Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
What musical artist or song or album or piece do you like that took you by surprise?
Classical music is not something I typically listen to, but I love Pachelbel’s Canon in D. And it turns out that I enjoy Vivaldi.
I swear the soundtrack for Schindler’s List was the only reason I was able to make it all the way through the movie.
I am not a big country music fan, but a friend was playing a Vince Gill Christmas album one night while we were all playing cards, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Not a punk rock girl, but I love the Ramones. I wanna be sedated.
How about you guys?
In case you are new to Medium Cool, these are not open threads.
Playing Musical Chairs This Week
Baud
Bolero is the best one hit wonder in classical.
cmorenc
Tonight @Alison Krauss outdoor concert, I am reminded why I generally only come to a sellout lawn-chair seating concert about 1x/year. Even with top-quality performers like Krauss, getting to and in the venue & finding a decent spot is such a PITA that it takes me that long to forget what it was like dealing with it last time.
Geoduck
I like the BeeGee’s Stayin’ Alive, but then discovered I don’t really like anything else they did.
Major TJ Kong
Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon, Time. I almost jumped out of my skin when all the alarms sounded. It is still one of my favorite LPs of all time. It is definitely in the top 5 and a strong contender for #1.
Honorable Mention: Piss Up a Rope by Ween. So much fun and a so much attitude!
arrieve
The most recent is definitely Taylor Swift. I never paid much attention to her, but I did watch her Tiny Desk concert years ago and thought that I wished she’d do more music like that, without all the big pop production. Then Folklore came out during the early part of the pandemic and I probably listened to it a hundred times–not much of an exaggeration to say that there were days I was going crazy cooped up in my tiny apartment and those songs kept me sane. And I’ve listened to a lot more of her since, and while Folklore and the similar Evermore are still my favorites, I have been known to play “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” at full volume while driving, screaming the lyrics like a teenager.
oldster
First time I heard Monk’s version of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” I was shocked, delighted, and awestruck.
Mr. Prosser
The Trio album (Complete) with Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. What synergy.
Almost Retired
Santiago de Murcia 17th century Spanish baroque guitar. You’d think it would be boring but it’s riveting. Start with Fandango.
Suzanne
Pretty much the entire catalog of Jimmy Buffett.
Josie
I went to a Candlelight performance last night by a three piece group plus singer. They did selections by Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. These were songs I had not heard in the last 40 or 50 years, but, to my surprise, I knew the words to all but one. It’s amazing that these things are stored in your brain somewhere without your even being aware of them. When they did Autumn Leaves, it was very emotional. I almost cried.
Suzanne
@Major TJ Kong:
Surprising no one who knows me…. I am a huge fan of Ween. Piss Up A Rope is fantastic, as is the entire 12 Golden Country Greats album.
Dr Daniel Price (excruciverbiage)
Tchaikovsky, Hymn of the Cherubim. I prefer symphonies to chamber music and vocal works, but the aforementioned (along with Gorecki’s Broad Waters) has been my entry point for appreciating compositions for chorus.
Craig
@Major TJ Kong: that whole Ween album is fantastic.
Dmkingto
@cmorenc: I’m sitting on the lawn at the HopMonk Tavern in Novato, CA for the Iris Dement show (Ana Egge opening). Really small, nice venue. First time here.
ETA: And first time seeing Iris Dement!
Splitting Image
Not a fan of country music in general, but I was surprised how much I ended up liking Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Grievous Angel, and Ode to Billie Jo.
I learned about Kraftwerk from a list of “greatest bands of all time”. I bought a CD of The Man-Machine completely blind, then after one listen I went back to the store the next day and bought all of the rest of their albums that I could get my hands on.
I had heard “Free Bird” as a kid because they played it occasionally on my parents’ favourite radio station, but I never knew either the title of the song, nor the name of the band. I later bought (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd) on a recommendation, also without knowing anything about the band. Oh. Mystery solved.
oldster
Grew up on Beatles and British Invasion, rode the punk/new wave with Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, etc., stayed in touch with music up through the mid-80s or so, then got busy with other stuff (in part drifting backwards to pick up Louis’ Hot 5 and 7, other bits of jazz literature).
Totally missed Radiohead when they were big, but a few years ago one of my kids played me OK Computer and I was transfixed from the opening riff of Airbag. Most Beatles-like experience I had had in decades.
Not serious
“Moonlight Sonata”.
“Summertime”, Ella Fitzgerald and Satchmo.
“Hurt”, Johnny Cash.
Ella in New Mexico
Last few years it’s been Taylor Swift, particularly her music since Folklore. So mature, so fun, and so many songs that aren’t about just young love but about real people and complex relationships.
Right now it’s Lumineers new album “Automatic”. Didn’t think it would be as thoughtful and tender as it is. Great listen.
Another Scott
I’d never heard of Tori Amos, but one evening back in the olden days, when there would be little talk shows on MTV around midnight, there was some guy interviewing her about her new album “Little Earthquakes” and during the obligatory “play us a song” section she walked over to a piano and played Winter (4:38).
At the end, the host guy was speechless.
You could tell that she loved pulling his heart right out of his chest and showing it to him. :-)
Just an amazing talent that I never would have come across except by chance because that’s not my kind of music normally.
Best wishes,
Scott.
prostratedragon
Country and bluegrass are not my wheelhouse, but there’s a fair bit that I really like. Mozart and I have been spotty at best over the years, but something about this one grabs me: Symphony No. 29 in A, K.201 – 1. Allegro moderato.
WaterGirl
@Dmkingto: I love outdoor music.
Craig
A friend plays old 78s at bars. When I first got to know him there was a mind bending jazz record playing, ripping piano, it sounded like the band had done all the cocaine in the world, just tearing it up. I went up and asked Pete what it was. He just looked up, smiled and The Nat King Cole band. Needless to say I was surprised. Before he got so smooth, that dude was a maniac on the piano.
