Music! Feel the Feeling!!

This page will be dedicated to my favorite bands and artists. I heavily douse myself in music daily, and own some physical media such as cassettes, vinyl, and CDs, so those will be shown here also. Here I will talk about some of these bands' backgrounds, my own experiences listening to them, and recommend albums or singles. At the bottom of the page, you may find a spot to reccomend me stuff... Have fun and don't forget to dance!

The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive/soft/art rock band active from 1975 to 1990 whose core membership consisted of Alan Parsons (production, engineering, programming, composition, vocals, keyboards, guitars) and Eric Woolfson (composition, lyrics, piano, keyboards, vocals, executive production). They were accompanied by varying session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as Ian Bairnson (guitar), Andrew Powell (composition, keyboards, orchestral arrangements), David Paton (bass, vocals, acoustic guitar), Stuart Elliott (drums, percussion), and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons and Woolfson shared writing credits on almost all of the Project's songs, with Parsons producing or co-producing all of the band's recordings.

I know for surethe first APP song I lsitened to was Sirius from their Eye In The Sky album at a sports game, but of course I didn't know it was them. Sometime last summer I heard Step By Step on 96.9FM. I checked them out some more and immediately found interest in their discography. Eye in the Sky is certainly my favorite album from them, but Ammonia Avenue and Tales of Mystery and Imagination are quite good, too. I've been thinking about listening to the whole of Pryamid. My favorite individual songs from APP are:

Styx is an American progressive/hard/arena/art rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1972. They are known for blending melodic hard rock guitar with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. The band established themselves with a progressive rock sound during the 1970s, and began to incorporate pop rock and soft rock elements in the 1980s. The original line-up comprised Dennis DeYoung (keyboards, lead and backing vocals), James "J.Y." Young (guitars, lead and backing vocals, occasional keyboards), John "J.C." Curulewski (guitar, backing and lead vocals, keyboards) and brothers Chuck (bass, occasional backing vocals) and John Panozzo (drums, percussion, occasional backing vocals).

I remember distinctly that the first song I heard from STYX was the last 20 seconds of Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) late at night. I cried because I didn't know what the name of the song was, and I didn't get to hear the other whole section of the song. Luckily it took an email to the station for them to tell me that it was that song. The following morning I looked into the rest of the songs from that album, Pieces of Eight. After thoroughly enjoying that album, I moved onto listening to Cornerstone. Man, did that album break me. Cornerstone is stock-full of amazing songs, not one of them are a miss- okay, maybe Boat on the River is a little low. But the rest have brought me to tears, especially Babe and First Time.

Luckily for me, they have a very extensive dicography. I still have yet to listen to most of their albums, but trust that I absolutely will. These are my favorites from STYX:

Genesis is an English progressive/soft/art rock band formed at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's longest-existing and most commercially successful line-up consisted of Phil Collins (lead and backing vocals, drums, percussion), Tony Banks (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), and Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar, bass pedals, backing vocals. In the 1970s, during which the band also included Peter Gabriel (lead vocals, flute, oboe, percussion. Also wrote Sledgehammer, an altogether awesome song as stated later here) and Steve Hackett (guitar), Genesis was among the pioneers of progressive rock. They have won numerous awards, including a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video with "Land of Confusion".

In early spring of this year, Sledgehammer was on 96.9FM. I fell in love with every use of every instrument, especially the bamboo flute. The sound makes me think of ancient Egypt. It's cool. Anywho, after listening to that I read into the rest of his stuff, and saw he's worked with Phil Collins. I love Phil Collins' music too, and was baffled as to why I hadn't heard of Genesis prior to this. Needless to say, I was completely enamoured with the sound these people make. Here is a list of some of my favorites of theirs:

The Police were an English new wave/reggae rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead/backing vocals, double bass, keyboards, and primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar, keyboards, occasional backing vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion, occasional backing vocals), and remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police started as a punk rock band, but soon expanded their music vocabulary to incorporate reggae, pop and new wave elements to their sound.

I know I'd first heard Don't Stand So Close To Me, but I like to chalk it up to My friend Steve talking about Message In A Bottle. I liked it a lot, so I told my dad about one time for lunch and he encouraged me to listen to the rest of their music. He warned me to be lenient with the sound they make, and lenient I was. I've only really caught hold of a song or two from each of their albums, but hey, that just means every album has a hit.

The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne (lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, piano, keyboards, cello, drums, percussion) and Roy Wood (lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, cello, oboe, bassoon) with Bev Bevan (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. Fifteen other members have gone in and out of the band from 1970 to 1983.

Mr. Blue Sky was my first ELO song, but I can't remember any kind of backstory as to why. I do know what ELO is one of my mom's favorite bands. I'm seeing them in September of this year with good tickets!

Huey Lewis and the News is an American new wave/doo-wop/pop rock band based in San Francisco, California. Their sound draws upon earlier pop, rhythm & blues and doo-wop artists, and their own material has been labeled as blue-eyed soul, new wave, power pop, and roots rock. The original line-up, lasting from 1979 to 1995, was comprised of Huey Lewis (lead vocals, harmonica), Chris Hayes (lead guitar and backing vocals), Johnny Colla (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), Sean Hopper (keyboards), Mario Cipollina (bass), and Bill Gibson (drums, percussion, backing vocals).

Unsurprisingly, I had first heard Hip To Be Square because of watching American Pyscho. Not that I'm ashamed of this though, American Pyscho is a hardcore movie. I also recall hearing The Power of Love in Back to the Future's soundtrack. Their early work was a little too 'new-wave' for my taste, but when 'Sports' came out in '83, I think they really came into their own – both commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.