Queensryche - "Silent Lucidity"

I have two distinct associations with this song. When it was a #5 hit back in 1990, I was 13 years old and also happened to be reading The Hobbit for the 17th or 18th time. If Peter Jackson does indeed make The Hobbit into a movie, I would strongly encourage him to use this song on the soundtrack. That acoustic guitar intro always makes me think of Dwarves turning poor Bilbo's cozy little home upside down, eating his food and singing their songs.

In college, friend / roommate Tim and I found we had a shared admiration for the song. One night, after several Dr.Peppers each, we called every radio station in the Quad Cities and requested it. We were met with a lot of stony resistance and one "oh that's a good song but I can't play it." It was a fun effort despite the failure.

The song itself is a six minute epic about dreams and nightmares. In fact, sometimes I like to consider it a cousin of Dream Police by Cheap Trick. Anyway, along with the spooky guitar line, there's a string section, including a mean cello, and some suitably pseudo-serious-but-actually-silly lyrics sung in an affected British accent (the band were from Washington state).

The sound builds as it goes, and crests with a freaky montage of voices, male and female, saying things like: "If you persist in your efforts you will achieve dream control" and "help me." Listening to this part on headphones in the dark is nearly unbearable. And, yes, you didn't misread. The song was a #5 hit; one of those wonderful fluke hits no one could predict before or explain after. But I do love it.

Album: Empire (1990)
Fave Moment: The sudden burst of "ahhh....we'll be watching over you" at the two-and-a-half minute mark.

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REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon (1971)

REO Speedwagon got its start in the late 1960s on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. The band grew out of a friendship between a students Neal Doughty (piano/keyboard) and Alan Gratzer (drums). Joining up with a couple of other musicians, they took the name R.E.O. Speedwagon. It wasn't long before they started getting gigs at parties and bars, doing covers of the hits of the day. The band cycled through several players in its first three years, with Gratzer and Doughty as the only constants. One-by-one they added the members that would form the first "official" lineup: singer Terry Luttrell in early 1968, bassist Gregg Philbin later that summer, and guitarist Gary Richrath at the end of 1970. Richrath was a native of Peoria, 90 miles northwest of Champaign, and had essentially stalked the band until they let him join. It was a good move, as he not only an accomplished guitarist, but also a songwriter. With Richrath the band ascended to the n...

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Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II (1985)

As you may know, I'm something of a connoisseur of compilations. I have three guidelines that I like my greatest hits to follow, though I am open to these rules being disregarded in certain cases. It's not an exact science. Billy Joel's 1985 Greatest Hits Volumes I and II (an odd title for a set that was never sold separately) is proof of that. It mostly follows the rules. The songs are in chronological order. There are no remixes, just a couple of single edits; there are two live songs, but those were actually were the versions that charted. And there are two new songs - we'll get to them eventually - but both ended up in the Top 40, so in retrospect that was a good decision. My mom bought the double LP when it came out and then dubbed it to a tape that lived in her car for at least three years. It and An Innocent Man were part of the soundtrack of the second half of my first decade of life. So I have a hard time criticizing something so ingrained in my consciousne...

3 Minutes, 49 Seconds

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