themusicaddict's Best Songs from Sia's "This Is Acting" And Other of Her Songs

Hello,

I've been hearing about Sia's new CD "This Is Acting" for the last couple of months. I honestly didn't pay much attention until I read through a recent issue of Rolling Stone. In that issue there's an article about this CD. The article states that Adele, Rihanna and Beyonce "passed on songs she wrote for them, so she made them her own". With "This Is Acting" coming out last Friday I wanted to listen to it, to see if those artists should have passed over Sia's songs. I'm probably not the best to say whether that was a mistake or not, however I will say Sia's "This Is Acting" is a pretty solid CD. The Target edition has two bonus songs. 

"Alive" (Co-written with Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr., but Adele decided not to add it to "25".):

Rihanna called "Cheap Thrills" too "cutesy":

Sia said in that Rolling Stone article that one of the songs was "And you'll know one was a Shakira reject" she says "because I sound like Shakira!" I'm guessing Sia is talking about "Move Your Body": (This also sounds like a Lady Gaga song.)

According to Wikipedia.org (take as you will): "Bird Set Free" was released as the first promotional single along with the pre-order of the album on November 4, 2015.^[13] The song was originally written for Pitch Perfect 2 but it was rejected in favor of "Flashlight". The song was then pitched to Rihanna. After being rejected, it was then recorded by Adele but did not make the cut for her third studio album, 25."

"Bird Set Free":

"Unstoppable":

"House On Fire":

"SweetDesign":

"Broken Glass":

"Space Between":

"One Million Bullets" is the only song of 12 songs, not written for another artist. She co-wrote "Reaper" with Kanye West for Rihanna. "Footprints" was left behind from a Beyonce project. These are the three songs on "This Is Acting" that I don't really like. 

Songs written by Sia that were actually recorded by other artists or herself.

Sia's "Chandelier" :

Sia's "Breathe Me":

Sia's "Elastic Heart":

"Titanium" (recorded by David Guetta):

"Cannonball" (recorded by Lea Michele):

She wrote "Pretty Hurts" for Beyonce that made her 2013 self-titled CD:

Speaking of Rihanna, her new CD "Anti" comes out Friday. I'm pretty excited about that. The Deluxe Edition has 16 songs. Review forthcoming. 

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Almost Greatest CDs of All-Time: Tears For Fears "Song From The Big Chair" (Part 2)

Hello,

After listening to several hours of Tears For Fears- yes it was as bad as it sounds- which means it's pretty amazing. So much better than actually going to a job. Anyway these are some of my favorite songs from from the several, at least 4 reissues, of "Songs From The Big Chair" over the years. The original CD was released on February 25th, 1985. Happy early 31st birthday! Wow, that makes me feel incredibly old. The version I have on my iTunes is the version that was released in 1999. Unless you're the worlds biggest Tears For Fears fan, you don't really need more than the original 8 song CD. But if you want something more, then the 1999 remix is good. Thanks Amazon for reminding me I bought this in 2002.

In 2006 a 28 song, two disc collection was released. This takes a couple of songs from "The Hurting" and gently hurts/ remixes those songs. Then absolutely no one needs the 6 disc Super Deluxe reissue that was released in 2014. There's a lot of filler in these 6 discs. Do you really need the a capella version of "Shout" or the urban mix (whatever that is) of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"? No is the answer you are searching for. The closest reason to wanting to get these is for the live versions of these songs. But those aren't revelatory enough to put out hard earned money for. I've included some of the "Live At Massey Hall", Toronto, Canada 1985 tracks on the previous blog.

Here are some of my favorite remixes/reissues from "Songs From The Big Chair". In the reissues they incorporated a couple of songs from "The Hurting". Then I added "The Seeds of Love" outtake Johnny Panic and The Bible of Dreams" because I like it. I'm not saying all the below songs are good, just interesting. The videos may not be the actual version on the reissues, I got as close as I could.

1) "Empire Building: (2:52):

2) "Broken Revisited" (5:16):

3) "Pharaohs" (3:41):

4) "The Way You Are" (An outtake from "The Hurting") (4:55):

5) "Mother's Talk (Short) (3:54):

6) "Shout" (Alt Version) (6:00):

7) "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" (7") (4:12):

8) "Head Over Heels" (Bascombe Mix)

9) "I Believe (Soulful)" (4:42):

10) "Everybody Wants To Run The World" (4:34):

11) "Shout" (US Single Edit) (4:06):

12) "Head Over Heels" (Skinner, BBC) (4:14)

13) "Shout" (U.S. Remix) (8:03)

14) "Johnny Panic and The Bible Of Dreams" (4:17)

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Almost Greatest CDs of All-Time: Tears For Fears "Song From The Big Chair" (Part 1) (Updated February 1, 2016)

Hello,

Sometimes after a long day of work at a call center I let out a big shout. It usually helps me feel better. Rock music and journal writing are also great therapy. Whatever works for you!

Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov, who argues that neurosis is caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma. Janov argues that repressed pain can be sequentially brought to conscious awareness and resolved through re-experiencing the incident and fully expressing the resulting pain during therapy. Primal therapy was developed as a means of eliciting the repressed pain; the term Pain is capitalized in discussions of primal therapy when referring to any repressed emotional distress and its purported long-lasting psychological effects. Janov criticizes the talking therapies as they deal primarily with the cerebral cortex and higher-reasoning areas and do not access the source of Pain within the more basic parts of the central nervous system.

Primal therapy is used to re-experience childhood pain—i.e., felt rather than conceptual memories—in an attempt to resolve the pain through complete processing and integration, becoming real. An intended objective of the therapy is to lessen or eliminate the hold early trauma exerts on adult life.

Primal therapy became very influential during a brief period in the early 1970s, after the publication of Janov's first book, The Primal Scream. It inspired hundreds of spin-off clinics worldwide and served as an inspiration for many popular cultural icons. John Lennon, actor James Earl Jones, and pianist Roger Williams were prominent advocates of primal therapy.^[1] Primal therapy has since declined in popularity, partly because Janov has not demonstrated in research the outcomes necessary to convince research-oriented psychotherapists of its effectiveness. Janov and others continue to advocate and practice the therapy or various developments of it. 

(Thanks, as always, to Wikipedia.org, this is copied directly from the Primal Scream entry.)

This blog is about Tears For Fears "Songs From The Big Chair". What started out as a 8 song CD has now become a multi CD reissue. On this blog I will post the original 8 songs from this CD, on my next blog I will post my favorite songs from all the reissues.

"Songs From The Big Chair" is Tears For Fears second CD. It was released in 1985, right in the middle of the most fertile decade for music ever. The early 80's was also when MTV was really when it was making it's impact felt. People used to spend hour upon hour just watching videos, Kurt Loder and those veejays. (Bring back the real MTV and I still love me some Martha Quinn.) Can you imagine anyone spending hours in front of MTV now? Either can I. Anyway "Big Chair" came out two years after their debut CD "The Hurting"- which didn't have much impact on me in 1983. "Pale Shelter" is known for "Mad World", "Pale Shelter" and "Change". As you can see, this CD has plenty of great songs on it.

Even with those great songs, "The Hurting" still didn't make a big impact on pop culture. I listened to "The Hurting" (thanks Google Play) this morning and it's a good CD. Still I was surprised that "The Hurting" finished 16th on 1983 bestalbumsever.com rankings, I didn't realize it would have finished that high. Although it only finished 168 place on their list of the 80's best CDs. It was right behind Morrissey's "Viva Hate" (#respect) and right before David Sylvian's "Secrets of the Beehive" (#um, what?). 1983 was about the middle of the New Wave era. bestalbumsever.com's Top 3 1983 CDs were 1) R.E.M.'s "Murmur", 2) Violent Femmes' self-titled, amazing debut and 3) The Police's "Synchronicity". 1983 was the early to middle stages of the heavy metal movement, which is why CDs from Def Leppard and Metallica and also Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut".

I picked a random website for the rankings I've mentioned. I disagree with bestalbumsever.com rankings more than I agree with them. However for comparison's sake I'll stay with them. They only have "Songs From The Big Chair" listed as the tenth best CD of 1985. Their top CDs for that year, um no. I've never been a Tom Waits fan and Kate Bush is okay. I probably would have put their third choice CD at #1. Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms", featuring "Money For Nothing", was also over the radio and MTV in 1985. But putting "Big Chair" behind Marillion and The Fall is nothing but a travesty. But it is what it is.

Following the modest success of "The Hurting" Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, Manny Elias and Ian Stanley started work on "Songs From The Big Chair". With the help of producer Chris Hughes, and others, they created a compact, 8 song suite of songs. It's definitely a very memorable CD, but I wouldn't call it a themusicaddict Greatest CD of All-Time. To meet that requirement I just have to hear a CD's title and know immediately it's a Greatest CD of All-Time. For instance, when I saw the self-titled Violent Femmes CD, I thought Greatest CD of All-Time.

From wikipedia.org: "The album title was derived from the 1976 television film Sybil about a woman with multiple personality disorder who only feels safe when she is sitting in her analyst's "big chair".

