Rock In My World

Informações:

Sinopsis

Weekly Podcasts:5 & Out - 5 songs with a short intro and outro commentary. Psychedelic Sunday - One song from the psychedelic era of rock. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Episodios

  • Friday Flashback - The BoDeans

    09/04/2009 Duración: 03min

    The BoDeans - She's A Runaway I can recall the exact moment when I first heard the BoDeans. It was during a car ride from Merrimack, NH to Portsmouth, NH to go to Pease AFB for some reason or another (most likely to shop in the base exchange.) We switched radio stations in search of music, as we always do when commercials interrupt our music. This song was playing, and I hoped the dj would announce the song title/artist. Back then, there was no web site to look it up, and we had to rely on the dj. I hated when they'd play a block of songs and not tell you what it was you just heard. Luckily enough, the jock announced the song and the name of the album, which I promptly ran out and acquired. I still own the vinyl, and I'm seriously considering reconnecting it to the outdated stereo in the basement. I need to hear some of these old albums again, and perform those old rituals, like cleaning the record with my discwasher or blowing dust off the needle. The BoDeans had a good run, and I loved that they

  • Friday Flashback - Elvis Costello

    27/03/2009 Duración: 03min

    Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army I can't believe it's been 30 years since this was released. You know, it still sounds fresh to these old ears. The song was never a hit in the US, but I was a huge fan of the album it appears on, Armed Forces. I still consider it one of the peaks of Costello's long, varied career. According to Songfacts.com: Costello told Q Magazine in March 2008: "I don't think its success was because of the lyrics. I always liked the idea of a bright pop tune that you could be singing along to for ages before you realize what it is you're actually singing. Of course, the downside of that is some people only hear the tune and never listen to the words. After a while I got frustrated at that." The song's line, "Call careers information/have you got yourself an occupation" refers to the habit of the British army recruiting boys right out of school at age 16. Many of these kids were from poor families, at a time when unemployment was high in Britain.

  • Friday Flashback - Steve Forbert

    06/03/2009 Duración: 05min

    Steve Forbert - Goin' Down to Laurel I flip through lots of magazines while I wait in lines, and I have noticed article after article in the ladies mags hyping how to save money on this and that, how to cut the bills, and how to cut back in these trying economic times. I mean, you'd think it was the seventies or something. Don't you people know how to save money already? Didn't your parents teach you this stuff? Oh yeah. I'm old and my parents were Depression babies. I keep forgetting that not ALL of you are as old as I am, and that some Gen X'ers (and whatever the following gens were called)had baby boomer parents who grew up in relative affluence. I bought mags in the 70's, when I first started out on my own. I needed recipes and advice, since mom was so far away from me, and I couldn't just pick up the phone whenever I wanted (calls from Guam were quite steep.) Back then, every issue was packed with money-saving tips. What's this got to do with my flashback? Nothing, really. This song is from seventi

  • Friday Flashback - Stevie Wonder

    06/02/2009 Duración: 03min

    Stevie Wonder - Pastime Paradise I've been having Stevie Wonder flashbacks since I produced a Powerpoint slide show for my Aunt Mary's birthday a few weeks ago. (I used Isn't She Lovely with silly pictures of old ladies, and it was a hit.) So, keep it hush, since I don't want to be hunted down by the mean old RIAA or anything. Anyway... Back to Stevie. Songs In The Key Of Life (1976) is part of the holy trinity of magical Wonder albums, along with Innervisions and Talking Book, and I like to revisit it from time to time. Since it raked in Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year, and both Best Male Pop Vocal and Best Male R & B Vocal, it's a worthy flashback as we approach Grammy Sunday this weekend. I chose Pastime Paradise, since so many people remember the Coolio song, Gangsta's Paradise (also a Grammy winner,) but don't necessarily know just how much borrowing he did from Stevie's original. Most call it "sampling," but I'd call it a cover song. Coolio changed some lyrics and added that memorable bass li

