I think they’re fantastic. A precise combination of Morrissey’s remarkably articulate lyrics of feelings of melancholy and mediocrity coupled with brilliantly understated guitar work, which is really exceptional. I know it sounds cliche and like something your guitar teacher might say (and indeed mine did) but it is often about what Johnny Marr doesn’t play that makes his compositions so impressive and moving.
Two great examples below.
Check out this excellent video from Don Johnson of Miami Vice fame. The video just doesn’t make much sense. He is looking for a “heartbeat” (super hot woman) using a video camera in New York, then fighting rebel guerrillas in a jungle conflict and throwing children over conveniently small walls… I love the modulation halfway through the song, that is a technique lacking in modern music. Also check out the drummer’s body language after the fill at the end of the first chorus, classic 80’s melodrama.
Johnson’s Heartbeat is obviously the primary track Grum sampled for his standout track Heartbeats off the record of the same name.
Easy to see why this was acceptable in the 80’s.
Remember when Weezer were good? I do. They were good, they were damn good. They personified 90’s nerd rock perfectly and produced the kind of music that you could only fully comprehend if you were an introverted, acne-laden adolescent male with a mutual appreciation for rocking guitar riffs and pining for unattainable girls and summer holidays. Which I most definitely was.
The Blue Album was Weezer’s 1994 debut release and the record stands as a fine example of many bands producing their best work on their debut. I don’t know where to begin with this album, I love every track on it. The opening track “My Name Is Jonas” is fantastically eccentric. The next two tracks “No One Else” and “The World Has Turned and left me here” demonstrate Rivers Cuomo‘s knack for writing pessimistic yet endlessly charming love songs. The lead single “Buddy Holly” is perhaps the best example of this.
My favorite track on the record is “Say it Ain’t So” which features Cuomo’s raw and honest description of his relationship with his step-father accompanied by chunky power-chords and a ripper guitar solo. It is everything a teenage rock enthusiast needs. “In The Garage” and “Holiday” perfectly summarise teen angst and desperate holiday yearnings respectively and the final track “Only In Dreams” just has a kick ass guitar wank crescendo in it that I am still not over.
If you have youth and hair on your chest then I strongly urge you to get this album. Pick up your guitar and jam along in your bedroom. Even now as a young adult I still can’t get enough.
Filed under Alternative, Flashback, Rock
Whilst the general aim of most music blogs, and indeed this one, is to promote new and upcoming artists and their new releases, credit and recognition must also be given to the Oldies whose influence on today’s artists and of course ourselves has created the rich musical environment in which we operate. Thus, with this irregular series of thematically linked Friday postings, Happymusic hopes to acknowledge these artists and the great tunes that we all grew up with and hopefully introduce you to some new (old) music, if you haven’t already heard it in the last few decades or so.
First up on the list, is Simply Red, simply because their Best Of has been spinning around in my CD player at home lately and is what I listen to first thing in the morning when I can’t be bothered turning on my computer. And simply because they are just too awesome!
Admittedly I was first introduced to Simply Red by my Mum (nothing to be ashamed of), and I loved them immediately. There is something infinitely soothing and cathartic about Mick Hucknall’s mellow vocal delivery, especially for an ignorant and curious thirteen year-old boy. Simply Red’s music is simple, sultry, seductive and sophisticated all at once whilst being a great deal more accessible than deeper Soul/Funk artists such as Barry White and James Brown, whose music quite simply confused me at the time. The disc quickly, and quite indiscreetly, transitioned from Mum’s CD collection into mine, and has remained there for the past decade.
The raw emotion displayed in tracks like “Holding Back The Years” and “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” is enough to move anyone to croon along and unsuccessfully attempt to match Hucknall’s impressive delivery of range. The upbeat mood of their first single “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” and the ever-popular “Fairground” are almost too much fun to sing along to with friends.
If for some unkind reason fate withheld Simply Red from your childhood then there is no time like the present to discover them. They embark on their final tour at the end of this year and their music is timeless and gets even better with the years. So get into it.
A wealth of their releases are available from the website, managed by Hucknall himself.
Holding Back The Years – Simply Red
If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Simply Red
Filed under Flashback, Soul & Funk
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