"Big Chair" was released on February 25th, 1985. It has sold over 5 million copies in the USA. It was to be Tears For Fears peak. It was followed 4 years later by "The Seeds of Love", which is a perfectly fine CD. Thanks for bringing Oleta Adams to our attention, "Woman In Chains" is an amazing song. Also "Sowing The Seeds Of Love",  "Advice For The Young At Heart", "Year Of The Knife", "Always In The Past" and "Johnny Panic and The Bible of Dreams" are from good to great songs.

"Songs From The Big Chair":

1) "Shout":



"Shout" (Live In Belgium):

2) "The Working Hour":

3) "Everybody Wants To Rule The World":

4) "Mother's Talk":



"Mother's Talk" (Live):

5) "I Believe":

6) "Broken":

7) "Head Over Heels/ Broken":



"Head Over Heels" (Live):

8) "Listen":

themusicaddict

What's Showing on themusicaddict's TV Lately? (Updated January 29th, 2016)

Hello,

More coming later.......

In no particular order, here are the shows I've watched/ am watching as of lately. There are just way too many shows to watch on TV now. I'll also list where I am in the series, a grade and the urgency you should have in watching that show. The options are 1) Drop whatever you are doing right now and go to your nearest TV 2) High, watch soon 3) Medium, watch when you get around to it 4) Low, watch when you can't find absolutely anything else to watch 5) Skip, read a book instead.

1) "Cooper Barrett's Guide To Surviving Life": I could only watch about half of the first episode of this unfunny alleged comedy. I remember something about a kidnapping. That was supposed to be funny, but was anything butt. Grade F, skip and read a book instead.

2)  "Mad Men" Season 7 of this show is coming to Netflix in February, I can finally watch the final 7 episodes. How will it end for Don and everyone else? Grade B, urgency level: high, watch soon.

3) "Parks and Recreation" I've watched the first five episodes of this show and enjoyed it. Nick Offerman is perfectly cast as Ron Swanson. Grade: B-, urgency level: medium.

4) "Super Store" I always say yes to America Ferrara. I've watched the first 7 episodes of this series. A show that knows perfectly what it is and doesn't try to be more than that. I always laugh a few times each episode, which makes watching any show so worth it. Grade C, Urgency level: medium, watch when you get around to it.

5) "Making of a Murderer"- this is on my to watch list.

6) "Jessica Jones" This show is so good, I'm stretching out watching the episodes so that I can savor them. I really liked "Daredevil", love "Jessica Jones" and I'm looking forward to "Luke Cage". Now if only Netflix can bring "Agent Carter" to it's service. Grade: A, Urgency level: Drop whatever you are doing right now and go to your nearest TV.

7) "Life In Pieces" At least I was able to watch the full first episode of this, but it's very forgettable. Isn't this the show with the fake funeral? Grade: D, Urgency level: Low, watch when you can't find absolutely anything else to watch.

8) "Master Of None" At least I was able to watch the full first episode of this, but it's very average. Grade: D+, Urgency Level: Low, watch when you can't find absolutely anything else to watch.

9) "Longmire": I've watched about the first 3 episodes of Season 4. Vic stop showing up at Longmire's house ready for action. Grade: B+, Urgency level: High, watch soon.

10) "The Walking Dead": I watched about the first full four seasons of this show, but this show has jumped the shark. The great what could've been show. But telling the same story over and over again isn't a way to maintain a fan's interest. The whole Glenn dying or not was lame. Grade: D-, Urgency Level: Skip, read a book instead.

11) "Blindspot" I've watched the first 8 episodes of Season 1, I'm savoring this show as well. I thought I wouldn't like this show. After reading a lot of positive things about it, I finally decided to watch it. Jaimie Alexander is my latest TV babe crush. I'm looking forward to the second half of season 1, which starts February 29th. Grade: B +, Urgency level: High, watch soon.

12) "Supergirl" I had started watching Episode 9 of this series, then I remembered that "You, Me and The Apocalypse" was due to start soon. And sadly "Supergirl" wasn't interesting enough to continue watching. It started out okay, but it just simply isn't getting any better. It desperately needs some of the darkness of the Netflix/ Marvel shows. Grade: C-, Urgency level: Low, watch when you can't find absolutely anything else to watch.

13) "The Grinder" I've watched the first 12 episodes of "The Grinder". Each episode is always good for a few laughs. It's funny, but I could do without the whole Timothy Olyphant story line. It was a joke that wore out quickly. I like Fred Savage and Rob Lowe, they both do a good job. Lowe's character, Dean Sanderson, is a bit too full of himself. I get that's the joke, but it wears thin from time to time. I love Natalie Morales' Claire Lacoste to keep him humble. Grade: B-, Urgency level:

14) "Shades of Blue" I've watched the first three episodes of this show now. The 46 year old Jennifer Lopez is still gorgeous. She and Ray Liotta are great actors, but both of them do some overacting in this show. I believe the phrase is "chewing the scenery". I watched the second and third episodes last night, both of those episodes were better than the uneven pilot. That scene with Ray Liotta- don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about! Yes it was shocking, but it's not believable and doesn't feel like it fits in with the show. We all know that old people don't have sex! Of course I didn't buy the J Lo love scene either, those two have no chemistry. It's still not an amazing show, but I have raised the grade for now. Grade: C+ (for now), Urgency level: Medium, watch when you get around to it.

15) "Occupied": A show I had never heard of until a couple of days ago. After watching the first 4 episodes on Netflix I have fallen hard. This is a great show, it's a combination of English language/ sub titles. Although for some reason the fourth episode "July" was pretty much all in sub-titles. That's a bit distracting at first, but I got use to it pretty quickly. It has the same tenseness, suspense and the feeling that anything can happen- much like the first seasons of "Homeland", "Broadchurch" and "Missing". Grade: A, Urgency level: Drop whatever you are doing right now and go to your nearest TV.

16) "Castle": I got behind Season 6 and haven't been able to catch up. I keep on thinking it will come to Netflix (hint, hint)
17) "Quantico" It was never the most believable show, but it just got less and less believable. I finally got to the point I couldn't watch it any more. This is one of those shows where everyone is double crossing everyone else, those kind of shows bore me quickly. Also the storyline of using sex to find out needed information is also an idea that wears out quickly. That's a main reason I stopped watching the lame "How To Get Away With Murder". Grade: D-, Urgency level: Low, watch when you can't find absolutely anything else to watch.

18) "You, Me and The Apocalypse" Starts January 28th, I'm excited. I hopefully can watch soon.
19) "Blue Bloods" A show I watch not so much for the stories and plots, but mainly for the great chemistry of the cast. I'd love to live in a world where the Reagans were in charge of policing. And who doesn't love Erin Reagan?

20) "The Last Man On Earth" This show would be so much better if Will Forte wasn't in it. His Phil Miller is one of the lamest characters ever on any TV show. He's selfish, whiny, deluded- which is suppose to come off as funny. However it rarely does. This show is a waste of January Jones and all the other great actors in it. How did this show get a second season? Grade: F, Urgency level: Skip, read a book instead.

21) "Manhattan" I've watched the first few episodes of this, I liked it. But with so much great TV out there now, I got sidetracked from finishing Season 1. Please get Season 1 to Netflix asap. I want to catch up on it and then dive into season 2. Grade: B-, Urgency level: High, watch soon.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Songs That Don't Seem Dated All These Years Later

Hello,

This entry was inspired by Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble"- I thought to myself that song is still as good as it always was. It hasn't worn out it's welcome yet. I know it hasn't been out that long in comparison to other songs, it's still such a great song. Miss Swift is a hell of a songwriter.

Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke":

David Bowie's "Modern Love":

Rick Derringer's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo":

The Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started":

C + C Music Factory "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)":

Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World":

Tears For Fears' "Mother's Talk":

Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville":



Patrick Swayze "She's Like The Wind":



Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Waiting In Vain":



R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)":



Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Don't Do Me Like That":



Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him":

Toto Coelo's "I Eat Cannibals":



Sugarland's "Baby Girl":

themusicaddict

Songs On themusicaddict's Radar: More Obscure Song Edition (Finished January 25th, 2016)

Hello,

Digging deep into the crates:

Benny Mardones "Into The Night":

Jo Boxers "Just Got Lucky":

The Motels "Only The Lonely":

David Bowie's "Black Tie White Noise":

Phil Collins' "I Don't Wanna Know":

Pearl Jam's "Glorified G":

Flyleaf's "Fully Alive":

Death Cab For Cutie's "The Sound of Settling":

Now here's some newer songs that haven't got as much love as they should have, starting with the lovely Rachel Platten and "Hey Hey Hallelujah":

Tallhart's "Fighter":

The Mynabirds' "Generals":

American Authors' "Think About It":

White Rabbits' "Temporary":



Basia Bulat's  "Tall Tall Shadow":



Biters "So Many Nights":



Two Gallants' "My Love Won't Wait":



Tyrone Wells "More":



Twin Atlantic's "Make A Beast of Myself (Space Brothers Remix)":

Twin Atlantic's "Free":

Young Guns' "Weight of the World":

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' "Face Down":

We The Kings' "Check Yes Juliet":

The Click Five "Just The Girl":

themusicaddict

David Bowie's Top 30 Best Songs 10-1, Part 3: Without A Doubt The Ten Best + 5 Great Songs From "Never Let Me Down" (Updated 1/21/2016)

Hello,

I plan on finishing this blog when I get home from work, I know that you're dying of anticipation.

