Francesco De Gregori - "Rimmel" (1975)
In Italy, the call him 'The Poet Prince'
Italian singer-songwriter De Gregori was born in Rome in 1951. He was fascinated by American music, particularly folk rockers like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. As the 70s opened and James Taylor and Neil Young topped the charts he grabbed his guitar and began recording. His first few albums were moderately successful but the album Rimmel was a huge success. He began to include other instruments and write more love songs, including the title track "Rimmel". It's a ballad, sung to a former lover. Rimmel means mascara in Italian. It's hard to make out meaning in a poetic foreign language song, but it seems like he is sad that it is over, and perhaps she is sad as well.
The piano is a different instrument for De Gregori, but the song carries it well; makes it sound like a Billy Joel song from the same time period. There's also a quiet organ playing in the background, which along with the quiet background singers makes me think of Dylan. He ties the whole song together with his own simple acoustic guitar, another Dylonesque touch. Francesco calls the ex his Venus of Mascara, when she is standing in the rain, which gives you an idea of how creative his lyrics can be. This moment in the song comes when she asks him if he still has a photograph of her where she is smiling, but not looking. He responds yes, quickly and without thought, which leads to the last lines of the last verse, and the saddest couplet I've heard in a while. "/you said: 'it is all that you have of me,'/ it is all that I have of you." (De Gregori).
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
"Scream"
Michael & Janet Jackson - "Scream" (1995)
They spent 7 Million dollars on that?
I haven't listened to this song again in the more than 15 years since its release. The video that accompanied it was reportedly the most expensive in the world at that time and so I watched it. I don't really remember thinking anything about it. Listening to the song now, after one of the artist's deaths, and years removed from the scandal and media pressure that fueled the song in the first place, it is terribly commonplace. The lyrics are strong, and the support from his sister is sincere, but the music does nothing for me.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were brought in to produce the track, and they had worked with Janet Jackson before. The choices they made were a mix of good ones and odd ones. The fact that the song contains great harmony between the siblings and other backing vocalists is a great tie back to the singers early roots as R&B performers and sounds great. The really processed sounds that are pounding out the dance beat include sounds that could have been made by a skipping hard drive, or a bad timing belt. The guitar solo about three quarters of the way through the song, as well as the break right before that with Janet singing, Michael repeating some of her words and a police siren are arresting soundscapes. But mixing them into the end of a dance/R&B hit just feels forced.
They spent 7 Million dollars on that?
I haven't listened to this song again in the more than 15 years since its release. The video that accompanied it was reportedly the most expensive in the world at that time and so I watched it. I don't really remember thinking anything about it. Listening to the song now, after one of the artist's deaths, and years removed from the scandal and media pressure that fueled the song in the first place, it is terribly commonplace. The lyrics are strong, and the support from his sister is sincere, but the music does nothing for me.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were brought in to produce the track, and they had worked with Janet Jackson before. The choices they made were a mix of good ones and odd ones. The fact that the song contains great harmony between the siblings and other backing vocalists is a great tie back to the singers early roots as R&B performers and sounds great. The really processed sounds that are pounding out the dance beat include sounds that could have been made by a skipping hard drive, or a bad timing belt. The guitar solo about three quarters of the way through the song, as well as the break right before that with Janet singing, Michael repeating some of her words and a police siren are arresting soundscapes. But mixing them into the end of a dance/R&B hit just feels forced.
Friday, April 13, 2012
"I Will Dare"
The Replacements - "I Will Dare" (1984)
A jangle guitar and hormone fueled song about the first week of a relationship.
Every alternative band of the 90s claimed to be following in the footsteps of The Replacements. They were founded a year before R.E.M. and had a similar rise towards stardom, with small hits on the way towards big success, but instead of cracking into the mainstream in the 90s like the Athens, Georgia band, The Replacements faced lineup changes, alcoholism, and eventually broke up in in the summer of 1991. That same year R.E.M. released Out of Time, with huge hits "Loosing My Religion", "Shiny Happy People" and also the single "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" Why so much attention on R.E.M. in this little write up? Well, that band's guitarist Peter Buck was originally slated to produce the album that became Let It Be but The Replacements didn't have enough material together to record. When they finally did settle in to record, Buck was busy recording Reckoning and playing David Letterman with the rest of R.E.M. He did however, take the time to travel to Minneapolis and record the lead guitar solo on this track.
