audioinput

on the turntable

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:45:40 GMT

The Songs of Stephen Foster, The John Halloran Singers, 1994

The great American songwriter, Stephen Foster, was born right here in Pittsburgh on the Fourth of July, 1826. He is known as the "Father of American Music." His story is a sad one: Even though his songs had become published and known, he died when he was just in his mid-thirties, alone, having failed at trying to make a living with his music in New York City during the Civil War. He had just thirty seven cents to his name, with the start of a note in his wallet, "Dear friends and gentle hearts."

There are many tributes to Stephen Foster around Pittsburgh including a statue in Schenley Plaza, a theater attached to the Cathedral of Higher Learning, and a great little festival, Doo Dah Days, which takes place in Allegheny Cemetery where he is buried. Doo Dah Days includes carriage rides to his grave site, people in costumes - full skirts and bonnets, men in straw hats- and singing on the lawn.

I found this album at Half Price Books. Having heard many versions of Foster songs, I did not know what to expect. I was thrilled to find it is very, very beautiful. And, the chorus is singing with none other than the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra! The record has many great songs on it, including "Beautiful Dreamer", "My Old Kentucky Home", and "I Dream of Jeannie".

Here is Beautiful Dreamer:

on the turntable

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:06:49 GMT

Funny Girl, The Original Soundtrack Recording, 1968

Last night we caught the TV broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement in the arts as they honored Barbra Streisand. Streisand's role in Funny Girl was highlighted several times, and when I woke up this morning, I just had to put the record on. Funny Girl is one of my favorite musicals, introduced to me (as most musicals were) by my talented sister.

The movie of the musical is also very good. Movies of musicals can be hit or miss, but when they hit, like West Side Story, Music Man and Funny Girl, they can knock my socks off. Barbra Streisand knocks my socks off in Funny Girl. You can't help but love her character, Fanny Brice (based on the real Broadway Star and Comedian), as her talent and determination yield success even though she is not a Ziegfeld-type beauty. We also feel the emotions of her romance with gambler Nicky Arnstein, played by Omar Sharif with that famous mustache, from elation to pain. The whole story of Funny Girl is told within a flashback as Fanny awaits her husband's return from prison. His gambling had caught up with him.

Fanny is perfectly cast, and Streisand received an academy award for Best Actress. Streisand was also the star of the original stage production.

The original title of the musical was My Man, the title of this song in the musical:

on the turntable

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:49:14 GMT

Graceland, Paul Simon, 1986

For the album Graceland, Paul Simon mixed his own music with a variety of South African styles of music. In the lyrics of the title song, Paul Simon remembers a trip to Memphis following his divorce with Carrie Fisher. The song is touching and sad. He describes losing love, and the unhappy lives of other people, all traveling to Graceland. The journey to Graceland becomes an American religious sojourn, and with the refrain "we're all going to Graceland" being more up-tempo, like the wheels taking you there, you can't help but believe Graceland might just hold what each individual comes looking for.

Here is Graceland:

The album also introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a South African choral group, to the rest of the world. Here is Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes :

Merry Christmas!

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:01:55 GMT

O Come, O Come Emmanuel
sung by the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers

on the turntable

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:45:11 GMT

Don McLean, American Pie, 1971

Everyone knows the title song of this album, "Bye Bye Miss. American Pie..." This great album also has the song Vincent, a beautiful tribute to one of my favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh. It describes the artist and several of his paintings, focusing on his most celebrated painting, Starry Night.

Doing a little research for this blog, I learned that a copy of the sheet music to this song is in a safe underneath the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, along with some of Van Gogh's paint brushes, the hat he wore while painting Starry Night, and some other of the artist's belongings. Here is Don McLean singing Vincent (Starry Starry Night):

on the turntable

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:19:04 GMT

Johnny Nash, I Can See Clearly Now, 1972

Johnny Nash mixed Reggae with R&B. Originally a Texan, he eventually moved to Jamaica after falling in love with reggae music, and brought his American R&B sound to it. He is also responsible for getting Bob Marley heard, and other reggae greats. This song was surprisingly cheery when it was released, full of up-beat, joyful major chords when most radio-play at the moment was not.

