themusicaddict's Review of Julie C. Gilbert's "Ashlynn's Dreams"

Hello,

My thanks to Julie C. Gilbert for sending me an autographed copy of this book for me to read. She sent me a copy of the book so that I would read it and review it. The publisher is iUniverse- their website is iuniverse.com

This book's two main characters are Jillian Marie Antel Blarington, or is it Ashylnn Annabel Ayers, and her babysitter Danielle Matheson. I know you're probably wondering who is the Ashlyn mentioned in the title of the book. And why isn't she mentioned in the book's title?  Well you are just going to have to read and find out. Don't worry you'll find out pretty quickly, I gave you a hint at the beginning of this paragraph.

Twelve year old Jillian, is quite a character, she doesn't have a shy bone in her body. She has no problem telling you all about her 4 daddies and 2 mommies. While reading the book keep track of who every one is, although thankfully the author includes a handy Dramatic Personae. Figure out who Jillian and Ashylnn are first. Jillian speaks in a very backwoods dialect that took a bit to get used to. She also very much has a mind of her own and isn't the kind of person that likes to be held back or told there are things she can't do. I found rereading some confusing parts also helped.

We know from Jillian's Mom that Jillian and Danielle were gone for 22 days after being kidnapped.

This novel starts out as one kind of book as there's a kidnapping at the beginning. It seemed like it was going to be a detective novel. But when I expected it to continue on that course the book made a crazy zig. (Although thankfully the zig isn't as dramatic as in "The Bridge to Terabithia".) When Jillian and Danielle get kidnapped, and why, the book takes on a sci fi angle.

What's going on? They are being trained for something, but what? Why all the secrecy? These are all questions you will get answers to as you read the book. Again keeping a few notes will help as there's a lot going on and there are a lot of characters.

Ashlynn can manipulate other people's dreams in order to figure out things about them. While Jillian is kidnapped she runs into a few other "gifted" kids held at some sort of research place. The gifted kids are the so-called Devya's Children. Dustin, who's a few years younger than Jillian. Aiden, who's about 2 years old and obviously knows Ashlyn, but she doesn't know him. Varick, a 14 year old soldier, and very tall. Malia and Nadia are about Jillian's age. Malia can give a calm warm feeling when holding hands with someone. Let's just say Michio has very explosive gifts.

Following the huge success of "The Hunger Games" books and movies next came the "Divergent" series. One of the criticisms of "Divergent" is that it wasn't really breaking new ground. Another novel with a similar theme is Ann Brashares "The Here and Now". Now here's "Ashlynn's Dreams", a story that seems to follow the same blueprint. A female teenage protagonist, fighting against a repressive organization. So what makes "Ashlynn's Dreams" different?

I'm not going to answer that question, but it's worth the time to read "Ashlynn's Dreams" and answer that question on your own. Gilbert is a young author working to find her voice. I'd give this book a grade of C+, it's not in the same league as the excellent "Hunger Games" trilogy. However "Dreams" is an interesting twist on the Young Adult novel. I expect Gilbert to continue to grow as a writer and look forward to following her career going forward.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984 Part 4 #'s 65-56

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

65) Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" (22):

64) The Romantics "Talking In Your Sleep": (35):

63) Bruce Springsteen "Dancing In The Dark": (33) Yes, that's the lovely Miss Courtney Cox he brings up on the stage at the end of the video.

62) John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses": (60)

61) The Pointer Sisters' "Automatic": (31) Sung by Ruth Pointer.

60) The Thompson Twins "Hold Me Now": (26) I love the Thompson Twins, one of my favorite bands of the 80s. I also love "Hold Me Now", what a great song. However 1984 is so deep with great music that "Hold Me Now" is only my 60th favorite song of that year.

59 Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" (68) I'm sure many students thought what David Lee Roth sang "What do you think the teachers going to look like this year?"

58) Eurythmics "Here Comes The Rain Again": (46)

57) Philip Bailey and Phil Collins' "Easy Lover": (42)

56) Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It": (72)

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984: Part 3 #'s 78 to 66

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

78) Genesis' "That's All": (49)

77) Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel The Noize" (NR). This is probably the first heavy metal hit. I remember standing in the Pegasus music store in Bountiful, Utah and thinking to myself how cool would it be if this song became a big hit. Surprisingly enough it did, rising to #5 in the United States. Previously a heavy metal song charting that high had been unheard of. I've no idea how this song didn't make Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs of 1984.

76) Tracy Ullman's "They Don't Know" (16) This is what made 80's music so great. "Cum On Feel The Noize" and "They Don't Know" both came out in the year and no one thought it was a big deal. It was possible to hear the songs back to back on radio and MTV. Since no genre dominated the 80s, any song didn't sound out of place. Even the 50's flashback below didn't sound out of place. The only thing that mattered about music in the 80s was that it was a good song.

