The latest Song of the Day is from one of the best films of the past decade and, in my opinion, the best film of 2006. I speak of Pan’s Labyrinth by acclaimed Mexican-filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro.
“A Princess” was composed by Spanish composer Javier Navarrete and this particular piece of music from the film continues to use the main lullaby waltz-theme introduced in the beginning of the film. Where the music’s first time being heard by the audience is full of innocence and child-like magic in its tonal structure and melody in “A Princess” Navarrete dials back the innocent quality by adding in some of the hard-won wisdom the main character of Ofelia gains through her trials and tribulations throughout the film’s running time. While the song starts off with a sad and melancholy theme to its melody the song gradually moves back to it’s innocent and magical tone at it’s midway point to signify the main character’s final and complete transition from Ofelia to Princess Moanna.
It’s truly one of the best use of the leitmotif in a film score in quite a while. The fact that Navarrete was able to mine so man different emotional beats from a simple lullaby theme into one final distinct piece of music to end the film shows he was in tune with what director Guillermo Del Toro had in mind. He could easily have gone the usual fantasy music cliche of a huge number of brass and percussion to score the film, but instead went on a more subtle yet complex manner to accentuate a fairly simple fairy tale retelling which also happened to have many complexities in it’s narrative if one was willing to peel back the pages.
In honor of the recent passing of Dennis Hopper the Song of the Day shall be from his 1988 film about the world of the Bloods and Crips gangs in LA and the gang unit in the LAPD who try to control the violence between the gangs from spilling onto the streets. The song is “Colors” by rapper Ice-T.
There’s not much else to say other than even 22 years after it’s release this particular classic rap track still resonates and sounds better than most rap albums released in the last couple years.
It is a sad day in the metal world today. Legend metal frontman Ronnie James Dio has passed away at the age of 67 after battling stomach cancer for the past couple years. His death was confirmed by his wife, Wendy Dio, through his website.
Ronnie James Dio would always remains one of the pioneers of metal and one of its gods. He fronted such hard rock and metal bands like Elf and Rainbow during the late 60’s and early 70’s before finally landing his most famous gig in his career: frontman of Black Sabbath. Ronnie James Dio was chosen to replace Ozzy Osbourne after he was fired by the band. It was during his stint with Black Sabbath where Dio popularized the use of the so-called “devil’s horns” hand symbol during concert shows. While this symbol has been used in the past it was Dio’s use of it as Black Sabbath frontman which soon epitomized the “devil’s horns” as metal’s own symbol.
Ronnie James Dio would continue to beyond Black Sabbath as he formed his own metal band named Dio and in the latter part of his life another band called Heaven and Hell. His death puts a pall of sadness on the world of metal. While he’s now gone to Valhalla with the rest of the rock and metal gods of past his music will live on forever.
I think it would’ve been quite remiss of me to not set this as song of the day just days before the release of Iron Man 2.
Black Sabbath’s iconic song from their second studio album (Paranoid) should be well-known to everyone by now. I’m not even talking about metal and rock fans, but even those who wouldn’t be caught dead listening to the so-called “devil’s music”. If people have seen 2008’s superhero film Iron Man then they’ve heard of this song. This song is pretty much classic heavy metal before all the different metal sounds started appearing years later.
Iron Man wasn’t your typical current heavy metal where sometimes speed and overly complex playing has been the choice of some metal bands. Not with Sabbath and definitely not with this song. It’s pretty straightforward and still has some of the progressive stylings that Led Zeppelin introduced with their third and fourth album. Where Black Sabbath really made the song their own was how heavy they made it. Whether it was Iommi’s lead guitar starting off the song right up to Butler’s near Bonham-like tree-trunk drumming.
With the sequel to Iron Man right around the corner I wouldn’t be surprised if this song ended up on iTunes top ten song download for the whole summer of 2010.
Iron Man
Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all,
Or if he moves will he fall?
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
We’ll just pass him there
Why should we even care?
He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind
Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfold
Now the time is here
For iron man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge
Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron man lives again!
