Witches

Samhain Spirit Circle

What could have motivated modern witches and pagans to leave the churches their parents took them to?

Sheer boredom, perhaps?

Elvira---Mistress of the Dark

I'm dedicating this post to Rilo Kiley and myself. The band members grew up in Southern California where the Elvira show was the thing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Michael Jackson---Thriller

I'm not a big Jackson fan, but what the hell...

Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Cryptkickers---Monster Mash

It caught on in a flash...

The Zombeatles---A Hard Day's Night

Happy Halloween, good people.

Pee Wee Herman on Jimmy Kimmel

This guy kills me.

No Reply

What was the Beatles' answer to accusations by evangelicals that they were commies?

"No Reply".

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You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

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The Amazing Jenny Lewis---Absence of God

This is the woman that convinced me that good song writing persists into the 21st century.

Haley727 Covers "Glendora"

Haley727 busts out a sweet cover of Rilo Kiley's cult classic "Glendora". That's the song all the kids are screaming for but Rilo Kiley never plays. Well, now Haley has your fix.

Put her in the talent contest!

Proto-Sesame Street

It's like seeing the Silver Beetles in Hamburg.



Here's the one you forty-somethings grew up with, from 1970.

Sesame Street is after my time, but I heartily approve of it, and enjoy watching it on occasion.

The Count is my favorite character.

A Day In The Life

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A Hard Day's Night

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It's Only Love

In the earlier 60's the people who owned radio stations in America were so hard-hearted that they would not allow DJ's to play songs from albums not released as singles. Consequently, great songs like Lennon's "It's Only Love" got no airplay.

All that changed in the late 60's when "underground" stations on the FM band started playing anything they felt like, including an entire album side. For a few years, nothing was better than Top Forty AM and the more adventurous FM, for sheer variety and quality.

Now radio is complete garbage.

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Moody Blues---Isn't Life Strange

If your roommate is into Marilyn Manson, you might want to listen to this one by yourself.

1972.

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Bobby

I watched Emilio Estevez's film Bobby last night. If you're interested in watching that movie, this review will SPOIL it for you.

I'll wait while you decide whether or not to read on.

Still here? Okay...

The movie isn't very good mostly because Estevez writes horrific exposition. It feels like every character walks right up to the camera and catches you up on their life story. I probably would have abandoned this movie early on if it weren't for the fact that it was about Bobby Kennedy and the cast is utterly stacked. I'm not even going to go into it, but every star in Hollywood, for better or worse, is in this thing.

In the third act, however, the history takes over and the shortcomings of the filmmaker disappear.

The third act skillfully weaves archive footage of the brief comments Bobby made that night, disturbing footage of the mayhem following the shooting including images of the mortally wounded Kennedy, with the resolution of the character arcs from film and the approach of the fictional version of the assassin. A voice over of Kennedy's stirring last speech plays over it. Scenes from the war in Vietnam and the protest in the streets of the United States are inserted elegantly into the sprawling montage.



The film ends with a song written for the film by Bryan Adams, sung defiantly and inspirationally by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige called "Never Gonna Break My Faith."

This is a video a YouTuber made for that song.

Zakk Wylde Covers Hey Jude

Sounds a bit like Ray Charles.

Rilo Kiley---Close Call

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Green Day---Time Of Your Life

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Tracy Chapman---Change

Would you?

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Bob Dylan---Like A Rolling Stone

Once upon a time...

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Beatles---Baby's In Black

This one is from the Beatles For Sale album in the UK, Beatles '65 in America. The difference in the way the Beatles' music was marketed on opposite sides of the pond had to do with the profit margin of Capitalist Records...may it rot in hell.

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Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl to Do

Bat for Lashes has been breaking out of the pack. I see or hear new mentions of them daily. They deserve it, they are fantastic. And what would the sims in this video do without an appropriate soundtrack?

George Harrison---It's All Too Much

It really is, if you look around you...

"The more I look inside, the more there is to see."

Yusuf - Peace Train

Once again, Blue Gal finds a gem.

Please Mr. Postman

I must have heard the Marvelette's version of "Please Mister Postman" many times--because my older siblings had the radio playing constantly--but the song made no impression on me...until I heard John's lead vocal, George and Paul singing background harmony, and Ringo's creative drumming.

It was like that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy looks out of the house that the cyclone transported to the Land of Oz, which is in color, whereas the previous scenes were in black and white. Hearing the Beatles do Please Mr. Postman brought the song to life for me.

I remember my hair standing on end, and my foot tapping as if it had a mind of its own.

For the first time in my life, without encouragement from anyone but John, Paul, George, and Ringo...I began to sing.

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From Me To You

Some really early stuff.

Don't forget, the Beatles were professional musicians in the 50's.

I'm getting a bit geriatric myself...

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The Fine Art of the B-Side--Rilo Kiley's "Jenny, You're Barely Alive"

This track is from the fantastic Saddle Creek 50 compilation. It's heavier and darker than most RK songs. It's about the good things we miss while we're struggling to get through bad times.

The Fine Art of the B-Side--Tori Amos Edition

No one I know of puts more effort into non-album tracks than Tori Amos. Some of her best songs never graced her fine albums.

