Nice version of the Bruce Springsteen song very like and country sound

nice and laid back

great acoustic guitar, haunting lyrics... One of the best from this band

i love this song. the music is just right, the singer's voice is melodic and not too shrill. good lyrics, nice mood.

vocals this high should annoying, but they work for this song. i love the intro, and the lyrics are quite nice...in that yearning, melancholic way--actually, the guitar playing and the way lyrics are sung fit this mood quite well.

this band only made two records, this one from the 80s and a more recent one which i have not heard.

this song is brilliant. lyrics quite catchy and fun and the tune is simply great. a nice combination of a music style you just don't seem to hear anymore with lyrics you could almost laugh at, but don't, because it could happen. simply great.

immediately catchy--from the intro to the at first lazy, then stronger vocals. the lyrics themselves are quite interesting; could easily be dismissed as a 'nice' song but there certainly is something else in there. all in all, a great little tune. not sure of the year though (early 80s?) so someone might shed some light here.

quite ironic, the rhyming pattern makes the lyrics sound light and amusing. it really is a clever song, and lyrics and music come together quite nicely.

this is an example of why canadian bands are quite good, yet underrated. at least i have never seen rational youth get too much airplay.

i love this song--pure new wave goodness with a twist. it's very well played. simple lyrics and a nice tune.

Solo effort by Sam Prekop of The Sea And Cake. Love this album and the two LP's that follow,"Oui" & "One Bedroom". Sam manages to fuse Rock with Jazz and some nice electronics thrown in. Hints of Satie & Eno even!
Solid, as is everything this band does. Chicago really is the crossroads of America!

a very atmospheric song. a quiet intro that slowly builds up. the vocals are frail and mysterious, they feel frail and light. the whole song seems to fade at the end, one keeps expecting it to stop, but it goes on for over six minutes.
it's no "swamp thing" (the obligatory comparison) but a very nice tune nonetheless.

Nice and heavy, love the solo, the distorted vocals, everything.

slow, soft, nice tune, soft rock

The lyrical theme of �6060-842� seems pretty mundane for the B-52s. Tina goes to the ladies room, sees a phone number scrawled on the wall, and so decides to ring it. Hmm� doesn�t sound like it�s gonna be a tale the measure of �the time our car was hijacked by the devil� and the like. Still this IS the B-52s, and recognisably so, �if you�d like a very nice time, just give this number a call� reads the unlikely graffiti. So something must happen. The band are optimistic too, bouncing along excitedly on a jumpy new wave rhythm. Tina, we reckon, is much like the band. She lives for wild parties and crazy adventures. This 6060-842 could be just the ticket. �Oh my gawd! I�m gonna give that there number a ring. You see if I don�t!� So she drops a dime in the phone slot and, �prays she gets the line.� She�s biting her lip, stabbing her nails into her finger tips, �come on� come ON!!!�

But pause a moment. Is she really so na�ve? Does she really think a �really nice time� awaits her? In the gnarled and weather beaten hands of a social realist singer-songwriter, the number 6060-842 would lead to abuse, to prostitution, and ultimately, to death. In the hands of the B-52s? I don�t know, you tell me. A debauched toga party in a 1950s vision of the future�? Well, it�s neither. It�s just a brilliant anti-climax. You see Tina and the B-52a might be deranged, but the world they live in is not. It�s bloody typical. She dials 6060-842, and can�t get through! �The number�s been disconnected�� monotones the operator. But Tina won�t accept this, no, and neither will the band. They can�t end the track with Tina accepting the disappointment with a sigh of weary resignation, �ah well, nevermind� maybe next time.� No, no, this anti-climax has worked them up into an angry frenzy. Ricky Wilson vents his frustration with viscious slashes of electric guitar whilst Tina just keeps dialing and dialing, and getting rebuffed and rebuffed, �HELLO!!!� �sorry�� The track probably ends with them all smashing up the phone box. A superb, and much over-looked track.

A smooth jazz-funk groove with Rhodes and synths playing melodically against each other. It sounds like Azymuth. In fact, it is Azymuth. Conversation, glasses clinking, a girl laughs in the distance. And Silvio's voice comes in, nice and mellow, describing what it's like to have a bunch of friends over for a get-together. Although he's one of Brazil's hippest crooners, a man who specializes in somewhat cliched yet mysteriously cool and affecting love songs, he lays back here and lets the country's greatest jazz-fusion outfit do its thing. How many romantic crooners ever do that?