75) Ashford and Simpson's "Solid" (19) The last 4 songs are 4 different genres rock, heavy metal, oldies and now soul. Again this is how music was in the 80's, welcome to the greatest decade in music history.

74) New Edition's "Cool It Now" (27) New Edition featured Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe. The last three joined together and renamed themselves Bell Biv Devoe and "poisoned" the airwaves. Interestingly enough the lead singer on this song, Tresvant, ended up being the least relevant of the 5.

73) Lionel Richie's "Running With The Night" (NR) Richie can be a beat cheesy, but he knows how to write great pop songs. He co-wrote "We Are The World" with Michael Jackson along with all of his other great songs.

72) The Scorpion's "Rock You Like A Hurricane" (57)

71) Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax": (30) This is a great dance song, a great song overall. It would be higher on my Top 100 if it had more lyrics, it's pop music so they don't even need to be smart lyrics. But this song is basically "Relax, Don't Do It, Relax, When You Want To Go To It", repeat several more times.

70) Van Halen's "Panama": (20)

69) Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues":

68) Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney's "Say Say Say": (54)

67) Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" (45):

66) Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride": (64)

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 2 #'s 91-79

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for coming up with this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in my previous blog. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for providing me with the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song is ranked on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

91) Ratt's "Round and Round" (38) I loved hair metal in 1984, which is when it really started to get popular, and I love it now. Along with Ratt, I still love bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Whitesnake etc. However when it came time to create this list, I was surprised that these hair metal songs aren't as high on my personal list as I thought they would be.

90) Newcleus' "Jam On It" (13) Other than Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys and old school LL Cool J, I've never been a big fan of rap music, although this is a good song.

89) Van Halen's "Jump" (23), from the aptly named CD "1984". 

88) Bryan Adams' "Run To You": (85)

87) Jellybean (featuring Madonna) (71) "Sidewalk Talk":

86) Def Leppard's "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" (73) : This probably is the song that broke Def Leppard through to where people paid attention to them. I know the video says '82 and this song comes from the 1981 CD "High & Dry". So like me, I'm sure you are wondering then how does this song end up on Rolling Stone's 1984 Top 100? Don't fret my friends, Wikipedia has the answer:

1984 reissue[edit]

Following the success of "Pyromania", "High 'n' Dry" was reissued on 31 May 1984 with two bonus tracks:

• "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" (Remix), essentially the same recording with a few synthesiser overdubs. The remix was released in 1984 as a single, peaking at #61 in the US charts.
• "Me & My Wine" (Remix), a remixed version of a 1981 B-side.

Videos for both were made, featuring Phil Collen (who was not in the band at the time of the album's recording). Both bonus tracks were omitted from the mid-1990s re-releases of the album. (Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)

85) Tears For Fears' "Mother's Talk": (96) (Like Bon Jovi's "Runaway"and Def Leppard's "Bringin' On The Heartache", this was one of the first songs that introduced these bands. Only a couple of years later they were some of the biggest bands in the world.)

84) Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" (59):

83) ZZ Top's "Legs" (63) For some bands 1984 was the start of a big career, for ZZ Top it was a revitalization of their career.

82) Duran Duran's "Reflex": (40)

81) R.E.M's "So. Central Rain": (84)

80) Dan Hartman's "I Can Dream About You": (51) From the super duper flop "Streets of Fire":

79) Huey Lewis and the News "If This Is It": (49)

themusicaddict

Facebook Challenge: The 10 (or so) CDs That Shaped My Life.

Hello,

Coming next is part 2 of themusicaddict's Top 100 songs of 1984. But I was challenged on Facebook to create a list of 10 CD's that shaped my life. I'm not very good at following instructions and I couldn't delete any of these great CDs. Thus I ended up with a baker's dozen of CDs that shaped my life.

I was never very good at following instructions. So my Top 10 turned into a baker's dozen. I just couldn't figure out 3 CDs that I could delete. I'm also listing the time of my life each CD was most influential.

Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" (okay kidding, but still one of my favorite 80's CDs.

1) Def Leppard's "Pyromania" (post mission life)
2) Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" (post mission life)
3) Garth Brooks "No Fences" (first real girlfriend)
4) Ozzy Osbourne's "Ultimate Sin" (first time away from home, Ricks College)
5) Madonna's "Like A Virgin" (high school)
6) Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (high school)
7) "Footloose" Soundtrack (high school)
8) "Pretty In Pink" Soundtrack (high school)
9) Pearl Jam's "Vs." (pre-marriage life)
10) TMBG's "Flood" (pre-marriage life)
11) Prince's "Purple Rain" Soundtrack (high school)
12) Alanis Morrissette's "Jagged Little Pill" (pre-marriage life)
13) Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising", the greatest 9/11 CD ever and perhaps The Boss's best CD ever. Every song is a classic or should be a classic.