This song is how I feel today. I think many, many people do too. And the video, which coincidentally I saw for the first time when starting this blog today, couldn't be more appropriate.

on the turntable

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:49:16 GMT

Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, Walt Disney Productions, 1964

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We played this record really loudly so that all our trick-or-treaters could hear it.

be back soon!

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:37:51 GMT

Been away from this blog for a while... We moved and all my records have been packed up, and our digital camera broke. But, we just bought a new camera, and we're almost unpacked, so I'll be back soon! I've bought a lot of records since my last post, at the usual Pittsburgh spots and in Columbus at a great little record store where my brother-in-law took us. I look forward to playing them and sharing them with you!

Meanwhile, I've been blogging about art: http://art-blog-sonja.blogspot.com/

on the turntable

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:26:19 GMT

Emmylou Harris, Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris, 1978

This record includes hits from Pieces of the Sky, Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner, and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. Emmylou Harris has had so many more great hits since this 1978 compilation which would certainly compete with these select hits as her overall best. Her best songs may even be yet to come. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her twice in concert in the past few years, and she has lost nothing to years!

Emmylou Harris pervades country and folk music. She has also accompanied just about everyone. An amazing harmonizer, I have found her voice soaring among others on several great albums—always a pleasant surprise. She always sounds amazing, even with voices that might be hard to sing along with. The female voice singing duets with Bob Dylan on his album, Desire? Of course. Who else.

Here is Boulder to Birmingham, 1977:

on the turntable

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:53:06 GMT

Squeeze, Singles - 45's and Under, 1982

It has been a week since the arts festival has ended, and I am reveling in the things I like to do that I missed for the 17 days during the festival. And now, this is my first post-festival blog! And to get back in the swing of things, I am starting off with Squeeze. The songs are fun, and even the band name is fun to say aloud.

Squeeze is a British New-Wave band from the 80s with lots of great hits, which are all gathered together on this record of their greatest singles: Take Me I'm Yours, Goodbye Girl, Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Slap And Tickle, Another Nail In My Heart, Pulling Mussels (From The Shell), If I Didn't Love You, Is That Love, Tempted, Black Coffee In Bed, and Annie Get Your Gun.

Since several of today's indie bands have a touch of 80s punk and new-wave style, you could imagine Squeeze squeezing in to a contemporary line-up somewhere between newer bands Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, and Franz Ferdinand.

Here is Pulling Mussels (From the Shell):

Up the Juction:

and one more, Another Nail In My Heart:

on the turntable

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:02:21 GMT

Clouds, Joni Mitchell, 1969

Joni Mitchell is one of my favorites. She is a multi-talented artist who sings, composes, writes, plays guitar, and is a talented painter, too. Clouds was her second album, and it has one of my all-time favorite songs on it called Both Sides Now. The song was made famous when covered by Judy Collins, which is also very nice, but I like Joni singing it herself best. Clouds is about a romantic relationship, but it is also about gaining perspective on life and realizing how much there still is to learn.

Joni Mitchell has an amazing vocal range, her song lyrics are very poetic, and when she plays guitar she makes up new chords and sounds amazing. She plays these unusual chords to compensate for some paralysis in her left hand caused by polio which she had suffered from as a kid. (The cure for polio was discovered at the U. of Pittsburgh, by the way.)

Joni Mitchell painted or photographed all her album covers herself, often featuring self-portraits like this one on Clouds. Another stand-out cover is a self portrait as a wounded Van Gogh for her album Turbulent indigo (below).

Here is Both Sides Now:

Also, I promised PlanetBooks I would do the meme thing she tagged me with, even though it's not about music, it's about books. So, for my sis, here goes!

1. Who's your all-time favorite author and why? Hard question! Can't decide so here are a few: Kahlil Gibran and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. I also like Tolkien, whom Birdlashes made me read for which I am grateful. Oh, it's too hard to choose one...

2. Who was your favorite first author? Do you still consider them among your favorites? Hans Christian Anderson, yes!

3. Who's your most recent addition to your list of favorite authors? newbie Karen Russell

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were, which ones would be the first to pop out of your mouth? Ray Bradbury (for his short stories and Dandelion Wine), John Berger (for Ways of Seeing, About Looking, The Sense of Sight, and Keeping a Rendezvous), Margaret Atwood (for The Blind Assassin).

