Clang & Clatter

Short and sweet pre-vacation Friday Five today. And my first track sorted by name is Anthrax’s “A.D.I./Horror of It All” from Among the Living.

Saosin - “The Worst of Me” (In Search of Solid Ground, 2009)
Possibly the best song on this emo/screamo band’s most commercial (and most recent) release to date.

Glen Phillips - “Got to Get On” (The Unreleased Songs Compilation: Vol. 1)
Interesting track from a set of live versions of songs Glen had not released prior to its compilation. A bit different from the norm for Glen, but still really good.

King’s X - “Marsh Mellow Field” (Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous, 2000)
Equal parts groove, sludge, and psychedelic. Love it.

Owl City - “Dental Care” (Ocean Eyes, 2009)
OK, confession time. Although I purchased this for my son during his brief obsession with this artist, I have kept it around since I find it catchy and not too annoying—at least most of the time. “I’ve been to the dentist a thousand times, so I know the drill.” Funny.

Smashing Pumpkins - “Siva” (Gish, 1991)
Michael recently questioned what he ever saw in Smashing Pumpkins. This is it. The slow, mellow middle breakdown is why I Mother Earth reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins at times.

In late December 1979, Eddie Van Halen phoned Guitar Player editor Jas Obrecht to catch up. Van Halen had just wrapped up the eight-day recording session that became the band’s third album Women and Children First, and Eddie wanted to see how his friend was doing and give him the scoop on the album. Upon learning Obrecht was working on a DIY guitar-building piece for Guitar Player, Eddie offered to impart his unique insight on the subject. He called back a couple of days later to discuss homemade guitars as well as to rant a little about copycat builders and blatant knock-offs of some of his innovations and playing style. Read the full transcript of the conversation, only part of which eventually ran as part of the Eddie Van Halen cover story of the April 1980 issue of Guitar Player.

Enjoy!

An update from Geezer Butler on Tony Iommi’s condition since being diagnosed with cancer and the progress on new Black Sabbath tunes:

Far from being down and depressed about his lymphoma diagnosis, Tony had already written the music for two new songs, and I must say it has given us all a kick up the rump- it’s great to hear him churning out those riffs again, assuaging the Demon C. Takes more than that to stop Tony.

Here’s wishing Tony all the best in his battle with cancer.

You don’t need to be a fortune teller with a crystal ball to know it’s time for the Friday Five with IckMusic!

KISS - “Hooked on Rock and Roll” (1972 KISS/Lips Demos)
Demo that is, ironically, from back before KISS became a real rock ‘n’ roll band. Bop-shoo-bop, shoo-bop-bop-shoo-bop?! Seriously, best as I can tell, the collection of demos from which this comes was actually from Peter’s pre-Wicked Lester (and by extension, pre-KISS) band Lips.

Pink Floyd - “Goodbye Blue Sky” (The Wall, 1979)
“Look mummy, there’s an aeroplane up in the sky.”

KISS - “Black Diamond” (Alive!, 1975)
Considering today is Paul Stanley’s 60th birthday, it’s fitting that iTunes picked another KISS tune (maybe I should have made it an all-KISS playlist?). It’s hard to believe I was only 5 when this album came out, and I wish I had a nickel for every time I played guitar on a tennis racket pretending to be either Ace or Gene. Alive! is very nearly a perfect live album (overdubbing accusations aside) and contains the now definitive versions of their early hits (at least for the songs from the self-titled debut). Peter’s vocals on “Black Diamond” really make the song for me. I wish I could have frozen time for KISS at this moment right here.

Sugar - “Fortune Teller” (Copper Blue, 1992)
Though I was aware of Hüsker Dü in the 80s through a couple of mail-order SST compilation cassettes, I somehow missed out on Bob Mould’s excellent 90s output with Sugar. I guess I was too wrapped up with college, Anthrax, the burgeoning grunge scene, and MTV. I’m grateful that a co-worker introduced me to Sugar around 1999, a point in time where I was probably more prepared to appreciate it.

The Police - “Can’t Stand Losing You” (Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings, 1993)
A repeat from my January 6 Friday Five. Looks like my iTunes has a bit of a Police crush lately. At least it picked a good song.