Nico Fidenco scored all of the infamous "Emanuelle Nera" movies and these are a demonstration of pure, unadulterated sleaze, but very solidly arranged and composed with wordless female vocals, rich strings, flutes, horns, trumpets, percussion etc. All scores were released seperately in Japan, but for a very nice introduction the Dagored compilation "Black Emanuelle's Groove" is sufficient.

Paul Anka sings esperanto? No, it`s just his italian version of "Put your head on my shoulder". I don`t know the year it was recorded, but I think it were in the late 60`s. Although his italian articulation sounds queer to me (it feels like he red the lyrics from a board) "Abbandonati Amore" is a very nice song and the "Hawaiian" melody is still the same as in the original recording!

nice slice of 50's piano-based novelty rock n' roll. at first this sounded pretty average to me, but when the second verse kicked in, and he started singing like a girl as he'd mentioned earlier in the lyrics, i knew it was a keeper. if you hang in there for the third verse, you'll hear where the man got his nickname, too:). i'm heavily into fifties and early sixties "semi-novelty" records, so this was pretty much like hitting the jackpot.
it's the only song of his i've heard that's done anything for me, though.

This song sounds a bit chaotic with various instruments and dubstep playing in the background, but the vocals are very nice to listen to and the beat is very catchy.

This is from a great album that I recently received as a gift. Andalucia opens with a beautiful echoey acoustic guitar. It's a tender, simple song, with delicate guitar playing, entertaining lyrics (like 'Andalucia - when can I see yer'), and a great melody. The atmosphere is enhanced by a steel guitar and some nice multitracked vocals. I guess Cale's voice is an acquired taste, but I find him rather earnest and charming.

condensed, funked up version of the song with a shitload of guest appearences. It all flows together pretty nicely, with fantastic beats and great, ridiculous larger-than-life aggressive tough guy/girl lyrics. Perfect tunage for sweaty parties with a few good friends and foes.

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.

A really nice cinema-pop gem from the team that brought us The Windmills of your Mind. Sung by Sally Stevens, one of Hollywoods great voices. Such a charming little song. It's one of those things you instantly play again after the first time you hear it. It's more or less a song about freedom, with lyrics that still sound fresh today:"...Bullets fly like popcorn on the screen, recommended wholesome nice & clean, making love's the thing that can't be seen... Why?"

Found it on this sort of cash-in LP for LeGrand's UA soundtrack work from 1970. Originally from the soundtrack for "La Piscine", which is harder than hell to find on it's own. The LP is awsome for fans of LeGrand for it has 3 tunes from "The Thomas Crown Affair" , "La Piscine" , "The Young Girls Of Rochefort" & the jazz theme from "Play Dirty".

A trippy sounding track from the One-man-with-variou-people-helping-out band "Netherfriends. A Korg making weird sounds in the background, piano, a nice drum beat, and some pretty good vocals too.

Really nice townes song lots of versions available from him

Comparing the love of a girl to winning a game of bingo...who'd a-thunk it? A really nice uptempo soul tune. I don't have any info on this guy, and as far as I can tell, this is the only thing he ever recorded. The flipside to the seminal ballad "How Can You Baby-Sit a Man?".

Easy lovin', reminds you of than warm fuzzy sunshine love feelings you get when with that special companion, just nice groovin' love tunes, "let go of your heart, let go of your head"

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

A beautiful piece of Piazzolla, sentimental lyrics and nice vocals. The whole song is a work of art.

Nice chord sequence. The melody of the lead vocal and its delivery tend to grate on me, though. I'm fairly sure this song was the inspiration for "Dirty Postcards" by the Korgis, which will of course be well known to all who read this.

This track is only available on the japanese reissue of "Garra" as a bonus track. I can only assume it's from the same session, if so it's completely beyond me why this gem has been left out, maybe it didn't fit in the context of the album since it's incredibly mellow with great flutes, horns, piano, oboe and silky strings and possibly didn't properly mix with the rest of the songs on the record.

This song is mostly carried by Leonard Cohen's voice, which meshes really well with his "longing/loving/musing on a wasted life" style lyrics. It moves really slowly, but that makes it nice.

My experience of Boogaloo, a style to which I'm quite new, has been varied. In short, I love some of it and don't quite get the rest. The key to me seems to be the right instrumental and percussive blend, and vocals that don't dominate too much.

