Wednesday, November 17, 2010: Spock's Beard - There Was A Time

For me, one of the many great things about the band 10,000 Maniacs, was that I always expect a band called 10,000 Maniacs to be hardcore punk, death-metal, thrash, really LOUD band.

Just goes to show you how important a band's name is.

Apparently, the name Spock's Beard came up as a bit of a joke: From a 1999 Music Street Journal interview of [founding member] Neal Morse:

"Al and I were having this really weird night out one night, just one of those bizarro David Lynch type evenings. Al said "wow, it's like we're in a parallel universe. It's like Spock has a beard. Wouldn't that be a funny name for a band, Spock's Beard." That was about 89 or 90. Then when we were choosing names, around 92, Al made this list, like 2 pages of names. We all voted on them. He snuck Spock's Beard in as a joke, and it won. Then we were all like, are we going to commit to being known as Spock's Beard for all eternity, hopefully?"

Sure, Spock's Beard are labeled as "Progressive Rock", but it's not the scary, obtuse Progressive Rock that most non-musicians turn their nose up to.

They really are a modern version of old Genesis. In a good way. Or the more agreeable parts of Yes.

Obviously some of SB's stuff can get out there, but even most of the longer stuff is quite listenable (translation: you don't have to be a complete muso to get SB)

And, yes, There Was A Time is so far into Pop that it's hardly worth mentioning Progressive in the same breath.

But, I think it's extremely cool, nonetheless.

Please enjoy, I really like this band.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010: TWOfer Tuesday - The Cool TV Theme Song Of The Day Edition

What ever happened to TV Theme tunes?

When I was growing up pretty much every show I was into had amazing theme music.  And, that's not just rose-tinted glasses I'm looking through, have a listen:

Sanford and Son. Welcome Back, Kotter. Hill Street Blues. Chico & The Man.  Barney Miller. The Jeffersons.  Hawaii 5-0.  Mission: Impossible.

There is so much awesomeness in those themes alone I have barely enough energy to type.  After listening to each one I just wanted to curl up into a fetal position under my computer desk; cold, alone and afraid that my life is dark and meaningless and void of anything even resembling cool when compared to what these contributed to the world.

Yes, they are that great. I've actually considered doing an entire theme week devoted just to TV tunes. I still might.

And it's not even that very little in the past two decades hasn't come close to being cool. No, what bothers me down to my core is the fact that nobody is even trying.  Not making any effort whatsoever.

For my prime example: The Theme to Everyone Loves Raymond.

Really?  Are you F****** S******* ME?  What is that?  It's like John Cage decided to take up playing lite jazz.  If such a character driven comedy was made in the 70's, it would have an amazing theme song by default.  Just because.

Which is why I love Falling by Julee Cruise.  In fact, it's why I loved Twin Peaks in total.  It tried.

Now, normally, it's axiomatic that if something TRIES to be cool, it's not.   But Twin Peaks tried SO HARD to be cool, that its Herculean efforts alone proved to make it cool.  Yes, the show was nonsense, but gave us some great images, and a killer soundtrack.

And damn good coffee.

But, most importantly, it had an absolutely amazing theme song.

Truly music out of a dream, a beatific vision of glory and majesty lit by both the warm light of the morning's sun and the cold blue tint of a full moon in unison. Falling is one of those songs that wrap around you like a warm blanket.

My second choice for CTVTSOTD was a no brainer, the single coolest theme song written in the last 20 years, and the exception that proves the rule.

Yes, of course you can listen to extended versions of this, but for everyone who loves this show, this one says all that needs to be said, in just under a minute. Fan-frickin'-tastic. Did a TV theme ever rock out as loud and as hard?

Discuss.

In the meantime, ponder the fact that an entire generation is growing up without iconic TV Theme Songs. Please, please, please, won't SOMEONE bring back the cool TV theme?

Do it for the children!

CSOTD Bonus Edition: Accept - Rolling Thunder

Woken up yet?

Sorry everyone, but I just couldn't blog only one song by Accept.  Especially not off their new album "Blood Of Nations".

I love (almost) every track off this album. Deciding on what second track to post was extremely tough.