The whole song is jangle guitar and a skipping beat, giving the song a real upbeat and youth oriented feel. Buck's guitar solo has a country rock feel and repeats itself an octave higher immediately after he finishes it. The next distinct instrument you hear is the mandolin, played by singer and songwriter Peter Westerberg. The book describes the Buck guitar solo as 'Byrdsy" which is what I mean when I say country rock. That shaking tambourine finish also has a 60s sound to it. The sound that jumps out in my head is that the chorus sounds like the chorus to The Beatles "I'm Only Sleeping" but faster. Specifically the repetition of the V, IV and III of the root chord in a very similar pattern
A jangle guitar and hormone fueled song about the first week of a relationship.
Every alternative band of the 90s claimed to be following in the footsteps of The Replacements. They were founded a year before R.E.M. and had a similar rise towards stardom, with small hits on the way towards big success, but instead of cracking into the mainstream in the 90s like the Athens, Georgia band, The Replacements faced lineup changes, alcoholism, and eventually broke up in in the summer of 1991. That same year R.E.M. released Out of Time, with huge hits "Loosing My Religion", "Shiny Happy People" and also the single "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" Why so much attention on R.E.M. in this little write up? Well, that band's guitarist Peter Buck was originally slated to produce the album that became Let It Be but The Replacements didn't have enough material together to record. When they finally did settle in to record, Buck was busy recording Reckoning and playing David Letterman with the rest of R.E.M. He did however, take the time to travel to Minneapolis and record the lead guitar solo on this track.
The whole song is jangle guitar and a skipping beat, giving the song a real upbeat and youth oriented feel. Buck's guitar solo has a country rock feel and repeats itself an octave higher immediately after he finishes it. The next distinct instrument you hear is the mandolin, played by singer and songwriter Peter Westerberg. The book describes the Buck guitar solo as 'Byrdsy" which is what I mean when I say country rock. That shaking tambourine finish also has a 60s sound to it. The sound that jumps out in my head is that the chorus sounds like the chorus to The Beatles "I'm Only Sleeping" but faster. Specifically the repetition of the V, IV and III of the root chord in a very similar pattern
Thursday, April 12, 2012
"Is It Because I'm Black"
Syl Johnson - "Is It Because I'm Black" (1969)
Short answer: Yes.
This is Chicago blues, an electrified, amplified version of the original Delta blues. That added electric bass also puts it squarely in the Chicago sub-category. Not every Black artist recorded a message song in the late 60s, and not every song that Syl Johnson recorded was a message song, but this was definitely his take on what the Black experience was like. Born in Mississippi, he moved at age 14 to Chicago with his family, following the path of the Great Migration like millions of other African American families. Instead of better times, many found just a different kind of hardship in the inner city. It is from this place that Johnson writes. Syl Johnson always claimed that he wrote the song in response to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The song keeps grooving, with the soon to be better known Hodges Brothers playing guitar, bass and organ on the track. About a year after this track was cut, a musician named Willie Mitchell was put in charge of Hi records. He brought The Hodges Brothers, as well as Johnson to work for him on his label. The Hodges Brothers became the backbone of the Hi Rhythm Section that was the house band for the company throughout the 70s, performing with Al Green, Ann Peebles, and other acts. The song lives on today, in November of 2000, the Wu Tang Clan released their third studio album. The third track was called "Hollow Bones", a name taken from the second line of this track, and also the primary sample used on the song. It was sped up, but undeniably harrowing.
Short answer: Yes.
This is Chicago blues, an electrified, amplified version of the original Delta blues. That added electric bass also puts it squarely in the Chicago sub-category. Not every Black artist recorded a message song in the late 60s, and not every song that Syl Johnson recorded was a message song, but this was definitely his take on what the Black experience was like. Born in Mississippi, he moved at age 14 to Chicago with his family, following the path of the Great Migration like millions of other African American families. Instead of better times, many found just a different kind of hardship in the inner city. It is from this place that Johnson writes. Syl Johnson always claimed that he wrote the song in response to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The song keeps grooving, with the soon to be better known Hodges Brothers playing guitar, bass and organ on the track. About a year after this track was cut, a musician named Willie Mitchell was put in charge of Hi records. He brought The Hodges Brothers, as well as Johnson to work for him on his label. The Hodges Brothers became the backbone of the Hi Rhythm Section that was the house band for the company throughout the 70s, performing with Al Green, Ann Peebles, and other acts. The song lives on today, in November of 2000, the Wu Tang Clan released their third studio album. The third track was called "Hollow Bones", a name taken from the second line of this track, and also the primary sample used on the song. It was sped up, but undeniably harrowing.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
"Mykonos"
Fleet Foxes - "Mykonos" (2008)
Off of their second EP, which was recorded after their first album but released before it.
