Year In Music 2017 (Disc 1 of 2)
(By Richard Goodman,
April & September 2018)
As you may
have heard, Fats Domino died this year.
The week that it happened, I heard a few of his songs played on the
radio. Not a lot unfortunately, but a
few, and the one I liked most was one I had never heard before. It was this cover of a Beatles tune that
honored the Beatles arrangements but still managed to sound entirely like Fats
Domino. I like the enthusiasm of the
piano playing and how lively the whole record sounds. I don’t know why this didn’t become a hit.
Grass Roots - I'm Living For You Girl
One of my
travel agents forwarded me an email from a client and in the client‘s signature
box was a link to a blogsite of his.
Just in case I ever needed to converse with that client, I decided to
check out his blog since it was about music.
One of the posts was a group of studio musicians known as “The Wrecking
Crew”. I’d heard the name but didn’t
know much about them so I decided to watch the documentary mentioned in the
post. The documentary was mind-blowing
because it explained so much to me about why I liked some of the diverse stuff
I liked. It was because the same group
of musicians was used as the backing band for all these great songs.
The studio
musicians used on the Simon & Garfunkel album “Bridge Of Troubled Water”
played on the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” and on songs like "The Lonely
Bull" - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, "He's a Rebel" -
The Crystals, "Be My Baby" - The Ronettes, "You've Lost That
Lovin' Feelin'" - The Righteous Brothers, "Mr. Tambourine Man" -
The Byrds, "Monday Monday" - The Mamas & the Papas, "Never
My Love" - The Association, "Up, Up and Away" - The 5th
Dimension, "The Beat Goes On" - Sonny & Cher, "(They Long to
Be) Close to You" - The Carpenters, "I Think I Love You" - The
Partridge Family, and so on. That is
just a very tiny sample of the songs they played on. The list goes into the hundreds of
songs. Heck, just one of the drummers in
the group, Hal Blaine, played on seven consecutive “Record Of the Year” Grammy
winners. This group of studio pros is
the connecting link between all the different 1960’s and early 1970’s songs I
liked as I was growing up (and still like today.) I just came across this forgotten track by
the Grass Roots as I was re-listening to their stuff once I learned that The
Wrecking Crew also played on their big hits. This song was not a hit and I’d
never heard it before, but I love the drive and energy of it and it is a solid
as their more well-known songs.
The Killers - The Man
This song is
brash, and bold, and braggadocios but has a knowing wink. They aren’t really as boastful as the
character in this song but ironically, the song is so entertaining that it
justifies the hubris.
Arcade Fire - Everything Now
I loved
Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” album so much that I’ve gotten all their other
stuff but unfortunately that was their peak.
The last two albums have been okay, but only one or two songs cut
through the clutter and stay lodged in my brain. I might have to start cherry-picking songs
from them instead of buying whole albums in the future.
Shania Twain - Life's About To Get Good
When I heard
that Shania’s husband, Robert “Mutt” Lange, had cheated on her and was having
an affair with her friend’s wife, I was sad and worried for several
reasons. Why would someone cheat on
Shania, an incredibly beautiful woman, and by all accounts a good person? What is that going to do to her career, since
Lange was essential to her signature sound?
Would she start writing sad breakup songs now? Would this delay her next album? It turns out that yes, we would have to wait
15 years for Shania to release a new album, and it lacks the bite and
catchiness of her previous work, and it has many sad breakup songs. She eventually found love again, and talks
about that long, frustrating search in this song and several others so I feel
bad saying that I was very underwhelmed by the album. I hope this song is an indication that her
new songs were just a first tentative step back into the game and she will find
her musical footing again and puts out more classics instead of dull, mid-tempo
breakup tunes like the other songs on the new album.
This is
another sob story album that I bought out of pity. Rod has talked about having writer’s block
for a decade, which explains all those Great American Songbook covers albums he
did. He just recently started writing
again and the album got some good reviews so I decided to try it, since I have
liked several of his albums. Overall, it
was a decent effort, a promising fresh start.
