here they are:
"Green Eyes And A Heart of Gold" by The Lone Bellow: Folk-rock trio The Lone Bellow continue to impress me which each new song they release! Between this song and "Bleeding Out", they seem to have a knack for making depressing subject matter sound both happy and sincere. This song might be about trying to endure bad situations, though, ("All the money's gone and the house is cold, but it's alright"). The melody of the song is sweet and thoughtful, but also quite catchy (a lot of their material so far seems to be this way). It's a wonder they haven't reached mainstream success yet! All I can think of is that perhaps they were a year too late on the neo-folk-rock bandwagon.
"Head On" by Man Man: It's a person! It's a human! No, it's MAN Man!! This repetitively named band, whose song "Head On" is not to be confused for the Jesus and Mary Chain (and later, Pixies) song of the same name, are quite an eclectic band, even among other bands of a genre already known for being eclectic! Their sound suggests something of a cross between the clever techno-pop of Moby and the orchestral indie sound of Andrew Bird. Perhaps the best part of this song is its uplifting message, "Hold on to your heart", and the melodic way in which it is sung!
"Home Again" by Elton John: Sir Elton's collaboration with fellow 1970's musician, Leon Russell, proved that Elton still had something to say in the 21st century! "Home Again" proves he can do just as good standing on his own after all these years as he does with other musicians! This one really tugs at the ol' heartstrings like a lot of his best known songs tend to do. This one follows in the footsteps of "Candle In the Wind", "Rocket Man", "Tiny Dancer", etc., with its bittersweet tone, soul searching lyrics, and its rich instrumental arrangements. Elton truly has gone back "home again" with this one, hasn't he?!
"Nothing More" by The Alternate Routes: Wow, is this song ever a tearjerker!! Although, it is a tearjerker that elicits tears of joy, and not sadness. Both the song and the video (which can be seen here, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tXzlVjU1xs), are about lead singer Tim Warren's sister, Katie, when she was a little girl. The video is very cute, and it is basically a collection of home videos featuring Katie just running around and having fun. The song expresses the theme of how close Tim and Katie are as brother and sister. I have just one word to say after viewing the video for this song and listening to it. "Awwwww"!!
"Queenie Eye" by Paul McCartney: Sir Paul's latest song, "Queenie Eye", recalls his best work from The Beatles and then some! It has a rollicking, piano based sound, similar to songs like "Lady Madonna", and the second half of "You Never Give Me Your Money". I don't really know what "Queenie Eye" is supposed to be in the context of the song, but it sure is catchy! I suppose that the title of the song is essentially just filler words, as the imagery of the song seems to be a "word salad" of sorts (like "I Am the Walrus"), though the song itself could be taken as an allegory for how fickle fame can be.
"The Wire" by Haim: An indie-pop trio of teenage sisters from my hometown (L.A.) doesn't exactly sound like the sort of band who would cover a song for a Fleetwood Mac tribute album, but I first got to know them with a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, "Hold Me". Haim (pronounced like "hime") were a bit more of an electro-pop sort of group back when they covered "Hold Me", but I guess doing one of Fleetwood Mac's songs inspired them to SOUND more like Fleetwood Mac (albeit with an indie pop sheen to it). "The Wire" is a sunny slice of California pop music that would probably put a smile on Christine McVie's face if she ever heard it! Not bad for a "breakthrough" song!
Showing posts with label Elton John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elton John. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
New songs for Dec. 8th, 2010
Here they are!
"Boots" by The Killers: Is it just me, or does it seem a tad weird to call a Christmas song "Boots"?!? It's such an enigmatic title!! (Though there have been other Christmas tunes with odd titles - Joni Mitchell's "River", The Pretenders' "2000 Miles", and The Pogues "Fairytale of New York" among them). I like this song, but I do have a couple complaints about it. First of all, come on Brandon, you could have picked a better title!! The Killers already have THREE Christmas songs in their catalog with more obvious associations with the holidays in the titles - "A Great Big Sled", "Joseph Better You Than Me" (as in the Biblical Joseph), and "Don't Shoot Me Santa". "A Great Big Sled" is probably my personal fave in The Killers' Xmas catalog. But getting back to the review, my second complaint is that Brandon Flowers really seems to have softened his music more than usual as of 2010. All of his most recent songs (including "Boots", with The Killers), seem to be on a level that sounds like a cross between Coldplay and U2, better than the former, but worse than the latter! The release Flowers put out the earliest this year, "Crossfire" at least had some nice electric guitar riffing, but "Only the Young" and "Boots"?! These songs seem to rely more on keyboards. I dunno, something about that just puts me off. But the lyrics are nostalgic (with the mention of things like "snowball fights" and "the smell of cinnamon" in the chorus), and thankfully, I COULD hear some acoustic guitar strumming towards the end of the song, which I liked.
