Throwback Tracks -- January 25, 2018
David R. Smith
Goodness Wednesdays sneak up on me. Amidst the chaos that has been my last week, I all of a sudden realized that this was going to be dropping tomorrow and I had not prepared for it. Neat. So I'm crunched for time again, but making this work for all of our loyal readers. Who I think we have? I don't know. Shaun has all the numbers. I never hear from you people so I don't know who actually reads this.
Anyway. Music!
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things 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 possible...which is totally hit and miss with oldies), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Simply The Best - Tina Turner
Generally my lists start out because somebody mentions a song and I think, "yeah, that would be a good TBT song!" Well today that person was me. I emailed a co-worker and told her that in the words of Tina Turner, she was simply the best. Which then made me realize I should add that song onto this list today. Funny how something as simple as an email can affect something like a Throwback Tracks list.
Anyway, we've had a few Tina songs grace our TBT lists in the past, but this one is just an anthem for people who have done something great and you want to let them know. This song came out in the tail end of the 80s; well after Tina had been well established. I don't want to say it was in the decline of her career because she's still kicking ass and taking names, but this was well after Proud Mary and River Deep Mountain High. But it doesn't matter because it's still a great song. I could handle bad-ass Tina Turner telling me I was the best on a daily basis!
Kiss - Prince
It's been nearly 2 years since we lost Prince. And it still sucks. I think about all the quality work he did and some of the best songs he wrote and recorded and you just have to realize what a talent he was. I mean, you just have to watch his Super Bowl Halftime Show to know what it is we had in him. (Plus that guitar her played was amazing.)
The man was eccentric. He's the only person who went by a symbol in lieu of a name. He was flamboyant onstage and extravagant in the way he dressed. But he was perfect. He was a hell of an entertainer and a hell of a songwriter.
And this song is just so good. It has some awesome funk, you definitely want to yell "ow!" along with him, because it's just too fun. It's just a happy, fun, tremendous song.
Angel Eyes - Jeff Healey Band
I'm not sure I knew Jeff Healey died. It's possible I did, but it happened 10 years ago, so even if I did know about it, I certainly forgot about it.
He was a cool performer. Obviously I never saw him, but I've seen footage of him playing guitar and it was pretty awesome. Plus he was an actor! Apparently he got a rare form of cancer in his eyes when he was just a baby and had to have them removed. So he was blind for essentially his entire life. But he didn't let that stop him. He learned to play guitar anyway and became one of the better known bluesy guitarists to hail from this great white north!
I will admit that I knew his version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps before I'd heard the Beatles' version so to me, I will always prefer the Jeff Healey version.
Going to California - Led Zeppelin
Did you know this song is reportedly about Joni Mitchell? I had heard that years ago and then questioned whether or not it was something I pretended to hear or whether it was true. Well, Wikipedia says it's true and we all know that Wikipedia is the go-to source for all true facts on the internet!
If you were to put a gun to my head, I'm not sure I'd be able to tell you which album is my favourite of Led Zeppelin's. Two has Ramble On, Whole Lotta Love, and Thank You; Song Remains the Same has the title track, Over The Hills and Far Away; IV has this song, When The Levee Breaks and Battle Of Evermore. (I know it has Stairway too, but...)
I can't tell you which album is my favourite, but I can tell you that I adore this song. I love that mandolin. I love Plant's lyrics. I love everything about this song. And now that I've finally been to California, I now know what Plant was singing about. It's just a fabulous tune.
Walking on Broken Glass - Annie Lennox
This past weekend, while sitting in the car, a song came on with a piano intro. Shannon and I both got excited. I thought it was Walking In Memphis and she thought it was this song. Turns out we were both wrong. I can't remember what song it was, but it wasn't either of the ones we were hoping for. But because she had mentioned this song, and as I'm attempting to keep women represented on our TBT every week, I thought this was a good opportunity to get this song in here.
It came out in the early 90s and I loved it immediately. I didn't actually realize that it was done by the same lead singer who sang Sweet Dreams (which is a song I loved - and still do, I should say.) I had heard some Eurythmics when I was younger but never knew the name of the lead singer. But it makes sense that I would love this song when I clearly loved Annie Lennox' voice.
For whatever reason, this song just resonated with me even though I didn't necessarily grasp what the lyrics were going at. But that's the beauty about music; you can love a song and not actually get what they're singing about. You just know you like the sound and sometimes that's enough.
It will probably come as no surprise to you that I have yet to get the playlist ready from December. You're just going to have to wait yet another week. It'll happen eventually. But like I've said all month; there have been more pressing things to get to. I'll get to this when I can.
But until then, here are all the other ones!
-D (@davidronn)
2017
November 2017 TBT Playlist (and the November 2017 Spotify), October 2017 TBT Playlist (and the October 2017 Spotify), September 2017 TBT Playlist (and the September 2017 Spotify), August 2017 TBT Playlist (and the August Spotify list), July 2017 TBT Playlist (and the July Spotify List), June 2017 TBT Playlist (and the June Spotify List), May 2017 TBT Playlist, April 2017 TBT Playlist, March 2017 TBT Playlist , February 2017 TBT Playlist
2016
Throwback Playlist for Dec 16/Jan 17, October 2016 Throwback Playlist, September 2016 Throwback Playlist, August 2016 Throwback Playlist, July 2016 Throwback Playlist, June 2016 Throwback Playlist, May 2016 Throwback Playlist, April 2016 Throwback Playlist