Category: Pop Culture

Al Jarreau – Legendary Jazz Singer – Dies at 76

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The jazz great Al Jarreau, dies today at age 76.  He was such an awesome singer and even won 7 Grammy awards. He had so many great songs including, “Mornin'” and my personal favorite “We’re In This Love Together” to name just a few.  I remember him most for the theme from the TV show “Moonlighting” that starred Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd.

He was born in Milwaukee back on March 12, 1940 and his real name was Alwyn Lopez Jarreau.  His greatest success was during the 80’s, but his music is so timeless and even now listening to some of his songs you remember how amazing he was.  I keep seeing he was nicknamed the “Acrobat of Scat” for his vocal stylings and I can say there were not many like him and probably never will be again.

Rest in Peace sir!!

 

My Sunday Song – “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks

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For My Sunday Song #26, my wife has selected “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks. Here is what she has to say about the song and what it means to her.

Written by Garth Brooks, Pat Alger and Larry Bastian and released in October 1990 on his No Fences album.   Brooks said “Every time I sing this song, it teaches me the same lesson…happiness is not getting what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got.”

I suspect you are already thinking of at least one unanswered prayer that you are mighty grateful the good Lord did not answer. Am I right? Every time I hear the name of this song or see the name of this song, I can’t help but to think of where I would be today had God answered some of those prayers I prayed. And, you know what, I probably wouldn’t be here right now writing this blog for you. It scares me to even think about it. We have the prayers such as “God, please help me make an A on this math test”; or “God, don’t let my parents catch me talking on the phone late”; or “God, please make that boy like me”. Then as we get older, we start asking for bigger and more serious stuff and sometimes we think it is going to be the end of the world if it doesn’t happen, especially in the time frame we want it to happen. Prayers such as “God, I can’t live here anymore so please help me get the job I applied for in this other city so I can move and start a new life”, or “God, I am so in love with this guy and I know he is the one so please make it work between us”. What do these prayers have in common? They are all based on our wants rather than God’s will.

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Michael Bolton – ‘Songs of Cinema’ – Album Review

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Now before I get into the album review, let me preface this with that I am a fan of Michael Bolton’s earlier work starting with his 1983 release ‘Michael Bolton’ which had “Fool’s Game” up until ‘Time, Love & Tenderness’ in 1991.  After that it started to go down hill for me as he was doing way too many covers.  More covers than originals, which is disappointing.  He was also getting further and further from his original rock roots (listen to his early releases and you will hear what I am talking about).

Several months back, I heard Michael was signing with Frontiers Records Srl and I was actually excited to hear that as Frontiers is a great record label and they are a ROCK record label.  They have brought back many bands of my youth and signed them including Night Ranger and Stryper and now Michael Bolton.

Imagine my utter disappointment when I heard the new Michael Bolton album was a cover album of movie songs called ‘Songs of Cinema’.  Wow!!  It is just what I wanted (heavy, heavy sarcasm)!  I told myself going into it, I would keep an open mind and give it a solid listen…which I feel I did for about 30 seconds.

What songs did he cover?  I will tell you.

It starts off with “When A Man Loves A Woman”. Hasn’t he done that one before? Why yes he has, but this one is different…it is the 2017 Version.  Oh yeah, that is right…I am supposed to keep an open mind.  I am sorry, but I can’t. That ship has sailed.  When the first song is a rehash of an old song that you have already covered, you lost me.  The original one he did back in 1991 was so much better.

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Music Challenge #5 – Galactic Empire’s ‘Galactic Empire’

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For those that don’t know what the Music Challenge is I will tell you.  Go out and pick up an album or stream an album based solely off one of three categories…1) Album Cover, 2) Band Name or 3) Album Name.  Once you have listened to one, come tell me about it.

For my 5th one over the last year, I picked based on the band name and the album cover. The band name was Galactic Empire and the album cover was of space.  The whole thing had a Star Wars vibe to it, so naturally I was drawn to it.  What I didn’t know at the time was it was an album of John William’s Star Wars songs that were all done in a Heavy Metal format.  Interesting enough.

The album ‘Galactic Empire’ was released on February 3rd on Rise Records.

Here is the Track Listing:

  1. “Main Theme”
  2. “The Imperial March”
  3. “Duel of the Fates”
  4. “The Force Theme”
  5. “The Asteroid Field
  6. “Battle of Heroes”
  7. “Cantina Band”
  8. “Ben’s Death / Tie Fighter Attack”
  9. “Across the Stars”
  10. “The Forest Battle”
  11. “The Throne Room / End Title”

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My Sunday Song – SPECIAL EDITION – “Rise Up” by Disciple (GO FALCONS!!)

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We interrupt our normally scheduled My Sunday Song for a Special Edition celebrating the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. The My Sunday Song regular post will return next week with the next edition in the series with my lovely wife picking the songs.

The Falcons use the slogan #RiseUp to rally their fans and there is a great rock song with that same name.  “Rise Up” by the band Disciple is such a great motivating, heavy and loud song that really pumps you up.

So enjoy the song and enjoy the Super Bowl.  Win or Lose, I am glad the Falcons finally made it back.  I do hope they somehow pull a giant victory and stop the Patriots, but I will admit I will be disappointed if they lose.  GO FALCONS!!

