Day: 23 Apr 2018

Welcome back to the new weekly feature at Lyriquediscorde – FIRST WAVE ON MONDAYS. First Wave includes New Wave, Punk, Goth, and other Alternative Music from the late 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s. On First Wave On Mondays, you will find a “First Wave” Song, Playlist, or Album Feature every Monday. We will also include a bit of History about the Songs, Albums, Bands, Artists, and the Genre. And, of course, there will also be a bit of waxing nostalgic along the way.

This week we are taking a look at the Song “Pop Muzik” from M. M was a project put together by Robin Scott. “Pop Muzik” is the first Track off of the 1979 M Album, New York London Paris Munich. As a Single, “Pop Muzik” reached #1 in more than seven countries, and was one of the most popular Singles in 1979. (from Wikipedia)

The Single, which was first Released in the UK in early 1979 was accompanied by a Music Video directed by Brian Grant. The Video was popular, and well received by Music critics. It helped to promote and increase sales and charting of the “Pop Muzik”.

“Pop Muzik” by M
from the Album, New York London Paris Munich (1979)
First Wave On Mondays

I hardly remember “Pop Muzik” back when it was originally Released. I think I may have heard it once or twice on the Radio, though 1979 was before I’d discovered KROQ, and it was pre-MTV. I was ten years old and my Music exposure was limited to the AM Station I could pick up on my portable Radio, the Music my Mother played in the car, or from her Record collection, or what I heard about at school. This Sound and style had not quite hit my ears.

I didn’t really encounter this Song until the mid-80’s. The first time I really heard it was at a roller rink I was at with my friends. We were in Junior High (or what they now call Middle School) and the roller rink was one of the few places our parents would let us be alone at. The one we liked the best would play an eclectic mix of Music, mostly Disco, Tracks from popular Movies, and a little New Wave, like “Pop Muzik”.

I’d hear it after that most often on KROQ, at High School Dances whose Music was a meld of MTV and KROQ Playlists, or even later at Clubs in Hollywood that I frequented in the late 80’s. And, yes, I did see the Video come up on MTV, too, during the New Wave Video heyday.

I never had a copy of the Single, or the Album. Recently, though, my boyfriend and I added the 8-Track of the Album, New York London Paris Munich, to our 8-Track Tape Collection. It is a nice, rare 8-Track edition to our New Wave and Punk set.

The Album itself came out after “Pop Muzik” was Released and became a Hit Single. The Album was Recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, at Queen’s Mountain Studio, with lead Singer and Guitarist Robin Scott and regular engineer David Richards, as well as Julian Scott, Wally Badarou, and Brigit Novik.

Robin Scott added extra Musicians to the Album, including Drummer Phil Gould, Saxophone and Flute Player Gary Barnacle, and David Bowie (yes, the David Bowie), who was a friend of Robin’s and lived in Montreux at the time. Bowie provided occasional handclaps on the Album.

“Pop Muzik” (live, Top of the Pops, 1979) by M

Hope you enjoy this Week’s Edition of First Wave On Mondays and had some fun listening and learning about “Pop Muzik”.

Please feel free to recommend a First Wave Song, Band, Artist, or Story for consideration. Email your recommendations and ideas to lyriquediscordesubmissions@gmail.com.

Welcome back to Monday. Are you ready for another edition of Northern Soul Monday? its right here where we open up the dancefloor and share the best Stompers with you. We encourage you to Turn Up the Volume while you take some time to learn about the Song, the Artist, and a little Northern Soul History. Are you ready-set-go go? We sure are.

This Week’s Northern Soul Monday’s we are indulging in a Double Feature with two Tracks from The Olympics – “Baby Do the Philly Dog” and “The Duck” by The Olympics. Get ready for a double-dose of Northern Soul Goodness.

“Baby Do the Philly Dog” by The Olympics
from the Album, Something Old, Something New (1966, Mirwood Records)

“The Duck” by The Olympics
from the Album, Something Old, Something New (1966, Mirwood Records)

The Olympics was formed by lead Singer Walter Ward, in 1957. The group also included Eddie Lewis (Walter’s cousin, Tenor), Charles Fizer (Tenor), Walter Hammond (Baritone), and Melvin King (Bass). All but Lewis met each other while in High School, in Los Angeles. (from Wikipedia)

The Olympics first Records was actually credited to Walter Ward and the Challenges. Once the name was changed to The Olympics, in 1958, the Group recorded “Western Movies”, which made it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The Song reflected the nation’s preoccupation with western-themed movies and television series. It told the story of a man who lost his girl to TV westerns, and it included doo-wop harmonies, as well as background gunshots and ricochet sound effects. (from Wikipedia)

“Western Movies” by The Olympics

In 1959, The Olympics Recorded “(Baby) Hully Gully,” which initiated the hully gully dance craze. “Big Boy Pete,” which the group released in 1960, served as inspiration for The Kingsmen’s “Jolly Green Giant.” Over the next ten years, The Olympics recorded upbeat R&B songs, often about dances popular at the time.

