Trollheart

I really wanted to do something by progressive rockers Big Big Train, but they seem to have a very tight rein on what's allowed onto YouTube. The only one I could get that wasn't live is from their official channel, and comes from an EP.

Title: “Wassail”
Format: Album (EP) track
Written by: David Longdon
Performed by: Big Big Train
Genre: Progressive Rock
Taken from: Wassail
Year: 2015
Acclaim: n/a

I've never even heard this, so let's give it a go. Isn't “wassail” an old English word, something to do with Christmas, or hunting? Has a very medieval sound alright, almost minstrel-like. Odd. I know BBT are all about going back to the good old English countryside, tea with the vicar and all that, nature and the Garden of England, but this seems a little forced perhaps. It's okay, but I have a feeling at seven minutes plus it's going to feel way too long. It was.

Things I like about this :

1. Good rhythm
2. Violin
3. Organ runs
4. Nice midsection on cello (maybe violin, never really sure)
5. Nice reel or something there near the end

Things I don't like about this:

1. Not mad about the Olde English idea here, bit Tullesque?
2. Way too long
3. Bad ending



Rating:

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Title: “Train song”
Format: Album track
Written by: Tom Waits
Performed by: Tom Waits
Genre: Rock
Taken from: Franks Wild Years
Year: 1987
Acclaim: n/a

If I had to pick my least favourite Waits album it would not be Franks Wild Years, however it is far from my favourite. In fact, of the six albums released by him between 1978 and 1992, this would definitely be the one I play least. It has some great songs, but I feel some of them are a little below par, and this is not helped by the fact that two of the songs come in two different versions, which, though there are seventeen tracks on the album, for me cuts down on the original songs. There are some ones I enjoy though, and this is one of them.

Things I like about this :

1. The desperate howl of Waits as he sings this
2. The accordion
3. The idea in the lyric
4. Sparse kind of melody; Waits' vocal definitely carries the song

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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Title: “Long twin silver line”
Format: Album track
Written by: Bob Seger
Performed by: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Genre: Rock
Taken from: Against the Wind
Year: 1980
Acclaim: n/a

Somewhat in the same vein as “City of New Orleans”, this song features a train indeed going from Chicago to California but whereas Goodman visualised the end of the railroad (literally, the end of the line) for the City of New Orleans, Seger exults in the speed and power of the train and it's almost like it's a living thing: indefatigable, indestructible, unstoppable. The exuberance he puts into the performance of this song really makes you wish you were there with the train “Rollin' into California, right on time!” Ooh yeah!

Things I like about this :

1. The big sharp happy guitar
2. The energy and enthusiasm in the song
3. The chopping riffs
4. The imagery conjured up by the lyric

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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Title: “Love train”
Format: Single
Written by: Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff
Performed by: The O'Jays
Genre: Disco
Taken from: Back Stabbers
Year: 1972
Acclaim: No. 1 in the US, no. 9 in the UK

Some songs just don't need much writing about. You listen to this, you feel happy and you want to move. It's that simple. A perfect dancing song with a joyous and very basic motif of everyone loving everyone else: how can that be bad? Listen to it, if you don't know it (or even if you do) and see if you can stop yourself clapping your hands, singing and smiling.

Things I like about this :

Everything

Things I don't like about this:
Nothing



Rating:

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Title: “Took the last train”
Format: Single
Written by: David Gates
Performed by: David Gates
Genre: Pop
Taken from: The Goodbye Girl
Year: 1978
Acclaim: Meh, no. 30 in the US. Nothing like the title track did.

I was always a fan of Bread. That's the band, not the food. A lot of people give them stick for the same reasons they deride Air Supply – that they were basically a love songs band – and for much of their career that is true. Standards like “Baby I'm-a want you”, “If” and “Make it with you” were huge hits for them in the seventies and remain classics today. However this is from lead singer David Gates's solo album, which was also the soundtrack to the Neil Simon movie The Goodbye Girl, which in itself gave Gates his only major hit. I love that song, but I like this one too.

