Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States (Business as Usual and "Down Under" respectively). They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom. The group won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. The band's sound is distinguished by its use of woodwind and brass instruments.
In 1981, Columbia Records signed Men at Work. Their second single, "Who Can It Be Now?", reached #1 on the Australian chart in August 1981. In October 1982, "Who Can It Be Now?" hit #1 in the USA.
The lyrics of "Who Can It Be Now?" feature the narrative of a reclusive, perhaps paranoid man who hears knocking at his house door and wishes to be left in solitude. The presence of a "childhood friend" is mentioned, and the bridge lyrics give the impression that the narrator fears once again being taken away to a mental institution. Musically, the song features prominent saxophone lines and a mid-tempo beat. Its chorus vocals, which make up the song title, feature a melody that is echoed through saxophone in a call and response fashion. The second chorus pushes the anxious lyrics further and becomes flush with vocal harmony.
"Who Can It Be Now?" remains a popular symbol of New Wave music and has been featured on numerous 1980s compilations.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Herbie Hancock - Rockit (1983)
"Rockit" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shock. The song was written by Hancock, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and synthesizer/drum machine programmer Michael Beinhorn.
Constructed and composed during the recording process at various studios, including Martin Bisi's in Brooklyn NY, "Rockit" was perhaps the first popular single to feature scratching and other turntablist techniques, performed by GrandMixer D.ST - an influential DJ in the early years of turntablism - using turntables as a musical instrument. Later turntablists, such as DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike, cited "Rockit" as revelatory in the documentary film Scratch, inspiring their interest in the instrument. The record GrandMixer D.ST. used for scratching in Rockit was the B-side of Change The Beat by Fab Five Freddy, released in 1982 on Celluloid Records.
The single was a major radio hit in the United Kingdom and a popular dance club song in the United States. The music video, directed by duo Godley & Creme and featuring robot-like sculptures (by Jim Whiting) moving in time to the music, was among the earliest videos to feature African Americans on MTV and garnered five MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, including Best Concept Video and Best Special Effects. Hancock himself appears and plays keyboard only as an image on a television, which is smashed on the pavement in the closing shot.
Bobby Darin - Dream Lover (1959)
I love a song that includes the word "dream".
Dream Lover" is a song written and recorded by Bobby Darin on March 5, 1959. It was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd. It is considered a soulful rock song. The song became a multi-million seller, reaching #2 in US charts and was #1 in UK for three weeks during July 1959. It was released as a single on Atco Records in 1959. In addition to Darin's vocal, the song features Neil Sedaka on piano.
The song was also used in Michael Apted's movie "Stardust" (1974) and Barry Levinson's debut film "Diner" (1982).
Dream Lover" is a song written and recorded by Bobby Darin on March 5, 1959. It was produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd. It is considered a soulful rock song. The song became a multi-million seller, reaching #2 in US charts and was #1 in UK for three weeks during July 1959. It was released as a single on Atco Records in 1959. In addition to Darin's vocal, the song features Neil Sedaka on piano.
The song was also used in Michael Apted's movie "Stardust" (1974) and Barry Levinson's debut film "Diner" (1982).
Friday, May 6, 2011
Mama Cass Eliot - "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" (1968)
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" was recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra with vocal by Nelson on February 16, 1931 for Brunswick Records.
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas April 1968 album release The Papas & The Mamas. The group had often sung the song for fun, having been familiarized with it by member Michelle Phillips, whose father had been friends with the song's co-writer, Fabian Andre, in Mexico City where Michelle Phillips' family had resided when she was a young girl. "Mama" Cass Elliot suggested to group leader John Phillips that the group record "Dream a Little Dream of Me"; according to him she was unhappy while recording the song, objecting to its campiness, but Elliot herself would later tell Melody Maker: "I tried to sing it like it was 1943 and somebody had just come in and said, 'Here's a new song.' I tried to sing it as if it were the first time."
By the time of the album's release, there were strong indications that the "Mamas & the Papas" were set to disband, a perception strengthened by the failure of the lead single "Safe in My Garden". Having an opportunity to promote the group's best-known member as a soloist, Dunhill Records gave a June 1968 single release to the "Dream a Little Dream of Me" track credited to Mama Cass with the Mamas & the Papas; the UK release simply read "Mama Cass". Promoted in the US press and on billboards with a photograph of a discreetly but obviously nude Elliot lying in a bed of daisies, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 that August (its Cash Box peak was #10 and in Record World it reached #8). The Billboard Easy Listening chart ranked the single as high as #2. In the UK "Dream a Little Dream of Me" reached #11 that September, staving off competition by a cover from Anita Harris that reached #33. In Australia the Go-Set Top 40 chart ranked "Dream a Little Dream of Me" at #1 for the weeks of 4 & 11 September 1968.