Scout211
I really like Post Malone and was surprised that he recorded a song with Morgan Wallen, the country artist with some, uh, issues. Since I am not a Morgan Wallen fan as an artist or as a person, I was really surprised how much I liked it.
I Had Some Help
Post Malone also had an amazing collaboration with Taylor Swift. I was surprised they recorded together but not really surprised how much I liked it. I like them both so it really couldn’t disappoint me. And the video is crazy, wild. Written and directed by Taylor Swift.
Fortnight
WaterGirl
@Splitting Image: Fun surprises!
Delicate Butterfly
Vincent Neal Emerson – fantastic country artist, and I believe he is also indigenous but I don’t know if he’s actually enrolled.
WaterGirl
@Not serious: Welcome!
prostratedragon
@Splitting Image: Yeah, “Ode to Billy Joe:” great song.
chris green
Afrobeat legend Tony Allen’s jazz albums
Jerry
clothegod from Fayetteville, NC has grabbed me and won’t let go.
cmorenc
@Ella in New Mexico: As a guy, Taylor Swift is pleasant music to listen to, but *meh*, neither turns me on nor off. But to my adult daughters, 35 & 40yo, she speaks powerfully about their lives and they are fanatical fans. I have seen the video of her Paris concert, and have to give it to her, she is one of the most compellingly entertaining performers I have ever seen, even though I am still indifferent to her music.
Wapiti
I watched an Australian series called Rain Shadow on video. I liked the music on the soundtrack; short instrumental pieces iirc. I found out that the music was from the first album from an Australian group called The Audreys; I got the album and fell in love with the complete songs – country/folk(?) which I don’t normally listen to at all.
Citizen Dave
Lots and lots of music. One year in the 1980s I read 2-3 of the R.E.M. guys recommending Tom Waits’ Franks Wild Years. Waits became a top 5 artist for me.
Due to a bad live experience with him, I put off listening to Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. When I finally did hear it, I was blown away by the artistry of it. The songs, lyrics, all the musicians and the production of Daniel Lanois. The album was made in New Orleans.
PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love was a great surprise.
Final surprise is how hard it is to employ the Italics button when I type on a mobile phone keyboard.
Is it on? Did I turn it off? I just don’t care anymore….
JetsamPool
@Baud: Ravel’s Bolero is good, but I liked Verdi’s Bolero much better. I did not know boleros could be sung, or be much more uptempo.
mvr
@oldster: I was trying to think if something surprising that moved me, and I went back to a McCoy Tyner Concert in a bar in the 70s. I didn’t dislike Jazz but I didn’t really get it either. It felt like he taught me how to listen to a music I did not know.
I still needed further lessons to really get it permanently but that was a memorable show.
TheOtherHank
I remember watching Good Morning, Vietnam way back when and being intrigued by one of the names Robin William rattled off: Marianne Faithful. It sounded like a name that someone in a 70s or 80s punk band would have. Then a few years ago I saw a couple of her CDs at the local library and listened to them off the strength of the memory of watching the movie. She was so good.
hells littlest angel
La Valse, Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte, Rapsodie Espagnole, and Piano Concerto In G Major are just a few great works by Ravel that were big hits.
Also, apropos of nothing, he and George Gershwin were good friends.
mvr
@Dmkingto:
She’s great! Lucky you!
Citizen Dave
@Craig:
Yes! I recently ripped a best of the Nat King Cole cd from my library. He also had talented siblings, Ike and Freddy.
Major TJ Kong
@Suzanne: I saw Ween at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. It is a cool club with an outdoor concert area out back. I introduced my daughter and her best friend to them. Great show. The younger people near me look surprised to see me lustily singing along.
kalakal
Years ago I was watching the Jools Holland music show on the BBC ( Later with Jools Holland I think) and he had George Benson on. Now I knew he was a really good guitarist but had him labelled as too smooth for my taste. The guy was amazing, really tore it up, about as smooth as relief map of the Andes
WaterGirl
I never know ahead of time what will be a great topic for Medium Cool and what might be a dud.
I am really enjoying this thread; I think it’s gonna be a keeper.
BellaPea
I’m not usually a country music fan, but there’s something about Garth Brooks that is intriguing. We were having lunch the other day and “Friends in Low Places” came on and I was like, wow, that’s still a pretty cool song. And back when I used to watch music videos, “The Dance” was so moving. It’s no wonder that guy became a huge superstar. Something about his music. just really draws you in.
Professor Bigfoot
Open thread, so <giggle, ducks, runs>
For me it was “Graceland.” In that time one was obliged to listen to a CD to decide if the purchase was worthwhile.
I remember listening to the first few seconds of the first track… then to the next… then the next… by the time I got to the 6th track I was thinking “I’m buying a new album today.”
I really did not expect the depth or the breadth— the rhythms, the South African musicians, the *songwriting.* Still my all time favorite album.
I snagged “The Rhythm of the Saints” at its release and though I liked it, it didn’t move me like “Graceland” did.
Recently, though, I’ve found myself listening to it often.
WaterGirl
@kalakal:
Did you just make that up? That must be librarian humor. What a great metaphor.
Craig
@oldster: Radiohead. I totally missed out on them. A friend had mentioned them with a reverence that I thought maybe misplaced since I only knew Creep. Then 2004ish through randomness I ended up booked to shoot an interview with them on their tour. I figured I should know something about them, so I rented their music video compilation(on VHS. From the video store!). Blew my mind. I had know concept of how they could be that good. Just thinking about Fake Plastic Trees makes me cry, and I have no idea why.
WaterGirl
@Professor Bigfoot: Ha!
