Ausbury.com

Category: Music

  • This Just In: 3 Ships Carry More Than Just Savior & Lady

    How embarrassing. It’s been 30 days since I last opined. I’d like to think that the crazy, wild blog title above was tease enough to bring you back here.

    Around the Ausbury home, we’ve begun the six LONG weeks of listening to Christmas music. I’m the only one in the family that thinks this is about five weeks too long. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Scrooge or Debbie Downer and there is definitely a Christ in the Ausbury family’s Christmas. I just get a little irritated with a one-day holiday that each year seems to suffer from chronic time bloat. Seriously, why don’t we just start the herald angels harking right after fireworks in July?

    Anyway, my son Grant and I were listening to Kevin Max’s Christmas CD on the way to school this morning and my mind began to wonder about my favorite Christmas songs. I have to say I’m a big fan of The Holly & The Ivy and I Saw Three Ships. The best version I’ve ever heard of Three Ships is by Jon Anderson on his 1985 release “3 Ships“.

    Later this morning my mind returned to all this and while humming the chorus of Ships, a news item came on the radio.

    Perhaps divine, perhaps coincidence, but I’ve been enlightened as to “what was also on those ships all three on Christmas day in the morning”. For hundreds of years we’ve been questioned time and time again about the mysterious contents of these three ships and then told it was our Savior Christ and His Lady.

    However, in 2007, like Navin Johnson when fully understanding the profit deal, the world should take joy in knowing that according to the International Council On Clean Transportation, along with our Lord, these three divine ships were also likely full of sulfur dioxide. As Al Gore might say:

    “Sulfur…………..dioxide. That’s right friends. The sooty pollutant associated with acid rain.”

    Ok, so now picture those three ships docking on Christmas morning and on the promenade deck we have Jesus, His lady, Al Gore in a tight suit preparing to lecture us, and enough sulfur to fertilize all of Central Park.

    Kind of juices up the visual for Three Ships doesn’t it?

    Stay tuned for revelations about holly and/or ivy.

  • High Five: Great Music Finds (Sept 2007)

    I thought in this installment of High Five, I would offer up a tribute to my 10 +3 Desert Island discs.

    For my Buggles, Yes and Asia desert island selections, there are several links between these bands and I’m curious to see if anyone knows who these groups have in common. Here’s a rare, well lip-synced performance of the song aired on MTV at midnight on August 1, 1981. All I have to say about this channel is “I want my Old MTV”.

    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZZGurvUDBDA]

    For my ELO desert disc, enjoy this ELO Megamix featuring “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”. Oh, and I think the flashing hotdog on “Don’t Bring Me Down” belongs to “Bruuuuuuuuuuce!!!!” My friends Brent and Erik will appreciate that comment.

    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=uCRCSDOmAwE]

    For my Toto desert disc tribute, I really love the strings and choir on this live performance of “Hold The Line”. Man, I’d love to hear Joseph Williams on vocals and Lukather is such an underrated guitarist. If you like early Toto, check out the old albums of Boz Skaggs (remember “Lido Shuffle”?) since Toto was his studio band.

    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=MsIQNUWK2LM]

    Last but not least, the world’s finest Glam Rock band, The Sweet, on “Wig Wam Bam”. As I write this, I’m listening to this song and chuckling because this was one of the first albums I bought with my paper route money (along with Van Halen and Barry Manilow) and I can’t believe I didn’t realize what this song is about! The other funny thing I just realized is there is a lyric in this song about an Indian guy names Running Bear and about 10 years ago, I actually worked with a guy named Running Bear (really!). Oh well, as they say, just try a little wig wam bam….

    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=63CiRbiaoFo]

  • Little Connie Rocks

    I saw this a while ago and have been meaning to share it. Try to listen to this all the way through and not get goosebumps. Good luck!

    This has been viewed over 1 million times:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njXr1c-12eI]

  • Sophomore Slump, Detour Ahead

    I enjoyed reading PowerPop’s blog today about bands whose sophomore albums avoided the slump and were better than their debut albums.

