An atypical standout

Today, I'm starting another recurring feature.  I'll elaborate on the appeal of a song that isn't typical of the way an artist or group usually sounds.  First up: "Maureen" by Sade.  Many listeners tend to think of "Smooth Operator," "The Sweetest Taboo," or "Your Love Is King" in connection with her first; those songs, with their sultry vocals and mid-to-uptempo arrangements, typify her usual sound.  If you prefer her slower numbers, "Is It A Crime" might be one of her first songs that comes to mind.  In my opinion, "Maureen" is her most appealing song.  Maureen won't get to meet the protagonist's new friends, according to the lyrics, but Sade sings this lament with such a breezy bounce that you get the feeling she's at peace with it.  Instrumentally and vocally, the tune has a spring in its step that makes it an atypical Sade song.  Also, as I discovered this morning, my cat seems to like washing herself in time to it; apparently, she likes the song's energy, as well, so there's an endorsement I trust.

Speaking of eardrum-shattering...

...I will never forget a concert I attended in 1986.  Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson performed.  I knew, from listening to his albums, that he played in an extremely high register, hitting double high Cs routinely--and loudly.  I heard how those piercing notes resounded, when amplified, through an auditorium that night.  I wouldn't have been surprised if residents of neighboring streets had been able to hear them perfectly from their front lawns.  Among the best-played (and loudest) highlights: "Central Park," "Sunday Morning," well before it appeared on an album, and Ferguson's cover of "Body And Soul."  (Seriously, listen to a recording of "Central Park" and imagine how loud the trumpet would sound played into a microphone.)  KMOX jazz announcer/programmer "Cactus" Charlie Menees was the emcee, and I still remember his intro.  He said he would have been on the air that night, but "KMOX has a little thing going on called the World Series.  But my heroes have always been musicians, not ball players."  Menees had had a long career as a jazz authority by that time, and I always thought that was a smart way to pump up the audience for an evening of high voltage jazz.

An eardrum-shattering wake-up call

The volume level, not the song, was all the incentive I needed to shut off the alarm.  In 1987, I stayed in a college dorm while attending a music camp for bass players.  To make sure neither of us overslept, my roommate set the alarm on the clock radio to a soft rock station.  I didn't realize the alarm had been set to go off at top volume, though.  The next morning, I was blasted out of bed with, "AND MAYBE WITH A CHANCE, YOU WILL FIIIIIINNNNDDDD...!"

...Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed," louder than I'd ever heard it before...

I still like the song as much as any other on Wonder's "In Square Circle" album; I just can't hear that lyric without remembering what it sounded like at a volume level of approximately 500 on what I thought was a 1-10 scale.

It's puzzling what stays in your mind, 28 years later.

The orchestral prelude that has to be there

Most radio stations, when they play ELO's "Strange Magic," air the edited version that starts with the guitar instead of the album version, which has a 22-second string orchestra prelude.  The last time I remember hearing the full version on the air was in 1983.  KYKY played it, and the prelude made a great music bed for the weather forecast, which, as the DJ said, was "going to be downright nice."  The strings fit perfectly with the mentions of sunny skies and pleasant temperatures.   Although you still get the meat of the song in its shorter form, it's still a bit compromised when the prelude isn't there.

It's puzzling what stays in your mind, 32 years later.

"Here we are in this record store, acting hip and cool!"

A memory of two record store customers from 1994:

Customer #1: Do you see the latest from FRENTE here?  I don't see it.
Customer #2: It should be in the ALTERNATIVE ROCK section.  (going to alternative rock section:) Here it is.  It's here in ALTERNATIVE ROCK.
Customer #1: Cool...There's FRENTE.

Some thoughts come to mind, thinking about this conversation now:

• I still wonder if the record store hired those two people to pose as shoppers and talk up current music that the store was trying to sell.  Even the most self-consciously cool people didn't emphasize artist names and musical genres in their everyday speech so blatantly.
• The modern rock station here, KPNT, was attracting a solid audience then, so I imagine exposure on that station alone to Frente's cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" would have been enough to drive shoppers in.
• Considering how many people in the same age range listened to so-called alternative rock, a lot of it wasn't a true alternative to the mainstream.  (That contradiction reminds me of a conversation I witnessed in college; one student was touting the benefits, without irony, of being in "a fraternity for nonconformists.")  In the early '90s, certain magazines and radio stations classified Peter Gabriel and 10,000 Maniacs as alt-rock artists, and I suppose they were, technically.  Still, if there has to be an industry label on it, "modern rock," the term media outlets adopted later in the '90s, is a better, more accurate term. 
• The day after I heard this pitch for Frente, I mentioned it to a co-worker.  Later that week, he said, "I went music shopping yesterday, and I saw the section for Frente.  I considered shouting it out."

It's puzzling what stays in your mind, 21 years later.

FM dial scan highlights XXXIV

Some of the better tracks I've heard today:

KDHX 88.1 FM

• Real June-Seoul (One of 2015's most tuneful melodies, so far; it would segue well with a Beach Fossils tune, "Fall Right In.")
• Ship To Shore-Dub Narcotic Sound System (It was good to hear this tune from '96; being on the receiving end of a loss goes down at least a little easier with a groove like this.)

WSIE 88.7 FM

• Almost Blue-Cava Menzies & Nick Phillips (Sublime, smoky trumpet and piano.)

WFUN 95.5 FM

• O-o-h Child-The Five Stairsteps (When I hear this, I think, "Things are gonna be easier."  The song's sunny optimism carries it.)

KEZK 102.5 FM

• Roll To Me-Del Amitri (Suddenly, it's 1995 again, and WVRV is playing this frequently.  I wonder if they'll segue it with a Sonia Dada tune this time...I'd forgotten how much this song packs into just 2:12 or 2:14, depending on which version is played.)

Admittedly, I could've just listened online...

...The show had already started, however, and I didn't want to miss anything.  I wanted to hear the first edition of "Inside Classical Guitar" on the Radio Arts Foundation station, K297BI 107.3 FM.  The low-power station hadn't boosted its signal yet, so in order to hear the show without it turning to static, I had to stand in front of the right stereo speaker.  I stood in front of that speaker for an hour as my right foot fell asleep.  It was worth it, though, to hear such beautifully performed music.  As people say when they can't defend something logically, it built character.