I pick this song for my 2017 mix CD because it is a solid, catchy tunes
and because it has that bonkers scream in the middle of it –
“Ppplllleeeeaaasssee!!!” So bizarre to
just drop that in a song, but I have to respect his passion so Rod makes it
through the first cut here. (And the two
references to other Rod Stewart songs in that sentence were intentional.)
Jaime Nair - Sob O Mar
Just a
lovely, soothing song I heard while scanning through channels on SiriusXM.
This is
another song the showcases The Wrecking Crew.
The composer brought them all in to play on his song and I think it is
an offbeat instrumental that draws you into the groove and evokes a trippy
1960’s vibe. I got the 4-CD soundtrack
to the documentary partially because of this song, partially because I wanted
hear the bass part on Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On”, partially because
I wanted good sounding recordings of some songs I already had on cheap sounding
compilations, and also because I was unfamiliar with some of the songs and
thought I might find some hidden gems, which I did.
Chris Isaak - Reverie
It has been
awhile since Isaak put out anything, but he always does solid work so I got
this album. What I like best about his
stuff are the little side bits that aren’t an essential part of the song but
are what elevate the song from ordinary to unique. Like on this one, the song is okay but his
vocal phrasing on the chorus is what makes it distinctive to me.
Weezer -
Happy Hour
Weezer has
been trying to make another great album ever since Maladroit, back in
2004. Sometimes they will get three or
four really good songs at once but never quite enough for a cohesive, stellar
album. The closest they have come is
with the “Red” album, Death to False Metal, and this one here (Pacific
Daydream). This is one of the better
songs on the album, along with the wonderful “Beach Boys”, “Feels Like Summer” and
“QB Blitz”, so if you like it then it may be time to give Weezer another try
after their long run of bad albums.
Tears For Fears - I Love You But I'm Lost
T.F.F. is a
group I didn’t “LOVE” initially. I liked
them in the 1980’s but mostly just the singles and not even all of them- for
instance I don’t like Woman In Chains or The Working Hour or I Believe. They were a big whiney in my opinion although
I bought the greatest hits album mostly because I loved the song Sowing The
Seeds Of Love. About ten years ago, every
few months I would hear the song Everybody Wants To Rule The World and it just
struck me as a perfect song- it immediately puts me in a lazy, nostalgic mood
where everything feels okay and there are no worries and the there is nothing I
would want to change about the song or the feelings it evokes. It has become one of my ten all-time favorite
songs. Over time, as that song and their
other big hits kept getting airplay I grew to appreciate them more and started
buying the individual albums and more often than not enjoyed just listening to
the whole album and not worrying about the hits. I got all the albums that no one else bought,
like Elemental, Raoul And The Kings Of Spain, Everyone Loves A Happy Ending,
even Roland Orzabal’s solo album Tomcats Screaming Outside. Each one had several songs that created a
mood and vibe that resonated with me and I would play the albums
regularly. They have now become one of
my favorite bands even though I wouldn’t have said that about them in their
heyday. A new greatest hits compilation
came out and included two new songs and this is one of the two songs and is the
most “Tears For Fears’-y of the two.
Supposedly, there will eventually be another new album so that is
something to look forward to but in the meantime, I can keep going back to my
two favorites- Songs From The Big Chair and Everyone Loves A Happy Ending
The xx - Dangerous
This trio
started out great with a low-key atmospheric sound that was somehow hooky and
catchy as well. Their next album, and
the solo album Jamie XX lost the groove and were mostly just ambient background
noise. Their third album got back on
track with a couple of nice numbers, particularly this one, and the lead single
On Hold.
Charlie Puth - Attention
I just loved
the bass sound and thought it had a great groove.
