Clang & Clatter

I’ve got Friday—and IckMusic’s Friday Five—on my mind.

Glen Phillips - “Don’t Need Anything” (Winter Pays for Summer, 2005)
This is not my favorite tune from the album that should have put Glen’s solo work on the radio, but a not-so-good Glen Phillips song is usually still a pretty good song. Short, sweet, and simple.

Smashing Pumpkins - “Rocket” (“Unplugged” 100% Pure Acoustic Performances, 1993)
This version of the Siamese Dream track is from a compilation of bootlegs. “Rocket” is apparently part of a performance for a radio station in the Netherlands and is a nearly spot-on reproduction of the album version.

Rush - “Sweet Miracle” (Vapor Trails, 2002)
Vapor Trails was my entry back into the Rush fold. I have always been a big Rush fan, but I cautiously watched them from a distance for the Counterparts and Test for Echo albums, which is interesting since those two discs saw the band move back toward a more guitar-centric sound and are now among my favorites in their catalog. Despite the extensive use of technology used to piece together the songs for this album, it has an organic, cohesive feel to me and expresses almost a sense of urgency to get back to making music after the tragic events in Neil Peart’s life that led to a five-year hiatus that would have sidelined most bands.

Mötley Crüe - “Bastard” (Shout at the Devil, 1983)
I had a strange infatuation with the Crüe in the mid-80s and with this album in particular. Was the band mad at the devil and really shouting at him? And if so, why record an instrumental named “God Bless the Children of the Beast?!” Or were they the devil’s minions? The album’s satanic imagery would lead one to believe the latter over the former. But I could never really figure this album out other than it was a loud, heavy, rocking good time with tunes about drugs, sex, the devil, and a Beatles cover. How could that be bad? I also never figured out what “Bastard”—or most of the other songs, for that matter—were really about, but it had the F-bomb in it, which was cool for a mostly-compliant teenager who only really ever rebelled in the area of music. As I look back at it now, I realize the album was mostly a result of the over-abundance of drug use and not some grand musical statement. But isn’t that what rock ‘n’ roll is about anyway?!

Joe Satriani - “Cool #9” (Joe Satriani, 1995)
So once again Satch comes up during my Friday Five shuffle. Interesting that this doesn’t happen too often at other times. Anyway, this opener from his self-titled album is a slow groove that is reminiscent of another of his tunes that I can’t quite put my finger on at the moment. Something off Surfing with the Alien or Flying in a Blue Dream I’m sure, since those are the two albums I’m most familiar with. Nice chilled-out tune to end this Friday Five, complete with some Tom Morello-like whammy pedal antics.