TDDS - 2020 Shelter-in-Place on a Desert Island Music Draft - BONUS 5

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
FireHouse - FireHouse (1990)

Firehouse-cd.jpg

https://www.allmusic.com/album/firehouse-mw0000690288

Time to get back to some rock music. These guys were one of the opening acts to the first "real" concert I think I ever went to back in 1991 at the Cal Expo Grandstand and they were the best band out there that night - also, one of the reasons I got hooked on seeing bands live when I can. :) I really enjoyed their debut album (this one) and their sophomore release wasn't bad either, but then they seemed to be more popular overseas. I never picked up any subsequent releases.

From Wikipedia:

The band's self-titled debut in 1990, FireHouse, was met with much critical acclaim. The band won the American Music Award for Best New Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Band of 1991, Metal Edge Magazine's Best New Band of 1991, Young Guitar Magazine's Best Newcomer of 1991, and Music Life Magazine's reader's pop poll Best Newcomer of the Year 1992. The band's first album sold over two million copies in the United States, and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. The band's third and most successful single, "Love of a Lifetime," reached No. 3 selling over 500,000 copies. Other singles also charted including the harder-rocking "Don't Treat Me Bad" at No. 14. The first single from the album, "Shake & Tumble" enjoyed success on the radio and brought attention to the band, but it failed to chart on the Pop charts, although it did at Metal radio. The album went on to become certified Gold in Canada, Singapore, and Japan.
At the American Music Awards of 1992, FireHouse won the award for Favorite Hard Rock New Artist. They were chosen over Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
Favorites here are All She Wrote, Don't Treat Me Bad, and Home Is Where the Heart Is. Love of a Lifetime was their big ballad off this album and was their highest charting song.

This is probably where I lose Slim as knowing every band/album I'm selecting. :p

Track List:
1. Rock on the Radio
2. All She Wrote
3. Shake & Tumble
4. Don't Treat Me Bad
5. Oughta Be a Law
6. Lover's Lane
7. Home Is Where the Heart Is
8. Don't Walk Away
9. Seasons of Change
10. Overnight Sensation
11. Love of a Lifetime
12. Helpless




 
We’ve gotten to the point of the draft when I don’t feel any fear of my picks getting swiped, and can nab what I want like the only grocery cart in the vegan aisle.

Picked up a more acclaimed album from this band last time, but this one is just as much a sublime sugar-rush of adrenaline.

1586906898596.jpg

It’s Blitz - Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs (2009)

During the last draft, I mentioned being introduced to this band by, of all things, the TV show Glee (my sister made me watch it). The episode sampled Heads Will Roll, and I thought it was a song by a late 70s punk band I’d never heard of.

Discovering the track came from a modern indie rock band was a little disorientating, and that I thoroughly enjoyed their music even more so. I later learned the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs came from the same movement as TV on the Radio, and suddenly my musical taste dots started to draw connections.

Karen O is another vocalist with incredible range, able to pull off pop-punk and soulful ballads from track to track. This album, while lacking some of the energy of their debut, still hard rocks and softly rolls in a smooth ebb and flow, keeping a stellar through line of cool connecting sonic fibers during its whole run time.

An absolute thrill to ride the roaring wave of It’s Blitz.


Tracklist
1."Zero"
2."Heads Will Roll"
3."Soft Shock"
4."Skeletons"
5."Dull Life"
6."Shame and Fortune"
7."Runaway"
8."Dragon Queen"
9."Hysteric"
10."Little Shadow"
 
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VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
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Sports - Huey Lewis and the News - 1983

Track listing
The Heart of Rock & Roll
Heart and Soul
Bad is Bad
I Want a New Drug
Walking on a Thin Line
Finally Found a Home
If This Is It
You Crack Me Up
Honky Tonk Blues

I just can't wait any longer on this one since I'm reasonably sure there are at least two Huey Lewis fans participating in this draft. Huey Lewis and the News is another great SF band. If push came to shove, to be honest, my entire draft could consist of musicians from SF. I picked this album not because of the most popular songs, but because of "Walking on a Thin Line." I have several friends who are Vietnam vets, and this song is for them.



