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Olivier Group: Super Admins Posts: 1868 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: July 08 2011, 13:10 Andrew Lloyd Webber - Phantom Of The Opera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny5H9GiVP_0 Genesis - Calling All Stations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oevq8SGt78o Back to top

wiga Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: Sep. 2008 Posted: July 08 2011, 15:54 Yes, see what you mean - a good earthy start and then they just fall away. -------------- Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 08 2011, 17:28 Richenel: Dance Around the World http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnW867sQKf8 Very catchy intro followed by horrible, horrible vocals. ...and... Europe: The Final Countdown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyggY_R3jU8 I've pretty much got used to this, but the intro is practically the entire song. The rest is crappy Eighties "Hair Metal". I'm pleased that they got into serious metal, now. Oh, and of course there's the best intro of all time followed by the stupidest lyrics of all time. I won't even write down the title, it's sooooooo well known. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma4dsoviNSQ -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: July 08 2011, 21:48 Quote (Ugo @ July 08 2011, 17:28) Oh, and of course there's the best intro of all time followed by the stupidest lyrics of all time. I won't even write down the title, it's sooooooo well known. I like the lyrics, actually - although I think it would have been better if they'd said "brought another dream" instead of "brought another drink". I always think this song has a great melody, but that they don't do enough with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CknuCTRAW_I Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: July 09 2011, 11:03 Mike Oldfield's Man in the Rain. I'm know that it's a plain (perhaps unintentional) rip off of Rush's Time Stand Still, but it's still a beautiful as hell intro, but then... Oh, and Coldplay's Clocks. Not that it "disappoints", but the song doesn't get even close to making justice to that intro. I actually hate that kind of thing in which the song takes off in the beginning, and then EVERYTHING DROPS OUT just to let the singer's voice be five times louder than everything else. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 09 2011, 11:55 @ nightspore: that's the other tune that I'm going to cover [with a brand new Italian lyric written by me - not a translation!] in my second solo album. How come that both of my planned covers have cropped up here on tub.net within the space of a few days? About "Whiter Shade", the fact that they said "another drink" instead of "another dream" is, to me, another confirmation of the stupidity of the lyrics. They're almost just as stupid as the lyrics to "Northpoint", but don't let me start about that one again. Back on topic, here's another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKmYlnQv_dg I always thought that the intro is a great virtuoso guitar piece, a real showcase for Angus Young and also unusual for him, as his 'normal' solos aren't that virtuosistic. But after that, the song just evaporates into something so very typically AC/DC that the elaborate intro sounds out of place. I think the song  would have worked much better by starting with some heavy chords à la "Back in Black" @ Sir M.: have you noticed that the melody of the intro to MitR is also the melody of its chorus, or pseudo-chorus? [i.e. "How's it feel when there's time to remember?" etc.] Maybe the song also fits in another thread... -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

GusFogle Group: Members Posts: 199 Joined: July 2011 Posted: July 11 2011, 01:02 Quote (Ugo @ July 09 2011, 11:55) I always thought that the intro is a great virtuoso guitar piece, a real showcase for Angus Young and also unusual for him, as his 'normal' solos aren't that virtuosistic. Virtuoso? Hahaha, maybe just because it sounds harder than it is. He's just doing pull-offs. You don't even need 2 hands to play it, you can just use your fretting hand. I'm a failed guitarist and even I can play that. And I'll just go ahead and say I strongly disagree with your views on "A whiter shade of pale". I don't think you're getting the story behind the lyrics. Back to top

Olivier Group: Super Admins Posts: 1868 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: July 11 2011, 01:23 Yeah the problem with this "virtuoso" guitar solos is they are actually mechanical exercises for piano pupils to be able later to deal with the real stuff. You play them to perhaps become a virtuoso, but you're certainly not a virtuoso because you can play that. http://www.hanon-online.com/the-virtuoso-pianist/ "This entire volume can be played through in an hour; and if, after it has been thoroughly mastered, it be repeated daily for a time, difficulties will disappear as if by enchantment, and that beautiful, clear, clean, pearling execution will have been acquired which is the secret of distinguished artists." <- that's not enchantment, that's TORTURE Back to top

