A trip to the record store and a few record reviews.

Well, today I made my way over to the record store.  After all, I simply don't have enough albums.  Don't believe me?  Just ask my wife, she'll tell you.  When I get to a record store I always have a checklist in my mind of records that I am looking for.  They start with records that I have been looking for for a long time that I don't own.  Then I am looking for records that will replace ones that are "worn out" or that the pressing just didn't sound very good.  After that, I am just looking for something that looks interesting or that I had heard about but never picked up.

So today's trip was to Tom's Music Trade over in Red Lion, PA.  I love that place and Tom is easily one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet.  Wanna talk vinyl, this is the mecca of vinyl.  Back in high school I lived in Virginia and frequented a place called Penguin Feather.  It was a really great place to hang out, buy records, listen to records and well heck, just talk about records.  Tom's Music Trade is just like that.  He has thousands of records on the floor but I would guess he probably has that many over again in stock that he doesn't have the space to show.  I have gone to some record shops and they may have a couple of thousand records but they never have anything new on the floor.  Tom is always looking for more records.  He is a real record store.

Anyway, enough of the free plug.  So I had 2 targets on my list today and maybe 5 others that were I'd like to have if I find them but since a few of them I haven't found in years I wasn't holding my breath.
I have been looking for a replacement for my Bruce Springsteen The River album for years and while they are actually out there and for the most part readily available, because it was such a popular record and was often handled by kids, most of the copies that are available are really worn and not worth the few bucks that people are asking.  Well less than 2 minutes into my perusal of the record bins what do I find?  Bruce Springsteen's The River, new, unopened first pressing.  WOW!  Successful trip!  I couldn't believe my luck so I am thinking okay I probably won't find anything else that I am looking for.  So then I think, well I am looking for Genesis' Wind & Wuthering and Selling England By The Pound.  What are the chances that I can find both in good shape if at all.  After all, both were released when Genesis was a real progressive band before there pop years; which I think they were brilliant as a pop band too, I just prefer their progressive rock years.  I would have been happy to find just one.  I bought a copy of Selling England By The Pound several years ago and it was an ok buy but the record had been handled quite a bit and you could tell.  So, to my absolute delight I found both!  I paid $12 for just Selling England By The Pound a few years ago but today I picked up both for a grand total of $5.  I was thinking, oh boy.  These are going to sound like I'm playing a pizza on my turntable.  NOPE!  Both are clean and good copies!  Life is good.  Surely I won't find anything else that I have been looking for right?  WRONG!

I am a closet Pete Townsend fan, I think his song writing is brilliant and his musicianship speaks for itself.  One of my top albums of all time is White City, he was pure genius on that record.  So I have a CD of his All Of The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. I love this CD because of how different it is.  I mean it is a lot different than everything else he has done before.  It is far more pop like.  It is also a CD that I can listen to start to finish not get tired of.  So I always wanted the album but I have never found it anywhere.  Well, Tom had it (of course) for the whopping price of a buck.  Again, I am thinking a dollar record when I haven't been able to find it anywhere else, it is going to sound awful!  Nope, sounds EXCELLENT!  Once again, Tom is golden.

So now I am ready to head out and I get to thinking, my copy of the Moody Blues Days of Future Past is a bit worn.  Wonder if there is a better copy than I have.  So, not to be disappointed there it was and for $2.  I know that he is making money at what he is doing, not sure how because his prices are so low but heck, he seems to be doing ok.  Oh, and I put it on the turntable and it sounds great!  Once again.

So I have saved the best of my finds for last.  For this one we have to go back to 1971.  That was the year that one of my top 3 favorite records was released.  That was the year that the new band called Wings formed and released their debut album called Wild Life.  It was panned by much of the musical establishment.  I don't see how they didn't like it then because here we are 40 years later and I still think it is pure musical genius, and here is the brilliance of not only Paul McCartney but the whole band.  5 of the 8 songs were done on the first take.  It was recorded live in the studio with the best recording engineer to ever grace a studio: none other than Alan Parsons. He put the magic in to the Dark Side of the Moon and I think that he breathed life into Wild Life.  My dad bought Wild Life for me and it was probably the 5th record that I had ever owned.  Somewhere over time it went missing; until today.  I have been sad for probably 20 years that I didn't have that record and every record store that I go into I always take a peek to see if they have it.  So, the record that I have coveted for the past 20 years or so I picked up today for whopping grand total of $3.  I will admit that I came home, went straight to the turntable, put it on and just listened, twice.  I think that I may have to take another listen later, a few more times.  It was Wings at their best and probably least commercial.  How can anyone not listen and marvel at the songwriting?  From the first beat of Mumbo you hear the heart of the Beatles. and Bip Bop sounds like something that could have been recorded in a barn at the end of a dirt road in 1920's Alabama.  Alan Parsons captured the essence of the song and dirtied it up as only he could.  Love Is Strange is one of the coolest swinging grooves of that era or well actually, any era.  Danny Seiwell laid down one of the coolest and funkiest grooves to what is in my opinion one of the songs that is probably one of the toughest to cover because everyone expects to hear Mickey & Sylvia's kind of easy beat.  Denny is far to funky for that and thank heavens for that!  The harmonies on this song are also classic Wings and when you listen to all of their albums it is a hallmark of their brand.  That said, this song was recorded in just one take.  Listen to that song with everything going on in it and you will instantly see why I call it one of the 3 best albums I have ever owned. My dad once said to me, Kevin (because that is my name) you can listen to this record and hear the difference between John Lennon's wife and Paul McCarney's wife.  Linda has talent, Yoko has none.  I challenge everyone to prove me wrong.  Linda was such a strong presence on this record with not just her abilities on keyboards but also her backing vocals.  She doesn't sound like a cat in heat (like Yoko), she just sounds hot.  Dear Friend is in my opinion the greatest song to end an album.  When I listen to that song, it really sums up the band.  Wings was just a bunch of friends having a lot of fun.  This song outlines enduring great friendships.

