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

"And if it's a crime, can you explain to me, where do I belong?" / "Will we receive, without ever asking? I'm just curious."

*** EDM ALERT *** EDM ALERT ***

23: Cannot Contain This / Forever More, Moloko, 2003

I'm cheating here. I can't choose between these two so here they both are occupying the same slot. If I had to choose one it'd probably be the first, but :shrug: shrug. You choose.

Songs of heartbreak, abandonment, emotional drift. Sharp, angular pieces of electronica. Strong, syncopated rhythms, prominent fluid basslines, club style synths all over the place. But, as all things Moloko, all that just sets the stage for the wonderful Roisin Murphy. She's not stretching her vocal abilities as much as she can, but she does lend the perfect sense of depressed rudderlessness the songs require. @wikkidpissah will probably be along shortly to explain how these songs eliminate all the humanity from the pain of a breakup, but I think Roisin gives us those feels in boatloads.

This whole album (Statues) is good. It's the final act of a roughly 8 year run for this band, which really consisted of Roisin and Mark Brydon. Up to this album they'd produced quirky, fun, danceable stuff like Fun For Me,  Sing It Back (both the more popular Boris Musical Mix and the Original Mix), Pleasure Seeker, The Time Is Now, Familiar Feeling. Throughout Murphy and Brydon were a couple. Until this album. This album is about what happens when it doesn't work out. How they managed to do this while going through that is hard to fathom, though it's been done before by other people often enough. Exploring a failed relationship with the person you were in it with, through music - how? This is how. And then they toured on this album - cannot contain this live (never thought I'd long to be a light up whip). Then they were done.

Roisin has gone on to do solo work. My favorite of hers being Let Me Know. I find her captivating, one of my favorite singers of all time.

 
Gr00vus said:
"And if it's a crime, can you explain to me, where do I belong?" / "Will we receive, without ever asking? I'm just curious."

*** EDM ALERT *** EDM ALERT ***

23: Cannot Contain This / Forever More, Moloko, 2003
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I'm tryin', maaaan, i really am. Heck, i wrote this over the weekend in the b-ball forum, calling Kyrie the Yeezy of b-ball:

It is a point of grief to see young people who don't feel a need or obligation to argue with the gods when inspiration seizes them, but i have to admit that, if i'm going to kill God, this is how it goes............poetic justice....
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So, maybe y'all are showing me the inside of this a li'l bit. But......................still.........................nope.

Verse/verse/chorus/bridge/verse/chorus. There's a reason for this, just as there were reasons for sonata/concerto/symphony structures. It's the firepit of skill you walk across to convince me to put my faith in what you have to say. Otherwise, it's merely an entertainment, comforting art, no different than my old man's Perry Como or If I Knew You Were Comin' Ida Baked a Cake.

No one had to tell me Picasso was a great draftsman. Someone has to tell me Basquiat was. If someone goes inside Stevie Wonder or Stephen Sondheim and uses as much skill to deconstruct them as the originals do on their creations, i am frikkin IN LINE to check that out. But if someone takes a fractured jewelbox CD case of Fullfillingness' First Finale, floats it in a bowl of blood orange juice and tells me that's an indictment of Wonder's go-along-to-get-along ways to get money & chix & fame instead delivering  his people, i'm gonna need to see some ID, CV even better.

i was going to get into the reasons classic song structure is important, but i'm pretty sure i'll be getting another chance in this countdown, so this is enough for now.

 
Big fan of The Cult and She Sells Sanctuary.  The Love LP is kind of an oddball in their catalog with a more ornate sound than their albums that came before and after.  We saw them tour behind this album in 86 and also when they played in its entirety about ten years ago.  Mrs. Eephus befriended somebody in their management team so we got Cult swag mailed to us for a while.

Astbury's lyrics are ridiculous of course but he sings them like he means them which counts for a lot.

Cover:  Rogue Wave

 
"Feet don't fail me now"

22: One Nation Under A Groove, Funkadelic, 1978

You had to see this coming, right? A funk masterpiece from a time when funk's pop offspring disco owned the airwaves. Dancing as spiritual release. Makes sense. I really enjoy the percussion on this one, and Bigfoot Bailey's use of the splash cymbals contrasted with the almost gong like crash cymbals. Sterling bassline as always, but it's tough to attribute it since there are 3 bassists credited for the album (of the same name) this track comes from.

