Train holds a very special place in my heart. Mainly due to the fact it is the one band my wife and I enjoy together. We have seen them in concert at least 4 or 5 times and twice we took our kids. For my wife and I, there is just something special about their songs and their music.
We like them so much we even paid for the Meet & Greet on one of their tours as an anniversary present for ourselves. They were extremely pleasant and gracious. If you haven’t seen them live, you must. Pat Monahan is a great frontman as he is energetic, funny and he makes you feel like you are part of the show.
We also like them because my brother-in-law was the recording engineer on their Drops of Jupiter album for which he received a Grammy nomination (he didn’t win). Maybe I can get him to tell us about that experience for another time.
If you don’t believe magic is real, you haven’t really listened to music. Music can instantly change your mood. It can even let you travel through time by taking you back to a special memory. Music can make you laugh, make you cry and make you feel so many different things. It can make you dance and soothe your soul.
If that is not magical, then I don’t know what is. In honor of all that, here are my favorite “magical” songs. Sadly, there are so many songs to choose from, I ended up with a list that only covered the ’60’s – ’80’s. I have to do another list for the ’90’s-’10’s.
When I took my daughter to see Tori Kelly (check out review here), the opening act was Thirdstory. I would describe them as 3 guys, who can harmonize, whose voices will surprise (hey – that rhymes!). They have such a smooth sound and are amazing live.
We walked out of after the show commenting on how great they sounded. Listening to a band live tells you how good they really are and these guys can sing. Their harmonies were amazing and the notes they can hit gave me chills. On a side note, their tour drummer was a monster. He added so much to their sound and made it that much more enjoyable for me.
The band consists of Elliott Skinner, Richard Saunders and Ben Lusher and they currently live in New York. Yesterday, they released a 3 song EP called Searching (The Verve Music Group). I only knew about it because my daughter texted me while I was at work telling me that it was out and I should listen to it. She even supplied a link. Well, I did that on the way home.
After four consecutive listens in a row, I knew that these guys might be on to something special. If you just want to listen to good music with great stories and great vocals, then check it out.
Track List
“Searching for a Feeling” – A nice introduction to the band and what to expect from their sound. Just solid, smooth vocals and heartfelt songs.
“G Train” – My favorite of the 3. If I remember from the concert, this one is about their life in New York. This one sounded awesome live. You can tell this song means a lot to the band.
“Grows Old” – This is a slow song and towards the end builds up to a sonic boom of vocal harmonies that take this song over the top (at least it felt that way in the car with the volume turned way up).
Their full album drops in the Fall and is produced by Frank Ocean & Zayn (yes, the former One Direction star). I will be picking the album up when it comes out. Check them out on Facebookand Twitter.
There are a ton of new releases today. But most of them I am just so, so about. Hopefully there are some on here you like and maybe some you might try just for fun.
These are the ones I am interested in listening to either because I am a fan or just out of curiosity. However, since there are so many it could be a long while before I get around to hearing some of these. I will bold in blue the ones I will definitely be listening to over the next week.
Meghan Trainor – Thank You – (Epic) – My kids like listening to her and her first single “No” was actually kind of catchy. Idoubt there is anythign on here that my kids can’t listen to but I will listen to it anyway just to make sure.
Scorpions first album came out in 1972. 35 years later in 2007 they did something I never expected. They released an album that for me was a big surprise. This is not the typical Scorpions album you are used to hearing. They made an album that sounded like a modern rock album but there is still the Scorpions sound. After their last few albums, my expectations were low as they I feel they have struggled to find themselves since the mid-90’s.
The album is different than their other albums as it is a concept album. Per the band’s website:
Humanity: Hour 1 is a concept album based on a loose storyline by Desmond Child and futurist Liam Carl, which predicts a world torn apart by a civil war between humans and robots. This apocalyptic nightmare serves as a warning shot to all humanity, whose only hope of survival is to reclaim our humanity.
I am finally getting around to reviewing the fourth album from Sixx:A.M. – Prayers for the Damned on Eleven Seven Music. I have to live with an album for a few weeks before I can accurately determine what I like and what I don’t about an album. I can say there is not much I don’t like about this album.
Prayers for the Damned is the best Sixx:A.M. album to date. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought Sixx:A.M. was going to be a one-off project for Nikki Sixx and now I see that they are for real. You think I would have caught on after the second album or even the third. I guess it helps that Motley Crue is no more so that makes me feel this is no longer a side project as well.
The band consists of Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba, James Michael, and new drummer Dustin Steinke. I feel they are clicking so well as a band on this album and it shows in the quality of the songs and the tone of the album. The songs are pieced together nicely and the flow of the whole album works with just minor hiccups.
In honor of a possible reunion of DC Talk (announcement coming tomorrow, Wednesday), I thought I would do a playlist of all the side projects the members of DC Talk have done outside of the band. What exactly has Kevin Max, Tobymac and Michael Tait been up to when they weren’t a part of DC Talk? Actually, quite a lot and there has been some exceptional music.
Kevin Max
We will start with Kevin Max. Outside of DC Talk he has released 8 full length solo albums, numerous EPs, he was lead singer for one album with Audio Adrenaline and he has done countless collaborations with other artists. These are my favorite Kevin Max songs:
For my first Top 10 List, I am going to choose the band that started it all for me…KISS! When I was a kid, it was all about Kiss. My brother, Gary, had his entire walls in his bedroom (sort of bedroom) covered with pictures of Kiss. My other brother, Jimmy, and his friends dressed up as Kiss and made their own costumes. How could I not be influenced to like them.
I have seen them in concert at least a 1/2 dozen times with and without make-up. Sadly, the with make-up was only after they put the make-up back on for the reunion tour. I was too young to see them early on.
Everyone has albums they love and hate for Kiss. For me, there are definitely 10 albums that I think are good enough to be on the list. For this list, I will actually include a live album and I will explain why later.
Alright, I am going to be cheesy and do a Mother’s Day Playlist. These are all songs about, inspired by, or just mentions mom in some way. In honor of all mothers that are still with us and those that have passed, Happy Mother’s Day. The world would be even in worse shape if it wasn’t for Moms!!
Here we go, but I warn you the list is all over the place:
“I Wish I Was Your Mother” by Mott the Hoople
Just announced this morning, Radiohead is releasing a new album on XL Records this Sunday, May 8th at 2pm. The Sunday release will be digital only, the CD will be out June 17th. This is their first release since 2011’s The King of Limbs. So excited for new music from them. Their is no album title yet.
A new song “Burn the Witch” was just released on Wednesday. Today, they also released a video for a new song, “Daydreaming”. What a nice way to end the week. Check them out below.
It might make a great Mother’s Day gift for that special lady in your life. My wife won’t want it, so I will just keep it for myself!!
We like them so much we even paid for the Meet & Greet on one of their tours as an anniversary present for ourselves. They were extremely pleasant and gracious. If you haven’t seen them live, you must. Pat Monahan is a great frontman as he is energetic, funny and he makes you feel like you are part of the show.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 