Although it sounds quite generic, this track manages to satisfy me on the criteria above. From a very lucky thrift store find (this album is up there with James Brown's 'Black Caesar' among my top bargains ever), this opens with a nice solid groove, featuring saxophone, brass and layered, relentless percussion. The vocals seem pretty much off-the-cuff - the main 'Boogaloo baby - baby baby do the boogaloo' is joined by a mixture of muttered Spanish and screaming. The attraction of this song is really the texture - it can't really claim any musical or lyrical sophistication. But the instrumentation and groove are really first rate.

One of the most nonsensical song title ever, yes, I know and much derided for that reason, but to quote Otis Redding when told his lyrics didn't make any sense, "I'm gonna worry about settin' the groove. I get that groove going, they don't care what I say." Boogie Oogie2 has got groove to spare, with a jazzy intro (similar to Boogie Nights by Heatwave) before that bass line drops in shakes the floorboards. Just like all the dance craze songs of the 60s, the disco era about vocals were mostly used as a counterpoint to the rhythm section. The Mizell brothers add a touch of sophistication to this female-led band (Hazel Payne and Janice Marie Johnson on bass and guitar - they're the ones on the awesome album cover) which is a step further in the commercial direction after their work with Jazz Funk kings like Donald Byrd, Gary Bartz and Johnny Hammond. This song is up there with G.Q.'s "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)" and anything by Chic in the sophisticated disco category.

Really suprised to see this one in a thrift store recently. I was taken back by the bad cover photo of some blue cheese in tin foil with saltines and a bottle of wine.(?) Anyway, the music is fantastic, much in the vein of Jobim's CTI work from the same period. This piece grooves almost more in a Deodato way, with a nice funky nocturnal jazz bite. Nice to see the gap close on the years between his Bossa Rio stint and the records he did for Discovery.

Strangely enough it was recorded in Minneapolis MN while he was living there. On the RCA subsidary Daybreak.

a couple of great spy jazz tracks from the movie "si j'etais un espion" by my favourite old pervert..funky guitar/strings combination followed by a morricone-like piano part. (this entire soundtrack seems to be quite inspired by some of morricone�s work...) there's a really nice repetetive bass line that pops up a couple of times during the track.

This is a christian singer telling a story about Britney Spears, but it's about everyone who gets lost in the lights of fame and fortune. It's kinda an apology song, slow and sweet but it flows nicely. This song will make you feel a bit sorry for the girl we love to hate.

i'll recommend this song with two others (and i'll recommend each individually as well). never ending math equation, interstate 8, broke. these are the first three songs on modest mouse's album titled building nothing out of something. the three fill eachother out nicely.

A very nice ballad. In my opinion one of the best songs of the album.

The idea of a funky jazz harp rendition of this classic Jim Webb song is probably cheesy to some people, but trust me, this one works brilliantly. The opening shimmers delightfully with fender rhodes piano, strings, and a huge breakbeat. Dorothy's harp then takes over, and we move into a nice pop/funk/jazz take on the song. The relentless beat is pretty funny when you compare this version to others (e.g. the Glen Campbell hit version, also Nick Cave's classic stripped down version from 'Kicking against the pricks'), but it is really very charming, happy stuff. A similar funk/pop hybrid occurs on her version of 'Windmills of your mind' - highly recommended.

Off the LP "Orlan Divo" Orlan Divo's first release on the Musidisc label. A collaboration with Ed Lincoln, Waltel Branco and other Musidisc luminaries. This LP/CD is available as a reissue from whatmusic.com

A laid back bossa/balanco track. Nice easy vocals by Orlan Divo who has a great voice (although I don't speak a word of Portugese so I couldn't say what he's singing about) and some really sweet understated organ licks from the usually over-the-top Ed Lincoln especially durring the vibes break. It's a great track off an even greater LP. I think the only other consistently solid LP like this one is that comes to mind would be Eumir Deodato's "Tremendao" on the equipe label.

This nice slightly avant-gardish jaz track i found on a cd for 2 euro's.

This song really sounds pretty much like the title would suggest : Warm, lush, sweet and sensual due to the 60s retro-ish, Bacharach-esque style of the tune combined with warm, warbling electronic sounds and with a delicately sounding trumpet solo. Very nice seductive vocal delivery by singer Debbie Diamond on top of that. Yummy !

Excellent track in which rather Beatley-sounding vocals are married with some nice synthesized sounds. It took me several minutes of thinking to remember what it is that the verse of this reminds me of - it's the title track from Procol Harum's second album "Shine on Brightly".

