Music Labyrinth Episode 006
Track 1
What Do You Want From Me / Pink Floyd
Hello, and welcome, or - depending on your listening history - welcome back, to The Music Labyrinth. We kicked off this week by listening to Pink Floyd's What Do You Want From Me, from their 1994, post-Waters album, The Division Bell. If you have joined us previously for The Music Labyrinth, you will know that we are taking a journey through popular music, guided only by a very dodgy premise that each song we play will have some connection, at least at a quantum level, to the previous song. If you have not joined us before, you probably won't have know that - but never mind. You may find yourself wondering what the heck is going on, but you wont be on your own! Now, you may recall the artwork which made up the cover of The Division Bell album. It featured a photograph of two giant metal heads, each the height of a double decker bus, facing each other. The concept was created and photographed by the famed graphic designer, Storm Thorgerson and his company Hipgonsis, who are particularly well known for design work with musicians which, in addition to Pink Floyd, include Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath, 10CC, Yes, and Muse. His most iconic image is, of course, the prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon. Listeners of a certain vintage may recall another Thorgerson album cover from the mid 70's which featured a stylised robot in front of the tubular escalators of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. That album was I, Robot by the Alan Parsons Project, and the song we all remember from it is this one.
Track 2
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You / Alan Parsons Project
From the 1977 album, I, Robot, that was the Alan Parsons Project with I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You. The core of the Alan Parsons Project were Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, and their respective strengths in the music industry were primarily sound engineering, production and composition. Its probably not unfair to suggest that neither was recognised in the elite bracket of performers. In order to produce the eleven studio albums released under the band name, Parsons and Woolfson assembled a band of highly credentialed musicians to contribute. On the track we just heard, bass was played by David Paton, guitars by Ian Bairnson and drums by Stuart Tosh. Some years before I, Robot, Paton, Bairnson and Tosh had all been members of the Scottish pop band, Pilot, who are best remembered in Australia for this chart-topper from 1975.
Track 3
January / Pilot
You're listening to The Music Labyrinth, and a few moments ago we dredged up part of the essence of 1975 when we heard January by Pilot. Interestingly, in a kind of Labyrinthine reverse-link, that single was produced by Alan Parsons, years before he lent his name to a project. In order to help us break out of a never-ending 1970s feedback cycle, I've managed to "pilot" us back into safer territory by focusing now on other songs with January in the title. If you were with us for Episode 1 of The Music Labyrinth - well, firstly, thanks for being brave enough to stick around - and secondly, you might recall me speaking about my love for Portland, Oregon as a music city. Part of that love arises from the Portland band, The Decemberists and, from their 2011 album The King Is Dead, here they are with January Hymn.
Track 4
January Hymn / The Decemberists
From their 2011 album The King Is Dead, that was the lovely melancholy of January Hymn. If you get a chance to listen to that album, you will find that track beautifully offset by the whimsical joy of new life in the track June Hymn. Significant contributions were made the the recording of that album by guest artists, Peter Buck (of R.E.M. fame) and Gillian Welch, and that presents us with something of a fork in the path as we move towards our next point in The Music Labyrinth. I've elected to take the line through Peter Buck, if only to provide a counterpoint to the lovely Americana we just listened to, but in doing so, I really hope we get a chance to come back to Gillian Welch's music sometime soon. Peter Buck, in addition to his body of work with R.E.M. has collaborated with a large and disparate group of recording artists. However, for once, lets take the obvious route. Here is Buck as a member of R.E.M. at the peak of their popularity. From the 1991 album Out Of Time, this is Shiny Happy People.
Track 5
Shiny Happy People / R.E.M.
Shiny Happy People is the only REM song to have reached the top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 and also the UK Singles Chart. In those terms, it is unquestionably one of the band's great commercial successes. However, in 2016 the lead singer of R.E.M., Michael Stipe, was quoted as saying, If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be Shiny Happy People [end quotation]. So, therefore, I feel compelled to comply with Michael Stipe's wishes as we look towards the next song we encounter in the Labyrinth. The very subjective field of popular consensus has a subsequent R.E.M. album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, favoured as the band's best output. A standout track from that album is E-bow The Letter, which featured the distinctive, smoky vocals of rock veteran Patti Smith. Now, I too am going to dive into subjectivity. If we are talking Patti Smith, we cannot go past this track from 1975. This is Gloria.
