Just when I had almost lost all hope of ever hearing a new Dylan song which, as a combination of an engaging vocal performance and fascinating lyrics, just fill you with a strange sense of happiness - he comes up with this one. While not being like a typical Dylan classic, this one has a very, very warm feel to it + vocals which I thought he couldn't produce in 2001 anymore. After the rather cold and almost posturingly melancholy "Time Out of Mind" album, "Love & Theft" was pleasantly wise and human.

The Brand New Heavies were one of the significant groups of the then popular "Acid Jazz" sound in the early 90s. "Dream On Dreamer" still strikes me with it's precisely executed funk rhythm and lush production: Tight rhythm section with funky drums, guitar and bass combined with jazzy piano chords, swirling strings and a crisp brass section. On top of that some flutes, fluegelhorn, percussion and organ with a very pleasant vocal performance by N'Dea Davenport.

"Easy fantastic, lonely together.." - I have listened to this song at least 100 times since receiving it on Audiogalaxy. Simple yet beautiful. I never knew Mos Def had such a pleasant and sexy voice! I am in heaven when he sings "I just go walking in the rain ... when I feel you passing by..." The back drop is provided by the talented contemporary 8 string jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter (once a member of Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprosy).

At the time a unique fusion of cold synthetic and a warmer organic fragility,following two consecitive number ones "Are Friends Electric"and "Cars" this track revealed the enormous potential of Numan,s futuristic vision.A slow piano led "ballad" with aching cello and violin parts ,sad and beautiful and if i must say utterly pleasant.

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)

Pitched somewhere between Elton John,s "Rocket Man"and Bowie,s "Life on Mars" but oddly unique due to Lynsey's candy floss vocal.The content typically follows glam rocks pre occupation with the planets and spacemen but listen on and what could be third rate band wagoneering evolves, in a little over 5 minutes, into a substantial and epic tale of how an alien might view our futile existence ,yearning strings and clever layering produce a pleasant surprise from a performer considered little more than a nice to look at footnote . Dont judge an L.p by its cover!

"Destination Unknown" sounds the least dated of all of Missing Persons' hits, most likely because it was their most melodically satisfying song. The fact that it's also Dale Bozzio's least mannered vocal performance, with none of her trademark hiccups, helps considerably as well. Her helium-pitched voice ? Dale Bozzio sang like a new wave Betty Boop ? keeps this song firmly in the Missing Persons tradition, but the low-key backing vocals by her male bandmates on the chorus are a nice touch. The lyrics are typically lightweight, your basic high school-level musings on alienation by someone who has just learned the word "existential" but is unclear about what it actually means, but Ken Scott's light-handed production and nice touches like the staccato programmed drum fills on the chorus make it pleasant on the ear regardless.
(AMG)

I was immediately captivated by the tropical beat that begins this 6 minute tune. The track simultaneously induces a melancholic yet inspired feeling. Kevin Wright's delicate voice, like many fine things in life, is an aquired taste. His mournful voice tells of ethereal objects"the moon..the stars..the milky way.."and his longing to be with the one he "holds dear."

I went to a funeral today, which is never going to be the most pleasant way of spending time. However, it was a humanist service and, as such, an appropriate and touching way to remember the individual concerned. Music was played, including Why? by The Communards: a great thing. Not neccessarily a brilliant song, but a very unusual choice.

Of course, events like this spark everyone off thinking and talking about their own fitting ends. I nominate this; a bit of Nina would be great at a funeral. I love the black farce of this track, and what a great piece of final gallows humour to play a song about hell as the curtains close around your coffin in the crematorium.

An unusual sounding piece from a recently reissued Library LP, the overall sound here reminds me of the lush tropical easy listening/rock hybrid which Les Baxter achieves on his superb 'Que Mango' LP from 1970. However, on this track the strings and guitar sound very slightly out of tune in a way which our man Les would never have tolerated. Still, it’s a very pleasant sound, which takes some unexpected turns (e.g. the wild guitar solo in the middle).

A great track that comes in two parts. The first is a sweet repetitive pop tune with electronic piano, synthesized strings, pleasant guitar chords, and wordless 'ba ba' vocals. Just before the three minute mark, it begins to mutate gradually, until it turns into a glorious early New Order-style sound, with a piercing, punky guitar sound and a loud bassline. The vocal elements from early in the track then come back in. A great fusion of different styles.

Ridiculously happy-sounding re-working of Bach's Air on a G string. The girl has a rather pleasant recorded voice, particularly while repeatedly assuring us that she'll be there when we wake up (comforting, isn't it?).

This release earned extra points for openness and honesty by including a credit to JS Bach, something that Procol Harum and a quite a few others have failed to do over the years.

An amazing and atmospheric track by this famous German vocal group. There are no words, and the music is produced largely accapella - from what I can hear, there's just piano accompaniment, with some incredible vocal effects that range from beautiful to plain bizarre. The trills and glissando effects are other-worldly, but what really steals the limelight is the tradeoff between a bizarre kitten-like voice and a deep foghorn at 2:12 (featured in the clip)!

None of this will make sense until you hear it, so let me just add that the whole thing has a really pleasant, lazy mood that strongly reminds me of that amazing scene in 'Wild at Heart' when Laura Dern is sat on the car at the gas station and Glen Gray and the Casa Loma band's 'Smoke Rings' is playing.

When my musical tastes changed nearly 20 years ago, it was a drastic shift. This track, and the album it's from, was definitely significant in this change. It was a completely new sound for me and even now, all this time later, I still love it. Don Ellis was a trumpet player and band leader. He was renowned for composing and arranging tunes in really unusual time signatures (this track, in 7/8, is an example). In fact, it's said that the only song he played in 4/4 was Take Five (a little joke for the musos out there ;)...). It was 1968 that this was recorded, so at the peak of experimentation Western/Eastern music fusion. This track starts off with sitar providing the rhythm which is then picked up by the rhythm section. Ellis comes in with his personally created quarter-tone trumpet. For some, the sound is dissonant and unpleasant. Stick with it - you get used to it. From then on in, it's an energy roller-coaster, as hip as it is cool. After numerous solos, the track subsides and seems to end as the lone sitar returns. But then it picks up the riff again and *BAM* - back into the track with even more energy than before. I'm spent!