 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
View attachment 9761

Sports - Huey Lewis and the News - 1983

Track listing
The Heart of Rock & Roll
Heart and Soul
Bad is Bad
I Want a New Drug
Walking on a Thin Line
Finally Found a Home
If This Is It
You Crack Me Up
Honky Tonk Blues

I just can't wait any longer on this one since I'm reasonably sure there are at least two Huey Lewis fans participating in this draft. Huey Lewis and the News is another great SF band. If push came to shove, to be honest, my entire draft could consist of musicians from SF. I picked this album not because of the most popular songs, but because of "Walking on a Thin Line." I have several friends who are Vietnam vets, and this song is for them.



My parents taped a bunch of their records so they could play them in the car (I'm sure everyone did) and we used to play this album all the time on road trips. Great album! I always thought it was just a greatest hits tape or something but sure enough, I recognize all these songs and the track order. I didn't realize until now that it came out in the same year I was born though!
 
Can we talk about Mr. Maxson's class and "Got to Get You Into My Life" for a second? There was a massive song at this moment that was very clearly about a girl and equated her to pharmaceuticals (I hope that is vague enough? Apologies). Mr. Maxson had us sing it once or twice, until some parents complained that it glorified the use of narcotics. Nobody complained about the Beatles and this is a song where it seems pretty clear the converse is true. Of course we did not realize it as ~9 year olds. But think about how many songs about girls are really about drugs and vice versa. This was my first. And it's only about pot. I'll be moving onto much harder stuff later. Musically, that is.
Went back in time and added a write-up to The ArchAndroid.
Oh no, between the two of us, we've done it!
Sports - Huey Lewis and the News - 1983
Track listing
I Want a New Drug
And there it is folks!

I even got to my junkie band first.
 
My parents taped a bunch of their records so they could play them in the car (I'm sure everyone did) and we used to play this album all the time on road trips. Great album! I always thought it was just a greatest hits tape or something but sure enough, I recognize all these songs and the track order. I didn't realize until now that it came out in the same year I was born though!
I remember before getting a turntable/tape deck/receiver unit we used to take the big cassette player we had and park it next to the Fisher Price turntable with the diamond needle, crank it up and be very, very quiet.

What a terrible time.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
I remember before getting a turntable/tape deck/receiver unit we used to take the big cassette player we had and park it next to the Fisher Price turntable with the diamond needle, crank it up and be very, very quiet.

What a terrible time.
:D Life finds a way! I taped quite a few songs off the radio in a similar fashion. And I had a VHS tape that was all clips of bands playing on late night talk shows. I was very happy when people started posting all that stuff on Youtube (even if VHS quality recordings nowadays look like they were recorded with a potato).
 
:D Life finds a way! I taped quite a few songs off the radio in a similar fashion. And I had a VHS tape that was all clips of bands playing on late night talk shows. I was very happy when people started posting all that stuff on Youtube (even if VHS quality recordings nowadays look like they were recorded with a potato).
Oh yeah I used to call in a request and wait all day to tape it off the radio :eek:

I don't know if you ever listen now but the station my kiddo listens to throws in this weird audio glitch where they put in the call letters or station ID in the middle of a bridge or breakdown. I can only imagine if I had sat around waiting all day and then got a glitched song.

Then again, they play the same songs every 40 minutes. So lame.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Isn't this the song that got ripped off for the Ghostbusters theme song?
From Wikipedia: "I Want a New Drug" peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100 and was certified gold with sales of 1 million copies in 1989 (by modern single certification standards this would be considered platinum).[10] The track was also the center of a lawsuit against artist Ray Parker Jr., who was accused of plagiarizing the song for his 1984 hit, "Ghostbusters". The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[11]
 
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years (2011):



01 The Great Pan is Dead
02 Pacing Around the Church
03 Confetti
04 Catacombs
05 Underworld USA
06 Icons of Summer
07 Alchemy and You
08 Burning Sage
09 Villains of the Moon

Genre(s): Synthpop, post-punk, new wave, dark wave

The summer of 2011 was important to me. I proposed to my wife as the heat began to peak. We spent the waning months of the season flying up and down the CA coastline, and Cold Cave's Cherish the Light Years was basically the soundtrack to our early engagement. The opening three tracks, in particular, are representative of the firecracker spirit that embodies this album.

