8 posts tagged “music”

This video is amazing for is solemn nature, but also it is done in one single camera take.  The Gary Jules version of "Mad World" (on soundtrack for "Donnie Darko") is one I prefer most days over the Tear for Fears version.  The Jules version is slightly haunting and it lingers like a cool winter's fog.

I grew up a fan a jazz, which I attribute to Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.  In elementary school I picked up alto sax after years of piano lessons.  By high school I was playing in the school's jazz band, I put up with marching and concert band (not that they were horrible) all for jazz band.

After graduating from grad school in 1995 I had a job that me getting up before 5am.  I had scripted Lotus Organizer to wake me and play what was in my CD player or wave files I had found or ripped.  Most often I chose to wake to Ellis and Branford Marsalis "Loved Ones" CD.  It is a pure essence of jazz with only piano and sax and is quite elegant. 

This afternoon I was looking for something good for stretched nerves as I am trying to get too many things done for deadlines.  This not only was perfect, but I wondered why I have left it alone for so long. It brought back sitting in my studio apartment playing along with the sax parts while it there were bad snow storms as well as waking far too early.

What albums are in heavy rotation for you right now?

These six have been getting

regular play with Summer.  James Blunt had a rest for many months, but seems to be back in rotation for a little bit as other's in my family are now listening to him. 

Lemon Jelly is great travel music for me, "'64 - '95" and I seem to be frequenting stores that used it as backround music this Summer as I have travelled.  I am not sure what this means, but I don't really hear it near home, other than in my office.  I can easily work to this music too.

Carbon Leaf is nearly perfect music for me.  It reminds me of my years living in San Francisco, even though it is a new band and was not around when I lived there or elsewhere in the Bay Area.  Nearly everytime I am back visiting SF I hear this music on KFOG, which may be what grounds it to SF for too.

Steely Dan "Aja" was triggered by a YouTube video from a making of Aja DVD, which I now own as well.  The music now has a lot more depth and layers because of the DVD.  It also is a timeless sound track to my life. I wrote stories for high school english classes to and about this music.  But, there are so many more layers to this album from my life that make this a lasting work for me.

St. Elsewhere is a getting things done around the house sound track for me.  My favorite piece is Go-Go Gadget Gospel, as it gets my blood moving and ready to get things done.

The Curious George Soundtrack is also getting regular play. It is similar to the works of Carbon Leaf, but it also is a favorite of the kid.

Thanks to George for pointing this out on his blog (with a very appropriate qotd title of his own) the ability to do your own qotds. So just to goof off ... what is your favorite music video of all time? [Who asked this question?] [Answer]

My favorite music video is George Michael's "Freedom 90".  It was a video of the period, where beauty and fashion were dominating pop culture.  Video culture was taking off and people, images, and icons were coming to the forefront over substance.  This video to me captured this focus on the superficial and beauty like no other video.  This video just seemed to be dripping in visual sensuality.

George Michael-Freedom 90

The video still evokes the same feeling and urge to embrace a culture of beauty and visual excellence.  It still lights a fire under the desire to create and strive for the perfection of image.

The video is a time stamp of an age of desire and beauty.

So many good memories tied to this song.  YouTube was the first time I saw the video, but it has the look of the time that are partly tied to my memories.

What are your three favorite album covers of all-time? Any honorable mentions?

Question submitted by Tamara.

My all-time favorite is the Manu Dibango "Wakafrika".  I was in Tower Records in Foggy Bottom (Washington, DC) and saw the blown up cover hanging from the wall.  I thought, hey Africa and walked closer and within a few steps I realized it was a guy standing and his shoe that made the shape of Africa and Madigascar.  Without listening or having any idea what was on the disc, I bought it.  I had to hold on to the cover.  It turns out is was a great disc and one I really enjoy.

Jim Croce's "Photographs and Memories" was one of the first albums I bought.  It had just come out and I loved many of his songs.  I think I found it in Westwood at the Licorice Pizza store in 1976 or so on trip to Los Angeles about a year before we moved there.  The cover is just Jim and as an albulm cover it was about head size.  His music feels like his life is coming through the speakers and there is not a better cover for such an expressive artist.

Wild Cherry album is not one that I own.  My mom would not let me buy it because of the cover.  When I was in fifth or sixth grade or so "Play that Funky Music" was one of my favorite songs.  I would call the radio stations in Portland, Oregon and request it.  I would go to Fred Meyer to look at the album and try to figure out how I could get it into the house and never have my mom know.  At the time I could not understand what was so bad about the cover, but it was the cover that made me want it even more.  "Play that funky music" is still a favorite, but I still don't own it.

I have a few playlist set in iTunes, but I rarely use them.  Well, there is one I use, the Friday Morning playlist.  The list gets modified occasionally by adding new items, sometimes things get deleted, and on rare occasions the list order is changed around.  This playlist as it stands today is:

1. Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen
2. The West Side - Phil Collins
3. San Jacinto Live - Peter Gabriel
4. Ain't Nobody - Chacka Khan
5. Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen
6. Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
7. Shak'n the Tree - Youssou N'Dour
8. Gravel Road Requeim - Walkingbirds
9. Walking in Memphis - Marc Cohn
10. Burning Flame - Vitimin Z
11. Japan - Vertical Horizon
12. Voices Carry - till tuesday
13. Changes - Tears for Fears
14. Morning - Steve Turre
15. Allright Now - Free
16. You Can't Resist It (Live) - Lyle Lovett
17. My Love is Alive - Gary Wright
18. Paloma - Carbon Leaf
19. If I had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn
20. Mad World (from Donnie Darko) - Gary Jules
21. Outstanding (12" version) - Gap Band
22. Walk on the Ocean - Toad and the Web Sprodket
23. Tell Your Sister - Lloyd Cole
24. Rockets - Marc Jordan
25. Hot Sauce - Thomas Dolby

The list is in need of a little reordering.  One of the things in common is there are memories tied to many of these songs that free me to a happy place.  In many of the songs there are "moments" that I find fantastic, like the bass line in "My Love is Alive" and the "cello/string bass solo in "You Can't Resist It".  Mostly these are songs I can listen to over and over with out tiring of them.

I was born to "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" by the Rightous Brothers and turned 21 to "Say You Say Me" by Lionel Richie. Neither of those meant anything to me (I did not know "Say You Say Me" was a number one song).

There is little in the pop charts that means much to me, but I did turn 18 to "Africa" by Toto and at least I was listening to that (may have been burned out on the "Toto IV" album by then. There is a laugh in the beginning of "Africa", just before the cowbell, that is caught on the vinyl version of the album and I have not heard it on digital copies, it was a wonderful human touch that was captured. 18 was more important to me than 21 as it allowed me to vote (I mucked that one up voting for president and regretted it for the next four years and it may have shaped my politics more than any other event).