Phil’s Faves: Songs, June 10, 2012

Posted on June 24, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Turn the clock back. Savage Grace rules my faves list this week and it has an incredible group of songs to surround it!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of June 10, 2012

1. Turn Your Head—Savage Grace
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Wild Weekend—Tinsley Ellis & The Heartfixers
4. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
5. Pontoon—Little Big Town
6. I Know You By Heart—Eva Cassidy
7. Ridin’ With the King—John Hiatt
8. Ships in the Night (Live)—Be Bop Deluxe
9. Linda Paloma—Jackson Browne
10. Over You—Miranda Lambert

1) “Turn Your Head”—I have been hooked on this classic since I heard it again! Of course, an incredible live performance by the current version of the band at The Magic Bag in Ferndale didn’t hurt it! The band did an amazing ensemble performance! If Savage Grace (Detroit Band featuring Al Jacquez) ever shows up at your town, run to see them!
2) “Banjo”—I thought that maybe the banjo might regain the top spot one more time, but I think that competition is going to start forcing this one down…………
3) “Wild Weekend”—I did not expect to have this song on the list for more than a week, but just like last year’s “Nut Rocker” by George Bedard, this Tinsley Ellis remake is hitting a nerve with me!
4) “Call Me Maybe”—I think this song stayed around longer than it probably should have just because Carly Rae Jepsen seems to have a universal appeal that cuts across demographics.
5) “Pontoon”—Ah, this Little Big Town sleeper will probably end up being my favorite song for the summer!
6) “I Know You By Heart”—This is the penultimate Eva Cassidy song, and it can make me cry every time I hear it. The vocal has so much emotion as it ebbs and flows between almost whispers to full throated sustains! The arrangement is perfect with muted background gospel humming, acoustic guitar, and a string arrangement that reminds me of “Long, Long, Time” by Linda Ronstadt. Her voice flits about like a butterfly in a meadow that goes to each flowered note sipping nectar. Sometimes she stays on this flower a little longer than you’d expect and just grazes the next one. It’s only the wind of the melody that pushes her along. I cry because Eva’s voice is so beautiful and it’s so unfortunate that she died so young from an untimely illness. (You can look it up if you want to. I only want to write about her music.) I don’t know that she would have been hugely successful, but I think she would have had a long career. I can only dream about the duets that never happened or the songs she didn’t sing. I hope to see her some day, if that is possible. Until then, we’re left with her beautiful songs that she made and released before they were even finished—but I know her by heart, and this one’s the best!
7) “Ridin’ With the King”—Nick Lowe’s thick fat funky bass line that anchors this song and pushes the boundary of acceptable recording limits like The Beatles and Paul McCartney did with “Paperback Writer” is only part of the greatness of this John Hiatt tribute about Elvis Presley! The first several times I heard it, I thought he was black—so obviously, great vocals! The song is punctuated by great full organ work! You can tell it was pretty much an open jam. Eric Clapton and B.B. King covered it years later and changed some of the words, thereby altering its effect. The original raw version is where it’s at! Proceed brothers!
8) “Ships in the Night (Live)”—Taken from Be Bop Deluxe’s “Live in the Air Age” album, this version updates an earlier forced sounding studio track. This one moves much faster and has a slight ska feel to it. Not only does it feature Bill Nelson’s swirling guitar riffs but there is room at the end for a very nice keyboard solo. This is probably my favorite live track by the band and it makes me wish I had seen them in person!
9) “Linda Paloma”—Buried amidst some great songs on the Jackson Browne’s classic “The Pretender” album you’ll find a very mariachi-flavored song about someone named Linda Paloma. The narration takes it time pulling the listener in. You know you’re lost in the song if when he gets to the part where he describes the wind, you can feel the desert breeze as the fiddles simulate it. The song is constantly punctuated by some great harp work—the classical kind. The song builds as Linda Paloma (the Mexican dove), prepares to fly away. Jackson tries to reach up to keep her as the notes keep going higher. Beautiful!
10) “Over You”—Wow! This song should feel honored for being considered in this group.
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, June 10, 2012

Posted on June 23, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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It’s the battle of the century: Banjos vs. Pontoons. Well, not exactly. But two versions of each video show up on this week’s list knocking poor Carly Rae Jepsen from the top spot. But I’m sure she’s getting a lot of phone calls now……………………
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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the week of June 10, 2012

1. Pontoon—Little Big Town on CMT Awards Show
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts on CMT Awards Show
3. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
4. Pontoon—Little Big Town
5. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
6. Lights—Ellie Goulding
7. Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck—Kip Moore
8. Angel Eyes—Love and Theft
9. Good Girl—Carrie Underwood
10. The Goat Rodeo Sessions Live on PBS

1) “Pontoon”—Wow! This was a difficult decision to make. I thought both performances by Little Big Town and Rascal Flatts at the CMT Awards Show were exceptional, but I chose “Pontoon” because of the impressive stage setting creating a vibe where you actually felt like you were on a pontoon with the band!
2) “Banjo”—Ashley Campbell, Glen Campbell’s daughter, traded her lacy white dress in for a hot red one and proved to everybody that doubted her banjo ability that she actually could play. This call was so close but I downgraded the performance because Rascal Flatts dumped Ashley in mid-song and finished the show doing “Don’t Stop Believin’” with Journey and its mini Steven Perry clone. Bad choice….
3) “Banjo”—I have even more renewed apreciation for the banjo after the CMT Awards show!
4) “Pontoon”—I didn’t think that Little Big Town could come out with a video that could make me forget “Little White Church” so fast. Happily, I was wrong!
5) “Call Me Maybe”—As I predicted, I think this video is going to fall pretty fast when the novelty wears off. But for now Carly Rae is in pretty good shape.
6) “Lights”—It falls a little more this week, but I still like watching it!
7) “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck”—Now that Easton Corbin’s video has disappared, Kip Moore’s song gets to corner the market on videos where a silly but beautiful woman dances around while the country singer does his song.
8) “Angel Eyes”—Just hooked into this one. It’s definitely a good song and the video seems…interesting!
9) “Good Girl”—Eventually, even a good Carrie Underwood video will have to fall off the list……….
10)“The Goat Rodeos Sessions Live on PBS”—I accidentally stumbled upon this show on Sunday afternoon. This basically was a live performance of one of the best “classical” albums from last year. The band consists of Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile (The Punch Brothers), Edgar Meyer, and Yo-Yo Ma. It’s an interesting mixture of classical and bluegrass as well as structured versus improvised song interpretation. Yo-Yo Ma, for example has to have his material written out and does not “jam.” The performance was filmed before a very enthusiastic crowd who “got it.” One of my favorites, “Here and Heaven,” features Aoife O’Donovan on vocals performing a haunting Appalachian song that The Civil Wars could learn from on how to do them right.
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“Q” Bombs: June 10, 2012

Posted on June 16, 2012 by PhilMaq

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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“Drive By” stays on top for an eighth week. Two oldies but baddies drop off but two more take their place……………
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Worst Videos for the week of June 10, 2012

1. Drive By—Train
2. Payphone—Maroon 5 with Wiz Khalifa
3. I Won’t Give Up—Jason Mraz on VH1 Storytellers
4. Springsteen—Eric Church
5. Safe and Sound—Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars
6. Brokenhearted—Karmin
7. The Fighter—Gym Class Heroes and Ryan Tedder
8. Wanted—Hunter Hayes
9. Drunk on You—Luke Bryan
10. Why Ya Wanna—Jana Kramer (From CMT “Listen Up”)

1) “Drive By”—Train are stuck in a loop and continue to go around the block………
2) “Payphone”—What is Adam Levine’s next big song about? “Popcorn Popper?” “I have the oil and the popcorn/ Now where’s the popper?”
3) “I Won’t Give Up”—Please give up…………….just the video………..
4) “Springsteen”—So cruel to keep hanging around…………..
5) “Safe and Sound”—Hopefully, this graveyard lullabye will go to sleep..forever………
6) “Brokenhearted”—Wow. A big fall this week. Here’s hopin’………………..
7) “The Fighter”—Doesn’t do anything for me…………..
8] “Wanted”—Personally, I want this Hunter Hayes video to disappear………
9) “Drunk on You”—I’m way past tired of writing stuff for this one……….
10) “Why Ya Wanna”—The original video for this Jana Kramer song is cute and colorful. The pedestrian live performance is dull and boring……
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Savage Grace: “Turn Your Head”– One of the Best Songs Ever Recorded!

Posted on June 16, 2012 by PhilMaq

“Turn Your Head”—I will not be able to write enough about this song…but here goes nothin.’

Savage Grace was an incredibly gifted Detroit area band from the early 70’s. Their self-titled first album was an instant classic. It put together so many different styles of music—many of which hadn’t even been named yet.

Savage Grace

Rather than talk about all of the songs, I am going to focus on just this one, which is the song that ends the album. This prototypical progressive rock song has all of the elements of the album encapsulated into this one epic sojourn!

It starts with Beatlesque harmonies over acoustic guitar and piano. Lead vocalist Al Jacquez, a singer who can do amazing vocal acrobatics, (check out “All Along the Watchtower” also by Savage Grace for Al at his best), wisely reigns in his talent to work as a team.

The song continues to build as piano and bass become more prominent and then retards before it explodes into a loud heavy metal guitar section. In fact, the dynamics on this song, the way the music level bounces back and forth between quiet and loud, are some of the best ever recorded.

The song then goes from its metal section into an extended Bach-inspired classical piano solo by John Seanor! This is where it gets the prog rock label—the pseudo-classical piano section mixed with the loud guitars.

Before the acoustic melody returns, the rest of the instruments join in with the piano through a transitional section that includes some of the earliest synthesizer work on a rock album. It gives the music a symphonic texture, almost of muted French horns, as the song retards again to pick up the melody.

After this familiar section, the song explodes into loud guitar supplied by the incredibly gifted Ron Koss, and tribal drumming, skillfully bludgeoned by Larry Zack, a forerunner of Renaissance’s later release of “Rajah Khan!” Maybe “Turn Your Head” was an influence for them, although Savage Grace do it much better on there own song.

After a couple of minutes of extended soloing the song ends somewhat abruptly as the band allows the listener to go over a cliff—even though they took them off many other cliffs during the previous six minutes.

This is just a small piece of what I feel about this song. It is a true life changing experience if you just let it take you where it can go. I like to think that this is the music that Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven would have been making if they lived during this era and played in rock bands!

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, June 3, 2012

Posted on June 16, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Carly Rae Jepsen stays on top for another week, but beware of the Pontoon. I’m especially talking to you, banjo. Also, forget that pretend sixties stuff from Gavin DeGraw. The real thing by Savage Grace from back in the day makes an appearance!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of June 3, 2012

1. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Turn Your Head—Savage Grace
4. Flash’s Theme—Queen
5. Wild Weekend—Tinsley Ellis & The Heartfixers
6. Sweeter—Gavin DeGraw
7. Over You—Miranda Lambert
8. Pontoon—Little Big Town
9. Shadow Days—John Mayer
10. Trafalgar—The Bee Gees

1) “Call Me Maybe”—Both the song and video for Carly Rae Jepsen is turning into a worldwide phenomenon!
2) “Banjo”—The banjo hangs tough for another week!
3) “Turn Your Head”—Savage Grace was an incredibly gifted Detroit area band from the early 70’s. Their self-titled first album was an instant classic. It put together so many different styles of music—many of which hadn’t even been named yet. This prototypical progressive rock song has all of the elements of the album encapsulated into one epic sojourn!
4) “Flash’s Theme”—This theme is one of my favorite Queen songs! Basically, since it was released on a soundtrack album, it was and still has been ignored by most music critics. Admittedly, the fact that the music doesn’t get to stand on its own but has to have soundtrack “chatter” as it appeared in the movie, doesn’t help. But this album was recorded when Queen was at its peak as a band. Brian May’s multi-layered guitars provide numerous sonic soundscapes for many of the songs. Another reason why this album may have been ignored was because of the campy movie it was created for. The movie, although it starred Max Von Sydow as Ming, and was very psychedellic colorful, bombed and the album pretty much disappeared, too. I really enjoyed when it was resurrected for a commercial a few years ago.
5) “Wild Weekend”—Tinsley Ellis is known more for his blues guitar work than covering other artists’ rock classics, but he does a great version of this Rockin’ Rebels nugget!
6) “Sweeter”—It’s getting close to the end of the run on this song………
7) “Over You”—I started hearing this one again and the melody and song are just so good and powerful!
8) “Pontoon”—I liked this song the first time I heard it and I’m guessing I’ll be hearing it all summer long! It’s a nice slow blues about “motor boating,” with the usual great Little Big Town harmonies!
9) “Shadow Days”—This low key John Mayer song is starting to grow on me……….
10) “Trafalgar”—I dug this Bee Gees classic out after hearing about the death of Robin Gibb. This very Beatlish sounding ballad, before they went disco, was always a favorite of mine.
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, June 3, 2012

