"One Armed Scissor"

At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor (2000)

A band at the height of their fame, shaking apart due to creative differences, records one more album.



The lyrics are about a space station, which is of course falling apart; when has a space station ever appeared and been in good working order by the end of the media? In this case, the station is supposed to represent the bands troubles. I would like to eventually hear an orchestration of this song used as the theme to a science fiction film about a doomed space station. The singer uses a number of different styles, including spoken word in the intro, shouting in the chorus, and a strained sung vocal during the verses.

Hardcore punk is an offshoot of punk that focused on speed, loud vocals and loud bass. That sort of describes the choruses. But At the Drive-In was a Post-hardcore band. Post-hardcore starts at the same train station but is willing to incorporate other singing styles, and has a more open mindset on quieter introspective themes and styles. The verses are still intense, but the drums really tone things down and while the bass keeps driving, the guitars are adding atmospheric sounds rather than doubling the bass as in the chorus.

About six months after the release of the album, with this song as lead single, the band announced they were breaking up. The lead singer and one of the guitarists said that they wanted to do more creative progressive stuff; they formed The Mars Volta. The other guitarist, bassist and drummer started the Post-hardcore band Sparta. The bassist later left Sparta and joined the Mars Volta as a second guitarist.

"I'm Coming Out"

Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out (1980)

That's right, it's a trombone solo. What are you going to do about it?



I know this song from so many TV shows, movies, and gay pride videos, not to mention Mo' Money Mo' Problems; that it just sort of blends into the background. Listening to it was a treat. It's a great pop song. A little long, but if any of it was cut it would have been the trombone solo, and I can't abide that, so we'll cut the length some slack. Diana Ross was huge in 1979 when this album was recorded. She could have chosen anyone in the world to write and produce for her, so she chose the biggest names of the time: Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic. According to lore, after recording, but before the final mix, Diana Ross began to realize that her choice of such funky producers might not jibe with the "Disco Sucks" sentiment rising across the land. Ross took the masters to Detroit to be remixed by herself and friendly Motown techs. Whatever happened, the album Diana and the singles that came from it made 1980 a huge year for Ross.

That guitar riff is infectious. It gets in your head. Your foot is tapping even before the drums show you exactly when you should be tapping. the drums on the whole first minute long intro are so creative. They are jazz like, I mean that they are accents, not time keepers. It's the guitar riff that keeps the beat going, while the drum acts like the horns, just hitting fun accents. When the main body of the song stars up, the drums switch from tom hits to high hat disco style beats, and the bass drops in really heavy to move the song along. The horns deserve to be mentioned here, according to the liner notes there is one trumpet, one sax, and one trombone player, but they play in such perfect lock step here that the sound is much bigger.

The trombone solo starts at 3:13. According to the performer himself, that was not the best version of his solo. He recorded four takes and planned to have them mixed for best. When Ross took all the masters to Detroit, the techs their just grabbed the first one and put it in. The trombone solo was risky, pop songs had saxophone solos, or guitar solos, maybe piano or trumpet, but not trombone; but it worked. It makes the song different.

"He's a Rebel"

The Crystals - He's a Rebel (1962)

Get ready for trivia.



So in 1962 minor singer-songwriter Gene Pitney had gotten a couple of bigger hits and was on his way up. He had written a song that was about a bad boy, to be sung by a woman. He originally meant for it to go to The Shirelles, but they turned down the song. At the time, the anti establishment message was considered controversial. Instead it went to Vikki Carr (who indecently went on to have a recording career into the 90's mostly in Spanish, including a number 1 Hot Latin Songs chart topper). Legendary producer Phil Spector heard about her going into the studio and decided that he wanted one of his groups to record it first. He immediately chose The Crystals. Unfortunately the girl group was touring the East coast and could not fly back fast enough to record and get their version to air before Carr's. So Spector hired Darlene Love and The Blossoms to sing the track, but gave credit to The Crystals. The Blossoms continued to have a behind the scenes role in many Phil Sector produced tracks and live studio performances through the early 70s. Darlene Love actually had a big Christmas hit in 1963 with Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) that has been covered by Mariah Carey, U2, Jon Bon Jovi, and appeared in GoodFellas and Gremlins. The Crystals had to eventually hire a new lead singer so that they could sing this song, which was to be their biggest hit, live in concerts. Carr's version came out weeks later, but it was too late, hers was a hit, "The Crystals'" was gold.

The song starts with some tom tom heavy drums and a high tinkly piano part. There's some trumpet and sax parts backing up the girls as well. The sax solo during the break is Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Steve Douglas who played sax, clarinet and flute on sides by Dylan, The Beach Boys, many Spector produced tracks and even Sammy Hagar. He also played the sax solo in Love's Christmas song above. I really like the one, and three, four dance beat that gets heavy during the Just because he doesn't do what/Everybody else does portion of the chorus. It's called a habanera rhythm because it is based on the Cuban dance that uses that beat. The aria Habanera in Bizet's Carmen is a perfect example.

"Ambition"

Subway Sect - Ambition (1978)

An early recording by an all but forgotten British punk band.



By the time this single was released, the band had ceased to exist. They reformed later, around front man Vic Godard. The band itself was very British punk: short punchy songs, with an almost whiny untrained vocal running high above the rest of the band, singing a nihilistic tune. But this song adds a ever present synthesizer track that itself is very high in the register; like the high part of a roller skating rink or baseball stadium's organ. Also an odd "plinking" sound that is not in time with the song at all. So much so that I find it distracting. The book says that it is the sound of ping-pong balls that were recorded from an arcade game. I'm imagining something like Pong.

Ignoring the plinking, the song sounds very pop. It's short, it's fast, the drums keep it moving, the synth and guitar are almost always fast and in a major key; when they do go minor, it's only for a measure or two, then right back to the major key. The bass part is fast, and keeps up with the keyboard and guitar which isn't always common in rock, but is common in American soul music, which is what many of the members of Subway Sect were fans of.

"Frontier Psychiatrist"

The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist (2000)

"It is the opinion of the entire staff that Dexter is criminally insane."



This song is built almost entirely on samples of comedy records and lesser known songs of the 50s and 60s. The genre can be called a few things, but Wikipedia uses Plunderphonics, and I think its a hell of a word. Recognizable samples include dialogue from the John Waters film Polyester, the strings from the movie Lawrence of Arabia, quotes by Flip Wilson, and choir and horns from the Enoch Light Singers version of Bert Kaempfert's (You Are) My Way of Life. Kaempfert wrote Danke Schoen, L-O-V-E, and Strangers in the Night amongst other songs, but (You Are) My Way of Life was never that big. It is worth checking out though.

All together this jumbled mass of sounds really works well. I think the important thing they did was not to overwhelm the situation and just keep layering sound over sound. It's actually sparse in a way, and makes use of a "chorus" so that we have something to find and use as a center if we do get lost in the sound. Around 3:00 we get a change. The horn theme remains, but the choir drops out and we get quieter. Around 3:50 we get a guitar breakdown that fades us out of the piece. Someone has put together a video breaking out a lot of the samples. Here's a link.

"Champagne Supernova"

Oasis - Champagne Supernova (1995)

Happy Boxing Day!



The last track off of their enormous hit album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and the last single released from that album as well. This was the biggest song the band had, and seemed like just a highpoint with many more to come. Instead this song signaled the slow decline from one of the biggest acts in the world, to over hyped but still impressive, to good but not great, to basically forgotten in the US, to basically ignored, to breaking up.

The lyrics are notoriously confusing, with writer/guitarist Noel Gallagher admitting that he was "out of it" and the lyrics "might be" about reincarnation. Whatever the song is about Liam Gallagher sings with a controlled passion that keeps the song interesting for it's full length. Musically the song is 7:30 minutes long; a soaring psychedelic journey. It starts with water lapping at the beach and gently grows to a languid pop song volume with mellotron droning, acoustic guitar providing a percussive hit, and really short electric guitar quips. The drums eventually work their way in, driving the previously meandering pace. Within a few moments the volume picks up and we are in a full rocker. Around 3:00 we get a brief guitar solo that may actually be Paul Weller who was friends with the band and has a lead guitar credit on this track, as does Noel. The song builds back up again and as it fades at 4:30 you assume the song is about to find it's way out. Instead we get Beatle-esque non-lyrical harmonies floating along with rocking guitar solos over the mellotron and bass guitar sea. Then back to a fade out chorus. the song sounds like it could end again at 7:00, but holds on for a few more seconds.