For a long time it was going to be Pandemic, but when it came time to actually write this post, I just can't get over the sheer awesomeness of Rolling Thunder.

Accept have been playing music since 1968 as Band X, and as Accept since 1976.  As you can imagine there have been a lot of stops and starts, highs and lows, and the Wiki link above and their band's Bio's page tell much of their story.

But while I love this album, and this band, I do fear for Heavy Metal as a genre.  Or, more precisely, I fear for my own love of Metal.  You see, to my ears, my growing elderly ears, too much of what passes for "Metal" these days just sounds like THIS.

And, I'm sorry, I truly am, but in my opinion there is nothing cool about that sound.  At all.  And I absolutely refuse to blog about songs or music that I don't consider "cool", regardless of how hip or contemporary or "cool" others may think it is.

Yes, I'm aware that there is more to the metal scene than just that sound, but somehow it's what keeps creeping into my headphones over and over whenever I'm doing research for this humble blog.

With every post I try to broaden my own horizons, and it's often a struggle.  I think that, for my age, I've done well in trying to open my mind to new musical experiences.  But, as with most things, there is a limit.

Maybe I've hit the wall.  Maybe songs like THIS are the step to far, the line that cannot be crossed, the border between youthful exuberance and mature discernment.

Which is why I thank the Heavens above for groups like Accept, who do that most complicated of things; they honour the past not by throwing it out, but by moving it forward.

Most of their songs sound like they could have been released in 1985, but they aren't stale or dated. They totally, for lack of a better word, rock. Totally rock. More than likely because they rocked it during the 80's and survived.  It sounds like they learned what works and have tossed out what doesn't work.

So, it may be nostalgia, the rose coloured glasses influencing my taste, especially in this complicated genre.  But, I'd like to think its something else.  Something more basic.

I'd like to think I like songs that work, and don't like songs that don't.

Accept works.  THIS doesn't.  At all.

But, again, that's just me, and I might be wrong.

Monday, November 15, 2010: Accept - Beat The Bastards

It's Monday.

You don't need some fancy double espresso macchiato full cappuccino drink that costs as much as a movie ticket to get you going.

You just need some Metal in your diet.

I recommend something Heavy.

I recommend Accept.

Everything a body needs to Beat The Bastards Down this week.

Enjoy!

Sunday, November, 14, 2010

No blogging on a Sunday.

See you Monday!

Saturday, November 13, 2010: William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You've Got

Yesterday, we ended on a down note, musing on the unknowability of tomorrow.

So, today, we'll take a step back and use this day, Saturday, to count our blessings.

We may not drive a great big Cadillac (gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back), but we can all be thankful for what we do have.

Here's to you, William DeVaughn, for helping us remember that we can still stand tall.

Keep on keepin' on, y'all.

Friday, November 12, 2010: Manic Street Preachers - Motown Junk

On the 31st of January, 1995, Manic Street Preachers guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards and guitarist and vocalist James Dean Bradford checked into the Embassy Hotel on Bayswater Road in London, to get a nights rest before they left the next day to begin a tour of the U.S.

At 7:00 A.M, the next day, February 1st, 1995, Richey Edwards checked out of the Embassy Hotel, apparently drove to his apartment in Cardiff, and then vanished.  He was never seen or heard from again.

His car was found abandoned on the 17th of February at the Severn View service station near the Severn Bridge, which crosses the River Severn between Wales and England.

Though his family and his band continued to search in hope for his safe return, his status remained open as a missing person, until 23 November 2008, when he became officially "presumed dead"

A pretty good account of Richey's timeline can be found here.

The Manic's struggled through Richey's disappearance, even considering disbanding, but with the support of their fans and blessings from Edward's family, the band continued on, and continues to record and tour to this day.

It's a heavy topic for a Friday song, sure, but the the CSOTD itself?  Well, it totally rocks, and fits perfectly as a crank-it-up-for-the-weekend Friday song.

Motown Junk was the Manic's first single they released on their newly signed Heavenly Records back in January, 1991.

Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield talk about the single here. And, no, they don't actually think Motown is junk.

So, crank it up for this Friday.

Here's to friends lost, journeys taken and the unknowability of tomorrow.

Here's to Friday.