Today’s Terrific Tune for Tuesday is from moody English rockers The Cure (learn more). They have been putting out unique and intersting music since the late seventies and are still doing it. I’m a big fan and have a small collection of their music and other items. I’ve always loved their album “Disintegration“. It spawned a bunch of singles and “Lullabye” was one of them. It’s a slow, almost sing-songy tune about Spiderman “having me for dinner tonight”. It’s gloomy, gothy fun and to take it just a little further, I’m featuring the “Lullabye (Acoustic)” video. The original video has lead singer Robert Smith about to be devoured by a spider, but this version is more of a performance video. Nicely strange, so check it out:

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Today’s Terrific Tune for Tuesday (view all) is an example of indie sensitive charming offbeat singer songwriter music. What? You don’t know that genre? Oh, it is such hella good stuff! There are so many good examples but today’s is Ingrid Michaelson and I am featuring the video for her song “Breakable” from her first CD “Girls And Boys”. She just released her third CD and I suggest you buy them all. There’s even an easy link below the video 😉

I just love her voice, her catchy songs, and her lyrics. I wanted to use the video for her sort-of hit, “The Way I Am”, but YouTube didn’t allow embedding it into my site. Check it out here on YouTube. What a great song. And I almost used her latest video for Maybe (again, YouTube). What a catchy pop song (even if she does have better songs). BTW, I would recommend her live show too. We saw in 2008 at the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival and we both really enjoyed her show. There, she threw in a great cover version of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”, one of my favorite songs. The whole show was warm, cute, charming, fun, upbeat, and really enjoyable. Go see her.

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Regular readers already know about my love for the best cover songs ever. For me, it’s about taking a really well-known song and making a new, fresh, and interesting version of it. And that’s what is happening with today’s tune. A little background: The Rolling Stones, a pretty decent band in their own right, had a huge hit with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” back in 1965 or thereabouts. Everyone knows that song, probably note for note! But then, in the late 70s, a new group came along with a quirky and far-out concept about how the human race is undergoing “de-evolution” (the opposite of evolution), that we’re getting dumber and dumber. They turned music upside down, especially at first, with their classic album “Are We Not Men? We Are Devo“, produced by Brian Eno.

And Devo they were (learn more, interesting facts about Devo). No other band was like them at the time and few still venture into that territory. They started to resemble a parody of themselves after a while, what with the radiation suits, the flower-pot hats, etc. But I always liked them and I admire the fact that at least they did something clever, unique, catchy, and different. So, to make a short story long, today’s Terrific Tune is their cover version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. For my money, it outshines the original and is one of the high points of the weirdness called “Devo”. It’s also a great example of a cover song that truly stands on it’s own.

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Today’s Terrific Tune features a well-known band. A really well-known band. It’s the Irish band U2. Heard of ’em? I thought so. If not, (what planet are you from?), learn more here. Anyway, I’m not using one of the big hits. Maybe this one was a small hit? I’ve found over the years that many of my favorite U2 songs are not the big hits. In fact, both of their “best of” CDs are available with a second disc of lesser-known versions, b-sides, remixes, covers, etc. And those discs might even be better than the actual “hits” discs. There’s a lot more to this band than what you hear on the radio.

And the same four people have been in the band for over thirty years. How many bands can say that? But you can read about the fame, the awards, the glory some other time. Right now, this is the video for one of my favorite U2 songs, “Electrical Storm”. The video is done by Anton Corbijn, known also for Depeche Mode videos amongst other things. He loves black-and-white and stark images. So turn up the volume, set your video size to full-screen, and check it out. Then let me know what YOU think.

If the sky can crack
There must be some way back
To love and only love

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Last night I went to a concert and saw “anti-folk”, “folk-punk”, “folk-funk” (whatever!) singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco and her band. The show was good, which will come as no surprise if you have ever seen her live. We’ve seen her live four or five times and it has always been good. She obviously loves performing and no one writes the type of songs that she does, at least not as well. So, today I feature a video of her and her recent band in the studio. It is from a couple years ago, but they are remaking her old song “Both Hands” (early nineties?).

The remade version is for her best-of, 2-CD set “Canon”, and if you don’t own anything by her that set is a pretty good place to start. Then go from there are get Dilate, Little Plastic Castles, the live Living In Clip. and the 20-odd other albums she has put out, not counting all her live bootlegs that she sells on her site and at her shows. In fact, I just picked up a copy of the 2003 Sacramento show that we saw six years ago! Very smart of her to sell CDs of her shows. Anyway, this video shows her having a good time rerecording this song. Is it her best song or best performance? Maybe not. But it’s still cool. Check it out.

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Today’s Terrific Tune is a rock ballad by a group that doesn’t do many ballads. It’s Green Day and the video for their current big hit “21 Guns”. The song is from their latest CD “21st Century Breakdown”. This album is great! They’ve grown so much with the last couple albums. There’s more variety and depth and so far I’d say this is easily one of the ten best albums of the year. As for this song, you may have heard it too many times on the radio, or maybe not, but give it another listen and check out the video. It ties in with the concept storyline of the album. And is singer Billie Joe Armstrong about the coolest looking guy? He looks awesome to me…

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George Harrison is dead and gone, may he rest in peace. When he was a Beatle, he was always in the considerable shadow of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. And he sometimes wanted more of his own songs on their albums. But once they broke up, he put out plenty of albums with plenty of songs. Most of the albums were a bit uneven but all had some good songs on them. Then, in the 90s, on his “comeback” album Cloud Nine, he took a musical look back at his time in the “Fab Four”. This song, “When We Was Fab”, is the result. The video has his characteristic clever humor and the song is pretty darned catchy too. He was fab.