I guess to round out my trip to the record store I had to pick up an album that is universally loved.  James Taylor's JT called my name as I walked passed it.  I have the record but I bought it in a used bin many many years ago.  It was in pretty heinous shape then and I have never really played it which is a shame because I really love that album.  I saw it today for a dollar and picked it up.  It is in far better condition than the one that I had so I am very happy about that.  It isn't in perfect condition but after a really good cleaning I can play it and be quite satisfied with my $1 purchase.

 So, my trip to the record store today far exceeded my expectations.  If you can't tell, I love Tom's Music Trade.  If you are in the south Central PA, Northern Maryland area please check out his store.  You will not be disappointed.  If you are outside of our area, he is on the web at www.tomesmusictrade.com.  If you have a record that you are really looking hard for give him a call.  He will take a look to see if he has it, 717-246-5712.  Finding quality record dealers that truly understand records is so hard to find.  Lots of people sell them few can actually talk about them.  Tom can. 

Rebecca Black's Friday and for those that would issue a death threat to her

Come on people!  Are you serious?!  Death threats for Rebecca Black and people telling her they wish she would kill herself.  Are you kidding me?  What is it with some people (or in this case apparently A LOT of people), the Anaheim Police Department is investigating numerous death threats.  I see the problem as even bigger.  If you recall, after Justin Bieber lost out on a Grammy award to Esperanza Spalding she also received death threats and frankly, I think that she is far more talented than Justin Bieber so I would have been disappointed had she lost!

Mob mentality is nothing new, it has been around since the dawn of time and I believe that that is what is driving the hatred of her.  I mean her song Friday is no worse than anything else I hear on the radio and I would rather listen to her than Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga (haha, two slams on Gaga in my last two blog posts), or Rihanna any day.  I mean, how much different is Rebecca Black than Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato or Miley Cirus.  The only difference in my view is that they are heavily backed by Disney and Rebecca Black isn't.  I will be honest, until my preteen daughters were playing the video on the computer I had never heard of Rebecca Black.  To me she sounded like every other teen pop star on the radio.  Then I started hearing that she was as famous for the amount of dislikes as she was for the likes.  Here  is what I don't get, everyone is talking about how much they dislike her yet she has over 1.6 million views.  So people that have a pretty good idea that they won't like her still watch her.  So just how stupid are people?  OR are these people secret fans that because everyone else is  saying how much they dislike her they "dislike" her too yet really like her (how is that for circular reasoning?).

As for me, I watched the video to see what the hype was, it was as I thought it would be, a teen queen trying to be a pop star.  I don't care for the music much but for the most part I don't like many songs that are done by any of the Disney stars either.  Over produced, over popularized, and far to simple and sappy for my tastes but since every generation has these types of artists I guess I am stuck with it.  We as a society need to take a step back and understand that it is ok to not like something without being so incredibly demonstrative about it.  We need to teach our children that it is ok to not like something or someone without saying that they hope that they die or get a disease or wish anorexia on that person.  If it is an adult that is hurling these types of insults at this child, they need to be locked up because they simply have to be mentally unstable.  There is no cause for any of the negative comments.  If you don't like it don't watch it.  You have to make a conscious effort to watch it.  Stop watching it.  If you do like it watch it.  Enjoy it or not.  Leave the kid alone though.  Enough with the incredibly insulting and deflating insults.  How many of us has done anything that 1.6 million people would watch.  How many of us would get a chance to be on the Jay Leno show or meet record industry executives?  Maybe it is just jealousy because you can't and this 14 year old girl has.

Here is a playlist for you where other preteen and teen pop stars that cashed in.

