Max's Song-a-Day Blog

"Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" - Liquid Tension Experiment

2010-03-12T11:58:00-08:00

For a brief spell I did something called "Funky Friday." It was just what it sounds like - I would post some free-your-mind-and-your-ass-will-follow funky song on a Friday. I stole the idea from Pat, and I had totally forgotten I ever did that until I was reminded of it by one of William's posts from last week.

So, I am unearthing the concept for this week by posting - another Liquid Tension Experiment tune? Some gratuitous prog/jam band on Funky Friday? WTF???

For the love of Pete, Tony Levin is in this band. It's like at some point Petrucci told him "OK, Tony, we'll let you get your groove on for a couple of minutes, but then it's back to the endless guitar wankery." So Tony grabs the trusty Chapman Stick and lets loose this little bit of funkitude.

And hey, it turns out that Portnoy's a fine funk drummer. Who knew?

Hear "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" on YouTube.

Watch studio footage of the recording.

Watch a live performance.

"The Light Sailer (from Tron)" - Wendy Carlos

2010-03-11T11:55:00-08:00

Today marks my 900th article posted here, but my attempts at finding a 900-related song to post were fruitless. I guess there's some old folk song called "900 Miles", which has been performed about eleventy billion times.

I ended up taking one last crack at getting a song idea from YouTube's front page. Great, there's the new Tron Legacy trailer AGAIN. Trailer, schmailer. We know that the trailer is gonna make that movie look like the greatest thing since non-sliced bread. That's its job.

Besides, as a nerdy male in his 40s, it's not like I need any motivation to see a new Tron movie. I hold an immense fondness for the original 1982 film. So, here is a snippet from the Wendy Carlos score (I'm always hesitant to call music from a film a "soundtrack", which I believe to be technically misleading), called "The Light Sailer."

I should slot that DVD again. Hey, Flynn has an Oscar now! Good for him.

Hear "The Light Sailer" on YouTube.

"Bleach Boys" - Dead Milkmen

2010-03-10T11:56:00-08:00

Once again I take my cue from YouTube. I go there and see, right there on the main page, in bold blue letters, "HOT GIRL BEACH BUNNY!"

Hmm, what beach-related song should I post? Somehow, in my warped thought processes, the first song to come to mind was "Bleach Boys."

I think it may actually be time to have me committed.

Hear "Bleach Boys" (and the rest of DM's terrific Beelzebubba) on MySpace Music.

"Rise Above" - Black Flag

2010-03-09T12:09:00-08:00

Had no idea what to post today. I go to YouTube and there's a featured video - "Rise Above Plastics."

Huh?

Whatever. But it made me think of this Black Flag song.

Hear "Rise Above" on YouTube.

"Paradigm Shift" - Liquid Tension Experiment

2010-03-08T11:11:00-08:00

Perhaps you're one of those people who appreciates or even likes (horrors!) Dream Theater's instrumental prowess, but just can't get past the wailing, banshee vocals? Then Liquid Tension Experiment may be worth checking out.

LTE is essentially a prog-rock Frankenstein's monster that formed when DT's Mike Portnoy (drums) and John Petrucci (guitar) joined up with keyboard wizard Jordan Rudess (who has since become Dream Theater's full time ivory-tickler) and veteran session bassist Tony Levin, who has played with, oh I don't know, everybody? What followed in 1998 was a 74-minute self-titled album full of some serious instrumental ass-kicking, with no hair-bandy singing contained within.

Really, I hear tracks like "Paradigm Shift" and simply cannot fathom why so many automatically label prog-rock as "boring." Oh well. I guess I'm just weird like that. Different strokes, yada yada...

Watch a fanvid for "Paradigm Shift" on YouTube.

Watch Portnoy perform part of the song in a studio.

"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" - William Shatner

2010-03-05T12:50:00-08:00

If I post a song from Leonard Nimoy, then I am required to put up a song by William Shatner.

It's in Bill's contract.

Hear "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" on YouTube.

"Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" - Leonard Nimoy

2010-03-04T12:06:00-08:00

Been Netflixing the remastered Season 2 of the original Star Trek, so I have that franchise on the brain.

As such, I am posting this ridiculous Leonard Nimoy tune, because I always have goofy novelty schlock on the brain.

Watch the video for "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" on YouTube.

hel-lo how are yoooou

2010-03-03T12:14:00-08:00

Bleh. I can't think of a song to post.

Go watch this interpretation of the spaceship scene from Close Encounters instead. It's much more amusing than any music-related bloviating I'd do anyway.

