Flower Child

I'm not even going to try to compete with some of these brilliant in-depth journals with highly detailed reviews (Comus's for example)---but I'll throw out some of my humble little reviews about songs I'm diggin at the moment. Feel free to cuss and discuss my choices.

SONG: Highway Song
ARTIST: Blackfoot
ALBUM: Strikes

Blackfoot's retort of Skynyrd's "Free Bird". Never did get the recognition Free Bird did, but probably deserves just as much.

Starts off with a steady guitar riff that gives away its Southern rock influence, then throws out some powerful strings out of nowhere that really sets the mood lonely as hell. Rickey Medlocke's vocals really shine through on this song. He has a really masculine bluesy voice that intensifies the loneliness of this song. That, paired with some really quality lyrics--

First line of the song, also my favorite:
"Another day, 'nother dollar, after I've sang and hollered. Oh... It's my way of livin' and I can't change a thing.."

---makes one hell of a great song.
The timing of the guitar solo in this song is perfect. It hits a climax that makes you feel every bit of what he is feeling and singing about. It will really put you in a zone. When I play this song everybody know just to leave me the hell alone until its over, which is 7 minutes and some odd seconds haha. I listen to this a lot when I ride the bus to school, I see alot of truckers on the road and I think about how far away from home they are and how appropriate this song is for them.

The songs I've reviewed thus far:
A
Don't Follow by Alice In Chains
B
Highway Song by Blackfoot
Chan Chan by Buena Vista Social Club
C
Jackson by Johnny Cash & June Carter
Walkin' After Midnight by Patsy Cline
Fire Woman by The Cult
D
Mother by Danzig
Rocky Mountain High by John Denver
Sunshine Superman by Donovan
The Watcher by Dr. Dre
Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan
E
September by Earth, Wind, & Fire
I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) by The Electric Prunes
Rock On by David Essex
F
Mami Me Gusto by Ibrahim Ferrer
Mil Congojas by Ibrahim Ferrer
I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) by The First Addition
Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac
Waiting For a Girl Like You by Foreigner
G
Worrisome Heart by Melody Gardot
Let's Stay Together by Al Green
H
The Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix
I
Who Is She by I Monster
J
Mary Jane by Rick James
K
As the Years Go Passing By by Albert King
Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks
L
Lightning Crashes by Live
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Hey Hey What Can I Do, I Can't Quit You Babe, What is and What Should Never Be, Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp all by Led Zeppelin
Was I Right Or Wrong by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Four Walls of Raiford by Lynyrd Skynyrd
M
Long Gone Day by Mad Season
Can't You See by The Marshall Tucker Band
Sway by Dean Martin
Come Mek We Run by Pablo Moses
I Feel Like Going Home by Muddy Waters
N
A Good Hearted Woman by Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings
Blue Drag by New Orleans Jazz Vipers
Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson
P
Me and the I.R.S. by Johnny Paycheck
R
Paris Blues by Django Reinhardt
Mother's Little Helper by The Rolling Stones
S
Against the Wind by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
The Pusher by Steppenwolf
Winter Time by Steve Miller Band
T
Hold The Line by Toto
W
Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh
Ramblin' Man by Hank Williams Jr.
Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers and Grover Washington
Z
Time Of the Season by The Zombies

Comus

I love this album, band and song, on seeing this post I just had to run over to Spotify and pop on Highway Song, brings back loads of memories. The Southern Rock sound gets so much bad press due to excessive radio play of Lynyrd Skynyrd (Who I still consider a great band) and the like. I'll be keeping an eye on this journal, see if we can't find some more gems, thank you very much for reminding me about this band.

__________________
last.fm

Flower Child

Hey thanks man for taking a gander at my page, I'm looking to add a song to it today.

Yeah, I feel ya about Southern rock, I wish Lynyrd Skynyrd (who I also consider a great band) had never put out Sweet Home Alabama. Of all the songs for America to pick from of Lynyrd Skynyrds to play over and over and over they pick the the worst one.

Flower Child

SONG: I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
ARTIST: The First Edition
ALBUM: The First Edition

One trippy song, you can definitely tell it was recorded in '68. The lyrics are great in this song "I tripped on a cloud and fell 8 miles high". How can you not appreciate that madness? This is one of those songs that sounds best when it is blaring at max volume.

Forever, before actually having this song, I thought the band sounded like Ten Years After and I though Alvin Lee was doing the vocals in it. But believe it or not KENNY FREAKIN ROGERS did the vocals for this song. (I did a lot of research because I couldn't bring myself to believe that this is true, but sure as hell, it's him) I guess everybody has their wilder days.

Flower Child

SONG:Everybody's Talkin'
ARTIST: Harry Nilsson
ALBUM: Aerial Ballet

A real beauty of a song. Another one released in '68. That was one hell of a good year for music.

