Houses of the Holy

Let me first profess my guilt: I should be doing a lot of other stuff right now other than writing about music. I have a lot of things to think about, money to be making, work to be completing - but the only thing that matters to me right now is this album. Or rather: it is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Houses of the Holy is without a doubt the greatest fifth album a band has ever put out, let alone one of the greatest albums of all time in general. This incredible album opens with The Song Remains the Same, a song I appreciate although I'm never too fond of songs over five minutes. The intense excitement for me starts with the third song on Side One. From that song - Over the Hills and Far Away - to the end of the album, it captures my entire being and makes me forget everything I'm constantly worried about. Led Zeppelin really has the ability to transcend people, even still in 2009. They are undeniable.

I have to explain that D'yer Mak'er, Zeppelin's ode to reggae, is one of my favorite songs and one those songs specifically that makes me feel something. I know it came about more as a joke than anything (with a play on the word "Jamaica") but they captured something in that song that is as sexy as it is inspiring. No matter where I am when it comes on, I want to dance, I want to think, I want to smile - I want to be alive. I can't imagine what more a song is supposed to do than that.


Recently, I discovered The Crunge or maybe I should say I discovered that I love it almost as much as D'yer Mak'er. This too is a song that allows the band to do a play on a specific musical genre, this time funk in the James Brown style, but to me it sounds like a style all its own. Unfortunately, it seems that this incredibly unique, over the top creative song hasn't gotten the credit in musical history that it rightfully deserves. I tried for a half hour to find a video or some type of clip of it on the internet to add to this post and came up empty handed. Why? I even went on Last.Fm, one of my favorite sites, to see if the page dedicated to the song had anything extra I could add to this and found that several people admitted hatred for it. I suggest these people stop listening to music. The crazy funk and the infamous "where's the bridge?" references make this song undeniably Zeppelin in the sense that it has so much soul and mischief but uncharacteristic and special in the way that it's not really "rock". If Led Zeppelin is responsible for bringing heavy metal to mainstream than they're also responsible for bringing experimentation and ingenuity to mainstream rock singles. Robert Plant's voice, already god-like in so many ways, does an Otis Redding-like imitation in my opinion. It's simply and wonderfully different.

To even get into the brilliance that is Dancing Days, the opener of Side Two, is to open a can of worms that doesn't really end. Dancing Days is an absolute, uncompromising masterpiece that probably only comes around once every 20 years. It is mentioned on the Wikipedia page for this song that the band themselves danced on the lawn after the completion of this track - so proud of their success. Naturally, I don't know if this is true but it sounds about right. I could listen to this everyday for the next year and probably find something new each time. It's like a really good movie - but getting my head around the fact that they can do all that just audibly is magic.

If you haven't heard this album in its entirety, check it out. If you haven't heard it in a while, please revisit and fall in love all over again.

This Plant Can Get You High Too..

Another thing I love: Led Zeppelin.

You will be a better person if you watch this video. Communication Breakdown with a taste of D'yer Mak'er (pronounced "Jamaica").

I want to do an entire post dedicated to Robert Plant's fashion style later on.

Bang the Drum

I feel like I'm going through a musical dry spell. I haven't really come across any good music in some time and that's really disappointing as I'm typically an ambassador for new artists. I can't stand when people say ignorant things like "music has died" or "they'll never have another band like (insert any classic artist here)".

How could that be true?

Any honest music lover will tell you that a huge part of loving the music is embracing the new parts of it otherwise it's a dead art and we certainly know that isn't true. We're not talking about sculpture - kidding.

