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Gr00vus's Favorite 50 Songs - 1: Synchronicity II (1 Viewer)

"Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice."

13: Alex Chilton, The Replacements, 1987

Straight ahead garage rock from one of the cool kids' darlings of the 80s. You pay too much attention to the lyrics you may be let down, or lifted up - either way is o.k. I don't know if they're genius or just Westerberg trying to make everything rhyme. I don't really care, it all ends up making its own kind of logic somehow. The beat drives, your standard four on the floor, 8s up top, with a little cowbell thrown in for taste. Some great guitar riffs in this one too. And of course Westerberg's ragged urgency with the vocals.

I love this whole album (Pleased To Meet Me), not a bad song start to finish, and a ton of really good to great ones (note to @timschochet I humbly submit this album for your consideration in your classic album thread). Oddly Alex Chilton himself does not play on this track, but he does play on another on this album. Obviously The Replacements had a thing for this guy, which is merited.

When I was in my teens, I'd grab the Calendar section of the L.A. Times every Sunday and go straight to the Robert Hillenbrand article for the week. Invariably, at least every other week from the mid 80's on he'd work in a reference to this band, Husker Du, Meatpuppets, Sonic Youth, the Sugarcubes, etc. and I didn't really get it at the time, but I do now. Those bands (and several more like them) were pretty much on an island putting out rock from the heart (and the beer bottle) no frills, while the rest of the music industry was trying to grind the life out of popular music. I was firmly in the grasp of that industry at the time, but there was always an instinctual pull to this kind of stuff, it was a bit purer and cleaner than what you'd get on top 40. Luckily we had KROQ and they'd play this kind of stuff, so it never really left your consciousness, no matter how much the rest of the world was trying to jam Glass Tiger down your throat.

Some would say the Replacements have better songs and better albums. I won't argue. But I will point out, this one has some mandolin in it, which is nice.

 
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Gr00vus said:
"Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice."

13: Alex Chilton, The Replacements, 1987
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I'm pretty much immune, if not allergic, to the clanging, banging guitars of bands in a hurry. It's not fair, but bands like Pixies, Weezer, Replacements will never get their day in my head. It all comes down to my Mary.

We had the same relationship to very different music. On all the time. My listen was generally Gabriel, Prince, Costello, XTC, Los Lobos; hers was Husker Du, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth, Smiths. Thankfully, we had very different schedules so there wasn't much conflict, cuz there could have been. Scary Mary had two boomboxes - one comically large, one comically small, and she didn't so much listen to them and bask in them. Always max vol, like she was trying to give her ears the best possible tan for the weekend while she painted her toes, read her mags, played her bass (awwwwful), did her liftings&limberings (100xmore a fitness nut than any drug addict i ever seen).

Not really caring for it except when we went to live shows, i developed a parent's deafness to Mary's clangs/bangs/screams. Thru that and even past her passing, my soundclit hoods over when i hear any song in a hurry. Still does - not fair.

 
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wikkidpissah said:
I'm pretty much immune, if not allergic, to the clanging, banging guitars of bands in a hurry. It's not fair, but bands like Pixies, Weezer, Replacements will never get their day in my head. It all comes down to my Mary.

We had the same relationship to very different music. On all the time. My listen was generally Gabriel, Prince, Costello, XTC, Los Lobos; hers was Husker Du, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth, Smiths. Thankfully, we had very different schedules so there wasn't much conflict, cuz there could have been. Scary Mary had two boomboxes - one comically large, one comically small, and she didn't so much listen to them and bask in them. Always max vol, like she was trying to give her ears the best possible tan for the weekend while she painted her toes, read her mags, played her bass (awwwwful), did her liftings&limberings (100xmore a fitness nut than any drug addict i ever seen).

Not really caring for it except when we went to live shows, i developed a parent's deafness to Mary's clangs/bangs/screams. Thru that and even past her passing, my soundclit hoods over when i hear any song in a hurry. Still does - not fair.
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Seems a narrow place you're constraining yourself to. Some polish, but not as much contrivance as ELO, some emotion and aggression but not balls out sloppy like the Replacements, some groove but not all groove like EDM. For me, if you do that stuff right, I'm listening.

