I’m always afraid when I say things like I am
going to say because I fear people are going to read my thoughts and ideas as being
wishy-washy mainstream-hopes of musical standardization. That’s not only what I
am not thinking – it’s also not what I am hoping for either.
But Alanis Morissette's new single ‘Guardian’
is one of the most approachable, digestible pieces of music from her in a long time –
maybe even since Jagged Little Pill – and that’s a good thing.* The ethereal start
to the song is something you might expect from the Ottawa born singer and songwriter
(again, that’s not a bad thing) but the song breaks open for a moment before
the singer with the stronger-than-ever voice breaks into an almost angelic,
controlled opening verse because exploding into a guitar laden chorus.
One of the things that I have liked about
Alanis’ song writing of the past has been her ability to squeeze what she
wanted to say into a verse without worrying if it fit perfectly with the
cadence of the music. Some people found this to be sloppy and gimmicky. But it
always worked for me (though the technique did have a tendency to feel tired
and over-used at times.) This time, Alanis has penned and performed nothing but
a strong pop-rock offering (again not a bad thing) that I think will not only
make her fans happy and thankful for her return but will also draw a new
audience that, to be honest, wasn’t really sure what the hell she was trying to
do once upon a time.
Now Alanis is moving straight ahead with her life,
with her family, with her son, and with her music.** And there’s nothing wrong with that
at all!***
*I know it’s never a good thing to say ‘and
that’s a good thing’ because it makes it sound like it’s not – but really it is.
I guess it is just one of those backhanded compliments that doesn’t sound like
a compliment but really it is – really!
** "Guardian is the first single off Alania Morissette's upcoming album Havoc and Bright Lights,availablefor pre-order on iTunes on July 31.
I was watching a fairly bad eighties-based movie called 'Take Me Home Tonight' starring Topher 'I-Play-The-Same-Character-I-Played-In-That-Seventies-Show-In-Every-Film' Grace. It was about a guy named Matt who was stuck in a John Hughes moment of trying to find himself and decide what he wanted to do with his life.
The film didn't live up to it's Generation-X roots. But the music did!
YAZOO
Yaz (or Yazoo as they were known in the UK) featured the dynamic voice of Alison Moyet. Think Adele eight-years before she was even born! For as much as synthesizers are considered by many to be the beginning of the end of good music, the keyboard work at the start of 'Situation' is distinct and timeless.
Yazoo got together and toured in 2008 and 2010. Then Moyet wrote a new album. But in February 2012, Moyet tweeted that “I appear to have forfeited my recording deal because I won’t do reality TV. No-one needs to make an album that badly. Tea anyone?"
Tough situation.
MISSING PERSONS
To me, Missing Persons was one of those bands that epitomized the so-called 'new wave' sound of the eighties. Depending on my mood that is both a good and bad thing.
One thing I didn't know about Missing Persons is that this band might not have existed if not for Frank Zappa. Dale Bozzio, the singer with the quirky voice, and drummer Terry Bozzie met while working with The Mothers of Invention leader.
It's also sort of interesting that the song "Walking in LA" is really sort of about NOT walking in LA. The impression I get is that Los Angeles is not a pedestrian-town. From a 'lame jogger' and a 'freeway strangler' to 'shopping cart pushers' and not-movie stars. After all, you don't want to become another missing person.
THE GREG KIHN BAND
I always thought of Greg Kihn as the wanna-be rock star that didn't quite have 'it' -- whatever 'it' is. I liked his voice. It was pleasant enough. But it had no edge. There was not a lot of 'Jeopardy' in his performance. Even his look was, for lack of a better description, a little 'soft' around the edges. But he made radio-friendly hits along with fun videos that helped him stand-out in the eighties. (It probably didn't hurt that Weird Al did a parody of this song too!)
PETE TOWNSHEND
Here's another guy that you might question that he was a rock star if you saw him walking down the street in your neighbourhood.
After Pete Townshend's original guitar-smashing days with The Who, he wrote and performed some passable songs for the eighties. "Let My Love Open the Door" was the biggest of those solo hits though I was also a big fan of "Face the Face" five years later -- something that he worked on with his daughter.
