Once upon a time, in a far away land (we’ll call this land “2001″), there lived a band who coined themselves The Calling. These gentlemen were popular among the princesses of America and drew in the hearts of acne-producing teenagers with their first hit single “Wherever You Will Go.” Now time passed and an evil wizard named “Indefinite Hiatus” came to the band and cast a spell leaving their musical careers dangling from the Cliff of Broken Dreams. My attempt is to creatively highlight this week’s throwback band, The Calling.
Upon initially hearing The Calling’s first hit single, “Wherever You Will Go,” I, along with many others sharing in my musical preference, were intrigued by the deep, melodic vocals of lead singer, Alex Band. To continue the seduction of new listeners, the song itself lured you in with the strumming of a soothing guitar and lyrics that seemed to pull from the diaries of first loves everywhere. Alex Band himself probably produced such emotions in the ladies with his siren songs. The song topped the charts and was even recognized as the #1 Adult Pop song of the decade by Billboard magazine.
So, where’d they go? Where’s Alex Band? Is he single? The band released a few more singles from their first album, Camino Palmero, including “Adrienne” and “Could It Be Any Harder.” Their music even made appearances in a few popular films such as “Coyote Ugly” and “Love Actually.” Their career allowed them to make a second album cleverly titled Two, but their popularity slowly faded after that. Until just now. When I brought it back. Let’s rekindle the romance and appreciate the talent of a band whose career may have ended too quickly. If anything, The Calling will always have that first single…and Paris (Casablanca reference).
Check out Camino Palmero:
Look, I know “Garden State” isn’t necessarily a cinematic masterpiece, but in 2004 when it hit theaters I was at the perfect age to really appreciate it. It was a coming-of-age film for a young man who was, in fact, coming of age, and I loved it.
But before the movie was even released, I developed an emotional attachment to the trailer, which I must have watched on apple.com about two hundred times. About halfway through, Frou Frou’s “Let Go,” the sort of main theme for “Garden State,” kicks in—and to this day it’s still one of the most moving and beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.
In the years since, Imogen Heap—Frou Frou’s lead vocalist—has earned some fame for “Hide and Seek,” which damn near everybody has heard at this point thanks to its appearance on the second season finale of “The O.C.” and subsequent Saturday Night Live spoof of it. More recently, that same song was sampled in Jason DeRulo’s “Whatcha Say,” which was at one point the #1 song in America.
So it’s not like you’ve never heard this girl’s voice before, but “Details,” Frou Frou’s only album, is from an age before Heap was so well-known, and her partner on the project—Guy Sigsworth—deserves his fair share of the credit of the record’s beauty as well. The two co-wrote every song on the album, which includes “Let Go” and loads of other transient, ambient electronica that is both musically challenging and melodically pleasing.
There are rumors of a reunion between Heap and Sigsworth, but so far nothing official has come to fruition. Still, “Let Go” remains in the annals of life-altering music for me. Few tracks have ever affected me more. I loved it when I was coming of age, and now that I’m of age I love it even more. It’s aged like a fine cheese, and held up better than the movie that helped make it famous, though I’ll never bad mouth “Garden State” or Frou Frou. Don’t you do it, either.
I saw Michael Tolcher perform back in 2004 when I was still studying to be “undecided” at my university. Me and my buddy listened to his album I Am a number of times during that year, which also prompted a number of replica photographs we called the “Michael Tolcher” pose (see Figure A.) It would have made for some great Facebook profile pictures had it been around at that point in time, but I suppose it’s never too late.
Figure A
Honestly, after I left school and moved on to the real world, I sort of forgot about Michael Tolcher. I really wish I hadn’t because he really was a talented guy. His music mixed elements of funk, pop, alternative, rock and hip-hop into one catchy compilation. I Am was an album you could listen to for any occasion and not get tired of hearing it. He had a knack for creating songs with positive messages (which was a nice change of pace considering the top radio hits at the time consisted of the Ying Yang Twins and Eastside Boys.)
Michael Tolcher has still been around the music industry creating songs occasionally and even attending the Sundance Film Festival to educate attendees on music for feature films and television. He’s sort of a music professional. A professional of music if you will. Check out his album I Am if you’re looking for something poppy and positive. It will definitely hit the spot.
Buy the album:
I suppose in 1997 I wasn’t ready for marriage. I was still playing video games and thought wrestling was awesome. I didn’t have a steady girlfriend and had not found financial independence. However, I would have looked past every single one of my setbacks to marry Natalie Imbruglia. She was probably the first musician I actually fell in love with and for good reason: she was incredibly hot. Admittedly, I wasn’t totally sold on the music at the time, but it had this certain nostalgia about it, and I wasn’t about to be the judge of whether or not she was a good musician. Her lips told me everything I needed to know.
Of course every time I heard the song “Torn”, I was reminded of my one true love from 1997. So naturally, when I heard it on the radio recently, I had to get the entire album. Besides the first single I knew all too well, Left Of The Middle also contains the single “Wishing I Was There” which also could have been our wedding song. I’m just saying.
Left Of The Middle is a very laid-back album with simple melodies and instrumentation. There really isn’t anything experimental or out-of-the-ordinary about it, but Imbruglia knows how to make appealing songs. And although “Torn” isn’t exactly the most romantic song of all time, I still love her for it.
Overall, Natalie Imbruglia was one of the more solid female singer-songwriters from the 90s and if you didn’t know her (or did but didn’t know at the time), we’re now giving you the chance to re-live what you missed out on. You’re welcome.
Check out the video for “Torn”:
Buy Left Of The Middle:
Let’s take you an audible odyssey. Welcome to 2002, when the X-Ecutioners were at the height of their popularity and “It’s Goin’ Down,” featuring Linkin Park’s Mike Shindoa was one of the more popular hip-hop tracks in the country. The album in question, “Built From Scratch,” was devised as an outlet for a group of DJs to go nuts and experiment with a buttload of new ideas, but it turned into something much more epic when several hip-hop stud muffins were brought aboard to lend a whole other level of credibility to the record.
Wicky wicky.
Shinoda was just one of many guest artists to rap over the beats laid down by those crazy X-Men. Pharoahe Monch, Everlast, Big Pun, Kool G Rap, and the talented gentlemen of M.O.P. all lay down vocals for various songs, and all of them hit hard the way hard-hitting hip-hop should.
What started off as a group of 11 different DJs ended up as only four by the time “Built From Scratch” was released, and that group included Rob Swift, Roc Raida, Total Eclipse, and Mista Sinista. Roc Raida, who passed away in 2009 at only 37 years old, was probably the best-known of the group, having laid down beats for Big Pun and Skillz, as well as serving as the DJ for Busta Rhymes.
The rest of the guys, though, have no shortage of talent, as this sample-and-scratch heavy record proves pretty convincingly. In the hip-hop world, this crew is legendary, but as far as mainstream is concerned it’s been a few years since we’ve heard much from them. Two more albums—“Revolutions” and “General Patton vs. the X-Ecutioners”—were released by 2005, but the group has transformed into something a little different and now goes by a new name with mostly new members.
The audible odyssey, however, is in the books, and it’s a story I’d rather you not forget.
