Bradley's Buzz

Guilty Pleasures Of Song

My musical tastes are all over the map, and recently I've realized just how true this is... here's some of what's been in constant rotation around my ears...

Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne (2007)
I hate this untalented pseudo punkette but this song is catchy as all hell and I can't help but like it, but the main reason is because it sounds like a Samantha Fox song from 1985 - has Avril always sounded like Samantha Fox? Does Samantha Fox know about this?

What Goes Around - Justin Timberlake (2007)
Another artist that I just can't stand yet somehow this song has worked its way into my psyche. I just can't stand looking at the dude, I know he's cute and all but he's just so gay and needs to come out of that closet and I'm still pissed about what a wimp he was during Boobgate.. my poor Janet don't need that kind of shizz in her life.

Tori Amos - Parasol (2007)
Off of her last album The Beekeeper, Tori seems to have reverted back to the greatness that was Little Earthquakes, at least on this tune. I love it and I love Tori's delivery. I thought this was from the new album as I'm apparantly a big idiot but I haven't actually heard anyting off of the new one though I'm not such a fan of the whole doll idea with a new 'character' having a song on the album and all that weird shizz she pulls, but hey it's Tori and she's eccentric so what can you do? At least the tunes from The Beekeeper (I've listened to them all now that I know what album I'm listening to) seems a little more entertaining, her last few albums had me on the floor napping.

Blue Angel - Blue Angel (1980)
This is the band Cyndi Lauper sang for prior to going solo. An album she declares sold so much it went lead. She also says the record company told her the 50's rockabilly they were doing was not going to sell and then a year later Stray Cats hit big doing the same thing. So you can tell where this music is coming from, but it's not really so much rockabilly, as it is a mixture of 80's pop, doo wop 50's style and the Shangri La's 60's. The album was released and done and gone in just a matter of months and our girl ended up bankrupt and all until her 1983 record contract. But the album is really good - there are versions of "Maybe He'll Know" and "I'm Gonna Be Strong" two songs Cyndi would later re-record on her own albums and the highlights to me, "I Had A Love" and "Fade." Cyndi's vocals are in full form and the band is pretty tight and fun. The album was released on CD for a very very limited time and I just happened to find a copy at Amoeba that I paid $16 for, more than I would normally pay but less than some greedmeisters are selling it for on Amazon.

Mary Weiss - Dangerous Game (2007)
Thanks to my pal Shae, I found out the lead singer of the Shangri La's headed back into the studio to record her first album in about 30 odd years. I'm so glad he told me and I'm so glad I bought this. Her voice is a bit deeper now but it's still that sass a frass Mary behind the mic. She even does a cover of "Heaven Only Knows" an old Shangri La's hit, and the music is very much in the vein of her former band, but with some added attitude and a few swear words here and there. I just can't believe she's waited this long to record but where ever she was hiding it's worth it, cause she sounds amazing and the songs are all really good. You can hear some of the gems at Mary's My Space page.

Carly Simon - Boys In The Trees (1978)
Everyone who reads this knows I've been on a quest to get all of Carly's old albums on CD, and the collection keeps going up. The first CD I bought of hers when I decided I loved her was 1975's Playing Possum and it has still been my favorite, followed closely by 1979's Spy and 1974's Hotcakes, but running around in there would be this 1978 effort which featured her hit "You Belong To Me" - a Michael McDonald co-write which brought her back to the top 10. The rest of the album is just as clever and meaningful as anything she had done before, probably her last collaboration with James Taylor as they would divorce a few years later, Boys In The Trees contains their duet "Devoted To You" (an old 60's Everly Brothers song), and a hilarious Jamaiccan reggae thing called "De Bat (Fly In Me Face)", and some other little gems. If you're looking for Carly, this is one to definitely get.

