The exquisite standout of the Virus Meadow album and easily And Also the Trees's best song from its early years, "Gone�Like the Swallows" steers away from the sometimes frenetic vocal intensity found elsewhere on the record it comes from for a more reflective but still passionate approach. Simon Jones delivers his lyric with all the deep-voiced intensity of a student of Wordsworth and Shelley reciting on the hillside to nature (which in some respects is pretty much the point of the song). But Jones isn't explicitly anti-modern � consider the mention of the aeroplane in the sky at various points � while the music is equally ancient and up-to-date in feel. Digital delay on the guitars turns them into rolling, darkly chiming flows and waves of sound, dramatically crashing behind the steady rhythm section and Jones' increasingly intense words. Bass and drums alone wrap everything up on a brief, spare note.
(AMG)

This exceptionally haunting and lyrical song by Quincy Jones has received its definitive interpretion by Astrud Gilberto with arrangement and accompaniment by the Brazilian organist Walter Wanderley. The melancholy urgency of the piece resonates well with the dark/sad tonality that pervades so much of Bossa Nova music, though its character is also reminiscent of certain otherwise very different pieces from the bebop era, which had a formative influence on Quincy Jones' music. There is definitely the remote influence of Charlie Parker and especially Dizzy Gillespie. It's truly a completely unique piece. The drifting melody which seems to skirt over the chord changes has a beautiful inevitability. Only a very gifted and skilled musician could have contrived such a beautiful work. So Quincy Jones deserves especial credit for crafting this song from the film "The Deadly Affair."

Astrud's delivery, so typically limpid and restrained, only serves to heighten the intensity of this darkly passionate song. The subtle but somehow fierce organ playing of Walter Wanderley acheives a sizzling romanticism that perfectly complements the reading of Astrud's apparently detached fatalism.

In my opinion, this track is a true musical masterpiece. Its remarkable economy of means is a testament to the skill of the composer as well as the artistry of the performers. In fact, it's a nearly perfect combination of expressive means and poetic intent. The beautiful resolution, with Astrud's perfect striking of the high B-flat over the half-diminished F-minor seventh, is a moment of sublime dramatic intensity, though profoundly understated, as is typical of her finest artistic moments. One is reminded of Miles Davis. Her poetic skill is rooted in subtlety.

I have listened to this extraordinary track hundreds of times, and always experienced chills rising up on the back of my neck. How amazing that this incredible musical gem was omitted from the original album A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. Perhaps it was too intense, too heavy; whatever the case, it's a truly remarkable piece of music.

I'm truly grateful to have discovered this great albeit minor musical masterpiece. There's really nothing else quite like it! The sizzling but subtle sensitivity of the rhythm section (Claudio Slon on drums, possibly Joao Gilberto on guitar and Jose Marino on bass) adds an intensity to the piece which helps project the almost existential tone of the song.

I'm really swept away by this obscure and neglected work, which attains -- for me at least -- to a peak of poetic intensity really rare in music. As is usual with Astrud at her best, it accomplishes its artistic ends with what seems like the most minimal of means. But subtlety is always the avenue to the most profound of artistic experiences. I think this is a remarkable example -- one of the greatest -- of the wedding of popular music and high art. It is a truly perfect performance. In my opinion, its greatness increases rather than diminshes with repeated listenings. There is only one word for that -- it's magic!

I'm surprised to find I haven't recommended this song before. An enchanting piece of futuristic pop written by Ennio Morricone, this great tune was part of the score for the wonderfully stylish Mario Bava movie 'Danger: Diabolik'. Christy, who also sung on some Piero Piccioni scores, was (is?) a heartfelt 'belter', and here she sings the italian lyrics, which are peppered with English phrases, especially passionately. There is a cool echoey effect on her voice, giving the whole affair an other-worldly, underwater feel. Musically, it's a very catchy psych-pop track, with a twangy, rocky guitar. It's quite short, but extremely powerful.

Chris Martin is an angel. This track is very special. A very private song about a very public matter. Namely Gweyneth Paltrow's Breakup with Brad Pit and her engagement to Chris Martin. His vow of love to her. Heartfelt & touching. This Album is very inspired!

There's something about Devendra Banhart you can't put your finger on. Becuase your finger's turned into a talon or a claw or a hoof and the song you were trying to pin down has squirmed away under the table, or has turned into a gaseous dream vapour and floated out the window. He's got a scattered, witchy, completely original voice that whispers little kid secrets, then belts passionately with a heart been done-wronged, then tries to put on the withered seduction of a wrinkled hag lost on an island for years. Then comes the workaday little chorus. La dee da dee AH! How does this song still remain so allusive, so cooool, after so many listens? I got no clue. Do you?

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)

His choice of lifestyle may have been questionable, yes. A prolific user of drugs and prostitutes, Elliot Smith was certainly not a healthy man physically or mentally toward the end of his life. What isn't questionable is the fact that Elliot Smith was an amazing, soulful, passionate musician. I don't really know why I picked Speed Trials. I suppose it's my personal favorite.
Suicide is a subject that always baffles me, and nothing hurts more to see a man with such beautiful music in his soul gone... especially at such a young age. What we do have, however, are the recordings of his maticulously constructed chord progressions, his sweet, wispy voice, and gorgeously poetic lyrics. Pieces of history we can all forever hold onto and remember him for how he may have affected each of our lives. I know his music certainly had an impact on mine. I will miss Elliott Smith.

This bizarre Morricone pop tune sounds as if it came from a parallel universe. With an instrumental mix of guitar, harpsichord, bass and drums, it achieves the same kind of spooky, melancholic atmosphere as 'Deep Down', another Morricone film song from the same year. But in contrast to Christy's passionate vocal in 'Deep Down', Peter Bloom's delivery is light-hearted and much more low-key. Both tracks feature classic Morricone wordless vocal effects and some truly ridiculous lyrics. I haven't seen Partner, but I'd be interested to see how this song fits in to the story:

"I want to be your dazzling white knight
I'll splash you sizzling cool with bright light

I'll kiss your cleanliness
...Your soft, silkiness
Oh what happiness:
It's biological...

SPLASH
DASH
FLASH"

Ridiculous words, but the arrangement makes the track genuinely powerful. Shame Ennio didn't bring this one out for the crowd at the Royal Albert Hall last year.

Raw, passionate and abrasive female vocals.
You may like this band if you like any of the following:
Sleater-Kinney
Helium
Blood Red Shoes
Blonde-Redhead
Le Tigre

An antiwar anthem that has even more relevance today than back then. Payne often sounded too girlish to pull off the sophisticated soul Invictus produced for her, but here she's fully in command. Maybe it's the gospel-esque fervor of the arrangement and the backing singers, but this is an awfully passionate song - to a heart-breaking degree. The highlight of Freda's funky, underrated album Contact.

Gavin Friday (formerly of The Virgin Prunes) has created an excellent 'Lounge' or 'Cabaret' sound with this song (and the accompanying album).
This song is very sensual full of unique large sounds and passionate lyrics.
Excellent song AND album for a romantic night.

The former Virgin Prunes member, Gavin Friday, recorded his first solo album in 1989, "Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves". After leaving the Prunes in 1986, he abandoned the music business to paint for a year and a half, returning to the fray after teaming up with pianist Maurice Roycroft (whom Friday renamed the Man Seezer). This debut album, "Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves", found him making unexpected moves into a sort of modern-day cabaret style, albeit with all the Bowie-isms of his vocal delivery intact. And this song, "Tell Tale Heart", is near to country sounds and also could come right from Nick Cave "Your Funeral My Trial".

Very passionate, very beautiful violin

A key track from Julian Cope's fragmentary second solo album, 1984's Fried, "Bill Drummond Said" is the only song on the album that resembles the swirling psych-pop of his old band the Teardrop Explodes. This is no doubt intentional, as the lyrics take aim at the group's former manager, Bill Drummond (later half of the Timelords, the KLF, and the JAMS), albeit in a typically vague way. The lyrics are skeletal enough that several interpretations might be brought to them, but they seem to recount a dream in which Cope witnesses his former manager in the act of strangling an unidentified woman to death. In contrast to the vaguely unpleasant lyrics, this is by far the catchiest and sweetest tune on Fried, with a dreamy folk-rock sound to its ringing 12-string guitar riffs and breathy harmonies. Coming between more disjointed and edgy tracks like the bizarre fairy tale "Reynard the Fox" and the Syd Barrett-like ramble "Laughing Boy," "Bill Drummond Said" sounds downright bubblegummy. Unsurprisingly, the always combative Drummond got in the last word with his answer song, "Julian Cope Is Dead," a sarcastically folky acoustic tune from his odd 1986 solo album The Man in which Drummond claims that in the waning days of the Teardrop Explodes, he had suggested that Cope commit suicide to make the band famous and laments that the singer didn't take him up on it.
(AMG)

This one has really been haunting me. I recently heard this rare and sought after album, and was entranced by the opening track, a devastating vocal. Although Lani Groves sings in English, in a style very similar to Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, I knew that this was a Brazilian track that I had heard before.

