Feeling Good - Muse

Broadway + Blues + Bellamy = Success

As this week comes to a close, looking at the song from a number of angles, we’ll finish it with the famous rock version by none other than my favorite band, Muse. Muse is known for their rock albums, but Matthew is classically trained and his father was in an older band, therefore his appreciation for the song is almost a given. The song starts out with the familiar piano part right before Matthew starts singing those ageless words. It breaks into very heavy slower rock with the bass guitar taking the brass section, the piano’s heavier chords matching them and the drums pounding the beat with full force. This is a perfect translation of the song into rock, no doubt. The parts get quieter and come back with more strength just like other covers and the original, so not much difference in actual formula. Matthew does a great job, his voice is spot on with every note. He style of singing is much more like Nina’s blues version, his voice is less about victory like the Broadway song and is more like freedom and emancipation like Nina’s cover. Also using the megaphone during the third verse is a cool addition, and it translates well into live shows (I went to a concert years ago and Matthew using the megaphone was fantastic). The voice solo in the final act is shortened but still done as a nod to the originals. A great cover, truly strong rock while holding true to it’s blues and Broadway personalities from years before.

Cover:8

Instruments:7

Vocals:9

Longevity:8

Red Score:8

Feeling Good - Cy Grant

Bombastic Announcement of Freedom and Pride

Wow, I had done a lot of research and looked around to find the actual Broadway recording, and it is honestly better than I expected. The song comes from “The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd,” the Broadway show, which is about the struggles and problems between upper and lower classes of 1960’s Britain. The song is about the character The Negro who beats the main characters in a game that would determine who out of the two was better than the other. He immediately sing this song of triumph and glory. Grant from the beginning has a wonderfully powerful voice that needs no instrument to back him up. They do come in, but his impressive range and strong vibrato alone are totally outstanding, and at the end he pound out some amazing notes. The arrangement of string and woodwind sections are good, complementing well the feeling of the song for the second section of the song. During the third section we hear the brass part come in with a beautiful group of backup singers building to the last part. The end is epic with the whole symphony at full force with the percussion and brass section especially kicking it up a notch. Then with good separations of choir, instrument and Grants voice taking turns at the end, it brings personality and power to finish the song. I am absolutely impressed with the piece by the end, seriously, I hope you can really appreciate it.    

Originality:9

Instruments:8

Vocals:9

Longevity:7

Red Score:8.25

Feeling Good - Nina Simone

The Best of Blues and a Powerhouse Voice

When we hear that first line, “Birds flying high, you know how I feel…” we recognize the song and it will bring out the large or small part of love for blues and jazz that we all have. Nina Simone took the Broadway song, covered it, putting it into her own album that same year it was premiered and made it her own. For many years it didn't get too much attention, but making an appearance on a commercial in 1987 it boomed and really became a huge hit that people enjoy today. The songs bold brass section creates a powerful downpour of personalty. The piano repeating the chords lightly in the background is simple and beautiful. During the second verse the piano plays a wonderful little fluttering bit to go well with the lyrics which stands out fantastically. The drums sound like they are right there in front of you, so easy going and fit the flavor of the song. The string section that comes in and out can be looked over, but it helps magnify her voice, so go back and hunt for them, they are subtle but great. But with no question at all, Nina’s voice is by far the most powerful part of the piece. She has an incomparable amount of personality and realism in her voice as if her heart and soul come through every word she sings. Her perfect control, her excellent emphasis on syllables and every technique she employs is incredible. I could keep going but I’ll leave it as one of the best singing performances of all time. A great song and a cover that totally improved and remade the original into a song for everyone.

Cover:10

Instruments:8

Vocals:10

Longevity:10

Red Score:9.5

Feeling Good (Remix) - Bassnectar

A Fantastic Remix of a Classic

I will say that this is obviously more of a remix of Nina Simone’s version for sure, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t good or just as creative as a normal cover. This song will most just be one to listen to and give me your personal opinion about it. It starts out with Nina singing and slowly being followed up by heavy slow blues brass and drums. As the song progresses to be more instrument heavy, you can hear the dub-stepish parts follow the brasses part. The song begins to “drop” (for lack of a better term) while repeating a piano chord and relaying various other bits of her singing to make the song really have a lot of power. It keeps the brass repeating like the original song and builds on it with wild effects that make for a great modern imagining of the song. As the original song seems to decay into the electronic world, it still keeps that beautiful soulful essences of the song while turning up the bass and blowing out the speakers with heavier drums. Honestly, I am a sucker for remixes because I frankly love electronic music and think it is awesome to enjoy music in a variety of ways. I don’t think this version is better than Nina’s version, no questions, but I listen to it more and it play it much more often. A great reinventing of a classic, and one of the best remixes I’ve heard in years.

