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

From: H to He, Who Am the Only One ; Year: 1970; Genre: Progressive Rock I felt like listening to some VdGG today; this one was among the first songs I put on. Musically, this song and entire album for that matter, I would say is progressive in the extreme; complete with large, complex sounds and arrangements, odd rhythmic devices and signature changes, and of course amazing musicianship. Lyrically it is just as strange, it chronicles a voyage through space, which eventually ends with the crew being stuck in a void of time, space, and even reality/existence. I absolutely love how they wrote this song's title: "c." is, of course, the symbol that denotes the Speed of Light, so the title of the song would actually be: " Pioneers Over The Speed of Light ." Hear the first 8+ minutes of Pioneers Over c . on YouTube. Hear the final 4+ minutes of Pioneers Over c. on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Al Di Meola - Race With Devil on Spanish Highway ...

From: A Hard Day's Night; Year: 1964; Genre: Pop/Rock The other day whilst playing around with my guitar I stumbled upon the main riff of this song whilst warming my fingers up and within a few minutes I had it figured out; it's always fun when you can just sit down and pick a song out so easily like that. Since then I've had it playing in my head and I thought it would make a wonderful pick to close out this Sunday. Hear And I Love Her on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Al Di Meola - Alien Chase on Arabian Desert My song pick two years ago today: Alice Cooper - Go To Hell My song pick three years ago today: Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond My song pick four years ago today: The Doors - Riders On The Storm   +

From: Bachman & Turner ; Year: 2010; Genre: Hard Rock A while ago I saw Randy Bachman and C.F. Turner perform on a televised live performance and discovered the music from this album. While I've never have really liked anything from the band released after the Freeways album, even at that I look at Freeways as a major letdown on all aspects, I've been very happy with this new one from Bachman & Turner. Although technically it's not a "Bachman-Turner Overdrive" album in name, it has their signature hard-hitting Canadian hard rock sound. Hear Slave to the Rhythm on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Pink Floyd - San Tropez My song pick two years ago today: Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz My song pick three years ago today: Pink Floyd - Pigs On The Wing Parts 1 and 2 My song pick four years ago today: Charlie Parker - Blues For Alice +

Op. 8; Year: 1723; Genre: Baroque Period/classical I had another song in mind for my pick today, but out of curiosity I googled what happened musically in the year 1723, (today's song pick number), and discovered that 1723 was the year that Antonio Vivaldi wrote The Four Seasons . Believe me when I say you've probably heard at least parts of these four violin concertos at some point; they are by far Vivaldi's most famous works. These pieces of music are simply a work of beauty and exemplify my most favourite period in classical music. Hear the full Four Seasons on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Four Tops - Reach Out (I'll Be There) My song pick two years ago today: The Hep Stars - Cadillac My song pick three years ago today: Hallo Venray - Orange My song pick four years ago today: Flatt & Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown +

From: Drifter ; Year: 1981; Genre: Country/Pop Rock I've had this song on my mind off and on for the last couple of days. If memory serves me right, this album was one of many country/rock crossovers that were prevalent back in the late '70s to the early '80s. I remember hearing Sylvia's debut album Drifter and this song in particular a lot when it first came out and many times over the years since; it was one of the singles. Actually a while ago when I was starting to learn to play the steel guitar this was one of the first songs I attempted to learn. However, due to the fact that my guitar is a Hawaiian lap steel, it made playing the country pedal steel part all that more difficult, but it's still a lot of fun. Hear The Matador on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rush - By-Tor & the Snow Dog My song pick two years ago today: Uriah Heep - Stealin' My song pick three years ago today: Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way My song pick...

BWV Anh. 117a, 117b; Year: 1725; Genre: Baroque Period/classical Today's pick number, (1721), happens to also be the year that J.S. Bach married his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach . Interestingly enough, three years ago I happened to pick two of the songs from the Second Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach , so I thought I would pick another piece from one of the two notebooks. As with a lot of Bach's work, this is a rather pretty piece of music. Here is a midi recording of BWV Anh. 117a on YouTube. Here is a midi recording of BWV Anh. 117b on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Exist†Trace - Requiem My song pick two years ago today: Meat Loaf - Two out of Three Ain't Bad My song pick three years ago today: Christian Pezold - BWV Anh. 115 - Minuet in G Minor (Anna Magdalena Notebook II) My song pick four years ago today: Raymond Scott - Powerhouse +

