#98) "Roll With the Changes" by REO Speedwagon - Like the Eagles, I've always had kind of a love/hate relationship with REO Speedwagon. I think their discography possesses more than a few solid gems. I've argued that Gary Richrath is among the most unappreciated guitarists. I've maintained that there's just something about this nice, non-threatening good time band from Champaign, Illinois missing in music these days. They're not that great to look at, they aren't musical innovators, they don't have a particularly tight sound, but they put on a good show, can raise the roof even. And there's a grass roots quality to their rock and roll. To me, they always seemed like they would feel equally at home playing to a packed stadium of 40,000 or on the second stage at a county fair (which might very well be where they play these days...), and there is something to be said for this.
Yes, I've gone out of my way to defend REO Speedwagon over the years, even though they've gone out of their way to embarrass me in front of my friends with songs like Can't Fight This Feeling or In My Dreams, songs that, were they played loud enough, at the same time, might cause the entire world to go flaccid all at once.
But the boys of REO manage to keep it up long enough to pound their way rousingly through Roll With the Changes. It's not only a tight little jam - energetic, tireless even, reluctant to give up the stage at the end - but also sage advice for a happy and successful life. Leaves nothing else needing to be said, really...
Keep on rolling.
Keep on rolling.
"I'll be here when you are ready to roll with the changes..."
#99) "Mary's Prayer" by Danny Wilson - One hit wonders Danny Wilson (a band, not a person, named after a Frank Sinatra film) pretty much defined my high school years with this song. All these years later I still enjoy its uniquely sophisticated sound. Though I didn't realize it back then, Mary's Prayer reminds me of Steely Dan - not only the slick musical engineering that reveals rhythm engaged in an effortless side-by-side stride with melody, not only (to a lesser extent) the vocals, but the grim subject matter nestled into the silver glint of an auspicious sounding melody.
Mary's Prayer is deceptively bright, deceptively cheeky. Its 1987 release provided my first opportunity to wrap my head around that concept.
"Leave a light on in heaven for me..."
#100 "Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne - Back in his hey-day, Jackson Browne was kind of a minstrel for the Baby Boom generation. I would go so far as to say he was to the 1970s what Bob Dylan was to the 60s. With a highly tuned awareness, he saw things happening as they were happening, and within his music materialized a sometimes uncanny foresight that predicted certain outcomes as the 70s ground along and his generation left its ideas and ideals in the past (dust).
Running on Empty is no exception, though it is a more personal, and thus more universal, example. This song could be the story of just about anyone, of any generation, pushing 30, or 40, and realizing, with a burgeoning exasperation, that for every question that gets answered, two new ones arise.
"I don't know where that road turned onto the road I'm on..."