This song, "Sugar," Amos claims was divinely inspired by Freddy Mercury hours before she had to record it.



Amos plays another gem of a B-side during a sound check, which even she regrets leaving off her second album called "Honey".

Fifth Dimension---Age Of Aquarius

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The Beatles---Twist And Shout

There's that full Lennon vocal that we all love, and that ooooooooo...

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Grateful Dead---Box Of Rain

710 Ashbury, where the entire Grateful
Dead lived back in the day.

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John Lennon---Mother

Mama don't go...Daddy come home...

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Theme From The Godfather

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Peter, Paul, And Mary---Puff The Magic Dragon

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The Fine Art of the B-Side--Foo Fighters' "Down in the Park"

This weekend I'm going to do a series of posts celebrating great songs that great artists did not see fit to include on their great albums. I refer to these as B-Sides, though they may or may not have ever been an extra track on any single. These gems just pop up, usually, these days, via music blogs like, well, this one.

This first offering is one of my favorite songs. It's a cover of a 1979 Gary Numan single.

Some Wikipedian has this to say about the lyrics:

Lyrically the song crystallized the dystopian science fiction concept that was the basis of the Replicas album. Heavily influenced by such writers as J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick, it tells the chilling story of a futuristic park in which Machmen (androids with cloned human skin) and machines rape and kill human beings for the delight of spectators who, along with their numerically-named robotic "friends" ("Down in the Park, with a friend called Five"), view the carnage from a nearby club ("Zom Zoms").

The piece was typical of Numan's themes at the time, both embracing and fearing technology. In contrast to much contemporary post-punk music, and his own earlier releases, Numan's vocals were deliberately underplayed, leaving the slow and stately synthesizer work to evoke the song's melancholy atmosphere.

The delivery of singer David Grohl and the rocking coda make this version way better than Numan's synth heavy original. We need not mention the horrific version of this puked out by the very marginal Marylin Manson.



MP3 - Foo Fighters - Down in the Park.

Johnny Cash---Big River

This guy's voice gives me the chills. And I'm hetero!

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Elvis---Suspicious Minds

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LOVE: Lady Madonna

KTWS Radio broadcasts every day from America's Deep South, in the land of the alligators. Local temperature is 84 Beatle degrees at 10 pm.

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Delta Rhythm Boys--Dry Bones

1944.

I don't know if they were "the Greatest Generation" but they were great enough. I do miss my Dad.

George Martin Produces Jim Carrey Cover, I Am The Walrus

Well, what do you know.

George Harrison And Friends---"Something"

Kesi, a demonic shape-shifting yogi,
tried to terrorize the people of Vraja.
But the young Krishna cleaned Kesi's
clock.

To say that George Harrison, by the time the Beatles were breaking up, had "matured as a songwriter"...is an understatement. But everyone says so.

I thought "Don't Bother Me" was great!

For those of you who don't know, Harrison wrote "Something" about his Lord Krishna, not a woman. He changed 'He' to 'she' because he felt that few would understand.

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Are Commercials in Movies Worse Than Piracy?

I'm buying this argument. Commercials do not belong in the movies. And I'm not a fan of product placement either.

Check out this penguin that when you click it, it takes you to my other blog.And by the way, silence your cell phones. I know it's a blog, just do it!

Rilo Kiley - Dream World

Rilo Kiley performs "Dreamworld" live on Boston's WFNX (September 14, 2007).



UPDATE: Apparently, they played two other songs at this appearence:
"Close Call"


"The Moneymaker"

Beatles---She's Leaving Home

So beautiful, so postmodern, so Paul.

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Cat Stevens---Morning Has Broken

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Elton John---Your Song

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Rilo Kiley - I Love L.A.

Performed, where else, Santa Monica. On an electric guitar no less.

Big Jim Croce---Time In A Bottle

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Gordon Lightfoot---If You Could Read My Mind

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

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Paul McCartney---We All Stand Together

Those who hate McCartney for "breaking up the Beatles" and his penchant for saccharine music, will get their oats here. Just remember that all four Beatles added their stuff to come up with the magic that influenced the world so much.

George Harrison---I Need You

John Lennon---Girl

Jenny Kee, one of John Lennon's women

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R.E.M. -- South Central Rain

Blue Gal posted the other song REM played on this episode of Letterman's show in 1983, "Radio Free Europe".

This is the equally sublime "South Central Rain".

Leonard Cohen---Hallelujah

This is one of my favorite songs, introduced to me by the Station Agent. I must post it every few months at The Walrus Speaks.

King David is humbled by his love for a woman, and they are both humbled before God. The blurring of the distinction between the mundane and the sacred would confound Emile Durkheim, but gets an A+ from Hector Diego.

However, if you are an American who wants to think that the sacred is a formless blob, go right on, it's your constitutional right.

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Blender Gets F Minus From Hector Diego

Just now I went to look at my Yahoo email and found an article with the latest findings of Blender: The Ultimate Guide To Music And More, an outfit I have never heard of either because they stink or I am simply geriatric. They claim Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", the Beatles' "Obladi Oblada", and Bette Midler's "From A Distance" are among the 50 worst songs ever recorded.