From: Band on the Run ; Year: 1973; Genre: Pop/Rock I had this song running through my mind last night and, as I usually do, I thought I would add it. I would have to say that this is one of my, I dunno, let's say one of my top three songs that Paul McCartney penned. I love how they utilized the synthesizers as one of the main driving forces for the entire song. Hear Jet on YouTube. Watch a live performance circa '76 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - Welcome Home My song pick two years ago today: Puhdys - Alt Wie Ein Baum My song pick three years ago today: Christian Pezold - Minuet in G Major (Anna Magdalena Notebook II), BWV Anh. 114 My song pick four years ago today: Berlin - The Metro +

From: A Farewell to Kings ; Year: 1977; Genre: Progressive Rock Today I'm celebrating that I've almost finished with a project I've been working on for quite a few months now. As part of my celebrating I've been listening to a lot of music this morning; Rush's A Farewell to Kings was the first album I listened to, so I thought I would pick the title track off of it for my pick today. This is, of course, from the midst of when Rush was furthest into their most progressive/narrative-driven art rock period of the band, so you should know what to expect. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Steeleye Span - Robbery With Violins My song pick two year ago today: Jethro Tull - Dark Ages My song pick three years ago today: The Blind Boys of Alabama - Amazing Grace   My song pick four years ago today: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - From The Beginning +

From: Black Sails at Midnight ; Year: 2009; Genre: Celtic Folk Metal/Pirate Metal After a rather busy day I had Alestorm playing all of way on my journey home; when this song in particular came on it was fun to sit back and sing along with a pirate accent. You gotta love the lyrics: "And If I could go back and make my amends; I'd make all those mistakes again; I'd kill every last one of those bastards, my friend." Hear Pirate Song on YouTube. Watch a live performance of the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Steve Vai - The Attitude Song My song pick two year ago today: Richard O'Brien & Richard Hartley (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show) - Science Fiction/Double Feature My song pick three years ago today: Puhdys - Bas Buch My song pick four years ago today: The Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang +

From: Paper Lace ; Year: 1974; Genre: Rock For most of yesterday while I was getting some work done this song kept running through my mind, so as I usually do and since it's a song that I've always liked, I'm making it today's pick. Back when I was young this was one among the many, many songs that father used to play from his old "super hits" records. This was probably their biggest hit, but I believe that they had at least a couple of others. While this song tells a story based in Chicago during the time of Al Capone, it's actually a total work of fiction. From what I've read, the members of the band, who were from The U.K., actually didn't know much about the city or the subject other than from old gangster flicks. Even at that though it really doesn't detract from that song that much if at all. Hear The Night Chicago Died on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Muse - Starlight My song pick two years ago today: Styx - Lor...

From: II ; Year: 2011; Genre: Progressive Metal/Symphonic Metal Since about a week ago, when I went ahead and made individual lists for each letter in my alphabetically sorted archive, I noticed that I hadn't picked a band that started with the letter "X." Ever since I've had the letter "X" seemingly staring back at me due to me not having a file made for that letter; well, I figured I'd take care of that today. It actually didn't take me too long to think of a band that would become my first X pick. I discovered this progressive/symphonic metal band a while ago through hearing a cover they recorded of Rush's YYZ ; (It can be heard here on YouTube. (Not Safe for Work.) While I liked their debut album, I , their follow up, II , was even better; this is one of my favourites off of that album. I guess you could say I now have an " X " file! Hear Unite to Defy on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: John Fogerty - Center...

From: Television Themes: 16 Most Requested Songs ; Year: 1994, (1952); Genre: Big Band Jazz Yesterday music icon and television personality Dick Clark passed away. It's facile to say, but without him the popular music landscape of the last 50 years would've been much different; no one can doubt that the man helped to make a lot of rock stars over years. There were actually quite a few songs from bands that appeared on his hit television show American Bandstand that I though about picking today, however in the end I thought that there was no better song to pick than the one he used as the show's theme. Here is a fan video with the original version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Oomph! featuring Nina Hagen - Feiber My song pick two years ago today: The Guess Who - Minstrel Boy My song pick three years ago today: Metallica - Nothing Else Matters My song pick four years ago today: Steely Day - Rikki Don't Lose That Number +