The Ordinary Boys - I Luv You (2006)
Okay because I do not live in the UK, I sometimes miss a few bands here and there and apparantly the Oridinary Boys is one such band, but boy was I ever missing out. Okay, to be perfectly honest this is the only song I've heard so far, taken from their 3rd album but as described by one reviewer they are the Smiths mixed up with Madness and how can that not be so right? I'm off to get their whole album and will return once I've heard it all but I don't think much could top this little pop gem. Hear it now at the Ordinary Boys myspace page.

Lucinda Williams - West (2007)
I'm not usually a big fan of the mellow country twinged stuff of people like Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffen or Lucinda Williams, but as I get older and spend more time in the company of older men like the Leivas, I realize there's a lot of poetic feelings I may have been missing out. I've found a new love for Emmylou Harris, I've discovered the genius that is Rosanne Cash, and I've pretty much given up on Patty Griffen, but Lucinda Williams as far as the album West goes, has my vote as being very talented and interesting. The lead off song "Are You Alright" is a true highlight, and I may have to check out and see if any of her other albums are as good.

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2007)
Another gal I had never heard of til she started making a splash with this album, it took a while for me to get into the whole album of Back To Black but as time has elipsed, I'm right there with her. One listen to "Rehab" had me hooked on her as a performer and writer but some of the other songs took me a while to get into. However, now that I've listened to it over and over, I can't get the damn thing out of my head.

and that's what I've been listening to, how about you?

Labels: Amy Winehouse, Avril Lavingne, Blue Angel, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Justin Timberlake, Lucinda Williams, Mary Weiss, Shangri Las, The Ordinary Boys, Tori Amos

posted by swivek @ 12:12 PM 2 comments

Top 100 Singles Of The 70's - 10-6

THE TOP 10!
10-6
We have done it, we have gone through 90 songs from that decade of decadence the 70's; and here we are in the top 10 - the ten best reasons to love music from the 70's - according to me.


#10 – I Don’t Like Mondays – Boomtown Rats
(Bob Geldof)
Columbia single #11117 US / Ensign #30 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 02/02/1980 #73 / UK 07/21/1979 #1
With “I Don’t Like Mondays” we end up with a story song that doesn’t really tell a story per se but is based upon a true story - a tragic true story if ever there was one. Long before Columbine which found disgruntled students shooting and killing their fellow classmates, On January 29th, 1979, the first day of school after Christmas break, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer opened fire on kids arriving at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego from her house across the street, killing two men and wounding eight students and a police officer. Principal Burton Wragg was attempting to rescue children in the line of fire when he was shot and killed, and custodian Mike Suchar was slain attempting to aid Wragg. The girl used a rifle her father had given her as a Christmas gift. As to what impelled her into this form of murderous madness, she told a reporter, ''I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day.'' The "Mondays" comment was not the only eyebrow-raising declaration to issue from Spencer that day. According to a report written by the police negotiators who spoke with her during the six-hour standoff, she made such comments to them as ''There was no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun''; ''It was just like shooting ducks in a pond''; and ''[the children ] looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings.'' The stand off eventually ended after 6 ½ hours with Brenda surrendering and she is still in prison, but the story doesn’t end there. Instead Bob Geldof wrote this keyboard laced cry about the girl, “The silicone chip inside her head gets switched to overload/ and no one’s gonna go to school today/ she’s gonna make them stay at home/ and Daddy doesn’t understand it/ he always said she was good as gold/ and he can see no reason/ casue there is no reason/ what reason do you need to know..” before a choir type vocal comes in for the chorus, “Tell me why!” and Bob’s answer, “I Don’t Like Mondays” “Tell Me Why!” “I Don’t Like Mondays/I wanna shoot/ oooh / the whole day down.” Intense subject matter for a song, and no doubt what the song is talking about, in fact it was banned in the US long before 2 Live Crew ever got that major distincition. By the early days of 1980 however, the song was being played on some radio stations and eventually cracked our top 100 but in the UK it was released in the summer of ’79, less than 6 months after the actual shooting and Brenda Spencer didn’t even go to trial until early October. The really strange thing about it all is the song is very catchy and sing songy. I love singing it and for some reason the subject matter doesn’t terrify me as I belt out the song. But isn’t art supposed to have a grain of truth and some actual substance and meaning behind it? For that “I Don’t Like Mondays” should be an automatic Best of in just about any music list.

