End of the month, time for something different

(Paul says:)
This will likely be the last post of the month for April, unless Ross posts something. I predict that May's posts will be somewhat different, as I explore more of the jazz realm. (I seem to like jazz more in the summer and fall, rock more in the winter and spring; as the weather gets warmer, it may still be spring, but it seems like summer.)

I'd welcome feedback on anything that's been posted so far. I feel like I'm doing all the talking - and I pretty much am!

In the meantime, enjoy what's here, and I'll see you in May.

P

Odds and Ends and a whole lot of other songs

(Paul says:)
Here is a new playlist of odds and ends that I could've included in previous lists. I would've used the existing sites, but I couldn't find Sammy Hagar's "Ten 13" (his birthday is October 13th, and he wrote this song and titled his album for everyone's birthday; ironically, I bought it with my birthday money and listened to it for the first time this morning). The only place I could find it was at a playlist site called finetune.com. I created a playlist there (it's Playlist 1) which included that tune and some other great keyboard solos by Kansas, Toto, Pink Floyd ("Run Like Hell") and overlooked artist (and another Canook) Aldo Nova. However, in order to be ready to play, the list has to have 45 songs, so there's some additional songs by these bands plus Supertramp, Foreigner, Chicago, ELO, and Van Halen. Enjoy it all!

P

Familiar Bands - Unfamiliar Songs

SeeqPod - Playable Search
(Paul says:)
OK, three posts in one day is a bit excessive, but I had these all worked up and just haven't been able to post them for lack of time. This list differs slightly from previous one of forgotten and overlooked bands; in this case, the bands are familiar, but these are tunes that should've been bigger hits (if not signature tunes). Some are minor hits, some probably only get airplay on "album side" plays or on public radio and internet shows. No matter - I'm here to remedy that today.

Track 1 - Van Halen - "Dirty Movies"
I wish I could've just put the whole "Fair Warning" album here, but that would unfairly favor my favorite group. FW is the favorite album of many guitarists and long-time fans, but it has few "radio-friendly" hits. Which just illustrates more clearly what is wrong with FM radio these days.

Track 2 - Boston - Feelin' Satisfied
I love the "Don't Look Back" album, which has a bunch of good B-side singles such as this, "It's Easy", "Used to Bad News" and "Party". It seems like every track from the debut album gets airplay, but only the title cut gets played from the second album - at least on The Arrow, which is what we in Utah have to settle for when it comes to classic rock on commercial radio. I hope this will inspire you, Gentle Reader, to give this classic record either a first, or another, listen.

Track 3 - Rush - The Camera Eye
This track from "Moving Pictures" is overshadowed by "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight" on the radio, and the fan-favorite "Red Barchetta", but I love the lyrics - first about New York City, then London - which capture the heart of those cities so eloquently.

Track 4 - Def Leppard - Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
Way overlooked track from the classic "Pyromania" album.

Track 5 - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Chitlins Con Carne
Everything SRV did before his death was overlooked, but "Lenny" and "Riviera Paradise" are more lauded as classic instrumentals.

Track 6 - Chris Isaak - Things Go Wrong
I picked this because it was an obscure track from a great album, "Forever Blue". As was the case with "Fair Warning", you either need to listen to it for the first time or hear it again.

Track 7 - Robben Ford - Help the Poor
Robben and Chris Isaak probably would've been more accurately listed on the "Overlooked and Forgotten" entry, but they are both well-known enough that I think they're worth mentioning here. This is a remake of an old B. B. King song, and it's from another classic album, "Talk to Your Daughter". Listen to that one, too. (My, I'm giving a rather extensive assignment, aren't I?) But listen to the playlist I've posted here first.

Track 8 - Tot0 - Stop Loving You
A great track that was obscured by the fact that when it was released in 1990, classic rock bands were already being labeled as "corporate rock". Nevertheless, this is a great Toto tune, and they're still making them as good as this.