The first sign of being old is to say music was better was back in the day. It's true that I'm both old and that music was better back in the day.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 songs of 1984, Part 1 #'s 100-92

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for coming up with this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in my previous blog. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for providing me with the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song is ranked on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

100) Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen Has Got A Gun": (NR)

99) James Ingram and Michael McDonald's "Ya Mo B There": (NR)

98) Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You": (NR) You can't go wrong with a Stevie Wonder song! And may I say Kelly LeBrock was hawt back in the day! From the movie "The Woman In Red".

Your faithful blogger is here to watch bad movies to save you time from also watching them. I watched "Woman In Red" last night. Not only isn't it good, but it's also very dated. It feels like an 80's movie in every sense of that word. Stevie Wonder wrote and performed the music for this movie, which was a waste of his considerable talents. Dionne Warwick also sang on some of the songs. Although it did produce the great song "I Just Called To Say I Love You", and if nothing else Kelly LeBrock is gorgeous in it. 

97) Midnight Stars' "No Parking On The Dance Floor": (70)

96) Tommy Shaw's "Girls With Guns" (92)

95) John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me": (82) Great song, but why has it been forgotten? I constantly listen to 80's music, but haven't thought of this song in several years. 

94) Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl": (75) This is the worst case of white dude dancing that I've ever seen.

93) Bon Jovi's "Runaway" (94) Just a couple of years later with the release of "Slippery When Wet" Bon Jovi was the biggest band in the country.

92) The Pointer Sisters "Jump (For My Love)": (87)

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984: Songs That Made Rolling Stone's Top 100, But Didn't Make My Top 100 (Inspired by Rolling Stone magazine.)

Hello,

With apologies to Rolling Stone magazine in advance, I've taken their ratings of the Top 100 songs of 1984 and created my own list. Also my thanks to bobborst.com for posting the Billboard Year End list of 1984's Top 100 songs. I used that list to flesh out my own personal Top 100. My first blog in this series is all the songs from Rolling Stone's Top 100 that didn't make my list and why. Number indicates where it falls on Rolling Stone's ranking for that specific song.

I'm posting videos for selected songs.

100) Corey Hart's "Sunglasses At Night": a perfectly decent song, just not good enough.

97) Peter Wolf's "Lights Out": boring, but thanks for helping with all the great J. Geils Band classics.
93) The Jackson's featuring Mick Jagger's "State of Shock". I vaguely remember hearing this song and I was reminded why I've long forgotten it. One of the worst songs that great Michael Jackson was involved in.
91) Laid Back's "White Horse": a song that is good enough as long as one doesn't hear it too often. I much prefer Taylor Swift's "White Horse" though.

90) Bruce Springsteen's "Cover Me", about the 10th best song on "Born In The USA".

88) Lionel Richie's "Stuck On You", yes I'm surprised that this song isn't on my list either. But wow 1984 was a great year for music!

83) Diana Ross' "Swept Away", not very good and way too long.
81) Jocelyn Brown's "Somebody Else's Guy", even more anemic than the above song. Another song that's way too long.
80) Robin Gibb's "Boys Do Fall In Love", this and the two above songs are three 80's songs that I never heard before. I say that gratefully.
77) Hall and Oates "Out of Touch", see "Stuck On You".

74) J. Blackfoot's "Taxi": this song isn't bad, but again a song I hadn't ever heard. Although with it only reaching #90 on the Billboard Top 100, I wonder how it's #74 on this list.

58) Rebbie Jackson's "Centipede", another anemic wanna be funk song. 100% Snoozeworthy.
56) Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy", one of the most overrated 80s songs, not sure why so many people consider this boring song a classic.
53) "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Eat It", yes it's a perfectly good and funny parody. However it doesn't fit on a list of top songs. But at least I had heard this song and remember it being played a few times.

44) Shannon's "Give Me Tonight", how does she have one of the best songs of 1984, but also this piece of non-funky funk. The follow up to "Let The Music Play" sadly was a dud.

Now this is a good song, "Let The Music Play":

43) Talk Talk's "It's My Life", a less than amazing new wave song. Although their version is much better than No Doubt's weak cover.
37) Whodini's "Friends", another tepid song.
32) Queen's "I Want To Break Free", one of Queen's weaker songs. Here's a collection of Queen's best songs, this is their Live Aid set. They even snuck in an encore.

28) Teena Marie's "Lovergirl", a very average song. On second listen it was better than the first time I listened to it, but still not worthy of Top 100 status.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Neglected Baker's Dozen of Rolling Stone's Top 100 Songs From 1984 (Updated September 23rd, 2014)

Hello,

On September 17th, 2014, the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest years in music, rollingstone.com published a list of the Top 100 songs from 1984. No doubt about this being a pretty great list. Looking over this list brought back many memories. One song reminds me of work, one song reminds me of college, another song reminds me of when MTV was relevant, one song reminds me of the dance clubs I use to go to and many of the songs remind me of the great 80's movies.

