Throwback Tracks--April 7, 2016
Shaun Cordingley
As I said in this weeks' Tuesday Tunes, the original idea behind that weekly feature was to also include some old school tracks that you might have forgotten about, alongside the new and indie music. Well...that did not happen, so instead, welcome to our new weekly feature 'Throwback Tracks', where every Thursday, we (usually I) will feature 5 songs from the 20th Century that caught my attention, got stuck in my head, that you may have forgotten about, or that just need to be heard this week.
Plus, at the end of the month, I will put together an Apple Music Playlist, same as with Tuesday Tunes, with all of the tracks mixed together, just because.
We're a little all over the place this first week, hitting a whole bunch of different genres and times, but I am sure as we(I) settle in with Throwback Tracks, you'll start getting weekly vibes as you do with Tuesday Tunes...
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music, or re-expose them to songs they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if there is one), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett) starts off our first ever Throwback Tracks with one my absolute favorite blues songs 'Smokestack Lightnin'' off of his 1959 album Moanin' in the Moonlight. He was one of the greatest Blues musicians of all time, and was ranked at #51 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"--Howlin' Wolf's unique, booming voice, coupled with the always stellar guitar and harmonica sets the standard which I know I personally judge all other Blues.
'Smokestack Lightnin'' (or 'Smoke Stack Lightning' as it is listed on the original 1956 single pressing on Chess Records) is all sorts of amazing all at once--classic, yet timeless blues lyrics, evocative train imagery (who doesn't love watching trains at night?), this track has been covered numerous times, and was ranked as #291 in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (Rolling Stone)...which is a little low for my liking, but that's why I write here.
Now just sit back and enjoy the hell out of this song.
Can You Get To That - Funkadelic
This is my favorite funk song.
I know I have included 'Can You Get To That' on an early Tuesday Tunes, but I do not care; I will listen to this Funkadelic song at least once a week, so you can suffer through it appearing on just one more of these weekly features.
Funkadelic, like their sister band, Parliament, were/are led by the ridiculous musical genius that is George Clinton, who as far as I can tell, is pretty much the reason that so much great funk exists. 'Can You Get To That' is a fairly simple song, and it does trend a little more into a gospel-inspired acoustic rock, but come on: Maggot Brain (also one of my favorite album covers of all time) is such a wild fusion of genres as it is, but at the end of the day, it is still Funkadelic, so it is the funkiest acoustic rock you will ever hear.
There, now I'm out of music features I can put this song on...for now...
Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane
Bless you if your first thought was Queen's 'Somebody to Love', but I was more in the San Fransisco, psychedelic rock frame of mind...and there's really no reason to look any farther than Jefferson Airplane. My first voice teacher sounded exactly like Grace Slick, which means that Jefferson Airplane, and indeed this song (and of course, 'White Rabbit') hold a very special place in my heart.
Now I understand that technically she sang both of them as a member of The Great Society (another psych-rock band who lasted roughly a year), but let's not kid ourselves--they're Grace Slick songs, and that means Jefferson Airplane to me (and pretty much everyone else I imagine). 'Somebody to Love' is from 1967s Surrealistic Pillow; an album title that proves to you what era this fantastic song is from.
Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar
I had to put at least one classic hard rock/metal song on here (and yes it's not really metal as we know it now, but at the same time, it kind of is). This is one of those songs that never really stood out to me until much later--I have to say that I probably like this song as much as I do because of it's inclusion in the movie Heavy Metal...and my appreciation for Heavy Metal is primarily thanks to South Park and their episode 'Major Boobage'.
'Heavy Metal' is one of those 80s rock songs that are really of their time, but still stands up today--if you enjoy the big, sweeping, arena-busting rock, this song has it all. 'Heavy Metal' features Sammy Hagar at his best, as far as I'm concerned, both vocally, and with his guitar (watching him play this live is ridiculous), and come on, if you are at all into hard rock/early metal, there is no way you don't rock out (at least a little bit) to this song.
None.
Age of Consent - New Order
Anyone who knows me personally is probably surprised I made it this long without mentioning New Order. In fact, there is a very good chance that one Throwback Tracks will exclusively feature New Order (**and Joy Division**) someday, but I could not launch this new feature without 'Age of Consent', my favorite song (and the first track) from Power, Corruption & Lies. PC&L is really the album where they added the more synthpop/rock sound, and really separated their sound from the old Joy Division days.
Even if you are not a big New Order fan, you will immediately recognize this song, even if it is just for the opening guitar, and hopefully get your 80s groove on as much as I do.
That's all the throwback tracks for this week, and again, I understand that it was musically a little all over the place this week, but I wanted to put together a cracking, diverse list to at least give you some hint as to what all we are going to do here.
And we will be back next Thursday with 5 more Throwback Tracks!
-S (@Shauncord)