Track 9 - ZZ Top - She Loves My Automobile
A minor hit for the best little ol' band from Texas, it's part of the excellent Deguello album, which features "Cheap Sunglasses", "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", "Fool For Your Stockings", and even (a very minor hit) "Manic Mechanic". But this tune is perhaps my favorite ZZ Top song from the pre-Eliminator, semi-obscurity years.

Track 10 - Journey - Be Good to Yourself
Another casualty of the "corporate rock" anti-movement, this track features Randy Jackson (of American Idol fame, not the one from Zebra) on bass. Impress your friends with that trivial nugget. (I impress mine with Robert Plant's "Big Log".)

Track 11 - Styx - Boat On a River
A largely forgotten track from the great "Cornerstone" album, I like this one because it features the mandolin skills of one Tommy Shaw. I can close my eyes and visualize myself in Venice.

Track 12 - Night Ranger - Goodbye
NR is remembered more for "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", "Sister Christian", and "You Can Still Rock in America", and I wanted to pick an even more obscure song - the band made plenty of great ones - but I settled for this one that should've been a bigger hit than it was.

Track 13 - Ted Nugent - Hey Baby
Completing the Damn Yankees trilogy... This one is on most compilation of Ted's career, but I think this one should've been beaten to death on the radio the way "Stormtroopin'" and "Cat Scratch Fever" have been (and are). I hope you'll like this (even though it says on the playlist that it's by the "Philly Dogs", whoever they are).

Enjoy!

P

Works of Art Series - Volume 2

Eagles – I Can’t Tell You Why

(Paul says:)

I could’ve chosen “One of These Nights” (or a number of other Eagles songs), but I wanted to choose one that wasn’t one of my favorites. The Eagles are famous for their songcraft, as would be necessary when there are three guitar players in a lighter-sounding rock band.

Like “My Love’s Leavin’”, the other offering (so far) in my “Works of Art” series on this blog, I came to appreciate this more by listening to it with headphones. While I like most of the bands’ songs, the somewhat effeminate vocal offering from Timothy B. Schmidt was something I underappreciated. The song is introduced with a single bass note followed by two keyboard chords (the first being played on beats 3 and the “and” beat, the second on the 4 beat; the bass adds a note the second time and is embellished in subsequent measures. When the vocal begins, the guitar comes in with a delay of about ½ of a beat (or a 1/8 note, if you prefer). The “live note” is played on the left channel, but the delay is in the left channel. This guitar plays higher chords (embellished chords, which give it a sort of jazz feel), but the other guitar plays the solo and the turnaround riff, and it is more of a traditional rock sound. I like the background vocal during the second verse because it doesn’t repeat or mimic the lead line, but instead offers different lyrics and melody. Cool stuff. Throughout, of course, the background vocals are excellent (as you would expect from a group where nearly everyone takes a lead vocal turn frequently). During the outro solo, the high-pitched chords get even higher, and the solo is one of my favorites from this band. According to the liner notes from “The Very Best of Eagles,” the guitar solo and the counter-melodic background vocal previously referenced are both credited to Glenn Frey. No surprise there – the man’s a genius. The song fades after a while, but the listener is only bored with the drums. (Most drummers I know don’t care much for Don Henley’s prowess as a drummer, and while he’s no Neal Peart, at least he’s economical.)

I hope to be able to learn from this type of songwriting – basic is great with really cool (but basic) embellishments that enhance the whole product. This song is truly a work of art, but this band has a large number of them over a long period of time (which becomes apparent when you listen to the two-disc retrospective that I previously referenced.)