 
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Gr00vus said:
Seems a narrow place you're constraining yourself to. Some polish, but not as much contrivance as ELO, some emotion and aggression but not balls out sloppy like the Replacements, some groove but not all groove like EDM. For me, if you do that stuff right, I'm listening.
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I can see how you'd think that, but i musn't have made the case well enough.

i LIVE in search of triumph. I cry at British baking shows, swoon over beautiful failures, feel eternal fire when any artistic effort proves itself bigger than my ability to appreciate it all at once. I would be veryvery happy if the NEXT BIG THING came out of EDM. That the promise of ELO was greater than the product makes me even more perversely proud of that promise. Wasn't putting down the Replacements at all but explaining a personal reason why bands of that type really have to conk me over the head to get my attention. I get mad enough to hit people when i hear modern country music, but bawled like a baby over Jason Isbell's Elephant. Should El Floppo take me to the opera sometime and show me how to connect with Donizetti, i'll be happy as a toddler with candy. If you reveal to me the be all & end of all artistic endeavor at an EDM show, i'll be happy to have my last heart attack dancing along.

 
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wikkidpissah said:
I can see how you'd think that, but i musn't have made the case well enough.

i LIVE in search of triumph. I cry at British baking shows, swoon over beautiful failures, feel eternal fire when any artistic effort proves itself bigger than my ability to appreciate it all at once. I would be veryvery happy if the NEXT BIG THING came out of EDM. That the promise of ELO was greater than the product makes me even more perversely proud of that promise. Wasn't putting down the Replacements at all but explaining a personal reason why bands of that type really have to conk me over the head to get my attention. I get mad enough to hit people when i hear modern country music, but bawled like a baby over Jason Isbell's Elephant. Should El Floppo take me to the opera sometime and show me how to connect with Donizetti, i'll be happy as a toddler with candy. If you reveal to me the be all & end of all artistic endeavor at an EDM show, i'll be happy to have my last heart attack dancing along.
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Well stated. Thanks for the clarification. No goldilocks you.

 
Alex Chilton is a great tune.  I was working as a DJ at a small radio station in Selma Alabama in late 1987.  My program director opened the back room with all the promo records sent by the record companies and told me to grab a few, if I liked them, keep them.  If not, bring them back. Most of the records were country 45s, but there was some pop and rock too, and some albums.  I took a few, including 10,000 Maniacs and Pleased to Meet Me.  Mats fan ever since and this is my favorite of all their tunes.

I raided the record room many more times.

 
Bossman said:
 bands I would expect to see that I didn't ...

Cure, Smiths, Depeche Mode, U2, Tool, Radiohead, INXS, The Clash,  ... and no Bob Marley?
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wikkidpissah said:
My listen was generally Gabriel, Prince, Costello, XTC, Los Lobos; hers was Husker Du, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth
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And since you guys set the table, I'll eat. My favorite songs by these artists that didn't make it into my top 50:

The Cure: Let's Go To Bed, Fascination Street

The Smiths: How Soon Is Now, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Depeche Mode: New Life, Just Can't Get Enough

U2: I Will Follow, Gloria

Tool: Sober

Radiohead: High And Dry

INXS: (a zillion of their songs, the whole The Swing album, but): The One Thing, Dancing On The Jetty, Original Sin, I Send A Message

The Clash (again a zillion of their songs, but): The Magnificent Seven, This Is Radio Clash,  Clampdown

Bob Marley: Could You Be Loved, Exodus, Get Up Stand Up

Peter Gabriel: Solsbury Hill, I Have The Touch, Big Time, Digging In The Dirt

Prince (again a zillion songs but): I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (this one just missed the top 50 cut off), Controversy, Lady Cab Driver

Elvis Costello: Alison, Red Shoes, Radio

XTC: Senses Working Overtime (another near miss), Making Plans For Nigel

Los Lobos: Will The Wolf Survive, Last Night I Got Loaded

 
worrierking said:
Alex Chilton is a great tune.  I was working as a DJ at a small radio station in Selma Alabama in late 1987.  My program director opened the back room with all the promo records sent by the record companies and told me to grab a few, if I liked them, keep them.  If not, bring them back. Most of the records were country 45s, but there was some pop and rock too, and some albums.  I took a few, including 10,000 Maniacs and Pleased to Meet Me.  Mats fan ever since and this is my favorite of all their tunes.