Now, to answer the same questions about music, which you are welcome to do also:

1. Who's your all-time favorite group/ singer/ musician? The Beatles.

2. Who was your favorite first group/ singer/ musician? Peter, Paul & Mary. And Beethoven.

3. Who's your most recent addition to your list of favorite albums? Tom Waits- Orphans (I like everything by him, and his latest is my favorite thing in the past 2 years, also seeing him in Akron was my favorite concert EVER.) MOST RECENT music purchases though were Essie Jain and Neko Case-- I really like them a lot too.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite groups/ singers were, which ones would be the first to pop out of your mouth? Beatles, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Kate Wolf, Nanci Griffith, Joni Mitchell, Gillian Welch, Magnetic Fields, Neko Case, The Kinks. They just popped out!

on the turntable

Mon, 26 May 2008 15:19:35 GMT

As an addition to my last post, Sunny Afternoon and also Well Respected Man by The Kinks sound to me the most like the Beatles of all their songs I've heard so far. Even the videos look like old Beatles videos.

Also, today's Pop City Media's newsletter is all about Pittsburgh vinyl record spots, including Attic Records where we just ventured to for the first time on Saturday. I am sure I'll be back many times!

on the turntable

Sun, 25 May 2008 04:18:37 GMT

Golden Hour of The Kinks, 1969 by The Kinks

Other than Half Price Books, which is first and foremost a bookstore of used and over-stock books that also carries DVDs, used CDs and vinyl records, there are two major hot spots for vinyl record lovers in Pittsburgh. One is Jerry's Used Records in Squirrel Hill, a second-storey treasure trove of zillions of records. The second one, Attic Records, I finally journeyed to today with my husband in an area of Pittsburgh called Millvale. With the name Attic Records, I was expecting a store just like Jerry's, but it is actually a ground-level storefront flanked by two murals of music greats-- Elvis, the Beatles, etc. all in a colorful crowd. The store is massive and well-organized, and when I asked for help finding a specific record by The Kinks, the employees were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I came away with this record, Golden Hour of The Kinks, as well as a couple other albums I'd been hunting.

I have heard the Kinks on the radio forever, but usually just Victoria and Lola which I assumed were their only hits. It wasn't until I saw the movie Darjeeling Limited that I really got hooked.

I got the movie soundtrack with This Time Tomorrow, Strangers, and Powerman on it, and I just wanted to hear more. I found I loved song after song by The Kinks, and it filled a musical desire I've had since collecting every last album by The Beatles... more, more, more!! The Kinks are the closest thing to the Beatles I've come by, and it's really no wonder. Both are British Invasion bands. The Kinks, like the Beatles, have a great range of songs, and hearing most of these songs for the first time in 2008, I think they also have an edge that makes them feel very contemporary. This contemporary edginess provides the perfect mood for Wes Anderson films. (I think it's safe to say Wes Anderson interests me more than any other contemporary movie director for style's sake. I've mentioned him before on audioinput, and he was also just talked about on Birdlashes' blog relating to a book he read by Nabokov.)

This album is a compilation, and would make a great introduction to The Kinks because it has so many really good songs on it. The album is a collection of singles from Kinkdom to Village Green Preservation Society. It has many of my most favorite Kinks songs including Days, Waterloo Sunset (which is the song I was hunting specifically at Attic Records today), Sunny Afternoon, Victoria, Well Respected Man, and Shangrila.

Getting to know the Kinks now is an absolute delight, because there is such a great body of work and I haven't heard all their songs yet, which makes me very excited. It's the closest thing I'll get to hearing Beatles songs for the very first time. And all the while, they have been there, under my nose. I've heard that Lola song forever! But who knew when listening to the Oldies Station, out of context, that the same band would have done a song like Waterloo Sunset or Shangrila? So many bands are just so same-y, one song can be pretty representative of the rest. NOT SO with The Kinks.

