Fury of Trees

   In April 2005 I went to see the Northern Ireland band Ash at the Magic Stick in Detroit.  As their tour progressed one of the warm-up bands on the bill, The Bravery, surged in popularity so that by the time they reached Detroit, Ash was relegated to second band on and The Bravery became the headliners.  This actually worked out pretty good for me since I had to work that night and by the time the Bravery started their third song I had had enough of their style over substance approach and headed for the door and made it to work on time.

  Although Ash was pretty darn good,  the showstealer for me was the first band of the night, alaska!.  alaska!  formed by Imaad Wasif and Russ Pollard from the remnants of Lou Barlow's New Folk Implosion, and included drummer Lesley Ishino of the Red Aunts.    On this tour they were fresh off the release of their CD 'Rescue Through Tomahawk' .  The lead track on the disc 'Fury of Trees'  leads off this post's theme songs of trees.  Hope this link works  alaska! 'Fury of Trees'   

In late 2011, my wife and I observed our 25th anniversary.  While other couples celebrate such milestones with trips to Hawaii, or gifts of shiny minerals of high implied value but of little practical use, I took my wife to Cleveland.....the one in Ohio.   Yeah I know.  What was going on in Cleveland in December?  Beside the Christmas Story House Museum, we went to a hot dog stand/concert venue to see the Crystal Stilts.  Which brings us to their song  'Sycamore Tree'.    

   Rounding out this post is a song brought to us by the Committee to Keep Music Evil and their charter member the Brian Jonestown Massacre.  More about that band in the next post but until then here's their song 'Evergreen'

When the Earth's Last Picture is Painted

    After the previous two posts focused on songs about the Moon and Sun, it was time to get back down to Earth   First up is a song from Milton Mapes.  It is called  " When the Earth's Last Picture is Painted" .  In it we have a band (named after a real person who's not in the band) singing  an original song (with chorus lyrics they didn't write).   Singer/ guitarist Greg Vanderpool named the band after his maternal grandfather.  The lyrics are lifted from a poem by Rudyard Kipling written in 1892.
Milton Mapes -When the Earth's Last Picture is Painted

     This next song by Eric Goulden, is about how you may have to go to great lengths to find the one who was meant for you.  Under his stage name Wreckless Eric he recorded  'Whole Wide World' back in 1977.

 
 

  Built to Spill's contribution to this post doesn't include the Earth in the title but rather sheds light on a little known phenomenon that may or may not occur every thousand years.  The song's title is 'Randy Describes Eternity'.

    Now go and be perfect from now on.

Songs of the Moon

    In the previous post we featured songs inspired by the Sun.  Now it's the Moon's turn.  

First up is a 90's band covering an 80's song.  Pavement's interpretation of Echo and the Bunnymen's ' The Killing Moon'.

   In 1985  British band XTC, under the pseudonym Dukes of Stratosphear, released the EP '25  O'Clock'.  It is a collection of songs written with a nod to 60's bands: Beatles; Byrds; Kinks; Pink Floyd; Jefferson Airplane among others.  Song 2 on side A of the vinyl record is 'Bike Ride to the Moon',  an original song in the style of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd  It may or may not have been inspired by Dr. Albert Hofman's experience after he became the first person to ingest the chemical compound he had synthesized.  On April 19, 1943 he took 250 micrograms of LSD and in the obvious next step hopped on his bike and rode home.

  Wrapping this post up is the Magnetic Fields 1995 song 'Save a Secret for the Moon'.