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

For my seventh pick my first week, I chose Rammstein's cover of Depeche Mode's Stripped , which was an extra track on some versions of Sehnsucht . So, I decided that I should pick another extra track, this one is an extra track off of the 2 CD version of the Mutter album; it is also one of the earlier songs that I heard by Rammstein. This track is about those with power over others and how they twist the rules to give themselves a form of absolute power. In this instance it is about a clergyman who twists the Faith to fit his own means. The lyrical content, (as with most of Rammstein's work), is disturbing and extreme; especially in this one, however it is an excellent song. Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

On my Sixth pick I chose Megadeth's Foreclosure of a Dream , so continuing in my week of choosing songs by bands I chose my first week I am picking Washington is Next! off of their recent United Abominations album. This song is typical Megadeth political metal that they are known for; always with a message. This album reminds me a lot of Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction musically; kind of a return to their roots. Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

For my fifth pick, I chose the Allman Brothers' song Blue Sky . Today I have decided on a song that is one of their biggest hits: Jessica . This instrumental features Richard "Dickey" Betts' guitar playing as the main aspect. The keyboard work by Gregg Allman and Chuck Leavell is quite excellent and keeps the repetitiveness down. This song is considered to be a one of the best driving songs; I can say with some certainty that it does cause my right foot to get a little heavy whilst it is played. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. +

For my fourth pick on my first week of picking songs, I chose The Offspring's cover/parody of Albert Morris' song Feelings . I decided on this one because I have always liked it and the infectious riffs in this song (as with most of their music) make for a killer hook. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. +

I'm returning to my theme week of choosing song by bands that I chose my first week of my song a day blog. For my third pick, I chose " Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann " by Nena . The song that I am choosing today is from her album Cover Me , which was released last year and did quite well in Europe. I have often noticed that a great deal of acts from abroad that we in America dub "one hit wonders" actually were quite successful abroad with many hit songs; Nena is one of those acts. Without the internet I would not even know a thing about these excellent songs other than they had one hit in The States if even that. When one does a little research you start to understand that the American music scene is incredibly stifling and that we are missing out on a lot of excellent music. Anyway, I digress, I do not want to turn this song pick into an industry rant. The song, as expected has a European Pop/Rock sound, the song contains plenty of keyboards wit...

For this week I am choosing songs by bands that I chose the first week of this song blog. The song I chose for my second pick was the infamous song about cannibalism that is Timothy by The Buoys. The problem for me finding another song by them is that they were a one-hit band, however a bit ago I found out that they did, in fact, have another minor hit called Give Up Your Guns . This is a mellow song that is of the style that is atypical of pop/rock of the era. The song chronicles a bank robber who is held up in a cabin with a woman who wants him to turn himself in and, as the title suggests give up his guns; the song mostly is about him pondering the decision. Here is a video with the studio version on YouTube. Here is their Top of the Pops performance on YouTube. +

Well, this is the one year anniversary of the start of my song blog, I have decided that I will choose another song by an artist that I chose for my first week. For my first pick ever on my Song a Day Blog, I chose J.S. Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto , which is my second favourite of his Brandenburg Concertos. So, for today I decided that I should choose my favourite one. What this one is mostly known for is extended harpsichord solo (Cadenza). Before this the concept of a concerto was known as the Concerto Grosso, which was a piece of music played by two contrasting groups of musicians, the larger being the one that played the theme and the smaller being the soloist. With this concerto J.S. Bach all but did away with this form by using the extended cadenza; this has still carried on to this day in some form. You can thank or blame J.S. Bach in part every time a you hear a bombastic guitar solo. Here is the entire piece performed by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: Here ...