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas April 1968 album release The Papas & The Mamas. The group had often sung the song for fun, having been familiarized with it by member Michelle Phillips, whose father had been friends with the song's co-writer, Fabian Andre, in Mexico City where Michelle Phillips' family had resided when she was a young girl. "Mama" Cass Elliot suggested to group leader John Phillips that the group record "Dream a Little Dream of Me"; according to him she was unhappy while recording the song, objecting to its campiness, but Elliot herself would later tell Melody Maker: "I tried to sing it like it was 1943 and somebody had just come in and said, 'Here's a new song.' I tried to sing it as if it were the first time."
By the time of the album's release, there were strong indications that the "Mamas & the Papas" were set to disband, a perception strengthened by the failure of the lead single "Safe in My Garden". Having an opportunity to promote the group's best-known member as a soloist, Dunhill Records gave a June 1968 single release to the "Dream a Little Dream of Me" track credited to Mama Cass with the Mamas & the Papas; the UK release simply read "Mama Cass". Promoted in the US press and on billboards with a photograph of a discreetly but obviously nude Elliot lying in a bed of daisies, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 that August (its Cash Box peak was #10 and in Record World it reached #8). The Billboard Easy Listening chart ranked the single as high as #2. In the UK "Dream a Little Dream of Me" reached #11 that September, staving off competition by a cover from Anita Harris that reached #33. In Australia the Go-Set Top 40 chart ranked "Dream a Little Dream of Me" at #1 for the weeks of 4 & 11 September 1968.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Michelle Pfeiffer and Matt Damon - "My Funny Valentine" (1937)
MICHELLE PFIEFFER, 1989: The Fabulous Baker Boys
MATT DAMON, 1999: The Talented Mr. Ripley"My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. After being recorded by Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis, the song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists.
I love the above two versions by actress Michelle Pfeiffer and actor Matt Damon.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Paul Anka - "You Are My Destiny" (1958)
I recently saw a romantic-comedy motion picture that played this tune "You Are My Destiny" at the most funny moment that I had to replay the tune for the next two days. The motion-picture (which I highly recommend you see) was a French film called LES EMOTIFS ANONYMES (Romantics Anonymous).
Paul Albert Anka, (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian/American singer, songwriter, and actor. Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder". He went on to write such well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and one of Tom Jones's biggest hits, "She's a Lady", and the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way". Anka became a naturalized US citizen in 1990.
"You Are My Destiny" is a song written and performed by Paul Anka that was released in 1958. It reached number seven on the US Billboard 100 early that year. The song was also released in the UK, where it reached number six.
Paul Albert Anka, (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian/American singer, songwriter, and actor. Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder". He went on to write such well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and one of Tom Jones's biggest hits, "She's a Lady", and the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way". Anka became a naturalized US citizen in 1990.
"You Are My Destiny" is a song written and performed by Paul Anka that was released in 1958. It reached number seven on the US Billboard 100 early that year. The song was also released in the UK, where it reached number six.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Strangeloves - I Want Candy (1965)
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by The Strangeloves in 1965 that went to number 11 in the United States. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat, a rumba-like beat similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes.
Icehouse - "Electric Blue" (1987)
"Icehouse" is an Australian rock band, formed as the name "Flowers" in 1977 in Sydney. Initially known in Australia for their pub rock style, they later achieved mainstream success playing new wave and synthpop style music and attained Top Ten singles chart success in both Europe and the U.S. The mainstay of both "Flowers" and "Icehouse" has been Iva Davies (singer-songwriter, record producer, guitar, bass, keyboards, oboe) supplying additional musicians as required. The name "Icehouse", which was adopted in 1981, comes from an old, cold flat Davies lived in and the strange building across the road populated by itinerant people.
Their best-selling album is 1987's Man of Colours, which contained the Australian hit singles "Crazy" which peaked at #3 in July, "Electric Blue", co-written by Davies and John Oates of U.S. band Hall & Oates, peaked at #1 in October, "My Obsession" #5 in December, "Man of Colours" #28 in February 1988 and "Nothing Too Serious" #29 in May 1988.
It was the first Australian album to have five singles charting in the top 30, it remained at #1 on the Australian album charts for eleven weeks and has sold over 700,000 copies. With U.S. chart success for "Crazy", which reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on its Mainstream Rock chart, and "Electric Blue" peaked at #7 Hot 100 and #10 Mainstream, the band had reached their zenith of popularity, the album Man of Colours reached #43 on the Billboard 200. Man of Colours was lauded in Australia during 1988, it won two ARIA Awards, 'Album of the Year' and 'Highest Selling Album'; the associated song "Electric Blue" won 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work' at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards for its writers Davies and Oates.
The video clip for Electric Blue was shot on the roof of 189 Liverpool Street, Sydney City, Australia. It is now the YWCA Hotel aka "Y On The Park".
