TOP 100 OF 2014

The end of another year.   Looking back at the memories.  How was 2014 for you?  For me it was nothing to write home about and I am glad it's done.   And it takes a lot for me to say that because I have had some good times in many a year that others were glad it was history.    So for me, this year was better off buried.  But then there was the music which is what this blog is all about, right?  Wellll.....

I am not saying 2014 was a bad year for music; it, like many others was rather non-nondescript, with fluffy pop songs continuing to dominate the charts and some great, obscure talent confined to the sidelines.    Sure, some fun, catchy songs like "Happy", "All About that Bass" and "Shake It Off" permeated our minds during this calendar year, but with the exception of just a scant few, alternative rock (or rock of any kind) continued to be ignored by the masses this year gone by.

In April of this year, my 13-year old SUV broke down for good; in its place was a new, 2014 Subaru Outback.   It included a free three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM Radio.    Let's just say after the three months, I gladly renewed it.    There is a multitude of music channels to listen to.   Of course my favorite was Alt Nation as well as Sirius XM U.   Whereas before I often purchased songs for download just by looking at radio station playlists, or Billboard charts, or at best, friend's posts on Facebook, I can now actually hear the entire songs beforehand.   To me, Alt-Nation could very well have been a top 40 station with music that I like.

Then there's my blog itself.   Because of some of the other year's issues, I only wrote half as many as I normally to.   It is very time consuming, and as my workload increased, less time for the music interests.   In fact for the first month and a half, I blogged just twice and put my SNS 100 list on hold for three weeks.    It was then every two weeks through March and April and by May, I stopped completely.   After reaching a July work deadline, I tried to play catch up with blogs several times in a few weeks, covering two week intervals, until I almost caught up in late August.   Thus, summertime really didn't represent what music I was actually listening to.    Then another deadline on October 1 caused another suspension of my blog.   I lost my job shortly thereafter but still put off the blog until well in November.    

By then it was a difficult decision:  trying to once again catch up, or just jump ahead to the present and act like the ensuing twelve weeks didn't exist, with songs I was listening to the summer still on my playlist in mid November.     That's what I did and was happy to report that I finally kept a weekly schedule until the end of the year.

All that means that my annual Top 100, which I've been doing since 1974 (with the exception from 2004-2008) is a bit skewed since my chart was frozen (thus the songs gathering a large amount of points and staying on the list for a long, long time), and therefore favoring songs from the beginning of the year (and, in many cases, last year with several songs that made the 2013 list also present on this one.   The other side of that was that there were less "big" songs on the list; some songs that barely made the top 40 of my weekly blog list, did make the year-end list.

STILL PUMPED UP:   Foster the People's follow-up to their hugely successful 2011 full-length debut Torches, Supermodel was released early in the year and had produced my number one song for 2014, "Coming of Age".  It's sort of a restitution for their huge rock and pop hit "Pumped Up Kicks" settling for the #2 slot in 2011.  Although Supermodel didn't produce a huge pop hit nationwide, it did make the top five on the alternative chart in the spring and spent five weeks on the summit on my SNS chart.  Its follow up, "Best Friend" also topped my chart for three weeks and comes in at #23.

Fitz & the Tantrums, whose lead single from their sophomore effort More Than Just A Dream, "Out of My League" hit my top year end spot in 2013, come right back with their second single, "The Walker" coming in at #2 for this year.    It was another huge year for the neo-soul outfit:   "League" stayed on my list for 63 weeks and didn't fall off my chart until May of this year.  Both songs were #1 alternative hits.   The third single, "Fool's Gold" which is currently #2 on my list, was a late entry at #79.   Two album tracks that I featured, "Keeping Our Eyes Out" (an SNS #1 left over from last year) and "6 AM" also made my list this year for a total of four songs on the list.  No other artist had more than two.

Also notable is The Black Keys' release of their Turn Blue set, which featured "Fever" coming in at #5, set a record for eight weeks at the top spot during much of the summer.  New and/or developing artists artists making their mark on my chart include Young the Giant (#3), Tired Pony (#4) , MS MR (#8), Caveman (#9) and Haim (#10).