Posted on June 4, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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Carly Rae Jepsen holds the top spot for another week but I see a pontoon on the horizon that may eventually have an effect on her.
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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the week of June 3, 2012

1. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Lovin’ You Is Fun—Easton Corbin
4. Lights—Ellie Goulding
5. Sweeter—Gavin DeGraw
6. Good Girl—Carrie Underwood
7. Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck—Kip Moore
8. Pontoon—Little Big Town
9. Somebody That I Used to Know—Gotye with Kimbra
10. Starships—Nicki Minaj

1) “Call Me Maybe”—I get a kick out of Carly Rae’s supportive band mates encouraging her to go out and attract her neighbor by washing her car. She does a nice slapstick job!
2) “Banjo”—I think this is one of my favorite videos so far this year!
3) “Lovin’ You Is Fun”—And so is this video!
4) “Lights”—It’s still moving up on VH1, but it’s starting to move down for me…….
5) “Sweeter”—It’s getting a little overripe now……………
6) “Good Girl”— Even I can appreciate all of the outfit changes in the video!
7) “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck”—I think this one’s losing steam for me…………..
8) “Pontoon”—Little Big Town’s new song has a great summertime video to go with it! I think this one will be big!
9) “Somebody That I Used to Know”—Hey, it’s still hanging around and I still like it! Welcome back!
10) “Starships”—Nicky Minaj’s video is visually stunning, but the song is nothing to write home about……………
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“Q” Bombs: June 3, 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by PhilMaq

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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“Drive By” stays on top for a seventh week. One long term bomb finally falls off as two new entries get unwelcomed onto the list.
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Worst Videos for the week of June 3, 2012

1. Drive By—Train
2. Payphone—Maroon 5 with Wiz Khalifa
3. Brokenhearted—Karmin
4. Springsteen—Eric Church
5. Safe and Sound—Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars
6. I Won’t Give Up—Jason Mraz on VH1 Storytellers
7. Feel So Close—Calvin Harris
8. Wanted—Hunter Hayes
9. Drunk on You—Luke Bryan
10. Fine By Me—Andy Grammer

1) “Drive By”—Train appears to be lost. Maybe their GPS isn’t working……..
2) “Payphone”—I hope this is a “bear” video. It’s climbing VH1’s countdown list quickly, so there’s hope………………………….
3) “Brokenhearted”—Now Karmin has gone Top Ten on VH1’s countdown. ODWITS!
4) “Springsteen”—I just know this song is going to last to torture me for a long time……………
5) “Safe and Sound”—Maybe this one will start to fall after the CMT awards………
6) “I Won’t Give Up”—Talk about gratuitous self-promotion! Now, I like this song and video and I even singled it out for another live performance on my faves list. But the fact that this video went to the top of VH1’s countdown when it never even appeared on the list before shows that the Countdown isn’t always credible. The performance isn’t even as good as the other one I mentioned. Shame on you, VH1!
7) “Feel So Close”—Uh, another week and I still feel the same about this one. In other words, nothing yet……………..
8] “Wanted”—Black & white video? Artsy and good! Words all over the background? Not so good………………………….
9) “Drunk on You”—Doesn’t everyone like to compare their love infatuation to a beer buzz…………
10) “Fine By Me”—I think this song is poised to drop off……………..
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Phil’s Faves: Songs, May 27, 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best songs that I listened to the previous week. Most songs will be current, but there are no boundaries. I’ve already stated on this web site that I am obsessed with music. I am constantly hunting it down whether it’s online, on CD, from my personal collection, from a library (Yes, I think the library is a great source of music–especially for music that you aren’t sure about.), TV, or radio. Since most of these sources mostly emphasize new music, the odds are pretty good that most of the songs on this list will be new. But in my search, I don’t use any boundaries for the other sources. I am just looking for good music that I haven’t heard, or happened to forget about. Everyone, including myself, has forgotten way more great music than they can ever remember-even if they are also music fanatics.
Also, there will be no rules concerning songs on this list. A song can show up or drop off a number of times. This will be the most volatile of my lists. It all depends on how much music I am exposed to during the week and what I find interesting. On really obscure stuff, I will try to include the source, if I know it.