Though distinction is made between Funkadelic and Parliament, the lines are pretty blurry. The same musicians participated in both more or less. Ostensibly Funkadelic was supposedly more rock, Parliament was more space agey funk. I can't always see that distinction, so in my head they're all the same band/project. However you think of them, they're all George Clinton's children, with a huge cast of excellent musicians performing his visions. Clinton is the second most influential/important funk artist of all time, progressing the style in multiple directions nearly simultaneously from the early 70's on.

Hopefully the Democrats run Clinton in 2020 for President. I'd dearly love to see one nation under a groove become reality. Let's all get up on the good foot one time.

 
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Gr00vus said:
"Feet don't fail me now"

22: One Nation Under A Groove, Funkadelic, 1978

You had to see this coming, right? A funk masterpiece from a time when funk's pop offspring disco owned the airwaves. Dancing as spiritual release. Makes sense. I really enjoy the percussion on this one, and Bigfoot Bailey's use of the splash cymbals contrasted with the almost gong like crash cymbals. Sterling bassline as always, but it's tough to attribute it since there are 3 bassists credited for the album (of the same name) this track comes from.

Though distinction is made between Funkadelic and Parliament, the lines are pretty blurry. The same musicians participated in both more or less. Ostensibly Funkadelic was supposedly more rock, Parliament was more space agey funk. I can't always see that distinction, so in my head they're all the same band/project. However you think of them, they're all George Clinton's children, with a huge cast of excellent musicians performing his visions. Clinton is the second most influential/important funk artist of all time, progressing the style in multiple directions nearly simultaneously from the early 70's on.

Hopefully the Democrats run Clinton in 2020 for President. I'd dearly love to see one nation under a groove become reality. Let's all get up on the good foot one time.
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Groove Rushmore. nufced

 
'Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted? Will they come again next week? Can my mind really take it?"

21: Madman Across The Water, Elton John, 1971

According to Bernie Taupin, there's no deeper meaning to this song. It's just a tune about a guy in an insane asylum relating his inner thoughts. Others would go on to interpret it as a statement on the U.S. or then U.S. President Nixon, but I believe Taupin when he says it's about what it is obviously about. It's a strange track for Elton John, brooding, sinister, dark, depressing. The lyrics may not always make sense (as is the case with some other tracks on the album), but in this case that's somewhat the point. In some early interviews John would imply he didn't like this album much, that it was the 3rd album he'd released in the span of a year and the material was just whatever was left that they hadn't bothered to record yet. Ostensibly the album is a concept album about the U.S. As such it's still not clear where this song fits in outside of the interpretations from 3rd parties above. In other interviews John would imply that this song was the one he liked most on the album, which is interesting because it has two much bigger hits on it.

I know my parents didn't buy this album for the title track, but when they'd play the album (when I was all of 4 or so) this is the song that always fascinated me and caught my attention. That probably says something about me, but I don't think I want to explore that thought too deeply right now. A lot of it was just the sound of the song, the orchestral flavor it has, the crystal clear production. Elton John's pleading vocal insanity. The sounds played backward on occasion. The interesting guitar work - both acoustic and electric. The clattering percussion, the heavy drumming, the plunking piano accents and solo. And the strings, my goodness the strings. It's a huge sounding song that envelopes you.

I believe it is the oldest song in my list. It may not go over well with the readers here, and I freely admit that my inclusion may have more to do with the prominent place it held in my childhood. I love this whole album (though at this point I could probably do without hearing Tiny Dancer ever again) and I'd always choose this album and this song from among the several other Elton John offerings my parents had (though I loved those too) when given the choice.

 
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Gr00vus said:
'Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted? Will they come again next week? Can my mind really take it?"

21: Madman Across The Water, Elton John, 1971
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Best pick yet. One of only a handful of songs i can play all the way thru (oddly, Elton's The King Must Die is one of the others).

THIS is the direction i thought music was going. Grand themes; high goals & concepts; complex, powerful tunes, landscapes of life & mind. Nope

It is also why my old arranger and i were developing a variation of prog we called Adventure Music, until he stole from me. Both old progheads disgusted that the form pretentioned out before its time, we were goofing around and he had a really majestic riff. When I heard it, i said "that's a song for a quest". Banged words around all night and came up with this, the first verse of a song that went purrfect with his riff, about why mankind is so much based on exploration & conquest, discovery & war:

Signals high, a course is called

All hands....AHOY!....heed the siren of distant shores

While mothers cry, a line is drawn

And out shoot their one & all, surer of courage than cause

We also had the architecture of a concept album on Flight - pterodactyls, birds, balloons, Wright Bros,  dogfights, sound barrier, space, Voyager leaving the solar system....until our partnership turned to #### , of course. God, i how i wish for that kind of ambition in music again. Gr00vicious selection, my friend

 
wikkidpissah said:
Best pick yet. One of only a handful of songs i can play all the way thru (oddly, Elton's The King Must Die is one of the others).

