Author Archives: The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

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About The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Just one man who's making his way through life one day at a time writing about the songs he has on his phone. And other things at some points.

My iPod #394: Faith No More – From Out of Nowhere

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I don’t listen to Faith No More. Not because I don’t like the group’s music. More because I’ve never really tried to listen to it. Though the three songs I know by them are ones that are actually very good. The cover of ‘Easy’‘s astoundingly smooth, and “Epic” is the complete opposite. It lives up to its name. Though the video confused me a bit when I first saw it. What did that poor fish do to deserve such treatment?

Though “From Out of Nowhere” is the track that I’ll really go into. It is the opener, and was the first single, from the band’s third album “The Real Thing” in 1989. And what a way to start things off to. Barely a second goes before a charging power chord surrounds your ears and gets the track’s momentum going. Honestly, that introduction feels like a unstoppable train thundering down a track at a tremendous speed which then pummels through a solid brick wall when the drums kick in.

The track seems to be about a brief encounter between Patton and a perfect stranger, though the brevity of the meeting hurts him deeply. The song’s music written by the group’s bassist, Bill Gould, and keyboard player, Roddy Bottum seem to perfectly fit the lyrics’ theme of wonderment and incredulity.

Its booming rhythm section, roaring guitars, glorious synthesizer and not to mention Mike Patton’s passionate vocal delivery  got to me quite a bit when I watched the video on MTV2 a few years ago. It’s easy to understand why it is a popular one amongst Faith No More followers. Great track.

My iPod #393: The Zombies – Friends of Mine

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“Friends of Mine” is a track from The Zombies’ album “Odessey and Oracle”. Unlike every other love song where the narrator tells a listener how happy and lucky they are to be in a relationship themselves, “Friends of Mine” flips the idea around, instead detailing how much joy they feel seeing so many of their friends in love. That is a subject you would rarely come across nowadays in music. Even in real life, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere with without people seeing you as the ‘third wheel’ of the group. What’s the world coming to?

A pacy track filled with bright guitars, jubilant backing vocal harmonies and general catchy melodies “Friends of Mine” is a song that will get your spirits up when times are bad. Especially if you’re a person who cares a lot about their mates.

My iPod #392: Babyshambles – French Dog Blues

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“French Dog Blues” can be found on Babyshambles’ second album “Shotter’s Nation”, released back in 2007. Although I thought it was a single later released from it, it apparently wasn’t. Weird considering it has its own music video. But whatever.

For all this time I’ve never really wondered what the track was about; I solely liked it because of its sound and random lyricism. Though I’ve just read that Doherty said it is about the dog on the cover of the band’s first album “Down in Albion”. That’s made me even more perplexed because I would never have thought that that little picture was an illustration of a dog. All this time I thought it was a flag or something.

Not much I can say about it. I do enjoy it a lot though, and that’s all that matters.

My iPod #391: T-Pain ft. Chris Brown – Freeze

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I’m not a big fan of T-Pain. I definitely don’t like Chris Brown, as an artist or a person, I think he’s a prick. But this song is too much; it brings back a lot of memories.

I had a friend back in secondary school days who was very weird. He would make weird noises, wasn’t very serious about his work, could do some of the most extraordinary things in a blink of an eye. He would bring in his phone and sing along to the tracks he had, but in the most silliest ways that you could only crack up when he did it. This probably happened the most when I was in Year 9, where during that time “Freeze” was released.

“Freeze” is about T-Pain being attracted to a lady who is able to dance just as well as him when it’s time to cut a rug and bust shapes on the dancefloor. He seems to get off on seeing this person try to dance as well as he can. Chris Brown comes in with his verse which basically has the same idea to it.

This track makes me feel good, man. Makes we wanna dance just listening to it.

My iPod #390: Nick Drake – Free Ride

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“Pink Moon”, man. One of my favourite albums ever. Eleven songs of one man and an acoustic guitar (and a short piano overdub) producing the most moving, chilling, melodic, bare, but brilliant songs you could ever hear. Sad to know that it was his last before he passed away two years after making it. But honestly, I never knew an album made so simply could be so emotional.

“Free Ride”, to me anyway, seems like one of the most happier songs on the album. Only because of the way it’s played. There’s like a continuous C-note drone that Drake plucks on the lower strings throughout the verses which drives the song forward whilst he plays the more detailed melody on the higher ones. It’s hard to describe; there’s just something a sense of confidence in the song’s tone that I get every time I hear it, and compared to the rest of “Pink Moon” is a lot more perky in its delivery.

I’ve read somewhere say that it’s about having sexual relations with a friend; another place saying it’s Drake trying to reach out to the people that he doesn’t really get on with it, but still wanting their support and attention. I am not that bothered. I think the song itself is too good to really ponder over.

Listen to “Pink Moon”.