Styx's "Don't Let It End" is a great song that I find myself singing along to, every time. It's well written, well-constructed, and has a very catchy melody. So, if this is a "guilty pleasure," call me very guilty.
Styx's "Don't Let It End" is a great song that I find myself singing along to, every time. It's well written, well-constructed, and has a very catchy melody. So, if this is a "guilty pleasure," call me very guilty.
only Don't Let It end??? what about Babe, First Time, Show Me The Way, Come Sail Away, The Best Of Times, Suite Madame Blue, etc... Power Ballads were what put Styx on the map.
To me, The First Time kinda sounded like Play The Game by Queen when I first heard it. Btw, Play The Game is my pick.Originally Posted by BravadoNJ
"Come Sail Away" is fine, if overplayed, and I never thought of SMB as a power ballad... more like a semi-prog epic (though, it isn't, really). The others, honestly, don't do as much for me, though "Lady" is okay.
Oh, another guilty pleasure... and this is weird... Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again," the RADIO mix. I absolutely can't stand the 1987 album version that begins with just keys. The radio mix has some keyboard fills within the song itself that I rather like, and those are missing on the album version.
The radio version sounds like the song had it's fangs removed. Too much keyboards, pop sound, and not enough guitars.
I understand how people feel this way, and it's one of those things, like Phil Spector's arrangement of the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road," that I end up having to defend. Even if people think the keys in "Here I Go Again" are too much or the orchestra/choir in "The Long and Winding Road" are overdone, to me, the MELODIC elements of those arrangements outweigh how they're being delivered. YMMV as usual.
Phil Spector's orchestral arrangements are on the Let It Be album, whereas the "pop" version of Here I Go Again was remixed for a "rock" song to get "pop" radio play.
I do not know whether this was mentioned yet
btw Omega's song is from 1969!!!
and maybe a mother of them all
Last edited by Progmatic; 02-18-2013 at 08:56 AM.
not sure this qualifies in the 'power' category, musically.
Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Lady - Styx
Agree w/July Morning + Stealin' - Heep
Agree w/ June - SB
Limbo - Discipline
More Than A Feeling - Boston
Many more but that's enough
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Here are a few cheesy power ballads:
Oh, man, I hated Firehouse. That singer's voice is just so grating.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
I don't know if he could really bring it live (no idea), but on the albums he's got a pretty amazing range.
More Than A Feeling? A power ballad? ¿Qué?
Incredible. 10/10
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
I'm not a fan of this one, but here it is, lol...
Absolutely.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Si!
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
More Than A Feeling is NOT a power ballad. Just because it's starts with an acoustic guitar and goes power chords on the chorus doesn't make it a power ballad.
Agree on June by Spock's Beard
Alone - Heart
Here I Go Again - Wheat Snack
One Too Many Wasted Sunsets - Deep Purple
Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney
Another subjective truth.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Sorry but for me 'More Than A Feeling' absolutely defines the 'power ballad'. It has the quiet verses, the soaring choruses and a big 'rock' guitar solo in there. What more do you want?
Beg to differ. I don't hear the "quiet verses" on that song as being ballad-like. It's more like Scholz took the verse from a uptempo MOR song (something like what James Taylor or Paul Simon might have done when he was in an upbeat kinda mood) and stuck it with the chorus and bridge section from a hard rock song.
Now, stuff like A Man I'll Never Be, Amanda, Hollyann, and Tell Me, those are all power ballads.
If "quiet verses" segueing into "big soaring rock choruses" is all you need to qualify as a "power ballad", then wouldn't half the Pixies catalog constitute "power ballads". What about something like Smells Like Teen Spirit? And what about that one Smashing Pumpkins, I think the first line is "Today is the best day I've never had" or something like that, that's got sort of thing going on.
By that kinda criteria, U2 has a bunch of power ballads too. Things like Within You Without You, All I Want Is You, etc.
Last edited by GuitarGeek; 02-19-2013 at 02:51 AM.
U2 work in a different way, few of their songs feature much in the way of a 'rock' guitar solo. I think a certain production 'slickness' is also a prerequisite of a power ballad too, so Nirvana and The Pixies are out!
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