THIS is the direction i thought music was going. Grand themes; high goals & concepts; complex, powerful tunes, landscapes of life & mind. Nope

It is also why my old arranger and i were developing a variation of prog we called Adventure Music, until he stole from me. Both old progheads disgusted that the form pretentioned out before its time, we were goofing around and he had a really majestic riff. When I heard it, i said "that's a song for a quest". Banged words around all night and came up with this, the first verse of a song that went purrfect with his riff, about why mankind is so much based on exploration & conquest, discovery & war:

Signals high, a course is called

All hands....AHOY!....heed the siren of distant shores

While mothers cry, a line is drawn

And out shoot their one & all, surer of courage than cause

We also had the architecture of a concept album on Flight - pterodactyls, birds, balloons, Wright Bros,  dogfights, sound barrier, space, Voyager leaving the solar system....until our partnership turned to #### , of course. God, i how i wish for that kind of ambition in music again. Gr00vicious selection, my friend
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You must write the flight concept album - I don't think I've ever heard a tune about pterodactyls and I want to experience that. One caveat, you may not bring in Yoko Ono for the vocals on that one.

It's tough to bank on high goals, concepts and complexity in terms of popularity. Patience and attention are skills that are quickly evaporating.

 
Gr00vus said:
You must write the flight concept album - I don't think I've ever heard a tune about pterodactyls and I want to experience that. One caveat, you may not bring in Yoko Ono for the vocals on that one.

It's tough to bank on high goals, concepts and complexity in terms of popularity. Patience and attention are skills that are quickly evaporating.
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We had one -  "Out of the Ooze".  Looped whistles, marimbas & various electronia on my Yamaha sampler to simulate the volatile earth from which flight first organized itself and the screeches of the first airborne vessel. Contrapunctal noise - sounded pretty cool.

Skills, like you said - patience, attention, practice, imagination, delusion unto psychosis. Build the skill and say what you can't not say! That's art - the prayer of skill

 
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wikkidpissah said:
We had one -  "Out of the Ooze".  Looped whistles, marimbas & various electronia on my Yamaha sampler to simulate the volatile earth from which flight first organized itself and the screeches of the first airborne vessel. Contrapunctal noise - sounded pretty cool.

Skills, like you said - patience, attention, practice, imagination, delusion unto psychosis. Build the skill and say what you can't not say! That's art - the prayer of skill
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Lordy, I hope there are (Out of the Ooze) tapes.

I really like what you've said in the bolded. A creative endeavor, no matter how naturally gifted you are, doesn't work without that focus. And this isn't just get your homework done before it's due focus - it's sort of a spiritual thing where your physical, logical and emotional states have to be working together. You don't just fall into that kind of state, you have to work a bit to get there. With practice (there's that word again) it happens more quickly, easily, often - but then you have to spend the time with it, being with it. I still have to force myself to get my ### out to the woodshed and practice my rudiments, even though I've long since given up the dream. It's worth it to feel that feeling after working at it, even if it's only for 30 minutes. A zillion times better than spending that time watching t.v.

 
Gr00vus said:
"Feet don't fail me now"

22: One Nation Under A Groove, Funkadelic, 1978

You had to see this coming, right? A funk masterpiece from a time when funk's pop offspring disco owned the airwaves. Dancing as spiritual release. Makes sense. I really enjoy the percussion on this one, and Bigfoot Bailey's use of the splash cymbals contrasted with the almost gong like crash cymbals. Sterling bassline as always, but it's tough to attribute it since there are 3 bassists credited for the album (of the same name) this track comes from.

Though distinction is made between Funkadelic and Parliament, the lines are pretty blurry. The same musicians participated in both more or less. Ostensibly Funkadelic was supposedly more rock, Parliament was more space agey funk. I can't always see that distinction, so in my head they're all the same band/project. However you think of them, they're all George Clinton's children, with a huge cast of excellent musicians performing his visions. Clinton is the second most influential/important funk artist of all time, progressing the style in multiple directions nearly simultaneously from the early 70's on.

Hopefully the Democrats run Clinton in 2020 for President. I'd dearly love to see one nation under a groove become reality. Let's all get up on the good foot one time.
Click to expand...
The Parliament/Funkadelic difference was much broader earlier on. Young Funkadelic was in thrall to Hendrix & Zappa, whereas early Parliament was clearly emulating Sly and Norman Whitfield's work with the Temptations (though, since Clinton was involved, much weirder).

