YES - "LOVE WILL FIND A WAY"

Love Will Find a Way (Alan White - Chris Squire - Jon Anderson - Tony Kaye - Trevor Rabin) - 4:14 rating: **** stars

Saturday afternoon I was driving home from a cross country race my younger son participated in when this oldie came on the radio.  I don't think I'd heard this one since it originally came out back in 1983.  And to be honest, I wasn't exactly the biggest Trevor Rabin-era Yes fan back then.  The funny thing is today the song sounds great.  Say what you will about Rabin's influence on the band, but the guy sure knew how to write a catchy tune.  Flying down Route 66 with a new stereo (finally replaced the original 2002 Jeep Cherokee system with five of the six speakers being blown), the song sounded great.

With the song firmly lodged in my head I remembers the cheesy video and looked it up on YouTube.  Still cheesy ...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrowi4hHz8A   LOL

MARK KNOPFLER - "BOOM LIKE THAT"

Boom Like That (Mark Knopfler) - 5:40 rating: **** stars

Mark Knopfler's languid, instantly recognizable sound has always been a personal favorite.  

A couple of years ago I went and saw the Michael Keaton starring flick "The Founder".  The film as based on Roy Kroc's history with McDonalds.  As most things in life, the portrayal wasn't particularly sweet to the late Kroc.  Anyhow, the film was a blast.  

Taken from Knopfler's 2004 album "Shangri-La", "Boom Like That" was written for the film, but for anyone tight on time, managed to capture the entire plot line in under six minutes.  The sound is instantly recognizable as a Knopfler effort; his dry voice and classic guitar moves just screaming hit single (naturally the track did nothing).

Here's a link to the official video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sYK2RwH5E8

TOTO - "21st CENTURY BLUES"

21st Century Blues (Steve Lukather) - 6:08 rating: **** stars

To be honest, I hadn't bother listening to a Toto song since college ...  

I was sitting on my deck reading a book with Radio Caroline playing in the background when this tune popped up.  Joseph Williams' voice and the group harmonies grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go and the song got even better when the Steve Lukather guitar solo kicked in.  Unfortunately, I missed the artist and song title, so I had to dig around a little to find the act.  Imagine my surprise to discover it was Toto !!!  Not sure what the rest of the 2015 "Toto XIV" album is like, but this slice of AOR is simply killer.  The dark and cynical lyrics only make it stronger.   May just have to buy this one.

BRYAN FERRY - "DON'T STOP THE DANCE"

Don't Stop the Dance (Bryan Ferry) - 3:56 rating: **** stars

In college I got into a Roxy Music phase and ended up buying a bunch of Brian Ferry solo albums.  Unlike his work with Roxy, for some reason, Ferry's sophisticated, man-of-the-world solo sides just let me cold.  I tried hard to like those album, but just never could get the taste.  The albums just sounded cold, distant, and calculated.  They sat out there on my for-sale list for years and then a couple of weeks ago a Japanese collector bought them all at once.  While I was packing the albums up I decided to give a couple of them one last spin.  Imagine my shock when I discovered how appealing 'Don't Stop the Dance' was.  Yeah, it featured Ferry at his sleekest, but the song had a slinky groove that was simply stellar and it featured one of the coolest sax solos out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhTHQhJLxs