Livin' the Dream

In a year oddly filled with dreams come true and goals fulfilled, yet another one of my long-imagined aspirations came to fruition last week. In the list of bands I have seen live in the last decade, my three long time favorite bands are sadly and conspicuously absent. Until March 22nd, 2008, I had never seen Dave Matthews Band, Better Than Ezra, or Collective Soul live. Who knows how long I'll have to wait for the two former, since Dave's concerts are infamously expensive, and BTE has stayed in their native New Orleans almost exclusively since Katrina. I'm still holding out hope for the opportunity to sit in the same room to witness these musical geniuses at work, but for now, I'm more than content to relive Ed Roland's near-perfect set list over and over. The only song missing was Needs, a ballad that takes the listener on a journey from "I don't need nobody, I don't need the weight of words to find a way to crash on through" to "I just need to learn the depth or doubt of faith to fall into" to "You're all I need when the water runs deep." The song is so moving it still chokes me up 9 years after first hearing it.



As I mentioned in a previous posting, I'm working on a more in-depth look into CS's plentiful religious metaphors, which only gains them more respect from someone like me. More on that later, but back to the concert. The opening acts, Green River Ordinance, and Josh Kelley, were stellar. Josh Kelley is much better known for his famous new wife (Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl) than his music, but hopefully that will change, 'cause this kid's got more soul than any white boy I've seen in a long time, if ever. A pleasure to watch, and even better live than on CD. Here's a taste, although he doesn't have half the charisma in this video that he did live with his band:



Now I regret not going to meet Josh when he was signing CDs during the FORTY minute wait we had to endure before Ed, Will, Dean and the newest members of CS took the stage. When they finally did appear, however, the guys proved the wait worthwhile. New guitarist Joel Kosche was good enough to prevent me from feeling sad that I couldn't see the entire original lineup that graced the CD covers I owned as a teenager. I probably annoyed the crap out of those around me, especially my sister Heidi, because I simply could not help myself from headbanging, almost to the point of injury, especially during Gel, the quintessential 90s headbanging anthem. The concert was everything I could have hoped for (barring that performance of Needs with a full orchestra), and I have my sweet husband to thank for willingly hanging out at home with our daughters, even though he likes CS just as much as the next person, and also my sisters who accompanied me, especially Rachel, since she was lucky enough to be pregnant and therefore get us out the back way (accompanied by a chivalrous bouncer), straight past the Josh Kelley guitar players and the CS dressing room, and out through the lot where the fabled tour buses were parked. All in all, a truly memorable evening. Not surprising, since Ed and Elton John predicted it themselves when they sang "She'll just have another perfect day."

Why 1995 Rocked

1995 was a stellar year for music. While the rest of the world was experiencing such historic and tragic events as OJ Simpson's acquittal, the Unabomber terror, Michael Jordan's return to basketball, the Korean War Veterans Memorial unveiling, and the founding of eBay, the alternative music scene was fresh and thriving. Just take a looksee at a small sample of the great music that hit shelves 13 years ago, changing their landscape forever:

Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters. Okay, I admit I didn't take them seriously in the beginning. Yeah, they had Dave Grohl, former Nirvana drummer, and the music was killer. But what kind of a name was Foo Fighters? (I've just recently, after all these years, found out that the term dates back to WWII, when UFO-like objects were witnessed in the sky by Allied troops. The phenomenon was never explained, but the objects were given the name foo fighters.) For some reason Big Me always sounded like a spoof to me, and I was skeptical that the whole gig was nothing more than a Nirvana spinoff. But I'm not too proud to beg forgiveness for my obvious lack of judgement. Dave and his boys have stood the test of time, as evidenced by their hugely successful latest album, which has won them multiple Grammys and a new generation of fans.



Better Than Ezra, Deluxe. My favorite band (along with Dave Matthews Band), Better Than Ezra, was expected to be written off as a one-hit wonder, riding the coattails of "Good" forever. But, ha!, they played on, and to date have several studio albums, a live album, and even a greatest hits album to their name. Good isn't even close to being their best song, although one could contend that its fellow track In the Blood is. It's also one of the few tunes I remember hearing for the first time. Before the days of internet music-on-demand, when we were all at the mercy of the radio, I would blast our family record player/radio when it came on, my ears pressed up against the speakers. Much more about Kevin, Tom and Travis to come in future posts...