The funny thing is that the first Parliament records were much more tentative when you'd think they wouldn't be (go listen to the Parliaments - proto version of the band - great late '60s hit "I Wanna Testify" to see what I mean).  The early Funk records knew themselves much better.

Once Parliament figured it out by the mid-70s and started having radio hits (some even on the pop charts!), Funkadelic had almost no choice but to move in that direction since their style of rock had become passe for having any success on the radio.

By the time One Nation Under A Groove (the LP) came out, your blurred lines were happening - though there were still big differences pretty easy to detect for fans. 

Anyway, your choice at #22 is one of my all-time faves by any artist, anywhere, any time. It's more complicated than it seems, as you point out. It's about the closest they ever got - up to that point - to a "Parliament" sound (though the 12" version with its 7 minute guitar solo tells you it's still on the "F" side of P-Funk). The entire album is great, even if they got accused of selling out (mostly by white fans - imagine that).

 
Gr00vus said:
'Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted? Will they come again next week? Can my mind really take it?"

21: Madman Across The Water, Elton John, 1971

According to Bernie Taupin, there's no deeper meaning to this song. It's just a tune about a guy in an insane asylum relating his inner thoughts. Others would go on to interpret it as a statement on the U.S. or then U.S. President Nixon, but I believe Taupin when he says it's about what it is obviously about. It's a strange track for Elton John, brooding, sinister, dark, depressing. The lyrics may not always make sense (as is the case with some other tracks on the album), but in this case that's somewhat the point. In some early interviews John would imply he didn't like this album much, that it was the 3rd album he'd released in the span of a year and the material was just whatever was left that they hadn't bothered to record yet. Ostensibly the album is a concept album about the U.S. As such it's still not clear where this song fits in outside of the interpretations from 3rd parties above. In other interviews John would imply that this song was the one he liked most on the album, which is interesting because it has two much bigger hits on it.

I know my parents didn't buy this album for the title track, but when they'd play the album (when I was all of 4 or so) this is the song that always fascinated me and caught my attention. That probably says something about me, but I don't think I want to explore that thought too deeply right now. A lot of it was just the sound of the song, the orchestral flavor it has, the crystal clear production. Elton John's pleading vocal insanity. The sounds played backward on occasion. The interesting guitar work - both acoustic and electric. The clattering percussion, the heavy drumming, the plunking piano accents and solo. And the strings, my goodness the strings. It's a huge sounding song that envelopes you.

I believe it is the oldest song in my list. It may not go over well with the readers here, and I freely admit that my inclusion may have more to do with the prominent place it held in my childhood. I love this whole album (though at this point I could probably do without hearing Tiny Dancer ever again) and I'd always choose this album and this song from among the several other Elton John offerings my parents had (though I loved those too) when given the choice.
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Very nice. I certainly wasn't expecting this one. It's not my favorite Elton song, but it's one of his most distinctive and I love hearing it the few times a year I still run across it on one station or another.

 
Gr00vus said:
Lordy, I hope there are (Out of the Ooze) tapes.

I really like what you've said in the bolded. A creative endeavor, no matter how naturally gifted you are, doesn't work without that focus. And this isn't just get your homework done before it's due focus - it's sort of a spiritual thing where your physical, logical and emotional states have to be working together. You don't just fall into that kind of state, you have to work a bit to get there. With practice (there's that word again) it happens more quickly, easily, often - but then you have to spend the time with it, being with it. I still have to force myself to get my ### out to the woodshed and practice my rudiments, even though I've long since given up the dream. It's worth it to feel that feeling after working at it, even if it's only for 30 minutes. A zillion times better than spending that time watching t.v.
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If you keep your edge, i'll use you on Flight. I assume both are evenly likely to occur.

There are Out of the Ooze tracks, but i am in control of none of them. It (and the song i quoted, tracks from our end-of-the-world musical Kill the Sun and a wonderful Bowie tribute song called Electric Eye) were done in his studio and remain solely with him. I was so taken with the op to kick out my musical jams, i tabled learning the platform to share/keep our stuff til it was too late and, since we'd known each other since we were 13, i wasn't thinking our arrangement would shatter so quickly & easily. Although trapped in my snowbound tomb without an arranger at present, i am much more capable of finding a producer than he is of finding a writer to complete those ideas so, if i ever get another development chance, i'll do em and let him sue me.

