Going Gaga over Evolution (SNS week of 2/22/2015)

LIVING THIS WAY:   Well, another weekend, another musical experience.   This time around it was the 87th Academy Awards, or the "Oscars" as it seems to be "officially" called these days.    Congratulations to the winners, which include "Birdman" for Best Picture and also to everyone else.   Music was again a part of things, with three performances of note.

Winning Best Song was "Glory" from the movie Selma, about civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as performed by John Legend and rapper Common.    It definitely was a bone-chilling performance, evoking the emotions and struggles back in the day.  It was very deserving of the award, and the performance was top-notch.

Tim McGraw also did a very moving performance of country and pop legend Glen Campbell's "I'm Not Gonna Miss You", the last song he had written before his forced retirement due to Alzheimer's.   The song reached the lower regions of the Billboard Hot 100 late last year.  There was some discussion on my Facebook page about this.   Glen is still alive, but just to see someone succumb to this horrible disease is very sad.

And then there's Lady Gaga, who delivered the most surprising performance, singing a medley of songs from "The Sound of Music", saluting that musical's fiftieth anniversary.    After the performance the movie's star, Julie Andrews came out and congratulated her.

OK, so we know Gaga as this wild pop diva who seems to always come out and dress up in some outrageous costume and sing the pop songs of the day.    Nobody really knew who was inside the mask, so to speak.    Her songs were typically pop-catchy.    In the late 2000's, she took the pop airwaves by storm, ushering in a new era of music, along with Katy Perry.    2008 saw her first single reach #1, "Just Dance".   Her next one, 2009's "Poker Face', also not only hit the top but landed at #100 on my newly-reinstated year-end list of that year.  A few top tens later came "Bad Romance" which was on my first blog list in August 2010 as was her new single, "Alejandro".   That song reached #7 on my blog, her only song to reach my top ten on SNS.  

Born This Way came out in 2011, and with it, comparisons to Madonna.     There was flack about the title track being similar to The Material Girl's "Respect Yourself", as well as an alleged feud between the two starts.  Also, the flamboyant Gaga was getting more outrageous, much like Madonna did in the eighties and nineties.    Born This Way, while still confining her to pop, did expand within those limits musically.   The title track was her only #1 national hit from that set but several others made the top ten.   Three songs reached the top 20 of SNS; "Judas" (#19), "The Edge of Glory", which featured the late Clarence Clemmons on sax hit #15, and "Marry the Night" #17.

Artpop came out next in 2013, but only yielded one Billboard hit, "Applause" at #4 (and the only one that made SNS at #30).  It seemed that Gaga's ability to shock was finally wearing thin.

Good artists, however, reinvent themselves, and Gaga's next record was a duet with the legendary crooner Tony Bennett.    Cheek to Cheek was a collection of vintage standards from the likes of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and many others.   Naturally, they didn't make the pop charts (something that Bennett's duet with Amy Winehouse did manage), but it presented a whole other side to Gaga; the two performed on the Grammy's.

But it was the Oscars that people really took note of Lady Gaga.    For one she wore a beautiful dress, but otherwise no weird make-up or outrageous costumes.    Although my Facebook friends were divided on her "looks" (some comparing her to a horse...yikes!), I think she was very beautiful and much like Miley Cyrus on SNL the weekend before, delivered an unexpected knockout performance of the Sound of Music medley.  

So where does she go now?    Does she leave pop music behind and know when her pop success has run out of steam?   It reminds me of Linda Ronstadt in the early 1980's when her 1982 set Get Closer bombed, at which time she turned to standards as well (with the What's New set).     As far as I am concerned, the sky is the limit with her.   She's only 28 (half the age of Madonna---more on that later), and she can plot her own course--similar to what fellow pop diva Pink has with her "You+Me" project.   It seems that pop radio is moving more towards the Taylor Swifts, Ariana Grandes and other pop vocalists these days.     Whatever happens, I am sure people see Gaga in a different light.

TOO OLD TO POP:   In contract, we have Madonna.    This week, during a performance at the Brit awards, she had a "wardrobe malfunction" and fell during a performance of her new single "Living For Love".   This comes a week after the BBC decided to ban anyone over 50 from the pop airwaves, something that has been done on this side of the Atlantic unofficially for some time now.

There was a discussion today (Thursday) on the CBS daytime show "The Talk", where, I believe it was Sharon Osbourne were discussing ageism in music that, perhaps if it was another genre other than pop, it would be acceptable.  What?   Just because top 40 radio is narrow-minded in their musical selection, age shouldn't be any factor.   If the music is right for pop radio, who cares who performs it?     I really don't get it.     Rihanna's song with Kanye West and Paul McCartney is in the top 5 right now but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it's because of Rihanna (and West), not Sir Paul.

