Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

Mazzy Star, Mazzy Star, what do I say about Mazzy Star? I got in to Mazzy Star at the same time as I got in to Tom Waits, and I really do love some of their songs a lot. Their sound on this CD is very soothing, and I've used it to lull me to sleep to several times just because it never gets rough at all, or I should say it doesn't get very rough compared to most of everything else I listen to. Hope's voice always has that mystical sound around it that just holds me captivated in some of the songs.

Fade in to You is the first song of theirs that I heard, and that was back when Sam and I were working on a playlist, waaaaay back when I was doing the "Playlist of the day" thing on Facebook. I really loved that Playlist, and I found a few new artists by working with Sam on it. Those Playlists were a blast, and maybe I'll decide to start doing those again eventually if I have nothing better to do with my time.


This is the next song I really started to like after Fade in to You. Like the rest of their songs on this album, this song is just really slow and soothing, and once the other string instruments start joining in, I really love the sound they make together, this song is just beautiful I think. I really am a fan of violins and cellos in music a lot of the time, I just think they sound gorgeous in most cases.

And this next song is the last one I'll show you.



Aaaaand that concludes the year of 1993 for me, remember, if there were any other albums in that year that you loved, let me know! I'm moving on to 1994 next, and let me tell you, there are some true gems from that year.

As a last note, I'm sorry it's been like 3 months since my last post. I got a little busy, and then I felt bad that I had not posted in awhile, and I was afraid to post, 'cause then you would all realize how poorly I was keeping up. Then there were like 3 people who noticed I hadn't posted and said they wanted new things to read from me, so here I am, posting again. And now that I'm over feeling bad for not posting for so long I should be able to start keeping up again. So yeah, if I fail to post again, take their example and bother me about it and I'll get right back to it.

The Sign - Ace of Base.

Now, I have no idea what you're all gonna think of this band, unless you're like me and love them simply because they had a huge part in your past. Ace of Base was a huge success in the 90's as a popband, and one of those bands that I look back on with humor, and also love at the same time. I really don't listen to them all that often, I just have them on my computer so that I can say "I have Ace of Base, and you should be jealous, unless you have them too."


I'm pretty sure this is lip synced... in fact I'm pretty much positive it's lip synced, since it sounds exactly like the actual song, only with really bad quality. I have no idea what I would think of them had I not grown up with them, but because I grew up with them I love them... they're like candy to feed my nostalgia with. I always think of the Backstreet Boys when I think of Ace of Base... only I think Ace of Base was a lot cooler.

I'm still doing three videos, since I want to try and make that the norm. This video is actually sung live I think... which makes me wonder whether I was wrong about the first one, since they sound so good, and normally bands aren't able to sound exactly like their recording... You can decide whether you think they're lip-syncing or not, and let me know what you think as a comment. I think the first one is lip synced though.



man... just listening to this makes me feel like I'm 8 again... washing the dishes while Leah makes everything awkward by turning on Ace of Base and singing along to it as if she were singing to us. Wow... those were the days... yep... I bet no one else had siblings who made things as interesting as mine did... or maybe you did.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up on the posting... but don't be surprised if it's another while before I post again since I have quite a few things to do these next couple weeks. Also, I am now part of another blog! Random Ideas From Plotters and Schemers. It's a joint effort between me and a few friends, and hopefully we'll be able to keep up on that one since we have more accountability, unlike me on this blog...

If you think it's time for a new posts here on this blog start sending me comments to nag me, and I'll get more up, otherwise I may just fall behind again. I hope you all have been having a wonderful week so far! And remember to let me know what you think of the music!

So Far So Good - Bryan Adams

So, a few days back I had a status that said I was reading and listening to sappy 90's music. This is the sappy 90's music I was listening to. 

This is another album that has been around for as long as I can remember. One of my older brothers found Bryan Adams and started listening to his CD so much that he drove my other older brother so mad that he grabbed the CD and took off, and they got in to a fight and literally started punching and kicking each other over it. So this cd definitely has some family history. Other than finding that hilarious, I think it's worth noting that you could either fall in love with this guy's music, or hate it so much you want to destroy it all.

Here are some links, because embedding is disabled for these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7b37l_B4vI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0pdQU87dc8&feature=channel

Me. I'm kinda in the middle. I love some of his stuff, and some of it I just have to skip when it comes on. I kinda enjoy sappy love songs though, and he does sappy love songs well.

