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List songs by Song title | Performer | Year

You searched for ‘driving’, which matched 58 songs.
click - person recommending, year, performer, songtitle - to see more recommendations.
Intensify  performed by !!!  2000
Recommended by pandaexplosion [profile]

One of the highlights off of their 200 self-titled album, !!!'s "Intensify" delivers upon the promise of its title by being really, well, intense. The band stick pretty close to their typical dancepunk sound, but there's a kick-ass breakdown halfway through where all the music drops out to make way for a chorus of people clapping and shouting "can u feel it intensify!"

Hott.

from !!! (GSL)



  Open Book: I'm glad other people are digging this band also. I love their debut album in its entirety, and their latest ep is also pretty freakin' amazing. I can't wait until their new album drops!
All I Really Got to Know  performed by Alexander Kowalski featuring Raz Ohara  2002
Recommended by secularus [profile]

Heard this track on french radio and discovered that it will be released on 12" sometime in May 2002. Alexander Kowalski, a 23 year old based in Berlin, has created a tech house excursion that is extremely infectious. A great driving tune! My only qualm are the vocals which I must admit are mildly cheesy but they grow on you and many people I have played this to end up liking it after a few listens.





Anyway  performed by Barbara Lewis  1969
Recommended by delicado [profile]

Barbara Lewis was famous earlier in the sixties for 'Hello Stranger.' This is simple, soulful pop music with a very cool production: crisp drums and nicely orchestrated woodwind on top of rhythmic guitars. Somehow the charm of the recording overrides any feeling that the chord sequence is slightly obvious. Barbara's voice is beautiful here: emotional, yet understated. A small female choir comes in to accompany her at various points. The song is remarkably tight and catchy, with a prominent bass part driving it on. The producer at Stax for this record was Ollie McLaughlin, and I'm now looking out for more stuff that he worked on.

from Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis (Stax), available on CD (Stax)




  Arthur: Ollie McLaughlin was a prolific producer. Look out for 45's on the Carla and Karen labels. They where both his labels
It’s About Time  performed by Beach Boys  1970
Recommended by Ricard [profile]

This song starts with a great simple keyboard riff, and the driving bass gives it a real urgency, unusual for the Beach Boys 70's music in that it makes you really want to dance. A great vocal performance by Dennis Wilson, with intriguing lyrics.

from Sunflower (Capitol #25692)
available on CD - Sunflower/Surf's Up (Capitol)


Do your Duty  performed by Bessie Smith  1933
Recommended by MrScarborough [profile]

Bessie Smith - here is a real woman, not an Allie McBeal stick-insect, but the type of woman that makes you want to throw back your head and howl like a Coyote. Bessie vibrates in places that most women don't even have places, and every man who hears her is transfixed.
She doesn't need to use any siren-like feminine wiles. This is the kind of woman who makes you feel glad to be alive. Mae West eat your heart out!

From the driving introductory rhythm to when Bessie bellows "If I call three times a day,
Come and drive my blues away,
When you come, be ready to play,
Do your duty" you know exactly where you are.

So sit back and close your eyes, grab the oxygen and slip back to late 1933 ................

from The Essential Bessie Smith, available on CD


Blowin' Bubbles  performed by Call and Response  2001
Recommended by ronaldo [profile]

Just a perfect, perfect pop song. Makes you wanna dance and groove along, but at the same time it's soo unbelievably sweet and a just a liitle melancholy. It starts with a drum beat, and then there's this bass-and-drums groove for a few seconds. Then a little sweet electric piano line enters, just before the voice begins singing the melody: "I'm drinking stars up in the sky, you know where you are / I'm driving cars around your house, it seems so fun". When it's time for the chorus ("So listen to my bubble go pop / I'm coming in, I'm coming over the top"), the main voice sings over a backing vocal doing an "ooh" harmony, and then there's absolute genius backing vocal, where the word "pop" becomes "papapapa". After that, a little guitar riff/solo, along with a very cool electric piano line. Then it just repeats everything all over again one more time, for infinite happiness. The time for a middle break has arrived. A new funky bass groove with lots of different "papapa"s harmonizing together. Now, go back to the first bass-and-drums groove, with a jazzy, relaxed guitar solo, and then it's just grooves and grooves and heavenly harmonies, "Blowin' bubbles".




Rockets  performed by Cat Power  1995
Recommended by spinspin [profile]

Driving and discordant, bittersweet, sad. This song is the most beautiful thing I've heard this week. In the mixtape of my head this comes right before Johnny Cash's "Don't bring your guns to town." A song you should listen to after you watch the evening news tonight... (released free as part of the protest records project: http://www.protest-records.com/ which is somehow associated with sonic youth.)


available on CD - Dear Sir (Runt)


Slipping Away  performed by Dave Edmunds
Recommended by countofbluecars [profile]

This is a lost 80s track that has a pulsing backbeat and a great feel. One of my favorite driving songs. Produced by Jeff Lynne of ELO.




