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

From: Open Sesame ; Year: 1976; Genre: Funk/Disco Had Kool & The Gang on my mind the last couple of days, so I thought I'd make one of their funky tracks today's pick. Wot's not to love about this one? Thumpin' and bumpin' beat with an awesome groove accompanied by some amazing brass and woodwinds. I especially love how they used the ubiquitously famous Streets of Cairo to great effect on this one.   Hear Open Sesame (Groove With the Genie) on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Eddie Lang - Prelude (Rachmaninoff Op.3 No.2)   My song pick 2 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Reasons For Waiting   My song pick 3 years ago today: Earth, Wind & Fire - I've Had Enough   My song pick 4 years ago today: Ozzy Osbourne - Hellraiser   My song pick 5 years ago today: Yes - Wonderous Stories   My song pick 6 years ago today: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Shots My song pick 7 years ago today: Pallas - New Life My song pick 8 years a...

From: Foxtrot ; Year: 1972; Genre: Progressive Rock Listened to Genesis' Foxtrot album again yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it once more. Got me thinking about Genesis and how, as not amongst the most rabid of fans of the band, but I really enjoy their music a lot, how I never really got into the whole loving/hating one period of the band due to the different comings and goings of band members and thus the contrasting styles from one decade to the next. That being said, they're probably one of the most successful groups to change lead singers and stay on top. Truthfully, I cannot choose between Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins; they are both amazing in my book, and Phil is a monster drummer to boot. Personally, I really believe that Peter Gabriel's vocals were at a peak at this point, and it show on this track. Kind of a comedic social commentary on greed, specifically concerning landlords, he uses the Leid format in which he plays the parts of four different characters i...

From: Victim of a Song ; Year: 1979; Genre: Hard Rock Another band I have been thinking about a bit lately, so I'm choosing another song today. There is some great guitar work on this track; especially the lead and in the solo sections.   Hear Barely Alive on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Billy Joel - Turn the Lights Back On   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Temptations - The Way You Do The Things You Do   My song pick 3 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Elegy   My song pick 4 years ago today: KC and the Sunshine Band - Sho-Nuff   My song pick 5 years ago today: Black Sabbath - Sign of the Southern Cross   My song pick 6 years ago today: Three Dog Night - Family of Man My song pick 7 years ago today: Ozzy Osbourne - Steal Away (The Night) My song pick 8 years ago today: Twelfth Night - C.R.A.B. My song pick 9 years ago today: George Clinton - Man's Best Friend/Loopzilla My song pick 10 years ago today: Marillion -...

From: Jumpin' Gene Simmons ; Year: 1964; Genre: Rock 'n Roll/Rockabilly Here is another one that just popped into my mind for no apparent reason even though I have not heard it in decades. I really should've waited until around Halloween to choose this one, but it might not have remembered it at the time. This version of Haunted House is a great danceable novelty rockabilly tune with some excellent vocals. From wot I understand, Kiss bassist/vocalist/etc. Gene Simmons chose his stage-name from Jumpin' Gene Simmons, but has apparently also stated in interviews that he was inspired by actor Jean Simmons for the name.   Hear Haunted House on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Europe - The Final Countdown   My song pick 2 years ago today: Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze   My song pick 3 years ago today: Archie Bell & The Drells - The Soul City Walk   My song pick 4 years ago today: Xerath - I Hold Dominion ...

From: Alundra Original Soundtrack ; Year: 1997; Genre: Classical It has been a long time since I delved into this amazing soundtrack; this is my second favourite track from the simply amazing video game Alundra . Probably most recently Kohei Tanaka is best known as the composer for the Animé One Piece as well as a slew of other series, movies, and video games. Immediately my mind is taken back to the large fortress frozen in time, having to figure out all of the puzzles just to get to the final boss fights. The Shrine of the Lake is one of the best songs to have in the background whilst performing such tasks as puzzles; it really gets your mind moving, not taking you attention away from the task, but rather being an omnipresent force helping you along. Even playing it whilst performing real-life tasks it's one of those that really helps you along.   Hear The Shrine of the Lake on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Esteban - Flamenco Wind   My song...

