be aimed right at any contemporary man, like James Brown (who had a hit with "Man's World" released the year before) - either way, it speaks to equality in domestic treatment, right along with "Respect."

Charging to the finish line, "Save Me," which Franklin herself penned, along with three others on the album, sets forth a blue print of scatting that Prince would mimic 20 years later. She belts "save me" like she's sending it to the upper ozone, accompanying with inhuman high pitched wails. And then the album comes to a close with Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," the only other artist that lends it as much credibility as Cooke's.  But Aretha sings it with such conviction that this version seems even more personal. (But I'm NOT saying it's better than Sam's - he's king on this song.) It's as though she were looking back at her roots and then seeing ahead to the reigning career she had finally begun to achieve.

To note: In the studio, Aretha would play and record every song FIRST just her singing and accompanying herself on piano. That was always the foundation every song was built on, because she was that good. Next they would lay down the rhythm with bass and drums. Lastly layered in were the horns and other instruments, like organ.

Rest in Peace, Lady Soul ... and Long Live the Queen!!

Here's the link to the album on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9tKKsqI919g

Aug 16 AOTD: Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story

Aug 16 AOTD: Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story

1971

This is a team effort that raised Rod to super star status.  But the team - all the members of the Faces and Madeline and Maggie Bell - already knew the power of this weathered vocalist.  After all, Jeff Beck (during  the mid-60's) had hand-picked him to front the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group. Though most of the album consists of covers or was written by other composers, Rod DID write the three biggest hits on the album: Every Picture, Maggie May and Mandolin Wind.

But it’s that voice, a good half decade before transitioning to glam pop and disco, that captures the zeitgeist of merging blues, country and rock - a grainy, earnest rasp bespeaking the adventures, joys and pitfalls of a young man's life.

The album itself is a crossroads of everything that rock could successfully blend: violins, blues, Motown, country, folk, roots.  A slide guitar introduces Rod's gospel-drenched voice in "Amazing Grace," and both sounds take the listener to church, to faith, a sanctuary to a lad setting out, so that when the album next slides into Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time," we hear the constant pull between the spiritual and the material. Here, if a woman would only lie "beside him," would he come to "rest." That it's Bob Dylan's song nods to the then current crop of rockers learning their way from a road paved by troubadours going back to Guthrie. A bow to his roots can also be seen in his choice to cover Elvis Presley's first hit single, "That's All Right" (which, speaking of looking back down a long road, was covered by Elvis in 1954, first written and recorded by Arthur Crudup in 1946 ... AND has traditional blues verses that can be traced back to Blind Lemon Jefferson recordings from 1926!).

It's that now-classic radio staple "Maggie May" that forms the heart of "Every Picture." It begins with a simple plucked acoustic guitar (this is actually an intro, called "Henry"), pauses, then continues with a strumming guitar and bass accompanying. The lyrics incorporate both sunny images of an alluring older woman as well as the bruised-heart feeling of young man who's been "led away from home." The simplicity of the guitar solo at three minutes (repeated later) is recorded so much forward in the mix that it seems like another vocal, simply retelling the story. And then that sunny mandolin part, a brightness that almost overshadows Rod's last vocals wishing that he "had never seen her face" and declaring that he will get home one day. The song works metaphorically for anything that pulls someone from "home" or simply derails him from a youthful dream, and then dissolves into disillusionment.

The album really flexes its muscle three minutes into "I know I'm Losing You," second from the finale, when the drums pound like an avalanche of boulders and the guitar electrically emerges from the piano and drums like a saw cutting its way through that avalanche, just as desperate to be heard. And then at 5 minutes, Rod seems to pull up on the reigns (drums slow dramatically, guitar withdraws) with "Your love is fading/I can feel it fading/I am losing you."

This is one of the few albums I keep coming back to that has no filler, not a single misstep, not one boring song, plenty to satisfy every taste bud in a classic rock listener's palate.

The album was the first ever to hit the number one spot in the UK and America simultaneously (not Elvis, Beatles or Stones).

And one last fun fact: Maggie May was NOT a single release. Rather ... it was the B SIDE!!! of "Reason To Believe," the last song on the album.

