I have a few albums here for you that should get more listens and fans than they do. Some very good albums that seem to have gone under the radar for most music fans. I will post links to youtube, like I have been, for all the songs that are talked about here.
I am still working on the sun room as of yet. I am hoping to get the windows sealed this weekend and have the stereo up sometime during the week.
This is the fourteenth album from Fleetwood Mac. It was
released in1987. This album started out as a Lindsey Buckingham solo project
but soon morphed into a Fleetwood Mac album. It is the last album that had the
line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick
Fleetwood. This is the second biggest selling album for the group behind their
album Rumours. The funny thing to me is that I had never heard of this album
until I did some research on the group after listening to some radio taped
cassettes that I had made in the late 80s. There were two singles released from
the album that I absolutely loved of the six that were released from it.
Big Love was the first single released from the album. This
single has a certain style to it. There are lots of staccato notes along with
oos and ahs. The oos and ahs are of Lindsey sampled and changed to have
multiple different male and female sounds. Most people assume that the female
sounds are of Stevie Nicks, this is not true. This song was remixed for the
clubs on a 12” record.
The second single released from the album is called SevenWonders. This song features Stevie Nicks on vocals. I like her voice when
backed by the rest of the band. There is something special about that
combination. This single also got the club mix treatment.
The third single released from this album is called LittleLies. I remember this song very well from when I was in middle school. I don’t
think that I ever saw a video but the song was featured on the radio and the
top 40 count down that I listened to on Sunday mornings on the way home from
camping and maybe that fall/winter too. It is a very melodic song that floats
through your head. I am not exactly sure what the song is about other than
telling lies and trying to believe in them. I think that there is something to
do with a love life or an affair in there somewhere but it is buried so deep.
The next single from the album is called Family Man. This
was released in the UK and
later in the USA.
The song did not do much of me but it was still released as a single. I
appreciate that they are supporting a healthy family with the song but musically
it is not that great.
The next single from the album is called Everywhere. This is
another song that I remember hearing on the radio regularly in middle school.
It was a beautiful song that could have related to any relationship starting
off. It deals with obsession, in my opinion, of getting that new girl or boy
friend and wanting to be with them and take them in every chance that they
could get. This is how I felt about having a girlfriend while in school. School
was in the way and family was in the way of me getting to know the current girl
of my dreams.
The last single released from the album is called Isn’t ItMidnight. This is a very rock and roll song from the group. The track was just
a standard 80s rock track and did not chart that well. I don’t remember hearing
the song on the radio or the top 40 shows that I listened to. It is a fair
track but did not really fit on the album well and could have been from any
other rock group. It was bland and I will leave it at that.
The album has some very special tracks for me growing up as
a kid. I was happy to find a copy on vinyl at Cheapo for a reasonable price.
The album may not be necessary to be heard but some of those singles certainly
are important.
This is the sixth album from Saves The Day. It is the second
in a trilogy of albums. It was released in 2007. I was lucky enough to find out
about this album and get a copy on translucent green vinyl. The album is said
to be darker in content like The Empire Strikes Back is in the Star Wars
trilogy. The first album in the trilogy dealt with discontent. This album deals
with reflection and remorse. I am not surprised that I nearly lost touch with
this band. The emo style went out of style at about the time that this album or
the previous one was released. Add that with the fact that this group is so
underground at this point that people have nearly forgotten about them. I ran
across them in one of my usual indie online record stores, Suburban Home, and
saw that they had put out two albums since the last one that I bought, In
Reverie. I bought the both of them on colored vinyl.
Can’t Stay The Same is the only single released from this
album. The song is fun and nearly poppy for an emo group. The verse has some
harmonized guitar chord slides that make the song easy to listen to. I couldn’t
even sing the words to the song because the music is so fun. The chorus is just
a bunch of noise but organized noise. I would call it a normal rock and roll
chorus more than anything else.