Now I have to go listen to Graceland; it’s been forever.
neabinorb
@prostratedragon: Henry Kaiser recorded a great version of this song. I recently helped a friend record a cover of Kevin Welch’s Something About You – my first go at country style music. I’ve recently been mesmerized by guitarist Michael Chapman, particularly the pieces Caddo Lake and Elinkine.
hells littlest angel
I was surprised to find how good — and fun! — the music of Raymond Scott is. Anyone who ever spent time watching old Warner Brothers cartoons will immediate recognize Powerhouse, but he cranked out a lot more equally charming oddball music. Sadly, not a lot of his records are still in print.
mvr
I’m often surprised by resonating with rap on the radio when I hear it by accident. Haven’t ever listened to much of it on purpose though I’ve never hated it. But still it is surprising to me that I can sort of get into it and get the rhythm well enough to feel like I get what is going on and hence be both surprised and satisfied by the way phrases get resolved. Somewhere along the way I got the training for how to listen to it.
Mike S
Kamasi Washington Truth
I work at an NPR affiliate that is well known for our music department. During covid there were about 25 of us who worked 2 weeks on site and 2 weeks from home. There were never more than 6 of us in the building. Once we got vaccinated they gave us a choice of hollywood bowl shows to go to and I picked Kamasi Washington. He introduced Truth as 4 songs in one and it was about 17 minutes of the most amazing music I’d ever watched. There had to be 25 artists on stage doing this remarkable new stage of Jazz and I was and still am totally here for it.
drdavechemist
My first listen to Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert had me wondering how many “New Age” piano artists were inspired by that album-solo piano virtuosity but not at all “classical”.
ETA: If only he didn’t feel compelled to moan while he was playing!
neabinorb
@oldster: I also only learned of Radiohead in recent times. The video In Rainbows from The Basement is amazing.
Melancholy Jaques
@hells littlest angel:
I was going to mention La Valse and Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is also pretty popular.
WaterGirl
@mvr: Maybe from Hamilton?
TONYG
Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. Music that was recorded about 100 years ago that sounds very fresh.
Xavier
Miley Cyrus can be amazing… didn’t expect that.
Paul M Gottlieb
Vince Gill seems to be an extremely nice person, along with being more talented, more successful, and richer than anyone has a right to be. I’m not a big country music fan, but he’s really good!
rekoob
In college, my classmates and I spent an inordinate amount of time on Schubert’s Die Schoene Muellerin (“The Fair Maid of the Mill”), to the point that I swore off Schubert for a long time and had a particular animus for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the baritone.
Later, I wound up at the Schubertiade at Hohenems, in western Austria. Between the Forellenquintett (“Trout Quintet”) and Rosamunde, I’ve been a fan ever since. I’ve even sung some Schubert Lieder over the years.
mappy!
Rolling Thunder Review, Hard Rain, Laurie Anderson, London Calling…
…but these caught me unawares,
Jennie Abrahamson & Gothenburg Symphony, Kate Bush tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z17G4AuYbTA&list=PLYCFzkFA5yQ82dU0gT6mhEEsUQdHlZUai&index=9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXsc-EBtFA
Paul M Gottlieb
No album has surprised and delighted me as much as Sonny Sharrock’s “Ask the Ages.” a sublime masterpiece in a genre I am predisposed to despise
Professor Bigfoot
@drdavechemist: Ehrmegerd, it’s been forever. I have it on vinyl somewhere in my basement and am gonna have to chill and give it a serious listen.
trollhattan
Back in the day Starbucks sold music compilation CDs. We got one of all women performers that included Paper Wings by somebody named Gillian Welsh. The disc was in pretty consistent rotation at home and I found myself always stopping to listen to that particular song.
Finally hunted down her albums and have been a fan ever since. She’s just not like anybody else and the combination with David Rawlings continues to give us memorable music and performances.
Melancholy Jaques
During COVID isolation, I read Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion by Tom Beaujour & Richard Beinstock. I scorned all those bands when they ruled MTV, couldn’t tell one from the other & didn’t care to try. But after I read the book, I really listened to them & had to admit they had something. It’s a lot better if you’re not watching the videos.
mvr
@WaterGirl: Actually, I’ve only recently seen Hamilton. I think it was just snippets here and there that you get by accident over the course of about 40 years. I bought a few really old school rap albums back in the 80s but did not wind up playing them more than a couple of times. So it isn’t like I’m completely unfamiliar. But I didn’t at the time enjoy them enough to put play them again and again.
For a kind of music to surprise or satisfy an expectation I have to have that expectation and that kind of takes knowing the genre for me. I had a college radio station Jazz DJ for a housemate and his playing Jazz several hours a day for a year is what got me to reach that point with Jazz. (So for instance Miles Davis Elevator to the Gallows soundtrack really got me eventually.) So it takes me a while to get to that point with a new kind of music if I ever do.
So it was surprising to find that reaction to some rap on the radio over the past few years.
dm
The first time I heard Strauss’ opening to Also sprach Zarathustra was pretty surprising. Of course that time it came with visuals by Stanley Kubrick.
Philip Glass can induce trances, which suddenly break. There’s a moment in EInstein on the Beach which comes at the end of one of the long “train” (think choral music with the rhythm and drive of a speeding steam locomotive) episodes that appear in the opera. The “train” suddenly ends and is replaced with a rapid violin solo. My mind opened to the entire universe. (No drugs were involved, though it was the end of finals week.)
prostratedragon
@neabinorb: I’ve run across Chapman I think.👍
mvr
@trollhattan: The pair are touring:
https://www.gillianwelch-davidrawlings.com/tour
zhena gogolia
@Geoduck: OMG
You have to listen to “Mr. Natural.” It’s the greatest song ever written.