Michael Jackson - Ben
Debby Gibson - Only In My Dreams
Martika - Toy Soldiers
New Edition - Candy Girl
Tiffany - I Think Were Alone Now
Leif Garrett - I was Made For Dancing
Shaun Cassidy - Da Doo Ron Ron
Stacy Lattisaw - Love on a Two Way Street
New Kids on the Block - Hanging Tough
Hansen - mmm Bop

Platinum Hit - Kara Dioguardi's new flop of a show and the disdane I have for those like it

So this morning I read an article on Yahoo news about the Bravo Network moving the TV show called Platinum Hit to Friday nights from Monday.  Well, I hadn't even heard of the show before I read that  article.  Admittedly I don't watch a lot of tv but at the same time, I don't live under a rock.  That said, I did watch the two clips in the article and I can tell you why the show is being moved to Friday, it sucks.  To sit and listen to the 2 and a half minute clip was painful.  If I had to listen to that for an hour I would slit my wrists.  Then the song that the writers of this article were gushing about, REALLY?  That song sucked.  I could only stand to listen to about a minute of it.  The song writing was worthless and the singing was annoying.  For anyone to wonder why the show is doing poorly just watch the clips.  I for one am so sick and tired of "reality" shows that I have gone from being an avid tv watcher to watching at most 1 tv show a week.  I guess I owe crappy television a thanks because I have found other things to do with my evenings.  I think that the music shows in general have cheapened the music industry.

I will admit to watching American Idol because every year they have 1 or 2 that I think have actual honest to goodness talent and just need to be discovered.  Usually they don't make it very far into the season because contrary to what the judges say about it being a talent contest, it is at the end of the day a popularity contest.  American Idol gives 15 minutes of fame to anyone who can (or can't carry a tune) regardless if they may or may not have any actual singing talent.  The show Platinum Hit tries to show how important the whole evolution of a song is.  I don't care how it is made, just write a song and sing it.  Too much drama and crap behind the scenes that I don't need to know about or care about.  Carol King, Burt Bacharach, Karen and John Carpenter never seemed to have all this drama and wrote some pretty amazing songs that have stood the test of time.  Most of the songs that I hear on the radio today will be forgotten within a year.

The music industry laments poor CD sales.  Well for crying out loud, most of the songs on the radio are from people that have a look but no talent.  How about we get back to the old days of music that was expertly crafted or at least well written and not for a stupid tv show.  As much as I love music, music executives should be locked in a room and forced to listen nonstop to the junk that they are responsible for signing to record deals.  They should be forced to watch the moronic tv shows that they churn out all in hopes of finding that next big thing.  Record labels have gotten lazy and arrogant.  Started in the 70s and has gotten worse every year.  You think things are bad now, wait another 10 more years.  Music won't be music any more.  Cancel this show and everyone like it.  For that matter, start cancelling all reality shows.  They are about as close to reality as Lady Gaga is to human.  Or, maybe this crap is the new reality.  Oh, and don't even get me started on the Disney teen pop star phenomenon but that will be a post all its own. 

Here is my playlist of well crafted songs (in no particular order) and the artists that sang them (not necessarily wrote them) that new songwriters can look at as templates.

John Lennon - Imagine
Simon and Garfunkle - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Josh Groban - You Rasied Me Up
Kathy Mattea - 18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses
Don McLean - American Pie
Aretha Franklin - Respect
The Carpenters - We've Only Just Begun
Carol King - I Feel the Earth Move
BJ Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin' On
The Beatles - Hey Jude
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Procol Harum - a Whiter Shade Of Pale
Sandy Denny - Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Daryl Hall & John Oates - Sara Smile
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Aerosmith - Dream On
Luther Vandross - A House Is Not A Home

So, Freshlyground. You really need to take a listen to them. You do, trust me.

In life there are times where we stumble across something that makes us sit back and say, Wow!  That is pretty cool.  In 2004 a friend of mine had such a moment.  He was in South Africa and came back with a CD of a band that he had seen and as he put it, "Dunny, you have to listen to these guys.  mark my words they are going to be BIG.  They will play in front of the world someday!" he said.  Well, he was right, they played with Shakira literally in front of the world last year.  The band of which I am speaking is the South African Afro Pop band Freshlyground.  I will admit to copying  their CD from him but only because I had no idea how to get my own copy.  I did finally break down and buy my own from their website this year.  It was well worth it!

So, Freshlyground.  What a breath of fresh air in a stagnant music industry.   Maybe it is because they are from half way around the world, maybe it is because they have such diverse talents within their band, or maybe it is because they have taken control over what they want to present to their fans.  Whatever it is it simply works.  It did take some getting used to that they do sing in their native tongue on some of their songs and since I don't speak their language I have no idea what it is they are talking about but I can say, in those instances everything still just works and since everyone in the band is a seriously talented musician so you will find yourself wrapped up in their intoxicatingly smooth groove.  Much of their music is sung in English but English, Afroasiatic, Nilo Saharan, Austronesian, French or whatever they choose to sing in it is worth listening to.

