The Bucketheads - "The Bomb (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)" (1995)
The title itself is a mondegreen. The actual lyric is: /Street sounds swirling through my mind/ (Wolinski)
Imagine your surprise when I tell you that I can't stand this song. This seems to be some of the least creative sampling, looping, and adding of any dance song I've ever heard. Based almost entirely on Chicago's "Street Player" on their universally panned Chicago 13 I can hear almost nothing that doesn't come straight from that 1979 critical and commercial flop. The drums that sound like a trash can being played too loud over a decent Latin dance beat while a 60's era "red alert" type sound plays are new. So credit to that can go to Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez who was 100% of The Bucketheads. The vocals are Peter Cetera of Chicago, the horns are other members of the Rock/Jazz fusion group. The song was already a disco song for the band, so the dance beat is not even new. I don't really care for the original track by Chicago, but at least it is that, original.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
"The Tears of a Clown"
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - "The Tears of a Clown" (1967)
Ain't no party like a bassoon party 'cuz a bassoon party got soul.
Another tale of a song that wasn't appreciated until a few years after its release, but in this case the single's success was due to a record company secretary looking for a new hit. Front man Smokey Robinson had announced to his band mates and other label friends that he was going to retire to focus on being Vice President of Motown Records. EMI was the label that distributed Motown in the U.K. and when they heard the news they got upset, as SR&TM were just as hugely popular over there as in their home country. They went into the back catalog looking for a hit and found this cut off of 1967's Make It Happen. It was released summer of 1970 and became a number one hit in September, fully three years after it was first released on an album.
The song was written by Stevie Wonder, who couldn't find lyrics to go with it until Smokey Robinson heard it at a Christmas party. Commenting on it's circus feel, Robinson proposed a song about a clown and Wonder told him to take the song. Motown session musician Henry Cosby of The Funk Brothers rounded out the power trio of writing responsible for this song. What makes this song a hit? Just try not to smile when you hear it. I mean yes, it is a tragedy about a man who must appear to be happy while hiding his sadness; Robinson even name drops Pagliacci just to let you know he knows what he's doing. But despite the sadness of the lyrics, the song is upbeat and driven. Bassoon and flute dance together in the songs famous opening, and the bassoon sticks around to drop some serious low tones, out blasting the electric bass. The drums focus on the bass drum and toms, pushing the song, never letting it sit back. You can hear a tambourine as well, particularly when it's down to the bassoon and flute holding the song up. The background singing here is as tight as you would expect from one of Motown's primary groups. There's also organ clearly playing an important background roll, that's gotta be Wonder's influence on the track.
Ain't no party like a bassoon party 'cuz a bassoon party got soul.
Another tale of a song that wasn't appreciated until a few years after its release, but in this case the single's success was due to a record company secretary looking for a new hit. Front man Smokey Robinson had announced to his band mates and other label friends that he was going to retire to focus on being Vice President of Motown Records. EMI was the label that distributed Motown in the U.K. and when they heard the news they got upset, as SR&TM were just as hugely popular over there as in their home country. They went into the back catalog looking for a hit and found this cut off of 1967's Make It Happen. It was released summer of 1970 and became a number one hit in September, fully three years after it was first released on an album.
The song was written by Stevie Wonder, who couldn't find lyrics to go with it until Smokey Robinson heard it at a Christmas party. Commenting on it's circus feel, Robinson proposed a song about a clown and Wonder told him to take the song. Motown session musician Henry Cosby of The Funk Brothers rounded out the power trio of writing responsible for this song. What makes this song a hit? Just try not to smile when you hear it. I mean yes, it is a tragedy about a man who must appear to be happy while hiding his sadness; Robinson even name drops Pagliacci just to let you know he knows what he's doing. But despite the sadness of the lyrics, the song is upbeat and driven. Bassoon and flute dance together in the songs famous opening, and the bassoon sticks around to drop some serious low tones, out blasting the electric bass. The drums focus on the bass drum and toms, pushing the song, never letting it sit back. You can hear a tambourine as well, particularly when it's down to the bassoon and flute holding the song up. The background singing here is as tight as you would expect from one of Motown's primary groups. There's also organ clearly playing an important background roll, that's gotta be Wonder's influence on the track.
