You know MP, I was just dropping in here to say the same thing. That's a great song. I'd forgotten.Originally Posted by moonpie
-Mark
You know MP, I was just dropping in here to say the same thing. That's a great song. I'd forgotten.Originally Posted by moonpie
-Mark
Yeah, but you would have probably said it was by Gordon Lightfoot
If you leave the house, you're just asking for it.
Well, oddly, although I think GL's rendition is deservedly a classic, I've probably heard it so many times so many years ago that I probably wouldn't have really listened to it, and appreciated how intelligently written that song is, if I heard GL do it. Johnny Cash's take allowed me to hear it afresh -- great stuff. Thanks for the pointer, 'pie.Originally Posted by moonpie
-Mark
Well, they're hackneyed and overplayed because they are good:
Margaritaville
Brown Eyed Girl
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
Wild Thing-Troggs
"Me & Mrs. Jones"--Billy Paul. I love doing that one live with my buddy Damon singing. He tears the roof off the sucka.
'Chevy Van' - Sammy Johns
He lives a few miles from my shop and still writes and records at a studio here in town I hang at.
"Please Come to Boston" - Dave Loggins
"Ball of Fire" and "Crimson and Clover" - Tommy James & Shondells
"Tighter and Tighter" - Alive and Kicking
"To Sir With Love" - Lulu
"If you're cool, you don't know nothin' about it. It just is...or you ain't." - Keith Richards
"Crimson & Clover" is a monster.
I don't enjoy much Rod Stewart but "The Motown Song" (written by Larry John McNally) is undeniable.
fezz, you want to hear a perfect performance of a perfect non-rock era song? Check out the Blossom Dearie recording of Johnny Mercer's "Charade." It's on iTunes, a mere 1:57 long. Why dilute sublimity by stretching it?
Damn right. I love a singer who clearly "gets" the song, and Blossom Dearie kills it everytime.
"I'll Be Around" - The Spinners
"Smile" - The Jayhawks (Moving in a more "pop" direction from their twangier early stuff, which I love. Not a bad thing, What a great album!)
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
Has anyone mentioned The Mamas and The Papas? California Dreamin, Dedicated To The One I Love, and Creeque Alley, among others.
David Lindley does a great version on Very Greasy.Originally Posted by fezz parka
Wow, looking at that '72 list now...
All The Young Dudes. Been thinking of working that one up.
Baby Blue
Bang a Gong
The Partridge Family did a version of Breaking Up is Hard to Do?
Day After Day
Do It Again
Don't Do It
Easy Livin'
Elected (Reflected, for you uber-geeks out there)
Freddie's Dead
Go All The Way
Heart of Gold
Hot Rod Lincoln
Immigration Man
Join Together
Long Cool Woman
Me & Julio
Old Man
R&R Pt. 2
Rockin' Pneumonia (done by David Lindley with different (original) words?
I had no idea 1972 was so cool, and had such a big influence on me.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Good song.Originally Posted by Kap'n
Not a pop song, but I've always wanted to cover "Rock and roll Queen" Not sure what album that one's from, but I have it on a collection called "The Island Years". That would be a crowd killer!
"All The Young Dudes" is super fine. But how could I not have been the first to mention "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone?" Dang! That's the sweetest ever.
boobtube, my band was playing "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" like our lives depended on it back in 1973... WAY before those big-haired dudes reworked it (was it Great White?).
Of course, I'm also ashamed to say that we played "Easy Living." And "Sweet Lorraine" (from The Wizard's Birthday, I kid you not). And those were not EVEN the cheeisest tunes our Brit-prog keyboardist dragged into the band.
I just went and checked that link from fezz, and of course went straight for the year I graduated from high school. A handful of great tunes, but such a horrible wash of drek! Including one of the most anoying records ever (I know this thread is for praise, but I can't help it after seeing the title, I've got the damn thing stuck in my head now...) by Albert Hammond:
"Look at me, I'm goin' somewhere, I'm a train, I'm a train, I'm a chucka-train.... yeeeeeaaaah!"
Let me know if Raffi ever comes up with a more painful earworm. "Bananaphone" has got nuthin' on this.