The Kinks are among the Big Four British Invasion bands-- The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Who being the more popular other three, partially attributed to the fact that The Kinks were banned from the U.S. for four years during the 60s during the height of their popularity, cutting them off from the U.S. market. (It's unclear why they were banned, but it is assumed it is because of their "rowdy stage performance.") They are also said to be the most English of all the Big Four, maybe because of this separation from the U.S.

Their songs, specifically from their 'Golden Age' (mid 60s and early 70s) are individually fantastic-- ranging from romantic (Waterloo Sunset), to upbeat (Victoria), to rockin' (You Really Got Me) to quirky (Bald Headed Woman)... covering much of the same terrain as the Beatles.

Here is the song I can't get out of my head. Even the guy at Attic Records started whistling the tune as he helped me find this record with it on it... Waterloo Sunset:

on the turntable

Wed, 21 May 2008 02:26:37 GMT

Physical Gaffiti, Led Zeppelin, 1975

front cover

This album jacket has such a wonderful, clever design. The windows of the apartment building are cut out and there are three interchangeable sheets that you can slip into the jacket to reveal different images. The first inner sheet has the song listings on it, but through the windows it spells Physical Grafiti.

inner disc cover 1

Looking at this album reminds me of advent calendars, opening the little paper doors to reveal a picture inside. The images are strange and disparate though- a nun under an umbrella, a 'strong man' posing on a rocky beach, a missle dropping, a man on a phone, a couple in an embrace, Cleopatra...

As well as advent calendars, it reminds me of catching glimpses of brightly lit apartment windows in the city- a warm yellow light, or the flash of a blue TV light in an otherwise dark room that catches your eye from the night street.

inner disc cover 2

close-up (includes a strange old man lathered in shaving cream, apparently from an ad for Pear's Shaving Stick, an image of the Madonna and child, and Dorothy waking up in Kansas surrounded by her family and neighbors)

And then there is the music on the vinyl disc inside. Here is Kashmir, the band's own favorite of all their songs.

He's Back!

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:13:23 GMT

Great news folks! BIRDLASHES (a.k.a. my dear husband) is BACK!

http://birdlashes.livejournal.com/

on the turntable

Fri, 02 May 2008 03:03:44 GMT

Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen, 1984

The photo on the album cover was taken by Annie Leibovitz. We just went to an exhibit of her photographs at the Corcoran this past winter, A Photographer's Life 1990-2005. (This photo was earlier than the ones from the exhibit, but is iconic.) Along with the photo on the album cover, Leibovitz took this photo (below) used as a magazine cover. I love Leibovitz's portraits. They are often in Vanity Fair and Vogue.

Born In the U.S.A. has a really interesting story.

The title track is about the hardships suffered by returning Vietnam veterans. The song feels like an anthem and has been misinterpreted as being patriotic. The music video looks like a campaign ad, with waving flags, etc. However, the lyrics don't paint the pretty picture of America that the video shows.

President Reagan praised him as a "great patriot" for "Born in the U.S.A." Several days later at a concert, Springsteen sang a song called "Johnny 99" about a laid-off factory worker who kills a store clerk and is sentenced to 99 years, and introduced it by saying that he didn't think Reagan had heard this song.

Born In the U.S.A. goes like this:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up

[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[chorus]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

[chorus]

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I've seen fireworks set to "Born in the U.S.A." on the Fourth of July. It's not quite "Proud To Be An American."

This album has other legendary Springsteen hits, including I'm On Fire, Glory Days, and Dancing in the Dark. My favorites on this album are I'm On Fire and this lesser known track, Downbound Train. (The video takes a couple seconds for the song to start...)

on the turntable

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:18:39 GMT

The Wild Heart, Stevie Nicks, 1983

I came to Stevie Nicks in a round-about way. Landslide, written by Stevie Nicks, was covered by the Smashing Pumpkins in the 90s, and I loved it. Then I discovered I liked the original version even better.

Though somewhat hit or miss for me because the ethereal gypsy can get a little over-dramatic sometimes, I really like Stevie Nicks' voice. This album, Wild Heart, has a number of her hits including Stand Back, I Will Run To You with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, If Anyone Falls, and Nightbird. It was recorded mostly live.

