It's been a while, but I think it's time to revisit my favourite songs. Today I'll talk a bit about some tunes that span the decades, one each from the 1970's, the 80's, the 90's, and the 2010's. From lighter fare to heavy bangers.
First up is You Make Loving Fun, by Fleetwood Mac (more of my thoughts on them here). This is just one of the many timeless classics from the Rumours album way back in 1977. I might have been a year or two late to the game, but as a young teen just dipping his toe into the rock music waters, I did realize this album was pretty special even as I first played it. It's not a concept album by any stretch, and yet something seems amiss if one listens to just a bit of it... you really need to play all the tracks in their proper sequence to get the full picture. Even if you were unaware of the all the band drama going on during the recording of Rumours, the tension and emotion between the musicians came through in the music, heightening the experience. So to skip a song is to miss an important beat in the process of creating the album.
The song You Make Loving Fun, right from its opening bass and keyboard gurgles, sounds like pure 70's gold. Christine McVie's warm, smooth vocals set her songs apart from those featuring Stevie Nicks. McVie's approach is easier on my ears, more inviting and maybe even more wistful. The tasty guitar licks lay back early on, but once Lindsey Buckingham takes his first solo break, it's a treat. Tasteful, restrained and melodic, with the odd wailing note for emphasis. The overall vibe of the song is just a little sad, though the lyrics are indeed happy. Probably a by-product of the relationship woes reflected in the recording studio. It would be a mistake to call this "soft rock", though at a glance, it might seem to be. There is that tension, and then a sense of release in the choruses, and even more so in the final bars, when Buckingham's guitar sings a bit brighter, as do all the vocals. A highly satisfying song that truly takes me back in time.
Now... fast-forward ten years to 1987. American heavy metal band Savatage released their fourth album, Hall of the Mountain King, to much fanfare. These guys, through their boundary-breaking musical forays, were highly influential on several metal subgenres at the time. There were elements of power metal, thrash, speed metal, progressive, death metal and symphonic metal.
I first noticed Savatage in their Hall of the Mountain King music video, which I caught on Canada's MuchMusic TV station. All the medieval fantasy imagery grabbed me, but it was that powerful, heavy chugging riff that completely pulled me in. Between Criss Oliva's searing guitar leads and his brother Jon's soaring vocals (extending into Geddy Lee territory at times), this classic metal sound never goes out of style. The background chanting counters Jon Oliva's impressive vocal range... from raspy snarls to dramatic emoting to chilling shrieks. This guy is right up there with Judas Priest's Rob Halford, as far I'm concerned. He covers the gamut skillfuly and with the gusto of a Shakespearean actor.
Around the 2-minute mark, the song begins a breakdown that builds and builds in complexity. Layers of guitar parts fold themselves into the mix until the shattering solo break. Then that massive wall of rhythm falls back into place for the final verse, where Jon chews the scenery even more hungrily. Love it! How a little band from Florida so successfully nailed the Scandinavian fantasy metal image is beyond me... but they did it.
Then we'll skip over the Atlantic to actual Scandinavian shores... Sweden, specifically... for the next one: He Is, by the band Ghost. You can read more about them here. The song is from the 2015 album Meliora, which absolutely blew my socks off when I first heard it. And I never tired of it. You know how sometimes when you love a song or album right from the get-go, but then it doesn't really have staying power, and you lose interest after a while? Not the case here. The talent with these guys is undeniable, whether you like 'em or not.
Ghost can be tough to categorize since their sounds over the years have ranged from heavy metal, hard rock, and progressive rock to doom metal, pop and arena rock. Their influences can be heard indirectly through their songcraft if not their sound. They capture the essence of classic rockers like Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Sabbath, and Priest... with varying degrees of heaviness. Some tunes sound downright evil... scary, even. Then others are so uplifting - heavenly - that it's hard to believe this is the same band who cranks out slabs of metal on other songs.
He Is is Ghost's shining example of the latter. I will quote myself here (from the linked page above):
... my favourite song on the album, He Is, which is an ode to the Prince of Darkness. Its music is incredibly uplifting, like something you'd hear in a church... with the plucked acoustic guitar, the huge and soaring keyboard-organ backdrop, the choral quality of the lead and backing vocals. The lyrics never veer toward the cartoonish or gruesome like other black metal-type artists write. Instead, it's tasteful and intelligent, and you kinda want to jump on this bandwagon, as manufactured as it is. It's a beautiful piece of music, if you can put aside any reservations about the lyrical themes.
It's a pretty, expertly designed song that defies genre. Is it pop, rock, or something far more insidious? That guitar solo sings like something by Kiss back in their heyday. Then that outro solo... whoa! Short, punchy and melodic... it's almost maddening, it's all so perfectly orchestrated.
You've heard the legend about old-time blues guitarist Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil at the crossroads? Well, I kind of wonder about Ghost, too.
Moving on now to something far heavier, Them Bones, by 90's "grunge" gods Alice In Chains. I actually hate that this band was lumped in with the grunge movement. They are metal, no doubt about it. Not a hint of Nirvana or Mudhoney there. But they came onto the Seattle scene during that wave of new music, so they were accepted as part of that pack.
Them Bones is from the Dirt album which was released in 1992. I was deep into thrash at the time, buried in Metallica and Megadeth albums. Alice in Chains was sort of new to me. I'd probably seen music videos from their 1990 debut album on TV, and while cool, they didn't grab me immediately. But when I first heard songs from Dirt, though, I was suitably impressed. Massive, crushing riffs and chords. Layne Staley's pained vocal screams and cries. On every song.
Alice In Chains somehow brought amazing vocal harmonies to the metal onslaught. Let's thank guitarist Jerry Cantrell for his contribution to the singing end of things. Not just backup, Jerry actually pitched in more than most realize at the microphone. He and Staley complemented each other with their different-sounding voices, adding colour and layers to their brand of heavy metal.
And we hear all that on Them Bones. The heavy, straight-forward drum beat lays the solid foundation with the thudding bass reinforcing and propelling the song. Cantrell's guitar tone is one-of-a-kind, made more so by his unmistakable style of playing. His soloing sound and techique are his alone, more melodic and soulful than shredding. The doomy vibe that pervades all of Alice's music is driven by the guitar and Staley's almost droning incantation of the normally cheerless lyrics. While Them Bones may not be as textured or tonally varied as some other AIC songs, this is perhaps the supreme headbanger of their catalogue. For me, anway.
Dig in.
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