The song is called “There Goes My Love” by The Blue Van, a Danish blues-rock van. The commercial has been all over the airwaves lately, but if you’ve been living under a rock (or are just really good with the 30-second skip button on your DVR remote), take a listen:
The song is from the band’s third album, Man Up. I reviewed their first two efforts, The Art of Rolling and Dear Independence and enjoyed them both. Here are a few highlights from their first two releases:
RIYL: Bon Jovi, KISS, Spinal Tap
When the Scorpions announced that their new album, Sting in the Tail, would be their last, some cursed, others cried, but most asked, “Wow, really, the Scorpions are still together?” At this, the other two demographics immediately responded, “Well, they won’t be soon, but thanks for pouring a little more salt in the wound, you cruel bastards,” but at least the band has offered up quite a bit of music in their 45-year career – yes, seriously: the original incarnation of the band came together in 1965 – to keep their fans rocking well into the future. The Scorpions’ previous album, 2007’s Humanity: Hour I, found them teaming up with producers James Michael and Desmond Child for a concept album that was better than you might think (and, believe it or not, even featured a guest appearance from Billy Corgan on one track), but for their grand finale, the group has opted to go back to basics and re-embrace the straight-ahead heavy metal sound that earned them their greatest success.
When you first glance at the track listing, you may well be tempted to call the Rock Cliche police, given that there’s a clear violation on the allowed number of songs per album which feature the word “rock” in their title: while I believe it varies from country to country, it cannot possibly be acceptable in any nation to offer three on one record, as they do here with “Raised on Rock,” “Rock Zone,” and “Spirit of Rock.” Still, there’s something to be said for playing to the fans, and those individuals who can successfully scream “Scorpions ROCK!” without even the slightest hint of irony are not likely to complain about such a transgression, nor will they laugh out loud about the band’s daring decision to close the album with a song entitled “The Best Is Yet To Come” the way almost every critic in the world – including yours truly – surely did. But, then, we music journalists are jaded and cynical lot…unlike the Scorpions, who are clearly still enjoying themselves.
One of the aforementioned “rock” songs – “Raised on Rock” – kicks off the proceedings, and it’s good…or, at least, it sounds like the band made a conscious effort to write a track that would make those listeners checking in on the band for the first time since “Rock You Like A Hurricane” think that they were having a flashback. There isn’t an ounce of originality in the song – think about Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name,” then try to keep from laughing at the :44 mark – but it’s still a great riff and a monster chorus. The same can be said for several other songs on the album, too, including “The Good Die Young,” “Lorelei,” and…well, okay, you probably won’t be able to keep from laughing at “Turn You On,” either, given that it rhymes “if you wanna feel the sting” with “come on, baby, shake that thing,” but it, too, is catchy as hell.
Whether you’ll view Sting in the Tail as a worthy final chapter to the Scorpions’ 19-album career will, as you might suspect, depend heavily on how many of those albums you’ve actually heard (not to mention whether you can enjoy the music without choking on the lyrics), but for those who who haven’t bothered to follow the band since they whistled their way into the top 10 with “Winds of Change,” it at least serves to prove that the band can indeed still…wait for it…rock you like a hurricane. (UMG 2010)
Sexy Intellectual temporarily abandons mining rock’s storied past to put one of the biggest bands in the world under the microscope for their latest “Under Review” title, and goodness knows they picked a good subject. “Muse: Under Review” contains some raw early footage of a group of bored teenagers from Devon who had to travel to America to get the press in their own country to take notice, only to have their second album refused by their initial champions. (It has since been reissued.) The band’s former manager explains the initial business dealings involving the hiring of John Leckie to produce their debut Showbiz (with Leckie himself appearing to talk at length about the album), while writers and biographers break down the evolution of the band’s sound. Since this is an unauthorized biography, the band does not contribute except in the form of a couple interviews with a third party early in their career, so the piece is fleshed out with the help of music videos by the band and artists like the Strokes. It’s all perfectly nice, but you can only hear someone call someone “fantastic” so many times before it loses all meaning, and with a running time of 106 minutes, it tends to wear out its welcome right when they get to discussing the band’s biggest album, 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations. Still, this DVD contains some interesting stories about the band’s early years that even their biggest fans may not know. (Sexy Intellectual 2010)
Truth be told, I haven’t gone to many concerts recently since becoming a father almost two years ago. But when I heard Tom Petty was going to be playing Summerfest during an upcoming trip to Milwaukee, I had to buy a pair. Here is how Ticketmaster is currently bending music fans over…
Ticket Price US $105.00 x 2
Facility Charge US $12.00 x 2
Convenience Charge US $15.20 x 2
Tickets/Items US $264.40
Order Processing Fee US $5.20
TOTAL CHARGES US $269.60
Wow, $59.60 in fees to print two tickets. This never ceases to amaze me. There is no way that Ticketmaster is that fat or inefficient. A good portion of the money goes back to the venue in the form of an exclusive contract with Ticketmaster, which allows Ticketmaster to have a monopoly…which allows them to raise prices without consequence. And they’re going to merge with Live Nation?!?
Ridiculous.
RIYL: The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Kings of Leon
Tom Petty set the standard for greatest hits compilations in 1993 when he released the aptly-titled Greatest Hits, which included 16 of his biggest singles, a soon-to-be-smash (“Mary Jane’s Last Dance”), and a very worthwhile cover (Thunderclap Newman’s “Something in the Air”). While some might argue that 1983’s “Change of Heart” (peaking at #21) and 1987’s “Jammin’ Me” (#18) were technically bigger hits than some of the singles that were included, no Petty fan worth his salt is going to argue that those two tunes held up better than the likes of “Listen to Her Heart” (#59) or “Here Comes My Girl” (#59).
Fast forward two years to Petty’s first box set, 1995’s Playback, which was a hodgepodge of hit singles, live tracks and rarities. The set wasn’t very cohesive, but it was important because of its excellent sixth disc (“Nobody’s Children”), which featured 11 leftover tracks from 1986 to 1993 – maybe the most productive span of Petty’s career.
Then there was 2000’s Anthology: Through the Years, which was essentially an expansion of the Greatest Hits disc, though, oddly enough, it didn’t include anything from post-Greatest Hits albums Wildflowers (“You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “It’s Good to Be King,” “You Wreck Me”), She’s The One (“Walls”) or Echo (“Free Girl Now,” “Room At the Top”).
So now we have The Live Anthology, which comes in several different formats – the standard set (48 tracks on 4 CDs), the deluxe set (62 tracks on 5 CDs, including a 14-track bonus disc, two DVDs, a Blu-Ray disc, a vinyl re-master of of the ’76 Official Live Leg, and more, only available at Best Buy), and a vinyl deluxe box set (51 tracks pressed on seven 180-gram audiophile quality vinyl LPs). This review is of the digital version of the standard set, which is the first live release from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers since 1986’s Pack Up the Plantation-Live!
Eleven songs in the set are live versions of tracks included on both Greatest Hits and Anthology. (Think big hits like “Refugee” and “American Girl.”) Most of these tracks are relatively faithful interpretations of the studio versions, save for the beautiful “Learning to Fly” and “I Won’t Back Down,” which Petty often plays in concert with a much sparser production. Both tunes are well worth a listen.
Nine album tracks from The Live Anthology also made my recommended Tom Petty Deep Cuts playlist, and are welcome additions here. It’s hard to pick favorites, but it’s nice to see “Angel Dream (No. 2)” and “Have Love Will Travel” get some live love, and “Dreamville” is an especially impressive live performance. “Southern Accents” is vastly improved from the album version since it’s without the irritating, echoing cross stick that was used in the studio.
Considering that the set has been culled together from hundreds of hours of live recordings from 1979 to 2007, the most impressive thing is how cohesive each disc sounds when played start to finish. It’s almost as if the listener gets four individual, hour-long sets from the Heartbreakers. The band has never been afraid to dive into a cover or two, as evidenced by the the presence of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well,” the Zombies’ “I Want You Back Again,” Booker T. and the MGs “Green Onions,” the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil,” the Dave Clark Five’s “Any Way You Want It” and more.
The Live Anthology is by no means definitive, but it provides a good, in-depth look at one of the greatest live acts of the last thirty years. Moreover, it’s available at the band’s website for $18.49, which is a nice deal for almost four hours of music. (Reprise, 2009)
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