Researching a song with as generic a title as 'I want your kiss' is hard though, and with no knowledge of who the composer was, most of the search engine results were soft porn stories. After a while I threw on Elis Regina's first album, Samba - eu canto assim, and happily found the information I was looking for. The original Portuguese song is called 'Sou sem paz', and was written by Adylson Godoy, who may or may not be the same person as Amilton Godoy, who was the pianist in the Zimbo Trio.

After all my research, I was disappointed to learn that this song has hardly ever been recorded; the only versions I know of are this and those by the Zimbo Trio and Elis Regina.

Trivia aside, this is a nice fusion of several of my musical passions. The chord sequence is unusual, delicate and surprising, and the vocal is passionate. I think it would be fair to say that Lani Groves doesn't have quite Elis's passionate delivery, but for me this is offset by the beautiful backing arrangement, featuring some great organ playing.

A key song from the French folk rock bohemian's ambitious concept album, Polnareff's. This could have been produced by David Axelrod but wasn't. Beautiful, aching pop song with grandeur and despair. And a rhythm section that's so groovy. Another example of how great the studio orchestras sounded in France back then. What an arrangement. As hip as it gets.

A dramatic pop number from the 60s in which Mina passionately belts out the tune. The opening is gentle, with a delicate trumpet melody; it then builds up to a huge climax with full orchestra. The song is infuriatingly catchy and familiar; I'm sure I had heard it many times before I finally identified it about five years ago. Very highly recommended.

A lost folk-jazz classic. I remember hearing this the first time and thinking that Portishead must have used this as a schematic for their live album.Spooky art-school-chick folkie lyrics with lush,velvety arrangements by an enigmatic Leon Salem. Jazzy and very passionate!

This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Opeth's music is powerfully passionate and it shows strongly in this song. Sounds like the kind of song that would be at the ending credits of a sad movie.

This is one of my favourite tracks on El Kilo, Orishas superb third offering. I love the horns!

lamenting passionate and heartwrenching. a ballad of love lost and found. big production , much depth and emotion. Scott lends a special something to this and most every song he sings. I never want to leave.

dark and passionated in a now very retro euro continental style with decadent overtones in both its lyrics and musical tone.

Songwriter Steve Wynn, the former Dream Syndicate frontman, has been on a tear since 1996 when he offered Melting in the Dark. Since then, his records have featured howling, wailing rock & roll and deep, dark acoustic reflections � all of them bearing his trademark noir-ish lyrics that offer the shadowy side of life, love, and violence. He's employed a variety of musicians, and they've always sounded like hired guns. On ...Tick...Tick...Tick he's got himself a real band. They're all younger than he is, and they have the hunger it takes to really execute Wynn's unique songs. Start with drummer Linda Pitmon, who acts as co-producer (along with Wynn and Craig Schumacher) on these sides. Add to this the fact that the entire band (including Dave DeCastro on bass and guitarist Jason Victor) plots the arrangements.

"Turning of the Tide," is the mirror image, with the refrain stating "Don't be afraid/It's just the turning of the tide." Here again, guitars climb astride one another and begin ringing, jangling in heated dialogue to underscore the words as Pitmon's in-the-pocket drumming urges them forward.
(AMG)

During the early days of 1982, I was as a 'wet behind the ears' 19 year old suddenly sent to a faraway war in the (previously unheard of) Falkland Islands. This deeply haunting, passionate and heart-rendering track by the much missed Faith Brothers, encapsulates much of the mood, confusion, passion, patriotic pride and dark bitter reality of that horrific time. Now no longer naive at 42, my mind still screams and my heart still aches ... as I listen .. and remember.

Along with 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' (Eric Bogle, The Pogues et al), I believe 'Easter Parade' to be the finest song ever written about the utter desperation of war ... and life after the tea and medals have been dished out.

Would love to know if any Faith Brothers music is available on CD. (Tapes worn out and faded in the sun - a bit like me!). Can anyone help?

Uplifting yet raw, and very passionate, like evrything they ever did. It amazed me they never broke through, they were a cut above the rest of that genre. Would love any MP3s or if someone could point me to where I`d find a CD would be very grateful. Ah go on! Thanks! [email protected]

I love this song because it is so romantic, sweet, and perfect. There is Isaac Slade on vocals, along with back vocalist Joe King (<3). There's a piano, cello, and drumset. It's a beautiful song, happy and passionate, perfect to sing along to, Isaac has a great voice, and lyrics are beautiful.

a passionate, rough-voiced rock legend begging for a lover to return. crying guitar, wailing background singers...what more can i say?

This song will probably be very hard to find. They are kind of a local band and not that well known. But they are really cool--unique, passionate, free spirited. Basically hippies. In Premonitions they express concern over the state of the planet but remain upbeat and optimistic.

"Let's be creative with our destinies..."