5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #72

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. Highway Star, by Deep Purple

You can't get more classic pedal to the metal than this. Right from the build-up intro you know you're about to be blasted into overdrive with this Deep Purple ripper about rocketing through the countryside in the fastest car around. Plus, it has Ritchie Blackmore's most iconic guitar solo of all time. It's almost like it's own little tune within a song. It's high octane fun from start to finish with no slowing down to breathe whatsoever.

2. Starman, by David Bowie

This tune is probably my number one favorite David Bowie tune of all time. It's the first Bowie tune I ever learned to play on guitar. It's upbeat while mellow, riffy but melodic, and overall really fun. Would you expect anything less from David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust era music? That guitar melody that comes after the chorus always hits the spot for me every time I put the tune on. It might not be the most rock n' roll song out there, but I think it has just as much balls as any heavy metal tune ever written.

3. Circle of Hands, by Uriah Heep

Ken Hensley's enormous Hammond organ playing really takes the forefront in this monster of a tune. The beauty lies in the contrasts that it jumps between. It goes from loud and stomping to soft and ambient with little to no warning in the most precise ways. I have to admit that the timbre of David Byron's voice also does well for the song because you feel like you're listening to a beautiful wizard who has seen so many things tell you a story and provide wisdom.

4. Buick Mackane, by T. Rex

This is probably one of the sexiest songs that Marc Bolan lead glam rock band T. Rex ever put out. It has this groove to it that you can just feel yourself slithering and moving to. Plus, the lyrical content while somewhat sparse does give you that kind of feeling as well. You can tell that the focus of this song is more on the musical content than the lyrical, which in certain contexts (this one included) is not a bad thing by any means.

5.  Snowblind, by Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath were absolutely notorious back in their heyday for their rampant drug use. They didn't really do much to cover it up. Their music is proof enough of that; especially with one of the main singles from their album Volume 4 titled Snowblind. Oh no. This isn't about cocaine use. Nope. Not at all. Regardless, it's a big rolling thunder rumble of a song. It's exactly what you want from them. It's loud, drug infused, and will make your ears ring for a week if played at the proper volume.