P

Works of Art Series - Volume 1

Steve Winwood - My Love's Leavin'

(Paul says:)
(Please listen with headphones, as it will be easier to appreciate my comments.) I was never a real big fan of Steve Winwood, although I do like his work with both The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic, but this song is crafted. It has a basic beat with cool percussion and two chords during the verse at the beginning. More and more instrumentation (and vocal effects) is added as we near the first chorus, culminating with the call-and-response keyboard part that fluctuates between the left and right side. When the verse resumes, there is a keyboard-generated “strings” crescendo after each line. Still more instruments and new themes are added during the second verse. All the while, this song has a poignant lyric as well, as the singer laments the departure of his beloved, but finally concludes that her departure is actually liberating (listen for the keyboard “lead” fills during this part right before the song ends; there is also a decent keyboard solo in the musical interlude after the second verse). It just struck me that such a simple song could be crafted so well and embellished so expertly that it doesn’t become busy or overloaded. It’s truly a professional effort, and I have come to like Winwood much better because of it – not only this song, but many of his others, as well, although they don’t have the same level of artistic merit for me. I hope you come to enjoy it like I do.

P

Paul's Birthday

(Paul says:)
Yes, it's my birthday, although I'm old enough that I no longer relish such occasions. Still, it is nice to have people pamper me a little now and then.

As for the songs, I'll briefly discuss them (instead of like previous posts). The first is a Sesame Street version that actually has a pretty decent jam in the middle of it. The second song is a Stevie Wonder tune that I had never heard until I compiled this list yesterday. The third is Marilyn Monroe singing to JFK. It makes me wish I was the President of the United States! Then The Vandals sing a song with a certain obscenity in the title (but who can deny feeling this way at some time in their life!) and the 5th track is Andrew "Dice" Clay. "Weird Al" comes next, followed by The Beatles (although the track lists the artist as The Beetlez) cut that everyone knows (and that I was searching for when I got this idea). Steppenwolf and Jaco Pastorius contribute pretty decent cuts - two artists that I enjoy performing songs with which I was previously unfamiliar - and then there's R. Kelly. I hope all those names he names toward the end of the song are of legal age! I mainly included this tune to make that joke - hardly worth it, eh?

P

Great Keyboard Solos

SeeqPod - Playable Search
This is certainly not a comprehensive list, but the songs included here are things that sprang to my mind when I thought of the topic.

Track 1 - Lynyrd Skynyrd - I Know a Little
I've always liked this tune for its guitar solos, but listen to Billy Powell's piano solo and hear how he holds his own among some great guitarists.

Track 2 - The Young Rascals - Good Lovin'
A classic keyboard solo that I began to appreciate when I played with Rich Baron, an excellent keyboard player who played and sang this song as well - or better - than The Young Rascals. The inclusion of this cool solo is as much a tribute to him as to them.

Track 3 - REO Speedwagon - Roll With the Changes
Another solo that Rich used to play, and another case of a keyboardist holding his own in the presence of an accomplished guitarist.

Track 4 - The Beatles - In My Life
I already included this song in the tribute section, but I just love the piano solo (which was played by George Martin, the "5th Beatle").

Track 5 - Van Halen - Jump
Yet another example of a keyboard solo that holds its own next to a great guitar solo, but this time they are both played by the same person - the legendary Edward Van Halen, virtuoso extraordinaire.

Track 6 - Boston - Smokin'
Tom Scholz shows that EVH is not the only accomplished multi-instrumentalist in rock, and while he's not in Ed's league as a guitarist, he plays an awesome and memorable solo on the Hammond B-3 in this tune.

Track 7 - Led Zeppelin - All of My Love
Often overlooked and overshadowed, I think John Paul Jones is as underrated for his legendary contributions as was George Harrison. This keyboard solo is one that is easy to whistle or sing along with, too!

P

Songs of Hope (Other Than "Stairway to Heaven")

Track 1 - Triumph - Somebody's Out There
A cool tune; I always thought it was an optimistic song to curb teenage angst. Plus, as I've said before, Triumph is a pretty cool band.

Track 2 - Sammy Hagar - I'll Fall in Love Again
Sammy's way of saying he'll be all right.

Track 3 - Robert Cray - Bouncin' Back
Robert was hurtin' at first, but now he's beginning to recover. This is my favorite tune of this type because it is, truly, a song of hope.

Track 4 - The Babys - Back On My Feet Again
A classic featuring pre-Journey Jonathan Cain and pre-solo career Jon Waite. These two later reunited (and added Neal Schon) to form Bad English, an underrated supergroup. (Wow! Now that's an oxymoron!)

