BATTLE OF THE BANDS ~ TIME AFTER TIME

Despite all of Arlee's hinting about this upcoming Battle of the Bands, it didn't really penetrate this addled brain that the 1st was TODAY until YESTERDAY. What's up with that????

So, I sat down and looked over my list of potential match-ups and decided that Time After Time was perfect... given my own inability to handle the realities of time... and I am well acquainted with "falling behind."

As always, I was surprised by the number of covers out there. What I had written down was Cyndi Lauper vs. "someone"... but then I decided to switch things up. For one thing, if I used Cyndi's version of the song, I just knew that I would get an earful from Stephen T. McCarthy. He is not a fan. ::understatement:: Plus, I do read your comments and SO OFTEN we are swayed by the version we heard FIRST. It is the one we grew up loving, or have a memory association, etc. So, what if we toss out the most known version (the Cyndi Lauper one) and let the covers battle it out??? Yeah, I like it, too.

I found three very different covers of this song. It is not my first choice to put three songs on here because of the time it takes to listen to them all.  Yep, I am aware of that. Keenly. It also splits the vote three ways instead of two. That also is less than wonderful. However... I hope that you will have patience with me and give them all a listen. Appreciate that all three of these artists listened to this song and then applied their own brand of musicality into the original song. In the end, the "feel" of each one is different. And that is what we respond to as listeners... the feel of the song.

First up is the version that *I think* most closely resembles what you are used to hearing (and it may garner more votes simply because of that). Quietdrive uses different instrumentation than the original, but the pacing of the lyrics is similar. It was released in 2006. Wikipedia describes their style as Alternative Rock.

Take it away Quietdrive:



Eva Cassidy died in 1996 of melanoma (cancer), but her second studio album, Time After Time, was released four years later. Cassidy was unwilling to confine herself to a specific style of music. She wanted to be able to sing it all. And she did. The Washington Post commented that "she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered."

Take it away Eva:


Last up is Miles Davis. I really hope that I don't need to educate you on who this guy is. In 1985 he released his version of Time After Time.

Take it away Miles:


Now comes the hard part... or not... decide which version you like best and tell me all about your reasoning for that decision in the comments.  What did you like and not like about each version? I will be back on the 7th to declare the winner based on your votes. 

Other battles can be found by clicking the following links, so be sure to visit them and cast your votes there!

Faraway Series

FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS

Tossing It Out

DiscConnected

INSPIRATIONAL SONG SATURDAY

We are skipping the letters today because it is Inspirational Song Saturday. That means we start out with a song that is inspirational to me and then move on to a singer or band from the 80s that rocked out on MTV. As usual, the 80s singer came, the song choices were a bit tougher, and I didn't nail my inspirational song down until this morning. In other words, today is pretty much like every other Saturday!

We will kick it off with the song that feels inspirational to me. I was debating between two songs by the same singer, but then decided that this is the one that really lights me up. For those of you who haven't been reading this blog since I started writing it, you might not know that I wanted to be Cher when I was about seven. I had Sonny and Cher records, Cher's Greatest Hits, watched their show on TV, and wrapped my towel on my head in order to pretend that I had that long black hair. Of course, an orange towel on a pale white kid still does not add up to Cher. I was living in the land of pretend.

However, pretending to be Cher wasn't a bad choice all in all. Her career has had amazing longevity. Her body is fantastic (still). And just when you think that she is done, washed up, not going to be in another movie, make another record, have another hit song, she surprises you and does one or all of those things. *Bang* That is what I like about Cher. Don't ever think she is out of the game, because she will turn around and surprise you. "Cher? She hasn't had a hit in forever. She's done." Don't say it because she will burn you and come out with a movie and a soundtrack and be back on the charts. Or just a kicka$$ record and land on number one. Never ever think she is out of the game. And I might pick her as one of my 80s singers at some point because she has blasted through every decade since the 60s. That is freaking awesome. And she looked HOT the whole time. Now who does that???



I like that song because it is all about not settling. It is ALL OR NOTHING. Nothing in between. Not just a little bit. I will take what you're willing to give. Okay, well just give me what you've got left over. ALL OR NOTHING. Yeah.

Moving on to the 80s and MTV. I think about how some singers rode MTV to the top. If you watched the clip last week, that was said in a clip about Michael Jackson and MTV. It was the perfect storm. Thriller came out at just the right time. Michael Jackson and MTV rode each other to success. However, he wasn't the only one that did that. We have looked at other artists who did the same thing. I wonder what would have happened without MTV? Of course, we will never know.

Today we are looking at Cyndi Lauper. I had a wonderful time reminiscing as I wandered through her videos on youtube. I picked out three and had H-Girl watch them. She hadn't seen any of them and didn't know the songs, either. I asked her to tell me which two she liked best. (H-Girl spent the night last night.) So, based on her selections, these are the two best Cyndi Lauper videos:





What made Cyndi Lauper great? Well, I think people were intrigued with her hair. I am not kidding. She was making a bold fashion statement. She also had a lot of fun songs versus really serious songs. She Bop and Girls Just Want To Have Fun on the fun side and True Colors and Time After Time on the serious side, for example. She also tender and sweet and her voice was unique. In terms of MTV, she was another artist who understood the value of making a good video. A good video tells the story of your song. And she rode the wave. My hat is off to you Cyndi and your hair of many colors.