Raoul Paste
Music that takes you by surprise is why I listen to jazz on the radio in the car. Often one is surprised by the creativity; you don’t know what’s going to come next
trollhattan
@drdavechemist:
Funny story behind that recording is a venue mixup had a baby grand practice piano on stage for him, out of tune and in bad shape. Had to completely revamp his playing to coax music from the thing. Look, best seller lemonade! (4 million copies sold.)
zhena gogolia
@Craig: Haha, that’s amazing.
John Sterling
Ah, Canon in D. That really became special when I saw Ordinary People, great movie.
Suzanne
As a 90s kid who adored Radiohead, and got their albums on, like, Day One of release… it’s interesting to see that others didn’t come to them until later. But I’m happy that the music holds up for y’all. For me, I came later to jazz. My family members didn’t like it, so it wasn’t listened to at home when I was a kid (I got lots of classical and opera, though). And SuzMom still complains about it if I turn on jazz when she’s around. So I have to wake up earlier than everyone else to listen to Coltrane!
Ben Cisco
Courtesy of Air Force ready rooms on three continents and in no particular order:
The Clash, Nirvana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk.
zhena gogolia
@hells littlest angel: Shirley Temple loved him. He let her conduct the band. The Toy Trumpet
prostratedragon
@hells littlest angel:
And,
Daphnis et Chloöaut;e
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Some beautiful and rather strange songs
Hilbertsubspace
Surprised? That actually makes this interesting. Two off the top of my head are Foxtrot, a dance number from Nixon in China the opera by John Adams, and Midnight by Birthday Massacre, a Canadian goth band.
I have no good explanation for the second one.
rekoob
The Metropolitan Opera’s performance of Nixon in China by John Adams, which I saw in a movie theatre as part of the “Met in HD” series back in the day, was a profound experience.
It was a stark interpretation of Henry Kissinger.
zhena gogolia
Wow, two Nixon in China comments back to back. (Or did one inspire the other?)
Another Scott
@BellaPea: I thought he and Trisha Yearwood were great doing Imagine at Jimmy Carter’s funeral. (3:05) Totally unexpected, and totally appropriate.
Best wishes,
Scott.
laura
Roadie Brothers have departed to Seoul Korea for the tour kick off and I’m thinking of them and every traveling band, the crew and those keeping the home fires burning so that we may be entertained by those who give us joy, and hope, dancing and romancing. Let the music play on and let us all delight in the sounds of our better selves!
pluky
Górecki’s Third Symphony
Was driving when the recording with Dawn Upshaw as the soloist came on. I had to pull over, and listen until the finish. Polish text or not, the sense of something profoundly sorrowful, and utterly human, was unmistakable.
David_C
I listen to a lot of classical music and I’m old, so two surprises. In college I was Arles to user at a concert and as I bonus I could stay for free. All I knew was that it featured a cellist. It turned out to be Mstistislav Rostropovich, who was one of the greatest cellists ever.
Second was a CD I got out of the library, The American Vocalist. It featured a bunch of old hymns from early America from a hymn book found somewhere. A lot of Billings and other music, including New England spirituals. As the music scene in the US progressed, and we imported hymns from England, these were considered to be too primitive for “modern” tastes. Many were dark, but I was struck by the foreboding in the first selection:
Ah guilty sinner, ruined by transgression,
What shall thy doom be, when arrayed in terror,
God shall command thee, covered with pollution
Up to the judgment, up to the judgment.
David_C
@pluky: I heard that yesterday, too.
prostratedragon
@zhena gogolia: I’ve noticed occasionally that we do synchronicity around here. “Hive mind,” indeed.
zhena gogolia
@pluky: that is a goodie
Craig
I grew up in the woods outside Richmond Virginia. Classic rock radio. Sometime in 1982-83 my still best/oldest friend brought Black Flag’s Damaged album to my parents house. Everything was different after that.
zhena gogolia
@prostratedragon: John Adams is always surprising, not always in a good way. 😄
kalakal
Years ago I went to the Knebworth Festival in England. It had always been a pretty straight forward rock festival ( I saw Led Zep there a couple of years previously) but was now fading fast – this may have been the last one – squeezed by Metal on one side and New Wave/Punk on the other. I, and nearly everyone else went to see the support acts – Lindisfarne, Santana, Mike Oldfield were my choice- and was happy with that, then it started to rain, 50,000 people were ready to leave rather than see what they considered to be the has-been remnants of a band that weren’t even rock.
On stage step the Beach Boys, slam into Good Vibrations and 50,000 people are suddenly bouncing around in a soggy field in the rain. It was fantastic, by the end of the set the landscape looked like a reenactment of the Somme and everbody was slathered in mud and sporting the biggest of smiles
@WaterGirl: made it up
Kelly
I like Green Day’s “Good Riddance (I hope you had the time of your life)” and nothing else they did
rekoob
@zhena gogolia: @Hilbertsubspace: Nope, I was writing and in the editing window when I later saw Hilbertsubspace’s comment. I’m now listening to “The Chairman Dances/Foxtrot for Orchestra” from Nixon in China and it has the same frenetic energy I recall.
p.a.
The Celtic music of Spanish Galicia; Susana Seivane, Milladoiro.
Rusty
Hearing Arvo Part’s Spiegel im Spiegel on the radio for the first time, and a few weeks later hearing it done with piano and violin at a funeral of a good friend. I have found it to be ever since to be one of the most moving pieces I know.
catclub
I thought it was great when a ten year old girl sang that for an audition for a musical – Sound of Music, I think.
Another Scott
@Craig: I was touched like that the first time a friend played 2112 (20:39)
What on Earth is that???
“… and the meek shall inherit the Earth…”
:-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Kelly
Johnny Cash “Hurt”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AHCfZTRGiI&ab_channel=JohnnyCashVEVO
WaterGirl
@kalakal: It’s perfectly you!