I am going through a strange time right now where I'm unable to be on the computer for very long due to an ulcer in my right eye. I haven't felt like going on iTunes, listening to music, or really even getting out of bed. The things I have managed to do though all pertain to music in someway. Let me create a list:

1. The day after I was diagnosed with this strange, very uncomfortable problem, I told myself that I couldn't let my Felice Brothers concert tickets go to waste and as I have a serious problem with scalping tickets, I went. Turns out the bright, creepy lights of Webster Hall were a little too much for me and I couldn't even have any alcohol to brace myself (the cruel work of antibiotics) so we left. I am usually the first person in line at a general admission concert and didn't even care that we got there right as the main act was coming on! I didn't even care to check out the merchandise table ... okay, that's sort of a lie but I barely glanced. I didn't even care to check out the venue further than the nearest seat since 1. I had never been to Webster Hall before and 2. I couldn't stand up without crying so it was impossible. I became jealous of girls in hipster cowboy boots doing mock rodeo dances in front of me and started grumbling something about how all these stupid young guys with glasses are only getting laid because of Woody Allen's effect on New York culture. The entire evening was grotesque... to say the most.



2. On the third day of this diagnosis I managed to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and go to my place of employment: a concert venue. There I sat in a box for five hours and watched 30 Rock while trying to get drops in my eyes for the first time in over two decades of being alive. It was unpleasant. I had to put sunglasses over my real glasses (hugely nerdy) and got a comment from a customer that he thought I was "trying to be cool" by doing it. I explained that nothing I do could ever be considered cool and managed to ramble enough to the point that he not only believed me but didn't say goodbye. I think he was buying a solo ticket to Amon Amarth though so he can be forgiven. He obviously leads a sad life. (kidding again)

3. Yesterday, fourth day if you're counting, I attended work once more during a nine band concert with the glorious headlining act of Napalm Death. Let me go off quickly and say I'm a huge John Mayer fan, I like sad, slow songs, I watch American Idol... and where do I work? A place where some of our recent headlining acts have included such novelty names as "Suicidal Tendencies", "Theory of a Deadman", "Deathlok", and I can't even remember what else... maybe Dead People, Tombstone Terrors, Rotting Corpses.. and also David Archuleta. All nonsensical music choices aside, it is the best venue in the world - I've never seen a more dedicated group of people in one place - it's infectous. BUT, getting back to the real story: With an ulcer in my eye I sat through nine death metal bands and generally I was okay. Why? Because these people were creating happiness with their musical sounds. Music just makes people happy. That's all.

4. Now that brings us to today. I have another eye appointment, I still feel like I'm going blind, and the one thing - other than searching for photographs of my incredibly hot, Latin professor - that has brought me to the computer is to write about music. I miss it. I needed to watch a youtube video of The National or see if any good concerts went on sale. I needed to see this blog! I love writing about music - and I'm high on a lot of good drugs right now so that must be the truth.

Strangers: If you're reading this for the first time, tell me who your favorite artists are. Although I pretend to understand when people use lines like, "Oh I have too many, I can't even name one" - I secretly think they're either embarrassed of listening to too much Barry Manilow or they don't like music at all and are afraid of being stoned to death if they admit it.

Shout from the top of your lungs like me: I LOVE JOHN MAYER. I LOVE THE NATIONAL. I LOVE TOM PETTY.

That's admittance of loving a gigantic jerk, a pompous indie band that copies sounds, and an old pothead. But that just makes them even more fantastic. My ears are their own people, they love what they love. Just like the people who see Napalm Death. It's all relative and WE are all relative - we all love music.

I also love big drum sounds. Drums thrill me.

Top 51 Favorite Songs: A Work in Progress

I have posted this list on two other blogs and now comes this one. It's nice I'm posting it here last since that must mean this blog matters most to me - which it does - even if no one reads it but me. I hold the dream of an audience.

I've gotten some feedback that this list is a little.. "old school". While it is true that I'm younger than most of these songs, these are the ones I grew up listening to - I have known them the longest. And of course, in most cases there's a reason a song becomes "classic." I tried to eliminate new songs I recently started loving because I'm not sure of their longevity in my life and I can't vouch for them as much as the oldies just yet. Naturally, a few snuck in anyhow (Amos Lee, Ray LaMontagne, Pete Yorn, etc).

