Pamela. with a period are Josh and Sarah, who describe their musical vibe as sitting somewhere in the between The Marías, The Strokes, and The xx. Expect a brilliant mix of: Modern alt-pop laced with effortless harmonies, shimmering, atmospheric guitar work and playful, provocative lyricism.
Pamela blends nostalgic indie-rock textures with sleek, modern pop sensibilities. Reminds me of some 1980s and 1990s alt pop rock.
Recommended tracks: "Better Than Before" and this live version of "Pandemonium." See the videos connected to this post.
Check out this video of Olivia Dean on the Graham Norton Show in the UK. This live TV performance is the latest single off her album The Art of Loving currently at #20 on Mel's Current Top 20.
Starting with this post the blog is once again rebooted to feature a video of the day post from a YouTube source. The daily featured clip will come from a variety of music genres, new, old, classic, borrowed, indie, rock, country, blues and more.
First up.. ELLA LANGLEY and her current hit "Choosin' Texas" debuting this week on my Current Top 20 at #20.
This is the latest Country 20 chart. Starting this week, my charts will be posted to this blog weekly or on a regular basis. The charts posted here will include the following:
Mel’s Current Top 20
Mel’s Country 20
Mel’s AI Music 20
Occasionally special charts and other music content will also be posted here.
MEL’S COUNTRY 20 CHART
TW
Title
Artist
LW
1
She Hates Me
Dierks Bentley
1
2
Big Sky
Parker McCollum
2
3
Backup Plan
Bailey Zimmerman & Luke Combs
4
4
Trailblazer (with Miranda Lambert / Lainey Wilson)
"Now And Then", the song recorded by The Beatles was released on November 2. The song written by John Lennon was given to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, John's widow in 1994 along with the songs "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love".
In 1994 George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney worked on the three songs releasing two of them on the Anthology I and Anthology II albums that came out in 1995 and 1996. "Now And Then" laid on the back burner for more than 25 years due to technical reasons. You can learn more about "Now And Then" by watching the short video documentary below:
"Now And Then" made its debut on my Current Top 20 chart at #3 on November 3. By the next week it jumped to #1, replacing "Angry" by The Rolling Stones at that position. "Now And Then" has been the #1 song on my Current Top 20 for the four weeks now. The latest chart as of December 1 is shown below.
"Now And Then" is one of my favorite songs of 2023 and we'll see where it ends up in my end of the year Top 100 for 2023.
It looks like Lady Gaga with her accomplice Ariana Grandé is on the verge of claiming the #1 spot from The Rolling Stones. The duo's top hit "Rain on Me" moves up this week from #3 to #2 this week. Will it make it to #1 next week? We'll see.
Not too far away from the top position we find Benee at #5 moving up 7 points from #12 last week with the bubbly track "Supalonely". One point behind her is Saint Motel, who roars up the chart from last week's #19 debut to #6 this week with "A Good Song Never Dies". This is a good song, but will it ever die? We don't know.
The Rolling Stones meanwhile hold on to #1 for the 8th week with "Living in a Ghost Town", one of the best rock songs released in the last year or so. Rock music is a rarity on the charts these days.
From the Friday 5 website came this question: What album has a flawless B side?
The answer to this one is simple... any compilation or "Greatest Hits" type of album all have good B-sides that equal the A-side.
However in this day and age how many people actually play vinyl records or cassettes and have to flip the thing over to play a B-side?
You don't have to do that if you listen to CDs or MP3 albums. Everything is on the A side.