Gloria / Patti Smith
This is The Music Labyrinth and a few moments ago we were lucky enough to brush shoulders with Patti Smith's opus from 1975, Gloria, or, to give it the full title treatment, Gloria (Part I: "In Excelsis Deo"; Part II: "Gloria (Version)"). The In Excelsis Deo part of the track features lyrics from a poem, Oath, which had been written by Patti Smith. The Gloria (Version) part of the track was a quite radical interpretation of a song released 11 years earlier written by Van Morrison and released under the name of his band at that time, Them. That version of Gloria was never intended as an A-side single by Them. It was released as a B-side to their single, Baby, Please Dont Go, which is something of a blues classic and has been covered a thousand times since by pretty much everyone who has stepped in front of a microphone. To take us to our next location in this Labyrinth, here is one of my favourites of those cover versions of Baby, Please Don't Go.
Track 7
Baby Please Don’t Go / Harry Manx
On The Music Labyrinth, that was Harry Manx's cover of the blues classic, Baby, Please Don't Go. Harry Manx's online bio describes how his music spans West and East into a style he likes to call "mysticsippi blues". He was born on the Isle of Man before emigrating to Canada as a child. I've always wondered whether the surname Manx is a non de plume which he adopted on the basis of his island of birth, but the online sources are a bit coy about that. However, one particularly interesting fact that is revealed is that the Isle of Man links Harry Manx with these brothers who also were born in that self-governing dependency of Britain.
Track 8
New York Mining Disaster 1941 / Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are - well, they're the Bee Gees, aren't they! Their contribution to modern music spans six decades and genres from skiffle to disco. Collectively, they have written some of the great songs of the modern music era, and their contribution to the music industry cannot be overstated. However - one aspect of that career probably can, and the sadist in me wants to take us there. In 1978 the Bee Gees were central to a Robert Stigwood film which was billed as a musical comedy rock opera and which was grandly called Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Listed amongst the feature performers for that film (together with Peter Frampton, Alice Cooper, George Burns, Franki Howard, Earth Wind & Fire and Steve Martin) was an established band who, in the storyline of the film, were known as the Future Villain Band (FVB). Here they are performing as themselves.
Track 9
Walk This Way / Aerosmith
Just a few moments ago on The Music Labyrinth we heard Walk This Way by Aerosmith, or, as they may otherwise be known, The Future Villain Band. Walk This Way came from Aerosmith's 4th studio album, Toys In The Attic, which was released in 1975. The song was famously rejuvenated in 1986 when rap act RunDMC collaborated with Aerosmith on a version. Aerosmith have something of a "record" when it comes to collaborating in unlikely partnerships. A song from their first ever studio album in 1973, Dream On, was later sampled to a significant extent by Eminem on his worldwide smash album from 2002, The Eminem Show. On that album, the song was titled Sing For The Moment, but it is unmistakably based on Dream On. For our purposes in moving on through the Labyrinth, lets stay with The Eminem Show, but we're going to listen to the final single released from that album in 2003. This is Business.
Track 10
Business / Eminem
From 2003 that was the pretty much unmistakable sound of Marshall Mathers III, better known to millions of music fans worldwide as Eminem. The track we just listened to, Business, was produced by rapper, songwriter, producer and actor, Dr. Dre. The rhythm of the song has been described as "cartoonish", and there is a school of thought that the lyrics of the song deliberately compare Dr. Dre and Eminem to Batman and Robin. Many artists have played Robin to Dr. Dre's Batman. In 2002 he collaborated with Missy Elliott on a track for the rapper Knoc-Turn'al. Its probably patently obvious to the listener that we've just gone across a particularly insubstantial bridge, but I just feel I cannot miss an opportunity to play this wonderful track by Missy Elliott from 2005. So, to round out this episode of the Music Labyrinth, and with great thanks to my youngest daughter for introducing me to this track, here is Missy Elliott with We Run This.
