MMMMMMM Pop Music

Ahhh, pop music!  If it wasn't for pop music you and I wouldn't be here would we (I don't mean here on the planet, I mean here in blogworld)?  We wouldn't get to spend some time together every day and what kind of people would we have turned out to be if we didn't have our daily dose of coma-inducing aural injections of bubblegum coming out of our radios and record players?  {{{shudder}}}

The goal today is to try and make up for the missing Wednesday post. So go get some snacks, make sure the cushion on your chair is comfy (ya know, for chair dancing, if you feel so inclined) and get ready for.....

Today's 15 Tunes!!

(Click here to listen to clips of these songs)

1.  This Is It - Kenny Loggins 3:35 (Columbia Records) "chhickitchapah - chhickitchapah" I just don't know!  I don't know what to say here and I don't know how I feel about the whole beginning of this song.  I hate the weird, breathy thing he is doing with his voice, but I love the arrangement going on in the background.  Then the music kicks in on the chorus (finally) and Kenny goes full throttle and sounds great!  Ok, so we have bad, we have good, then we have good again...until I remembered Michael McDonald's breathy voice is doing the back-ups for him, which in my book makes it bad again.  OYE! The other problem I have with many of Kenny Loggins' songs, I can't understand what he is saying.  I can make out every thrid word and then he loses me.  But the song brings back great memories of going to Nan's for some reason.  "The waiting is over/You're going no further"  now, see, if I could understand the rest of the lyrics, this wouldn't scare me so much!

2.  Modern Love - David Bowie 3:56 (EMI Records) OH MAN!!!  That funky guitar slide in the opening of this song just makes me so happy! Doing my best 80s chair dancing here!! "I know when to go out/I know when to stay in"  This is such a great party song! Love the horns and pounding piano in here! And then of course, there is Bowie's voice!!  Absolute original, one-of-a-kind!  Not a technically great singer but what a great sound, you can understand every word he sings and 9 out of 10 times there was some deeper meaning to what he was singing.  Take a lesson Kenny, that's how you sell a song!  David Bowie is one of the rare few that you can refer to as an artist (with a good dance beat!)

3.  Stairway To Heaven - Far Corporation 5:45 (ATCO Records) Now, I know, some of you are going to think this is blasphemous, but I had heard this version of Stairway in a bar in the Village in 1985 and loved it. It is very respectful of the original yet updated (80s style) in such cool ways.  Just the right combination of real instruments and very limited synths but it is the driving drums that make it for me! I even bought the album so that I could have the full 9:45 version!  Nobody can touch Zeppelin but this and Dolly Parton's version offer a new look at the song. (If you have never heard Dolly's version....look it up and listen.  It is outstanding!)

4.  Chuck E.'s In Love - Rickie Lee Jones 3:29 (Warner Brothers Records) If there was a list of the Top 100 coolest songs ever, this one would be in the Top 25.  "Is he here? I look in da pool hall. Is he heya? I look in the drugstowe. Well, is he heya? No, he don't come around heya no mowe!"  "Oh Christ, I think he even combed his hair!" I remember listening to this on my Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Sal's ultra-cool new stereo system when they first got it all set up and was blown away by the way the music was coming at you from the speakers and how you could hear the finger snap so clearly throughout the song.

Time for some chair dancing.

5. Trouble - Nia Peeples 4:15 (Mercury Records) This is one of those songs that I remember absolutely loving when it came out.  I haven't heard it in a hundred years, so, I hope I have the same reaction to it now. Cueing it up and.......go.  (WOW  there is a really good cue burn in the beginning of this one.  Think I played it too much?)   Oh yeh!  Oh YEH!  Still loving it!  It is very much like Janet's Pleasure Principle, which is what I always mixed it with, which is perfectly fine with me!  Although I have always really liked Paula Abdul, I used to think that Nia Peeples should have been Paula.  She could dance just as well AND she could really sing!! (Do you remember Nia on Fame - The Series? Loved it - loved her and Jesse)  There was a really hot video for this too!

Worked up a sweat there.  Time to slow it down a little.

6.  Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - Neal McCoy 3:17 (Atlantic Records) This is an outstanding, slightly countrified remake.  I first heard this version when I was working at Low Places.  In between line dance sets the DJ would play "belt-buckle polishers" (songs to slow dance with your best girl to) and I would always go over to my Mom and ask her to dance with me to this one, which she did!  I used to love when this came on!  Nothing cooler than getting to dance with my Mom! Good times.  Neal McCoy's voice is soooooo great!  He has an amazing range and such control.

7.  I Know There's Something Going On - Frida 4:06 (Atlantic Records) Ahhh, finally, the other "A" from AbbA, Annafrid aka Frida.  This song was produced by Phil Collins, who also, very obviously, plays drums on the track. There is such a menacing sound to this song.  Frida's voice, well, what is there to say?  She is incredible and I love hearing all the backing she did in the choruses.  So many, many, many memories with this one.  Hanging out with Brian Guiney, going to the dances at NYU, meeting Jamie Champa (a student at F.I.T. who is now a very success country song writer) and, for some reason, hot summers in NY!  Gotta love pop music!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEeerch.  Gear shift.