Ruckus
Not a classical or western music fan.
I have heard some classical and western that isn’t bad but for the most part they do nothing positive for me. Mostly I’m good with non top 40 stuff and the powerful rock bands, mostly the stuff that didn’t get air time. Now it sounds like I don’t have a reasonably large collection but that’s not the fact. I have both record and CD collections. More CDs than discs, easily a total of around 200 of both, maybe more. (No I’m not counting to give an actual number!) I also have a rather nice amp/speaker system that can be played far more than loud enough to get me kicked out of my apartment. So the music does sound great…
JoyceCB
What took me by surprise, as I admit I had never heard of it, was a rendition of Faure’s Pie Jesu at a funeral. It was in Toronto’s Grace Church on the Hill, haute WASP as you might expect from the name, and high Anglican. Very high Anglican, I saw congregants all but crossing themselves as they genuflected before the alter. Dirty down low Anglicans like myself just nodded in the general direction. The east window, gorgeous stained glass, was dedicated to the memory of Capt. somebody, killed in France in 1915. You just knew he had attended Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, and was a leader in the Cadet Corps… the setting, and the emotions, and the glorious soprano pierced my heart and I’ve loved that piece ever since.
catclub
@David_C: The Fishermen’s Friends CD has nautical themed hymns by Peter Paul Bliss.. When I first heard them I thought they must be Salvation Army hymns.
But the lyrics are wonderful.
Brightly Beams our Father’s mercy, from His Lighthouse ever more,
But to us He gives the keeping,
of the lights along the shore.
rekoob
Also enjoyed singing Fauré’s Requiem (Inspector Morse fans represent!), and pleasantly surprised to discover about a decade later, that Duruflé wrote another Requiem that I also enjoyed singing and was modeled off of Fauré’s.
prostratedragon
@zhena gogolia: i’m curious, what unwelcome surprise has he given you?
feebog
A few years ago I discovered Fanny. An all woman band that turned out whimsical and genuine Rock and Roll. They only cut four albums but I could (and have) listened to them for hours. All their own original material.
mali muso
@Rusty: agree with this one. It makes me want to cry but also has a bittersweet joy to it.
Ruckus
@kalakal:
Some nice artwork there sir.
I like your iPhone case cool cat.
Hungry Joe
In early college days I was transfixed by the (then-fading) San Francisco sound: Dead, Airplane, Fish (as in “Country Joe and the … “), Quicksilver, It’s a Beautiful Day. A new roommate turned out to be a great guitarist — could actually play John Fahey. I’d never heard of Fahey, but I’ve been listening to his stuff for 50+ years now. He also introduced me to Django Rheinhart and The Hot Club of France, which still gets played as part of my weekend coffee-making/drinking ritual.
laura
@feebog: gee, it’s nice to see you’re old nym again. Are you still residing in the greater Sonoma/Napa/other counties area?
Just look at that parking lot
A couple of years ago NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert had a duo on call Hermanos Gutierrez, two brothers that play guitar instrumentals. Nice reading/driving/sitting on the porch watching clouds go by music.
This Tiny Desk Concert is a good place to find music that will give you some surprises. Most of the past ones are all on You Tube.
rekoob
@JoyceCB: “Pie Jesu” from Fauré’s Requiem is etherial.
zhena gogolia
@prostratedragon: a man with a withered hand
can never listen to that again
Wanderer
Summer (Estaté) by Shirley Horn
IMHO a breathtaking piece of music.
(sorry for the bold print. Don’t know how to fix it.)
Craig
First time I heard Tomorrow from Annie. HOLY SHIT! What a song! And it’s perfect for our current dystopian reality.
mvr
@Kelly: Yes to this. Knew the original when I first heard the JC version. It is devestating.
Craig
@Just look at that parking lot: this is so true. Tiny Desk is a constant source of wonder.
kalakal
@Ruckus: Thank you
lowtechcyclist
Let’s see: recently, I’ve totally fallen in love with Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova.” That song is like ambrosia to me.
I somehow missed TMBG’s “Birdhouse in Your Soul” when it first came out; I didn’t hear it for the first time until sometime in 2006. Interesting, quirky song, I thought. Then the second time I heard it, I suddenly couldn’t get enough of it, started listening to it over and over on YouTube.
Back in early 1983, I was in Books, Strings, and Things in Blacksburg, VA, when they put side 2 (remember LPs?) of Josie Cotton’s Convertible Music on the sound system. By the time “Johnny, Are You Queer?” had finished playing and she was into “Systematic Way” I was hooked. Bought the album then and there.
JoyceCB
@rekoob: It is. Now I want it at my own funeral. Of course I won’t be able to hear it LOL.
Craig
@lowtechcyclist: WOW. Books Strings and Things, what great shop. Spent a lot of time there and at The Record Exchange.
lowtechcyclist
@Kelly:
That’s funny, because that’s the one Green Day song I would pay good money to never have to hear again.
rekoob
@JoyceCB: As my father noted, funerals are for the living, not the dead. They’ll appreciate the sentiment, and it’s a beautiful piece. If you’re feeling up for it, consider including the final movement “In Paradisum”, which also figured prominently in the final episode of the Inspector Morse series
In the late 1980s, I was in a choir that was asked to rehearse and prepare the Fauré Requiem for a prominent benefactor who was getting on in years. He had asked for it at his funeral, and as it turned out, his wife died 3 weeks before him and the choir wound up singing it twice!
princess leia
The first time I heard “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, I was simply stunned. It went straight to my heart.
lowtechcyclist
@Craig:
Wasn’t it though? I wonder if it’s still going, I haven’t been in Blacksburg in ages. But I had a feeling that if I mentioned it by name, it would ring a bell with someone in this crowd, and apparently I was right!
different-church-lady
Green Earrings, Steely Dan: okay, nice funky groove and… wait, what was that change? Wait, what was… hold it, what were those last two changes? Jesus, wait, how many changes are they… HOLY GOD THAT GUITAR IS NOT POSSIBLE…
prostratedragon
@rekoob:
@JoyceCB:
Years ago our church choir sang the whole Faur&#eacute;. I particularly liked the Offertory; might have been my intro to intense concentration in music, and then that gorgeous baritone solo.
