Magic Jewball

I’m going to tie together a bunch of old posts with this one (and even a post from someone else), so be forewarned, it’s a link bonanza! And it’s full of sound clips so make sure you’re somewhere you can sit down and listen and nod like a musicologist.

This week’s iPod Song of the week is inspired by two things. The first is that a CD I’ve been listening to a lot lately reminded me of another CD I used to listen to all the time many years ago. I was pondering this (see? this is why I don’t need a “things to ponder” widget) as I listened to this album walking home just before I got lost the other day. I know I promised to order Muse back in March and that’s when I put it in my Amazon shopping cart but, well, we all know I didn’t actually place my order until a few weeks ago.

The second is a post of Kay’s over on her blog where she questioned, in light of the recent Sopranos-induced-Journey-buying-madness, why anyone liked Journey. Even her husband Nigel the Brit, whose musical taste I greatly admire, snickered at it. Now, I am/was not a fan of the Sopranos and am glad it’s over because now people will stop talking about it and making me feel left out, but I am a fan of Journey. Why? That brings me back to why Muse sounds like our current iSotW.

In short, it’s the singing! That angsty, drawn out, histrionic vocal! That’s what I loved about Journey and Kansas and Styx and all those other overblown 70’s and 80’s rock bands. Whereas many bands I liked sounded like this (sound clip), these bands sounded like this (sound clip).

Guess which school Journey fell into? (sound clip)

And guess where Muse falls? (sound clip)

Which brings us to our actual song. Finally, finally, I realized who this singing reminded me of, it’s Remy Zero! You may remember Remy Zero from such short-lived publicity spurts as the lead singer’s 11-month marriage to Alyssa Milano and the opening song on Smallville. But before “Save Me” came their brilliant first album which I adored so much that I listened to it pretty much every day before putting it away for nearly ten years. But now I’ve put it on my iPod and so should you. You’ll probably go for the Smallville song or maybe a single off the first record, but this was always my favorite, plus, like Steve Perry, something’s happening to him and he wants to tell you about it with a fabulous voice and an over-the-top singing style.

Napster:
Remy Zero - Gramarye

Streaming audio available on the iPod Song of the Week page.

I’ll be out in the country today (I’ll try not to get lost this time) but while we all wait in breathless anticipation for the iPod Song of the Week, please chew on this. Is it appropriate to rip off your old songs in order to make your new ones? Even if the old song was never released? Especially when you have rabidly attached fans who have copies of every snippet of music you ever produced, whether or not you ever put it on a CD?

Yes, yes, detractors will say all their songs sound the same anyway. Not me, though. These songs, however, do.

New Interpol song leaked this week:

Old, unreleased, Interpol song:

In conclusion, I love both songs.

(Title comes from typically oblique Paul Banks lyric in Cubed. Which just for fun has another version called Mascara.)