From: A Passion Play ; Year: 1973; Genre: Progressive Rock Ever since Ian Anderson released a part 2 of his epic prog concept album: Thick as a Brick , even though he has stated that he has no intention of doing it, I've been hoping he relents and re-visits A Passion Play as well. I would absolutely love to hear/see Ian Anderson send Mr. Ronnie Pilgrim back through Heaven and Hell in his second incarnation after forty years. This album has and will always hold a special place for me musically; it was really the album that made me a full-on prog/rock fan. I didn't really even know what the genre was called at the time; I just knew I liked it. My first copy of A Passion Play that I owned was on an 8-Track cassette I bought for, I believe, 5¢. I must've played that tape hundreds of times while I played video games; I'd just keep letting it loop around whilst I played for hours on end. Anyway, the song(s) I'm picking today make up the first act of A Passion Pl...

From: Crime of the Century ; Year: 1974; Genre: Progressive Rock I was drawing a blank for today's pick, but for some reason felt like listening to some Supertramp. Crime of the Century has become one of my favourites from the band; I thought I would pick one off of that album. Funny enough, I've already picked most of my favourite songs from the album already. This is the longest song off of the album, clocking in at over seven minutes in length. While it's not my favourite track on the record, in my opinion it's one of their best songs. I love how it was written/arranged with all of the different musical ideas. Hear Rudy on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - Alexander's Ragtime Band My song pick two years ago today: Tears For Fears - Break It Down Again My song pick three years ago today: Dream Theater - 6:00   My song pick four years ago today: The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man +

From: P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival ; Year: 2005; Genre: Rock We were up later last night and had a very busy morning to boot, so I'm getting my pick in a wee bit little later. Anyway, last night we finished watching the Animé Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad , which was an excellent show. This rather upbeat track from the Japanese Rock band Beat Crusaders was used as the show's theme and I thought it would be a fun song for today's pick. Here is the music video on YouTube. Watch the full opening from the Animé on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: ABBA - Thank You for the Music My song pick two years ago today: Genesis - Home By The Sea My song pick three years ago today: Alannah Myles - Black Velvet My song pick four years ago today: Alice Cooper - Poison +

From: The Sentinel ; Year: 1984; Genre: Progressive Rock The first time I picked a song from Pallas I picked another one of their songs the next day. Well, since yesterday I picked the first part of Rise and Fall , I guess I will pick two of their songs back-to-back again. On the original EMI release of The Sentinel, Rise and Fall, Parts 1 + 2 were combined into one song, but as originally intended and on the re-release of the album, Parts 1 and 2 were to serve as the opening and closing pieces to side one of the record with the songs Eastwest and March on Atlantis sandwiched in between. Hear Rise and Fall, Part 2 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - Black Blade My song pick two years ago today: Rammstein - Waidmanns Heil My song pick three years ago today: Jethro Tull - Rock Island My song pick four years ago today: Cheap Trick - Mighty Wings +

From: The Sentinel ; Year: 1984; Genre: Progressive Rock A little over a few months ago I rediscovered this phenomenal band and their equally amazing album The Sentinel , which I've had in my player more than a bit ever since. This song would've been the overture of the greater concept album if the record company had left it as it was intended; at least the band later fixed it upon it's re-release. This is another song rife with ear candy for the progressive rock fan; it seems as if every time I listen to this album I hear something new that grabs my attention. On this song in particular Grahame Murray's bass guitar really shines. Hear Rise and Fall Part 1 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Counting Crows - Mr. Jones My song pick two years ago today: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lookin Out My Back Door My song pick three years ago today: The Grass Roots - Midnight Confessions My song pick four years ago today: The Tornadoes - Telstar +

From: Greatest Hits ; Year: 1969, (1970); Genre: Funk/Soul The other day whilst out taking a walk I had this song start running through my mind incessantly; I thought it would make a fantastic "Funky Friday" pick. Hear Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) on YouTube. Watch a classic live television performance on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Iron Maiden - Flight of Icarus My song pick two years ago today: Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) My song pick three years ago today: Rush - Spirit of the Radio My song pick four years ago today: Duke Ellington (Earle Hagen) - Harlem Nocturne +

From: Countdown to Extinction ; Year: 1992; Genre: Thrash Metal I'm finally getting used to the quirks of this 'new blogger interface' after almost two weeks of using it. Yesterday, as I was posting I happened to make the comment to myself about how this software is no longer giving me a migraine headache, and that brought this Megadeth song into my mind because of the words 'migraine headache' being in the lyrics. I happened to check and I noticed that haven't picked it yet, so it is definitely today's pick. Anyway, when Countdown to Extinction first came out I was already a pretty big fan of the band and liked their previous albums; although I still to this day I still haven't heard their first album in its entirety. However, when I first heard Countdown to Extinction I was hooked even more, if that was possible. One thing I noticed about the album was that it didn't seem to have even one weak track at all in my opinion and I still listen ...