It's a bit difficult to write about Cold Cave without discussing the influences that drive the band's mastermind, Wesley Eisold. Unfortunately, Depeche Mode are the only of those influences to be picked thus far in this draft, but that's a pretty good starting point for understanding what Eisold and co. value in pop music: drama, grandeur, and a bleak sense of the Romantic.
 

Mohnomishe is a dark ambient masterpiece. Deep drones, pulsing rhythms, spontaneous sound bites, looping samples, lo-fi elements, and distant sounding waves come together to create an eerily, beautiful atmosphere. It's aura is spread evenly across the record, yet each track has its own individual character.

Tracklist

01 - Untitled
02 - Untitled
03 - Untitled
04 - Untitled
05 - Untitled
06 - Untitled
07 - Untitled
08 - Untitled

 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
Since I couldn't post this earlier, since I'd had my 12th pick waiting in drafts since around noon eastern yesterday, shout-out to @whitechocolate. It only took them twelve picks to break the record for most consecutive picks by artists I've never heard of, prior to this draft, with ten. The previous record of 9 was held by @Turgenev, from the 2013 draft. And, with eight picks to go, they've still got a shot at breaking Turgenev's total record of 18 picks.

Of course, that was 18 out of 25. If you go 19 out of 20 on artists/groups I've never heard of, that'll be quite the impressive feat, indeed.
Right now, I'd say that barring an "Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying" moment, whitechocolate will probably pull this one off.

And for those who don't know what I'm talking about...

 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae (2006)


(https://www.allmusic.com/album/corinne-bailey-rae-mw0000420014)

01. Like A Star
02. Enchantment
03. Put Your Records On
04. Till It Happens to You
05. Trouble Sleeping
06. Call Me When You Get This
07. Choux Pastry Heart
08. Breathless
09. I'd Like To
10. Butterfly
11. Seasons Change​

This is one of those albums that instantly transports me back to a certain time and place when I listen to it: jogging along the LA river out past Marina Del Ray with this album on repeat and falling love with that voice. Wow what a voice! The production on this album is just perfect understated sultry perfection. I love the Fender Rhodes, the big fat flatwound-strung bass guitar, the horn and flute punctuations, the slightly-rattly snare sound. I am here for all of this! I just want to wrap it around me like a warm blanket and let it lull me to sleep.

The lead single on this debut album, "Put Your Records On", is Corrine's heartfelt plea to her younger self to do things her own way regardless of what anyone else says and it's such a concentrated shot of joy. This song was nominated for Record of the Year but it doesn't seem to have become as ubiquitous as the other songs nominated that year. Maybe that's a good thing though because it still sounds fresh to me today. There's acoustic guitar ballads here ("Like A Star" and "Till It Happens to You"), jazz club crooning ("Enchantment"), Stevie Wonder style soul funk ("I'd Like To") and the less easily categorized gems ("Trouble Sleeping", Breathless", "Butterfly") that really show off Ms Bailey Rae's vocal mastery.

I'm sure a lot of careful thought went into all of these songs but they sound almost effortless to me -- just a breezy afternoon in the back yard with a guitar and a 6 piece band jamming into the wee hours as the crickets harmonize and fireflies dance. And in some imaginary alternate world that's where I wish I could be.



 
The Clash - The Clash


Press me on any given day and my favorite band is either the Beach Boys or the Clash. There is a third that comes pretty close that I haven't picked yet. A dozen years ago I went with their third album as one of my top picks in the draft but I felt pretty comfortable waiting to grab their debut this time around. This is raw and rough and for anyone that only knows the radio hits and wonders why they are a punk band, this is why. I'm also quite partial to the follow up and maybe 10 years from now I will pick that one instead.

