I’ve already posted one song from my favorite album, but since it’s my favorite, I obviously don’t mind posting another. Day 1 featured my favorite song, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. That album is the title track from my favorite album, but another favorite song off that album is The Big Sky, which is today’s highlighted song. The Big Sky is such a raucous, joyous song, the type of song Kate Bush isn’t as well known for, and lyrically it’s both silly and profound. It’s got a pulsating, driving bass line, the layered drums that were so prevalent on Hounds of Love, and vocal gymnastics to die for. The video is tons of fun, an all-out celebration of things in the sky. It’s a great song to dance to, it’s a great song to blast at high volume, and Kate looks and sounds fabulous in the video. So please, enjoy, The Big Sky.
30 Day Song Challenge Day 18 – Song You Wish You Heard on the Radio
Very few if any of the songs I like get played on the radio, and I don’t really listen to the radio at all anymore, but there is definitely one artist I’ve never heard on the radio, who is uber-talented and incredibly overlooked. She’s got an incredible vocal range (think Anne Murray dueting with Kate Bush and you’ll come close: I kid you not), is a gifted songwriter, a talented guitarist and keyboard player, and uncompromising when it comes to her music. I would be thrilled to hear any of her songs on the radio, but this one in particular would be really cool as you don’t hear many songs about architecture that also mention the word “underwear.”
And about her voice again? Seriously, this song focuses mainly on her lower register, but you do get a taste of her upper register toward the end, but until you’ve seen her perform live and see how effortlessly she flips back and forth between her you will probably think it’s studio tricks. Believe me, it’s not. So now, please welcome Happy Rhodes with Building the Colossus.
And for good measure, here is a live version of my all-time favorite Happy Rhodes song, Save Our Souls. It’s just beautiful.
Okay, now I can’t stop. One more, the spellbinding cover of Kate Bush’s And Dream of Sheep. It’s astounding. She’s a talent, and I miss her music.
30 Day Song Challenge Day 17 – A Song That You Hear Often on the Radio
I don’t actually listen to the radio very much, so it’s rare when I hear a song “often” on the radio. There was a time recently however when I did seem to hear Florence + the Machine’s The Dog Days Are Over several times in a very short time span, which is okay, since I enjoy the song, and I had just seen the band live in concert. So here’s Florence singing her big hit.
Of course, the one radio show I do tend to hear quite often is “Standing Room Only,” WERS’ weekend musical theatre show. They do tend to repeat themselves pretty often… from the slightly obscure, like Unworthy of Your Love from Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, to this song, the ubiquitous Defying Gravity from Wicked.
Nothing terribly exciting here… but honestly, that’s what radio is all about.
30 Day Song Challenge Day 16 – A Song You Used to Hate and Now Love
Okay, so I got this one backwards. It’s supposed to be A song you used to love and now hate, and I’ve been spending the last day or two trying to think of a song I used to hate and now love. So rather than rethink this, I’m changing Day 16 to the more positive point-of-view that ends up with a song I love. I mean really, as I’ve said several times already, why would I want to post songs I hate on my blog?
Anyway, there are a few songs that ran through my mind for this one. In the end, I had to go for two songs, because one I wanted to include here because it’s from my favorite band, and the other is too cool to leave out. The first comes from Fleetwood Mac, my favorite band. Despite being my favorite band, there was a time when Lindsey Buckingham annoyed me. After the amazing feat of pop mastery that is Rumours, Tusk took everyone by surprise by it’s experimental wackiness embodied in the studio hijinks of Lindsey Buckingham. Christine McVie has always been my favorite of the three principal songwriters, and back then, I was a huge Stevie Nicks fan as well. I loved Buckingham’s work on Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, but the direction he moved in for Tusk was very hit and miss for me. It wasn’t the strangeness that bothered me; I loved Tusk, Not That Funny, Walk a Think Line… but songs like Save Me A Place, my first pick for a song I used to hate and now love, really annoyed me. Now, as I look back, I see how much of what made Fleetwood Mac great was the result of Lindsey’s talent to take the songs of the other two and turn them into masterpieces. I also have a new appreciation for some of Lindsey’s songs that I formerly detested (Oh Diane is another one) and Save Me A Place in particular I find to be just beautiful. This crappy recording of the Mac performing the song live during the Tusk tour is especially fun as it features Christine McVie on guitar!
Another song that I used to hate and now love comes from the same timeframe as Save Me A Place (which came out in 1980). I really enjoyed Sweet’s three earlier singles, Little Willy, Barroom Blitz and Fox on the Run, but in 1978 they came out with a song that I just thought was stupid. Love is Like Oxygen seemed to be a nod to the disco era, which was raging at the time, and it really turned me off. Now, of course, years later, when I rediscovered Sweet, I can’t resist the infectious goofiness of this song. They were truly an underrated band in the glam scene, and I adore all their stuff now. I was just going to go with the Mac song until I watched this video… then I couldn’t resist including Love is Like Oxygen as well.
30 Day Song Challenge Day 15 – A Song That Describes You
I don’t think there is one song that describes me. I have many moods, many faces. But there is one song that paints a pretty good picture of the romantic side of me. Mae Moore’s Because of Love became a song that represented my feelings when I was in the first blush of love with Scot. It wasn’t the only song but it’s idealistically romantic sentiment rings so true to my heart. Musically it also speaks directly to my heart, and the melodic riffs and the building chorus the send tingles up my spine every time I listen to it. It’s lush and dreamy and makes me want to be a better person.
Mae Moore is a Canadian singer/songwriter. The accompanying video is just gorgeous. I can watch it over and over. It is both timeless and rooted in the present. It was part of our wedding reception mix and always make me think of Scot, but it also makes me think of my heart.