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| Dean Martin in 1958 (PD) |
Music seems fitting. So here we go.
Dean Martin was a guy my brothers and I heard a lot of when we were kids. It was some of my Dad's favorite music. When we were little we listened because Dad listened. Here's one I love now, not sure how I felt about it when I was young. (I think Dad had one Dean Martin album, which he played over and over.)
We all thought it rather corny, but catchy. I heard that tune many years later in, of all places, Tuscany. Everybody on our tour bus, along with our Italian guide Carmine, belted it out. It brought a bit of a tear to my eye. Dad had been gone for two years at that point, but his music lived on.
We "suffered" through my parents' musical tastes for quite a while¹. Then the British invaded.
We watched that show live, much to my Father's chagrin, we all, save him, loved it. (Mom did as well!) So for many a year we listened to The Beatles and only The Beatles. (I listened to the Rolling Stones at the suggestion of a school mate, I thought they were just "all right.")
High school led me to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, and a few other bands. I still listen to a lot of that music. (Heh, I listen to a lot of the Stones now as well.)
Those who've been here a while probably know my love of the Foo Fighters. Word on the street is that they will be touring again this summer. While I look forward to it, I wonder who will be behind the kit. Can't really replace Taylor Hawkins. (Can you image Rush without Neal Peart? I can't.)
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Sons of Apollo and The Winery Dogs, the two bands share a drummer and a bass player, both of whom are fantastic. I highly recommend them to you ...
I like this guy as well, fellow Scot he is -
I'd play some bagpipes for you, but I don't want dear Buck spinning in his grave. (He always gave me static for my love of the pipes. God do I miss that old fellow, a great friend he was!)
So now it's your turn, what do you like to listen to? I'm betting this crowd leans towards the classics, and I don't mean classic rock. But who knows, maybe you do.
Take it away lads and lassies!
¹ Turns out I love a lot of that music now!
Pipes, aye! Bride likes them too. Try Knopfler with the Dragoon Guards on "Paralell Tracks"
ReplyDeleteOf course Knopfler with and without Dire Straits. Clapton.
Three guitar Southern rock; Allman Brothers especially, but Skynnerd, Blackfoot et al.
Southern folk; Allison Kraus and Union Station, Darrell Scott, anybody Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas pick for "TransAtlantic Sessions" , Mary Chapin Carpenter
Toby Keith and any "Red Dirt Country" NOT "pop in a cowboy hat"
Lest you think I'm complete Nekulturny; the Russian composers especially Tschaikowsky and Rimsky-Korsakov (Sherherazade!)
It's a start; gotta list one more movie!
Boat Guy
Oh yeah! The Corrs. Can't forget them
DeleteBG
Knopfler is just plain awesome.
DeleteThe Corrs, never heard of them before today, but they're Irish, so I'll check them out.
DeletePlease do; not much new from them lately. BG
Delete👍
DeleteGoing back decades....BS&T and Tears for Fears......ah memories Sarge.
ReplyDeleteMusic can spark lots of happy memories. (Bad ones too, depending.)
DeleteABBA. We returned from the Med in fall of '74 and I saw them perform on TV.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, but they never did much for me. I mostly liked whatever was playing on the radio, and never particularly followed any rock group.
Ah yes, ABBA, I like some of their stuff.
DeleteElectric Light Orchestra
ReplyDeleteSarah Brightman
The Thompson Twins
Bach, JS Bach
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
John Phillips Souza
Most anything Big Band Era
Amethyseum
Green Sun (some Belorussian guy)
BT (some electronic music guy)
Daft Punk
Enya
That's what ya call, eclectic.
DeleteFor the military history fans there's Sabaton, a Swedish rock group that writes songs that are about military history from the Medieval to WWII. Most of their stuff is in English, but some of the live songs are in Swedish, but the crowd reaction makes it worth to follow the lyrics in closed captions.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy some Sabaton from time to time.
