Springsteen's political views come through quite clearly on "Magic". Even though there are no direct anti-Bush protest songs, the whole album pretty much reflects Springsteen's alienation with the direction his country has taken in recent years. It's excellent lyrically, but unfortunately suffers from the same problem as his albums "Born in the USA" or "The Rising": The songs sound just a little too upbeat and polished for their serious subjects.

Lots of interesting new releases this fall. Neil Young is due in two weeks with "Chrome Dreams II", the sequel to an unreleased album (?!). It will feature an 18-minute version of the song Ordinary People (part 2 on YouTube here ). Meanwhile Melissa Etheridge has also made a pretty good album again. A few songs towards the end leave little doubt that her political views aren't dissimilar from Springsteen's. Here's Imagine That and the more, hmm, personal Threesome .

Here is a music video of a hit song from back in the year 1982 by a group called "A Flock of Seagulls."

Those were the early days of music videos on MTV, and, if I remember correctly, this video of the song, "I RAN (SO FAR AWAY)", was considered a "classic" early MTV music video.


Chess Fan

And now, for your listening pleasure, here is the "CLASSICAL PIECE" that my dear wife Edna walked down the aisle to at our wedding more than 11 years ago now; (although the version that was played at our wedding was a bit different from the version that I linked to on YouTube for this post.)


Chess Fan

Melissa Etheridge is very direct in her lyrics, Littlefish, not much room for interpretation Which may bo good or bad, not sure. Nice melodies.

Well, as I said there are only a few "political" songs on the new Melissa Etheridge album. Here's another of the non-political ones, California (nothing to do with the Governator ). And her duet with Bruce Springsteen from her MTV Unplugged concert, Thunder Road .

Speaking of political albums, Steve Earle has made one a while ago that doesn't leave much room for interpretation either, but is also excellent musically, The Revolution Starts Now .

Friday the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. Bono is mentioned as an outsider. Miss Sarajevo-Bono, Brian Eno,Luciano Pavarotti

And, to supplement the "Classical Piece" that I linked to in my quote above, here is THE VERY SAME "CANON IN D" PIECE being done in a more jazzed-up, electric guitar version.


Chess Fan

Hehe. I programmed a version of Canon in D last year, and one of the ways I kept certain kids interested was by showing them this very video.

If we're going the guitar hero route, here's something I just found. Not the greatest solo I've ever heard (though it's pretty damn good) but I really like watching this guy play -- very fluid, extremely relaxed, great technique. I could use this to demonstrate the importance of keeping the tension out of your arms, fingers, shoulders etc when playing. In fact, I think I'll do just that! Here's the video .

Rondino:

For that guitar soloist's being a young looking guy, he already does an EXCELLENT JOB, (when he does it), of "simultaneous eight finger picking" sections on the electric guitar!!

And, yes, also, for his being a young guy, like rondino said, he DOES have a very relaxed style of playing, much like an older, long-time veteran electric guitar player!

** Yes, rondino, that IS a good instructional short video in electric guitar playing. **


Chess Fan

Bah. That guy doesn't even have a giant guitar. Try Buckethead instead. The last thirty seconds are more beautiful than most things dreamt of by players of ordinarily-sized guitars.