Song of the Day: Powerslave (by Iron Maiden)

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Arleigh

It took me awhile to get into Iron Maiden. I listened to them somewhat during the 80’s but it wasn’t until later in life that I truly appreciated the band for what they were and that was one of the great metal bands of all-time. “Powerslave” continues the mini-series in the “Song of the Day” series as another song with a great guitar solo section.

It’s a song steeped in Ancient Egypt imagery and mysticism and one written by band front man Bruce Dickinson. From the fifth and album of the same name, “Powerslave” is over 7 minutes of classic Iron Maiden that spoke not just to its headbanging followers, but to another group that was pushed even farther into the fringes of society when the album first came out: nerds.

Iron Maiden’s songs have always been more about lore, mysticism, history and classic literature than it was about sex and drugs the way 80’s metal (hair and glam metal movement) in the U.S. focused on. These things spoke to the geeks and nerds who spent time on AD&D and reading ancient and military history instead of parties, sports and the high school social scene.

The has two competing guitar solos that come midpoint in the song’s playing time with both Adrian Smith and Dave Murray getting a chance to shine and show-off their guitar skills. And yeah, Bruce Dickinson’s vocals were pretty amazing, as well…

Powerslave

Into the Abyss I’ll fall – the eye of Horus
Into the eyes of the night – watching me go
Green is the cat’s eye that glows – in this Temple
Enter the risen Osiris – risen again

Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don’t wanna die, I’m a God, why can’t I live on?
When the Life Giver dies, all around is laid waste
And in my last hour, I’m a slave to the Power of Death

When I was living this lie – Fear was my game
People would worship and fall – drop to their knees
So bring me the blood and red wine for the one to succeed me,
for he is a man and a God – and He will die too

(guitar solos)

Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins
Silent the terror that reigned – marbled in stone
A shell of a man God preserved – for a thousand ages
But open the gates of my Hell – I will strike from the grave

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Comfortably Numb (by Pink Floyd)

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Arleigh

David Gilmour.

That name seems to come up quite often when the subject of best guitar solos come up. His guitar work on Pink Floyd’s single “Comfortably Numb” might not be the technical wonder of a John Petrucci guitar solo or the blues throwback to the blues greats like Duane Allman, but his two guitar solos in this song has been hailed by many as the greatest guitar solos.

Such a thing has always been subjective. What one might call the best ever might be seen as just good, but not great. The same cannot be said about Gilmour’s guitar solos (the midpoint and the outro solos in the song) on “Comfortably Numb”. There’s soul in this man’s playing. I say playing since shredding would seem such an uncouth term to describe his two solos.

Pink Floyd rightfully earns their place amongst the elite of the elite on the rock gods pantheon, but I wouldn’t be out of line by saying that David Gilmour had such a huge hand in making sure they got and stayed there.

Comfortably Numb

Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
Come on, Come on, Come on, now,
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well, I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again.
Relax.
I’ll need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child I had a FEVER My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I’ve got that feeling once again
I can’t explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am.

I have become comfortably numb.
(guitar solo)
I have become comfortably numb.

O.K.
Just a little pin prick.
There’ll be no more aaaaaaaaah!
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up?
I do believe it’s working, good.
That’ll keep you going through the show
Come on it’s time to go.

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
but I have become comfortably numb.

(guitar solo)

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Texas Flood (by Stevie Ray Vaughan)

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Arleigh

It’s difficult to do any sort of greatest ever guitar solo list and not include this latest entry for our “Song of the Day” series.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was a musical talent who was taken too soon. Stardom was finally his after years and years of toiling as a sessions guitarist for other bands and singers. His guitar playing brought back memories of other greats of the past like Jimi Hendrix, Albert King and Muddy Waters. He was both a god in the two worlds of rock and blues.

“Texas Flood” will be SRV at his best and no matter how much others try to cover and replicate what he did with a Fender Stratocaster he will always and forever be king.

Texas Flood

Well theres floodin down in texas….all of the telephone lines are down
Well theres floodin down in texas….all of the telephone lines are down
And Ive been tryin to call my baby….lord and I cant get a single sound

Well dark clouds are rollin in….man Im standin out in the rain
Well dark clouds are rollin in….man Im standin out in the rain
Yeah flood water keep a rollin….man its about to drive poor me insane

Well Im leavin you baby….lord and Im goin back home to stay
Well Im leavin you baby….lord and Im goin back home to stay
Well back home I know floods and tornados….baby the sun shines every day

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Stairway to Heaven (by Led Zeppelin)

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Arleigh

The latest in the Song of the Day for the greatest guitar solo series is the power rock ballad of power ballads. Straight from their untitled fourth album, Stairway to Heaven is a mixture of acoustic-folk music and anthemic hard rock. The fact that this power ballads of all power ballads have stood the test of time, ridicule and countless covers (both serious and comedic) says much about the power that Led Zeppelin had over rock music. Even 30 years since they broke up the band still influences musicians to this day.