Monday, February 27, 2012
"Hate to Say I Told You So"
The Hives - "Hate to Say I Told You So" (2000)
Shares some similar chord changes with "All Day and All of the Night" by The Kinks, a song conspicuously missing from the book, even though they did include a total of five other songs by the English rock band.
In the later half of 2001 an old style of rock music swept across the American landscape. Lo-fi was king again as garage rock had a revival. Bands that had been paying their dues for years, touring and recording finally got national acclaim. The White Stripes released White Blood Cells in July, and at the same time The Vines were recording Highly Evolved. The Strokes released Is This It later that year. All three bands had some regional success, but the new stuff that they recorded and released in 2001 was often heralded in the press as 'the saviors of rock' or something like it. But the most convoluted rise to the top of the charts of the so called "The" bands has to be The Hives and their album Veni Vidi Vicious. It was recorded in their native Sweden in 1999 and released in 2000. No one in America noticed. They released a greatest hits album in 2001/2002 which contained this track and rock fans who were eating up anything that sounded like garage rock went back and started buying their 2000 album.
Kicks off with a little Stereo fun, with the opening guitar only coming in the right channel and the whole song taking a few seconds to find both channels. The song intentionally has a lot in common with early Rolling Stones howlers like " I Just Want to Make Love to You" "It's All Over Now". Two guitars, simple drums and a charismatic front man who jumps around the stage and shouts. Plus they all wear suits. On the other hand, the bass is very different, providing a heavier bottom sound and even getting a chance in the spotlight around two minutes in. He doesn't do much with it, but at least it shines on him. Also different is the spacey swooshing sounds going on through the sound that actually distract from the whole and make it less Lo-fi than hits from the other "The" bands, but damn if a easy to remember and sing along with chorus didn't make up for any little shortcomings.
Shares some similar chord changes with "All Day and All of the Night" by The Kinks, a song conspicuously missing from the book, even though they did include a total of five other songs by the English rock band.
In the later half of 2001 an old style of rock music swept across the American landscape. Lo-fi was king again as garage rock had a revival. Bands that had been paying their dues for years, touring and recording finally got national acclaim. The White Stripes released White Blood Cells in July, and at the same time The Vines were recording Highly Evolved. The Strokes released Is This It later that year. All three bands had some regional success, but the new stuff that they recorded and released in 2001 was often heralded in the press as 'the saviors of rock' or something like it. But the most convoluted rise to the top of the charts of the so called "The" bands has to be The Hives and their album Veni Vidi Vicious. It was recorded in their native Sweden in 1999 and released in 2000. No one in America noticed. They released a greatest hits album in 2001/2002 which contained this track and rock fans who were eating up anything that sounded like garage rock went back and started buying their 2000 album.
Kicks off with a little Stereo fun, with the opening guitar only coming in the right channel and the whole song taking a few seconds to find both channels. The song intentionally has a lot in common with early Rolling Stones howlers like " I Just Want to Make Love to You" "It's All Over Now". Two guitars, simple drums and a charismatic front man who jumps around the stage and shouts. Plus they all wear suits. On the other hand, the bass is very different, providing a heavier bottom sound and even getting a chance in the spotlight around two minutes in. He doesn't do much with it, but at least it shines on him. Also different is the spacey swooshing sounds going on through the sound that actually distract from the whole and make it less Lo-fi than hits from the other "The" bands, but damn if a easy to remember and sing along with chorus didn't make up for any little shortcomings.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
"Soul Makossa"
Manu Dibango - "Soul Makossa" (1972)
/ma-mako, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako ssa/ Yeah, you know that lyric? It's from this track.