"Fixin' to Die" by G. Love, and featuring The Avett Brothers: Not to be confused for the Country Joe and The Fish song of a similar name ("I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag"). It seems as though the artist formerly known as Garrett Dutton and The Avetts are both trying to add a little down-'n'-dirty country-blues into their catalog. This song marks an especially welcome return for G. Love, who seemed to stray from his eccentric take on blues he had in the '90s and go more into being a Jack Johnson clone in the '00s. As for The Avetts, it took me awhile to get used to them. I'm still not fond of the "sleepers" (slower, more polished piano-pop style tunes) in their catalog, like "I And Love And You" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise"), but songs like the melancholy, vaguely Robbie Robertson-esque (his '60s/'70s era material) songs "January Wedding" and "Yard Sale" were both great songs that I warmed up to circa the summer of this year. Speaking of which, their more punchy tune, "Kick Drum Heart" is also being reviewed in this week's blog! "Fixin' to Die" is a really gritty, catchy, gutsy, bluesy tune for both Dutton (G. Love) and The Avetts, though! Highly recommended!
"Hey Ahab" by Elton John and Leon Russell: Much like "If It Wasn't For Bad" (see my late August/early September reviews on this site), it seems as though despite the fact that Elton is taking most of the vocal parts here, that Leon Russell is clearly the man when it comes to the instrumentation of the songs on his latest album with Elton John! Elton's melodic piano-pop sound isn't quite evident on "Hey Ahab" (and "If It Wasn't..."), but Leon plays a mean boogie-style piano a la The Band and Van Morrison on both of 'em. "Ahab" is a bit more of an adventurous and energetic track. Its length is almost five and a half minutes, it features R & B/gospel style female singers in the background, and its very fully orchestrated. Way to go, guys!
"Kick Drum Heart" by The Avett Brothers: I already made my opinion about these guys clear when I reviewed "Fixin' to Die" in this week's blog. "Kick Drum Heart" is a surprisingly punchy tune for the normally mellow neo-folk act. It's still mellow, but it's more energetic than most of their material. It's also one of their more piano driven tunes (like nearly everything they've done so far that's hit the airwaves). Perhaps it was the dreary (in my opinion) keyboards of "I And Love And You" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" that put me off about those songs, but the keyboards in "Kick Drum" are quite lively and stomp-y. Not bad for a country-rock influenced band!
"Terrible Love" by The National: A good word to describe this song?! "Fuzzy"!! Yes, "fuzzy". It sounds funny, but of course I'm not talking "fuzzy" as in "Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear", more as in "that song's got a fuzzy sound". In other words, somewhat muddy distortion on the recording (and guitar). For a band I've just come to know this year, I must say, The National is pretty cool!! Whether it's the pseudo-goth-rock vibe of "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (and "Anyone's Ghost"), the orchestral '60s-ish pop-rock of "Lemonworld" (my fave of theirs so far), or "Terrible Love", it's all good!! "Terrible Love" almost reminds me of a Beck song with its purposely old-sounding distortion and dark, yet still entertaining sound. Even the lyrics sound a bit Beck-ish ("It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders" - what is THAT supposed to mean?!) Beck would be proud!!
"Boots" by The Killers: Is it just me, or does it seem a tad weird to call a Christmas song "Boots"?!? It's such an enigmatic title!! (Though there have been other Christmas tunes with odd titles - Joni Mitchell's "River", The Pretenders' "2000 Miles", and The Pogues "Fairytale of New York" among them). I like this song, but I do have a couple complaints about it. First of all, come on Brandon, you could have picked a better title!! The Killers already have THREE Christmas songs in their catalog with more obvious associations with the holidays in the titles - "A Great Big Sled", "Joseph Better You Than Me" (as in the Biblical Joseph), and "Don't Shoot Me Santa". "A Great Big Sled" is probably my personal fave in The Killers' Xmas catalog. But getting back to the review, my second complaint is that Brandon Flowers really seems to have softened his music more than usual as of 2010. All of his most recent songs (including "Boots", with The Killers), seem to be on a level that sounds like a cross between Coldplay and U2, better than the former, but worse than the latter! The release Flowers put out the earliest this year, "Crossfire" at least had some nice electric guitar riffing, but "Only the Young" and "Boots"?! These songs seem to rely more on keyboards. I dunno, something about that just puts me off. But the lyrics are nostalgic (with the mention of things like "snowball fights" and "the smell of cinnamon" in the chorus), and thankfully, I COULD hear some acoustic guitar strumming towards the end of the song, which I liked.