Ruckus
@Dmkingto:
Used to own a bicycle shop in Novato, a very nice town!
Jeffg166
I stopped listening to pop music in 1972. Over the years various artists have made it into my consciousness. The most recent is Benson Boone. He is hard to escape on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTiNBZ9_Xs
I read Alexander Skarsgård is in an adaptation of Murderbot on Apple+. I read the first of the seven novella and it is pretty funny.
mali muso
Music that took you by surprise…Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. On first listen, it struck me as harsh and a little overwrought, but still really compelling. On further listens, I really dug the lyricism and rawness. I’m reminded to go listen to some of his stuff again as it’s been a while.
Bard the Grim
Bon Iver “Calgary”. Never heard anything like it then or since.
cmorenc
Sometimes familiar artists can surprise you on the upside with a live performance and familiar ensemble who are better than you remember. Allison Krauss brought with her an incredible all-star group – jerry douglas on dobro, stuart duncan in fiddle & mandolin, russell moore in guitar & vocals, ron block on banjo & guitar, barry bales on bass. I have heard allison krauss live several times (including with robert plant) but never this good, this on top of her game, lifted by great accompanying musicians at the top of theirs.
makes it worth the hassle of going out to a live performance.
RevRick
@Baud: Ravel did orchestrate Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition .
ETA Melancholy Jacques beat me to it
Craig
@lowtechcyclist: totally. I haven’t been in Blacksburg in 25 years.
Doc Sardonic
@Ruckus: Sounds like an old saying that has been bouncing around for years. I like (insert musician or group name here), when I listen to them so do the neighbors.
Kelly
@mvr: The original is an angry young man. Cash is a tired old man
eclare
@kalakal:
I saw George Benson in London at Royal Albert Hall, great show. He closed with “Give Me the Night,” very extended version.
https://youtu.be/FIF7wKJb2iU?si=ThS9Oak1wci6KdsN
Matt McIrvin
Lake Street Dive is not a band I ought to like so much, given my other musical tastes, but every time one of their songs comes on the radio it’s a belting sing-along time.
eclare
@Xavier:
Miley Cyrus is very talented, her song “Flowers” is one of my favorites. I saw her perform live on some TV show, and she’s the real deal.
RevRick
Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini makes me weep.
Apropos of very little, but anyone under age 83 who attends classical music concerts was raised on rock n’ roll.
eclare
@Paul M Gottlieb:
The song “Amie” by Pure Prairie League ft. Vince Gill is amazing, so easy to listen to.
Princess Leia
@different-church-lady: word
jackmac
Country music and artists generally hurt my ears. But Vince Gill transcends genres, especially his masterful tribute to Brian Wilson performing the Beach Boys “Surf’s Up” at the Kennedy Center honors some years ago. Jimmy Webb and David Crosby were also pretty good.
Craig
Not so surprising, but mind blowing. My buddy made me a copy of his Carl Stalling box set. Stalling talking to the orchestra, then launching into some Looney ass crazy music- bailing on the take, re talking, launching again. Such an insight into the creative process that resulted in the greatest cartoon moments of my childhood. It’s such visual music.
FastEdD
My favorite singer of all time is Terry Reid. I saw him at the Fillmore West when we were both teenagers and he did something I’ll never forget. He closed the show, got off the stage, unplugged his guitar, and walked out into the San Francisco night singing with us in the street at 2 am. He was famous for being asked to join the “New Yardbirds” as the singer for what became Led Zeppelin. Said no, but introduced Page to both Plant and Bonham. A few decades later he lived in North Hollywood and I hung out with him at a tiny club or two. A couple years ago he was at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown and we yakked all afternoon. Last night he was at Adams Avenue Unplugged in San Diego and I had the thrill of sitting next to one of the greatest singers who ever lived and listening for hours. I told him he wasn’t getting older, he was just getting better. Now we’re both in our 70’s. They call the guy Superlungs, and he’s still got them. Helluva story!
Matt McIrvin
@Craig: The politics of “Annie” fascinates me– the original comic creator was a right-wing crank who despised FDR, but the musical has this through-line of the New Deal bringing hope to depressed America. And I think it was a Carter-era show, so it was aiming at the whole national malaise business.
(“NYC” belongs on the short list of great hymns to New York. Pity they cut it from the movie.)
They Call Me Noni
Nail Me by Jelly Roll. Took my oldest daughter to see him in October 2023. Great concert. I love his songwriting and this particular song really resonates with me.
Sunday Kind of Love – Etta James. At Last is her most popular and a great song, but Sunday kind of Love is my favorite.
Andrea Bocelli could sing the phone book and I’d turn the volume up to 11.
As far as pure voice goes my top three women would be Wynonna Judd, Whitney Houston and Patsy Cline. Don’t ask me to put them in any kind of order because I can’t.
Craig
@eclare: agreed. Her dad was a pro that I never cared for. She grew up in Disney as Hannah Montana. Escaped that. Said FUCK YOU WORLD! Her godmother is Dolly. She can do anything she wants, she’s got chops. And I can listen to her raspy talking voice all day long.
Craig
@Matt McIrvin: thanks for that
Matt McIrvin
@princess leia: Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” was one of the greatest BSO performances I’ve ever heard.
