So I’ve had a nice Holiday break…..I hope you have as well. My New Year’s Resolution for 2014 is to Follow My Arrow. Confused? Listen to the following song by newest musical obsessions, Kacey Musgraves, and it will make a lot more sense…..
Kacey is one a great set of talented country songwriters that that emerged in 2013 and I absolutely love her song Follow Your Arrow. You could do a lot worse than adopting the following lyrics from the song as your own resolution for this year.
Say what you think
Love who you love
‘Cause you just get
So many trips ’round the sun
Yeah, you only
Only live once
So make lots of noise
Kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s what you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t
And follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
Here’s an acoustic live performance of the song that I though you might like as well…..
I’m a little behind in my “Forty Years Ago Today” posts so later today I plan to do a final post to catch you up on the album releases in the later part of 1973. Later this week you should be looking for my Best of 2013 (End Of The Year Music Review) post.
Got an email from Bruce yesterday about a new album that he’s releasing early next year. Here’s what he had to say about it…..
I was working on a record of some of our best unreleased material from the past decade when Tom Morello (sitting in for Steve during the Australian leg of our tour) suggested we ought to add “High Hopes” to our live set. I had cut “High Hopes,” a song by Tim Scott McConnell of the LA based Havalinas, in the 90′s. We worked it up in our Aussie rehearsals and Tom then proceeded to burn the house down with it. We re-cut it mid tour at Studios 301 in Sydney along with “Just Like Fire Would,” a song from one of my favorite early Australian punk bands, The Saints (check out “I’m Stranded”). Tom and his guitar became my muse, pushing the rest of this project to another level. Thanks for the inspiration Tom.
Some of these songs, “American Skin” and “Ghost of Tom Joad,” you’ll be familiar with from our live versions. I felt they were among the best of my writing and deserved a proper studio recording. ”The Wall” is something I’d played on stage a few times and remains very close to my heart. The title and idea were Joe Grushecky’s, then the song appeared after Patti and I made a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. It was inspired by my memories of Walter Cichon. Walter was one of the great early Jersey Shore rockers, who along with his brother Ray (one of my early guitar mentors) led the ”Motifs”. The Motifs were a local rock band who were always a head above everybody else. Raw, sexy and rebellious, they were the heroes you aspired to be. But these were heroes you could touch, speak to, and go to with your musical inquiries. Cool, but always accessible, they were an inspiration to me, and many young working musicians in 1960′s central New Jersey. Though my character in “The Wall” is a Marine, Walter was actually in the Army, A Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry. He was the first person I ever stood in the presence of who was filled with the mystique of the true rock star. Walter went missing in action in Vietnam in March 1968. He still performs somewhat regularly in my mind, the way he stood, dressed, held the tambourine, the casual cool, the freeness. The man who by his attitude, his walk said “you can defy all this, all of what’s here, all of what you’ve been taught, taught to fear, to love and you’ll still be alright.” His was a terrible loss to us, his loved ones and the local music scene. I still miss him.
This is music I always felt needed to be released. From the gangsters of “Harry’s Place,” the ill-prepared roomies on “Frankie Fell In Love” (shades of Steve and I bumming together in our Asbury Park apartment) the travelers in the wasteland of “Hunter Of Invisible Game,” to the soldier and his visiting friend in “The Wall”, I felt they all deserved a home and a hearing.
Hope you enjoy it,
Bruce Springsteen
Let’s listen to the album’s title track……
It’s a little bit of a different sound…can’t wait to check out the rest of the album next year. I’m really looking forward to hearing his studio version of The Wall. Here is a rare live performance of the song from back in 2005….
While we’re waiting for the new album, here’s a bonus performance of Secret Garden from Bruce’s stop in Leeds this year. It’s one of my favorite songs and it really sounds great here….
I started this blog a year ago. At that time, my stated objectives were as follows:
…….to share my love of music and the history behind the music. Posts will focus on
Music from under appreciated older artists
Music with interesting, little known, back stories
Versions of great songs that you might not have heard (demos, alternate takes, live versions, covers, etc.)
New music from artists with little media exposure
Other miscellaneous topic that inspires me
On very good days we might manage to touch on two or more of the above in a single post.
I think, for the most part, I have accomplished those objectives. That’s the good new…..the bad news is that now I need to figure out continue to meet those objective in 2013 while keeping the blog fresh. I have been think about this challenge for a while and have a few new ideas that I want to share with you.
It Was 40 Years Ago Today – This year I plan to have a series of posts highlighting hit singles, albums, and musical events that occurred 40 years ago. There was lots of interesting things going on with music in 1973 and we will be talking about many of this year.
Two’fer Tuesday – I getting bored with our Long Song Tuesday series of posts. I plan to replace it with Two’fer Tuesday, a series of posts of two songs that are related in different ways. For example: electric and acoustic versions of a song; radically different interpretations of a song; an original song that did not become a hit until it was recorded by someone else, etc.
