Musically I am myopic. No eclectic across the gamut stuff for me. I don't like opera (unless it's Meat Loaf type opera), Country is OK (just OK), not prone to dance or disco. You can have your rap and Southern rock is just too damn foot-stomping' for me. Give me bluesy rock with melodies that rip your heart out. Some people like to get expressive with their music. This usually takes the form of bodily gyrations, twisting, flailing limbs and doing a groove thang that lets the inner Lynyrd Skynyrd out. For me, however, music is terribly personal. I'd rather be alone, with my 8th beer, wallowing in my life's mistakes, attempting to reach the inner onion before the layers were formed.
This is not shit-kickin' stuff. It is deep, melancholy, mostly slow. It reflects my nature. Music, like movies and art, should strike a chord, and with me that chord isn't found on a dance floor, rollicking with your partner or karaoke bar. For me it's found on a lonesome highway, music turned way up, screaming occasional lyrics between tears thinking about the past, thinking about what could have been, thinking... One more thing. My old neighbor used to say that lyrics were more important than the melody. It may be for him, but for me its the musical notes, and how they jam together to reach inside and move you. and make you cry.
The following are my favorites. Some are new, most are ancient, and where necessary I'll comment for context. This will be a short series but Flashback will return soon. These are in no particular order.
Dan Fogelberg was the pretender to the throne. When my absolute main man Harry Chapin died, I found another bit of a storyteller in Fogelberg. In fact, one of his albums is listed later as one of my top ten. I needed to find someone who would take up where Harry left off. Sadly, Dan made a few really smart songs, two of which are listed among my greats, but ultimately he went on to experiment on one album with no vocals, just instruments, and it kind of soured me on him. I moved on. I still love this one for its classic tale of love won, and lost, and somehow never really coming to terms. Typical "Mike" song: movie in 3 minutes, with a tender story, and a deep life-long loss.
November Rain
Hey OK so I like a few Guns N Roses. Axel can do it once in a while. Although older than dirt, this one is a beautiful rock ballad. Listen to this one alone on a barstool after a few beers and/or rejections and/or reflections and you'll be slinging quarters in a jukebox for November Rain next time you're in Gimpy's alone...and down...and it's raining.
Sometimes When We Touch
Dan Hill had a couple good songs and keep in mind this was the age of the singer/songwriter ala Harry Chapin, Dan Fogelberg, Bob Seger and others. They have gone out of vogue through the years, but in the post-hippie days and maturing college kids, they were a gigantic force. This little song is one that I actually do know many of the words. It is a real heartbreaker and I used this to break up with a girlfriend once. I couldn't come up with the right words so I put it up to the phone and let her deduce for herself where this was all going. One of my personal top tens.
Now Comes the Night
I discovered Rob Thomas fairly recently. More well known for his Boxtop 20 group he went out on a solo career and did 2 or 3 albums. He was prolific and good for a few years but hasn't done aching in 4 or 5 so, guess he burned out. This song, besides being totally beautiful, is also tied to the death of Missy Marie three years ago. I lost her as I discovered this song and it just became one of those intertwined things. A great melodic tune in its own right, its now Missy's song, too. Obscure, never discovered by the musical world, this is a midnight song: can't stop thinking, can't sleep, and needing to connect with something.
Kiss the Rain
Never heard of Billie and don't think she has done anything since, but this catchy song somehow made my list. It is a different kind of song, structurally unique in a way few songs are. It has a fuzzy sound component that is alluring and its movements are just about perfect. I used to have a 65 convertible and I categorized certain songs as my 'vert tunes. These were cruising songs that you could whip them up and let the night (or day) sail by. This is a 'vert tune.
Amazed
Country has its place. In someone else's CD player. But I have a couple in my quiver that I really do like. This is one of them. You know there is really no difference between a good song and a country song. All you need for country is a twangy guitar and a twangier singer. I wish I could explain why this song appeals. I can't, so there you go.
Don't Want to Say Goodbye
One of my earliest "likes" was the Raspberries. They were big for about 45 minutes, but in that time they produced several songs anyone over 45 will recognize.
Bruce Springsteen and Axl Rose cite this group as influences for their music. Innovative originators of '70's power pop, they also had a fun scratch and sniff cover to their inaugural album. And yeah, it smelled like raspberries. Check out "I Wanna Be With You", "Tonight" and "Nobody Knows".
Nobody Knows
A one hit wonder, this peaceful yearning love song hasn't aged at all. When you can feel the singers angst, it can connect with yours. This is one of those songs. Intimate, singular and heart-wrenching, this little tune conveys the feeling we've all had and seldom able to express.
Another country tune and very well known, this big song has been remade recently by Scotty McCreery of American Idol fame. This is the better one still because it has a message we all want fulfilled, doesn't it. Whatever happens, please just remember the time we had. No one wants to be forgotten, relegated to the dustbin of someone else's life.
Against The Wind
One of my favorites, Bob took a grittier kind of voice and song and made it into something eternal. Aren't we all pushing against something: feelings, our inadequacies, our fears? For balance, for purchase? Yup. Bob found the hard-edge of that truth and put it to music. Another one where I know some of the lyrics. This another one of my 'Vert tunes. Crank it up and howl.
