Chris James's Blog, page 20

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #11: The Moody Blues, Question

Although the core of this track is a fairly syrupy love song, it is bracketed by the most powerful and urgent demand rock music has ever produced: “Why do we never get an answer/When we’re knocking at the door/With a thousand, million questions/About hate and death and war?”  This question, first aired in 1970, is more relevant than ever today, as the Western industrial/military machine continues to grind all under its heel.  And one can only wonder how powerful the impact of this track must have been on audiences who had at that time heard nothing like it.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #12: Steve Hackett, Spectral Mornings

The title track from Hackett’s third solo album is his best single piece of composition, a reflective yet enchanting melody which can bring comfort like the best of friends.  However, in an outstanding example of taking a work of art to the next level, in 2015 David Longdon (of Big Big Train fame) wrote and sang lyrics to the track, which created a completely new dimension to what was already a remarkable song.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #13: Phil Collins, Take Me Home

Collins’ most accomplished solo piece, Take Me Home has a percussion part which manages to be hypnotic, pulsating and wistful at the same time, and which proves beyond doubt that, first and foremost, he is the greatest drummer of his generation.  The lyrics, about a disturbed patient in an asylum, make this an ideal song for those days when one’s grip on reality really starts to slip (we all have those days, right?).  Collins is the most commercially successful member of Genesis for a very good reason, and his unerring ability throughout his career to describe so plainly emotions which many of us feel absolutely demands respect.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #14: The Beach Boys, Lady Lynda

Another example of a song where everything fits together perfectly.  Al Jardine took some Bach, wrote a smoochy lyric for his then-wife, and the rest of the band did their gorgeous harmonies over a terrific piece of classical music.  As a side note, after Jardine and his wife divorced, he rewrote the lyric to call the song Lady Liberty, which was probably less amusing than it initially sounds.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #15: Rush, Red Barchetta

Science-fiction storytelling at its best, this song was inspired by the Richard Foster short story A Nice Morning Drive.  Like all good science fiction, the listener is left to work out what is going on for him/herself: what is “the Motor Law” of which the narrator sings?  What could the two-lane-wide “gleaming alloy air car”, which begins to chase the narrator, actually look like?  And if it’s called an “air car”, how can the narrator avoid his fate by simply driving down a single-lane track which is too narrow for his pursuers?  In any case, this is a terrific rock song which gets your feet tapping, head banging, and imagination wondering.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #16: Genesis, Supper’s Ready

Supper’s Ready is undoubtedly the best song to come out of the 1970s progressive rock era.  Divided into seven sections, this 23-minute behemoth shines in the history of progressive music at, or very close to, the apex of inventive song writing.  The song plays out like a symphony with more aural twists and turns than you can shake a stick at, while the lyrics are sufficiently vague to leave much room for interpretation.  As Gabriel said, Supper’s Ready: “… [is] a personal journey which ends up walking through scenes from Revelation in the Bible…  I’ll leave it at that.”  I for one am glad he did, as it inspired me to write and publish The Final Battle in my short story collection, called- (This post has been cut due to reasons of ham-fisted cross-promotion.  Ed.)

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #17: Bachman Turner Overdrive, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

This is a track I listen to often when plotting stories.  A story needs this foot-tapping pace to propel the reader through it, as well as those vocal hesitations to misdirect the reader into expecting one thing, while the story delivers something altogether different.  As a writer, I always intend that my reader should finish each story with the feeling of, “Well, I didn’t see that coming!” because if they don’t, then the story hasn’t done its job (and, by extension, neither have I).  Whatever you write, remember that you want the reader to feel that they ain’t seen nothin’ yet; in fact, that they ain’t even been around, baby!  (Subs pls check: Has James mixed up his dosages of vitamin pills with the mood-swing suppressants?  Ed.)

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #18: Slade: Far, Far Away

For all their commercial success in Britain, the enduring mystery with Slade is how they failed to take their vast UK popularity to an international stage.  It might have been the very British nature of their output; it might have been merely bad timing.  Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that Holder and Lea knew how to construct a pop song, and this is one of their best melodies matched with warm-hearted, reflective lyrics.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #19: Rush, Anagram (for Mongo)

Dyed-in-the-wool Rush fans are wont to describe all of their favourite band’s studio albums as being “like greatest hits albums”.  They have a point: from 1976’s 2112 through to 1993’s Counterparts, it is difficult to argue against the remarkably high level of song writing and musicianship on display.  For me, 1989’s Presto comes closest, as I could have easily included every song from it on this list.  However, Anagram (for Mongo) has a couple of things which sets it fractionally above the rest: firstly, the piano break in the middle is on exactly the same wavelength as my thoughts; secondly, all of the lyrics are cryptic crossword clues, and there is as much pleasure to be had with these clues as there is in listening to the music.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.

100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #20: Supertramp, Take the Long Way Home

This is the stand-out track from the album Breakfast in America, a song which works on two distinct but contradictory, yet related, levels.  As Hodgson himself explained in a 2010 interview with Acoustic Storm: “I’m talking about not wanting to go home to the wife, take the long way home to the wife because she treats you like part of the furniture, but there’s a deeper level to the song, too. I really believe we all want to find our home, find that place in us where we feel at home, and to me, home is in the heart and that is really, when we are in touch with our heart and we’re living our life from our heart, then we do feel like we found our home.”

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.