Songs on themusicaddict's Radar November 27th, 2015 (Started November 27th, 2015)

Hello,

Sadly Rdio.com has announced that they've sold most of their "key assets" to Pandora and will be closing down. I have a few weeks to find a new music streaming service to supplement my iTunes library. Rdio shutting down is making me very sad. I loved everything about that streaming site, I loved the low cost, how easy it is to use, it's wide selection and how it let me know about new music by artists that I love. Thanks Rdio for letting me listen to the new Vamps CD and also the "Doctor Zhivago" Original Broadway Cast album. Reviews of both coming soonish.

There are a lot of music streaming options. I have an amazon.com Prime membership, but it only has one million songs available now. I know how ridiculous this sounds, but that's just not a whole lot of songs. Thus I know at least one more music streaming service. Right now I'm checking out Google Play, which I've previously used. It has thirty million songs available and one of the bands I've discovered on there was Sheppard, who I've previously written about. Another band I've discovered is Mister Wives.

First up a triple play by Misterwives, "Hurricane":

"Not Your Way":

"Reflections":

The Foo Fighters have recorded a 5 song EP titled "Saint Cecelia", which is available free at amazon.com, Google Play, foofighters.com and probably a bunch of other places. My favorite song on the CD is the title track "Saint Cecelia":

Here's the actual 19 minute EP:

A double shot from Tracy Champman, "Telling Stories":



"Bang Bang Bang":



Another double shot, this one from Run-D.M.C. ""What It's All About":



"Papa Crazy":



From one of Tears For Fears lesser known albums "The Hurting", this is "Memories Fade":



Hollywood Vampires' "Raise The Dead":



My Chemical Romance' "Bulletproof Heart":



Shinedown's "Cut The Cord":



No Doubt's "Looking Hot":

To be continued......

themusicaddict

Have You Heard This Amazing Song? Sheppard's "Geronimo" + A Couple Of Other Great Songs from "Bombs Away"

Hello,

The lyrics are a little silly, but still an enjoyable song by Sheppard "A Grade Playa":



"Smile":



"The Best Is Yet To Come":



"Find Someone":



"Halfway To Hell":



"Flying Away":

themusicaddict

the musicaddict's Review of Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's "Illuminae: The Illuminae Files_01" (Finished 11/23/2015)

Hello,

Last night I finished the very good "Illuminae: The Illuminae Files_01". Thanks to the Davis County (Utah) library system for me being able to check this book out. This book has 599 pages, but it's approximately only about 400 pages of reading. This book was released on October 20th, 2015.

It features this line on the cover "First survive. Then tell the truth".

This is a very enjoyable book. I'm hoping since this is "Files_01", that there will be a "Files_02". There certainly seems to be enough story left remaining to have at least a second book.

"Illuminae" tells the story of a love triangle between teenage boy Ezra Mason, teenage girl, Kady Grant, and the self-aware AI AIDAN. The action starts on the planet of Kerenza, site of an illegal mine, which is owned and ran by Wallace Ulyanov Consortium (WUC). They're raided and attacked by the corporation Bei-Tech, which is a competing mining company. About 3 hours before the attack Kady broke up with Ezra- but it seems like the two have a bond that won't ever break. It's not a traditional narrative, instead it's a collection of interviews, journal entries, messages between Kady and Ezra and thoughts from AIDAN itself.

AIDAN (Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network) is aboard the Alexander. The Alexander is ran by a government organization United Terran Authority (UTA). After a valiant defense of the people that's aboard it, the Alexander was able to escape Kerenza. However sadly it was damaged in that initial attack. AIDAN was designed not to hurt the people aboard the Alexander. Was it the damage it suffered at Kerenza or something else- but the self-aware AI started making decisions that wasn't in the favor of it's crew and civilian refugees.

The Alexander escapes with science spaceship, The Hypathia, and heavy freighter, the Copernicus. Their advanced technology that can successfully navigate wormholes was damaged. They set out on a slow motion race to the Heimdall Jump Station, which is a 6.5 to 7 month journey. They have the Bei Tech warship, the dread naught Lincoln (BT042-7N) on their tail. The Lincoln trails by a bit but they eventually will catch up to The Alexander and The Hypathia. The Copernicus was destroyed by AIDAN after leaving Kerenza.

The book follows the events over the few months following the Kerenza attacks. The book follows the love triangle of Ezra, Kady and AIDAN. The Phobos virus also makes an appearance and an intriguing cast of characters make up the book.

I highly recommend this book and give it a solid A grade. I love the layout, design and the writing style of Kaufman and Kristoff. Hopefully they're busy working on a follow up now. I love the characters, especially Kady and Ezra, and their love story. AIDAN is a bit too malevolent to me and I never quite trust it. But the book is full of humor, romance, friendship, courage, the beauty of the human intellect. I suggest this book to all fans of reading.