"White Christmas"

Bing Crosby - White Christmas (1947)

The best selling single of all time.



This is not the original recording, that was lost to degradation. That was 1942. This was also not the recording from either of the movies this was in: 1942's Holiday Inn or 1954's White Christmas. This was such a popular song that a new recording was necessary because the master had worn out from constant recording.

Recorded with the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers, this version remains the one that every Christmas celebrating individual, as well as anyone who knows any; can sing along with. Crosby's Baritone voice is reassuring, telling us that even though we may be far away from what we love about the holidays, they are still there. This was a particularly poignant theme for the soldiers away from home fighting in WWII. The whistling part has always been one of my favorite moments in a Christmas song, along with the vocal bridge in Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters Jingle Bells. Bing might have whistled the part himself, there's no notes as to who did it, and he was known to be a whistler.

Merry Christmas!

"Respect"

Aretha Franklin - Respect (1967)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T/find out what it means to me/R-E-S-P-E-C-T/take care of TCB



Quite possibly the best known example of 'the cover being more popular than the original', Aretha Franklin's version of Otis Redding's song was an enormous hit for the fast rising star. Redding's version was a big hit in the black community, and was a small crossover hit as well. A few years later Jerry Wexler decided that Franklin would be able to make it a bigger crossover hit. Wexler was one of the most important behind the scenes guys in the business; so Aretha recorded the song as her second single on her new label. Her sisters sing the well known backup.

Driven by bass and keyboards, this under 2:30 song never lets up, never gives us a chance to disagree. It's like having a fight with a woman you love. she may be right, she may be wrong, but you are damn sure not going to get a word in as long as she's got this head of steam built up. The track became a woman's anthem, a black anthem, a youth anthem, and popularized the term 'propers' short for proper respect that has since been shortened to props and is used across age lines in the English speaking world. Great song, great sax solo by King Curtis, phenomenal vocals by all three Franklin sisters.

Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me...

"Runnin' with the Devil"

Van Halen - Runnin' with the Devil (1978)

Perfect example of 80s heavy metal. Except that it's from 1978.



Rising and falling synth, like a train passing you by. Then a repetitive menacing bass, followed by a light tinkling piano, giving way to a clean loud guitar riff, backed by a tom and high hat heavy drum set. Then David Lee Roth swaggers to the microphone. This was the opening track to the debut album of Van Halen. Before they were a video game, before their long term bassist was replaced by the fifteen year old son of the guitarist, before the multiple reunion tours, before III, before Van Hagar, before the love affair with MTV made them bigger than anything; they were four hungry guys playing music in LA that were hard to book, because club owners said they were "too loud".

By today's standards this isn't loud, fast, or heavy enough to be heavy metal, but at the time this was raucous. Eddie Van Halen introduced the world to the finger-tapping style he used to blistering effect in so many later songs. Here it is slower than it will be, but it's so distinct and clean. The backing vocals are perfectly harmonized, which just isn't done in Metal anymore, but sounds great here. The opening sound is actually the band's car horns played backwards.

"Kerosene"

Big Black - Kerosene (1986)

Industrial Punk?



The linchpin track off the first full length LP by the least corporate Punk band of the 80s in the US. Big Black never signed a contract, booked their own shows, paid for their studio time up front and controlled as much of their music as they could. Punk and post punk bands through the years have cited them and specifically this track as seminal. But this track is also over six minutes long; and uses both a drum machine and effects laded guitar parts. The lyrics are repetitive and destructive, so that could go either way. I don't really like the spoken word style, but the overbearing boredrum leading to obsession with sex and fire is something I think speaks to not just me, but anybody who grew up in the 80s. Plus, as I've mentioned before; I'm a sucker for songs with a false ending. In this song it comes at around 4:45. I like the guitar solo afterwords, it's angry and visceral. The ending is almost abrupt, I really didn't expect it and had to listen to a few videos to be sure that was really when the song ended. This song isn't melodic, but it is good music.

"Sweet Disposition"

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition (2008)

Produced by the Jim Abbiss, who did Arctic Monkey's debut album, Kasabian's debut, Adele's debut, Bombay Bicycle Club's debut; and worked with Ladytron, KT Tunstall, and DJ Shadow. He sleeps on a pillow made of indie cred.



The guitar riff that runs through this whole piece starts us off. It's echo-y, giving the song a dreamy start, even though the riff itself is forward moving. This balance between floating and driving in the guitar riff is found in the whole song. The lyrics are sung in a high falsetto and really stretched out. The lyrics themselves are about love and dreams, so they add to the floating around side of the equation. The style of singing just adds; putting the vocals fully on the side of the dream. The drums are my favorite part of the song. They drive forward, yet the odd accent beats make you feel like stumbling; which actually propels you further in and faster to try to keep your feet under you. Covers of the song without drums, or with a simpler drum part just fall flat. The bass part is a rock. Slow moving low notes, which because everything else is moving so fast actually make it noticeable.

Overall it's a nice song, a late summer wistful tune combined with a start of the school year kick out the jams rocker. The band is Australian but are much bigger in the UK and Ireland. I saw them play Virgin Free Fest in 2010. The were one of the early acts on the side stage. Very energetic and hard to understand, but the drummer was a beast.

"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"

The Yardbirds - Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (1966)

Hard to find a good quality version of this audio. Hope this one works.



So let's get this out of the way right now. Yes, this is the Yardbirds, the band that had at least four different lead guitarists during it's brief 5 year run. Three of those guitarists went on to international super-stardom: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. No known recordings exist of Clapton playing with either of the others, but there was a brief period of time (June-October 1966) when Beck and Page were both in the band. Some of that time Jimmy Page was playing bass, other times he played lead while future Led Zeppelin cohort John Paul Jones played bass. Only one single had all three of these giants playing together; Jones on bass and Page and Beck on dual lead guitar. This is it.

This isn't quite "Acid Rock" as there are long instrumental breaks, but the song is short and there are a lot of lyrics. Think of it as proto-Acid. There's a lot of echo on all the vocals. That really adds to the psychedelic effect. The drummer, rhythm guitarist and bassist all keep the song moving along admirably, but the song is clearly in the book for the part at 1:45 where the other instruments head for the back, and Jeff Beck's spoken word part comes along over under and through the dueling guitarists.

"Back for Good"

Take That - Back for Good (1995)

British Boy Band Wooo! You know I'm loving this.



Released in the last year the group was still a five piece vocal group, before Robbie Williams was kicked out for drug problems/quit the band to start a solo career. This was really the only chart topper the group had in America, but they were a huge success all over the globe. It was written by Gary Barlow, who also provides lead vocals.

Lyrically the song is about the singer, who has done something to run off the listener. The singer doesn't know what it is, but apologizes anyway. As anyone who has ever been in this situation can attest, that never ever works. He begs to be let back into the listener's life, but it is pretty clear that is not going to happen. Musically the song is driven by acoustic guitars, but does have a string section backing and simple drum set. Vocally the group is fine, the harmonies are nice, and the music doesn't cover them up. They all sing very high, there is not a lot of baritone or bass. Around 2:45 it really reminds be of a Bee Gees breakdown. Completely inoffensive pop song.

"The Grand Tour"

George Jones - The Grand Tour (1974)

Damn, what a downer.



This track, produced by a Country Music Hall of Fame member, and written by three big names in country music; is often considered one of the greatest performances in the history of country music. George Jones was a hard drinkin' womanizing so-and-so when this song came out, and less than a year away from his divorce from Tammy Wynette (who fours years later would marry one of the big name songwriters). He is known for putting so much feeling into his performances that audiences assumed that every song was autobiographical. This one wasn't, but it's hard to listen to twice.

Pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar, simple slow walking bass, and basic piano accompaniment start this song off; and well in the "country" wheelhouse. By the end you realize that there is also a backing choir and a good sized string section. The producer was known in the later 70s for creating crossover hits for country artists, and this has a lot of the hallmarks of an almost "adult contemporary" style song.