A nice a capella version of my favorite Gilbert O'Sullivan song, in a very full arrangement reminiscent of the Swingle Singers, with whom they share a member. Lyrically, the song is an antidote to the sleazy feeling I get from Rod Stewart's "tonight's the night". I used to think they shared a theme of pedophilia until I listened closer. I got this on a Japanese collection put together by Toru Hashimoto, probably the greatest compiler ever. He puts together all the Cafe Apres Midi (perfect!) and Free Soul (quite nice) collections. They can be had for $25 a pop from the Dusty Groove site, which seems high for a single disc, but they are all close to eighty minutes and packed with great songs which have lead me to several thousands of dollars worth of related purchases in the last few years. Gilbert O'Sullivan's stuff is worth looking into if you have an ear for it, and there is a nice cheap two disc collection on JVC Japan.

i've always had a weakness for clarinets. especcialy in jazzy hip hop-influenced chillout music. love the lady-sample.fits comfortably next to the following track, "love scene", too.
a nice bit of incidental music for your life.

Goldsmith's score to this (supposedly forgettable) action film is mainly in a Lalo Schifrin/John Barry bag. This track even recalls Les Baxter's best work of the era. It begins with the main theme reminiscent of Barry's "Ipcress File." I think they even use the same instrument, the cymbalum. The main them then breaks out into this beautiful, lush orchestration topped with electric organ, a funky electric bass, and a very nice backbeat. It totally sounds like "Que Mango"-era Baxter. Anyway, this track and really the entire score are very cool in their own right.

I first heard this song sampled on 'The Truth' by Handsome Boy Modelling school, essentially the bones of the instrumental coffee cold, with new lyrics from Roisin Murphy (much better than Fergus MacRoy's on a alternate version of the original).

The song itself is piano based, and has amazing drumming. I am a musical goon and cannot explain it much more than that, but the song has a really nice dusty feel to it. The fact that this was sampled in a modern hiphop record and the drums remained unenhaced says a lot.

This is a great song and well worth tracking down for any fans of funk, jazz or hip hop.

Very nice, laid back summer song. Stevie Wonder struck Gold when he worked with Syreeta.

An exquisite and much-sampled version of this nice tune from the Valley of the Dolls soundtrack. The slow, funky beat is simply one of the sweetest you will ever hear, and the harp melody is ethereal and beautiful.

This track wasn't what I expected. My previous favorite version of this song (although I have many) was probably the one by Mel Torme on his 1962 album 'Right Now'. And since that version was arranged by Ogerman, I had expected this version to be simply an instrumental version like Torme's recording - a cool, finger-clicking, jerky pop number. In fact, there's something much cooler and more sophisticated about this version.

The tune is picked out first by an organ, and then by the brass and woodwinds before returning to the organ, which then jams around the main tune. A really beautiful string section comes in early on, creating some unusual chords that really add to the song and work very well alongside the 'cool' effect of the organ and rhythm. I wish Claus had recorded more songs with this mixture of percussion, jazzy instrumentation and lovely thick string parts. A few tracks on one of his other 60s LPs, 'Latin Rock,' come close, but I'm not sure any of them are as nice as this one.

Beautiful vocal song from a little known italian soundtrack. The italians just couldn't do no wrong in the late 60s/early 70s, this just floats gently along with a flutes, harpsicord, sweeping strings and chorus. Nice, light vocals on top of it, can't identify the female vocalist though.

Reminds me of my college days where I first heard of STP while watching MTV at about 4am instead of sleeping or studing...the video I saw was actually for Sex Type Thing, but after getting the CD, I found Creep to be one of my favorite. I actually like most of the items on this CD however. This song's got a pretty mellow sound to it, with a very strong and powerful set of lyrics that blend quite nicely.

Very nice sound to it, you got your basic instrument set in this one, I like it because of the lyrics.. They're not totally simple. It's easy to understand today's pop and stuff like that, but Deathcab actually puts some more effort into their music.

a nice old jimmy webb song

You've got to love a guy who has a song on his first album that translates as "Catechism, Toothpaste and You". From that same LP, here's a great off-kilter tropicalia with a heavy baroque-pop influence and really odd instrumentation, featuring fuzz guitar, organ and trumpet in a very nice way.

The album that this track is taken from was one of those strange albums that acquired mythical status in my mind. Based on a mixture of rumor and personal imagination (I could never actually find a copy), I convinced myself that this must be the coolest album ever made, a perfect fusion of moog, latin and mod sounds. A few years later I picked up the album very cheaply on ebay. Beautiful and interesting as it is, many of the tracks go slightly over the line for me.

'Dansero' is the only track on the LP that captures the blend that I was looking for. It's nice and short at under 3 minutes, and features a delightfully kooky introduction that sounds like the Jean-Jacques Perrey moog flourishes that the group Stereolab sampled on their 'Transient Random Noise Bursts...' album. The drums and moog then join up for a nice pop instrumental, catchy and bouncy. Different moog effects are piled on, but always quite effectively, making this one of the most enduringly successful moog-pop tracks in my collection.

A superb instrumental, featuring a nice organ sound and the sublime twangy guitar of Johnny Johnson. I believe Johnny has now left the Flaming Stars (who are led by Max Decharne, once of Gallon Drunk), which is a shame - he is a masterful guitarist. This is a rather dramatic, moody track, opening gently and building up nicely with fast strummed guitars. While I doubt this is deliberate, the overall effect is reminiscent of some of the tracks on Morrissey's guitar-heavy 1992 album 'Your Arsenal'. Anyway, like much of the band's other material, this is a nice hybrid of 50s and 90s styles.

Absolutely cracking track. I was nuts for this back in 1990 when it came out and recently rediscovered it. A really nice mix of guitar driven pop, excellent Beach Boys influenced vocals and catchy, shuffling beat. Just a great track. Bob are a hard band to track down stuff by because their name is so generic. But you can listen to it (and all their releases actually) at their site - http://houseofteeth.co.uk/

this song plays a real role in my life because alot of the time i feel this way and its nice to listen to somebody else describe your feelings in a song

Pully guitar, nice soft vocals, It's like Zora's Domain From The Legend Of zelda.

Steve McQueen is an almost faultless pop album. The first five or so tracks are quite awesome. Desire As comes in later down the album play list and it's got a lovely laid back groove. It builds slowly and Paddy McAloon's vocals are sweet. It's a nice track, make no mistake.

"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)

This song makes me wanna EXPLODE whenever I put it on. Think The Sonics' version of "Have Love Will Travel" with the punky rawness of The Stooges. Except that this song is even more brutally groovy! And the group dress real nicely.

Chris Montez had two musical periods. Two shots at the limelight.

It's his second musical era (1966-68) that I like the most.

In 1966, Herb Alpert produced 'The More I see You' & with it, Chris had a huge international smash single. It was a cover of a 1940's tune given a sort of 1966 Beverly Hills treatment & was very nice.

Unfortunately the pairing of Chris & Herb didn't produce anymore hit singles but they went on to make four very nice albums.

This song is from the third album, 'Foolin'Around' and it's one of my favourite Chris Montez songs.

There have been a few retrospective Chris Montez compilations and they always seem to leave this song out, which, frankly, baffles me.

It's sort of Rio meets Beverly Hills 1967 in sound.

It's also my favourite version of the song which was also covered by Astrud Gilberto and I believe, many others.

Its 4 tracks into the CD, and after one of the fluffy pop numbers, so it quite takes you by surprise when a guitar kicks in of such rawness that it feels like small blisters are erupting over your eardrums.
In come the bass and drums, and the girly vocals (Janet presumably) with a nice sarcastic tone. The sarcasm seems to be a feature of the band.
Threres also a triffic 1980 style disco remix on the extra CD, for extra amusement. To be honest I love the whole LP, it has nice fat drums, lovely rolling bass, and they aren't afraid to use the technology, it was hard to pick one song out, but this one had the edge for Janets voice and that ruff guitar. God I love Fuzz.

Oddly the person who played the CD to me first dismissed them as just another Oz-Rock band. Nah, way off the mark.

It took me a long, long while to �get� Gorillaz. Oh come on, who didn�t like �Clint Eastwood�? I dunno, having sunshine in a bag is a nice lyric to repeat when people are pissing you and your shit off� yet, �Clint Eastwood� didn�t make me a fan.

No, in fact, no Gorillaz track did more to bring me into the fold than �Dirty Harry�, with its amazing keyboards, bassline and children�s chorale�

It�s just been a while since I�ve come across pop music that was so far off the beaten track, that it redefines what is �mainstream�. This is always fun for music lovers, but once again goes to prove that noone with taste thinks the cookie cutter approach to popular music is the right way.

Well I�m a Gorillaz fan now, maybe three or four years late, but I�m a fan for sure. �Demon Days� has quickly jumped up to �Heavy Rotation� status in my last.fm and musicmobs profiles in a heart beat.