In 1966, The Young Rascals covered The Olympics 1965 song, “Good Lovin'”, and took it to #1 on the US Hot 100. Since then, many recorded versions have been made by prominent artists, including The Who, The Grateful Dead, and Bobby McFerrin.

“Good Lovin'” (live) by The Who

Tenor Charles Fizer was shot and killed during the Watts Riots, in 1965. Shortly thereafter, Bassist Melvin King left the group after his sister died in an accidental shooting. A revamped group continued to record into the early 1970s but were unable to attain popular chart success after the mid-1960s.

Walter Ward’s song “Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)” (the b-side to “Western Movies”) was recorded twice by John Lennon, in 1971.

“Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)” by John Lennon

A June 1971 Lennon Performed the Song with Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention.

“Well (Baby Please Don’t Go)” (live) by John Lennon and Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention

A Little Bit of Northern Soul History:

Northern Soul Fashion

What was the dominant Fashion of Northern Soul? With the subcultures return in some cities, accompanied by the famous “all-nighters”, what will everyone be wearing in order to bring back the Northern Soul Fashion?

The wider than wide flares, nipped-in knit tanks and appliqued patches we’ve come to associate with the era were more than just a statement of belonging. In the heaving ballrooms and halls that hosted Northern Soul club nights in the late 60s and 70s, they were a matter of practicality. (from Dazed)

The era was characterized by the sped-up tempo and soulful vocals of mid-1960s Motown records, DJs would source the rarest North American vinyl and introduce them to whole new audiences in the North back home. Aspects of the clubgoers’ style were similarly inherited: early fashion nodded to a classic mod style, like Fred Perry button-down shirts, smart brogues, and Levi’s shrink-to-fit skinnies.

Thanks for joining us for another edition of Northern Soul Mondays. Be sure to check back here next week to see who we will be spinning, and take another step back into Northern Soul History with us. Until then, Keep the Faith.

Reaching across the atmosphere of love
A Monday Playlist

Available to Stream on Spotify and YouTube

“Cherry Blossom Girl” by AIR
“Across the Universe” by The Beatles
“Blush” by Wolf Alice
“To Build a Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra
“All I Ever Wanted” by Daughter
“Teardrop” by Massive Attack
“All I Ever Wanted’ by Daughter
“Silent Sea” by KT Tunstall
“Wind” by Cat Stevens
“Amie” by Damien Rice
“Nothing Better” by The Postal Service
“Ordinary World” by Duran Duran
“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” by Otis Redding
“Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne
“Bad Dreams” by Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson
“Tripping” by The Decemberists
“Singularity” by Darlingside
“Gypsy Faded” by Joseph Arthur
“No Below” by Speedy Oritz
“Drivin’ On 9” by The Breeders
“Please Mr. Please” by Juliana Hatfield
“Classic Cars” by Bright Eyes
“You Are What You Love” by Jenny Lewis And The Watson Twins
“You’re My Waterloo” by The Libertines
“You Do Something To Me” by Paul Weller
“Jealous Guy” by John Lennon
“Mockingbirds” by Grant Lee Phillips
“To Love Is To Bury” by Cowboy Junkies
“watch” by Billie Eilish
“When You’re Gone” by The Cranberries

Reaching across the atmosphere of love

Monday morning, early alarm sounds, hot coffee poured, traffic jams, audiobooks, fresh starts, and to-do lists. Oh, and a new week of Top 5 Music Obsessions. Are you ready for Monday? Today’s Top 5 Music Obsessions are eclectic and all over the Sonic map, and everything I’m needing (and Obsessing over) today.

What Songs are you Obsessing over today? What’s filling your ears up this Monday?

Stream Today’s Top 5 Songs, and all Week’s, on Spotify and YouTube.

Song 1 is my Favorite Led Zeppelin Song, “Tangerine”. It reminds me of one of my Favorite Movies, Almost Famous, and it reminds me of a certain Summer in the late 90’s, the way it felt to be alive, in my life, that Summer. A Summer of change, of promises, of new understandings, and of big, bold moves in the name of love.

Next up is a Song I discovered on Spotify’s Discover Weekly Playlist, Sleepy Jackson’s “Good Dancers”. This Track feels like Summer, but not one I’ve experienced yet. More like a longing for a Summer that’s yet to come. I look forward to what this Summer has to bring for me, and I’m looking forward to a trip planned, and to long, warm evenings on the water.