ETA: oh, and there was a great, very Robert Fripp-y thing Rielly added to OotO. i wanted a pulse of gravity present so the track would be elementally raw and he came up with this sustained Les Paul note that he manipulated so it sounded like a gravity ring looping the bubbling earth @ light speed. verrrry cool -

 
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Uruk-Hai said:
Zappa
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I've tried, several times, to listen/get in to this guy and his stuff. I just can't get there. Can/have you? Anyone else here able to?

He employed/developed so many terrific musicians along the way, but I just don't dig his stuff. I can't explain it, though I don't myself appreciate concept albums much, which may be some of it. Like the other day, I was trying to listen to the Joe's Garage album to hear Vinnie play, and I just couldn't get through it. The songs don't grab me in any way, shape or form.

 
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wikkidpissah said:
If you keep your edge, i'll use you on Flight. I assume both are evenly likely to occur.

There are Out of the Ooze tracks, but i am in control of none of them. It (and the song i quoted, tracks from our end-of-the-world musical Kill the Sun and a wonderful Bowie tribute song called Electric Eye) were done in his studio and remain solely with him. I was so taken with the op to kick out my musical jams, i tabled learning the platform to share/keep our stuff til it was too late and, since we'd known each other since we were 13, i wasn't thinking our arrangement would shatter so quickly & easily. Although trapped in my snowbound tomb without an arranger at present, i am much more capable of finding a producer than he is of finding a writer to complete those ideas so, if i ever get another development chance, i'll do em and let him sue me.

ETA: oh, and there was a great, very Robert Fripp-y thing Rielly added to OotO. i wanted a pulse of gravity present so the track would be elementally raw and he came up with this sustained Les Paul note that he manipulated so it sounded like a gravity ring looping the bubbling earth @ light speed. verrrry cool -
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Heck I don't think you need a producer, studio or band anymore - you can do it all on your lap top and tweak it till hearts content.

Of your several depressing past episodes from your life, this strife you endured with musical partner/friend (which you have related previously in other threads) is probably #2 most sad to me. Might be #3 now that I know more about the kids you don't get to experience.

 
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Gr00vus said:
Heck I don't think you need a producer, studio or band anymore - you can do it all on your lap top and tweak it till hearts content.
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#1. TOTAL Luddite. Others, including the son of a FFApper who's actually going to tech school for sound engineering, have tried to teach me interfaces and platforms and reapers and such and i instantly turn into a little girl whose Nana isn't sewing her dolly back together quickly enough.

#2. You lose me if i'm eyeballing the tech. I can pull a badger, a coatrack & entire vocabularies out of my ### with but a moment's notice, but i GOTSTA have someone who knows what to do with em to say "make it so" to to do it best. Always been that way -

Gr00vus said:
Of your several depressing past episodes from your life, this strife you endured with musical partner/friend (which you have related previously in other threads) is probably #2 most sad to me. Might be #3 now that I know more about the kids you don't get to experience.
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None of those are depressing to me, merely difficult. I deserve everything i get - that's how i get so much.

 
Gr00vus said:
I've tried, several times, to listen/get in to this guy and his stuff. I just can't get there. Can/have you? Anyone else here able to?

He employed/developed so many terrific musicians along the way, but I just don't dig his stuff. I can't explain it, though I don't myself appreciate concept albums much, which may be some of it. Like the other day, I was trying to listen to the Joe's Garage album to hear Vinnie play, and I just couldn't get through it. The songs don't grab me in any way, shape or form.
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No, I'm not a Zappa fan - too clever by half and George Clinton did Zappa better than Zappa himself did. George's message was way more consistent/deep and his music was more accessible.

I appreciate Frank, but it's more because of his intellect than most of the knotty music he made. Plus, I adore him for annihilating Tipper Gore and her band of prudes in the '80s

 
Uruk-Hai said:
No, I'm not a Zappa fan - too clever by half and George Clinton did Zappa better than Zappa himself did. George's message was way more consistent/deep and his music was more accessible.

I appreciate Frank, but it's more because of his intellect than most of the knotty music he made. Plus, I adore him for annihilating Tipper Gore and her band of prudes in the '80s
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That was a public service he did for all of us, wasn't it?

 
Gr00vus said:
'Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted? Will they come again next week? Can my mind really take it?"

