Trollheart

Title: “After the Love Has Gone”
Artiste: Earth, Wind & Fire
Nationality: American
Year: 1979
Genre: Soul, R&B
Subgenre:
Source: The EWF album I Am
Written by: David Foster, Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin
Chart position(s) (Singles only): US: 2
Storyline: Basic love song charting what happens when the spark is gone and the affair is over
Main instrument:
Other version(s) by: James Last (1979), Airplay (1980), Lynn Davis (1981), Jay Greedon (1993), David Benoit and Russ Freeman (1994) as well as others including Donnie Osmond and Ryan Shaw.
Comments: Soul, funk and r&b has never been my thing, yet it's hard to ignore the impact of Earth, Wind & Fire, from bouncy disco numbers like “Fantasy” and “September” to this, and at its core it's a sumptuous love ballad which agonises over what happens when the fire goes out and there's no love left between two people. The idea of clinging on to a relationship after it has petered out contains a certain note of anger in the lyric: “After the love has gone/ How could you lead me on?” - as if the woman has been continuing to pretend she is still in love with the man though the feelings are now dead. Pretty depressing really, but a really lovely soul ballad with lush orchestral arrangements washing over it, and some fine trumpet from Jerry Hey. Excellent vocal harmonies as ever from EWF and an inspired sax solo from Don Myrick makes this a deserved classic.
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Key

I don't know if this counts, but Anathema's Weather System album is full of slow but amazing songs. This particular one is my favorite.

Trollheart

Title: “Untouchable, Part 1”
Artiste: Anathema
Nationality: British
Year: 2012
Genre: Rock
Subgenre: Prog rock, post-rock, alt-rock
Source: Album Weather Systems
Written by: Daniel Cavanagh
Chart position(s) (Singles only): n/a
Storyline: Not sure; think it's a basic love song and a song about surviving?
Main instrument: Acoustic guitar
Other version(s) by:
Comments: The first song submitted by a member (may end up being the only one), this is something I haven't heard before. I think I heard Anathema's We're Here Because We're Here, though I couldn't swear to it, but this is the first track I've heard off Weather Systems. There's a really nice kind of rolling, rippling guitar underpinning the melody here, with a gentle laidback vocal. Nearly two minutes into its six-minute-plus run midtempo percussion cuts in and the tempo of the song increases slightly, as it takes on a somewhat different shape. Sharp electric guitar now in the third minute and a more impassioned vocal. Only halfway through the song and so much happening already!

Couldn't really call it a ballad, not even a power ballad, but it certainly fits in with the idea of what I have here. Not every song has to be a piano ballad or a lovesong, and this one is really good. Increases in power as it goes along, the sound really filling out. Great guitar lead out into a sort of orchestral thing with cello or violin, slowing everything down to the original tempo. Lovely. I won't post the video again as it's in the previous post if you want to listen to it, which you should. Thanks for that, Ki!
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Key

No problem! I figured it'd be up your alley.

Trollheart

Title: “Ordinary World”
Artiste: Duran Duran
Nationality: British
Year: 1992
Genre: Rock (?)
Subgenre: Alt-rock
Source: Album Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
Written by: Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Warren Cuccurullo and James Bates
Chart position(s) (Singles only): UK: 6 US: 3
Storyline: I think it's about making the world a better place?
Main instrument: Guitar
Other version(s) by:
Comments: Oh hold your gasps of shock and surprise when I tell you I was never a fan of Duran Duran! Oh yes, I sneered at singles like “Rio”, “Girls on film” and “Wild boys”, though I did hide a sneaking admiration for “Save a prayer” - I'd never admit it back then of course. But Duran Duran had their moment in the sun, lasting from approximately 1981 to about 1986, four albums which set them at the top of the charts regularly and ensured the boys never had to worry about money again. But by the time the nineties hit they were being overtaken by new crazes and fresher bands, and it was becoming a case of “Duran who?” (Duran, mate: it's exactly the same word, twice. What don't you get?) and they even tried to “rebrand” themselves by appearing under the name Arcadia in 1985 but interest was already beginning to wane, and their next album, released the following year, would be their first ever not to crack the top ten, indeed it kind of scraped into the top twenty.

But for a brief moment, this song returned Duran Duran not only to the public eye but to the charts, scoring high on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a great song, kind of different to the sort of thing they usually used to put out, which were mostly upbeat love songs or enjoy yourself type of things, whereas this has more an almost universal message in it about changing the world. There's a great sort of jangling guitar intro to it, which makes a change for the Double D, and even the vocal seems, well, honest I guess. The song has a great hook and is really well put together, and when I saw it referred to on Wiki as alt-rock, well, it threw me at first but you know, yeah: it's not just another pop song. And it has Zappa's guitarist on it, so that can't be bad.
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Frownland

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Pet_Sounds

Since you're taking recs, how about...



I'm not sure what the "definitive" recording is, but you can't go wrong with this piece.

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Everybody's dying just to get the disease

Trollheart

"Clair de Lune" is indeed a beautiful piece and I will get to it, as I will to Frownland's rec. I'm not forgetting you guys, but at the moment I'm hip-deep in research on early German animation, so bear with me...

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grindy

Still shocked you're a ProgMetal fan and never listened to Psychotic Waltz.
At least check out their balladry.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.

Trollheart

Title: “Song to the siren”
Artiste: Tim Buckley
Nationality: American
Year: 1970
Genre: Folk
Subgenre:
Source: Album Starsailor
Written by: Larry Beckett and Tim Buckley
Chart position(s) (Singles only): n/a
Storyline: Basic love song? Not familiar with it at all but that's what it seems to be.
Main instrument: Guitar (only instrument, I think)
Other version(s) by: Most famously, Pat Boone in 1969, before Buckley's original was released, then, among others, This Mortal Coil (1983), The Chemical Brothers (1992), Sally Oldfield (1996), Robert Plant (2002) as well as many others including George Michael, Sinead O'Connor and Bryan Ferry.
Comments: Buckley's voice overpowers the reverb guitar which kind of ends up being in the background, but it works reasonably well. Very emotional, but almost too harsh for me: very in-your-face when I would prefer it was softer and gentler. Might even have worked better as an acapella, given the strength of his voice. Not really my style, have to say.
Rating:

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