John Oates became involved with Davies after contacting him to state he was a fan. The resulting collaboration produced this song and Oates has stated that if Davies had not released the song under the Icehouse name then it would have been a Hall and Oates track. In Australia, "Electric Blue" was available for a limited time on 7 inch blue vinyl.
Their best-selling album is 1987's Man of Colours, which contained the Australian hit singles "Crazy" which peaked at #3 in July, "Electric Blue", co-written by Davies and John Oates of U.S. band Hall & Oates, peaked at #1 in October, "My Obsession" #5 in December, "Man of Colours" #28 in February 1988 and "Nothing Too Serious" #29 in May 1988.
It was the first Australian album to have five singles charting in the top 30, it remained at #1 on the Australian album charts for eleven weeks and has sold over 700,000 copies. With U.S. chart success for "Crazy", which reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on its Mainstream Rock chart, and "Electric Blue" peaked at #7 Hot 100 and #10 Mainstream, the band had reached their zenith of popularity, the album Man of Colours reached #43 on the Billboard 200. Man of Colours was lauded in Australia during 1988, it won two ARIA Awards, 'Album of the Year' and 'Highest Selling Album'; the associated song "Electric Blue" won 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Work' at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards for its writers Davies and Oates.
The video clip for Electric Blue was shot on the roof of 189 Liverpool Street, Sydney City, Australia. It is now the YWCA Hotel aka "Y On The Park".
John Oates became involved with Davies after contacting him to state he was a fan. The resulting collaboration produced this song and Oates has stated that if Davies had not released the song under the Icehouse name then it would have been a Hall and Oates track. In Australia, "Electric Blue" was available for a limited time on 7 inch blue vinyl.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic (1965)
"Do You Believe In Magic" is the name of a song written by John Sebastian. In 1965, Sebastian's group, "The Lovin' Spoonful", released the song as the first single from their debut album "Do You Believe in Magic". The song was well-received by the public and became a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #9. According to the lyrics, the magic referenced in the title is the power of music to supply happiness and freedom to both those who make it and those who listen to it.
"The Lovin' Spoonful", an American pop rock band of the 1960s, was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2000.
The band had its roots in the folk music scene based in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhattan during the early 1960s. Sebastian, who grew up in contact with music and musicians, was the son of a much-recorded and highly technically accomplished classical harmonica player. He had reached maturity toward the end of the American folk music revival that spanned from the 1950s to the early '60s. Sebastian was joined in the Spoonful by guitarist Zal Yanovsky from a bohemian folk group called The Mugwumps, playing local coffee houses and small clubs (two other members, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, would later form half of the Mamas & the Papas). Drummer-vocalist Joe Butler and bassist Steve Boone rounded out the group.
"The Lovin' Spoonful", an American pop rock band of the 1960s, was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2000.
The band had its roots in the folk music scene based in the Greenwich Village section of lower Manhattan during the early 1960s. Sebastian, who grew up in contact with music and musicians, was the son of a much-recorded and highly technically accomplished classical harmonica player. He had reached maturity toward the end of the American folk music revival that spanned from the 1950s to the early '60s. Sebastian was joined in the Spoonful by guitarist Zal Yanovsky from a bohemian folk group called The Mugwumps, playing local coffee houses and small clubs (two other members, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, would later form half of the Mamas & the Papas). Drummer-vocalist Joe Butler and bassist Steve Boone rounded out the group.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Modern English - "Melt With You" (1982)
Modern English are an English rock band that are best remembered for their songs "I Melt with You," "Hands Across the Sea," and "Ink and Paper".
Formed in Colchester, Essex, England, in 1979 by Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals), "Modern English" were originally known as "The Lepers". The group expanded to "Modern English" when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards)were subsequently added to the line-up of the band.
This "Melt With You" tune has always been a wild favorite of mine. The song, produced by Hugh Jones, was a single from the 1982 album After the Snow. It reached #7 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart and #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The song gained popularity due to its airplay on MTV in early 1983 and its inclusion during the closing credits in the movie "Valley Girl". The band re-recorded it in 1990 for their album Pillow Lips, the re-released version peaking at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is ranked #39 on VH1's 100 greatest songs of the 80's and #7 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.
Formed in Colchester, Essex, England, in 1979 by Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals), "Modern English" were originally known as "The Lepers". The group expanded to "Modern English" when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards)were subsequently added to the line-up of the band.
This "Melt With You" tune has always been a wild favorite of mine. The song, produced by Hugh Jones, was a single from the 1982 album After the Snow. It reached #7 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart and #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The song gained popularity due to its airplay on MTV in early 1983 and its inclusion during the closing credits in the movie "Valley Girl". The band re-recorded it in 1990 for their album Pillow Lips, the re-released version peaking at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is ranked #39 on VH1's 100 greatest songs of the 80's and #7 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.
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