The Macca Concert

Alright, so it here it is. My official commentary on the Paul McCartney Concert.

 

 

Like previously stated, Paul was amazing. He may have even outdone himself in the previous Paul concerts I’ve attended (I’ve been lucky enough to see him three times now).

 

It was a chilly and rainy evening and traffic getting to the stadium was very slow, but once inside… even the air was exciting. Covers and remixes of Paul’s music was playing when we found our seats and every time the music stopped, the audience began to cheer in anticipation for the show. It was about 8:30 when the man himself stepped out on the stage and launched into “Magical Mystery Tour”.  It was 4 songs later before I remembered that I would probably enjoy the show more if I continued to breathe regularly. But seeing him play “Junior’s Farm”, “All My Loving”, “Jet”, and “Drive My Car”… Honestly, who has time to breathe when you’re so busy screaming and singing along?

 

He played quite a few songs that I’d never seen him play live, including “The Night Before”, “Paperback Writer”, “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five”, “I’ve Just Seen A Face”, “Get Back”, “Mrs. Vanderbilt”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and “My Valentine”. Of course, he also included the standard songs like “Let It Be”, “Live and Let Die”, and “Hey Jude”. He seemed to be in a great mood and his energy was high. He did quite a bit of talking with the audience, taking the time to read signs, finding out if the audience prefers “St. Louie” or “St. Louis”, and taking a moment to soak in the audience adulation, since he’d not done a “proper” big show like this since May. He also treated us to a slight wardrobe change and even managed to get the audience to bark during a short call and answer bit between numbers.

My view of the stage

 

After playing “And I Love Her”, Paul gave Rusty a good natured hard time about flubbing the solo – and made sure the audience knew he’d never messed up that solo before. He even had Rusty redeem himself by having the band play that section of the song again! Then during “Dance Tonight”, the drummer, Abe Labrioel, accompanied the tune with a bit of amusing choreography. I, of course, shed a couple tears during Paul’s tribute to John (with “Here Today”) and George (with “Something”). And was pleasantly surprised to hear his rendition of “A Day In The Life” blended with “Give Peace A Chance”. Then during “Live and Let Die”, the stage was literally ablaze with a ton of pyrotechnic tricks – that even caused me, someone who was expecting some sort of firework drama, to gasp in surprise. And during the very last number, he took a bit of a tumble and despite the fact that it surely had to hurt, he popped right back up, struck a pose and even joked that it was a staged fall.

 

Paul’s energy was unparalleled throughout the evening and his musical ability is still as astounding as it was 40 years ago. To see someone at age 70, play music he wrote decades ago with so much enjoyment is incredible. The love from the audience was clear and it was just as clear at how much he loves the audience. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life. So for that, I must say thank you to the audience and the band for being so great. Thank you to my best music friends for coming along and making it an unforgettable experience for me. And of course, thank you to Paul for being such an amazing showman and musician. Thank you for your music, that has given me so much enjoyment and helped me to make some very good Beatle-friends. And thank you for all the memories. I love you, Paul!

 

 

The concert...

The McCartney concert was amazing! How Paul can have so much energy at age 70 is fantastic to me.  Full review to follow.

Blab It To The Rabbitt…

Okay, so this entry is a bit of a departure from my usual posts. I’m writing more about radio history than music – but I figure radio and music go together, and since this is my blog, I can do as I like!

 

So, several months ago I stumbled across some old airchecks from various radio stations in the 1960s. I think by now it’s quite obvious that I am inclined towards that particular decade and I loved getting this glimpse into the normal lives of people from that time. When it comes to history, I’ve always been more fascinated with the lives of the Average Joe or Jane than the famous political figures, so these old airchecks were quite a find for me. I found myself looking into various artists I hadn’t previously explored and I quickly became a fan of one DJ in particular. The St. Louis radio station, KXOK’s Johnny Rabbitt (aka Don Pietromonaco).

 

I was immediately attracted to his style on the radio. He doesn’t just tell you what song is going to play next, he really put on a show! I was very amused by his banter with his self-created sidekick, Bruno J. Grunion. And when I found out that Bruno didn’t actually exist, but was voiced by Johnny Rabbitt himself, I was thoroughly impressed.  After doing a bit more research I found, that he’d often get to the studio early and record his Bruno drop-ins before the show, then converse with the pre-taped voice on the air and then there were times when he did both voices live. That takes the talent of a true actor to pull off something like that, I believe. While I think these kinds of antics were more common back in the day, I still believe that Don Pietromonaco was an extremely talented individual. He stepped into the Johnny Rabbitt role in 1964 and became a local legend of sorts.