"Cars" - Gary Numan

2010-03-02T16:59:00-08:00

Today's post is a bit late, I had to have some work done on my car. So, here is "Cars."

Yes, it's the one Gary Numan song everyone knows. There have been a couple of instances here where I've gone out of my way to highlight a Gary Numan song OTHER than "Cars." Still, I'll admit I hold a fondness for this song. So go hear it for the 1,000,006th time already.

Watch the video for "Cars" on YouTube.

"Stockholm Syndrome" - Muse

2010-03-01T10:46:00-08:00

Still playing the hell out Dream Theater's Octavarium. No, I will not post another song from it, but I will post a song that clearly influenced it. DT trap-smasher Mike Portnoy stated openly that he was pretty heavily into Muse while Octavarium was being made.

And upon further listening, it's pretty obvious. Go hear "Panic Attack" again. And then give a listen to "Never Enough" while you're at it. Then, go hear Muse's "Stockholm Syndrome."

Um, yeah. Ya think?

Hear "Stockholm Syndrome" on YouTube.

"Anti" - Vandals

2010-02-26T12:21:00-08:00

Hey guys, check this out. I just discovered this great punk band. They're called the Vandals. Seriously, I just happened upon them. Holy crap, they are awesome. They're from southern California, I think. Their drummer's pretty decent, he's named Josh or something.

Their Fear of a Punk Planet album is, ya know, kinda rockin'. It has this song about Farrah Fawcett dying... wait, didn't she just, like, die for real? There's a cool one about some Vietnamese girl. Oh my God, they're parodying a tune from Grease? How utterly wacky!

And there's this song called "Anti." Oh boy, this track is just balls out. I wonder if any song in all of recorded history has ever rocked as hard as this one.

Hear "Anti" on YouTube.

(This is obviously a sarcasm-riddled post for the 2 or 3 people who read this thing somewhat regularly. If you happened upon this entry directly, I've posted a cubic assload of Vandals songs here, including several from Punk Planet. It's just that "Anti" was just posted to YouTube, and that's probably my favorite track from that record. I wonder genuinely if any song in all of recorded history has ever rocked as hard as this one.)

"Little Guns" - Oingo Boingo

2010-02-25T12:17:00-08:00

I've talked about this terrific Boingo tune before. I once performed it live with the Songfight band Octothorpe, but at the time the studio version didn't seem to exist anywhere.

Since then, someone on U2be has created a video featuring little stop-motion animated plastic army men. Score! Now I can post it. And you can go hear it.

Watch the aforementioned YouTube fanvid for "Little Guns."

"Show Me" - Pretenders

2010-02-24T11:50:00-08:00

Quick entry today, need to get this done before the lunch hour. Really like this Pretenders song, I think it might be my favorite one of all. Well, OK, it may be a toss-up between this one and "Tattooed Love Boys."

Basically, if the topic comes up and (depending on where I am and who I'm with) I feel somewhat reluctant to declare my love for a song called "Tattooed Love Boys", then I choose "Show Me" as my top Pretenders song.

OK, OK, the topic has never come up. Jeez Louise, I'm just trying to fill some space here...

Watch the video for "Show Me" on Spike.

"We're a Happy Family" - Ramones

2010-02-23T11:30:00-08:00

Today I was merely looking to post something that would serve as a contrast to all of the Dream Theater songs I've been putting up lately.

This nice, simple Ramones tune should suffice.

Hear "We're a Happy Family" on YouTube.

"Panic Attack" - Dream Theater

2010-02-22T12:16:00-08:00

"AAAAAAAH MAKE THE BAD MAN STOP THE BAD PROG METAL AAAAH I WANT MY CATCHY TUNES AND HUMMABLE MELODIES AAAAAH WHERE'S THE BEAT???? AAAAAAAH"

Sorry. I really don't mean for this to become a Dream Theater blog. But I just snagged a couple more of their album downloads (including 2005's Octavarium), so I still have them on the brain. I also just watched Live at Budokan and loved it.

I realize that the two people who still read this thing would probably hate Dream Theater. Or at least that would have been true a year ago when I actually had two readers. Hmm, maybe I SHOULD just convert this into a Dream Theater blog. At least then maybe a couple of people who like DT would show up here and then I'd have something resembling an audience.

Nah. I really don't think I'd be able to maintain a band-specific blog for more than a couple of weeks. A month, tops. Maybe tomorrow I'll put up something more accessible and consumable. Until then, eat my distorted virtuosity! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hear "Panic Attack" on YouTube.