I just realized that I haven’t picked a song from the jazz corner. I think I have just the song to fix that problem.
Song of the day comes courtesy of the one and only Nina Simone and her jazz cover of the Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse song, “Feeling Good”. This song is just smooth cool from start to finish and why jazz singers will always have a special place in my music collection. Nina Simone croons and sings the devil out of this song. When the song segues smoothly from Simone’s acapella section in the beginning to the smoky and sultry way the horns starts off the song proper one cannot help but nod their head to the beat.
The song is pretty brief, but for a little under 3 minutes one can and will fall in love not just with Nina Simone’s singing but jazz music as well.
Feeling Good
Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Reeds driftin on by you know how I feel
(refrain:)
Its a new dawn
Its a new day
Its a new life
For me
And Im feeling good
Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom in the tree you know how I feel
(refrain)
Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, dont you know
Butterflies all havin fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
Thats what I mean
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me
Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
This song has been a favorite Johnny Cash track of mine. God’s Gonna Cut You Down really brings the Old Testament gospel side of Johnny Cash to light. This song will probably get more mentions and airplay with it’s usage by Ubisoft in the release trailer for their latest Sam Fisher game, Splinter Cell: Conviction. While it’s probably not the way I would want young people to get introduced to Johnny Cash by way of video game at least they will get to hear and learn one of the greatest musical icons in American music history.
The Man in Black takes what really is a very upbeat and hopeful gospel folk song and turns it onto it’s head. Using a rhythmic stomp-clap to accompany his acoustic guitar playing, Cash imbues God’s Gonna Cut You Down with a grimness that shows God in vengeful, Old Testament flame and sword vengeance mode. It is difficult not to get into this song even if one is not religious. The way Cash song-speaks the lyrics just pulls one into the song until it’s completely hooked it’s talons onto one’s mind and won’t let go. I know I get into humming the song almost by instinct whenever I catch a bit of it on the radio and now on tv.
God’s Gonna Cut You Down
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
My head’s been wet with the midnight dew
I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet
He called my name and my heart stood still
When he said, “John go do My will!”
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down
Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down
Anyone who’s gone out after a Dropkick Murphys concert knows that barroom singalongs are not a thing merely of the past. But metal fans might not be so inclined, drifting off rather to less accessible places than the pub: enchanted meadows, the depths of hell, their parents’ basement, etc. Me, I would go to Finland. It was not until Ensiferum exploded into the world in 2001 that I realized quite how compatible beer and metal could be. I distinctly recall making pretty much everyone I knew at the time listen to “Goblins’ Dance”:
Ensiferum were not the first Finns to cross the Baltic at three hundred and twenty kilobits per second, but Finntroll, who released their debut in 1999, Midnattens Widunder, were just too bizarre at first to be more than a novelty. The band sang in Swedish (because it sounds more evil than Finnish, so they say) and merged some pretty dark metal with a Finnish folk style known as Humppa. On Visor Om Slutet they went acoustic and introduced kazoo solos. On Nattfödd and the Trollhammaren they incorporated something I can only properly describe as “pirate metal”, and on Ur jordens djup they went Caribbean. There newest album, Nifelvind, came out this February, and your guess is as good as mine. Raise a pint and bang your head, there’s really no other way to react to this. Here’s my favorite track off of it, “Under bergets rot”:
Korpiklaani really perfected this weird Finnish folk metal genre though. They appeared in 2003 out of the ashes of another folk metal band, Shaman, which I’ve not heard, and managed to release six albums in seven years. Korpiklaani are probably the most tame band on this list, a feat they accomplish not by turning down the distortion so much as by really infusing the folk and harnessing a talent to write an endless number of catchy, fairly optimistic songs. It wouldn’t matter which album I take the sample from; they all sound the same, and believe me, a decade from now I hope I can still say that. Enjoy “Kohmelo”, off of their 2009 album, Karkelo. The bitrate on this video is horrible, but you’ll get the idea:
After releasing a string of demos in the late 90s, Turisas put out their first full length in 2004. What can I say? It wasn’t very good. Despite offering drinking songs like “One More” (during which the frontman consumes an obscene amount of vodka live), they really seemed to miss the wave. But oh how the beer gods shined upon them in 2007. The Varangian Way was easily my favorite album of the year. It combines an odd mix of folk and prog (that word bears a horrible connotation in my mind, but Turisas do it right) with a ten track concept album telling the journey of Finnish viking mercenaries to Constantinople. I can’t call the whole album ‘beer metal’, though it’s a masterpiece, but the party atmosphere is a lot more apparent live. I present you with “In the Court of Jarisleif”, in which these viking travelers reach Kiev and well, get really wasted:
I could go on to tell of how Lordi won the 2006 Eurovision competition, an interesting testament to the odd ability of Finnish bands to be heavy, ridiculous, and yet still oddly appealing to the masses, but this topic does not require I stick to one country necessarily. I think I will conclude this chronology of heavy metal drinking music then with a short sail over to Scotland. Alestorm did not form until 2004, and released their first album in 2008. Upon doing so, pirate metal was no longer just a quirky side of Finntroll. (Interestingly, Trollhammaren and Nattfödd were released the same year Alestorm formed. A coincidence? I don’t know. The two bands have toured together.) I never liked rum personally, but I’ll take a shot for these guys. Enjoy “Keelhauled”, off of 2009’s Black Sails at Midnight. Yes, someone just said “yo-ho-ho” in a song and you didn’t roll your eyes:
And there our short journey ends. Folk metal emerged in the 90s, and due credit should be given to the likes of Skyclad and Cruachan, but the 21st century, and specifically Finland, marked its explosion from a small niche genre into one comparable in scale to big guns like death, black, and power metal. More to the point of this post though, always remember that folk is a celebration of the past, and that our forefathers were all alcoholics.
Thankfully, Finntroll, Korpiklaani, and the like incorporated humppa into metal and not the reverse. I leave you with a terrifying alternative:
I had to go old-school RnB with my next pick for Song of the Day. Being a child of the 80’s I was a fan of New Edition, but it wasn’t until the start of the 90’s that I really got into them as I was in high school at that time. High school meant girls and girls meant dances, dates, slow dances and everything else in-between and afterwards.
It was hard not to go to high school dance and prom and not have New Edition ballads in the DJ list. While New Edition’s Can You Stand the Rain was released in 1989 it definitely got major airplay in 1990 and beyond. This was the first true ballad from the group with their new member Johnny Gill who had replaced Bobby Brown who had left the group to go solo. To say that I still love this song even 20 years after I first heard it would be an understatement. This is the jam for couple who have hit a rough patch but who endure to stay together.
Just listening and watching the music video sadly reminds me that RnB ballads are not the same now as they have been in the past. To say that they sure don’t make RnB music like this would be an understatement. Y’all youngings can have your Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and all the new RnB upstarts. I say they still can’t hold a candle to New Edition and this song definitely makes my point for me.
Can You Stand the Rain
(Johnny)
On a perfect day I know that I can count on you. When that’s not possible, tell
me can you weather the storm?
(Ralph)
Cause I need some body who will stand by me through the good times and bad
times she will always, always be right there.
Chorus
Sunny days everybody loves them tell me baby can you stand the rain? Storms
will come, this we know for sure(this we know for sure). Can you stand the rain?
(Johnny)
(yeah yeah) Love unconditional I’m not asking just of you. and girl to make it
last I’ll do whatever needs to be done.
(Ralph)
But i need somebody who will stand by me, when it’s tough she won’t run she
will always, be right there for me.
Chorus
Sunny days every body loves them, tell me baby can you stand the rain? Storms
will come (Ricky) I know I know all the days won’t be perfect (this we know for
sure) but tell me can you stand it, can you stand the rain?
Can you stand the rain (4x)
(Rick)No pressure, no pressure from me baby (this we know for sure) cause I want
you and I need you and I love you girl.
(Ralph) Will you be there for me?
(Mike) Come on baby lets go get wet.
Can you stand the rain (10x)
(Ralph)
Can you stand the rain?
Will you be there girl?
Storms will come for sure.