Lyrically the song starts sad. A man who is broken, and tries to be upbeat, invites the listener into the house that "once was home sweet home". It gets sadder as George walks around the house and points out furniture that holds memories of his wife who is "gone forever" though she used to "whisper I love you". By the end we are heartbroken to find that this shell of a man has walked us into the nursery; only to find that his wife left him and took nothing "but our baby and my heart". No further explanation is given, we are left to show ourselves out.

"Fuck the Pain Away"

Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away (2000)

Our third song in the Electroclash genre. I'd never heard of it before this book.



Yeah, this isn't my thing. It's not bad, just repetitive and doesn't really have a melody in the music. Lots of cymbals, bass drum, and synth bass. Lyrically Peaches does some fun things, referencing stay in school (she was a teacher before becoming a performer) in the same line as birth control, and dropping references to Blondie and Chrissie Hynde. Musically it is early Electroclash, and I find that I like the other two examples better. This is just too striped down for me. Reminds me of early Hip-Hop with the simple beats and clever rhymes but this came out in 2000 not 1980. Once again we find that a dance song and I don't really mesh, but at least I can say I get this one, it's just not my favorite.

"A minha menina"

Os Mutantes - A minha menina (1968)

Brazilian fusion pop!



Os Mutantes (The Mutants) were a Brazilian power trio. Two men, one woman, all three sang, all played instruments, and the band always had lots of guests on their albums. This is off of their first, eponymous album. Influenced by the pop vocals and psychedelic guitar sounds coming out of England and America, they fused it with the native dance rhythms of Brazil.

Lyrically it's a straight love song. She's his girl, he's her boy, and everything is right with the world. Musically the verses are very 60s pop. Vocals that harmonize tightly together over upbeat chords and fast drumming. The chorus has some fat fuzz effects on the guitar, giving us an angry edge to the song, but lyrically there is nothing to back up the anger. It's just a cool effect. The break is really interesting. There's some psychedelic guitars, some acoustic guitar licks, and some vocal noises that sound like hot and heavy breathing to me. Overall it's a fun pop song from a band I'd never heard of but that has fans. Indie act A Band of Bees (or The Bees if you're from the UK) got some early recognition covering this song in 2002 and Beck's 1998 album Mutation was named after the band. And in a hell of a coincidence, (because I just flipped to this song randomly as I usually do) Os Mutantes is apparently a favorite band of David Byrne - who was featured in yesterday's post.

"Heaven"

Talking Heads - Heaven (1979)

I would have guessed this was David Byrne based on the voice, but I never would have guessed this was a Talking Heads track.



The guitar is a little twangy, giving it the country influence the book mentions. We've also got simple piano, or at least a synthesizer set to upright. The drum part is almost overwhelming to me; repetitive, too loud, and frankly both dull and too much. The bass line here is moving as fast or faster than the piano during most of the song. Due to the fact that the guitar is playing an atmospheric twang part, the bass becomes a real driving force of the song; really keeping it moving along with the non stop drums - which is ironic considering the lyrics.

The song is about the afterlife, but a version of Heaven few would consider positive. It is a place where "nothing ever happens" and "it will not be any different, it will be exactly he same". Never has Heaven been described in such a way that no one, save people with anxiety that too much is happening and lovers of boredom; would ever want to go. It could be interpreted as very zen, nothing that ends doesn't begin again. but I just think it sounds terrible. Not that the song is terrible, the word play is fantastic: "the band in heaven, they play my favorite song/Play it one more time, play it all night long". It just does a great job of describing a place I wouldn't want to go.

"Private Dancer"

Tina Turner - Private Dancer (1984)

Much has been written about Ms. Turner's legs, divorce, solo career and more. Let's try to focus on the song.

This is the full 7:11 length album cut. The radio edit is less than four minutes long. The song was written by Dire Straits front man Mark Knopfler for his band. They recorded it in 1982, but he ultimately decided that the lyrics didn't work for a male vocalist. So it was shelved without a vocal added to it. The lyrics are about a high class prostitute; though Tina Turner claimed that she thought it was about performing for private parties for rich people as she had done in the past.

The song sat in the vault until Tina's manager and Knopfler's manager got together and decided Tina should sing the song. Legal obligations meant that the band had to record a new version for Tina to sing over; and in an odd twist of fate, Knopfler was unavailable to perform on the track. Mega star guitarist Jeff Beck was asked to play guitar instead. He provided a solo that Knopfler thought was rubbish. I like it, though I'm not sure if it goes with the rest of the tune.

So let's talk about the tune, it's a soulful song from the 80s, so you know we're going to get some sax. Sure enough, before the twenty second mark we've got a saxophone in the picture. Before the vocal comes in, the song sounds like a smooth jazz/quiet storm style lite jazz piece. The verses and choruses sound very different. In the verse, Tina's voice is low, stays in one small part of her range and the music is all in a minor key. The chorus gives us a much larger part of Tina's range, and it fluctuates between major and minor keys. The piano plays a major part in both sections. Louder than the guitar, holding together the chords and giving embellishment.

My favorite part is the bridge between the second and third chorus. The first part is a vocal part with funky fuzzy electric bass going on under it. Then we get a sax solo that is very reminiscent of the early sax bit, and every bit a "sexy 80s jazz sax solo". you could play just that part and ask people where it was from and they would name a dozen different TV shows or movies with slinky women, maybe a murder, a scene in the rain; and all of them would be from the 80s. The guitar solo that comes after it (with Hammond organ accompaniment) is slinky and sexy and I like it, but by this point in the song, I've forgotten it's a Tina Turner R+B song and have begun to feel like it's just a smooth jazz number from a forgotten album. It doesn't really sound "dancer" to me, though the "private" part shines.

The end is so repetitive. The verse is a repeat, then she sings parts of the chorus over and over again. I think the album version could have been cut short, but still left in the solos. The radio edit eliminates the sax but leaves in the guitar solo.

"Tutti Frutti"

Little Richard - Tutti Frutti (1955)

Tutti Frutti, good booty/ If it don't fit, don't force it.

In November 1955, the world had heard Bill Haley, and Big Joe Turner, and Chuck Berry, but were still months away from Elvis' breakthrough and more than a year away from Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard must have driven every old person in America off the deep end. A flamboyant, makeup wearing, pompadour having, piano smashing mad black man out to teach every young person "just what to do". The original lyrics ( a taste of which are above) would have gotten Little Richard an obscenity trial in the 90s, and worse in the 50s.

Using Fats Domino's backing band, Richard (the story goes) was unhappy with how the recording session was going; feeling like he was too restrained. During a break, he started playing a song that was a big hit for him in the black night clubs he was touring at the time. The musicians jumped in and the producer (who would later go on to work with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Herb Albert, and Sly and The Family Stone - among others) knew that he had a hit if he could clean up the lyrics. The record label brought in a ringer to clean up the lyrics and a hit record was born.

At the time, Pat Boone's cover was more successful than Little Richard's original. Fortunately time has been on Little Richard's side. I've linked the Boone version for completionists, or the just curious, but once you've heard the rollicking original, Boone's cover just seems pallid.

"Paradise City"

Guns N' Roses - Paradise City (1987)

Instantly recognizable.

The guitar lick that opens this track exemplifies the song. Sounds simple and upbeat but when you listen it's actually far more complex than you first thought. The drum beat that kicks in forces you to clap along. It actually reaches into your ears and grabs your pecs and your delts and your biceps and makes your clap your hands together.

There is a synthesizer running through the song. It's really easy to hear at 0:42-1:01 before the first guitar solo. Axl and Slash fought bitterly over the inclusion, but ultimately Axl won. It's the only song on the album with a synth, but the rift between the two only got bigger. Slash gets even on the track by ripping up some incredible solos and dominating the double time section at the end of the song.

Lyrically the song is heavy. Sure the chorus is fun for the whole family (Slash did try to introduce the line "where the girls are fat and they've got big titties, but the rest of the group shouted him down) , but the verses are serious business. A juvenile delinquent abandoned by everyone ends up with the death penalty after undisclosed crimes, and the nation is all heading down the same path. Pretty heavy stuff for a metal band out of L.A.

"Hard to Handle"

Otis Redding - Hard to Handle (1968)

So Otis Redding was the Tupac of his day.