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Carly Rae Jepsen tops both of my faves lists this week, but there are some great lost classics on this list!
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Top Ten Songs for the Week of May 27, 2012

1. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Rumour Has It—Adele
4. Lovin’ You Is Fun—Easton Corbin
5. Sweeter—Gavin DeGraw
6. Standing at the Station—Ten Years After
7. Karn Evil 9: Ist Impression, Part 1—Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
8. And You And I—Yes
9. Tubes World Tour—The Tubes
10. Over You—Miranda Lambert

1) “Call Me Maybe”—I didn’t think Carly Rae Jepsen’s song had enough to get to the top for me! Happily, I was wrong!
2) “Banjo”—I think this Rascal Flatt’s song still has more fight in it!
3) “Rumour Has It”—I think Adele had too quick of a run at the top for this song, but I’ve pretty much quit hearing it……………………..
4) “Lovin’ You Is Fun”—Corbin Easton’s song is starting to get under my skin!
5) “Sweeter”—Heading south………………………….
6) “Standing at the Station”—I listented to this song several times recently. It is taken from my favorite Ten Year’s After album “Rock and Roll Music to the World.” It’s basically a seven minute jam with a blues base about being stranded in a train station. There are plenty of time and rhythm changes with an exceptional synthesizer section. It is an incredible piece of music! The song ends when the train literally rolls through the station. It is a great work of art!
7) “Karn Evil 9: Ist Impression, Part 1″—This is the buildup to Karn Evil 9: Ist Impression, Part 2 which is the song which most people are familiar with from Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. I find the front part more interesting because of the path that it takes to get to the main, more confident Part 2!
8) “And You And I”—Yes’s wandering, gently moving stroll through a progressive forest starts with a melodic tuning on Steve Howe’s twelve string guitar and then meanders through great melodies, harmonies, and terrific keyboard work from Rick Wakeman! I will never get tired of hearing this song!
9) “Tubes World Tour”—The Tubes weren’t really known as a progressive synth rock band, but their first couple of albums had a lot of it. They also had a tendency to use the synthesizer for accents and comedic effect! This song, from “Young and Rich,” describes their experiences of being on tour with their first self titled album, “The Tubes.” After a catchy synthesizer intro, the song explodes with rocking guitars and moves so fast to the end that you can hardly catch your breath!
10) “Over You”—In relation to the songs above it, good but no comparison…..
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Phil’s Faves: Videos, May 27, 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by PhilMaq

This will be a personal weekly Top Ten list of what I consider to be the best videos currently available on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus mostly on current or recent videos. For this category, I am also going to include any live performances on talk or variety shows that I see during the week.

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A phone knocks the banjo from the top spot and a couple of really good live performances are highlights on this week’s list!
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Top 10 Videos and Performances for the week of May 27, 2012

1. Call Me Maybe—Carly Rae Jepsen
2. Banjo—Rascal Flatts
3. Lights—Ellie Goulding
4. Lovin’ You Is Fun—Easton Corbin
5. Sweeter—Gavin DeGraw
6. Good Girl—Carrie Underwood
7. Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck—Kip Moore
8. Starships—Nicki Minaj
9. Low Hanging Fruit—Tenacious D on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
10. Nomad—Carlos Santana on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