 

I know that a lot of work had to go into each show – they were carefully crafted with laugh-tracks, sound effects, gags, contests, games, prizes, requests and dedications.  I know he didn’t do it entirely on his own – he had help from the production team of KXOK, but he did earn some of the highest ratings ever recorded in the St. Louis area. He also ran a couple teen nightclubs and helped raise millions of dollars for medical research.  And of course, he created memories for thousands of St. Louis teens… After listening to as many broadcasts featuring him as I’ve been able to find, I can say with absolute certainty, had I been a St. Louis teen in the ‘60s, I’d have been a Johnny Rabbitt Army Member.

 

 

 

 

 http://630kxok.stlmedia.net/index.html

Heard It On TV...

I may watch too much television. Though, I’ve been introduced to a number of songs because of hearing them on a TV show or commercial. I believe I started this trend of searching out songs heard on TV from watching The Partridge Family and The Monkees. But I’ve also tracked down songs after hearing it on a commercial. One song I very specifically remember searching out after hearing it on a Dewar’s commercial in 2007. The song was “Up the Walls” by PT Walkley. It’s insanely catchy – and the whole album …And The Adventures of Track Rabbit is pretty good too.

 

Of course, I’ve been searching out songs heard on television for years and compiling my own TV Show soundtracks from the music I heard. Gilmore Girls introduced me to Wilco (“Heavy Metal Drummer”), The White Stripes (“Fell In Love With A Girl”), and The Shins (“So Says I”). I also first heard the great song, “Satellite of Love” by Lou Reed on the Gilmore Girls season 4 finale. Though, I think my Gilmore Girls playlist consists for more than 70 tunes that I dig that were used in the show (they used a lot of XTC in the show too – which, as you know, I love).

 

Grey’s Anatomy’s first 2 seasons also helped contribute dozens of songs to my ever expanding music collection. “Miss Halfway” by Anya Marina, “Dead Streets” by Monotypes, “Infinity” by Merrick, “Someone To Love” by Kate Earl, “Blood and Peanut Butter” by B.C. Camplight, and “Look At Her Face” by The Coral Sea are a few of the songs that have gotten a lot of airtime on my playlists in recent years. Grey’s also has featured a number of Brandi Carlile songs that caused me to further explore her song catalog. My favorite of hers from Grey’s Anatomy is probably “Throw It All Away”.

 

Bones introduced me to a handful of songs – like the Placebo cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”, the obscure but memorable “Better” by The Blue Shoes, and John Francis Daly’s band, Dayplayer, extremely likable pop song “Neverending Summer” – (all of these songs come highly recommended, by the way). Chuck is another show that gave me a number of songs and artists to explore. “Challengers” by The New Pornographers, “Foux Du Fafa” by Flight of the Conchords, “Creature Fear” by Bon Iver, “Into Your Dream” by Foreign Born, “My Absent Will” by Meredith Bragg, “Fresh Feeling” by Eels, and “Fall Into Place” by Apartment are a few of those songs. It also reminded me of a couple ‘80s songs I hadn’t heard for years – like “Love on the Rocks” by Neil Diamond and Huey Lewis & The News’ “Power of Love”.

 

Castle is another TV show that has caused me to track down several dozen songs. The extremely upbeat and poppy “Birds of a Feather” by The Rosenbergs was the first Castle featured song I tracked down. “Move You” by Anya Marina is a well-crafted foot-tapper with a driving beat (I especially love the last 35 seconds of the song). MoZella’s tunes were featured a few times in the show and my favorite is probably the soulful ballad, “Can’t Stop”. “Everybody Loves Me” by OneRepublic is strangely addictive and has received a lot of plays in the last year or so.  Anna Waronker performed a couple original songs for the show’s fictitious singer-songwriter, Haley Blue – notably “Threshold”, though “Underground” is also very catchy. Sara Jackson-Holman’s dreamlike ballad, “Into The Blue” is featured prominently in the season 2 finale – and it’s a gorgeous song with a captivating piano part and expressive lyrics. And possibly my favorite song that I heard on Castle is “The Other Side” by Sloan. It immediately grabbed my attention with its pop hooks on top of powerful electric guitars, multipart vocal harmonies, and stomping rhythm.

 

Though, the show that has probably the most extensive soundtrack in my music collection is from Cold Case. Of course, it featured at least half a dozen tunes in each episode from whatever era the episode is dealing with. The show exposed me to a number of songs from years gone by – some of which you don’t often hear on the oldies or classic rock stations. KC & The Sunshine Band’s song “Please Don’t Go” and Anne Murray’s “Broken Hearted Me”, for example, have received an embarrassingly high amount of plays over the last couple years . I also first heard Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” on an episode of Cold Case.  The ‘40s tune, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” by Louis Jordan was recently added to my collection after hearing it on an episode. 