From: Age of Impact ; Year: 1998; Genre: Progressive Metal/Progressive Rock Picking up where I left off with this album after choosing the first three, here is the 4th track, or chapter? This is the one song apparently that features guitar great Steve Howe on acoustic guitar, who is best known as Yes' guitarist/songwriter as well as the band Asia and too many others to list. This piece in particular will take you through an aural journey through some amazingly written and produced music. Even though there are vocals, the music itself is so well written that it narrates as well as any orator.   Hear Impact 4 - Time Enough on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Marcus Miller - Keep 'Em Running   My song pick 2 years ago today: Iain Matthews - Darkness, Darkness   My song pick 3 years ago today: Laura Branigan - Forever Young   My song pick 4 years ago today: Rhythm Machine - Lil's Place   My song pick 5 years ago today: Van Der Graaf G...

From: The Body, The Blood, The Machine ; Year: 2006; Genre: Indie Rock Lately I have been listening to this album a lot. Noticing just how great the entire record actually is; I mean, I really have always liked it since hearing I Hold the Sound as part of the soundtrack to an NHL video game about 18 some years ago. I like their other albums as well, but this one was the best, to me at least.   Hear A Pillar of Salt on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Bachman & Turner - Rollin' Along   My song pick 2 years ago today: Yes - And You and I   My song pick 3 years ago today: Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli (Quintette du Hot Club de France) - Blue Drag   My song pick 4 years ago today: Warren Zevon - Nighttime in the Switching Yard   My song pick 5 years ago today: April Wine - Silver Dollar   My song pick 6 years ago today: Smokehouse - Polar Funk My song pick 7 years ago today: Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fal...

From: Open Our Eyes ; Year: 1975; Genre: Funk/R&B Another song-a-day blogger that is no longer online, Max, used to categorize some of the songs his picked as "Dad Music." I.e. music that his father loved and thus was part of his musical experience. For me Earth, Wind & Fire would actually be "Mom Music," she loves them and played them a lot whilst I was young, however, I came to truly be a fan of them to the point when one of their tracks come on in the car I have to crank it; in my opinion there should be a law against playing EW&F too quietly.   Hear Kalimba Story on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: IQ - Promises (As the Years Go By)   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Jackson 5 - Doctor, My Eyes   My song pick 3 years ago today: Pearls Before Swine - I Saw the World   My song pick 4 years ago today: Primus - Pudding Time   My song pick 5 years ago today: Stanley Clarke - Play the Bass 10^3   My song pick 6 y...

From: Brave New World ; Year: 1969; Genre: Blues Rock/Psychedelic Rock Was just in the mood for something from Steve Miller and his band's earlier work. Brave New World is and probably will always be my favourite record from this period; the first five albums or there about to be exact. This was also the first after Boz Scaggs left, which is a minus in my opinion, but not enough for me. Even at this point Les Paul's advise to make his band his namesake was paying dividends; no matter who came or left it was always Steve Miller's band. Anyway, getting far off track here.... Space Cowboy is one of the three songs from the record that can occasionally get airplay, along with the title track and My Dark Hour , which featured Beatle Paul McCartney on backing vocals and a few instruments. Funny enough, five albums later on the song The Joker he references this track in the very first line of it. "Some people call me the Space Cowboy...." Which would turn out to be ...

From: Elephant Mountain ; Year: 1969; Genre: Folk Rock I know I have chosen at least two other cover versions of this haunting classic; actually surprised that I had not yet chosen this, the original. Darkness, Darkness is one of those songs that usually keep repeating when I listen to it, and it really doesn't matter the one of the countless recordings of it.   Hear Darkness, Darkness on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Deep Purple - Flight of the Rat   My song pick 2 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Jacob's Tales   My song pick 3 years ago today: Black 47 - Black 47   My song pick 4 years ago today: Sly & The Family Stone - Dance to the Music   My song pick 5 years ago today: Primus - Prelude to a Crawl/Hennepin Crawler   My song pick 6 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Old Aces Die Hard My song pick 7 years ago today: Harlequin - Sweet Things in Life My song pick 8 years ago today: Three Dog Night - The Show Must Go On...

From: XXV ; Year: 2011; Genre: Progressive Rock Been meaning to pick more from XXV , which is the continuation of their epic The Sentinel . The story told throughout the songs on the record this time are quite dark and ominous; whereas The Sentinel is a story of a destroyed world told as a warning to mankind, this one tells the tale about how humans did not heed the warnings, turned to greed and pride, and as such are facing oblivion. XXV Part 2 is the final track on the album, and as you probably can surmise, it isn't a happy ending.   Hear XXV Part 2: The Unmakers Awake on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Beatles - You Got to Hide Your Love Away   My song pick 3 years ago today: Funkadelic - What is Soul?   My song pick 4 years ago today: Visage - Fade to Grey   My song pick 5 years ago today: Dream Theater - Paralyzed   My song pick 6 years ago tod...

From: Working Man – A Tribute to Rush ; Year: 1996; Genre: Progressive Rock Strangely, I did not know about this album until just recently. Basically quite a few of the heavy hitters in progressive and related genres of music at the time got together with longtime producer Rush producer Terry Brown and big fan and noted musician Mike Portnoy for this tribute. I am not sure as to why they recorded it, but probably because they all were so heavily influenced by the band and just wanted to; do you really need a reason to play some of your favourite songs anyway? This is, of course, a cover of the epic, classic instrumental piece from Rush's 1981 Moving Pictures album. It features James Murphy on guitars, Matt Guillory on keys, Deen Castronovo on drums, and Stuart Hamm on bass. It's kind of weird, but at times they do it so well I forget that I am not listening to the original until one of the musicians puts in a fill, flourish, or during a solo.   Hear YYZ on YouTube.   ...

From: Electric Tepee ; Year: 1992; Genre: Space Rock/Progressive Rock I really like these ambient soundscape instrumentals from this album; it's especially delightful if you can listen to them on a sound system that has very good range. Instead of pulses on a beat you have constant aural waves that change in pitch and modulation.   Hear Blue Shift on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Sho Nuff - Monster Monster   My song pick 2 years ago today: Wishbone Ash - Anger in Harmony   My song pick 3 years ago today: Eurythmics - Missionary Man   My song pick 4 years ago today: Green River - Together We'll Never   My song pick 5 years ago today: Chris Squire - Safe (Canon Song)   My song pick 6 years ago today: The Chi-lites - Have You Seen Her? My song pick 7 years ago today: Roy Ayers - Funk in the Hole My song pick 8 years ago today: Hawkwind - Steppenwolf My song pick 9 years ago today: Ian Anderson - What-Ifs, Maybes And Migh...

From: This Is Clarence Carter ; Year: 1968; Genre: Soul I've only chosen one other song from Clarence Carter thus far, which is a huge oversight for me.  Slip Away has it all: amazing soulful vocals with a lot of gospel influence, great bass groove, excellent beat and instrumentation. The only aspect of the song that I find wanting is the adulterous subject matter; other than that this is one of his best.   Hear Slip Away on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Bloodrock - D.O.A.   My song pick 2 years ago today: King Crimson - The Talking Drum   My song pick 3 years ago today: The Association - Never My Love   My song pick 4 years ago today: Boston - Walk On   My song pick 5 years ago today: Rush - Heresy   My song pick 6 years ago today: Sister Sledge - Do the Funk Do My song pick 7 years ago today: The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 My song pick 8 years ago today: The Guess Who - Share the Land My song pick 9 years ago to...

