If you didn’t see my earlier post on power ballads, here’s a way to think about them: Have you ever sat in a 1968 Pontiac GTO with 350 hp under the hood, and the driver is only going 25mph? You know there is power in reserve, you just don’t know when it will explode. That’s sort of the feeling you get when a normally hard-driving band slows down to sing about lost or unrequited love.
Thanks to my brother Arun for his ongoing suggestions and recommendations, especially where rock bands are concerned. He is a guitarist himself so he listens to all of this stuff with a musician’s ear.
Robin Trower: “I can’t wait much longer”
Trower made his name as the lead guitarist for Procol Harum, one of the iconic bands of the late 60’s. He left in 1971 to start a power trio, consciously modeled after Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He remains influential in the guitar world, and has given lessons to a number of established rock guitarists. This song is from his first album. The vocalist is the late James Dewar, who also played bass in the band (parallels to Jack Bruce—and Bruce would later record an album with Trower).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg7PJNALBmQ
The Scorpions: “Winds of Change”
One of the few European rock groups to break through in the U.S. They released this in 1990 but had been doing hard rock since 1965. (Consider that in 1965, the Beatles were still doing pop!) The Scorpions influenced all the big rock and metal bands that followed. This song is a meditation on the huge social changes happening in their home country of Germany around the time the Wall fell. If you didn't follow the rock scene, you may not have known who did this song, but you have certainly heard it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
Nightwish: “The Dead Boy’s Poem”
Nightwish are one of the biggest metal bands in the world, and were also pioneers of symphonic rock. They are little known in the U.S. but command huge followings in Europe, South America and Asia. They have been touring regularly for 25 years; with the retirement of their long-time bass player, Marco Heitala, it is unclear whether they will continue forward beyond 2021. Here is a performance featuring their original lead singer, Tarja Turunen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPPJm65NVXI
Prince: “Purple Rain”
Prince makes pretty much every relevant “Best of” list. Best songwriters. Best bandleaders. Best guitarists. Best stage magicians. He is on my list of “extraterrestrials”: artists so outrageously gifted that they must have come from another planet. His songs generally rocked pretty hard. His most iconic piece, however, was a ballad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvnYmWpD_T8
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