Side Projects – Posts discussing side projects of famous musicians
Mini Series – A couple of new post series along the lines of The Southern California Sound series of posts from last year. I am currently working on a mini-series called The History of American Protest Music and am seriously considering another series tentatively titled the San Francisco Sound. I am also open to any suggestions that you might have.
I think that will be enough to get us started. Along the way we will toss in some new posts in old series such as: New Music That Doesn’t Suck; International Songs; My Final Playlist; Who Is Sitting In; etc. I am sure we will throw in some surprises as well.
Thanks for reading this blog las year and I look forward to keeping your interest in 2013.
My dad has had serious health issues for the past week and a half. During this time I have spent all of my time either at Work or at the Hospital and have been running on about 2 hours sleep a night. I have just not had the time or energy to post. Sorry
Before I quit posting, we were right in the middle of a holiday song countdown. To keep everything in sync I will be posting two songs a day between now and next Monday.
I just learned today that I have been assigned to a special project at work for the next couple of months. This means that I will be working the new project, trying to keep things running on my current project, and coping with the upcoming holidays at the same time. Unfortunately all of this is going to limit the amount of time that I have available to update this blog so I am implementing a Plan B for the remainder of this year.
Starting today, I will post one of my favorite Holiday songs each day. Don’t worry…….I think you will like these songs and the artists that perform them! Since this is the time of the year for giving and surprises, most days I will also try to include a surprise gift that you will hopefully add to your enjoyment.
What I won’t have time to do is write a lot of text for these posts so I apologize for that in advance. As always I look forward to your feedback. In particular, let me know your favorite holiday (rock) songs.
Too many things to do, too many people to keep happy, and no time for me or the things that I want to do. Fortunately for me I have lots of songs about being empty and today is the day of the week when I share those songs with you…..my loyal readers/listeners.
Let’s kick things off with my favorite Empty song of all time, and the one that best captures my feelings this evening, Running On Empty by Jackson Browne. This is a great live performance from his 1977 tour. I was lucky enough to see him twice on this tour, once in Birmingham and once in Nashville.
Empty – Ray LaMontagne (I love the lyrics to this song!)
I never learned to count my blessings,
I choose instead to dwell in my disasters.
I walk on down the hill,
through grass, grown tall and brown
and still its hard somehow to let go of my pain.
On past the busted back of that old and rusted Cadillac
that sinks into this field, collecting rain.
Will I always feel this way?
So empty, so estranged.
Big Empty – Stone Temple Pilots
Empty Pages – Traffic
Often lost and forgotten
The vagueness and the mud
I've been thinking I'm working too hard
But I've got something to show
Staring at empty pages
Centered 'round the same old plot
Staring at empty pages
Flowing along the ages
The Emptyness – Hall and Oates
If I can get over my emptyness, I have some great stuff I need to finish and post for you. I am working on:
a great post about Racism and Politics
a review of a superb first album by “or The Children’s Crusade”, a young new local group that I have posted about before
I’m sure that you have noticed that I have not been posting at my normal rate over the past week or so. Things are very stressful at work so I have been spending nights and weekends doing real work rather than working on the blog. I am also way behind in resounding to email so please bear with me if you have emailed me and I have not responded yet.
Although things are still quite hectic I have some amazing things coming your way this week.
A great “Album of the Week” post from an obscure early 70’s group
Several new posts of “New Music That Doesn’t Suck”
A new “Friday Word Of The Day” post
I am also trying to decide on a topic for a new series of posts now that “The Southern California Sound” series has completed. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.
Thanks for continuing to read the blog….more good stuff is on the way!
I am going to be super busy this weekend but i have prepared some posts in advance that I think you will really like. For Saturday and Sunday I have two new posts queued up in the Underachievers series. These are the earliest examples of underachievers that I remember from my high school days.
For next Tuesday we have another combination Long Song Tuesday/Album of the Week post coming your way. You are going to love this one…these guys were punk before there was punk, heavy metal before there was heavy metal, and, at times, they were just plain strange. Any guesses….
Speaking of guesses. Listen to this song and post a comment if you know who it is. I will have a post on them coming your way soon.
We are getting close to the end of The Souther California Sound series with only three posts left. I think all of the remaining ones will be interesting. Up next is lucky number 13 in the series titled The Southern California Sound #13 – Leader Of The Band…..At Last. I hope to have that post finished and posted by this time next week. Keep an eye out for it. Here is the updated series graphic that will go with the post.
In the meantime, I have some other good stuff for you including the next Album of the Week post and another Underachiever post.
Thanks for reading and listening to this blog! If you have friends that you think would be interested in what we are doing here please let them know about it!
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 