I’m doing some light Twitter culling tonight, as the relentlessness that is the Torrent of Feelings, the constant barrage of snark and attacks and outrage and disgust, is getting to be too much.
Tonight I came upon this song by Jonathan Mann (the song-a-day guy who has been kind enough to pal around with me a little on Twitter). It’s just right.
Tag: music
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A Song to Unfollow By
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Final Fantasy VII’s Final Battle Against Sephiroth…Sung A Capella
Smooth McGroove, he who produces amazing a cappella renditions of music from video games, has created his masterpiece.
I’ve previously heaped praise on him for his versions of the Final Fantasy VII battle and Mega Man II Dr. Wily stage themes, and my absolute favorite, the DuckTales Moon theme. They all delighted me.
But this, well, this is something else entirely. Here’s Smooth McGroove doing “One-Winged Angel,” the theme of the final battle in Final Fantasy VII versus Sephiroth — complete with the Latin-singing choir of multiple Smooth McGrooves. Not only is it musically impressive (this is an entire orchestral piece done entirely with his voice), but also his best video editing.
And those scenes from the battle with Sephiroth, man, that’s some strong feelings that brings back. I tip my hat to you, Mr. McGroove.
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Weird Al Offers Safe Passage to Pop Music
“Weird Al” Yankovic was the first “popular music” I ever liked. Well, him and the Monkees, because I was a kid. From a young age I felt alienated from what I knew of pop music: Rock was aggressive and threatening (to me), and Top 40 pop was dopey. At the age of 8 or 9 or so, I really didn’t know much else (save for the Beatles, which were more like a cultural force of good than a “rock band,” revered in our house even if I was too young to appreciate them. They didn’t count).Weird Al gave me an avenue into pop music by mocking it. With Weird Al, I could enjoy the tunes and arrangements and harmonies of songs like “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and still stay “above” them, at a distance, with the parodized lyrics. Thus, “I Think I’m a Clone Now,” which is brilliant. Rock and pop became safe, in disguise.
Apparently, I’m not entirely alone in this. Sasha Frere-Jones at The New Yorker writes of how Weird Al makes pop music okay to like:
Anxiety starts early for pop audiences. For decades, I have had twenty-somethings tell me that they don’t know what’s on the charts, haven’t listened to any new artists since college, and don’t “know anything about music.” They feel confused by how quickly the value of their knowledge of what’s current fades. Weird Al’s songwriting process, almost without exception, is to confront that anxiety and to celebrate it. Yankovic will take a mysterious and masterful song and turn it into something mundane and universal.
These twenty-somethings are where I was when I was nine, except I of course didn’t feel like I had grown out of touch with age, but that I was already alienated from pop music from the start (I came around, FYI).
For those who feel ashamed to play a chart hit, or possibly even hate the chart hit, Yankovic offers an opportunity to have your cake and eat it.
Indeed part of my 9-year-old’s alienation was fueled by embarrassment. Not because the songs were necessarily “beneath” me and my refined tastes (I also played over and over the Transformers The Movie soundtrack), but because I felt out of my depth as a small kid even taking part in the more adult (or at least teenage) scenarios portrayed in popular music. What if someone saw me enjoying “Bad” or “Beat It”? I felt silly. Al was silly, which made it okay.
Here’s an important aspect to this, from Frere-Jones again:
None of these parodies would work with weak songs; he chooses ones with strong melodies and distinct personalities.
Right. The hits he parodies are hits for a reason. Even if their subject matter is vapid, the original songs themselves are often refined and crafted to within an inch of their lives to be pleasing and evocative. So even if you’re horrified by the words of “Blurred Lines” (as I am) you can indulge in its grooves and melodies with “Word Crimes,” and avoid the guilt over digging a song that reads like a rape threat.
This is also why his polka medleys work so well. Though not lyrical parodies, lots of popular, hook-filled songs mashed together and played at frenetically and joyously is often an enormous delight. It’s like a buffet of hits.
I have lost the obsession with all things Al that I had as a kid, and sometimes I see his work as kind of weak (his New Kids parody “The White Stuff” and Chili Peppers lampoon “Bedrock Anthem” spring to mind). But I’m so glad he’s still doing what he’s doing. I’m surprised frankly that someone else hasn’t sprung up to steal his shtick in all the time he’s been around.
Maybe it’s because so far he’s the only one who’s been able to own uncoolness so entirely, and so totally unironically. And come on, the last thing we need is some above-it-all hipster version of Weird Al.
