Saturday, December 1, 2012

Historical Songaday: Day 1 (Massive Attack - Teardrop)

Welcome! This is the first day of December, and thus it's Historical Songaday now! Now, you may be saying, "Wait, you just did a Songaday two months ago!" and you'd be right, of course. However, I've got a different thing goin' on this month, it ain't gonna be QUITE the same, though it might look pretty similar. Here's the deal: On my main forum I go to, back in September 2011, I did a Songaday very predictably called September Songaday. It was pretty much exactly the same as the other Songadays I've done here, but thanks to being in a protected region of the forum (unavailable to non-members) the majority of you who see the blog here probably have never seen them. Now, when I built the Music tab up at the top I decided to include the list of songs from September Songaday, despite the lack of posts, directly linking to the music. I aim to rectify that.
I admit, I have an ulterior motive here. I will be GONE for the back half of December. Off the blog, off the web, out of the country, out of the CONTINENT. I'll be in Morocco! However, I don't want to go, like, a month with no content. That'd be kinda lame. So because these posts are easier to write than regular Songaday posts (their mostly already written!), I'll be queuing them all up before I go, so you get a pretty constant stream of stuff even if I'm not here! Unlike future Songadays in general, since this stuff is already written, I'll probably keep up Sunday Songs in the meantime.
Additionally, it's my goal to have enough posts prepared that I can put up a review every Tuesday and Thursday for the whole month of December. December is the final month of the year, and the final month of my first full year doing this blog as a constant project! Just want to say right now that holy crap, I love you all and I never expected to be able to hold even this much viewership.
Unfortunately I likely won't be able to set up Facebook/Twitter/G+ to auto-post my usual ads for me. Hopefully I can find a way to get those things beforehand, but oh well. Maybe I'll find a way to jump on from time to time.
So, you may be wondering the actual format here. I could be incredibly lazy and just quote the original posts, and I may do so occasionally if I happened to be particularly articulate that day, but in general I'll quote the original and expand upon it. I'll also be writing up a new batch of links, especially on days I made none originally (I'm just digging myself a whole there, I just know it).

Should be a fun time. Let's begin!

DAY ONE: MASSIVE ATTACK - TEARDROP

Chances are you've heard this before, as the intro theme song to House MD. It didn't come from there though. Massive Attack is a trip-hop band(trip-hop may have actually originated with them) with one stellar album(Mezzanine), two good albums(100th Window, Blue Lines), and two mediocre albums(Protection, Heligoland). Teardrop is their most iconic song, but other songs from Mezzanine get around. You may have heard Angel in a Watchmen trailer, and Dissolved Girl in one of the Matrix movies. Me, I like Group Four.
That's pretty good. Massive Attack is a group out of Bristol, and pretty much started the trip-hop genre. I like most of what they do. I've talked about them before on a regular post, where I posted A Prayer For England from 100th Window, which I actually like up on about the same level as Mezzanine personally.
Check out a few of the remixes of Teardrop at the bottom of the links! Teardrop is one of the best known of all Massive Attack songs along with Angel thanks to House. Elizabeth Frazier's voice is great in it, and it's just overall an incredibly strong song. Jose Gonzalez gives a great acoustic version (used in House as well as the end to a particularly important episode!), Knight Riderz gives a slightly dubstep-y version, and the Dmarinos mix is simply out of this world - soothing, chilling, haunting, driving, worthy of standing alongside the original with pride.

Links:
Massive Attack
Unfinished Sympathy
Hymn of the Big Wheel
Angel
Inertia Creeps
Inertia Creeps (Manic Street Preachers Mix)
Dissolved Girl
Black Milk
Group Four
What Your Soul Sings
Special Cases
A Prayer for England
Antistar
Teardrop (Knight Riderz Mix)
Teardrop (Jose Gonzalez Mix)
Teardrop (Dmarinos Mix) (This one is easily the best mix of this song I've ever heard)

I think that's it! Hope to see you tomorrow, and enjoy the songs! If you want a sneak peak of what's to come, the Music tab is right up there at the top with the whole list. Maybe you'd prefer to keep it a surprise though!
End Recording,
Ego.

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