13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 7

Posted on October 25, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings:

7) “Haunted House”—Jumpin’ Gene Simmons

This was my favorite Halloween song for a number of years! Basically, it’s a remedial rock song with breaks. The arrangement includes an adequate sax line and a cheesy organ.

The plot of the song is pretty basic, too. The singer describes what happens when he buys a house that is inhabited by a ghost who doesn’t want him around. The fun part of the song is the descriptions of the antics that the ghost does to scare him off. He drinks “hot grease from the fryin’ pan,” and “drinks hot coffee right from the spout.” It is the only song that I know of that has the line “I had a hunk of meat in my hand.” (And you know what? I don’t think I want to know about any other songs with that line.) The breaks have the ghost questioning him, “See if you’ll be here when the morning come!” And our hero always responds that he’ll be there and he “ain’t gonna run!”

The song was later rerecorded by Gene because the words are hard to understand on the original. I prefer the original because of the same lo-fi approach. Why make the words intelligible? It makes the listener hang on the words.

It is still a favorite of mine, and I enjoy it every year!

Only a “six-pack” of songs left. Check in tomorrow…………………………..

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!
Peace!
Q

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 6

Posted on October 24, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings:

8) “The Creature From the Tub”—Andrew Gold

Ooooooooo! This one is really scary—especially if you’re a little kid!!!! It’s bad enough that you have to take a bath when you’re young, but all of the dirty water might cause an apparition to appear: THE CREATURE FROM THE TUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the mid 1990’s and Andrew Gold, who just became a member of Phil Maq’s Hall of Fame last week, had young children. He took a look around the Halloween musical landscape and didn’t like what he saw—or heard. Outside of a couple of Rhino Records collections, or the CDs that rhyme with “Drew’s,” there really wasn’t much to choose from. There was the old tried, true, and either boring or done to “death,” or just plain awful choices. So he did what any father who’s a musician that noticed there was a hole in the musical spectrum would do: He decided he’d make his own family fun music.
Not only did he put together 10 solid songs on one CD, “Halloween Howls,” but he also made one of the best Halloween albums of all time!

To me, the best song on the album is “The Creature from the Tub!” While Andrew sings the lyrics, he does an excellent job describing the bathtub textures and scene. To authenticate the experience, you get to listen in on the mother and son talk about it. The music is a staccato metronome type of beat to simulate dripping water. The musical interludes have nice little synthesizer fills.

And the lyrics are ultra cute. Andrew sings the song from the perspective of the boy and gets to describe the tub water as getting “slimy” “icky,” and “sticky” and hopes the monster “doesn’t lick me.” He even tells his “mommy, it’s not funny.” It is possibly the cutest and most creative song about a monster you may ever hear!

Lucky #7 is tomorrow……………………………..

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!
Peace!
Q

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 5

Posted on October 23, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings:

9) “My Son the Vampire”—Allan Sherman

I swear (Of course I do.), this song always makes me laugh. Not because it’s so good. But because it’s so baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! It’s the only Halloween song I can think of where one of the monster’s actually has an offspring.

Allan Sherman was a comedian, who peaked in the 60’s. He made a series of silly comedy albums that usually included song parodies, and was best known for a brilliant musical letter home from camp known as “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.” He was the “Weird Al” Yankovic of his time—but he really couldn’t sing. He was just funny.

Anyway, back to the song. It starts with something falling over. Music stands? Sticks? Hardened nuclear waste? I don’t know. It’s like an abstract, avant garde beginning, giving the song way more credibility and class. When I listen to it, especially, if it’s something I’ve transferred it to, I skip this part. It just delays the “good” parts of the song.

Doing a terribly bad imitation of Dracula, the chorus consists of him shouting “BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD”

The verses are pure, stupid genius where Allan rhymes long lines that end with the likes of “dental floss” and “Red Cross.” His dad actually is warning people to stay away from him because he needs “BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!” What a good father who is disappointed in his son!

The music is cool lounge Jazz with purposely placed wrong piano notes, muted drums, and nicely accented cymbals. Towards the end, there is even some cowbell … and woodblock! The total effect is a dark brooding song with silly words constructed to keep the listener off balance. There’s even a “ratchet” sound throughout to make the song even more irritating. But the ultimate irritation is when I play this tune around other people—for them, not for me. I’m usually too busy laughing!

It is a relatively unknown Halloween classic!

Check in tomorrow for #8…………….

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!
Peace!
Q

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“Q”Bombs: October 23, 2011

Posted on October 23, 2011 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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Well, it appears that an unexpected wave of “good taste” seems to have invaded both CMT and VH1’s video countdowns by not voting in Blake Shelton’s “Footloose” or Beyonce’s “Countdown.” But it appears that good sense didn’t last long because “Remind Me” moved back to the top……………………..
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Worst Videos for the week of October 23, 2011
1. Remind Me—Brad Paisley with Carrie Underwood
2. Dirt Road Anthem—Jason Aldean
3. Not Over You—Gavin DeGraw
4. God Gave Me You–Blake Shelton
5. I Love You This Big–Scotty McCreery
6. Skyscraper—Demi Lovato
7. Pumped Up Kicks—Foster the People
8. Moves Like Jagger–Maroon 5 with Chritina Aguilera
9. Poison and Wine—The Civil Wars
10. Like My Mother Does—Lauren Alaina

1) “Remind Me” —This song jumped back on top of the CMT Top 20 Countdown. Can anyone “remind me” why it should be #1? I’ll skip the juvenile comment that it’s more like #2. (Uh, OK. I guess I didn’t.) Brad Paisley told CMT Insider that he asked Sheryl Crow to record the demo of the song. Well, if she sang it, at least the song would be better. But if it’s the same video, just with her, it would pretty much be the same result…
ODWITS!
2) “Dirt Road Anthem”—Two videos in the same countdown, and this one can’t get knocked off! DOUBLE ODWITS!!
3) “Not Over You”—Still hanging on just below the Top 10 on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown! TRIPLE ODWITS!!!
4) “God Gave Me You”—He couldn’t have possibly given us this video……………
5) “I Love You This Big”—Scotty actually has a decent song, “The Trouble With Girls” for the follow up to this one. I can’t wait until it knocks this one off……………….
6) “Skyscraper”—The longest fall from a skyscraper. Ever………………………….
7) “Pumped Up Kicks”—The kicks are finally starting to end for this song………….
8) “Moves Like Jagger”—Almost off the countdown. I’ll go easy this week………
9) “Poison and Wine”—There is NO WAY that this song could’ve taken five minutes to write. The double whammy of this song is that it never appeared on the CMT countdown. I have to be subjected to it on the VH1 countdown!
10) “Like My Mother Does”—This one actually isn’t that irritating to me. My only complaint is that they are packaging her as if she’s Carrie Underwood……….Jr………..

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Phil’s Faves: Songs, October 16, 2011

Posted on October 23, 2011 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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Dawes hits the top spot with some “productive” “Time Spent in Los Angeles” leapfrogging over Pat Bergeson and knocking Taylor Swift from the top. Competition is getting tougher. Is this the peak for Pat Bergeson…………………………

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Top Ten Songs for the Week of October 16, 2011

1. Time Spent in Los Angeles–Dawes
2. Down at the Plaza–Pat Bergeson featuring Dan Anderson, Tom Roady, and Steve Shapiro
3. Sparks Fly–Taylor Swift
4. (I Want To) Come Home–Paul McCartney (From the movie “Everybody’s Fine”)
5. We Owned the Night-Lady Antebellum
6. Nut Rocker–George Bedard
7. She Said Traffic (Mashup)
8. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
9. Stereo Hearts-Gym Class Heroes with Adam Levine
10. Red Solo Cup-Toby Keith