Straight-pop music still found a home in 2014 headed by Pharrell Williams with "Happy" at #6 and a late entry into the top 100, "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor at #96.  "Royals" by Lorde, one of the few songs that topped both Billboard's Hot 100 and SNS, is a holdover from last year at #90.   Zedd had two entries on the list, with "Clarity" (#28) and "Stay The Night" (#40).

"Local" artists also made an impact this year, with The Hounds of Winter's "Amy's World", produced by Tom Corea making the #7 position and two more entries from Rachel Allyn, who, along with the Eli Young Band, held up the country music banner on the list this year.    Local artist Paul Czekaj also made the list again this year with his tribute to the King, "Elvis in Heaven".   Finally a local artist of sorts--one who has been around for forty years, Bruce Springsteen released "High Hopes" which came in at #50.  Ireland's U2 was the only other artist around before 1990 to make the list.


 Finally, two artists met at festivals I went to were present also:   The Shannon Marsyada Trio from 2013's Jim Thorpe Fall Festival, at #11 with "What You Do To Me" and from this summer's Rosendale Street Festival, "Children of the Rhythm" by reggae outfit The Big Takeover, at #60.

Here is the list for 2014:

SCENES N' SOUNDWAVES TOP 100 OF 2014:

1		FOSTER THE PEOPLE "Coming of Age" Album: Supermodel
2		Fitz and the Tantrums - The Walker
3		Young the Giant - It's About Time
4		Tired Pony - All Things All At Once
5		The Black Keys - Fever
6		Pharrell Williams - Happy
7		The Hounds of Winter - Amy's World
8		MS MR - Think of You
9		Caveman - Shut You Down
10		Haim - Forever
11		Shannon Marsyada Trio - What You Do To Me
12		Kings of Leon - Temple
13		Capital Cities - Kangaroo Court
14		Phantogram - Fall in Love
15		SomeKindaWonderful - Reverse
16		Lucius - Turn It Around
17		Mac DeMarco - Chamber of Reflection
18		Broken Bells - Holding On For Life
19		Hozier - Take Me To Church
20		Broken Bells - No Matter What You're Told
21		Junior Prom - Sheila Put the Knife Down
22		Terraplane Sun - You Never Know
23		Foster the People - Best Friend
24		Cage the Elephant - Take It or Leave It
25		Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM
26		Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes
27		Kongos - Come With Me Now
28		Zedd f. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night
29		Brick + Mortar - Locked In A Cage
30		Lily Allen - Hard Out Here
31		Rachel Allyn- Triggerman
32		Jack White - Lazeretto
33		Wild Belle - Backslider
34		Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know
35		Hospitality - Going Out
36		Dum Dum Girls - Lost Boys and Girls Club
37		Calvin Harris - Summer
38		Man Man - Pyramids
39		Field Mouse - How Do You Know
40		Zedd f. Foxes - Clarity
41		Hellogoodbye - Everything Is Debatable
42		Wild Belle - It's Too Late
43		Avi Buffalo - So What
44		Afghan Whigs - Algiers
45		Lykke Li - No Rest of the Wicked
46		Paul Czekaj - Elvis in Heaven
47		Tacocat - Bridge to Hawaii
48		Eminem f. Rihanna - The Monster
49		Anna Calvi - Eliza
50		Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes
51		Temples - Shelter Song
52		Boyce Avenue - I'll Be the One
53		Young the Giant - Crystallized
54		Lorde - Team
55		Silversun Pickups - Cannibal
56		Katy Perry - Unconditionally
57		King Tuff - Sun Medallion
58		San Cisco - Fred Astaire
59		Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High
60		The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm
61		Cate Le Bon - Are You With Me Now
62		Lana Del Rey - West Coast
63		Capital Cities - Safe and Sound
64		The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One
65		The Fray - Love Don't Die
66		Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy
67		Alt J - Tesselate
68		Wild Cub - Thunder Clatter
69		Foxygen - How Can You Really?
70		Cold War Kids - Lost That Easy
71		Jessica Lea Mayfield - I Wanna Love You
72		Avicii - Hey Brother
73		Maroon 5 - Maps
74		Beck - Blue Moon
75		Those Darlins - In the Wilderness
76		Ylvis - The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)
77		New Politics - Tonight You're Perfect
78		No - Leave the Door Wide Open
79		Fitz and the Tantrums - Fools Gold
80		Vampire Weekend - Step
81		Eli Young Band - Drunk Last Night
82		Emiliana Torrini -Speed of Dark
83		Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws
84		Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Lariat
85		The Black Keys - Turn Blue
86		Strand of Oaks - Goshen '97
87		Portugal. the Man - Modern Jesus
88		Sleeper Agent - Waves
89		Fitz and the Tantrums - Keeping Our Eyes Out
90		Lorde - Royals
91		Vance Joy - Riptide
92		Rachel Allyn - Restless Times Call for Reckless Measures
93		U2 - Invisible
94		Terraplane Sun - Get Me Golden
95		The Orwells - Who Needs You
96		Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass
97		White Fence - Like That
98		Phoenix - SOS in Belaire
99		Temples - Keep In the Dark
100		Mind Spiders - The Steady

