Searching

I should be finishing homework, but I can’t get this song out of my head. The song “Today” from Tom Scott and The California Dreamers: It was killing me, because I knew I had it somewhere amongst my collection. I started digging, looking up older albums, searching song titles, everything futile considering the fact that this needle wasn’t going to just appear in my stacks and stacks of Records, CD’s and Tapes. But just because something doesn’t work, I don’t stop trying in hopes it someday will.
I heard this song on the end of a Boondocks cartoon. It was the particular episode about Riley Freeman spraying graffiti around his neighborhood. At the very end of the episode, there is a police chase and that song played in the background. I love the scene, and the music choice was a perfect accent for creativity. So I watched the episode over and over. I put my ear up close to the speaker and made out these lyrics, “To be living for you is all I want to do”. It was clear, it was credible, and now I just had to find the song from whence it came from. Ha! This is easier said than done. Tons of sights claim they can find any song you want, even with the fewest possible lyrics. Bullshit. Every site I typed on came up with nothing. There was even one sight that claimed it could find the song just by tapping the rhythm onto the keyboard. I didn’t bother even trying. Finally though, I found the song. Thank the internet gods for lyricsfly. They produced the answer upon my first try. They earned a bookmark from me, certainly. Jefferson Airplane, from their second album, Surrealistic Pillow.I don’t really like this album, even though I stole it from my Father (before he gave me his collection, anyway) and I just don’t get the “five star” rating from AMG and the rank of #146 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums Ever, but whatever, it contained the song I was looking for, titled “Today”. The correct song, the wrong artist, though. I just had to find out who covered this song, and can you believe it? There is not a website solely dedicated to artist’s that have covered Jefferson Airplane songs. Come on, man. There is a site for ridding American currency of the dime, but not for what I needed. So I just kept typing things into Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and this goofy page came up. I should write to him and confirm his belief that the song is in fact, a Jefferson Airplane cover, but it did what I wanted, and now I have what I wanted. I just need you guys to go out and purchase me this album. It has “Today” by Tom Scott. I’ll burn you a copy when you do, okay? Thanks.

New Music for today, January 2nd, 2007

I had a little spending money left from the holidays and went out for a slight spurge at Second Spin in the hopes of knocking off music from my undying list of albums to own. I got three from my list and Second Spin have a buy three get one free sale goin’ on, so I purchased one for fun that isn’t on my list, but is certainly a very popular album at that. I only shelled out twenty-two dollars and 37 cents, so my guilt is slight and justified for buying anything when I still am unemployed. Here is what I bought:

Mountain Con- The MC Stands For Revolution. “What? You haven’t heard of this group, and you don’t own this album?” is what I would have been asking myself before today, and what I shall ask people after, forever now on. You certainly hear the Tom Rothrock influence over the whole album. It makes me want to go and purchase Tom’s album Resonator. I will, but for now, this Mountain Con album has already played twice in my car, and I even sat in the parking lot of Safeway until the end of track five, Cowboy Wasteland. I heard about this group from CMJ on their exclusive monthly compilation CD, but it wasn’t this album, and it was the song The Escape Artist, and I knew that I had found some sweet ear-cocaine, and that I needed more, and my addiction isn’t satisfied, so I’ll shut up about this album as I can certainly not give it justice, lest but these fellows have a new lifelong friend and fan. Go buy this album. I found it used for a $1.50.

Hot Chip- The Warning. After the sixth song, I didn’t shut off the album or start skipping through the rest of the album. It was refreshing, because this band is new, and has a positive sound waiting for them. If they avoid the production of Flood or The Matrix and lastly, Timbaland, they will do just fine. (I don’t dislike those producers, but I know that they can easily ruin what Hot Chip has going on, and those guys have a habit of randomly producing an album that they needn’t touch, i.e. Alive & Amplified.) Hot Chip could have condensed this album into a couple of EP’s, as it tends to drag with the ninth track, Arrest Yourself, but that is just an opinion of mine and can’t be supported by what a record label expects, or what the intent of the artists involved is. The Album Leaf’s latest release, Into the Blue Again is a perfect example. It should have been cut up into two EP’s instead of one long LP. I adore Seal Beach and Lifetime or More, and they are two finely concise EP’s that stand up very well, and are always a pleasant listen. But if these two should tour together, I would drag myself by my chin to hear them, definitely.

Marie Laforêt- Marie Laforêt. Wow! This was a find. I should have wet my pants in the store when I saw this. The 1995 re-release of this gem, is something I have been drooling for since I saw that crappy movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and heard her cover of Paint It Black in the background. I pressed pause at the end titles just to find this song, and had a hard time doing it because her title is Marie Doucer/Marie Colêre. I went to eBay and Twist & Shout but found squat, and really just limped it on my list; if only there to haunt and torment me. But I crushed that despair, and here it sits with pride, making a desire within me to make out with all women from France.

Fatboy Slim- You’ve Come a Long Way Baby. Yeah, I didn’t own this album till’ now. I avoid hype and forget that it doesn’t always involve poor taste. But it is all right, now, Ma; I’m only listening...to what I have missed. The cover photo puts my collection to shame, but music listening shouldn’t be a contest, and I am proud that I own a partial amount of Norman’s collection. I do, in fact, own the song Take Yo' Praise by Camille Yarbrough that Mr. Cooke sampled on Praise You and are glad to own this track along with this whole album. The Rockafeller Skank video fills me with the want of a dune buggy.