|
|
 |
 |
Summer Rain - Hiromi
The Minneapolis-area bassist Steve Oakes emailed me a few weeks back, possessing an extra ticket to a show at the Dakota Bar & Grill, featuring a jazz pianist named Hiromi. Having no existing knowledge of her, but eager to hear fresh, new sounds, I met him down at the club, and took our seats on the mezzanine. She opened with this track, fingers flying, and never stopped. Great language...and she's a Nord user.
|
 |
Drive - The Cars
I was in St. Louis back in April for the wedding of one of my good college friends. During this visit, I also connected with my friend Ed, and we spent most of the long weekend together, hanging out and driving around. I had just picked up the Cars' Complete Greatest Hits, and Ed was in search of this track, full of rich, über-80s synth, and a fantastic vocal by the late Ben Orr.
|
 |
Be My Number Two - Joe Jackson
Back during the summer of 1998, I was working at the architecture firm where my dad works. We also suffered a massive power outage when a tornado ripped through our neighborhood. Fortunately, my Discman still worked in my car during the morning/evening commute, where I first heard this song whilst motoring through the Londonderry neighborhood. It's a charming little love song, and this live version from a few years back gives us Joe on solo piano, in a quiet, intimate setting.
|
 |
La Vie En Rose - Madeleine Peyroux
After my girlfriend Jen picked up Madeleine's latest release, Careless Love, I went in search for more of this beautiful voice. The iTunes Music Store presented Dreamland, which features this gorgeous French standard. Madeleine's signature vocal timbre and essential French esophageal R-rolls breathe new life and charm into "La Vie En Rose", much in the vein of "Amelie".
|
 |
Stop In Nevada - Billy Joel
During my Billy binge, circa 1998, I made Piano Man one of my first purchases, and discovered one of the defining works of the singer-songwriter movement. Side B of the record gives us this track, which finds Mr. Joel using the orchestra to great effect, supporting his vocals and piano, but never overwhelming. The fade-out at the end takes its time, burning down long and slow over a beautiful arrangement of chords.
|
 |
Fannie Mae - Fourplay
Never underestimate the musicality of a drummer: this chordally-rich piece was penned by the jazz supergroup's hitman, Harvey Mason. Filled out with pad and vibes, it's perfect modern cocktail music. Man, these guys are talented.
|
 |
OK - Mute Math
After disbanding the heavily-produced, shamefully-underappreciated Earthsuit, keyboardist Paul Meany searched for a new voice, and found it in Mute Math. This EP, just recently released, offers seven tracks, but this one's my favorite. It's about humility and forgiveness, and it's supplanted by a moody wash of treated keyboards, a slow groove and lots of synth and effects.
|
 |
If You Wear That Velvet Dress - U2
The mellowest depth on U2's Pop album can be found right here. The hard electronica on early tracks like "Discotheque" and "Mofo" is long gone by this point, and Bono's voice has perhaps never been deeper. Again, the loop synths are active in the background, as if little LED lights blinking on and off. In fact, U2 chose to perform it during their first encore of the Popmart tour. At the show we saw in St. Louis, Bono procured a girl from the audience, dressed in a mink coat and a black velvet dress, and serenaded her to this sexy interlude. Guess that's what happens if you wear that velvet dress.
|
 |
Too Much Information - Duran Duran
Opening DD's eponymous 1993 album is this fight-the-technology track...a stance which never really works with musicians, as we're completely dependent on technology (kinda like Aerosmith's "Eat The Rich"--right...how are you not talking about yourselves?). Anyways, soapbox. Sorry. When the fam and I were in Germany in 1994, this album got me past the language barrier and eternal trans-Atlantic flights.
|
 |
Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
This is an awesome, rockin' Elton John song. The only thing is, Elton John didn't write or perform this one, but he may as well have. Robbie follows the piano rock formula that made the Rocket Man a rock(et) star, and it's highly entertaining. Mission accomplished, mate.
|
 |
Two Dragons - Theodore Shapiro
I've never heard of Theodore Shapiro, but this track absolutely had to be on the "Starsky & Hutch" soundtrack. It reminds me of the funk jams we used to have in the Saltines, back in the day...plenty of wah guitar, and tight, tight horns. It's so over the top, but it's total 70's gold.
|
 |
Little Wing - The Corrs
This Jimi Hendrix classic has always been a favorite of mine, and so also for countless others. I referenced Stevie Ray Vaughan's version on a different mix, but this interpretation, delivered in a cute, sassy way by Andrea Corr, has a completely different feel. The Celtic nature of the Corrs shines through with the flute and acoustic guitar, and a dirty, chanky (but oh-so Stoney) guitar solo by Ron Wood. The applause that follows this track leads smoothly into...
|
 |
Hawking - Todd Rundgren
During Todd's 1991 "Nearly Human" tour, this live cut was captured, and stands as a brilliant demonstration of Todd's vocal abilities, his efficacy as a storyteller (in this case, the God-given aptitude of Stephen Hawking), and his capabilities in writing song. Its tone is dreamlike, bittersweet, frustrated, and peaceful--not necessarily in that order, but, I would venture, an accurate representation, inasmuch as any of us mortal men are capable of.
|
 |
Walk Of Life - Dire Straits
A few years ago, I made my dad and his friend Mike a ten-disc box set called "The Gidderdid Collection". Not all that familiar with the Dire Straits, but knowing that my dad was a fan of their music, I picked this fun, upbeat jam to toss in the mix. I listened to it a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't get the "be bop a lula baby what'd i say" line out of my head. To satisfy the insatiable hunger, into the mix it went.
|
 |
Here To Love You - Doobie Brothers
Kicking off the Doobie's 1978 smash album Minute By Minute is this track, undoubtedly penned and obviously performed by Michael McDonald, the blackest white man on the planet. The lively, punctuated piano playing is a style very close to my heart, one I've always yearned to become better at, and one which my mentor and brother Gary Fiorino is so, so good at.
|
 |
King Of The World - Steely Dan
Positioned at the end of 1973's Countdown To Ecstasy, and at the beginning of Disc 2 of the box set Citizen Steely Dan, this track also works just fine in the penultimate slot. It's early Dan, which leans more towards the country-rock so often heard in the early 70s, but it still has elements not only of modernity, but of the future. And speaking of, it's rather apocalyptic, lyrically. But it's got a great chorus, and a great lead synth solo at the end...which has its own very, very funny story.
|
 |
Texas Is The Reason - Spiraling
All I know is that when the New Jersey-based Spiraling left the stage at the Fine Line in Minneapolis a few weeks back, they had new fans waiting for them. This track, which they closed with, features stunning vocal and keyboard work by lead singer and songwriter Tom Brislin. Here's a great example of how important structure is: this song just feels right. The rise and fall is euphoric, and by the time Brislin's voice goes soaring at the end, you realize you've just been rocked. I turned to my girlfriend at the end of the ill-populated show, and said, "there should've been more people here." And then the band I was playing in had to follow these guys.
|
|