Stevie Nicks was part of the band Fleetwood Mac. She joined the group with her then-boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham, whom she met and sang together with at Young Life meetings. Fleetwood Mac had three song writers, so Nicks made solo albums to get more of her own songs out there. Wild Heart was her second solo album.

Stevie Nicks has a unique, sometimes rather theatrical style. She is the "Gypsy" with long, flowing dresses and goth make-up. She has copywrited her songs as Welsh Witch Music. Her hit Rhiannon is a song about a Wesh witch. So, of course, there are rumors that Stevie Nicks is a witch.

Here is a video of her singing the title track, Wild Heart, while back stage having her make-up done before a show. Enjoy!

on the turntable

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:24:23 GMT

Xanadu, The Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1980

Last weekend, my husband and I went to go see the New Pornographers in concert at the Homewood Library. We are fans of the singer Neko Case, and she is in the New Pornographers. They are a "super group" - a band made up of talented people from other groups. So, what does that concert have to do with Xanadu, a movie-musical from 1980, where Olivia Newton John plays an artist's muse, coming to life out of a mural, singing and dancing on roller skates??

Well, at the New Pornographers concert, one song stood out to us as not quite like the rest. And yet, it sounded very familiar. I thought, This sounds like it could be in Xanadu!

When we got home, I played the record, but there was not a match. That song was not on the record. So why, why, why were visions of Xanadu dancing in my head?

Then, my husband found the song on-line. It was called Don't Bring Me Down, and it was by the Electric Light Orchestra.

Electric Light Orchestra... I flipped over my Xanadu record album, and there it was: Electric Light Orchestra! So, I was right to think of Xanadu-- Don't Bring Me Down is indeed a lot like Xanadu's I'm Alive, The Fall, Don't Walk Away, and All Over The World... because they are all by the same British rock group. And that big neon circle Olivia is holding on the back of the album? It says ELO. I never really noticed that before! Side A of Xanadu, with the songs Olivia sings, are all by John Farrar. Side B is the ELO side, with all songs by Jeff Lynne.

I feel a little bit satisfied with myself for making a musical connection, a lot like when you realize what movie an actor was in before, or guessing the correct question watching Jeopardy. (Pats self on back.) Xanadu, then, had to be my next blog.

My sister and I listened to this album a lot when we were kids. I was thrilled to rediscover it a few weeks ago when I found a copy in mint condition for just a dollar at Half Price Books.

My husband got the movie from the library to watch with me recently on my request, but he didn't quite share my excitement when he tried to watch it with me. He found it hard to get into and corny, and really overall not awesome. While the soundtrack was a huge hit when the movie first came out, the movie itself was a critical flop that became a cult classic only later. Many people hated it. But I like it for the nostalgia. See, to a little girl as I was when I first saw it, a musical with romance and roller skates makes an EXCELLENT movie! And so, for you, in all its roller disco glory, the one ELO song Olivia also sings on, the title track, Xanadu! (My favorite part is in the middle of the song when Olivia, in a weird glittering goddess outfit she wears for just a few seconds, turns into a bunch of lights shaped like a rocket ship and then reappears in a new outfit with 80s-style ribbon barrettes and white leg warmers.)

P.S.
Xanadu has a Pittsburgh connection, too. Gene Kelly is in Xanadu, and he is from Pittsburgh!

on the turntable

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:19:26 GMT

She's So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper, 1983

On the front of the album is Cyndi Lauper- with her signature wildly colored hair, fishnet stockings and piled on accessories. Ah, the 80s! This album includes the hits Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop, and All Through The Night.

She's So Unusual is a perfect title for a Lauper Album. In the video for Time After Time, her boyfriend gets miffed because of her radical new hairstyle-- the shaved squares on one side of her head, and the longer fire-red punky burst on the other side. All about being an individual in the face of oppression, she is a feminist hero. I enjoyed this tidbit I read about her: Since she was in her late 20s before she became a star, when people asked her about her age and seemed doubtful about her, she would defiantly ask, "What am I, a car?" What a GREAT ANSWER! Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is often used as a feminist anthem, but it is also just a fun song to jump up and down to in any sort of wild, zany, "so unusual" way!

