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

1632 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - K.331 - Piano Sonata No. 11 K.331, Year: 1781-3 Genre: Classical Period/classical For the third day of my mystery theme week I felt like picking this one. Most will instantly recognize most of the melodies throughout this famous piece; the melody of the third movement, Rondó Alla Turca: Allegretto, in particular should ring a bell to almost everyone alive or dead. While its an excellent piece of music in so many ways, as with most music from the Classical Period , it has a tendency to fade into the background and easily becomes 'wallpaper music.' Here is the first movement: Andante Grazioso on YouTube. Here is the second movement: Menuetto on YouTube. Here is the third movement: Rondó Alla Turca: Allegretto on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Allman Brothers Band - Little Martha My song pick two years ago today: Steve Vai - #?@! Yourself My song pick three years ago today: The Who - I'm Free My song pick four years ago today:...

1631 Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin - Symphony No.2 in B-Minor Year: 1878 Genre: Romantic Period/classical This is my second pick of my mystery theme week: This is one of my personal favourite pieces from the pen of Alexander Borodin. Out of ' The Five ' he composed a lot of their pieces I like the most; personally Mussorgsky wrote a lot I like as well and at times it's a toss up between the two. Anyway, this in my opinion is a 'musician's piece' of music, however with its beauty and sheer presence it's definitely a listener's song as well; you can easily get engrossed in both the feeling and complexities throughout. I absolutely love to get lost in this amazing piece of music; truly beautiful. Here is the first movement: Allegro on YouTube. Here is the second movement: Scherzo. Prestissimo-Allegretto on YouTube. Here is the third movement: Andante on YouTube. Here is the fourth movement: Finale. Allegro on YouTube. My song pic...

1630 Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos - Media Vita in Morte Sumus From: Chant , Year: 1973 Genre: Gregorian Chant I'm embarking on a theme week, however I thought it would be fun to wait until Saturday's pick to reveal what my theme is; in the mean time anyone is welcome to make guesses as to what it is along the way. Okay, on to today's song pick: I remember back in the '90s this album became quite popular and could be heard all over the place. If memory serves me right, that new found popularity of Chant happened to spawn some parody albums; one in particular, I believe, was called: Grunt . As you can probably guess, it was composed of chants spoken in Pig-Latin . Since it became popular 20 years from the initial recording I wouldn't be too surprised if it makes another resurgence within a few years or so. Anyway, as with most of the tracks on the album, this one makes excellent 'wallpaper music' and is also nice to listen closely to as well....

1629 Blind Faith - Had to Cry Today From: Blind Faith , Year: 1969 Genre: Blues Rock I'm having one of those days and this song from the very bright and short-lived 'supergroup' Blind Faith felt good to listen to this morning. While I'm not really in the mood to go on much about things today, I will say that I do like this song a lot. Hear Had to Cry Today on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Jethro Tull - By Kind Permission Of My song pick two years ago today: Peter Gabriel - Down To Earth My song pick three years ago today: Edgar Winter Group - Free Ride My song pick four years ago today: Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee +

1628 Miles Davis - Pharaoh's Dance From: Bitches Brew , Year: 1970 Genre: Jazz Fusion/Jazz I was thinking about some of the songs off of this album this morning and figured I would pick one of them. This is one of Miles' more experimental albums, which contained sounds you'd continue to hear in the coming decades in Jazz. On this song, which was written by master keyboardist Joe Zawinul, contains an amazing lineup of musicians and a real interesting arrangement as well: Miles Davis, of course, (trumpet), Joe Zawinul (left piano), Chick Corea (right piano), Larry Young (mid piano), Lenny White (left drums), Jack DeJohnette (Right Drums), John McLaughlin (guitar), Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone), Bernie Maupin (bass clarinet), Dave Holland (double bass), Harvey Brooks (electric bass), Don Alias (congas), and Juma Santos (shaker). While Miles Davis' music and this album in particular isn't everyone's cup of tea, he and his music has influenced not only Jazz, but ...

1627 Queensrÿche - Eyes of a Stranger From: Operation: Mindcrime , Year: 1988 Genre: Progressive Metal For some reason I had the urge to listen to Operation: Mindcrime last night and this morning and I thought I'd pick a track off of the album today as well. Eyes of a Stranger is the last song on this epic concept album and really does an awesome job of wrapping up the story. This song deals with the main character, Nikki, remembering all that has happened and what he's done. I love how they make use of minor chords to set and compliment the mood in this one. As always, Geoff Tate's vocals are one of the main highlights; he adds a lot of emotion with his powerful vocals. Hear Eyes of a Stranger on YouTube. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Bad Company - Holy Water My song pick two years ago today: Azteca - Some Day We'll Get By My song pick three years ago today: Elmer Bernstein - The Magnificent Seven ( Theme ) My song pick four ye...

1626 John Dowland - In Darkness We Dwell Year: 1610 Genre: Late Renaissance Period/ Early Baroque Period/classical It appears that I've gotten to the point in my song picks where the pick number matches dates in musical history. As you might or might not know, master composer and lutenist John Dowland died in February of the year 1626, so I though I would pick another one of my favourite songs from his pen today. This very beautiful piece of music that is rather dark and melancholy, but pretty all the same. It was first published in 1610, which would put it right at the point where the Renaissance Period was giving way to the Baroque Period, so it contains some aspects of both. I've always found it odd how we look back hundreds of years on and make these divisions based on the popular 'musical ideas' that permeated compositions through those years when in reality there was a lot of overlap as music evolved from one form to another. Here is an excellent perform...