Song of the Week 3/24/06

Humble Pie - "30 Days in the Hole"

This track from Peter Frampton's first band has always been one of those classic rock staples that slips through the cracks for me. Like Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air" or Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune," "30 Days in the Hole" was one of those one-hit-classic-rock-wonders I discovered in 1984 when I first started listening to PYX 106 in Albany--and for all three tunes, it took me years to discover who sang them. (Ah, those sexy pre-Internet days.) I finally discovered it was Humble Pie when I started co-hosting WICB's Classic Rock Sunday. For some reason we had this track on CD, and I swear I must have played it once a month the year plus I hosted the show. But since then, I can't recall thinking about the song more than once in the past 15 years.

So this week I'm killing some time by exploring the ITunes store, and I stumble upon Kiefer Sutherland's celebrity playlist. Being the huge 24 fan that I am, I clicked on the link, and there it was, track 3, "30 days in the Hole." Sutherland describes the Humble Pie album Smokin' as "A bad-ass rock record from start to finish." I'm inclined to agree with him. I ended up downloading the song and listening to it three times in a row. The goofy acapella beginning where the Humble guys work on their harmonies made me feel like I was back at home circa 1985, having my cassette recorder on pause all the time, waiting for some great song to come on so I could capture it on tape.

Bless this Itunes thing and its ability to fulfill my crazy musical needs.

Song of the Week 3/17/06

Sugar - "Hoover Dam"

So during my vacation out West I went to the Hoover Dam for the first time. The morning before we drove there, I listened to this track from the most excellent Copper Blue. My entire visit I was humming the song. And as I posed for a picture with one foot in Nevada and one in Arizona, the opening lines never seemed so appropriate:

"Standing on the edge
Of the hoover dam
I'm on the centerline
Right between two states of mind"

Considering my messed up mental state of late, this Bob Mould metaphor worked quite well. Thankfully, the vacation did me a world of good, which will hopefully lead to goofier Songs of the Week for a bit.

Song of the Week 3/10/06

Yes - "Love Will Find a Way"

I doubt the truth of this song's title, but it has been stuck my head all week. The three-part harmonies from Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire and Jon Anderson on this track (and on most of the album) just sound so pure, like these guys were meant all their lives to sing together. When I saw "Love Will Find a Way" on the master list of songs I've been plowing through for my HD radio channel, I just had to hear it. And then hear it again. And again. Every trip this week on the subway, this Big Generator cut has kept me mezmerized. I love the Trevor Rabin edition of Yes--those two albums were as good as AOR got in the mid-to-late 80s. Too bad they couldn't keep it together.

Love will find a way. Yeah, right.

Song of the Week 3/3/06

Soul Coughing - "Screenwriter's Blues"

Perhaps the musical cosmos knows that I can't wait to visit L.A in two weeks. Maybe that's why I a) watched the video for this great track online today and b) soon disocovered it had a fuck in it, which means it can't really be played on my HD Radio channel called Radio Radio.

Dammit.

Nevertheless, it's one of the best songs ever about the film business, which seems appropirate with the Oscars on Sunday.

Is it vacation time yet?