Watch it being attempted by a rather ambitious Rock Band 2 player.

Watch a live performance.

"Crazy" - Seal

2010-02-19T12:12:00-08:00

Singwriter/model tapper Seal turns 47 today.

I'll admit freely that I like his first two albums. They are very well made and very listenable, with a sophistication most pop music doesn't have. And he really does have a great voice.

I'll also admit that I haven't exactly been ecstatic about his entire body of work. I heard an absolute god-awful Seal song in a physical therapist's office once. God, it was wretched. I can't even remember what it was called or which one of his later albums it came from, but it was a pungent pile of suck.

So, we'll stick with his early catalog, thangyaverramush. Without further kazoo, here is "Crazy", one of the songs that launched his career.

Watch the video for "Crazy" on YouTube. Well well well, it looks like Warner finally got off its duff and created an actual YouTube channel. So this video will...

NOT

...get pulled.

God be praised.

"Spam" - "Weird Al" Yankovic

2010-02-18T12:17:00-08:00

A cow-orker (yes, I stole that term from Scott Adams) has just reheated some leftover Spam for his lunch. And I am given an excuse to put up yet another Weird Al tune.

Not that I ever really need one.

Watch a fan-made video for "Spam" on YouTube.

"The Heckler" - Primus

2010-02-17T10:52:00-08:00

This is a head-bobbing and downright addictive Primus song that I've wanted to post for a looooong time. We're talking War and Peace long. Seven Samurai long. Shelley Long even.

You know about how CDs sometimes contain "hidden tracks." I've talked about them before. What you think is the last track plays back, then dead silence, then some new super secret song comes up. I've never really liked the idea. I mean, what if you happen to not like the listed track at all, but LOVE the hidden one? You have to sit there and seek through the crappy song to get to the good one. Bleh. It's an even bigger pain when the listed track is of any significant length.

That's exactly the case with the 1999 Primus disc Antipop. "The Heckler", previously released only in live form, got a nifty studio treatment, and they saw fit to bury it at the end of some nearly six-minute snoozer. Not happy. Over and over I had to sit there with my finger on the seek button until the track time reached 6:16. It became habitual.

Now it's its own file on my iPod, and it is also now on Der Tube von Du. So have at it. No seeking necessary.

Hear the studio version of "The Heckler" on YouTube.

Hear the live version from Suck on This.

"Home" - Dream Theater

2010-02-16T14:31:00-08:00

Back from my Phoenix Scrabble trip. Like I did when I came back from Holland, I am posting a song called "Home." And of course, the day after I had posted that one, I put up two Dream Theater songs. The Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory record is still kicking my ass something fierce, so there ya go.

As far as how I did in the tournament, I finished fifth out of 20, one win short of a performance prize. You can see the gory details here if it suits you.

RANCHO - [n] a ranch

I got punished severely for not knowing that was a valid word. Let's just leave it at that.

Hear "Home" on YouTube. Part 1 - Part 2

"Across the Universe" - Beatles

2010-02-11T12:12:00-08:00

Tomorrow I fly to Phoenix to play Scrabble. Before my last tourney in Reno, I posted a song that was used liberally throughout the Scrabble documentary Word Wars, which I watch often.

Today I am posting another one. In the film, one of the featured players actually performs this Beatles song. Musical ability is actually pretty common among tournament Scrabblers. If it hasn't happened already, some of them should put a band together. What would it be called? Triple Word Score? Q Stick? Double Blanked? Phoney Bingo? It boggles (no pun intended) the mind...

Watch a fanvid for "Across the Universe" on YouTube.

"Darkness" - Peter Gabriel

2010-02-10T12:50:00-08:00

Another busy morning, so another quick entry today. Perhaps I should rethink the tendency to do these during my lunch hour and start doing them the previous evening like I used to.

Of course, maybe the demand for these entries should actually exist before I concern myself with such matters. But for now, here's a cool Peter Gabriel track from Up, to go along with So and Us. He likes two-letter titles. Can you imagine if Peter ever started playing Scrabble seriously? I can't wait for his Aa, Qi, Ut and Za albums.

Watch a fanvid for "Darkness" on YouTube.

Watch the segment from the Growing Up Live concert video.

"Baggy Trousers" - Madness

2010-02-09T14:40:00-08:00

Been a busy morning, so here is a quick, random entry. Just a nice little Madness tune I happened to think of.

Perhaps I simply had big pants on the brain. Who knows why.

Watch the video for "Baggy Trousers" on YouTube.