Cover:9

Instruments:8

Vocals:7

Longevity:7

Red Score:7.75

Feeling Good - Michael Buble

Classic Blues Mixed With Some Jazz For a New Era

Most people know this song, or at least a version of it. The song was from the 60’s and originally written for a Broadway musical, but it has been covered by so many people, it is hard to put the song in just one category, and rightfully so. With each iteration, the song has changed emotion and power/style. This week, I’ll be looking at the different versions, and analyse about their strengths and weaknesses. I won’t be focusing on the actual song itself, but it in comparison to the other covers done, I’ll still rate it, but there will be a different category called “Cover” to describe how well the cover keeps the energy of the original while being creative and making it the artist's own (this replaces originality). Out of the huge array or artists to cover this song, Michael Buble knows he has the voice for it, and so do his producers, therefore it was almost inevitable he would cover Feelin’ Good. He has a voice that sounds straight from the 40’s and 50’s big band era. He adds emphasis and holds back on various words while spicing up the pitch going up and down a lot to create his personal stamp. This adds a lot of personality and makes it sound like a live version played for a huge audience which might be the best part of the song. The instruments and arrangement is great, it sounds like a beautiful reimagining of the version from Nina Simone with a vast variety of sounds that would only come from a full symphony. This version is passionate and strong and goes well with the other work from Michael Buble, the only problem that I have with the song, is that it isn’t very original because it is basically Nina’s cover of the song with some extra “jazz hands.” The bridge is good and brings a lot of great flavor, but that is about all that is original. A good version, but unfortunately it just doesn’t do much with the song other than re-record it with more instruments and a different singer.

Cover:6

Instruments:8

Vocals:8

Longevity:6

Red Score:7

LOST IN THE ECHO - Linkin Park

Hitting Roots While After Being Lost

Now I know bringing up Linkin Park and their great/terrible music from recent years is just asking for a fight. Hear me out on this song. The reason we love Linkin Park comes from their first two albums of intense rock with a solid scoop of rap and pinch of electronic. The whole album Living Things is 30% intense rock, 15% rap, 35% electronic and 20% “sing/screaming.” It is different for sure, but LOST IN THE ECHO is one of the closest to their original style, like songs Numb and Crawling. Starting with Mike’s rapping, it isn’t the best he’s done, but his voice has matured since Hybrid Theory and he doesn’t sound as whiny, which is nice. Chester does great here, his screams are about as good as they were years ago, a little rasp and a lot of energy. The electric melody combined with the guitar chords is very strong and punch a lot of attitude into the piece. The drums are pretty good, they sound more real than they used to be and are much more creative. The bass also is surprisingly good, going from very low notes matching the bass drum to high repeating notes, it is very well rounded. The guitars are strong but not really indistinguishable from the rest of the song. There is also a lot of synth/dubstep-ish sound (I still don’t know the right words to use) that enhances the other instruments. I highly doubt Linkin Park will ever produce albums as good as Meteora or Hybrid Theory, but it doesn’t mean they can’t make good music that almost matches their old work. The last album Hunting Party was a flop in my opinion, but Living Things was good enough for sure. Give them a chance again my critic friends, Linkin Park still has it in them.

Originality:7

Instruments:7

Vocals:7

Longevity:6

Red Score: 6.75

Sign 'O' The Times

Subtle Rock/Pop Poured Blues

In honor of music legend and major media media influence Prince, I wanted to discuss a little of his impact and reflect on his mastery through the review of this song. Just to let you know, it was kind of difficult to listen to any of his stuff, I could only find it on paid spotify and a some of his stuff on google play or iTunes. I did find a place to hear the actual version, but for the blog I had to link a pretty close version of the song with his original voice overlaid, sorry. This song screams uniqueness, from the guitar and bass to his specific voice and blend of electric and real drums, this song oozes creativity. The song’s percussion sections use of snare and fast bass drum combined with the repeated syths parts and the electric drum solo is awesome, we don’t hear such creative use of percussion parts that often. The bass starting almost at the beginning and carrying the song with smooth, cool, and a sort of dark sound is something that you could never get tired of. The guitar sparking strong flares of personality into the song is like the marshmallows in the Lucky Charms that make that good cereal even better. Prince’s voice is lower here for most of the song compared to his normal pitch in other songs, and this just shows how amazing of an artist he was being able to gracefully use his voice in high sopranos or strong tenor depending on the need of the song. But this is not all of his talent, he is an outstanding songwriter, and this song’s magical blend of various and irregular sounds being able to create a superb piece is his greatest feat. I don’t know for sure, but I am sure he could play all the parts of the song and sing at the same time if it were possible. The lyrics are clever and upfront. He has no problem showing the world that things in the world are messed up. He has made expressing oneself in music a part of your songs. He never worried about what people thought, he made music that he wanted to and you can see that by the unique personality in all of his music. I am grateful for his powerful sense of identity that he carried and encouraged through his music. Hats off and heads down in solemn respect to the great Prince and his life, thank you.

