Vashti Bunyan , no relation to Paul apparently, was another of those songs that came via a commercial on the NFL Network. It might have been under armor or something. I’m having difficulty trying to explain what it was about the song that was so attractive. Vashti’s voice had this sort of soft purity about it. The guitar accompaniment continued that feeling. There is something sad and haunting about it.
The Train Song wasn’t the only song that came to me as part of an advertisement. Most people associate Mad World with Donnie Darko in my mind it belongs with a video game. Gears Of War I Think. Something about that song seemed familiar. I searched my media library and found that I had the original version on a Tears For Fears CD that I had owned for decades. Different but stii good. It seems that most people saw Donnie Darko then looked for the song. I heard the song in a completely different context then watched Donnie Darko because of it.
I bought Tomita’s Snowflakes Are Dancing because it contained the song Arabesque which was the theme for Star Hustler / Star Gazer which I had been watching on PBS for decades. Yeah, I miss Jack Horkheimer. I wouldn’t have know what song it was had I not stopped by the Star Gazer website one day and stumbled upon What is that song in the FAQ section. When I found out it was Tomita, it was a no brainer to add another Tomita CD to my Eclectic Collection.
Of course, even through the Aughts the traditional influences remained in play.
Vashti Bunyan – The Train Song
Tears For Fears – Mad World
Michael Andrews & Gary Jules – Mad World
Tomita – Arabesque – The music in this video isn’t the real Tomita, the version used for the show but I decided to use it anyway because of the Star Gazer references and it is similar in feel.
Britney Spears – Toxic
Madonna – Hung Up