With a Little Help... (SNS week of 12/21/2014)

It's very early Christmas Eve, December 24 as I wrote this, and I, like many others are caught in the mad rush of the season.    Between listening to my "currents" SNS playlist on my iPod, the Sirius XM "Holly" channel, and going to a party which featured karaoke, music has been on my brain much lately.

And in the middle of the week, I got word that a rock legend passed away.  Joe Cocker, the prominent British performer, passed away from small cell lung cancer at the age of 70.    People can be forgiven if Cocker "fell through the cracks" when it comes to rock history.   When you think of the late 60's. you think of artists like Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills & Nash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the like.   Joe Cocker was like an afterthought.   But he really shouldn't be.

Although Cocker wrote some songs on his albums, is was his song styling that brought him to prominence.     In the lineage of rock history, 1968 was a very important year.   The Vietnam War was at its height, as well as the hippie counter-culture, but in a way it was a transition year.   From 1967 we had the end of garage rock and its psychedelic cousin, the Summer of Love and the Monterey Pop Festival.    Two years later, rock came of age, was more sophisticated and serious and full albums ruled over single records.   It was the year of Woodstock and Altamont as well.   Jam bands like the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead started to rule.

This change was noted throughout 1968, a year plagued by turmoil, including two assassinations.   Social conscience started to rule.     The year ended much different than it began.   Cocker was one of the main reasons.  He took a Beatles classic, "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends", a big track from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and made it his own; it became a drawn-out bluesy number which would echo the coming music of the day.    It sounded very different from the original.      The following summer, his performance was legendary at Woodstock, thus staking his claim in rock history.

His performances were unique.  He appeared on the variety shows Ed Sullivan and Tom Jones, the latter rather frequently.    As my Mom was a big fan of Jones, I got to watch him with his rather spastic, awkward movements but he certainly had a soulful voice.      By 1970, he was a force to be reckoned with.   Another unique cover, The Box Tops' "The Letter" was his biggest hit to date, and again, was quite different from the original.    Later that year, he took the torch song "Cry Me A River", brought it uptempo and had yet another hit.

All of the above, from his first three albums are what people will remember about Joe Cocker.  But he wasn't finished.    In 1975 he had his first top five hit with his cover of Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful".     He continued to release albums in the rest of the 1970's and all during the 80's.  He finally hit pay dirt with his only #1 song, "Up Where We Belong", a duet with Jennifer Warnes from the movie An Offer and A Gentleman.     Finally, in 1989 he had his final hit, "When the Night Comes" (which, despite eighties "dressing" still showcased his soulfulness),  but he continued to release albums right up to this decade, most recently 2012's "Fire It Up".

He will be missed.

