Musings in Search of a Muse

Just the other day a kind soul I work with dropped off eight winning caps for the Pepsi/iTunes music giveaway. Feeling generous, I gave two away to a new iPod owner I know and promptly redeemed the remaining six. Then a couple days later I picked up one of the last bottles of Mountain Dew that I happened to find in a local store and it was a winner, too – until I put it in a recycle bin the following day, cap and all. The giveaway ends April 11^th so I’d better be a lot more careful. Otherwise I’ll have to dip into that tasty $15.00 iTunes gift card I got for buying iPod socks and some new earphones from Amazon.

Still, I’m rather pleased with the tunes I collected since my last blog entry. Not much in the Jazz category, but Norah Jones redefines the nearly worn-out phrase “dulcet tones” with “Don’t Know Why” from Come Away With Me. Her voice reminds me of a sipping whiskey: smooth, with a bit of bite and a warm scratch that leads to a slight intoxication. I will certainly check out other work by this talented lady.

A Big Band/Jazz standard, “That Old Black Magic,” made it in this round. Louis Prima and Keely Smith give memorable performances on in this release (Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 5: Wild, Cool & Swingin'). Of all the choices on iTunes this was the best one. Sadly, the Sammy Davis, Jr. rendition I was aiming for wasn’t available. There was one from this classic song and dance man, but it seemed forced. Much like the performances I sampled from Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn, and others. I would have preferred one on par with Jerry Lewis’s recording in the original Nutty Professor. Maybe I was biased by the stunning Stella Stevens, but Mr. Lewis did a fabulous job.

Last in the Jazz group from this outing is Lisa Stansfield renewing my love of Gershwin with “They Can't Take That Away from Me” from The Glory of Gershwin. The orchestration beautifully compliments the light smokiness in Miss Stansfield’s vocals. She puts genuine emotion into the song thus reminding me of a playful flirt who wants to experience the fullness of the song’s various intonations. Top form, truly.

Rock dominated and two of the best come from Joe Cocker: “Maybe I'm Amazed” and “You Are So Beautiful” (Heart & Soul and Greatest Love Songs, respectively). Once again I find myself asking why I hadn’t downloaded these songs before now. The latter is especially dear to me as I often sung it (badly, by all rights) to my daughter while she was alive. Actually, I’m surprised I can listen to either one with the memories they evoke of my lovely little girl and other relationships I’ve had. Time may not heal all wounds, but it gives a perspective that filters the past and softens the hurt if one doesn’t concentrate too much.

Guitar wizard Ted Nugent showed up again with a track I almost purchased before I found “Stranglehold.” His “Great White Buffalo (Live)” is the first song that comes to mind when Steady Teddy is the topic. Actually, the whole album Double Live Gonzo! seemed pretty good, but with room on the ol’ iPod getting tight I’ve decided to become more judicial with my acquisitions. It is not often a Rock song actually tells a story, but Mr. Nugent’s love of wildlife and the outdoors clearly inspired him to share his passion. But I wasn’t so limited that I didn’t grab “Hibernation (Live)” from the same album. It’s a 16 minute, 57 second humility lesson. I wonder how many people heard this, said “Jeez! I’ll never play that good!” and smashed their guitars in frustration. It’s not a very hard rocking song, but clearly Mr. Nugent is going wild. There are times that the band seems to have trouble keeping up. I can almost picture this recording taking place in a small Jazz club after hours when the artists play to amuse themselves – particularly the work about starting about 8:40 from the top.

A wild man of more recent vintage found his way into my library again – Kid Rock. Surprisingly he has just one album available on iTunes, Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast, but I picked up the single of “Forever (Radio Version).” There are times the man is nearly brilliant, but I don’t find him consistent enough to collect too many more songs. When “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” shows up on iTunes I’ll grab that and likely stop there. Until then I’ll have to enjoy the Dictionaraoke cover “I Wanna Be A Cowbot” from The Singing Dictionary.

The wildness continues with a track from Tear the Roof Off (1974-1980) by Parliament. “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” was featured in the Eddie Griffin move Undercover Brother, a great send up of Blaxplotation movies of the 70s. It isn’t the prize of my Funk collection, but it’s a fine addition.

As usual, I have an affinity for Inspirational music and Jennifer Knapp’s “Breathe On Me” (The Way I Am) lounged in my Wish List long enough. The lyrics are at times clear as a mountain stream and at other times as clear as cork.

No temptation seize a man that he can't overcome
who am I to be fallen?
Crack your back on a slab of wood
Come freedom, nail it down
I come crawling,
I come crawling

Rather good stuff nonetheless and a really catchy melody. It borders on the whiney, plaintive sound I dislike about most of the Christian music that I hear, but not so much so it won’t be in regular rotation in my biggest playlist.

The Blues Brothers bring “Hey Bartender (Live)” to the party in their Briefcase Full of Blues. The raw enthusiasm that Jake and Elwood Blues put into their performances more that make up for the only slightly better than average talent. But then again, you don’t really need talent to sing the Blues because it is in all of us. I can’t recall hearing a bad song from this genre. Of course, though the great Koko Taylor sang this song, as did Floyd Dixon and others you’d recognize, it is not really a standard. But I can easily see the boys having a heck of a time when I close my eyes and pretend I’m seeing them live. That must have been something. Another legend lost to drugs. We’ll miss you, Mr. Belushi, and not just for your fashion sense.

In the first Blues Brothers movie Murph and the Magictones are playing a Holiday Inn lounge and we are treated to part of Booker T. & The M.G.'s classic “Time is Tight” from the album Uptight. What is really great is that two of the Magictones are really members of the original band: Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper. Not many people will catch that humor. I might have to clue the IMDB into that for their trivia page. Anyway, I couldn’t help adding this great instrumental to my library.

Rounding up the list is a bit of Electronica I came across when poking around the links that showed up on the pages for music from the movie The Incredibles. Rather fitting, too, as “The Planet Plan” from United Future Organization’s album 3rd Perspective is heavily derivative from the space action and spy TV shows and B-movies that I was fond of in my youth. Someone had to be channeling Monty Norman and Lalo Schifrin when they wrote this. Maybe it's an Anime thing.