HR lover Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Sep. 2010 Posted: July 11 2011, 05:20 Wow I really like that Procol Harum song. -------------- Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. Back to top

wiga Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: Sep. 2008 Posted: July 11 2011, 07:11 Quote (HR lover @ July 11 2011, 10:20) Wow I really like that Procol Harum song. Yeah it is nice. My mum's always said she wants it for her funeral. -------------- Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon. Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: July 11 2011, 09:48 Quote (wiga @ July 11 2011, 07:11) Quote (HR lover @ July 11 2011, 10:20) Wow I really like that Procol Harum song. Yeah it is nice. My mum's always said she wants it for her funeral. Peter Sellers ordered "In the Mood" to be played at his funeral - because he hated it!   Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: July 11 2011, 10:33 Quote (Ugo @ July 09 2011, 11:55) @ Sir M.: have you noticed that the melody of the intro to MitR is also the melody of its chorus, or pseudo-chorus? [i.e. "How's it feel when there's time to remember?" etc.] Maybe the song also fits in another thread... Yeah, I did. Unfortunately the track becomes so monotonous and dull that the chorus pretty much loses all interest. I hadn't thought about it before, but perhaps the song could benefit from a better arrangement, more dynamic, varied and not just a pale, stupid copy of an older, much better hit. I'd like to hear that. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 11 2011, 19:14 I'm going to give various replies here... @ GusFogle: I do know the story behind the lyrics to "A Whiter Shade" and I still think that they are very stupid! Normally, when I listen to a song, I take the lyrics at face value, not looking for any "story" or any "hidden meaning" behind them, as I think that this would harm my perception of the song. And, listening to "A Whiter Shade" and taking its lyrics at face value, I perceive them as stupid. By the way, do you disagree with me only about the lyrics being stupid or also about the intro being great? Also, I said that I thought that the "Thunderstruck" guitar intro was a virtuoso show-off piece, but various friends of mine who play guitar told me that it's not, so you are quite right about it. I was remarking that the rest of the song is not up to its apparent complexity, or that its apparent complexity is, I think, not appropriate to the song. @ Olivier: I studied the whole of Hanon's book when I studied classical piano playing (which I don't do any longer) and I played the entire volume several times - but over the course of  two days, not in an hour! Yes, it's torture. Most of today's professional classical pianists, including "virtuoso" people and show-offs like Lang Lang, don't care at all about Hanon. I think Lang Lang even said once that the book itself, and what Hanon wrote about it, is pure rubbish. @ Sir M.: that's what Warner wanted - they wanted Mike to copy his old hit. Apparently, one of the first things they asked him was another "Moonlight Shadow", and Mike had it. It was just like when Eric Clapton made the Journeyman album and Warner asked him to come up with another "Layla". And of course Clapton did - "Bad Love". So "Man in the Rain" was actually meant as a copy of "Moonlight Shadow". As far as I remember, Mike said he wrote MitR immediately after MS. @ nightspore: I'd never want a song I hate to be played at my funeral. Instead, I'd like it to be something that everyone who knew me may like, and this has a very good chance of being something I like. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: July 11 2011, 23:34 Quote (Ugo @ July 11 2011, 19:14) I @ nightspore: I'd never want a song I hate to be played at my funeral. Instead, I'd like it to be something that everyone who knew me may like, and this has a very good chance of being something I like. # Ugo, for years I thought WSop  did say "dream", and the song did make sense - it was an LSD fantasy. But "drink" just doesn't fit... As for music at funerals, I'm not sure it actually makes sense to say such things as "after I'm gone". People surreptitiously use the verb "to go", when the real verb they should be using is "to be".... Enough philosophy... anyone fer a hand o' poker   Back to top