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Motley Crue – ‘The End’ Box Set

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I have been wanting this box set since the day it was announced.  I finally was able to get my hands on a copy and couldn’t be happier.  Well, almost.  Let’s first talk about what is wrong with this box set.  There is a HUGE OMISSION of several albums.  The albums ‘Motley Crue’, ‘Generation Swine’ and ‘New Tattoo” are for some strange, f**king reason are not included in this box set.  I am sure they had a reason, but a good reason it was absolutely not!

Now that I got that out of the way…the Motley Crue Box Set is to commemorate the 35 years of the band.  The set goes through their final show on December 31st, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.  Motley Crue were

  • Vince Neil – Vocals
  • Nikki Sixx – Bass
  • Mick Mars – Guitar
  • Tommy Lee – Drums

I mentioned briefly what was wrong, now let’s go through what was included in the box set and what they did get right.

The Case:  As you can see from the featured image, the case is actually quite large.  It is a grave headstone marking the death (or ‘The End’) of Motley Crue.  My youngest daughter thought that it was weird, but it is actually quite fitting for the occasion. When full, the case is rather heavy and seems durable enough for its purpose.  The only down side is it won’t fit in my LP cabinet as you can see from the picture as well.  However, it is nice enough to be a nice accent to the cabinet when I place it on top.

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“My First Time” with Aerosmith’s ‘Done With Mirrors’

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This is the first in a new monthly series I am going to do called “My First Time”.  It is not as dirty as you think.  It is not about my first time doing certain things.  The series will be about the FIRST album I bought from an artist that really got me into the band.  See, not dirty like you thought.

I was out at the record store a few weeks back and came across the vinyl for Aerosmith’s 1985 album ‘Done With Mirrors’ and remembered that this was the FIRST album I bought for the band, so of course I snatched the vinyl up and it only cost me $6.  I had the cassette years ago, but all my cassettes are now long gone.

I obviously knew of Aerosmith because my brothers listened to them when they were growing up and I remember seeing their vinyl albums lying around.  I remember hearing “Sweet Emotion”, “Dream On” and even listened to the album “Toys In the Attic”, but I wasn’t a true fan.  That didn’t come until the mid-80’s after I bought this album.

I was watching MTV one evening and they played the video for “Let the Music Do The Talking” and I actually fell in love with that song instantly.  The next chance I had to make it to the record store, I picked a copy of the album on cassette.  Little did I know at the time that the song was actually a remake of the same song Joe Perry did with his solo band The Joe Perry Project.

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My Sunday Song – “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

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Here we are…already half way through the next series of My Sunday Song with my wife picking the songs and telling here story behind each one.  I have enjoyed it and hope you have as well.  For song #25, she has chosen “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.  And here she is telling it in her own words…

“The Climb” was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe about their personal struggles in the music industry. Before reaching Cyrus, the song had been rejected by several country artists. It was eventually picked up by the director of “Hannah Montana: The Movie” and he gave it to Cyrus to perform. The song was released on February 6, 2009. Now, if you don’t have children between the ages of 8 – 14 or you hate the thought of reading about a song that in any way relates to Hannah Montana, please, I encourage you to read on.

If you recall from one of my first posts, I said if I found a song I liked that I would listen to it over and over again? Well, this one is probably at the top of the charts! From the moment I first heard the song I knew I loved it and could completely 100 percent relate to the lyrics. Everything about “The Climb” seemed to apply to everything I had ever tried to do in my life whereby I really wanted to get out there and succeed, do my best and make it to the top. But then once I did all that, meaning I met my goals, succeeded as I set out to do – something was still missing. It took me a very long time to realize that it was all about the climb, all about the process, the hard work, the challenges that kept me motivated in life. It was never about sitting atop the mountain as I originally anticipated.

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Train – Play That Song Tour Announced – Opening acts O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield

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Train announced their 2017 North American Tour called the Play That Song Tour.  The band O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield have been tapped as opening acts and it is going to be a great show.  For those that visit my blog regularly will know that Train holds a special place with our family and we have seen them numerous times and quite possibly one more time with this tour.

Train also released the lyric video for one of their new songs called “Drink Up”.  The song is from their new album ‘a girl, a bottle, a boat’ which comes out the same day as tickets go on sale.

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Snoopy And His Friends The Royal Guardsmen (1967 – Laurie Records) – Album Spotlight

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I was going through my vinyls and came across the strangest album I own.  It is a 1967 pressing of ‘Snoopy and his friends the Royal Guardsmen’.  The album tells the story of Snoopy and the Red Baron in both verse and in song.  Why this album is in my possession I have no idea.  I don’t know which of my brothers or sisters had this album originally or if it was one of my parents albums.

First, who are the Royal Guardsman?  Are they a real band?  They actually are a real band.  They were based out of Ocala, Florida and came up with their name during the British Invasion of the 60’s when bands like the Beatles were blowing up the charts.  I guess they felt it sounded British.  There is an extensive interview and article on the band at Popretrorama.com called The True Story of the Royal Guardsmen.  Click on the link if you want to learn more.

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