Styx - The Outpost
It has been
14 years since Styx put out an album of original material. Part of the reason for that is because they
kicked out founding member, de facto leader and primary songwriter Dennis
DeYoung because they didn’t want him deciding what the band would do and
disliked the more pop and Broadway tendencies of his songs because they wanted
to be a Rock, with a capital “R”, band. They
weren’t happy that he kept wanting them to do concept albums like “Brave New
World” and “Kilroy Was Here” so they booted him. Once they ditched their main songwriter/lead
singer/producer/keyboardist, they had a hard time writing new material and were
too busy opening up for REO Speedwagon and Journey and playing at state fairs
to go into the studio. Eventually, they
buckled down and teamed up with a songwriter for hire to create their new album
The Mission, which is, um, a concept album about a trip to Mars that features
pop-leaning songs about space exploration.
So how exactly is this different from the type of stuff Dennis DeYoung
was doing? Many of the songs are pretty
good- they hired a good hired gun songwriter but they could have stuck with
Dennis DeYoung and saved a lot of wasted time.
Ambrosia - Rock N' A Hard Place
Unlike some
people, I have not been using Spotify mainly to look for new music and repeat
play my old favorites. I have been using
it to explore unfamiliar old stuff from bands I never really paid attention to
the first time around. As a kid in the
1970’s and 1980’s, I was listening to radio and heard lots of hit songs but
being a kid I didn’t have lots of disposable income to spend on full-albums
from now-forgotten artists like Rupert Holmes (Escape: The Pina Colada Song),
Walter Egan (Magnet And Steel), Seals & Croft, Thompson Twins, Flock Of
Seagulls, Firefall, The Alarm, and this band.
Now that Spotify basically makes it free for me to test out a bunch of
different things without throwing away money on a potentially bad album, I’m
going back to artists that had hit singles I liked but whose full albums I had
never heard before. You may know Ambrosia
from their big soft rock hits Biggest Part Of Me, How Much I Feel, and You’re
The Only Woman. I forget why I decided
to give them a listen, but once I did I was surprised to found out that 1) They
started as a progressive rock band, 2) Those “yacht rock” hits were the
exceptions on their albums and didn’t sound like the other stuff, and 3) They
had a lot of great songs I had never heard before. I picked this one as a more representative
song of theirs than the ones you may be familiar with.
Tennis - Ladies Don't Play Guitar
I know a
lady who is learning guitar so the title caught my attention and since I kinda
like the band, I got this song. The
title is ironic by the way.
Washed Out - Feel It All Around (Portlandia
theme)
Now that the
often excellent TV series Portlandia is ending, I wanted to be able to hear the
moody, sorrowful, offbeat theme song whenever I wanted so that is why it is on
my list this year.
Spoon - Shotgun
Similar to
what I wrote about Tears For Fears, Spoon has crept up on me and is now a
favorite band. This is a typically
spiky, catchy song from their most recent album.
U2 - The Blackout
I go through
periods of loving U2 and thinking they are over-rated and too
self-important. Their last album leaned
towards over-rated but this song, and a couple others, were welcome detours
towards “good U2”. I’ve also started
appreciating some of the smaller flourishes, like a guitar riff or a vocal
twist, that they put on various songs even though I still might not be wild
about the overall song itself. This song
has a nice funky bass riff that naturally flows into the next selection on my 2017
CD which is….
Bootsy Collins - Hot Saucer (w/ Musiq
Soulchild)
You might
not know it but I really like funk, in the vein of Prince, George Clinton,
Cameo, etc… Bootsy used to be in
Parliament Funkadelic but lately has kept busy with his solo stuff since P-Funk
has been inactive for a while. He put
out a really good album last year where he collaborated with various singers,
musicians and writers who complemented his own playing, singing and
writing. This is a typical bonkers
Bootsy song.
Year In Music 2017 (Disc 2 of 2)
I think Mark
Ronson is a great producer and has brought out the best in artists like Amy
Winehouse, Lily Allen, Bruno Mars, and now hard rock outfit Queens Of the Stone
Age. Ronson also co-writes songs as well
as producing them, so he is more like a collaborator than a producer, kind of
like what Danger Mouse does. The
partnership worked since I like this album more than any other QOTSA albums
I’ve heard. I’m hoping that the rumour that
he is working with Miley Cyrus either doesn’t pan out or else he helps her
create her best album ever because I don’t want him wasting his talents
creating mediocrity.