    I agree wholeheartedly that Elvis Costello’s second album “This Year’s Model” was even better than the wonderful “My Aim Is True”. From what I know about Elvis, I’m sure he had more than 100 songs in the can and learned enough from the recording process of Aim that he was able to make an even better second offering. The pinnacle for me was Imperial Bedroom which is a masterpiece recording.

    What other bands would you suggest avoided the sophomore slump? Here are some in the PowerPop genre I came up with:

    01. Jason Falkner – Can You Still Feel?
    02. All American Rejects – Move Along (I still think Move Along was the best new song in 2006)
    03. Bleu – Redhead
    04. Collective Soul – Collective Soul
    05. Fountains Of Wayne – Utopia Parkway
    06. Jellyfish – Spilt Milk
    07. Lenny Kravitz – Mama Said
    08. Longwave – The Strangest Things (Wake Me Up When It’s Over gets 5 stars on the ipod)
    09. Rooney – Calling The World (I’m not counting On The Closed Circuit as their debut)
    10. Mae – The Everglow
    11. Mew – Frengers
    12. Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model

    For those of you still not sure what to make of Elvis Costello (I know you’re out there), enjoy this from “This Year’s Model”:
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbhIzN9-p0]

  • Rush Snakes & Arrows – Cleveland, August 30 2007

    I spent Thursday night in the 5th row at Blossom Music Center for Rush’s Snakes & Arrows show. I was on the right side in front of Geddy Lee. This was my 5th time seeing one of my favorite bands and as always, all 3 hours of their show was spectacular. Being up front, I was especially amazed at the sound and feel of the bass. During the last few bars of Subdivisions, the bass was so powerful that I could feel the ground moving under my feet. It may have been a 2.0 on the Richter scale. In my 27 years of concert-going, I’ve never felt bass like that coming up from the floor into my body. When the sound ended, the crowd exploded and you’re left standing there with chillbumps from head to toe.

    rush-rotisseries.jpgThis was a show for the true Rush fan – the Rush fan that knows the deep album cuts by heart as well as the Tom Sawyer’s and Fly By Nights. It’s very difficult to pick a favorite part of the show, but I especially enjoyed hearing Natural Science which lead beautifully into Witch Hunt which was my first time to hear live. They played a lot of their new stuff which I’m sure really ticked some people off, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. If you want to see “Rush’s Greatest Hits Live”, go buy the Rush 30 or Rio DVDs. Seriously, these guys have earned the right to play whatever set list they want to play. I’d go hear them play Air Supply covers for 3 hours – they are that good.

    I can really appreciate that these guys in their mid-50’s have stuck together and not let drugs, women, egos or creative differences come between them. The picture above is of the three rotisseries that Geddy had behind him. I guess the story goes that Geddy was envious of all the guitar amps behind Alex, so he chose to add rotisseries behind him. Every few songs, a guy in a chef’s hat came out and basted the chickens.

  • High Five: Great Music Finds (Aug 2007)

    It’s that time again! I didn’t want to keep all of you waiting for the second edition of ….. yes that’s right ….. the August edition of High Five: Great Music Finds!!! (echo, echo, echo …..)

    Disclaimer: Some of this fine fine music does not come with very good videos, so keep in mind this is about the music baby.

    Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek
    Lots of studio magic on the voices here and I absolutely love it. If you wait until 3 minutes in, you’ll hear an amazing chorus that may raise a few goosebumps if you have it turned up loud enough.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=5cpSv2mNhhc]

    Heavens – Patent Pending
    Kind of sounds like The Bravery. New wave fans will enjoy this one.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=wcWD-1cO884]

    Jack’s Mannequin – Dark Blue
    Very good, piano-leads-the-way band ala Bruce Hornsby.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=JDScNjxlScE]

    Jackdaw4 – King For A Day
    Not my favorite of their songs, but I still like this band a lot.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=NnhadciA_Q8]

    LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum
    One word: Fun. You’ll hear some B52’s in this one…
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=SpGPdYeDuYg]

  • High Five: Great Music Finds (July 2007)

    I listen to a lot of music and often run across some great new artists and bands, so here’s my first installment of “High Five: Great Music Finds”.

