Music for the Masses

This page is devoted to my favorite bands and musicians. Music has always been important in my life, but a very personal enjoyment. My hope is to share this music with others so perhaps they can discover something new. And if you like what you see, come listen to my internet radio sation: Darkest Before Dawn.

My all-time favorite band:

The Chameleons

Favorite Album:

Strange Times - Hands down my all-time favorite album! Includes "Swamp Thimg" my all-time favorite song! Highlights: "Soul in Isolation", "Caution", "Tears", "Mad Jack", "Seriocity", "Childhood", "Paradiso", and a fantastic cover of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows".

Notable Albums:

Script of the Bridge - Highlights: "Don't Fall", "Monkeyland", "Up the Down Escalator", "Less Than Human". "Pleasure and Pain" and "Paper Tigers".

 

What Does Anything Mean? Basically? - Highlights: "Perfume Garden", "Intrigue in Tangier", "Return of the Roughnecks", "Looking Inwardly", "One Flesh" and "In Shreds" (Bonus Track on CD).
Strip - Accoustic album, first studio recordings in 15 years, but proves they still got it! Hightlights: "Soul in Isolation", "Pleasure and Pain", "Caution" and "Indian". In Shreds - An EP with three great songs: "In Shreds", "Less Than Human" and "Nostalgia".

I got to see the band perform three times in 2002 and it was a dream come true. The following year, Mark Burgess, the lead singer, did a solo tour. While they were setting up the stage he came out in the audience and stood right next to me. Of course I could not let that opportunity pass without turning to him and thanking him for creating my all-time favorite album. He was quite humbled by it.

Website: www.thechameleons.com

My all-time favorite singer:

Peter Murphy

Favorite Album:

Love Hysteria - Highlights: "All Night Long", "Dragnets Drag", "Socrates the Python", "Indigo Eyes", "Time Has Got Nothing to Do With It", "My Last Two Weeks" and "Fun Time."

Notable Albums:

Deep - Includes my 2nd all-time favorite Song, "Cuts You Up". Highlights: "Shy", "Crystal Wrists", "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem", "Seven Veils", and "The Line Between the Devil's Teeth (and That Which Cannot Be Repeat)".

 Cascade - Highlights: "Mirror to My Woman's Mind", "Gliding Like a Whale", "Disappearing", "Mercy Rain", and "Huuvola".

 

And if you can find his live album, "Just For Love", you can hear me screaming like a fool at the end of "My Last Two Weeks".

Website: www.petermurphy.org

My all-time favorite performer and short story muse:

Robyn Hitchcock

Favorite Album:

Eye - Highlights: "Cynthia Mask", "Queen Elvis", "Executioner"," Clean Steve", and "Glass Hotel".

Notable Albums:

I Often Dream of Trains - Highlights: "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl", "Uncorrected Personality Traits", "Flavour of Night", "Winter Love", "Autumn is Your Last Chance" and "I Often Dream of Trains".

 Fegmania - Highlights: "Another Bubble", "I'm Only You", "My Wife and My Dead Wife", "The Man With the Lightbulb Head", "The Fly" and "Heaven".
Queen Elvis - Highlights: "Madonna of the Wasps", "The Devil's Coachman", "Wax Doll", "Knife", "Swirling", "Veins of the Queen" and "Freeze". Respect - Highlights: "The Yip Song", "Arms of Love", "Railway Shoes", "The Wreck of the Arthur Lee", "Driving Aloud (Radio Storm)", and "Serpent At the Gates of Wisdom". Jewels for Sophia - Highlights: "The Cheese Alarm", "Viva! Sea-Tac", "I Feel Beautiful", "Jewels for Sophia" and "Don't Talk to Me About Gene Hackman" (Hidden Track).

A few years ago, I passed Robyn a copy of my short story, The Mold. I was very impressed that when I called him on a talk show a few months later, he remembered it. And even more impressed when he still remembered it when I spoke with him at a Largo show earlier this year. I was honored that he spoke to me as a creative equal. He even asked my full name so he'd recognize it if he saw it in a bookstore in the future. How cool is that?

Website: www.robynhitchcock.com

In 2002, we lost a performer who is right up there with these other groups on my list of favorites:

Fad Gadget
aka Frank Tovey

September 8, 1956 - April 3, 2002

Favorite Album:

Gag - Included my #3 all-time favorite song: "Collapsing New People". Highlights: "Ideal World", "Sleep", "Stand Up", "Jump" and "Ad Nauseam".

Notable Albums:

Under the Flag - Highlights: "Under the Flag", "Love Parasite", "Wheels of Fortune", "Life On the Line" and "The Sheep Look Up".

As Frank Tovey:

Snakes & Ladders - Highlights: "The Cutting Edge", "Snakes and Ladders", "Concrete", "Luxury", "Luddite Joe" and "Megalomaniac".

Don't rest too peacefully, Frank. It wouldn't be your style.

 

But Wait! There's More!