The Revivalists - Wish I Knew You
I heard this
on Sirius XM and liked it. Nothing else
on the album jumped out at me but this song is solid.
Alice Merton - No Roots
Also from
Sirius XM- it has a unique song that made me stop on it when I was scanning
through channels. She only has an EP out
with this great song, another really good one and two other okay tracks. I’m hoping this coming year brings a
full-length from her.
The Fortunes - Here Comes That Rainy Day
Feeling Again
This is an
old song but is one of those that I love every time I hear it and just want to
plat it on repeat. I’m including it
because some people may not have heard it and it would be a shame to deprive
them of that pleasure.
Gary Numan - My Name Is Ruin
I debated
putting this song on the mix CD because it is a bit of an abrasive style and
has a long running time but I like the sound it creates and not everything is a
happy feel good song. Plus, when is the
last time you heard a new Gary Numan song?
Speaking of which, I might have to go explore his back catalog next on
Spotify – prior to his new album I’d only heard his single Cars and never a
whole album.
First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining
I first
heard this a couple years ago and loved the haunting vocal sound. I listen to it occasionally and when I
checked to see which year’s mix CD I had put it on, I was surprised to see that
I hadn’t put it on any so I’m rectifying that now.
Shakespears Sister - Hot Room
When Siobhan
Fahey left Bananarama, she created this short-lived but stellar duo/group. They put out two fantastic albums before
breaking up. 12 years later, Fahey
released the album that she had been working on before the dissolution of the
group. It was interesting- it had both
some forward looking songs and some songs that fit in with prior work. Then nine years ago and seven years ago, she
released two more albums under the Shakespears Sister moniker. Both of those were good, but still nothing
like the first two albums. This song is
from the fourth album.
Juliana Hatfield – Rhinoceros
Juliana thought
she was done with music because she was running out of ideas she wanted to
pursue. Then something happened that
pissed her off so much that an entire album (Pussycat) just flowed out of her
in response. Not only did she come back
with new music that ranks among her best, but she has since put out another
album, a covers album of Olivia Newton John Songs as an antidote to the anger
and loudness of Pussycat, and is working on more original material. I’m very glad that she got pissed off! What caused her to get mad? That would be Donald Trump’s election and his
behavior in office. If you are a Trump fan
though, you can still enjoy the album- she never addresses him by name or
position. Most references are oblique, such
as “Short Fingered Man”, “When You’re A Star”, “Kellyanne” and “Heartless”. The closest she comes to directness is this
song, which has so many clues that you know it is about our current
president. It is also the most brutal
song on the album. Unlike The Hulk, I
like her when she is angry.
Bleachers - Don't Take the Money
Heard on
Sirius XM and loved it. Nothing else on
the album was equal to this song though.
Fleetwood Mac - Ooh My Love
I’ve always
loved Fleetwood Mac, mostly because of Lindsey Buckingham (and also Bob Welch
in their earlier incarnation) so when they released a deluxe edition of the
Tango In The Night, I had to get it because of all the rare and unreleased
material. This song was one of those unreleased
extras but I like it better than some of the songs on the album. If Seven Wonders was a single, then this song
should have been too.
Kylie Minogue - Nothing Can Stop Us
Gotta have a
Kylie song. I love the little tweeting
riff here and everything she does is exemplary.
Except for her most recent album, but that is a 2018 mix CD discussion.
Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dynamite
In 2017 I
was listening to instrumentals quite a bit.
I went through a lot of back catalog stuff for Henry Mancini and Ennio
Morricone and found some great stuff. I
think what was appealing to me was the craftmanship of the songs and how they
relied on great musicians and great melodies instead of auto-tune and studio tricks
to turn a dull beat into a hit. This is
a good one that I wanted to share from Morricone since I shared a Mancini one
last year.
Robert Plant - Carry Fire
Every time Robert
Plant puts out an album, I get excited. He
has a great track record as a solo artist.