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Today’s Terrific Tune is simple, catchy, light, likable, and upbeat. But I’m going to feature it anyway! Ha! It’s Eric Hutchinson (learn more, web site) doing his song “OK, It’s Allright With Me”, in the official video. The song is short and charming. And the video has a really nice look to it. We saw Eric earlier this month at the Seattle Bumbershoot Festival. He was charismatic and the music was irresistible pop. Take a look below, it’s a cool video and a song that will have you humming it later.

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Panic At The Disco (learn more, web site) is a puzzling band. Their first album (A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out) was a collection of unique, hook-filled, catchy, fast-paced modern rockers with clever lyrics as a big bonus. Some of the songs seemed a bit repetitive but the hooks were so good that you just turned it up and didn’t worry about that. Then I saw them live a few years ago at the Bumbershoot Festival and they were not as polished and tight as I had expected. I left slightly disappointed and decided that they are better on record (CD?) than live. Well, that’s fine, I don’t really have a problem with that.

Then their second album (Pretty. Odd.) came out and it was almost like a different band. OK, the singers voice is recognizable for the most part but the songs were so different. The band had decided to make a trippy psychedelic pop-rock album, almost like a mix of sixties and now. And I like this album too! But it’s stranger, more quirky, and more adventurous. Here’s the video for the first single from Pretty. Odd., called “Nine In The Afternoon”. Maybe you will see what I was referring to.

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Leave me a comment with the comment link below. Let the words flow.

It’s too late
to fall in love with Sharon Tate
but it’s too soon
to ask me for the words I want carved on my tomb

– Jim Carroll from “It’s Too Late” off the album Catholic Boy

Today’s Terrific Tune comes with sadness. On September 11th, rock/punk poet, singer, songwriter, and musician Jim Carroll died. (obit) Most people, if they know of him at all, only know his classic song “People Who Died”, or perhaps maybe his book “The Basketball Diaries” (made into a film starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio). He was about a lot more than just those works, of course. Read about Jim on Wikipedia.

You can read more about Jim on the Catholic Boy fan web site. Check it out and you’ll be surprised, in a good way. Then go buy his Catholic Boy CD (buy it here and help stevenology). Then enjoy it and pay attention to the lyrics too. He was a talented man who was kind of on the fringe and not very well known. But he sure had a way with words. This week’s video is his “hit” song “People Who Died”. The video also contains scenes from the film version of “The Basketball Diaries”. Enjoy. And rest in peace, Jim.

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Sorry, no Terrific Tune this Tuesday. We’re just getting back from vacation. But there will be more good stuff soon, so check back…

In the meantime:

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Today’s Terrific Tune is from the 80s. As with every decade, there was a lot of good music then and a whole lot of crap too. But this is a good one. You must have seen this video back in the day, it was pretty popular. It’s Thomas Dolby and his big hit “She Blinded Me With Science”. He actually did a lot of good music but this is the one he’s remembered for. If you have some thoughts about Mr Dolby, this song, or this video, feel free to leave me a comment below. In the meantime, check out the video. I just love that old guy yelling “science!”

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Leave me a comment with the comment link below. Help a brother out…

Today’s Terrific Tune is a deadpan funky version of the classic disco song “I Will Survive”. But wait! Disco, you say? I know, I hate disco too! But don’t worry, this is not Gloria Gaynor. It’s my hometown Sacramento’s rock band Cake doing their unique version of the song. They have their own sound, thanks mostly to the vocals and the occasional trumpet. But I like them and think it’s actually pretty cool. The video is a little strange but that’s ok too. Check it out:

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Leave me a comment with the comment link below. And again! And again!

Today’s Terrific Tune is by an almost imaginary “virtual” band, Gorillaz (learn more, it’s pretty interesting). Oh, it’s real music, but it’s not exactly the animated people that you see in the video playing it. It’s the brainchild of Blur‘s Damon Albarn. Gorillaz is a side project that created a hugely popular and unlikely hit with “Feel Good, Inc.” I’ve heard it a lot of times but I still like it every time. And the video has some cool animation and the “real” Gorillaz. Check it out below!

Side note – this weeks tune is embeded here from Imeem not YouTube, and might have a short commercial at the beginning. You Tube wouldn’t let me embed it here. Bah.

Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz

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Leave me a comment with the comment link below. It’s the law! Well, it should be…

If it’s Tuesday, this tune must be terrific. Today we feature an eerily beautiful song with an anti-war theme. It’s Kate Bush ‘s video for “Army Dreamers” off her great Never For Ever album. That album is possibly my favorite by her, though I like most of her music quite a bit. More than just pop, folk, or rock, she brings an arty sensibility and originality to her music that sets it apart from the mainstream. She does what she wants without regard for the trends of the day. She is a musical artist and this is an interesting and intruiging video and song. Check it out:

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Twenty six terrific tunes so far, not bad! All great too. Well, good at least. So today we go a ways back, to right around the breakup of the Talking Heads. Two of the Heads formed a new group called Tom Tom Club (learn more) to focus on light, fun music and this song is an example of that. It was actually a minor hit, but became a LOT more famous when Mariah Carey ripped it off stole it sampled it for her huge hit Fantasy. That song sucks but this one doesn’t! The video is kind of cute too. It’s for “Genius Of Love“. Remember, light, fun music. Check it out.

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Leave me a comment with the comment link below. Por favor?