The book I'm reading now is Earnest Hemingway's "A Farewell To Arms", I'm liking it so far.

themusicaddict

Davis High's 2015 Excellent Performance of "Les Mis"

Hello,

I had the privilege of going to see "Les Mis" with my daughter and her friend last night at Davis High in Kaysville, Utah. I consider myself a "Les Mis" snob, which is why I mock the very average movie, but thoroughly enjoyed last night's performance at Davis High. Although the whole cast was very good I would like to highlight five of the performances.  Niall Thorley was great at Jean Valjean. In a not very big role Josh Downs stood out at as The Bishop of Digne. Aubrey Bell stood out for her full fleshed performance as Fantine, her performance really shows the pain Fantine suffers. And a hat raised to our favorite despicable couple the Thenardiers. It seems both Seth Callor and Nicole Hess enjoyed so much playing this lovable, despicable twosome.

Tonight is the last performance, check it out if you can get tickets.

Sadly, I couldn't find any videos of this year's performance. This is from the same high school, but in 2008.

"The Confrontation":

"Prologue":

"One Day More":

From the 10th anniversary performance at Royal Albert Hall, Ruthie Henshall singing "I Dreamed A Dream":



From London West End 2008 performance: "At The End of the Day":



This is probably my favorite ever performance of "Stars", Mr. Norm Lewis:



"Who Am I":

themusicaddict

Long Song Blog #2 Special Neil Young and Meat Loaf Songs Only (Started November 18th, 2015)

Hello,

These are some of my favorite long songs and I'm doing a long song blog for the songs of Meat Loaf, and Neil Young. My working definition of long song is at least 7:00, number in parenthesis is how long the song is. First up a few long songs by Neil Young:

"Down By The River" (9:20):

"Ordinary People" (18:13):

"Cowgirl In The Sand" (9:08):

My favorite of all of Neil's long songs. This is off his amazing CD "Sleeps With Angels", a CD you should really add to your collection. "Change Your Mind" (14:45):

A perfectly fine song as it is, but it would be so much finer if a few minutes less: "No Hidden Path" (14:33) (This version is "only" 9:47):

Now for the master of the long 7:00 + minute song,  Mr. Marvin Lee Aday. He's better known as Meat Loaf:

For those wondering the name of the female singer is Aspen Miller. "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (10:48):

"Bat Out of Hell" (8:29):

"Objects In The Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" (7:39):

"Paradise By The Dashboard Light" (8:25):

"Life Is A Lemon and I Want My Money Back" (8:18):

"A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age." Ain't that the truth! "Everything Louder Than Everything Else" (Wasted Youth) (7:59):

"A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" (7:31):

This song is 7:58 on some of his CDs, but I can't find a good video for that version. I went with the "You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth" (7:58) video below:

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Favorite Long Songs (Updated and Finished November 16th, 2015)

Hello,

These are some of my favorite long songs and I'll probably be doing a long song blog for songs of Meat Loaf, Neil Young and other bands that have several great long songs. My working definition of long song is at least 7:00, number in parenthesis is how long the song is.

First up, the greatest band of all-time, Led Zeppelin. "Stairway To Heaven" is a great song, but am I the only one who thinks it gets played too much? I didn't think so, so here's "Since I've Been Loving You" (7:27):

Don McLean's "American Pie" (8:31):

The Doors "When The Music's Over" (10:56):

The Doors "The End" (11:48):

Guns N' Roses "November Rain" (9:07):

Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (10:01):

Going truly old school here, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" (15:08):



Queensryche "Suite Sister Mary" (10:22):



Metallica "One" (7:45):



Iron Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (7:12):



The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again" (8:33):



B.B. King "Why I Sing The Blues" 8:32):



Billy Joel "Goodnight Saigon" (7:17):

themusicaddict

Best of G N' R's "Use Your Illusion" 1 & 2 (Finished November 16th, 2015)

Hello,

I don't think any true rock fan would deny that "Appetite For Destruction" is one of the greatest CD ever- of any genre. It's 12 tracks of butt kicking rock music, some of the most iconic songs ever come from that CD. However G N' R did release other very good CDs- two of those CDs are "Use Your Illusion" 1 & 2. Those twin CDs released September 17th, 1991 have several great songs on them. Now there are some great songs that I'm not including in my list below. Songs that were live staples or popular before these twin CDs were released.  Those songs are "Live and Let Die", "Don't Cry", "November Rain", "Civil War", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "You Could Be Mine".

The lesser known great songs from Disc 1 are:

"Dust N' Bones":

"You Ain't The First":

"Bad Obsession":

Bizarrely enough Axl dedicated this song to Warren Beatty. Warren Beatty? "Double Talkin' Jive":

"The Garden":



"Coma":

From Disc 2:

"14 Years" (With Izzy in 2012, sadly not great sound):



"14 Years" (Much better sound from 1991):

"Yesterdays":

"Shotgun Blues":

"Pretty Tied Up":

"Estranged":

themusicaddict