I know one of the first signs of being old is saying not as much great music is being made now. Well consider me damn old then. The fact that "On The Dark Side" was the 94th song on Billboard's Year End Top 100 list. That's an incredible song, although I do acknowledge even when it was on radio and MTV constantly it was still a bit obscure.

If you want to check the whole list, go to this website: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-singles-of-1984-pops-greatest-year-20140917 rs.com has a video with each song so if you need a refresher just push play. Be honest you hadn't heard that Robin Gibb song either. I wish they would have created a simple list of the songs without the videos.

While trying to look at a simple list of those songs, I stumbled across the 1984 Year End Billboard Top 100: http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1984

Comparing the two lists, Rolling Stone missed a lot of great songs from 1984. It seems their list has a bias against ballads and Lionel Richie. How does not "All Night Long" make Rolling Stone's Top 100? Also I've included 3 amazing ballads that Rolling Stone doesn't list. The following list is themusicaddict's baker's dozen songs that aren't on Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs. Yes, the following songs didn't even chart on the RS Top 100.

My apologies if I list a song below that Rolling Stone does have on their list. I'm sorry but my crack team of 1 can't catch everything. The number in parenthesis is where the song ended in the Billboard Year End Top 100.

I don't completely blame Rolling Stone for this song not making their top songs of 1984 list. However I love this bizarre, quirky song. That's one of the best things about 80's music, even the oddest song could pop through into popularity.

13) Julie Brown's "Homecoming's Queen Got A Gun": (Ha ha, are you kidding?)

The following song was the first popular song of what came to be called hair metal. I remember standing in Pegasus Records thinking "wouldn't it be cool if this song became a big hit?"

12) Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel The Noise": (68)

The next two songs are just the pure essence of joy.

11) Madonna's "Holiday": (79)

10) Kenny Loggins "Footloose": (4)

In every way possible Miss Newton-John's song is a way too obvious 80's song. If you hear any synth in a song, there's a strong possibility that it's an 80's song. The look including the disco lighting is another giveaway you are watching an 80's song. 

9) Olivia Newton John's "Twist of Fate: (42)

8) Shannon's incredibly funky "Let The Music Play": (49)

7) Madonna's "Lucky Star": (66)

Bonus: The Cars' "You Might Think": (65) I originally listed this as a song that was NOT on Rolling Stone's Top 100 1984 songs. However I discovered last night I was in error. This song is actually #78 on Rolling Stone's list. I apologize for and take responsibility for my error.

6) Hall and Oates "Adult Education" (70):

5) Mike Reno (from Loverboy) and Ann Wilson's (from Heart) "Almost Paradise": (59)

4) Chicago's "Hard Habit To Break": (45)

Not just one of the best songs of 1984, but one of the best songs of the entire 80s.

3) John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band's "On The Dark Side": (94)

I doubled and tripled check to see if these were on the Top 100 1984 list, but I didn't see either song any of those times. How do these two songs not make Rolling Stone's Top 100 list? That's crazy!!

2) Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun": (15)

1) Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now": (5)

themusicaddict

Review of Nick Cutter's "The Troop": A Book Thats A Good Read As Long As You Aren't Squeamish

Hello,


I picked up this book at the local Wal-Mart and bought it because it looked interesting. It's not the greatest book ever, but it was definitely well worth the read. I would like to clarify my rating, I would actually give this book 4 1/2 stars. It's not good enough to be a 5 star book, but it's better than a 4 star book.

The story is about Scoutmaster Tim and the 5 scouts, about 14 years old, that visit Falstaff Island every year to have a scouting adventure. It's not one of those books where the leader is a creep, in fact he's a very good scoutmaster. The five boys are Shelley, Newt, Max, Ephraim and Kent. The scouts love him and he looks out for them. The campout goes awry when a stranger comes to the cabin where the 6 people are staying. The stranger is a very sick man an voraciously hungry. Tim is the town's doctor and he can't turn away someone that's so obviously hungry. What Tim and the boys don't know is that the stranger is a science experiment gone incredibly wrong. A Dr. Edgerton, taking money from two groups, was trying to create both a miracle weight loss solution and also a biological weapon.

I know you are wondering how those two things would work together, well you are going to have to read the book to find out.

Cutter wrote this book based on the template Stephen King used for "Carrie". As it does for King's book, this method works for "The Troop". I would definitely recommend this book for most people that likes exciting fiction. However if you are a bit squeamish, this probably isn't the book for you.

Well done Nick!

themusicaddict

Review of Lauren Owen's "The Quick", There's Little Point to Read This Boring Book

Hello,

This blog is about Lauren Owen's debut novel, "The Quick". The book was released on June 17th, 2014. I was able to read an advance copy through NetGalley.com.

James and Charlotte Norbury grew up brother and sister and good friends. They had to rely on each other as their mother died when they were very young. Their father was gone much of their young lives, before returning home to die of a mysterious disease. Following his death James was raised at a school and wasn't able to return home much. Charlotte was raised by an aunt, Mrs. Chattering.