I think it's from this one.Originally Posted by boobtube21
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Sweet Lorraine and Easy Living were staples with my band too along with Sunrise, Look at Yourself and July Morning. Some great tunes came out of that band.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
Friperton, I was only half kidding about the quality of those tunes, as I'm sure you saw. "Sweet Loraine" used to completely rock the house, and we did the harmony vocals in the chorus with serious conviction, I recall.
But that Albert Hammond thing is gonna be the death of me this morning, no doubt.
"It's been a life that's long and hard, I'm a train, I'm a train, I'm a chucka-train, yeeeeah!"
God, why do I know this???!?
Oh I know. Anyone into music as much as you has to be hip to Ken Hensley's songwriting.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
Wowza.
This list, and having wandered the racks at a big ol' Vigin mega store looking for a decent decade best of set, has me realizing I may have to get into iTunes or something like that.
Those best of's tend to include a lot of junk in with the tastey nuggets. ( and I couldn't find the old BeeGees hits without the SNF stuff. )
I don't like everything on our list, but damn...
And probably 90% of these are NOT INCLUDED on the 10 shelves or so full of CD's I have here!!!
Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
That's the thing I use iTunes for, Neo. "Gottahavethatonesong" impulses. I used to buy a fair number of compilations... when a client asked me to key off some 80s tune I was only passing sure of, I'd buy a collection like "80s Leather And Lace" (hits by girl rockers), and get the song I need, one other I really liked, and 9 tunes I never want to hear again as long as I live. But now iTunes rules for this. My iPod sounds like some kind of old-school FM station from Hell.
Right now, I'm listening to Lou Gramm's "Midnight Blue." Makes my skin tingle from the top of my head clear down to my hands, I tell ya.
Originally Posted by fezz parka
If you leave the house, you're just asking for it.
Has anyone thrown down any THREE DOG NIGHT yet...?
Um, yeah. Probably.Originally Posted by Kap'n
That's a good one tooOriginally Posted by Gravity Jim
Gris - I don't think so.
My band also used to play 3Dog's "Liar." Man, that was fun. I can still play the little rolling guitar figure any day. (Yes, I know the song was written by Russ Ballard... the same band also played "Hold Your Head Up.")
there are so many, i can't even begin to mention my fav's
along with the fact that it has to *pop*, i am intrigued w/ wordsmithing
i'm deep.
Imanidiot.
Originally Posted by fezz parka
It's hard to imagine something like that breaking the Top 100 now.
Not much room for eccenrticity anymore.
Lotsa' strange ("extreme") looks out there. But the range of what ya' hear in big-time music seems really narrow.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
This Masquerade - Leon Russell. Beautifully written song. I'm pretty sure George Bensen had the hit, no? But I like Leon's version.
Just The Way You Are - Borders on cheese (as so much Billy Joel does) but perfectly crafted song.
I probably never would have appreciated these had I not worked up arrangements of these some time back. For me, my relationship or take to a song can be entirely changed once I've learned to play it. I imagine for others as well.
Originally Posted by wellstrung
The Billy Joel Textbook?
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
Ah, but some cheese can be so tasty.Originally Posted by Kap'n
Going deep to the well for a game winning home run:
Anyone of a dozen by JONI!
He's all cheese, all the time. You gotta give it to Billy, though, for "I Go To Extremes." Man, that chorus makes my hair stand up.
Cheese or not, I'll add one more: Uptown Girl. I love this song. Epitomizes catchy good pop. So I say.
i think Phil Vasser is the counrty billyjoel
jmmfo
(fwiw, i like both...just sayin is all)
Imanidiot.
+1 I like that song. Billy Joel's stuff is very well crafted, but there are only a handful I can stand to listen to. The songs I do like are very good thoughOriginally Posted by wellstrung
I really haven't found one I can stand to listen to.Originally Posted by boobtube21
Some of them, conversely, are fun to play, both as an exercise, and for crowd reaction.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
"I Don't Want To Be Alone Anymore" is a Billy Joel song I dig.
I'm not sure that makes it an "Awesome Pop Song," but it's pre-Christie-bliss, so it has some bite to it.
I think it was on Glass Houses.
Go easy on Billy.
He didn't start the fire!
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
"Crazy"
Willie can write 'em!
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim