Computer Magic - The End of Time

[link] Certain aspects of this song remind me of another New York art school artist (band) from almost 30 years previously: Book of Love.

Airiel - Sharron Apple

[link] For mainlining shoegaze into one's head, Airiel is a pretty good choice.  It has all the ingredients. This is among their earliest stuff, from 2003. It would fit in rather well with the main movement 10 years previously except for the smooth production. The beginning is a pretty good deconstruction of SG before the rhythm track gets assembled and the song gets going.

Fleetwood Mac - Sentimental Lady

[link] Here is the Fleetwood Mac version (earlier by a few years). I far prefer Welsh's own version but still, they do a pretty good job with it.

Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady

[link] Originally written for Fleetwood Mac who recorded it in 1972, Welch recorded his own version in 1977 and it was a major hit.  This is the only version I've heard and it is a core song of what I consder the "haunting" 70s sound that I personally am sentimental about. The sound is low key and wistful, especially the vocal. A, B, and C parts are all very strong hooks and could each support its own song. This is high pop songwriting.

new song

Looks like this band thing might happen.  So I need to write some new songs. Here's one I wrote today.

Above the Vines

Curve - Already Yours

[link] From their first album.  Hard-edged with a stronger vocal than most SG.  They eventually purified that sound and by 2001 were making alt rock that really is no longer SG (but still good).

The band idea has been proposed

and Steve and Darren are up for it.  Now we just need to find time (always the hard part).

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - U Get Me High

[link] I haven't kept up with them too much in the past decade or so, this to me sounds like a return to their early, now classic, sound.  Crunching guitar coupled with rock organ. Petty has always been a great straight ahead rock song writer.  In my opinion his best stuff is with this Heartbreakers sound behind him, as opposed to the strummy Traveling Wilburys sound he favored in ca. the 90s.

Possibly a band solution on the horizon

It occurred to me while fitness walking today listening to DKFM. The best band situation might be a trio. The most efficient of the Wisconsin bands I was in were trios: Seed Pod 17: Eric, Matt, and me, and before that Rubber Curtain: Leslie, Matt, and Me. In the current case, we could even use the Police as the model because the prospective guitarist is an ambient player, much like Andy Summers, who could provide a lot of depth to the sound as well as solo on top of my keyboard-bass line and drums.  More soon, hopefully.  I haven't talked to the other two about this idea but they both have expressed recent interest in getting a band together.

Chrissie Hynde - Down the Wrong Way

[link] This is from her newly released solo album (which is her first). Great song with good hooks, although the chorus hook sounds a bit disjointed from the verse. Also, I was thinking she was being a bit over the top in the Neil Younginess when I heard it on the radio (WFDU). Turns out, Neil plays guitar on the song. So this wasn't an accident.

Lou Rawls - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine

[link] Strangely enough, this is an essential song on the soundtrack of my childhood. #32 in the 1976 top 100.  When I think of this song, I think about playing with Matchbox cars.

Hall & Oates

These guys made a lot of great music.  Back in the 70s and early 80s you could crossover between pop and rock, especially with their funk influences very easily and a lot of bands did it.  Here are a few of my favorites of theirs:

Kiss on My List
You Make My Dreams
Private Eyes
Method of Modern Love
Adult Education
Out of Touch

Back to zero views

Had one view per day until 7-July but no we're back to zero.

Computer Magic - Running (Hiding Verson)

[link] This is in a current Lexus commercial but I may have heard it first on DKFM. It is a really superb song.

Talk Nerdy to Me

These are my people.

Gary Wright - Love is Alive

[link] This was the #10 song of 1976.  Has multiple hooks and seems to anticipate stuff like Steve Winwood's and Peter Gabriel's solo work, although they were both active at this time.

Bread - Lost Without Your Love

[link] Part of a subgenre of soft rock.  Really earnest ballads.  Manilow, Air Supply, and a whole bunch of others made songs like this. The composition, instrumentation, and production carry huge amounts of the thematic and narrative content even without the lyrics. The semi-happy little instrumental part is kind of weird in this one.

Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle

[link] This song was #74 from 1977.  This sound bridges Billy Joel and Elton John. I'm sure I've heard it hundreds of times in the background, but never really listened to it from beginning to end.

Just a Song Before I Go - Crosby Stills and Nash

This song was number 47 in the Top 100 of 1977. A prime example of slow rock from the 70s with their unparalleled harmony work. It's kind of a defining characteristic of my musical aesthetics that I came of (first) age during this time of a lot of ambivalent, melancholy, relationship-song, rock with country and folk influences.  Rock history documentaries tend to talk about the 70s as a time of recovery from the 60s.  There was a lot of disillusionment and people trying to get their lives straight from all the drugs and chaos.

Jennifer Warnes - Right Time of the Night

Was taking a look at the Billboard Top 100 of 1977. This song was #34. I've always really liked it. She has a great country-pop voice. There's a lot of pop sophistication in both the verse and the chorus.  And the transition between the last line of the verse and the chorus is very nice. The song was written by Peter McCann, who wrote for a lot of 70s and 80s artists. The song kind of runs out of steam in the C part and the end, but that's sort of typical for pop songs of the period.  Just an idea or two, not too much else.