 

There were also a few original pieces like the piano piece, “Best Friends” composed by Michael Levine. My favorites from the show though are the 1920s inspired jazz song, “300 Flowers” and the 1950s sounding ballad, “Scarlet Rose.” Both are fantastic songs – “300 Flowers” has the bendy notes, jazzy chords, and fantastic lyrics. “Scarlet Rose” starts out similar to The Flamingos’ version of “I Only Have Eyes for You” with its 6/8 piano part – but I adore the melody and Alexa Kahn does a great vocal performance. Both songs do a great job of capturing the time of the episodes.

 

Of course, there are tons of other songs I adore that I’ve heard on the telly, but for now I’ll leave you with this.

It started off so well…

I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to writing about this band, but Queen has long been one of my favorite bands. I got hooked on Queen about a decade ago after I had listened to a mix CD that included “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”. I’d known those songs before, but never really listened to them… and as is typical for me, after hearing a band I really like, I dive right into their music for several months.

 

After borrowing News of the World from a friend, it seemed that each week I’d run out to buy another one of their albums. So, what can I say about Queen? Queen was incredibly different. They could have wild, loud rockers one minute, and then they would have a pretty ballad the next.  Or even better, they would have some bizarre song that was filled with their British charm. John Deacon is an amazing bassist. Deacon bass lines aren’t just that thumping you tend to hear – His bass lines were melodic and beautiful – And he wrote some of the biggest Queen hits. Roger Taylor can totally rock out on the drums and watching him behind a ridiculously huge set, and know exactly where he’s going… It’s pretty impressive. (And it’s because of him that I mastered the drumstick twirl!) Not to mention he can sing higher than me! Brian May is my favorite member… (I think I’ve already mentioned my “thing” for guitarists). Brian is an extraordinary guitarist and the way he used guitars as other instruments – Well, I’ve never heard another musician able to orchestrate a choir of guitars the way Brian can. And Freddie? Jeez, he’s one of the most charismatic front mans ever. He wasn’t much to look at, but that voice! So powerful which such a fantastic range… And he had a distinctive style on the piano as well. And he’s written some of rock and roll’s most complex songs.

 

My favorite album may be The Game – though, that’s not to say I don’t dig their other albums. Honestly, every album of theirs (particularly the earlier albums) have tons of noteworthy songs. I know that to some The Game marks the beginning of the end for Queen. It’s Queen’s first pop album and is the first of Queen’s albums that doesn’t boast the use of no synthesizers. In fact, the first sound of the album is a synthesizer. So, the album may lack the depth of Queen’s preceding albums and lack the edge of News of the World, but it doesn’t make it a bad album. “Play The Game” is a fantastic showcase for Freddie’s amazing vocals. “Another One Bites The Dust” is quite a departure for the band and for the writer of the song – John Deacon – successfully crossing over into the funk genre. Brian’s heavy “Dragon Attack” and John’s catchy “I Need Your Loving Tonight” are both great tunes. And “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” is a lovely little rockabilly tribute to Elvis with a great Brian May guitar solo played on a Fender Telecaster instead of his usual “Red Special”.

 

Brian wrote two absolutely gorgeous ballads on this album as well – “Sail Away Sweet Sister” is by far my most played Queen song. I love Brian’s vocals and amazing guitar solo – and Freddie’s vocals on the bridge tend to blow me away. (How does he hit that note?!) “Save Me” is the other ballad – and it has another killer guitar solo. And Freddie’s vocals are, of course, perfect. It builds up to a poignant climax flawlessly with its catchy and heartfelt chorus. While it may not be groundbreaking, it doesn’t detract from the beauty of the song. It’s a lovely and strong closer to the album.

 

So… I suppose that’s about all I’ve got to say about Queen for now, but be prepared for me to revisit the subject somewhere down the line.

All part of decency's jigsaw I suppose…

XTC seems to epitomize quirky and intelligent pop music. The melodies are catchy but very unusual in their sound and structure. This band has been a part of my music collection for about 7 years now. I had heard a handful of their songs on the TV show, Gilmore Girls, but didn’t realize who they were. The first album I ever heard was their 1986 classic, Skylarking.

 

Skylarking is a fantastic album – from start to finish. It’s full of interesting and complex arrangements with lush instrumentation. The way the tracks merge into each other make it an album you have to listen to in sequence. While each track is amazing in its own right, it’s even more incredible to listen to it the way it was meant to be heard. My favorite part is the way “Ballet for a Rainy Day” merges into “1000 Umbrellas”. And I adore the use of strings. It’s not an entire philharmonic orchestra, so it doesn’t overpower the track, but it sure gives it character. “Season Cycle” is an upbeat pop song with some clever lyrics and unique rhymes (rhyming “cycle” with “umbilical” is not something you run across every day!). “That’s Really Super, Supergirl” is a really fun song with a very quirky melody. And “Earn Enough For Us” is the first song of theirs I ever heard and I love the lyrics – they hold a certain fear-tinged optimism that I find endearing. Besides the guitar riff intro is pretty fantastic. Then there is perhaps their most well-known song, “Dear God”. It’s really an interesting concept for a song – or even a piece of writing – to write a letter to God explaining why he doesn’t believe in him. There’s a really great use of strings in this song as well.

