Piano Man - Billy Joel

Music That Can't be Beat

Good ol' Billy Joel, a man who makes music about anything sound amazing. Going over this song reminds me how much I miss musicians who create music, not just produce it, there is a big difference and Billy Joel's music still surpasses the quality of many musician's today.

"Piano Man" is a powerful song to say the least. From the opening piano to the "la-la-de da" chorus, this song is genius all the way through. Let's break it down like normal. The piano, is amazing, creative and entertaining every moment of the song. I could talk about every transition, solo and chord, but it is safe to say this piano is nothing short of perfection in music. The harmonica accompanying the piano through the song is also so wonderfully done, it is hard not to want to go out and buy one to just learn the part from this song. The song is so full of life, the slower more solemn parts are emotionally engaging and the louder sections are easy goosebump givers. 

Joel's voice is fantastic. His lyrics are perfect. They tell a story, just about any person can sing along and they are complex enough on various layers of meaning and sing-ability that the song never gets boring to listen over and over again. Adding a lot of other instruments in the background during the more boisterous moments really fill the song at the right moments.

Easily one of the best songs ever written, and we'll keep listening to it for generations to come.

Originality: 10

Instruments: 10

Vocals: 10

Longevity: 10

Red Score: 10

Run - Foo Fighters

GUEST REVIEW

Hey my RMR family, instead of one of my favorites for this Friday, my friend Tommy Williams from Poor Man Pedals is here to review the newest Foo Fighters song. Let me know what you think and check out his awesome channel here, he does great reviews of pedals that sound amazing without breaking the bank. Without further delay, here is the review!

A Great Run

The Foos are back! Foo Fighters have been my favorite band for several years now, so it is always exciting to see new music come from them. What made this one a real treat is the surprise factor. No one knew (or at least I didn’t see any hints) that they were going to drop a new track and they’ve been on hiatus since November 2015. Anyways, let’s get to the song!

When I first started playing the song I noticed it was very melodic, pretty and soft. I was ready to be disappointed by them just as other bands I enjoy have let me down with their latest releases. Then the song started to grow and become more anthemic. I became more interested and my hopes began to rise. Finally, the heavy guitars came in, this is the Foo Fighters I was expecting. Not to say anthems and soft songs are bad, nor to say the Foo Fighters can’t do them (they totally can); I just always expect the first single off a record (hopefully there’s a whole record coming to follow this) to feature the core sound of the band. This song has it all, melodic intro, heavy riffs, screaming vocals, calmer breakdowns. It is very much a Foo Fighters song and that is great. Also, the music video is hilarious to watch!

The intro has a nice shimmer to it that makes me believe there’s a bit of chorus involved. If you like that sound, check out the FAB Chorus pedal from Danelectro. When the heavy parts hit, I’m pretty sure a heavy distortion pedal kicks in on top of overdriven amps. The Boss DS-1 may get you close if you have your settings right. If you need some overdrive under the distortion, consider the Behringer OD400 or Joyo Ultimate Drive.

Originality: 8

Instruments: 9

Vocals: 9

Longevity: 8

Overall: 8.5

Ra Ra Rasputin - Boney M.

Historical Groove

What an odd subject matter, seriously, I don't know exactly why Boney M. decided to write a song about Grigori Rasputin, however, this song is amazing so why not write it about him?

This song is so good in so many ways, it is hard not to write essays about it. The first thing to address is the wonderfully infectious beat, no being with a soul could resist dancing to this song, especially as it enters its second half. The mixtures of claps and rolling drums that coordinates masterfully with the specifically Russian sounding balalaika create something truly inspired by the rhythm driven music of Mother Russia. Also that seriously funky bass line is hidden but totally wonderful.

The next thing to focus on is the call and response between the vocals, taking turns in verse and chorus while harmonizing wonderfully makes this song be better and better every moment.

Lastly, for this blog post, the sheer tenacity to write a disco in the 70's about a Russian man from the 1800's is mind boggling. I have no idea who came up with this and why, but I sure am glad they did because from Just Dance to throw back dance night, this song is always a beloved entry.

Originality: 9

Instruments: 9

Vocals: 8

Longevity: 10

Red Score: 9

hopeless fountain kingdom (Deluxe) - Halsey

The Child Of Modern Pop Culture Music

Reviews are back in full force! Let us get started with the now nationally recognized artist, Halsey. If you still don't know who this is, she is the one featured in the ridiculously overplayed "Closer" by The Chainsmokers.

Now let's look at her new album hopeless fountain kingdom (Deluxe). In reality? It isn't horrible, it is just totally uninspired, it sounds exactly like every other generic pop song possible created by lazy producers and singers from the last two years. I know I'll get a lot of hate because everyone on Youtube loves it apparently, but I'm sticking by my guns. However, there are songs like "Alone" and "Devil In Me" which step a little bit out of mediocrity and are actually alright, but the rest of the album is just a blur.

To start on the specifics, her vocals are almost identical throughout the album. The music that accompanies her vocals do just that, accompany her. For most songs, there are fairly similar sound percussion, synths and other random noises which end up being only somewhat interesting background noise. 

Another notable thing is that Halsey's tone and tempo are almost impossible to differ from song to song. If you were to play the album in the background of a party, I'm sure some people will ask if the music is on repeat because of how repetitive it is from start to finish. The music isn't horrible or annoying, it is just dull and goes nowhere, the album is 16 tracks long for some reason, it could have been only four tracks and had the exact same deliverable altogether.

So my recommendations are to genuinely listen to the tracks "Alone" and "Devil In Me" and then go to her previous album BADLANDS which is far more interesting.

Originality: 3

Instruments: 5

Vocals: 3

Longevity: 4

Red Score: 3.7

Live or Let Die - Paul McCartney

007's Favorite British Singer

One of the most legendary songwriters of all time, Paul McCartney, is coming out with an enormous, 4-disc compilation album called Pure McCartney later this week. Paul has been writing music for many many years and this week I’m gonna look at his music, why it’s amazing and listen in awe his versatility and creativity over the last 40 years. To be specific, it will be music that is primarily performed and written by him in his personal career and or with the Wings. I’m going to skip anything Beatles related, because I’m bound to have a week about them later. Now onto the song! Live or Let Die was written as a James Bond song for the movie also titled Live or Let Die. The song is fast paced and has that strong orchestral edge that most Bond songs do, but the song is split up into call and response sections with very McCartney sounding parts. When listening to the song, the difference in the parts are blatantly obvious and almost little jarring, but refreshing for sure, especially for Bond music. I am pleasantly surprised at how well Paul was able to integrate his signature style into the Bond format of heroic, spy music. This is one of the best examples of McCartney’s abilities in composing full arrangements of powerful music, that he is not just limited to just rock anthems. Come back tomorrow to see one of Paul’s newest song that was made for one of the most popular video games of last year, Destiny.

Originality: 8.5

Instruments: 8.7

Vocals: 8.5

Longevity: 9.3

Red Score: 8.7