Although this was their debut album and released in the UK, CBS America decided to withhold release until after the follow up album hit our shores, with a slightly different track lineup. I HATE that this was a thing, and I have at least two big albums so far in the draft marred by this stupidity. Still the US release is missing two vital songs: Cheat and Deny, and therefore I'm quite content with the original recording.

For punk fans, there is not a bad song here. But other highlights would be Janie Jones, Career Opportunities, White Riot, and the cover of Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves. (Really this album is like Pokémon where I just want to catch name them all as favorites). 40 years on and the subjects are unfortunately still relevant.

I've always been quite partial to the closer, Garageland, recorded in response to the critic who derided the band stating "The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running".

Original UK Release
Side One

1. Janie Jones
2. Remote Control
3. I'm So Bored with the USA
4. White Riot
5. Hate and War
6. What's My Name
7. Deny
8. London's Burning

Side Two
9. Career Opportunities
10. Cheat
11. Protex Blue
12. Police & Thieves
13. 48 Hours
14. Garageland
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
From Wikipedia: "I Want a New Drug" peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100 and was certified gold with sales of 1 million copies in 1989 (by modern single certification standards this would be considered platinum).[10] The track was also the center of a lawsuit against artist Ray Parker Jr., who was accused of plagiarizing the song for his 1984 hit, "Ghostbusters". The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[11]
I knew it! That intro beat is unmistakable!
 
Right now, I'd say that barring an "Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying" moment, whitechocolate will probably pull this one off.
I'm just trying to pick my 20 favorite records. Honestly, most of the artists whose albums I've picked are rather obvious choices within their genres. The genres I happen to like most just don't get the attention that others do. It actually perplexes me how limited the scope of popular music is. Not that it can't be as good as the great music that goes under the radar. There are just so many wonderful aesthetics and experiences that can be created with sound.
 
Since my favorite Queen album was already taken, I'm going with my solid #2 which has a little more of a traditional rock presence, which isn't genuinely much of a statement considering how non-traditional their sound is. Anyway, without further ado...

Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 8.53.56 AM.png

1. "Brighton Rock"
2. "Killer Queen"
3. "Tenement Funster"
4. "Flick of the Wrist"
5. "Lily of the Valley"
6. "Now I'm Here"
7. "In the Lap of the Gods"
8. "Stone Cold Crazy"
9. "Dear Friends"
10. "Misfire"
11. "Bring Back That Leroy Brown"
12. "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)"
13. "In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited"

Tenement Funster/Flick of the Wrist/Lily of the Valley are probably my favorite songs in sequence. I'm sure everyone has heard "Killer Queen" which probably deserves a whole paragraph of information, but you all probably know everything there is to know about Queen by now, so I didn't include a link there. I'm sure many of you have also heard "Stone Cold Crazy." "Misfire" is a catchy little ditty about...cars, I guess.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
I'm overdue to make a pick from one of my favorite artists:









Hikaru Utada - First Love (1999)


I don't have much to say about this artist, that I didn't already say in a previous draft... I still don't speak any Japanese, but it doesn't stop me from loving this album. There's a lot of pop/R&B influence in the production of this album, which fits perfectly into the musical vibe that I was into at the time I discovered this. I consider Hikki to be proof that those file-sharing programs like Limewire and KaZaA weren't completely without merit because, without them, I never would have heard of her. I have personally bought three of Hikki's albums, none of which were released in the US, because I discovered her music online, through those peer-to-peer programs. First Love was Hikaru Utada's solo debut album (she had previously been a member of the unregarded "group" Cubic U, which deadass consisted of her and parents) and, despite having no presence on the US charts (as an all-Japanese language release), the album debuted at Number One in Japan, and sold over eight million copies in Japan, alone.