DeleteTry Al Stewart's "Roads to Moscow". Stewart most recently teamed up with an amazing guitarist, Dave Nachmanoff
DeleteBG
I will.
DeleteElectric Light Orchestra for sure. Almost anything of theirs is great.
ReplyDeleteMost rock from the late 1970's to mid 1980's. It was magical time (in some ways also mirrors when I stopped listening to the radio as things progressed). Styx (Old Styx) in particular.
Classical: Handel, Bach, Holst (The Planets), Vivaldi, Chopin, Tchaikovsky
Songs tend to capture my attention; groups not always so much.
Right there with you. My high school memories have Renegade by Styx on loop in the background with Highway Song by Blackfoot.
DeleteSame here as far as songs capturing my attention, but if a group does enough of those, I'll buy an album, or more. After which I tend to buy whatever they put out, even without hearing it first. Foo Fighters and Beatles being examples of that.
DeleteListened to a lot of Styx on Okinawa.
DeleteThe first song I remember was an early Christmas, my Mom and her two sisters singing Gilbert and Sullivan's "Three Little Maids" from The Mikado, accompanied by their brother, Uncle Woody on the piano. I blame my love of all of Broadway on that impromptu concert. My car radio now seems stuck on satellite channel 77, Broadway (not just G&S; those decades in theater reinforced the love.)
ReplyDeleteA decade as a disk jockey in the sixties and seventies, rock and roll, and jazz, and classical, expanded my musical horizons.
My favorite music ... the musical intro to "Dane Errickson Presents" was Woody Herman's "My Favorite Things". I love music, all of it. Move my feet, my hands, my voice, my heart, my soul.
I enjoy most music. I once commented to someone that I love all music, shortly thereafter, upon being subjected to that person's taste in music, I discovered that I do NOT love all music. I won't mention the genre but it is actual music, and not the sort you might think.
DeleteThere is noise that some call music. Some of that I have learned to hear as rhythmic, but I doubt I will ever love it like, oh, Bach, Bernstein, Rogers and ..., Doors, Association, the Seekers, ABBA, Ventures (we had them in WMSN's Studio A after a concert ... better live, and someone stole the tape!), Linda Ronstadt (catch her as Mabel in Pirates of Penzance on DVD), Grace Slick in all of her voices, Sondheim ....
DeleteI hear you. (Pun intended.)
DeleteGrew up with Sons of The Pioneers, Jimmy Rodgers, musicals like Oklahoma, and classics: Brahms, Beethoven, Strauss, Schubert.
ReplyDeleteListened to the Cowseals, BTO, Foghat, Three Dog Night with my older sister and whatever played on KSEL AM.
My true love was Motown from the 60's. Junior Walker singing Cloe's Mood, almost anything from that era is like honey.
Moved to Blackfoot, blues, ELO, APP, BS all during the late 70's. (Can't listen to ABBA, way too many bitter memories)
I didn't like much of anything during the 90's -2010's much. It was just a noisy 30 years.
I found I like EDM after finding a Mexico station in Laredo. Something about that is intriguing. I can really work to that background music.
Now, I like instrumentals. Stone Rebel, synthwave compilations, and of all things, ADHD relief music. Usually has a driving beat and synth melody. Very productive to listen to. Fits my headspace.
If it works for you, that's all that really matters.
DeleteAhhh, Music!
ReplyDeleteMom and Dad had a few albums, but only one I played over and over and over and....
1812 Overture. Our version had actual cannon fire. I still will listen to that version frequently.
That started me on the Classical music Genre. I use that nowadays when I need my BP brought down to 'ceptable parameters. AKA driving to and from Austin.
When I turned twelve, I started babysitting for a guy in my Dad's Flight and his wife. They had some rock and roll albums which started me on the Beatles, Grand Funk, CCR. Avant Garde back then Classic Rock now. Don't care what they call it now, I still love it. Makes me young (in my mind).