21: Madman Across The Water, Elton John, 1971

According to Bernie Taupin, there's no deeper meaning to this song. It's just a tune about a guy in an insane asylum relating his inner thoughts. Others would go on to interpret it as a statement on the U.S. or then U.S. President Nixon, but I believe Taupin when he says it's about what it is obviously about. It's a strange track for Elton John, brooding, sinister, dark, depressing. The lyrics may not always make sense (as is the case with some other tracks on the album), but in this case that's somewhat the point. In some early interviews John would imply he didn't like this album much, that it was the 3rd album he'd released in the span of a year and the material was just whatever was left that they hadn't bothered to record yet. Ostensibly the album is a concept album about the U.S. As such it's still not clear where this song fits in outside of the interpretations from 3rd parties above. In other interviews John would imply that this song was the one he liked most on the album, which is interesting because it has two much bigger hits on it.

I know my parents didn't buy this album for the title track, but when they'd play the album (when I was all of 4 or so) this is the song that always fascinated me and caught my attention. That probably says something about me, but I don't think I want to explore that thought too deeply right now. A lot of it was just the sound of the song, the orchestral flavor it has, the crystal clear production. Elton John's pleading vocal insanity. The sounds played backward on occasion. The interesting guitar work - both acoustic and electric. The clattering percussion, the heavy drumming, the plunking piano accents and solo. And the strings, my goodness the strings. It's a huge sounding song that envelopes you.

I believe it is the oldest song in my list. It may not go over well with the readers here, and I freely admit that my inclusion may have more to do with the prominent place it held in my childhood. I love this whole album (though at this point I could probably do without hearing Tiny Dancer ever again) and I'd always choose this album and this song from among the several other Elton John offerings my parents had (though I loved those too) when given the choice.
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Great pick and great song. 

 
Zappa was what Donald Fagen would have been if he hadn't quit making model airplanes, jerking off & reading Mad Magazine to go to a liberal arts college. In other words, a Cali nerd genius with the weird luck to be born just a little too late for plastic pencil pocket protectors. I love him, was great friends with the Mothers' original bass player and we agree that Mothers Live @ Fillmore East was the best indication of the direction he was going - ringmaster @ a Cirque Macabre of wiseass counterculture - until his accident (pushed off a stage, nearly crippled), which internalized him and dramatically changed his ambitions. Zappa would not want you to try to like him if you didn't get him.

 
I planned to break down Groovus' picks more than I have.  One of the things that's making it hard is his selection of jams that don't follow traditional song structures.  The Funkadelic song starts off promisingly enough with an intro, verse and chorus.  Then the Mothership takes off and it all breaks down.  The band randomly returns to the themes established in the first two minutes but there's little discernible pattern to it.  It's kind of unusual for a P-Funk song in that it has a prominent hand clap on the backbeat that starts in the first measure and continues until the fade.  There's lots of interesting rhythmic stuff going on all around it but it serves as a click track for folks who can't feel the funk.

Cover version:  The Style Council live version from 1984.  Weller tries it as an up tempo Northern Soul banger.  It falls somewhere between great and terrible but it was probably a lot of fun it you were at the gig.

 
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.

 
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Gr00vus said:
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.
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Kind of?

I don't think I've heard this song in 40 years. It sounds way more like a Funkadelic song than James Brown to me, but it jams.

Nice pull.

 
Gr00vus said:
wikkidpissah said:
I'm glad this was a football-day choice. I never knew whether these guys wanted to be U2 or the Cure or what. Very deriv, for my dough. Good song & all......
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I don't hear much of the Cure or U2 in their music. :shrug:  Some similarity in guitar riffs to I Will Follow maybe.
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yeah... when this came out, there wasn't much in the way of straight ahead harder rock that wasn't metal. this album bridged the gap between new wave and metal, setting the stage for the popularity of hair metal and bands like GNR IMO. 

I remember playing it on a trip with my soccer team- mostly metal heads (I was a goofy new wave kid) hearing it for the first time. everybody dug it.

 
Gr00vus said:
'Is the nightmare black or are the windows painted? Will they come again next week? Can my mind really take it?"

21: Madman Across The Water, Elton John, 1971
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I never listened much to EJ- good song... a bit Traffic-y.

Gr00vus said:
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.
Click to expand...
whoa. can't remember the last time I listened to the entire album- this is great.

 
Uruk-Hai said:
Kind of?

I don't think I've heard this song in 40 years. It sounds way more like a Funkadelic song than James Brown to me, but it jams.

Nice pull.
Click to expand...
Overall it does. If you watch that interview clip, Alomar talks about the one particular chord (the 9th chord) that was part of Slick's riff being a "James Brown chord." That was mainly what I was referring to.

 
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Gr00vus said:
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.
Click to expand...
dang - when i saw the title, i was really hoping you were a Lisa Loeb fan   :kicksrock:

This song has gotten me laid - more than once.

