Interractive Poll #? - Oldies rocking goldies

Mike's Additions:  Yello “Limbo” A ticktock kind of beat begins with electronic sounds.  Very deep-voiced vocalist here, lots of percussive beats and electronic keys, an 80’s kind of club music sound.  The female chorus definitely adds a lot of interest to the piece.  Great voice for a horror film!  Kind Followed by Yello again, with “Kiss the Cloud”  This one begins very quietly, with a female vocalist entering, along with multi-layered vocal effects, kind of a dreamy, atmospheric piece. I prefer this one to the other, by Yello.  Golden Earring “She Flies on Strange Wings”  Undeniably a strong vocalist starts the piece with an organ underpinning, before the band kicks in and the vocal is amped up.    This one is reminiscent of when psych began to turn into prog with a kind of bluesy guitar taking over and the lyrics verging on the fantastic….also on the edge of heavy at the same time, with the vocals becoming more histrionic and the heavy bass beat.  Horns, too.  About halfway in the song gets spacy with an almost Floyd-ish feel as it slows all down and there is a falsetto vocal added, an enchantment assuredly has occurred.  Than back to the rock steady beat with lots of complex parts and some electronic sounds thrown into the mix, then again back to the beginning theme before the song concludes.  “Vanilla Queen”  A paean to an ageing star/dancer sort of person.  This one also goes from fairly bare-bones to full on band with a more complex feel.  Heads down into an acoustic guitar solo part, the bass joins in here.  Horns join in as a more heated electric guitar solo comes to the fore, then back to the main theme again.  A travel-through-space part begins with a sweet-voiced lady being heard, then back to the full band again, accompanied by the horn section, and the piece fades out with horns and bass predominant.  

The Anders Addition for Listening:  C.V. Jørgensen “Elisabeth”  Ah yes, I can hear exactly why there is the “Dear Prudence,” echo, as I’m sure most here will, as well.  It’s played with a pretty reverb-y effect on guitar.  The vocal melody, however, is very different and goes well with the production here.  A pleasant song to listen to, certainly. 

Lewian Addition:  Sparks “Hippopotamus”  Sort of herky-jerky vocals(I know this is signature of the act) and an absurdist set of lyrics, a sort of “mockera,” feeling to it.  I don’t think, “hippopotamus,” has often been rhymed with “Hieronymus,” lol.  An amusing ditty.  

Lorenzo:  Bruce Springsteen “If I Was The Priest”  A stripped down acoustic guitar and vocal starts this piece from Springsteen here, done in a Dylan-esque style.  Full band kicks in with organ.  Quite the tale here, a sort of cowboy/OK Corral allegory in the lyrics,  the parallel being religion.  Thoughtful piece.  “Chasin’ Wild Horse”  This one is much more to my liking in terms of production, I am a big fan of singer/songwriter quiet pieces of music and he is terribly good at it.  This one is embellished with pedal steel and quiet orchestra.  Very pretty and majestic.  Very like wild horses.  De Andre and Mina “Lan Canzone Di Marinella”  Begins with beautiful piano notes.  A wistful song of the love of a beautiful person, lost to drowning, but she flew to the sky on a star.  Very pretty imagery and understated jazz style to the male/female duet.  Mauro Pagani & Guccini “Christmas At Pavana”  Very spare production here, the story is in the lyrics, but there is beautiful musical accompaniment and some other voices join in, in again, what I think of, as “village singing.”  Very  cinematic and nostalgic, the video is very sweet as well.

dr wu23: Richard Thompson ”Fork In The Road”  As mentioned after you posted it, here is a personal fave of mine.  I know it, so won’t vote for it, but here is a prime example of someone with a virtually lifelong career with great fame just evading him, every time.  This is a recent recording, electric rocker piece, similar in style to his “Mock Tudor,” recording (which still amazes me didn’t get him more popularity at the time).  Fabulous musician and lyricist.  I think his voice is an acquired taste for some, but I just love him, whether he’s doing insanely clever covers, solo acoustic, full on electric or electric folk music.  If you get a chance to see him play live, in any setting, do it.  Gushing done.  Joe Walsh “Band Played On”  Another great character from the music world, Joe Walsh.  Also a very, very funny human being.  This one starts with a sitar-guitar or at least the effect of one and tablas-type percussion.  Displays his cynical view of much of misled humanity, the earth is dying and the band just plays on.  I’d not heard this one and find it pretty darned good.  I like that it’s a mix of kind-of-semi-world music with the wavery guitar effects and straight-ahead rock, goes well with the subject matter.

Scott:  Deep Purple “Nothing At All”  As expected, guitar and /organ keyboard pyrotechnics together in a hard rock setting.  Nicely sophisticated production, plenty of volume without it becoming muddy (expert Bob Ezrin at the producer’s helm).  A feeling of letting go of what one can’t control, but also a feeling that perhaps one shouldn’t just let it all go, either.   Ian Gillan is in great voice here.  The Who “This Gun Will Misfire”  I mistakenly thought it was Roger Daltry, here, but stand corrected that it's Pete Townshend, thank you, The Anders, whoops!  Lush production here with a perhaps anti-gun stance and a suggestion to read some history instead (something I pretty much agree with).  Both of these prove that just because you’ve been around a while, doesn’t mean you can’t produce something relevant and still have vocal and instrumental power.