That all said some of my favorite albums with great B-sides that at least equal the A-side include the following:
1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
4. Band on the Run - Paul McCartney & Wings
5. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
6. Revolver - The Beatles
7. Abbey Road - The Beatles
8. Parallel Lines - Blondie
9. Ram - Paul & Linda McCartney
10. Double Fantasy - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Moving on... This week's Top 10 Oldies that were submitted to the Classic Top 30 site for their weekly tabulation include the following:
June 17 Top 10 Oldies
1. In Your Letter - REO Speedwagon
2. Eat At Home - Paul & Linda McCartney
3. Seven Year Ache - Roseanne Cash
4. Twistin' USA - Chubby Checker
5. Only the Lucky - Walter Egan
6. Arms of Mary - Sutherland Bros. & Quiver
7. Jolene - Dolly Parton
8. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - Bee Gees
9. Talk it Over - Grayson Hugh
10. It's a Matter of Time - Elvis Presley
A\V: The following are songs from the lists above:
Mel's Current Top 20 has been updated. It is a revision of the old Mel's Weekly Top 20 page. The Current Top 20 chart will be occasionally updated and reflected on this site through posts such as this one. For more detail on Mel's Current Top 20 visit this link:
In observance of the number sixty, I bring you Elton John's "Sixty Years On". The song was first released in 1970 on Elton John's first American released album. "Sixty Years On" was the song that lead off side 2 of the vinyl version. The LP contained the following songs:
Side one
1. Your Song – 4:02
2. I Need You to Turn To – 2:35
3. Take Me to the Pilot – 3:47
4. No Shoe Strings on Louise – 3:31
5. First Episode at Hienton – 4:48
Side two
6. Sixty Years On – 4:35
7. Border Song – 3:22
8. The Greatest Discovery – 4:12
9. The Cage – 3:28
10. The King Must Die – 5:23
This is the album that put him on the map of popular and rock music for the next 50+ years. This album and several more that followed up to 1975 is considered to be part of the singer-songwriter classic Elton John album collection of the 1970s. The songs were well written by Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin which finds Britain's most celebrated piano man in great voice with a solid group of backing musicians that enhanced his music through that era.
The album contains his signature track "Your Song" as well as FM classic rock favorites "Take Me To the Pilot", "Border Song" and "The King Must Die". That said my favorites are "The Cage: and the tender "I Need You To Turn To."
"Sixty Years On" is a beautiful symphonic like piece that starts off side 2 of the LP. The song is re-created in this 2002 video shot at The Royal Opera House in London England. Enjoy!
Got a piece of retro tech that I found on YouTube. Watch this guy play a couple of old records with an RCA Victor 2-speed suitcase record player from the 1950s. This thing is big and play only 33 1/3 LPs and 45s. Most record players of this vintage used to include 16 and 78 rpm speeds. I would have to think RCA was a little forward thinking with this model in the fact that it only supported the two most popular speeds that are still used for vinyl records today.
The records the presenter plays are a 45, "Love Eyes" by The Duprees and an LP track "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers. Enjoy!
Here's a scarce RCA player (as are all 33/45 varieties of this player) from the mid 50's. This is a 2-speed, 33/45 RPM player that's been rebuilt & features a Sonotone 52T stereo ceramic cartridge bridged for mono playing through a single stage amplifier and feeding a 4" speaker. It has volume control only. The DeLuxe models featured a 2-stage amplifier w/volume AND tone controls feeding a 4"x6" speaker. The mechanism was made by Crescent and used exclusively by the RCA lineup in only 9 of their players. These 2-speed players were only made for a year and not many were sold simply because there was a TON of 4-speed players available at the time this was being merchandised. While 78 RPM records were quickly fading from the scene, there were still a lot of people that had 78's in their collection and, of course, they could not be played on these 2-speed players! As a consequence, very few of these 2-speed players were bought by the public. It's most definitely a strange player! 33 RPM records could only be played as singles - one at a time. NO provision was made for stacking 33 albums on these players. However, 45's could be stacked by a special 45 RPM spindle adapter. The adapters in their own right are collectible! It's not uncommon to spend $50 JUST for an unmolested adapter simply because after being dropped, they broke into pieces and became useless. When these players are found (and that goes for all 9 varieties), the adapter is often missing or broken beyond being usable. These models are eagerly sought after by collectors because they're a simple mechanism, durable, easy to repair & maintain, one of the few with a "neutral" position to avoid drive wheel damage AND...they're scarce! I have 6 of the 9 models made by RCA. I'd like to purchase the three I DON'T have in my collection which are the DeLuxe 3-tube suitcase models w/volume & tone controls and the plastic DeLuxe 3-tube model in Coral/White combination. If you have or know of anyone that has those models and would like sell them, PLEASE contact me! I really hope you can enjoy & appreciate these wonderful pieces of 1950's history!