  • Friday Flashback - Little Shop Of Horrors

    30/01/2009 Duración: 06min

    Monday, when I participated in the Monday Movie Meme, I totally spaced out and forgot one of my favorite musicals: Little Shop Of Horrors. Sticks was in the pit band for a community theater production, and it was one of the best I've ever seen. The movie was meh, but I did love Ellen Green as Audrey and Steve Martin killed (literally!) as that demented dentist (people will pay you to be inhumane!) The songs are all based in sixties pop, complete with Motown and girl-group sounds. These songs are such fun, I decided to feature two of them from the Original Cast Recording of Little Shop Of Horrors (1982). I can never pick my favorite between the two of these. Franc Luz - Dentist! - The aforementioned demented song about a sick, twisted man's chosen occupation. Company - Skid Row (Downtown) An anthemic plea to get out of that horrid place.

  • Friday Flashback - The The

    23/01/2009 Duración: 05min

    It's been awhile, but I'm back! The The - This Is The Day I just flashed back to this when I wrote the Top 5 on Friday post this morning! It's from The The's 1983 album, Soul Mining, and it cannot leave you feeling anything but smiling and happy. You have my Nat guarantee!

  • Friday Flashback - Neil Young

    19/12/2008 Duración: 07min

    The Neil Young show rocked, and my favorite song in the set was Cortez The Killer. Need I explain the flashback any further? I didn't get out to any other shows besides this one and the Christmas TSO show, but the quality of this Young show more than made up for it. This is one I'll remember forever. From 1975's Zuma, here's the original Cortez from Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

  • Friday Flashback - Fountains Of Wayne

    05/12/2008 Duración: 03min

    Fountains Of Wayne - Valley Winter Song The other day, I was thinking about creating a playlist of songs that aren't Christmas songs, but sound like they could be Christmas songs. I know, it's wordy. Anyway, I was watching TV and saw an L.L. Bean Christmas commercial featuring this song, and it's perfect for the playlist. This is from the 2003 FOW album, Welcome Interstate Managers, and it fits the playlist. Now, what else to add? I can think of Low's Just Like Christmas, The Weepies' All That I Want, and Neil Finn's Sweet Secret Peace. Any more ideas?

  • Friday Flashback - James

    28/11/2008 Duración: 03min

    James - She's A Star Smiths wannabes, James, never really caught on over here in the States, but they did get some MTV time in the 90's when Laid hit number 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart. Their highest US-charting song, Laid, comes from the album of the same name, and it climbed up to number 3 in Modern Rock Tracks and 61 in the Hot 100. But do I flash back to that song in the car when the radio personality is talking about James? Naaaaah. My brain is stuck on the sweet little pop song, She's A Star, with its meowing slide guitar and soaring chorus. Snark away, real James fans, but this is my favorite James song. I am hopelessly addicted to catchy pop tunes by rock bands.

  • Friday Flashback - Sister Hazel

    20/11/2008 Duración: 08min

    Sister Hazel - All For You I was watching the morning news on the Boston Fox station, and I heard some familiar music accompanying one story. I couldn't identify it right away and that always drives me nuts. When the segment ended, I just kept humming the tune to myself. I knew it was a nineties hit, so I tried like hell to spark my memory. Lil Sticks used to love this song, and I knew it was a hit when he was in junior high. Finally, the band name snapped into my consciousness: Sister Hazel. That's the ticket! It's from the 1997 release,... Somewhere More Familiar, which was the band's second album. All For You reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. I do own the album, but I can recall only a couple of standout songs. The rest was fairly pleasant, but average. I do remember loving the final cut on the cd, Starfish, which Wii Lad relished as a dance-along tot song. Today, it's a bonus song in the flashback.