Plus here's another ditty starting with strong keyboards. Interesting coming from a man who landed in the top-ten of Rolling Stone's all-time great rock'n'roll guitar players.
OPUS
When you look up Opus the band in Wikipedia you find then after Opus the Penguin but before Opus the comic strip.
Opus is an Austrian band that was already together for almost 13-years before taking "Life is Life" to #1 in many parts of the world including Canada. And they are still together and performing today. But outside of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the song places them in the category of 'One Hit Wonders.'
The song itself is infectious fluff -- and I loved it. It didn't matter what the words were. Everyone could (and would) sing along. My favourite actual real lyric: "Every minute of the future is a memory of the past." Well sure it is.
Finally, there's the hand-claps. I have a friend who would probably hate this song outright for its empowering message and Glee-like qualities -- but cuts Opus some slack because it included hand-claps. That's life.
WORLD PARTY
World Party's "Ship of Fools" is one of my favourite songs of all time. When I was in college doing the morning show on the campus radio station, I would play this over and over (along with Cutting Crew's "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight" -- I guess there's no accounting for taste!)
From the slow opening guitar and Karl Wallinger's slightly unconventional voice to the lyrics that Wallinger cried into the mic: "Oh save me, save me from tomorrow... I don't want to sail with this ship of fools, no no... I want to run and hide... Right now." College was an angst-full time. And I suppose those words meant something to me -- both literally and figuratively. And there are days when I can relate to them still... "Right now!"
ATOMIC TOM AND THE CAST OF 'TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT'
Finally there's the band Atomic Tom out of New York and their cover of Human League's "Don't You Want Me."
This video (and their version of the song) were the only other good things to come out of this movie. As a matter of fact, if THIS had been the movie, I might have paid money to see it in a theatre. It's a brain-spill of eighties pop culture treasures.
Highlights:
Toper's imitation of Marty McFly is frighteningly excellent.
Anna Faris' Fatal-Attraction-Glenn-Close-with-the-mop-of-hair-and-the-rabbit-in-the-pot image is almost as scary as the real thing.
And seeing Michael Biehn (who plays Topher's Dad in the film) standing behind Dan Fogler who has tin foil on his face pretending to be The Terminator.
It's easy to get stuck in the eighties again. That was a time when all I had to do was to wake up (eventually), listen to music, watch new Brat Pack movies, and try to get the new high-score on Robotron at the arcade.
In the immortal words of Karl Wallinger, "Save me from tomorrow."
Someone
mentioned the name ‘Barlow’ to me this morning and my mind stumbled back to the
early nineties when I was on the air at a radio station in St. Catharines,
Ontario. We were presenting a couple of Moxy Fruvous shows at a high school.
The opening act
for night-one was a Toronto band called The Gravelberrys featuring Paul Myers.
The next night, The
Tom Barlow Band was starting on stage.
Tom Barlow had a
bit of a Corey Hart meets David and David means Shawn Mullins vibe. I hope he would take that as a
compliment – not so pouty though. His songwriting was clean and crisp. And he liked to have fun with his music. I
remember listening to his independent CD thinking that these tunes were catchy.
(That’s a compliment too.) I liked the idea that it felt like I was discovering
music before anyone else knew it existed so I could say “I knew him when…”
It wasn’t long
after those shows that Barlow (he’s just Barlow now) released his self-titled
major label debut featuring two top-ten radio hits and garnering three JUNO
Award nominations. Once again, Barlow’s way with lyrics and the progression of his
songs shone through.
Barlow is still
a busy guy. He is probably one of the most successful jam-hosts in Toronto. And
he recently released a new album. “Burning Days” is a socially conscious effort
and the CD’s first release “Steal Like a Billionaire” reflects the anger that
people around the world feel towards apathetic financial institutions.