Song 3 is one that immediately reminds me of my first dance in high school. I can see the basement of the church, I can feel the nervous butterflies in my stomach, the excitement and the naive ideas I had of what that dance would be like. And, I can hear this Song, “True” by Spandau Ballet, playing.

Beak>’s Track “That Cold” follows my ode to 80’s teenage nostalgia. This is a Track I stumbled on Sunday night and have been Obsessing over ever since. A dark electronic sound which hints at Goth and Industrial, but also at Punk and Trip Hop, and something else that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe a World Music Sound? A post-Dead Can Dance flavor? Whatever it all sums up to, I’m digging it.

Finally, last but not least, “Fever (Or a Flame)” by A Guy Called Gerald, featuring Wendy Page. This is some Electronic, Dream Pop goodness. It makes me feel like I’m floating away from Monday. A keen feeling, indeed.

Top 5 Music Obsessions of the Day – April 23, 2018

1. “Tangerine” by Led Zeppelin

2. “Good Dancers” by The Sleepy Jackson

3. “True” by Spandau Ballet

4. “That Cold” by Beak>

5. “Fever (Or a Flame)” by A Guy Called Gerald, featuring Wendy Page

May your Monday be not just bearable, but something special. That there will be moments that break from the mundane, that you will remember to do something nice for yourself, and that you have Music to Obsess over.

I hope you enjoy Today’s Top 5 Music Obsessions featuring Songs by Led Zeppelin, The Sleepy Jackson, Spandau Ballet, Beak>, and A Guy Called Gerald featuring Wendy Page.

Top 5 Music Obsessions – The Week of 4/23/18

“Past the Mission” was the third Single released from Tori Amos’ second Studio Album (not counting Y Kant Tori Read) Under the Pink, in Europe, Australia, and North America. It was the fourth released elsewhere worldwide due to a varied released schedule in different countries. The Song was Released in May of 1994 by EastWest Records in the U.K., in July of 1994 in Australia, and in September of 1994 by Atlantic Records in North America.

Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, sings background on “Past the Mission”. (from Wikipedia)

Much like Tori’s Little Earthquakes Album, Under the Pink was part of an intense time in my life, full of big life changes, heavy emotions, and coming-of-adult-age situations. The 90’s were wonderful and terrible and enormous to me, and as I’ve said before, the Music was so vital to me. It weaved itself into my day-to-day, it got inside of me, deeply, and it acted as a safety net and rescue flotation device in a time when I was often “sink or swimming” it.

“Past the Mission” by Tori Amos
from the Album, Under the Pink (1994)

“She said she knew what my books did not.
I thought she knew what’s up.”

Tori has said about the Track:

“Past the Mission” refers to a personal experience with sexual violence, which I had a song about on Little Earthquakes also. So, the remark ‘I once knew a hot girl’ is painful. Where’s she gone? On this record, there are songs about the healing from that experience, like “Baker Baker” (‘Make me whole again’), “Past the Mission”, “Yes, Anastasia”. The idea is to rescue myself from the role of a victim. That I have a choice left. Though I can’t change what has happened, I can choose how to react. And I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being bitter and locked up. That’s also the thought behind the phrase ‘past the mission/I smell the roses’.”

Reading Tori’s reasons behind the Song make a lot of sense, especially as an adult survivor of sexual abuse, and a survivor of rape as a young adult. That said, it was never how I took the Song. Music is so subjective. It can mean so many different things to so many different people. To me, this was about meeting someone in color, someone maybe outside of your reach, or comfort zone, or all of the above. Someone who draws you in, despite fear and warnings. That’s who “Past the Misson” is/was to me.

We have all had them in our lives, or at least most of us have. Those people who have a light to them, a spark, an electrical current surprise. These are the people who push us a little farther, who challenge us, who make us open up parts of us that we did not even know existed. Sometimes they stay for a lifetime, sometimes they come and go in a flash; sometimes they are friends, lovers, strangers we share a seat on the train with, or a green-eyed beauty with a shock of dyed red hair who asks a question that has us reeling, and thinking for days after. They are part of our story, the pages that are loaded with the stuff of whispers and “I will always” remembers. (from an earlier post I wrote, from 2013)

Maybe the “people who have a light to them, a spark, an electrical current surprise” are meant to be Tori as herself. As part of the healing process is finding your way back to yourself, and out of being a victim, and out of being frozen in those places of abuse in your past. Maybe who she is finding “Past the Mission” is herself.

What does the Song mean to you?

“Past the Mission” (live) by Tori Amos

Hope you enjoyed Monday’s Song of the Day. I’d love to hear/read your thoughts on “Past the Mission”, and Tori’s Under the Pink Album. Share your thoughts in the comments below.