This track is off of the second of four posthumous albums filled with mostly previously unreleased songs. Released almost a year after his death, this was the forth single off of the album, and it didn't chart as well as the others, but has stood the test of time, being covered by many artists, including being a live favorite of The Blues Brothers, a campy production number sung by Mae West and the breakout hit of the 90s blues-rock band The Black Crowes.

The back up band here is effectively Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Drums, guitar, keyboard and bass were all played by members of the group originally brought together as the Stax Records house band. Horns on the track are by The Memphis Horns, another group affiliated with Stax. When you are backed by ten of the top soul session musicians in the world, you are bound to make a gem. Put Otis Redding's soulful wail on top and there is no doubt this song swings.

The lyrics are so boastful. This style of music goes back a long way, blues musicians, and Irish folk songs both make use of a I'm-the-best-man-for-you kind of structure. Today, modern rap music is full of boastful rhymes about the singer's wealth and sexual prowess. Otis sings about what a great lover he is, and the best damn back-up group assembled helps him sell it. You got to give it to the man, even after his death he's helping men get laid.

"Every Breath You Take"

The Police - Every Breath You Take (1983)

A Stalkers Anthem.

Often misinterpreted as a love song, this and Isn't She Lovely? should be removed from wedding DJs bags across the country. It's clearly about a woman who left a man, and now he follows her around town stalking her every move. It's an obsession that, due to the way the fade out plays it up, is clearly never going to stop.

The guitar part was done in one part and was apparently inspired by classical composer Bartók. I've listened to about a half dozen Bartok pieces today and I don't hear it, but six pieces out of the hundreds he wrote doesn't mean anything. Bartók sounds upset to me, lots of pounding frustrations out like a hammer. The guitar lick is more precise, like a surgeons knife. He switches keys without missing a step and it cuts though the whole song without overwhelming the other little things going on. The drum part is fairly simple. Apparently Sting didn't let Stewart Copeland play what he wanted, Sting wanted simple on this track. Sting's own bass part is straight eighth notes with next to no embellishments. Sting also plays keyboards on the track. Heck, the man sings his own back up vocal parts towards the end.

"Chan Chan"

Buena Vista Social Club feat. Compay Segundo - Chan Chan (1997)

This song was written by Segundo in 1987 and had been recorded a number of times, but this is the one that made it an international sensation.

I can't resist some trivia on this before we get into the song itself. First, the stringed instrument that Segundo plays on this piece is called an armónico. It is a cross between a Cuban tres and a classic Spanish guitar. He invented it because he wanted the freedom of both instruments in his hands at once. Second, producer and band organizer Ry Cooder was fined half a million dollars for making the album Buena Vista Social Club that this track leads off. He made it in Cuba with Cuban musicians saying "...you must be with masters." The album happened by accident. Cooder had traveled to Cuba to record African musicians in collaboration with Cubans. The Malian musicians did not get their visas in order, so he was in Cuba with a plan to record, and no collaborators. World got around, drinks were had, ideas were hatched and within days a plan to record old style Cuban son musicians from before the revolution was hatched.

Way back in the first week of this project the song Lagrimas Negras was on the table. It was a bolero-son, perhaps one of the first to blend bolero and son together. This is a pure son song. It does not include the classic "and 4" claves sound so associated with the style, but besides that it is standard. The lyrics are so simple and even a little juvenile. Chan Chan and his woman Juanica are on the beach. When she is brushing or sifting sand off of her self, Chan Chan gets aroused and announces that they must immediately lie down as he can't do anything else.

Vocals and guitar are provided by the 90 year old songwriter. If I sound half that sexy at half that age I will be lucky. The slow sultry repetitive rhythm is meant to bring couples together on the dance floor slowly closer and closer until the inevitable occurs. The trumpet solo at 2:40 continues the minor key seduction. The guitar solo that follows is a master on an instrument of his own devising. How can you go wrong? When the singers come back in, you know your dance is almost over; less than a minute to turn this chance into a magical night.

"Consolation Prizes"

Phoenix - Consolation Prizes (2006)

I want you to change it all/I am gonna make it better

A modern pop song in the best sense. Just over 3 minutes, driving locomotive sounding guitars, non stop drums (except for fun hand clapping stops) and clear bright voices singing out a catchy tune. Once you dig in, the lyrics expose that this is one of those songs that sound cheery but really have a darker feel. The singer has clearly been put in second place as a potential suitor. Either that, or the significant other has accepted him as a lover, but forced him to change so that he better suits their ideal.

The band has a great two guitar sound, with neither guitarist really taking the "lead" role, rather both of them work to weave a great snappy pop feel. The band doesn't actually have a drummer. Rather, they rely pretty heavily on Swedish drummer Thomas Hedlund. He plays with several bands in several styles, including indie rock, doom metal, and post metal. He's the drummer of record for most of the tracks on all of the albums by Phoenix.

Withered and Died

Richard and Linda Thompson - Withered and Died (1974)

The book gives us three paragraphs of at least 4 sentences each. Only one of them is actually about the song. The rest is about the group, the drama surrounding them, and the rest of the album.

This sounds like an old English ballad; this version just the latest in a long line of people covering an old Child Ballad, this time with a hint of American country music. In fact it is an original song, written in 1973 by guitarist Richard Thompson. His wife Linda takes singing duties here, giving this brand new tune an air of timeless desperation. The tone of this song is so down, but her voice makes us long to hear a hope, a "better" ending. Alas, it is not to be. It is a very good, and very sad song.

Richard's guitar playing has some of that "twang" that we've come to associate with cowboy country and even has some slide guitar in the background. The solo in the middle of the song definitely has a country feel. The other distinctive instrument is the concertina. I suppose it could be an accordion, the liner notes list John Kirkpatrick as playing both instruments on the album, but it sounds high pitched to me, so I'm guessing concertina. In fact, Richard and Linda are both English, and this is considered to be an important album in the English folk rock genre. So set aside all your previously held assumptions about where the song came from, or what genre the song fits into. Just listen to it, enjoy it, and go have a good cry in your tea for a while.

"Suzanne"

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne (1967)

Arlo Guthrie does not get mention in this book. So I chose another story song by a distinctive voice released in 1967. Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Leonard Cohen is a tough man to pigeon hole. This song in the opening track off of his debut album. What style is it? The album is often classified as Folk, because it's from the 60's and it's basically one man who writes his own songs with subtle background music. But it's not folk. It's more like the singer-songwriter trend that came out of country and folk in the late 60s early 70s. But he doesn't have that country influence either. He's from Montreal; and this song was written in the early 60s, he just didn't have a record contract. Producer John Simon worked with Cohen on the entire album. They fought over Suzanne quiet a bit. Cohen remembers "He wanted a heavy piano syncopated and maybe drums and I didn't want drums on any of my songs, so that was a bone of contention". There are drums on other tracks on Songs of Leonard Cohen but it looks like Cohen got his wish on this track.

The song is all about a woman that Cohen was infatuated with. It's basically a love song. but they only really saw each other twice after the song was released. The relationship in as much as it was, was over by the time he had become a recognized artist. My favorite lyrics don't really have a connection to the love story. It's the segment that begins "And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water". It makes you think about G-d without being sacrilegious or too dogmatic.

There is a female backup singer, and a string quartet. The most prominent instrument though is the quietly plucked Spanish guitar. The most interesting cover (there have been many) is a jazz performer named René Marie who, taking a cue from the Spanish guitar combines Bolero and Suzanne.

"Dead End Street"

The Kinks - Dead End Street (1966)

An upbeat sounding song that reminds you of older brass band/music hall tunes.

The Kinks were big fans of inserting nostalgia into their songs, with lyrics or musical style. Verses and chorus are both a little jazzy; verses are down and sad, choruses are a little angry. the topic of the song is the crippling "dead end" of being working class, or completely on the dole. Songwriter and singer Ray Davis tells a tale of houses with cracks in the ceiling, not enough work to go around, not enough money to pay the bills, and no chance of getting out of the situation. But he and the band strive not to make it depressing. The repeated backup vocal parts are shouted defiantly. The piano and trombone sound like a music hall when they are being upbeat. It's almost uplifting. In other places, the trombone sounds like a funeral dirge.

