The Great HTF Music Challenge (2 Viewers)

[BobO'Link]

Merle Haggard, "You Don't Have Very Far To Go" - Merle is one of a handfull of country artists I'll select myself. This one is very good. And it has a sax line! In a country song! While I like the treatment of the other, I like this one best of the two.

 

[Bryan^H]

Tom T Hall passed away yesterday. R.I.P. I’m sure “Sneaky Snake” was the first Country song I ever remembered.
Sneaky Snake

I Like Beer

Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine

 

[John Dirk]

Tom T Hall passed away yesterday. R.I.P. I’m sure “Sneaky Snake” was the first Country song I ever remembered.
Sneaky Snake

I Like Beer

What's not to like here? It's simple, humorous and fun. I could see this being a nice Country primer for children.


R.I.P.

 

[HawksFord]

Tom T. Hall was one of the great American storytellers. Rolling Stone has a nice piece with their picks of 10 Essential Songs headed by my favorite That's How I Got to Memphis. And the first season of the Cocaine & Rhinestones podcasts has a fantastic three episode deep-dive into Harper Valley PTA with the third focusing on Hall.

 

[BobO'Link]

Tom T. Hall - "Sneaky Snake," "I Like Beer," "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon" - I've never been a fan of Tom T. Hall, mostly because I generally don't care for "story" songs or those that drop into spoken work. These three do nothing to change my mind. They're tolerable but nothing I'd choose to listen to.

 

[John Dirk]

Season 5 - Grey's Anatomy

Nice smooth ballad by an artist I was previously unfamiliar with. I don't know if it's Country, Folk or whatever, only that I really like it.

Piers Faccini - A Storm Is Going To Come​

 

[BobO'Link]

Piers Faccini, "A Storm Is Going To Come" - Allmusic flags him as "Pop/Rock" but says his music "fuses folk, acoustic blues, and West African textures." Whatever... I like it and will be exploring more of his catalog.

**EDIT**
I listened to the album that track was taken from. It's interesting and absolutely fits that "folk, acoustic blues, and West African textures" mold. It's not something I'd want to listen to every day but is good for occasional play. Some of the tracks remind me of Morphine but mellowed quite a bit.

 

[John Dirk]

This one came up in my own collection. I never even knew it was there. Sort of a kinder, gentler Blues feel which is probably what I was thinking when I added it

Foina Boyes - Kiss Me Darling

 

[greenscreened]

I think Walter hits the nail on the head here. For a lot of psychedelic rock anyway its more the mood - for instance look at the lyrics of "I Am The Walrus" by The Fabs. John Lennon loved wordplay and wrote this to basically not make any sort of sense....but a damn fine song.



On the other hand another great psychedelic song by the band Love "Alone Again Or" has intelligible lyrics that perhaps might be open to interpretation to some but I think tells a story of unrequited love. Another damn fine song...



My next post will hit a different genre.

Two good songs.

Walrus is definitely an acquired taste.
I like the music and production, best of all.
Some of the lyrics however, gross me out!

The background vocals were performed by The Mike Sammes Singers, who also performed on 'Good Night' from The Beatles album (aka The White Album) , and on two tacks on the Let It Be album.

During the break in the song, legend has it that unbeknownst(?) to her, the mic would pick her “this is so weird” comment, referring to the song in general and what they had to sing throughout.

They decided to leave it in, but of course not without adding some effects to the comment, including elongating the word “weird”, ala an endless loop, which of course, made that comment sound weird!
However, it's somewhat unintelligible in the final mix.

It can be heard at 10:09




Some tidbits regarding Alone Again, Or....

According to Wiki…Arranger David Angel added a string section and a horn part for a mariachi band, whom co-producer Bruce Botnick (The Doors) had recently used on a Tijuana Brass album, which gave the middle musical interlude a Tijuana Brass feel, which makes it one of my favorite middle breaks.

According to the CD liner notes, the singer sings portions of the the lyrics in the first, second and third person perspective, IIRC.

 

[John Dirk]

Two good songs.

Walrus is definitely an acquired taste.
I like the music and production, best of all.
Some of the lyrics however, gross me out!

The background vocals were performed by The Mike Sammes Singers, who also performed on 'Good Night' from The Beatles album (aka The White Album) , and on two tacks on the Let It Be album.

During the break in the song, legend has it that unbeknownst(?) to her, the mic would pick her “this is so weird” comment, referring to the song in general and what they had to sing throughout.