Stairway to Heaven to me best exemplifies the gradual shift of the band from a down and dirty blues-based hard rock band to the proto-metal/progressive rock which would dominate the band’s sound from the mid-70’s until the band’s break-up after the untimely death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. The song puts to light Jimmy Page’s growing attraction for the esoteric as the song’s lyrics conjures up images of the fairy folk of the Welsh countryside. The acoustic guitar arpeggios which begins the song soothingly brings the listener in. Each section brings in more of the modern to the Renaissance-like intro. This build-up reaches a crescendo at the mid 5-minute mark when Jimmy Page begins a guitar solo which finally leads to a climactic hard rock finish to the song.

The song was the most requested and played track over the radio and became a staple of the band’s sets on their many tours during the 70’s. Like any piece of artistic work extremely popular with the masses the song reached such a popularity that a backlash just as extreme followed as the band broke up in 1980. The fact that this backlash didn’t diminish the song’s appeal to future generations of fans and to the legions before them shows just how important this song has become to rock music history.

While other epic power ballads have come and gone since Stairway to Heaven they will never supplant Led Zeppelin’s epic mystical anthem of fairy folk, magical lands with progressive hard rock. Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven was first and to many will always be First and The One.

Stairway to Heaven

There’s a lady whose sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.

Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
’Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there is a songbird who sings:
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

Theres a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, really makes me wonder.

And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow,
Don’t be alarmed now,
Its just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by but in the long run
Theres still time to change the road you’re on.

And it makes me wonder.
Ooooooh…

Your head is humming and it won’t go,
In case you don’t know:
The pipers calling you to join him.

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
And did you know:
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

(guitar solo)

And as we wind on down the road,
Our shadows taller than our soul,
There walks a lady we all know.
Who shines white light and wants to show…
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all, yeah, to be a rock and not to roll.

And she’s buying a stairway… to heaven.

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Hotel California (by The Eagles)

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Arleigh

Time for the latest “Song of the Day” and this one has grown on me with each passing year: “Hotel California” by The Eagles. It also continues an impromptu mini-series of songs with some of the greatest guitar solos. The previous entry, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”, gave us an extended triple guitar solo that never seems to end.

I must admit that the group was never a favorite of mine growing up. I rarely listened to them and when they came on the radio I used to change the station. But as the years passed I began to give them more of a chance. I think part of it comes from the fact that this band is one of my Dad’s favorites. So, I gave them a chance in my advancing years. I guess with age does come wisdom since I began to really dig the band that I’ve dismissed as typical “adult contemporary” music in my youth. This just goes to show that the adage that sometimes “youth is wasted on the young” has some truth to it. My Dad’s probably looking down at me right now wherever he is and giving me that smirking smile that says “I told you so.”

“Hotel California” is my favorite of all the songs The Eagles have ever made. It’s not just catchy but the song also plays out like some sort of tale being sung by bards of old. Well, bards of old until we get to the dueling guitar solos by Don Felder and Joe Walsh which forms the climactic finish to the song. Guitar solos that I must say earns its place in rock pantheon as one of the best. That’s fact and not hyperbole.

FACT.

Another reason why this song of The Eagles is a favorite of mine is just the sense of the ominous just below the surface of the song. The lyrics does play out like a story, but a story tinged with a sense of malice and just a hint of the supernatural. It’s no wonder some of the more religious-minded fans of the song consider “Hotel California” as a song that details a time spent inside the Anton LeVay purchased San Francisco hotel called Hotel California which was converted into what would become the Church of Satan.

Lastly, I just plain love this song for the fact it paints my home state of California as something more than just a place to live and work in, but a place half in and out of reality. Maybe the song will convince Lisa Marie that California isn’t that bad of a state to be in.

