Vol. 3 Episode 21

I went to my son's first concert today. It was the fifth grade concert to show up coming students what instruments that they could play if they were interested in being in the band. I have an app that is designed to record voice memos that I used to record the songs that were played. I am very excited to get them converted so we can listen to them on the computer. 

I am still waiting to get my copy of the new Sigur Rós LP in the mail. I am also waiting on the new single from Beck. Here's to hoping that they arrive before I move! On with the show...

Go-Go’s – Vacation

This is the second album from the Go-Go’s. It was released in 1982. It was on this second single that the band started having a bit of strife. The outward appearance of the band was very happy though misleading the public to keep the success of the band. There were a few singles released from the album.

The first was the title track, Vacation. The song was a big hit for the summer of 82 and is usually considered for most 80s playlists/compilation CDs to this day. The song talks about falling in love while on vacation and having to go back with out that new love of your life. The chorus talks about remembering that vacation and that love that you had to leave behind. The music is a lot of fun but simple at the same time. This is a big part of why it was so popular.

There were three other tracks that were released from this album as singles. The second single is called Get Up And Go. The third is called He’s So Strange. Both of these songs had minor success in the charts. The forth single that was released from this album is called Cool Jerk. This song is a cover of The Capitols song originally recorded in 1966. This song was released as a single in support of the Go-Go’s greatest hits compilation released in 1990 called Greatest. 

Michael Jackson – Thriller

This is the sixth album from Michael Jackson. It was released in 1982. Quincy Jones produced the album. Of the nine tracks on the album, 4 of them were written by Jackson himself. Seven singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Three of the singles had music videos released. "Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady in My Life" were the only tracks that were not released as singles. In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV.

Since its release and the two years following the album has not been repressed on vinyl. It has been repressed in a few special editions over the years with limited runs but only for collectors. From what I can tell the album was not put on to CD until 2001 in the US but as soon as 1983 in Japan and other countries.

As I mentioned earlier there are seven singles released from this album. The first of which is called The Girl Is Mine. This song is a duet featuring Paul McCartney. The song is a lot of fun given the playfulness between the two that can be heard on the recording.

The second single is called Billie Jean. The song was promoted with a video that broke down MTV's racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be aired by the channel. The song was also promoted through Jackson's Pepsi commercials; during the filming of one commercial, Jackson's scalp was severely burned. The song itself has a slow moving bass line that is instantly recognizable to nearly anybody.

The next single released form the album is called Beat It. Eddie Van Halen was hired to add the song's distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but was prevented by his record label from appearing in the music video. The song was promoted with a video that featured Jackson bringing two gangs together through the power of dance. I remember both this version that MJ did and the parody that “Weird Al” Yankovic did they were very good. Of course the parody came out after the original.

The fourth single released from the album is called Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’. The song is about strangers spreading rumors to start an argument for no good reason. Musically, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" has a cross-cultural disco theme similar to tracks from Off The Wall. The song's rhythm arrangement consists of interweaving drum-machine patterns, while the horn arrangement is brassy and precise.

The fifth single from the album is called Human Nature. "Human Nature" was written and composed by Steve Porcaro of Toto and John Bettis for Michael Jackson's Thriller album. Initially, Porcaro recorded a rough demo of the song on a cassette. Fellow Toto band member David Paich then gave the demo, along with two songs written by Paich, to producer Quincy Jones, hoping they would be included on Thriller. Jones didn't like Paich's songs, but enjoyed the rough demo of "Human Nature" at the end of the cassette. Jones explained, "All of a sudden, at the end, there was all this silence, there was: 'why, why, dah dah da-dum dah dah, why, why'. Just a dummy lyric and a very skeletal thing—I get goosebumps talking about it. I said, 'This is where we wanna go, because it's got such a wonderful flavor'". Bettis, who had written lyrics for hits by The Carpenters and The Pointer Sisters, among others, was asked to add lyrics to the song. He completed the song in two days. The producer asked if the song could be included on Jackson's album, to which Porcaro and Bettis agreed.

The sixth single from the album is called P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing). The original demo version of the song was written by Jackson and Greg Phillinganes. Quincy Jones passed on the song itself but liked the title and, with James Ingram, fashioned a totally new song with that title. Two of Jackson's sisters, Janet and La Toya, provided backing vocals in the guise of the P.Y.T.s. The two sisters sang "na na na" back at their brother towards the end of the song. This was one of my favorite songs on the album. There was something that made me happy about the song. It may have been that I was girl crazy at an early age or just that the song was very good to my ear.