wiga Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: Sep. 2008 Posted: July 12 2011, 03:01 I've never studied the "Whiter Shade" lyrics but my mum says they're quite moving. -------------- Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon. Back to top

ex member 892 Group: Members Posts: 827 Joined: July 2008 Posted: July 12 2011, 11:46 Quote (GusFogle @ July 11 2011, 01:02) Virtuoso? Hahaha, maybe just because it sounds harder than it is. He's just doing pull-offs. You don't even need 2 hands to play it, you can just use your fretting hand. I'm a failed guitarist and even I can play that. Dammit, I can't keep out of here. He's not doing pull offs, it's alternate picking. So maybe not virtuoso playing, but not beginner either. Back to top

Cavalier (Lost Version) Group: Members Posts: 598 Joined: Nov. 2010 Posted: July 13 2011, 06:05 There are so many lyrics that I never really notice, Mike's as much as anyone's, and beyond "...tripped the light fandango..." and "...whiter shade of pale." I only learned that the rest of Procul Harum's finest is considered obscure in meaning by others saying so.  But here's an expert on the subject. Homer: “Yvan eth nioj! You gotta love that crazy chorus!” Lisa: “What does it mean?” Homer: “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s like ‘rama-lama-ding-dong’ or ‘give peace a chance’.” Memory jogged by New Kids on the Blecch being shown again a couple of days ago.  I'm surprised how often I find this referred to as one of the Worst Episodes Ever...  I like it a lot and 'N Sync's is one of the very best group appearances.  I suppose a lot of people hold on to their hate, but I usually end up forgiving all boy bands their sins after a few years.  Word! -------------- "Who was that?" "That was Venger - the force of Evil!  I am Dungeon Master - your guide in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons!" Back to top

nightspore Group: Members Posts: 4770 Joined: Mar. 2008 Posted: July 13 2011, 07:16 Quote (Cavalier (Lost Version) @ July 13 2011, 06:05) There are so many lyrics that I never really notice, Mike's as much as anyone's, and beyond "...tripped the light fandango..." and "...whiter shade of pale." I only learned that the rest of Procul Harum's finest is considered obscure in meaning by others saying so.  But here's an expert on the subject. [ I've just looked up the song on the net. In a way I agree with Ugo: in isolation the lyrics do seem quite silly. If the song had been about an LSD trip, as I thought, it would have been better, but there's no way I can see it's about a failed sexual relationship. Still, when the song's playing you don't really notice the silliness. I like the image of the ceiling flying away, though. Back to top

wiga Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: Sep. 2008 Posted: July 13 2011, 16:29 Quote (nightspore @ July 13 2011, 12:16) Still, when the song's playing you don't really notice the silliness. I like the image of the ceiling flying away, though. Yes that's true. I associate it with these 2 lines which I like - "Her face at first just ghostly Turned a whiter shade of pale..." I always assumed someone died - because that fits with the somber, funeral like tune. -------------- Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: July 13 2011, 19:40 Quote (wiga @ July 13 2011, 22:29) "Her face at first just ghostly Turned a whiter shade of pale..." I always assumed someone died - because that fits with the somber, funeral like tune. ... And I always took this to mean that she is a ghost. Which, IMHO, makes the whole thing even sillier. A guy takes some LSD, he thinks he sees a girl's ghost and he falls in love with her. But then we have the absolute depths of silliness (always IMHO) in some of the individual lines: "The room was humming harder..." "One of sixteen vestal virgins who were leaving for the coast..." ... oh, my Gosh. And of course the miller telling his tale is straight out of Geoffrey Chaucer. @ nightspore: I always thought that "gone" is one of the many English euphemisms from "dead", and "ceased to be" is another. Do I need to give you a link to the famous "Dead Parrot" sketch by Monty Python? -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

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