The book says it's a trumpet playing. Wikipedia and my 20 years of experience playing trombone say it's a trombone. What is interesting is that no note has survived saying who played trombone on the recording. Other interesting tidbits: The bass player is John Dalton, who would become a member of The Kinks in a few years, but for this track was just filling in because regular bass player Pete Quaife had just been in a car accident. Piano duties fell to studio musician Nicky Hopkins. Hopkins spent the sixties playing with every British act you can name: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Move, The Jeff Beck Group; as well as American acts Jefferson Airplane and The Steve Miller Band. Producer Shel Talmy was also well known to the 60's British Rock scene. He recorded The Who and The Kinks extensively. The same week this track was released another track produced by Talmy came out. This one rose to number 5, and right behind it was The Easybeats' Friday on My Mind.

"Don't Stop Believin'"

Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (1981)

If you asked me to name my least favorite genre of music in the last 200 or so years, I would tell you Arena Rock. If you asked me to name my least favorite band of all time, Journey would be right up there.

Newly added keyboard player Jonathan Cain brought the idea of this song with him when he joined the band in 1980. The first 15 seconds are nothing but him, and remain one of the better known keyboard openings to any rock song ever. It was the first track off of their hugely selling hit album Escape. Steve Perry's vocals are high, earnest, don't really have a lot of complexity, (he memorably rhymes anywhere with anywhere) and can be sung by almost every single female between the ages of 11 (thank you Glee) and 70 (40 years old when the song came out). The guitar work is fun on Rock Band, I will grant them that. The arpeggiated wail that starts softly at 0:51 and grows to 1:04 is almost as well known as the keyboard opening; and the solo at 3:05 is equally well known. I just wish he had played more than just the same progression we've heard dozens of times in this song already sung by Perry. The song is at least 5 minutes shorter than I remember. I must be confusing it with a Boston song in my head.

"Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above"

CSS - Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above (2003)

"Electroclash is a style of music that fuses New Wave and electronic dance music."

That's as good a definition as possible for this 6 piece band out of São Paulo Brazil. Funky bass lines, spacey keyboard sounds and a never-ending high hat dance beat make this song go. Lyrically it sounds like a teenager's poems written on Myspace in sparkly glitter font. They are actually name checking Canadian Dance-Punk band Death from Above 1979 in the title. At 2:30 we get two lines sung in a weird 'robot cat' voice. It's an odd song to say the very least.

According to the Internet, founder, primary songwriter, drummer, bassist, producer, and only male member Adriano Cintra left the band just a short while ago (November 11th 2011) saying that the rest of the band had let fame go to their head, and they weren't very good musicians anyway. He said they could not used any songs he wrote for the new album, and basically gave them a huge brush off in the Brazilian press.

"Unchained Melody"

The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody (1965)

Ahhh 8th grade. This was my one and only dance with a girl I liked that year. Thank goodness for Ghost.

This version had a long strange trip to get here. Originally it was written as the title theme to a movie of the same name. It was about a man in a minimum security prison with only a short time left on his sentence. He wants to escape and see his family, eventually another prisoner stops him and holds him in his cell. Later this trustee sings the first vocal version of the song. He's a baritone and it's only backed by a single guitar, so it sounds nothing like any other version of it you've ever heard. This was 1955.

That same year, five different versions were released in the U.S., all making the top 40 one in the top five and one reaching number one. These are all tenors singing except for the one female alto. They all have lush arrangements, some string heavy, some woodwind, and one that sounds like it belongs as a La Résistance style snare drum heavy anthem. In the U.K. the recording was very guitar strumming heavy, which gives it an uplifting feel. Many more recording followed including fast doo-woop versions. It is said to have been recorded over 500 times in dozens of languages.

10 years after it's initial release, The Righteous Brothers recorded it and took it up the charts again. Controversy surrounds who produced the track. It was the B-side of a Phil Spector produced song Hung on You. The listing says it was Spector, but many people claim that it was bass singing "Brother" Bill Medley. He was the producer of (You're My) Soul and Inspiration just the next year, so he certainly had the chops. And Spector was known for having his name put on anything he could. Interestingly, if Medley didn't produce it, then it really wasn't much of a The Righteous Brothers track; only tenor "Brother" Bobby Hatfield can be heard singing on the single.

His voice is really emotive. Ever since the original it has been sung by a high versed tenor like Hatfield. He really sounds like his love is just out of his reach. It's not a thin tenor sound either, this is a full voice. He really cranks it up at 2:50, putting the song out of the reach of slightly inebriated, totally infatuated, karaoke singers everywhere. The arraignment owes a lot to the string heavy version that topped the charts 10 years prior. It's got a really slow build up, from just electric piano and quiet high hat at the start, to adding a few strings, then some back-up singers. By midway, the drummer is playing full out, we've got a full string section, at least two pianos and the beginning of some brass creeping in. At the high point, the trumpets are playing three and four note rising responses to Hatfield's vocals. I dig the song, and in 1990, so did all of the world, when Ghost came out and made the song, and pottery wheels, the sexiest damn things on the planet.

"Edge of Seventeen"

Stevie Nicks - Edge of Seventeen (1981)

All because someone in the studio's wife had a southern accent. Nicks misheard "age of seventeen" and the song became about that couple.

After she had begun writing the song though, the band member's uncle John, and John Lennon both died in the same week. Or possibly her own uncle Bill was the deceased relative. Both stories have gotten around. Either way, the song transformed to a song about mortality. I really like the line "the clouds never expect it when it rains". That's just a great thought. She's got a serious voice, and her background singers know how to support her without masking her. She does make some odd choices, the long drawn out woo-ooo-ooo-unnngnna from 3:10 to 3:15 is almost disturbing when taking the song in context about death.

The group backing her up in the studio is made up of some great session players. The drummer and bass player each played with a who's who of 70s and 80s greats. Piano player Benmont Tench, who gives the song it's stage presence, is a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as well as a session player. The backup singers on this track are the same ones that still tour with her today. Producer Jimmy Iovine produced tracks for the Heartbreakers, Lennon, and U2 before founding Interscope Records, which he is chairman of still today.

Special note has to go to the guitar riff chugging on during the whole song. It's played by Waddy Watchel, who has played on more albums that I can list. It's the reason the song rocks in my opinion. 3 chords, all 16th notes, and it doesn't stop. Destiny's Child took it for their song Bootylicious, and Ms. Nicks gets a cameo in the video. Without that riff the song would just be another Stevie Nicks ballad; Waddy makes it rock.

"Ms. Fat Booty"

Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty (1999)

The first single of the first solo album by Mos Def.

Let's start lyrically. The song starts off with Mos trying to make time with a good looking woman at a club. She blows him off. A few days later at another club where Mos is in VIP she comes in and a mutual friend introduces them. They start to talk, have a good time, laugh about the earlier fumble and start dating. The song moves quickly, explaining that they enjoyed months of good times, late night talks and great sex. Mos becomes head over heals infatuated with the woman and finally at the 1 year mark he announces that he wants to make it official. She tells him commitment isn't her thing and by the next morning she is gone. The story abruptly ends with one of Mos' friends telling him that he saw the woman working a strip club dancing for another woman. He's got some great lines: "man I smashed it like an Idaho potato" "I need more than to knock it down I'm really tryin' to lock it down". He also references two love songs. He mentions The Sweetest Taboo by Sade and earlier sings that Ms. Fat Booty sings part of Gregory Isaacs' If I Don't Have You. These love songs in the air just set the mood to make it hurt more for the listener we she leaves Mos.

The song is held together by another old tune by Aretha Franklin before she made it big. It's called One Step Ahead. She doesn't really sound so much like herself here, more like any other early 60s African American soul singer; nothing too special. Producer Ayotollah Dorell uses the song as the hook, and during the verses as well. Interestingly, the Aretha song starts as a song about a woman telling herself and her man, that she is trying to get away from love, because it will surely only lead to heartbreak. By the end, she accepts that she will fail and will go back to the relationship that she knows and loves, even though she knows it's a mistake.

"All Apologies"

Nirvana - All Apologies (1994)

I wrote this whole thing before I realized that I was supposed to be reviewing the Unplugged version. So you get a little of both.