I raided the record room many more times.
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Come up with any other treasures?

 
Gr00vus said:
Come up with any other treasures?
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I am having a hard time remembering what came from there.  I think Lyle Lovett-Pontiac and BoDeans-Outside Looking In came various raids.  I listened to a lot of bad stuff and returned a lot.  It was fun.  The next place I worked we were getting all cds, which were promo singles, not the whole albums, so my raiding days ended for the most part.

 
Gr00vus said:
And since you guys set the table, I'll eat. My favorite songs by these artists that didn't make it into my top 50:

The Cure: Let's Go To Bed, Fascination Street

The Smiths: How Soon Is Now, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Depeche Mode: New Life, Just Can't Get Enough

U2: I Will Follow, Gloria

Tool: Sober

Radiohead: High And Dry

INXS: (a zillion of their songs, the whole The Swing album, but): The One Thing, Dancing On The Jetty, Original Sin, I Send A Message

The Clash (again a zillion of their songs, but): The Magnificent Seven, This Is Radio Clash,  Clampdown

Bob Marley: Could You Be Loved, Exodus, Get Up Stand Up

Peter Gabriel: Solsbury Hill, I Have The Touch, Big Time, Digging In The Dirt

Prince (again a zillion songs but): I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (this one just missed the top 50 cut off), Controversy, Lady Cab Driver

Elvis Costello: Alison, Red Shoes, Radio

XTC: Senses Working Overtime (another near miss), Making Plans For Nigel

Los Lobos: Will The Wolf Survive, Last Night I Got Loaded
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great list. Have you heard this? the b-side of 1999 single, only on album Girl 6 soundtrack, Alicia Keys covered it but not a tenth as good. not able to link it online til a coupla mths ago. still my favorite Prince song - he featured it as the payoff in the slowjam portion of the first concert i saw him & i near died

 
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worrierking said:
I am having a hard time remembering what came from there.  I think Lyle Lovett-Pontiac and BoDeans-Outside Looking In came various raids.  I listened to a lot of bad stuff and returned a lot.  It was fun.  The next place I worked we were getting all cds, which were promo singles, not the whole albums, so my raiding days ended for the most part.
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Pontiac really surprised me. Me & my gf were asked to sing together at a wedding, so i bought it specifically to learn "She's No Lady, She's My Wife". Been in my rotation ever since, only thing even close to country that is.

 
"Then came by a friend of mine, suggested we go out together"

12: Perfect Kiss, New Order, 1985

Don't ask me what this song is about or how the lyrics came to be strung together. Don't ask the guy who wrote them (Bernard Sumner), he self admittedly doesn't know either. Though apparently the pretending not to see his gun/let's go out and have some fun is a summary of something that actually happened to Sumner/band at some point. I've posted the full version of the song in the spotlight link, but here's the shorter version, and here's the Jonathan Demme directed video for the song, which they actually play live (on top of some preprogrammed stuff) so the version in the video is actually different than any other recorded release of the song. I saw these folks live on the Low Life tour back in 1986 (or was it 85?) at now long gone Irvine Meadows, this is pretty much how they performed live - not exactly riveting. And the shirt I got at the concert shrunk up to a postage stamp too.

The lyrics aren't really the thing here (as they're not in many New Order songs). This is about how they put all these sounds together. New Order (and Joy Division before it) are truly pioneers in adapting and exploiting digital music technology blended with traditional instrumentation to produce cohesive songs and sounds. In this track you've got the obvious synths and the programmed drum track. You've got some sampled percussion but then you've got the acoustically played cowbell. You've got regular electric guitar accents, and you've got Peter Hook's (as unique a bassist as you'll ever hear) lead bass on top of the synth bass. Along the way they sample frogs and sheep, somehow making their utterances musical.  And all that creates a track that ebbs and flows, providing some emotive support for a sad subject portrayed via ham fisted lyrics. I eat it up every single time I hear it. I mean, frogs!