All songs are interchangeable as far as spot on the list and may I say one more time: This is very much a work in progress. This is just what I've heard in my life so far. Also, I'm now considering making a list of just new favorites. That could be even more difficult.

Please enjoy and genuinely check out these spectacular songs. I live to hear them.

Chicago - Beginnings
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - I Need to Know
Led Zeppelin - D'yer Mak'er
John Mayer - Covered in Rain
George Harrison - Got my Mind Set on You
Red Hot Chili Peppers -Under the Bridge
Dave Matthews Band - Satellite
Marvin Gaye - Ain't That Peculiar
The Zombies - Tell Her No
Howie Day - Morning After
Tom Petty - Square One
Todd Rundgren - I Saw the Light
Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes
Otis Redding - Hard to Handle
Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up to Dry
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
Barbara Lewis - Hello Stranger
The Rascals - I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore
Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
The Spinners - I'll Be Around
Fleetwood Mac - Everywhere
The Kinks - Strangers
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Breakdown
The Who - Postcard
Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Bob Dylan - I Threw it All Away
John Lennon - Watching the Wheels
Pete Yorn - For Us
Buddy Holly - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
The Guess Who - Undun
The Beatles - Twist and Shout
Faces - Ooh La La
Ray LaMontagne - Forever My Friend
Frank Sinatra - Glad to Be Unhappy
Lou Reed - Vicious
Tom Petty - You Don't Know How it Feels
Amos Lee - Seen it All Before
Frank Sinatra - Summer Wind
Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time
The National - Secret Meeting
Pharrell - Frontin'
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Lovin' Spoonful - Summer in the City
The Band - Up on Cripple Creek
Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost
Etta James - Sunday Kind of Love
John Frusciante - Song to Sing When I'm Lonely
Ari Hest - Sleep Tonight
Hall & Oates- I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Lost Vs. Clarity

One of my favorite Coldplay songs mixed with one of my favorite JM songs.

CHICAGO

I couldn't mention Chicago in the last post because it was too important. This is MY BAND. There is no band on earth that compares. Speaking of nostalgia: When I was a baby I couldn't fall asleep unless they were playing. I have seen them in concert every year since I was six years old and if anything, they just continue to get better. I wrote Robert Lamm love letter for probably a quarter of my life and couldn't survive without the song "Beginnings". If you have not heard this band, LISTEN! You will be doing yourself a tremendous service. I have yet to understand why they are not as popular today as Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, etc. - they are just as good. Here's a little Wikipedia-style background on them and some youtube fun too.




Chicago's Heyday
The band's popularity exploded with the release of their second album, another double-LP set, which included several top-40 hits. This second album, titled Chicago (also known as Chicago II), was the group's breakthrough album. The centerpiece track was a thirteen-minute suite composed by James Pankow called "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (the structure of this suite was inspired by Pankow's love for classical music). The suite yielded two top ten hits, the crescendo-filled "Make Me Smile" and prom-ready ballad "Colour My World", both sung by Terry Kath. Among the other popular tracks on the album: Terry Kath's dynamic but cryptic wah-wah-buttressed "25 or 6 to 4" (a reference to a songwriter trying to write at 25 or 26 minutes to 4 in the morning, sung by Cetera), and the lengthy war protest song "It Better End Soon." The band recorded and released music at a rate of at least one disc per year from their third album in 1971 on through the 1970s. During this period, the group's album titles invariably consisted of the band's name followed by a Roman numeral indicating the album's sequence in the group's canon, a naming pattern that lent an encyclopedic aura to the band's work. (The two exceptions to this scheme were the band's fourth album, a live boxed set entitled Chicago at Carnegie Hall and their twelfth album Hot Streets. While the live album itself did not bear a number, each of the four discs within the set was numbered Volumes I through IV.) The distinctive Chicago logo was designed by Nick Fasciano (bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Coca-Cola logo) and has graced every album cover in one form or another; as an American flag on III, a piece of wood on V, a dollar (or U.S. currency) bill on VI, a Cardinal on VIII, a Hershey bar on X, a computer silicon chip on 16, and mosaic on 18 being among the examples.