Gotta have faith, faith, faith.... yes, this was the title track to George Michael's first solo album in 1987 after he broke up with Andrew Ridgeley and the duo known as Wham. The album came out on Columbia Records and yielded several top 10 hits including the number one records "Faith," "One More Try," "Monkey" and "Father Figure".
Faith is a good album if you like cutting edge pop music with a beat that is typically 1980s. Michael at the time was regarded as a teen idol (especially when he was a part of Wham) as his videos were extensively played on MTV and other music channels of the time.
George Michael tried to break out of that mold with subsequent album releases that proved to be mostly successful.
This particular record was not played very often and is in very good condition. The album jacket is still shrink wrapped showing the original $5.00 price that I paid for it at Froggies Books and Records back in the day. I also owned the album on cassette but never got around to getting it on compact disc.
George Michael passed away on December 25, 2016 allegedly from heart failure. He was 53.
"Father Figure" was one of the #1 singles from Faith.
One of those songs that I missed a few years ago. From 2013 this is Noah and the Whale with their single "Lifetime". Two years after this came out the band split up.
My favorite songs by Noah and the Whale:
1. Tonight's the Kind of Night
2. There Will Come a Time
3. Lifetime
4. Five Years Time
5. Life Goes On
The video is laid an acoustic arrangement of the Harrison song with most of the original instrumentation and vocals by the other Beatles left out. In 2006, producer George Martin added in a new string section to make this rock tune sound mostly like a light piece of classical music. The track was used as part of Cirque de Soleil's Beatles Las Vegas show and included with the Fab Four's "Love" album.
The end result is a beautiful ethereal piece that rivals Paul McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby” and other light orchestral works.
The video itself features one of the dancers from Cirque du Soleil which celebrates their 10th year as a Beatles Las Vegas attraction.
The original version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" first appeared on The Beatles "White Album" in 1968. It has been recorded by many other artists since.
So I been watching this Vlog series for a couple of months now - DAILY BUMPS - with Bryan, Missy, Ollieand Karma.... a family somewhere in the U.S. (don't exactly know which state).... they share a daily video of whatever happens in their family's life of about 15 minutes each day. The videos are tightly edited that gives the viewer a snapshot of "this is what happened today". They're quite an entertaining family as you get to see what is happening on their daily grind.
For a while I had no idea what Bryan or Missy do for a living besides making video blogs.
Bryan is a musician and he recently released his debut single called "This is Home". The song is available for purchase at the usual places... iTunes, Amazon, Google. Check the video out. It's a good contemporary, family-friendly single that is radio friendly to a number of formats including AC, Country and perhaps even Contemporary Christian.
Every now and then I "find" a band or artist that I never heard of but then almost instantly fall for their music. A few years ago a friend of mine turned me on to the band Dengue Fever. Been a fan ever since.
Recently while searching YouTube for any video of the old Connie Francis track "Don't Ever Leave Me" written by Ellie Greenwch, I found this band called Cocktail Slippers. Their version was released in 2009 and totally updates the original bringing the song into the 21st century with a sassy, electric, rock n roll edge it truly deserves. Just below the fold then is Cocktail Slippers' version of "Don't Ever Leave Me":
The video is Cocktail Slippers' tribute to all of the "girl groups" of the 1960s. For some reason the audio on this video is not as sharp or loud as the version posted just below:
Of course Cocktail Slippers have recorded many more songs beyond this reworked 1960s gem. Then again who are Cocktail Slippers?
