Too Many Options for T

By Matthew

has a lot of possibility. I’m going to spend a brief amount of time with a handful of acts that immediately come to mind.

T-Bone Walker

Like so many blues musicians, his music is direct and passionate. He had a silky voice that became powerful when he needed it, but his guitar did a lot of the talking. Too many musicians and producers today polish recordings to a fault. Back in the day, you heard each little partially flubbed note… each time the string was plucked without being pushed entirely down to the fret-board. Listen to "Stormy Monday." T-Bone was a bit loose and sloppy, making his recordings characterful and honest.

Toto

Who was born in the 70’s and didn’t get seduced by that crappy “Africa” song?

Television

Tom Verlaine is the man when it comes to melodic guitar solos and sparse, memorable hooks. "Marquee Moon" is one of the few extended rock-punk ballads I never get tired of listening to in its entirety. There’s such a haunted longing in the vocals. Good ole fashioned drug abuse ended their brief tenure.

TV On the Radio

These guys are inventive. Gabriel is my culture vulture. When I told him that working in I/T with a bunch of 50-somethings was making me feel out of touch, he produced a stack of discs with some of the good stuff that the kids were listening to. "Halfway Home" grabbed me right away. I don’t love all of it, but there are some real highs on their albums.

Temple of the Dog

It’s an album I like more now than I did at the time of its release. I wasn’t prepared for how soulful the union of grunge mega-acts Soundgarden and Pearl Jam would be at the time.

They Might Be Giants

Geez, I was annoyed by these guys in the past. Though I haven’t heard them lately, I get the feeling it might sound better now.

Richard and Linda Thompson

Shoot Out the Lights is Nicholas Hornsby’s favorite album. He’s a smart guy, right?

The Turtles

"Happy Together" is an all time favorite. So catchy, so dramatic, such a dumb ‘We wish we were the Beatles’ video. I’ve always wanted to cover this with a band that has a sense of irony.

Travis

Anyone remember "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” It was a good show to see with my pal, Gabriel.

Tricky

He put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I’d never witnessed such focused intensity on stage – and I’ve seen Henry Rollins, Faith No More, and Pearl Jam on tour with Soundgarden. Check out this live video for a taste. Even shown on crappy-looking YouTube in your tiny computer monitor, the guy looks larger than life… like he’s about to explode. He’s not the type to directly engage the audience, you just feel privileged to witness what’s clearly a very spiritual experience for him. Being in the same small room with the man was just horrifyingly exciting. You got the sense that you were watching someone do what they were truly born to do… I felt at the same time drawn into the world he was creating on stage and terrified by the fact that he was the ring-leader of it. He closed with an extended performance of "For Real" and he was like some kind of possessed boxer, weaving back and forth and screaming “It’s not real! It’s just passing time!” *sigh* Could I love him more?