Track listing (links provided to songs released as singles):
  1. "Automatic" (Album Edit)
  2. "Movin' on Without You"
  3. "In My Room"
  4. "First Love"
  5. "Amai Wana (甘いワナ~, Sweet Trap): Paint It, Black"
  6. "Time Will Tell"
  7. "Never Let Go"
  8. "B&C" (Album Version)
  9. "Another Chance"
  10. "Interlude"
  11. "Give Me a Reason"
  12. "Automatic (Johnny Vicious Remix)" (Bonus Track)


Source: Wikipedia
 
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Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
For my 14th pick in the Shelter-In-Place Album Draft, I select:



The Golden Age - Cracker (1996)

Track Listing:
1 I Hate My Generation
2 I'm a Little Rocketship
3 Big Dipper
4 Nothing to Believe In
5 The Golden Age
6 100 Flower Power Maximum
7 Dixie Babylon
8 I Can't Forget You
9 Sweet Thistle Pie
10 Useless Stuff
11 How Can I Live Without You
12 Bicycle Spaniard

The Golden Age is the followup album to Cracker's breakout (if one can call it that - it went platinum because of two hit singles) but finds them moving a bit away from the more straightforward guitar rock that made them their money. Not that there aren't straight-rock sets on this record - "I'm a Little Rocketship" being one that always draws me - but there's a lot of diversity to this record. Their country roots shine through in several songs, including the humorous "How Can I Live Without You", and there are quite a few songs where they slow it down and take the songwriting a bit more seriously. "Dixie Babylon" drags out through a slow 7+ minute loll just begging for a breakout to push it forward. It finally comes almost exactly halfway through when an out-of-nowhere piano jumps in to provide that missing element, plays two phrases and is gone in ten seconds, never to return. It's kind of striking.

But for me the songwriting doesn't get any better than on "Big Dipper" - which is one of the few songs I know written about a rollercoaster (and in this case, a specific, in esse rollercoaster). Frontman David Lowery blogged a bit about it:

(redacted) was written in about 2 minutes and 12 seconds. ... The weird thing about hits is that they are often written very quickly. I’m serious. Wham Bam Hit Song Mam. They just sort of fall together. Also they never seem like hits at the time. ... Conversely I probably worked on the song Big Dipper over a period of 3 or 4 months. I had the idea and some of the words, and the general melody of the music but It took a long time to shape that into a song. ... We estimated 25% of the time we spent recording the album The Golden Age was this song.
Well, it was worth it!


(PM Sent)
 
Ok I have felt that some of my favorite picks have been safe. I have only listed singers or groups that I actually own and play the records. but I do not own the album on my next pick.

If find a super clean copy locally it will go into my collection but this album and hopefully if it’s left one other I only have them on a greatest hits CDs. This is a singer and group that stays in my traveling brief case because I use them when I’am going to be on a long road trip.

So with my 14th pick is Smokey Robinson and the miracles from 1965 (GOING TO A GO-GO) this ones is for those who have been out to a dance club or just may enjoy some early MOTOWN.

1587066858257.jpg

The tracks of my tears

Going to a go go

Ooo baby baby

My girl has gone

In case you need love

Choosey beggar

Since you won my love

From head to toe

All that’s good

My baby changes like the weather

Let me have some

A fork in the road






 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
I'm dipping back into country here to get someone who has one of the most beautiful voices I know.

Sara Evans - Born to Fly (2000)

Born_To_Fly.jpg

And, to help pull in Slim's vote:

Sara Evans.JPG

https://www.allmusic.com/album/born-to-fly-mw0000619834

I first heard of Sara Evans as an opening act for the Girl's Night Out tour at Arco Arena in 2001 and by the time we saw her opening for Brad Paisley in 2006 at the Stockton Arena I was already a fan. We were also fortunate to be able to catch her show at Jackson Rancheria in 2015, but the facility doesn't lend itself to having as much fun as the other two concerts.