Hotel California

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
‘this could be heaven or this could be hell’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
‘please bring me my wine’
He said, ‘we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said ‘we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
‘relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

(guitar solos)

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Free Bird (by Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Arleigh

I think if the United States ever decided to change it’s national anthem then I propose they just use Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic arena power ballad Free Bird. It’s already considered by many as the unofficial anthem. There’s something about this song that is just so Americana. I know that the band itself has been accused of being racist because of their support for the historical legacy of the South and the Confederacy, but I don’t go for such nonsense. Lynyrd Skynyrd was just one of the best southern rock bands during the 70’s and probably would’ve reached Led Zeppelin status if a tragic plane crash hadn’t killed almost a third to half of the band.

It’s very hard not to get into this power ballad. A song which band front man Ronnie Van Zant would use to personally memorialize his fallen friend and colleague, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers band who died from a motorcycle accident just a few years before. This song was always the most requested song by concert fans to be played by the band and play it they did and extending the triple guitar solo in the end from the usual 3-4 minute to as long as 10. It was this extended triple guitar solos with Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Ed King which would be the highlight of any live performance of the song (one of my favorite solos)

It has also become a favorite amongst those who compose and pick music for films of late. Rob Zombie used it to highlight to great effect the nihilistic ending to his grindhouse film The Devil’s Rejects. The latest to use this song in a very inventive manner was Matthew Vaughn in the surprise hit of 2015, Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Even with most of the band either dead or retired the song still gets massive play when the current band tours and is still a favorite staple with most rock stations. Everytime I hear it come on or I play it on my mp3 player I feel like pulling out my Bic lighter, flicking it on and waving it in the air in tune to the song. FREE BIRD!!!

Free Bird

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
‘Cause there’s too many places
I’ve got to see

But, if I stayed here with you, girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And the bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Bye, bye, baby it’s been a sweet love

Yeah, yeah
Though this feeling I can’t change
But please don’t take it so badly
‘Cause the Lord knows
I’m to blame

But, if I stayed here with you girl
Things just couldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now
And this bird, you’ll can not change
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And this bird you cannot change
And this bird you cannot change
Lord knows, I can’t change
Lord help me, I can’t change
Lord I can’t change

Won’t you fly high, free bird, yeah?

(commence awesome triple guitar solos)

27 Days of Old School: #13 “Alone” (by Heart)

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Arleigh

“How do I get you alone”

Early last year I posted one of my favorite songs from my youth and it was by the band Heart. That song was “These Dreams” and still continues to be a favorite of mine to this day. My second favorite from this band is their power ballad from their 1987 album Bad Animals.

“Alone” is actually an even better song but “These Dreams” was just the song that first introduced me to the Wilson Sisters, Ann and Nancy. Where the earlier song was more folksy in it execution with “Alone” we get a full out power ballad that includes Nancy doing a guitar solo near the end. Ann Wilson crushes this song and just reinforces the fact that she remains one of the best, if not the best, female rock vocalist to ever belt out a song.

Oh, I still have a major crush on Nancy Wilson right up to this day. She’s definitely the first lady of rock.

Song of the Day: Master of Puppets (by Metallica)

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Arleigh

Latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of one of the Big 4 of thrash metal. I think anyone who is remotely a fan of metal music has heard of this song and whether it’s a favorite of theirs or consider it one of the best thrash metal songs out there there’s no denying that this song has more than earned all the praise heaped upon it.

This song has consistently been mentioned by metal aficionados everywhere to be one of the genres torchbearers. It has set a standard for the genre that many try to match and surpass and usually fail to do so. It’s a song that drives itself into ones brain and only gives the listener a brief respite in the song’s middle section which also happens to be an eargasm-inducing guitar solo.

What song do I speak of?

Well, if you’ve clicked on this post you already know since it’s in the title. But just in case you’re still confused as to the song. It’s Metallica’s greatest song: “Master of Puppets”.

Considered by the legendary Cliff Burton (may his great bass soul rest in peace in Valhalla) as his favorite song from the band’s third full-length album, “Master of Puppets” has become a staple of Metallica live performances worldwide. Even in their lost years under the guidance of Bob Rock this song was the light at the end of the tunnel that still brought out the band’s legion of fans.

The song also featured in one of the funniest scenes in one of my favorite comedy films of all-time: Old School.

But enough rambling…just sit back, grab yourself a glass of Jack and enjoy some epic thrash.

Master of Puppets

End of passion play, crumbling away
I’m your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your deaths’ construction

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You’re dedicated to
How I’m killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master

Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name, ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master
Master

Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You’re dedicated to
How I’m killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master

Master, master, where’s the dreams that I’ve been after?
Master, master, you promised only lies
Laughter, laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter, laughing at my cries

Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Never-ending maze, drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season

I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too

Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master