I think it has become cool to identify as a Joy Division fan. I like Joy Division quite a bit, but I like New Order better. In truth I think of them as a continuity, there really isn't a more than/less than thing for me. But I do feel New Order are nearly as underrated as Chic in terms of both the music they've created and their influence on music that came after them. While Kraftwerk were pioneers in 100% digital music, and influenced generations of musicians that came after, Joy Division/New Order did the work of integrating all that digital stuff with the more traditional instruments of rock/pop to blend them seamlessly, creating a new genre of music in the process. And that's something - when you cut your teeth on being a musician who plays an instrument, you have to have a healthy grip on your ego to forgo playing your instrument on a track in favor of a sample, a loop, a programmed part. They not only did that, they embraced it. Credit is due to Martin Hannett for this as well, as he prodded them in this direction.

For a bit more background on Joy Division/New Order, I highly recommend the Michael Winterbottom movie "24 Hour Party People"  - a look at the Manchester music scene from the late 70's through the late 80's. It's entertaining as heck (Steve Coogan does a great job along with the supporting cast), and it's also informative, focusing on Tony Wilson's career as a music promoter/producer, particularly his role in bringing Joy Division/New Order and The Happy Mondays to prominence.

New Order will always be one of my favorite bands of all time. I might have gone with Blue Monday here, but I've heard it so many times, I'm kind of burned out on it. Even if I hadn't I think I like Perfect Kiss just that much more anyway.

 
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My shoulder has been messed up so I've been limiting my keyboarding this week. 

Some interesting choices in the past few pages. 

Love the Bowie song and Station to Station in general.  Not much in the way of cover versions though.

The Sting cover is OK.  It's not one of his best vocal performances and the click snare is way too prominent in the mix but it's a great song.  My biggest issue with it is that the Gil Evans Orchestra is in the credits but hardly on the record.  Evans' own version is very different.   I have to say I prefer Sting's overall because I think everybody is overblowing on the Evans' recording.

The 'Mats song is terrific of course.  Pleased to Meet Me was the first record without Bob Stinson so I guess it was the beginning of the end for the band or the beginning of the beginning of Westerberg's solo career.  The few covers I could find didn't add anything to the song.

You Got Another Thing Comin' - Groovus' choices have been heavy on groove and light on structure.  Odd that the metal song has one of the nicest bridges of the lot.  Saxon cover doesn't stray too far from the original.

Perfect Kiss - Best frog solo ever.  Love how Hooky carries the melody line on his bass.  I don't play but I've always marveled at how he wears his bass so low but is able to play way up the neck like he does on this song.  Cover version by Japanese band Capsule Giants!  The exclamation point is part of the band's name; the cover isn't all that great.

 
Eephus said:
You Got Another Thing Comin' - Groovus' choices have been heavy on groove and light on structure.  Odd that the metal song has one of the nicest bridges of the lot.
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The bolded is a great observation, by the way. Totally worth rotator cuff surgery to get that posted.

 
wikkidpissah said:
great list. Have you heard this? the b-side of 1999 single, only on album Girl 6 soundtrack, Alicia Keys covered it but not a tenth as good. not able to link it online til a coupla mths ago. still my favorite Prince song - he featured it as the payoff in the slowjam portion of the first concert i saw him & i near died
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That's a pretty song. Still, it's no Lady Cab Driver. "This is for Yosemite Sam and the tourists at Disneyland" Who writes stuff like that?!?! Prince, that's who.

 
Gr00vus said:
And since you guys set the table, I'll eat. My favorite songs by these artists that didn't make it into my top 50:

The Cure: Let's Go To Bed, Fascination Street

The Smiths: How Soon Is Now, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Depeche Mode: New Life, Just Can't Get Enough

U2: I Will Follow, Gloria

Tool: Sober

Radiohead: High And Dry

INXS: (a zillion of their songs, the whole The Swing album, but): The One Thing, Dancing On The Jetty, Original Sin, I Send A Message

The Clash (again a zillion of their songs, but): The Magnificent Seven, This Is Radio Clash,  Clampdown

Bob Marley: Could You Be Loved, Exodus, Get Up Stand Up

Peter Gabriel: Solsbury Hill, I Have The Touch, Big Time, Digging In The Dirt

Prince (again a zillion songs but): I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (this one just missed the top 50 cut off), Controversy, Lady Cab Driver

Elvis Costello: Alison, Red Shoes, Radio

XTC: Senses Working Overtime (another near miss), Making Plans For Nigel

Los Lobos: Will The Wolf Survive, Last Night I Got Loaded
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Many of my favorites here.

I'd love to try this top 50 list myself but I could see myself struggle as my taste in music changes depending on what mood I'm in.

... or time of day, or level of intoxication, etc. my favorites could be 80's alternative, or electronic dance (aka house music), or rap metal, or modern alt, or mellow electronic spa type tracks. I'm as over the map as Gr00vus.

Also, I've come to realize that many songs that I LOVE ... have little appeal to others. It was hard for me to fathom that at first ...

How can I like a song SOOOO much  ... and others don't care for it at all?

I think it's partly because most people want to hear music they are familiar with. New sounds confuse them?

... and I have to admit, many songs sound better to me the 2nd and 3rd time through.

 
Bossman said:
Also, I've come to realize that many songs that I LOVE ... have little appeal to others. It was hard for me to fathom that at first ...

How can I like a song SOOOO much  ... and others don't care for it at all?

I think it's partly because most people want to hear music they are familiar with. New sounds confuse them?
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Maybe. Everybody's tastes are different. A decent number of folks around here are really good about at least listening once if you throw something new at them. And they're also good at explaining why they might not dig a thing you really like without being nasty.

I mean, it's a bit narcissistic to do something like this in the first place. But I'm not under the impression that anyone else would or should like everything I think is great. Music's a personal thing, everyone is going to have their own take. And that's as it should be.

 
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Bossman said:
Also, I've come to realize that many songs that I LOVE ... have little appeal to others. It was hard for me to fathom that at first ...

How can I like a song SOOOO much  ... and others don't care for it at all?
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That's the beauty of these lists.  I've never heard of some of Groovus's songs he's posted.  Some I really like, others not so much.  

 
"He's a whore! - Look at the things that I write."

11: He's A Whore, Cheap Trick, 1977

Sometimes rock should be fun and audacious. That's this song. Ricky Nielson had a great idea, wanting to write a brief lark about a call boy on the surface, while also making mock of sell outs in general. It's quick, vicious and loose. Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersen give the perfect sloppy yet still somehow tight rhythm tracks, Robin Zander delivers the lines aggressively tongue in cheek, and Nielson lays out a great riff and a musical solo. Though the release date is 1977, I believe they'd been playing this song out well prior to that. It has a pseudo-punk feel to it as much as anything.

For a minute I was in a band that covered this song. It is my favorite cover song - it is an absolute blast to play this live. I highly recommend it if you're a rock band looking to fill out your set list with something fun.

 
Gr00vus said:
"He's a whore! - Look at the things that I write."

11: He's A Whore, Cheap Trick, 1977

Sometimes rock should be fun and audacious. That's this song. Ricky Nielson had a great idea, wanting to write a brief lark about a call boy on the surface, while also making mock of sell outs in general. It's quick, vicious and loose. Bun E. Carlos and Tom Petersen give the perfect sloppy yet still somehow tight rhythm tracks, Robin Zander delivers the lines aggressively tongue in cheek, and Nielson lays out a great riff and a musical solo. Though the release date is 1977, I believe they'd been playing this song out well prior to that. It has a pseudo-punk feel to it as much as anything.

For a minute I was in a band that covered this song. It is my favorite cover song - it is an absolute blast to play this live. I highly recommend it if you're a rock band looking to fill out your set list with something fun.
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Can't stop thinking about 24 Hour Party People from yesterday's gr00ve. It, and things like the Stonehenge scene from Spinal Tap, are a lot closer to the way the music biz operated in my day than the other representations. You haul yourself, exhausted (because there wasn't centralized booking then, we did things like Orono, ME-Bloomington IN-New Paltz NY in 5 days with only ground transportation) into empty halls or clubs, where you're greeted by a combination of growling janitors or bartenders, howling bureaucrats and fawning advance people, have to figure out a room you've never played sound/presentation-wise, deal with at least three show-threatening contretemps involving loaded employees, dangerous hangers-on, outraged citizens (rock and roll was still slightly illegal then) technical glitches. Then everybody chills, hypes, or creates whole new difficult scenarios just before a show, then a couple of hours of pure magic, then a couple hours of adrenal madness, then overy-partying mishaps, packing up to move on, folks ####### on every available furtive or open square inch, finding people (or drummers) who arent there etc etc etc. Somehow, no one has the desire or energy to sing Tiny Dancer together on the bus....

This prime Cheap Trick reminds me of that. The bloom must have fallen off the rose awful quick for these guys cuz, while i'm sure the money they were offered to open Albuquerque's new mega-club, Graham Central Station (a converted shopping mall - it offered a ginormous disco, a rock club, a bootscooting Urban Cowboy thang and a gaming center all in one) in 1982 or so was Budokan-worthy, the circumstances weren't. The rock club didn't have a stage, the owners apparently hadn't thought it out that far. Cheap Trick had to play with only Bun's kit-riser separating their elevation from their audience. Nielsen was FURIOUS - you could tell he wanted to walk off about 40 times during a gig where fans could actually walk up (actually the security was pretty good) and ask him for a pick. And you could actually hear the boompahs from the disco between songs. Aah, showbiz....

Great tune.

 
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wikkidpissah said:
 The rock club didn't have a stage, the owners apparently hadn't thought it out that far. Cheap Trick had to play with only Bun's kit-riser separating their elevation from their audience. Nielsen was FURIOUS - you could tell he wanted to walk off about 40 times during a gig where fans could actually walk up (actually the security was pretty good) and ask him for a pick. And you could actually hear the boompahs from the disco between songs. Aah, showbiz....
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Can't blame him for being mad about that. Most dive bars have some kind of stage at least. Did they ever bring that place up to snuff?

Also love the dig at that stupid movie where every one sings Tiny Dancer on the bus. I will not name it for fear of polluting this thread with its essence.

Also, drummers are never there.

 
Gr00vus said:
Can't blame him for being mad about that. Most dive bars have some kind of stage at least. Did they ever bring that place up to snuff?
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it was less than a year old when i left Burque in '83 and i was not a nitelifer when i returned in '97. i looked it up online and it was surprisingly open til just a coupla yrs ago.

i wish i could find the obscene version of Tiny Dancer which i wrote here years ago to describe what might happen to any tiny dancers who found their way onto tour busses in real-life 1974

 
"You've seen it all before, you know the truth can be unkind."

10: Seven Deadly Sins, Bryan Ferry, 1987

Another sweeping soundscape, this one melancholy, jealous, desperate, and bitter in contrast to the yearning of Sensation back at #33. The tempo is more upbeat, but the feel is still depressed and neurotic. It's hard to know which musicians played on this track as the credits for the album (Bete Noire) list an army of players. One thing is for certain, Rhett Davies fingerprints are all over this one. He tries his best to make this sound like a digital monstrosity - I'll never be able to tell what's programmed drums/percussion vs. the real, to the detriment of the song I believe. The bell sample would go on to be used in lots of other things, including Taco Bell ads (though they shift the pitch of it slightly for those). Why not just let the real percussionist and drummer play the whole track? You hired Vinnie Colaiuta, Andy Newmark, and John Robinson for a reason, yet you feel compelled to compress/gate the heck out of their sets and bury them under all this digitry? Shame!

Still I love this song, despite Davies's best efforts to completely ruin it. The bass line is superb. The guitars are so tasty (was it David Gilmour, Johnny Marr, somebody else? wish I knew). And the vocals are again beautifully haunting. Those three things are what make the song sound good to me.