Here's the definitive list of David Bowie's Top Ten songs. But first here's WatchMojo.com's Top 10 songs of Bowie:

If you're too lazy to watch the whole video:

10) "Golden Years"

9) "Suffragette City"

8) "Young Americans"

7) "Heroes"

6) "Life On Mars"

5) "Changes"

4) "Fame"

3) "Rebel Rebel"

2) "Ziggy Stardust"

1) "Space Oddity"

Now time for my Top Ten Bowie Songs:

10) "Golden Years":

9) "Space Oddity" (A slightly different, slowed down version of this song):

The more famous arrangement, and better, version:

And of course the sequel, Peter Schilling's "Major Tom":

Yes really! 8) Tin Machine (which included David Bowie) "Under The God":

The song that Vanilla Ice stole borrowed liberally from to become famous. 7) "Under Pressure":

I like this version: 6) "China Girl":

The original version of "China Girl":



A brief intermission, five great songs from his 1987 CD "Never Let Me Down":

"Day In Day Out":



"Time Will Crawl":



"New York's In Love":



"Bang Bang":



"Glass Spider":



The Glass Spider Full Concert 1987:



Here's David Bowie's 5 best songs, the no doubt about it definitive list.

5) "Blue Jean":



"Blue Jean" (Live):



4) "Changes":



3) "Let's Dance":



2) "Modern Love":



"Modern Live" (1985 Live Aid at Wembley Stadium):



"Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am Indeed" 1) "Suffragette City":



"Suffragette City" (Live):

themusicaddict

The Best of David Bowie's "Black Tie White Noise"

Hello,

It seemed about every 10 years David Bowie reached his creative peak, it's so consistent it's almost like clockwork. In 1972 David Bowie released probably his most popular CD "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars". In 1983 Bowie released his funktastic "Let's Dance", he was helped by Nile Rodgers, of Chic fame. "Let's Dance" starts off with one of the most brilliant three song starts for a CD ever. The three songs are "Modern Love", "China Girl" and "Let's Dance". Four years later he had another solid CD "Never Let Me Down". I listened to that last night and it's very good. Then six years later he released his next CD, 1993's "Black Tie White Noise"- which is what this blog is centered around. In the meantime he had released two studio albums with Tin Machine. Working with Nile Rodgers again and his band stint really helped his creative juices flow.

In 2003 he released "Reality", which in reality is only a so so CD. He stopped releasing music for ten years, when he released his last great CD. I was very surprised how good "The Next Day", and I'm sad it took Bowie's death for me to discover it. I would've loved to see what he would have come up with in 2023. Thanks David and collaborators for all the musical memories. On the tenth anniversary of the release of "Black Tie White Noise", a bonus CD was added. It featured new songs and remixes of songs from the original CD. Overall a very solid 24 songs. Below are the highlights of those 24 songs.

I saw something the other day that described Bowie as a funk/soul artist, something I'd never considered him to be. I thought of him as a classic, straight ahead rocker. But listening to a lot of his music over the last several days I have come to a conclusion. We are both right. But his music also included the influences of so many other genres of music. Bowie was truly a musical genius, not only in the music he made, but also who he chose to help him create his masterpieces.

From the original "Black Tie White Noise":

"I Feel Free":

"Black Tie White Noise":

"Jump They Say":

"Nite Flights":

"Pallas Athena"/ "Nite Flights"/ "Black Tie White Noise"/ "Jump They Say":

"Pallas Athena":

"Don't Let Me Down and Down":

From the 10th Anniversary bonus CD:

"Real Cool World":

"Lucy Can't Dance":

"Jump They Say" (Rock Mix):

"Black Tie White Noise" (3rd Floor US Radio Mix)

"You've Been Around" (Dangers 12' Mix):

"Jump They Say" (Brothers In Rhythm 12' Mix):

"Black Tie White Noise" (Here Come Da Jazz):

"Jump They Say" (Dub Oddity Mix):

themusicaddict

David Bowie's Top 30 Best Songs 20-11, Part 2: Without A Doubt The Definitive List (Finished January 16th, 2016)

Hello,

Without further delay, here's the definitive list of the #20 to #11 songs from David Bowie's career. I'm trying to post at least one bonus song in each one of these Bowie blogs. I wanted to post a couple of epic covers, but Bowie didn't have a lot of great covers other than Nirvana's cover of "The Man Who Sold The World". And of course it seems like everyone has done a cover of "Heroes". But for the most part I was unimpressed with the covers of Bowie's songs. I listened to most of "We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie" which is an anemic attempt to cover some of his most amazing songs. These covers are mostly vocals buried below the music covers- too many of these songs are like that. There wasn't one rocked out version of one of Bowie's originals.