Who is the song about? Possibly lead singer and songwriter Robin Pecknold's brother, but no one is saying. Why is the song titled Mykonos, a Greek Island in the South Agean, halfway between Turkey and Greece? The song does mention the island in the chorus for the first half of the song, but the island is not known for 'snow tipped pines'. It does have quite a lot of coast line, being an island, but I don't know if it can be considered a 'gentle coast' being composed almost entirely of granite.As for the 'ancient gate' mentioned, there is a famous church in the town of Chora on the island that is called Our Lady of the Side Gate, so we may have a match.
The song is two distinct portions with a quiet bridge in between them. The first section is broken up: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus. The second section is broken up: Chorus 2, Verse 3, Chorus 2, Verse 4, Chorus 2 (repeat until fade). The first section is somewhat straight forward indie pop. A gentle acoustic guitar leads the instruments, and a bass isn't really heard until the first chorus. The drums are predominantly bass drum and tambourine with a few cymbal hits. The rhythm is basic 4/4 time with the accent on the 2 and 4. It begins to fade out around two minutes in and just as you think that this short little song is over it gets great. The bridge is nothing but multi part harmony. The second part of the song is faster, and louder than the first. The bass is more prominent, and you can hear a lot more tom from the drums.
Most of what makes this song great is the transcendent vocals that start at the bridge and continue to the end of the song. Comparisons are often drawn to Simon and Garfunkel or The Beach Boys, but I agree with those that say Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are the closest antecedent. I saw them play live in 2009 and they were just as tight live as they are recorded. At various points, all five of the members are singing and those strong vocals take an indie/folk/pop group that rivals others based solely on beard quantity; and makes them a really special thing.
Off of their second EP, which was recorded after their first album but released before it.
Who is the song about? Possibly lead singer and songwriter Robin Pecknold's brother, but no one is saying. Why is the song titled Mykonos, a Greek Island in the South Agean, halfway between Turkey and Greece? The song does mention the island in the chorus for the first half of the song, but the island is not known for 'snow tipped pines'. It does have quite a lot of coast line, being an island, but I don't know if it can be considered a 'gentle coast' being composed almost entirely of granite.As for the 'ancient gate' mentioned, there is a famous church in the town of Chora on the island that is called Our Lady of the Side Gate, so we may have a match.
The song is two distinct portions with a quiet bridge in between them. The first section is broken up: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus. The second section is broken up: Chorus 2, Verse 3, Chorus 2, Verse 4, Chorus 2 (repeat until fade). The first section is somewhat straight forward indie pop. A gentle acoustic guitar leads the instruments, and a bass isn't really heard until the first chorus. The drums are predominantly bass drum and tambourine with a few cymbal hits. The rhythm is basic 4/4 time with the accent on the 2 and 4. It begins to fade out around two minutes in and just as you think that this short little song is over it gets great. The bridge is nothing but multi part harmony. The second part of the song is faster, and louder than the first. The bass is more prominent, and you can hear a lot more tom from the drums.
Most of what makes this song great is the transcendent vocals that start at the bridge and continue to the end of the song. Comparisons are often drawn to Simon and Garfunkel or The Beach Boys, but I agree with those that say Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are the closest antecedent. I saw them play live in 2009 and they were just as tight live as they are recorded. At various points, all five of the members are singing and those strong vocals take an indie/folk/pop group that rivals others based solely on beard quantity; and makes them a really special thing.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
"Jolene"
Dolly Parton - "Jolene" (1973)
Under three minutes and still the gold standard.
The song is from one woman to another. The man in the tale is secondary, sure he's the subject of the battle but Parton discuses Jolene far more than she does her man. The song has been covered by The White Stripes, The Sisters of Mercy, Olivia Newton John, and Strawberry Switchblade among others. Each brings something different to the table, and the fact that each interpretation is different is testament to the depth of the theme of the song. However, none of the covers comes close to the emotional depth of the original. Mindy Smith does a great bluegrass influenced cover that I think has the best instrumentation after the original.