Track 11
We Run This / Missy Elliott
What Do You Want From Me / Pink Floyd
Hello, and welcome, or - depending on your listening history - welcome back, to The Music Labyrinth. We kicked off this week by listening to Pink Floyd's What Do You Want From Me, from their 1994, post-Waters album, The Division Bell. If you have joined us previously for The Music Labyrinth, you will know that we are taking a journey through popular music, guided only by a very dodgy premise that each song we play will have some connection, at least at a quantum level, to the previous song. If you have not joined us before, you probably won't have know that - but never mind. You may find yourself wondering what the heck is going on, but you wont be on your own! Now, you may recall the artwork which made up the cover of The Division Bell album. It featured a photograph of two giant metal heads, each the height of a double decker bus, facing each other. The concept was created and photographed by the famed graphic designer, Storm Thorgerson and his company Hipgonsis, who are particularly well known for design work with musicians which, in addition to Pink Floyd, include Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath, 10CC, Yes, and Muse. His most iconic image is, of course, the prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon. Listeners of a certain vintage may recall another Thorgerson album cover from the mid 70's which featured a stylised robot in front of the tubular escalators of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. That album was I, Robot by the Alan Parsons Project, and the song we all remember from it is this one.
Track 2
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You / Alan Parsons Project
From the 1977 album, I, Robot, that was the Alan Parsons Project with I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You. The core of the Alan Parsons Project were Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, and their respective strengths in the music industry were primarily sound engineering, production and composition. Its probably not unfair to suggest that neither was recognised in the elite bracket of performers. In order to produce the eleven studio albums released under the band name, Parsons and Woolfson assembled a band of highly credentialed musicians to contribute. On the track we just heard, bass was played by David Paton, guitars by Ian Bairnson and drums by Stuart Tosh. Some years before I, Robot, Paton, Bairnson and Tosh had all been members of the Scottish pop band, Pilot, who are best remembered in Australia for this chart-topper from 1975.
Track 3
January / Pilot
You're listening to The Music Labyrinth, and a few moments ago we dredged up part of the essence of 1975 when we heard January by Pilot. Interestingly, in a kind of Labyrinthine reverse-link, that single was produced by Alan Parsons, years before he lent his name to a project. In order to help us break out of a never-ending 1970s feedback cycle, I've managed to "pilot" us back into safer territory by focusing now on other songs with January in the title. If you were with us for Episode 1 of The Music Labyrinth - well, firstly, thanks for being brave enough to stick around - and secondly, you might recall me speaking about my love for Portland, Oregon as a music city. Part of that love arises from the Portland band, The Decemberists and, from their 2011 album The King Is Dead, here they are with January Hymn.
Track 4
January Hymn / The Decemberists
From their 2011 album The King Is Dead, that was the lovely melancholy of January Hymn. If you get a chance to listen to that album, you will find that track beautifully offset by the whimsical joy of new life in the track June Hymn. Significant contributions were made the the recording of that album by guest artists, Peter Buck (of R.E.M. fame) and Gillian Welch, and that presents us with something of a fork in the path as we move towards our next point in The Music Labyrinth. I've elected to take the line through Peter Buck, if only to provide a counterpoint to the lovely Americana we just listened to, but in doing so, I really hope we get a chance to come back to Gillian Welch's music sometime soon. Peter Buck, in addition to his body of work with R.E.M. has collaborated with a large and disparate group of recording artists. However, for once, lets take the obvious route. Here is Buck as a member of R.E.M. at the peak of their popularity. From the 1991 album Out Of Time, this is Shiny Happy People.
Track 5
Shiny Happy People / R.E.M.
Shiny Happy People is the only REM song to have reached the top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 and also the UK Singles Chart. In those terms, it is unquestionably one of the band's great commercial successes. However, in 2016 the lead singer of R.E.M., Michael Stipe, was quoted as saying, If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be Shiny Happy People [end quotation]. So, therefore, I feel compelled to comply with Michael Stipe's wishes as we look towards the next song we encounter in the Labyrinth. The very subjective field of popular consensus has a subsequent R.E.M. album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, favoured as the band's best output. A standout track from that album is E-bow The Letter, which featured the distinctive, smoky vocals of rock veteran Patti Smith. Now, I too am going to dive into subjectivity. If we are talking Patti Smith, we cannot go past this track from 1975. This is Gloria.