From: GCS 2000 ; Year: 1998; Genre: Funk/Soul/New Jack Swing It doesn't get much better than the smooth baritone voice of Larry Graham for this funky Valentines Day.   Hear Love 4 1Another on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Paul McCartney - Valentine Day   My song pick 2 years ago today: The "5" Royales - Dedicated to the One I Love   My song pick 3 years ago today: Tesla - Love Song   My song pick 4 years ago today: Foreigner - I'll Get Even With You   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet - Delilah   My song pick 6 years ago today: Queen - My Fairy King My song pick 7 years ago today: Foo Fighters - Baker Street My song pick 8 years ago today: The Supremes (Diana Ross & the Supremes) - Back in My Arms Again My song pick 9 years ago today: Toto - Hydra My song pick 10 years ago today: Soundgarden - Hunted Down My song pick 11 years ago today: The (Detroit) Spinners - Workin...

From: Against the Grain ; Year: 1971; Genre: Folk Rock/Country Rock After hearing this track once more recently I thought that I would pick one of their songs. Believing that I had already chosen this song erroneously I was looking through their catalogue and my master song list and realized the error; this has to be remedied. Back as far as I can remember I've always loved this track; it's just one of those songs that has wide appeal.    Hear Sweet City Woman on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Red Rider - Cowboys in Hong Kong (As Far as Siam)   My song pick 2 years ago today: Lawrence Gowan - One Brief Shining Moment   My song pick 3 years ago today: Foreigner - Tramontane   My song pick 4 years ago today: Rush - Neurotica   My song pick 5 years ago today: Harlequin - Thinking of You   My song pick 6 years ago today: Band of Horses - Part One My song pick 7 years ago today: Maddy Prior - Deep in the Darkest Night My...

From: Ozma ; Year: 1989; Genre: Sludge Metal Felt like listening to some Melvins' music today. \m/    Hear Revulsion/We Reach on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Joe Satriani - Driving at Night   My song pick 2 years ago today: Big Maybelle - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On   My song pick 3 years ago today: The Coasters - Run Red Run   My song pick 4 years ago today: Return to Forever - After the Cosmic Rain   My song pick 5 years ago today: Nazareth - This Flight Tonight   My song pick 6 years ago today: Sam Cooke - Wonderful World My song pick 7 years ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - For The Weekend My song pick 8 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Lights Out My song pick 9 years ago today: Larry Graham & Graham Central Station - Throw-N-Down the Funk My song pick 10 years ago today: Foreigner - At War With the World My song pick 11 years ago today: King Crimson - Pictures of a City (including "42nd at...

From: Cut ; Year: 1982; Genre: Rock It is sad how many on this side of the Atlantic can only name two songs from this storied band, but they have so many more great tracks in their catalogue. I suppose the same can be said for the vast majority of bands and musical artists outside the U.S., U.K. and Canada; you really have to do the footwork so to speak if you want to find them. Even the few that bust into pop culture here usually get the dreaded "one hit wonder" label even though most are huge acts elsewhere; at least Golden Earring avoided that indignity.   Hear Future on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: ABBA - The Name of the Game   My song pick 2 years ago today: Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me   My song pick 3 years ago today: The Cosmic Sound Orchestra - Fight   My song pick 4 years ago today: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - If You Leave   My song pick 5 years ago today: Buffalo Springfield - For What It'...

From: Daydream ; Year: 1966; Genre: Folk Rock Always in some sort of a "survival mode" lately, just waiting for opportunities to present themselves and such I suppose; such is mid-late wintertime. Calm and comforting tracks like this one are a must; just something to distract yourself from that which you cannot control in this life, but wishing you could nevertheless.   Hear Daydream on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Hawkwind - Lost Johnny   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Soul Searchers - Ashley's Roachclip   My song pick 3 years ago today: Frank Mackey & The Keltic Cowboys - Promise of a Better Life   My song pick 4 years ago today: The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love   My song pick 5 years ago today: Yes - Harold Land   My song pick 6 years ago today: The Charles Mingus Quintet + Max Roach - Drums My song pick 7 years ago today: Neil Young - Sugar Mountain My song pick 8 years ago today: Return to Forever - Du...