It was a regular play, as were a LOT of Bowie's most danceable tunes, at the gay disco that Scary Mary hung out in in Reno when she just wanted to get high & dance without fighting anyone off. I had some difficulties, as far as she was concerned (that's actually the subject of chapter 4 of Crows, btw), with the kids we worked with @ Truckee Meadows Hosp who had sexual preference/gender identity issues, so she gloried in dragging me to this leather steamroom with a dancefloor to face my hangups until i was granted tenure.

There are plenty of songs that will get people up on the dance floor faster & better, but Stay really is one of the best-ever songs to dance to, especially if you're looking to close. I toked several DJs to add it to their stacks backinaday, cuz you can ask someone to dance (and i've never been any better than a "maybe' lookswise), bounce around like normal to see if there's anything happening and then sweep in for a twirl & some slowdance moves on the chorus and maybe give em that look on the perfect line "you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too". Then, second time 'round, you can close on it, esp if they're the one who comes in for the twirl. nufced.

It really is quite remarkable how many songs we have that mean sumn to both of us, gr00valicious - guess you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too.....

 
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Gr00vus said:
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.
Click to expand...
I didn't have enough time initially when I posted this so I'll add on, in praise of rhythm guitarists. Ideally the rhythm guitarist isn't just the extra guitarist who's a friend of everybody in the band but isn't as good as the lead guitarist, and sometimes we want a bit fuller sound, so we keep him in the band. The rhythm guitarist is part of the rhythm section, playing something completely different from the lead guitarist. And this track is probably my favorite rhythm guitar track of all time. You have to listen for it sometimes, but Alomar's parts are pretty far up in the mix in this song (compared to other rhythm guitar tracks), and he totally earns it. Just focus in on what he's doing - it is absolutely the funkiest part of the song. If you've got the headphones on he's mostly in the left channel. Like, for example, starting at about 2:15 in the track, what Alomar plays underneath Slick's lead. Just ####### brilliant.

Also that BBC documentary is a must see if you haven't seen it. They focus on the 5 "most important" years of Bowie's career (years are a rough approximation for creative stylistic epochs). It includes the Let's Dance period, but ends at that point. I believe they're making another one covering the years after that. Anyway, the do get a lot of the people he worked with to sit down and talk about the songs, albums, etc. they were on as well as more typical documentary stuff. They never sit down with Bowie himself, though they do include clips of him speaking from other sources.

 
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wikkidpissah said:
dang - when i saw the title, i was really hoping you were a Lisa Loeb fan   :kicksrock:

This song has gotten me laid - more than once.

It was a regular play, as were a LOT of Bowie's most danceable tunes, at the gay disco that Scary Mary hung out in in Reno when she just wanted to get high & dance without fighting anyone off. I had some difficulties, as far as she was concerned (that's actually the subject of chapter 4 of Crows, btw), with the kids we worked with @ Truckee Meadows Hosp who had sexual preference/gender identity issues, so she gloried in dragging me to this leather steamroom with a dancefloor to face my hangups until i was granted tenure.

There are plenty of songs that will get people up on the dance floor faster & better, but Stay really is one of the best-ever songs to dance to, especially if you're looking to close. I toked several DJs to add it to their stacks backinaday, cuz you can ask someone to dance (and i've never been any better than a "maybe' lookswise), bounce around like normal to see if there's anything happening and then sweep in for a twirl & some slowdance moves on the chorus and maybe give em that look on the perfect line "you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too". Then, second time 'round, you can close on it, esp if they're the one who comes in for the twirl. nufced.

It really is quite remarkable how many songs we have that mean sumn to both of us, gr00valicious - guess you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too.....
Click to expand...
This song was before my time, but the way you're describing its "use" in the pick up game makes me feel almost as if I were there.

 
"With your cloak full of eagles"

19: (Bang A Gong) Get It On, T. Rex, 1971

What to say about this one that hasn't already been said? I was wrong earlier about Madman being the oldest song on the list, this song is older, and I actually might have one even older one coming up. Anyway, it's just so sexy, sliding right along.

I'll steal @Eephus 's thunder with the covers - there was a good stretch of time I liked the Power Station cover of this better than the original, but time has put things back in their proper place. Tony Thompson lays down a bone crushing drum track in that one, and when I played in a cover band at the time, that version of this song was probably my favorite song we did.

 
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Heh. One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists. Perfection. I, too, grew up maybe liking the Power Station a little bit better, but much like you, time has indeed put things back in the correct order. 