They decided to leave it in, but of course not without adding some effects to the comment, including elongating the word “weird”, ala an endless loop, which of course, made that comment sound weird!
However, it's somewhat unintelligible in the final mix.

It can be heard at 10:09




Some tidbits regarding Alone Again, Or....

According to Wiki…Arranger David Angel added a string section and a horn part for a mariachi band, whom co-producer Bruce Botnick (The Doors) had recently used on a Tijuana Brass album, which gave the middle musical interlude a Tijuana Brass feel, which makes it one of my favorite middle breaks.

According to the CD liner notes, the singer sings portions of the the lyrics in the first, second and third person perspective, IIRC.

While I enjoy and respect many of the Beatles catalog as timeless classics, this particular track does absolutely nothing for me. I suspect it's popularity has more to do with the time it was released and what was happening in the world in those days than anything else. That's fine as music is definitely supposed to reflect on the state of things. I was born in 1966 so it's all probably just a little premature for me.

 

[greenscreened]

I suspect it's popularity has more to do with the time it was released ...

I couldn't have summed it up better myself, John.
(I was tempted reply, "words of wisdom", but my tongue was self-bitten!)

 

[BobO'Link]

You two are just wrong...

"I Am the Walrus" is a superb song and an excellent example of the experimentalism The Beatles were doing at the time. There are so many things going on in this one - it's quite dense. I've liked it from the first time I heard it in 1967. And the BBC banned it shortly after release because of the line "Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down".

 

[BobO'Link]

Foina Boyes, "Kiss Me Darling" - Very nice. Parts of it remind me of Sheryl Crow... and then again not. I really like her voice.

 

[greenscreened]

You two are just wrong...

"I Am the Walrus" is a superb song and an excellent example of the experimentalism The Beatles were doing at the time. There are so many things going on in this one - it's quite dense. I've liked it from the first time I heard it in 1967. And the BBC banned it shortly after release because of the line "Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down".

Like I stated, I love the production, which is why I posted a link that had numerous isolated parts, as opposed to a link which just contained the isolated 'this is so weird' line.

It also contained two religious references that probably didn't sit well with the powers that be.

The real line that I didn't like and had trouble not envisioning, was the one that began with 'yellow matter custard...'.
Aside from that, I dig the production.

 

[John Dirk]

You two are just wrong...

"I Am the Walrus" is a superb song and an excellent example of the experimentalism The Beatles were doing at the time. There are so many things going on in this one - it's quite dense. I've liked it from the first time I heard it in 1967. And the BBC banned it shortly after release because of the line "Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down".

I know your remark was intended tongue-in-cheek but I will add this. The beauty of interpretation in any field is that no one is "wrong." It's always a matter of perspective. You had the experience of hearing this when it was fresh and relevant so I would expect your interpretation to be both different and enlightening. I envy people [to a degree] from that generation because it was so pivotal in both American and world history.

 

[BobO'Link]

It really was a great time in history to have lived through in spite of all the turmoil and unrest. When I look back at those years I'm amazed at all the things we experienced. It feels like it was far more than almost any decade since in almost every area. The diversity in music in that decade is simply amazing.

And I knew that comment, even with the , would get a rise out of you!

 

[BobO'Link]

Talking about The Beatles again reminded me of Badfinger again. Earlier I'd posted the song McCartney gave them, "Come and Get It" but they had a few other hits that were original compositions.

Badfinger - "No Matter What":



Badfinger - "Day After Day":



Badfinger - "Baby Blue":



Badfinger's Pete Ham and Tom Evans wrote "Without You":



Harry Nilsson heard Badfinger's recording of "Without You" at a party and mistook it for a Beatles song (I don't get that as, to me, it doesn't sound like The Beatles at all). After realising it was not, he decided to cover the song for his 1971 album "Nilsson Schmilsson." His version went to #1 and stayed there for 4 weeks. It was the #4 ranked single for 1972.

I've posted this one before but it deserves to be heard again after the original from Badfinger (and I mistakenly credited him earlier with the songwriting credit - don't know where my head was as I knew then he didn't write it).

Harry Nilsson - "Without You":

 

[BobO'Link]

Here are a few more "blasts from the past"...

The Turtles - "Elenore":



The Walker Brothers - "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore":



Vanity Fare - "Hitchin' A Ride":



The Fortunes - "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again":



The Ronettes - "Be My Baby":

 

[John Dirk]

Yea! More music! I'll be all over this in a day or so when I get some breathing room.

 

[TravisR]

Badfinger - "Baby Blue":

I love this song but I'll never hear it again without thinking of the ending of Breaking Bad.