These were the two most interesting covers I found, Bauhaus' "Ziggy Stardust":

and Pete Yorn's "China Girl":

I wanted to add at least one song from his last CD, "Blackstar", but I couldn't find one that I didn't completely loathe.

Now on his next 10 greatest songs: 20) "Ashes To Ashes":

19) "Star":

18) "Diamond Dogs":

17) "All The Young Dudes":

16) "Jean Genie":

15) "Starman":

14) "Young Americans":



13) "Ziggy Stardust":



And here's the full album of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust":



12) "Fashion":



11) "Fame"

themusicaddict

David Bowie's Top 30 Best Songs 30-21, Part 1: Without A Doubt The Definitive List

Hello,

I'm not saying I'm a big Bowie fan, but like most rock music fans I have a few favorite songs. With the recent sad death of Bowie, I've taken a deep dive into his music. With his death, it feels like another small part of the 80's (and 70's) has died. I'm going to be honest there were a lot of pleasant surprises. I'd forgotten/didn't remember how many great songs he had. While I thought "Blackstar" (perhaps "Deathstar" would be a better title) was a pretty weak CD. However I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked his previous CD "The Next Day". A few of those songs make it into this definitive Top 30. But as one would expect most of the usual suspects are here. For some musicians it would be hard for me to pick my favorite song of theirs. However for Mr. David Robert Jones, without a doubt, I easily know what my favorite song is. A song that was released 44 years ago, but it still rocks my iPod in 2016.

Before I get to the Top 30 songs of Bowie, here's Ms. Turner singing one of his songs, "1984":

30) "Sound and Vision":

29) "Jump They Say":

28) "Time Will Crawl":

27) "Valentine's Day":

26) "How Does The Grass Grow?":

25) "The Next Day":

24) "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)":

23) "Rebel Rebel":

22) "The Stars Are (Out Tonight)":

21) "(You Will) Set The World On Fire"

themusicaddict

My Final Review of Garth Risk Hallberg's "City On Fire": Did It Live Up To The Hype?

Hello,

Many of those that have only a cursory interest in the publishing business knows the story of this book. Although Hallberg is a first time novelist, this book was involved in a bidding war. He was given a $2 million advance for his book. I'm sure someone has snapped up the rights for the movie as well, but I'm not sure I know anyone that wants to sit through a 8 hour movie. With that comes a company, Alfred A Knopf, wanting to earn their money back and more. That leads to a lot of hype as well. Well did the book live up to the hype?

"City On Fire" does not live up to it's hype, but neither did "The Force Awakens". Is it a good book? Yes? Is it a great book? No. Was it helped by the hype, yes and no. It certainly got a lot more attention, but the bar was set very high for the book. Oasis' CD "What's The Story (Morning Glory)" also got a ton of hype. The hype killed that CD. I'm sure it sold a lot of copies, but for entertainment value it was sorely lacking. I prefer the under the radar works of art that sneak up on one and surprise me with how good it is. (Example: John Green's "Paper Towns" and the book of "The Martian"- both movies also happen to be very good.) Who would I recommend this book to? New Yorkers, history buffs, people that like sprawling books. Who would I not recommend this book to? People that don't like unnecessarily long novels, people that don't like multiple retellings of the same event, people that don't like books with an anticlimactic ending.

The book that raises so many questions leaves a lot unanswered. Most importantly did Samantha live or die? We finally found out the shooter of Samantha and it's….. , really? Why did Larry Pulaski invite Sewer Girl to live with him and his wife. For instance, whatever happened to Nicky Chaos? And will some please explain to me how he got any followers? For being so "wise", how did he not see that he was a pawn in a game way out of his league? Even the self-absorbed William saw through him, can you tell I don't like Nicky?

We see what sort of happens to Amory, still up to his old tricks, but what happened to Felicia. Not that I care, I just hope her end was painful. I'm sure she left the Hamilton-Sweeney's behind when the firm imploded. We know Amory got out quickly.

The main part of the book only covers about 7 months of time, but the lack of growth in most of the characters is sad. William kicked his drug habit, but he still remained an adolescent, personality wise.

Next to Richard Groskoph my favorite character was Mercer Goodman. I'm glad he found happiness. In a book full of cretins, he was one of the truly good people. I was watching the very good Jessica Jones and I saw who should play Goodman in the movie. The actor's name is Eka Darville, who plays Jessica's neighbor Malcolm. I saw him and I thought there's Mercer Goodman, for the movie he would have to get a much more conservative haircut though. Also Jerry Jones should play Amory Gould, both are con men that are into themselves and don't do much good for anyone else. Also both destroyed formerly great organizations.