It only takes 3:50 to go from the "Peaceful Happy Comfort"(Cobain-Come as You Are p32) opening to the raucous angry ending, with only the depressing/uplifting mantra "All in all is all we are" to take away.

There is a drone during the verses. Kris Novoselic plays that bottom note like his life depends on it. It's like a Didgeridoo or the lowest tone of a bagpipe. He still plays a standard baseline over it, but all through the verse and the "All in all" it never stops ringing. That repetitive guitar line sticks in your head like all the great ones. Listen to the riffs that kick off Day Tripper, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction or 7 Nation Army for that matter and tell me that the riff for All Apologies is less catchy. During the chorus, the guitar really gets feedback heavy and loud. Dave Grohl keeps up, switching from a tom heavy beat during the verse, only using a cymbal every other measure to accenting every beat with one during the majority of the chorus.

There is a fourth performer on this track. One of two on the album, both the same performer. Kera Schaley is a cello player and was still in school when she got a call from producer Steve Albini. She was brought in to perform on Dumb. She wrote her part, then Kurt Cobain told her what to keep and what to cut. She performed, and he liked it enough to ask her to fool around on All Apologies. In an interview (last paragraph), she says that she was just fooling around and expected the part to get cut. the only part that Kurt insisted on was a few bars when everyone was going to play the same part. You can hear her playing along with Kurt's vocals at 1:42.

So this is the version that you still hear on the radio.

Firstly, I think Kurt sounds a little flat in a few places. Secondly, that's not cellist Kera Schaley on stage with the band, it's Lori Goldston, who apparently toured with the band during '93-'94. Third, they all look young, But Dave Grohl is a fricken' baby on that stage! He's 24 but he looks so much younger. Pat Smear on the other hand is looking good for 34.

The band added Pat Smear just a few months prior to the Unplugged performance. He's the one playing the much subdued riff. The whole song is subdued. 30 minutes ago I would have told you that the unplugged version was superior, but having now listened back to back to them both, while Kurt's vocals do seem to go to a completely new emotional level, the song loses something in not being able to get angry. Dave Grohl's harmony right at the end is pretty special though. Their last original song on their last album before Kurt killed himself, Kris became a political activist and Dave became one of the most in demand session drummers in rock. Oh yea, and founding one of the biggest bands in the world right now, Foo Fighters. But right then, in that moment, he was just the drummer, singing a little harmony. It should be noted that they are all playing acoustic/electrics not just straight acoustics with mics. On the other hand, the whole show was done in one take, like a concert,which must have been awesome for the audience.

Final thoughts: I like them both, but I'm going to give the edge to the cut off of In Utero because of that anger.

"Perfekte Welle"

Juli - Perfekte Welle (2004)

Foreign language song while inebriated and at the last minute!



So let's deal with the elephant in the room. I don't speak German. The translation makes it seem like this song is just about the perfect wave while surfing. No hidden meaning about a relationship or betrayal or waiting too long to pull the trigger. Literally a song about finding yourself on your surfboard at the perfect wave on the perfect day.

It's a perfect length pop song. Nothing drags, nothing seems added just so that they could say they added it, like a weird instrument or time signature change. Very straightforward. Two guitarist, a bass player, a drummer and the lead singer. The song was written by one of the guitarist and the bassist. That being said, the intro under the seagull sound sounds like we are going to have a New wave kind of thing with keyboard, but then that disappears and we don't hear it again until the break at 2:00. For the rest of the song we get a straight rock beat, with simple bass lines, and rock guitars. The coolest part of the song is the lead singer being used as her own backing vocals. I like the effect at 1:41 where she sings a call and response with herself and they give the response an echo. Otherwise it's a very simple song. I'm glad I heard it, but I don't really feel like it deserves to be labeled as one of the 1001 songs I must hear.

"Doo Wop (That Thing)

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) (1998)

"Now that was the sin that did Jezebel in."

Both in appearance and sound, this video and song live in two worlds. The high piano, backing vocals, most of the drums, left side of the video, and horn riffs are pure girl group gold from the Motor City. On the right, and comprising the bass, @10% of the drums and Ms. Hill's blasting lead is a late 90s post-gangsta screed against materialism, duplicity, thuggish behavior and lack of self respect.

The album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill began in NYC but quickly moved to Kingstown Jamaica. There has been a lot written and a law suit involved over production, writing credits and royalties, so we'll just say that the book says Lauren had assistance with writing the track, but produced this one her self. Personnel notes state that there were four backing vocalists, two drum machine programmers, a DJ, a saxophonist, a string quartet, a keyboardist, a trumpet player, and a trombone player. As far as the video is concerned, the most repeated (and yet surprisingly true) piece of trivia is that Lauren was six months pregnant when they shot it.

"This Corrosion"

The Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion (1987)

This is easily the longest song I've done so far. It's 10:55 on the Album.

Some background: The Sisters of Mercy had an album. Then they broke up, with the bassist and the guitarist leaving to form a new band. There wasn't a drummer, it was a machine. All that was left was the lead singer. After trying to release music under a similar name, he eventually came back to the full name of the band, picked up a new bassist and went into the studio. Most of the album was produced with numerous producers who were let go, or walked, and lead singer Andrew Eldritch did some of the work himself. The exception to this almost revolving door was two songs produced by Jim Steinman of Bat Out of Hell fame. This epic "Wagnerian Rock" song with almost dozens of choir members is one of those songs, and is considered one of The Sisters of Mercy's most enduring classics.

Opening with a huge choir singing. Production notes say that they used 40 members and multi-tracked the tapes so that they could get an even bigger sound when they needed it. Over 30 seconds of just choral sounds wow. There is a lot going on once the main body of the song starts. The bass sounds like it is a synth, but Patricia Morrison is a bass player and credited on the track, so it must be an effect. There is a high sharp guitar sound sitting in the background, it just peeks it's head out a little. There are sweeping strings, and electric keyboards doing dark harpsichord things. Production notes also tell us that there were 6 backup singers as well as the 40 member choir. This depth of instrumentation and voice is why Steinman referred to his preferred style as Wagnerian. Plus any time you say gimmie the ring that much in the opening of the song you are pretty much calling upon Wagner's Nibelung. Or possibly Gollum. When the song reaches its crescendo during a chorus and the choir is going, and the keyboards, and the backup singers... it is a pretty epic song.

Lyrically, it is apparently about how Eldritch felt about his band mates walking away to start a new band, leaving him stranded, angry and lost. The lines about blood and Dream Wars are what give the song the 'dark' part of Darkwave, but it really is a New Wave style pop hit, just darker and heavily pumped up by production, choirs, strings, electric harpsichords and whatnot. The opening section around :40 is a great pop hook. Reminds me of Peter Gabriel. In the end, I think the song is too long, but really good.

"Shakin' All Over"

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Shakin' All Over (1960)

This was really hard to find. Cover versions are way more popular.

Early British Rock and Roll. It was a hit in Europe when it was released, but unheard in America. It didn't even gain exposure in the U.S. until five years later when covered by a Canadian band soon to be rechristened The Guess Who. Side note, you ought to read how that name change came about, it's hard to believe; story starts in the second paragraph of this section.

So what makes this song special, well firstly, the lead singer was not doing an Elvis impression. Apparently there was a lot of that going around in England at the time. He's got a good tone for that "teenager singing about attraction" thing. This is not a love song, he doesn't know the girl he's singing about, this is no quiet ballad sung by a window in an attempt to get a kiss, this is a kind of English answer to All Shook Up, without trying to sound like anything other than who they are. One of the lines "...quivers down my membranes." is decidedly not American slang and in fact the writer and lead singer Fred Heath (Johnny Kidd himself) says it was a common saying with his mates.

Second, the rhythm guitar is being played in a really odd light finger picking style. It's hard to notice under the lead guitar, but if you can catch it, you'll notice this high pitched staccato sound. Mostly it's doubling the bass so it's hard to hear it at all in some places.