"Fixin' to Die" by G. Love, and featuring The Avett Brothers: Not to be confused for the Country Joe and The Fish song of a similar name ("I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag"). It seems as though the artist formerly known as Garrett Dutton and The Avetts are both trying to add a little down-'n'-dirty country-blues into their catalog. This song marks an especially welcome return for G. Love, who seemed to stray from his eccentric take on blues he had in the '90s and go more into being a Jack Johnson clone in the '00s. As for The Avetts, it took me awhile to get used to them. I'm still not fond of the "sleepers" (slower, more polished piano-pop style tunes) in their catalog, like "I And Love And You" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise"), but songs like the melancholy, vaguely Robbie Robertson-esque (his '60s/'70s era material) songs "January Wedding" and "Yard Sale" were both great songs that I warmed up to circa the summer of this year. Speaking of which, their more punchy tune, "Kick Drum Heart" is also being reviewed in this week's blog! "Fixin' to Die" is a really gritty, catchy, gutsy, bluesy tune for both Dutton (G. Love) and The Avetts, though! Highly recommended!
"Hey Ahab" by Elton John and Leon Russell: Much like "If It Wasn't For Bad" (see my late August/early September reviews on this site), it seems as though despite the fact that Elton is taking most of the vocal parts here, that Leon Russell is clearly the man when it comes to the instrumentation of the songs on his latest album with Elton John! Elton's melodic piano-pop sound isn't quite evident on "Hey Ahab" (and "If It Wasn't..."), but Leon plays a mean boogie-style piano a la The Band and Van Morrison on both of 'em. "Ahab" is a bit more of an adventurous and energetic track. Its length is almost five and a half minutes, it features R & B/gospel style female singers in the background, and its very fully orchestrated. Way to go, guys!
"Kick Drum Heart" by The Avett Brothers: I already made my opinion about these guys clear when I reviewed "Fixin' to Die" in this week's blog. "Kick Drum Heart" is a surprisingly punchy tune for the normally mellow neo-folk act. It's still mellow, but it's more energetic than most of their material. It's also one of their more piano driven tunes (like nearly everything they've done so far that's hit the airwaves). Perhaps it was the dreary (in my opinion) keyboards of "I And Love And You" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" that put me off about those songs, but the keyboards in "Kick Drum" are quite lively and stomp-y. Not bad for a country-rock influenced band!
"Terrible Love" by The National: A good word to describe this song?! "Fuzzy"!! Yes, "fuzzy". It sounds funny, but of course I'm not talking "fuzzy" as in "Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear", more as in "that song's got a fuzzy sound". In other words, somewhat muddy distortion on the recording (and guitar). For a band I've just come to know this year, I must say, The National is pretty cool!! Whether it's the pseudo-goth-rock vibe of "Bloodbuzz Ohio" (and "Anyone's Ghost"), the orchestral '60s-ish pop-rock of "Lemonworld" (my fave of theirs so far), or "Terrible Love", it's all good!! "Terrible Love" almost reminds me of a Beck song with its purposely old-sounding distortion and dark, yet still entertaining sound. Even the lyrics sound a bit Beck-ish ("It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders" - what is THAT supposed to mean?!) Beck would be proud!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
new songs for Sept. 1st, 2010
four of 'em this time - enjoy!!
"Dead American Writers" by Tired Pony: What do you get when you mix Snow Patrol, R.E.M., and Belle and Sebastian in a blender (with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody in the lead)? You get indie rock supergroup Tired Pony!! This is a group that combines alumni of the three aforementioned bands, and kinda sounds like all three of them as well! Their first single, "Dead American Writers" takes the typical "twangy" guitar sound of fellow rock supergroup Traveling Wilburys and combines it with bittersweet minor key indie/alt instrumentation. All in all, this song is like an indie rock fruit salad - it combines the best flavors of bands with many different approaches to music with delightful results!