In 1971, Chicago released the ambitious quadruple-album live set, Chicago at Carnegie Hall Volumes I, II, III, and IV, consisting of live performances, mostly of music from their first three albums, from a week-long run at the famous venue (along with the James Gang and Led Zeppelin in 1969, one of the few rock bands to play the historic concert hall since the Beatles performed there on February 12, 1964). The performances and sound quality were judged sub-par; in fact, trombonist James Pankow went on record to say that "the horn section sounded like kazoos." The packaging of the album also contained some rather strident political messaging about how "We [youth] can change The System," including massive wall posters and voter registration information. Nevertheless, Chicago at Carnegie Hall went on to become the best-selling box set by a rock act, and held that distinction for 15 years.

The group bounced back in 1972 with their first single-disc release, Chicago V, a diverse set that reached number one on both the Billboard pop and jazz albums charts and yielded the Robert Lamm-composed-and-sung radio hit and perennial fan favorite "Saturday in the Park", which mixed everyday life and political yearning in a more subtle way. Chicago would long open their concerts with the hit song.

In 1973, the group's manager, Guercio, produced and directed Electra Glide in Blue, a movie about an Arizona motorcycle policeman. The movie starred Robert Blake, and featured Cetera, Kath, Loughnane, and Parazaider in supporting roles. The group also appeared prominently on the movie's soundtrack.

Other successful albums and singles followed in each of the succeeding years. 1973's Chicago VI topped the charts buoyed by the hits "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "Just You 'N' Me" and it was also the first of several albums to include Brazilian jazz percussionist Laudir de Oliveira. Chicago VII, the band's double-disc 1974 release, featured the Cetera-composed "Wishing You Were Here", sung by Terry Kath and Cetera with background vocals by Cetera and The Beach Boys and some fusion jazz. Chicago VII also provided one of the group's enduring signature tunes, the anthemic "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," which started with as a soft ballad and culminated in a hard-rock conclusion featuring Terry Kath's electric guitar soloing against the Chicago horn section and a soaring string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell. "Happy Man," another song from Chicago VII, was also a popular favorite on FM radio, was a big hit in South America and subsequently covered by Tony Orlando and Dawn on their album To Be With You. Their 1975 release, Chicago VIII, featured the political allegory "Harry Truman" and the nostalgic Pankow-composed "Old Days". That summer also saw a very successful joint tour across America with The Beach Boys, with both acts performing separately, then coming together for a rousing finale. The tour was considered one of the highest grossing in rock music up to that time.

Chicago gave a concert in Mèxico City in 1975 at the Auditorio Nacional which was highly appreciated by the attendants in spite of the fact that the Mexican press later reviewed it not as one of the band’s better performances, presumably for the band not being 'in the best of shape'. The tickets for the concert sold so fast that thousands of people were not able to get in, so Terry Kath asked those inside to applaud for those standing outside. Carmen Romano de Lòpez Portillo, the wife of Mèxico's then-President Josè Lòpez Portillo, is said to have been among the attendants in the first row.[citation needed]

But for all their effort, none of their singles went to number one until Chicago X in 1976, when Cetera's slow, exquisite ballad "If You Leave Me Now" climbed to the top of the charts. The song also won Chicago their only Grammy award, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1977. Ironically, the tune almost did not make the cut for the album; "If You Leave Me Now" was recorded at the very last minute. The huge success of the song would foreshadow a later reliance on ballads that would typecast the group on radio, despite the presence of mellower songs on all the previous albums. The group's 1977 release, Chicago XI, was another big success for the band; it included Cetera's hit ballad "Baby, What a Big Surprise" which became one of the group's last big hits of the decade.