From Wikipedia: "Cocktail Slippers is a five-piece, all-female rock band from Oslo, Norway. Current band members are: Hope (vocals), Rocket Queen (guitar), Piper (keyboard/organ), Bella Donna (drums) and Aurora de Morales (bass). Cocktail Slippers was formed in 2001 and has since released three studio albums and two Christmas singles. They are known for their entertaining live rock n roll performances and have played alongside artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Crowded House, Elvis Costello and The Strokes.[1][2] The band is continuously touring Europe and the USA. The band's main musical influences are Blondie, The Shangri-Las, Joan Jett, Foo Fighters, The Ramones, and The Beach Boys."
So once again I have become a fan of another musical artist from overseas who have yet to be discovered in a big way in the United States. Still their music is quite good and Cocktail Slippers' have amassed quite a discography of catchy rock songs, many of which could be huge hits. A leading example is at the top of this post..... a song called "St. Valentines' Day Massacre".
I'm still "discovering" more of their music and have posted a few more tracks below.
Doesn't the old guy in the bar resemble the old guy in Churchill's roller skater version of "Change"?
FLASHBACKFRIDAY on MEL'S INTERNET UNIVERSE MUSIC BLOG
We flash back to 1975 and the release of Paul McCartney and Wings follow-up album to 1973's "Band on the Run". This release is called "Venus and Mars" and features a number of memorable tracks including the title song medley and "Rock Show" plus the number 1 hit "Listen to What the Man Said". However one of my favorite tracks on the album is "Magneto and Titanium Man", a song that surely I thought, would be a follow-up single to "Listen". The track was never issued as a lead single but instead showed up as a B-side to I think "Letting Go" which was not a very big hit for Wings.
Nevertheless "Magneto and Titanium Man" remains one of my favorites. The included video with this post was issued a few years ago and is independently made consisting of clips from various Marvel Comics animated programs. Take a look and give the song a listen!
FLASHBACKFRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog
50 Years ago this weekend The Beatles made their U.S. Debut on CBS TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show". They sang 4 songs on that first show including "All My Loving," "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" the latter being the #1 single in the U.S. at that time.
I was a kid when The Beatles debut on "Ed Sullivan". I remember watching with glee as they sang their songs, shook their heads and got the audience filled with screaming girls all fired up. It was something. They sounded great on our console style, Zenith black and white TV. My Dad shook his head in mild disapproval over their hair style.
I remember watching The Beatles subsequent appearances on "Ed Sullivan" several more times (I was a young fan now), and still my Dad never liked them. I remember him telling me, "I don't like them because they were not Americans". So what? The music was great.
My Dad was not a big fan of rock n roll music and preferred big band, jazz and Hawaiian music. Funny thing is a few years later I remember watching a TV concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival and he liked them. My Dad also liked Elvis when he was doing the Las Vegas thing in his later years.
One thing for certain. After seeing The Beatles on TV for that first time many years ago, I became a fan and have listened to their music continuously for many years now.
This weekend CBS will be doing a Beatles retrospective commemorating their first appearance on "Ed Sullivan" on a special this Sunday night called "A Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute". The show will feature contemporary artists covering a range of Beatles songs including Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys and Keith Urban. The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will also appear on the program.
It will certainly be a show that Beatles fans will watch and reflect on 50 years of history. Should be great.
The original audio on this clip was overdubbed with the studio version of the track.
FLASHBACKFRIDAYon Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog
Word out today is that Phil Everly, one of the two Everly Brothers died today at the age of 74. The Everly Brothers consisting of brothers Phil and Don enjoyed huge chart success in the late 1950s and early 1960s with hits such as "Wake Up Little Susie", "Bye Bye Love", "Til I Kissed You", and "Let It Be Me". In the above clip they perform two of their most well known hits: "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Cathy's Clown".
The Everly Brothers were influenced the sound of many rock artists to follow, most notably The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and many others. Paul McCartney paid tribute to them in his Wings hit, "Let Em In" which mentions Phil and Don in one of the song's verses.
