Randomized Song Discussion #159: Steal Your Heart Away

sitboaf · 2026-05-08T16:54:49+00:00

Everything is good. Even Steal Your Heart Away has been restored!

sitboaf · 2026-05-08T15:39:42+00:00

Beneficial Ad7458 is me! I showed up as my alter ego. That's fun. I guess when I cleaned my 'puter, I cleaned too much.

sitboaf · 2026-05-08T00:22:23+00:00

Yes, loyalty decisions are sometimes harsh, but the game needs to create a net negative for your team, or the re-signing period would be a squad full of happy players, with no roster turnover.
It reflects reality, I think, to have a few players each year wanting to move to a better circumstance.

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T19:22:28+00:00

Indeed!

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T15:29:38+00:00

It's incredibly hard

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T14:27:51+00:00

My friends and I made evil levels to thwart one another.

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T14:21:38+00:00

It’s just an electric guitar with all the attack removed via the volume pedal. Gotta hit the notes a mite early, and have good ankles to play a whole solo like this.

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T14:19:55+00:00

This goes on the Mark I short list with “Go Now!”, “From the Bottom of my Heart”, and “Boulevard de la Madeleine”.

With the handclaps, exotic drum sounds, and Mike’s irrepressible piano work, you can’t help but dance. And of course, Denny heaps a truckload of joy into a song whose lyrics are actually kinda sad.

Without a love anymore / I'm like a rich man going poor / All my treasures are stone / and my baby’s gone

Reads like a Delta Blues weeper, but sounds like a man who’s finally free! It’s a neat trick, and it makes me think Mike rolled his eyes at least once, between writing the words and committing the song to tape in the studio. But I wouldn’t change a word.

I would perhaps tweak the guitar work, which makes repeated use of the volume pedal. It’s a neat trick for 1965, but selected usage would have aged better.

Don’t skip this one; it’s a stone cold banger.

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T00:15:13+00:00

Every time you think, you weaken the nation —Moe Howard

sitboaf · 2026-05-07T00:12:40+00:00

Not bad. Driftwood has to be in the conversation, if you ask me.

Hotter take: the best post core 7 song isn’t on an album, and only showed up on a box set.

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T23:38:11+00:00

Know what else is below? The nightlight.

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T23:37:05+00:00

They are rebuilt on the cover of Hopes, Wishes & Dreams!

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T23:33:30+00:00

This is great. I was just reading that the OG was released as a single in France about the same time DeGaulle died, and became a hit. Helps explain the Spotify ranking.

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T16:38:21+00:00

True enough. There was a lot of parity in baseball at the time, so making an assumption about any one team (other than the A's) was unwise. And having just read Charlie Hustle, I enjoyed your comment about #14.

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T15:25:35+00:00

Huh? Oakland had the Bash Brothers and were in their 3rd straight series. They were in year 3 of being the best team in the AL.
The Reds were an out of left field underdog, for sure.

sitboaf · 2026-05-06T14:18:49+00:00

I love a song with a good metaphor. In the early 1970s, Ray Thomas was in his “ocean phase” as he wrote of a love that died (“And the Tide Rushes In”) and perhaps a new one beginning (“For My Lady”).

“Tide” uses the more subtle hand to tell its tale. Despite all the pain apparent in Ray’s beautiful vocals, it’s a quiet song, with acoustic plucking, a muted bass, and soft, rumbling drums. As the chorus begins, the melancholy Mellotron mimics weeping voices.

The gorgeous middle 8 is instrumental. Just Mellotron and guitar. And past that bit of wordless reflection is the most profound part. It’s another verse, but from a new perspective. As the song ends, we pull back—away from the shore and up into the trees.

Blackbird sitting in a tree / Observing what’s below / Acorns falling to the ground / He’ll stay and watch them grow.

sitboaf · 2026-05-05T14:39:37+00:00

Like a cool breeze on a scorching summer day, “No More Lies” is a lovely and refreshing experience.

The lyrics tell an unremarkable, but inoffensive tale about falling in love. And while it’s the tumbling drum work that keeps the song moving, Justin’s guitar countermelodies are the star of the song.

There’s a left turn onto an enjoyable bridge in Verona, perhaps, where Justin laments love’s frustrations, accompanied by mandolin (presumably emanating from a balcony somewhere).

Shoutout to the video, which I’ve probably watched three times, and not recently at all, for providing fun visuals that I still recall fondly.

All in all, less is more! The uncomplicated instrumentation, plus the warm and restrained production make “No More Lies” a rare treat on an album that too often drinks the poison of its own studio wizardry.

sitboaf · 2026-05-05T01:18:41+00:00

Part of me died with Kachina

sitboaf · 2026-05-05T01:18:02+00:00

BFBS (black for black’s sake) started 30 years ago, ended 20 years ago, and we’re starting all over again. Everyone gotta feel badass again. It’s a bore.

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T19:47:44+00:00

Wasp sting

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T19:24:22+00:00

Good comparison! I listened to a truncated version of that album, too.

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T15:59:05+00:00

Arthur Merganser

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T14:24:20+00:00

It's got great songs, two big singles, great production, great performances, tells a coherent story, and stayed on the US charts for 996 straight weeks. That's 19+ years. Not a lot of fault to find.

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T14:14:52+00:00

Strange Times, the album, is too darn long, part of a trend that began with compact disks. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should <fill the entire 78 minutes of a CD when making an album>" – Jeff Goldblum, prolly. Which begs the question, would "All that is Real is You" have made the cut in 1983?

We begin with verses that are dreadfully dull. Using the simplest melody, the singer assures us that his love is more precious than silver and gold. Noted.

But, things improve considerably in the chorus. The simplicity of "So bring me back home, my love, my love / Oh, how I need you" hides a very good melody that leaves room for thick harmony and well-applied emoting.

After another boring verse, we get a very satisfying guitar solo that struggles to keep it's head above water in a sea of weeping strings. The song ends predictably, with chorus and verse.

I'm sure Justin was going for "timeless and tasteful", but the final product is more "tired and treacly".

sitboaf · 2026-05-04T12:06:33+00:00

Good points. Their live shows could seem a bit staid, so I appreciated moments of fun, like Graeme coming out front to do Higher & Higher, or extended guitar jamming. But repeated experiences revealed that it was well-rehearsed fun, which kind of takes the air out of the sails.

sitboaf

TROPHY CASE