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

From: Animation Beck Soundtrack ; Year: 2005; Genre: Rock Recently I've been watching Beck: The Mongolian Chop Squad again; this is among my favourite songs that can be heard throughout. It's actually quite a pretty tune with quite heavy and emotional lyrics. Hear Moon on the Water from the soundtrack on YouTube. Watch the music video clip to Moon on the Water on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses My song pick two years ago today: Rammstein - Haifisch My song pick three years ago today: Tanya Tucker - What's Your Mama's Name? My song pick four years ago today: Bad Company - Bad Company My song pick five years ago today: The Highwaymen - The Highwayman

From: P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival ; Year: 2005; Genre: Rock Ever since I discovered this band through their songs that were used on animé soundtracks I've been delving further into their catalogue; I've enjoying what I've found. They are one of those bands that's lighthearted and pure fun to listen to; I love their stripped down rock sound and, of course, the visual silliness in their performances and videos. Anyway, here's another one of my favs off of their '05 P.O.A. album. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: "Weird Al" Yankovic - Amish Paradise My song pick two years ago today: The Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls My song pick three years ago today: Band of Horses - Our Swords My song pick four years ago today: Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok +

From: Kimi no Tame nu Dekiru Koto (Single B-Side); Year: 2001; Genre: Alternative Rock I happened to notice that today's pick number is 1729, which is also known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number ; it is the smallest number to be expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. Well, since I have yet to pick a song from Gackt, and he does have an aptly-titled song, ( Cube ), I figured that I would again kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Hear Cube with English fan subtitles on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Fairport Convention - Meet on the Ledge My song pick two years ago today: Rush - Losing It My song pick three years ago today: The Beatles - Yesterday My song pick four years ago today: Def Leppard - Animal +

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 +

1345 Exist†Trace - Requiem From: Vanguard -Of the Muses- EP, Year: 2009 I got to see Exist†Trace in concert over the weekend in Seattle at Sakura Con; this was one of many songs they played that I liked. For those who haven't heard about them, Exist†Trace are an all female Japanese Metal band; apparently the concert was their first in the U.S. It was an excellent show except for a plethora of sound issues early in the set, once they were resolved the show went along quite well. The band is excellent in most every aspect; the lead singer's vocals were especially amazing, she could really belt it out. Hear the studio version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Meat Loaf - Two out of Three Ain't Bad My song pick two years ago today: Christian Pezold - Minuet in G Minor (Anna Magdalena Notebook II), BWV Anh. 115 My song pick three years ago today: Raymond Scott - Powerhouse +

1298 L'Arc~en~Ciel - Spirit Dreams Inside Continuing my week of picking songs from dormant or dead song a day blogs with pick #3; this one comes off of Niveous' 10kdays blog . It's one of the oldest song a day blogs associated with the Song Fight community and is one of the blogs that went the furthest before stopping, (at 1070 total songs picked); his last pick was a little over a year ago on the 7th of February, 2010. His blog was one of the ones that I followed pretty close mostly because of variety of music he posted, plus he was one of the only other bloggers to post J-Rock/J-Pop music, which leads me to the song that I'm picking from his archives today. This was his 397th pick and was part of a J-Rock A-Z theme. Most Otaku will immediately recognize this band's name from a few animés in which they played opening/ending music, which is, I have to admit, from where I discovered them as well. However, L'Arc~en~Ciel is quite a successful band outside ...

1266 Yoko Takahashi - Zankoku na Tenshi no These (A Cruel Angel's Thesis) I heard some of the music from the soundtrack to the animé Neon Genesis Evangelion sometime during my travels today and thought this one would make a nice song for this late evening pick. This song was written for and used as the opening theme music for the series' episodes; it's a rather nice, upbeat track from a great show. Hear Zankoku na Tenshi no These on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Aphrodite's Child - Hic et Nunc My song pick two years ago today: Elton John - All The Girls Love Alice My song pick three years ago today: Rush - The Body Electric +