Parton's voice is, as I said, full of emotion. Her words are deliberate and heartfelt. Her backing vocalists here come in just occasionally, really adding depth. The music going on under the lyrics is pretty complex and layered. There's a steel guitar, and two electric/acoustic guitars all playing interwoven. The bass guitar plays faster and more complex than a 'typical' country song. At least two violins are playing as well. In addition to the standard drum set, you can also hear some kind of frame drum, whether it's a bodhrán or some other tradition's version. I suppose it could be congas as well. All together, it's a haunting piece that deserves a few minutes of your time.
Under three minutes and still the gold standard.
The song is from one woman to another. The man in the tale is secondary, sure he's the subject of the battle but Parton discuses Jolene far more than she does her man. The song has been covered by The White Stripes, The Sisters of Mercy, Olivia Newton John, and Strawberry Switchblade among others. Each brings something different to the table, and the fact that each interpretation is different is testament to the depth of the theme of the song. However, none of the covers comes close to the emotional depth of the original. Mindy Smith does a great bluegrass influenced cover that I think has the best instrumentation after the original.
Parton's voice is, as I said, full of emotion. Her words are deliberate and heartfelt. Her backing vocalists here come in just occasionally, really adding depth. The music going on under the lyrics is pretty complex and layered. There's a steel guitar, and two electric/acoustic guitars all playing interwoven. The bass guitar plays faster and more complex than a 'typical' country song. At least two violins are playing as well. In addition to the standard drum set, you can also hear some kind of frame drum, whether it's a bodhrán or some other tradition's version. I suppose it could be congas as well. All together, it's a haunting piece that deserves a few minutes of your time.
Monday, April 9, 2012
"Confide in Me"
Kylie Minogue - "Confide in Me" (1994)
One of the biggest stars in the world. In the US, she's damn near a one hit wonder, and this isn't it.
The strings kind of have a Middle East/Indian sound, as understood and transcribed by Western ears. The guitars sound like a mix of guitar and sitar, and are in fact from The Doors "The End". The drums are a murky mix of bass drum, snare drum and rarely used cymbals. There is no drummer or percussionist listed in the liner notes, so we have to assume that it's all a drum machine programmed by songwriters and producers Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. Owain Barton is listed as a songwriter on the track, because he write a song called "It's a Fine Day" for a band called Jane in 1983. The song was covered by Opus III in 1992 and became a top 5 hit in the U.K. and a #1 US Dance Club hit. Barton complained that the string parts on "Confide in Me" sounded like the melody of "It's a Fine Day" and so his name was added.
The piano opening, and Minogue's voice kind of make the song a breathy torch number. Combining all of the elements, I think the song sounds like a perfect Bond theme song. Listen to "Goldeneye" (1995), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), and "Die another Day" (2002) and tell me that if they turned the vocals up just a touch on Kylie Minogue that "Confide in Me" wouldn't have made a better theme song than any of them.
One of the biggest stars in the world. In the US, she's damn near a one hit wonder, and this isn't it.
The strings kind of have a Middle East/Indian sound, as understood and transcribed by Western ears. The guitars sound like a mix of guitar and sitar, and are in fact from The Doors "The End". The drums are a murky mix of bass drum, snare drum and rarely used cymbals. There is no drummer or percussionist listed in the liner notes, so we have to assume that it's all a drum machine programmed by songwriters and producers Steve Anderson and Dave Seaman. Owain Barton is listed as a songwriter on the track, because he write a song called "It's a Fine Day" for a band called Jane in 1983. The song was covered by Opus III in 1992 and became a top 5 hit in the U.K. and a #1 US Dance Club hit. Barton complained that the string parts on "Confide in Me" sounded like the melody of "It's a Fine Day" and so his name was added.
The piano opening, and Minogue's voice kind of make the song a breathy torch number. Combining all of the elements, I think the song sounds like a perfect Bond theme song. Listen to "Goldeneye" (1995), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), and "Die another Day" (2002) and tell me that if they turned the vocals up just a touch on Kylie Minogue that "Confide in Me" wouldn't have made a better theme song than any of them.
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