Collective Soul, Collective Soul. The first CD that yours truly ever purchased with my own money. And, my oh my was it worth the $15, which in 2008 would translate to about $500 in my world. The sophomore album has everything you could ever want: an inspiring ballad with gospel touches (Reunion), a headbanging classic (Gel), the defining hit (December), and a moving message tune (The World I Know). In a future blog post, I'd like to dissect the fact that CS has managed to remain mainstream notwithstanding their frequent Christian references and refusal to portray anything other than lyrical and musical class and dignity in the mostly dirty world of rock and roll.



Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill. Similar to her country counterpart Shania Twain, Alanis is Canadian born, brunette, has sold heaps of records, and has an unusual name. Unlike Shania's music, however, Alanis' debut album was unlike anyone had ever heard before. It was angry. It was gritty. Her lyrics were full of carefully placed curse words and unlikely rhythms. The bitterness was there, yes, and it was aimed at parents, exes, Catholicism. But at least there was one straight forward love song: Head Over Feet. Isn't it ironic, though, that that one's the worst on the album? It was the unrestrained soul baring that really had us head over feet for Alanis.



Matthew Sweet, 100% Fun. Mr. Sweet was already practically a music veteran when Sick of Myself introduced him to a whole new set of willing fans, myself included. His signature style is true, good old rock and roll. Comfortingly predicatable rhythms stave off surprises, but that's the beauty of it. That and Sweet's impossibly sweet voice. Smog Moon remains to this day one of my favorite rock ballads.



Dishwalla, Pet Your Friends. A largely underestimated band, as they are tragically thought by most to be a one-hit wonder. This is justified though, since they did only manage one Top 40 song (Counting Blue Cars). The problem with the one-hit wonder label is that it disregards the quality of future recordings that didn't "sell." The more music you hear, the more you realize that truly great songs don't always make a ton of money. That's just the way it is. The whole of Pet Your Friends is classic nineties alternative, with all the great music we expect of such a genre, as well as a surprisingly bold and noble lyric in the opening track, Pretty Babies: "Everything about the world is sex / It's a message of a popular culture / Telling all our children how to do it right / And all through their innocence you can ask yourself why / Why the need? / Why the need to eroticize our children? / Oh, our pretty babies / How they're ready / Oh, our pretty babies / How they're not ready." I applaud these guys (one of whom is reportedly LDS) for making such a desperately needed statement at the risk of being called, gasp!, "uncool."



Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Much like this blog post is turning out to be, the Pumpkins' two-disc, Grammy-winning CD set is incredibly long, self-indulgent, and perfect. The masterpiece secured ciritical and commercial success by reaching Number One status, and accomplishing the rare task of making loads of dough without selling out.

Dual Meanings

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that about 99% of songs out there are dedicated to lovers. From "Baby Love" to "Bizarre Love Triangle" to "Lover Lay Down," romantic love, with its ups and downs, has inspired more poetry set to music than any other emotion. However, some songs are special in that the lyrics allow for dual interpretations. My sister, Rachel, came up with three examples of songs that, upon first listen, are presumably romantic love songs, like all the rest. But a closer analyzation reveals lyrics that could be sung to any loved one. The first is "Our Last Night" by Better Than Ezra. It's pretty obvious, after listening closely, that the song is about a father losing his child. Listen here:

http://www.last.fm/music/Better+Than+Ezra/_/Our+Last+Night

The next song is much more familiar. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone hasn't heard the Grammy-winning song whose lyrics invite the listener to stand under the crooner's metaphorical umbrella, a beautiful message meant for anyone, especially considering the "I'll always be your friend" bit. Instead of the obvious choice, here's Marie Digby's take on the already classic tune:




From classic to classy, "No One" embodies the word more than Miss Alicia Keys. This woman is nothing short of a miracle of music. Besides sharing a birthday with yours truly, she actually has many other accomplishments, including awards galore and a staggering 25 million albums sold. And she deserves it all. The beauty of Ms. Keys' success is that she has reaped all these rewards based solely on her talent (her good looks don't hurt, though). Devoid of publicity stunts to her name, she saves the tabloid covers for her contemporaries and focuses on producing celestial music, and I hope it never ends. As if I didn't love her enough, she went and brought out my man, John Mayer, at the Grammys. The event tied with Foo Fighters' operatic performance, for my favorite Grammy moment. This song, as with the others mentioned above, gives voice to anyone feeling protective over a relationship of any kind.