Beyond that the verse lyrics are succinct yet expressive. Back on song 33 we talked about the disembodied quality of Ferry's vocals. I thought about it more and have come to think that the vocals are the product of a person who has "seen it all before" and is completely world weary and cynical. Ferry's style reflects that mindset. Though the song's title is seven deadly sins, we're only dealing with a subset of those in the song - greed, wrath, envy, pride - as they pertain to love (or loss of love). He's loved, been betrayed, longs for what he doesn't have any more, and is left to recognize the madness that's encompassed him as a result. I've been there, and this song was new just around the time I had my first/worst heartbreak, so it resonated strongly with me then. One of the best aspects of music is how it communicates to you that you're not the only one who's experienced something, which can be an immense comfort in times of distress. This song got me through a few dark moments, maybe it's unduly high in my esteem as a result, but I'm not going to question it at this point. I'll always find it achingly beautiful.

 
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Gr00vus said:
""The music is reversible but time is not. Turn back."

15: Fire On High, The Electric Light Orchestra, 1975

I'm not a big prog or orchestral rock fan, but I've always loved this band since I first heard them. Go figure. This track is a journey, from the insidious opening mischief (including the backwards lyrics) to the thunderous conclusion, with some great acoustic guitar riffs, ELO's signature string ensemble, a sterling application of the keys/organ (a Moog possibly?) and a full on choir doing the soaring vocal work. On top of all that, the thing that makes the track an all time favorite for me is the power drumming. By Bev Bevan. I mean, if you called up the most hackneyed screen writer of all time and asked them to come up with a name for a British rock drummer, they couldn't have done better than Bev Bevan (except maybe Nicko McBrain, but Nicko isn't actually Michael Henry's given name so Beverley "Bev" Bevan has a leg up). I think all British rock drummers since should be named Bev Bevan.

Anyway he and Jeff Lynne created an epic drum sound for the ages on the Face The Music album, and this track is the peak exemplar of it. It's sooooo low, tending toward muddy with gong like crash after crash and a clear clanging ride cymbal. Just a huge sound. Bevan provides the time with Herculean strength and then finishes things off with a cluster of blistering fills. If you didn't want to play drums prior to hearing this track, you probably do now.

This track got played behind a bunch of stuff in other media. Most notably for me was its use as the opening of CBS's weekend sports show back in the 70's.

More minor trivia: that's Bev Bevan providing the backwards speaking at the beginning of the track. Go put the record on your turn table and spin it backwards to get the full effect. ;)

I know it's easy to slag this band off as a Beatles want to be. And often times their work was pretty derivative (but still great). However, I don't think the Beatles come up with a track like this even if they'd stayed together. It's just too heavy. 
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Love that one!

 
Gr00vus said:
"You've seen it all before, you know the truth can be unkind."

10: Seven Deadly Sins, Bryan Ferry, 1987
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Mrs. Gr00vus must be a very happy woman. Your faithfulness to beat and urgency in music speaks well to your ability to listen, care & take the wheel when the time is right.

p.s. I always thought the tempo of this track was in response to a "note" from the suits for more "up" tunes, so they just processed the track six beats faster than the others.

 
wikkidpissah said:
Mrs. Gr00vus must be a very happy woman. Your faithfulness to beat and urgency in music speaks well to your ability to listen, care & take the wheel when the time is right.

p.s. I always thought the tempo of this track was in response to a "note" from the suits for more "up" tunes, so they just processed the track six beats faster than the others.
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I think you're right about the latter. Things I've read indicate there was a desire to make the songs more "danceable", which honestly I think was executed poorly, but some good songs ended up on the album none the less. In particular, the album cut of "Kiss And Tell" is a zillion times better than the "dance remix" of it they put out subsequent to the album's release. A true abomination that track is.

Speaking of dancing...

 
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Gr00vus said:
Also love the dig at that stupid movie where every one sings Tiny Dancer on the bus. I will not name it for fear of polluting this thread with its essence.
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Interested why that movie is so bad. I'll hang up and listen. I quite like it.   

 
"Whatcha doing on your back, huh?