"If It Wasn't For Bad" by Elton John and Leon Russell: Never thought Sir Elton would make a grand comeback to rock 'n' roll after the mid-'70s, but after many years, he has! Well, kind of. It still has the trademark piano sound Elton has become known for, but with Leon Russell on board, Elton's latest track gets jazzed up a bit (and even has a brief guitar solo!) With their combined musical efforts, "If It Wasn't For Bad" ends up sounding more like Van Morrison, Joe Cocker, The Band, and Jackson Browne than it does Billy Joel or James Taylor like one might expect at first. Anyone who liked the more upbeat performances on "The Last Waltz" would probably dig this song! I know I did.
"People Say" by Portugal. The Man: OK, first of all, to clear up any confusion you might have, the name of this band IS, in fact, "Portugal. The Man" (complete with the period and the capital "T" in "The"). With a name as quirky as this, I figured that Portugal. The Man, were an indie group, and I was right. However, they are not a folk-rock-y indie like most of the acts that get classified under such a label. In fact, hardcore punk bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Fugazi are some of their biggest influences! However, "People Say" is NOT a hardcore punk song. Instead, it's almost like R & B-inflected indie, with chords that seem to echo The Beatles' "Let It Be" (think of a more laid-back version of Gnarls Barkley). If I had to sum up "People Say" in just a couple words, I'd say that it adds a more unique, almost gospel-influence flavor to the ever expanding world of indie rock!
"The Sweetest Thing" by JJ Grey and Mofro: Much like their '08 adult alt. radio hit, "Orange Blossoms", "The Sweetest Thing" once again showcases the unique brand of R & B, jazz, and blues influence JJ Grey and Mofro have (probably) made trademark in their music. For adult alt. radio stations themselves, "The Sweetest Thing" is like a breath of fresh air! It has a vigorous, youthful toe-tapping energy that the mostly wistful and melancholy lineup of such stations seem to lack (for the most part, at least). Sometimes us R.E.M. and Snow Patrol fans need something to get up and boogie down to to shake off our blues! Songs like "The Sweetest Thing" give us a perfect opportunity to do so!
"Dead American Writers" by Tired Pony: What do you get when you mix Snow Patrol, R.E.M., and Belle and Sebastian in a blender (with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody in the lead)? You get indie rock supergroup Tired Pony!! This is a group that combines alumni of the three aforementioned bands, and kinda sounds like all three of them as well! Their first single, "Dead American Writers" takes the typical "twangy" guitar sound of fellow rock supergroup Traveling Wilburys and combines it with bittersweet minor key indie/alt instrumentation. All in all, this song is like an indie rock fruit salad - it combines the best flavors of bands with many different approaches to music with delightful results!
"If It Wasn't For Bad" by Elton John and Leon Russell: Never thought Sir Elton would make a grand comeback to rock 'n' roll after the mid-'70s, but after many years, he has! Well, kind of. It still has the trademark piano sound Elton has become known for, but with Leon Russell on board, Elton's latest track gets jazzed up a bit (and even has a brief guitar solo!) With their combined musical efforts, "If It Wasn't For Bad" ends up sounding more like Van Morrison, Joe Cocker, The Band, and Jackson Browne than it does Billy Joel or James Taylor like one might expect at first. Anyone who liked the more upbeat performances on "The Last Waltz" would probably dig this song! I know I did.
"People Say" by Portugal. The Man: OK, first of all, to clear up any confusion you might have, the name of this band IS, in fact, "Portugal. The Man" (complete with the period and the capital "T" in "The"). With a name as quirky as this, I figured that Portugal. The Man, were an indie group, and I was right. However, they are not a folk-rock-y indie like most of the acts that get classified under such a label. In fact, hardcore punk bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Fugazi are some of their biggest influences! However, "People Say" is NOT a hardcore punk song. Instead, it's almost like R & B-inflected indie, with chords that seem to echo The Beatles' "Let It Be" (think of a more laid-back version of Gnarls Barkley). If I had to sum up "People Say" in just a couple words, I'd say that it adds a more unique, almost gospel-influence flavor to the ever expanding world of indie rock!
"The Sweetest Thing" by JJ Grey and Mofro: Much like their '08 adult alt. radio hit, "Orange Blossoms", "The Sweetest Thing" once again showcases the unique brand of R & B, jazz, and blues influence JJ Grey and Mofro have (probably) made trademark in their music. For adult alt. radio stations themselves, "The Sweetest Thing" is like a breath of fresh air! It has a vigorous, youthful toe-tapping energy that the mostly wistful and melancholy lineup of such stations seem to lack (for the most part, at least). Sometimes us R.E.M. and Snow Patrol fans need something to get up and boogie down to to shake off our blues! Songs like "The Sweetest Thing" give us a perfect opportunity to do so!
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