The notorious song meme

[chipotle]

So, I was tagged by the “list your six current favorite songs” meme and, okay, I’ll see if I can play along. I’ll actually try and explain why, at least when I know myself.

“Don’t Answer Me,” Alan Parsons Project

I recently picked up the 2-CD Definitive Collection from this band, which used to be one of my favorites. This isn’t my favorite APP song (which is probably “La Sagrada Familia”), but it’s one of the most beautiful pop songs ever.

“Duck and Cover,” Glen Phillips

Proving that I sometimes listen to new music, this is a new solo album from the former lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket. I first heard this song a month or two ago when it seemed I was stressed from having so many people around me stressed, and it helped reground me in an outlook I’d lost sight of. (All of the people who are stressed around me need to listen to this, too.)

“Ever Dream,” Nightwish

There are a whole lot of Nightwish songs I could put here, and some are arguably better songs, but this is the one I’m most likely to hit “repeat” on currently. I don’t like most metal bands (really, the last hard rock band I got into was Sisters of Mercy), but this is one I make an exception for. (And yes, alinsa, I know they’re progressive metal and it’s different. Of course, Alan Parsons Project was pretty much progressive pop, and further on down this list is progressive country.)

“Good Girls Go To Heaven,” Pandora’s Box

Yes, you may have heard this in the Meat Loaf version, but with the possible exception of rancourt you probably haven’t heard the original. It’s a lot better, sounding a lot more like his work on “Streets of Fire” than his work with Meat. Like nearly all songs from Jim Steinman, it’s glorious cheese, just as the name would imply.

“Making Love (Out Of Nothing At All),” Bonnie Tyler

Forgive me. I hate the Air Supply version of this song, also by Steinman. Steinman also wrote Tyler’s big hit, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and if anyone else tries to sing “Eclipse” it’s a miserable failure. See, the lyrics are utter nonsense and the only reason the song works is that Bonnie Tyler could be reading a fucking Pizza Hut flyer and make it sound emotionally ravaged. This is like that, but even more so.

“You Dance,” Eastmountainsouth

The threatened progressive country. Actually, this song could get airplay on non-country stations, if the stations weren’t wussy; it’s got a hint of country twang to it, but it manages to sound simultaneously acoustic and techno. It’s a happy bouncy song, and unlike the happy bouncy Steinman song (“Good Girls”), isn’t embarrassing to admit to!

And, I know I’m supposed to tag other people with this. Grumble. But, I’d be curious to see responses from…

• shaterri
• tacit
• kereminde

Comments

[kereminde.livejournal.com]

. . . you asked, and you shall recieve. And because I have been on a very "music" kick lately, you're going to get change back for that 2c you're asking me to give out :)

[padfootsm.livejournal.com]

Has too many songs he could list. ^_^

[rancourt.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, have you heard the "Eclipse" on Tanz Der Vampire, Steinman's muchly-feared-and-rightly-so stage musical about vampires?

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes -- at least the demo version sung by Steve Barton and Elaine Caswell. And, they do pull it off. (Although after getting the Pandora's Box album, Steinman's strange habit of recycling material was even more pronounced -- both the spoken introduction to "Eclipse" and the music for the ending stanza are from the opening of "Original Sin.")

I've heard a techno version of "Eclipse" fairly recently that was okay but prosaic, and about a decade ago there was a dance bubblegum pop version by Nikki French that made me want to ream out my eardrums.

[chastmastr.livejournal.com]

But is it feared in a good way, or feared in the "Carrie! The Musical" way?

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

It depends on which production. :)

"Dance of the Vampires" is based on a horror-comedy by Roman Polanski. The original stage production (in Germany, as the "Tanz der Vampire" name probably suggests!) was actually directed on the stage by Polanski himself, and the stills I've seen from it are really, REALLY over-the-top gothic. The impression that I get is that it's a comedy in the manner of "The Lost Boys": funny, but the scary parts are nonetheless meant to be actually scary. There's actually two productions in Germany and while I'm not sure both are still running, they've been going for years. We're talking about unqualified success.

Originally, for the Broadway production, Jim Steinman was supposed to direct, with Michael Crawford (the Phantom from "Phantom of the Opera") starring. However, during rehearsals, the producers decided they wanted something different and fired Steinman, and brought in new directors who'd recently done the moderately successful comedy "Urinetown," about a turn-of-the-century town trying to put in a sewage system (no, really) -- which was, as you might guess, very broad farce. What eventually got to the stage in Broadway was, well, a broad farce. Steinman disowned the project and refused to attend its opening night. It didn't die quite as quickly as "Carrie" (I don't think!) but it came awfully close, and there was more than one comparison drawn between the two by critics.

I'm not sure the original one would have succeeded here, of course -- as rancourt noted, it reused the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and I suspect drew on a few other Steinman pop songs, as he's rather notorious for recycling his own work. In Germany, either they don't care or they genuinely appreciate this, as witnessed by the success Eric Woolfson had in recycling Alan Parsons albums into stage musicals (both "Gaudi" and "Turn of a Friendly Card" -- I won't count "Freudiana," since it was developed for the stage deliberately). In America, though, I'm not honestly sure a non-Steinman-loving audience would have ever bought "Eclipse" as a dark, serious duet between the vampire and his chosen victim. (If you hear the Barton and Caswell demo I referred to above and *completely forget* the Bonnie Tyler version, it does work. Even though the new lyrics don't make that much more sense than the old ones...)

[ravagefox.livejournal.com]

Woah, awesome. You Like Alan Parsons Project too? ^__^

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

I do, yes. I have most of the albums he did after the Project broke up, but realized I don't actually have most of the previous ones, which is why I bought the collection. (I used to have many of them on cassette tape, which probably really dates me. At least I never owned an 8-track!)

[ravagefox.livejournal.com]

My favorite album was 'Greatest Hits Vol. 1' It was the only album we had for the longest time, til maybe three years ago. It was mine and my mom's. Every once in a while I get choked up trying to sing "Old and Wise."