#9 – Ballroom Blitz – Sweet
(Mike Chapman/Nicky Chinn)
Capitol single #4055 US / RCA single #2403 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 06/14/1975 #5 / UK 09/22/1973 #2
I love me some high energy and Sweet certainly delivers that on “Ballroom Blitz”. Sure it’s a tad cheesy, it’s also a tad over the top but it is also a heaping help of fun. I love singing this song because of the different voices you get to use. The song begins with a crazed shout out to band mates before going slightly calm in the lyrics and then taking off again for the bridge before the awesome, “yeah/yeah/yeah” leads us to the rapid fire chorus, “And the man in the back said ‘everyone attack’/ and it turned into a ballroom blitz/ and the girl corner said ‘boy I wanna warn ya/ it’ll turn into a ballroom blitz” and then there’s the awesome drum breakdown in the middle that always gets me. I’ve been meaning to do a cover of this song for years and perhaps someday I’ll get to it, but for now I just bring the energy levels of Karaoke night up a few notches.

#8 – Hot Child In The City – Nick Gilder
(Nick Gilder/James McCulloch)
Chrysalis single #2226
Chart Debut: US Pop 06/10/1978 #1
“Hot Child In The City” was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid, though I always thought it was a woman singing. Of course all I could ever remember was the chorus so for all I knew it could’ve been a woman. As it turns out, Nick Gilder is not a girl but a slightly high voiced male who performed awesome new wave rock songs usually about sex. Nick was originally the singer of the band Sweeney Todd until he went off on his own. “Hot Child In The City” comes from his second album, 1978’s City Nights. The whole song is a huge homage to some seductive teenage runaway ruling the streets of the city. I love the imagery as I wanted to be that slutty teen running along the streets of Los Angeles. “Danger in the shape of something wild/ stranger dressed in black/ she’s a hungry child..” replace she with he and I tell you this was me! In recent years I’ve been able to get most of Nick’s great Chrysalis Records releases all of which contain some form of city slick teens running wild and sharing their sex, and I love every single one of them. Another killer track of his titled “Rated X” would end up on Pat Benatar’s debut album In The Heat Of The Night, another record full of stylistic seductiveness and Nick would also go on to write for others including “The Warrior” by Scandal, but “Hot Child In The City” is his most famous song and his one and only single to make it into the top 40 which if you ever heard “Here Comes The Night” proves to be a real shame.


