#473 Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

I don't remember when I first heard Coldplay.  Was it their breakthrough hit Yellow, was it Clocks?  I mean, when they came out there was no escaping them really.  Before giving this album (Coldplay's second official release) a full listen, I need to state that I'm torn about them.  There's times that I fall hook, line, and sinker for their...well for their hooks.  And then there's times that the repetitiveness of the theme, the motif, it turns me way off much the way an over-pedantic teacher does.

I recently watched a Ted Talk that discussed the difference between a sermon, and a lecture.  In much the same way I'm often turned off by dogma, the hooks, the catchy underlined, highlighted, and boldfaced hooks that I identify Coldplay with, I fall for them; I get in bed with them, let them comfort me, ravage me, and then I wake up the next morning feeling cheap and manipulated.  No need to say a prayer for me--I'm more than ready to jump back in bed with A Rush of Blood to the Head (pun intended).

Politik-  like the rest of the album, the opening song was recorded in the weeks following 9-11.  The lyrics might not be about the attacks, but the gravity of the song, the sentiment lends itself quite well.  "Look at earth from outer space, everyone must find a place"

In My Place-  a song that spilled over from their first album, it was the carrot that lead them through writer's block to their second album.  It was the lead single from Rush of Blood, and garnered them a Grammy.  It's a song about a man wasting away while waiting for an unrequited love to change heart.  An interesting spin is to hear the song from the perspective of a blocked writer to his muse. "How long must you wait for it?"

God Put a Smile on your Face-  sonically... wow, so clean, full; especially in headphones it's like wine.  But I get that metronome feeling, a mechanical skeleton underneath the fleshy soul.  It reminds me a little of Radiohead, but lacks the chaos deep in the DNA... I feel pretentious saying that, because it really does sound great.

The Scientist-  the second or third single released (depending on what side of the pond you were on).  Of course I have a bias on songs lead by a piano.  The protagonist has lost his lover; is he retracing the events that led him here?  Seems like he's clueless as to what happened, "I was just guessing at numbers and figures, pulling your puzzles apart".  Einstein could have told him that Science and Love have few shared equations.

Clocks- The piano motif lead mega hit for Coldplay has been used in dozens of movies, television series, commercials, pro-wrestling, rap songs.  One use that I'm almost 100% sure was unique to my band, was when we mashed it during a Greek Fest performance into "Opa Nina Naj".   Can you hear the 123-123-12 rhythm? (No that's not my band in the link)

Daylight-  seems to me to be a metaphor of love.  "ooh and the sun will shine, yeah on this heart of mine"  It's as if musically, there are these individual loops, or patterns, let's call them building blocks.  And the song is built from layer upon layer of these colored blocks, cleverly shaped, but still displaying the jagged corners.

Green Eyes-  starts out guitar and singing, and for a minute I think there might be a song that's not going to fall into the structure, fit into a template.  But it does, and I'm feeling a little smug.

Warning Sign- The singer took someone (or something) for granted, and realized it almost too late. "I realized that you were an island and I passed you by, when you were an island to discover".  Luckily a warning sign turned him around in time.

A Whisper-  I haven't heard this song before, but right off the bat I dig the funky 3/4 time vs. 2/4 polyrhythm or hemiola.  Maybe the meter (much like in Clocks) is enough to distract me from the repetition.  "Who remembers you when you are gone, I hear the sound of the ticking of clocks"  Some musical Carpe Diem?

A Rush of Blood to the Head-  I hear the lyrics, and I can't help think of Forrest Gump and Jenny's House.  "I'm gonna buy this place and see it burn, do back the things it did to you in return."  Sometimes there's just not enough rocks.  I'm positive the song isn't about Forrest, but more so about acting impulsively, emotionally.  Surprisingly, I didn't notice a template at all for this song.  I don't dare listen again for fear of finding one.

Amsterdam- the album ends with another piano formula song:  Start with lone piano, add singing, then layer more keyboards.  Cue the rest of the band to crash in until the end... where it probably breaks with only the piano and singing again (I'm writing this before the song ends).  Is it that predictable?  Smug smile.

I won't pass judgement on the person who falls victim to the one night stand; or those who have a friend with benefits--that person they can count on to fill a need.  But after awhile, the one-nighter loses its appeal, its comfort, and becomes cliche.  Am I calling Coldplay musical-fuck-buddies?  I'm saying their songs individually are worthy, more than worthy of "getting in bed with."  They are beautifully written, almost perfect sounding, and you can count on them.  But maybe that's it--after awhile, you want something more, something spontaneous, flawed, unpredictable.

