From Hoagie Carmichael to Today–“Heart & Soul” Still Rocks
You have to hear “Play That Song” by Train. It's only been out 2-weeks and it's already in the top 25. It’s snappy and catchy, fun, charming, laid back, simple yet sophisticated-- 4-minutes of really polished, well produced Top 40 rock. Train, a San Francisco...
Want To Feel Young? Listen To This Song.
I’m a Boomer who loves music—how come I’ve never heard of Gavin DeGraw? His new song Is. Just. Great. Fun and bouncy, sophisticated and smart. "She Sets The City On Fire" is currently one of the 20 most played songs on Adult Top 40 radio. The story is...
A New Funk Hit From Bruno Mars
We Boomers know from funk, for example Morris Day & The Time and ”Jungle Love” from 1984. Was that not great funk? Witty, with a big, polished sound? Did we not appreciate and give Morris Day his due? But Bruno Mars? The bar was raised when he and Mark...
Bastille: A Nod to Queen & David Bowie Plus A Killer Open
Bastille. A 4-man English indie pop band that’s captured the hearts and minds of music fans world-wide. “Good Grief” is their newest hit and its opening bass line is similar to the underpinning that Queen and David Bowie brought us in 1981’s classic "Under...
Up for Some Talking Heads Level Intensity? Try Twenty One Pilots.
In 1979 David Byrne and the Talking Heads had a hit with “Life During Wartime" which was on the soundtrack of the film "Stop Making Sense." Today, Twenty One Pilots’ “Heathens” is #1 and it, too, was featured in a film--“Suicide Squad,” a summer blockbuster...
The Struts: Rock & Rollers Influenced by Def Leppard
When The Struts opened for the Rolling Stones’ 2014 Paris sell-out, they were anointed: officially cool, now and forever---‘cause The Stones are not going to let some milquetoast losers open for them, right? The Struts are four English guys who play classic...
Rihanna’s Newest: 50’s Intensity Plus Modern Sizzle: A Must Listen To!
Rihanna's newest single, “Love On The Brain,” sounds SO MUCH like “Maybe,” the 1957-58 doo-wop classic by the Chantels --five black teenage girls from the Bronx, whose 2 minutes and 50 second song became a building block of rock and rock history, and which...
From Cat Stevens to Blue October: Giving Thanks for Life’s Blessings
We live in an era of intensity, rapid change, a fast pace that bathes us daily in new, often repetitious and extraneous information and content. So just imagine the jolt it was to listen to “Home” by alt-rockers Blue October—their new song is a direct...
Modern Love
Listening to 1986’s Ashford and Simpson hit “Solid” --all 6+ minutes of it, was a hoot; the whole “sound” sucked me back into “the 80s” –you might remember that the song was a celebration of their rock solid relationship. “Closer” by the Chainsmokers, while not...