Got several "Stations" on Pandora now. The aforementioned as well as some others. Current "Go To" station is Chris Stapleton. Nice Blend of Country/Western and Rock. I'm glad Pandora was created. What's currently playing doesn't fit your mood? Couple of taps and something else is playing. Channels have enough "new stuff" that one doesn't feel old and stuffy, but the old stuff is still there.
Yeah, Music has a pretty big role in keeping me sane, nowadays.
There have been times that music is the only thing which kept me from going over the edge.
DeleteMy dad had that 1812 overture with cannonfire on it. If it's the one where on Side B they talk about how they went and found an actual Napoleonic era cannon at Westpoint, and got it to fire, and found some funky reverb from some 55 gallon drums that weren't supposed to be there.
DeleteCannon fire is needed for that piece of music.
DeleteAh musicals; how about Andrew Lloyd Webber? Les Miserables, Phantom, Miss Saigon? Saw all of those in London, Les Mis several times.
ReplyDeleteBG
One of the three I actually like was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, there are only two others. For the most part I cannot abide musicals, must be some flaw in my make up I presume. (Hints, the other two musicals I can abide, one is set during early WWII the other stars Alfred Finney.)
DeleteWhat? No "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street?"
DeleteNope, nope, nope.
DeleteAhh, Mitzi!
DeleteYou lost me there, Quad D.
DeleteThere is a local fm station (low wattage) I stay tuned to most all of the time. 104.7 the Pirate plays all the hits that we remember from the days of music on am radio.
ReplyDeleteAnd that’s where my music tastes lie. 40s to early 70s hits and favorites.
But I will listen to orchestra classics as well Sarge.
Franknbean
We used to have a good classic rock station out of Providence, but it is cluttered with ads these days. It's a 20 minute drive to work for me, if I put that station on I will hear one song, just one. They also think that Pink Floyd is the end-all be-all of rock (I don't, they're good, but ...) so they play the same four or five songs from them every damned day. I don't do radio anymore. I tried Sirius, didn't care for it at all. I buyt CDs and listen to them in the car. I pick the music.
DeleteWhat made Pink Floyd excellent was their sound engineer, a guy by the name of Alan Parsons (Dark Side of the Moon.)
DeleteAnd... Alan Parsons Project, the early years and the later years. The years where Eric Wolfson went crazy and was angry at everything and everybody and basically tried to do heavy metal singing were not good years (Stereotomy, Gaudi, some Vulture Culture.) Eric left, then died, and Alan tried to do APP without Eric, on an album called Try Anything Once which returned APP to the wonderful sounds of early years, and everything since has been golden.
I'm not a big Pink Floyd fan.
DeleteIf all Alan Parsons did was "Sirius/Eye in the Sky" t'would have been enough; fortunately he's done more.
DeleteIn a somewhat similar vein, try Mike Oldfield' third Tubular Bells live at Horse Guards
BG
I doubt I will ever listen to Tubular Bells again, regardless of venue. Don't ask ...
DeleteThe problem with "Tubular Bells" is that they never play the whole of TB, just the part used in "The Exorcist" which actually sounds decent, unlike the rest of the piece which is quite an art piece which is NOT a good thing. Wife loves the whole piece. I detest all the part that wasn't in the movie. Bleh.
DeleteI won't disagree.
DeleteSarge, there have been subsequent Tubular Bells. I'm not talking about the first one or even the second; the third one is different. Trust me...
DeleteBG
I have my reasons ...
DeleteYou're missing out; but, you have your reasons...
DeleteBG
Yeah ...
DeleteLeonard Cohen, Gary Moore, Roy Orbison, Pavarotti.
ReplyDeleteI really miss Roy Orbison.
DeleteLoved the Traveling Willburys.
DeleteBG
Ditto.
DeleteAnd to further the eclecticness of Beans:
ReplyDeletePuccini
Wagner (love Wagner - the musical part, the actual human part, well, I like the music)
I do likes me some Wagner.
