Friday, September 25, 2009

The Greatist Recordings of all Time

46."Shayla"-Blondie

A lesser known track but one of "Blondie's" best songs shows why todays artists
still long for and sometimes get that magic technicolor sound of analog tape.The intro
is a magnificent tease of guitar and keyboard sounds before a the very real sound of
live drums comes crashing in to propel the songs "cosmic energy".
"Shayla" is bittersweet-but who can deny it's ethereal beauty and compelling
artistry-that is Blondie at thier best.Shayla is a masterpiece and truelly deserving
to be included as one of the greatist recordings of all time.

Monday, September 14, 2009

THE GREATIST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME

45."Jump into the Fire"-Harry Nilsson

Harry Nilsson was a pop songwriters pop songwriter.His way with words and melodies
attracted nearly every big pop rock act from the 60's and the 70's not only as his fans
but as his friends;including "The Beatles". He wrote hit's for other artists,"One" for
Three Dog Night and used his big multi-octave voice to propell song's like Badfinger's
"Without You" and songwriter Fred Niels "Everybodys Talken'" from the film Mid-
night Cowboy to the top of the charts.
"Jump into the Fire" employs an extremly catchy bass line,with a deep infectious
groove,accented by rocking guitar riff's into one gigantic unstopable mass of pop/rock
energy.It was Harry's only foray into the harder rock arena;but it was an unforgetable
one that became one of Harry's trademark songs.

Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2009-all rights reseved

Saturday, September 12, 2009

THE GUITARS ANCIENT HISTORY

When we think of the guitar we tend to think of it as being modern or at least
more recent than the instruments of a modern orchestra.This is not the case.The fore-
runners of the guitar,the gitern from the middle east{with 5 strings}reached spain when
the muslim empire was at it's peak and had grown to include the southern part of spain.
This explains why the 6-sring guitar evolved out of spain somewhere between 1600-1700
The piano and the modern canon of orchestrial instruments were just starting to take
thier final shape and be perfected.So in differant forms the guitar had allready been
around for 4 or 5 hundred years;and that's much earliar than the instruments of a
modern orchestra.The only instrument older than that of the gitern and various
lute type instruments-which go way,way back in time-is the flute.Complex flutes
have been unearthed which date back at least 30,000 to 40,000 years-indicating
the important relationship between the the modern human mind and music.

Written by Pete Holly-Copyright-2009-all rights reserved