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Freedom - Terramara
Once again, Terramara released an album packed full of well-produced, well-written songs, headed down Steely Street. In fact, the intro to this song borrows heavily from the Dan's "Doctor Wu", one of my all-time faves. Whether this is something which needs to be forgiven is irrelevant: by the time the smoke clears from this smokin' intro, the groove kicks in, supplanted by carefully-orchestrated horns.
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Breaking Us In Two - Joe Jackson
After finally unearthing Jackson's "Steppin' Out" from the haystack of music in the world, I heard this one on the radio, and remembered the Greatest Hits compilation which featured it. Great changes, great lyrics. Killer.
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Something Sacred - Sarah Notley
A wonderful friend and musical collaborator, Sarah Notley released her second album in early 2005, Broken Down Angel. Under the steady hand of producer Matt Patrick, Sarah created a masterpiece. It's at this point in the album (three tracks in), with "Something Sacred", that the album hits its stride, and the ethos takes over. Pick this one up.
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Childhood Eyes - Joe Rogness
I first heard singer-songwriter Joe Rogness at my church out in Chanhassen, MN. After making music with him at the Upper Room in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to perform some of his material with him, including this song, which kicks off his first album, Right With You. It's oh-so tasty...Joe's musical influences have led him well, and the man is quite the poet. A model of excellence in songwriting.
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Fortress Around Your Heart - Sting
Back in high school, I only knew a handful of Sting's work ("Fields Of Gold", "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You"). However, on the radio one day in August, just before leaving for my freshman year in college, I heard this song, featuring his unmistakable voice, and a dark turnaround at the end of the chorus. The chordal movements mirrored that of Steely Dan's "Don't Take Me Alive", which is one of my all-time favorite songs. I high-tailed it over to Best Buy, in the hopes that this song would be featured on some sort of Greatest Hits compilation. It was, and Fields Of Gold: 1984-1994 became an album for all occasions at Webster University.
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Somewhere - Dave Grusin
By 1997, Dave Grusin's canon of work had left an indelible--and highly challenging--mark on my musical walk. After being the first artist to record digitally, and after scoring scores of films, Grusin began taking on the greats--first Duke Ellington (in Homage To Duke), then Gershwin (The Gershwin Connection), and then, in what I consider to be his crowning achievement, a brilliant reworking of West Side Story. This track features vocals by Latin artist Jon Secada, and, in revisiting this song eight years after procuring the album, my eyes opened fully to how fantastic a singer Secada is. Grusin's orchestrations bathe Secada in a warm, lush soundscape, and the result is...perfect. To cite St. Louis' Glen Smith once again, "the man can do no wrong."
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North - Pat Metheny
I ran across Pat Metheny's A Map Of The World in the iTunes Music Store, and was pleased to discover more of the fantastic orchestrations first heard in Secret Story. This track reminds me of the music playing in EPCOT Center's Spaceship Earth in Orlando, a track called "Tomorrow's Child". I guess it's for that reason that this piece resonated so deeply within me.
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Kimberly Glide - Robert Downey Jr.
Who knew? Scott Jones called me a few weeks ago, and his message went something like this: "Run--do not walk--to Borders, and pick up Robert Downey Jr.'s new CD." Citing hybrid influences of Bruce Hornsby and Sting, I was convinced. And it was money well spent: Downey plays piano on all the tracks, and his voice sounds a bit like Bruce Springsteen. On top of that, his songwriting is flavorful, a bit off-beat (always a plus in my book), and has a touch of whimsy on top.
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Boxcar Racer - Blue Merle
Joe Rogness recommended Blue Merle to me, and when Dave Feil threw it on at the Upper Room, I didn't wait long to pick up the CD. Boasting an eclectic mix of instrumentation, and a vocalist who sounds a bit too much like Coldplay's Chris Martin, Blue Merle churns out fun, festive music, harkening to the heyday of the Dave Matthews Band.
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Bend And Break - Keane
The sole full-length album by British high-romantic trio Keane continues to rank amongst my favorites. I'm a fan of anything that's piano-driven, and singer Tom Chaplin has a tremendous voice. This track first caught my ear because of the V-11 chord, used as a turnaround chord in the middle of the verse. You don't hear many rock bands that incorporate upper extensions into their chords, but this was obviously the work of a piano player. Hey, it takes one to know one.
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Whatever's Left - Snow Patrol
Scotland's Snow Patrol is a favorite of my friend Stefan, who turned me on to them. Again, it was chord movements that caught my attention, blended into a puree of interesting ingredients, and redefining the face of modern rock. In that sense, the Europeans have always been ahead.
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Panic In Detroit - David Bowie
The Chase, who has led me into the path of a handful of shockingly great songs, is an owner of the same Bowie compilation as I. He encouraged me to check out this track, citing it as "a hell of a song". With accolades like that, I had to experience it personally. And The Chase knew what he was talking about: he particularly liked the hard pan of the guitar off to one side, and it's got a beat that almost gets away from the band.
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Teens And Juniors - Put Down The Muffin
I joined Put Down The Muffin in early 2005, just after they'd finished recording their long-awaited debut album. The disc, The Rest Of Right Now, featured the best of their ample body of work spanning the prior three years. In peeling back the layers of polyrhythmic jams and ambient soundscapes, one will discover a couple of "party tunes", this being one of them. It begins with a soundbyte of a Native American auctioneer yelling "Last call, last call, all teens and juniors," after which the band kicks into an infectious dance beat, and crazycool vocals, encouraging everyone to "dance/sweating in your pants-pants-pants." I have found me a home.
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Back In Time - Huey Lewis & The News
Back To The Future is one of my favorite movies of all time, and has the distinction of being the film that taught me how to swear. Besides Alan Silvestri's epic score, director Robert Zemeckis commissioned California's Huey Lewis & The News to provide additional tracks. The movie's totally awesome finale could only have been scored with this track. As this soundtrack was one of my first pieces of purchased music (cassette, circa 1986), at a most impressionable age, the guitar and sax solos are ones that have been forever etched into my mind. A total feel-good track.
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Nightshift - The Commodores
I think it's the synth and the bass that I like in this one. After hearing it on the radio a long time ago, and never knowing who recorded it, it's a beautiful thing to be able to preview these songs online and buy them individually.
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When It Comes To You - Michael Olson
Back in March, I played a show with Joe Rogness and Rocketown recording artist Michael Olson. He's got an amazing voice, and, upon meeting him, discovered that he's a universally gifted musician. This track has a darker feel to it, and incorporates a beautiful, albeit haunting, minor-major 7 chord (which the song also ends on).
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Yahweh - U2
The final track on U2's latest album (penultimate on the Special Edition, followed by "Fast Cars") seems to have led the pack in laying out the names of Jesus. This, the most holy name, suggests great reverence, which U2 have expressed in their music numerous times over the years. It's a fitting finale to a powerful album, duly giving credit where credit is due. The lyrics are ones I wish I'd written.
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Point Of View - Ivy
In exploring some of chill-pop trio Ivy's more obscure works, it was refreshing to find several excellent, quite unspoiled tracks on one of their earlier albums, Realistic. This track enters into an almost trancelike state near its conclusion, simply vamping on four fantastic chords over and over, with chanteuse Dominique Durand reinforcing, "You could never understand my point of view". I like endings that burn slow and fade away, and that would be a mix, ladies and gents. Thanks for listening.
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