It�s weird, because someone brought a pre-release copy of �Demon Days� for me way back in April, but I listened to it a few times and then ignored it, forgot it for the most part (if you ignore the iconic billboards and posters everywhere across London). I�m famous for that though, I tend to err on the side of not believing the hype, a la Public Enemy.

It was only about three or four weeks ago, after my flatmate�s accidental stop on the �Dirty Harry� video one night, while I was in another room working.

Said keyboards, bass line and chorale, made me stop what I was doing, get up and go into the living room, calling incredulously as I went, �What are you listening to?�

That my friends, is all Big Mami wrote on the matter�

A nice funky instrumental with simple blues chords. Ramsey plays electric piano, and the beat is sweet, like a lot of Cadet label stuff from the late 60s. Groovy stuff, and quite easy to come by on the reissue 2 LP - 'Inside Ramsey Lewis'.

A great instrumental by Pete Moore, which is laid back yet gently funky at the same time with nice brass and a cool wah-wah guitar sound. The production and arrangement is typical of his other work - clean sounding with a slow introduction and a superb rhythm section. Check out what is probably his best known track - Catwalk, which was featured on the Inflight Entertainment CD.

The bell chimes on the intro both haunt me and pull me into the song. From that point on I'm hooked until the end. Nice guitar hook in the middle. I just find it quite flawless as a song. Everything was layered out rather neatly.

I know very little about Hal - I just picked up this LP for a dollar on a hunch that it might be good. It's pretty great. There are two or three very strong 'mod' tracks, and then this, an example of my favorite kind of easy listening cut. It's very pretty and reasonably slow, with nice strings, good piano and solid percussion. There are some vocals, but their involvement is minimal. If I have a complaint, it's that the piano becomes slightly overbearing. But it's a cool track all the same.

This is a strong piece of turntablism. Kid Koala scratches a wicked trumpet solo over a nice swing tune.

This song is a great trancy piece of work! It opens with dialogue lifted from the soundtrack of the cult classic 1980 film 'Flash Gordon. "Klytus, I'm booooored.... what plaything can you offer me today?" "... the inhabtants refer to it as the planet... earth..." "how peaceful it looks"... The song then goes to a great drum break and a voice not unlike Alexander Scorby reading cryptic Bible-like phrases, "the mountains shall drop sweet wine and the hills shall melt"

A nice change from watching Wizard of Oz with the Dark Side of the Moon soundtrack, if you know what I mean...

Funky Rock. Nice Title! Sweet Lyrics. And i love the Beach Boys break. Move over George Martin!
Is this the best concept album since "Dark Side Of The Moon / Wish You Were Here". Or Maybe even "�Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/�Magical Mystery Tour"? Very Trippy Rock! Nice electronics. How do you sound like Neal Young, Bread, America, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, David Bowie, Beach Boys and the Beatles all at once? You can hear the full album through the thier site: www.flaminglips.com
Super Generous & Super Talented. One of the most beautifully produced albums ever!
POP HEAVEN! "Light Side of the Moon" for the new millennia.

Jazz music for a hazy dream. Clean and simple arrangement with nice moments of well-articulated soloing. Altogether beautiful, with a cool and detached sound.

Richly melodic, attractively textured instrumental track at the end of an otherwise rather unassuming album. Nice chords. Nice synthesizer and guitar work. Co-written with the original guitarist of Genesis, Anthony Philips.

Ben is one swingin' cat. Mocoto rock his Composition. Infectious piano & tamborine!

Very Perfect LP. Outstanding performing, nicely recorded, nicely paced. And a fine list of composers. Tim Maia, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, Erasmo Carlos/Roberto Carlos & Jorge Ben.

If you like psychedelic like Jimi Hendrix o Janis Joplin, you must liten to Aguaturbia the greatest psychedelic band from Chile, a real nice distortion, folk sounds, blues, crazy to the max! the real deal when you want to talk about south american psychedelic.
Totally recommenden for having a great time.

This is one of those odd discoveries: a track on a CD I've owned for about 8 years, but which I had somehow overlooked. I buy a lot of CDs, and I guess is one of the later tracks on a long compilation cd. Still, that's not much of an excuse, is it!