Chicago Today

Despite the personnel changes over the years, the group still keeps active four decades after its founding. They are one of the few major rock groups that has never broken up or even taken an extended hiatus. And four of the six surviving founding members (major songwriters Lamm and Pankow, plus Loughnane and Parazaider) remain to this day providing continuity, while Bill Champlin has put in over 25 years with the band, Jason Scheff over 20, Tris Imboden over 15 and Keith Howland has logged over 13.

As a new century turned, the band licensed their entire recorded output to Rhino Records (after years with Columbia Records and Warner Brothers as well as their own short-lived label). In 2002, Rhino released a two-disc compilation, The Very Best of Chicago: Only The Beginning, which spans the band's entire career. The compilation made the Top 40 and sold over 2 million copies in the US. Rhino has also begun releasing remastered versions of all of the band's Columbia albums, each including several bonus tracks; and in 2005 they released a compilation entitled Love Songs.

Chicago continues to appear in big and small venues worldwide. In 2004–2005 they toured jointly with the band Earth, Wind & Fire; a DVD recorded during that tour, Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre, was certified platinum just two months after its release.

In 2006 the group released their first all-new studio album since Twenty 1, entitled Chicago XXX, on March 21, 2006. Two songs from this album, "Feel" and "Caroline" were performed live during Chicago's Fall 2005 tour; the studio recording of "Feel" debuted on WPLJ radio in New York in November 2005. "Feel" was the first single released from the new album. Curiously, the album contains two versions of the song; one with horns and an orchestral tag that echoes "Love Me Tomorrow," and another non-brass version. This could be seen rather strange for a band whose legacy is tied to their horn section. "Love Will Come Back" was the second single released from XXX. The album was produced by Rascal Flatts bassist Jay Demarcus, who is a friend of Chicago bassist Jason Scheff. Seven of the 12 tracks on XXX were co-written by Scheff, and the album included a large roster of guest musicians, supplanting band members in many cases.

While Chicago XXX did manage to debut at No. 41 on the US album chart besting some other weaker entries including Chicago XIV (July 1980) which hit US #71 and Twenty 1 (January 1991) which topped out at only US #66, it only remained in the top 200 for two weeks before limping off the chart.

During March 2006, Chicago made a multi-week appearance at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, which was repeated in May of the same year. In July 2006, the band made a series of US appearances with Huey Lewis and the News. Highlights of that tour included Chicago's Bill Champlin performing with Huey Lewis and the News on a couple of songs, members of Huey Lewis and the News contributing to Chicago's percussion-laden song, "I'm a Man," and Huey Lewis singing the lead vocal on Chicago's "Colour My World."

In early 2006, original drummer Danny Seraphine formed California Transit Authority, who play many of the older Chicago songs.

At the end of 2006, the band played at CD USA's New Year's Eve party on Fremont Street in Las Vegas. Chicago toured the summer of 2007 with the band America. On October 2, 2007, Rhino Records released the two-disc The Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition, a new greatest hits compilation spanning their entire forty years, similar to The Very Best of: Only the Beginning, released four years earlier.

June 17, 2008, saw the official release of the dynamic Stone of Sisyphus album by Rhino Records, recorded in 1993 and which had been originally slated for a March 1994 release until being shelved by Warner Records. The album contains eleven of the original twelve tracks (the raucous "Get on This" was left off), plus four demo recordings. Its official title is "Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus" (it was originally slated to be album #22). Summer of 2008 also included multiple European tour dates (with members of the horn section missing at various times), something the band had avoided for many years. This trend of fill-in players has continued into 2009, with Lamm sometimes the only original member on stage. As Chicago has existed as a "faceless" band for years, the lack of original members may not concern the audience like it would with another long-lived band such as the Rolling Stones and high-profile members like Mick Jagger.

In 2009 they will reunite with Earth, Wind and Fire for yet another joint tour.[4]

An Old Time Memory

I feel the need to show some love to semi-forgotten bands from my childhood today. I've been listening to an exorbitant amount of Alien Ant Farm lately and it always throws me off when I'm playing it in the car and someone says something like, "I remember them. I used to love them!" Why did you stop listening to them then? It's funny how you can truly love an artist and for some inexplicable reason let them slip through your fingers... or ears.