1) “Call Me Maybe”—A well deserved rise to the top for Carly Rae Jepsen! I really like this homemade looking video and it makes me laugh every time the look one of her band members has on his face when he receives the neighbor’s phone number!
2) “Banjo”—Rascal Flatts moved up again after falling on CMT’s countdown! That means the banjo season may continue longer than expected!
3) “Lights”—Ellie Goulding continues to hang on and move up on VH1!
4) “Lovin’ You Is Fun”—I like this video better than the Kip Moore one! It seems more playful!
5) “Sweeter”—Still good, but turning sour now………………………
6) “Good Girl”—Even though I’ve watched this video a number of times and I was ready to let it drop off, I actually played closer attention the last time I saw it and I picked up a few things I hadn’t noticed before. For example, I like the mirror angle of Carrie Underwood’s good girl/bad girl profile!
7) “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck”—I still like Kip Moore’s video, but I like the other videos more………………
8) “Starships”—Nicky Minaj alternates between looking hot and bad in the scenes in this video. I’m not sure what to make of that. But I really like what I’m guessing is the beautiful Hawaiian scenery as the backdrop for the video!
9) “Low Hanging Fruit”—I’m not normally a fan of Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass). I haven’t really found their songs to be all that funny even though Jack Black usually makes me laugh in even his worst movies, and I will watch “School of Rock” every time I run across it on TV! This live performance of a song chock full of double entendres that ended with a choreographed guitar army was flat out hilarious!
10) “Nomad”—Carlos Santana began promoting his new “Shape Shifter” album by performing this blistering instrumental taken from it on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno! He continues to be incredible!
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“Q” Bombs: May 27, 2012

Posted on June 3, 2012 by PhilMaq

A “Q” Bomb, like an “H” bomb, will be my term for a music video that I consider to be subpar in music, video, or both. This will be a recurring weekly list that will focus on the worst videos that are currently on TV. I don’t, as a rule, go searching for old music videos, so that’s why it will focus on solely on current or recent videos.
I hate to be so negative about music, but when an artist takes a “bad” song and then brings more attention to it by creating a “bad” video to support it, it will appear on this list. I honestly hope, and it could happen, that this list will be less than 10 items, but I have serious doubts that that possibility will happen. We are, after all, talking about an industry that uses art for huge profits. The companies can’t help themselves.
However, at this point, I will not do a 10 worst music list. I see absolutely no reason to waste time reemphasizing bad music. Once is enough.

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“Drive By” stays on top for a seventh week. One long term bomb finally falls off as two new entries get unwelcomed onto the list.
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Worst Videos for the week of May 27, 2012

1. Drive By—Train
2. Brokenhearted—Karmin
3. Springsteen—Eric Church
4. Payphone—Maroon 5 with Wiz Khalifa
5. Safe and Sound—Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars
6. Lullaby—Nickelback
7. Feel So Close—Calvin Harris
8. Wanted—Hunter Hayes
9. Drunk on You—Luke Bryan
10. Fine By Me—Andy Grammer

1) “Drive By”—Train continues to return, week after week, to the scene of their crime…
2) “Brokenhearted”—Karmin continues to keep the energy level high which means this one will be around for a while………………..
3) “Springsteen”—Eric Church uses the cheap ploy of wearing a flag around his neck in this video. When Bruce Springsteen waved the flag for “Born in the USA,” it was because of the exact same kind of pseudo patriotic fervor that was rampant in the country at the time. In other words, Eric Church doesn’t get it………………
4) “Payphone”—I do have to admit this mini movie within a video looks very exciting. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t make any sense……………………..
5) “Safe and Sound”—Taylor Swift’s strong brand recognition is keeping this very mediocre video and song hanging around way longer than it would’ve if it had been anybody else………………
6) “Lullaby”—This Nickelback video just keeps putting me to sleep every time I watch it. I guess it was appropriately named………………………
7) “Feel So Close”—I’m not 100% sold that this is a bad Calvin Harris video or song, so my opinion may change in the future. But right now, it does nothing for me…………..
8] “Wanted”—You know I am a Hunter Hayes fan, but I can’t believe that this is the video and song that most people want to see right now……………
9) “Drunk on You”—Luke Bryan’s video may rise again on the list, but right now it’s not irritating me too much…………………….
10) “Fine By Me”—I will say this about the video, I noticed two more things I like about it. The reel-to-reel recorder and the basketball hoop that shows up in the background are two things I personally really like!
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