I do have a favorite song from the album. It is called ByeBye Baby. The lead singer sings about loving someone that he just can’t be with
because of complications in the relationship. He is not specific about what the
problem is between them. He sings, “Bye bye baby, our love can’t save us” and
that he will love her from afar. He loves her but mentally it can’t work
because every time they are together they break out in arguments that usually
end up involving the police. The music is very good and the lyrics work well
with the song.
All in all a good album that should have gotten more listens
from the public. I am saddened that most people don’t know about this album.
This is the seventh album released by Pearl Jam. It was
released in 2002. This album has many influences including those of folk, art
rock and experimental rock. The lyrical content dealt with mortality and
existentialism. This was because of the political and emotional climate after
the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the accidental death of nine fans
during the groups’ 2000 performance Roskild Festival. The album, for me, is
very emotional. The music has a sad feel to it. It is easy to listen to and
seems to become a part of you like a topical cream heals your wounds. It seeps
into your skin to help you where you don’t know you need help. There were four
singles released from the album.
The first single from the album is called I Am Mine. Eddy
Vedder said that the song is about personal safety, the feeling of being secure
and even free. The song is also very melodic with the use of a vibrato organ in
the background of the song. The song is loud but it is easily overlooked with
the harmonies that happen through out the song.
The second single from the album is called Bushleager. There
are plenty of references to baseball in this song but they are actually
references to the rich getting richer as is the groups want with political
references. They are good about supporting those who can’t support them selves.
I appreciate their ideals but don’t always agree with them. I don’t understand
their references exactly. I think they are talking about the common ideal of
the rich getting richer etc.
The third single from this album is called Save You. The
guitar riff has so much energy that during the recording of the song the
drummer lost his head phones and continued to play based on what the bassist
fingers were doing. The fills are all on the fly giving the song an unexpected
additional energy to the song. The song represents the anger felt by anyone who
has watched a close friend waste away his or her own life. Some think that this
is a reference to the lead singer of Alice In Chains, Layne Staley, that the
group was friends with who died of sever drug overdose.
The last single from the album is called Love Boat Captain.
This song has many things going into it. There are references to the nine
deaths that happened in 2000 at one of their concerts. There are also
references to The Beatles song All You Need Is Love. It is a very interesting
and confusing song that should probably be analyzed down to its core and even
then I may not fully understand the song. It is an important song in the
history of music but will probably never get its just deserts.
This is another great album that did not get proper
advertisements in my opinion. It is a great album that takes time to understand
given the political and emotional climate that it was released in.
This is the second album from Abandoned Pools. It was
released in 2005. Tommy Walter has had some troubles with record companies. The
first album was on Extacy Records. This was a division of Warner Bros. The
company stopped promoting bands and went under only a couple years after it
started. I lost a group because of this company falling down. I probably will
never hear anything more from them either. Abandoned Pools (AP) did their best
to keep going as a one man band. They were signed to Universal for this album.
He started working on new material focusing on his personal life and political
views for inspiration. Universal stopped promoting the album some time after it
was released and the group became a one man band once again. I don’t know why
the record company would have stopped promoting the album but they did. Tommy
has a special sound that I have not heard reproduced anywhere else. I am
excited for a new album at the end of August though.
There was one official single released from this album, the
title track, Armed To The Teeth. It is kind of an angry track with feelings of
outside pressure and the idea of not wanting to conform to what is generally
expected of the American person based on the views of the corporate industry
monster. It is really amazing that he could write music that really fits this
lyrical idea so well. That is a real talent if I had ever seen one.
I also really liked the song The Catalyst. The lyrics say
that you don’t need to live in a fairy tale to live your life. I will be there
for you and through me you will see the world as it is with all of the good
things and bad things. Life is as it should be, simple but difficult. But that
is the way it should be, we can only learn how better to live life by seeing
the truth of it. I am sure that there are more political points that he was
trying to get across but I like my view better anyway.
The album as a whole is very good. It is sad that not many
people know about this album as it is so good. This is another lesser known
album that should have gotten more interest that it has.
That is all I have for now...
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