#7 – Dreaming – Blondie
(Deborah Harry/ Chris Stein)
Chrysalis single #2379 US / #2350 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 09/29/1979 #27 / UK 09/29/1979 #2
Blondie drummer Clem Burke has claimed “Dreaming” was just one long giant drum roll and in some aspects he may be right. The song starts with his drumming before the guitars and keyboards come in and the fact that the whole 3 minute song is one smashing drum hit after another makes it pack a whole hella punch. Of course it’s Blondie so every little musical aspect borders on genius, from that punching drum, to Jimmy’s too cool for the real world keyboards, Nigel’s bass and Chris and Frank etching out the guitar work, and of course not only do we get Debbie’s icy cool vocals but we also get her ambiguous lyrical workout. I love songs that talk of reflective dreaming, the type that walk you through how your dreams can come true, or even how daydreaming the day away can make your whole life seem a lot better. Debbie does a fantastic job with “Dreaming” by taking a lyric that could easily have played in a ballad and putting it into a jaugernat of a rock song. “When I met you in the restaurant/you could tell I was no debuante/ you asked me what’s my pleasure/ a movie or a measure/ I’ll have a cup of tea/ and tell you of my dreaming/ dreaming is free…” Oh Debbie, how your sometimes incoherent ramblings can turn the world on its ear, I’m not sure what a measure is, and Debbie probably doesn’t know anymore either but it makes for a very interesting line, and when we go to our next verse we get even more brilliant yet random thoughts, “I don’t want to live on charity/ pleasure’s real or is it fantasy/ reel to reel is living rarity/ people stop and stare at me/ we just walk on by/ we just keep on dreaming…” I love that line. Then Clem goes into hyper drive and the song shifts gears a bit, “Beep/beep/ walking a two mile/ meet/ meet/ meet me at the turstile/ never met him/ I’ll never forget him/ dream/ dream/ even for a little while/ dream/ dream/ filling up an idle hour/ fade away/ oooh / radiaaaaaaattee..” Which I always thought was such a cool line because well fade away, radiate is just an awesome line but it’s also a song from Blondie’s previous album so it’s kind of like a shout out to themselves. The song goes back to its original beat for our final and favorite verse, “I sit by and watch the traffic go/ I sit by and watch the river flow/ Imagine something of your very own/ something you can have and hold/ I’d build a road in gold/ just to have some dreaming…” and after Debbie informs us a few more times that Dreaming is free, we fade out with Jimmy’s keyboards coming up and taking over. A clever and classic little single of daydreaming, ethereal images, awesome musicianship and cooler than cool lyrics,“Dreaming” would hit #2 in the UK but only scored in the top 30 here, I guess we were too busy dreaming to pay attention to the brilliance.


#6 – You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
(Carly Simon)
Elektra single #45824 US / #12077 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 12/02/1972 #1 / UK 12/16/1972 #3
In the past few months I have discovered that Carly Simon kicks ass. Perhaps not in the leather clad Joan Jett style but in a very real way nonetheless. After hearing a ton of her early albums and the chances she takes in both lyrics and music styles, she has now made me a life long fan, and it only took about 23 years to catch up. One song that didn’t need any reintroduction to the Carly canon is our #6 single “You’re So Vain.” The single is a song that is so famous it has its own urban legend. Of course perhaps it’s the urban legend that has made the single last so long in our concioussness. For all purposes, “You’re So Vain” is a piss off to someone from Carly and when it came out who exactly that someone was had everyone’s mind buzzin. Was it Carly’s boyfriend soon to be husband James Taylor that she was singing about? Was it Mick Jagger who sings a very audible appearance on the back up? Was it Warren Beatty who had dated our girl for a while? The question has never been answered and Carly liked it that way, stating in a not too long ago interview that if she told who it was about then the whole mystique of the song may be taken away. Finally, after over 30 years of prodding she did a fairly interesting thing by auctioning off to a high bidder who the song was really about. The deal was she would whisper in the winner’s ear who she wrote about and then perform the song for them. Of course they had to sign wavers as to not repeat the information. So some guy won and she did perform him and now there are at least two people who know who the real scheister is. As for us momo’s who can’t win auctions or have the ability to whip Carly into a corner at an exclusive party, we are left just imagining who she is singing about. But thanks to the power of the lyrics we could put just about anyone in the song, the theme that the person is a bastard in the night who is so vain he may actually think we’re singing about him can be fairly universal.
Perhaps it’s the appeal of the attitude behind the song that makes it so great. I know that it surely doesn’t hurt that Carly has a pretty cool reserve about her in her vocal performance and her lyrics are always three notches higher than the normal intellect, I mean just look at her rhymes, “You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht/ your hat strategically dipped below one eye/ your scarf it was apricot/ you had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte/ and all the girls were dreaming that you’d be their partner…” Who writes like that? I tell you who, Carly Simon. A woman who would seem above reproach to the lowlies who didn’t grow up in Manhattan or vacation in the Hamptons, but with her willingness to let us into her very personal feelings, she never seemed the hardened upper crust New Englander, instead she came off very folky, very mature, and very sexy. Add to the mix with that filtering bravado of a guitar at the beginning, her refrain about her dreams being clouds in her coffee and Mick Jagger’s incredible backing vocal and you have a song that will last long after Carly’s unable to even remember who she wrote the song about.