SING ALONG:  Last weekend it seemed music played a part.    Friday night I wound up at the local Bells Mansion pub where I caught SNS regular and local talent Paul Czekaj, playing mostly vintage songs as well as some sing-a-long Christmas numbers including his "Christmas Is Forever" which made my top 100 holiday countdown this year.   The next night, it was on to some other friends' in Clintondale, NY for a Christmas Party where much of the night was spent doing karaoke (and it took a toll on my voice!).   Holiday songs, of course abounded, but...and further proving the reason why I add pop songs to my blog list--everyone joined into "Shake It Off" and "All About the Bass".   We also got a kick out of watching some of "Weird Al" Yankovic's videos from his most recent album, including "Word Crimes".    Finally, Sunday was the final tailgate party of the Jets' woeful season; but my friend Alan Corso still plays come great music, and featured "Take It As It Comes" by Vivian Girls' and "Heart of Steel" by Yast, no surprise given that's how I got familiar with them.   It's events like this cement my love for music, even in this day and age.

THE FINAL:  This is my final blog of the year and Foxygen heads the list for a third week with "How Can You Really", with Fitz & the Tantrums' "Fool's Gold" moving into the #2 slot.    Hozier again drops to #3.   As suspected last week, no holiday songs made the top 20 this year, with Kelly Clarkson's "Wrapped in Red" the big winner with a #25 ranking.  The Killers' are at #28, with The Wizards of Winter, the Frenchtown NJ ensemble produced by friend Tom Corea taking a huge jump from #89 to #29.  And a big "thank you" to Tom for mailing me the CD.   I may listen to this one well after the holiday season; so don't expect a big descent on this one.   Two more holiday entries enter this week:  Band Aid 30's "Do They Know It's Christmas" which I talked about last week, enters the main chart at #71, and how can you ignore Straight No Chaser?    They released a new single, the timely "Text Me Merry Christmas".    Although it seems they have been overshadowed the last couple of years by Pentatonix in the a capella department, SNC still have an edginess to them, as shown in the new song; definitely an anthem for the 2010's for sure.

AND LASTLY:  As I mentioned this is my last regular blog of 2014.    As many of you might know, it has been a rough year all around, for various reasons.    As a result, the blog had suffered from the beginning; often falling behind by several weeks, then during the spring, not evening doing one for almost two months.   The summer was one to have caught up, doing two weeks' worth at a time and almost made it back, only to stop for another two and a half months.   Finally, last month, I did a "time warp" to the present day and I am happy to say that the last couple months were timely (although many of the added songs, like the two pop gems mentioned above, are "late to the party").

As for continuing this next year, I am still not sure.   Hits on the blog have dipped since I re-introduced this; I need to decide whether to invest the time.   It is my way of keeping up with the current music and I have much to say in the coming weeks as I have read interesting accounts on why quality music is being ignored in favor of bland, soulless pop.   But that'll be a story for another time.

I will be, once again, compiling my Top 100 of the year although I'm not sure if I'll be counting them down--- I could use a break not only here but on Facebook as well.    Stay tuned.

Finally, for those who celebrate, Merry Christmas and a Happy and healthy New Year.


Scenes 'n' Soundwaves 100

December 21, 2014

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This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	1	NUMBER ONE: FOXYGEN "How Can You Really" Album: ...And Star Power (3 weeks at #1)	7
2	3	Fitz and the Tantrums - Fools Gold	7
3	2	Hozier - Take Me To Church	18
4	6	Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass	7
5	4	Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes	16
6	5	The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm	10
7	8	White Fence - Like That	8
8	7	The Black Keys - Turn Blue	8
9	10	The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One	14
10	14	St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Call Me	6
11	12	Ty Segall - Tall Man Skinny Lady	5
12	9	Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM	16
13	18	Foster the People - Are You What You Want To Be	4
14	21	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: CAGE THE ELEPHANT "Cigarette Daydreams" Album: Melophobia	4
15	20	Taylor Swift - Shake It Off	5
16	17	Yast - Heart of Steel	5
17	11	Strand of Oaks - Goshen '97	12
18	15	Jessica Lea Mayfield - I Wanna Love You	14
19	16	Alabama Shakes - Heartbreaker	8
20	13	SomeKindaWonderful - Reverse	22