Disco, and therefore a lot of dance music since then owes much to this track's beat. As the story goes, a DJ named David Mancuso (now credited as the founder of the modern concept of the non-commercial house party) found this single in a small Brooklyn record shop and began spinning it at his parties in 1972. Word spread quickly.
Every beat a hit on the high hat with perfect almost mechanical timing and a heavy funk bass beat behind it was new. James Brown had started it and by the early 70s, George Clinton and Sly and the Family Stone had been bringing the funky bass driven music into the mainstream for a few years, but the high hat driving every beat relentlessly pushed the music into a new genre. The other thing this track did was continue the trend of live musicians playing over dance style beats. This lead to acts like KC and the Sunshine Band and Chic having huge popularity in the disco era.
Manu Dibango is a saxophone player from Cameroon. He played the wildly popular style of music known as Makossa. Rooted in the Soukous dance tradition found in Belgian Congo and French Congo, Makossa added bass and horns to the traditional "shake music" Makossa means twisting dance and Dibango was such a huge fan that he wanted everyone to hear it. He recorded "Soul Makossa" in 1972 hoping people would hear it, but never realizing that he was creating a classic that is it's own "Rock around the Clock" popularizing the style, and the name of the genre in one go.
As for the lyrics in the famous refrain, it's like his saying "rock rock r-r-r-rock rock" but it's Makossa. That line was picked up by Michael Jackson in his 1982 hit "Wanna Be Startin' Something" off of mega platinum album Thriller. Because of his enormous popularity, and the popularity of the original track as well, the line has found its way into man other hits including songs by Kool Mo Dee, A Tribe Called Quest, Bloodhound Gang, Fugees, Jay-Z, Wyclef Jean, Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Childish Gambino.
/ma-mako, ma-ma-sa, mako-mako ssa/ Yeah, you know that lyric? It's from this track.
Disco, and therefore a lot of dance music since then owes much to this track's beat. As the story goes, a DJ named David Mancuso (now credited as the founder of the modern concept of the non-commercial house party) found this single in a small Brooklyn record shop and began spinning it at his parties in 1972. Word spread quickly.
Every beat a hit on the high hat with perfect almost mechanical timing and a heavy funk bass beat behind it was new. James Brown had started it and by the early 70s, George Clinton and Sly and the Family Stone had been bringing the funky bass driven music into the mainstream for a few years, but the high hat driving every beat relentlessly pushed the music into a new genre. The other thing this track did was continue the trend of live musicians playing over dance style beats. This lead to acts like KC and the Sunshine Band and Chic having huge popularity in the disco era.
Manu Dibango is a saxophone player from Cameroon. He played the wildly popular style of music known as Makossa. Rooted in the Soukous dance tradition found in Belgian Congo and French Congo, Makossa added bass and horns to the traditional "shake music" Makossa means twisting dance and Dibango was such a huge fan that he wanted everyone to hear it. He recorded "Soul Makossa" in 1972 hoping people would hear it, but never realizing that he was creating a classic that is it's own "Rock around the Clock" popularizing the style, and the name of the genre in one go.
As for the lyrics in the famous refrain, it's like his saying "rock rock r-r-r-rock rock" but it's Makossa. That line was picked up by Michael Jackson in his 1982 hit "Wanna Be Startin' Something" off of mega platinum album Thriller. Because of his enormous popularity, and the popularity of the original track as well, the line has found its way into man other hits including songs by Kool Mo Dee, A Tribe Called Quest, Bloodhound Gang, Fugees, Jay-Z, Wyclef Jean, Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, and Childish Gambino.
Friday, February 24, 2012
"Under the Milky Way"
The Church - "Under the Milky Way" (1987)
An Australian band with at least 20 albums, a big fan base in their home country, and a reputation as a one hit wonder in the U.K. and America.
Bassist and vocalist Steve Kilbey wrote the song with his girlfriend. His band had had success in Australia, but their label wanted them to record in L.A. with professional producers so they left home and recorded Starfish it was apparently a real challenge in the studio with clashing egos and even a request for Kilbey to take singing lessons. By the end of it all, they had their big success story with a top 25 album, and a song that would endure as long as moody teenagers everywhere felt like everything was going to completely change as soon as the summer after high school was over.
I really like Kilbey's voice. It's low and honest and doesn't sound like he's forcing anything. This is his emotional state, and that's what you're going to get. The guitars ring out for the whole song. There's no "between" parts where you can hear a breath or a pause because the guitars are just left to ring out for seconds after they've been played. That jangly guitar sound is part of why the track is considered neo-psychedelia. As the song progresses they layer in a small string section, a chorus of voices, and some electronic keyboard sounds that are the most obvious sign that this is an song produced in L.A. in the late 80s. At around 2:20 where a normal song would have a guitar solo, they do not. Now I'm not 100 percent sure, because it's not listed in the liner notes, but I'm pretty sure that was a bagpipe solo. Could have been a keyboard set on bagpipe though, whatever it was, it was processed electronically a bit, and certainly brave. Late in the song, around 3:45 or so we finally get that guitar solo, though there is some chorus song over it. The lead guitar part really puts this track in the neo-psychedelia realm with that dreamy-underwater yet fast past lick, playing into the fade out.
An Australian band with at least 20 albums, a big fan base in their home country, and a reputation as a one hit wonder in the U.K. and America.
Bassist and vocalist Steve Kilbey wrote the song with his girlfriend. His band had had success in Australia, but their label wanted them to record in L.A. with professional producers so they left home and recorded Starfish it was apparently a real challenge in the studio with clashing egos and even a request for Kilbey to take singing lessons. By the end of it all, they had their big success story with a top 25 album, and a song that would endure as long as moody teenagers everywhere felt like everything was going to completely change as soon as the summer after high school was over.
I really like Kilbey's voice. It's low and honest and doesn't sound like he's forcing anything. This is his emotional state, and that's what you're going to get. The guitars ring out for the whole song. There's no "between" parts where you can hear a breath or a pause because the guitars are just left to ring out for seconds after they've been played. That jangly guitar sound is part of why the track is considered neo-psychedelia. As the song progresses they layer in a small string section, a chorus of voices, and some electronic keyboard sounds that are the most obvious sign that this is an song produced in L.A. in the late 80s. At around 2:20 where a normal song would have a guitar solo, they do not. Now I'm not 100 percent sure, because it's not listed in the liner notes, but I'm pretty sure that was a bagpipe solo. Could have been a keyboard set on bagpipe though, whatever it was, it was processed electronically a bit, and certainly brave. Late in the song, around 3:45 or so we finally get that guitar solo, though there is some chorus song over it. The lead guitar part really puts this track in the neo-psychedelia realm with that dreamy-underwater yet fast past lick, playing into the fade out.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
"Justified & Ancient"
The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette - "Justified & Ancient" (1991)
OK let's get this straight, this track is actually the Stand by the JAMs remix of "Justified & Ancient".
The KLF were originally called The JAMs, named after the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu a group that was supposedly infiltrating the Illuminati in order to take it down from the inside. Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty formed the group with the idea that they were going to infiltrate the music industry and take it down. Most of their hits, and many of their songs in general make reference to some part of this mythology.
The original did not have Tammy Wynette, and it was more of a lullaby. Much less in the way of drum beats, and sung in a sweet style. It was the last song on their debut album, 1987s (What the Fuck Is Going On). Later the duo of Cauty and Drummond recorded a track as The Timelords called "Doctorin' the Tardis". It was a number 1 hit in the U.K. and made them a lot of money. They took that money and decided to make a movie and soundtrack. That lost them a lot of money. In a last ditch effort, the took the songs recorded for that album and created a new genre: Stadium House. Dance music with crowd noise, and additional vocalists added to the mix. This proved to be a big hit for them. This was one of five top ten U.K. hits they had off of the remixes of songs from their original idea of a soundtrack album, now called White Room. in 1992 they called the whole thing off, deleted their back catalog and formed an art group with a similar concept of infiltrating and changing from within. It was called the K Foundation. A group mostly known for burning one million pounds.