Fair Economist
The Adagio by Albinoni. When I first heard it I thought it was absolutely beautiful – but how could it be a Baroque piece? Turns out it was written by midcentury Albinoni scholar Remo Giazotto, who claimed he had completed an uncompleted work by Albinoni. Pressed for the actual fragment, he later claimed it was just a melody and bass line, but he never produced even that so now it’s suspected to be entirely his work. Still a great piece.
Ironically it gets performed a lot in concerts for tourists in Italy. I saw two different performances advertised while I was there for two weeks in 2016.
Jeffro
all I know is, as a lifelong hard rock fan, it took me by surprise when I fell hard for a) P.M. Dawn and b) Morphine
I still don’t know what that’s about, but it tickles my (grown) kids to no end when I can sing along to something that isn’t Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or The Cult
rekoob
@RevRick: Don’t disagree, but I’m 20 years younger than that, and most of my music experience came from my mother, who grew up Presbyterian (from a Baptist father and Quaker mother), and married my father, a Baptist, and was the (paid!) Alto soloist at the local Episcopal church. I sang in the boy’s choir, which explains my weakness for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College Cambridge.
Love rock ‘n’ roll, but choral music resonates.
Gloria DryGarden
If you’re new to Vivaldi, you might be amused by this. Some narrators will preface their introduction to the 4 seasons, or another all Vivaldi concert, by saying this: “ Vivaldi is known for writing over 500 concertos. He’s also known for writing the same concerto 500 times.” This amuses me a lot.
If you listen to a lot of his works, he does self plagiarize, and whole phrases from one piece recur in other pieces. It’s all beautiful, but you can tell it’s Vivaldi.
also this, from google:
“Why did Vivaldi write so many concertos?
In the late 17th century there were four orphanages for young girls in Venice. Vivaldi became the music director at La Pietà, the one that specialized in musical training. He worked there for many years and there he composed a vast number of concertos for the girls.”
Jeffro
@lowtechcyclist: same!
plus, so many folks think it’s the singer wishing the listener well, LOL
Darkrose
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. I’ve never been a huge Beyoncé fan–I haven’t listened to much pop music since the mid-’90s–but I went through a big country phase back in the 2010’s, so I figured I’d give it a try. Now it’s a staple on my morning playlist.
Loveofcoffee
A friend and mentor introduced me to Silly Wizard, and I was surprised how much I enjoy Scotish Folk– and on a thread here I found the Handsome Family- again, not my preferred genre- but excellent.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: The moment that cemented my TMBG fandom forever was hearing their deranged early song “I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die” on college radio, which is kind of a three-way collision between a polka, Spike Jones and “It’s A Small World After All” with strange morbid lyrics.
hells littlest angel
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes, he was the orphanage’s violin master. Which makes one wonder if maybe 17th century Italian orphanages were not awful places?
karen gail
Not a specific artist or piece of music; back in the early 1980’s a friend has season tickets to hear chamber music. The first time I heard a piece played on harpsicord it caught me by surprise. Nearly every concert was played not only with the instruments that were originally written for but a number of groups went all out and dressed in period clothing.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Gloria DryGarden: there’s a Classical Kids album, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery that tells the story.
Gloria DryGarden
@hells littlest angel: I never knew this before tonight. Perhaps you are right.
Imagine growing up playing Vivaldi concerti and learning mandolin or lute? Lute music can heal all human ills, if you ask me. The idea that he wrote all that music for girls, pleases me so much!
Mr Bemused Senior, I’ll look that up. I’m sure I’ll love it.
mrmoshpotato
The Bones theme made me want to shake my ass like I was slapped with a large mouth bass! Unexpected! But it totally wanged chung every week!
Bones it!
Omnes Omnibus
Truly surprised and stunned? Sinead O’ Connor. I heard Mandinka and was at a record store the next day. The Lion and the Cobra was like nothing else…
Gloria DryGarden
Some musical surprises
i don’t like heavy metal, but I love, love the back side of Led Zeppelin’s stairway to heaven album, the song “Black Dog.” Most excellent during a temper tantrum, expresses it well for me, helps me get my ya-yas out.
Miley Cyrus, who I have found mostly intolerable, sings that song “flowers” so well. I really like that song, and her dancing, by the way, in that silver fringed outfit she wears at that awards ceremony. Her notes are so accurate, and the lyrics are great.
Mozart’s Jupiter symphony, the 41st, which seems almost like Beethoven helped him write it. The first time I listened to it with my guess-the-composer buddy, my dad, we were unsure which of them it could have been. I became certain they must have had tea together, and collaborated.
Beethoven’s 7th, the second movement, which I didn’t grow up hearing, blew my mind, moved me to tears.
There were some opera choruses that were quite lovely amidst hours of unbearable home opera listening. In my childhood. I’m still surprised when there are parts of opera I enjoy, since I hated it growing up. Maybe the thing I liked was in La Traviata.
There’s an aria in Carmen, that once it was translated (the live from the met things you could watch at a special theater in your city) in the captions, had shockingly silly lyrics. It’s a pretty piece, it was almost ruined for me.
Craig
@mali muso: The Birthday Party was mind-blowing as well.
RevRick
@rekoob: I was raised in the church too, and I can cite hymn tunes that rouse me: Hyfrydol, Cwm Rhonda, Finlandia. I want We Would Be Building played at my funeral. I liked Ray Repp’s Peace, I leave with You, My Friends so much that I made the refrain the sung benediction at my last church.
But growing up, the other six days of the week I was listening to rock ‘n roll like the rest of my peers. And for years, my car radio was tuned to the local rock station. But now?
I subscribe to Sirius XM radio and listen to the classical station and my wife tunes in the jazz.