Here it is with better audio (and lyrics).

"Hymn to the Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan)" - John Williams

2010-02-08T12:20:00-08:00

It's John Williams' birthday today. He is 78.

He is more than just the greatest film composer ever. I'm gonna go so far as to say that there are very, very few people in this world who are as good at their jobs as he is.

Hear "Hymn to the Fallen" on YouTube.

"Planet E" - KC Flightt

2010-02-05T12:38:00-08:00

Was a bit of a struggle today trying to choose a song to pick. Then, out of nowhere, I remember the time (in the late 80s or so) I happened to catch some video on MTV featuring some groovin' rap song that made use of the Talking Heads tune "Once in a Lifetime." David Byrne was even in the video. Never got the artist's name or the song title.

God bless the Intarwebz. Only took a few seconds to learn that the rapper in question was named KC Flightt and the song was called "Planet E." So, for all two of my readers, here it is.

Watch the video for "Planet E" on YouTube.

Hear it with better audio quality.

"Raging in the Plague Age" - Les Savy Fav/Sven Mullet

2010-02-04T12:17:00-08:00

Before this year's GoM, I had never heard of Les Savy Fav.

Holy cow, this song rocks.

As does the cover version done by Songfight's own Sven Mullet.

Don't believe me? Click these links and be rocked.

Hear "Raging in the Plague Age" on YouTube.

Hear Sven Mullet's cover.

"Headache" - Frank Black/Billy's Little Trip

2010-02-03T12:36:00-08:00

It's Gift of Music time once again in Songfightland. Well, at least it was - I was out of the country when it was first revealed. It's kinda dying down now, but I'd be remiss if I failed to give it a nice fat plug here.

You may remember when I featured a whole week of songs from last year's GoM. This year it will be more of a mini-theme, so today I am putting up this Frank Black song along with a new version done by Billy's Little Trip. I've talked about that guy in the past, so posting his entry shouldn't be a surprise.

For the record, I covered the Dave Brubeck piece "Take Five" for this project, which I've discussed before. You can hear my version here.

Oh, I also started to rework my sorted song logs that Internet Explorer recently fubared. They're at least up-to-date and readable, although a lot of the formatting has been removed, so they'll be rather plain looking for now. But my God, I didn't quite realize just how much IE had butchered them. For some ungodly reason it threw in a bunch of paragraph tags, and that made adding a new entry very difficult. I eventually decided to just take all of the formatting tags out, and I'll put the applicable ones back in at some point.

Moral of the story: Don't use IE. Ever. Especially if you wanna do something bold and daring, like, you know, some random blog no one reads...

Watch the video for "Headache" on YouTube.

Hear BLT's cover.

"Swine Flu in the USA" - Tomster Music

2010-02-02T12:10:00-08:00

My blogging duties are a pure cakewalk today. Why? Duh, there's a new Tomster parody!

Watch the video for "Swine Flu in the USA" on YouTube.

Bloggus Interruptus

2010-02-01T12:32:00-08:00

For the first time, I exceeded my monthly traffic limit, so this thing went AWOL for a few days. But now that it's a new month, I get a whole, new, fresh whopping 1 GB of data for bot crawlers to move. We'll see if this becomes a recurring problem. If it does, maybe there are some files I can move. But I'm gonna sit tight for now.

In the meantime, you can once again commence the enema and bondage searches.

"G-Spot Tornado" - Frank Zappa

2010-02-01T12:32:00-08:00

The Grammys took place last night. I'm not even gonna mention what a joke the Grammys are.

I got to thinking, do I actually own any Grammy winning recordings? Have I EVER owned any Grammy winning recordings? The one that came to mind first was Zappa's Jazz From Hell, which I've talked about before. It won the 1988 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Which is somewhat odd, seeing as how it's not performed so much as it is programmed. Nonetheless, here is "G-Spot Tornado."

This is an instrumental, so don't look at that title and freak out. No naughty words contained within.

Watch a (the?) video for "G-Spot Tornado" on Spike.

"The Dance of Eternity" - Dream Theater

2010-01-28T12:35:00-08:00

Holy heavy concept album, Batman! I must admit I really didn't know quite what I was getting when I snagged Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. I figured I'd be getting a prototypical DT album loosely centered around some central theme. I wasn't really expecting a full blown rock opera.

So, with this intense narrative in place, what am I doing now? Posting an instrumental. Sorry, but I really dig this. I'm all about the notes.

Hear "The Dance of Eternity" on YouTube before it gets pulled.

Watch a live performance.