While Zolani is the lead singer and the face of the band, every piece of the band is crucial to their success.  Kyla Rose plays violin and when combined with Simon Attwell on the flute and sax the stage is set for some of the most lush and vibrant musical passages you will ever hear in pop music of any kind.  Those three  in and of themselves would make me want to buy a ticket to one of their shows but lest we leave out guitarist Shaggy Sheepers and keyboardist Julio "Gugs" Sigauque we would not have some of the most impressive intertwined guitar and keyboard work I have ever heard.  These two simply make good music great music.  Seeing these 5 on stage would be worth every penny of the cost of admission but, then we would leave out one of the most impressive rhythm sections I have heard in the last 25 or 30 years.  Josh Hawks is without question one of the best bass players I have ever listened to.  The funny thing is, when you listen to Freshlyground you don't really realize how good he is because he stays within the song but listen very closely to the low rumble that is Josh Hawks and you will start to get an idea that this is a man that has mastered his craft.  I would compare him to Stanley Jordan or Abe Laboriel or even Charlie Biddle.  I know they are all very different bassists but Josh is in that kind of league.  Listening to him transitioning through his notes so smoothly and effortlessly is like watching a F1 race car driver shift gears at 200 miles per hour in tight traffic.  One mistake and everything falls apart really quickly.  The bump and thump of the band is Peter Cohen.  As a drummer myself I always notice the drums in every song first.  As good a bassist as Josh Hawks is, Peter Cohen is that kind of drummer too.  There are 4 drummers that I hold up as the pinnacle of their craft.  The late Jeff Porcaro and the late Carlos Vega,  Steve Gadd and Jim Keltner.  Those four drummers have set the standard for perfection.  Well, I have to add a fifth.  Peter Cohen should be in that group.  He possesses impeccable time,  full and complete mastery over his drum kit and is so incredibly creative when coming up with new grooves.  He can combine some of the coolest afro grooves with common rudiments to create a pulse for a song that you won't expect.  Just when you think that you have figured out the groove, Peter has the ability to switch to a whole other level of pulse.  You never really know what he is going to come up with.  That to me is the mark of a truly special drummer.  He is technically one of the best I have ever heard but sometimes technical drummers come across as robotic, you could never say that about him.  I mentioned Zolani but let me tell you about her.  She is not just one of the best female vocalists of the past 20 years in pop music but one of the best vocalists period.  Her voice is strong but still very feminine.  She can pull you in on a song like Father Please where you can literally the pain in her voice singing about a father leaving and then get you up and dancing and having a good time with a song like Fire is Low.   Her voice can soar into ranges that can stop a show or take it down a notch that turns a song over to the band.  Zolani could sing the phone book to me and I would pay to see her do it.  

Freshlyground has released four CDs and all are very good.  I think that it must be getting just about time for a greatest hits  because they have become a hit making machine.  2003 brought us Jika Jika.  I really like Train Love, Ocean Floor, Castles in The Sky and Mali. 2004 added my favorite of their CDs, Nomvula.  This is one of those CDs that I can put on and let play.  Every song is really good.  I Am the Man, Nomvula, Vanish, I'd Like, Doo be Doo, Human Angels and Mowbray Kaap are all songs that tell stories and to be honest, FG will tell a story whether you like it or not.  Some of what they have to say may make some people squirm a little.  They are great story tellers though.  Love this CD.  In 2007 they released Ma'Cheri.  While they have always been exceptional musicians, this CD seems to take their talent to another level.  The first song on the CD is  the title track and it adds a great sounding brass section.  What a great way to kick off the party!  In addition to the title track it adds several great songs to what is a fantastic body of work.  Desire is a really great song about relationships.  I have to say, Pot Belly is one seriously great song.  It should be the anthem for everyone that isn't a size 0 and starving themselves to get smaller.  You should head over to You Tube to watch the video.  You will enjoy it.  I love this song on so many levels.  Baby Tonight is probably one of my 3 favorite FG songs.  I love the groove in this song.  Can't understand it but I still love it.  Had Pink Confetti  been released in the US I can't help that it would have been a hit.  It has everything that the US radio market loves.  A nice beat, catchy lyrics, and a really nice chorus with a hook.  I like this song a lot too.  Zulu Lounge takes me back like 25 years or so.  I feel like I should be wearing a turtle neck smoking a pipe while talking to my friends Buffy and Biff.  I guess the best way to describe this song is just that it is so dang smooth.  This brings us to their most current CD, Radio Africa.  I really like this one a lot.  It has everything.  Love songs, political songs, pop songs, rock songs, soul songs  and all that crammed into one CD.  They could not have picked a better song than Moto to start off with.  It is exactly what I would picture as a South African sound.  the Fire is Low is the next song.  You can't escape this songs hook.  I challenge you to try to get away from its infectious beat.  This song is one of the best relationship songs I think that I have ever heard.  You can't help but be pulled into all of the layers of this song.  The 3rd song, the Dream of Love is another one of those songs that comes with a message  but they are so adept at mixing great lyrics with fantastic musicianship that you get walloped  by the message without even realizing it.  Babe In Silence is such a powerful song.  I would encourage you to take a hard listen to this song.  Chicken to Change takes on political turmoil in Africa in a way that is funny and lighthearted.  Listening to the song in the CD does not do it justice though you simply have to watch the video on You Tube.  I got such a good laugh out of that video, you will too.  Reminds me of Land of Genesis' video Land of Confusion back in the 80s.  Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu playing dominos is priceless.  Love the puppets!  I guess  what most people that think they know Freshlyground think is their music is the work they did with Shakira for the Fifa World Cup.  Waka Waka took the world by storm and it does show their versatility but please, please, please  don't base what you know of Freshlyground on that song.  It was a fun and with the added star power of Shakira FG did get some much needed exposure around the world but to get a really good idea of what they are I really hope that you would take a listen to them playing their music.  