Next up #472  Def Leppard- Hysteria (1987)

#474 Otis Redding- Otis Redding Live In Europe (1967)

Otis Redding toured Europe with Booker T and the MG's (of Green Onions fame) in the spring of 1967.  On March 21 in Paris, history was made, recorded, and preserved.  This was recorded 8 months before Redding died in a small plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin; 9 months before Dock of the Bay became the first posthumous album to hit #1 on UK charts.  Something about rockers dieing young, 26 in Redding's case, that forces us to re-examine our own mortality, reminds us to carpe a little more of that diem.  Again, I'm familiar with many of the songs on the album, but I've never listened to the album straight through, until today.

Respect-  don't I feel stupid... all this time I thought Otis was covering Aretha Franklin's song--he WROTE it!  Aretha added the spelling lesson required to make it her feminist anthem.  In Otis' original version he's not demanding recognition, he's pleading for something else--Respect as euphemism for sex.

Can't Turn You Loose-  The Blues Brother's made this their live intro... well Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn were members of both the Blues Brothers and Booker T. and the MG's so perhaps they just carried the torch.  The energy of the band is only eclipsed by Redding's electricity.  "I know you think I'm gonna stop now, " spoiler alert: He doesn't.

I've Been Loving You Too Long-  A tender torch song, and one of Redding's first hit singles from 1965.  He works the crowd over and plays with pregnant pauses.  The Rolling Stones covered this song shortly after its release, and introduced Redding to a white audience crossing over.

My Girl-  a cover version of the Smokey Robinson penned hit by the Temptations.  There's a sense of urgency in this version--Hell, in almost all of Otis' songs--he's "gotta gotta gotta gotta" tell you about her.

Shake- and a quick transition from the Temptations to Sam Cooke.  Eric Burdon and the Animals would also cover this song, but Redding put the song on the map, and on the air.  Watch and take note, Ready Steady Go (the English version of American Bandstand), 1966: This is how you set a room on fire.

Satisfaction-  The Stones covered Otis, so he returns the favor and puts the horns in the original three note riff, just like Keith Richards had first intended.  Otis improvises his own words, including his signature "gotta gotta gotta"

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)-  Co Penned with Steve Cropper ("play it Steve" from Soul Man).  You probably will recognize the hook, referenced in the Arthur Conley song (co penned with Redding).

These Arms of Mine-  Damn there's some girl yelling for the song "good to me"... I mean, like over and over again.  I wonder where she is today.  Ha, someone in the horn section hit a wrong intro note!  Well, now we know it's live.  A tender song that was one of the first Otis had ever recorded in the studio, and the first time I've heard this gem, Clams and all.  I wonder if Otis motivated the MG's like Buddy Rich did his band.

Day Tripper-  It's a rare artist who could completely bastardize a Beatles song and arguably make it better.  Sprinkle a little "gotta gotta" sauce on it, and then turn up the heat and bring it to a boil.

Try A Little Tenderness-  actually was a song that Otis didn't write.  It was first recorded (albeit in a completely different feel) back in the 30's: Give it a Listen.  In the same way however, that Aretha took Respect and never looked back, this will always be Otis Redding.  I'll forgive him all the other misplaced "gotta gotta's" as long as I can have it in this song.  A train that starts at an almost stand still; before you know it this runaway hit can not be contained.

We all wonder what music would have followed, from the artists we lost too soon.  Hendrix, Joplin, Lennon... more recently Cobain, Winehouse.  Would their music have been powerful enough to change the world?  Would the world have been powerful enough to have changed them?

After touring, Otis Redding suffered from polyps on his larynx (much like what Adele is now working through) and took some time off.  He returned to the studio later that winter, wrote and recorded a song that was inspired by the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Album.  It was a change in his sound, a change everyone around him disagreed with... they wanted him to keep doing what worked, what people expected.  Otis didn't listen, he knew it was the best he'd written so far.  He whistled the song's legendary ending; Three days later in a plane crash, his legendary end would come too.

Next Up #473  Coldplay- A Rush Of Blood to the Head (2002)

#475 Bruce Springsteen- Tunnel of Love (1987)

My best friend and I go all the way back to the 5th grade.  We're both married now (not to each other), and life has evolved where we don't get to hang out as much as we'd like, but there was about an eight year block or so of high school and college that we did pretty much everything together.  Of course, music played a tremendous role during those years, and where as my musical heroes were the Beatles, his was Bruce Springsteen.

The tour guide I had back then to all things New Jersey pointed me toward songs and gave me insight that the average musical tourist passing through would have certainly missed, and I'm sure I reciprocated with things Liverpuldian.  We saw the concert that followed this album together and have often reminisced about it.  I'm lucky to have such an amazing now 30+ year friendship, and even luckier that Jovo's musical hero wasn't Jackyl.

Bruce was just coming off the whole Born in the USA album/tour/misinterpreted Jingoistic mega-movement.  He was in the last throes of a failing first marriage, and much of the album is introspective; songs about doubt, struggle, perhaps the disenchantment of love in theory, and marriage in reality.  I remind myself before listening to the album again that Bruce was 37 when writing this.  Mid life crisis, that hard steep staircase from our dream floor to reality that we all tumble down, perhaps this album was meant to carpet those steps.  Like most of us, Bruce eventually landed and found reality to be wonderful, but boy that first step can be a doozie.

Ain't Got You-  Bruce stripped down, voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica.  You get the idea that he's setting the tone for a change in sound.  The song is too similar in concept to another favorite of my friend's and I, that I can't help but point it out.

Tougher Than the Rest-  I remember how wide and keyboard driven this sounded in concert.  Mostly recorded in Bruce's home studio.  The whole sound, drums, layered synth, it sounds heavy...weathered.  Bruce sings "well there's another dance, all you gotta say is yes, and if you're rough and ready for love, honey I'm tougher than the rest."  It's not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up that counts.

All That Heaven Will Allow-  a quick but warm and thick sounding song that first refers to the girl as all that heaven will allow, but then talks about how having the right love makes you want a long life: "I want all the time, all that heaven will allow"

Spare Parts-  a rocker albeit dark and bleak.  An unwed mother struggling to survive after the father runs off, contemplates drowning her son to avoid the commitment.  This song seems a little out of place on the album.

Cautious Man-  starts out in classic Springsteen story telling mode.  Guitar, voice... but when the pad layered synth sound comes in, it adds a gravity and depth that's breathtaking.  "On his right hand Billy'd tattooed the word Love and on his left hand was the word fear, and in which hand he held his fate was never clear"

Walk Like a Man-  is a song to Bruce's father, a song from a perspective he'd never had before, that of a husband.  Perhaps a little more forgiving and understanding of the difficulties his father endured.  "Well I was young and I didn't know what to do, when I saw your best steps stolen away from you, Now I'll do what I can, I'll walk like a man"

Tunnel of Love- Side two of the album (the last of Bruce's albums to be officially released as side one/side two) opens up with the title track.  I've always loved the metaphor, the carnival ride for marriage.  "The house is haunted and the ride gets rough, you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above"  I bet even my best friend didn't know the middle part was a lift from the Moody Blues.  Nah, he probably knew.

Two Faces-  describes the inner struggle of man, the conflict of a duality.  One face of him swears to make her happy, and yet one makes her cry.  The writing is good, but the choice of guitar tone and organ, horrible.

Brilliant Disguise-  was the first single released (Tunnel of Love was the 2nd).  Both made it to the #1 spot on Mainstream Rock charts.  It's a song about doubt, in self and partner.  "who do I see when I look in your eyes"  I know this blog has been about listening to the music, but I can't forget the video for this.  It broke MTV ground for being the first single shot video without edits.  It's a song about trust, looking into someone's eyes; the almost painful video is a slow zoom of Bruce looking into the camera. "God have mercy on the man, who doubts what he's sure of"

One Step Up-  was the third single released from the album.  It's a song about the inability to resolve differences, degrading to cheating.  The singer accepts his role and responsibility "When I look at myself, I don't see the man I wanted to be"  Bruce recorded and played all the instruments on this song, the only other person to sing, ironically, is the woman he would marry after his break up, Patti Scialfa.

When You're Alone- I listen to this song again, and I'm struggling to find it's meaning.  At first I hear it as an angry song, and then it turns to sad, then forgiving, but then vengeful.  Maybe that's the point, so many emotions swirling around that it's difficult to think straight?

Valentine's Day-  somehow this song got past me, I'm sure I've heard it before... but I don't remember "hearing" it.  It's such a gem--perhaps in the last song on the album, the final landing on the bottom step of reality/dream, maybe that fall knocked some sense into Bruce.  "It wasn't the bitterness of a dream that didn't come true... No No baby it was you"

What a great listen that was for me, now on the adult side of the bumpy steps.  Not all marriages last, nor do many many more relationships.  Maybe the pieces don't match up, maybe there were gaps too large for the glue of love to set hold, or perhaps one or both of the people just weren't ready... I'm not going to act like I have any more answers than the next person... but I can appreciate Springsteen's tunnel of love metaphor; the ideal, excitement and dream of love upon entering, and the hard work, struggle, strain, and commitment through the sometimes dark and scary ride, that it takes to see the light at the end of it.