DeleteI like all kinds of music. My phone totes from Marty Robbins to Marilyn Manson. Bagpipes, my family knows they must be played at my funeral. Pachelbells cannon in D major as well as many other classics are good as well, especially Vagner's pay war op music.
ReplyDeleteBear Claw
I don't have any Scottish Blood in me (that I know of), but Bagpipes at my funeral strikes a chord with me. Gotta look into that.
DeleteBC - Who doesn't love The Ride of the Valkyries?
Deletejuvat - When I get planted it's The Flowers of the Forest for me. Makes my heart ache it does.
DeleteAnything except "Amazing Grace" on the pipes for mine. Been done to death.
DeleteBG
The Ride of the Valkyries on Bagpipes, at my funeral as they carry me out! What a FANTASTIC way to go! Rev # 4,398 to my final wishes...Here you come!
DeleteBG - Done to death, aye.
Deletejuvat - My head just exploded ...
Delete"Amzing Grace" played at dirge-speed sucks big ones. Played at even slow speed but faster than dirge-speed it sounds good. Toss 4/4 time at it and it's quite the peppy piece. Just speeding it up actually makes it a very nice sounding tune.
DeleteJust... no off-key singers dirging it, please.
It's a good tune played on the pipes, I just don't want it at my funeral.
DeleteOK, Couldn't find it done on Bagpipes (yet), but here is and excellent cover on pipe organ which we do have in my church. Better get the organist practicing.
DeleteOh yeah, that's good!
DeleteThanks for finding the pipe organ link. What a combination!
Delete👍
DeleteThought I corrected Siri. Psy War Op (Ride of the Valkyries) that's on my phone as well.
DeleteBear Claw
Ah, new side branch on the thread.
ReplyDeleteFor when my ashes get scattered I originally wanted Cat Stephens’s Miles From Nowhere. Either that or Alan Parsons Project Old And Wise.
Something to think about, yes?
DeleteBeing born in '56 in the UK I got into the start of the prog rock era. Some of it now seems incredibly pretentious but I still like Genesis, Pink Floyd, ELP and a host of other British bands. I like artists such as Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and Springsteen. I try to keep my options open, I still can't get into rap but my youngest son uses it as background music to his rowing workouts. 'Lose yourself ' by Eminem is excellent just before the type of workout that leaves you wondering why your lungs have emerged from your nose.
DeleteAs a Brit I feel I'm entitled to say 'meh' when it comes to the Beatles although McCartney wrote some very good songs. In truth there's a lot of good songwriters around and some were better songwriters than performers. The list of good performers is endless all I would say is enjoy what you listen to.
Retired
Sound wisdom, Retired!
DeleteLooking back at it it I had an incredible live music venue near me. You could see bands such as Genesis before they became really famous. It got demolished in the 80's but there's another live music venue on the site now.
DeleteRetired
That must have been awesome.
DeleteWhile I wouldn't say my tastes are eclectic, they are rather diverse. I grew up in the 80s so that era gets heavy play in my mixes, with both rock and progressive stuff- Journey, Toto, Pat Benatar songs seem to be on semi-regular rotation, and some new-wave stuff that is quite tame and pop-like now - Tears for Fears, Police, OMD, the Cure. I listen to a lot of Yacht Rock today- (Late 70's/Early 80's soft rock) which is heavy into Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, Ambrosia, Christopher Cross, Hall & Oats, Chicago. I can also hang with some Trance music, Dave Matthews, Enya, and Sara McLaughlin from the 90s, or even modern stuff from Clean Bandit, Cold Play, and Illenium. Throw in some show-tunes and Dave Brubeck and I'm happily all over the place.
ReplyDeleteWhy yes, yes you are. 😎
DeleteTuna, I have developed a surprising affinity for Yacht Rock, which surprises the heck out of me.