Finding Freshlyground music is not the easiest thing to do.  You would think that being a Sony recording artist it would be easy to walk into an HH Gregg or Best Buy and pick up a CD.  Nope, best way is to download it from their website at www.freshlyground.com.  You should also take a look at their videos on You Tube, they have their own channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/freshlygroundsa.  Here is the best news though.  They are getting ready to embark on a North American tour.  They will be traipsing across the US and Canada in June and July so the best way to hear them is to see them live.  I am looking forward to their show at the Black Cat in Washington DC on July 2nd.  

I hope that Freshlyground is well received here in the US.  Their music is a fresh departure from the over produced, teen driven, angst rock, and entitlement pop that we are stuck with in the US.  Perhaps if more bands like this were available to listeners in the states, people may actually want to buy music again.

Freshlyground Playlist:

Train Love

Ocean Floor

Castles in The Sky

Mali.

Nomvula

 Vanish

 I'd Like

 Doo be Doo

 Human Angels

Mowbray Kaap

Ma'Cheri

Desire

Pot Belly

Baby Tonight

Pink Confetti

Zulu Lounge

Moto

Fire is Low

Dream of Love

Babe In Silence

Chicken to Change

For those on facebook, why not check out their page and friend them so you can keep up with what is going on.  http://www.facebook.com/freshlygroundsa

Life's Playlist

I will try to do something with this blog post that will show what music has meant to  me over the years and why.  I believe that there are songs in everyone's life that represent a moment.  I call these songs my life playlist.  They are songs with a deeper meaning.  These are songs that I can remember exactly what I was doing, everything about the moment that I heard them and even now, years later in most cases they still emote the same feelings today as they did then.  So, here is my life playlist.  Let me know what songs are on yours.

Oh What A Night - Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons - It was 1976 and my family had just moved to Heidelberg Germany.  At the time I had thought of that year as the best of my life to that point and that summer was the best summer ever.  From the minute we landed at Ramstine Air Force Base I felt like I was home.  I was born in Heidelberg  just 9 years and 8 months earlier but so much had happened in those 9 years.  That summer, everything seemed to be just right.  My dad, stepmother, sister (just months old at the time) and I had gone to the Heidelberg Rod and Gun club and we were having dinner when I heard Oh What A Night by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on the Jukebox.  Maybe it was because everything seemed to be going so well after a several very stressful years or maybe it was just the song itself.  That song just sounded GREAT.  Every time I hear that song, I think back to the Heidelberg Rod and Gun Club.  Oh What a Night.....

Suspicious Minds - Elvis - In August 1971 Los Angeles music was about as diverse as its population was at the time.  Elvis was playing on the radio alongside Jefferson Airplane, The Carpenters, Jimi Hendrix and the Monkees.  I remember my dad taking off a day from work (he was sick cough cough) so that he and I could spend our first day together just hanging out since he returned from Vietnam.   My dad was an Army recruiter in Los Angeles (in 1971 California, he was stressed).  We took the day and went to Disneyland and it is a memory that will forever be etched in my head.  We had so much fun and to this day I can remember almost everything about it.  It was later in the evening when we started home and as we drove the freeway back to our house in Long Beach Elvis Pressley's Suspicious Minds came on the radio and I remember singing it loudly with my dad.  He kept singing, I called you a tramp.  I loved every second of that four and a half minute song that day and not so much because of the song as much as the memory of that day.  For the year that my dad was in Vietnam I worried every day that he would be killed.  Now, that day, I had him back and we were singing an Elvis song as loud as we wanted to sing it after spending a day at Disneyland.   My dad wanted to spend a day with me enough to play "hooky" from work to do it.  Singing off key and my dad egging me on was simply a memory that I will carry all of the days of my life.