That's it for today. Play em, think about it and if you care to send in your comments, do so. Ten more next Friday. Until then, TURN IT UP!
This is not shit-kickin' stuff. It is deep, melancholy, mostly slow. It reflects my nature. Music, like movies and art, should strike a chord, and with me that chord isn't found on a dance floor, rollicking with your partner or karaoke bar. For me it's found on a lonesome highway, music turned way up, screaming occasional lyrics between tears thinking about the past, thinking about what could have been, thinking... One more thing. My old neighbor used to say that lyrics were more important than the melody. It may be for him, but for me its the musical notes, and how they jam together to reach inside and move you. and make you cry.
The following are my favorites. Some are new, most are ancient, and where necessary I'll comment for context. This will be a short series but Flashback will return soon. These are in no particular order.
- Dan Fogelberg
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Dan Fogelberg was the pretender to the throne. When my absolute main man Harry Chapin died, I found another bit of a storyteller in Fogelberg. In fact, one of his albums is listed later as one of my top ten. I needed to find someone who would take up where Harry left off. Sadly, Dan made a few really smart songs, two of which are listed among my greats, but ultimately he went on to experiment on one album with no vocals, just instruments, and it kind of soured me on him. I moved on. I still love this one for its classic tale of love won, and lost, and somehow never really coming to terms. Typical "Mike" song: movie in 3 minutes, with a tender story, and a deep life-long loss.
- Guns N Roses
November Rain
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Hey OK so I like a few Guns N Roses. Axel can do it once in a while. Although older than dirt, this one is a beautiful rock ballad. Listen to this one alone on a barstool after a few beers and/or rejections and/or reflections and you'll be slinging quarters in a jukebox for November Rain next time you're in Gimpy's alone...and down...and it's raining.
- Dan Hill
Sometimes When We Touch
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Dan Hill had a couple good songs and keep in mind this was the age of the singer/songwriter ala Harry Chapin, Dan Fogelberg, Bob Seger and others. They have gone out of vogue through the years, but in the post-hippie days and maturing college kids, they were a gigantic force. This little song is one that I actually do know many of the words. It is a real heartbreaker and I used this to break up with a girlfriend once. I couldn't come up with the right words so I put it up to the phone and let her deduce for herself where this was all going. One of my personal top tens.
- Rob Thomas
Now Comes the Night
I discovered Rob Thomas fairly recently. More well known for his Boxtop 20 group he went out on a solo career and did 2 or 3 albums. He was prolific and good for a few years but hasn't done aching in 4 or 5 so, guess he burned out. This song, besides being totally beautiful, is also tied to the death of Missy Marie three years ago. I lost her as I discovered this song and it just became one of those intertwined things. A great melodic tune in its own right, its now Missy's song, too. Obscure, never discovered by the musical world, this is a midnight song: can't stop thinking, can't sleep, and needing to connect with something.
- Billie Myers
Kiss the Rain
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Never heard of Billie and don't think she has done anything since, but this catchy song somehow made my list. It is a different kind of song, structurally unique in a way few songs are. It has a fuzzy sound component that is alluring and its movements are just about perfect. I used to have a 65 convertible and I categorized certain songs as my 'vert tunes. These were cruising songs that you could whip them up and let the night (or day) sail by. This is a 'vert tune.
- Lonestar
Amazed
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Country has its place. In someone else's CD player. But I have a couple in my quiver that I really do like. This is one of them. You know there is really no difference between a good song and a country song. All you need for country is a twangy guitar and a twangier singer. I wish I could explain why this song appeals. I can't, so there you go.
- Raspberries
Don't Want to Say Goodbye
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
One of my earliest "likes" was the Raspberries. They were big for about 45 minutes, but in that time they produced several songs anyone over 45 will recognize.
Bruce Springsteen and Axl Rose cite this group as influences for their music. Innovative originators of '70's power pop, they also had a fun scratch and sniff cover to their inaugural album. And yeah, it smelled like raspberries. Check out "I Wanna Be With You", "Tonight" and "Nobody Knows".
- The Tony Rich Project
Nobody Knows
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
A one hit wonder, this peaceful yearning love song hasn't aged at all. When you can feel the singers angst, it can connect with yours. This is one of those songs. Intimate, singular and heart-wrenching, this little tune conveys the feeling we've all had and seldom able to express.
- Tim McGraw
Push "Watch On YouTube" to play video
Another country tune and very well known, this big song has been remade recently by Scotty McCreery of American Idol fame. This is the better one still because it has a message we all want fulfilled, doesn't it. Whatever happens, please just remember the time we had. No one wants to be forgotten, relegated to the dustbin of someone else's life.
- Bob Seger
Against The Wind
One of my favorites, Bob took a grittier kind of voice and song and made it into something eternal. Aren't we all pushing against something: feelings, our inadequacies, our fears? For balance, for purchase? Yup. Bob found the hard-edge of that truth and put it to music. Another one where I know some of the lyrics. This another one of my 'Vert tunes. Crank it up and howl.
That's it for today. Play em, think about it and if you care to send in your comments, do so. Ten more next Friday. Until then, TURN IT UP!
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