Music has power, and there is power in making music. I listen to an eclectic mix, pretty much everything, except mainstream country (painstakingly predictable) and rap (no need for more misogynist shit in this gal’s life).

I like music that’s good to dance to, for different moods of dancing, and for different moods of driving. I love hearing new music, getting to know new musicians, and live music is the best after all. But there are some moments in recorded music that always stop me in my tracks every time I listen.

Here are three…

The bass line in the refrain of Bowie’s Heroes (oh, and if you haven’t watched/listened to this video on the making of Heroes, you gotta, now. Don’t rush now, enjoy the recollection of the process. I’ll be here when you get back. Enjoy)

After I watched this, I listened to the song again, and it was like a flower unfolding, all the sounds and layers coming out at me in ways I hadn’t heard before.

The drumkit sign-on in Shaking the Tree. It’s at 2:45 on this recording.

Oh, and BTW, it’s Youssou n’Dour’s song from 1989’s The Lion. In my willful ignorance of all things I percieved to be Genesis, I didn’t listen to P. Gabriel for years. I did, however tolerate him as opening act for Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour. So I heard of Youssou n’Dour through some vague and obscure channel, and fell madly in love with this version before PG came out with his commercial success.

The gap in Prince’s Kiss. Guitar and beatbox. Oh, how I wish I could say what this does to me inside. Every time. That crazy, sexy, eyebrow-raised  3-beat silence leaving every question you ever wanted a lover to ask you hanging in the air…

And to think this song could have sunk into oblivion as a generic funk number by Mazarati (a new band led by Brown Mark, bassist for the Revolution). Prince wrote the song for them, heard their recording of it, took the song back, ripped out the bass line and a guitar solo, flung in the James Brown-style lick and sang the whole thing in falsetto (did you know that guy had 4 octaves? I wonder where he kept them in that tidy little body). Corporate rock didn’t know what hit it when Prince strutted this out.

Hard to find a version of this song that will stick to youtube or any other channel. Go find it yourself. I’m kinda busy dancing.