Killer was a Finish band fronted by an amazing female vocalist named Siiri Nordin. They never really made it here in the States but I alway thought that they had a great sound. In case you are not familiar with them, let me introduce you. Liar is from Killer’s second album, Sure You Know How To Drive This Thing. See what you think….
Did you like it? As alway, I am very interested in hearing your opinion….
I’m sad to report that the band broke up in 2005 without producing any further albums.
So…..while we are on the subject of lying, I would like to dedicate this post to Mitt Romney. If you don’t get the connection watch this video.
To quote Neil Young: “I never knew a man could tell so many lies, he had a different story for every set of eyes. How can he remember who he’s talking to? Cause I know it ain’t me, and I hope it isn’t you.”
No….I haven’t forgotten that we need to finish up the Southern California Sound Series of posts! I have just gotten diverted by other music over the past couple of weeks. That happens a lot with me so you might as well get used to it 🙂
To get us moving back in the right direction, today I am introducing you to Dawes….some more new music that doesn’t suck. Dawes is a modern day embodiment of the Souther California Sound and I really like their music. They released their second album, Nothing is Wrong, about this time last year and I have listened to it frequently since then. Take a listen to my favorite song from the album, If I Wanted Someone, and see what you think…..
Sometimes groups can sound great in a studio but just don’t have the raw talent to pull off their sound in a live setting. To prove that this is not the case with Dawes, I offer you this live acoustic version of If I Wanted Someone that was recorded in a Chicago alley.
Awesome performance, especially the harmonies!
Over the last couple of years Dawes has spent time backing up Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne. Jackson in particular has had some pretty high praise for the group stating: “It’s a pleasure to play with these guys, who are themselves some of my favorite songwriters.” As a bonus, here is a clip of Jackson and Dawes playing a new Jackson song called Whose Side Are You On at Occupy Wall Street late last year.
So, while we are on the topic,……whose side are you on????
Today is an important day for those of us in the States! If I am counting correctly, it is the 236th Birthday of the United States of America. On this occasion let me share some of what I believe about MY country.
I believe in the promise of America although we do not always achieve the goals for which we strive
I believe that although my country is not perfect (yes we do make mistakes!) our goals are still worth fighting for
I believe in freedom….not the freedom of the Republicans (we are all free to believe anything we want as long as it matches what they believe)……….but true freedom for each of us to live our lives the way that we see fit
I believe in compassionate Capitalism.
Compassionate Capitalism IS the belief that it is unforgivable for us (the richest and most powerful country in the world) to have people in our county that are hungry or do not have access to health care
Compassionate Capitalism is NOT: I’ve got mine…..too bad if you have not managed to get yours yet
Happy Birthday America! May we as a country continue to strive to achieve the goals that our founding fathers established over 200 years ago.
I can’t think of any better way to celebrate than listening to the best version of the Star Spangled Banner every recorded.
Welcome to day three of our multi-day Canada Day music celebration which is combined with the 22nd edition of Long Song Tuesday. Today we highlight a Canadian group called Mahogany Rush.
Mahogany Rush was formed in 1970 by guitarist Frank Marino. I became familiar with them based on their 1975 Album named Strange Universe and it is the title song from this album that we are featuring today. Let’s listen….
I think you will agree with me that this is an amazing song. Clearly Frank’s guitar playing and songwriting were both significantly influenced by Jimi Hendrix. Let’s listen to another track from that album, Tales of a Spanish Warrior, that once again shows Jimi’s influence.
It seemed clear to me that Frank was “the band” and the other members of the group were basically just hired hands. This was made clear to everyone when the group was renamed Frank Marino’s Mahogany Rush before eventually evolving into just Frank Marino in the 1980s.
I bought, and greatly enjoyed, Strange Universe but lost track of the band after that. Their Hendrix inspired sound captured my interest for a moment but they did not have enough originality to hold my interest over the long haul.
Welcome to day two of our multi-day Canada Day music celebration. Today we will highlight a group called Lighthouse.
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s bands with large horn sections were huge ( think Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Chicago, The Ides Of March, etc.) Canada had its own horn driven band named Lighthouse and they were actually my favorites for this genre of music.
Lighthouse was formed in Toronto in 1968 but I really didn’t get into them until their 1971 album named One Fine Morning. I absolutely feel in love with the title song from that album. Let’s listen……
What an amazing song.
Lighthouse followed up One Fine Morning with a 1972 double album live set recorded at Carnegie Hall. Here is a cut from that album called Old Man that really gives you a sense of of their musical chops.
Their next studio album, Sunny Days, was also released in 1972. This album features some really fine music, including my favorite track called Broken Guitar Blues. I think you will like it…..
Lighthouse and I drifted apart after Sunny Days. The group broke up in the mid-1970s after producing a couple more studio albums. I understand that a version of the band regrouped in the 1990s and still performs live.
Before we end this post, I want to leave you with one interesting footnote about Lighthouse. The band’s original alto sax player was Howard Shore and he went on to do great things after his time with Lighthouse. He was a long time musical director on the Saturday Night Live Show in the 70s and went on to became a composer of film scores. He is probably best know as the composer of the music for the Lord of the Rings trilogy for which he won three Academy awards.
Happy Canada Day! We kickoff our multi-day celebration of Canadian music with a group called April Wine!
April Wine formed in 1969 and initially caught my attention in in 1971 with a very catchy song called Could Have Been A Lady. Let’s listen…….
You have to love that guitar!
I kind of lost track of them for the rest of the 70’s but they once again caught my attention in 1981 with a song called Just Between You And Me. See what you think….
I completely lost track of April Wine after 1981 but based on a little recent research I am happy to report that they seem to still be a major concert draw in Canada. If you haven’t heard of April Wine before I highly recommend that you check them out, especially their early stuff. There are a number of greatest hits type collections that would be a good starting point. More great Canadian music tomorrow.