Wildfire - Michael Martin Murphy - In June of 1975 my parents decided that it would be great for me to visit my grandparents for 2 months.  Here is the logistical problem with that statement; we were in Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, they were in Lock Haven Pennsylvania.  The solution, fly Kevin to PA to be with the grandparents right? Nope!  We are going to put Kevin on a Continental Trailways bus in St Louis and the grandparents would pick up this almost 10 year old in Harrisburg Pennsylvania.  Back then it sounded perfectly fine and I will say, it was the coolest trip I have ever taken.  I was on an adventure that NONE of my friends had ever even thought of.  I had no idea that every inch of that trip was planned and people were calling from stops along the way to let my parents know all was well.  I didn't find that out until many years later.  It didn't matter.  I was on an adventure.  I remember sitting behind the bus driver and wide awake in the middle of the night, the radio was on low so that only he and I could hear it.  Michael Martin Murphy's Wildfire came on the radio somewhere along the way and from that moment it would be come my favorite song of all time.  I still think about that trip all of the time.  That bus ride that was only a little more than a day.  All of the stops along the way.  Watching out the window at the countryside going by.  My parents hundreds of miles behind me, my grandparents hundreds of miles ahead of me.  I was there by myself at 9 years old.  I got to make decisions for myself, what to eat at whatever choke and puke we stopped at, if I wanted to buy something with my money I could just do it without asking for permission.  I was on my own.  I remember the next morning we stopped at a bus stop somewhere in Indiana I think and I saw a stuffed black horse and I had to have it.  I named it Wildfire and it was a part of me for many many years.  Like the song, at 9 years old I was trying to figure out life, what was important and what everything meant.  I never did figure out that part but to this day, that song makes me think of the summer of 1975.  I'm not sure that I have ever had a summer like that since.  Maybe I never will but when I hear Wildfire, at least I still have the memories.

Heartlight - Kenny Loggins - This song is just one of those that made me feel good at a time when I was terribly confused by life.  In the fall of 1982 I was a junior in high school and we were assigned a research paper.  Me being really horrible at writing and research procrastinated until the last possible minute.  There was trouble swirling around my parents marriage and I just hated being at home.  They fought constantly and so when it came to being home long enough to work on a paper, well I just didn't want to.  So the weekend before the paper was due I was working furiously on my paper about Kent State.  Wow, what a heavy subject to try to tackle while everything else seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket.  I turned on the radio so that I could get a break and just breathe.  Kent State made me so very sad because it was all so senseless.  My parents fighting all of the time was so senseless.  Everything seemed so senseless.  After all, either the Russians or the US was going to shoot nukes at each other and we were all going to be wiped from the planet.  Well, back to the radio, Kenny Loggins' Heartlight came on and the first line of the song instantly made me feel good, "I like the Love, and I like the peaceful."  WOW!  At that moment I had no idea that that could exist.  Love and peaceful?! All at once.  Well, I talked my neighbor into driving over to Penguin Feather records and tapes in Woodbridge so that I could buy that record.  To this day when something gets me down I will often pull out that album and play this song.  How can you not like a song that starts off with I like the love, I like the peaceful.  There is power in that.  A healing power, an idea of hope.  

Lodi  -  CCR - This song just makes me happy.  Not for the message in the song, nah not that at all.  I just remember that as we moved from Long Beach California to Ft Leonard Wood Missouri I was sitting in the front seat of our green1969 Volkswagon station wagon in the middle of the night with my dad driving, my stepmother and brother in the backseat asleep talking to my dad about the silliest stuff and then Lodi came on the radio somewhere in Arizona.  I knew my dad liked that song a lot.  He was a big CCR fan and I knew that he particularly liked that song.  Then he told me about when he was in Vietnam he would stare at the stars in the middle of the night out in the jungle and think about me and my brother and wonder what we were doing.  He told me that that song was the last song that he had heard when he left Da Nang on the Armed Forces Network when he was waiting to come home and then there we were, listening to it together.  In December of 2004 my dad told me that he heard Lodi on the radio while he was driving to the supermarket and had to pull over to the side of the road and listen to it.  He said that he thought about the night that we listened to it on our way east and then he asked me if I remembered that night.  I told him I thought about that night all the time.  My dad passed away about a month later.  Lodi will be our song always.

The Leader of the Band - Dan Fogelberg - This song is the song that epitomizes me and my dad.  My dad was, is and will always be my hero.  I think of all that he accomplished in his life and there are times that I don't think that I have measured up.  Then I remember times that he would say that he just expected me to be who I was meant to be.  That would be determined by the steps I took along my journey.  My dad was always a tough guy but I know that there were times in his life that he had been hurt and hurt deeply but I think that it was during those times that I saw how courageous and strong he was.  My dad was one of the most kind people you would ever meet.  He never had a harsh word for anyone and would even defend those that had done wrong by him.  I will never forget as a little kid living in Long Beach California he and I walking in downtown Los Angeles when a few hippies started to heckle him.  They called him vile names.  And then, one poured his drink on my dad.  Keep in mind that I was about 6 years old and was standing next to him.  The guys obviously were trying to draw him into a fight.  He just simply said that he understood why they hated the military.  He said that he understood that it represented everything they disliked.  It represented men and women doing more for others than themselves.  He said that the memories of friends that he lost to snipers bullets and bombs and fire were worth every insult accusation or (while wiping the drink from his face) someone pouring their drink on me.  Those memories of his friends were worth 30 seconds of dealing with those guys.  I realized at that moment that my dad had something that so many others didn't.  He had character, at the time I didn't know what character was but now as an adult, I know it when I see it.  My dad's blood runs through me and I think often that my life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man.  I am just a living legacy of the leader of the band.   