Gloria / Patti Smith
This is The Music Labyrinth and a few moments ago we were lucky enough to brush shoulders with Patti Smith's opus from 1975, Gloria, or, to give it the full title treatment, Gloria (Part I: "In Excelsis Deo"; Part II: "Gloria (Version)"). The In Excelsis Deo part of the track features lyrics from a poem, Oath, which had been written by Patti Smith. The Gloria (Version) part of the track was a quite radical interpretation of a song released 11 years earlier written by Van Morrison and released under the name of his band at that time, Them. That version of Gloria was never intended as an A-side single by Them. It was released as a B-side to their single, Baby, Please Dont Go, which is something of a blues classic and has been covered a thousand times since by pretty much everyone who has stepped in front of a microphone. To take us to our next location in this Labyrinth, here is one of my favourites of those cover versions of Baby, Please Don't Go.
Track 7
Baby Please Don’t Go / Harry Manx
On The Music Labyrinth, that was Harry Manx's cover of the blues classic, Baby, Please Don't Go. Harry Manx's online bio describes how his music spans West and East into a style he likes to call "mysticsippi blues". He was born on the Isle of Man before emigrating to Canada as a child. I've always wondered whether the surname Manx is a non de plume which he adopted on the basis of his island of birth, but the online sources are a bit coy about that. However, one particularly interesting fact that is revealed is that the Isle of Man links Harry Manx with these brothers who also were born in that self-governing dependency of Britain.
Track 8
New York Mining Disaster 1941 / Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are - well, they're the Bee Gees, aren't they! Their contribution to modern music spans six decades and genres from skiffle to disco. Collectively, they have written some of the great songs of the modern music era, and their contribution to the music industry cannot be overstated. However - one aspect of that career probably can, and the sadist in me wants to take us there. In 1978 the Bee Gees were central to a Robert Stigwood film which was billed as a musical comedy rock opera and which was grandly called Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Listed amongst the feature performers for that film (together with Peter Frampton, Alice Cooper, George Burns, Franki Howard, Earth Wind & Fire and Steve Martin) was an established band who, in the storyline of the film, were known as the Future Villain Band (FVB). Here they are performing as themselves.
Track 9
Walk This Way / Aerosmith
Just a few moments ago on The Music Labyrinth we heard Walk This Way by Aerosmith, or, as they may otherwise be known, The Future Villain Band. Walk This Way came from Aerosmith's 4th studio album, Toys In The Attic, which was released in 1975. The song was famously rejuvenated in 1986 when rap act RunDMC collaborated with Aerosmith on a version. Aerosmith have something of a "record" when it comes to collaborating in unlikely partnerships. A song from their first ever studio album in 1973, Dream On, was later sampled to a significant extent by Eminem on his worldwide smash album from 2002, The Eminem Show. On that album, the song was titled Sing For The Moment, but it is unmistakably based on Dream On. For our purposes in moving on through the Labyrinth, lets stay with The Eminem Show, but we're going to listen to the final single released from that album in 2003. This is Business.
Track 10
Business / Eminem
From 2003 that was the pretty much unmistakable sound of Marshall Mathers III, better known to millions of music fans worldwide as Eminem. The track we just listened to, Business, was produced by rapper, songwriter, producer and actor, Dr. Dre. The rhythm of the song has been described as "cartoonish", and there is a school of thought that the lyrics of the song deliberately compare Dr. Dre and Eminem to Batman and Robin. Many artists have played Robin to Dr. Dre's Batman. In 2002 he collaborated with Missy Elliott on a track for the rapper Knoc-Turn'al. Its probably patently obvious to the listener that we've just gone across a particularly insubstantial bridge, but I just feel I cannot miss an opportunity to play this wonderful track by Missy Elliott from 2005. So, to round out this episode of the Music Labyrinth, and with great thanks to my youngest daughter for introducing me to this track, here is Missy Elliott with We Run This.
Track 11
We Run This / Missy Elliott