Friday Featured Track for Nov. 13, 2009: A song from Carney, AKA Spider-Man’s band
Carney
Reeve Carney (Associated Press photo)
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Testify,” Carney, from www.myspace.com/carneytheband.
Truth be told, I’ve had just the general blues-rock sound of Los Angeles-based band Carney going through my head all week. I’ll pinpoint “Testify” in particular because it’s my favorite of their songs, a sonic trip that sounds just a bit as if someone mashed together Metallica’s “Ronnie” and Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.”
Of course, the reason this song and Carney’s music in general has been jamming its way through my head is simple: Lead singer Reeve Carney was announced last week as the choice to play the title role in the upcoming Broadway musical “Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark.” According to the Associated Press, the production is set to open sometime in 2010. It will be directed by Julie Taymor of “The Lion King” fame and features a score by Bono and The Edge of U2.
The lavish show has had a troubled history, with work on the musical stopped for last summer because of financial difficulties, according to the AP. But the producers have said financing is in place now.
Reeve Carney has a great soulful voice, so it’s easy to imagine him as a singing-and-web-slinging Peter Parker. The California vocalist became a finalist for the role after Taymor cast him as Ferdinand in her upcoming film version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” said Zane Carney, the band’s guitarist and Reeve’s younger brother. She invited Reeve to audition for the movie after seeing one of the band’s gig.
When I spoke to Zane over the summer, he said the bandmates weren’t sure when their debut album on Interscope would be released since Reeve was a finalist for the Spider-Man role.
“Those things are pretty crucial and are obviously big exposure things for our band, so I think Interscope is trying to wait to see if he gets Spider-Man. And then if he does … they might want to wait until Spider-Man starts,” Zane Carney said. “But I would hope it would be within in the next six to eight months.”
In the meantime, the band has a single called “Love Me Chase Me” out on iTunes and will be looking forward to watching its frontman swing onto a Broadway stage.
And check out this fan-shot video of the band performing an extended jam version of “Testify” live:
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Nov. 6, 2009: Remember back when Milla Jovovich made good music instead of bad movies?
Milla Jovovich getting scared out of her wits in “The Fourth Kind.” Hey, Milla, are you sure you wouldn’t rather make another folk-rock album?
The song that has been in my head the most this week:
- “Gentleman Who Fell,” Milla Jovovich, from her 1994 debut album “The Divine Comedy.”
After a couple of weeks’ hiatus, I’m returning with the weekly BAM’s Blog music spotlight the Friday Featured Track.
This week’s selection came out of a discussion this week with my colleague George Lang. We were bemoaning Milla Jovovich’s propensity for starring in cheap, critically panned movies like today’s “The Fourth Kind” and wishing she would find a better outlet for her skills and looks.
George, who has an incredibly sharp musical memory, reminded me that Jovovich made an interesting and well-received folk rock album back in ‘94. This light and lovely ballad, nicely spotlighting her lilting voice, became an alternative rock hit.
As Allmusic.com notes, Jovovich eschewed the tired dance-pop path many actress/models take when they want to make an album and opted instead for a low-key, largely acoustic record that tapped into her Slavic heritage.
Jovovich made only one more album, a 1998 mail-order-only effort called “Peopletree Sessions.”
But she’s making, what, her fourth “Resident Evil” movie? Listening to “Gentleman Who Fell,” that seems even more wrong than it did previously.
There were apparently two videos filmed for the song, so I’m posting them both here for your viewing/listening enjoyment:
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Oct. 16, 2009
Garth Brooks (Associated Press photo)
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til the Sun Comes Up),” Garth Brooks, from his 1993 album “In Pieces.”
With all the news breaking this week about the Oklahoma superstar, it’s hard to imagine that I wouldn’t have significant portions of his discography running through my head.
Brooks announced Thursday that he is coming out of retirement to become a headline performer in Las Vegas. On Saturday, he will be honored as one of the 2009 inductees into the Oklahoma State University Alumni Hall of Fame. (The other two are Barry Sanders and Robin Ventura.)
This rowdy tribute to teenagers gone wild has always been among my favorites of Brooks’ many hit singles. It seems somehow appropriate as the Owasso resident proves that even after nine years mostly out of the limelight, his music career isn’t riding off into the sunset anytime soon.
Click here to view the video.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Oct. 9, 2009
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Message in a Bottle,” The Police, from the 1979 album “Reggatta de Blanc.”
With it’s distinctive guitar riff and thumping bassline, it’s easy to get this song, the band’s first No. 1 hit in the U.K., stuck in your head. This song is the trio of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar, vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, vocals, percussion) at its finest.
Plus, this song is awfully fun to play on “Rock Band.”
And if you need another reaon, with all the rain we’ve had this week in Oklahoma, soon the only reasonable means of communication will be a message in a bottle.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Oct. 2, 2009
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Summertime Clothes,” Animal Collective, from their 2009 album “Merriweather Post Pavilion.”
Here’s how my brain works: I’ve been covering copious volumes of country music news all week, with Miranda Lambert’s new CD coming out on Tuesday, Toby Keith’s new album due out next Tuesday, Vince Gill announced as the Will Rogers Spirit Award winner and Jason Aldean playing this weekend’s Orange Peel concert at Oklahoma State. Country music has been at the forefront of my brain all week.