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One Way to Play “50 Ways”
What happens if you play Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” as a slow, bluesy, pained, Neil Young-inspired number?Let me back up. Yes, I’m a musician and songwriter, and I don’t think I suck or anything, but the real musical powerhouse bearing the Fidalgo name is my dad Phil Fidalgo, a true savant with guitar and songwriting, and who knows more songs than a troupe full of Edemah Ruh. He regularly meets up with some musician friends of his and they come up with interesting arrangements for various tunes, and this new one I thought was particularly brilliant.
You’re going to be listening to it, you’ll be thinking “Well this is good, but this style is just not going to work once he gets to the faster chorus,” and then you hear it and you’re like, “OMG this is how this song should always be played.”
Enjoy.
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If You Have Anything Bad to Say about Phil Collins, I Don’t Want to Hear It
The time has come for us nerds who really like Phil Collins to stand up. My friend and erstwhile musical collaborator Chris Seiler, who currently works as a sea, air, and space museum tour guide, has thrown down the gauntlet with this anecdote, originally posted to Facebook:
This will sound strange, but if you have anything bad to say about Phil Collins, I don’t want to hear it. He and his significant other, Dana Tyler, arranged a trip to our museum with his two kids and I got to walk them around. I asked them how long they wanted to stay and he replied “until we’re not having fun”. They stayed with me for two and a half hours. Very, very nice people. All four of them. I didn’t get to talk music with him, it really wasn’t the time or place for that, but I did get to talk to him a little about his experience with the Concorde jet, which is something I’ll get to pass on to people taking my tour.
If you have a problem with him as a musician, get over it. He was probably more surprised than you were when he became a superstar in the 80’s. He did some great drumming with the early prog-rock Genesis, was Robert Plant’s drummer of choice in the early 80’s and picked up the sticks when his buddy Eric Clapton called about playing the 2010 Prince’s trust concert, even though he had dislocated vertabre that made it almost impossible for him to sit behind a kit. He eventually became an incredibly entertaining, charismatic front man who made it cool to wear tennis shoes to prom. If you’re angry that he wrote the music for Tarzan, I’m sure your kids aren’t. Don’t rag on something that obviously isn’t written with you as the desired demographic. Instead, go find your old Abacab cassette and listen to “No Reply at All” or “Man on the Corner” and understand that he deserved his fame.
I agree with every word. Three points:
- Coincidentally, I read this just as I already had “Don’t Lose My Number” stuck in my head (technically I had my own version of it stuck in my head).
- Collins’ Tarzan soundtrack is awesome.
- Phil Collins is not the only really good songwriter in this post. Chris is an excellent songsmith himself.
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Walking on the Video Star Killed the Ocean (Two New Cover Songs)
Here’s two cover tunes I cooked up in my almost nonexistent spare time: my own little versions of The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” (which I’d always meant to cover, and was spurred to do so when Emily Hauser dissed the song on Twitter), and Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Walk on the Ocean,” which I used to sing to my son as a lullaby.
And he’s four years old today! I love you, buddy! (You can see him sing the song himself when he was 2 in this video.)
Anyway, here’s the tunes. Share and enjoy.
Update 12/1/2013: Fixed a drum issue with “Walk on the Ocean,” so the file is new.
Update 12/2/2013: Toad the Wet Sprocket, in the person of their Twitter account, just declared my cover of their song “Very cool.” Achievement unlocked.
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In Russia, Lucky Is Up All Night to Get YOU
I love stuff like this, when a stuffy-seeming artistic institution embraces a piece of pop culture with genuine enthusiasm.
However, I feel like I do have to note that there is something a tad menacing about a wall of Russian law enforcement officers boasting how they will be up all night in order to “get lucky.” Yes, boys, I’m sure you will be.
See also: Superheroes staying up all night to get Loki.
Hat tip to Cherry Teresa.
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The New Toad Record Gives Me Feelings
Toad the Wet Sprocket has just dropped their first record in sixteen years to Kickstarter backers (I was late, but got in under the wire), New Constellation, and if you know me, you know I’m thrilled they’re back. I’ve been a fan since high school, and it’s been great that as I’ve grown up, and my tastes have seasoned, so have theirs (in particular lead singer Glen Phillips’ stylistically varied solo work).
Don’t get the wrong idea: New Constellation sounds, immediately, like a Toad the Wet Sprocket album. It doesn’t sound like an alt-folky Phillips side project, or like an old band trying to reinvent itself a la Spinal Tap’s “free-form jazz exploration” (or even R.E.M.’s several “this is the album we rock on” records). It’s Toad.
But it’s an older Toad. One could come to this record having not known that there have been no new albums since 1997’s amazing Coil, and feel like this is exactly where you’d expect them to be at this point in their career as a band. It’s new material, it’s a new energy, it’s a new perspective of age and experience, but it’s an old feeling. It’s Toad.
This is not a review, per se, I’ve only gone through it twice fully. More plays are coming, of course. But I did want to bring up one thing about one song.