P

Additional songs found

Inspired by the Greatness of Ross!

(Paul says:)
I have already signed up at imeem.com and seeqpod.com, thanks to your finds. Those are good sites that will improve our future performance here! Thanks for doing that.

As for the songs you found, I'll let them speak for themselves for now (in addition to what I may have already said about them).

P

Me & Paul

(Ross says:)

Thanks, Paul, for setting this up. It will be fun. "Me and Paul" is here as my opener for obvious reasons. "Paul" is Paul, or maybe Paul is "Paul". I'm confused now. Anyway...

"It's been rough and rocky travellin'..."
"We received our education in the cities of the nation, me and Paul."
"I believe they like to pick on me and Paul."
"We drank a lot of whiskey, so I don't know if we went on that night at all."

"Top Jimmy" and "Drop Dead Legs" are here for you Paul, but for me, too. I love 'em. Actually, the whole album. I found these on a site called seeqpod.com. I also found "Girl Gone Bad". It was my favorite song on the album right after I bought it in 1984, so I included it. It is now my quest to find the rest of the songs that you have mentioned here that you cannot find yet.

'Til then...

Tributes

(Paul says:)

OK, OK, I'll lay off for a few days after this one, but I've been thinking about this one a lot since reading about the deaths of a few of our former classmates on www.bhs1988.com. I thought it would be cool to pay tribute to some of them, and then I thought of some others, as well.

Track 1 - Jimmy Buffett - Cheeseburger in Paradise
Bryce Goddard
He was voted "Most Likely to Spend His Life Flipping Burgers" in our high school yearbook. He did more than that, but it's too bad the life wasn't longer. I thought this song would be appropriate to dedicate to him. He died in 2004.

Track 2 - The Fixx - One Thing Leads to Another
James "Scott" Curnen
I never even knew his name was James; we all called him Scott throughout junior high and high school. I remember that he liked to listen to The Fixx when they were the "it" band in junior high, so although I didn't know Scott that well, I know he'd like this tune. He just passed away last November.

Track 3 - REO Speedwagon - Back On the Road Again
Kristen Beck
Kristen passed away in August just after she gave birth to twins. She had MS for a long time. The reason I chose this song is because one of our friends had a crush on her in high school, and one of that friend's favorite songs during that period was this one.

Track 4 - The Doors - The End
Chad Peterson
We used to go to Chad's house in junior high to listen to music in our "fraternity" which was called Π Ώ Τ (Pi Omega Tau, for those not schooled in Greek; I think it was for the poker we played there in which there were high stakes and large pots. Or maybe it was something else, I can't recall...) We listened to a lot of The Doors, for some reason. Chad died in a single car accident about 15 years ago.

Track 5 - Bread - Mother Freedom
Tad Clayton
I had the embarrassing misfortune of asking his sister what was up with him because "I haven't seen him for a while" when she informed me that he passed away in 2002. Tad and I jammed together extensively in 1987, and this was the song we played most often. There is a photo in the 1987 yearbook of us playing it.

Track 6 - The Allman Brothers Band - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
Elizabeth Reid
My great, great, great, great, great grandmother is Elizabeth Reid, and I just discovered that a few weeks ago, so this is to all those who came before (and without whom I wouldn't exist!).

Track 7 - Joey Ramone - Don't Worry About Me
Joe Andrews
My brother-in-law that introduced me to Ramones, he was killed in late 1991 in a car accident near Fresno, California. Joey's tune was written and recorded shortly before his own death, and it's as if he's trying to comfort us from beyond the grave. Freaky! Yet, somehow appropriate.

Track 8 - Journey - Send Her My Love
Jerry Rose
My wife's brother who died in a fall in the Uintahs in 1985. I remember listening to this song when I called to offer my condolences to her brother (who was my friend) but I also thought of her, although we were much less well acquainted at that time. Here are some of the lyrics:
How it hurt so bad to see her cry
I didn't want to say goodbye
Send her my love
Memories remain
Send her my love
Roses never fade

Track 9 - Van Halen - Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
Bill Rose
My father-in-law was pretty much always a good man, but I used to sing this song to him when he'd get perturbed at the kids' racket when we'd come to visit. He died from cancer in 2003, five years ago this week.

