As noted elsewhere, Paul can’t believe it took him this long to figure out that this would be a great page to add to the site.  True, YouTube is hardly super-fi, but there are some really excellent pieces of music on it that don’t get much exposure on other public media, unfortunately.  Please check these out, and if you like them, go buy the CD or DVD for even greater enjoyment, not to mention supporting the musicians.  These are not necessarily my favorite songs - just tunes Paul has heard recently & liked (or remembered how much he liked it!)  We’ll try to organize this one of these days, but for now, without further ado:

The Golden Palace (acoustic), by Uriah Heep.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHaSS5Y8Nvs

If you have not heard this, it may surprise the heck out of you.  Very well done, lads and lasses!

 

The Loudness Wars 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

This video is not a favorite piece of music, per se, instead, it is about what has been happening to the quality of most recorded “pop” music for the last several years.  It is pretty scary when one can hear this much degradation in a piece of music, on YouTube, on cheapy computer speakers!  We will be posting a page on this subject soon, but in the meantime, check out some of the other “related” YouTube vids at the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ.  Also, if this subject is new to you, please read this article on Wikipedia.  The article could certainly benefit from a little proofreading and editing, but it does discuss many of the relevant issues fairly well.  There are some great references at the end, including a “Dynamic Range Database” with very interesting dynamic range data on (as of this posting) 2436 albums.

 

Focus- Hocus Pocus (live ‘73)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpV5InLw52U

The expressions at 1:15 and later (esp. the end of the whistle!) are just too much!!!  And, could they possibly play any faster???  We probably should put this on the “Just For Fun” page, too!!!

 

Roxette - Crash! Boom! Bang!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoXrd3_3fYI

A beautiful heartbreaking song.  The dynamics on this YouTube vid are not nearly as good as my old CD, but this is still very good stuff…

 

Roxette - Listen To Your Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCC_b5WHLX0&NR=1

Another tremendous song by this duo…

 

Russ Ballard - The story of the making of “The Fire Still Burns”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrEzSXLttI8&feature=related

DEFINITELY listen to this on good headphones!

 

Russ Ballard- Voices (Remastered Audio)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK1D4lQMgDo&feature=related

Another great Ballard tune.  But, I can’t outdo this guy’s comment on YouTube:
jrunberg: When i got to the lake, I get on my Polaris MSX 140 Personal Watercraft and blare this song…while pretending I’m Don Johnson and go after the drug cartel.

 

Celtic Woman - O America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpX2BcB9As&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Truly beautiful voices, and a beautiful song…

 

Celtic Woman - The Voice (with lyrics)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xleo0Hpsxvg

Another beautiful song / vid…

 

Alan Parsons - Return to Tunguska

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEVUX8FI7zs&feature=related

Kinda spooky, kinda cool!

 

Alan Parsons Project - Sirius/Eye In The Sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQalkIeE7s&feature=related

Back when the average vinyl record had more real dynamic range than the average CD in 2009…

 

BLACKFOOT - Teenage Idol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpyzJYDfbGg

Great, punchy southern rock tune…  with synth / keys!  Really old style vid though.

 

BLACKFOOT - HIGHWAY SONG  AUDIO TRACK (and snake?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeI_xlPWfow&feature=related

These boys were not exactly slouches B4 Hensley showed up — One of the best Southern Rock songs ever.

 

Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath (”Classical” version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embimweuYU4

Ian Anderson can’t belt out vocals like he used to, but he’s still an excellent musician, and fun to watch & listen to on the flute.  Great song - I always liked the way the music (forget the vocals for a moment) captured that “locomotive” “picture” in sound.

 

Golden Earring - Vanilla Queen

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcCoqKFkYY

Possibly the most erotic guitar solo ever played, not to mention that the rest of the song is just plain epic!  What a great blend of fabulous acoustic and electric sounds, lyrics that pull you in to the story:  “Tell me why… You haunt me even in my dream!”  You just HAVE to get this on an old CD and play it on a top notch system.  Here, it doesn’t even matter that the vid is just a bunch of album cover stills:  Just close your eyes and wonder what was Candy’s fate.   (”She got sucked into a champagne desert”?)

 

Golden Earrring - Candy’s Going Bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLzRMldKZtQ

Ok, so Paul’s got this in reverse order:  This is the 1st part of the story of “Candy”:  “She got sucked into a champagne desert!”  Everything on this album (Moontan) is great!

 

Henry Mancini - The Pink Panther Theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gT4OTYUS-c

Good recording, but the BEST sounding version is the one on “Ultimate Mancini”, which Paul had the great privilege to audition on the Thiel Audio CS3.7’s in the Thiel Audio listening room at Thiel’s facility in Lexington, KY:  Those are the purest, most coherent sounding speakers Paul has ever heard, and the “Ultimate Mancini” recording didn’t hurt either.  Paul has been playing that song (and that whole 30+ minute demo) in his head a lot, the last few months!

 

Roxy Music - Take a Chance With Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXshJ_xwMiQ&feature=related

Another track that sounds just great on a good system.  “Haunting and stunning”, as one commenter wrote.

 

Tunes Paul would like to find on CD:

Real Life - Burning Blue ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kjr-fK17z0

INXS - To Look At You (Extended version from Dekadance LP)  ~ A shorter live version is here (vocals are kinda low in volume): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz49y0OrQQw&feature=PlayList&p=DF8B172DDA98C83E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

Beep Beep!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z3P_w7w5sU&feature=related

I know it’s not music, but, it is nice to know others have greater frustrations than our own.  The part where they come back out of the big end of the pipe is just priceless.

Too many to look up in the time available.  More soon!!!