The saxophone. One of the most (unfairly?) maligned instruments in music. The root of its issues seems to be a lack of subtlety. While many other instruments lend themselves to fitting in with a group, the saxophone often comes across as a bit over the top-like an over-sized, gaudy ring. Granted, I'm not an expert on sax (baha, first of many too-easy-to-pass-up puns in this post), but the majority of times I hear the saxophone, it's about as subtle as twenty-two inch rims on a Toyota Celica. I'm just gonna keep going with these comparisons. AS SUBTLE AS RAIN ON YOUR WEDDING DAY. No, that's ironic. No, that just sucks. Never mind. Damn you, Alanis. The first video I'll post is a classic, but mostly for the wrong reasons. This is an example of bad sax. Some people say that bad sax is better than no sax at all (I can't stop-what's wrong with me?), but I'm not sure with this one. Just eight seconds in, it sounds like someone's blowing their nose through the saxophone. Then if you freeze the video at exactly 1:15, you'll see everything that's wrong with this song. You should not be a shirtless, lathered up with body oil, gyrating professional wrestler look-alike while playing the saxophone. It just doesn't seem right. You can even see Jason Patric turn to Corey Haim right afterwards and give him a look like, "Can you believe this guy? Oh well, I'm just here to hit on Jami Gertz anyway!" Lost Boys is a great 80s movie, though. NOTE: TRAGICALLY, I CAN'T EMBED THE VISUAL PORTION OF THIS VIDEO. JUST GO TO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdaaGlyu7EQ TO CHECK IT OUT. TRUST ME, IT'S WORTH IT.
Now on to what I consider to be good sax. The kind of sax you won't hear in Panera Bread. First up is the song "My Mistakes" by Eleanor Friedberger. This is Friedberger's first solo album-she's done a few albums with her brother as The Fiery Furnaces. The Fiery Furnaces are good, but a bit hit or miss. "My Mistakes" is a catchy song, with a great video. The song sounds almost desperately upbeat, and I think the lyrics and video reflect that. I really love the sax solo at the end, because it saves the song from getting monotonous, and is exuberant without crossing over into the d****erzone (that didn't say danger).
Curtis Mayfield was just amazing, and of course his music would have great saxophone in it. It does a "call and response" with many of the lines in "Little Child Runnin' Wild," and adds to the tension and feel of the song. Cool can be a corny word, but when the alternative for saxophone is so obtrusive and lame, it's actually the perfect word.
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