Track 10 - The Beatles - In My Life
David Gephart
My oldest brother, he took his own life in 1991, but obviously had the greatest influence on me of any of these. Plus it's one of my favorite songs, and David was a fan of The Beatles.

Next time, we'll do something more fun.

P

Overlooked and forgotten artists

(Paul says:)
Sorry to dominate the first couple of posts. (Gee, Ross, are you ever going to post anything?) I have the advantage, though, of having thought about this for a while, so Ross will soon carry us.

Today's theme is overlooked and forgotten bands (although the music you are hearing is totally forgotten, since it was available on playlist.com). Some of these are groups you still hear on classic rock radio, but I feel they are not remembered as often as they ought to be.

Track 1 - April Wine - Roller
One of my favorite guitar solos ever! The three lead guitarists each play 2 triplets (six notes) then harmonize on the last 2 beats, then repeat it over the following two measures. If this wasn't cool enough, over the next couple of bars they each play 1 triplet (3 notes), harmonizing on the final beat. This probably required a lot of practice! I've always wanted to play this one with a band. April Wine is one of my favorite groups from way back when I listened to records, and I think they are one of the more overlooked bands ever. Most people know this song, "Just Between You and Me," and "I Like to Rock," but if you get the chance to hear more April Wine, take it, eh.

Track 2 - Zebra - She's Waiting for You
I saw Zebra open for Sammy Hagar in 1985 and have been a huge fan ever since. This is power trio from Slidell, Louisiana, but they sound more like Zeppelin than bayou music. Randy Jackson has a decent voice in the low registers, but his command of a high falsetto is impressive. They rock pretty hard, too. The pickings on playlist.com aren't extensive, but seek to hear more from these guys, too. It's worth your effort!

Track 3 - Triumph - Magic Power
More popular (in terms of record sales) in Canada than Rush, this power trio is more melodic but rocks just as hard as their fellow Canooks. Since the first time I heard this song, it's been one of my favorites ever, as it describes - accurately - what music can do for the listener. Ironically, a similar theme to "Spirit of Radio." So many coincidences.

Track 4 - Y&T - Summertime Girls
I chose this tune because it was one that I played with my high school band, but I would recommend the album "In Rock We Trust" if you want to hear some Y&T. That said, this song is a great theme, and with the warmer weather, I always think of summertime girls.

Track 5 - Molly Hatchet - Beatin' the Odds
Everyone knows "Flirtin' with Disaster," but my friends in the Cache Valley (Utah)-based band Hex used to play this song, and I really came to dig it. With a backhoe! These guys rocked harder than 38 Special or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but their roots are the same (and one of their biggest hits was a sort of cover of The Allman Brothers Band's "Dreams," although they do it in 4/4 time).

Track 6 - Honeymoon Suite - Feel It Again
Another Canadian band (this is the last one today, I promise!), they sound a bit like Triumph. Their biggest downfall, I think, was the glut of bands that came out at about the same time - 1985. There was a glut of '80s metal/hard rock that came about right then, and between just the records and tapes bought by Ross and me, I can think of several new bands: Dokken, Zebra, Helix, Fastway, Autograph, and Black 'n Blue. It was the heyday of MTV, too, so new bands came and went very quickly, but HS deserved a longer look. Here's your chance!

Track 7 - Honeymoon Suite - Bad Attitude
I couldn't decide between their two big hits, so I've included them both.

Track 8 - Thin Lizzy - Cowboy Song
Known more for "The Boys Are Back in Town," "Jailbreak," and "Whiskey in the Jar," Thin Lizzy should've been a huge band in the states but never achieved that kind of success. Sadly, Phil Lynott, the bassist/lead vocalist and creative force, left us much too soon. I chose this song because I like it so much. I may never have noticed it, but it's tablature was published in a guitar mag a few years ago, and so I took a closer listen. It became my favorite TL song that very day!

