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Post by The Ocean on Aug 11, 2022 2:50:15 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #262 - 8/10/22 Cyndi Lauper – “Insecurious” from A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember is not a particularly loved album, but I frankly think her early albums suffer from poor instrumentation and mixing. The songs are great, but the actual recordings just grate on me. This is where it starts to go right for me. Love the sound of this one. The drums work, as do the synth/keys and guitar, in a way that I just don’t think her earlier albums got right. It’s personal taste, I understand, but it is what it is. This song I think is particularly strong from all perspectives, writing and execution.
Unrelated, but a funny story. I was talking about her with somebody online recently, and the person transcribed some lyrics from her theme to The Goonies, ending with “*Cyndi Lauper noises*” instead of writing out all the whoas and yeahs. I’m using that from now.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 12, 2022 2:25:49 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #263 - 8/11/22 Meat Loaf – “Wolf at Your Door” from Midnight at the Lost and Found
Okay, hear me out here. I don’t think anybody I’ve ever known to be a Meat Loaf fan actually likes this album. To be fair, it isn’t really good overall. And while it is a FAR cry from Bat Out of Hell, most things are, and it would be unfair to judge his entire career as a reflection of how much everything else isn’t Bat Out of Hell.
So I will judge his music on its own merits. And even though I don’t like this album, I really dig this song! It isn’t an epic. It isn’t a prog rock masterpiece. But it is rockin’, has great guitar work, wonderful harmonies and powerful vocals as always by Meat Loaf, and it just makes my feet tap and my head bob. It’s just a solid freaking rock song and I love it.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 14, 2022 3:19:20 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #264 - 8/13/22 The Black Crowes – “Black Moon Creeping” from The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
I’m a sucker for good use of talk box in a song. Usually I like it best as more understated like here. Great riffage and a good sense of funkiness, I really love this song. It makes perfect sense why Jimmy Page eventually recorded an album of Led Zeppelin classics with them.
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Post by mcamp on Aug 14, 2022 12:20:50 GMT
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 15, 2022 2:05:45 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #265 - 8/14/22 Alphaville – “Fallen Angel” from Forever Young
There would too many Synthpop bands to sort through if it weren’t such a rewarding genre. Alphaville had a major hit with Forever Young, and this song from that same album is infectiously peppy. When it gets to the chorus I just want to clap my hands with it.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 15, 2022 3:10:19 GMT
That double live album they released is one of my favorites. I seriously think they were the perfect band to do Led Zeppelin. They don’t try to clone the recordings but their sensibilities are so similar that it just works. They both have the same blues influences and it shows. They already do Oh Well, but I’d love to see an album of theirs where they cover all the early great Fleetwood Mac tracks like Black Magic Woman, Rattlesnake Shake, etc.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 16, 2022 2:24:50 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #266 - 8/15/22 XTC – “Into the Atom Age” from White Music
Andy Partridge is one of the best songwriters of his time. XTC has some quite memorable hits such as Senses Working Overtime, Mayor of Simpleton, Dear God, The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, and on and on. This song’s opening guitar is like a warning siren almost. And it moves fast with a lovely early Elvis Costello-like frenetic energy. It brings that 60’s classic organ into the 80’s in such an organic way.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 16, 2022 22:55:35 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #267 - 8/16/22 Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians – “Sleeping With Your Devil Mask” from Globe of Frogs
It took a good friend to introduce me to Robyn Hitchcock. I hadn’t even heard of them before a few months ago. I love the beat of this song, the low harmonies, and just how the vocal goes up in such a strange and unusual way on “through with you.” It’s just a tiny little creative touch that comes out of nowhere that still manages to work PERFECTLY in this weird but endearing song.
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Post by luxexterior on Aug 17, 2022 10:03:36 GMT
Robyn Hitchcock is a genius!
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 18, 2022 1:37:48 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #268 - 8/17/22 Jane’s Addiction – “Standing in the Shower” from Nothing’s Shocking
This song is a bit goofy, but I like goofy. The guitar solo is fantastic!
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 19, 2022 1:21:23 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #269 - 8/18/22 The Go-Go’s – “It’s Everything but Partytime” from Vacation
I love the atmosphere of this song. The opening jangle of the guitar arpeggios and half time drums don’t have the peppy feel of the songs The Go-Go’s are most famous for. It’s a very understated song even when it picks up for the choruses. The guitar solo isn’t blistering or showy, but just a modest composition that fits the song perfectly. The bass is brilliant in how it fills in the spaces in the verse. You don’t need to be flashy to make a good song. You just need to know how to compose it well, to make everything work together to create a whole from the individual parts.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 20, 2022 1:21:28 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #270 - 8/19/22 Strawberry Alarm Clock – “The World’s on Fire” from Incense And Peppermints
The sound that shaped me more than anything in my musical sensibilities was prominent keyboard usage. It may be strange that I ended up learning saxophone and guitar but the truth is that I’ve always been a terrible live keyboard player. I can WRITE on one and I can play with one hand at a time, but I lack the coordination to actually play left and right hand at the same time. So, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do well and never could. Strawberry Alarm Clock is one of the bands that shaped my love of organs, specifically the Farfisa and Vox Continental style of organs. It was such a signature part of who they were.
Here, in The World’s On Fire, this sound is integral to the scaffolding and structure of this song, which goes on to have solos on xylophone (pitched percussion is another love of mine) and guitar. There’s even a flute in this one! And that layered harmony break before the finale! Just an epic song with all of the sounds that give me the perfect hit of nostalgia.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 20, 2022 21:20:15 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #271 - 8/20/22 Badfinger – “Take It All” from Straight Up
Badfinger is a tragic band that made incredible music over a very short timespan. You could choose anything. Day After Day, No Matter What, Baby Blue, Come and Get It, and on and on. They just had a perfect sound. They made pop music so well. This song has a very lovely organ solo with some lovely layers and textures.
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Post by luxexterior on Aug 21, 2022 9:16:45 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #271 - 8/20/22 Badfinger – “Take It All” from Straight Up Badfinger is a tragic band that made incredible music over a very short timespan. You could choose anything. Day After Day, No Matter What, Baby Blue, Come and Get It, and on and on. They just had a perfect sound. They made pop music so well. This song has a very lovely organ solo with some lovely layers and textures. With better luck they could have been huge.
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Post by The Ocean on Aug 21, 2022 20:35:39 GMT
Deep Track of the Day #272 - 8/21/22 The Alarm – “Tell Me” from Declaration
Why not do two Welsh bands in a row! Why is The Alarm not better known? This album is a masterpiece! The sound quality of this album at 38 years old and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. This song is practically an invitation for an arena to sing the refrain with them. It is such a rousing song. When people think of this band, if at all, they think of Rain in The Summertime. I encourage all listeners to dive into their MAMMOTH discography. They are still touring and still releasing great albums!
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