SotD:"Jig of Life" by Kate Bush

This is one of my favorite songs by Kate Bush, mainly because I love the dude's voice in the interlude.

Alas, there is no video, but here's a fanvid made with windows movie maker.

SotD: "I Do The Rock" by Tim Curry

This song, oh my god. It's so beautiful. "I Do The Rock" appears on Tim Curry's second album Fearless, released in 1979. This song and "Paradise Garage" were Curry's only songs to chart in the US. Sax god David Sanborn even plays on it. I'm also the proud owner of this album. Thanks, The Record Exchange and your budget vinyl section!

More info about Fearless here.
Tim Curry on Wikipedia


[link]

SotD - Mr. Mister "Broken Wings"

I was at work, listening to the radio, like you do, and this song came on. I'm a big fan of really earnest, melodramatic singing, so of course I love this song. I'm also a big fan of the video, which features singing while driving, singing while looking out windows, and singing while wearing a duster with the sleeves rolled up. Can you argue with that? No, I think not.



Link to video

What's new? My appreciation for Vitas!

I basically owe my awareness of Vitas to an LJ acquaintance. I still don't know a whole lot about him, but I do know that he was born in Latvia, raised in Ukraine, and resides in Russia. He speaks and sings in Russian. He's also super popular in China, and he performed at the pre-Olympics concert. According to his English language website, he has performed in the US and I'm crossing my fingers that he will again someday.

I've been watching this video a lot in the past few days:



I wish I were a sexy violinist. The best I can come up with is a fairly passable flutist/flautist.

Related links:
Vitas' official site in English
Vitas on Wikipedia

SotD: "The Heist" by The Lonely Island

Long before the album Incredibad came out, TLI fans had "The Heist". This video comes from a member of the Lonely Island LiveJournal Community and it's always been one of my favorite videos made using Microsoft Paint and Windows Movie Maker.



I hadn't thought of this songs in ages. An oldie (in terms of The Lonely Island's existence) but a goody.

SotD: "Cars" by Gary Numan

I love Gary Numan, for all that I don't know about him. I know that now he's gone a bit goth, I saw him on Graham Norton's show once, he appeared on The Mighty Boosh and he didn't smile in pictures for years because he was self-conscious about his teeth. OH! and he has a pilot's license, imagine that!

I've always loved the song Cars, which is probably familiar to most everyone. Numan is considered a pioneer in synth pop, forging a demand for synth-based music. His music included "themes of depersonalisation and alienation ", which helped drive critics' claims that synth music is inhuman and emotionless. Claims which, coincidentally enough, the band Rush refuted in the lines of "The Spirit of Radio"

All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
Its really just a question
Of your honesty

Included only because I like the band Rush and its vague relevance. "Cars" was a single taken from 1979's The Pleasure Principle. Enjoy!

SotD: "Tenderness" by General Public

When the touring lineup of the English Beat came to town in December, they performed this old favorite. "Tenderness" appears on the first General Public album All the Rage, released in 1984. The song was also part of two movie soundtracks: Weird Science (1985) and Clueless (1995). This song was more popular in North America where it cracked the Top 40. It failed to do so in the UK or Australia.

SotD: "Taste You" by Melissa Auf der Maur

Today's song was selected simply because it came on and I love it so I will highlight it. So there.

YouTube link

Melissa Auf der Maur on Wikipedia.

SotD: "Give It To You" by Jordan Knight

Gosh, you guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated, but my head imploded with the news that Depeche Mode finally announced their North American tour dates and I'll be going to the August 10th show in Seattle, which is very good because they'll have six days off so they'll be fresh. I'm so freakin' excited.

I'll get back into the swing of things by linking you to this very good song by Jordan Knight. This song shocked me when I was in middle school and now I find it very amusing. The random oom-pa-pa rhythm makes this song.

SotD: "The Logical Song" by Supertramp

For some reason, I really like this song and it reminds me of when I was a kid even though I have no memories of hearing this song growing up. (Boring video with just lyrics because what I think was the original music video is not available on YouTube. Warner, is that you again?)

