Monthly Archives: June 2023

Music Monday: June 26, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Happy 75th birthday to Todd Harry Rundgren who was born June 22, 1948 in Philadelphia, PA. The singer, songwriter, musician and record producer has been part of the music scene for over five decades as a solo performer and as a member of the bands, Nazz and Utopia.

His career has included a few Top 40 hits like “I Saw The Light” (#16 in 1972) and “Can We Still Be Friends” (#29 in 1978). He also produced albums for Hall & Oates, Meatloaf, The New York Dolls, Badfinger and Grand Funk Railroad, amongst others.

Today’s song is from Rundgren’s third solo album, Something/Anything?, which was released in 1972. The track peaked at #5 on the Billboard singles chart nearly 50 years ago in December 1973. The first time this tune came out was in 1968 when Rundgren recorded it with his first band, Nazz. It is a slightly slower version of his solo hit but quite enjoyable as well.

I spotlighted his solo version on Day 388 of my lockdown music countdown. And everything I wrote then (see below) still holds. This song is part of my wonder years. So thank you, Todd Rundgren. And happy birthday.

“A rite of passage for children is their affinity for bubble gum pop music. Every generation has it but if your calling is music like mine was, even during those frivolous years good songs will break through and stay with you for a lifetime. I have written extensively over the last year about the ones that broke through to me. Today’s song is part of that group & can transport back to some of the best days of my childhood in one note. I will love Todd Rundgren forever for this song & the memories I have connected to it.”

“Seeing you or seeing anything as much I do you
I take for granted that you’re always there
I take for granted that you just don’t care
Sometimes I can’t help seeing all the way through“.

SONY DSC

Todd Rundgren performs as a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band at Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY in June 2012.  Photo by me.

Todd Rundgren: “Hello It’s Me” (1972, written by Todd Rundgren).

Nazz: “Hello It’s Me” (1968, written by Todd Rundgren).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 19, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I have always swooned for a great singer/songwriter and today’s is no exception. UK artist David Gray’s fourth album, White Ladder, was introduced to the world through a four step process. In November 1998 he released it in Ireland on his own private label. Then in March 1999 it hit the UK and caught the attention of fellow musician Dave Matthews who shared it with US audiences on his own ATO label the same year. Once Warner Brothers East West division got involved in 2000 to release the single, “Babylon”, “the floodgates opened”, per Gray’s website. It went on to report that the single became one of the hits of that summer, the album became a multi-million global phenomenon and Gray’s popularity exploded.

As much as I admire many of his self-penned songs, I also love today’s track which was written and originally released in 1981 by English new wave/pop duo, Soft Cell (on the same album with their big hit, “Tainted Love”). Gray extended his cover by adding lines from two wonderful early Van Morrison songs, “Madame George” and “Into The Mystic”.

Gray’s version is a slowed down, stripped down version free of the synth-pop vibe of Soft Cell’s original. That helped highlight the empowering message of the lyrics sung so beautifully in Gray’s signature laid back reflective style & vibe. It is another example of how a song introduced in one genre can make an even bigger impact in the hands of another artist revisiting a well written tune 20 years later.

“Take your hands off me, hey
I don’t belong to you, you see
And take a look in my face, for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me“.

David Gray circa 2010. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

David Gray: “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (1998, written by Peter Mark Sinclair “Marc” Almond, David Ball and Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 12, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I am woefully behind in streaming many shows and movies, so much so that I will probably never catch up. That has a lot to do with me rewatching the shows I absolutely adore. So really I am OK with waiting to find new ones. Until I stumble upon one that envelops every part of me. Then I am all in.

When I was watching “Veep” during its seven year run (2012-2019), one of the recurring guests I really enjoyed was Hugh Laurie as Senator Tom James. I remember him as Rachel’s airplane seat neighbor on an episode of “Friends” (he broke the news to her that she & Ross were indeed on a break LOL!). I also saw him a lot during several award seasons for his many nominations for his role as the title character in “House” (for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series in 2006 & 2007). But I kept putting off that series. Until now.

It is exactly how every one described-hilarious, sad, touching, quirky, smart, insightful and relatable in more ways than one. And despite the fact that Dr. House acts very much like an adult Eric Cartman most of the time, the doctor’s brilliant diagnostic skills are unmatched by any other medical specialist who might be in a 9,000 mile radius. I fell into the series in the middle when I watched a S5 episode with a friend who told me I was starting with the darkest episode of the series. No spoilers for anyone who has not seen it yet (even though it was broadcast from 2004-2012, but then I was deeply invested in the ABC series, “Lost”). And Laurie is also a musician who plays the piano, guitar and harmonica in the series. How could I not like that?

Like many shows “House” features great acting, great writing, great storytelling and great music. And the episode I started with featured today’s song which fit the arc perfectly. The singer happens to be another guy from New Jersey I am quite fond of, Pete Yorn. His acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” made me a fan for life, not to mention so many of Yorn’s original tracks like today’s pick. It is from his incredibly wonderful 2001 debut album, musicforthemorningafter. Every time my intense love of music aligns with my passion for a great series, all is right in my world.

“Stop before you fall into the
Hole that I have dug here
Rest even as you are starting
To feel the way I used to”.

Hugh 1A

Yorn

Top: Hugh Laurie as Dr. House. Bottom: Pete Yorn’s 2001 debut album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Pete Yorn: “Lose You” (2001, written by Pete Yorn).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 5, 2023

Posted in Music, Music Monday by

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

In January I spotlighted the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s debut album. Today the celebration centers around his fourth studio record. Darkness On The Edge Of Town was released 45 years ago on June 2, 1978. It came three years after his breakthrough smash, the masterpiece also known as Born To Run. The delay came from Springsteen’s battle to free himself from the contract with his first manager, Mike Appel, due to conflicts over the direction The Boss’s career should take.

Enter John Landau, the rock critic who befriended the man he called “rock & roll future” in 1974. He has been Springsteen’s manager and ally ever since. Landau co-produced BTR and was the primary producer on all of The Boss’s albums until 2001’s, The Rising.

If BTR was about hope, Darkness expressed what happened when that feeling was gone. One who may “spend your life waiting for a moment that just won’t come”, or those who “walk through these gates with death in their eyes” to kill themselves day by day, piece by piece in the grueling existence of a mind numbing job like one offered by factory life, or those who had nothing but were better off that way because “soon as you’ve got something they send someone to try and take it away” to the ones who “got stuff running ’round my head that I just can’t live down”.

The take away messages seemed clear but empowering in a sense. Springsteen offered some relief by way of his own experience which was to let go of what he had heard his whole life to make way for the new narrative of real life which is that most people exist rather than live. And life was going to be hard enough to live without those false promises mocking you at every turn. Real life was not going from comfort to comfort to get what you wanted, it was about having to fight hard just to get what you needed. The real world was a harsh unflinching one where surviving day to day without that hope meant acknowledging that no one was coming to save you. You had to do that yourself. And the discovery that even if prayers were heard, sometimes the answer was no.

To mark 45 years of this fabulous record, I am sharing two songs today. The first is one of the songs he performed with his ever faithful E Street Band the night he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1999. It is the track from the album that is my go to when I need to remember I have a choice in how I can react to whatever is going on in my head because of the lies life not only wants to tell us but expects us to believe. It is reclaiming your mind, heart and soul. It is yet another example that even when Bruce does not have a solution, he still has an answer. And it takes me away from life long enough to catch my breath and regain my strength in order to return to the struggle.

“Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you
Nothing but lost and brokenhearted”.

The second song was featured in the 2001 movie, “Prozac Nation”. It is an outtake from the album that has to be one of the most heartbreaking tales Springsteen has ever told. According to his website, the original 1978 full band version of this song was not released until the 2010 album of the same name. Despite leaving this track off Darkness, he was performing it live during that period so fans were clamoring for it to be made available. He recorded a new stripped down version of this song for the 1999 album, 18 Tracks. And it is this simple sparse yet unbelievably elegant track that has completely captivated me from the very first moment I heard it. The melancoly timbre of his voice accompanied only by a solo piano arrangement underscores the sadness and pain of the story he shares with us. It hits me every time I hear it that this man has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. He sings my existence in every note: the good, the bad, the broken and the dark. Yet somehow I am comforted by the knowledge that he gets it. And no matter what, he is my home. My safe place. My constant.

“All my life I fought that fight
The fight that you can’t ever win
Every day it just gets harder to live
The dream you’re believing in”.

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darkness back

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Bruce zz

Top two images: The front and back covers of Springsteen’s 1978 album. Bottom two images: alternate photos taken during the photo shoot for the album. All photos by Frank Stefanko. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Bruce Springsteen: “The Promised Land” (1978, wriiten by Bruce Springsteen).

Bruce Springsteen: “The Promise” (1999, wriiten by Bruce Springsteen).

Stay safe and well.