Elias  performed by Dispatch
Recommended by Reina [profile]

This song is a song everyone should hear. Beginning with African drum beats and chants, it has a tribal feel to it. Really cool, upbeat...great to listen to while driving. Check out the live version too.

"I think you could answer all the questions of the world in just one word..."




mashin' on the motorway  performed by dj shadow  2002
Recommended by djfreshmoney [profile]

From DJ Shadows latest CD, a cool driving tune, that's really catchy. I'm a sucker for spoken word over beats. This sounds a bit like theme music for a driving video game - complete with other motorists cursing at you.


available on CD - The Private Press



Get With You  performed by DMX Krew  1999
Recommended by StinkyMarco [profile]

This is a song by a one-man band, the DMX Krew. He's from England, and he uses only recording equipment and instruments that predate 1985. As you might guess, this guy has an affinity for a trademark 80s synth sound...but this song somewhat deviates from his normal style.
This song is fast, catchy as all get out, and features some of the most striking robot vocals I've ever heard in a song. There's a catchy guitar riff throughout, with a jet distortion sound that makes you feel like you're on an airplane, with a driving electronic beat under it that will make you want to move your head about. This song is just utterly fantastic. I work in a record store and have reccommended it to many people, and I've yet to meet a person who already knew this song...or that didn't instantly LOVE this song. I've gotten hoards of people hooked on this band.

from We Are DMX, available on CD



  frmars: Sigh... How dishonest one can be... Tempted � allured � by the short text above, I spent some time looking for this ignored genius that "hoards of people" got hooked on. I found myself with an extremely shallow new-wave, something half way between a tasteless copy of human league and a gross imitation of Howard Jones, with sometimes a talentless allusion to New order... Alas, the whole album is just a piece of... very very bad music.
  StinkyMarco: Sorry you didn't like it...I enjoyed it because its a cheesy synth setting that has somewhat desperate lyrics (simple and yet better than anything Human League could come up with)...But "dishonest" is hardly the case. It's a matter of taste, my discerning friend. If I were dishonest I would tell you to listen to this even though I personally think its crap (not the case--this is a reccomendatio, after all)...And yes, "hoards of people" is not an exagerration.
  delicado: Don't worry about it Marco - if you check out mr. frmars's other comments you'll see that he's basically Marvin the paranoid android.
  StinkyMarco: Wow, couldn't agree more.
  frmars: which might be a compliment from biffa bacon and son...
  sinferno: frmars, you dont know what you are talking about... dmx krew took generic dance music and perfected it. everything ed dmx does is classic. this shit is catchy and yeah its dancy, but its composed so well. new order? human league? give me a break.
Afro - Harping  performed by Dorothy Ashby  196?
Recommended by Arthur [profile]

Cool in the Xxtreme !
Sixties dance jazz funk instumental from harpist Dorothy. Complete with organs, flutes and bongos it is driving classy joyful music .

The album also contains the awesome "Action Line " which is weirdly atmospheric and deeply strange

from Afro - Harping ( CADET LPS809)


Just A Little Lovin�  performed by Dusty Springfield  1969
Recommended by eftimihn [profile]

As a rather casual Springfield listener i didn't discover this track until recently. While the "Dusty In Memphis" album boasts better known songs (e.g. "Son Of A Preacherman" of course), this one is an underrated gem. A soothing, relaxed opening turnes into an emotional, soulful finale drenched in swirling strings, horns and driving drums and bass.

from Dusty In Memphis, available on CD



The Cutter  performed by Echo & The Bunnymen  1983
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

On �The Cutter� fellow Liverpool natives, Echo and The Bunnymen successfully wed the Eastern influenced psychedelic sounds made famous by hometown heroes, The Beatles. Crafting Eastern influences into a new post-punk hybrid that was sweeping England in the Early 80�s. It was songs like �The Cutter� that would help define the newly coined Neo-psychedelic sub-genre, practiced by such group�s of the period as The Chameleons U.K., Psychedelic Furs and Simple Minds amongst others. The track opens with a keyboard approximation of Indian strings, whirring briefly before the band kicks into a percolating groove of popping bass, driving straight drums and chinking guitar accents. Ian McCulloch adds another layer of �60 nostalgia, employing his expressive, slack-jawed vocal delivery that conjures aural images of the late Jim Morrison as he unfurls lines that drip with apprehension �Who�s on the seventh floor? / Brewing alternatives / What�s in the bottom drawer? / Waiting for things to give�. The Eastern strings re-enter at strategic points, filling in space between verses and McCulloch�s esoteric pleas to �spare us the cutter!�, which sounds like a good idea in any case. The arrangement also veers into epic territory quite unexpectedly in the second half, signaled by a sweeping wave of keyboard and McCulloch�s more subdued delivery as poses a string of rhetorically poignant questions, �Am I the happy loss? / Will I still recoil? / When the skin is lost / Am I the worthy cross? / Will I still be soiled? / When the dirt is off� -as the music swell behind him. Like any good single, the track never looses steam, cruising through each section with power and grace. A nod is in order for Ian Broudie, who�s smooth production helped The Cutter become Echo and The Bunnymen�s first top ten single in Britain and a linchpin track for the Neo-psychedelic movement.
(AMG)

from Porcupine, available on CD


High Wire  performed by Edwin Astley & His Orchestra
Recommended by bobbyspacetroup [profile]

A gem from the classic '60s television soundtrack to "Secret Agent Man"/"Danger Man". Driving rhthym with harpsichord and brass.





The Night  performed by Frankie Valli & Four Seasons  1973
Recommended by tempted [profile]

Great soulful pop number with a stomping "northern soul" drum beat. If I ever wanted to be the bassist on one particular song it would be on this one. This song makes me think about driving on a quiet nocturnal freeway... fast. A great sense of drama can be felt on The Night.

from Inside Out (Mowest)



Fire and Water  performed by Free
Recommended by dwmjuk [profile]

The first proto-heavy metal band and a direct link between metal and blues. Heavy driven blues. Free sound extremely sparse compared with similar bands and this is part of their appeal.





Lay It On Me  performed by Heatwave  1976
Recommended by ambassador [profile]

Heatwave's first two albums can almost be seen as prototypes for Michael Jackson's breakthrough album "Off the Wall." With Rod Temperton, future Quincy Jones and MJ collaborator, driving this album the sound is both funky and catchy, sophisticated and accessible. "Lay It On Me" is an overlooked album track that bubbles and gurgles under the surface of the groove until the chorus arrives with strings soaring for the ectasy of Johnnie Wilder's sweet vocals, "lay it on me, lay your sweet love on me!" Beautifully arranged and excellently executed and just one of many classics of their debut album.

from Too Hot to Handle, available on CD


A Machine To Break Your Heart  performed by Henning Ohlenbusch  2005
Recommended by catmarigold [profile]

Can't get this song out of my head. The whole album is full of 'em but this is the one that's currently driving me nuts. I thik it's about the end of the world, but I'm not sure.

from Looks Like I'm Tall (Rub Wrongways Records RWOD31)


Last Summer  performed by Lostprophets  2004
Recommended by izumi [profile]

I love music that can make you visualize in your mind what the song is trying to convey. This is one of those songs that always makes me feel nostalgic and wistful whenever I hear it - nostalgic not because it's a song from my childhood but because it talks about happy times gone by. When I hear it, I can picture in my mind a group of friends driving in a car through their hometown with an orange sunset in the sky. This is a song about happy memories which is something that everybody can relate to.

The instrumentals are nice too. I like how the guitar flares up at the chorus, and the steady beat of the drum, and how the singer's voice seems to echo throughout the song even after he's sung a word. This song might not seem very special, but it's amazing to listen to!

from Start Something (Visible Noise TORMENT32)


Where Is the Soul of America  performed by Mike Stout  2013
Recommended by radiofreetunes [profile]

Where is the soul of America? - In these times of warring political factions putting the government in unproductive grid lock Mike Stout asks what happened to the driving American spirit that united Americans to do great things. In this bluesy slide guitar driven tune a big chorus of singers asks:
�Where is the soul of America? Where is the spirit that made you great? Where is the soul of America? We need it now more than ever today. Where�s the will, that brought the Bill of Rights to stay, The ways and means to bring about our common dreams�now?�

Hear it at http://www.reverbnation.com/mikestout/song/18784586-where-is-the-soul-of-america

from Time To Build A New World, available on CD


My Heart Took A Licking (But It Kept On Ticking)  performed by Millie Jackson  1969
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

I always assumed I wouldn't like Millie Jackson. Maybe it was that album cover where she's sitting on the toilet that put me off. Or my assumption that all she sang about was doin' the dirty. Or the fact that EVERY SINGLE TIME you go through a funk / soul section in a second hand record shop there are at least three of her albums taking up residence there (must have made me think that no-one else liked her either). Then I found out about this gem.

Her first single from 1969, it's a pretty ruthless thing; driving down the poor sucker who bashed her affection, and coming out the other side. What marks it out from thousands of others with that content is its catchiness and commitment, and accompaniment by a squealing set-up that barks out the emotion of the song.

Really, really brilliant: somehow, more than the sum of its parts.

from the single My Heart Took A Licking (But It Kept On Ticking) (MGM 14050)
available on CD - Super Funk Presents... Funk Soul Sisters (BGP)



Christmas Steps  performed by Mogwai  1999
Recommended by anewyorkminuet [profile]

The one bright spot among the dismal stain on Mowai's career, the album known as Come On, Die Young. A web of brooding guitars initially mesmerizes you, before throwing you into an ominous and chaotic crescendo. It's the ideal soundtrack for driving alone on an open straightaway at night, going faster than you should be, and not at all caring...

from Come On, Die Young, available on CD


Hurt So Bad  performed by Nancy Holloway
Recommended by mr_klenster [profile]

This is a perfect cover in every way, arranged by Daniel Janin. The heavy, driving bass, long whine of the horns, and thick drumming make a monster instrumental. Nothing like the Bacharach version. Nancy Holloway does an outstanding rendition of the lyrics, delicate in some places, husky in others, bleeding and pleading the whole way through. The slow, pained delivery of the lyrics almost seem to be off pace with the tempo of the beat, but the horn melodies punctuate and hold this song together. There are qualities about this song that I find impossible to describe. All that's left to say is that this song is so cool and mesmerizing that it's hard not to close your eyes, and let yourself slip into the textures of this song. I never get tired of it.

from Hello Dolly!



In the Aeroplane Over the Sea  performed by Neutral Milk Hotel  1997
Recommended by two-headed boy [profile]

I didn't know it then, but when I purchased the album 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' my world changed. When I put the album into my CD player, I did it with a naivete of someone who thought they'd 'heard it all.' I did it clumsily, with haste, handled like a Beatles or Beach Boys album, the way I had done for years. When I listened to the album I did it with reckless abandon while driving 38 miles per hour on my lunch break, and later in the drive-through at McDonald�s. These mistakes were inherited, and I refuse blame. They were passed through the genetic make-up of our peers and born out of the music we've been given; I didn't expect this! Well, our music has changed, and it did so without our knowing and our approval. This album proved and disproved an entire treatise of critical analysis on a generation of music that I thought I had known, and it did so with a fucking velvet sledgehammer.

The lyrics: "And one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea, but for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see." More lyrics: "What a beautiful face I have found in this place that is circling all around the sun, what a beautiful dream that would flash in the screen in a blink of an eye and be gone from me." The melody: A timeless, haunting thing that was metaphysically resurrected from a wiser place. The voice: Wrenched out of the jaws of a holocaust from 50 years ago, we hear a possessed Jeff Mangum invest his soul. The sound: An apocalypse that can reinvent the turntable by it�s simplistic form; with a saw, guitar, drum, bass, horns, and lord knows what else all handled with deceptive elegance of a garage mechanic constructing a supermodel. And, lastly, the spirit: A tragedy and rape of virginity known only to the persecuted and executed; the ghost of Anne Frank materializes long enough to show us her world, and in her hands we are strangely at peace.

This song is a gift very few will experience. It is endless in its reach and should be accepted like a sibling into your collection. It will one day prove itself beyond category, but for now it is a masterful novel from the hands of a mysterious songwriter who should know how sincerely I cherish his songs.

from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea



  karlmort: this album is going to make a huge impact on you if you dare to listen.
  evolutum: All I have to say is that I agree with the above. My wife and I had this song played at our wedding reception. With tears in our eyes we danced. I would like to have it played at my funeral.
  umbrellasfollowrain: Whenever I hear that someone loves this album as much as I do this strange things happens where I want to draw you all into a bearhug where we cry our fears away all through the long night.
  el.oh man.: this song can make you feel so many emotions at once. it truly is a wrok of art. there is almost no way that you wouldnt like it. everytime i hear it, i fall in love with the amazing writing talents of these guys.
  pullmyhair: This is one of my most life-changing albums. It does something to me, almost spiritually. If people have an open mind, they need to hear this.
Mother we just can't get enough  performed by New Radicals  1998
Recommended by LateBirdsInMay [profile]

A really really great pop song by dint of the fact it just refuses any categorisation other than 'Ace'. But I'd better give it a go. 'Mother' is a very nineties mix of genres; Gospel-ey piano, driving pop beat, terrible vocals, and great pop lyrics that soars, taking in scat, madchester, falsetto and more before exhausting itself - I can't think of any other song that could conceivably have worked as a blueprint for 90's pop - if we'd worked from this instead of 'Baby one more time' things could have been much different. Re. the song - two things then - 1. it's a fantastically catchy 'choon' with guts and attitude, 2. it's a bit revolutionary, as all good pop should be.

from Maybe you've been Brainwashed Too



Northern Sky  performed by Nick Drake  1970
Recommended by genebean [profile]

Nick Drake's style is probably catagorized under British folk rock. This song is smooth with the happy keys jumping around and the organ in the background. Best if played while driving with the windows down on a cool morning.

from Bryter Layter, available on CD



  eftimihn: A song of plain, pure beauty. It's emotionally moving, especially when he sings "Would you love me through the winter/Would you love me 'til I'm dead"
Walkabout  performed by Noah Lennox feat. Atlas Sound
Recommended by ianmalcolm2 [profile]



Doesn't everybody love a good collaboration? It turns out Noah Lennox's beachboy-inspired vocals fit in nicely with the sound-collage electronica of Bradford Cox's offbeat side-project, Atlas Sound. The tight vocal harmonies, and childlike sampled groove compliment each other perfectly.

Nothing too deep in terms of vocal content. It's one of those songs where the chorus is repeated about 800 times, but you can never remember the words.

Instead, this song is all about atmosphere. I'm a sucker for that bleached-out, 70's technicolor vibe lately, and this song captures it more effectively than most. The lo-fi skuzziness, however, only enhances its pop-perfection.

Enjoy before summer ends! This is the perfect doobed-up jam for driving to the beach on a day where you can see the heat. Happy listening.




East Breeze  performed by Okay Temiz  1975
Recommended by djfreshmoney [profile]

I got into Turkish pop/rock music after picking up a Mogollar CD in Istambul a year or two ago. Like Mogollar, Okay Temiz combines eastern rhythms and instrumentation with rock sounds. You can forget most of this because all you need to know is "East Breeze" is Super FUNKY. Great driving rhythms mesh with flute and synths and the whole thing rocks.

from Drummer of Two Worlds (Finnadar Records)


Let’s Go to the Dark Side of the Moon  performed by Original Love
Recommended by johannp [profile]

One of the best songs from the cd 'Sunny Side of Original Love' and one of my favorite songs by Original Love. The instrumentation is typical of this cd: Organ, a driving bass line, drums, a funky guitar riff, brass and a very interesting flute. (Why don't western bands use flutes more? Japanese bands surely seem to realize how they can enhance the mood of a song.)

I love the chords and harmonies in this song. Together with the instrumentation and the suggestive title they make this song very strongly emotional. I can almost feel myself leaving the dull everyday life, escaping to the dark side of the moon as I listen to this song. Oh, and Takao Tajima's vocals are as good as ever.

If you like this song, you may also like 'Sunshine Romance' from the same CD, although this one is the better of the two in my opinion.


available on CD - Sunnny Side of Original Love


Eleanor Rigby  performed by Oscar Peterson  1969
Recommended by delicado [profile]

Eleanor Rigby does not immediately seem like the kind of song which would sound good as a cover version, but this fantastic version by Oscar Peterson proves otherwise. It opens with a simply heavenly string sequence from Claus Ogerman. Then Peterson’s gentle and percussive piano comes in backed with an driving bossa nova guitar and a huge, rich string arrangement. The tempo then switches over to a more jazzy style with a walking bass.

from Motions and Emotions (MPS 21207137)




  n-jeff: For a version on another tack theres Enoch Lights' (I can't remember if its from Spaced Out or Brass Menagerie 73). But its a cracker. Driving bass, swinging horns and electric guitar taking it to a whole groovy level the Beatles wouldn't imagined for their ballad.
(I Can�t Get No) Satisfaction  performed by Otis Redding  1965
Recommended by antarctica [profile]

Much like Aretha Franklin did with his 'Respect', Otis Redding took this song and made it his own. The Stones' driving guitar becomes funky, pulsating horns. When Redding breaks it down at the end with his signature improvisational style there's no turning back. This track'll leave you going, "Mick who? The Rolling whats?"





The Flower Shop  performed by Our Front Porch  1971
Recommended by konsu [profile]

I happened across this LP in a friends shop. I went to listen to it and this song blew me away. It's almost like a tune from a lost Jimmy Webb opus, or a Galt McDermott musical.... Like "HAIR".

The group sings in a loose ensemble with a very gospel-like arrangement that jumps from a driving, fuzzy, Motown like groove to waltz-y 3/4 skip. It represents the two impressionistic counterpoints in the songs drama :

" We see the phonies, you and I.... Their faded posies make us cry...." to " I smell the flowers... I smell the roses, and buttercups...."

It also reminds me of the Rotary Connection stuff that was around the same time.

The arranger is what turned me on to it, Ralph Carmichael. His label, Light, released stuff by the Oral Roberts kids, which is worth checking out for novelty's sake.

50% of this record is preach-y, but the rest of the songs, like this one, are well done with a lot of personality.RC is well known in sample circles for his famous cut "Addict's Psalm",from the Xian film soundtrack "The Cross & The Switchblade".

Use caution!

from Our Front Porch (Light LS-5560-LP)



Love is The Only Good Thing  performed by Preston Epps  60,s
Recommended by [email protected] [profile]

"B" side to a previously tipped "Afro Mania" "A" side.
Doin a bomb on the "Northern Soul Scene" UK & Germany. "BUSTIN BONGOES , JUNGLE BEAT , ALL THAT STUFF THAT MOVES YAH FEET"




OK Chicago  performed by Resonance  1975
Recommended by texjernigan [profile]

Quintisential Car Chase music, yet stylish and seventies, really puts you in a foreign fast world. I've listened to the rest of the album and I don't know that I'd recommend much else beyond this track, but this really puts you in the mood when you're driving.





Living Dead Girl  performed by Rob Zombie
Recommended by straitjacket [profile]

As most of his songs it has a neat title and I find the hard driving beat great to drive to.

from Hellbilly Deluxe


Children (Dream Version)  performed by Robert Miles  1996
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

A great thumping house-groove! Robert Miles flawlessly blends amazing piano work with great techno and produced a great album of very danceable tracks, especially this one. This is perfect for listening to while driving!

from Dreamland, available on CD



Drink the Elixir  performed by Salad  1995
Recommended by number6 [profile]

On a trip to London in 1995 I went to a club the first night and heard a wonderful driving song with smotth female vocals and interesting guitar. I didn't find out what it was. The next night some friends said "come with us to see this band we think you'll like." The first song they played was the one I liked some much the night before!

from Drink Me (Island (UK) CIRD 1002/524 079-2)




  G400 Custom: Yes, this really is a fantastic upbeat record. It's interesting how the drummer was the best of the three songwriters in the band - Rob Wakeman's lyrics in particular were excellent. There's a couple of other good songs on this album, notably 'Man With A Box'.
Qui est in qui est out  performed by Serge Gainsbourg
Recommended by VichyFrance [profile]

This is the best song ever to play while driving in the fast lane on a crowded freeway.




bonnie and clyde  performed by serge gainsbourg  196?
Recommended by olli [profile]

Come on! how come nobody's recommended this yet?
great repetitive, driving string backing, fantastic hiccup-monkey-like vocal hooks, faboulous performance.
essential.
(stereolab has an absolutely fantastic slow twangy version of this on the album spacey double spiral. very, very highly recommended.)


available on CD - comic strip



  ronin: Relentless violin beat, depressing song, memorable, moves toward its inescapable conclusion...makes me think of a well loved coworker who died in '01.
  sonore: the "stereolab version" wouldn't happen to be the Luna (feat. Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab)'s hidden track from the Penthouse LP would it? Anyway, the Luna f. Laetitia version of Bonnie & Clyde is absolutely fantastic. : )
Cinnamon and Clove  performed by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66  1967
Recommended by delicado [profile]

A beautiful take on this tune, which sounds as if it were made for the group. The sound is typical of Sergio Mendes’s work - a strong driving bossa nova beat, a beautifully clean piano arrangement, and tasteful vocals.

from Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 (A&M SP4122)



Going out of My Head  performed by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66  1966
Recommended by delicado [profile]

A wonderful version of “Going out of my head”, which was originally sung by Little Anthony and the Imperials. It's a great song anyway, with really nice words (well, nice for a Smiths fan like me, anyway: 'there's no reason why...my being shy...should keep us apart...'), but Sergio Mendes also adds an extra musical edge to the chorus, and this really adds a new dimension to the song. The instrumentation is classic Brasil 66: Percussive jazz piano, group vocals, and a driving bossa nova beat.

from Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 (A&M SP4116)




  whoops: I totally agree with you. Their version of Caetalo Veloso's Lost in paradise is also quite wonderful.
theo b  performed by sunny day real estate  1995
Recommended by complacentbasement [profile]

the song starts out with three crisp hi-hat clicks, the bell of a ride, then the drums and a sweet, warm toned bass lock in for a driving, mid-tempo, beautifully melodic cut time. guitars, once in, are clean-toned and somewhat polyphonically arranged, (that is, they play alot of single-note lines that swirl around each other, harmonizing at spots, and creating counterpoint). the vocals are potentially a little hard to swallow at first, jeremy has a tendency to sing a little through the nose, but it's really quite endearing. i personally find that after a bit of exposure to it, not only does it fit the music perfectly, but i really have grown to love it, (i listen to them ALOT).
this is one of those songs that you put on when you need to feel better- a kind of resolute, "well, time to go on, and hope for the best" feel. it can also easily be listened to when in a great mood. best listened to outside, looking at the sky.
when listening to ANY sunny day real estate, you must be patient. it's patient music, and it requires a certain amount of consideration that keeps it from being good "background music."
i fucking love this stuff.

from lp2 (the pink album) (sub pop sp316b)


ice hockey hair  performed by super furry animals  1998
Recommended by your_namesake [profile]

approaching bands with a back catalogue as large and diverse as super furry animals can be daunting, but sometimes perserverence brings enormous rewards. i'd like to recommend 'ice hockey hair' on the basis that whilst it doesn't appear on any of the band's studio albums, it is for me one of the tracks that best illustrates what they are about. for all their innovation and diversity it's driving, melodic songs like this that are always at heart of the furries' records and long may they continue.

from out spaced, available on CD



  delicado: I agree that this is a wonderful track. I actually never picked up their last album; is it good? (phantom power, I think it's called)
1000 Times  performed by Tahiti 80  2002
Recommended by eftimihn [profile]

A perfect piece of contemporary pop music: uplifting and sunshiny, yet with the right dose of melancholia. The production is excellent, as well as the instrumentation with a very driving rhythm section, warm electric piano, guitars and horns. What makes this really stand out is the terrific string arrangement by Richard Hewson (A protegee of George Martin and quite busy arranging during the 70s) which is very floating, sweeping and lush.

from Wallpaper For The Soul, available on CD




  texjernigan: Ooh yeah
number of the beast  performed by the djali zwan
Recommended by olli [profile]

beautiful
-yes-
beautiful acoustic cover of the campy iron maiden song. nice driving beat. great melancholy vibe going on, it manages to give the �berstupid lyrics some sense of metaphorical meaning.. I first heard it on the soundtrack to the film "spun" by jonas �kerlund, where it plays during the opening credits. however, i don't think there's an official soundtrack out there, but it's pretty easy to find on various file-sharing networks.





The Streets Of Your Town  performed by The Go-Betweens  1988
Recommended by LawrenceM [profile]

the perfect song for driving in your car on a hot summer's afternoon,

from 16 Lover's Lane, available on CD



  eftimihn: I can absolutely confirm that, since i played it various times on the occasion described above. Ivy recently did a very sweet version of the tune on their last album "Guestroom".
Bad Brother  performed by The Infidels  2000
Recommended by straitjacket [profile]

Love the intro. The beat is really driving you along and then stops and lets you get it together again. Juilette Lewis (yes the actress) does a nice job of adding vocals to this song

from The Crow Salvation Soundtrack


Middle Of The Road  performed by The Pretenders  1984
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

Who could forget the rousing "woo-hooa-a-hooas" that helped define the Pretenders' 1984 smash hit "Middle of the Road"? In a decade that saw synthesizer-oriented pop music arriving on U.S. soil from England, singer/guitarist Chrissie Hynde and bandmates tear it up on this classic example of pure, unadulterated rock music. The Pretenders' offering successfully maintains a formulaic rock pattern, with drums that beat on at a driving frenetic 4/4 pace and guitar riffs that induce foot stomping by the most conservative crowd. By the time the harmonica solo kicks in toward the track's end, "Middle of the Road" has worked itself up into such a musical romp that it challenges anyone to remain sitting down. There is no technical or instrumental trickery to be found here, no "secret sauce"; the song is very much in your face. Its rollicking music and lyrics that paint a picture of a journey make anyone want to hop into the car and take off for the open road. "Middle of the road, is trying to find me/ I'm standing in the middle of life with my plans behind me." You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't identify with that sentiment. The Pretenders zeroed in on one of humankind's most basic, secret desire � to get up and go � and backed it with an equally driven musical arrangement. And that's what makes this recording a timeless classic.
(AMG)

from Learning To Crawl, available on CD


Cold Water  performed by Tom Waits  1999
Recommended by StAgGeR [profile]

This is a great song to listen to on days when nothing seems to be going right. In my case: when driving my blind sister around in a delapidated taxi, with broken windows, and a gas meter on empty. The best line in my opinion is: "Blind or crippled, Sharp or dull. I'm reading the Bible by a 40 watt bulb. What price freedom. Dirt is my rug.
Well I sleep like a baby with the snakes and the bugs". I love this track! Keith Richards played lead guitar and sings backing vox on this one. Their voices/styles mesh together very well. It's one of the more bluesy tracks on the record, but it's done very well...not like a lame neo-white boy blues revival thing. It's actually believable...after all, IT'S TOM WAITS FOR CHRIST SAKE! I think this is one of the more powerful songs on the record. Well...maybe a toss-up between this one and "Chocolate Jesus"...or "Hold on"...or "Get Behind the Mule" (you can't beat the lyric: "Punctuated birds on the power line. In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks. I'm diggin all the way to China with a silver spoon, while the hangman fumbles with the noose..."). Hell...it's just a damn good record.