I remember going to see her movie Vibes as a kid, in which she played a psychic, and it was really too wierd to relate to-- In fact, the movie was a critical flop. She wasn't all-together unsuccessful in movies though-- She produced the soundtrack for Goonies!

Looking at the album art, you can make some Pittsburgh connections if you're looking for them... The name over the door is Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate hero-- there is a bridge here named for him as well as a life-size sculpture of him in front of our ball park. On the back of the record sleeve, behind those AWESOME Starry Night soled heels, is a ferris wheel, and ferris wheels were invented by a Pittsburgher, George Ferris. (Really though, this street scene and her videos are from Lauper's hometown of NYC, but you can see it as Pittsburgh if you want!)

I would love a pair of shoes like these. Even white on top is okay.

Here is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Her mom in the video is her real mom, and her dad is played by "Captain" Lou Albano... someone my husband recognized when I was playing the video-- I don't really know wrestlers!

This video, and her others, were huge on MTV, and really helped her success. I wish MTV was more like it used to be, with more music. Now it's so much reality TV stuff, it seems misguided to me. Last night, watching some of Idol Gives Back, I thought, Gee, there really is still a strong interest in Music Television. MTV should step it up. Anywho, that's a side-rant! Here is the video!

I love the first few seconds, when the synthesizer starts and she just zips sideways across the street. FUN!

on the turntable

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:28:12 GMT

As an addition to my previous post about Jackson Browne's For Everyman, here is the part of the movie The Royal Tennenbaums with Nico's version of These Days... Such a great movie, and this is a great part-- I love Wes Anderson's composed backgrounds-- the buses, the luggage, the men in the white suits, and the soundtrack.

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:03:30 GMT

For Everyman, Jackson Browne, 1973

The image on the album cover of For Everyman is of Jackson Browne at his childhood home called "The Abbey" in L.A.

Jackson Browne reminds me a lot of James Taylor, but his best songs (which in my opinion are his slower, downbeat ones) are more soulful than Taylor's. I listened to James Taylor in high school a lot, and Jackson Browne pretty much took his place for me in college. His first album, self-titled Jackson Browne, is awesome and... depressing. That was also the first album of his that I bought, and I used to play Song for Adam, Jamaica Say You Will, and Something Fine over and over and over.

For Everyman was his second album and is also a downer, but in a savory way that makes one become very reflective while listening to it. He is a confessional singer-songwriter, and themes that run through his songs are traveling, love, and lost youth. I bought For Everyman because I liked his first album so much, and because I really needed to have the album with These Days on it.

Here is These Days:

Browne wrote These Days when he was just a teenager (in the video he says he was sixteen). Before it was on his own album, it was already recorded by Nico (of the Velvet Underground). In 2001, her version of the song was used beautifully in the movie The Royal Tennenbaums.

on the turntable

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:43:39 GMT

The Muppet Movie, Original Soundtrack Recording, 1979

The Muppet Movie is a great film with a very memorable song, Rainbow Connection. It's a song of wishes and hopes, for all the "lovers and dreamers." I used to play the easy-for-piano version of this song as a kid, singing it as best I could, and I always loved the wistfulness of it. When my husband played Rainbow Connection on his guitar and sang it for me when we were dating, I knew that he was a dreamer, too.

The movie starts with this song, as Kermit is singing it while playing his banjo on a relaxing afternoon in the Florida Swamp. He has no idea about how his life is going to change. An agent, Dom Deloise, overhears Kermit's singing and banjo-playing and encourages him to pursue a career in Hollywood. Kermit likes the idea of potentially making millions of people happy, so he sets off across the country for Hollywood. All goes wrong until Animal, transformed into a giant by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, saves the day for Kermit and the familiar gang of friends that Kermit has acquired along his journey, and they finally get their big break into show business when they are hired by a big-time producer... Orson Welles.

Like another "song about rainbows" from my all-time favorite movie, the song expresses an urge for something more. The Florida Swamp is, in a way, Kermit's "Kansas", and Hollywood is his Emerald City of Oz. The journey across country is like the journey down the Yellow Brick Road, and you could say that Welles is the movie's Wizard.

