The Great HTF Music Challenge (1 Viewer)

[John Dirk]

I've been recently enjoying the new Eric Bibb album:

I can see why! Excellent find. That's some sweet sounding guitar! Added!

 

[BobO'Link]

Eric Bibb, "Whole World's Got the Blues" - That's some nice stuff there... I'm off to listen to the rest of that album.

 

[BobO'Link]

Here's a "Progressive Metal" band that we've ignored. They got their start in the 80s and some material has that distinctive 80s production sound in spite of them being "metal."


Queensryche - "Eyes Of A Stranger":



Queensryche - "Empire":



Queensryche - "Silent Lucidity":

 

[BobO'Link]

And we mentioned Judas Priest several times but as best as I can tell, no one posted anything from the group. I posted Pat Boone's cover of "You've Got Another Thing Coming" but not the original so...

Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Coming":



Judas Priest - "Breaking The Law":



Judas Priest - "Living After Midnight":

 

[BobO'Link]

Another artist that's been ignored is Willie Nelson. My wife prefers country music but can't stand Willie. I've always liked his material - things he's written for others as well as his recordings.

Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings - "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys":



Willie Nelson - "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" (this was also a big hit for Lefty Frizzell in 1950 who cowrote the song with his then manager, Jim Beck):



Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again":



Willie Nelson - "Always On My Mind":



Willie Nelson w/Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson - "Roll Me Up"

 

[BobO'Link]

And can't forget Waylon...

Waylon Jennings - "Good Hearted Woman":



Waylon Jennings - "Luckenbach, Texas":



Waylon Jennings - "I'm a Ramblin' Man":

 

[John Dirk]

@BobO'Link - That's a lot of homework for a Friday but I'll do my best.

 

[Malcolm R]

I like Waylon. His was some of the first music I was listening to (usually on 8-track tape) in my youth (I remember all of the above songs). My mother liked country music, with a bit of rock mixed in, so I was started out with things like Waylon, Ronnie Milsap, Reba McEntire, George Strait, and with a bit of Pat Benatar (I especially remember the "Crimes of Passion" album from 1980).

 

[BobO'Link]

@BobO'Link - That's a lot of homework for a Friday but I'll do my best.

Well... It's been a couple of weeks since I did a bunch so... and I felt like I "needed" to get some stuff out there. Every time I have a few minutes though I've just not concentrated on picking music for the thread as I've hit many of the "high points" so it's more work to come up with stuff, even stuff I like, as I'm trying to not focus on top favorites but more things I like that don't get frequent listens.

 

[John Dirk]

Well... It's been a couple of weeks since I did a bunch so... and I felt like I "needed" to get some stuff out there. Every time I have a few minutes though I've just not concentrated on picking music for the thread as I've hit many of the "high points" so it's more work to come up with stuff, even stuff I like, as I'm trying to not focus on top favorites but more things I like that don't get frequent listens.

Oh I agree wholeheartedly and may just start posting aggregate comments as opposed to individual at this point. I'll still sample everything posted and read all comments as I learn a lot that way.

 

[sleroi]

Willie is another one of those prolific artists you cant really sum up in just a few songs, so here are a few more...

 

[sleroi]

Judas Priest

Priest was just a little before my time. I remember the high schoolers were really into Priest when i was in 6th grade, but that was before I discovered Metal.

I like all three of the songs you posted and have heard them before, but I never really felt compelled to explore their discography.

 

[sleroi]

Queensryche

I just could never get into these guys. Silent Lucidity is a nice song, and I liked it when it came out, but the rest of their catalog is too much in that slow, droning style of metal for my taste.

 

[BobO'Link]

Willie is another one of those prolific artists you cant really sum up in just a few songs, so here are a few more...

These are all great, too. I somewhat struggled with just which few songs to use and settled on a sampling from across his career. It was hard not to include "Pretty Paper" but I'll just save it for a Christmas Season post (or 7 or 8).

 

[sleroi]

Eric Bibb

Just wow. It started out as just another generic, sparse blues number. Certainly not bad by any stretch, but nothing really great either. Then that electric guitar came in and you could feel every note. It just took the song to another level.

