Monday, March 7, 2016

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #63

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. Will Our Love End, by Trapeze

Before singer/bassist Glenn Hughes joined Deep Purple in 1973 he fronted a funk rock trio called Trapeze. This particular tune while not very rocking in the least showed a great deal of Hughes's ability as a singer. It showed that while he could get ear piercingly high (in a good way) he could also sing tenderly and melodically in a way that felt like smooth chocolate that was good for the soul. To top things off, Will Our Love End also features one of the most gorgeous saxophone solos I have ever heard in my entire life.


2. Last Child, by Aerosmith

This has to be one of my absolute FAVORITE Aerosmith songs of all time. In fact, it was one of the first songs I learned on guitar. Last Child has some rather funky undertones to it, but overall it is still very much a straightforward grooving unmistakably Aerosmith kind of tune. It starts off sounding kind of sad, but fortunately it doesn't stay that way for all that long. If ever there was a song about wanting to go home that was kickass, it's this one.


3. The Grand Illusion, by Styx

This track kicks off one of the absolute greatest albums that Styx ever put out. It does an excellent job of mixing a marching vibe with moments that are just straight up rock grooves. Quite frankly I think the organ playing is top notch. It punches, yet at the same time fills you with a sense of great joy and ready-to-go-ness. The fact that this song and the rest of the album it's named after exists is fortunately for the entire world no illusion. 


4.  Lawless and Lulu, by Buckcherry

This song follows a pretty straight up basic 12 bar blues pattern, but it does so in such an uptempo punchy rocking way that it's hard to not jump around and dance to it. Lawless and Lulu is the story of a villain and a hooker. With all of those elements put together it's kind of hard not to love it, right? It's the kind of tune I would expect to hear when packed into a crowded club with a bunch of other dirty rock n' rolling concert goers.


5. Tribute, by Tenacious D

Every now and again it's important to remember to not take yourself or your favorite genre of music too seriously. Tenacious D exists to help us do exactly that; especially when writing ballads that are a tribute to the greatest song in the world that can't be remembered. I always did find it kind of funny that the way such a song would be paid tribute is with another song. Then again, in a way it's rather appropriate and fitting.

 

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