 |
| L.A. Guns (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Lately I've been ordering music for my brother. When he discusses most of the groups that he likes, I'm somewhat lost since they are groups that I've never listened to. Some of the artists such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Kiss I am well enough familiar with to know some extent of their catalogs of works. Others like Dio, Warrant, and L.A, Guns I'd never heard actually played though I'd heard of them.
My brother asked me if I like any of these artists and I told him it isn't my kind of music. These days I don't listen to music like I used to and when I do it's often classical. Then around the 1st and 15th of each month I listen to the song picks offered by the Battle of the Band participants. There's a wide range of musical excursions at those times of the month.
In recent days I've been listening to some L.A. Guns, Dio, Faster Pussycat, and Alice Cooper. Back in the 70's I used to listen to a lot of Alice Cooper and even saw the band in concert--it was a great show. What I've listened to recently is far better than I remember. I guess that's why I liked them so much at one time. The other groups were also excellent. I've been digging listening to the digital copies of the albums that come with the CD's.
I think what I said to my brother was wrong--I do like this kind of music. Not that I would want to listen to this type of music all the time, but I don't mind hearing it at all and am finding many of the tunes enjoyable.
More than once have I made a judgement call about something because of preconceived notions or not giving myself more of a chance to understand and appreciate it. I'll still take classical music much of the time, but for now I'm listening to Alice Cooper and it sounds pretty good to me.
As many of you have noted about your own Battles since the Battle of the Bands first began over two years ago, the results can be unexpected and sometimes very surprising. The results of my most recent Battle were just that. I was bracing myself for a brutal shut out, but you voters kept this from happening.
This Battle was between two Spanish language artists performing what I perhaps audaciously suggested what might be "among the most beautiful pop songs ever written". Fortunately the song, "Mi Historia Entre Tus Dedos", was graciously accepted by the readers and even appreciated by most of those who voted.
From the outset my expectation was that the sound of the duo Sergio Dalma and Vanesa Martín would be the one that everyone would readily accept while the more Latin cumbia/reggaeton sound of Los Verduleros would be rejected. I was sure wrong about this. Even though Los Verduleros were pretty far off from a win, there were still enough of you who liked their style to hand them your vote and in the end give them a respectable showing.
While I enjoy the exuberant performance and lively style of Los Verduleros, I much prefer the jazzy romantic style of the duo. As Stephen T McCarthy pointed out, "How in the world Los Verduleros got it into their heads to perform THOSE lyrics in THAT style is way beyond me". That was my initial reaction, though as I pondered the motivation of an artist I can see how the lyrics could be done in an upbeat styles as the group performed them. It's not what I would prefer hearing with this song, but Los Verduleros sure make the song fun. This group would probably be highly entertaining in concert and with music like that who's listening to the lyrics anyway?
As you might have guessed, my preference was the performance of Sergio Dalma and Vanesa Martín. I enjoy that jazzy style of music. The vocal interplay between the two singers gave the song the sense of being a romantic mini-drama. But even without the performance as a duo, I'd prefer the style in which they presented the song.
Final Vote Tally
Sergio Dalma (w/ Vanesa Martín) 28 votes
Los Verduleros 15 votes
More Battle of the Bands Coming Up!
My next Battle will be appearing here on Monday February 15th. Again I will be using a thematic approach geared toward the season. Nothing dealing with romance or Valentine's Day this time. However my song picks will be appropriate in their timeliness. Oh,and the song will have nothing to do with the Academy Awards--or maybe it will in a way.
Another Battle of the Bands will be coming on Tuesday March 1st. My song choice for that Battle will be offering a prediction of the future in a dual sense. It's a song that "predicts the future" in the sense of the lyrics, but it will also offer some clues as to some of my upcoming song battles. I've got something big planned--or at least my plans include something big. Enigmatic enough for you? I'll just leave it at that and leave you guessing.
BlogFest Stuff
My hugest thanks to Guilie Castillo-Oriard, Elizabeth Seckman, Yolanda Renee, Denise Covey. and Alex J Cavanaugh for helping to make the Lost & Found: Valentine's Edition blog hop such a tremendous success. And of course the event would have not been a success at all without all of the wonderful entries from those who participated. What a wide range of views on the topic of "Lost and Found love" and a great assortment of stylistic approaches. If you didn't get a chance to read all of the entries you can find the list of participants here.
Also let us not forget the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. In the first two weeks of sign-ups we have passed the 600 mark. You've still got several weeks to add your link to the list, but why not do it now. Start your posts now and you'll have your April blogging wrapped up before that month starts. For more information visit the Blogging from A to Z Blog.
What was something that you pre-judged only to decide later that you were wrong about? Is there a type of music (food, sport, literary genre, etc) that you now greatly appreciate after finding out more about it? Are there any things that interested you in the past that you now don't particularly like?
If you're interested in being part of my Arlee's Ambassadors A to Z Challenge Team, please let me know in the comments. Essentially this means assisting me with the A to Z Challenge by monitoring the sign-up list for bad links, etc and visiting bloggers who have signed up.
.jpeg)