Yours is no disgrace: Yes have my 30th favorite CD, The Yes Album..
I haven't continued my 100 Favorite CD list lately so I thought I would add to it with three more:
Number 31: Survivor - Vital Signs (1984)
Survivor's first album with vocalist Jimi Jamison was an Arena Rock classic. The band seemed headed for oblivion when their previous album tanked. But a change in singers and a renewed focus on poppy song writing worked wonders. The first single "I Can't Hold Back" with it's rushing chorus and ballad style verse was a Top 20 single. The follow up was the midtempo Top 10 hit High On You" while the power ballad The Search Is Over almost made it to #1. Even album cuts like "Popular Girl" stood out. With Jamison singing like a post puberty Steve Perry, the band had captured the arena rock sound with dramatic vocals, strong musicianship and catchy material. I became a Survivor fan for life after this record.Number 30: Yes - The Yes Album (1970)
The first real Yes record because it featured the introduction of guitarist Steve Howe, The Yes Album is a landmark disc in Progressive Rock because it launched the era known as Classic Yes. Howe's complex guitar patterns and avoidance of blues riffs gave the band a unique sound as well as engaging structures to build their ten minute epics. Jon Anderson's sky high vocals are at their space cadet best, while Chris Squire's thundering bass and Bill Bruford's jazzy drums are enhanced by Tony Kaye's organ playing. Yes classics like I've Seen All Good People, Starship Trooper and Yours is no Disgrace all hail from this record.Number 29: The Rolling Stones - Jump Back 1971 - 1993 (1993)
I became a Stones fan late in life, other than the occasional song ("One Hit To The Body", "Sad Sad Sad") most of their music didn't register with me growing up. But over the past ten years or so, I've come to appreciate these aging rockers - particularly their 70's phase. There's something dirty and unhealthy yet magical about this band, like a big sloppy hamburger covered in cheese and bacon. Mmmm...bacon. Jump Back covers the period I know best, from Exile on Main Street's Tumbling Dice, the furious Bitch, the Microsoft Windows theme Start Me Up to the disco beat of Miss You. The Rolling Stones rip it up and I am one fan who is glad these ancient legends didn't hang it up before I had a chance to get into them.And because I can't get enough Survivor or Solid Gold...here's Survivor on Solid Gold!
Survivor "I Can't Hold Back"
7 comments:
.. I like Survivor :) So this is "Arena Rock"? LOL So many sub categories :) I'm having visions of Junior High with this album LOL!
I Can't Hold Back is my favorite over The Search is over.
Mr. Mike, 3 good choices. What are you going to do when you reach #1? Start it up, again? (pun intended)
Was Survivor lip synching back on Solid Gold?
I checked out your Top 10 current songs. Didn't even know that Dr. Noah Drake had new music coming out. Its actually a nice catchy melody with some silly lyrics. Got it off Itunes and its now in heavy rotation. If I was single, (but I am very happily married), I would hang out at a Rick Springfield concert just to meet women. hahaha! I saw some footage of a recent concert and its all middle aged women. Which begs the question, would you actually go to a Springfield concert, sans wife, or would that feel weird?
Nice post, Mr. Mike. I have been a huge Stones fan since birth, I think. They were actually the first concert I ever went to. The B-52's, Joan Jett, Van Halen and The Rolling Stones. It was their very FIRST "Farewell" tour, I'm proud to say. It was at the T-Bowl (Tangerine Bowl) in Orlando before they changed the name to the oh so generic sounding "Citrus" bowl. I was 15. It was my very first experience of going to a real honest to God rock concert; with my first real honest to God boyfriend; doing real honest to God illegal substances for the very first time. It was great.
Hi Arsenette! I Can't Hold Back is a great song, it was the reason I bought the record way back when.
Hi frontrow! I don't know what I'll do when I reach #1, I started the list just so I'll always have something to post about. Maybe my 100 favorite songs?
Yes, Survivor was lip synching! I think Solid Gold required people to lip synch unless it was time for the host to sing. Because who can deny the power of Rex Smith and Marilyn McCoo?
That would be a good strategy to meet women at a Springfield concert because 99% of the audience are female. I have to admit I've been to two Rick Springfield shows, once in high school and the other about 12 years ago (with my wife and some friends). The women rush the stage pretty often during the concerts. As a guy, it does feel weird because you're there to see a rock show but you're surrounded by women who are screaming hot for his looks. But Springfield puts on a very good show and plays to the crowd (He opened with "Calling All Girls"). He's worth seeing if you're a fan. I like the new song, it's closer to his classic material.
Hi Some Kinda Wonderful! That's an awesome first concert and sounds like a fantastic experience. Van Halen and the Stones in one shot. That's great!
I think that was the line-up, Mr. Mike. I could be wrong. Like I said, it was a day of firsts for me. :)
Rick Springfield... funny me, I always liked his real early "folk" stuff. Speak to the Sky, for one. Had that on a Ktel record. HA! Yes, a freekin' Ktell record album! My mom got it for me cause she really didn't have a clue what I liked... it had some awesome songs on it as a matter of fact. That one, Brandy, Sylvia's Mother, several other "solid gold oldies". Wonder what ever happened to that old record? Or any of my old records, for that matter?
I had the 45 to Speak to the Sky, it was really different! The day is almost over,so I wanted to say Happy Birthday Some Kinda Wonderful!
Thank you very much, Mr. Mike. I had a wonderful, fantastic day yesterday. In fact, I think I have a little bit of a Happy Birthday "hangover" today. I still feel all happy and giddy and silly... but that's all good, right? Hope you have a happy one, too.
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