8.  The Battle Of New Orleans - Johnny Horton 2:28 (Columbia Records) This is one I bought for my Dad because he really loves this song. It was released in 1959 and is a bare-bones recording...a bass, a banjo and some drums, but man, what a cool sound.  I am smilling like a fool cause as I am listening to it, I can hear my Dad singing along with it. I am going to put the whole song on the music page so he can enjoy it again. Nothing like a little Civil War ditty to make ya smile.

9.  If - Bread 2:33 (Elektra Records) {{{happy sigh}}} This is one of the most beautiful love songs ever. There is nothing for me to say here. "If the world should stop revolving/spinning slowly down to die/I'd spend the end with you/and when the world was through/then one by one/the stars would all go out/then you and I would simply fly away" If I didn't know my parents, I would ask, do people really find that kind of love in their lifetime?  But I already know the answer.

10.  A Cowboys Work Is Never Done - Sonny & Cher 3:14 (Kapp Records) Here's one from the spindles that Steven promoted to a green paper sleeve.  Lots of scratches and LOTS of great memories.  Get your harmonica out (ok, S&C used a vocorder but it is supposed to be a harmonica)! Hold it firmly in your left hand and put your right hand over the front and blow...... WWWAAAAA-wwwwa-a-waaaa-waaa-waaaaaaa  "RIDE I used to jump my horse and RIDE"" Oh boy, the horns, the banjo, the mandolin and the spread on the drums...such a great arrangement. We used to watch the Sonny & Cher Show every week.  It was so well done and they were so great together.  Classic!!

Ok, going to go eat something and watch a movie.  I'll be back.                                     Miss me? I made Penne A La Vodka with pork medallions and watched Lords Of Dogtown, a movie that my beautiful niece Melissa gave me for Christmas (it is one of her favorites)!  Thanks Mel! By the way, if you haven't seen the movie, go out and rent it.  It is really good!

Ok, fat and happy and ready to go on.  Wow these last 5 are an eclectic bunch.  Chair dancin' first thankfully.  I can work off some of that pasta!

11.  Diamonds - Herb Alpert (Lead Vocals - Janet Jackson) 4:53 (A&M Records) Love this song! Herb and Janet.  Who woulda thunk it, right?  Well, it is his label and this is such a fun song, why not!  I forgot just what a well-produced dance jam this song is. It has that distinct Janet/Jimmy Jam sound and with Herb's trumpet....excellent. "You gave me some candy. It melted! Nice try." "I just want a token that can't go to waste.  Diamonds!"

12.  High Hopes - Frank Sinatra "and a bunch of kids" 2:42 (Capitol Records) Another one I bought for my Dad, also released in 1959, from the movie "A Hole In The Head".  Such a happy opening!  "Just what makes that lil ole ant think he'll move that rubber tree plant"  Well, he had High Hopes of course. This is a very cute song, but the message is so true. Now if we could only live our lives with High Hopes that we can do anything we set out to do and never give up....

13.  The Unicorn - The Irish Rovers 3:18 (MCA Records) I bought this one when I was DJing at The Happy Hour in Toms River.  One of the bar tenders, Carol,  who turned out to be a great friend, asked me to pick this one up for her.  I had never heard it before and thought, ok, but no one else is going to know it either.  Boy was I wrong.  EVERYONE knew it!  (I felt a little silly and greatly humbled) I'd play it and Carol would get up, take my microphone and lead everyone in a sing along. It was so much fun and I really miss her!!

14.  Me And You And A Dog Named Boo - Lobo 2:52 (Big Tree Records) Another one I have not heard in a million years.  First notes and I am, once again, sucked back in time.  Summer family vacations and 77 WABC.  This is also another great car song. Never really realized just how laid back and mellow this song is.  I am listening and just gently swaying from side to side. Remember when life was this sinple?

Here it is folks...the moment you've been waiting for.  Did you think this song would not be here with a title like today's post title....

15.  Pop Muzik - M 3:20 (Sire Records) Get up!  Get Down!  can't          type        dancing   Man o man, you would have to be dead to not move or bop to this song.  Sadly, I know every word to it.  "All around the world/whereever you are/dance in the street/do anything you like/do it in your car/in the middle of the night/lalalalala"! Such a brilliantly goofy song and the perfect way to end today's post.

WOW We were all over the place today, weren't we? So much fun music from so many different eras. I hope you all have a great weekend.  Go out and do something fun.  Call an old friend and go out for drinks.  Personally, I am going to another gun show this weekend!!  WOO HOOO! See you tomorrow.  Crank up that pop music kids.