Monday, December 5, 2016

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #98

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. Cliffs of Dover, by Zack Kim

This Eric Johnson classic is beloved my millions of guitar nuts and regular listeners alike. It's melodic, upbeat, catchy, and fun. However, some times it's interesting for such a long standing pillar of a song to be taken in a different direction. A long while back South Korean guitar wizard Zack Kim did just that by doing a jazzy rendition of it. However, what you hear is him playing two guitars simultaneously. No joke. That is all him just playing in one single track. Check it out for yourself.



2. No Shows, by Gerard Way

The former My Chemical Romance front man has definitely gone in an interesting musical direction with his debut solo album Hesitant Alien. This track in particular is a definite departure from his old band's style in that instead of sounding like emo punk music, it has a great deal of early 80's New Wave overtones to it but with a bit more modernish fuzz added onto it in certain areas. Regardless, it's quite a catchy song (even if the lyrics make little to no sense).



3. Pyrrhic Victoria, by Joe Satriani

This has to be one of the absolute best songs Satch has put out in recent years. It's hard and rocking while still having an epic symphonic feel to it that makes you feel like you're watching the summer's biggest blockbuster hit in the theaters. I love that he was somehow able to make a marriage of two seemingly distinctly different musical styles in such a way where they blend and intertwine, rather than have a war with one another.



4. Rip This Joint, by The Rolling Stones

This is a tune I LOVE to crank whenever I want to get energized, feel good, and have some fun. Surprisingly enough I almost NEVER hear it on the radio. It's fun enough that you would think it would. Anyway it's not lyrically profound by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the Rolling Stones. They don't need to be. It's straight up blues charged rock n' roll with a real swing to it. Great for getting a party going if you're hanging with people who actually have taste in music.



5. Princess of the Night, by Saxon

If you're feeling more metal though, Saxon ALWAYS has you covered. I love how lightning quick the intro riff is played. You might not think so, but this riff isn't quite as easy to do justice as it would sound to someone who is just coming in and listening casually for the first time. Some times it's not the lead guitarist that impresses me, but the rhythm guitarist and just what they can do when given the right kind of focus. That said, crank this tune up to 11 and rock.

 

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