Prometheus Shrugged
@Craig: Agreed. As a hard core jazz fan, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed both Chaka Khan’s and Maxwell’s recent Tiny Desks. Ok…neither of these would seem much of a stretch from jazz to the average person, but for me it was.
Craig
I was surprised when I saw bluegrass band The Bad Livers open for The Butthole Surfers at an old roller rink in DC. Punk bluegrass band that ripped and then covered Metallica’s Fight Fire With Fire, and Motorhead’s Ace of Spades. Amazing. I bought their 7″ of Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life.
Mathguy
Olivia Rodrigo, “good 4 u.” I thought it would be just another pop piece of trash and it was instead in the vein of Alana Morrisette. Excellent song. I can see now why she’s so popular (This is coming from a 64 year-old classical music geek with hundreds of CDs and who has sat through many, many live performances.)
For classical, I recently discovered Rieti’s piano concertos. It’s tragic that they are very rarely played in the concert hall. They are terrific.
rekoob
@RevRick: “Hyfrydol” is a lovely hymn.
I was such a purist/snob that I kept my teenaged radio tuned to the local NPR station (WRFK Richmond, now Virginia Public Media). They had a program called “Headset Jazz” on the weekends to encourage full-surround listening. I listened to Hazen Schumacher’s “Jazz Revisited” faithfully (Duke Ellington’s “What Am I Here For” was the theme song).
sab
@Gloria DryGarden: Supposedly, one time during Mass, while elevating the Host, Vivaldi was struck by a musical inspiration, so he put the Host back down on the alter, rushed out and wrote down his idea, then rushed back in and continued with the Mass.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Major TJ Kong:
Listen to the Alan Parsons quad mix (not the craptastic James Guthrie 5:1 mix). You’ll never been the same again after hearing the clocks ticking and then chiming.
prostratedragon
@rekoob: Hey, another Hazen Schumacher fan! I think there’s a line of succession from him ultimately to Nik Thompson, who now has Sunday morning vintage jazz on WEMU.
Gloria DryGarden
@sab: I love this. He was the priest? Gosh there’s so much I don’t know.
you have to grab it and write it down when the inspiration comes, too. It doesn’t come back the same, later. I’ve tried to wait and finish an allotted meditation time, and refused myself the chance to stop, and write down lines of possible poetry. End result- the poetry is lost, and then I refuse to meditate, until I renegotiate the rules.
mvr
@Kelly: Both good, but angry young man wrote a song fit for an old man.
rekoob
@prostratedragon: First of all, what a great name — Hazen Schumacher! Thanks for making me aware of Nik Thompson’s program. I’ll track it down and give a listen.
BigJimSlade
@Baud: the famous quote about it is Ravel saying that he feared he wrote but one masterpiece and that it contains no music, lol. The gist is that it was written as an orchestral warm up, so the theme moves around to different groups in the orchestra but the material is never really developed. Very enjoyable and lovely, of course.
BarcaChicago
I listen to a wide variety of music genres. A contemporary classical piece that caught me immediately and I still love very much is Jennifer Higdon’s Piano Trio 1. Pale Yellow. Just so emotional and intimate.
I’ve never liked what was called folk music when I was growing up in the 70s, which to me meant 60s earnest political music, but I find myself really loving current singer/songwriters that probably fit into that genre: Laura Marling, Aldous Harding to name a few. Also obsessed with Katy J Pearson.
BarcaChicago
Also going to add that I just saw a 26-year-old Japanese pianist, Mao Fujita, play a recital at the CSO and it was phenomenal. He played all of Chopins Preludes and it was a kind of magic. An enchantment.
matt
This last week I discovered the song Golden Brown by the Stranglers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWAsI3U2EaE, and also this incredibly well done deepfake of Golden Brown performed by Dave Brubeck’s band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qs1J612nZs
Ruckus
@hells littlest angel:
17th century orphanages were awful places. It would be extremely difficult for them not to be. Just the nature of humanity, technology, labor and wealth at the time. Most/many countries have at least some concept of better child rearing, including the concept of not harming the orphans than back then, when actual labor was what most people had to do just to survive. Some jobs still are labor intensive, almost all were back then. But many jobs that were labor intensive 50 years ago are far less now. I know, I worked in making industrial tools out of metal for 60 years, and the difference from when I started to now, or even 25 years ago is stunning.
hotshoe
@mvr:
Trent Raznor supposedly had his doubts about Johnny Cash doing Raznor’s most personal song, Hurt.Until he saw and heard the video
This is what gave Trent Raznor goosebumps. No hiding from the fact that we will each become old someday — if we live at all.”My empire of dirt”yeah, that’s it.
Ol_Froth
I stumbled upon The Warning’s “Enter Sandman” video a number of years ago. Three girls, the oldest of which was 14 at the time and the youngest only nine, and they nailed it? Since then I’ve seen them live twice and am going again to see them in Philadelphia this summer.
WaterGirl
@eclare: One of my all time favorite songs. I had no idea Vince Gill was part of Pure Prairie League!
BarcaChicago
@Wanderer: Thank you so much for this – beautiful discovery for me.
les
Most unexpected: running into a female bagpipe trio-Snake Charmer- covering Dropkick Murphys and AC/DC. Pretty fun.
BigJimSlade
@Paul M Gottlieb: Great album!
BigJimSlade
@FastEdD: That’s fantastic!
BigJimSlade
@hells littlest angel: And a great string quartet!
Paul in KY
@Craig: I saw them at Bonnaroo back in 2012. This was in their period where they wouldn’t play ‘Creep’ or ‘Paranoid Android’. So I sorta dislike them (the band’s decisions). Great light show, though.
Paul in KY
@feebog: Check out The Donnas. You should like them.
Paul in KY
@lowtechcyclist: I also do not like that song (and I like about 50 Green Day songs).