Zero readership

According to the hit counter, this blog has had zero readers since May 13. Nevertheless, I blog on...

Neuromancer

Neuromancer, by William Gibson, is the original cyberpunk novel. I'm a big partial to his short stories that are compiled in Burning Chrome, and the sequel to Neuromancer, Count Zero, is also a favorite of mine.  But I was looking up a character and had occasion to read the beginning of Neurmancer (for probably the 8th or 9th time) today.  It's a bit dated but I really like his pacing, decription and most of the poetics. It left a huge impression on me when I was about 16. I never read it as dystopian (and Gibson in interviews has said he doesn't think of his Sprawl stories as that either). His characters strive for positions of mastery, of coolness itself. That's what I was striving for as a teenage, and perhaps now, as well.

The Other Ones - We are What we Are

[link] I went for this in a big way in 1987.  Sort of a one hit wonder, but they, like many bands that hit the pop charts in the 80s, were unique. Great video, too.

The Screaming Blue Messiahs - I Wanna Be a Flinstone

[link] I love the look and flippantness of these guys. And they have some really good songs. 

Act - Snobbery and Decay

[link] A blast from the mid 80s.  This was part of my early education in alternative pop, largely via WBER and WRUR in Rochester and later WXDU and WXYC in NC. There was also a high school station in Rochester WIRQ that at that time played alternative music.  I see on Wikipedia that they are still around but I don't know what format they are. They use to say that they were "broadcasting live from the North coast of America".

Yukari - 8PM

[link] Another dreamy gem from her 2012 album Echo.  The album is on iTunes.  Will be buying it.

Yukari - Hang On

[link] Has some similarities to Yule but seems more wide open in some ways. The vocal is turned down a bit low but has more going on than the other song. Interesting that she doesn't seem to be wearing headphones or earbuds.  She must just have ambient speakers (and the recording will be coming directly off the mixer). This is like watching a painter.

Freeez - I.O.U.

[link] The 80s were awesome.

Yukari - Marginal Man

[link] This one is slower than Yule, which I posted in December. I really like her dissonant melody lines. The whole aspect here is that of a prodigal artist who is working at something deep that she is passionate about. Huge respect and admiration from this blogger.

Steve Perry - Oh Sherry

[link] Of course for high rock vocals, no one did it better than Steve Perry. His formula for this song and a lot of the late Journey hits really grew on me and has stood the test of time with my listening. His composition/arrangement achieved a lot of atmosphere. And he knows hooks.

Your Love - The Outfield

[link] Always loved these guys, especially this song.  Great high vocal, both in lead and harmony. It's a pretty simple pop formula done in a rock format.  But there are good breaks here.  Well arranged and produced.

The Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep

[link] My favorite song of theirs.  Really tight and slick roots rock.  Saw these guys live in the summer of 1984 in Rochester.  They put on a good show in light drizzle.

The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

The previous link led me to this, which has some beautiful attempted harmonies.  I'll chalk it up to the limited production available at the time that prevented the vocal tracks from sounding as polished as we would expect today.

The Piglets - Johnny Reggae

This 1971 novelty song was linked to Una Paloma Blanca on youtube.  Interesting.

Jonathan King - Una Paloma Blanca

[link] This was a huge pop hit in 1975.  Ubiquitous on the radio for a while.  Then it completely disappeared. Probably understandably.

A song walk through Youtube

Everything But the Girl - Driving

Aztec Camera - Crying Scene

Men at Work - Hard Luck Story

Thomas Dolby - I Live in a Suitcase

Great live version. One of my favorite from Astronauts and Heretics, his last (now quite some time ago) regular album. Signature atmosphere with the moving baseline against high end doodles and washes. Nice music for traveling alone through airports and hotels. Very Gibsonian as well.

Stuff I never got into...

Twin Peaks (or anything by David Lynch except for Dune, which I would have gotten into no matter who directed it)
the X-files
Fargo
the Simpsons
South Park
Family Guy (although it can be amusing when it isn't being disgusting)

that's all I can think of for now (there's plenty more I'm sure)...

Foreigner - Urgent

[link] These guys were at the center of the mainstream hard rock sound of the late 70s/early 80s.  The sound was characterized by high hard male vocals, driving guitars (but keyboards also contributed to the sound) and fairly simple song structures. I was in a record store (one of the two at Eastview Mall in Victor, NY - one was Record Theatre and I forgot what the other one was) when I first heard this and I immediately bought the 45 rpm single.  My friend Scott was into the whole album (Foreign 4), which got heavy airplay on the radio stations we listened to (96 WCMF and 92 WMJQ - which went to country a few years later). The keyboards in this song were what did it for me (much later found out they were played by Thomas Dolby on the studio track).

Missing Persons - Mental Hopscotch

[link] One of their early singles and one of my favorites. Really really great song.  Very hard driving synth pop with tight, skilled drum and guitar work. Excellently produced.

Missing Persons - I Can't Think About Dancing

[link] From 1986, one of their last singles. I listened to this a lot in spring 1989, the last semester I was in college. It's a departure from their early singles, which were really innovative.  Here, they are going for a pop dance sound.  It works for me, but the nostalgia factor is strong for me.  That was an intensely lived semester.

King of the Road - Roger Miller

Here's Roger Miller's original studio version, a classic.
Here's a live version by R.E.M. (similar to their version on Dead Letter Office, which I always liked).
I recently learned the song and if I get some time I'll record a version.

Men at Work - I Can See it In Your Eyes

[link] These guys were so great.  I was just randomly reminded of this song. Brings back high school in the early 80s for me. I might try to learn this one for the uke.

Derp

This word has proliferated in the political blogs I read.  I'm gradually coming to an understanding of what people mean by it.  Here is an interesting definition:
English has no word for "the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors". Yet it is a well-known phenomenon in the world of punditry, debate, and public affairs. On Twitter, we call it "derp".

This couches the term in Bayesian statistics, which has taken over many parts of the scientific data world in recent decades. It's also related to the term: Conventional Wisdom, in particular when CW is exactly wrong about the world. Which, in American politics, is frequent.

The Police - Secret Journey

The Police were my original favorite band.  Each member brought a different and critical influence to their sound, a sound that has never been replicated since.
Secret Journey is one of my favorites of theirs and Ghost in the Machine was my original favorite album.
I ran across these demos of the song (I and II) on youtube.  Really interesting, both with respect to the song itself but also as demos. The demos I've made with bands are not that different, in fidelity, from this. The demos use a drum machine instead of Copeland. They are possibly Sting-only products.

Bertoia - Color of Sound

One change I'm making in our new digs is that when I write about a song, the artist will appear first and the title second in the title of the post. More of the world seems to do it this way so it may help avoid confusion in some cases.

This blog will continue to be a big fan of Shoegaze, specifically Japanese Shoegaze, and in particular, Bertoia.

The new home of On Songs

Hi Folks. We lost the admin password for On Songs, so we're moving to a new blog name. On Songs will continue to stay up and the archives will still be accessible there.
I'll be asking Old Grimy to join us over here.
And my friend Darren will also be co-blogging.
Now back to the songs (and other stuff)...