James attended college at Oxford where he discovered his talent at writing, although learning his letters was a struggle young and his sister had to be persistent to get him to learn his letters. Following Oxford, James moved to London. He and his sister stayed in contact, but their bond wasn't quite as strong as when they were young.

James eventually moved in with Paige, who when both were back at Oxford, caught him and a woman in an awkward situation.

Honestly I tried multiple times to read this book and read the first 22%, but honestly it's boring as hell. Comparing it to the amazing "The Historian" is a sham. "The Quick" is nowhere in the same league as "The Historian" and there are very few, if any, similarities between the two books. Read "The Historian", skip "The Quick".

themusicaddict

Circa Zero: The Band That Sounds Similar To U2, Although They Feature a Former Member of the Police

Hello,

I've been working through all the songs on my iTunes that have never been played. One of those songs was Circa Zero's "Levitation". What a great song! Also in the Classic Rock magazine I finished reading recently they mention Circa Zero. In fact Classic Rock has a review of their recent CD "Circus Hero", they give it a 7 of 10 rating.  According to their rating system, that's rated as "Good". In my opinion Classic Rock should have given the CD a 8 of 10 rating, which is "very good". Finally, with thanks to my friends over at Rdio, I was able to listen to "Circus Hero". Thankfully a CD that has many more good songs than just one.

The band is made up of Andy Summers, guitarist for The Police. They are a band I'm very familiar with, I've been listening to their music since I was a punk teenager. The other member of the band is former Rescues lead singer Rob Giles. I'm not going to lie to you, but I had never heard of the Rescues. Giles voice has a very similar sounding voice to Bono, which gives their band a bit of a U2 sound. They also added a drummer for at least one live performance. I don't hear the Police sound much at all. Take that for what it's worth.

Here are some of my favorite songs off "Circus Hero":

The driving song "Levitation":



"The Story Ends Here":



"Whenever You Hear The Rain" (I do hear a bit of The Police in this song, similar to "Every Breath You Take") :



And here's the track by track preview of all 13 songs on "Circus Hero":



Sadly I couldn't find a video for the driving funk song "Gamma Ray" or the very good "Underground".

themusicaddict

U2's "War": An Early Preview of U2's Later Greatness

Hello,

Again I apologize for the lack of recent blogs, I'm spending a lot of time looking for a job. Truthfully I'm working harder at finding a job than I did at my actual last job. There are so many hoops to jump through and I'm jumping through every one of them willingly. That will help me lose weight, right? I hate looking for a job, but it will be worth it once I find a good job.

Anyway on to the blog. About 31 1/2 years ago U2 released their third CD, the aptly titled "War". It followed their first two one word title CDs, 1980's "Boy" and 1981's "October". (Do you remember when musicians could release CDs every year?) Those first two CDs were all about U2 finding their sound and coming into their own as musicians and as a band. While still in their infancy in terms of making music "War" is their first big stride towards becoming one of the most popular rock bands of all-time.

"War" contains two classic U2 songs in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Eve". But it also has other very good songs "Two Hearts Beat As One", "Like A Song....." and "40". U2 would go to make better CDs, but there's not a weak track on "War". "War's" album cover is so much better than the preceding "October". "October" features U2 as a band that's still a long ways from truly learning about styling. It seems the day the photo shoot happened was very windy and there wasn't a comb to be had. The word unkempt comes to mind, it's very much an 80's cover. However with "War" it looks like they found someone who was better in helping them finding a better look. "War's" cover features a grim faced boy who looks like he has been held down for too long and he's not going to take it any more! (Thanks to Wikipedia for many of the biographical details, all opinions are mine.)

Just as they were in 1983, U2 is still made up of Bono (Paul Hewson), Larry Mullen Jr. on drums, The Edge (David Evans) on blistering lead guitar plus multiple other instruments and Adam Clayton on bass.

"War" only reached #12 in the United States, although it has gone on to sell 4,000,000 copies. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" didn't even reach Billboard's Top 100 in America and "New Year's Day" only reached #53. (Thanks to Wikipedia.)

The remastered version of "War" was released July 22nd, 2008 in the USA. There was a bonus CD released with the original remastered version of "War". It includes these songs:

1."Endless Deep"  "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Two Hearts Beat as One" singles 2:58
2."Angels Too Tied to the Ground"  Previously unreleased outtake from "War" sessions 3:34
3."New Year's Day" (7" single edit)"New Year's Day" single 3:56
4."New Year's Day" (USA remix)"Two Hearts Beat as One" single 4:31
5."New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten extended vocal mix)Previously unreleased 9:42
6."New Year's Day" (Ferry Corsten vocal radio mix)Previously unreleased 4:37
7."Two Hearts Beat as One" (Long mix)"Two Hearts Beat as One" promotional single 5:56
8."Two Hearts Beat as One" (USA remix)"Two Hearts Beat as One" single 4:24
9."Two Hearts Beat as One" (Club version)"Two Hearts Beat as One" single 5:43
10."Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop)"  "New Year's Day" single 3:24
11."I Threw a Brick Through a Window / A Day Without Me" (Live from Werchter -- 4 July 1982)"New Year's Day" single 6:58
12."Fire" (Live from Werchter -- 4 July 1982)"New Year's Day" single 3:46 (Total length: 59:28)

Here's the full of album of "War" with the two additional bonus tracks "Treasure "Whatever Happened to Pete the Chop" and "Endless Deep".

