MICHAEL BONANNO: Flameland

Michael Bonanno

Flameland

© 2006 Michael Bonanno (634479411434)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)

Classic Rock Political Rock Folk Rock

tracks

1 Let The Sun Shine Down
2 Everybody Knows
3 Casey's Song
4 Soldiers Of Peace
5 Make One More Person Cry
6 Modern Propriety
7 Peace Please
8 Save The World
9 Heartbeat
10 Cemetery Rose
11 The World's Condemnation
12 Gods Of The Factory
13 Sermon
14 Flameland

notes

“Flameland” has been here at CD Baby for quite some time. How many CDs there are for sale at CD Baby is not clear, but to say that the competition is tight would be world record material in the area of understatement.

“Flameland” is not still at CD Baby, but is once again at CD Baby. Each and every song has either been rerecorded, remixed or both.

Was this done because the songs were recorded poorly or performed poorly when the CD was first sent to CD Baby? Absolutely not. Considering the limited technology that Michael Bonanno, he’s using his surname now, has available to him, the sound was amazing the first time it appeared on CD Baby. Consequently, reworking the songs guarantees nothing in the area of sales.

It should be well known, however, that the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. Fourteen good songs which contain important messages have now been improved. It’s hoped that the reworking of the songs will introduce a subtle hook that will keep people listening longer.

The world is a mess. There’s a war/occupation taking place in Iraq that’s thus far had death as its main accomplishment. The war/occupation has not accomplished anything more prolifically than it’s accomplished death.

This is one reason an angry Neil Young produced and published his intense CD “Living With War”. It’s also the reason that Young, fairly disgusted that music has not played a larger role in trying to bring the death in Iraq to an end, began accepting musical submissions that speak to our depressed society at his web site Living With War Today.

Two songs from “Flameland”, “Casey’s Song” and “Soldiers Of Peace” have spent time on Young’s top 500 “songs of our time”. “Casey’s Song”, which was written in memory of Casey Sheehan who was murdered in Iraq in April of 2004 and dedicated to his mother Cindy, has thus far made it to number 133. “Soldiers Of Peace”, which is not only found on “Flameland”, but also on “LIFE; THE MUSICAL”, had gotten as high as number 241.

These songs are moving as other excellent, passionate songs are making their way on to Young’s chart – and, yes, some of the songs are fantastic.

Considering how many songs were submitted, just making the chart is quite an accomplishment. Michael’s two songs made it into the top half of the chart, an accomplishment of which he’s justifiably proud.

But it’s not only about recognition of his talent or making money. Michael’s messages are from his heart. Michael Bonanno is a published poet and a regular contributor to OpEdNews.com. Words are his weapon. He doesn’t use a color coded terror chart. He uses something much more powerful – words.

You see, Michael’s a child of the sixties and already saw one irrational war in which 58,000 American military personnel died. He can’t believe that we, as Americans, fell for it again and he definitely understands Young’s anger.

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were murderers, nothing more, nothing less.

Today, The Regime in Washington is doing more than just killing people and Michael doesn’t let The Regime escape its other sins.

“Modern Propriety” and “Sermon” are, indeed, sermons aimed at The Regime’s pseudo religious façade, as well as the so called religions right. Can a religious leader legitimately call for the assassination of a human being? According to Michael, religious leaders think that it’s OK as long as we “try to buy a peace of Heaven for when we die.”

“Gods Of The Factory” and “Save The World” shine a light on what multi millionaire heads of multinational corporations, staunch supporters of The Regime and, in fact, the true government of the Former United States of America, do to people and the environment that enables them to become multi millionaires.

The second song on the CD, “Everybody Knows”, is Michael’s image of what saying good-bye to this world would be like if caused by the immature disrespect The Regime exhibits towards nuclear power and its use against the human race. In “Everybody Knows”, the line “but volumes could be written on what mankind never learned” vividly and eerily fades the song, and the imagined world, to black.

“Everybody Knows” is not the only song that breathes life into poetic and lyrical imagery.

The warmth of “Flameland” also evolves from Michael’s imagination, only it’s filled with hope. It’s a place that puts one in the kind of peaceful trance that only sitting in front of a warm fireplace on a cold winter’s day can create. It’s a place where people don’t mind speaking because those to whom they speak actually listen.

Michael Bonanno is a child of the sixties and his musical style aggressively and proudly brandishes that proclamation. Music is not static. Beethoven was the precursor to hip hop. None of the music that evolved along the way has disappeared and that includes the styles that were popular in the sixties and early seventies. It just doesn’t go away and never will.

If you really want to see, Flameland is where you should be.

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

email

Please log in to email this artist.