VotD: "Serious" by Duran Duran

Best things about this video:
- Simon's short hair and not-serious smile, creepy!
- Nick Rhodes laughing at the video girl for no apparent reason
- Stirling Campbell, I think he's hot
- John's earnest lip synching and lip biting
- Simon lip synching in John's face and their engaging in "stage gay"
- CAMEL TOE

VotD: "Where The Wild Roses Grow" sung by Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld

I love love love both Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld. Nick Cave is that guy who sings low a lot and sometimes acts. Blixa Bargeld is some German guy was involved in the industrial music scene. Very influential. His group Einstürzende Neubauten inspired Depeche Mode with their "found sound" experiments. Oh noes, Tom Cruise is going to accuse me of being glib.

Now to explain the video. I discovered this when I read that the girl part for "Where The Wild Roses Grow" was written for Blixa but the song was recorded as a duet with Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. That version is pretty good (very good), but there's something magical about Blixa Bargeld, so I went searching on YouTube and hit paydirt.



Things I love about this video:
Nick Cave's dancing
Nick Cave touching Blixa and giving him a rose and singing at him
They hold hands at the end! Awwwwww

SotD: "Down" by Dave Gahan

Maybe I should save this song for January or February when the snow can really get to a body, but I only heard the lyrics "and the snow is falling" for the first time last night. The chorus really brings up a delightfully awful image. Just listen!

Side note: You may wonder why I always link to YouTube. The answer is simple. I don't really know where one can hear full tracks for free legally and on demand (by which I mean through a search). If there is a solution to that problem, let me know.

The YouTube video (or still photo) probably isn't legal either, but I'm not really promoting copyright violation. I'll leave that to mp3 blogs and all those torrent folks.

SotD: "Into My Arms" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

This is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. So. Damn. Awesome.

I will marry Nick Cave someday.

Black Friday SotD: "Black Celebration" by Depeche Mode

What else would I choose to celebrate the blackest of all retail days? Here's hoping my dad's store (Nafziger's Men Store, ask for Craig) had tons of business. (Gosh, they need a website!)

Let's have a black celebration ... to celebrate the fact that we've seen the back of another black day.

SotD: "Beautiful Dream" by Adam Ant

Adam Ant's last album Wonderful came out in 1995, which of course means he's hardly relevant anymore. And yet, he is one influential dude. Bands have totally bitten his military/gypsy/American Indian-inspired style, including Coldplay. Of course he was so over that stuff in the nineties and he was making music with long time writing partner Marco Pirroni and Boz Boorer of Morrissey fame.

This single, written without the help of Boorer, is a tale of love, lust, biology, and safe sex. It also kind of reminds me of "The River of Dreams" by Billy Joel.

SotD: "Johnny and Mary" by Robert Palmer

Robert Palmer was the man. He's best known for the videos featuring models pretending to play instruments while all looking the same (and it's been parodied countless times, see: Love Actually). It's more than a little bit sexist but it's also a lot sexy and makes for a great Halloween costume for twins. The video for Johnny and Mary sucks. I mean, it's really bad. One really stupid gripe is that you can't comb your hair like that or you would pull all your hair out. BUT I chose this song for SotD because it's a solid song.

SotD: "Trans Europe Express" by Kraftwerk

I love Kraftwerk but I got into them embarrassingly late in the game. They were a huge influence on much of the music I enjoy - DM, techno, other synth-based music. This song wins for mentioning Iggy Pop and David Bowie and talking about European traveling. How pleasant.

Video!

SotD: "Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson

This song has been stuck in my head for the past half week or so. Joe Jackson is most famous for this song and "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" Jackson helped bring the New Wave sound to the United States in the late '70s. And for that I thank him. And how can anyone forget his work with William Shatner on the cover of Pulp's "Common People" for Has Been?

I love this song for its optimistic and anticipatory lyrics. The perfect Friday night jam.

SotD: "Androgynoel" by Federal Drugs Administration

I'm a big fan of Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt and all of those under the name The Mighty Boosh, so this song made me laugh and I felt in on the joke. Supposedly this song was inspired by a real life conversation. Someone actually said something along the lines of "I wish you were more like Noel Fielding." I quickly friended them on MySpace and that's when I found out that they post a new song each week! That's pretty great, don't you think? Their music is now available on itunes, as their page states.