I really don't have much to say about Bryan Adams, so I'm sorry this is so short, especially since it's been a few weeks since I posted. There really is nothing too interesting, just very straightforward music which is kinda nice to listen to sometimes, since most the time I try find music that has a bit more meaning. 

According to Wikipedia, Bryan Adams is actually really popular and has won a whole bunch of awards, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone bring him up during discussions about music. Maybe more people know about him than I think, but I always thought he was just one of those people that only the Evans' family and a few other people knew about. 

I wish I could make this post a little longer, but I really have to just get this one out of the way, since people are asking me when the next post will be. If you have heard about Bryan Adams before, let me know, and let me know what you think about him. And everyone else, I want to know what you think about the music as well. Do you like it? do you not like it? Are you impartial? I love comments and discussion, so comment away!

The next post is The Sign by Ace of Base, so that should be lots of fun. I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and I hope you all have a happy New Years as well!

August and Everything After - Counting Crows

I love this album so much. I have been obsessed with this band for about the past month or longer. One of the things I really love about bands, is when they get really in to their music. I've known about the Counting Crows for a long time, but it was only a few months ago that I looked up anything of theirs live. The first thing I came across was a performance of Round Here, and that was when I really began to get in to their music. This performance almost made me cry, and it still gives me shivers. 

oh man... that part where he sits down at just a little past the 5 minute mark... gets me every time... When I saw that I realized there was probably more to the Counting Crows than I realized at first, and I've been trying to figure out how close these songs are to the actual singer, but I've actually been having trouble finding out much about their personal lives. The band changes the songs in this album a lot in all the live performances I've seen, and they tend to become more talking than singing like you saw in that last one a bit. Now I think of all of these songs as part of some bigger story. The band is constantly mixing lyrics together in their live performances, so it makes sense to me that their entire discography is just a big story

"Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hangs on everybody there's a dead man trying to get out." 

I think this song is about all the temptations that we have. Kindof along the same lines as Creep if you ask me. He knows that he has a ton of problems, and he wishes he could just be someone else and leave his old self behind. That's just the way I view it though, it could be about other things too. This whole albums seems to be about change, and trying to escape old problems just to find that there's problems wherever you go.

Sometime I want to just write out my thoughts on all the songs and see if they all make sense as a whole, because I'm pretty sure they would. I think this song is about falling in love again after a breakup. Maria is the first girl I think, and she was in Round Here. After nothing was turning out right he decided to escape, which is where the rest of the album focuses on. This song really makes you feel like he's completely fallen for this girl, but at the same time he can't bring himself to admit that he's fallen in love again. I love the line, "and every word is nonsense, but I understand and oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing"

This song is getting to the end of the album, and it seems like the problems are being faced head-on now. I think this must be Maria in this song, "If she remembers, she hides it whenever we meet." This is the last song I'm gonna post, but if I'm right and this was meant to be a concept album, than it looks as if Maria is with someone else now and the singer doesn't think he is right for her. It really just kind of ends with that, and it's not a very satisfactory ending.

It's never said anywhere that this is a concept album, but it really would make sense if it was.... so that's the way I like to see it. That performance of Round Here has some other things mixed in to it, and if you listened to the actual song you'd realize it is really different. At the end of that performance he starts screaming "CHAAANGE!" and that's how the album actually ends, and that's why I think the greatest summary of this album is how he is trying to deal with change. I think he was trying to sum up the album in that performance, and it blows me away. 

I would highly recommend listening to this album if you like all that you heard. This album alone made the Counting Crows one of my favorite bands.

I hope I can get some of you to like the Counting Crows, because I don't have know enough people who love the Counting Crows. Most the time when I see the Counting Crows in people's collections they'll only have a few songs, and it's kinda annoying. Most people either have Mr. Jones, Holiday in Spain, or Accidentally In Love. I love those songs, but to only have those is really sad to me... 