No…I am not a Canadian by birth but I absolutely love all things Canadian. Let me run down the list:
The country of Canada is absolutely breathtaking. I have spent time on the Pacific Coast (British Columbia), the Atlantic Coast (Newfoundland), the Canadian Rockies, and in Ottawa and and all of it was absolutely beautiful.
The people of Canada are the friendliest people that I have ever met. Everywhere I have travelled and worked in Canada the people are happy and helpful.
A huge number of my favorite musicians are Canadian. How about just a top three list for now: Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, and Joni Mitchell.
Based on this love of all things Canadian, this blog will be celebrating Canada Day through July 4. Each day we will feature some lesser known (in comparison to the three superstars mentioned above) Canadian musicians and enjoy their music.
By the way, in case you don’t know, July 1 is a national holiday in Canada celebrating the anniversary of the 1867 unification of three separate colonies into a single country called Canada. To kickoff the celebration, I think you will enjoy the following videos (made by Molson) celebrating some of what it means to be a Canadian.
This is the first in a new series of posts about Tribute Songs. Featured songs might be tributes to a place, an artist, or a song or a combination of all three. I hope you enjoy the concept!
Our first tribute song manages to tie together our last two posts about Nick Drake/Elton John and The Stooges. I must say that finding a way to link these posts together is one my greatest achievements 🙂
To start things off we are going to listen to Nick Drake’s Northern Sky, an absolutely brilliant song that features John Cale on keyboards (yes…the very same John Cale that produced the Stooges first album). Here we go….
The brilliance of this song cannot be denied. It was recognized by New Music Express as the greatest English love song of the modern era and it inspired this incredible tribute by the The Dream Academy. Let me know what you think……
I am sure that everyone thought this was a good idea in 1968. Elton John clearly had an abundance of talent but had not proven himself yet as a songwriter (note: Elton had just recently teamed up with Bernie Taupin and their songwriting chops would be evident to the world in a couple of years) . Nick Drake was recording his first album and had some amazing new songs. Why not have Elton sing Nick….
So today I offer you Elton singing a cover of Nick’s Way To Blue. To be honest, I don’t care for Elton’s version. Maybe if would be different if I had never heard Nick’s original performance, I don’t know? Let me know what you think…
It was 1968 and a there was a dynamic new live music scene forming in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The good news is that I lived only 80 miles away in Battle Creek, Michigan. The bad news is that I was too young to get to see any of the bands. I did get to hear about some of the shows from older kids in school and they sounded wonderful! These shows featured homemade pyschedelic light shows and a form of raw rock music that wasn’t getting played on the radio.
The biggest of the Ann Arbor bands was a group called The MC5 (MC stood for Mortor City) and they attracted the attention of Elektra Records (we will have a post about The MC5 later). Elektra sent a representative to Ann Arbor to sign The MC5 to a recording contract and while he was there he also signed a second band called The Stooges.
The Stooges were headed by a young former drummer named James Osterberg who would soon adopt the name Iggy Pop. The Stooges stage shows were already legendary when they were signed to Elektra. Iggy was willing to do anything to get the audiences attention including smearing food all over his body and cutting himself with glass shards. The remainder of the group were not accomplished musicians so it was probably a good thing that Iggy was such a showman.
The Elektra representative asked the Stooges if they had enough songs to fill an album and they lied and told him that they did. As a result, the group ended up having to pull an all night song writing session before going into the studio to record their first album. During this session they wrote three new songs to supplement the five that they normally played in their stage shows. The resulting eight songs would form the basis for The Stooges self titled first album. The album was produced by John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground.
As I promised in the coming attractions post from a few days ago The Stooges, as reflected in their first album, were punk before there was punk, heavy metal before there was heavy metal, and, at times, they were just plain strange. Although I am not a fan of rock critics in general, the Rolling Stone review of the album from October 18, 1969 made some excellent points.
The instrumentalist sound like they have been playing their axes for two months and playing together for one month at most…
The lyrics are sub-literate, as might be inferred by the titles: No Fun, Not Right, Little Doll, and Real Cool Time.
They suck and they know it, so they throw the fact back in your face and say, “So what? We are just having fun.”
Sounds like Punk to me:-) I am sure that as you listen to the album, starting with the first song 1969, you will agree that there are elements heavy metal in their sound as well.
That brings us to the plain strange aspect of The Stooges which just so happens to also be the subject of our Long Song Tuesday post for this week. Rolling Stone’s review might have captured it best in the following quote:
The only place where the album falls down, it falls with a resounding thud, “We Will Fail” is a ten minute exercise in boredom that ruins the first side of the record.
I have to admit that my initial feeling about We Will Fail were much the same as Rolling Stones’…..I have gotten up many times while listening to this album to skip this track. Over the years; however, the track has grown on me a little bit and I now tend to see it as a strange little ambient music interlude in a rocking album. Why don’t you listen and see what you think…..
Now on to the really good stuff. Here is the entire album, in all of it’s glory, featuring the following eight tracks: 1969, I Wanna Be Your Dog, We Will Fall, No Fun, Real Cool Time, Ann, Not Right, and Little Doll. Give it a listen and see what you think. I am betting that after listening to the first song you will be compelled to listen to the remainder of the album. As always let me know what you think….
Iggy and the Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 and continue to perform to this day. But it all started with: this wonderful little album; four kids that wanted to make noise; and simple songs about what was going on at that exact moment in time. And that my friends is what rock and roll is all about.
Its 1969 OK/War across the USA/Its another year for me and you/Another year with nothing to do
That pretty much sums 1969…I was there and I lived it…..