1) “Time Spent in Los Angeles”—I can’t hold back any longer. This song is currently my favorite! At least for now…………………………..
2) “Down at the Plaza”—Knocking on the door for another week. It’s such a cool song!
3) “Sparks Fly”—For some reason, I didn’t hear or see this song very much this last week, so it didn’t get reinforced like it usually does. Still good!
4) (“I Want To) Come Home”—This one sounds so much like a Beatles’ song, that I can’t believe it never really got played! You’ve got to check it out if you’re a fan!
5) “We Owned the Night”—A big leap by Lady A! This one could have easily fit on their first two albums and that might be why it’s sticking to me!
6) “Nut Rocker”—I like this one more every time I hear it! Depending what kind of songs are out in the next couple of months, and since this song has Christmas ties, it could be around for a long run. I’m not sayin’………. I’m just sayin’……….. (Whatever that really means……………………..)
7) “She Said Traffic”—An ultra cool mashup that I first heard on Dennis Mitchell’s Breakfast with The Beatles as an uncredited song in his first online hour. The first hour of the current week’s show is always available at beatlesradioshow.com! So I went on a scavenger hunt and found it on youtube. It is well worth finding as it combines “She Said, She Said” by The Beatles with “Crosstown Traffic” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience for an experience that you haven’t heard before! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!
🙂 “Stupid Day Job”—I know this song is close to the end of it’s run, but I feel it will return at a later date…………………………………. wallypleasant.com!
9) “Stereo Hearts”—I was right that I might change my mind about this song. I don’t really care for this video but I’m crazy about the imagery of the words!: “My heart’s a stereo….Turn me up when you feel low……….” Travie McCoy and Adam Levine make a great combination!
10) “Red Solo Cup”—The first song from Toby Keith’s new album “Clancy’s Tavern” is very catchy! It is simple, stupid, … and great! Now, when a musician says something like “I wrote in five minutes,” I usually just think to myself “Yeah. Right.” But if I heard Toby say that he wrote this song in five minutes, I’d say “What took you so long?” It’s hilarious!

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 4

Posted on October 22, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

13 Halloween Hauntings:

Halloween

10) “The Blob”—The Five Blobs

Song #10 is a mostly instrumental one with a pretty awesome saxophone solo—and I am not even a big sax fan! I usually only like it when it’s right, and it’s right in a big way on this song!

It starts out with a nice acoustic guitar riff that pops up again later in the song. Then the sax and the rest of the band falls in including a group of male singers who get to sing about such exciting things as a “splotch” and a “blotch.” The song has a kind of “Tequila” by The Champs feel to it with the occasional break to tell you to “Beware of the Blob!”

The song also includes “pops” done before every chorus. The type of pop I’m describing is the kind where you put your finger in your mouth and pull it out to make that noise. I saw Burt Bacharach a few years ago and he took great pleasure in making that sound—and he should because he wrote the song and it was his first hit! Hard to believe, huh! The guy who gave us great romantic songs like “(They Long to Be) Close To You” and such huge anthems as “What the World Needs Now” started out writing the ending credit song for “The Blob” (the one with Steve McQueen) would give the world such great music! If only the movie would’ve lived up to the campy song!

The song usually makes me laugh if I haven’t heard it in a while, but it wouldn’t be Halloween to me without it!

Check in tomorrow for #9…………….

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!

Peace!

Q

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 3

Posted on October 21, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings:

11) “They Don’t Scare Me”-Mickey Mouse from “Halloween Songs and Sounds”

There are a lot of bad or repetitive children’s Halloween collections that are available (I won’t name names but most of them rhyme with “Drew’s”), so it would make perfect sense that Walt Disney Records has put out several good ones over the years. My only complaint is that their releases are usually split equally between a handful of songs and sound effects.

I picked a song that I think is one of their best. It’s a duet between Mickey and a Dr. John sound alike. Mickey bravely stands up tall to all of the spooky things that his singing partner throws at him by chuckling that “They don’t scare me!” Behind all of this is a nice background of piano and backup singers done in a New Orleans swing style.

At the end, it is obvious that all of Mickey’s responses were actually a false front as the other singer drops out. And when he doesn’t respond, Mickey starts to sheepishly ask if that noise he’s hearing is Goofy. A spooky majestic organ and menacing laughter finishes off the song. (Don’t worry. I think Mickey survived.)