I would give this book a C+ grade. It seemed like every time I got into the book, Hallberg would switch to different characters. Then I would get into their stories and then it's on to new characters. Perhaps the book would have been better if he broke the book into main characters and followed their stories all the way through. Then the next section would be about another character etc., at least 100 pages could have been eliminated without any problem, perhaps Nicky's whole story. He didn't bring anything to the book besides loathing. So before you read this book, try to temper your expectations.

themusicaddict

Songs on themusicaddict's Radar, January 8th, 2016

Hello,

I realize these songs may not seem like they have any relation with any other song. And in so many ways they don't, but they are all great songs. I just love how much great music is out there now and how many different ways we can enjoy it. We are truly living in a music nirvana. Again there's a ton of great music out there now, you may just have to work a bit harder to find it. You have to open yourself up to all musical possibilities. Visiting record stores (yes they still exist- for people in Utah I highly reccommend Graywhale), listening to music on Youtube and all streaming services, check out great songs you hear in movies and TV shows. And of course you can always find great music on the internet, even on random dorky blogs. Speaking of which it's amazing how much music I discover from simply writing this blog. When I remember I'll write how I found out about this band.

I'm not sure how I found out about Flyleaf, but I'm glad I did. I love Lacey Sturm's powerhouse vocals. 1) Flyleaf's "Sorrow":

Another band I can't remember how I found out about, do you remember T.A.T.U? 2)  "All The Things She Said":

3) "How Soon Is Now":

I discovered the next few songs via 80's radio/ MTV. Back when both radio and MTV were relevant. But those days are never to return. 4) Phil Collins' "I Missed Again":

5) Night Ranger's "Sister Christian":

To get your fill of Phils, please watch this video :) 6) Philip Bailey and Phil Collins'  "Easy Lover":

I discovered this specific song by researching my Phil Collins blogs. 7) Genesis' "Just A Job To Do":

From researching R.E.M. for earlier blogs 8) R.E.M.'s "That Someone Is You":

From listening to my parent's music growing up. 9) Tanya Tucker's "Jamestown Ferry":

I discovered Miss Iraheta from "American Idol"- yet another thing that's no longer relevant and thankfully going away. 10) Allison Iraheta's "Friday I'll Be Over You":

11) "Robot Love":

From visiting Graywhale yesterday, they always have interesting music playing. 12) Asteroids Galaxy Tour's "Heart Attack":

13) "Fantasy Friend Forever":

This is a very cool cover of the 80's classic 14) "Safety Dance":

Radio and MTV. 15) Maria Vidal's "Body Rock":

Discovered via relevant radio and MTV. 16) The Cranberries "Zombie":

Discovered the next two songs from Google Play, thanks although I still miss Rdio. Another good remake of a classic 80's song. 17) Jasmine Thompson's "Fast Car":

18) Shakira's "Try Everything":

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Almost, So Close, But Not Quite Greatest CD of All-Time: R.E.M.'s Document" (FInished 1/28/16)

Hello,

I'm an unabashed R.E.M. fan, I have 214 R.E.M. songs on my iTunes, including multiple versions of the same song. Live versions, lengthy club mixes, alternate versions and extended versions. I have 11 of their 15 original CDs on my iTunes, heck I even have "Collapse Into Now". I was only see R.E.M. in concert once and they were amazing, I wish I would have been able to see them more than once though. After reviewing all 15 of their CDs for the purposes of this blog I decided to document their 1987 CD "Document". I also want to write about one of the following CDs, "Green", "Out Of Time", "Automatic For The People" or "Monster" at a later time. For the purposes of this blog I'm writing about the 1993 IRS Vintage reissue version. (As always thanks to Wikipedia for the biographical information, all opinions are mine. Feel free to e-mail if you would like to discuss.)

"Document" is R.E.M.'s fifth CD, their last CD of new material for I.R.S. Records. Their next CD "Green" was their first CD with a major label. The CD was produced by Scott Litt and the band members. R.E.M. consisted of singer Michael Stipe,  drummer Bill Berry, bassist Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck.

Previous to this CD R.E.M. was knocking out a CD a year- do you remember when bands used to do that? Another great thing about the early to mid 80's. R.E.M.'s first 4 CDs were "Murmur" (1983), "Reckoning" (1984), "Fables of the Reconstruction" (1985) and "Life's Rich Pagaent" (1986). R.E.M. eventually became fairly big on the college music circuit and slowly expanded their influence and popularity. Their steady growth were powered by music that was maturing. Highlights from R.E.M.'s first 4 CDs include "Radio Free Europe", "Talk About The Passion", "So. Central Rain", "Don't Go Back To Rockville (I love this song!), "Driver 8", "Can't Get There From Here" and "Fall On Me". But it's "Document" that R.E.M. really broke out in a fairly big way. That CD is powered by "The One That I Love" and "It's The End of The World (And I Feel Fine)". All that hard work set the stage for their major label debut, which came a year later.

