Monday, September 17, 2012

#589: But is it commercial?

This week's at-work playlist mostly stars ADD's homemade CD's from 2008. Thanx 2 ADD 4 compiling them, ... & it only took me 4 yrs 2 remember 2 take them 2 work...!

Bread -- Been Too Long on the Road.
Eric Clapton -- Let it Rain.
Green Day -- Holiday.
Jefferson Airplane -- Somebody to Love.
Korn -- Word Up.
Matchbox 20 -- Push.
Nickelback -- Photograph.
Paul Simon -- You Can Call Me Al.
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus -- Face Down.
Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- The Impression That I Get.
Savage Garden -- Crash and Burn.
Stevie Nicks -- Stand Back.
Third Eye Blind -- Jumper.
Tricia Yearwood -- She's in Love With the Boy.
U2 -- It's a Beautiful Day.
Michelle Branch -- Everywhere.
Aretha Franklin & George Michael -- I Knew You Were Waiting for Me.
Bangles -- Everything I Wanted.
My Chemical Romance -- Teenagers (scare the living shit out of me....).
Jordin Sparks -- Now You Tell Me, Worth the Wait.
Coheed and Cambria -- Feathers, The Road and the Damned.
Sarah McLaughlin -- Stupid.
Pam Tillis -- Whenever You Walk in the Room.
Bill Bruford -- MASTER STROKES best-of.
King Crimson -- Three of a Perfect Pair, Sleepless.
Yes -- America (long version), Looking Around.

Bonus trax:
Paul Revere & the Raiders -- My Wife Can't Cook.
Five Man Electrical Band -- Money Back Guarantee.

NOTES: Now, in case some1 wantsta accuse me of "going commercial" or something, I'd just like 2 note that I'm not a Korn fan ... tho "Word Up" is hysterical, a better-than-the-original cover of (4 me) a 1/2-remembered almost-hit from the '80s by Cameo -- which, when I checked back & gave a listen 2 the original was ... kinda lame. Korn's version adds the grit & hilarity the original lacked. & that's the only nice thing I have 2 say about them....
Mosta the rest is my usual kinda stuff, tho if you haven't you otta hear My Chemical Romance's hilarious "Teenagers" -- I have problems with their usual emotional-climax-every-30-seconds style, but this 1 song is a scream from start 2 finish. Shoulda bn a big hit -- they coulda bleeped the "shit." Maybe they did....
I will hear no critiques of "Crash and Burn" either, which I've bn a sucker 4 since the 1st time I heard it. I really like SG's "Affirmation," too. Ah well, there's no accounting 4 taste....
Oh, & KC's "Sleepless" is still a classic, capturing both the terror & the surreal hilarity of nightmares -- Adrian Belew's line about seeing submarines lurking in his ceiling gets me every time. He shoulda won some awards 4 his underrated lyrics 4 KC back in the '80s & since. Oh, & then there's also the guitar work by AB & some guy named Fripp....
Should also note that Coheed & Cambria's "The Road and the Damned" has some really haunting guitar & vocals -- & it's SHORT. "Feathers" has everything you'd ever want from a hard-rock single Xcept 4 a strong ending....
On the bonus trax, the Raiders' "My Wife Can't Cook" is an early, previously-unreleased "Idaho white-boy blues" track from the ESSENTIAL best-of that features Mark Lindsay gibbering about how he'd starve if it weren't 4 beans outta a can, with some unhinged Paul Revere backing on piano. They shoulda done more comedy -- this woulda made a good B-side.
"Money Back Guarantee" was a minor hit for 5MEB around '72, I dimly remembered it from a coupla K-Tel collections, never heard it on the radio. It's kinda silly & gimmicky, but the choruses R cute & it's catchy & it makes 4 a 6th song from their BEST OF released a coupla yrs back that I can actually listen-2 repeatedly. + it fits in with this week's theme....
Oh, & I did listen 2 all of Bill Bruford's MASTER STROKES best-of (after re-reading parts of his autobiog recently) & found it 2 B ... really nice background music, & I'm sorry I can't B more positive than that. I'm sure Bill intended it 2 B more than just background. It's very busy, active music, & on most of it Bill sounds like he's still drumming on the 1st U.K. album. Guitarist Allan Holdsworth also has the same ghostly sound he contributed 2 the original U.K. Both of these R Good Things.
While the collection features some trax that R intricate, intresting & catchy, sevral of em sound like TV game-show themes -- good game-show themes. There's a shortage of really striking, memorable tunes. There's 1 fairly-long thrash at the end that almost gains some Crimson-like impressiveness. I'll B playing the CD again at work, & it DID keep me moving....
That's all 4 now. Please check-out Fear and Loathing as R epic in silliness continues, & I'll have more 4 y'all soon....

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