Rolling in the Deep - Adele

Okay, this one is a little random. But, shit, it is really goddamn catchy and I've been walking around my apartment all night singing it, so I figured I may as well write about it. The first, oh, I don't know, 30 times I heard this song I really didn't like it. For some reason, I couldn't find the melody. The sounds of her voice and the background singers all just melded together and I couldn't discerne a coherent tune, so the song just couldn't stick with me. The same thing actually happened with "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. Eventually, with both songs, the melody found me and latched on fiercely.

I won't say that I like this song, but I will say that I think it's a good song. Adele's vocals are powerful while still being distinct. There are hints of cracking and pitchiness that add character and don't at all feel like mistakes. I love it when a singer can BELT out a note, and Adele clearly has that skill down. Her voice has a nice rich "earthiness" that actually reminds me a bit of Ann Wilson of Heart. That's some damn lofty praise, by the way.

The comparison to Ms. Wilson is a bit of a problem. What makes Ann Wilson have such a special place in my heart (...) is that she rocks. Heart were a rock band and, in my opinion, one of the few do it right with a female vocalist. Ann Wilson easily could have sang the bluesy, mo-town-esque songs that Adele seems to be drawn to. But she didn't. I think that Adele would be absolutely amazing to hear in a rock band. She has that rare quality that most female singers lack that would allow her to sound perfectly at home next to some wailing guitars.

Oh, also, I hate the background singers. It makes the song corny. Probably one of the reasons that I like Linkin Park's cover of the song. They made it purely about the emotion and the vocals. Maybe Adele does an acoustic version... off to YouTube!

Bright Eyes - Road to Joy

While Bright Eyes and I have certainly had a sketchy history, there were two songs that won me over. One was At the Bottom of Everything (which I'm sure I'll write about at a later date) and the other was this.

Initially, I was put off by the fact that he was using Beethoven. It just seemed too damn hip for its own good. But the thing with Conor Oberst is that you really have to listen. As someone who fancies himself a writer, my favorite part of music has pretty much always been the lyrics. Plays on words, puns, homages, clever rhymes, etc. This song has most of that. The initial few puns are fun... though the cemetary line took a long time for me to catch on.
But what really sells this song for me is when I finally realized that this is an angry song. I'm a total sucker for the interplay between bitter poetry and joyous (yeah) melody.

Another reason I fell in love with this song is one of the final lines. I had trouble enjoying Bright Eyes mostly because of Conor's vocals. They are rough, tired, and warbly. But this is fucking folk music. He knows that. And to segue into the cacophonous climax of the album by calling attention to it makes me smile.

Favorite Moment: "When you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing, it's best to join the side that's gonna win."

I really need to write again...

I spend my days typing. Mindless, by the numbers typing. You would think that the last thing I would want to do when I get home at the end of the day is type more. Well, that's mostly true. However, I really miss typing things on my own terms. So, on that note, I figured that going back to this old blog might be a good idea.

Now, as for WHAT I will be typing about, I have an idea or two. First, a few years back my family decided that we were going to create individual lists of our top 100 songs of all time. Not surprisingly, that never came to fruition. The problem was that tastes and favorites change constantly. I did, during the time that I thought I would be making the list, start writing about songs I loved. It was fun and surprisingly fulfilling. I think I'll start doing that again. Instead of trying to make a list out of it, however, I'll just start writing about a random song each day. A song I love, a song I hate, a song that I'd just never considered before. I want to try, as often as possible, to put on a song with a decent set of headphones and then write about it. Meaningless in every way except that it will let me write something from my own mind.

I'll start tomorrow. Famous last words, I know. But I just bought this tablet and I surely do enjoy using it. I hope that will be reason enough to keep this up.