Next Up- #474 Otis Redding- Otis Redding Live in Europe (1967)

#476 The Paul Butterfield Blues Band- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)

Inspired by the Blues Brothers, I bought my first Blues Harp around the beginning of 1987.  Soon thereafter and unbeknownst to me, one of the musicians pivotal in the crossover of blues music to white audiences, someone who knew the southside streets of Chicago much better than Jake and Elwood, died at the age of 44.

Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop, Mike Bloomfield:  the son of a lawyer, a full ride scholarship physics major, and a Jewish northside heir to a catering business respectively. You'd sooner expect to find ketchup on a Chicago Style Hot Dog than these three in a blues bar back in 1963.  But they, as many white suburban kids would do for years to come, made the pilgrimage. Paul traded in his flute (yes flute) and the CSO for the Marine Band and Big John's nightclub.

I know most of the blues "standards" on the album, but there are one or two I'm not familiar with, and several written by Butterfield that I haven't heard before.  I could do some research and then say with confidence that the white flight to blues happened first in Chicago, or that it started first in London... but I'm thinking listening to blues music is better than doing research; Paul, Elvin, and Mike surely concurred.

Born In Chicago-  who better to write your first blues hit than Nick "the Greek' Gravenites.  The influences of Muddy Waters, Otis Rush and Howlin' Wolf are strong, as is the interplay between harmonica and guitar.

Shake Your Money-Maker-  this up tempo blues standard has been covered by everyone from Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, The Black Crowes, and George Thorogood.  The original was recorded by Elmore James.  Suggestive lyrics for the early 60's.

Blues with a Feeling-  a cover of the Little Walter hit.  Little Walter was one of the first harmonica players to play through an amplifier with distortion and thus could "compete" with the lead guitars.  Butterfield would use this style often playing through a Fender amp and/or the house P.A. microphone.  The sound became so popular, that Shure adapted the microphone they once designed for public address systems, into a full fledged harmonica mic.

Thank You Mr. Poobah-  An instrumental original on the album and the first to credit keyboard player Mark Naftalin, another University of Chicago graduate and son of then Minneapolis mayor.  The harmonica playing is great, the guitar playing fluid, but the organ playing is sloppy at best.

Got My Mojo Workin'- The Muddy Waters standard is flawless.  Paul Butterfield's singing, it's a weird mid-point between honoring Muddy and mocking him... I'm sure it's meant as honoring, but he's imitating Muddy's grunts and groans...it's probably just me be overly critical.  Flawless, but maybe that's what is throwing me off.

Mellow Down Easy- The Willie Dixon song reminds me of Wang Dang Doodle (which he also wrote) that was made famous by Koko Taylor.  The guitar solo by Bloomfield, is fluid and wonderfully accented and weaved by the harmonica.

Screamin'-  a blues shuffle written by Bloomfield.  I've never heard this one, but I think it's my favorite on the album so far.  It showcases both Mike's guitar prowess, and the unique style of Butterfield's playing.  It's as if he incorporated his classical flute background to the blues.  Anyone remember Ralph Macchio's character in the movie Crossroads?  Coinkydink?

Our Love is Drifting-  the only original on the album with singing, it's pretty straight forward, not bad, not great.

Mystery Train-  The Junior Parker song, also made famous by Elvis' cover in 1955, is another up tempo blues standard.  It rolls in, and rolls out just as quickly; I would have liked to hear more harp/guitar soloing.

Last Night-  Another Little Walter cover.  You can't hear this and not think of Chicago.  I don't know if it's been used as movie music, but to me the sound is synonymous with the south side.  John Popper sounds like this in his wet dreams.

Look Over Yonders Wall-  was the flip side to Elmore James Shake Your Moneymaker.  The book of the song is a guy who wasn't drafted because of his bum knee, and takes advantage of lonely soldiers wives.  All's fair in love and war, and blues.

I've long since lost my adolescent fascination with the blues.  It has however matured into an appreciation for the musicianship, sound, and culture.  The early sixties, to me, seemed fertile ground for change.  The Beatles, Civil Rights, a youth movement.  Perhaps it's easy for those of us that were born afterwards, to take for granted the struggles faced by those who planted those seeds of change; those who crossed over lines: cultural, race, or artistic.

The Butterfield Blues Band would go on to perform at Monterey, and then Woodstock.  Paul Butterfield died of a heart attack at age 44 caused by drug use and heavy drinking.  Tragically, the blues does in fact cross over.