Easily the most ear catching part of the song is the dominant lead guitar. It's got a recognizable riff that I think sounds like it belongs on the Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack. It's sort of a surf rock sound which is astonishing considering how far away Soho is from Santa Monica. The twang sound right before the chorus is the guitarist running his cigarette lighter down the fretboard. After a really brief drum break, the guitar gives us a blazing (for the time) guitar solo that has got to be on of the hottest licks a British guitarist had recorded up to that point. It probably helps that he's Scottish. Session guitarist Joe Moretti wasn't even in the band, and was brought in just to juice up this track. He's also the guitarist on this slightly earlier single. He was clearly a huge early lead guitar monster. I've got no doubt that Page, Harrison, Richards, Marriott, Davies, Townshend, Clapton, and many others heard that guitar solo on this track and said, "Yes, that's it right there. That's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life."

"Devil's Haircut"

Beck - Devil's Haircut (1996)

"When I'm upset I write a song about it. Like when I wrote 'Devils Haircut', I was feeling really...really...what's that song about?"

This song is all about the samples, but there's a twist. The first samples come from funk drummer "Pretty" Purdie's Soul Drums; the title track off of his debut album. The drums were lifted for the chorus and drum breaks. Just start listening at the top, you'll hear it right away. The next sample comes from a cover of a James Brown track called Out of Sight. Them is the name of the group; it's Van Morrison's group before he went solo. It's harder to catch the drum break used for the verses. Fortunately the up-loader of this version clearly tells us that it is at 0:09. The twist comes in that the riff is also from a Them song: I Can Only Give You Everything but they didn't sample it. Beck plays the riff on his own guitar and then it's distorted in in post production. This track and The New Pollution were recorded in the same two day period, Beck and the Dust Brothers wrote and produced the track. Beck played almost all of the instruments on the album, but there were a few exceptions. It's hard to say if anything on this track was live instruments played by others, short samples that were not notated, or just short licks played by Beck.

As far as the lyrics go, they are notoriously obscure. The quote at the top of the page is Beck making fun of himself on the show Futurama. Whatever landscape is being described is a terrible place: rotten oasis, garbage man trees, etc. Beck has said that the title could refer to the idea of being forced to do corporate friendly work, to take "the devil's haircut" to stardom. Vocally he performs the majority of the song in a pleasant enough basically flat range. It is not until the last 15 seconds that his voice slips into the angry shredded throat noises that a song that mentions ripping eyes out of their sockets probably warrants.

"Superstition"

Stevie Wonder - Superstition (1972)

How awesome is this song? Listen.

The drum part was written by legendary guitarist Jeff Beck, but it was performed by Wonder in the studio. Stevie originally offered the song to Beck, but ended up recording it first. Wonder also plays the clavinet which is the sharp funky riff that sort of sounds like a cross between an electric guitar and a clavichord. He is also responsible for the bass, which is also coming out of a Moog synthesizer. The trumpets and saxes are not him, he let someone else record those, but I would not be surprised if he wrote their parts out.

There's not much I can add here. The song is a perfect picture of funk. My favorite performance of it is the one he did on Sesame Street in 1973. It has been covered by hundreds of artists. You should check out the one by Beck, Bogert & Appice if only because it was going to be the original recording until Berry Gordy told Wonder that he better record it first. It's still funky, but it's more progressive rock. Wonder's version is perfect, and very apropos considering the date.

"Cry Baby"

Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters - Cry Baby (1963)

Janis Joplin covered a lot of songs in her day, this original version of Cry Baby sounds a lot more Gospel than her blues.

In fact, this song was written by two American born sons of Eastern European Jews. Bert Berns also wrote Hang on Sloopy, Twist and Shout and many others. He died five years after this song came out, before Janis took it back up the charts. Jerry Ragovoy wrote Piece of My Heart, Get it While you Can (covered by Janis as well) and Time is on My Side among many others. He died earlier this year.

The song is written in 6/8 time, so it sounds like a fast waltz. The drummer uses almost exclusively snare, pushing the beat along, never getting in the way of everything else going on in the song. Lyrically it's a man singing to a woman who loves another man. The singer presumes that the other man will do her wrong, and she will come running to him. It clearly belongs in lots of movies. I think if Bruno Mars did a cover of it and it was put in a movie starring Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell and Topher Grace it would climb the charts again.

There's a bit of twangy guitar through the song, which makes it sadder. The piano gives us most of the back bone of the song. You need a versatile instrument that can go all the way up and down half a dozen octaves just to try to keep up with the vocals. Garnet Mimms sings down into the lower part of the baritone range and all the way up into the high tenor. The background group, The Enchanters help keep him aloft up there in the stratosphere. Jerry and Bert also produced the track, making sure that the brass section that comes in at 1:50 adds just enough sad, and then fades out. Garnet does a kind of spoken word thing that was very popular in R&B/do-wop style hits of the early 60s around 2:20. The strings start to swell and the song lifts us up into the end, with a sax choir responding to the vocalists appeal as we fade out.

"7 Nation Army"

The White Stripes - 7 Nation Army (2003)

Jack White used to call The Salvation Army the 7 Nation Army when he was a child.

Two instruments and one voice. Takes us back to some of the earliest songs in the book. Allons a Lafayette was one male voice, a guitar and an accordion. St. Louis Blues was two instruments and a female voice, though three people were involved. During Jack White's portion of It Might Get Loud he plays us a recording of his favorite song. It is one man (Son House) singing and clapping his own rhythm. This makes pretty clear what the White Stripes are in a musical sense. Basic blues based with a twist.

The "bass" guitar sound on this track is Jack using an octave pedal. I had never heard of one before hearing this song, but they are now at least more common knowledge. Obviously in the studio version there is some use of multi-tracking, but live he does just push the pedal and switch back into the regular octave for the guitar and keep playing. Meg's drums are not at all background here. They are full volume in the mix, and yet rarely spoken of. She is a very stripped down drummer, nothing fancy, playing only what is necessary. I think the drums are insistent and driving, two things I love in a drummer. Having listened to it a few times now, I am surprised that it is almost 4 minutes long. I would have told you the song was shorter if you asked me.

A few secondary thoughts. The cover for the single is a really crappy image when you think about it. Jack is all in red, sitting on a stool, painting; using Meg as a model. the background is all red, but Meg is wearing all white. Jack is painting a white elephant. Also, Jack told MTV that when he wrote the riff he thought if he ever got asked to write a James Bond theme he would use that riff. Five years later he was asked.

"One"

Metallica - One (1988)

First Metallica song to hit the Top 40, and to have a music video. I'm not using the music video because it includes a lot of audio from the movie Johnny Got His Gun (which the song is based on).

I have listened to this song so many times I can't count. Trying to hear it new again today. That war movie opening isn't as long as I remember. The dual guitar intro remains as powerful as when I was a teen. Kirk is a great guitarist of many styles. When Lars' drums come in the first thing I noticed was how much he used his bass drum, and how little it rings. The seamless switch back and forth between the almost Spanish style clean guitar verses and heavy riff portions of the song are really impressive. Producer Flemming Rasmussen had worked with Metallica on two previous albums, helping to create their classic 80s sound.

There is almost no bass guitar to speak of on this track. On the entire album either. This is a widely known issue among fans of the band. ...And Justice for All was the first full studio album featuring new bass player Jason Newsted after the death of Cliff Burton. Some claim that James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich intentionally left Jason's bass low in the mix, others claimed his sound was no good and hard to hear no matter what. Regardless, you can't really make out specific bass lines throughout the album.

As the song progresses it not only gets louder, and faster, but more complex as well. The song switches back and forth between 3/4 time and 4/4 time. Just before 4:00 it even switches to 6/4 for about half a minute. The guitar solo over the fast paced final section of the song is blisteringly fast. Kirk's finger tapping style in that solo is often imitated. There are a few duets between the two guitarists, Kirk and James, that are really great. I'm actually more impressed by the rare, at least in Metal, vocal duets that show up early in the song with Jason singing harmony to James' lead vocals.

Also... 100 days 100 posts!

"Dancing Queen"

Abba - Dancing Queen (1976)

"...We all knew it was going to be massive."

Not my favorite song, by not my favorite band, in not my favorite genre. But there's a lot to hear on this track, and a lot to like. The backing drum part, performed by Roger Palm rather than regular Abba drummer Ola Brunkert was influenced by two sources. The first, and most commonly referenced is George McCrae's Rock Your Baby, a track from 1974. The other is the album Dr. John's Gumbo from 1972. The drummer on that album, Fred Staehle was a regular performer with Dr. John.

