Brit Rock Invasion

The Ed Sullivan show offers a Box Set that highlights Rock & Roll Classics recorded during the 23 years when the show dominated late night television. During the PBS donation event last night, supporters were gifted this box set as a Thank You for contributing to the station. Classic highlights were played to peak consumer interest, including the infamous debut of The Beatles singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and other gems from the whole Brit Rock Invasion.

Two clips caught me off guard, in a good kind of way. The first is the Rolling Stones. I understand why girls were swooning over this performance, crying to get just a glimpse of Mick Jagger. He’s charismatic and delivers on stage. The video below showcases the Stones performing Satisfaction. My favorite part is at second 34 when Jagger shoots a look back to the band of “yeah, we’re actually here and we’re actually doing this” followed by a smirk back to the mic. Melt my heart.



The second clip is The Animals performing House of the Rising Sun. It might be the posh, trimmed suits or the dark, mysterious locks, but something about this performance is fascinating. Eric Burdon has such powerful, soulful notes but is such a young, innocent looking boy-man. Truth be told, if it were 1964 this LP wouldn’t leave my Crosley.

The Walkmen

400 lucky fans experienced The Walkmen at the Chicago Metro last weekend when they launched a two-show tour celebrating their 10th anniversary. We were spoiled with 3 hours of music hand selected from every album in the collection. Personal highlights include In The New Year and Lousiana, but we all left with a stronger attachment to one of the best bands of this modern age.

2011 Rock Odyssey

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

This was the best possible thing to start my Thursday morning. The awkward tension between Jack and Colbert is so funny. I can't wait for the next part to air. Enjoy!

Super Score at the Record Store

Scotty Karate picked up this used gem at the record store over the weekend. The Motown Story features 5 albums filled with the greatest hits born in the Motor City. Each song includes a mini intro from a famous song writer and/or producer - think Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves, and Marvin Gaye. It's really fantastic to hear such famous voices casually detailing how each classic was born.

The best part? When Scotty told me about this find, I responded with a comment on how underrated the song Shotgun by Jr. Walker and the All Stars is. He opened his phone to show me a text that he sent to his dad the previous day that detailed the same thought. Out of all of the hits, we both praised the same jam. I guess great minds really do think alike.

Soft Lyrics

I just love melody and lyrics to this She & Him song, Sentimental Heart. It's definitely a mellow tune, but sometimes a sad song is just want you need to feel a little bit better during a down swing.

Old habits die hard
When you've got
When you've got a sentimental heart
Piece of the puzzle you're my missing part
Oh, what can you do with a sentimental heart?
Oh, what can you do with a sentimental heart?

Great Mashup

Jourdan sent over this mash up from The Hood Internet featuring Arcade Fire and Blondie. Sprawl II gives me goose bumps when I hear it. The transition into Blondie's Heart of Glass is flawless. Régine Chassagne and Deborah Harry have such timeless voices. I really love this track.

Hold the Phones

I just received word that the best of two worlds are combining. Pavement, the reason our generation is full of talented, independent thinkers, is joining up with Ace of Cakes, an awesome reality show on the true life of cake baking - no, really. Though it's not scheduled yet, keep an eye out for a Pavement-dedicated delicious creation. Fingers crossed that it holds a candle to the famous Orange Amp Tribute to Clutch.

A Love for Home

I'm in love with this tune, even though it's been out for ages. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an addict for a good horn section in a song. The lyrics from Home (is Wherever I'm with You) remind me of a simple southern love story.

This video is a network debut of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on Letterman. Is it as catchy to you, too? I just want to put it on repeat!

Vintage Zombies Rock!

While I'm not super versed in Halo video games, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse has an amazing soundtrack of doo-wop songs performed by indie bands. Clearly I grew up before video games had sound tracks but I think it's a great concept to gain exposure in a new market.

This modern Zombie soundtrack (I laugh every time I read that) features a fantastic cover of The Drifter's, There Goes my Baby, performed by The Walkmen. Additional artists, including The Flaming Lips, The Dandy Warhols, Ben Kweller and Phantom Planet, put a new spin on old classics. What a great album to add to the collection?! Perfect listening music for cocktail hour!

Jeepster

This T.Rex song has a killer bass line. Marc Bolan's hair is so awesome and I can't help but love the way he totally incorporates it as an accessory for his dance moves.

Moosejaw has yet to Block Vimeo!!

Silverghost - "Dissapearing" from Silverghost on Vimeo.

So far we've lost Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, YouTube among others. But, Vimeo is still in action.... which thankfully means that I can watch the new Dissapearing video by Silverghost that was posted on Motor City Rocks yesterday. The video and the song are both killer. The look on the bald eagle is probably my favorite clip. And, the whole video totally reminds me of an 80s PBS Science film which will quickly be followed by "The More You Know" NBC public service commercial (the one with the fancy rainbow thing). I mean, what's not to like?!

Rich Boy

Dave pulled a fancy music fact out at dinner the other night. Rich Girl, by Hall and Oates was originally titled Rich Boy after a guy they knew in college. Here's a quote from Hall about the lyrics and inspiration:

"Rich Girl" was written about an old boyfriend of Sara [Allen]’s from college that she was still friends with at the time. His name is Victor Walker. He came to our apartment, and he was acting sort of strange. His father was quite rich. I think he was involved with some kind of a fast-food chain. I said, "This guy is out of his mind, but he doesn't have to worry about it because his father's gonna bail him out of any problems he gets in." So I sat down and wrote that chorus. [Sings] "He can rely on the old man’s money/he can rely on the old man’s money/he's a rich guy." I thought that didn’t sound right, so I changed it to "Rich Girl." He knows the song was written about him

Laugh Hard It's a Long Way to the Bank

When I first heard Modest Mouse, I wasn't sure if I was a fan. Float On was an instant hit but the whole "Punch you in the Glasses" song wasn't exactly what I wanted to listen to in my free time.

Once their songs started appearing onto my Pandora stations - I was pretty much hooked. I tried to learn a bit more about them and came across their wikipedia page. It's pretty awesome that Issac Brock made something out of the hand he was dealt with as a child (read Early Life). What a crazy mess to live in.

Anyway, the ROMT show last Friday was fantastic. Two thumbs up.

Otis Redding

I wonder if Otis Redding and Steve Cropper knew that Sitting on the Dock of the Bay was going to become an instant classic. It's such a feel good song. Since it was recorded shortly before Otis passed away, only Cropper has been able to see its success. I love this quote from Cropper during an NPR segment about Otis:

Otis was one of those kind of guys who had 100 ideas. Anytime he came in to record he always had 10 or 15 different intros or titles, or whatever. He had been at San Francisco playing The Fillmore, and he was staying at a boathouse, which is where he got the idea of the ship coming in. That's about all he had: "I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again." I took that and finished the lyrics. If you listen to the songs I wrote with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him. He didn't usually write about himself, but I did. "Mr. Pitiful," "Sad Song (Fa-Fa);" they were about Otis' life. "Dock Of The Bay" was exactly that: "I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay" was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform.

Classic Songs on the Radio

On the Garage Station last night I heard an oldie that I hadn't come across in a in a while. The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes for You is such a classic hit. It reminds me of the school dance scene in Milk Money (a closet favorite). What a great surprise!