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21	19	Interpol - All the Rage Back Home	6
22	22	The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt	10
23	28	SomeKindaWonderful - California Love	4
24	24	The Satelliters - I Said Yeah Yeah Yeah	8
25	34	Kelly Clarkson - Wrapped in Red	3
26	25	Phantogram - Black Out Days	10
27	23	Brick + Mortar - Locked In A Cage	35
28	30	The Killers - Joel the Lump of Coal	4
29	89	MOVER OF THE WEEK: THE WIZARDS OF WINTER "Gales of December" Album: The Wizards of Winter	2
30	27	Train - Angel In Blue Jeans	10
31	32	Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing	4
32	29	Grouplove - I'm With You	8
33	26	Sam Roberts Band - Shapesifters	12
34	35	The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away	3
35	40	Cold War Kids - All This Could Be Yours	3
36	36	You+Me - You and Me	5
37	37	Colony House - Silhouettes	6
38	31	Dum Dum Girls - Rimbaud Eyes	12
39	38	The Decemberists - Make You Better	6
40	41	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine	15
41	42	Pentatonix - Mary Did You Know	5
42	66	Lucius - Hey, Doreen	2
43	39	The Drums - Magic Mountain	8
44	46	A Day to Remember - End of Me	5
45	33	The Hounds of Winter - Amy's World	26
46	52	Idina Menzel (duet with Michale Buble) - Baby It's Cold Outside	4
47	55	The Orwells - The Righteous One	3
48	59	Lana Del Rey - Shades of Cool	4
49	51	Lykke Li - I Never Learn	4
50	44	The Eeries - Cool Kid	8
51	50	Idina Menzel - Let It Go	22
52	54	Valerie June - You Can't Be Told	23
53	64	Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me	4
54	45	Alt J - Left Hand Free	7
55	58	Jungle - Time	14
56	72	Bush - The Only Way Out	2
57	74	Meghan Trainor - I'll Be Home	2
58	78	Pentatonix - That's Christmas To Me	2
59	61	Broken Bells - After the Disco	4
60	68	Maroon 5 - Animals	3
61	47	Meg Myers - Desire	14
62	43	Foster the People - Best Friend	20
63	69	Guster - Simple Machine	3
64	48	Avi Buffalo - So What	16
65	49	The Orwells - Who Needs You	20
66	65	Kongos - Come With Me Now	35
67	83	Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life	2
68	86	Lorde - Yellow Flicker Beat	2
69	63	Royal Bangs - Better Run	12
70	71	Anna Calvi - Suddenly	4
71	----	TOP DEBUT: BAND AID 30 "Do That Know It's Christmas (2014)" (Single only)	1
72	57	MS MR - No Trace	8
73	80	Bear Hands - Agora	7
74	79	American Authors - Believer	5
75	56	Damien Jurado - Silver Timothy	26
76	60	MS MR - Think of You	26
77	82	Knox Hamilton - Work It Out	5
78	----	Straight No Chaser - Text Me Merry Christmas	1
79	77	The Griswolds - Beware the Dog	8
80	88	Jack White - Would You Fight For My Love?	3
81	----	Waters - I Feel Everything	1
82	53	Afghan Whigs - Algiers	28
83	62	Rachel Allyn - Restless Times Call for Reckless Measures	16
84	----	Misterwives - Reflections	1
85	67	The Kooks - Around Town	12
86	87	OneRepublic - Love Runs Out	5
87	70	The Black Keys - Fever	26
88	73	Kings of Leon - Family Tree	6
89	76	Milky Chance - Stolen Dance	14
90	91	Airborne Toxic Event - Wrong	4
91	94	Weezer - Back to the Shack	7
92	81	The Shins - So Now What	12
93	99	Digitalism f. Youngblood Hawke - Wolves	6
94	100	Lily Allen - Air Balloon	3
95	98	My Brightest Diamond - Pressure	6
96	----	Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed	1
97	----	Stater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends	1
98	90	Horse Thief - Devil	12
99	97	Benjaman Booker - Valent Shiver	7
100	75	Tacocat - Bridge to Hawaii	18