The underlying bass guitar works with the drums to keep the dance groove going. That's what you're dancing to; that's what you're always dancing to, drums and bass. Abba adds a lot of other sounds to this track. Synth strings and synth woodwinds as well. There's also real strings on the track. We've also got piano and electric piano. The pianos are doing a lot of work, multi-tracked and playing over the whole song.

Vocally 90% of the work is handled by the two women of Abba: Agnetha and Anni-Frid. Interestingly, they have a completely shared vocal part. They sing the song entirely together instead of trading verses or phrases. Most of it isn't harmony either, they are both singing the same note. It's an unusual technique to be sure, but much like a 12 string guitar, it provides a fuller ringing sound. the song was written by the two men of Abba: Björn and Benny as well as their manager and frequent lyrical collaborator Stig Anderson. The song is a fairly straightforward paean to a young female dancer who is only concerned with the dance and finding a guy, any guy, to share that dance with.

"Please Read the Letter"

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Please Read the Letter (2007)

Originally a Page & Plant track.

I don't think I have ever heard Robert Plant's voice so mellow. Not that he's not earnest, but I would never have guessed this was Robert Plant if you just played me this song blind. Alison Krauss provides a lot of the plaintive in the tone of the song. I kind of wish she had gotten a verse herself, instead of all backing.

I really like the drums in this song. Really sparse use of cymbal. Lots of tom-tom. You could do 95% of the drums on this song with a bodhran and your boot kicking a chain during the fiddle solo. It's so stripped down until the final repeat of the chorus and the outro. Yet it is the key part of why the song keeps driving forward. The bass is an upright, and a nice touch, but it and the rhythm guitar are nothing special, they just give a steady stage for the performers to show on.
The lead guitar parts are accents; the fiddle solos in the middle and at the end are nice, but ultimately what makes this song so solid is how great the two voices sound together.

I think a nice version of this song could be done with the drum I mention, and one acoustic guitar playing very simple chords while these two really good voices join together to be better than the sum of their parts.

"How I Could Just Kill a Man"

Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill a Man (1991)

"All I wanted was a Pepsi"

Cypress Hill was, at the time, a DJ/Producer, and two MCs. Sen Dog is the lower pitched voice, who only gets half a verse on this track. It's a real fast half verse. B-Real is the one with the exaggerated nasal sound to his voice. He does two and a half verses and most of the chorus. Lyrically, the song is about weed and killing. Released over a year before The Chronic, this song, and the eponymous first album by Cypress Hill really paved the way for the weed+violence+great samples that were the hallmarks of early 90s West Coast Rap.

The samples include a guitar solo by Jimi Hendrix on Are You Experienced, the intro organ from Come On In by The Music Machine, drums from Midnight Theme by Manzel and a bass line from Lowell Fulsom's Tramp. Around 2:00 the just let the loop run for a while, and you think they are going to fade out. We get an sax solo for a while that really seems to seal the deal that the song is over. But instead, they start another loop entirely and B-Real begins his last verse over it. Then they swap back to the old loop to finish the song out. It does do the fade out we were expecting back around 2:25-2:40.

"See Emily Play"

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play (1967)

This is a Psychedelic song by a Psychedelic band. But actually they didn't really care for the song, played it rarely in concert, kept it short, and in fact left the Psychedelic behind just a few short years later, becoming Progressive giants.

Originally, the song was much longer but when cut down to single length, they lost a lot of recorded material. There is a keyboard part after the first chorus that sounds like no instrument I know. Research says that it was a piano, played much slower, that was sped up to fit into that part of the song. There's a lot of psychedelic organ going on after the second chorus courtesy of Richard Wright, plus some just crazy sounding guitar licks from Syd. Just as that ends, the bass tag, before the third verse starts I would swear that's a tuba playing along with the bass, but there is no tuba listed. It's the same bass tag you hear going into each of the verses. I just think it's easiest to hear on the last one. If it's not a tuba, it's one hell of an organ.

The original 4 track master recording is lost and there was very little paperwork done for the song. The engineer and producer both recall using lots of backward taping, reverb, and echo. The echo effect is clear on the backing vocals on the chorus.

It's a very brief pop song, without it, Pink Floyd never would have soared to such popularity, which in turn might have kept Syd sane longer. But then the band wouldn't have hired Gilmour, and then we wouldn't have the classic albums of the 70s. BTW, Bowie's cover is pretty odd as well. Very easy to imagine it performed by the Goblin King Bowie, backed by Henson goblins.

"Need You Tonight"

INXS - Need You Tonight (1987)

The music and lyrics were written on the same night on different continents before being brought together.

Great opening guitar riff. Apparently this song has a mix of live recorded drums and drum sequencers. They also used a keyboard with one of those "whammy wheel"pitch changers on it. The whole song is kind of Schizophrenic to me. The drums and keyboard and repetitive electric guitar sound that is plucked out all sound very buttoned up. On the other hand the shouted harmony, breathy lead, thumping bass and loud guitar riffs all sound very hot and loose. Producer Chris Thomas layers these two feels together for a great sexy love song.

Guitarist Andrew Farriss really did write the guitar riff while a cab driver waited to drive him to the airport. After his flight to Hong Kong, he met up with singer Michael Hutchence, who had just written a bunch of lyrics the night before. Multiple sources claim that Hutchense was singing along to the tape the Farriss brought, and both ended at the same time. They new they had something. The abrupt break at the end of the song is because on the album, is segues into Mediate; the song where everything rhymes and they do their best Bob Dylan.

"Strict Machine"

Goldfrapp - Strict Machine (2003)

Distopian future dance hit.

A British electronic dance track about being trained to accept and in fact take pleasure in complying with orders given. It's synthesizer heavy and even the drum part sounds like it was played on a machine. The lower bass synth sounds and the highest synth sounds both really make me think of New Wave. The artists have said they were drawing from late 70s disco and glam, but all I'm catching is pure 80s. It even has backmasking, with backward recorded vocals inserted near the end. This song would not be out of place in a Tron style movie. Except in this version, the MCP wins. In fact, primary color and kaleidoscope inspired video not withstanding, this song really makes me think 1984 in more ways than one.

"Rock On"

David Essex - Rock On (1973)

Written by an actor for a movie he was in with Ringo Starr. They didn't use it.

The movie, That'll Be the Day, was set in the lat 50s early 60s. The lyrics therefore make mention of several musical touchstones of the era. David Essex was kind of a Brit pop teen sensation who was trying to break out of that roll and into movies. He wrote a few of his own songs in preparation for a new album, including this one. But once producer Jeff Wayne added his avant-garde instrumentation, the song was no longer wanted for the movie, but instead became a huge hit.

Lots of what makes the song interesting is effects. The bass line has an echo effect on it that has such a serious delay many say it was double tracked rather than pushed through an effect sequencer. The strings (which just sound creepy) are also echo driven. Obviously the vocals have a lot of that reverb sound as well. The drums on the other hand are straight forward. Lots of quiet cymbal work, accented with toms. All together the craziest part is the complete lack of guitar. This song is bass and violin section! Not a lot of tracks from the early 70s that sound like this. Not a lot of tracks anywhere that sound like this. The Bass player responsible for this is Herbie Flowers. He also played bass on Space Oddity and Walk on the Wild Side.

"I Put a Spell on You"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You (1956)

"I don't even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death."

Alto and Baritone Saxophone for sure. Let's assume a Tenor as well. In between the chromatic reeds runs you can hear the drums better. It's mostly brushes on snare drum, tapped instead of stirred. Also a banjo. Possibly a guitar, but I think it's a banjo. The sax solo around 1:15 really wails. It's so short, in concert that would have gone on for two minutes by itself. Instead, the whole track is only 2:30. The vocals are what made the song famous. He screams and moans and grunts through the number. In its day, it was banned and called "cannibalistic". Hawkins maintained that he never meant the song to sound like that, but that producer Arnold Maxin brought in food and liquor to the recording studio, and they had a party. He claims that he blacked out and doesn't remember recording the song, and in fact had to learn how to sing it in the style of the record, from the record, so that he could tour with it. An entire act was built around the song, and the scary voodoo man who sang it, predating Alice Cooper, Kiss, and other 'shock-rock' stars by 20 years.