Track 9 - Billy Squier - Lonely is the Night
I know, everyone is familiar with a bunch of Billy's stuff, and he had some big hits, but video killed this radio star. I've always thought he was a pretty dang good songwriter who doesn't get much acclaim anymore.

Track 10 - Kingdom Come - What Love Can Be
The biggest criticism of Kingdom Come (or Kingdom Clone, if you want to be derisive) was that they sounded like Led Zeppelin. I would think fans of LZ would want to hear more things that sound like them, but Great White, Whitesnake, and many others have been pooh-poohed (or is it poo-pooed? I've been told often that I don't know crap, and this proves it) for that criticism. I though plagarism was the most sincere form of flattery, but I guess not for LZ fans. These guys should have done more of their own style, but they did this so well that I couldn't resist including them. (You can also check out Stone Fury, the prior band of the lead singer whose name is Lenny something, but I can't recall right now.)

Track 11 - Coverdale Page - Shake My Tree
This collaboration/partnership was also criticized as Jimmy Page's attempt to make a new Zep record with Coverdale (who supposedly always wanted to be Robert Plant), and maybe it is, but it's a pretty good record in its own right. Until the real reunion, this will have to do.

I also wanted to include a band called Sweet Vine and their song "Mountainside," but I couldn't find it anywhere. Check that out, too, if you get the chance. (I have the CD, so you can send me an e-mail if you want at ross_and_paul@yahoo.com).

I may not post for a few days, so enjoy these lists in the meantime.

P

24th Anniversary of my first guitar lesson!

(Paul says:)

Today's playlist is compiled in honor of the 24th anniversary of my first guitar lesson with George Best on Apr. 3, 1984. Also, as a housekeeping issue, I didn't mean to criticize playlist.com so much in yesterday's post, but there are limitations. That said, if it wasn't for that site, I wouldn't be able to post as I want to!

Track 1 - Van Halen - Panama
Actually, the whole MCMLXXXIV (1984) album by VH made me want to play guitar, but the limitations of the music site again made me choose a radio hit instead of "Top Jimmy" or "Drop Dead Legs." This was the song, though, that was both a hit and a microcosm of what made the DLR Van Halen so special - a kickin' rhythm, a brief but fiery solo, a break with an ad lib Diamond Dave lyric to make you laugh, and stellar background vocals. As Dave would later say, you can't get this stuff no more - but maybe, just maybe, if this tour is successful enough, the VH boys and DLR will record some new music. Well, I can dream.

Track 2 - April Wine - Just Between You and Me
This was the first song that I learned all of the solos to. I would rewind my cassette player and re-play the notes until I had it about right. The cool thing about April Wine is that the three leads are played by three different players, so they're similar, yet different. (There will surely be more April Wine on this blog in the future!)

Track 3 - Bryan Adams - Kids Wanna Rock
When I got this album, I learned to play just about all of the songs, because the leads weren't very challenging, and I liked the tunes. (The "Reckless" album from which this came has a bunch of great Bryan Adams hits - "Run to You," "Somebody," "Heaven," "Summer of '69," and "It's Only Love" - with Tina Turner - and a bunch of other cool songs that you probably have never heard like "She's Only Happy When She's Dancing," "One Night Love Affair," and "Long Gone." The only song I didn't mention was "Ain't Gonna Cry," which isn't bad, either - a most underrated album, and one that I spent more than a few hours jamming to.

Track 4 - Judas Priest - Living After Midnight
When I joined my first band, Asylum, at age 14, this was the first song we played together. We also played such KISS tunes as "Heaven's On Fire" and "Lick It Up" and Twisted Sister's anthems "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock," as well as Priest's "United" in our short-lived junior high-era band. We chose those songs because they were so easy to play, but we sucked anyway. Oh, well, it was fun, and the experience was good later.