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkle - May of 1992 was very tough for me.  I had just had to go through a medical discharge review from the Navy that I dearly loved and then a week later, my dear Grandmother died.  I kind of expected it because I had seen her in April and she wasn't looking very good.  After the funeral we all met at my Aunt Cindy's house and then went down to the river and out on her boat for the day.  It was late in the day, the radio was on we were all just chatting, remembering Gram and the good times (there were so many) and Simon and Garfunkle came on the radio.  I was never a real big fan of theirs.  Not that I disliked them, more that I just never really listened to them.  A Bridge Over Troubled Waters  started playing and we all got very quiet.  I think that everyone was just listening to the words to the song but before I knew it we (about 10 of us) were singing along to the song together.  I realized that as we were all singing together, we were indeed singing about Gram.  She was our bridge over troubled water.  For me it was all the calls I would make to her when my parents were having troubles and she would make everything seem ok.  It was when I came to visit her and sitting with her and just talking.  It was knowing that Gram always seemed to make things ok.   If you need a friend, I'm sailing right behind, like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind, like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind."  She always did ease my mind.  That song will always be Gram's song.

Crocodile Rock - Elton John - Sunday September 22, 1974.  I had just had my 9th birthday and my family was going to the St Louis Cardinals versus the Chicago Cubs.  I couldn't wait to see that game.  My favorite pitcher, Bob Gibson was going to be on the mound, Lou Brock was chasing the single season  stolen base record and we had seats that were close enough that I could see everything that ted Simmons was doing behind the plate.  I was in heaven.  Everything worked as planned, the Cardinals won 6-5. Lou Brock stole 2 bases, Ted Simmons hit a home run and while Bob Gibson didn't get the win (Al Hrabosky did) he pitched a great game and didn't get a loss.  On the ride home Elton John's Crocodile Rock came on the radio and I remember bouncing around in the back seat singing that song, bouncing off of my brother and just having a really fun time.  My brother who was almost always stoic and serious even was having fun.  Our parents were in the front seat just laughing and having a fun time with it.  It was one of the great birthdays that I ever had.  Anytime I hear that song I can't help but smile and think baseball!

Dunnys Music Blog: Move Like This by The Cars - Groovetown

Dunnys Music Blog: Move Like This by The Cars - Groovetown: "Move Like This by The Cars - Groovetown Okay so I waited for25 years for the Cars to release a new album and here it is! The best part is..."

Move Like This by The Cars - Groovetown

Move Like This by The Cars - Groovetown

Okay so I waited for25 years for the Cars to release a new album and here it is!  The best part is that it is available on FLAC, CD and Vinyl!  Yep, you heard right, Vinyl.  Contrary to popular belief you can still get a lot of new releases on that black plasticy delicate form of media from days gone by.  As you will learn by reading my blog over time, I love the sound of analog.  CD's while convenient sound far to sterile to me.  The fullness of analog is lost in the "precision" of digital.  Don't believe me?  Take a listen to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon an pop on The Great Gig In The Sky.  The CD sounds over processed and lacking any warmth or depth while the album sounds full and lifelike.  Better yet, put on John Mayer's Room For Squares and take a listen to no Such Thing.  The acoustic guitar that starts the song is full of tone and you can actually hear the warmth of the body of the guitar on vinyl.  The CD and download versions are theoretically dynamically better.  Theoretically the Baltimore Orioles could win the World Series this year.  Sure you have to be a little more careful with your music when you are playing records but they aren't delicate flowers either.  Norah Jones released Her album the Fall in 2009.  I bought it on CD and was immediately disappointed.  Everything sounded so compressed and over produced.  Her voice didn't have that wonderful smokiness that was evident on her other albums.  So, I bought the vinyl version and WHAM! There it was, everything in her beautiful voice was back.  The album sounds so full and clear with no compression.  Chasing Pirates gave my Fisher #66 speakers from 1969 a workout like I have never heard before.  The low end of that song reminded me of what a CD or any other electronic form of music can never do.  Reproduce full detail at low frequencies with a fullness and clarity that can only be accomplished by a diamond needle moving across a groove on a record.  Death Cab For Cutie Just released their new album on vinyl and I hope to get a copy soon.  As for the above mention Cars record, well fathers days is rapidly approaching (hint hint).  I have listened to Move Like This on Napster and I have to say that anyone that was a Cars fan back in the 70s and 80s will absolutely love this record.  Isn't amazing how a band that spent so much time away from each other can almost effortlessly produce something that sounds as good as this album does?  Perhaps it is because they  aren't a band assembled to write hit songs and sell records for the short term.  The Cars were and are a great band of musicians that perform music that they have ownership of.  They aren't a manufactured band that is filling a nice for a record label.  If you have Napster (which I highly recommend) then take a listen to the album all the way through.  If not, well I recommend that you get it and then listen to the album.  I love this album, let me know what you think of it.  I think the ultimate though would be to pull out your record players, buy the album on vinyl and hear the Cars the way they were 25 years ago, in analog with a wonderfully full sound!