 

Of course, after getting into this album, I had to check out their other music. Luckily, I had a lot of music to check out because they have 14 albums… I found that Andy Partridge writes some of the most bizarre melodies, but they are damn catchy. And the lyrics are clever and cynical. The early XTC albums sound a little different from their later stuff, having more punk and new wave elements in them, but the songs are every bit as catchy. “This Is Pop?” from White Music may be my favorite of their early recordings. You wouldn’t think that a song with so many dissonant chords would be so catchy, but it’s completely addictive. “Ugly Underneath” from Nonsuch is another favorite of mine – I love the contrast of the harsh rock-y verses with the beautiful melodic chorus. It’s got a pretty awesome bass line too. And I love the lyrics. “Great Fire” off Mummer and “Snowman” from English Settlement are more examples of the catchy, quirky melodies that seem to be Andy Partridge’s trademark… And I really love the song, “Respectable Street” from Black Sea. It’s really an interesting way to begin an album – starting off as an old phonograph record and a gentle delivery of the melody by Andy Partridge then it quickly switches gears with the slam of jangly guitar chords. And I kind of dig the lyrics, observations of modern-day suburbia. I also must mention their last album, Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2).  That album is also fantastic – “The Man Who Murdered Love” is a great rocky pop song. It’s got a tremendously catchy chorus and very unique take on a love song of sorts. “You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful” is currently my most played song by XTC – I love the rhythm of the guitar.

 

There is a perception that the band is essentially a studio creation of a group of gifted reclusive musicians who refuse to tour because they can't cut it as a live band. But if you catch any of their live recordings on youtube you’ll see that Andy Partridge is a riveting performer. Though, he suffers from stage fright, so catching a performance is pretty rare. While they may be an acquired taste, I enjoy all of their music and I find that each album is unique, surprising, and worthwhile.

 

Down came the sky, and all you did was blink…

Sondre Lerche is a Norwegian singer-songwriter that I first discovered on Christmas Day 2007. He had already been on the music scene for several years when I heard that song, “Track You Down”. It wasn’t, however, until several months later that I really started looking into his music and quickly became a big fan of his.

He has an acute talent for writing catchy pop hooks. While it’s quite evident that he was influenced by artists like Elvis Costello and Brian Wilson, I think his work is distinctive in his own write. He weaves his songs from catchy Beatlesque melodies to sophisticated sounds like Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello and intertwines them with his own notable and worthy voice. Considering his young age when he started (he was only 19 or 20 when his first album was released), you would think his music would be naïve and inexperienced, but it’s pleasantly the opposite.

 

The first album I got was his 2004 album, Two Way Monologue. That is a great album to use as an introduction to such a talented musician. At least, it completely hooked me. It kicks off with an instrumental piece then launches into the enchanting and catchy “On The Tower” and segues into the title track, “Two Way Monologue”. That song was an early favorite of mine. I love the way the song builds – starting with just vocal and guitar and swelling into a toe-tapping pop-rock song.  “Wet Ground” is lovely for the poetic lyrics and melancholy melody. “It’s Over” is another favorite of mine, seeming to be reflecting on a breakup. “Stupid Memory” and “Counter Spark” are both extremely catchy pop songs. And “It’s Too Late” has an unusual melody written in 6/8 time – I really dig the drums in this song.  Then the album ends on that first song I’d ever heard by him – “Track You Down”. I think that song may still be my favorite of his. After listening to that album, I felt compelled to check out the rest of his albums.

 

All of his albums have a number of great songs: “To Be Surprised” from the Dan In Real Life soundtrack is an instant feel-good song for me – and I love the guitar in that song.  “No One’s Gonna Come” is another song written in 6/8 with a catchy tune and prominent piano and drums. Phantom Punch is a really great album that has a bit of a different feel than his previous albums – with a bit more of a rockier edge. Particularly “The Tape” and “Face The Blood” – though there are plenty of straight pop songs too, like “She’s Fantastic” and one of my all-time favorite songs, “Say It All”. In that same vein is the song “Don’t Look Now” from Heartbeat Radio. He even does a really great cover of “Human Hands” that gives the fabulous Elvis Costello song a fun, jazzy feel.

 

All in all, if you dig dreamy and romantic pop music, you should definitely check out Sondre Lerche. (And he's not half-bad to look at either!)