So, what’s been rattling around in the back of my mind all week? Freak folk. Naturally. I mean, of course, what else would you expect?
If you’re going to get a song caught on a loop in your head, you could do a lot worse than the wildly ethereal sounds of Animal Collective’s “Summertime Clothes.”
The video features the Brooklyn-based FLEX dance crew, and you could also do worse than spending 4:30 watching them and all the pretty colors:
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Sept. 25, 2009
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” Ann Wilson with Rufus Wainwright and Shawn Colvin, from Wilson’s 2007 solo album “Hope and Glory.”
This song has stuck with me all week, but it’s an even more appropriate choice for FFT since Tulsa’s Brady Theater announced today that Bob Dylan will perform there Oct. 24.
This sweeping, poignant rendition of the Dylan classic is the best track on Wilson’s 2007 album “Hope and Glory.” That’s saying something since it was one of my favorite records of that year. The Heart singer’’s throaty, powerhouse voice has lost none of its potency, and it blends well with contributions from several talented guest singers on the album.
But nowhere is the mingling of vocals more harmonious or surprising than in this track. I would never have matched up these three performers, who all have such distinctive singing styles, but their voices meld beautifully.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Sept. 18, 2009
- “The Foolish Frog,” by Pete Seeger, from the 1971 animated film of the same name.
One of the biggest advantages of having two sons 12 years apart is the abundance of hand-me-downs. My younger boy, Gabe, 2 1/2, often wears clothes, listens to CDs and watches movies passed down from his older brother, Chris, 14.
As all parents know, toddlers have a tendency to watch the same film over and over and over again, and Gabe’s newest obsession is the Scholastic animated adaptation of the storybook “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.” He found Chris’ old VHS copy, and his compulsive viewing prompted us to rent the DVD version from Netflix.
The DVD includes a few bonus storybook adaptations not featured on the old VHS, and before I knew it, I was hearing a familiar folksy voice belting out a catchy but nonsensical yarn about a farmer whose song about an arrogant frog starts a community sensation.
The familiar voice turned out to be venerable folk singer Pete Seeger, who apparently wrote the song with his father, Charles L. Seeger. Pete Seeger narrates and sings the tale, which was turned into a 1971 cartoon by Firebird Films and director Gene Deitch (”Popeye the Sailor Man,” “Krazy Kat”).
The cartoon and song were apparently turned into a 1973 children’s book, which is out of print but can be found through Amazon.com.
Not only has the song captured my toddler’s imagination, it also has become wedged in my brain, mostly because it’s packed with vivid lyrics about singing barn doors and families drinking free strawberry pop and eating free soda crackers at the corner store.
I’ve posted a YouTube of the video above, but beware, you may find yourself singing and whistling this exuberant song days from now.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Sept. 11, 2009
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Here Comes the Sun,” The Beatles, from the 1969 album “Abbey Road.”
“Here Comes the Sun” has long been among my favorite Fab Four songs, and the Beatles have been on all music lovers’ minds frequently this week. Remastered versions of the band’s entire catalog were released Wednesday, the same day the anticipated game “The Beatles: Rock Band” made its debut.
But this hopeful song also has been on brain since today is the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was such a dark day, but the way our country bonded together was heartening. It is my fervent hope and belief that our country and world will continue to find better days as time goes by.
With George Harrison’s bright lyrics, acoustic guitar and Moog synthesizer, with the rest of the band hand-clapping along, how can you not feel a sense of hope when you listen to “Here Comes the Sun”?
-BAM
Friday Featured Track for Sept. 4, 2009
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “Pretty Lady,” by Cross Canadian Ragweed, from the band’s new album “Happiness and All The Other Things.
Oklahoma-Texas country rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed released their seventh studio album this week, and I have not been able to stop listening to this song. Frontman Cody Canada penned it as a tribute to famed 1950s pinup model Bettie Page, who died in December 2008 at age 85.
The track’s meaty electric guitar and insistent piano give it a modern red dirt sound, but it also has a definite outlaw country vibe. It’s a song that I get a little something different from every time I hear to it, so, of course, I just keep listening.
And I can’t wait to hear Ragweed play it live.
-BAM
Friday Featured Track
The song that has been on my brain the most this week:
- “You,” Collective Soul, from the new album “Collective Soul” (AKA “Rabbit”).
Since I received my advance copy of the new Collective Soul album a week or so ago, I’ve listened to it with the kind of single-mindedness only a diehard fan can embrace.
In my album review, which I posted here earlier today, I praised the Georgia rockers for their incredible track record of producing superb power ballads.
For this week’s FFT, I want to highlight my favorite of these ballads, the gorgeous “You.” This ballad really soars, with frontman/songwriter Ed Roland passionately paying tribute to his lover without ever getting into the soppy cliches that bog down so many love songs.
Interestingly, “You” is the first song that Collective Soul has ever written as a unit, according to press notes for the album.
The song is Collective Soul at its pop finest and ranks up there with “Tremble for My Beloved” and “Under Heaven’s Skies” as the band’s best ballads.
-BAM