This song is one of my personal favorites. Its got such a soothing effect to it, I just melt when I listen to it. The mixture of the acoustic guitar, his folksy hippie voice, and the beautiful lyrics, makes a for a winner.
You have to really appreciate the lyrics in this song. I think everyone has felt this way at one time or another. I really have to hand it to Fred Neil for writing this one.

My choice lyric:

"I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Thru' the pouring rain,
Going where the weather suits my clothes.."

4ZZZ

Though a dark and sad movie, Midnight Cowboy used Everybody's Talkin' to wonderful effect in the sense that there was a wonderful future to look forward to no matter the circumstances. I got that film on DVD a couple of years back and think I should dig it out again.

Great song!

__________________

Guybrush

Everybody's talking is a great song .. You should consider adding youtube vids to your posts for instant sampling.

__________________
Something Completely Different

Flower Child

Sure, I think I can manage that. I'll do it when I get home where youtube isn't blocked


SONG: Hold The Line
ARTIST: Toto
ALBUM: Toto



I'm not an extremely huge '80s fan but there are a few songs I really enjoy. I find this song to be one of them. I would hate think how many times I've played this and people argue with me that this is Foreigner. Well, it is not. It is Toto. And Toto has my full respect because of this little number.

Hold The Line was technically released in '79 but it really sets off some of the upcoming beats and rhythm of the eighties. Pretty awesome piano intro. If I ever learned how to play piano this would be my first thing to learn.

Then it goes right into some intense '80s guitar. (I don't know much about guitars but the electric guitars in the '80s had a such a specific sound and they played them in a certain way that you can really tell apart from the other eras, I guess its just like anything though).

Well, this gets the song off to a pretty good start. The song then sinks into the smooth voice of Bobby Kimball. If you don't feel the need to sing along with this song then you are weird. The lyrics aren't the deepest by any means, but all around, its just a really fun song to rock out to.

The second song I'm really feeling today is.......

SONG: Mother
ARTIST: Danzig
ALBUM: Danzig



This song is gold. Pure and simple. This is hard rock at its finest. Not TOO huge on anything else of Danzig's (even though they are a cool band) but this song is BAD ASS. The Danzig Mother video I will post is even more far out. Probably the best rock video I have ever seen. I would have given anything to be at this concert. I probably would have been eaten alive though, all 100 pounds of me haha.

Guitar = genius. Starts off slow and steady and so does Danzig's vocals then he starts getting a little crazy and so does John Christ (awesome dude) on guitar. Everything gets harder and faster as the song progresses.

I have to pause here for a minute to express to everyone how much I love Danzig's voice. I will not explain it, you can experience it for yourself.

I qualify this to be one of the best head banging songs in history.


That is all for today.

Flower Child

SONG: Don't Follow
ARTIST: Alice In Chains
ALBUM: Jar of Flies



Alice In Chains has been one of my favorite bands for a very long time so I have had plenty of time to listen to about everything they have put out. I have come to the conclusion that I like their hard metal songs (example: Facelift album) and their extremely soft acoustic songs (example: Unplugged album. I find this song to be a mixture of the two creating the ultimate AIC song.

Starts off with a really soft mellow acoustic guitar riff played by the very talented Jerry Cantrell followed by his mellow rich vocals. Then Layne Staley joins into the vocals for a little here and there. There is also a harmonica in this song which is way out of character for this band, really. It sounds great and adds wonderfully to the mellowness.

Then about halfway through the song, the tempo changes and things pick up a little. Layne Staley sings some very powerful and heartfelt lyrics in this part of the song. The lyrics are probably some of my favorite of any song I have heard. And Staley really pours emotion into it, he sings it like he means it in this part. I would say that this really reflects the life of Staley and Cantrell, for Cantrell wrote it.

Heres a little excerpt from the lyrics:

Forgot my woman, lost my
Friends
Things Id done and where
Ive been
Sleep in sweat the mirrors
Cold
See my face its growin
Old
Scared to death no reason
Why
Do whatever to get me by
Think about the things i
Said
Read the page its cold
And dead

and take me home

333

Nice review. I love this album, and I, too, have always been partial to this song - especially the part you posted. I don't know if this is the ULTIMATE AIC song, but we'll settle for the ultimate on Jar of Flies. I'm glad that you recognized J.C the way you did. I don't think he gets enough props for what he does. I mean come on, he ****ing opened for NICKLEBACK! What kind of ass-backwards world do we live in. Most people don't even care to listen to AIC anymore because Layne is gone. Surely he had an amazing voice, but I've seen them twice with William Duvall (the new AIC guy) and it's almost eerie how similar he sounds. They are currently working on an album! I can't wait!!