Originality:10

Instruments:9

Vocals:9

Longevity:8

Red Score:9

Eyes Wide - Meadowlark

Alternative Pop That Takes Shape Through Progression

Meadowlark is a band made up of two members (it was three at a time, but now two), with the most notable being Kate McGill who became youtube famous with a few covers of notable songs, and Daniel Broadley is the lead guitarist and does some other small parts. Kate plays guitar, piano and is the primary songwriter. This song creates a great ambiance and starts pretty simple, but picks up momentum with slews of instruments that exponentially grows until the end. With the start of the drum and piano/synth pads, there is a sense of simplicity that sounds great. The chorus picks up the pace and the second verse adds some extra bits to the piano and the synth pads get a little louder. The second verse adds some more back-up singers with some guitar here and there. The almost acapella bridge with Daniel singing very faint harmonies adds that small extra depth which strongly transitions to just very airy sounds and the piano and drums again like in the beginning. The last chorus brings in more back-up singing, a violin section and few other small noise sample to flush out the song wonderfully. Kate’s voice is good, she has a natural glow to her voice which is great, but the range of the song seems to limit the potential of the song and limit its emotional impact. Don’t get me wrong, she does great, but as a more relaxed song she doesn’t need to be screaming, but there seems to be a lack of emotion or devotion that holds the song back a little. Overall the song is good though, simple and true, nothing too fancy, but that what makes certain things in life so good.

Originality:7

Instruments:7

Vocals:7

Longevity:5

Red Score:6.5

Blues Magic - Santana

Fantastically Melded Instruments

Santana has been around for a number of years grabbing classical latino musical sounds, mixing in jazz, blues, a little rock, and they now successfully have come back with there new album, Santana IV. Carlos Santana is one of the best guitarist in the world and an amazing songwriter. Blues Magic is an amazing mixture of blue and jazz that has the instruments play into each other and melt to make a beautiful sound that is so rich it is hard to put into words. Starting with that iconic guitar, there are sublime riffs sprinkled through the song that echo against the chords that are played through the whole thing. The solo is unbelievably smooth. Santana is absolutely brilliant with the guitar using technically good tricks perfectly. But he has a great talent for practically singing through his guitar, and that is what makes his guitar so good, it feels like it has it’s own personality and is alive it is so good. The drums are great, following the song strongly and smoothly, but the extra bongos and other percussion parts really bring a lot of personality to the song. The bass is pretty good, but almost impossible to pick out with the organ parts continually playing in the background (which is a nice touch, adding a little “soul.” But they do drown out the bass which is too bad). Gregg Rolie is the main vocalist, and he does a great job, almost as good as his days when Black Magic Woman came out. The instruments never are loud or boisterous, they are sophisticated and show a perfect amount of control, that is what make this song just become one beautiful piece. In an era or fast paced electronic fueled music, it is very refreshing to hear this.

Originality:7

Instruments:9

Vocals:7

Longevity:7

Red Score:7.5

(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To - Weezer

Upbeat Fun Rock Following A Solid Pattern

When Weezer comes on, you’ll know there will be solid lyrics, guitar, fast drums and a singable chorus. Weezer can make great music, no questions, but the creative level from song to song isn’t that magical, and yet they keep coming out with songs that people love, and I proudly am one of those people. The guitar is what stars this song off, and the acoustic sounds great strumming away happily through the song. The drum part is simple but enjoyable. The bass is the most creative instrument, going up and down the bars in a quick fashion. The vocals are good, Rivers is great. His voice is very unique, and he does a fantastic job here as always. The lyrics are good, an interesting tale, but nothing that really stands above a teenage angst love-ish song. The strongest point of the song is the speed and energy the song has, a very fun, “windows down during a hot day while driving” vibe which makes it so good. It unfortunately doesn’t break the constant and continuous mold that is a “Weezer Song.” The album Raditude does explore some other sounds, but none of it is really as good as their standard formula. A good, fun song for all intensive purposes, but it misses the mark for creativity.

Originality:5

Instruments:7

Vocals:7

Longevity:6

Red Score:6.25