DeleteEr, uh, yacht rock? Either YouTube has a crappy collection of it or I'm just not into it. Suggestions?
DeleteMy experience with yacht rock was more like the "smooth jazz" they used to feature live at Humphrey's on Shelter Island in the 80's; Dave Grusin, Kenny G, Chuck Mangione, those guys
DeleteBG
Argh, don't really care for any of them.
DeleteSarge, I would go with Christopher Cross and Steely Dan (to be fair, I like both of them anyway).
DeleteSteely Dan is Yacht Rock? I had no ideer ...
DeleteListened to Steely Dan a LOT back in the early 70s. Love that music. Christopher Cross was far too mellow for me, different strokes ya know?
With apologies to Dean: When I was in junior high we used to sing, "When your balls hit the floor like a B54, that a rupture...."
ReplyDeleteHeh.
DeleteSergio Mendez, Santana, Kansas
ReplyDeleteOh yeah!
DeleteI enjoy a varied variety. CW McCall, Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, Stan Rodgers (Northwest Passage a favorite), Sabaton (of course), and the older rock music. Grace Slick singing White Rabbit live at Woodstock (now my theme song after the last big election) (I confess Alice Cooper was the only rock concert I ever attended). Of course, bagpipes! Along with old favorites like Battle Hymn of the Republic and Marching Through Georgia.
ReplyDeleteLots of good music out there!
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. Ah, yes, music (not muzhik, although I have been accused of being one from time to time).
ReplyDeleteBlue Oyster Cult, Then Came the Last Days of May, Astronomy, Quicklime Girl...sublime music, all
The Dreadnoughts, anything from Into The North, Pique La Balene, Fire Marengo...sea shanties, but with a twist.
Aye, the pipes, The Real McKenzies, "Farewell to Nova Scotia", "Drink Some More", ay laddie, that's Music to Drink More Scotch By!
More pipes, AC/DC "It's A Long Way To The Top"...hard rock and bagpipes played by Geordies from Oz, fantastic.
The Goodrats, "Injun Joe", etc. The best little band you've never heard of.
Holst "The Planets", "Mars, the Bringer of War".
Mussorgsky/Ravel, "Pictures at an Exhibition", love me some Hut of the Baba Yaga and Bydlo. Played that one in HS band.
Some of you will probably throw things, but Devo, "Gut Feeling", "Be Stiff", etc. sort of sums up the state of things nowadays.
ZZ Top, Waiting on the Bus, Lagrange (Ah haw haw haw haw!), Gotsta Get Paid...for just 3 dudes, they shore nuff do (well did, RIP Dusty) play some bad*&* music!
But, there's one tune that never fails to cause the dust to light up into my eyes, and some of you know it well. It starts with:
"Off we go, into the Wild Blue Yonder..."
After all these years, it's still imprinted on my psyche.
There is that.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech again, one more...The Specials, anything from that band from Coventry, but especially "Gangsters" "Bernie Rhodes knows don't ARGUE!"
ReplyDeleteDang, never heard of 'em. Time to go hunting ...
DeleteOK, so here’s a vote for “CrazyOtto”, Ferrante and Teischer, The Ventures, show tunes in general, but “West Side Story” the most. Gilbert and Sullivan and of course, “Madama Butterfly” (do I still see myself in that little drama?). The Planets and George Wright at the San Francisco Fox Theater’s Theater Pipe Organ (preferably a midnight performance where we parked on Market Street and walked to the theater).
ReplyDeleteNow I’m gonna go read the comments.
Oh dear, musicals ...
DeleteLot's of people love 'em though, so I'll just sit in my corner and color.
I can remember on alert one day at Itazuke, someone brought the “Stars and Stripes” (or whatever it was called in PACAF) in and there was a photo of the Beatles. We all agreed their hair was way too long and that it was the beginning of the end.
ReplyDeleteSounds like my Dad would have fit right in.
Delete