From: Dancing on a Cold Wind ; Year: 1974; Genre: Progressive Rock/Flamenco Rock For a while now I've been meaning to pick another song from this band with a rather fascinating sound. For a fan of progressive rock or art rock Carmen is a total delight with their fusion of flamenco and rock, plus a few other interesting musical ideas you wouldn't normally hear mixed together. I absolutely love how they arranged this song; I especially like how they effortlessly switch from each, sometimes drastically contrasting section of the song. Hear Purple Flowers on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rammstein - Keine Lust My song pick two year ago today: Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin) - Piece Of My Heart My song pick three years ago today: Nightwish - The Kinslayer My song pick four years ago today: Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle +

From: Leviathan EP; Year: 2008; Genre: Celtic Folk Metal/Pirate Metal I was thinking about a few other songs to pick today, but none of them seemed quite right. After a bit I thought I would pick a song from one of the bands I've been listening to a lot of lately. This is a semi-rare track that comes off of their Leviathan EP, which was released the same year as their first album, ( Captain Morgan's Revenge ), under the Alestorm name. This one is more of a straight-ahead heavy metal song than a lot of their other material, but still has their unique sound and, of course, lyrical content. Hear Heavy Metal Pirates on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Guns N' Roses - Sympathy for the Devil My song pick two years ago today: Bon Jovi - Bounce My song pick three years ago today: The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes My song pick four years ago today: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - Tears of a Clown +

From: Nursery Cryme ; Year: 1971; Genre: Progressive Rock I absolutely had no song in mind today, nor was I really in the mood to listen to any music today. However, at some point in the last couple of days I was listening to Genesis' Nursery Cryme and just thought I would pick another track off of the album today. It amazes me how every time I listen to the album I'm blown away at the excellence of this collection of songs. Hear The Return of the Giant Hogweed on YouTube. Here is a performance circa '72 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rush - The Seeker My song pick two years ago today: Queen - The Show Must Go On My song pick three years ago today: Sammy Hagar - I Can't Drive 55   My song pick four years ago today: Blind Mellon - No Rain +

From: Star Trek: The Motion Picture Soundtrack ; Year:1979; Genre: 20th Century/Contemporary Period/classical Today marks my 1701st song picked and as anyone who is a science fiction geek/nerd would know 1701 has a special meaning for us Star Trek fans. 1701 is, of course, the registry number for the Starship Enterprise : NCC-1701. There were actually quite a few pieces of music from the different series and films to choose from for this pick, but the Main Title from the first film is probably one of the most memorable across the franchise. Although this piece of music was written for the first film and parts of it were re-used for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , most would probably remember this one as the opening title for Star Trek: The Next Generation . Here is the music with footage from the film on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Queensrÿche - Welcome to the Machine My song pick two years ago today: Sheena Easton - For Your Eyes Only My song pick thre...

From: Thick as a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock ; Year: 2012; Genre: Progressive Rock I'm up late, or early depending on how you look at it, wrapping up this rather busy day and I didn't put a lot of thought into my 1700th pick. I know I already picked one off of it yesterday , but I've been listening to this album a lot since I got it, so I thought I would go ahead and choose a second song for this pick. While there are better tracks on the album, this one from the " Gerald: A Most Ordinary Man " section of the album felt like a good song to pick. For some reason the music from this track reminds me of the late '80s/early '90s 'Tull. The lyrics are almost totally borrowed from the prior song: Cosy Corner , although the harder rock music makes it still unique when compared to the other song. I believe was intended on giving a sense of the drudgery of the life of Gerald Bostock in this 'what if'. Hear Shunt and Shuffle o...

