Sniffling On a Train

I apologize for this silent week. On Monday evening, I started sniffling and sneezing and it blew up into a full-fledged cold/flu episode that had me huddled shivering under a blanket each evening and in no mood to find, write, and post any MP3s. Not sure if anyone missed me this week.

But, I'm back anyway. I have some chest congestion and a cough that sounds worse than it feels, but I'm back with some classic rock.

Blackfoot was a brand with some impressive links to the rock world. A quick read of the Wikipedia stub here will show you that Blackfoot is closely linked with such legendary bands as Uriah Heep and Lynyrd Skynyrd. A great group with a great sound that somehow never lived up to its potential. The song featured here is probably one of their greatest hits - Train Train. The rhythmic beat that starts the song and the strong vocals should give you an idea of the capabilities of this band.

I strongly recommend this Greatest Hits album here. Find the rest of their discography here.

1. Blackfoot - Train Train (4.1 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Elvis Variety (Country, Hip Hop, Rock)

I don't think I've managed to exactly put my finger (yet) on what makes Elvis' legacy so enduring. I mean, we usually evaluate musical talent in terms of stunning ability to play an instrument or the ability to write songs or melodies that touch people. Elvis was never considered a prodigy when it cames to any instrument. Nor is he considered to be a genius in writing music or lyrics. Sure he had an amazing voice, but so do thousands of other people. There are so many people with astonishingly good voices who haven't had close to the staying power of Elvis.

Some people say Elvis' success could be attributed to timing. He came along at just the right time and exploded on the stage at a time when the nation was in transition. But that sounds much more like a fad and not something that would lead to a phenomenon where thousands of people gather at his home thirty years after his death. There are all these "Tribute Albums" that highlight Elvis' music (even though most of them were just covers of other peoples' songs). Why is it that thousands of musicians a lot more talented than Elvis are willing to contribute to these tribute albums, singing songs that someone else wrote and Elvis just sang during his career.

He certainly had charisma. But attributing his musical legacy and astonishing staying power to just his charisma seems unsatisfying. So, he didn't write great music, never wrote a profound lyric, and was never a social activist in a public sense. Yet, here we are , THIRTY YEARS after his death still talking about him, listening to his music, watching his movies, and buying new tribute albums of "his" music. Strange.

Here is just a small sampling of the range of Elvis versions out there. From pure country (Faith Hill's version of Trying To Get To You from the It's Now Or Never tribute album) to hard rock (Robert Plant's version of Let's Have a Party from The Last Temptation of Elvis collection which includes Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney) and even a House/Hip Hop (no idea what the difference is between the two) remix of All Shook Up by Rick Lenzi from an album called Love Me Tender: 21 House & Hip Hop Remixes.

1. Faith Hill - Trying To Get To You (2.12MB; 128kbps MP3)
2. Robert Plant - Let's Have a Party (3.39MB; 128kbps MP3)
3. Rick Lenzi - All Shook Up (Candy Remix Edit) (3.5MB; 128 kbps MP3)

We All Make Our Choices ...

For this weekend, I'm going to leave you with something special. Another one of those albums I thought was a classic when I was young. I'll admit I bought this album in the 80s because of the album cover. Any album with a massive, threatening, snake with blood dripping from its jaws has got to be good. So I thought.

The album quickly grew to be one of my favorites and I carried that with me over the years. It was only many years later, when I knew all about Uriah Heep did I come to find that this album, Innocent Victim was always considered one of their weaker albums. I am here now to finally dispel that myth. This is still one of my favorite albums. This is the kind of hard rock I like. It has the heavy overdriven guitars to classify it as hard rock, but the sound and vocals are clear. Like you should with most hard rock, please listen to these tracks with the volume turned up high to get the best effect.

The first track is "Free 'N' Easy" which is a good, hard rocking track that starts off with a great, confident guitar riff and keeps it up through the song. The second track is one that I found moving when I was young. I am not sure exactly why now, but I do recall feeling the lyrics hit me in the gut whenever I heard this song in my younger days. As an eighteen year old, for some reason, I was completely impressed with the lyrics
And we all make our choices
Like a blind man feels his way,
And the choice I've made is simple:
Passion over pain.

I'm sure there was a reason these lyrics affected this eighteen-year old so strongly. I've tried hard to recall what emotions led me to rave over these lyrics, but I'm drawing a blank.

Most of you are familiar with Uriah Heep. You can find more about the band here. Their complete discography on Amazon is here. This album, which I still maintain is their best, is available here with bonus tracks. Enjoy!

1. Uriah Heep - Free 'N' Easy (2.83 MB;128 kbps MP3)
2. Uriah Heep - Choices (5.33 MB; 128kbps MP3)