  • Friday Flashback -Graham Parker

    07/11/2008 Duración: 03min

    Graham Parker - White Honey This week, I spent so much time focusing on the election hoohaa that I pretty much zoned out everything else. To remedy that, I listened to Van Morrison's Tupelo Honey cd in the car, since it seems that is where I do my best listening. (By the way, I highly recommend Morrison to soothe your soul and reclaim your brain. Trust me.) In typical ADD fashion, my mind wandered to Graham Parker's White Honey. Parker pays homage to Morrison's style by invoking the blue-eyed soul, complete with warbly keyboards, driving bass line, and horns. This is one of those Parker songs that I love love, since it's got all of that, plus his snarly vocal. I couldn't wait to get home and drag out Parker's Howlin' Wind album and give it a whirl in the cd player. Whew. My brain was saved. What election?

  • Friday Flashback - Traveling Wilburys

    31/10/2008 Duración: 08min

    Yesterday, I shopped in this very stodgy gift shop in the swanky new section of the Natick Mall, errr, I mean The Natick Collection. (Hoity-toity enough for ya?) This is the kind of store that usually features music like Yanni or Enya or something else from that blah, new-agey, mind-numbing genre in their overhead play, so you'll forget about why you're there and buy an overpriced Willow Tree angel. You know the store. It's the one with the sales lady that wears prissy sweater sets, reeks of Shalimar, and has sports bifocals hanging from a chain around her neck. I strolled in to look at greeting cards, and I was astonished to hear actual rock music. I had to look around! Am I in the right place? I could swear that's Sonic Youth I'm hearing. This, of course, shook my world. What if I walked into Hot Topic and heard Barry Manilow singing Can't Smile Without You? What if I headed into Gymboree and heard Slipknot blaring while mommies shopped for outfits for their kidlets? That would happen in bizarro world! Perh

  • Friday Flashback - Donnie Iris

    24/10/2008 Duración: 03min

    Donnie Iris - Ah! Leah! Yes, it's totally cheesy, but whenever I hear it, it sends me back to 1981, when I finally moved back to the states from Guam. I had just settled in a duplex in OB (That's Ocean Beach, and I still call it that. I also have an OB decal on my car window to this day.), and I was in radio heaven. After four years living in a place that had one decent radio station, and one so-so backup, I had plenty of choice. There were a few good stations in San Diego, and if I tweaked my antenna just right, I could occasionally pull in KROQ or KLOS from the LA area. I'm relatively certain this song got airplay on those stations, as well as those that played Top 40 songs. A little factoid about the song: Donnie Iris, who can't stop his burning desire for Leah, was a member of the funk-rock band Wild Cherry. Remember Play That Funky Music, White Boy? He was also a member of The Jaggerz, and wrote a hit song for them, The Rapper. Donnie is still around, too, and performs with Donnie Iris and The

  • Friday Flashback - Ben Folds Five

    17/10/2008 Duración: 05min

    This week on the Contrast Podcast, the theme was Album Closers, and I chose Elvis Costello's final song from the US release of "This Year's Model", "Radio Radio." I usually put considerable thought into my choice, so I mulled over several choices of what I consider perfect album closers before I settled on the Costello song. Here's a short list: The Beatles - A Day In The Life, from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Who - Love, Reign O'er Me from Quadrophenia Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) from The Bends Pink Floyd - Eclipse from The Dark Side Of The Moon Fleetwood Mac - Albatross from English Rose Elliott Smith - Say Yes from Either/Or Cat Stevens - Tea For the Tillerman from Tea For the Tillerman Ben Folds Five - Evaporated from Whatever And Ever Amen Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks from Led Zeppelin IV The Clash - Train in Vain from London Calling Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard from Blue Patti Smith - Elegie from Horses Every one of those is a perfect ending to

  • Friday Flashback - 1973

    09/10/2008 Duración: 15min

    Music of 1973 Imagine this: you are hit by a car and knocked out, and when you come to, it's 1973. That is the premise of the new ABC series (based on a BBC show), Life On Mars. Sounds cool. If you've seen the trailers or just some stills of the cast and you can remember 1973, you might say, "Groovy," or "Far Out." I mean, check out Michael Imperioli's hair and suit. He looks like he could fit right in with Barney Miller's 12th precinct guys. Of course, all of this has me flashing back to the fall of 1973, when I was a junior in high school. I heard my first Pink Floyd music over that summer, and though I still leaned toward the schmaltzy pop music of the day, the groundwork was laid for the future rock-loving Nat you have come to know. The songs are all from Cash Box's Top 100 of the week ending on Oct. 13, 1973: Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band Deep Purple - Woman From Tokyo