After Toad broke up way back in olden times, the guys who aren’t Phillips formed a band called Lapdog. I never owned one of their records, but mainly because I could never find an MP3 or reasonably priced CD version of either of their albums. They did make a handful of tracks available online for download as samples, and one I fell in love with.
It’s called “See You Again,” and I’ve played it countless times over the years. It sounds like this (presuming this video is not pulled down):
Gorgeous, right?
New Constellation features a song called “I’ll Bet On You.” It sounds like this (again, presuming this obviously unauthorized clip is not pulled):
I know!!!
I have so many questions and feelings.
First, I just gotta know, guys: How did you decide to do this? Was Todd all, “Hey let’s do ‘See You Again’!” and Glen was all, “OK if I can rewrite the lyrics,” and then Todd was all “GODDAMN IT FINE I STILL HATE YOU!” I want to know how the decision to rejigger the song was made.
My feelings are very mixed. I think the new song is great, beautiful, and the new lyrics and melody fit the music like a glove. But “See You Again” makes richer use of the background vocal harmonies, and the overall feeling is a little smoother and more nuanced, which I like a lot. Put a gun to my head (please don’t) to choose only one, I’d have to pick “See You Again,” but “I’ll Bet On You” is also just great.
But someone, please, tell me, how did this come to be???
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Toad Pays its Dues
Toad the Wet Sprocket is back together, much to my delight, and about to release a new record, which last happened during the first year of Clinton’s second term. I’ve been following frontman Glen Phillips’ career since then, watching as he’s had to reestablish himself as a viable performer and recording artist with little name recognition outside the Toad fan base.
In this interview with New Times Broward-Palm Beach, he describes a realization of what it actually takes to be a working musician:
We did well off the bat when we were young, actually really well nine months into our third record, so we didn’t really understand how how hard it can be, how much work it really takes, all the little jobs that have to get done. In the last ten or fifteen years, I’ve done all those jobs and done most of them badly. I kind of understand how lucky we are now, and how special this position is, and I think everyone else understands that too. So we kind of have to pay our dues on the back end, whereas most bands pay them on the front end.
It’s so refreshing to see someone who’s achieved success recognize how fortune played a role that may have been as great as, say, their talent. And as someone who once planned on making a career of this singer-songwriter shtick, I take heart that, yes, a lot of it, like everything else, is just a job.
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A Song I Wrote Was Gonna Be in a Movie But Now It’s Not So You Can Hear It Now I Guess
Earlier this year, I was asked if one of my original songs, “Selfless,” could be used in a film being produced that a friend of mine is involved in. I was delighted, and I recorded a fresh version that I thought sounded a little stronger than the 2004 original.
Then a few weeks ago I was told they decided that actually they weren’t going to use it. That kind of sucked.
But it also means that I can now post it here and share it with you. So here’s “Selfless 2013.”
The 2004 original from my album Paul is Making Me Nervous can be heard here, and a couple years back, my friend Rin Barton covered the song very beautifully, and that’s here.
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Scrooge McGroove on the Moon
My new favorite YouTube star, Smooth McGroove has fulfilled what he told me was a very popular request (and one of my requests as well): The Moon theme from DuckTales, the 1989 NES game based on the Disney cartoon.
I remember as a kid playing this game, and being really impressed by this piece. Most of the game’s music, as I recall, was pretty standard happy-Disney-video game fare, and then Scrooge McDuck gets to the Moon, and this oddly moving and nuanced piece of 8-bit symphonics hits your brain (and my 11-year-old brain).
As always, Mr. McGroove, well done.
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Everybody Knows What’s Good for Me
A billion years ago, I wrote a song intended for a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor I was in at the time (I played Slender, la!). We never wound up using the song, other than a bit of the main riff for scene transitions, but it is on my old 2004 album Paul is Making Me Nervous. It’s written loosely from the perspective of the Anne Page character, as the other characters all see her as a vehicle toward their own desires, and she resolves instead to live her own damn life.
Anyway, it came up on the iTunes shuffle today, and it resonated anew.
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If I Can’t Change Your Mind Then No One Will
Because after over 20 years, Bob Mould’s song needed to have a mandolin, Rubbermaid bin, and egg whisk applied to it. Here’s my own twangy take on a song originally recorded by Mould’s band Sugar in 1992.
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Smooth McGroove is the Smooth McGrooviest
Paul likes cleverly-arranged a capella music. Paul also likes beautifully composed music written for video games made before 2000. In walks Smooth McGroove (and his cat), and my world is changed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfrsvfcZ8ZEI wish Mr. McGroove great fortune, wealth, and additional free time to make more of these.
My hero.
pav dot quest 