from Mule Variations (Epitaph Records)
available on CD - yes (yes)


Ol’ 55  performed by Tom Waits
Recommended by fkoski [profile]

Music and lyrics go together so well...Perfectly captures that "holy," awakened, alive feeling of its being early, early morning and you're just driving away from a beautiful few days with a friend or lover.......





  FlyingDutchman1971: Sarah McLachlan recorded a great cover of this song. It is available on the soundtrack album to the film 'Boys on the Side'
It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door  performed by Underoath  2004
Recommended by Biscuit [profile]

Driving, melodic, hardcore emo Christian sound, with screaming vocals on top and behind melodic vocals. There are a few vocal breaks, pauses, and major crescendos. It is just an amazing emotional song, and it also has amazing lyrics.

from They're Only Chasing Safety (Tooth and Nail)


Exchanging Glances  performed by Unknown
Recommended by bobbyspacetroup [profile]

A strange instrumental which borrows the melody from the first line or two of "Strangers In The Night" and repeats it obsessively without really getting past the "wond'ring in the night" part. The intense, driving arrangement along with the incomplete melody give this track a creepy, tragic feeling which I find really enthralling.


This is from an odd bootleg-ish compilation with no real track information given. The first volume of this series was okay but sounded like it was mastered directly from the audio track of old adult films. The sound quality and selection on this volume is much better. My best guess is that these are sound library recordings that may or may not have actually appeared in adult films. Anyone know the real artist or source of this track?

from Inside Deep Note: Music of 1970s Adult Cinema, available on CD



Gravity Grave  performed by Verve  1993
Recommended by LawrenceM [profile]

a fantastic 8 minute trip. loose, completely unstructured with neither verse nor chorus to be found. just fantastic vibes and a sense that this is like nothing you've ever heard before. this song works amazingly well if you're driving down a country road in the middle of the night, when the road is covered in fog.

from Gravity Grave EP (Hut)
available on CD - The Verve EP (Vernon Yard)



This Isn't Maybe  performed by Waldeck  2001
Recommended by secularus [profile]

The driving force of this trip hop/nu jazz oriented song is the Chet Baker sample, "this isn't sometimes, this is always, this isn't maybe this is always," that exquisitedly weaves its way through the various waves and troughs of the rhythm underscoring the track. For those who have never heard Chet Baker sing, think of Chris Montez, who like Chet epitomizes the he/she question - is it a she or he singing? The sultry and relaxed vocals have endeared me to this song. This track was released in late Feb 2001 on 12" but is believed to be on Waldeck's forthcoming lp, The Night Garden, scheduled for release in late May 2001 on Emagine Music in the US.





Let your halo  performed by Woke Up Falling
Recommended by voz37 [profile]

What a rockin great band. From Portland as all great inspired things are, they sing about love and pain and driving. Definitely check them out.




Zero  performed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Recommended by komodo [profile]

A piledriving slab of synth rock with HUGE hooks. Think Atomic era Blondie, perhaps a touch of Moroder, but with a much, much bigger sound. Not subtle, but overdriven, oversexed and overwhelming. Not normally my cup of tea, this sort of music, but this track is great.


available on CD - It's Blitz (Interscope Records)


mo funky  performed by zoobombs  1999
Recommended by n-jeff [profile]

I think Zoobombs are a Japanese Heavy Metal band, but this is not metal, sort of groovy rock, maybe derived from the Stone Roses. Most of the words are in (presumably) Japanese but the chorus is English, and you can just imagine the meeting with an A&R man that gave rise to it. "You're a good band, y'know, you just need to get more funky". And he may have been right, this is mo funky, percussion, driving bass, great chorus, It gradually builds up and speeds up all the way through. Until it falls apart then the dub starts with guitars all over it. Classic.

from let it Bomb, available on CD




  penelope_66: I haven't heard anything from this album, but I love the song "Flat-Top" off their 'Welcome Back, Zoobombs!' album. I'd have to say there are some catchy tunes that pop up throughout the record, but overall it's rather mediocre and strikes a bit of ambivolence within my taste. One of those things you buy for a song or two.
  n-jeff: Let it bomb is a bit of a mixed bag, too. I love mo funky and mo dub, but don't play much of the rest of it.

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