No Top 5 Update this week, so playing catch up on some Top 5 Trip Tunes.
5. Hearts – Marty Balin (1981)
This late member of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship scored a pair of solo Top 40 hits in the 1980s with this tune reaching #8 on the charts. Not only is it a great song but a couple aspects apply to my mental musical lists. It makes the list of my telephone call tunes as it begins with “Is everything all right? I just called to say how lost I feel without you.” In addition, it is a body part song and begs the question of the most frequent body part in hit song titles. Is it “heart” or “eyes?”
4. Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride) – Don Felder (1981)
The one-time Eagles guitarist contributed this title track to the 1981 animated film of the same name, not to be confused with the Sammy Hagar “Heavy Metal” tune that was also included in the film. And speaking of the film, I don’t think that I have ever seen the entire thing. Seems like I attended a midnight showing and maybe caught parts of it on HBO or Cinemax during those old free weekends. From the mixed reviews, I probably won’t add it to my must-see list.
3. I Missed Again – Phil Collins (1981)
It is 1981 and Phil Collins, Genesis, and MTV are about to explode onto the scene. What a great time to be a teenager and a music fan. Granted, Colins and Genesis had been around for quite some time, but they were about to go from cult following to the top of the charts. And you’ve got to love horns in a song with Phil Collins’ imitations being a classic piece of music video history.
2. Silver, Blue & Gold – Bad Company (1976)
Among my mental musical lists are the Top 5/Top 10 rankings among an artist’s catalog. When it comes to Bad Company, this one tops my list. In addition, there are the lists of songs with a color in the title. Well, how about one that overachieves with three colors? And on that mental list it remains tied with “Rednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer” recorded by Johnny Russell. Feel free to chime in with others and I can add them to my list.
1. Somebody to Love – Queen (1976)
Queen is one of my favorite bands of all-time and this tune is one of my favorites from their impressive and entertaining catalog. Like many of their songs, the amount of stuff going on in these five minutes is an audio treat. Over the last fifty years, I’ve had several “Wow, I’ve never noticed that before” moments. Little bits of percussion, succinct shots of background vocals, hand claps, and cheers to name a few. What a fun song, I could listen to it all day long.
Hope you don’t mind the occasional tangents as there are more on the way. Talk to you later. Troy