Pachelbel Canon in D Major – La corda d’oro

I finally found the version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major that I wanted to post here…its from the anime – La Corda d’Oro…this is the version I liked the best and the most…

Early hours of a Monday!!

Call me crazy or eccentric or whatever…but I simply couldn’t sleep despite feeling tired over the weekend.

LA has been having some weird weather over the weekends for sure…sunny weekdays punctuated by cloudy and rainy weekends has been the norm for sometime this year. Its springtime but it rains.

And so it started to rain on Sunday evening…and a lil bit of Syrah and

I couldn’t sleep period! What am I doing? Listening to Rainy Days by Mary J Blige – Ja Rule and Meet me Halfway by Black Eyed Peas alternately while watching the rain pattering against the window panes with a extra hot cuppa Coffee.

So here’s the link to the Rainy days video..for those who want to enjoy a song on a rainy day…and the link to Meet me Halfway…

Note - I found this on youtube..so don’t blame me if I add the link!

Pachelbel – Kanon und Gigue in D-Dur (Canon in D)

This song is selected by Kahoko Hino for the music concurs – 2nd selection – Something to Believe In…and its my favorite in the classics after Fur Elise.

The version above is considered a more evolved version of this classic Canon and best yet it could be managed on a Piano.

Sunset on 17 Mile Drive

Sunset on 17 Mile Drive

This picture was taken near the Ghost Tree view point on the 17 Mile Drive. I felt this one merited a post because I could capture the crepuscular rays after many trials. And also this was one of the best sunsets I’ve seen in a winter.

Another unique lasting aspect of this drive is that we were playing the song – Dream a little dream of me (by Mamas and Papas) throughout this drive. Felt that it was a mix of beauty, melancholy and serenity…so the song and this sunset are kind of intertwined in my memories!

More info on this drive can be found @ Notes on 17 Mile Drive

25 Albums that Rocked the World

There would be maybe over a million albums that must’ve entered and exited the music industry and people’s memories in general but only a few, maybe 1/10th of these must’ve made some impact on the world at large. Probably these might be the ones that’d remain in memories till memories remain.

Anyways moving onto what albums were covered in this book -

1. Elvis Presley – The Sun Years
2. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
3. Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
4. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
5. Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
6. Eric Clapton – Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
7. Led Zeppelin
8. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St.
9. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of The Moon
10. Micheal Jackson – Thriller
11. U2 – The Joshua Tree
12. Nirvana – Nevermind
13. ABBA – Abba Gold
14. Radiohead – OK Computer

And these are just a few of the many covered here.

The albums are covered from the perspective of the artist (s)’ muse or their inspiration that drove them to cut these albums, sometimes marking important milestones in the artists’ careers and lives. Each track in the album is given due importance going as far as mentioning which particular instrument dominated the song or why only a particular vocal artist had sung that.

In short, this book provides all the details a music buff would need in order to become an authority on a track or an album. Not just that…the book also provides brief insights into the lives of the artist or band in question. While I may or maynot have listened to some tracks from most, the ones that are stuck in my memory till date are Thriller and Abba Gold.

Micheal Jackson – Thriller

It is quoted that MJ wrote 4 of the 9 tracks and they reflect his anger for all of the songs he wrote seemed to be centered on ‘conflict’. This was around the same time that MJ had undergone one of the many surgeries that redefined his nose to what it was until a few months back. Not just that, he’d been rejected by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences which probably hurt him the most as rewards and awards were important for him.

This album was apparently one of the biggest sellers of 1982-83 and a winner. 7 of the 9 songs were hit singles and by June 1983 Thriller sold over 10 million albums worldwide.

Tracks I liked the most are ‘Beat It’, ‘Thriller’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘The Girl is Mine’, ‘Human Nature’ and some key facts are

• The Girl is Mine – This was a duet number with Paul McCartney
• Thriller – Written by Temperton as a homage to horror movies
• Beat It – Jackson finally enters MTV with this hit single
• Billie Jean – The character filing paternity suit in this song is a composite of damaged and deluded souls or so says MJ

ABBA – Abba Gold

This Swedish band made such waves across US and Continental Europe not to mention forayed into Down Under. I loved most of their numbers especially ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Money Money Money’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Take a Chance on Me’, ‘SOS’, ‘Voulez-Vous’, ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ and ‘Thank You for the Music’ to mention a few.

Abba Gold is the biggest hit album Abba will ever enjoy. The album’s packaging was the subject of careful market research, concluding that the CD cover shouldn’t feature any pictures of the group but focus on the simple, classic logo as this would ensure that the Abba were not viewed as a kitschy nostalgia phenomenon but as a classy, timeless popular music act. Some facts on the hit singles:

• Dancing Queen – Acknowledged as one of the all-time classic singles in the history of popular music. Its jubiliant sound characterised by Andersson’s trademark piano figures and Lyngstad and Faltskog’s soaring vocals made it an immediate classic.
• Mamma Mia – Signalled the arrival of a new Abba, one who were not about to apologise for wanting to make brilliant pop music.
• Money Money Money – Supposed to be a wry, tongue-in-cheek number.
• Take a Chance on Me – In many ways, this was deemed as Abba’s farewell to the more innocent, bubblegum-inflected pop that had marked their breakthrough years.
• SOS- considered Abba’s first truly masterful pop single
• Voulez-Vous – Resultant of a songwriting trip Ulvaeus and Andersson undertook to the Bahamas

With this I’d conclude my rambling and leave the rest for music buffs to figure out…this book is definitely a worth-read as it is packed with more information that you could ever google out!