1) "Sunday Bloody Sunday": Is there any doubt that this is one of the greatest songs ever, it has to be considered at least in the Top 500 all-time songs. This video is a perfect fit and is exactly what this song is about. Is this actual video? One of the most classic videos of early MTV, back when MTV was relevant: I love the things I discover while writing these blogs, I had no clue that Paramore had covered "Sunday Bloody Sunday", this is their mellow take on this song: 2) "Seconds" (also live at Red Rocks): 3) "New Year's Day": Live from Slane Castle a few years ago: 4) "Like A Song....": 5) "Drowning Man": Anneke Van Giersbergen covers U2: 6) "The Refugee": 7) "Two Hearts Beat As One" (This song takes on extra energy live, look at The Edge go on the guitar): "Two Hearts Beat As One" (Live): 8) "Red Light": 9) "Surrender": 10) "40": This album starts with the painful anguish of "Sunday Bloody Sunday", a song about the so called Troubles in Ireland. (U2 has a song titled "The Troubles" on their recently released CD "Songs of Innocence".) "40" has the feeling of hope, although there's a bit of sadness as well. "40" (Live): themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Selected Greatest Hits of U2 (Part 2)

Hello,

Part 2 of U2's selected greatest hits. Again this is U2's best and not necessarily their most popular songs.

"Acrobat": ("So don't let the bastards grind you down".)

"The Fly":

"The Sweetest Thing" (Original recording. Recorded in 1987 during "The Joshua Tree" recording sessions.) I agree with the Youtube commenter who said it sounds like UB40.

"One"

Thanks to azlyrics.com, these are some of the greatest rock lyrics ever:

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we 
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

"Walk On":

"All I Want Is You":

"Sunday Bloody Sunday": (Just an incredible song.)

"Pride (In The Name of Love):

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" (In my previous blog I included the Perfecto Mix of this song, this is the original version):

"Mysterious Ways":

"Vertigo":

"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight":

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Selected Greatest Hits of U2

Hello,

In honor of U2's new CD "Songs Of Innocence" being given away free by the band and Apple, I thought I'd look back a bit.

This isn't your typical blog of U2's greatest hits, which is why it's called selected greatest hits. These are some of their most famous songs, but also songs that aren't as well known. No matter the popularity level all of these songs are great. Enjoy!

I couldn't find the "Discotheque" Suspiria Mix on Youtube. However this is a cool remix as well:

U2 with B.B. King "When Love Comes To Town":

"Stuck In A Moment":

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me":

"Until The End of the World":

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" (Perfecto Mix):

"New Year's Day": (One of my favorite lyrics of all-time, "Nothing changes on New Year's Day.")

"Helter Skelter" (Live):

"Trip Through Your Wires":

"Love and Peace Or Else":

"Red Hill Mining Town" (One of the many great songs from the classic U2 CD "The Joshua Tree.):

"Silver and Gold":

"Elevation":

"Desire" (Hollywood Remix):

themusicaddict

U2's Surprise CD "Songs of Innocence" Quick Review

Hello,

In conjunction with Apple announcing the new iPhone 6, they also gave away U2's new CD free. If you have iTunes (and if you don't have iTunes, why don't you get it now?) the song is already in your iTunes purchased list. Go there and download it your computer if you are so inclined.

After listening to this CD for the first time this morning I wasn't impressed. The CD is mostly mid-tempo and it isn't up to par of their classic work. Too few of the songs really stand out. But on the second listen the songs started to differentiate themselves a bit. But of course you can't beat the price, it's well worth the space it takes up on your hard drive or in your cloud.