I'm no fan of Dion's--any voice or style remotely similar to Barbara Streisand gives me the creeps--but I'll make an exception for her Titanic offering. The Station Agent will forgive me for that, I'm sure.

Probably few souls would claim "Obladi Oblada" as the Beatles' best work, but does it deserve to be on this list?

I don't care for Midler any more than I can stomach Dion or Streisand, but "From A Distance" was dissed not for its melody or arrangement--which are admittedly, rather corny--but for its theistic lyrics. For that, Blender gets an F minus from Hector Diego.

How about "Judy In The Sky With Glasses", that dorky tune that was not a huge hit when it was on the charts, but due to the questionable advent of the age of "Classic Rock" is now considered a "classic"? This dog was not on Blender's list. Why not?

And why not the Archies' "Sugar Sugar" or Clapton's "If I Saw You In Heaven"? You listen to the latter, and you might feel so sad you decide to go back to bed. Just because no one had the heart to tell Clapton he should not record such a song, such compassion should not mean that radio stations should play it.

Until Rilo Kiley is known for a string of Number One hits, I'm on a rampage...

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Beatles Too Sexy For Subhadra

Dedicated to Subhadra.

Baby You're A Rich Man

It's an short outtake. If you are interested in alternative versions...

Natalie Walker - Crush

I'm just being introduced to the music of Natalie Walker. This song takes a minute or two to get cooking, but the build is quite nice.

Empire Theatre, Liverpool, Dec 7, 1963

At this point America still had no clue...

All Things Must Pass

Nonpoint Video Diary Parts 1 and 2

In advance of their new album ("Vengeance" Out November 6th....Spread The word...") Nonpoint have a video diary going on YouTube.

Here's part one:


Here's part two:


I grew up with a couple of these guys and I'm telling you, they are not just great musicians, they are great friends and I can't wait to catch them on the road. Do not miss this show. Tour dates here.

And Now, to Save Music, Radiohead

I've always respected Radiohead and I love a lot of their songs, but they were never a focal point of my music listening.

That changed today.

Like the rest of planet Earth I downloaded their new album for the price I was allowed to name--3 pounds. That converts to under seven U.S. dollars. That is a reasonable price for a good album.

I listened to it and here's the thing... I totally ripped those guys off. This record is priceless.

Go by their site and order In Rainbows, pay what you want, but drop the boys a reasonable amount. This system they've rigged is fantastic.

Download In Rainbows.

There may be some difficulty getting on their site, since they are handling heavy traffic.

Until you get through, here's some old radiohead... "Karma Police".

Imagine Imagine Peace Tower in America

What a legacy. we need this kind of culture in America.

From AP (h/t Russ):

Yoko Ono urged the world to give peace a chance Tuesday as she unveiled a monument in memory of her husband, John Lennon.

Ono lit up the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy island near the Icelandic capital's harbor on what would have been Lennon's 67th birthday.

The former Beatle was shot dead outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980 by deranged fan Mark David Chapman.

(more)

Here's what it looks like:

George Harrison---Stuck Inside A Cloud

"Stuck Inside A Cloud" is from Harrison's final album, released posthumously, Brainwashed. You get the impression that George realizes he hasn't long to live in this world.

We love you, George.

Tori Amos - Bouncing Off Clouds (Tonight Show)

Nice new song from Tori. Her band is tight.

Yoko Ono On Lennon's Birthday

A Birthday Tribute To John

Central Park Celebrates Lennon's Birthday

John Lennon's Birthday

Paul McCartney---Lennon Tribute

Avril Lavigne---Lennon Tribute

Oasis---Lennon Tribute

Gonna live forever...

Hey Image It---Beatles Mashup

John and Paul---There's A Place

John and Paul, There's A Place

Happy Birthday John

On October 9, 1940, as the Luftwaffe pounded Liverpool in a series of hellish air raids, John Lennon was born in the middle of it all. The man would have been 67 today.

We all know how Lennon died, but the circumstances are unclear. Did Chapman act alone? Or were greater powers involved? Was John "crucified" for the sins of corporations, governments, the Establishment? Whatever happened, John's life was far more important than his demise.

Yoko Ono is honoring John's memory today in Iceland. We will all remember John in our own way, and that's good--because if there is one theme that emerges from the maze of Lennon's sometimes contradictory but frequently inflammatory statements, one recurring idea that is irrefutably the voice of John Lennon, it is this:

Think for yourself.

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Rilo Kiley, the Station Agent, and Me

Anyone visiting The Walrus Speaks knows that my blog partner and I are fanatics for the Beatles, and Rilo Kiley. We finally got to see RK live last week in Orlando, Florida--and we were not disappointed. In fact, we were stoked. They were everything we could have imagined, and more. Everyone in the band played perfectly, and Jenny? Her voice couldn't have been better. And here is a woman who obviously loves performing.

I hope they keep touring for quite some time so that I can see them again, soon. I'm not easily impressed with today's music, but Rilo Kiley knocks me over.

Here's Rilo Kiley's "Science vs. Romance". Zeros and ones, baby--zeros and ones.

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