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Post by oldmanmerton on Sept 1, 2012 3:19:41 GMT -5
I make "lists" a lot. Movies, books, music.
I haven't made a music list since I made a 6 cd set when my wife was pregnant with our daughter that I plan to give her one day when I think she'll "get" it.
Right now I'm making a list of songs I consider "beautiful". I'm excluding classical and film scores-- I was going to exclude all instrumentals since lyrics are often so heavily weighted when it comes to my gauging of a song's beauty, but wound up with 2 instrumentals on my current list anyways.
But while I'm still revising it and trimming it, I'd like to see what suggestions people have that I may have let slip through the cracks. Use whatever criteria you want I guess, but I guess primarily the song should evoke more emotion in you than the average song (even an average song you really love).
Some examples I have so far: Counting Crows - Anna Begins Don McLean - Vincent The Frames - Red Chord Pogues - Fairytale of New York Ben Folds - Carrying Cathy Elton John - Empty Garden
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Post by crowschmo on Sept 11, 2012 17:11:02 GMT -5
This one might be defined as more "haunting" than "beautiful", but one of the best songs I think is Pink Floyd's "On the Turning Away".
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Post by Satchmo on Sept 11, 2012 18:17:00 GMT -5
"Round Midnight"- Miles Davis. My all time favorite song. I know that Thelonious Monk wrote it originally, but this is Davis' song; nobody else has pulled it off like he did. It was also the first song I ever heard on vinyl, so you can blame it for that.
"Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)"- Tom Waits The saddest song ever written, and I think it should only be performed by Waits. Screw Rod Stewart. The content of the song is too tied in with Waits's lifestyle at the time that no one but a chain-smoking chronic alcoholic can sing it right. He's usually not a personal songwriter (a strength in my book; constantly writing about yourself is a huge red flag in my book), but this seems very personal. If I were capable of human emotion, this song would make me cry every time.
"Laura"- Dexter Gordon this is a stand in for all of Dexter's stuff. He was a true saxophonist's saxophonist, and one of my biggest influences as a musician. Nobody's ever sounded so beautiful, and I would sell my soul for his tone (though I play alto sax primarily). This is one of those songs that I listen to if I need to calm down, yet it's never dull or schmaltzy in spite of the orchestral arrangement. That's a tough thing to pull off.
"When David Heard- Eric Whitacre who else but Eric Whitacre could make an 18-part cluster chord sound so beautiful? Also, the other 14 minutes or so are really good as well.
"Dreams to Remember"- Otis Redding Once again on the subject of things I would sell my soul for, I really wish I could sing like Otis Redding. He hearkens back to a long-forgotten era when male soul singers sounded- y'know- masculine. And this song personifies everything I love about Redding; how expressive he was without over-singing, how his voice sounded so gruff yet so smooth, and how everything sounded so real and wonderfully un-polished. A perfect example of why Stax trumps Motown any day (all due respect to Mowtown).
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Post by Emperor Cupcake on Sept 13, 2012 21:47:55 GMT -5
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Post by TurkeyVolGuessnMan on Sept 14, 2012 23:37:02 GMT -5
Ace Frehley - Fractured Mirror (Instrumental)
Saigon Kick - All I Want
Blind Guardian - The Bard's Song
Symphony X - The Accolade
The next two songs are from concept albums and are even better/more meaningful when listening to the full album and getting the whole story:
Savatage - This is the Time
WASP - Hold On to My Heart
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Post by oldmanmerton on Sept 22, 2012 7:07:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses everybody. Nearly done with my list (just doing some re-ordering).
Some interesting range in music here. I already had a few Tom Waits songs in the running (though not the one listed here) and Nick Cave's Where The Wild Roses Grow (only Nick Cave can make a story of murder so beautiful).
I actually have a Buddy Guy version of Dreams to Remember on my full playlist, but even though I love jazz/blues, they don't generally fall into what I had envisioned for the list. Good stuff though.
I had never heard "When David Heard" before. I listened to the BYU Chorus version and it was definitely pretty amazing.
I wasn't familiar with Turkey's recs even though I have a decent assortment of that genre in my collection (older stuff mostly though). I am a sucker for concept/story/rock opera albums though.
Anyways, thanks again. always cool to see how other people think of an abstract concept like beauty in music or something like that.
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Post by normalview on Jan 12, 2013 18:45:54 GMT -5
Van Morrison... "The Mystic".
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Post by buzzturner on Jan 14, 2013 21:19:22 GMT -5
"Hello" by Lionel Richie is a beautiful song.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jan 15, 2013 17:39:25 GMT -5
I guess the ones that pop right into mind are the Holding Back the Years song by Simply Red, Angie by the Rolling Stones, Fire and Rain by James Taylor (though my folks played it so much when i was a kid i got a little sick of it), Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith, quite a bit of the output of Radiohead including...
(Worth linking to because this is a pretty brilliant fan video re-edit)...
The Rain Song and 10 Years Gone by Led Zeppelin (A lot of folks might find those two tunes a bit cloying but they work for me), also So Far Away by Carole King...
I think I'm dating myself...
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Post by TheNewMads on Jan 15, 2013 17:53:22 GMT -5
Also, "Lick My Love Pump." It's in the saddest of all keys.
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Post by Satchmo on Jan 15, 2013 18:00:34 GMT -5
I think I'm dating myself... It's good to see you found somebody.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jan 15, 2013 18:21:15 GMT -5
I think I'm dating myself... It's good to see you found somebody. well, the worst part is that i said "think" rather than "know," which means i'm evidently stringing myself along.
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Post by Lounge Lizard on Mar 9, 2013 22:21:56 GMT -5
Great thread! I could go on making a huge list of the songs I think are beautiful but i'll name a few..
On the Sea- Beach House Saltwater- Beach House Astronaut- Beach House (pretty much anything by Beach House) It's All Over Now Baby Blue- Them No Expectations- The Rolling Stones Wooden Ships- Crosby, Stills and Nash Oh! Sweet Nuthin'- Velvet Underground Starship Trooper- Yes Let the Sunshine In- Galt MacDermot Julia- Medeski, Martin and Wood Strawberry Swing- Frank Ocean 10 Years Gone- Led Zeppelin Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn- The White Stripes
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 10, 2013 10:30:23 GMT -5
Starship Trooper- Yes Julia- Medeski, Martin and Wood 10 Years Gone- Led Zeppelin a big hear hear on these three! I've never heard of "Beach House" but i think I'll look into it, your musical tastes seem to not suck.
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Post by Lounge Lizard on Mar 10, 2013 17:21:32 GMT -5
Starship Trooper- Yes Julia- Medeski, Martin and Wood 10 Years Gone- Led Zeppelin a big hear hear on these three! I've never heard of "Beach House" but i think I'll look into it, your musical tastes seem to not suck. Well thank you! Yeah, check Beach House out, their album "Teen Dream" is a masterpiece IMO. And I'm glad to know someone else that knows the awesomeness that is MMW.
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