Can you stand the rain?
(Johnny)
Yeah it’s hard but I’ll know I’ll be right there baby yeah yeah yeah.
Who would’ve thought that a German power metal band will end up penning and composing one of the best ballad’s dedicated to a story from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel, Silmarillion. Power metal bands has always been quite adept at using fantasy-related subject matter as inspiration for songs and entire albums. The band Blind Guardian have pretty much made a career out of using J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories and tales as inspiration. They’ve even dedicated an entire full-length album to Middle-Earth: Nightfall in Middle-Earth.
One of the bonus tracks from Nightfall on Middle-Earth is our “Song of the Day.” It is a song based on Tolkien’s tragic tale of Túrin Turambar as he mourns the loss of his sister Nienor. One would expect Harvest of Sorrow to be full of metal riffs and overdubbed vocals common in metal power ballads, but this is not the case in this Blind Guardian ballad. The band has instead gone renaissance folk-rock in their composition. I will say that their stylistic choice fits the song well. The song has been so popular that there are nine versions of the song. There are the seven recording variants in addition to two live versions. There are two English versions, two versions in Spanish, one in French and another in Italian with another a mix of all versions minus the English acoustic.
So, those who think that metal is all about sturm und drang with screaming and guttural noises will be in for a surprise to know that they can also be quite subtle in the music they make. Harvest of Sorrow is a fine example and quite easy to sing-along to. Just pull up a chair at the table, grab a stein of ale or a horn full of mead and sing-along using the lyrics provided.
Harvest of sorrow
She is gone leaves are falling down
The tear maiden will not return
The seal of oblivion is broken
And a pure love’s been turned into sin
At the dawn of our living time
Hope may cover all cries
Truth lurks hidden in the shadows
Dreams might be filled with lies
Soon there will be night
Pain remains inside
Suddenly (oh) it seemed so clear
All the blindness was taken away
She closed her eyes and she called out my name
She was never ever never ever seen again
Harvest of sorrow, your seed is grown
In a frozen world full of cries
When the ray of light shrinks
Shall cold winter nights begin
She is gone and I fall from grace
No healing charm covers my wounds
Fooled’s the dawn and so I am
Fooled by life and a bitter doom
To bring you the end of the day
At the dawn of our living time
Hope it soon will pass by
Facing a darkness
I stand (alone)
Harvest of sorrow, your seed is grown
In a frozen world full of cries
When the ray of light shrinks
Shall cold winter nights begin
It’s a Friday night, long day at work and now home to relax, unwind and just plain decompress. What better way to do this than to have a glass of 16-year old Lagavulin single-malt scotch whisky (three fingers worth poured), a pint of Guinness, a nice novel and, finally, light up a nice cigar. But to truly round things out listening to The Black Keys’ Attack & Release album just tops it all.
One particular track in their 2008 Delta-blues and Zeppelin psychedelic rock fusion album which really gets my head nodding to the beat and my foot tapping is the second track listed. I speak of “I Got Mine” and does this song ever blow my mind like 10k call-girl with skills. This song right from it’s first heavy chord right down to the last brings to mind some down and dirty southern, Mississippi Delta-blues and classic Hendrix psychedelic rock. While this song like the rest of the album has a more polished sound than the typical lo-fi and “garage band” music The Black Keys have been known for it still retains an in-the-moment and live vibe to the track.
The first 30 or so seconds of the beginning is an aural assault from Dan Auerbach almost channeling Hendrix and Duane Allman. Accompanying Auerbach on the drums is the heavy sticks of Patrick Carney who seem to be attempting to pound every drum beat right straight through onto the floor. Delta-blues segues into a psychedelic late-middle section before the two fuse into one unique sound to finish off the song.
When it comes to two-man rock bands many seem to be fans of The White Stripes with a growing legion of music lovers prefering Flight of the Conchords. They’re both very good groups, but I’ll choose The Black Keys w/ Auerbach and Carney over the two any day of the week plus Sundays twice over. The Black Keys really keep classic southern blues rock alive and well.
Through the Shattered Lens 