Delta Spirit "Tear It Up"

I had this funny aural experience listening to some new music with Barbara on Monday.

I was playing her a batch of tracks that I felt merited some discussion as to whether mvy should add them to rotation or not.  Some I liked, others I didn't care for but for various reasons (national popularity, loyalty to the artist, etc) deserved consideration.

So I was getting ready to play the new Delta Spirit single for her, and I said that I didn't think this record sounded like something we'd add.

We listened for a minute, and I pointed out that it DID have a Talking Heads vibe.

And that's a plus when considering a new-ish band---do they have a straight-line connection to a core artist/sound for the station?

Then Barbara pointed out that the little guitar figure that repeats is VERY Lindsay Buckingham---another core artist/sound for mvyradio.

I realized that I sorta heard other things in this song, including the African influenced guitar of a Peter Gabriel song and the drums from Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."

But the funny thing is, all those touchstones didn't seem to add up.

Yes, each individual part sounds like something you'd hear on mvy.  But the sum of its parts didn't magically retain that quality.

At least to my ears, it didn't.  What do you think?  Is this an mvy song?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bruce Hornsby "Gonna Be Some Changes Made"

My Mom was a career nurse.  Operating room.

She could come home at the end of the day, and calmly, unsqueamishly talk about surgery on folks who'd been in motorcycle accidents, or about removing internal organs and clamping vessels.  All kinds of blood and gore, that was just another day at the office for her.

But one time, I dropped a heavy object on my toe.  It was broken and bleeding.  And she could barely look at it.

Why?

She couldn't really answer that question for herself.

In my job, I can happily consume songs that are of the most personal nature.  John Lennon's pain of losing his mother.  The dissolution of Bob Dylan's marriage.  Stevie Nicks singing the poisioned words Lindsay Buckingham wrote about her.

Not that I'm unfeeling about these emotional songs.  But I don't know that I ever wince.

So why is it that whenever I get to the part of "Gonna Be Some Changes Made" where Bruce Hornsby admits to accidentally spitting on the crowd during a concert, that I become a horrified teenage girl?

T-M-I, Hornsby!  Gross!

Up in front for all to see I′m graceful like a bumbling fool

Then I thought I felt slip from my mouth a little drool

Maybe no one noticed it, on my mind heavily it weighed

I saw two people snickering I said there needs to be some changes made

Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear John Lennon on Youtube.


Hear Bob Dylan on Youtube.


Hear Fleetwood Mac on Youtube.

Laura Marling "Sophia"

Here's the flip side of something I wrote about a week ago . . .

This is a tune that suffers by premature judgment.

I had sampled this song a number of times, mostly based on the enthusiastic reviews Laura Marling has been receiving.

But I didn't feel too moved by what I was hearing.

Here's the thing. The first 60 seconds is pretty unmoving. It's low key, a little thin. Nice enough, but not a strong radio single.

Sixty seconds in, you start to hear a few interesting (seemingly unrelated) influences---Judy Collins, Nick Drake, among others---but the song still hasn't proven to be a standout.

A full 3 minutes into the song, drums appear and the songs propels forward. And that's where the song proves itself.

Her voice takes on a new level of urgency, and you suddenly realized that all the elements are coalescing---the melodic bass, the background vocals, the beat the beat the beat.

The build was slow, but it did build to some something super-strong, worthy of the glowing press.

So the question is, in a radio/singles world, is someone going to stick with the tune for 3 minutes before it gets to somewhere?

I mean, Eric Lindell's awesome new single in only 2 minutes total.

At a minimum, I am now moved to delve into the record further.

What do you think?


See the video on Youtube.

Lindsay Buckingham "In Our Own Time"

If I tell you that, when judging a song's merit, I listen to the whole song, you probably would simply say, "Yeah. Duh!"

But you know, that's not always the case.

Anyone who "judges" music for a living (radio station program directors, club owners who book bands, record label promotion people) can tell you that in most cases, they can listen to a song for 30 second, maybe a minute, and hear everything they need to hear.

It's true. By the time a minute rolls around, you've heard the verse and you've gotten to the song's hook, and either it's strong or it's not.

I mean, next week, we'll probably add two songs to rotation at mvyradio. But I have 86 songs on my iTunes playlist vying for those spots. If, in 60 seconds, a song can't establish itself in the mind of someone who cares deeply about putting the right song on the air, then the casual listener isn't going to hesitate to hit the next preset on the car radio.

But . . .

Once a song has passed the 60 second test, you still have to give it a full listen through, and today's song illustrates just why.

I think Lindsay Buckingham in a F-N genius. Genius writer, genius guitar player and a genius in the art of studio craft. And if it's possible to call one of the main creative forces behind one of the best loved, best selling albums of all time, "under-rated," well yes, I think his playing is wildly under-rated.

This song holds the line of previous Buckingham solo efforts of being precise, and a bit quirky, with a surprisingly catchy vocal hook and guitar figure.

And I think any serious guitar player would listen to this song and just think to themselves, "Fuck! That guitar part is so intricate/incredible/amazing!"

But, in the case of a genius, you can be too smart for the room.

Late in the song, Buckingham's guitar playing takes off, and the guitar figure gets faster, more intricate. The notes ping-pong back and forth between speakers. He keeps playing slight variations on the same theme, over and over again.

A trained ear, focused on the technical prowess of the playing, might be wowed by it.

But to a casual ear, it kind of feels like the repetitious noodling that a casual listener wouldn't have the patience for. It plays more like an irritant.

I guess it's another "context" question. The song is amazing as part of a Buckingham album. The end-of-song playing works really well in the live context, where it fires up the audience, and the response fires up Buckingham (as seen in the live video below). But as a song sandwiched between, say "Hungry Heart" by Springsteen and Mavis Staples "Wrote A Song For Everyone" I don't think it will work.

What do you think?


See the live performance on Youtube.