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Post by coolwood on Feb 3, 2007 15:03:12 GMT -5
Heres my list.. Billie Holiday-Strange Fruit. You could take your pick with this wonderful woman.
Led Zeppelin-In My Time Of Dying. I like these long rock jams.
Jimi Hendrix-Burning of the Midnight Lamp. Beautiful
Paul Hardcastle-Rainforest. Nice instrumental from the 80's
Stevie Wonder-Ribbon in the Sky. One of my favorite soul ballads.
Bob Marley-Redemption Song. Beautiful and essential.
Public Enemy-Rebel Without A Pause. Some say its the best rap song ever made,I won't argue.
The Clash-Train In Vain. I don't know why i like this song so much.
Miles Davis-Bitches Brew. Great song,but the whole album is outstanding.
Minnie Riperton-Inside My Love. She was much more than just "Loving You".
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Post by mightyjack on Feb 3, 2007 20:16:22 GMT -5
Hmm, tough so I narrowed it down to 10 songs I wish I'd written - Lyrics are very important to me and some artists make me green with envy.
[glow=red,2,300]Working Class Hero, John Lennon[/glow]For me it's the greatest song ever written. Simple, raw with lyrics that smack you in the face. "Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV, And you think you're so clever and classless and free, But you're still f***ng peasants as far as I can see
[glow=red,2,300]Paint It Black, Rolling Stones[/glow]I'm not a Stones fan, but this is amazing. Musically perfect, and lyrics. This is the kind of song I'd write, but that they got there first makes me jealous.
[glow=red,2,300]Miss Misery, Elliott Smith[/glow] Cripes this is the prefect song - a masterpiece on every level. If ever I write a song this great I will die a happy man.
[glow=red,2,300]Tangled Up In Blue, Bob Dylan[/glow]He's written some amazing poetic verses, but none as real and striking as the ones found here.
[glow=red,2,300]Stuff and Nonsense, Split Enz[/glow]Beautiful melody and unique lyrically. Most songs promise the girl the world, the Fin brothers only offer today... And you know that I love you Here and now not forever I can give you the present I don't know about the future That's all stuff and nonsense
[glow=red,2,300]Then She Appeared, XTC[/glow]The smartest most clever pop love song ever. Word play and historical references are used to speak about a woman who came out of nowhere and stole his heart - I'd listen to this for hours the first week I met C Then she appeared, as the giggling crew of Marie Celeste Then she appeared, pale Atlantis rising out of the west I was a little dazzled Catherine wheeled and senses frazzled
[glow=red,2,300]Who Wants To Live Forever, Queen[/glow]Another beautiful, powerful tune. The best part of Highlander was when a young Conner comes over the hill and we see his wife, aging and dying as this song plays. It put shivers down my spine as it did year later when a thin and dying Mercury performed it before his passing. The song never fails to make me cry.
[glow=red,2,300]Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel[/glow]I kept looking for a different S&G song because this is so over played, but I can't deny it - it's their best. I love the poetic words and the striking melody that builds like a mantra.
[glow=red,2,300]Lily Dreams On, Cotton Mather[/glow]Pretty song, nice love song that doesn't do the same old "I love you, yes I do" routine. Good use of imagery as Lily is a nice moral girl the singer tries to woo.
[glow=red,2,300]While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Beatles[/glow]From the "Love" CD - I can name a bunch of Beatles songs I prefer to this (Strawberry Fields, Elinor Rigby) but this is my Beatles song of the right now. The original is a flawed gem. It builds like an arena rock ballad, but then drifts into a very weak, falsetto bridge when it should go for the throat. It's structurally unsound (as if you created a foundation of the finest, strongest materials. Then get to the second floor and build it using straw) But George Martin wrote a stunning orchestration on one of Georges early recording, one that had a few different (and great) lyrics; the results are haunting. As a straight ballad with acoustic and orchestra, WMGGW becomes a new and powerful song. It absolutely sends chills down my back when I first heard it. And the bridge fits with this style. I love Clapton's guitar on the original. But I have to say, the song as whole works better here. Anyone who doubts that Martin is the 5th Beatle needs to listen to this version of the song. The man made this new and fresh again. I can't stop listening to it.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Feb 3, 2007 20:27:29 GMT -5
Hey MJ, I like the write up for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". I'm not quite sure from your description whether you feel the bridge of the song is fundamentally flawed, or if the original arrangement is what's flawed. I've always loved the bridge of that song, especially after Clapton's first major solo builds into it. It seems to me that the weakness in George's voice makes for a more poignant feeling, or something anyway I agree, the LOVE version is awesome as well.
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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 5, 2007 13:36:25 GMT -5
I'm really enjoying everyone's lists. I'm not sure I know where to start tracking down some of these songs (like munchNguzzle's recommended epics), but I'm adding to my wish list. I've never heard of Marillion before, but since I like everything else on Poe's list, I'm going to check them out. And I love coolwood's list. I was going to include "In My Time of Dying", Stevie Wonder, and Public Enemy, but I ran out of spots. Since no one seems to have made it to the free music depository, I'll post the links to my first two songs here (since they're not available anywhere else). If you like them, there's more here. Deep by Adam Again. Big River by Johnny Cash, as performed by The Urban Hillbilly Quartet.
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Post by MonsterX on Feb 5, 2007 16:00:43 GMT -5
Great thread! I can’t wait till I go home to look some of these up on ITunes. Here’s my stab at it. Pearl Jam – Leash. Just an awesome rocking, triumphant song. Fun to sing while speeding in the car or in the shower. Wolfmother – White Unicorn. It’s like someone invented a time machine and brought these guys back from the 70’s. White Unicorn is my favorite song by them. It’s got a real epic rock sound to it, and I love the big guitar sound they have, similar to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Jeff Buckley – Eternal Life. Man, I love everything about this song. An incredibly powerful and moving piece of rock music. Stirring. The Smashing Pumpkins – Rhinoceros. My version of this sound is the remastered ep, I don’t know if that makes a difference. This song starts off so small and fragile, gaining strength and power as it progresses until it finally explodes triumphantly at the end. I love music that takes you on an emotional journey like this song does. Bob Dylan – Man in the long black coat. I think that this is the scariest song ever recorded. I actually took this off my play list because every time it would come on it would spook me out. This doesn’t mean I don’t like the song; I love it. No one crafts a song like Bob, god bless him. www.bobdylan.com/songs/coat.htmlThe Clash – The Magnificent Seven. I like to listen to this while driving to work in the morning to put myself in the right frame of mind. >=) Cool lyrics, a very groovable bass line and some interesting percussion with bells. Currently my favorite clash song. Radio Head - Subterranean Homesick Alien. My favorite song off OK Computer. I consider that album in the same league as Dark Side of the Moon. Listen to it with headphones and all the lights off! Led Zeppelin – For your life. I am a huge Zepp fan so I felt like I had to put something on this list but I couldn’t decide what. Presence is an interesting album to me because of how personal it is in relation to where the band members were at during that point in there carriers. Drug addiction taking its toll, Robert Plants auto accident, and the frantic pace at which the album was recorded weigh heavily into the material, evident especially in For your Life, No body Fault but Mine and Tea for One. I just think its and interesting song from and interesting album I guess. American Minor – Buffalo Creek. I know absolutely nothing about these guys other then this song, which I can’t get enough of. Fresh hard rock with a country swagger, dark bluesy guitars and lyrics that recall an earlier time in rock and roll make for some good listening. Bah, one short. I’ll come up with another one later.
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Post by KGB on Feb 5, 2007 19:57:29 GMT -5
Some really great stuff here, Rhinoceros, Starship Trooper, Philosophy. A Kissed Out Red Float Boat! Are you kidding me?? That was absolutely going to be one of my ten; I'm stunned to see someone beat me to it. I had Blue Bell Knoll with me a few years ago, while backpacking through China, and I can't tell you how many times I listened to that tune.
Anyway, here's my 10:
"Getting Away With It" - Electronic: The short lived project of Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner. This song also features the Pet Shop Boys, so as you can imagine, although it's a 1991 release, it's got a distincly 80s sound to it. Light and enjoyable, this is great pop music.
"Deeper Shade of Soul" - Urban Dance Squad: The video for this got modest play when I was a sophomore in college. Early skate-hop (is that an actual genre or did I just make that up?)
"East Bound and Down" - Jerry Reed: Ever watched Smokey and the Bandit? Well, what are you waiting for?
"What The World Is Waiting For" - The Stone Roses: Was this their first single? Again, I'm not sure. Great tune, just a shame that it wasn't included on their eponymous debut album.
"Moonlight Feels Right" - Starbuck: An AM staple in the 70s. Dig those keyboards, man.
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - Michael Jackson: Okay, the guy's twisted, but his first two solo albums are fantastic. This one kicks off the mega-mega-mega smash hit Thriller with a fantastic groove.
"Crosseyed and Painless" - Talking Heads: The best song from their best album (Remain In Light).
"The Same Deep Water As You" - The Cure: No reason other than I've been listening to Desintegration a lot lately. This is the hypnotic Cure at their best.
"Florida Room" - Donald Droppoen: For your bouncy, upbeat moments. Infectious. (EDIT: Here we go with the auto-censor. It should read Donald F_agen.)
"Freddie Freeloader" - Miles Davis: You don't own Kind of Blue? Then go to hell!
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Post by Mr. Atari on Feb 5, 2007 23:58:22 GMT -5
You don't own Kind of Blue? Then go to hell! Agreed. Very agreed.
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Feb 6, 2007 0:45:51 GMT -5
Oh man, I gotta do this but I don't have time right now. Except nobody usually likes the same music as me. :-( I'll do one tomorrow anyway, though.
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Post by Captain Hygiene on Feb 6, 2007 23:53:10 GMT -5
My problem with this is that I am so selective in the artists I listen to that I don't have a wide range to pick songs from. I listen to what I like, and I could go for a week or more just listening to one artist alone. I could put a few songs up here, but for the most part, I just wouldn't have the breadth of musical taste to be interesting.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Feb 7, 2007 0:19:22 GMT -5
"The Same Deep Water As You" - The Cure: No reason other than I've been listening to Desintegration a lot lately. This is the hypnotic Cure at their best. Just a shout out to the Cure fans. Don't believe the hype!
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Feb 7, 2007 0:48:25 GMT -5
Okay, even though nobody will probably like many of these but me, here goes. And I thought long and hard about these, too...
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Do You Love Me? Part 1 Even though Nick's latest output has been a little soft for me, his pre-2000 stuff is all freakin' fantastic. He has such an expressive voice, and his lyrics are sleazy poetry. I went back and forth about which song of his to pick, but in the end I kept coming back to "Do You Love Me?" from 1994's Let Love In. The lewd, throbbing bassline, the steadily building intensity -- it's sexy and dangerous, and I never get tired of hearing it. In fact, along with 1988's "The Mercy Seat," I consider this the quintessential Nick Cave song.
2. Joy Division: Atmosphere Again, hard to pick just one, but this song is just bloody gorgeous. Stately and elegiac, Ian Curtis's hollow, old-before-his-time voice just plods on, resigned. Terribly sad and yet also beautifully uplifting.
3. Swans: Cry Me a River While I'm a big fan of Michael Gira's ugly, angry, hypnotic rants, this song -- an almost a capella piece with only Jarboe singing -- sends chills up my spine every time. Her voice is a plaintive wail, excoriating an ex-lover who betrayed her but now wants her back. Devastating, haunting, best listened to at about 3am, in a darkened room.
4. David J: Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh The former bassist of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets doesn't get much props for his folky solo stuff, but I think he's one of the great unappreciated songwriters in rock. There are actually two versions of this song that I know of -- both of them appear on the David J On Glass singles comp, though I don't know how easy that is to get hold of nowadays. I prefer the more minimal version, without the saxophone. The lyrics are also slightly different, but both versions are brilliant. A soft, bitter, ironic description of love gone wrong.
5. The Fall: Wings This was very, very hard, picking just one Fall song. Over the course of almost 30 studio albums and 60 (!) live LPs and compilations, these Manchester avant-garde punks (well, mostly it's Mark E. Smith and whoever he hasn't sacked that week) have really produced an embarrassment of riches. All their records are great, though they're definitely an acquired taste. I was going to pick "New Big Prinz," but I went with a song that was slightly more obscure, and much older. Weird, recitative story about a man with wings and how his wanton time traveling disrupts history.
To be continued tomorrow, when I have more time...
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Feb 7, 2007 0:56:32 GMT -5
Empress!
That's, as they say, good poopie! More!
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Post by Mitchell on Feb 7, 2007 2:02:35 GMT -5
Faded Flowers -- Shriekback a beautiful, melancholy song by one of my favorite bands. Just the phrase I loved you once, don't love you anymore gets me every time.
8 Mile -- Eminem not much of a hip-hop fan, but the lyrics in this seem to parallel my own life, so it gives me strength.
Pepper -- Butthole Surfers a definitive Austin band delivers a haunting song about wasted youth, mixed in with a chorus about new love I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes. . .
Papa Was a Rolling Stone -- The Temptations R&B at its absolute best, a ballad that has a touch of soul all its own.
Goodbye Porkpie Hat -- Charles Mingus The only song that has ever spoken to me. It's an instrumental and yet I can literally hear Mingus' emotions behind the piece. It's always puts me a peace. I heard it described once as "sculptural" and I cannot think of a better descriptor.
Hayling -- FC Kahuna This lyric says it all: forget about all those things you fear. . .just be glad to be here. . .
Fallen Icons -- Delerium I cannot believe that Delerium and Front Line Assembly are basically the same band. Fallen Icons is a beautiful, almost Aria-like song that describes finding one's inner strength in the midst of heartbreak and dispair. It's very, very uplifting to me.
Temple of Love -- Sisters of Mercy Almost a guilty pleasure, but there is something about the Sisters that I really like, and this song, in particular, works for me. Maybe it's because the lyrics aren't as completely non-sensical as their usual works.
Igazu -- Gustave Santaolalla Another instrumental that touches me. This song has been one of my favorites for a while, and I almost forgot about it until I heard it featured in HBO's Deadwood.
Let Me Entertain You -- Shakespear's Sister Fun, playful, yet somehow seductive.
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Post by Mod City on Feb 7, 2007 2:26:07 GMT -5
Here's my list, which is subject to change at any moment. God, I'm going to have to wing it. No particular order, of course: The Jesus and Mary Chain - Blues From a Gun From Automatic, they're most blatant attempt at a commercial release. Sorry to say, but the whole album rocks. Substitute any of that album for this selection, and you'll do fine. Sugar - Hoover Dam Bob Mould deserved all the hype he got in the early 1990s. This is a beautiful, soaring number. The Four Horsemen - Tired Wings Great southern slide-guitarish rock that tried to break into the rock mainstream. Nobody Said It Was Easy it a great, fun drinking album. Mother Love Bone - Capricorn Sister Pearl Jam is amazing, but their forerunner is every bit as compelling musically, in my opinion. And more fun, too. 1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut Fantastic cover of the Black Sabbath tune. It actually surpasses it in impact and overall power. I miss Wax Trax. Bad Brains - Rock For Light These guys knew what they were doing. They never really matched their early power in later years, in my opinion, but it's hard to go wrong with most of it. The Replacements - I Don't Know I love drunken guitar rock. Dramarama - What Are We Gonna Do? Here's the most underrated alt-rock band of the 80s and 90s. Fantastic songwriting for the genre. And they turned out a fair amount of material, too. Cracker - Sometime Their first album is still their best. Hickoids - Animal Husbandry Cow-punk at its finest. These guys must be something to see live. If only I could get to Austin, Texas at the exact right time. Is that 10 already? Guess I'd better stop then
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Post by Don Quixote on Feb 7, 2007 2:32:23 GMT -5
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra: One of my favorite Frank songs. It always makes me think of walking along the Raquette River for the first time, that first year of college, and how I felt. The mountains are beautiful, but we don't have rivers.
Selling Out - Tom Lehrer: Tom Lehrer is a great satirist, and even funnier when he's lampooning the commercialization of his own music. This song is great to sing along with. I'm a pretty big Tom Lehrer fan (I only wish that 'Remains of Tom Lehrer' wasn't so expensive).
Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers: A great driving song. It makes you want to roll down your windows, put on sunglasses, and look out for bald men petting cats.
They Might Be Giants - James K. Polk: A wonderful song from They Might be Giants. Offbeat as usual, the Johns never fail to disappoint.
The Who - Momma's Got a Squeeze box: Maybe not one of their best songs, but one of my favorites. How often do you hear a concertina/squeeze box/accordion in traditional rock 'n' roll?
Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino: My favorite old-school rocker, Fats is a brilliant piano player. I wish I had some of his stuff on vinyl.
King of Spain - Moxy Fruvous: This Canadian group is another personal favorite of mine. If you've heard of this band, chances are you've heard this song.
Detroit Rock City - KISS: If for nothing else, this song kicks because of the guitar solo. It was so nice to see these guys reunite a few years ago, and their music is still as good as it ever was.
Elephant Bones - That Handsome Devil: Love the way this song sounds. Quasi-funk, quasi-rock, all awesome. Great song about the apocalypse. Gotta love a song that mentions Gilbert Gottfried, William Shatner, and Frasier's Dog in one verse.
Polka On the Banjo - Bela Fleck: I've always liked banjos. They play well, and I admire the people who can master them, because they are a difficult instrument to master. Polka On the Banjo is a great mix of banjo twang with a polka tone. Pretty cool stuff.
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