Six of The Rest

Favourites of 2011:
Album: Welcome 2 My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
Runner-Up: Quid Pro Quo - Status Quo
Honourable Mentions: Resolution - Dougie MacLean; Dust Bowl - Joe Bonamassa
The 'I'm sorry, I don't hear what all the fuss is about' Award (tied between):
Chickenfoot - Chickenfoot III and Wasting Light - Foo Fighters
Concert (attended): Peter Frampton, Glasgow, 2nd March
Concert (heard): Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Atlanta, 11th November

Favourites of 2010:
Album: Reimaginator - Rock Sugar
Runner-Up: Orchestrion - Pat Metheny
Honourable Mention: Fidelis - Pat Travers Band
The 'I'm sorry, I don't hear what all the fuss is about' Award (tied between):
Scratch my Back - Peter Gabriel; Omega - Asia; The Final Frontier - Iron Maiden
Concert (attended): Cheap Trick, Glasgow, 7th November
Concert (heard): Todd Rundgren, London, 6th February

Favourite Albums - Top 20 (no preference - alphabetical):
Boston - Boston (1976)
Camel - The Snow Goose (1975)
Deep Purple - Come Taste The Band (1975)
Dream Theater - Score (2006)
Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (1977)
Emerson Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
Emerson Lake and Palmer - Works Volume 1 (1977)
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive (1976)
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Genesis - Trick of the Tail (1976)
Journey - Trial by Fire (1996)
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)
Lone Star - Firing on all Six (1976)
Lucifers Friend - Mind Exploding (1976)
Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell (1977)
Pat Metheny - Secret Story (1992)
Todd Rundgren - Initiation (1975)
Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom (1973)
Wings - Band on the Run (1973)
Yes - Relayer (1974)
I found this incredibly hard to restrict to only a Top 20, but otherwise it would have had to expand to a Top 50 or even 100. And although at least four fifths of it is set in musical stone, the other 20% I find is constantly 'subject to change.'


Favourite Concerts (pop/ rock/ symphonic) - Top 20 (no preference - alphabetical):
Blue Oyster Cult (Spectres Tour) - Glasgow Apollo 1977
Cheap Trick - The ABC O2, Glasgow 2010
Francis Dunnery - King Tuts, Glasgow 2005 (inc. 'impromptu' unplugged set)
Rory Gallagher (Jinx Tour) - Glasgow Apollo 1980
Billy Joel (River of Dreams Tour) - Glasgow SECC 1994
Journey/ Pat Travers Band (double headliner) - Glasgow Apollo 1979
BB King - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow 2001
Matchbox 20 - Glasgow SECC 2005
Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau - Glasgow Carling Academy 2007
Queen (The Crazy Tour) - Glasgow Apollo 1979
Todd Rundgren (Arena Tour) - The Picture House, Edinburgh 2008
Rush (30th Anniversary Tour) - Glasgow SECC 2004
Slade (The Christmas Gigs) - Glasgow University 1984
Robin Trower (Victims of the Future Tour) - Glasgow Apollo 1980
Utopia (The London Shows) - Victoria Theatre, London 1978
U2 (The Unforgettable Fire Tour) - Barrowlands, Glasgow 1984
Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow 2006
Wolfstone (The Half Tail Tour) - Gaiety Theatre, Ayr 1995
Yes (Symphonic Tour) - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow 2001
Yes (35th Anniversary Tour) - Glasgow SECC 2003
Another list that's hard to restrict and subject to some change, although I have also seen some howlingly bad shows amongst the hundreds upon hundreds of concerts, club gigs, musical events and festivals I have attended. 


Favourite Vocalists:
Jon Anderson (Yes/ solo/ other projects)
David Byron (1947-85) (Uriah Heep/ solo/ other projects)
Brian Connolly (1945-97) (The Sweet)
Dennis DeYoung (Styx/ solo)
Steve Perry (Journey/ solo)
Robin Zander (Cheap Trick)
The most powerful musical instrument is the most natural musical instrument and one that can make the most emotional impact - the voice.
And I'll take an average song carried by a great singer over a great song delivered by an average singer any day of the week.


‘Six of the Worst' (The evil 'Mirror Universe' equivalent of Six of The Best):
Agadoo - Black Lace
The Birdie Song - The Tweets
If - Telly Savalas
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
The Final Countdown - Europe
Open Arms - Mariah Carey

'Agadoo' and 'The Birdie Song' are two seriously infectious songs, but let's not forget that most serious infections cause a great deal of pain and discomfort.

'Agadoo' is the ultimate inane sing-a-long party-dance holiday song (it makes 'Macarena' sound like 'Stairway to Heaven'), while 'The Birdie Song' is its partner in crime as the ultimate dance-along (instrumental) party tune.

I envy those of you who have never heard either and for those of us who have heard them, even if only a few times, it's too late - any mention of the songs trigger the entire playback in your head...

There are a few song 'narrations' that are truly brilliant, such as 'A Hard Day's Night' by Peter Sellers. Some are truly hilarious (intentionally or otherwise) - 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' by William Shatner is a great example.
And then there are those that have you looking for a rope to hang yourself.
Not so much "If," Mr Savalas, as "Why?"

'Achy Breaky Heart' and 'The Final Countdown' are actually similar beasts - both sold by the absolute bucketful and are amongst the favourite songs of many, but for me they are everything that's wrong with their respective musical genres.

ABH is the peak (or trough) of commercial pop based country foot-tap-alongs.
The song that launched a thousand line-dancing clubs makes Shania Twain's manufactured country-pop-by-numbers hits almost listenable. Almost.

Europe's hit suffers a similar fate in that it truly is the definitive melodic metal song, but with every cliche' in the book thrown into the mix...
Naff lyric, infectious synth driven melody line (there's that infection again), fast flurry of notes guitar solo, harmony chorus sing-a-long and, visually, the poodle-haired spandex bedecked video that set a template that many would follow.
The perfect marriage of formula and fashion (of the day).

And so to 'Open Arms' by Mariah Carey.
The original, by Journey, is one of the most powerful and well known power ballads in the business and Steve Perry's vocal on that original (and his definitive live rendition from Houston in 1981), as regards lyrical phrasing, vocal control and delivery is, arguably, unsurpassable.

Miss Carey takes a different approach.
She throws what seems like her entire vocal repertoire over each line and thus makes it all about her voice, not the melody or the lyric.
The song therefore loses any of it's original grace and becomes the opposite of the original - lyrically passionateless and vocally uncontrolled.
Vocal interpretation is all in the ear of the beholder, of course, but for me it's a criminal cover, and the (im)perfect end to my 'Six of the Worst.'