If you're a fan of the band already, let me know if you think I did them justice. If any of you are just beginning to like them and want more suggestions go ahead and leave me a comment. Remember that I love comments

Pablo Honey - Radiohead

WOOHOOO!!!! Radiohead enters in to the music biz. Can you tell I'm excited a little bit? I LOVE Radiohead, they are my favorite band. This is not their best cd, but there are definitely some songs on here to be recommended. The first one I want to mention is "You"

I love that performance so much.... It's just so epic compared to most live performances by other people. I really love how Radiohead really can perform their songs live and make them just as powerful, if not more powerful than the album versions. When Radiohead first started out, and started getting some attention for Pablo Honey, they played over 150 concerts in 1993, and then continued touring for part of next year as well. Needless to say, they got really good at performing, and also started to loath some of their songs.... 

This next song is one that most everyone knows, because it was their first "hit." I love the 20 second "run" at about 2:20. I wish I had the same kind of breath control... it always blows my mind when he does what he does.

The band really hated Creep after performing it so many times. Even though everyone loved the song, they stopped playing it in their concerts for several years because they despised it so much. Eventually they wrote "My Iron Lung" which is about "Creep," and how much they hated it, but also loved it for boosting them in to fame. There have been so many covers of Creep it's almost ridiculous, it's almost as bad as how many people have covered Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

This next one is called Lurgee. I couldn't decide which one I liked best off this album after You and Creep, but this one is up there. If I had to recommend a Radiohead cd, I would recommend the later ones, but this cd really isn't that bad. There are some pretty good songs on there. 

Some other songs that are pretty catchy are Stop Whispering, Thinking about You, and I Can't.

It took me a long time to listen to this cd, cause I heard it was Radiohead's worst album, and I was worried about what I would hear. I was actually pretty happy once I finally got the courage to listen to it, because there were some really cool songs on it.

Radiohead is one of those bands that either you really love, or you really don't like all that much, and the only way you can be impartial is if you haven't heard very much I think. I know people on both ends, and I also know a ton of people who have barely heard Radiohead at all. Hopefully I can get some new people into them. I think I know what most people following me think of Radiohead, but I don't know if you've heard the songs on this album other than Creep, or if you ever went back this far in to their career. As always, comment and let me know what you think. Do you like it? If you have heard Radiohead's other music and not this, how do you think it compares?

A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band - Rich Mullins

Rich Mullins has been a favorite of the Evans' family for as long as I can remember. I don't know whether Mom or Dad found his music, or if one of my older siblings did, but I grew up listening to him. I have tried listening to other Christian music, but I haven't liked any of them nearly as much as Rich. I really don't listen to any Christian music at all other than his anymore, because the rest of it is just boring to me. Rich Mullins' music arrangements are really cool, and he really has his own style, instead of sounding like any of the artists that were his contemporaries. His lyrics are generally really thoughtful and aren't as boring as all the popular Christian songs that just repeat "Great is your power" or "great is your mercy" or "how great is your love" over and over and over again.  There probably are other good thoughtful Christian musicians out there, but I haven't found any that I think are as good as Rich Mullins. 

The songs I love most by Rich Mullins are his stories. Most of my favorite songs of his are off of the next album of his that I have, which is Songs , but I still love this album. He saw such beauty in the world, and his music really shows that. "And if you listen to my songs I hope you hear the water falling, I hope you feel the oceans crashing on the coast of North New England."

I love the little talks he gives. From as much as I've heard him say or sing, I don't think I've heard anything that I really disagree with. As far as I can tell, his theology was sound, and he preached it in a way that I think everyone can relate to. I wish Rich Mullins were still around, I would love to have more music by him. 

I wouldn't mind listening to other Christian artists if anyone has some REALLY good suggestions. I find it really hard to like Christian music if it just sounds like any normal pop or rock group, so normally I just stick to Rich Mullins, or old Choral music. Sufjan Stevens is another one I really like.

This is the last song I'll post for Rich Mullins. It's his version of The Apostles Creed. I think the Hammered Dulcimer sounds really awesome. 

Every Sunday Dad used to turn on either Rich Mullins or Michael Card, and it would be playing the entire time we were getting ready. I don't know when he stopped doing that, but I think I'm going to start doing it again, 'cause I really do think it set a good mood for Sunday mornings.

How many of you have heard of Rich Mullins before? do you like his stuff? and are there any other Christian artists that you really like? 

Also, some people said they didn't like the design very much, so I made some minor changes. Does that help? or should I keep changing it?

Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can't We? - The Cranberries

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't listened to this album all that much. I got it at one point because I knew it had Dreams and Linger on it, and I listened to it once, and then it kinda got left behind 'cause I had a whole bunch of other music to listen to at the same time. I did start listening to it more though, and this is what I have to say about it. The theme on the album is very consistent, it's mostly all about a girl who is in love with a guy, and she has to force herself to leave him and forget about him because he doesn't love her or treat her well. I think every song on there is about that same thing... You can listen to the lyrics in this song Linger, and you should see exactly what I mean.



Even though I think this cd is boring lyrically, I think the music is really beautiful. Dreams is the other one I knew from the album, and I think that's the only one that doesn't talk about her need to get out, but it's still about a guy. Because of all the other songs on the album, I don't think it has a happy ending like I used to... The music video was really interesting too....



Why was there a guy in the mud??? anyways... I hadn't seen that until I went looking for videos to put up.... I don't think she's the best live performer, so I only put up the one I liked best. I think most of you would agree with me that the live performances are not the best if you looked up more. This next one, Put Me Down, is the last song on the album, and like all the other ones it's about her leaving, but it just has such a sad and beautiful sound to it that I can't help liking it...

I was noticing on Youtube that a bunch of people thought the same thing as me about this album and how it's mostly all about the same thing. This was the Cranberries first album, and the other ones I heard are happier. I'm glad to be done with this post, 'cause now I can stop listening to the album as much as I was. I think it's been making me a little depressed, so you may want to watch out for that if you decide to listen to this music a whole bunch. The 3 songs I posted are my favorites from the album, so let me know what you think of them!  Most of you should at least already know Dreams or Linger, since they're pretty popular songs.

1993 and some Nirvana

Now I am sorry it took me so long to post about Queen. It really was the hardest one for me to do because I know that I could talk to just about anyone and they'd know the band Queen and pretty much all those songs.

Now it's time for 1993! I'm actually excited to do this year. There's some really good stuff along with some stuff that's just so ridiculous that I had to have it... like Ace of Base.... I hope you all love some of this stuff as much as I do. Now the bands are gonna be a bit more contemporary to 1993 unlike all the ones I've done previously. The albums I had in 1992 were mostly all Greatest Hits collections, except for Tom Waits' Bone Machine.


There's something else that I want to do now. Something that I decided on since my first introduction. When I get to the post where I introduce the year, let you all know what's coming up, give updates, etc.... I'm also gonna have some of the single songs I have that I don't have the full albums to go along with them.

I thought this picture was hilarious when I saw it, so I thought I'd share it with everyone. I also have some Bush coming up in 1994, so you'll be able to see the next one down.

With this year there are only a couple Nirvana songs, so I can have videos for them both, but later I might just have to have a few videos and give mention to some of the other great songs. Mostly I try to keep albums, so there shouldn't be too many songs for most years...

I really am gonna be going all over the place as far as genres. Nirvana here, and before there was Talking Heads, Tom Waits, Lionel Richie and Queen. There really should be something for everyone showing up on this blog, or at least that's what I'm hoping for. I know not everyone likes Nirvana, my parents among them... But I like them and they're here in my library so I will post them. and for those of you wondering why there isn't more Nirvana, I just don't have the rest of this album... I do have Nevermind from 1991 though.

I really am happy to have 17 followers already. For only having done 5 posts before this, I'm impressed. I just have to catch up with my other blogger friends! So eventually I'm gonna have to do a give away or something, since that seems to get a lot of followers, but those will come later. The more people I know are following, the more likely I am to post, so send me lots of comments and share my blog with your friends!

As for 1993, the albums coming up are these.
Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can't We - The Cranberries
A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band - Rich Mullins
Pablo Honey - Radiohead
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
So Far So Good - Bryan Adams
The Sign - Ace of Base
So Tonight That I Might See - Mazzy Star

I would love to know which of these albums you haven't heard, so that I can cover them more in depth. I love critique also, if there's something you think I could do to make the blog better, I'd love to hear it.

I'm thinking I'll start a little game. Every time I start a new year I'll let everyone guess at what my favorite album from that year was, and I'll keep track of who gets the most right, and maybe there will be prizes or something. So send me a comment with a guess of what you think my favorite album is. This should be fun.