Here's the full CD so you can make your own judgement, for some reason this video is longer than the actual CD:

This is just a quick review of this CD, this is "Songs of Innocence" track list:

1) "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" This CD's first single and the song that U2 performed at the Apple iPhone 6 announcement event. Joey Ramone, who died in 2001, was the lead singer of punk band The Ramones. (Yeah I know "no duh", but not everyone knows that.) This is a jubilant, uplifting song.
2) "Every Breaking Wave", like many other songs on this CD it starts out mellow only to kick it up a notch within a minute into the song.
3) "California (There Is No End To Love)" Yet another upbeat song.
4) "Song For Someone" is not quite "All I Need Is You", but I do see this song being played at a few weddings. One of the happiest songs on the CD.
5) "Iris (Hold Me Close)" Iris Hewson is Bono's mother, she died when Bono was 14. (Thanks to rollingstone.com.)
6) "Volcano", one of the more upbeat songs on the CD. It lives up to it's title and perhaps should have been the first single.
7) "Raised By Wolves", another upbeat song and it has potential to be a future single. Just when the song threatens to break out into full rock mode, it scales back and never quite reaches full rock mode. I love the lyrics to this song.
8) "Cedarwood Road" One of the two or three out and out rock songs on this CD. This song has potential of being put on my iPod.
9) "Sleep Like A Baby Tonight", another one of the mellow songs off of the CD. This feels a bit like a throwaway song.
10) "This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now", by the time get to this song it sounds like we've already heard this song 6 or 7 times.
11) "The Troubles", another mellow song. A perfectly decent song, but U2 doesn't end this CD on a strong note.

After listening to this CD for the third time today, it has grown on me. Although nearly every song follows the start out slow and becomes at least a mid tempo song. That's very noticeable when listening to this CD song by song. I would give this CD a solid B. My favorite songs on this CD are "Volcano" "Cedarwood Road"and "Song For Someone".

And for those of you who want the actual CD, it's coming on October 14th. According to Billboard.com:

"Songs of Innocence will be released physically on Oct. 14 with a 24-page booklet. A deluxe edition with four additional tracks and an acoustic session of album tracks will be also released that day."

themusicaddict

Looking For A Job, A Few Things I'm Not Writing About Today

Hello,

Today is the fourth day that I've been unemployed. I've been busy the last several days looking for a job. This past Friday, September 5th, was the last day of my job at Ambassador Bookstores. It was a great job, although it didn't pay enough. However I did have a lot of freedom in doing what I wanted to do at work and I loved having 3 day weekends.

Now unfortunately it's back to reality in searching for jobs. I'm sure I'll be paid a lot less and have to work Saturdays and Sundays again, although I'll definitely keep Sundays to a minimum hopefully. I also was reminded of how much work it takes to actually find a job, there are so many hoops to jump through in finding a new job. Although I've been looking for a job for only about 10 days now, I'm glad that I have had multiple companies that have been interested in me. Any and all potential jobs are on the table now. I don't have the luxury to saying no to any job, but that doesn't mean I have to stay with that job if it's inadequate. Honestly I think I'd have a job by now if I hadn't had prior obligations from my former job and other job interviews. I've certainly been blessed in looking for a job this go around. Now at 47 I hope I can find a job that I can work at for the next 20 years or so.

Things I'm not writing about today.

Sports: The dismantling of what use to be the premier NFL franchise continues in Dallas. One of the worst and most deluded owners in NFL history continues to tear down the Dallas Cowboys. Through Jerruh's own incompetence and poor decisions the Cowboys are only a shadow of their former selves. The 49ers absolutely dominated the Cowboys in this past Sunday's game. The final score 28-17 doesn't indicate accurately how dominating the 49ers performance was. Actually it should have been more of a blowout as the 49ers are everything the Cowboys aren't. In today's ESPN NFL Power Rankings they list Dallas at #27 of 32 teams. In what looks like it's going to be a down year for the NFC East, the New York Giants are 26th and the Washington Redskins are 28th place. It looks to be Philadelphia's division to win. While it's true they allowed 17 quick points in their first game, the Eagles came back and scored 34 straight points. ESPN has Philadelphia ranked as the NFL's #4 team.

While the Eagles have moved on from Andy Reid and Michael Vick, the Cowboys have stayed with Jason Garrett and Tony Romo. The results speak for themselves.

I've enjoyed BYU's 2-0 start on this college football season, including their dominating victory over Texas in Texas. Although I didn't get overly excited about that game, obviously this Texas team isn't the Longhorns of old. But I think Charlie Strong has the Longhorns on the right path. I certainly have a lot more faith in Strong than the incompetent owner in Dallas. But I'm glad that Bronco Mendenhall has the Cougars on the right path and further along the right path. This seems like it's going to be a very fun season for the Cougars. Due to their incredibly weak schedule BYU could go undefeated this season. If they do though that would owe more to that weak schedule than the actual quality of BYU's team. Don't get me wrong BYU has a good team, I just wish they had a more challenging schedule.

I'm looking forward to going to BYU's home opener on Thursday with my oldest boy, BYU is taking on the high scoring Cougars of Houston.

Television:

I watched the first two episodes of "House of Cards" and I wasn't impressed. I don't need the reminder of how slimy Washington D.C. politics can be,  I already have enough reminders of that via the news. This is one house I don't need to visit any more.

I continue to enjoy "Star Trek: Enterprise". It's mostly a good show, although it can vary wildly in quality from episode to episode. Although this crew can beam people to various places, the technology is still a little iffy. The crew isn't real keen on using it as of yet for their transportation, they still use shuttle craft to get to other ships and the worlds they visit.