This is a slow, groovy instrumental (well, with wordless vocals) with funky drums, some fine fuzz guitar work, nice spiky brass and some very pleasing chord changes. It is strongly reminiscent of similar work of the time by people like Johnny Harris. I have a few tracks by completely different artists with a very similar feel/orchestration and closely related chord sequences. It's simultaneously very hip sounding yet quite square with the choir and strings. I love it, obviously.

Not quite as easy as I'd expect from A&C, having a more rocky almost Krautrock feel. An insistent bassline, nice harmonising vocals, shiny almost Can-like guitars, with these very, very nice pastoral breakdowns. Vaguely psychedlic almost.

In my experience John Gregory is one of the most consistently superb British arrangers of the 60s and 70s. I've never really heard anything I didn't like by him, although I understand that he was very prolific and that I've barely scratched the surface so far.

His arrangements have simultaneously a bite and a beauty that few others were able to match. Although not much of his work is available on CD, there's one excellent disc, 'Mission Impossible and other themes', that compiles most of his 'big band crime jazz' work, dating from the early 1960s to the mid 1970s. The disc isn't very excitingly packaged and can be had very cheaply, but it's full of outstanding tracks.

'Fire and Rain' is from a 70s album (I have it on a Philips sampler from the early 70s), and is a sumptuously arranged instrumental in the vein of some of the work of other British arrangers of the era, such as Johnny Harris and John Schroeder.

Of course, the song was written and originally recorded by James Taylor. His track is quite nice, but maybe it helped that I came to this version 'fresh', without having heard the original. This happens to me a lot, and Gregory's full arrangement and jazzy touches definitely elevate the track for me.

The melody is carried by a beautifully played trumpet, and later by the strings. There's a strong beat throughout, and a particularly groovy break towards the end with some great brass.

A solo single from a member of Japanese space rock collective Acid Mothers Temple. For them she plays Synthesiser (a nice old Roland) Cigarettes and Beer. On this she also sings.
Its a strange sounding thing, theres no bass or even much lower mid range. Echo'd synthesiser, a very old sounding drum box, and vocals all occupying the same accoustic space to very psychedelic effect. But yet, very poppy, the vocals stay with you for ages.
Lovely stuff.

Nice groovy dancetrack with electric sounding guitars, trumpets and a rockbeat....

"this is so real, it's what i feel. i look in your eyes and lose myself" this song is a great dream-poppy ditty about someone falling in love with falling in love... which is kind of cheesy in a sense... but Lush just does it so amazingly. I really like how this band really embraces their girly-ness and doesn't try to act like their trying to keep up with the boys as many female-led bands from their era were doing. the background vocals are amazingly beautiful as are the guitar solos. There's a nice, lush, romantic feeling received from listening to this song. the imagery from the aforementioned lyric is very nice as well.

A nice cover song as Towa Tei (SRATM) will do. I haven't heard the original but would like to. This one is in the two-step style which I am also unfamiliar with except through Towa Tei's interpretations. An excellent song. "Girly" as TT songs with vocals can be. Dancy as TT songs usually are. Commentary from some Jamaican/British type (!) and breaks down into a remix of itself toward the end - but in a very respectable fashion! -- I recently found out that this CD features copy protection, funny enough that kind of changed the way I felt about it. I want to make it clear that for that reason I can't recommend that anyone buy this album. ;)

Piero sings in a soothing, breath-y tenor... More italian in tone than latin, although,the best comparison i've found is Luiz Henrique.His phrasing reminds me of Luiz as well,but there is no real relation.The backing has a nice spaghetti -western kind of vibe ala' Moriccone,which gives the whole thing a kind of high planes drifter setting,with plucked electric bass, strummed acoustic guitar,and occasional female chorus with a light string arrangement,Very cool.The whole record is really good,and a lot of the songs have a distinctly latin ballad feel.

essential listening. psychedelic rockabilly doesn't get much better than this. check out the chanting in the background! the bells! the sitar-guitar sound! the drum pattern! wanda jackson's vocals! love it to death. can't believe i hadn't recommended it yet...

I first heard this song on MTV, back when nobody knew who Longview were. The music (guitar, bass, drums) is great and the melody is awesome. The lyrics are simple and poetic at the same time and I get really nice images in my head when I hear this song, partly because it's very vivid and also due to the fact that they made a really cool video for it. Some people think this is a religious song just because it mentions God, but that's completely irrelevant. I can't say I know what it's about but I know it's a good listen.

One of the greatest session men ever goes overdub mad with a studio full of instruments. This track is a nice slice of american exotica with tons of swing... a bit too short though. He also does Voce E Eu & Sunshine Superman!

