William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: End of the World ; Year: 1968; Genre: Psychedelic Rock From time to time I go back to Aphrodite's Child and their gorgeous music; I'm glad I did last night once more. Rain and Tears , which was their first big hit and was particularly popular in Italy and across northern Europe; I do not know how it did on this side of "The Pond," but if it didn't we really missed out. Evangelos Papathanassiou (aka Vangelis) and Boris Bergman wrote this piece around the overly used motif of Johann Pachelbel's famous Canon in D, P.37 . Immediately you will recognize the melody, but once they start to introduce and reintroduce their themes and vocals, their musical masterwork embellishes around the skeletal motif into something really amazing and beautiful. I cannot help but keep on resetting the needle over again and again.   Hear Rain and Tears on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Pearl Jam - Why Go     My song pick 2 years ago today: James Brown -...

From: East Side Story ; Year: 1981; Genre: New Wave Yet another song that I was sure I already had chosen.... Truthfully, I have known this song very well for a long time, but never looked in to who it was exactly that recorded it. Actually, the English new wave band Squeeze was and is quite popular, just more so in Britain of course, but had a few other hits over here.   Hear Tempted on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Larry Graham & Graham Central Station - Easy Rider     My song pick 2 years ago today: Modest Petrovitch Mussorgsky - Misunderstood One     My song pick 3 years ago today: Rush - Face Up   My song pick 4 years ago today: Jigsaw - Baby Don't Do It   My song pick 5 years ago today: Clifford Brown and Max Roach - Sandu   My song pick 6 years ago today: Rush - Between Sun & Moon   My song pick 7 years ago today: Styx - Superstars My song pick 8 years ago today: Kajagoogoo - Too Shy ...

From: Movements Vol.10 ; Year: 2020 (1976); Genre: Funk/Rock I could not remember if I had chosen a song from Volume 10 of the Movements compilation album series, but even if I already have, this is another great song from it. I have to say, ever since I discovered Tobias Kirmayer's compilations it has been a deep and seemingly endless well of some amazing music that I normally would not have been introduced to! This one is/was the final song on the album that was written and recorded by a funk rock band from Atlanta, Georgia by the name of Starfoxx. They apparently scored a couple of hits in the mid-late 1970s. Honestly, I have never heard of them prior, but, as I've said: better late than never; and glad I did.   Hear Oh Linda on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: The Rolling Stones - Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)     My song pick 2 years ago today: Eric Clapton featuring Tina Turner - Tearing Us Apart   My song pick 3 years a...

From: Four Foot Shack ; Year: 2014; Genre: Folk/Country Got this album the other day and have been bemused and entertained to say the least. Duo De Twang is a weird side-project by Primus frontman and soundtrack maker extraordinare Les Claypool and his longtime friend and guitarist for the band M.I.R.V.: Bryan Kehoe. Everything they do is stripped-back and folk/country covers and original material. Anyway, this has to be one of the most unique covers of the Alice in Chains classic grunge standard, and they do it as weirdly as you would expect.   Hear Man in the Box on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Queen - Don't Try Suicide     My song pick 2 years ago today: Robin Trower - The Fool and Me     My song pick 3 years ago today: Jerry Reed - When You're Hot, You're Hot   My song pick 4 years ago today: Billy Joel - Turn Around   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Jimmy Castor Bunch - Bertha Butt Encounters Vadar ...

From: Recycler ; Year: 1990; Genre: Blues Rock Yesterday I saw that ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard passed away. Recently I saw that they had to cancel some shows and I wondered if someone was not doing well; sadly, my suspicions ended up being correct. I knew that I should choose another one from the group today. Whilst they are not one of my top favourites, I have always liked their music and enjoy it every time I hear it. Their adherence to the southern blues that you can really dance to and is quite technical to boot really made ZZ Top a relevant act for so many decades to this day.   Hear My Head's in Mississippi on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - Late Night Street Fight     My song pick 2 years ago today: Hawklords (Hawkwind) - The Age of the Micro Man     My song pick 3 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Sossity; You're a Woman   My song pick 4 years ago today: Roger - Do It Roger   My song pick 5 ...

From: Bounce ; Year: 2002; Genre: Rock Difficult to believe that it was 25 years ago that Bounce was released, which was the last full album by Bon Jovi that I still like to this day. Also, being that it was released a couple of months after my wife and I married, and her being a big Bon Jovi fan made it quite memorable.     Hear Undivided on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice     My song pick 2 years ago today: Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs - May I     My song pick 3 years ago today: Alley Pat - Pat's Rubber Band   My song pick 4 years ago today: The Doors - Love Street   My song pick 5 years ago today: Benny Carter - Cotton Tail   My song pick 6 years ago today: Mr. Big - Defying Gravity   My song pick 7 years ago today: Rush - Double Agent My song pick 8 years ago today: Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs - Sugar Shack ...