Musings from the basement...

28 Songs that Changed My Life: Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (7 of 28)

February 7, 2021 0 Comments

When I first started exploring jazz in the late 1990s, vocal jazz wasn’t tops on my list. I preferred (and still prefer) the instrumental stuff from the late 1940s through the late 1960s. However, I still made it a point to listen to the major names of the genre when it came to vocal jazz, too, because if I was self-educating, I wanted to take it all in. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and many others helped me zero in on the aspects of vocal jazz I liked. Then there was Billie Holiday. Her haunting voice was already familiar to me, in no small part because it’s been imitated so many times. It was … different. Otherworldly. There was little joy…
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28 Songs that Changed My Life: De La Soul, “The Magic Number” (6 of 28)

February 6, 2021 0 Comments

Hip hop entered my life at a fairly early age, making its way to the New Jersey sticks by way of transplants from New York City. Early cuts like “Roxanne Roxanne,” “Rock Box” and others were elementary school playground jams that stick with me to this day. But let’s be honest: The early years of rap were pretty samey. Awesome, yes, but not particularly varied in sound, approach, or lyrics. There was a formula and most acts stuck with it. Then in 1989, De La Soul dropped Three Feet High and Rising, and everything changed for me. Hip Hop could be light-hearted, joyful, romantic and fun? Who knew!? They sampled ’60s hippy jams and music for the Woodstock generation. They rapped about awkwardly talking up…
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28 Songs that Changed My Life: The Crystals – “Da Doo Ron Ron” (5 of 28)

February 5, 2021 0 Comments

There’s just something about a chorus of women singing a catchy melody over a dense bed of sound that feels right. Phil Spector was a murdering villain. That is now his legacy, and it will be forevermore. But that legacy shouldn’t taint the legacy of fantastic vocal groups like The Crystals, who provided a soundtrack for my youth and who, without me knowing it, influenced the music I’d later come to love. For a time, I found the stuff by The Crystals, The Ronnettes, and others to be dated and quaint. It was my mom’s music, not mine. It’s music for old movies (and old PEOPLE), not for listening by someone modern and with it. Time has proved me wrong. This stuff is classic for…
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28 Songs that Changed My Life: Michael Jackson, “Thriller” (4 of 28)

February 4, 2021 0 Comments

Heck, not just the song. The entire damn album. If you were breathing in the early to mid 1980s, you couldn’t escape it. It was HUGE. Thriller was one of the biggest albums of all time. Not counting Star Wars story records, Thriller was the first record I owned that was truly mine. Asked for it for Christmas, got it on vinyl, and listened to it endlessly on my crummy turntable. It was jam-packed with big songs, from the title track to “Beat It” to “Billie Jean,” “The Girl Is Mine,” “Human Nature,” and others. Michael Jackson was a hit-making force of nature. I grew out of being an active fan, moving towards rock music and other genres, but my childhood experience with Thriller left…
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28 Songs that Changed My Life: The Foundations, “Build Me Up Buttercup” (3 of 28)

February 3, 2021 0 Comments

For most people these days, The Foundations’ 1968 classic, “Build Me Up Buttercup,” is just that quirky song that has appeared in a thousand movies and maybe gets played at a wedding now and then. For me, it’s long been the sound of what “carefree” feels like. I grew up with this song. It was a staple in my household, and as a result it became one of the first songs I loved. After all, what kid doesn’t latch onto catchy melodies? And this is a VERY catchy melody. Just hearing the title, I guarantee it’s already in your head! But over the years it has become more than just a childhood favorite. It’s a song that represents pure happiness; swinging your arms around and…
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Random Musings

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