ode to the old (pt 2)

I started to appreciate the oldies when I listened to Michael Buble. I think that was in 3rd yr or 4th yr college. Most of it were Sinatra and though the songs were given a Buble touch, the tune was practically similar. They weren't bad after all, in fact, the songs were cool, classy and makes you think that the latest crop of pop stars are close to pfftt. You'd wish you could relive those days of tap dance and signature microphones and heavy-piano performances.

I dig Buble's version of A Song for You by Herbie Hancock (not quite sure if it is his original). That was the last song he performed in his concert in LG Theatre in LA (yeah I've been there haha). The same song was performed by Christina Aguilera -- with Herbie doing the piano himself -- during the previous Grammy's. Other covers I liked are Presley's Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Ray Charles' You Don't Know Me.

Another artist that does amazing covers is Jamie Cullum. His jazz covers of Lover, You Should've Come Over, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes and Singing in the Rain is kinda like a rebellious jazz bordering on pop but nonetheless it's infectious to listen to. He also takes on Radiohead's High and Dry and even Pharell's Frontin' and made it his own. But All at Sea, which is about his experience doing gigs 'on board', is my all-time fave.

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Last weekend, I downloaded the soundtrack of Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical tale of a young adolescent who went on to cover the biggest what-could-have-been in the 70s rock and roll scene. The movie is a complete paean to everything that is 70s-rock-and-roll -- drugs, chicks and of course, great music.

While the story won Crowe favorable admiration among critics, the soundtrack on one hand was touted as the best compiltation of 70s memorabilia. The choice of songs and artists were so apt that it could almost earn Crowe a second profession being a musical director. I think he pretty much worked on the soundtrack as much as he did with the script. Both are densed with the same tenacity and rebelliousness. The AF soundtrack is a compilation of artists that span the decades of 50s, 60s and 70s. You can find Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Elton John, Todd Rundgren, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin. Stillwater's Fever Dog makes you wanna have a dose of crack.

If I were a 40- or 50-year-old-something, listening to it is like one exercise in exorcising the demons of the great decades that were.