Track 5 - Ramones - Oh Oh I Love Her So
Ramones was a great band to learn to play rhythm guitar to because it's all power chords at high velocity. I played along with the live album "It's Alive" until my wrists hurt, and this was one of my favorite tunes on there.

Track 6 - ZZ Top - I Need You Tonight
I have always thought that Billy Gibbons is the most easily identifiable influence in my playing style (although I only wish I could play like him). This is a classic example of Billy's feel for the song and playing to it appropriately. If you can't feel this song, there's something wrong with your soul or somethin'.

Track 7 - Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
I also find that I play a bunch of John Fogerty licks, but that was just the natural evolution of my style; it wasn't until I began to play some CCR songs that I realized how similar some of my playing is to John's. I always liked the way he could play the same lick but vary it slightly as the song progressed, and the verse fills in this tune are a decent illustration of that.

Track 8 - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Pride and Joy
The first time I realized that I couldn't play any SRV stuff was with this song, although I keep trying to this day! I only wish he could've lived about 50 years longer to give us more of his exquisite music. I still like to pretend I can play this one even now, though.

Track 9 - Stanley Clarke - School Days
About two years after I started to learn guitar, I switched to bass (primarily because Ross and I couldn't find anyone to play with us), and my teacher was Tom Halversen. He was into jazz fusion, and I was just curious enough to find this gem of a tune which has always been one of my favorites since.

Track 10 - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance
One of my favorites to play and sing when I was in Spur of the Moment, my excellent band in Logan. (They were excellent; I was just a hack.) I got to play this and sing the lead vocal, and I enjoyed it even if Tom and Co. would be offended to hear me perform it.

Track 11 - Tesla - Signs
I chose this one because one of my favorite memories of Ricks College (and there are few), which is now BYU-Idaho, was when one of my roommates and I sang this in an English class I had. We had an ongoing assignment throughout the semester to write 300 words per day, and I wrote a lot of stories about music; that led to Danny and I agreeing to sing for my class. (We also sang "More Than Words," which was a big hit then, and the acoustic version of Warrant's "I Saw Red" which was not on playlist.com. That version is far superior to the electric version; check it out if you can find a place to hear the whole song.)

Track 12 - Gary Moore - Still Got the Blues
I have always wanted to learn this song and vowed that someday I will learn it, and so this one represents the future. (I also could've chosen SRV's "Lenny," Skynyrd's "I Know a Little," Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" and a number of other songs that I've been meaning to learn but seem to lack the time/commitment/ambition or whatever.) Besides, it's a damn cool song!

'Til next time, enjoy!

P

Paul's life-changing artists

(Paul says:)

First, a little background about me. I grew up in a home with musically "square" parents. Although I was exposed to some artists that could be considered cool (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), I had to endure a lot of Barry Manilow and Paul Williams, as well. About the hardest rockin' things they listened to were Barry and Neil Diamond.

Before we start, the reason I had the idea for this blog dates back a few years to when KRCL (a local public radio station in Salt Lake City) used to have workshops for potential DJ's. Ross and I were interested in taking the classes and having our own show, but they discontinued the workshops before we could begin, so now you're stuck with this.

Here are some of the life-changing pieces of music in my life:

Track 1 - Electric Light Orchestra - Last Train to London
My brother and I saved our pocket change for several months until we were able to walk down to Grand Central (a department store) and buy ELO's "Discovery" album. Although "Don't Bring Me Down" was the big hit from that record, this tune and "Confusion" and "Midnight Blue" struck something in me, and I was introduced to what we now call "classic rock."

Track 2 - Def Leppard - Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
Although I listened to cool stuff like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and REO Speedwagon on the radio and on my brother's cassettes, I was still quite mellow until 1983. My favorite groups were Air Supply and Men at Work until I used my lawn mowing money to buy "Pyromania" at my brother's insistence. He was 18 by this time, and he had a real job, but I was glad I invested in this record. I chose this song because it is the first on the record, and it totally changed my life! There are a bunch of tunes that are great on this album, although I don't really like the radio hits much; they've been overplayed for 25 years.

