Okay, I fully admit that as a guy who loves progressive rock, I’m setting myself up for ridicule and taunts from the peanut gallery. I hear you derisively yelling, “Math rock geek,” or “Lover of unicorns, ferries, and 7/8 time.”
Whatever.
Progressive rock is a genre of music that has an odd cross-section appeal. On the one hand, there are geeks who are lured by the complexity of the music. On the other, there are stoners who just love a good trip — and need an appropriate soundtrack. Sometimes you get a combination of stoner/geek in one person — and they end up creating things like Second Life or Boohbah. Me? I love melody more than complexity, so my tastes in progressive rock lean more toward what’s presented here.
The first time I heard Yes was in my junior year of high school. I had just moved to a new school, and I met a guy who turned out to be a huge lover of what we now call classic rock. Led Zep, the Doors, Hendrix, and Yes. One day, he lent me an old 8 track tape he had of Close to the Edge. I had an old stereo that had an 8 track player, and I must have listened to that tape for three days straight. I wasn’t too taken by the songs at first, but by day two, something clicked and I was hooked. (more…)
On paper, it sounds like a moneymaking formula: take individual members from successful bands, put them together in a supergroup to make music, record the magic, and watch album sales go through the roof. Yes, the Supergroup can, at times, be seen as a crass money grab, and at times it is. However, there are other times when the result of these ventures bears some tasty fruit. Now, people’s taste being what they are, it’s going to be an argument without end as to which of the groups represented here are Supergroups or Superduds. I certainly have my opinions, but don’t let that dissuade you from defending or slamming the six in this mix.
Back when Asia made their debut in the early ‘80s, they were touted as the next big thing that would define rock music for the decade. Think about it: you take a little bit of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and King Crimson, put them in a blender of sorts, serve up the contents and … what do you think you’re going to get? Go ahead and insert a 40-Year-Old Virgin joke here. (more…)
DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE
First off, let me say that “Y.M.C.A.” didn’t make the cut on this mix. Yeah, it’s a fun song, but chances are you’ve heard it a million times, and it’s such an earworm that it really belonged on last week’s mix — but I didn’t have the heart to do that to you. Clearly, I did have the heart to foist Billy Joel and Neil Diamond on you, but that’s because I have so much love in my heart.
This week, we’re spelling it! Yep, for some reason songwriters will often spell words in their songs, and sometimes it works, and other times, well … no so much. Oh, and for those of you who actually listen to the full mix you’ll get some humorous drops culled from the wilds of You Tube that just helps me state the obvious in this mix.
“C.I.T.Y.,” John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band (download)
This is the tune that started me thinking about songs where spelling seems to count for something. (more…)
Let me get this out in the open: I work in a dangerous place. No, I don’t work with nuclear materials, nor do I work at a restaurant where I train as a competitive eater on the side. Rather, I work in a place where earworm attacks happen, and, as of late, are happening more frequently. You see, I work at an Adult Contemporary radio station where some of the songs have an effect that I can’t seem to shake. Yes, some songs get trapped in my head and the lyrics, melody, and various hooks weave themselves into my cerebral cortex like those creatures did to Chekov and Captain Terrell in Star Trek II. Or as Khan so eloquently said about the worms of Ceti Alpha Five (but could easily been talking about the songs featured here): “You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness — and death.”
Oh, little earworm, how you have tortured me! And now, dear readers, I pass along the love. (more…)
I was writing up a track for a future White Label Wednesday piece (it’s set to run May 27) when I had a strange thought. Well, two strange thoughts, actually. (Expect some snarky one-liner from a Popdose editor to follow that last sentence.) [Get over yourself! -Ed.] The first thought was about how obsessed musicians were with nuclear war during the ’80s. From album titles (the Vapors’ New Clear Days) to lyrical one-liners (”You’re about as easy as a nuclear war,” “If it’s not love, then it’s the bomb that will bring us together”), the topic was always close at hand. The kids today surely roll their eyes at these songs, since they’ve spent most of their lives in the post-Cold War world, but it was a very real threat at the time. It was the Gen X version of terrorism, only you were allowed to be pro-peace without being labeled unpatriotic.
The other thought was about how many of those nuclear war songs were tunes that you could dance to. Seems inappropriate to dance on the proverbial graves of millions, but then again, what better way to get an important “message” across to the public than by putting it to a drum machine? And thus, this week’s Mix Six was born: nuclear war songs with a beat. Wait, do you hear something, like an air raid siren…?
“Two Tribes,” Frankie Goes to Hollywood (download)
“The air attack warning sounds like…” Yikes. Remember, this song was released the year after “The Day After,” so the idea of nuclear holocaust was still very real, and no one had made it seem as imminent, and yet as cartoonish, as Frankie did in this song and its accompanying video. And, as an added bonus, I give you my personal favorite of the six million mixes commissioned for “Two Tribes,” the eight-minute Carnage mix. Don’t be alarmed. (more…)
You know, of all the alcoholidays that grace us yearly, I would venture to guess that Cinco de Mayo is going to eclipse St. Patrick’s Day in the American Southwest very, very soon. It’s one of those days that certainly has a lot of cultural significance to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the U.S., but for those who just love a good celebration, Cinco de Mayo is a great one. The liquor isn’t limited to Tequila or Mexican imported beer, and the food is just sublime-or just meh depending where you’re eating.
So to get you in the mood for a good party, I’ve assembled a little mix while you eat, drink and be merry.
“Mas Tequila,” Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas (download)
Might as well start with a gringo tune that celebrates multiculturalism as the act of switching from Scotchy Scotch to Tequila. I’ve actually had one of Sammy’s Waboritas at a party once, and I gotta say that if you want to get drunk fast, try this potent cocktail. (more…)
“Every year is getting shorter/Never seem to find the time/Plans that either come to naught/Or half a page of scribbled lines.”
“Learning that we’re only immortal for a limited time.”
Maybe because my birthday is coming up, I’ve been thinking about time; about how when I was younger, I had years to burn, that there were, as Spock said in The Wrath of Khan, “always possibilities.” But there comes a point in life where you cross some kind of line of demarcation, and the idealism that once propelled you to try something new, is now met with a kind of sober pragmatism. I know, “Mid-life crisis much?” Perhaps. And perhaps you’re feeling a bit like me now. If so, then this mix is for you. If not, then enjoy these songs for what they’re worth.
“Robert Bradley’s Postcard,” David Mead (download)
It was Jefito who introduced me to David Mead’s music. Back at my old blog (which no longer exists), I had a small but steady readership who enjoyed the weekly Mix Six — Jeff being one of them. One week, I did a really easy contest, and Jeff won the prize: a chance to create his own Mix Six. The lead song was this one, and I liked it so much that I bought the CD (Yeah, I bought it). (more…)
Forget everything you know about Michael Jackson for a minute. You there yet? I didn’t think so. Truth be told, is it really possible to think of Michael Jackson and not think of a list of things that includes:
By the early ‘90s, there was a real fracturing of the musical landscape when it came to pop music. To me, the popularity of rap, country, and grudge had split the music-loving culture into tribes that were trying to purify their identities by shunning what I love about pop music: the fusion of styles. Now, I know if I really wanted to be picky and pedantic about what I just wrote, I could go on a long dissertation about the “roots” of each of these genres and blah, blah, blah. Really what I’m trying to say is that by the mid-‘90s I didn’t feel alienated from new music, and part of the reason was a genre known as “trip hop,” or the Bristol sound.
Combining elements of rock, rap, electronica, and even jazz, the artists that are featured in this mix restored my faith that musicians would find new wine in old skins; new combinations of fresh sounds that still have great hooks.
Now even though this album came out in 1991, I hadn’t heard of Massive Attack until the mid-‘90s, when my brother gave me Tricky’s first album. After grooving on Maxinquaye(named after Tricky’s mother), I went back and started filling in the gaps in my library when it came to trip hop — and that pretty much meant starting with Massive Attack. The groove on “Blue Lines” has such a cool/chill vibe that even if you don’t like rap (which I’m not a big fan of), it’s difficult not to like Massive Attack. (more…)
If there’s a not-so-subtle subtext to this mix, it would be singers who have raspy voices. And if there was a disclaimer, it would be this: “Some of these songs aren’t new at all.” But I can’t fit all of that into the subject heading, so, well, there.
In a way, it must be tough to be an old codger in rock music since the genre is generally marketed to the young. At what point do you call it a career? It’s hard to say. Maybe you take the attitude of Keith Richards who, when asked if he was too old for rock ‘n’ roll, said something like: “Hey, if B.B. King can get out there night after night and play, I’m gonna do the same thing.” God bless you, Keith. And so it goes with this week’s lineup. Yeah, these cats are old, but they still make music — or, in the case of Leonard Cohen and Marianne Faithfull, perform music — that has depth, maturity, and substance.
This is clearly not the Marianne Faithfull that sang “As Tears Go By,” but what she does with this Dolly Parton song is quite amazing.  I said at the outset that there’s a world-weariness to singers like Faithfull, and she sings this tune with the right amount of regret and loss that makes a sad song even sadder. (more…)
