Thursday, August 10, 2006

Number 914 - Sly Fox


Number 914

Sly Fox

"Lets Go All The Way"

(1985)
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................Genre: Dance...............

Right, welcome back to "The Hitchikers Guide To Rock & Roll". Lets hitch a ride back to '85 (Whaddya mean you dont want to go?) It'll be fun ! Honest.
Have you seen my cat?
Sly Fox only had one hit, but it was quite a single. In 1986, Let's Go All the Way" lit dynamite onto the pop charts, an infectious dance track with a thumping drum sound and funky bass. It may have seemed like a lone gem from a rather anonymous group of now-you-see-them-now-you-don't newcomers, but it was actually the work of veteran Gary Muddbone' Cooper. Let's Go All the Way", with its oddball mix of hip-hop, Latin pop, disco, and New Wave, crossed radio formats, from R&B to Top-40 to Rock of the 80s" stations ruled by the Smiths and the Cure. Ultra slick, catchy, and making little sense, it could have only come from the 80s. Joined by vocalist Michael Camacho, Cooper was able to take his funk roots into the synthesized 80s, and Let's Go All the Way" hinted at greatness. Unfortunately, their debut LP was critically panned and didn't sell well as it should. The album was drenched in filler, mainly lightweight funk and superficial pop/rock that left no lasting impression. Heavy exposure of Let's Go All the Way" on MTV lengthened Sly Fox's shelf life, but without any other similarly strong tunes, they quickly joined the list of one-hit wonders, and Cooper moved on to other projects, including collaborating with blues guitarist Kelly Richey. Let's Go All the Way" remains a favorite on 80s flashback programs and retro dance clubs. ~ [Source: Michael Sutton]
For The Cure see #395, #881
Need more information on the song "Lets Go All The Way"? Here are some SongFacts for you to ponder over! Click here > Fact Stuff

Official Website for Sly Fox @ This addy & for other Information/Biography click this link > Here ~ crowbarred [because power is knowledge]
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Nope, However Parliment...) and the Album ranked at Number (R.S skipped the 80s...shocking time for music)
This song has a Definitive 1000 rating of 56.1 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

www.crowbarred.com, greatest songs in the world, best 1000 songs of all time, top 1000 songs of all time, best 1000 songs, alltime 1000 songs, the best songs of all time, worlds best songs, greatest songs of all time, the all time greatest songs, 1000 top songs of all time, best 1000 songs, top 1000 pop songs, best rock songs of all time, 1000 classic rock songs,

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posted by crowbarred at 10:09 pm 0 comments

Number 913 - Harvey Danger


Number 913

Harvey Danger

"Flagpole Sitta"

(1998)
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................Genre: Indie Rock...............

No its not the house from Amityville Horror nor a band recording from it. (And if you could ... would you ????).

"I'm not sick, but I'm not well" whines vocalist Sean Nelson in "Flagpole Sitta," the first single released from Harvey Danger's 1998 debut album. Such studied bile and wry wordplay abound on this lyrically and musically very solid first effort. Rather than pigeonholing themselves into a sub-genre, Harvey Danger seem to have incorporated a variety of "alternative" influences -- notably the Pixies, the Wedding Present, and Joy Division -- plus bits of Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, the Smiths, Hole, Green Day, Buzzcocks, Ride, and Iggy Pop. The band's use of dynamics on this album is subtle and skillful, gliding within one song from a whisper to a wall of noise and back again seamlessly. With its melodic basslines and roomy, fuzz-box guitars chugging away at forceful riffs that straddle the line between '70s brit-punk and '80s indie, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? should be immediately accessible to fans of intelligent, sardonic, hard-edged rock. In "Private Helicopter," Nelson sneers "If you've got greatness in you, would you do us all a favor and keep it to yourself?" Fortunately, Harvey Danger have chosen not to take their own advice. ~ [David Kent]

Nice to see an "expert" know what he's talking about
For Iggy Pop see Number 980
For Joy Division see Number 401
For Hole see Number 507 & MM Vol 1 #030
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Makes you wonder) and the Album ranked at Number (They must have missed that one)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 56.2 out of 108
Search Artist here
1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
Murihiku
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posted by crowbarred at 10:16 pm 0 comments

Number 915 - Catatonia


Number 915

Catatonia

"Road Rage"

(1998)
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................Genre: Alt Pop...............

Second entry from Wales (First one being Tom Jones) but of course

The most traditional pop band of all the Welsh bands to emerge in the post-Brit-pop days of the mid-'90s, Catatonia reworked the sound of jangling late-'80s alternative rock with the punchy, amateurish indie-rock attack. Comprised of vocalist Cerys Matthews, guitarist/vocalist Mark Roberts, guitarist Owen, bassist Paul Jones and drummer Aled Richards, Catatonia formed in Cardiff, Wales in the early '90s. Matthews and Roberts used to busk together in Cardiff before officially forming the band.

