February 05, 2005

To the bridge:

On Cake's last album they covered a Bread song, Guitar Man. It's an only slightly ironic cover and it reminded me of just how catchy those old Bread songs were.

I didn't pay much attention to the group in their soft-rock heyday in the seventies, but listening today I can't resist the great melodies and song-craft. David Gates wrote some of the best stop-step bridges in pop music. Guitar Man has one and my favorite is in the song Everything I own from 1972, which goes on the desert island playlist.

Posted by jjdaley at 05:11 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

January 28, 2005

Who you give your thing to:

The Isley Brothers' 1969 It's Your Thing is today's desert island selection. You only have to listen to the rhythm guitar and the riff behind the chorus to appreciate that this is a classic.

And you can't beat those sixties era lyrics:

It's your thing, do what you wanna do.
I can't tell you, who to sock it to.

Ezra Pound would have been proud to have written that.

Posted by jjdaley at 09:58 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

January 21, 2005

In dumb despair:

Today's friTunes desert island selection is Richard Thompson's Hard on Me from the album Mock Tudor.

From the drop kick drum lead-in to the squealing guitar solos to the hoarse, plaintive singing, this is powerhouse of a song about an abusive upbringing. Anger, confusion, despair, it has it all. And on top of that, it contains the most effective series of guitar solos, ever.

Posted by jjdaley at 05:23 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

January 14, 2005

friTunes:

Once a week I'm going to add a song or two to my desert island iTunes library. This week I'll make my peace with the Dixie Chicks.

The first entry in the playlist is I Believe In Love from the Home CD. It's Wendell Berry's fiction set to music: simple, eloquent and unpretentious. And those harmonies! Great stuff.

Posted by jjdaley at 04:00 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack