I like the way that you walk

For tonight I have a pretty old song. I just heard that it was used in Apocalypse Now which my brother just watched for his film class. The song is by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the song is "Susie Q." I'm think I'm starting to head back to the roots of my musical taste. My dad started me off right I think on classic rock and great rock and roll guitar solos, with bands like The Beatles, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin.

The song is totally amazing. It starts out with this little drum intro and one of the sexiest guitar hooks I have ever heard (that is the only way to describe it). I wouldn't say that the lyrics are amazing, but they get really catching-a great driving song if I have ever heard one. I have listened to a decent amount of CCR but I think this sounds more like a Doors song of the late 60's but they really make it theirs. What I didn't know about this song though is that it was originally done by Dale Hawkins in '57. It seems like a lot of the classic rock songs that I'm listening to these days aren't done by who I thought they were (see also: "Hound Dog" originally done by Big Mama Thorton). I can't say I like the original as much, but the cover version done by CCR is amazing. Enjoy!

"Susie Q" covered by Credence Clearwater Revival from Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)

"Susie Q" by Dale Hawkins (1957)

-S

Easy being an All-Star

I took a class sohpomore year called Music of the Americas, which, in the end, turned out to be an overall pretty lame class. However, one thing that I did get out of it was learning about some pretty cool bands such as Louis Jordan and the Big Mama Thorton.

Basically the class consisted of a North-South timeline of popular music as it traced its way down from Canada to the American South and South American (Inuit Throat Singing was definitely a highlight of the class, also see Tuvan Throat singing of Mongolia). That is not where I got this band though. On the last day of the Ska/Rock-Steady/Reggae unit we went over a band in passing called the Easy Star All-Stars who had done an entire cover album of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1973) entitled "Dub Side Of The Moon".

The album became an instant classic for me, almost as good as the original (well, actually thats a stretch). After doing some more research in to the band I found whole album covers of classics like the Beatles Srgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (aptly named the Lonely Hearts Dub Band) and Radiohead's 97' classic OK Computer.

I didn't think that I could justify (is it weird that as I wrote that I, to my dismay, thought of how much I really dislike Justin Timberlake's music?)making a post for just one of the songs so I decided to do a little 6-song complilation in which I just picked my two favorites from each album.

"Money" by Easy Star All-Stars from Dub Side of the Moon (2003)

"Brain Damage" by Easy Star All-Stars from Dub Side of the Moon (2003)

"Karma Police" by Easy Star All-Stars from Radiodread (2006)

"Paranoid Android" by Easy Star All-Stars from Radiodread (2006)

"Fixing A Hole" by Easy Star All-Stars from Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009)

"A Day In The Life" by Easy Star All-Stars from Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009)

-S