From: Thick as a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock ; Year: 2012; Genre: Progressive Rock Well, anyone who follows this blog most likely knew something from this album was going to be picked this week. Yesterday my copy of Thick as a Brick 2 , which I've been waiting for, finally arrived in the mail. This is the first proper concept album released by 'Tull or Mr. Anderson in over thirty years; depending on your personal definition of what a concept album is. Being this year marks the 40th anniversary of the original TAAB album Ian Anderson decided to revisit the character he created back then: Gerald "Little Milton" Bostock and made an album based on the 'what ifs' in the life of this fictitious character 40 years on. In the first part of the album, Divergence , he explores five possible life routes for the young childhood prodigy: a banker, a homeless man, a clergyman, a military man, and an ordinary Joe; with each one being explored with t...

From: Red Sails in the Sunset ; Year:1984; Genre: Rock/New Wave I had to just do some clean up on my posts that contain my list of songs alphabetically; for some reason the "great new blogger interface" has decided for no reason to either add or remove paragraph breaks. I don't know what it is with them; crap like this was the reason I preferred the old interface. I feel like I've been made an unwilling beta tester for their horrific buggy software that shouldn't have been released. I'm hoping that this is a one-time occurrence; if this keeps happening I will look into finding another blogging service. Anyway, I want to get to the song I'm picking today, not go on another tirade about how bloody awful this "new and improved interface" is. Whilst I was fixing what had been screwed up by the new interface I happened to notice that I'd only picked one song from Midnight Oil. I remember hearing Midnight Oil a lot back in the '80s and f...

From: Reise, Reise ; Year: 2004; Genre: Neue Deutsche Härte/Industrial Metal I felt like picking a Rammstein track today, but it seems that I've pick so many already that I'm literally running out of their songs to pick. A song would come to mind and I'd think, "Oh yeah, that's a good one!" Then I would see that I already picked it; I repeated this process a few times before I decided to go with this one. It's not my fault that I really like Rammstein. After all, they have only released six albums, they just need to release more! Anyway, this is a rather interesting track; after hearing it for the first time suspected that it was a modern interpretation of the von Goethe poem Der Erlkönig ( The Erlking ); not too much later and I learned that my suspicions were correct. For those unaware Der Erlkönig has actually been set to music before, most notably by Franz Schubert . The song is driven by a well-defined metal groove, which works very well wit...

From: Greatest Hits , Year: 1990 (1971), Genre: Blues Rock/Psychedelic Rock For some reason I had a hankering to listen to some Fleetwood Mac this morning; mostly from the earlier years. This song features the band as a three-piece with Danny Kirwan on guitar and vocals, Mick Fleetwood on drums, and John McVie on bass. The lyrics for the song were taken from a poem called " The Dragonfly " written by W.H. Davies, with music written by Danny Kirwan; which makes for a rather pretty piece of music. Hear Dragonfly on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Queen - Good Company My song pick two years ago today: Wolfsheim - Über's Jahr My song pick three years ago today: Alice in Chains - Man In The Box My song pick four years ago today: INXS - Disappear +

From: Jazz, Blues & Moore , Year: 2005 (1966), Genre: Cool Jazz The other day Max commented on the fact that actor Steve Martin is a very accomplished banjo player. It got me thinking about the many other actors that have an insane musical talent; one that I'm always amazed by was the late-great actor and comedian Dudley Moore. Dudley Moore actually had quite a prolific recording career both with Peter Cook and the Dudley Moore Trio. Ever since I first heard some of his material I was amazed; probably the performance that sticks out the most was a live video of him making a parody/sonata in the style of Beethoven based on the whistling melody from The Bridge on the River Kwai , which can be found here on YouTube. After seeing that I doubt anyone could question his ability as a musician. Anyway, this song I'm picking for today from the Dudley Moore Trio is a rather upbeat and catchy piece of cool jazz. Hear Yesterdays on YouTube. My song pick a year ago tod...

From: Grand Illusion , Year: 2005, Genre: Power Metal The other day I was doing a litlle research on Styx's album The Grand Illusion and I happened upon this similarly titled album from the Swedish power metal band Nocturnal Rites . Upon listening to the band's material I immediately fell in love with the sound; I really don't know what it is with me and European power metal, but I like a lot of it. Oi; I have yet another band to collect the albums from. Anyway, I chose Fooling Yourself from Styx's The Grand Illusion three years ago for my April Fools Day pick and when I discovered they had an aptly named track as well I just had to make it my pick today. This is an awesome track in many ways; I especially like Jonny Lindkvist amazing vocals and the guitar work of Nils Norberg. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Larry Graham & Graham Central Station - Can You Handle It? My song pick two years ago today: Led Zeppel...