    These artist and bands are guaranteed to not suck. Trust me. Come on. You know you want to.

    Mew – Am I Wry
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=IHnQB6CnlKI]

    The Living Things – Bom Bom Bom
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=srvDHCWTDZo]

    Brendan Benson – Cold Hands Warm Heart
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=zKjRzSr-V88]

    30 Seconds To Mars – The Kill
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=qF1wZQzpeKA]

    The Feeling – Love It When You Call
    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGlneOQBPMk]

  • Paint It Black

    Lazy, hot Sunday afternoon. Kids and wife are out of the house. Local boy Joe Walsh turned up pretty loud on the surround sound system. Ok, really loud.

    So loud that I just noticed my dog Buddy left the room. Other than barking fits, Buddy is a “party- favorites-Jimmy-Buffet” kind of music lover. In my eyes, these are his only two faults.

    I’m pretty sure he rolled his eyes at me as he passed by. I could tell (yet again) that he was on the verge of speech, likely about to say, “I ask for Margaritaville and you give me Life’s Been Good? Pathetic!”

    I’m realizing I haven’t blogged in quite some time. Several of my new blogosphere friends (who have been doing this longer than I) seem to have taken the summer off. Perhaps subconsciously I have been doing the same? I just went through a few weeks where everything mechanical in my life stopped working, so that’s my excuse.

    I have completed my full discography collection of all Rush albums adding Moving Pictures, Hemispheres and the new one Snakes And Arrows last week. I found 1 ticket on Ebay in the 4th row and am eager to see them here in Cleveland at the end of August. It will be my fourth time.

    Most classic rock fans know Tom Sawyer and New World Man pretty well, but have never heard what I think is one of Rush’s best albums: Presto. Several years beyond their “heyday”, I fell in love with this disc in 1990 and have fond memories of listening to it in my old Honda Accord back in Springfield, Missouri.

    I gave it a spin last week and was reminded again how really good it is. Presto includes a song called War Paint that, at least for me, is a great song about the masks we wear. I think it’s also about us becoming so full of ourselves that we can’t see clearly.

    All puffed up with vanity
    We see what we want to see
    To the beautiful and the wise
    The mirror always lies

    Boys and girls together
    Mistake conceit for pride
    Ambition for illusion
    Dreams for self-delusion

    Girls and boys together
    See what it is we lack
    Boys and girls together
    Let’s paint the mirror black

    Paint it black

    I like the idea of painting the mirror black, dropping the mask, and being real with others. Easier said than done of course.

    What do you think?

  • Making Sense Out Of Nothing At All

    jimsteinmanOk, Kim and need some help. We were listening to some old 80’s songs tonight and on came Air Supply’s “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All”. Kim especially has been befuddled by this song for quite some time. In fact, she’s close to needing therapy over this.

    I know this is one of Jim Steinman’s songs, the brilliant composer of much of Meat Loaf’s discography including “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”. Steinman also wrote the pop/rock anthem “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” (Bonnie Tyler) … you know … Turn around, bright eyes? Now, I’ve got you signing!

    So the help we need is anything to explain just what this Air Supply song is about.

    We’ve Googled. We’ve Yahoo’d.

    We’ve even MSN’d.

    Nothing. And now we’re considering a reward for anyone that can help us.

    If you don’t know and you’d like to join in the torment, here you go ………

  • Gotta Love Free Power Pop Tunes

    Bruce at Not Lame is offering what he calls “22 power pop songs not heard by 99% of pop fans!“.

    You can download individual songs or two zip files with all 22 songs. I saw one of my favorite new bands in the list: Jackdaw (Listen)

    If you order a CD from Not Lame between now and Noon Thursday, Bruce is also offering a special CD-R compilation of rare, unheard power pop, shoulda-been classics. Limited time thing, so check it out.