I'm sad that I missed this show the first time around, but thanks to Netflix I can watch it now.

Music:

A blast from the past, The Lighting Seeds "Pure":



themusicaddict

Finally Got A Breather, "Motive" Is A Show You Need To Check Out!

Hello,

I've been busy this week in closing down the place where I've been working for 4 1/2 years. That's been my focus Tuesday, Wednesday and the first half of today. Even though I work in a small book store, there's still a lot to prepare and send out.

I just wanted to make a quick recommendation to check out the excellent TV show "Motive".

"Motive" is a series where the viewer sees who the murderer and victim is at the first of the episode. Then the rest of the episode is spent showing how and why the murder occurs. I like the way the show does that and that's not the only thing the show has an interesting twist on. I know that may not sound intuitive or whether there'd be any mystery with that. However there's plenty of mystery left in the show. With so many police procedurals on TV, it's nice when a show has even a slight twist from the typical.

The cases aren't always the greatest, but any deficiencies "Motive" has are made up with the superb dynamic detective duo of Angie Flynn and Oscar Vega. They are a pair of cops that have worked together about 5 years, thus their teamwork is amazing. Although they have fantastic chemistry, thankfully they are just partners.

Louis Ferreira plays Oscar Vega as Mr. Unflappable, he's calm and steady throughout any crisis. He may be tough, but he's always fair. He'll treat a suspect or person of interest with politeness and deference, but you don't want to get on his bad side.

Kristin Lehman plays Angie Flynn as a very steely character that rarely jumps to conclusions.

Also there's the lovely Lauren Holly playing Dr. Betty "Betts" Rogers, the medical examiner. She acts as if she's seen everything and somehow maintains a sense-of-humor about it.

Warren Christie plays Sgt. Mark Cross, Flynn and Vega's boss. Sadly this is where the show relies on a cliche, Cross is Flynn's former partner and lover. Now he's her boss. (Seen it, done it, but didn't buy the shirt.)

All that preamble is leading to a point. If you only watch one season of it's two seasons, watch season two. Wow is all I got to say about that finale. One of the other twists from the typical cop show is the season 2 finale. The episode titled "For You I Die" is a quite a corker, it connects two different crimes set a decade apart. It's a very game changing episode and I'm so glad there's going to be a season 3 so we can see how this story plays out.

I don't want to say more as I'm afraid I'll ruin it. But do yourself a favor and catch at least season 2 of "Motive".

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Things I'm Not Writing About Today, September 1st, 2014

Hello,

-Did you know iTunes will only keep track of only 32,000 songs? Once iTunes reaches 32,000 songs I'm not sure what happens to the songs. Does iTunes randomly take off songs, or do they stay on iTunes? I was more than a little disappointed when I found this out. As long as one's hard drive can hold the songs, iTunes should be able to keep track of them.

-I recently saw the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", starring Megan Fox. It was decent, but probably a movie better suited to watch on video. The thing that struck me the most was how much work Fox had preformed on her. It seems she had cheek bone implants and her lips were almost ridiculously big. I don't know a lot about plastic surgery, but doesn't she seem a bit young for that. I don't think it helped her be more attractive, but actually detracted from her appearance.

- I watched "Draft Day" last night and it was pretty good. The movie obviously stars Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. I don't know if Garner has had any work done, but she looks much more natural than Fox. Garner is aging gracefully and still has killer legs. Hollywood beauties I recommend you follow the path of Garner than Fox.

Anyway this was a good movie and a good inside look at the NFL Draft. I laughed that the coach that Denis Leary played had previously won one Super Bowl in Dallas. I wondered how much this character was based on Barry Switzer? I also loved how Leary's character about the Cowboys being good. Um, I could tell this was fiction as the Cowboys haven't been good for about 18 years now. And this season Dallas will be hitting new lows as Jerry Jones continues to run his own team into the ground. What once was the NFL's preeminent franchise is now a very expensive laughingstock of the league.

- I liked "The Tyrant" quite a bit through the first 9 episodes, however the 10th episode and finale was awful. Going with the story line that Barry would overthrow Abbudin's government was misguided at best. Nowhere is that more obvious than the season finale. After that disastrous episode I don't even care if this show has a second season. I could care less if Jamal decides to kill Barry or not, yawn.

- I will miss "Longmire", which has been cancelled by A&E after 3 years. That was a good show and had such a great cast. If another station picks it up for a fourth season, I'll continue to watch it.

- After finishing "The Martian", the next book I'm reading is Julie C. Gilbert's "Ashlynn's Dreams". A review will be coming soon.

- My last day at my job is Thursday, September 4th. I have a small bookstore to prepare to send everything out. Then after that I'll be looking for a job. This blog may be a little hit and miss over the next few weeks, my apologies.

themusicaddict