Track 3 - Ramones - Rockaway Beach
When my sister started dating her future husband, Joe Andrews, he introduced me to a punk band no one in Bountiful, Utah, had ever seemed to hear of: Ramones! When I heard his tape of the live import called "It's Alive" I said, "Gabba Gabba Hey!" This was the first tune on that recording. It's better than their later live albums for many reason, not the least of which was that the original members were still playing on that one. When I got to see them in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1990, it was the thrill of a lifetime! Also, if you want to see a great performance on celluloid, check out the movie "Rock and Roll High School."

Track 4 - Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers - All the Gold in California
I was never much of a country fan, but I had a girlfriend in 1985 that had a tape by these guys that was pretty cool. This wasn't the best song from that tape (it was probably "Houston (Means that I'm One Day Closer to You"), but it was the only one on playlist.com. After I broke it off with her, I didn't think much about country music for a while, but, as you'll see, it didn't forget me, either.

Track 5 - Stanley Jordan - Stairway to Heaven
I saw Stanley playing on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" in about 1984 or 1985. He chords with his left hand and plays the melody with his right hand. There are a number of videos on YouTube to check out to watch him, which is most of the novelty. This was influential to me as a musician, because I erroneously believed before that the best musicians were rockers. Many of them are, but I've since discovered jazz (as well as Chet Atkins, Julian Bream, and others from different genres), and Stanley was the introduction to jazz for me.

Track 6 - Robert Cray Band - Smoking Gun
I first heard this tune on MTV in 1986 (back when they played music), and I bought the cassette. Although this isn't a very bluesy tune, there are others on the tape that are, and I was led to buy the Albert Collins/Johnny Copeland/Robert Cray collaboration called "Showdown!" a few months later, and that led to B. B. King, Albert King, Elmore James, etc. I became a fan of the blues and remain so!

This tune does have a bluesy guitar solo, so even though it doesn't sound like traditional blues, the beauty of Robert is that he took the musical form in a different direction. He was influenced by R&B, particularly the Stax artists like Booker T. & the MGs. Those influences, I think, more than anything else explain why he sounds a bit different from others fo the genre.

Track 7 - George Strait - The Chair
This was another song that was popular in 1985, but it was while I was in New Jersey that I had a roommate who had George's "Greatest Hits Volume Two" on a cassette. I tried to get "Am I Blue" from that album, because I like that song better and actually learned the guitar solo on a piece-of-dirt old acoustic, or "The Fireman," which is a livelier tune, but I settled on this one because of its tie-in to the previous country experiences I had had.

Track 8 - Rippingtons (featuring Russ Freeman) - Summer Lovers
Again, not the song I would've chosen by the Rips, but it'll have to do; there are slim pickin's on playlist.com for the Rips.

The song I would've chosen is "Highroller" from the "Weekend in Monaco" album. Russ is an excellent guitarist, but he doesn't show it often on studio tracks. I saw them in 2006 at the SLC Jazz Festival, and he was ripping! (He named the group after seeing some friends play, and he expressed the same sentiment about them and that led to his naming the band.)

I hope you enjoy these tunes! I'm hoping Ross will post soon; I've just set this blog up for us, and I posted the inital postings, because it was my idea! You can comment on the blog or e-mail us at ross_and_paul@yahoo.com to give us suggestions or ideas for future lists.

P

Coming soon!

Pretty soon, Ross and Paul will begin posting playlists with some of the songs they are listening to and commentary about them. So, you ask, who the crap are Ross and Paul? They are accomplished musicians, each with over 20 years playing experience, and their opinions on matters musical are about as correct as you could ever hope for.

While Ross and Paul are best friends and grew up together, their tastes diverge but have a common base. Inspired by the column called "In the Listening Room" from the magazine that was "Guitar for the Practicing Musician," this blog will consist of the comments of these artists while listening to the same songs you will get to hear while you check out this blog! They hope you enjoy it immensely.

Check back soon for the first installment!