Army Songs

Not songs about the army… songs that came out when I was in the army, doing my bit for my country by playing bass guitar:


(right-click to embiggen)

I think I played about a dozen of those songs over the years with various bands, and most of them… ugh, disco disco disco (as well as my un-favoritest Stones song, which says something about how dreadful it is, and which thankfully I never had to play).

Thank goodness for Baker Street, then and now one of the greatest ballads ever.

Afterthought:  I never liked the syrupy Light Up My Life, and listening to it now, it has to be the worst production ever, with absolutely no redeeming features.  The piano, for starters, sounds like someone’s hammering on the keyboard with a mallet, and the cheesy string arrangement would have made Mozart commit suicide.  To cap it off, the desperately-unsexy Debbie Boone sounds like she’d taken a large dose of Xanax in the studio on the day it was recorded.

Some Weekend Background Stuff

Here are a few recommendations for the above, taken from my favorites.  Times are approximate.

Schubert’s Trout Quintet (40 minutes)

Schubert’s Impromptus (2.5 hours) (by the way, this visual rendition of #4 in A-flat major is mesmerizing)

Haydn’s String Quartets (six; 70 minutes)

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (40 minutes)

Addinsell’s Warsw Concerto (10 minutes)

Chopin’s Etudes (twelve; 30 minutes)

Johann Strauss II – Essential Works (2.5 hours)

Today’s Earworm

From old rock band Sweet, all about changes.

I actually met the vocalist/lead guitarist (with the long silver hair, can’t remember his name) at the King’s Arms in Wiltshire with The Englishman.

I think the song is about his dealing with cancer, because apparently he died of it not long ago.

Or it could be about his getting married to some hottie in Vegas immediately after hearing the diagnosis — it’s difficult to tell, because he had a fantastic sense of humor.  Lovely man:  quiet, unassuming, just an ordinary bloke whose band made it big and never let it get to his head.