Next Up #475 Bruce Springsteen- Tunnel of Love (1987)

#477 Fugees- The Score (1996)

It's not exactly fair listening to an entire album, after recently having played a gig.  It's like presenting someone with a pizza, right after they gorged themselves on steak, or maybe white castle... I'm thinking my band gigs would be more analogous with the latter in that I associate both with copious amounts of alcohol.

I'm a fan of Lauryn Hill's singing; I've heard of Wyclef even before his Hatian political aspirations but wouldn't be able to place his voice; and I remember a couple hit songs from The Score, Fugees second and last studio album.This is my launching pad.

Red Intro-  A spoken word movie hype-type intro that reminds me of an annoying version of Flava Flav... as if there's another kind.

How Many Mics-  Lauryn Hill's rapping in the first verse.. powerful and mesmerizing.  Wyclef's on the 2nd verse, solid.  Pras on the third verse, even more so.  Over all, very clever use of rhythmic word parsing rhyme "Hands get calloused, from grippin' microphones from here to Dallas, Go ask Alice if you don't believe me, I get Inner Visions like Stevie, See me, ascend from the chalice, like the weed be."

Ready or Not-  If Lauryn's rapping didn't grab you, her singing will.  Enya sued the Fugees for unauthorized use of her song Boadicea.  I'm pretty sure the Delfonics didn't sue for the use of Ready or Not.  In a 2008 interview President Obama listed this as his favorite song.

Zealots- Built on the sample of "I only have eyes for you"  Even Lauren has a hard time making the tight loop of the music not sound repetitious.  I won't hear the Flamingo's hit the same way again.

The Beast-  I think the beast is corruption, in government, politics, police.  "Say can't you see cops more crooked than we, by the dawn's early night robbin' niggas for keys."  "Probable cause got flaws like dirty drawers"  There's also a memorable line early in the song about one of the republican candidates.  The karate "movie" at the end is a nice bonus.

Fu-Gee-La-  was the first single from the album.  Who's old enough to remember Teena Marie?  Wow, again big thanks to the Internet for giving me the lyrics to read along.  So much great detail coming at you fast, I would have otherwise missed all the words while hypnotized by the great Ramsey Lewis sample of If Lovin' You is Wrong.

Family Business-  "If I should fall asleep and death takes me away, don't be surprised son, I wasn't put here to stay"  The weaving of chorus & verse by Lauren, Wyclef, and guest rappers Forte and Omega... it's clever and engaging.  There's reference of mafioso type street violence-- family here references that.

Killing Me Softly- This is a song that should fall under the "played to death" category, but I think I still have a few hundred times I could hear it without getting my fill.  Rap and hip hop was never my thing, but a song I did love was A Tribe Called Quest's Bonita Applebaum who's sample drops early and often in this song.  When you have the vocal goods, you don't need processing, effects, or frankly instruments.  Lauren Hill is living proof of this.

The Score-  The title track from the album, has two verses of Wyclef self promoting while referring to himself in the third person-- not impressed.  Lauryn is such a gifted singer, it's almost unfair that her rapping is better than both Wyclef and Pras.  Put the W in L's column, that's the Score.

The Mask-  Great use of samples, horns, trombones... the rap is intelligent, it reminds me of the message behind Billy Joel's The Stranger.  The ending of the song has Nights in White Satin from The Moody Blues.

Cowboy-  A slam on the rap industry's image of rapper thugs, when in reality most are posers.  Possibly a diss on Tupac?  I like the nods to Kenny Roger's Gambler and Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Startin' Something.

No Woman, No Cry-  Wyclef covers Bob Marley's classic.  I'm happy to say they didn't go too far off the original, at least musically.  Lyrically, it's an account of life in Brooklyn and Jersey. Trenchtown = Trenton.

Manifest/Outro-  To Wyclef, it's weed, Jesus and crooked cops.  To Lauren, it's heart, truth, and life.  Praz,  violence and/or maybe the cowboys.  Each builds their rap around the word Manifest.  Perhaps their breakup was manifest destiny.  The outro reminds me of an old radio program, a black Prairie Home Companion?

Tom Petty sang "You don't have to live your life like a refugee".  Maybe the band took this advice to heart-- not long after the success and two Grammy's garnered from this album, they broke up.  What struck me about this album are the almost acrobatic rhythmic rhyme and flow of Ms. Lauryn Hill (I was already a fan of her singing.)

Hip Hop can be such a great link to other music, like the aforementioned Ramsey Lewis and his cover that I'd never heard before.  It can be clever, thought provoking, and intelligent; and sometimes I lose sight of this amid all the bravado, mafioso-rap, and feuding.  Perhaps it was I and not Lauryn that was Miseducated.

Next Up- #476 The Paul Butterfield Blues Band- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)