Dont fear here, these guys know how to Alt Rock. "Road Rage" is a snappy and enjoyable box of marshmellows on tinfoil, kick of your ninja shoes and enjoy. (No i don't smoke Pot)

For Tom Jones see Number 943 & Number 740

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Nope, nah ah, not a chance) and the Album ranked at Number (Dont rate anything they cant speak)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 56.1 out of 108
Search Artist here
1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
Tekawhata
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posted by crowbarred at 9:54 pm 2 comments

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Number 395 - Cure


Number 395

The Cure

"Just Like Heaven"

(1987)
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394 ........Genre: Alternative....... 396
I can see heaven, wait, no, its LOTR
Remembering that 1987 was a big year for music releases, for example: U2's "Joshua Tree", Roger Waters "Radio K.A.O.S", Def Leppard's "Hysteria", George Michael's "Faith", George Harrison's "Cloud Nine" & Michael Jackson's "Bad" to name a few, [check releases for 1987 here] shows that The Cure's "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" [that's a mouth full, excuse the pun] did exceptionally well considering all the heavyweights competing at the same time. Although having the lead single "Just Like Heaven" helped the album sales greatly no doubt. The song itself, is a great song and definitely deserves to be in "The Definitive 1000 Songs of all Time"
Robert Smith
It all started in 1976 as 'Easy Cure', formed by Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) along with schoolmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Lol Tolhurst (drums) and local guitar hero Porl Thompson. They began writing and demoing their own songs almost immediately, playing throughout 1977 in Southern England to an ever growing army of fans. In 1978 the 'Easy' was dropped, along with Porl, and an eager trio now known simply as The Cure were quickly signed to Chris Parry's new Fiction label. In 1987 The Cure brought out Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, an immense double album of extreme and extraordinary stylistic range, and with the arrival of Roger O'Donnell on keyboards the 6-piece Cure traveled the world with the 'Kissing Tour', enjoying 4 more hit singles along the way. The wonderfully atmospheric Disintegration was demoed in 1988 and released in 1989, and despite being a work of powerful brooding grandeur, it too gave rise to 4 hit singles. The awesome 'Prayer Tour' that followed, with the band back down to a 5-piece following the departure of Lol Tolhurst, included some of The Cure's best performances to date, and was captured live for the album Entreat.
Cured
Simultaneously more accessible and ambitious than any of the Cure's previous albums, the double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me finds Robert Smith expanding his pop vocabulary by tentatively adding bigger guitars, the occasional horn section, lite-funk rhythms, and string sections. It's eclectic, to be sure, but it's also a mess, bouncing from idea to idea and refusing to develop some of the most intriguing detours. Even if Kiss Me doesn't quite gel, its best moments -- including the deceptively bouncy "Why Can't I Be You?" and the stately "Just Like Heaven" -- are remarkable and help make the album one of the group's very best. ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]
Just Like Heaven
Kiss me x 3
In order to develop material for Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Robert Smith forced himself to write music for 15 days of each month. During this regimen, he developed the chords and melody which form the basis of "Just Like Heaven". Structurally, Smith found what he had written was similar to The Only Ones's 1979 hit "Another Girl, Another Planet". When he brought an instrumental demo of the song to the album recording sessions in Southern France, Cure drummer Boris Williams increased the tempo and added an opening drum fill which inspired Smith to introduce each instrument singularly and in sequence. When the French TV show Les Enfants du Rock asked The Cure to provide a theme song Smith offered the instrumental version. As he explained, "it meant the music would be familiar to millions of Europeans even before it was released". He completed the lyric when the group moved the sessions to Studio Miraval, located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The band completed the song quickly, and at the time Smith considered it to be the most obvious potential single from the songs the band had recorded during their two week stay at Miraval. ~ [Source: Wikipedia]
For U2 see Number 661, MM Vol 1 #038 & MM Vol 1 #129
For Roger Waters see Number 497 & MM Vol 1 #138
For George Michael see Number 450 & #821 #581 [with Wham]
For George Harrison see Number 806
For Michael Jackson see Number 580 & #621
For more Cure see Number 881
For the Only Ones see Number 524
So, what does RS think of the Cure?
Even in a year already marked by sprawling, ambitious double albums from Prince and Hüsker Dü, the Cure's new Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me stands out. Like Sign o' the Times and Warehouse: Songs and Stories, this two-record, eighteen-song set is about reaching inward. The Cure is trying to deepen and refine an existing sensibility rather than reach outward to expand it. On previous efforts, guitarist and singer Robert Smith has flirted with everything from conceptually orchestrated studio pop (The Top) to sarcastic dance tracks ("Let's Go to Bed"); now that the Cure has evolved into an actual band, he's able to consummate those eclectic desires. Kiss Me is a breakthrough all right. For the first time, the Cure's music is relatively unfettered by pretension and indulgence, and the results are remarkable. ~ [Source: Rolling Stone 1987]
For Prince see Number 812 & MM Vol 1 #136
Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '395th Song of all Time' was "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" by The Shangri-Las. The Shangri-Las have not appeared in The Definitive 1000 of All Time.
Other songs with reference to The Cure #404, #444, #483, #609, #914
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number 483 and the Album ranked at (2 other albums but not this pearler)
This song has a Definitive 1000 rating of 78.7 out of 108

Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

underlay trademe

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posted by crowbarred at 10:22 am 0 comments