I looked him up and found at least 7 solo albums from the last 8 years and a couple of collaborations. Ill definitely check these out over the next week or two.

 

[John Dirk]

Here's a "Progressive Metal" band that we've ignored. They got their start in the 80s and some material has that distinctive 80s production sound in spite of them being "metal."


Queensryche - "Eyes Of A Stranger":



Queensryche - "Empire":



Queensryche - "Silent Lucidity":

Yea these all have the same sanitized, over produced studio sound. Not that it's bad but it doesn't really separate itself from other material of that period enough to be noteworthy.

 

[John Dirk]

And we mentioned Judas Priest several times but as best as I can tell, no one posted anything from the group. I posted Pat Boone's cover of "You've Got Another Thing Coming" but not the original so...

Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Coming":



Judas Priest - "Breaking The Law":



Judas Priest - "Living After Midnight":

Now that's what I'm talking about! These all have that raw sound that just oozes energy. I enjoyed Living After Midnight the most with You've Got Another Think Coming running a close second.

 

[John Dirk]

Another artist that's been ignored is Willie Nelson. My wife prefers country music but can't stand Willie. I've always liked his material - things he's written for others as well as his recordings.

Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings - "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys":



Willie Nelson - "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" (this was also a big hit for Lefty Frizzell in 1950 who cowrote the song with his then manager, Jim Beck):



Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again":



Willie Nelson - "Always On My Mind":



Willie Nelson w/Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson - "Roll Me Up"

I'd heard a few of these songs but it doesn't matter. Willie is in that rare category for me of a man who can simply do no wrong. I can enjoy practically any song from him as his voice is classic and unique but my main admiration comes from his masterful dispatching of the IRS when he released The IRS Tapes.

 

[Malcolm R]

Judas Priest reportedly recorded three songs with Britpop producers Stock Aitken Waterman in 1988, that were intended for the Ram It Down album. SAW were best known for producing dozens of pop hits for Rick Astley (Never Gonna Give You Up, Together Forever), Bananarama (Venus, I Heard a Rumour), Kylie Minogue (The Loco-Motion, I Should Be So Lucky), Dead or Alive (You Spin Me Round, Brand New Lover), and many others, with their trademark sounds of Linn drum machines and synthesizers. They toned the pop-ness down a bit for this session, of which only the brief snippet below of a cover of Stylistics "You Are Everything" is readily available (there's a short fadeout between the two samples):



Allegedly the band's label and/or management got cold feet about having the band associated with SAW. In hindsight some have speculated that these tracks might have been hits, and some said they'd likely be an improvement from what was actually released on that album (only their cover of "Johnny B. Goode" was widely released as a single from that album and found only minor success). I'm pretty sure samples of all three tracks used to be out, as I think I've heard them years ago, but the above is all I can find on YouTube. As I recall, I thought the two other original songs were better than the above cover version.

I don't think it really sounds like SAW, and fans of JP probably don't think it really sounds like JP, but I think it could have been an interesting hybrid experiment, especially since their album sales were already in decline by the time Ram It Down was released. It would have been the only time SAW fans bought a Judas Priest album. To me it sounds mostly like several other metal power ballads of the time.

This is more info from the Wikipedia page:

The band recorded three tracks with pop producers Stock-Aitken-Waterman – two originals "Runaround" and "I Will Return" and a cover of The Stylistics' hit "You Are Everything. However, they were ultimately not included on this album due to a management decision. Pete Waterman calls them "probably the best tracks we ever did" and admits that "I occasionally dig the record out and play it to people, and they're amazed that we made heavy metal." Around this time, Glenn Tipton also recorded guitar solos for songs by another Stock-Aitken-Waterman produced artist, Samantha Fox, and was officially credited on the track "Spirit of America".

For comparison, here's a more traditional SAW track they wrote/produced for Rick Astley, "Take Me To Your Heart", also in 1988, probably in a studio just down the hall from the Judas Priest recording session (perhaps Rob Halford sings uncredited backing vocals). This track helped me get going on the elliptical at the gym yesterday.

 

[Bryan^H]

Paris - The Devil Made Me Do It
I remember when this was released, something like 30 years ago...seems like yesterday.