April 10, 2016 - John Lennon - Whatever Gets You Thru the Night (1974)

There is some fast gibberish in the opening second of this song. I slowed it down and I think the words are "what do you think I've got in my tummy". This is a fun singalong with John Lennon and Elton John.
'Hold me darlin come on listen to me, I won't do you no harm.'
'Don't need a watch to waste your time, oh no oh no.'
'Don't need a gun to blow your mind, oh no oh no.'
It sounds like a party atmosphere in the studio, probably was pretty crazy. John, Elton on piano, and Bobby Keys tremendous on the sax, Klaus Voormann on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, fun group of great musicians.

April 9, 2016 - Beck - We Live Again (1998)

A lovely tune from Beck's Mutations album. I just like the overall mood, kind of lost and searching, with nice harpsichord variations, low bass notes, dreamy chord changes. It feels a bit like a psychedelic downer lullaby. The song might be about the creative process, the alchemy of turning words and music into gold. Or love. Or something entirely different. Whatever, Beck is a complex artiste.

April 8, 2016 - Fairport Convention - Fotheringay (1969)

Fotheringay is the first track from Fairport Convention's second album What We Did On Our Holidays. It is a gentle piece of British folk music that sounds old, from medieval times or the baroque era. It tells the haunting story of a woman being held captive in a castle, her days filled with loneliness. You can picture the castle out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest, shrouded in mist, moss-covered stones scattered about on the rugged terrain, with no one else around for miles. Sandy Denny sings with such amazing pathos and beauty, I cannot imagine anyone else singing this song. The gently picked guitars and sotto voce harmonies really capture this lonely scene. 'Tommorrow...she will be far away...' I always hope this is because she will be rescued, but I believe she will be dead, either by her own hand or by execution.

April 7, 2016 - Can - Moonshake (1973)

Some toe-tappin music from Can. I don't really have a strong desire to know the actual lyrics, but I am way into the vocals. Damo Suzuki has a soft sleepy delivery, it adds mellow cool to the swinging groove. The drums of Jaki Leibezeit are excellent. Michael Karoli and Holger Czukay keep the rhythm tight. The middle part has lots of fun noise events, maybe this is the part where the moon is shaking. This song occupies the same realm of cool as Green Onions.

April 6, 2016 - The Animals - Outcast (1966)

This is my favorite song by The Animals. It is a cover, the song was originally done by American soul duo Eddie and Ernie. Nice two chord pattern during the verses. Guitar and piano and fuzzy bass. I love the guitar's tone, reverbed and deep. As always, Eric Burdon's husky vocals lead the way. He came to the Portland Blues Fest some years back and was simply amazing.

April 5, 2016 - Syd Barrett - No Man's Land (1970)

Hey, Syd's back! It has been a few months since we had a solo recording from him. There have been a couple of early Pink Floyd tunes, but now we get a great tune from his album, The Madcap Laughs. Here we venture into a sort of musical no man's land. It is often unclear which way a Syd song is going, which beat a line ends on, what chord it's time to play. The guitar solo comes in around 1:28, all raw and fuzzed out. The music starts to lose its way after 1:55, the musicians are probably like, 'Hey Syd, where are we going?' He just mumbles along, 'tell me tell me,' like he has no idea. A glorious mess.

April 4, 2016 - John Lennon - Imagine (1971)

I can't remember who wrote this, but someone, I think from Rolling Stone magazine, said Imagine was John's gift to the world. That is totally right on. Such a beautiful song. It is a message of hope and peace, easier said than done, but worth aiming for. Only one world for all of us, let's share it and be good to each other. It shouldn't be so hard to live a simple, kind-hearted life and to be happy. Lovely piano chords, and that little turn to the E chord after 'you may say I'm a dreamer' is the magic moment, the golden hour.

April 3, 2016 - David Bowie - Sound and Vision (1977)

The music is sprightly and dreamy. Nice little guitar passage opens, bouncy bass, then cool descending waves of synthesizer. The music goes on like this for almost 1:30 before the first lyrics "Don't you wonder sometimes, 'bout sound and vision." This song is about waiting for creativity and inspiration. Bowie calmly waits in his blue room for the gift to appear. He never had to wait very long, creativity oozed out of his pores.

April 2, 2016 - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - The Tracks of My Tears (1965)

A delicate guitar intro and then the drums come in and the song is off and running. Do do do do. The sad post-break-up-please-let's-get-back-together song. Smokey sounds so disconcerted and helpless, admitting to his now ex-gf that, although he looks content on the outside, he is really messed up and lost without her. The Funk Brothers lay down the groove. I love that scene in Platoon when the cool party guys are in their bunker singing along.

April 1, 2016 - Iggy & the Stooges - Shake Appeal (1973)

April is going to be a great month...we start off with the wild bunch, Iggy and the Stooges. The main guitar riff reminds me somewhat of the Beatles' 'Day Tripper' riff, but sped up and shortened. This is classic Stooges, a basic riff, stick a crazy guitar solo in it, and let Iggy moan and shriek himself silly.