Barlow continues
to tour. He definitely has something to say about the state of the world too –
check out his Twitter feed. And I’m proud to say that
I knew him when…
There was a time in my life when I use to consume music instead of food. Ironically, when my career (in radio) got too busy or convoluted, 'my' music got lost in my life-mix that was dominated by the tunes I had to play to make a living. The Archies, Anne Murray, Celine Dion, Glass Tiger, Garth Brooks and Craig Ruhnke are currently NOT on my personal playlist. Sorry.
I have sadly not schooled my five year old much in my world of musical misadventure. So through outside osmosis, Abi has unfortunately picked up on her own things including Justin Bieber. (For the longest time, she though he was singing "Baybit baybit baybit whoa!")
She went through a Spice Girls phase (no) thanks to her grandmother and uncle. That was an unfortunate time in all of our lives -- especially since I was getting to the point where I could identify which Spice Girl was singing which lyric.
P
But I am trying to change that. And her education has to start with my re-education. Part of my going-back-to-school means listening to the NPR podcasts for All Songs Considered. My timing is ideal -- especially since the SXSW Festival in Austin has just come and gone.
There is so much new music to explore. And it seems likes genres and musical boundaries and definitions are out the window. Is it alternative? Is it adult contemporary? Is it a hybrid of both with a little jazz and country thrown into the mix?
It doesn't really matter.
All that matters is whether you like it or whether you don't -- and that you can say "Why?"
Just like I can say that I am really looking forward to the release of Norah Jones new album "Little Broken Hearts" May 1. Producer Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) has sprinkled his subtle studio magic on Jones' music. There is a slight 'tinge' to the keyboards and her voice that's 'interesting' -- not distracting. And it still sounds and feels like Norah Jones.
The autopsy is in. This was a big deal. TMZ streamed the results live online. Smartphone alerts were beeping all around the globe. Tests determined that Whitney Houston died as a result of drowning in her hotel bathroom.
But it’s more complicated than that. It always is. There was cocaine in her system. Not a lot. But the narcotic did affect her heart.
Some say Houston did have it all. She had a chance to do what she loved and she did it well. She found love and had a child. But in the end, she couldn’t hold on to everything that she thought she wanted and deserved.
P.J. O’Rourke once said, “If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” No coroner’s report can test for that.
I was sitting in a McDonalds trying not to listen to the conversation between four teenage girls talking about how they can’t get drunk on American beer; when an eighties classic came pouring out of the restaurant’s satellite radio feed like maple syrup on a cold day.
The song was Christopher Cross’ “Sailing.” The tune was a monster winning three Grammys. A couple of years later, Cross even won an Oscar for “Arthur’s Theme.”
But listening to this saccharine slice of GenX’s paralyzed past made me wonder – how many people between 1980 and 1983 lost their virginity to “Sailing takes me away… To where I’ve always heard it… Just the dream and the wind to carry me… Soon I will be free.”
It was an odd thought to have while downing my McDouble and a Shamrock shake. On the other hand, I do have an appreciation for light adult contemporary gold and the remarkably hopeless effects of Old Milwaukee.
I'd like to think that our personal life-soundtracks are always evolving. It's easy to listen back to the music we liked or loved and say that we remember the time in our lives when this or that happened.
But sometimes we don't recognize those musically defined moments until they become a memory. And those moments don't have to be big. They can just be... moments. Hearing a new favourite song on the radio when you are brushing your teeth in the morning. Or something that sort of sicks with you while you're sitting on the bus.
I was listening to Grant Lawrence's podcast from CBC Radio 3 celebrating International Women's Day. He was playing an incredibly wonderful and eclectic mix of Canadian artists to celebrate the day -- everyone from Sarah Harmer to Emily Haines of Metric.
But when Alanna Stuart and Bonjay's "Gimmee Gimmee" came ripping through my earbuds, I literally stopped everything I was doing just to listen.
Like the bio suggests, you can't lock this music into a stale genre. "They are unencumbered by the restrictions of style and attitude." I like that line. That says so much about the song and the woman who stands upfront with this group.
Alanna Stuart has a refined rawness in her voice that is refreshing and driving. And the music makes you want to move -- even if you are stuck on a bus in the middle of downtown Vancouver.