If we applied this theory back to Top 40 music in, say 1966, the year I really got into listening to popular music, we'd be without, for example, Frank Sinatra.   You can't discuss the music of that year without mentioning the great song "Strangers in the Night", in which the Chaiman of the Board had a hit that summer at age 50.     

I haven't yet had an opinion on the new Madonna single which she also performed on the Grammys, I am slating to add it in the next few weeks if it's OK.    Say what you will about her, but I've liked much of her music for the last thirty-plus years, and if it's a good song, I won't hesitate putting it on my playlist.

ONTO THE GOOD STUFF:   I still have quite a backlog of music going back to my fall hiatus; thus some good stuff doesn't get added until weeks after they come out.   However, if it's by an artist I love and have looked forward to new product by them, I will move it up.    So it was almost an afterthought that I noticed a new Alabama Shakes song debuted on Billboard's Alt-rock chart.  It pretty much caught me by surprise, but then again, it has been three years since their last album.  Of course, I had recently added the track "Heartbreaker" from their debut 2012 Boys & Girls set, which is descending now.   But what timing, as the new single, "Don't Wanna Fight" comes onto my chart at #64.  The track is from the act's forthcoming second album Sound & Color which will drop in April.   Listening to this song, I will just say "wow".    You can put this one alongside "Weight of Love" by The Black Keys and Hozier's "From Angel of Small Death.....".  It seems to be a new wave of vintage blues-oriented rock, and I am happy about that.    This song is a bit more rhythmic than previous efforts, but the guitar work, and of course Brittany Howard's soulful voice just mask that danceable aspect of it right up.   

Another band with an female lead of color is right behind at #69, but the genre is quite different.    That would be the new single by The Big Takeover, the reggae-infused band from the Hudson Valley fronted by NeeNee Rushie which made a splash at last summer's Rosendale Street Festival have released the song from their Children of the Rhythm album, of which I had pulled the title track and placed it in the top 5 of my blog list at the beginning of this year.   This one is called "Dolphins", and it's worth listening to, at the very least, with this bitter cold winter weather we've been having this month.  But the song is much more than that, as Rushie mixes in the tropical rhythms with some soulful vocal delivery.    The song--and the album, for that matter--is a must, even if you're not a fan of reggae.  And if you can, catch them at a gig as they usually play pubs in the mid-Hudson Valley; not a far ride at all from Northern New Jersey.

MORE RHYTHM?:   I have been trying to find a good, definitive song from Brooklyn outfit The Drums.  Thus far, I've been lukewarm but I think I found a key track on their current Encyclopedia set.  "I Can't Pretend", their latest single, is a dream-poppish journey that should stand up to their best.  Different from their previous efforts but this is a good thing.   A nice aura of sound penetrates it, and should return them to my Top 20.  It enters at #85.

After that, the next song doesn't need an introduction, as it sits at #2 on Billboard's Hot 100.  "Think Out Loud" by current pop singer Ed Sheeran enters at #88, and a friend posted the song on Facebook today and got quite a few likes and comments on it.   Gee, I wish I could get that when I post new music, but oh well...the action does finally get an add from me onto my list.  Thus six songs in the national top ten are also on my list, with three others--Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Maroon 5---on my list to be added in the near future.    

Also debuting this week are My Goodness, a duo from Seattle with "Cold Feet Killer", followed by a cover of Paul McCartney's Band on the Run track, Bluebird by the soulful Corinne Bailey Rae.   It's been ages since we've heard from her, and I am still awaiting new product from the jazzy-blues singer, but in the meantime, the song from a McCartney tribute album will do.     On the Tremors list is The New Basement Tapes, a "supergroup" of sorts featuring, among others, Elvis Costello and Marcus Mumford, and is based, as the band name suggests, lyrics based on Bob Dylan's "The Basement Tapes" that he recorded with The Band back in the 1960's.  Finally, I add U2's latest, a bit after the fact, "Every Breaking Wave", from their 2014 set Songs of Innocence.

THE UPPER ECHELON:   Cage the Elephant scores its second SNS #1 song, as "Cigarette Daydreams" takes the top spot, moving up from #3.  The song previously was #1 on Billboard's alternative chart, and joins "Come A Little Closer" which topped the SNS blog in late 2013.  Lucius, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, The Raveonettes and Foster the People round out the top 5, with The Black Keys, Belle & Sebastian, and last week's Top Debut Florence + the Machine, making big moves.

Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100

February 22, 2015

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	3	NUMBER ONE: CAGE THE ELEPHANT "Cigarette Daydreams" Album: Melophobia	11
2	4	Lucius - Hey, Doreen	9
3	1	St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Call Me	13
4	5	The Raveonettes - Killer in the Streets	7
5	2	Foster the People - Are You What You Want To Be	11
6	14	MOVER OF THE WEEK: THE BLACK KEYS "Weight of Love" Album: Turn Blue	3
7	18	Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line	3
8	6	Fitz and the Tantrums - Fools Gold	14
9	8	Cold War Kids - All This Could Be Yours	10
10	16	Calvin Harris f. John Newman - Blame	5
11	17	White Arrows - We Can't Ever Die	5
12	44	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK: FLORENCE + THE MACHINE "What Kind of Man" Album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful	2
13	13	Wizards of Winter - Gales of December	9
14	11	Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine	22
15	12	The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away	10
16	19	Foxygen - Cosmic Vibrations	6
17	9	Hozier - Take Me To Church●	25
18	21	Ariana Grande - Love Me Harder	6
19	23	Meghan Trainor - Lips are Movin'	6
20	10	Meghan Trainor - All About that Bass	14

21	22	Mark Ronson f. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk	5
22	31	The Kooks - Bad Habit	4
23	27	Fall Out Boy - Centuries	5
24	7	Taylor Swift - Shake It Off	12
25	32	Alvvays - Archie Marry Me	6
26	28	The Big Takeover - Children of the Rhythm●	17
27	30	The Decemberists - Make You Better	13
28	26	Christina Perri - Burning Gold	7
29	33	Fremont - All That I Needed	7
30	15	SomeKindaWonderful - California Love	11
31	43	Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)	4
32	24	The Fresh & Onlys - Animal of One	21
33	29	Vivian Girls - Take It As It Comes●	23
34	39	Waters - I Feel Everything	8
35	20	Yast - Heart of Steel	12
36	25	Foxygen - How Can You Really?	14
37	34	Fitz and the Tantrums - 6AM●	23
38	42	Catfish & the Bottlemen - Kathleen	6
39	35	Colony House - Silhouettes	13
40	36	The Orwells - The Righteous One	10
41	55	Taylor Centers - Wild	3
42	49	TV on the Radio - Happy Idiot	6
43	50	Launderettes - Red River	4
44	58	Phoebe Ryan - Mine	3
45	37	Lana Del Rey - Shades of Cool	11
46	67	Hozier - Angel of Small  Death and the Codiene Scene	2
47	48	Kendrick Lamarr - I	7
48	51	Kjband - Man of Few Words	5
49	47	Maroon 5 - Animals	10
50	56	Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire	3
51	54	Stater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends	8
52	53	Interpol - My Desire	5
53	38	Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing	11
54	40	Ty Segall - Tall Man Skinny Lady	12
55	71	Kelly Clarkson - Heartbreak Song	2
56	41	White Fence - Like That	15
57	52	Train - Cadillac, Cadillac	6
58	45	Jessica Lea Mayfield - I Wanna Love You	21
59	70	Sir Sly - You Haunt Me	3
60	46	A Day to Remember - End of Me	12
61	66	Brick + Mortar - Hollow Tune	4
62	59	SomeKindaWonderful - Reverse●	29
63	82	Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do	2
64	---	TOP DEBUT: ALABAMA SHAKES "Don't Wanna Fight" Album: Sound & Color	1
65	65	Imagine Dragons - I Bet My Life	9
66	69	Jungle - Time	21
67	72	Yelawolf- Till It's Gone	5
68	63	The Gaslight Anthem  - Get Hurt	17
69	---	The Big Takeover - Dolphins	1
70	57	Broken Bells - After the Disco	11
71	75	Taylor Swift - Blank Space	3
72	62	Valerie June - You Can't Be Told	30
73	64	Junior Prom - Cheap Thrills	7
74	74	Banks - Beggin For Thread	7
75	76	Deers - Bamboo	5
76	61	Alabama Shakes - Heartbreaker	15
77	79	Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed	8
78	81	Sam Smith - I'm Not the Only One	5
79	60	Lykke Li - I Never Learn	11
80	68	Sam Roberts Band - Shapesifters	19
81	91	George Ezra - Budapest	3
82	95	Blondfire - Waves	2
83	104	Glass Animals - Gooey	1
84	86	Weezer - Da Vinci	4
85	---	The Drums - I Can't Pretend	1
86	73	Misterwives - Reflections	8
87	93	Sam Smith - Stay With Me	13
88	---	Ed Sheeran - Think Out Loud	1
89	103	Milky Chance - Flash Junk Mind	1
90	102	Damien Jurado - Ohio	1
91	---	My Goodness - Cold Feel Killer	1
92	84	Julian Casablancas & the Voidz - Where No Eagles Fly	7
93	94	Alt-J - Every Other Freckle	2
94	---	Corinne Bailey Rae - Bluebird	1
95	83	Lorde - Yellow Flicker Beat	9
96	100	Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness - Cecilia & the Satellite	4
97	78	New Politics - Everywhere I Go	7
98	85	Airborne Toxic Event - Wrong	11
99	88	Brick + Mortar - Locked In A Cage●	42
100	98	Grouplove - Borderlines & Aliens	4

Tremors:

101

The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City

102

U2 - Every Breaking Wave

Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.

●    Songs with 25 or more plays on my iPod.

▲       Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.