1) "Finest Worksong":

2) Welcome to the Occupation":

3) "Exhuming McCarthy":

4) "Disturbance at the Heron House":

5) "Strange":

6) "It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)":

7) "The One I Love":

8) "Fireplace":

9) "Lightnin' Hopkins":

10) "King of Birds":

11) Oddfellows Local 151":

1993 I.R.S. Vintage Years reissue bonus tracks

12) "Finest Worksong (Other Mix)":

13) "Last Date" (Instrumental):

14) "The One I Love" (Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop)":

15) "Time After Time, Etc.:

16) "Disturbance at the Heron House" (Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop): (I couldn't find that video, so this is the same song at the Shocking Club in Milan, Italy in 1991.):

"Finest Worksong (Lengthy Club Mix)":

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Almost Greatest CDs Of All-Time: Phil Collins' "No Jacket Required" (Finished January 4th, 2016)

Hello,

I continue reading through "City Of Fire", a real review is on it's way. It's just a long book and I'm about 80% of the way through. I have 2 more CD review blogs to finish- CDs either new or at least new to me. Recently I read in a past issue of Rolling Stone magazine about the 64 year old Phil Collins making a comeback. I've never been a big fan of his, but I haven't been a hater either. I like a lot of his solo songs and many songs that he made with Genesis. I'd also forgotten/ never knew that he made the music for "Brother Bear". Thanks to my own iTunes, Google Music and Amazon Prime I'm taking a deep dive into his music. I wouldn't say that any of his CDs qualify a greatest CD of all-time. Although both "No Jacket Required" and "...But Seriously",  have a few good songs on them. Although my opinion may change after I do some listening.

This blog is going to be about "No Jacket Required", in case you wondered how the CD got the title:

The album is named after an incident at The Pump Room restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Phil (entering the restaurant with former Led Zeppelin lead vocalist, Robert Plant), was denied admittance because he did not meet the restaurant's dress code of "jacket required" for dinner, while Robert was allowed in. Phil was wearing a jacket, and argued about it. The Maître d' argued that the jacket was not "proper". Collins said in an interview with Playboy that he was, at that point, never so mad in his life. After the incident, the singer often appeared on shows such as Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, denouncing the restaurant and telling his story. The management of the restaurant later sent him a complimentary sport coat and an apology letter, stating that he could come to the restaurant wearing whatever he wanted. ^{(See full entry at and thanks again to Wikipedia.org.)}

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sussudio"	4:23
2.	"Only You Know and I Know" (Lyrics: Collins, Music: Daryl Stuermer)	4:20
3.	"Long Long Way to Go"	4:20
4.	"I Don't Wanna Know" (Lyrics: Collins, Music: Stuermer)	4:12
5.	"One More Night"	4:47

Side two
No.	Title	Length
6.	"Don't Lose My Number"	4:46
7.	"Who Said I Would"	4:01
8.	"Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore" (Lyrics: Collins, Music: Collins, Stuermer)	4:18
9.	"Inside Out"	5:14
10.	"Take Me Home"	5:51
Total length:		50:27

[hide]Bonus track on compact disc release
No.	Title	Length
11.	"We Said Hello Goodbye" (Only released on CD version of No Jacket Required. A different mix of the song was also released on the Playing for Keeps soundtrack album.)	4:15

(Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)

1) "Sussudio":

2) "Only You Know and I Know":

3) "Long Long Way To Go":

4) "I Don't Want To Know":

5) "One More Night":

6) "Don't Lose My Number":

7) "Who Said I Would":

He should have left this clunker off the CD. 8) "Doesn't Anybody Stay Together Anymore":

9) "Inside Out":

10) "Take Me Home":

11) "We Said Hello Goodbye":

"No Jacket Required" was the third of Phil Collins 80's solo albums- he was also recording with Genesis and writing songs for Phillip Bailey. As a solo act Collins had an amazing 80s. He not only performed his songs, he also wrote most of his songs. Some of his great 80s song include "In The Air Tonight", "I Missed Again", the Supremes cover "You Can't Hurry Love", "I Don't Care Anymore", "Sussudio", "One More Night", "Don't Lose My Number", "Take Me Home", "Do You Remember", "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven",  "I Wish It Would Rain Down" and "Another Day".

themusicaddict