From allmusic:

Born to Fly emphasizes the more contemporary sounds on the recording, while placing some of the rootsy bluegrass back in the mix. She does this with the confidence and authority of a seasoned veteran who is in control of her work. Sitting in the producer's chair for the first time with Paul Worley, Evans co-wrote six of the set's 11 tracks. The studio players assembled on this date are impressive: (redacted), to name a few. The standout cuts are the playful title track and first single, "Born to Fly," with its fiddles, Dobros, and mandolins; the nostalgic ballad "I Learned That from You," with its whinnying pedal steel; and covers of (redacted)'s "I Could Not Ask for More" and the closer, a reading of (redacted)'s gently choogling back-porch love song "Every Little Kiss." Evans moved to the top of the charts again with this one, and was able to go four deep for singles, solidifying her place at the beginning of the 21st century.
From Wikipedia:

Born to Fly has been Evans' highest-selling album to date, having been certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. sales of two million copies. The album was also one of the most successful of the year. Evans was nominated for five CMA Awards: Album of the Year; song, single, and music video (for the title-track); and Female Vocalist of the Year. She won her first CMA award for music video of the year.
This woman's voice is absolutely beautiful - I could listen to her sing anything she wants to all day long. It just resonates with me. One of my favorite songs of hers is You Don't, which wasn't one of her singles - she shoves so much feeling and talent into that one, I love it. I think Born to Fly is one of the best songs she ever put out. I Could Not Ask for More and Every Little Kiss are also great covers. Saints & Angels is a treasure.

Track List:
1. Born to Fly
2. Saints & Angels
3. I Could Not Ask for More
4. I Keep Looking
5. I Learned That from You
6. Let's Dance
7. Why Should I Care
8. Four-Thirty
9. Show Me the Way to Your Heart
10. You Don't
11. Every Little Kiss




 
I started following this group as a joke, calling their alter-ego, The Clash at Demonhead, (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) my favorite indie band.

Now I've been a fan of the actual band for long enough to comfortably accuse them of selling out.

1587082170505.png

Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? - Metric (2003)

In the years since I began following this band entirely because of Envy Adams' rendition of Black Sheep, I have noticed a shift to a more mainstream accessibility to their sound. Now, I am the last to claim any kind of authority in authentic, underground, indie music, and I still can rock out to their album I picked last time, which I would consider a much more radio-friendly approach. But there's something I enjoy about their rough-around-the-edges, slightly harsh and bratty "debut" album.

There is a psuedo-punky twinge of angst and anger in the production value, songwriting, and Emily Haines' vocals on Old World Underground that has, to my ears, been glossed out as the band found succexy ... er, success.

That's actually a perfect example. Succexy is about wars fought for TV ratings: a college freshman know-it-all simplification of a complex subject with an aggressively awkward title. Yet, I find it charmingly fun in its earnestness.


Also compare the suddenly blonde warbler Haines of today, who's become the focal point of promoting the band, to the raw punky girl rocking with the guys in Dead Disco.


I love Metric and much of their work as a whole, which made this choice a lot tougher than I would have thought. But I really like looking back at where they started*

Tracklist

1."IOU"
2."Hustle Rose"
3."Succexy"
4."Combat Baby"
5."Calculation Theme"
6."Wet Blanket"
7."On a Slow Night"
8."The List"
9."Dead Disco"
10."Love Is a Place"


*This is their second album, but released first. Their first album was released third. Get it?
 
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Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? - Metric (2003)
Well, that culls my list a bit, doesn't it? I had too many albums to squeeze them all in 20 anyway. I love this album (and the subsequent one, so the second/third) to death. Sometimes it's the little things. The first time I heard "Hustle Rose", the 8X repeated drone of "Now that your wallet is all lit up" in the barebones intro seemed worse than indulgent, but after they've built all the riffs together and they hit the fadeout and leave that melody out to leave room for the lyric melody, your ear fills it in, and I get it. The quiet metro-fatigue anthem "Calculation Theme" closes with one of my all-time favorite lyrics: "Tonight your ghost will ask my ghost 'Who put these bodies between us?' " Great album.