MUSIC! MUSIC! MUSIC!

MUSIC UPDATE! Currently, I have 2,833 songs on iTunes. Here are the artists with the most tunes: David Bowie – 36, World Party – 37, Chicago – 39, Alice Cooper – 40, Queen – 62, The Rolling Stones – 74, The Beatles – 92, The BoDeans - 95, The Clash – 99, Dropkick Murphys – 143, R.E.M. – 160, The Who – 412.

The Clash? Where did that come from? Oh well, here are my favorite albums of 10 of the artists on my iTunes list. It was extremely tough to pick a favorite for The Who. (Note: You will notice that I have been so kind as to include the playlist from the albums.)

Alice Cooper – Killer (1971)
Under My Wheels
Be My Lover
Halo of Flies
Desperado
You Drive Me Nervous
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Dead Babies
Killer

Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks (1975)
Tangled Up in Blue
Simple Twist of Fate
You’re a Big Girl Now
Idiot Wind
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Meet Me in the Morning
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
If You See Her, Say Hello
Shelter from the Storm
Buckets of Rain

The BoDeans – Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (1986)
She’s a Runaway
Fadeaway
Still the Night
Rickshaw Riding
Angels
Misery
The Strangest Kind
Say You Will
Ultimately Fine
That’s All
Lookin’ for Me Somewhere

Dropkick Murphys – Blackout (2003)
Walk Away
Worker’s Song
The Outcast
Black Velvet Band
Gonna Be a Blackout
World Full of Hate
Buried Alive
The Dirty Glass
Fields of Athenry
Bastards on Parade
As One
This Is Your Life
Time to Go
Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
Black Dog
Rock and Roll
The Battle of Evermore
Stairway to Heaven
Misty Mountain Hop
Four Sticks
Going to California
When the Levee Breaks

Queen – Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
Brighton Rock
Killer Queen
Tenement Funster
Flick of the Wrist
Lily of the Valley
Now I’m Here
In the Lap of the Gods
Stone Cold Crazy
Dear Friends
Misfire
Bring Back That Leroy Brown
She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)
In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited

R. E. M. – Green (1988)
Pop Song 89
Get Up
You Are the Everything
Stand
World Leader Pretend
The Wrong Child
Orange Crush
Turn You Inside-Out
Hairshirt
I Remember California
11

The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (1969)
Gimme Shelter
Love In Vain
Country Honk
Live with Me
Let It Bleed
Midnight Rambler
You Got the Silver
Monkey Man
You Can’t Always Get What You want

The Who – The Who By Numbers (1975)
Slip kid
However Much I Booze
Squeeze Box
Dreaming From the Waist
Imagine a Man
Success Story
They Are All in Love
Blue, Red and Grey
How Many Friends
In a Hand or a Face

World Party – Goodbye Jumbo (1990)
Is it Too Late?
Way Down Now
When the Rainbow Comes
Put the Message in the Box
Ain’t Gonna Come Till I’m Ready
And I Fell Back Alone
Take It Up
God On My Size
Show Me to the Top
Love Street
Sweet Soul Dream
Thank You World

Believe it or not, there is plenty of music that I need to add to my list, so I am always open to suggestions. Let me know what you think belongs in my collection. I’ll let you know if I already have it. If I don’t, it might be added! Until next time…from the booth.

Band Of Angels?

On Thursday I posted a new poll – Which Recently Deceased Musician Do You Miss Most? There are eight choices - Donald “Duck” Dunn, Barry Gibb, Levon Helm, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Davy Jones, Donna Summer and Adam “MCA” Yauch. All of these performers left us this year. Shortly after the first votes were cast I learned that we had lost another popular musician earlier that day. Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac who also had a solo career, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. He was 65.

Whenever a famous musician passes on, you inevitably hear things like, “I bet there’s a helluva concert going on in Heaven!” or “Can you imagine the beautiful music being played in Heaven right now?”

Now, far be it from me to assume that upon dying, all musical performers  immediately go to Heaven and are jamming for God. A majority of these people have died tragically young for a reason. Whether it was poor life style choices or some other demon, way too many talented people have passed away far too early and have left a void in the music world.

That being said…

What if all of the deceased gifted musicians DID get together in the Great Hereafter? Would that be cool or what? The very thought of this boggles my mind.

Because this is so intriguing, I have decided to assemble a supergroup made up entirely of deceased rock ‘n’ roll VIPs. The only criteria are that the musician is someone is on my iPod and are, regrettably, deceased.

So, without further ado, let me introduce to you, Band of Angels?, my all-star, all-dead supergroup:


Keith Moon, The Who – Drums. Passed on at age 31.
John Bonham, Led Zeppelin – Drums. Passed on at age 32.
John Entwistle, The Who – Bass. Passed on at age 57.
John Lennon, The Beatles – Vocals, Guitar. Passed on at age 40.
George Harrison, The Beatles – Guitar, Vocals. Passed on at age 58.
Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones – Guitars. Passed on at age 27.
Jimi Hendrix – Guitar. Passed on at age 27.
Janis Joplin – Vocals. Passed on at age 27.
Jim Morrison, The Doors – Vocals. Passed on at age 28.
Freddie Mercury, Queen – Vocals. Passed on at age 45.

Sweet, huh?

Can you imagine a band with both Moon AND Bonham playing drums? Just envision this duo providing the percussion for Moby Dick, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Wipeout, My Generation or Frankenstein. It’s insane!

Hendrix, Jones, Lennon and Harrison all playing guitar. Are you kidding me? What a lineup!

Hendrix was widely considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in music history. Jones’ main instruments were the guitar and the harmonica, but he played a wide variety of other musical instruments and was a talented multi-instrumentalist. As far as Lennon and Harrison go… They were Beatles for crying out loud!

Entwistle was nicknamed “Thunderfingers” with good reason. He was at his best when heard in concert, where he and guitarist Pete Townshend frequently exchanged roles, with Entwistle providing rapid melodic lines and Townshend anchoring the song with rhythmic chord work. I would love to see him doing the same with Hendrix.

The trio of vocalists that I have chosen for Band of Angels? is so diverse and talented, they could cover most any song written. And whatever Joplin, Morrison and Mercury needed a breather, Lennon and Harrison would fill in quite nicely. Hell, this band is so good I might even let Hendrix sing a song or two.

Maybe.

There you have it, my supergroup composed of deceased rock stars. And I do have something from each of them on my iPod; just some more than others. Here are the totals:

Moon and Entwistle (The Who) - 355 songs
Lennon and Harrison (The Beatles) - 71 songs
Mercury (Queen) – 61 songs
Jones (The Rolling Stones) – 50 songs
Bonham (Led Zeppelin) – 28 songs
Morrison (The Doors) – 18 songs
Joplin – 4 songs
Hendrix – 2 songs

Well, what can I say? I obviously like The Who more than Jimi Hendrix.

I know what comes next. It’s time for everyone to tell me whom I left out. Like Kurt Cobain. Hey, I don’t have any Nirvana on my iPod.

Rather than lambasting me about my omissions, I would be interested in hearing the supergroup you come up with made up of dead musicians. Let’s see what you got! Email me, put it on my facebook page or leave a comment here on the blog.

Don’t forget to jump on my poll and vote for which recently deceased musician you miss most. Until next time…from the booth.