  • Friday Flashback - 70's Power Pop

    02/10/2008 Duración: 11min

    70's Power Pop Flashback Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action The Rubinoos - The Girl 20/20 - Yellow Pills I'm on a little power pop kick, trying to get out of a funk I've been in all year. Nothing makes me feel better than the blissful sounds of 3 chords chiming out on electric guitars over some soaring harmonies and a driving drum beat. This week's flashback is a three-fer, since we could all use a little lift from the battering of bad news we've been having lately. This week, those Flamin' Groovies were on my playlist, so join me in flashing back to the power pop of 1976. (The year Dazed And Confused, one of my favorite Linklater movies, takes place!) The Groovies were signed to Sire Records, which was pretty indie in the seventies, with such bands as Talking Heads and The Ramones. Next up is The Rubinoos, a power pop duo from Berkeley, CA, who signed with a new label, Berserkley Records, in 1975, when they were young teens. Their first record, The Rubinoos, debuted in 1977 and charted a mild hit with a

  • Friday Flashback

    25/09/2008 Duración: 03min

    The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away These flashbacks are giving me a headache. Oh wait, maybe it's just the war, the 700 billion dollar bailout, the prospect of a depression, the ..... You get it. I wish I was a million miles away sometimes. Thank goodness I have music like this Plimsouls song and mood-enhancing candles and bubble bath to help alleviate the pain of it all. From 1983, here's a power pop classic, A Million Miles Away.

  • Friday Flashback

    19/09/2008 Duración: 03min

    Three Dog Night - The Show Must Go On This week's flashback occured last Saturday during Sticks' company outing at Canobie Lake Park. Every time I go to an amusement park, I get this Three Dog Night song stuck in my head because of the circusy calliope part that rears its ugly head over and over. 3DN's version is a cover of a Leo Sayer song, which I recall seeing him perform in clown makeup on either The Midnight Special or one of those other pop music shows in the seventies. Sayer's is kind of wistful, folky pop, while 3DN throws some of their signature rockin' pop sound. While it is far from my favorite 3DN song, it's catchy and it makes me want to head out to a fall carnival.

  • Friday Flashback

    12/09/2008 Duración: 03min

    David Naughton - Makin' It The thing about flashbacks is that they're not always pleasant or welcome, as was the case this week. I was lazy and a little bit tired on Wednesday, which was brought on by a bout of insomnia the night before. I was, therefore, loafing on the sofa in the afternoon, flipping through channel after channel of television mediocrity, until I hit paydirt: Meatballs! Hot damn, I saw that at the movies in its original release! I remember thinking it was hilarious, even though it's obviously low-budget and fairly predictable. (This movie did not hold up well, and Bill Murray's Tripper character seemed pretty annoying from my old age perspective and without chemical assistance.) I tuned in about halfway through, so I missed some good stuff, but I did catch the dance scene. This flick is from 1979, so, of course, the dance music is heavily disco based. AAACK! And that song: Makin' It. It's by that guy who used to dance around in a vest and sing "Be a Pepper, drink Dr. Pepper!" (He was also

  • Friday Flashback

    04/09/2008 Duración: 03min

    The Rumour - My Little Red Book Even though I quit my job, I'm filling up my date book with workshops, meetings, girls days out, and the like. I don't know where I'd be without my little red book (well, it's more of a maroon, but that's red, right?) As I stood at my kitchen island filling in dates, I flashed back to this cool song from The Rumour, one of those new-wavy contemporaries of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. They were on Stiff Records, which was a tres cool label filled with new wave and punk acts. It was so cool that one of their slogans was ""If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck." Graham Parker of The Rumour is still at it, and he's still putting out fine music.

página 1 de 3