Rainbow Connection is the theme song for the Jim Henson Company in the way When You Wish Upon A Star is for Disney. The Jim Henson Company created the Muppets, and all the lovable puppets of Sesame Street, like Big Bird, Elmo, etc., which seem to me all the more lovable now because they feel more "real" to me than many of today's animated characters. Jim Henson Company also made the movie The Dark Crystal, which I was simultaneously enraptured and creeped out by as a kid, and the recent MirrorMask, which I didn't love. (It's a Neil Gaiman story, and my tastes are pretty ambivalent toward his stuff.)

Jim Henson was a wonderfully creative person, and in reading more about him, I learned that he came up with the characters for the Muppets while a freshman at the University of MD, College Park. He majored in art, but eventually graduating with a B.S. in Home Economics (because that is where he could work with textiles). While a freshman, he was asked to create Sam and Friends, a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV which featured Kermit the Frog. Before that, while in high school, he had worked on creating puppets for a Saturday morning TV program for kids. Henson would go on to completely transform puppetry, making them more life-like than ever before. He made magic.

Here is Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, singing Rainbow Connection:

on the turntable

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:14:08 GMT

Tapestry, Carole King, 1971

In this month's Vanity Fair, there is an article celebrating a new book on three great female singers and song-writers that came to fame in the 60s and 70s: Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Carole King. The book by Sheila Weller is called Girls Like Us, a title that sums up how I feel about these singers-- They sing about being a woman, and it is easy to find myself in these songs. The magazine article has a glitzier title: The Rebel Angels, which is also a true description of these women, and characterizes Joni Mitchell as "the bohemian risk-taker," Carly Simon as "the glamorous iconoclast," and Carole King as "the sensual Earth Mother." The article, excerpted from the book which comes out this month, talks primarily about their famous love affairs and the various difficulties in each of their romantic histories, but in my opinion, that is the least interesting aspect of each of these pioneering women.

The article does, however, highlight Tapestry as Carole King's masterpiece album: "It would stand as one of the biggest-selling, Grammy-sweeping albums of the decade and would form a soundtrack for an era when, in the shell-shocked wake of rock-world excess and political assassinations, people rebounded to harmony, communality, and earnestness. With her Earth-Mother-next-door looks, complete rejection of artifice, comfort with herself, and discomfort with the limelight, she redefined what a "beautiful" woman was. Affection for her music and for her has resonated over four decades, and her second career, as an environmental advocate, has affected U.S. wilderness policy."

Carole King is a great song-writer. Every song on Tapestry is amazing: I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away, It's Too Late, Home Again, Beautiful, Way Over Yonder, You've Got A Friend (made famous by her friend and collaborator James Taylor), Where You Lead, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, Smackwater Jack, Tapestry, and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (made famous when sung by Aretha Franklin).

Carole King is a "natural woman"... dubbed "Earth Mother", she rejected artifice not just in how she carried herself and in her appearance, but also in her music. Very little production work was done on her songs for Tapestry, and the vocal imperfections and little cracks add to the honesty and human-ness of her sound. Here is Carole King singing (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman:

on the turntable

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:48:55 GMT

Close to You, Carpenters, 1970

The Carpenters were a brother-sister duo. Richard Carpenter played the keyboard, while Karen Carpenter played the drums, and they sang together. I love Karen Carpenter's voice, and I am always impressed by performers who drum and sing. Drums are all rhythm, and finding the melody with your voice while drumming seems like it would be difficult multi-tasking. The Carpenters' style was distinctively soft, when other pop music was getting louder at that time (like the Rolling Stones).

My parents had Close To You in their stack of records, so I listened to it a lot growing up. The title track, "Close To You," was actually my parents' wedding theme song, and, coincidentally, their anniversary is this month. I was thrilled to discover this record again recently at Half Price Books. Close to You is full of great love songs, and it's an album I enjoy playing all the way through.

Here is another great wedding theme song from this album, "We've Only Just Begun," being performed on the Ed Sullivan Show:

on the turntable

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:41:00 GMT

As an addition to my previous post about Goats Head Soup, here is a commercial by the Stones for Rice Krispies.