9: You Should Be Dancing, The Bee Gees, 1976

I promise this is the last disco on the countdown. But it's a doozy. The Gibbs fully subscribed to @Leroy Hoard's kitchen sink approach to making a song here. It's got everything - horns, percussion, keys, guitars, on point rhythm tracks, seventy layers of vocals, on and on and on. As with Disco Inferno earlier, this was recorded a year prior to Saturday Night Fever and was originally released on a different album (Children Of The World) and then recycled for the movie soundtrack.

Here's a piece of trivia I just learned in researching this song - Stephen Stills and parts of his band play on this song. I guess they were in the studio at the same time the Bee Gees were recording this album and they made their way into the production. Stills plays some percussion here I believe. The percussion is pretty awesome on this song too. I also especially love the little rhythm guitar flourishes throughout.

Here's a question for the audience: Who would you have rather been in 1977 - Barry Gibb or John Travolta? Both were absolutely white hot by the end of that year. Follow on question - who's career would you rather have - Gibb's or Travolta's? I'm probably going Travolta in 77, Gibb lifetime. I'm fairly certain that back in 77, Travolta could fertilize a woman (probably men too) just by being within 50 yards of them. I've avoided posting video for the most part to keep attention focused on the song, but I think it's illegal to reference this song without the scene. To be able to dance like that - whoa nelly. Props to Deney Terio for the choreography. I do sincerely invite others to discuss what this song/movie meant, I just know that this song and scene were pretty much the complete encapsulation of a sound, lifestyle and about half a decade of popular culture.

(In before "Dude" from @Apple Jack)

 
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Gr00vus said:
Nobody splains this as completely and eloquently as Dr. pissah, so @wikkidpissah, please provide the prognosis.
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Well, since Karma Police is too busy to do it for me.....

Great American music of the 70s was as accidental as it was venal. The 60s established the form and, just as tons of longhairs rushed to Haight-Ashbury for no particular reason in response to the counterculturality of it all, thousands of pimply virgins made themselves the only kind of hot they could ever be by wailing on their prospective axes every waking moment til they got their 10,000 hours in.

But that weren't the 10,000th of it. Company & happenstance (and the ability to organize sound into songs) had to bless these free radicals for anything real to happen. My unpracticed ### got its "break" cuz my gf volunteered me to organize a benefit for Zero Population Growth because i knew guys in bands and my uncle ran a football stadium in the ghetto for Boston Parks&Rec. One of those bands got real hot in the interim & 10,000 fans stormed the gates of my show. I got a job in music mgmt cuz me & my bodyguard kept it from turning into a riot. Three months later, i'm barking orders to several of my idols. If that ain't serendipity.....

And i'm one of 10,000 who don't know whether to congratulate myself or shudder that they'll catch me for the fraud i am any minute or both. There was no organization, no governing body - just thousands of talented acnoids, millions of adoring fans and a tremendous amount of cash in connecting them. When quivering quim just throws itself in your face, dangerous drugs shoot themselves right up your arm, EVERybody wants to talk to and grab you all of a sudden, a Tibetan Lama couldn't contextualize it. It makes a mess of you soooo quick & bad that you turn to the next guy and he's already 'sploded and the folks in charge should be wearing cartoon masks & stripes for all the good they're gonna do ya. Will you puhLEEEZE get that poontang out my face sos i can think?!?! I got gigs in Ithaca & Ypsilanti in the next two days....

I should think that, with a quarter century to think about it, even a fringer like Crowe could have come up with a truer, if not more profound, picture of circus geeks w drug problems than too much adoration making otherwise fine individuals sad & unreliable. Oy....

 
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I had meant to post this back with the New Order song, but if you are at all interested in the synth Brit pop that happened from the mid 70's through the early 80's, you must watch this BBC documentary Synth-Britannica. Lots of insight into Kraftwerk, OMD, Depeche Mode, Yaz, Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, Human League/Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire, The Normal, Joy Division/New Order etc. It's really good.

These people built their own digital instruments from circuit diagrams. Blows me away.

It's also really interesting to see how much the physical and societal environment at the time influenced what these people created musically.

 
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