Check in tomorrow for #10…………….

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!

Peace!

Q

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 2

Posted on October 20, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings:

12) “Mr. Halloween”-The Brickbats

Number 12 is a frenetically rockin’ indie song bordering on punk or metal!
I don’t know anything about The Brickbats, but I can tell you that the song is from their “Monster Party” CD. It starts out with a nice tom-tom beat/shuffle intro and then kicks in to the verses. It has a lot of breaks and should be played LOUD!!!

I kind of like the thought about a character known as Mr. Halloween who goes around “dancing on unmarked graves.” As I said before: PLAY IT LOUD!!!!!!!!!!

Check in tomorrow for #11…………….

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!

Peace!

Q

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13 Halloween Hauntings: Day 1

Posted on October 19, 2011 by PhilMaq

For the next 13 days, I am going to list my all time favorite Halloween songs. There will be a new entry every day in reverse order, and the list will be kept on the “lists” page. I will also provide some commentary with each entry. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!Halloween

13 Halloween Hauntings

13) “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”-Blue Oyster Cult from “Agents of Fortune” 

Blue Oyster Cult Agents of Fotrune

To start things off, I have picked a classic rock selection from the 70’s. The song is very atmospheric, and uses dynamics to great effect. Almost acting like a chorus, the hypnotic guitar riff finally gets the opportunity to explode for an extended solo in the middle instrumental section. The words are very descriptive and visual as the reaper tries to seduce the maiden to go with him. What better way to start the holiday list than with this gem!

Oh, and before I go, I almost forgot to tell you, “I have a fever, baby. And the only way to cure it is with more cowbell!” The song, of course, was immortalized with hilarious performances by Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken on a Saturday Night Live satire of VH1 Behind the Scenes! And you know, you can never, ever, have enough cowbell!

Check in tomorrow for #12…………….

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Until next time, take care of yourself, and take care of each other!

Peace!

Q

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Phil’s Faves: Videos, October 16, 2011

Posted on October 18, 2011 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.

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 Pink Floyd invasion took place on television last week! The best performances made this week’s list……………

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Top 10 Videos for the week of October 16, 2011

Houses of the Holy

Wally Pleasant - Houses of the Holy cover

1. Sparks Fly—Taylor Swift
2. Stupid Day Job–Wally Pleasant
3. Storm Warning–Hunter Hayes
4. Brighter Than the Sun–Colbie Caillat
5. Gonna Get Over You–Sara Bareilles
6. All Your Life–The Band Perry
7. In the Flesh–Roger Waters with The Foo Fighters from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
8. Breathe–The Shins from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
9. Wish You Were Here–Dierks Bentley from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
10. Red Solo Cup—Toby Keith

1) “Sparks Fly”—Billboard’s Woman of the Year with another winner!
2) “Stupid Day Job”—What can I say about this video that I haven’t already said? It’s catchy and funny! What do ya want for free? Go to wallypleasant.com.
3) “Storm Warning”—Still hasn’t made the CMT Top 20 List? The song’s good. He’s good looking. What’s the problem? Wasted your vote on “Dirt Road Anthem?” Hmmm……….?
4) “Brighter Than the Sun”—It seems to be picking up steam again on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown! Shooting for the top now…………
5) “Gonna Get Over You”—I don’t want to “get over” this video. I hope it gets voted onto a list….
6) “All Your Life”—Quirkier video than you would expect from this group………..
7) “In the Flesh”—A great performance under any circumstances on a song from “The Wall!”
🙂  “Breathe”—An almost perfect reading of a “Dark Side of the Moon” classic—harmonies included!
9) “Wish You Were Here”—Dierks turned this Pink Floyd title track into a bluegrass classic just like he did with Del McCoury on U2’s“Pride in the Name of Love” on his “Up on the Ridge” CD. If you were hearing if for the first time, you would think that Pink Floyd were from some Appalachian holler! Another great interpretation from Dierks!
10) “Red Solo Cup”—The hilarious new video from Toby Keith! I like it a lot!

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