Mission Statement

Guilty Pleasures: The Music Edition is intended as a forum to review songs that were once considered out-of-favor. Readers are asked to rate the songs using a 10 point voting system (10=strong like, 1=strong dislike) and provide their comments.

The objective is to review the songs offered here with a fresh listen for things like intent (objective), structure, influences (to or from), production value, and performances, all within the context of its musical time frame and while trying to forget past reactions. Hopefully we can hear something different in a song we once thought was less-than-pleasing.

So remember, valid reactions include:

1) None of my friends ever liked this song, but I always did.

2) I never liked this song, but listening to it again after all this time now it makes me want to: (a) tap my foot, or (b) shove a pencil in my ear.

All legit.

-Ken

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

"Love Is Alive" by Gary Wright

Well, this ought to get the New Year juices flowing...  ;-)

This one has been in the Guilty Pleasure: Music Edition que for a while now; I've just been waiting for the "wright" time (get it?). Some of you may argue that no time is the right time for a 70s pop/rock band with the audacity to not have guitars (!!),  but I remember being very impressed when I saw them at a Day On The Green show in Oakland (opening for Peter Frampton?) and doing just fine without a screaming guitar solo for an hour.

You are showing your age if you remember Gary Wright's first popular band Spooky Tooth ("The Mirror" is a great album that is hard to find), and a quick check of his Wiki page says that Gary Wright also added keyboards on George Harrisons album "All Things Must Pass",  further validating him as an accomplished keyboardist and singer.

The guilt? Easy: liking a song that was done by a band hanging those heavy synths around their neck while the lead singer wore a silver space outfit complete with space boots! Seemed OK at the time!

Sure, "Dream Weaver" gets all the air play and has become a parody of itself, but "Love Is Alive" proves a good hook can get you club gigs 40 years later and help pay for your rock-and-roll retirement fund.

Rock on, Dream Weaver.

;-)

KO
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