There is always something to recommend from them and many of the albums are
brilliant. He is also a favorite artist
of mine without even considering his Led Zeppelin stuff in the
conversation. This was one of his weaker
entries but that still makes it better than most artists best stuff. This is the title song for the album.
Randy Newman - Putin
When he
played this on Saturday Night Live, I got a kick out of it and just had to get
it. It’s a nice companion to his 1970’s song
“Short People”.
Juliana Hatfield - I Wanna Be Your Disease
Another
track from her Pussycat album. I told
you I really liked the album!
Paul McCartney - Figure Of Eight
This is one
of my favorite songs on a favorite McCartney album. A reissue came out this year and I’m
including this song since I wasn’t doing a CD when this album came out. Heck- I was still in college at the time!
Paul Young - Slipped, Tripped And Fell In
Love
I also
listened to old Paul Young albums on Spotify but unlike Ambrosia, Young was
correctly evaluated and correctly recognized during his period of fame. There isn’t anything great but undiscovered on
his old albums. However, he put out a really
good new album a couple of years ago. There
are four or five really good tracks that are worth a listen. This one is my favorite.
Charlatans - Different Days
Just a good
song from a journeyman band.
Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie - In
My World
Linsey Buckingham
and Christine McVie started writing songs for a new Fleetwood Mac album but
when Stevie Nicks declined to participate in contributing any songs or vocals
since she was too busy on her solo tour, they went ahead and released it as a
duo album called Buckingham / McVie. It
just happened to include the other members of Fleetwood Mac, aside from Nicks,
on bass and drums so really this was a Fleetwood Mac but wasn’t called that in
deference to Nicks since she hadn’t participated. If only they had known how 2018 would turn
out, the duo might not have picked a title that poked a little fun at Stevie
Nicks’ expense by referencing the Buckingham / Nicks album that the couple recorded
before joining Fleetwood Mac. I’m still
flabbergasted at the unnecessary coup that happened in Fleetwood Mac as a
result, but again- that is a 2018 CD discussion. Let’s leave 2017 with this innocent, optimistic
fun song and pretend that 2018 won’t happen.
My Favorite Albums Of 2017
1 Juliana
Hatfield: Pussycat
2 Lindsey
Buckingham & Christine McVie: Buckingham / McVie
3 Dennis
DeYoung: One Hundred Years From Now
4 Wrecking
Crew performers: Wrecking Crew, The
5 Dandy
Warhols: The Black Album & Come On Feel…
6 Pixies: Doolittle:
25 (Deluxe Reissue)
7 Chris
Rea: Still So Far To Go: Best Of Chris Rea
8 Fleetwood
Mac: Tango In the Night (Deluxe Edition)
9 Spoon: Hot
Thoughts
10 Queens Of
the Stone Age: Villains
11 Bootsy
Collins: World Wide Funk
12 Ambrosia: One
Eighty
13 Shakespeare's
Sister: Songs From The Red Room
14 Weezer: Pacific
Daydream
15 Chris
Isaak: First Comes The Night
16 Sheryl
Crow: Be Myself
17 Paul Young:
Good Things
18 Styx: The
Mission
19 Animotion:
Raise Your Expectations
20 U2: Songs
Of Experience (Deluxe Edition)
21 Grass
Roots: Leaving It All Behind
22 Shakespeare's
Sister: Cosmic Dancer
23 Ambrosia: Ambrosia
24 America: Back
Pages
25 Ennio
Morricone: Collected
The 10 Most Disappointing Albums Of
2017
1 Ray
Davies: Americana
2 Billy
Squier: Signs Of Life
3 Poco: Blue
& Gray
4 Gorillaz:
Humanz
5 Aimee
Mann: Mental Illness
6 Justin
Hayward: Songwriter
7 Barry
Gibb: In The Now
8 Donnas,
The: Spend The Night
9 Demi
Lovato: Tell Me You Love Me
10 Killers,
The: Wonderful Wonderful
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