Things I like about this :

1. The sort of Latin, bossa-nova beat
2. The jangly guitar
3. The semi-French chorus
4. Saxamaphone

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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Title: “Mystery train”
Format: Album track
Written by: Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon
Performed by: Bon Jovi
Genre: Rock
Taken from: Crush
Year: 2000
Acclaim: n/a

One of four ballads on Crush, I really like this one. It has that kind of “trying to figure out what the woman thinks” idea that a lot of Bon Jovi's ballads depend on, so it's nothing new but I still like it. If you don't, that's fine but I'm a Bon Jovi fanboy to the end, so don't bug me.

Things I like about this :

Everything

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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And finally, just to annoy Tristan when he thought he was getting away with it...

Title: “When the fog rolls in”
Format: Album track
Written by: Pat Monahan, Greg Wattenburh, Butch Walker
Performed by: Train
Genre: Pop
Taken from: California 37
Year: 2012
Acclaim: n/a

Before anyone gives me stick, I'm not a Train fan. I listened to this album thinking it might be good, and the overall impression I came away with was sub-boyband, and an enduring desire not to listen to any more of their material. However there were two songs on it that gave me pause, and I featured them previously in The Playlist of Life under my “More Than Words” section. Of the two, this is the one I like best, which actually closes the album. It's a lovely ballad dealing with the immediate aftermath of a breakup, like immediate: the guy in the song is going back to collect his things, and reminiscing about how things were and the things he'll miss. Fuck Train, yes, but this is a beautiful and delicate song.

Things I like about this :

1. The piano lead
2. The lyric is mostly what impresses me
3. The chorus is pretty great

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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Trollheart

And that about wraps it up for trains. There are about sixteen thousand million songs written about trains, so it's not like I'm stuck for examples, but I don't want to stick on one subject for too long.

So this will be the next theme:

Yup. Mountains. Songs about mountains, songs by bands with mountain in their names, songs involving mountains. Suggestions as always welcomed, though I have of course already got plenty of ideas.

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Title: “Runaway train”
Format: Single
Written by: Dave Pirner
Performed by: Soul Asylum
Genre: Rock
Taken from: Gravedancers Union
Year: 1993
Acclaim: No. 7 in the UK, no. 5 in the US

The first time I heard this (and subsequent times, before I found out who was singing) I could have sworn it was by Tom Petty. It's so like the kind of song he would write, and sing, and the vocal sounds uncannily similar to Petty's, so much so that I, in my naivete when I found out it was by Soul Asylum, thought it might be some pseudonym for Petty or some other project he was working on. It also didn't help that Petty also has a song called “Runaway trains” (although this one is pluralised), which I thought was this song. Great song in the end though, and a powerful video accompanying it about runaway children who have yet to be found, alive or dead.

Things I like about this :

Everything

Things I don't like about this:

1. Just the fact that he sounds so much like Petty, and I wasted time listening to Petty's “Runaway trains” before I found out who this was by. Gah!



Rating:

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Title: “Long train runnin'”
Format: Single
Written by: Tom Johnson
Performed by: The Doobie Brothers
Genre: Pop/Soul
Taken from: The Captain and Me
Year: 1973
Acclaim: No. 8 in the US and again no. 7 in the UK on its re-release twenty years later.

I was never a fan of the Doobie Brothers, but for some reason I still can't remember I bought a double-live album by them when young. I can't remember if I liked it – probably bought it for “Minute by minute” or “Listen to the music”, and probably second hand at that – but this was on it and I do remember it. Apparently worked out from a jam they used to do on stage, it became one of their biggest hit singles. Does it even feature the title in the lyric? Don't think so. Not surprising as it was called various things before it finally became a proper song.

Things I like about this :

1. That funky guitar opening and recurring riff
2. That vocal harmony
3. Then the percussion kicks in
4. That sweet blues harmonica!
5. The sudden slowing down near the end

Things I don't like about this:

Nothing



Rating:

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