If you don't know where to buy your albums just ask me.  I have dozens of sites that I'll share with you.  If you have committed the sin of getting rid of your turntable, just click the Amazon link at the bottom of my blog and you can buy one there.

So where has the music I love gone?

Well, I'm not going to hide it, not gonna run from it.  In fact, I am going to stand up and be proud of it.  I love the pop music from the 80s!  Huey Lewis and the News, the Go-Gos, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Toto, Tears for Fears, the Cars, Journey, the Bangles, INXS, Howard Jones, Richard Marx, Duran Duran (my wife's favorite band), Men at Work and Christopher Cross to name a very few are bands that were fun to listen to but it seems that in an era of get out new records (yes I said records and will talk about that in another post) and CDs that the music has suffered.  Now I am not going to say that there hasn't been any good music since the 80s.  That would be assinine to even suggest but in my opinion music has for the most part been watered down.  I think that there are some great pop artists out there now, Jason Mraz, Freshlyground (they will get their own blog post later), Bruno Mars, the Plain White T's and Sara Bareilles are a few current artists that I really like and think are pop.  But it seems like the pop genre is or has died.  To me pop music is for the most part non political, doesn't pick a side in social issues of if it does it is an issue that when you see it it is obvious what the right point is.  It also has really good musicianship, the song writing is outstanding and the performers are so good that you just can't wait to see them perform live.  To me that is pop music.  Not degrading any one person, group or segment of society.  I mean when I listen to Toto's Make Believe I don't think of calling a woman a "ho" or when I listen to Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World I don't think about shooting a police officer.  When I hear Lionel Richie sing about Dancing On the Ceiling I don't think of smoking crack and getting fall down drunk.  Maybe it is just old man in me but it just seems to me that our societal ills can be traced back to the very music that the music industry says has no influence on.  Really?  Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, County Joe and the Fish and other popular 70s anti war artists helped to bring an end to the Vietnam war.  Music doesn't influence popular culture?  I mean Really?  Well, pop music to me isn't Lady Gaga (I honestly have no idea what she is),  Adele, Katy Perry, New Boyz, Cee Lo Green, Kenny Chesney, Lil Wayne or the Black Eyed Peas.  They all have their genres but they aren't pop music to me.  Certainly not the type of pop music that I enjoyed when I was a kid and definitely not the kind I listen to now.  Truth be told, radio lost me years ago, thank heavens for Napster and their music service (that will probably be its own blog post later too).

So, while it may seem like a long winded ramble and diatribe against everything that some may find popular now, it is MY long winded ramble and diatribe.  I don't care what you may think about it.  Like it or not, they are my opinions.  Anyway, I intend to always offer a playlist for every post and so below is my playlist for this one.  Thanks for taking a minute to read this and well, listen to good music, not the stuff record labels and radio programmers tell you is good stuff.  Explore for yourself and find bands that inspire you.

Huey Lewis & the News - Do You Believe In Love
Hall & Oates - Out of Touch
Toto - Make Believe
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
the Cars - Drive
Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling
Men at Work - Down Under
the Bangles - Manic Monday
Christopher Cross - Ride Like the Wind
Howard Jones - Life in One Day
INXS - What You Need
Duran Duran - Rio
Rod Steward - Love Touch
Kenny Loggins - Don't Fight It
Michael McDonald - Sweet Freedom
Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
Squeeze - Tempted
the Pretenders - Brass In Pocket

So what is my blog page about you ask? Well read it and find out.

So my whole life I have loved music.  As an army brat, the one constant that I had as a kid was music.  No matter where our next duty station took us, when I had to make all new friends every 3 years or so music was always there.  Always my friend.  So, my blog will be about that music that I grew up with, what I liked, music that saw me through good times and bad, the music of my memories.  You may not like my view but frankly I don't care.  Start your own blog.  I'm talk my opinions here not yours.  SO, there it is.  Dunny's Music Blog is just that, MY music blog.  I hope to get people to think about music is different terms.  Give you some ideas and hopefully some humor, what you get out of my blog is up to you. 

Well, enjoy my posts (or not) and let me know what you think (I have thick skin).  I wasn't an english major and my wife is to busy to edit my posts so just deal with it.  Oh, and smile.  It ticks off the angry people of the world and makes everyone else wonder what you have been up to!