Aug 15 AOTD: Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

Aug 15 AOTD: Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

Well, I chose this album for a couple of reasons - one, because I was supposed to be seeing her in concert tonight with Rod Stewart.  But they have postponed due to Rod having strep throat. Sigh.  And two, and more importantly, because it is an effervescent celebration of pop music fun like no other album.

My greatest memory involving Cyndi is when my wife and bought her roses, arrived early at a Cher concert where she would be opening, and then had a security guard deliver them to her dressing room with a notes saying how much my wife and I loved her.  She then entered on the first song, knelt before us (we were in the first row) and sang to us.  She also took my hand and let me escort her down the stairs and into the crowd.  She was fearless.  Unforgettable.

This is not an artist or album where I am going to brag about musical boundaries being shattered.  However, she does have an impressive range of 4 octaves (according to Classic Rock Magazine) and impressive pitch.  That said, for me this one of the most entertaining albums of my life.  I like doing just about anything to it.  My relationship to it started with strapping on my Sony Walk Man in 1985
(album was released in 1983) and mowing my dad's lawn.  But these are also songs to clean the house to, drive to, sing along to, or karaoke to.

The album served up 4 top-five hits - a first for a female artist: "Time  After Time" (a fantastic ballad co-written by Cyndi); "She Bob" (another Cyndi co-write and a lot of fun with a controversial subject); "All Through the Night (for the impressive pitch I mentioned, just listen to the notes of purity from the 3:30 mark on); and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (which has been covered by 30 other artists and became a feminist anthem for its day).

For those of you familiar with other 80s music, if this album sounds a little like another band from that era, it's because two of the main musicians/arrangers on the album - Rob Hyman and Eric Bazillian - were also the leaders of he Hooters.  In fact, Rob is even listed as playing a "hooter melodica" on Cyndi's album.

So strap on music playing device - I doubt if any of you will reach for a Walk Man - or crank up the stereo (also rare these days), sing along, and be pop to your heart's delight - or She Bop if you like.  After all we all just want to have fun ;)

Aug 14 AOTD: Queen - A Night At The Opera

Aug 14 AOTD: Queen - A Night At The Opera

In 1975 Queen released the greatest album of their career, scaling their talents to a height they would only come close to again, cementing their place in the pantheon of the rock god bands next to the Beatles, Stones, Who and Zeppelin.  And though A Night At the Opera may not be the best rock album of all time (it certainly deserves to be in the running), it did show off strengths of which no others in the pantheon could boast.

First, every member of the band could not only write songs, they could each write ear-worm hits.  We will get to the obvious "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Freddie Mercury in just a minutes.  But starting with the third track, "I'm in Love With My Car," the drummer, Roger Taylor delivers a burning-rubber, vocal-scorching performance of his own composition.  This is followed by the bass player, John Deacon's composition "You're My Best Friend," which eventually made it's way onto their greatest hits disc.  Additionally, guitarist Brian May composed 4 songs on the album, only outdone by Mercury's contribution of five.

Secondly, few other bands could so successfully render as many styles on one album: hard rock on the opening number, Mercury's vilest (he encourages his subject to commit suicide), insult-ridden "Death On Two Legs," sung dripping with bitterness by Freddie himself;  progressive metal on May's epic dream-influenced "Prophet's Song" about a biblical flood; the various music hall ditties like "39" and "Good Company"; and then, of course the operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody."  Many of these vary same songs (like "Prophet's Song" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" also feature all four band members in a cappella breakdown, showing off their vocal prowess.

But, of course, it's "Bohemian Rhapsody" above all other songs that really made this album monumental. The grandiose gestures in "Prophet Song" alone, could have given this album enough propulsion into the hall of fame, but that fact that few even know of that song, tells just how creatively powerful Rhapsody is. Some facts: There is no chorus. Mercury had the whole song composed in his head before he wrote anything down.  When he finally did get to laying it out block by block, he wrote it down on a phone book.  The song is a suite with disparate styles, ranging from rock to opera.  It features, in its instrumentation, first piano, then drums, then guitar. And though the song does not speak of love, like the traditional pop song of its era, does, rather, speak to despair and murder while making esoteric references from various operas to the devil to the Quran, it is one of the most popular sing-alongs of all time (as evidenced by, or helped by, the SNL-inspired film Wayne's World).

Ironically, or fittingly, the album ends with "God Save the Queen."