The last single released from the album is called Thriller. It is the title track to the album. It is the best track on the album in my opinion. In the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard, and the lyrics contain frightening themes and elements. "Thriller" received positive reviews from critics, though the song was outshone by its music video. "Thriller" was adapted into a highly successful music video, known independently as Michael Jackson's Thriller. At fourteen minutes the video is substantially longer than the song, which ties together a narrative featuring Jackson and actress Ola Ray in a setting heavily inspired by horror films of the 1950s. In the video's most iconic scene, Jackson leads other actors costumed as zombies in a choreographed dance routine. It garnered some criticism for its occult theme and violent imagery. In 2009 it was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, the first music video ever selected. While Temperton was writing "Thriller" he stated that he'd "always envisioned" a "talking section at the end" on the song, but did not really know what "to do with it", until deciding "to have somebody, a famous voice, in the horror genre, to do this vocal." Jones' then-wife, Peggy Lipton, who knew Vincent Price, suggested Price for the vocal part, which Price agreed to do.

If you have not heard this album it is absolutely necessary that you swing by YouTube or your local record store to find a copy and listen to it as soon as possible. Yes, this album is that important in the history of music.

Alice Cooper – School’s Out

This is the fifth album from Alice Cooper. It was released in 1972. The original album cover (designed by Craig Braun) had the sleeve opening in the manner of an old school desk. The vinyl record inside was wrapped in a pair of girl's panties, though this was later discontinued as the panties were found to be flammable. The panties came in various colors. I have heard of them coming in blue and pink.

The single that was released from the album was the self titled track, School’s Out. It was a major world wide hit. I am sure that I had heard the song when I was a kid as my father listened to the classic rock station growing up. I think that it made the most impact on me from the movie Dazed And Confused though. The album was recently repressed on vinyl so I got a copy then. Surprisingly the album has not been repressed on vinyl very often in the past. It was repressed a few times in the early 70s once in the late 80s and just in the past few years, when I got my copy. I have seen in used in the record stores but not very often.

Cooper has said he was inspired to write the song when answering the question, "What's the greatest three minutes of your life?” Cooper said: "There's two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you're just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you're sitting there and it's like a slow fuse burning. I said, 'If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it's going to be so big.'"

Cooper has also said it was inspired by a line from a Bowery Boys movie. On his radio show, "Nights with Alice Cooper," he joked that the main riff of the song was inspired by a song by Miles Davis.

The lyrics of "School's Out" indicate that not only is the school year ended for summer vacation, but ended forever, and that the school itself has been blown up. It incorporates the childhood rhyme, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks" into its lyrics. It also featured children contributing some of the vocals. "Innocence" in the lyric "...and we got no innocence" is frequently changed in concert to "intelligence". "Etiquette" has also been used to replace the word.

Yuck – Yuck

This is the first album from the group Yuck. It was originally released in February 2011 with a re-release in October 2011 that included an additional six tracks. The first two singles released were put out before the album had taken shape but were included on the album when it was released. There are six singles released from the album and you have probably never heard any of them.

The first single, Rubber, is filled with early 90s distortion. The track is slow with a clean tone guitar slowly picked between the vocals. The vocals are also slightly distorted or over driven to add interest to the track.

The second single is called Georgia. This song is more up beat musically than the first single. This song pulls even more from the shoegaze genre with female vocals backing the lead vocal. The distortion is also not so harsh on this track making it easier to listen to.

The third single is called Holing Out. This is the reason that I got interested in the band. This song reminded me of the alternative style that came from the mid 90s MTV generation. It sort of reminds me of the song Feel The Pain by Dinosaur Jr. But in reality it is nothing like the song. I think that it is the melody that reminds me of the track because Holing Out has so much more distortion in it than Feel The Pain does. I like both songs for the same reasons though.

The next single is called Get Away. This song is slowed down and has this beautiful lead guitar part with a sweet bent high pitch distorted guitar sound. I could listen to that note being bent for hours it is so sweet and smooth. The vocals on this one are distorted a little bit as well. This track reminds me of something from the Nada Surf first album called High Low. It is not exactly a happy song but has the same feel as the music coming out of the mid 90s.

The sixth single from the album is called The Wall. This song is trying to be a pop song. It does OK with it too. I am not a fan of pop in general but the song does well with what it has.

The last single from the album is called Shook Down. I think it was released as a double A side with Milkshake. The track Milkshake was included on the re-release as a part of the second 6 track disc. Shook Down is a slowed down track with clean sounding vocals and a slowed down clean backing music track. It is a very nice track in the middle of walls and walls of distortion. It has very nice placement on the album to break up all of the noise.

This is a good nostalgic album brought new. What I mean is that it is a new album with heavy 90s nostalgic influence. I really like the album but think that if you don’t know the 90s music scene you may not get the intentions of this album.

That is all I have for now...