I might have gone with something off of The Slider, which is such an incredible album, but that's entirely personal. I love Buick MacKane, Chariot Choogle, Cadillac (on the deluxe version), you name it. I only own about fifty vinyl records; Electric Warrior and The Slider are definitely in that modest collection. 

 
Gr00vus said:
"With your cloak full of eagles"

19: (Bang A Gong) Get It On, T. Rex, 1971

What to say about this one that hasn't already been said? I was wrong earlier about Madman being the oldest song on the list, this song is older, and I actually might have one even older one coming up. Anyway, it's just so sexy, sliding right along.

I'll steal @Eephus 's thunder with the covers - there was a good stretch of time I liked the Power Station cover of this better than the original, but time has put things back in their proper place. Tony Thompson lays down a bone crushing drum track in that one, and when I played in a cover band at the time, that version of this song was probably my favorite song we did.
Click to expand...
NObody covers this. I don't care if my boyee 'Bob' did. To cover is to blaspheme This is SACRED - John the Baptist to Bowie's Christ

Jagger, Hendrix were Rock Stars. NObody else in the 60s were Rock Stars. No Beatles, no Wikkit Pikkit, not even Jim Morrison were rock stars. Jagger & Hendrix were rock stars because they couldn't be duplicated. Elvis would have been, but The Man owned him so he's disqualified down to Rock & Roll Star. Bowie, Prince were Rock Stars that but they weren't Promethean generationally, and just this  much conscious of who they were and what preceded them.  

Then this fuzzy li'l punk comes along and, with a flick of his hips & a purse of his lips, announces that he's a Rock Star, you're a Rock Star, we're ALL Rock Stars and #### you if you don't like it. No protest signs, no marches, no concerts, no be-ins needed. Say you're a Rock Star, take neither #### nor prisoners, and you are one. I'm Glynda, #####, and i shoot around the world in a bigass ball. Wanna see my wand?

 
Gr00vus said:
"With your cloak full of eagles"

19: (Bang A Gong) Get It On, T. Rex, 1971

What to say about this one that hasn't already been said? I was wrong earlier about Madman being the oldest song on the list, this song is older, and I actually might have one even older one coming up. Anyway, it's just so sexy, sliding right along.

I'll steal @Eephus 's thunder with the covers - there was a good stretch of time I liked the Power Station cover of this better than the original, but time has put things back in their proper place. Tony Thompson lays down a bone crushing drum track in that one, and when I played in a cover band at the time, that version of this song was probably my favorite song we did.
Click to expand...
I love Electric Warrior ,easily a top 20 album for me

 
Gr00vus said:
"Maybe I'll take something to help me. Hope someone takes after me."

20: Stay, David Bowie, 1976

During the sessions for Station To Station, Bowie asked guitarist Earl Slick to come up with a different beginning riff for John I'm Only Dancing. As Slick developed the part, Bowie decided to make a whole different song out of it, and Stay is the result. One of Bowie's funkier tunes, maybe even close to disco. In this clip (a cutting room floor victim of the excellent 2013 BBC Documentary David Bowie - 5 Years), Slick and Carlos Alomar (there's that name again) discuss the genesis of the guitar parts in this track, particularly the semi-conscious influence of James Brown on them. It's worth highlighting those as the guitar work is what stands out to me the most on this one - in particular I find Alomar's rhythm guitar work enthralling. Dennis Davis does a good job with the drums, George Murray delivers a really good bass track and Warren Peace does some great percussion work as well. But it's still the guitars that rule this track.

According to that documentary and other sources, this album was created in the midst of a perpetual coke induced haze for all involved. The Thin White Duke Period (see avatar for reference). Getting clarity on how things came together for this track is a bit difficult given that environment and the effect it's had on the lasting memories of the time for those folks. Bowie would go on to semi-detox in Germany for the next 3 years or so in fact. You can kind of hear/feel the coke energy in this song.
Click to expand...
Such an underrated song. Station to Station has become my favorite Bowie album Over the last 10 years 

 
Gr00vus said:
"With your cloak full of eagles"

19: (Bang A Gong) Get It On, T. Rex, 1971

What to say about this one that hasn't already been said? I was wrong earlier about Madman being the oldest song on the list, this song is older, and I actually might have one even older one coming up. Anyway, it's just so sexy, sliding right along.

I'll steal @Eephus 's thunder with the covers - there was a good stretch of time I liked the Power Station cover of this better than the original, but time has put things back in their proper place. Tony Thompson lays down a bone crushing drum track in that one, and when I played in a cover band at the time, that version of this song was probably my favorite song we did.
Click to expand...
Great song, but the covers have almost ruined it for me.  I hate them all.

 
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