And so you have the first batch of our top 10 singles of the 70's - I hope I'm not terribly disappointing all of you with my somewhat prejudiced and eclectic tastes but these really are the songs I listen to over and over and deserve to be in the top 10 according to Bradley - oh and because I'm such a trivia buff here's a little trivia about our latest list - 3 of the 5 songs are produced by Mike Chapman, I know strange huh? And completely coincidental - Mike produced some of the best music ever from the 70's on up and on this list he produced and co-wrote Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", and produced the Nick Gilder single "Hot Child In The City" and pretty much reinvented Blondie with his produced albums including Parallel Lines which has a few singles on our countdown and today's "Dreaming" which is from the Chapman produced Eat To The Beat album - okay, until next time when we have that long awaited post which will give you not only the top 5 singles of the 70's but the very best - the #1 single of the 70's - According to Bradley.

Labels: 70s, Blondie, Boomtown Rats, Bradley, Carly Simon, Nick Gilder, Retro songs, Sweet

posted by swivek @ 8:54 AM 1 comments

Top 100 Singles Of The 70's - 40-36

#40-36
We've made it into the top 40 and we have some exciting things in store for you, coming in with some hard ass disco dance, a little bit of rock, a little bit of light adult contemporary and a whole lot of great singles; so let's hit it...

#40 – Knock On Wood – Amii Stewart
(Cropper/Floyd)
Ariola single #7736 US / Atlantic single #11214 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 01/27/1979 #1/ UK 04/07/1979 #6
It’s almost hard to believe this song is a cover of an R&B semi classic as Amii’s version of “Knock On Wood” has taken on a complete life of its own. Reconfigured into a disco dance classic, the thumping bass line, disco bells and Stewart’s beyond belief voice has pushed this song through the decades. When going through the songs of the 70’s I knew this one would make the list but when I started listening to all the songs, I realized how good this song really was. I first discovered it on that Hot Nights City Nights K-Tel album I had when I was a kid. I loved it then and would replay it after listening to it. I still do that.

#39 – Brand New Key – Melanie
(Melanie Safka)
Neighborhood single #4201 US / Buddha #2011 105 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 10/30/1971 #1 / UK 01/01/1972 #4
Melanie was featured in our countdown a while back with her folky ode to the Woodstock generation “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)”. Following that album, Melanie became increasingly frustrated with her record company and having to not only come up with a new album every six months but also not being able to control her own songs. So she created her own record company, a thing not usually done by women in the early 70’s and to prove she could do it all with her own ideas her first single was this mega-hit. Anyone who’s seen the film Boogie Nights should recall this classic as it is Roller Girl’s opus, “I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates/ you’ve got a brand new key…” Of course the skates and key were only metaphors for sex but Melanie’s almost child like vocals made it able to digest to the masses and not only the hipsters. The lyrics through out the song are a testament of power and self awareness, “I ride my bike/ I roller skate/ don’t drive no car/ I don’t go too fast/ but I go pretty far/ for someone who don’t drive/ I’ve been all around the world/ some say I’ve done alright for a girl…” But even a globe trotting roller skater needs some loving and she insists, “I rode my bike past your window last night/ I roller skated past your house at daylight/ it almost seems like you’re avoiding me/ I’m okay alone/ but you’ve got something I need…” I know I’ve already said it but search for a Melanie compilation, I swear you’re going to love it.

Labels: 70s, Amii Stewart, Carly Simon, Melanie, Olivia, Patti Smith Group, Retro songs

posted by swivek @ 8:50 AM 0 comments