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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Favorite Guns N' Roses songs: Welcome to the Jungle
Nightrain
Paradise City
Sweet Child o' Mine
November Rain
Don't Cry
Civil War
Breakdown
Locomotive
Estranged
So Fine
Estranged
You Could Be Mine
Patience
Used to Love Her (But Then I had to Kill Her) Not even going to try to rank them all, but here are my top three (probably): 1) Estranged
2) Sweet Child o' Mine
3) Locomotive | | |
| Movements 3 and 4 are somewhat arranged as a single work. Movement 3 seamlessly transitions into movement 4. The theme of the Movement 3 is repeated in movement 4. It is the song of the day.
I listen to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Garth Brooks, Counting Crows, Shins, Wilco, the Who, G 'n' R, etc., etc., and even an occasional Black Sabbath or Metallica. There are dozens of wonderful and beautiful pop (pop in the broad sense of word, i.e., non-"classical") songs and a handfulthat rip through my soul. But nothing is as majestic and simply fantastic as Beethoven's orchestral compositions. I mean...the 5th Symphony in particular is the most heroic, inspiring, visceral, dare I say divine piece of music I have ever heard. You feel the music in your soul. This is not "classical" music. It is romantic through and through.
Here is a quote from a critic about 18 months after the symphony premiered. It is particular aimed at the 4th and last movement. The language is almost comical in its lavishness, but frankly, it is completely accurate:
"Radiant beams shoot through the deep night of this region, and we become aware of gigantic shadows which, rocking back and forth, close in on us and destroy all within us except the pain of endless longing—a longing in which every pleasure that rose up amid jubilant tones sinks and succumbs. Only through this pain, which, while consuming but not destroying love, hope, and joy, tries to burst our breasts with a full-voiced general cry from all the passions, do we live on and are captivated beholders of the spirits."
Anyone with an ounce of feeling in their body will at least feel something like that.
Bach mastered the baroque. Haydn and Mozart mastered the art of melody. Chopin mastered the piano. Tchaikovsky mastered the folk musical form of continental Europe and romanticism. Brahms mastered the art of harmony. But in my mind, Beethoven stands head and shoulders above them all. Only his music can consistently stir the emotion as well as the ear.
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| I had heard mostly negative news about this album. I've heard it a few times, and I am still deciding. My initial thought is that parts of it are great; parts are interesting and will probably grow on me; and parts of it are disasters. This song, however, is clearly in the "great" part. Maybe someday I'll write a more comprehensive review of the album. | | |
| 80s Christian Rock. Wow. Just wow. | | |
| This is a really good song. It's a concert favorite and I've seen videos of them playing it and it's one of the great live songs of the 90s. Veeder and McCreaty (I've no idea how to spell his name) do that thing where they lean their backs against each other and the former screams the lyrics begging the crowd along and the latter plays some of the sickiest lead guitar licks I've ever heard. (I'm serious. He sounds like Slash on this song.)
The song is usually forgotten because there are about five megahits on the album and "Porch" is rarely played on the radio or mentioned in compilations and the like. Well, anyway, listen to the song. It's short. It builds into an incredible crescendo and it is impossible not to jump around and play air guitar and pretend you are a rock idol for a minute or two. | | |
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