1252 Fire Bomber (Humming Bird) - My Soul For You Making a pick at the end of a rather busy day again; I heard this one while out and about today and thought it would be a rather nice pick. This is another song that comes from the animé Macross 7 , which featured music performed by the Japanese Metal band Humming Bird; the band in the show that Humming Bird put their sound to was known as 'Fire Bomber.' Anyway, this is a rather mellow tune in comparison to the other songs featured on the animé. I love Yoshiki Fukuyama's vocals and guitar work throughout, especially in the acoustic version. Hear My Soul For You on YouTube. Hear the acoustic version of My Soul For You on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Hawkwind - D-Rider My song pick two years ago today: Duran Duran - Rio My song pick three years ago today: Rare Earth - (I Know) I'm Losing You +

1175 Yoshiki Fukuyama - Angel's Voice Making another one just under the wire for tonight; this is one I heard whilst out and about today and seemed like a nice pick to end this day. The song comes from the animé Macross Dynamite 7 ; it was one of the main themes to the film. Again, as with the series itself, Yoshiki Fukuyama lent his vocals and his guitar playing to the music. Hear Angel's Voice on YouTube. Watch an excellent live performance of the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman My song pick two years ago today: The Allman Brother's Band - Ain't Waistin' Time No More My song pick three years ago today: Red Sovine - Phantom 309 +

1016 Hiroko Moriguchi - Samurai Heart This song is used as one of the opening themes of the Anime' Yoroiden Samurai Trooper , distributed and probably better known in the U.S. as Ronin Warriors. This is another show that my wife got me into shortly after we were married. The song is heavy guitar driven Rock in the vein of 80's guitar music, which is the era that the Anime hails from. The vocals, musicianship, and arrangement are quite tight; it is a very listenable track, probably even to those who don't like Japanese animation. Here is the full version on the song on YouTube. Here is an alternate remix of the song with English vocals on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: England Dan & John Ford Coley - Simone My song pick two years ago today: Rush - The Way the Wind Blows +

This is the opening song to the Anime' Macross 7 ; for some reason it just seemed perfect for a pick today. This song, along with the other music from this Anime' features monster guitarist/vocalist Yoshiki Fukuyama and his Rock/Metal band at the time: Hummingbird. Here is a fan video with the full studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance of the song on YouTube. +

Last night my wife and I were watching an animé we rented called Solty Rei , this is the opening song. The vocals in this song is incredible, I love the way that she goes effortlessly climbs and drops back down with her vocals in a pentatonic in the chorus. The music in the song is excellent as well, I love the dynamics that they use during the transitions. Here is a fan video with the studio version on YouTube. +

I'm in an odd mood today, so I decided to pick another song from the fictitious band "Fire Bomber." Fire Bomber is the band that is the main focus in the animé Macross 7 ; this song was featured in the movie Dynamite 7 . Hummingbird, a Japanese metal band, was used to perform the songs on the recordings and went under the name "Fire Bomber" for these songs. The whole band is very talented, however the lead guitarist/vocalist, Yoshiki Fukuyama really stands out and is amazing. What I have found odd about a lot of Japanese music is that the artists use English words smattered around in the song, in this one they use English lyrics throughout the choruses and use Japanese in the verses. I am not usually drawn to music from television shows or movies, however they did an excellent job with the music on this one. Here is the studio version in a fan video on YouTube. Here is a live performance of the song on YouTube. +

I was in an odd mood today; I decided to choose a song from an animé I like, Macross 7 titled: Remember 16 . The song is done by the fictitious band in the animé called Fire Bomber , the real Japanese Metal band that played under the pseudonym Fire Bomber in the animé was called Humming Bird , fronted by the guitarist/singer/songwriter Yoshiki Fukuyama . This animé cannot really be found easily in America because of the copyright problems with the music, no official translation or distributors can afford to buy the rights for it. I had to buy a Japanese version with non-professional subtitles. This track is played very little in the show and is more of a grooving song in comparison with the Japanese Metal in most of the show. I mostly picked it for the reason that I like it a lot and it is my 16th song pick in my list. Here is a fan video with the studio version on YouTube. Here is Yoshiki Fukuyama performing the song live acoustically on YouTube. +