The song itself is not great. Lots of tribal beats and Tammy Wynette's vocals don't really go together. They make use of a Jimmy Hendrix riff during the chorus, but they cover it pretty heavily. The rap is performed by Ricardo da Force, who rapped on most of their big hits. The choir singing might be my favorite part, but it's had to really pick a part I liked.
OK let's get this straight, this track is actually the Stand by the JAMs remix of "Justified & Ancient".
The KLF were originally called The JAMs, named after the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu a group that was supposedly infiltrating the Illuminati in order to take it down from the inside. Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty formed the group with the idea that they were going to infiltrate the music industry and take it down. Most of their hits, and many of their songs in general make reference to some part of this mythology.
The original did not have Tammy Wynette, and it was more of a lullaby. Much less in the way of drum beats, and sung in a sweet style. It was the last song on their debut album, 1987s (What the Fuck Is Going On). Later the duo of Cauty and Drummond recorded a track as The Timelords called "Doctorin' the Tardis". It was a number 1 hit in the U.K. and made them a lot of money. They took that money and decided to make a movie and soundtrack. That lost them a lot of money. In a last ditch effort, the took the songs recorded for that album and created a new genre: Stadium House. Dance music with crowd noise, and additional vocalists added to the mix. This proved to be a big hit for them. This was one of five top ten U.K. hits they had off of the remixes of songs from their original idea of a soundtrack album, now called White Room. in 1992 they called the whole thing off, deleted their back catalog and formed an art group with a similar concept of infiltrating and changing from within. It was called the K Foundation. A group mostly known for burning one million pounds.
The song itself is not great. Lots of tribal beats and Tammy Wynette's vocals don't really go together. They make use of a Jimmy Hendrix riff during the chorus, but they cover it pretty heavily. The rap is performed by Ricardo da Force, who rapped on most of their big hits. The choir singing might be my favorite part, but it's had to really pick a part I liked.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"
They Might Be Giants - "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (1990)
The picture opposite him is a lighthouse!
This is a really fun song. Creative interesting lyrics, a trumpet solo by a klezmer musician, easy to follow counterpoint and a sing along chorus that everyone can learn by the end of the song. What's it about? The song is a point of view song sung by a plastic molded canary night-lite in a child's room. What's hard to understand about that? Kidding. I remember everyone talking about this song back in 1990 and there being quite a discussion. Of course, if you just read the lyrics off a lyric sheet it's pretty obvious. This was the band's breakthrough hit, coming before Istanbul and Particle Man showed up on Tiny Toon Adventures.
What's counterpoint you might ask? It's when in a song there are two voices (any instrument) that are harmonic but have totally different rhythms. The lines are the chorus /Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch/Who watches over you/Make a little birdhouse in your soul/ (Linnell) and this second voice: /and while you're at it/Keep the nightlight on inside the/Birdhouse in your soul/ (id) They are sung separately and then later together.
The picture opposite him is a lighthouse!
This is a really fun song. Creative interesting lyrics, a trumpet solo by a klezmer musician, easy to follow counterpoint and a sing along chorus that everyone can learn by the end of the song. What's it about? The song is a point of view song sung by a plastic molded canary night-lite in a child's room. What's hard to understand about that? Kidding. I remember everyone talking about this song back in 1990 and there being quite a discussion. Of course, if you just read the lyrics off a lyric sheet it's pretty obvious. This was the band's breakthrough hit, coming before Istanbul and Particle Man showed up on Tiny Toon Adventures.
What's counterpoint you might ask? It's when in a song there are two voices (any instrument) that are harmonic but have totally different rhythms. The lines are the chorus /Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch/Who watches over you/Make a little birdhouse in your soul/ (Linnell) and this second voice: /and while you're at it/Keep the nightlight on inside the/Birdhouse in your soul/ (id) They are sung separately and then later together.
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