"Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts

Seems the World Series hangovers are finally subsiding and votes for The Musical Guilty Pleasures are returning; "What's My Age Again" by Blink-182 scored a slim 26 points but generated a better response than some recent selections and included some nice commentary from the younger (more relevant?) demographic of the Guilty Pleasure audience (thanks, kids!).

This weeks selection is more music from the Dentist office (what better place to lay back and "drill" for for forgotten musical  treasures?).  A pair of excellent singer/song writers from Texas, Jim Seals and Dash Crofts crafted some nice stuff that, coming out of the psychedelic era, made you believe you were listening to jazz when, really, they were helping create the easy listening/soft rock genre you've since grown to hate.

A call-and-response melody riff that everyone knows, a totally swinging bass line over the verses, congas and flutes makes this a swinging jazz/pop tune as there was at the time. "Summer Breeze" was a great single for your days in junior high (was that really a sitar or a fuzz tone guitar?), and "We Will Never Pass This Way Again" was their song of substance, but "Diamond Girl" by Seals and Crofts  was their pop hit that stands the test of time.

Enjoy!

KO

"What's My Age Again?" by Blink-182

I first heard this song while doing my Daddy-Cab duties of driving my son and his pals home from school. Trying to keep my mouth shut and cease with the attempts at being cool (they always failed) I just put on Live-105 and listened to the music, and this song caught my ear. It's sounds like a fun song to play on each instrument, the break-down in the middle section is well played and a good idea, the combined guitar power chords and melody line in the ending are a nice touch for dynamics, and the energy is like a bit of chaos controlled just enough to make a hit single.

Of course, the lyrics are light-weight and the vocals are not stand-out, and imagine my surprise (not) when I found the video on youtube. Perfect, in a way, for what the song is about; just a newer version of "I hope I die before I get old", a message that, in rock and roll, never seems to get old.

The guilt? Liking light-hearted but well produced and played pop metal on a teenage radio station while driving kids to high school at my age. Man I'm old, but "What's My Age Again" by Blink-182 rocked pretty darn good.

Enjoy!

KO

"Denise" by Randy and The Rainbows

My apologies for the delay in recent postings, but something tells me we've all been a bit distracted by the current events of our local ball club...!!! Also had some technical difficulties of late (not sure how many folks actually saw The Monkees post I did), so I thought I'd try out a new format: Guilty Pleasures: The Music Edition Blog. Seems it may be easier to keep track of postings and results using Blogger (see "Voting Results: Master Song List" at top of this page), but unsure about the interaction between Blogger and Facebook. You can add your votes and comments either here or in Facebook, but Facebook may be easier for everyone to see. Let's see what happens...

And now for something on the easy side to get us going again?

There is an extensive catalog of Doo Woop vocal music from the 50s that we all know and love, but this song has always been one that I turn up.  The heavy 1/8 notes create a real moving feel that isn't in most of these songs, and I love the way they keep dropping the bass line out. The guilt? It's 50s Doo Wop, perhaps the most over-played music genre on the planet.

"Come Go With Me" was more popular, "Blue Moon" rocked more, but Denise by Randy and The Rainbows is a nice example of what skinny Italian guys from Queens can accomplish once they put their mind to it.

Enjoy!

KO