Naturally, I can understand how certain songs or even entire bands bring back so many memories from a certain time that you can't stand to listen to them anymore but personally, I've always been a gigantic nostalgia fan. When my mother brings out the albums with mold and dust on them, it always turns out to be a good day. She tells me stories of how she used to sit in her bedroom listening to Buffalo Springfield Again for hours and tape up the Tom Petty record inserts on her walls. It makes her seem more human. Music is the most human thing on earth.


For me, other than the oldies bands my family was listening to, it was bands like Incubus, Mest, Eve 6, Mindless Self Indulgence... that was in the early teens and mostly because my best friend was into them. Then came my obsession with Everclear that hasn't gone away as much as metamorphosized into a distant love. Of course before that there was Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul, my crush on Frankie Valli, and much later the neverending saga of singer/songwriters like Jason Mraz and John Mayer - a man I once had to wait in general admission lines for five hours in Baltimore to see (we won't even discuss Britney Spears or *NSYNC - luckily that died fast and never went to ugly extremes like 98 Degrees).

I work at a venue where forgotten artists like Third Eye Blind, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Breeders, and Toadies get love and where a band like Hanson has fans waiting in tents the night before. Naysayers be damned - It just goes to show that the old adage: "There's someone for everyone" is absolutely true.

Some of my old-time favorites:

Alien Ant Farm - Attitude. Still one of my favorite songs..


Incubus - Echo. Absolutely beautiful.


Paula Abdul - Cold Hearted Snake. This really brought back memories! She's just fantastic.

This is Not Cool Enough

There are 12 year old boys who update their music blogs more than me with interesting photographs, insights on bands that dismantled 30 years before they were even a thought in their mother's brain, and funny anecdotes about The Cure or Tears for Fears. I, on the other hand, mope around all day, buy expensive shoes that only get beer spilled on them, and watch way too much Keeping up With the Kardashians, which should be a punishable crime.

I still constantly listen to music but my highest musical opinions are saved for Adam Lambert and Matt Giraud, two names you may be familiar with from a little indie show called American Idol. I drool over the thought of Simon and Paula finally getting together - since let's be honest, they are practically sucking face the entire time anyway - and I wait with over the top excitement during each commercial break to hear the next contestant's crazy song choice. Recently, my anticipation has become so much that I scour the Internet several hours before show time for the "spoilers" and scan them with wonder hoping that Lil Rounds isn't really crazy enough to do a Tina Turner song from the '80s. Of course she is and it turns out just as expected - karaokalicious.

You know, say what you want about their performances, since any performer gives less than stellar ones at some point, but at least be willing to hear their iTunes studio versions of these songs. Adam Lambert is always sweeter, Danny is always raspier, and Matt is always sexier. They really - vocally - do an excellent job with these renditions and it's a shame everyone doesn't know about this. Typically, these recordings are available Wednesday night or Thursday morning and for 0.99 I'm sure it's worth it to some die hard fans to get some of the first recordings these up and comings stars have ever made. I'm going a little overboard here since obviously we'll never hear about 99% of these contestants for the rest of our lives but people like Adam Lambert, Alison Young-Girl, and possibly Matt Giraud, have futures. Particularly Adam and Alison - they're rare finds. I can live without every single other person on the entire show though and personally, none compare to Michael Johns, the 8th place contestant from season 7. Speaking of which, his single is available on iTunes this Tuesday and sounds really promising. Produced by John Shanks whose worked with the likes of Sting and Jon Bon Jovi, I hear it hearkens back to a Joe Cocker sound and I'm okay with that. It could be great for all I know.

My weather prediction for tonight: A strong chance of Kris Allen tears with a gust of the judges' save that may or may not turn into severe stormy weather.

In the meantime, enjoy Adam Lambert's prior musical endeavors..