When I first started actively listening to Mancini, I guess it was in '94 or '95, I was put off by his work from the late '60s/early '70s. I guess my impression was that he wrote these brilliant pop scores until the mid-'60s and then just starting doing mediocre orchestral Beatles medleys and stuff like that. Well, lately I've been realizing how misinformed my first impression was. In fact, it seems i've been enjoying Mancini's work from this era even more than much of his older stuff. "Giovanna" is a great, jaunty little instrumental from Vittorio De Sica's 1970 film "Sunflower." The very Italian-sounding arrangement is carried by the organ and accordion. I think the "Sunflower" soundtrack is too often compared to Morricone. While I can maybe hear the influence, the sound is distinctly Mancini. Another good track from the album is "Love In The Sand" which features, uh, some very nice harpsichord work.

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.

Very nice song in that new wave 1980's fashion

This is my favorite song on what is currently my favorite P5 album. Three-and-a-half minutes of unadulterated Shibuya joy. I'd love to know what Konishi-san's secret to putting songs like this together is, but then I guess it'd spoil the magic. And check the brilliant lyrics! "Have a nice day, the same to you/What time baby? 9 o'clock/Gonna have a good time?/I miss you/How do you think about it?/I don't know!"

A lovely, sugary piece of easy-pop, with a nice flute, some subtle strings, fingersnaps and terrific lyrics. "We were swinging oh so nice/bubbly pink champagne on ice"...plus a few "la la la doobie doobie doo"s for good measure.

probably the most uplifting song ever recorded. very basic and simple, but genuinely endearing. paul evans has a nice laugh, the boyish quality of it really makes the song for me.
the song was sort of a theme song for john waters` film "pecker", by the way.

A rock-y love song. Shane in good voice - maybe the last time he has been in such good voice, I dunno. The voices go together brilliantly.

Its a nice contrast with 'Fairytale of New York'. Sample lyric 'you were so cool you could have put out Vietnam'

It was originally recorded with original Pogues bass player Cait O'Riordan (forgive the spelling - I'm crap at Irish names) which I heard at the time but not since - it was on the soundtrack to Sid and Nancy

Excellent organ-heavy song centered around the rhythm of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle". Nice and fluid. Everything that is great about Jamaican soul in one neat little package, from Lee Perry's debut album as producer.

Seven minutes of soul bliss. Loverboys the Players are. Amazing vocals. Great piano work.

Sweet guitar riffing. Nice Flutelines. The title doesn't lie.

This is an extremely energic song. Heavy drums and distorted guitars seldom sound this good .This is a song to hear late in the night , when the naschspiel is growing dull-crank up the stereo and put this on ,if it doesnt liven up the audience then nothing will.

was on Grimm nice song

somewhere between the free design and hideki kaji you get la casa azul. sweet 60s pop with some nice "ba ba ba ba..." thrown in. bouncy, quirky and basically all around fun. one of the few new bands i am really excited by.

guitarist and songwriter greg brown tells us how he feels when someone says 'haveAniceDay'. midtempo acoustic number with gruff bassy vocals. very good for themed comps or person-specific mixtapes. from an album called The Live One and various MPR/NPR performances at their archives. repeat listening assured.

this a nice song, slightly out of character to the rest of the album ,"Livin' Love"(which is more traditionally sixties pop) this has a big energetic beat and a rousing chorus. perhaps not the most sophisticated composition in the world, but it makes me happy anyway...

i think this song is beautiful. it's subtle but moving. the structure and composition of the song is great. both instrumentally and vocally it has a very nice development. the song that follows (the glow, pt. 2) on the album is a very natural extension of i want wind to blow. at the same time it offers a first glimpse into the microphones' heavier songs.

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.

Melancholy,nice smooth rocking groove.

My favourite Canadian rock single of all time. It's a slow one, which starts with solo piano, picks up the acoustic guitar, then gets a heavy fuzzy guitar in the chorus that complements the melody perfectly. Then repeat! With an organ and full band. Followed by a nice guitar solo at the end! Add in some interestingly-placed key changes (which are necessary to keep it level) and you've got a masterpiece, says I. Needless to say, I'm the only person on the planet outside the artists themselves who remembers it ...

An over-the top introduction to Kansas. This was the song that hooked most Kansas fans.

It showcases the band members individual talents:
Dave Hope's excellent bass
Robbie Steinhart's violin and vocals
Rich William's guitar work, often harmonizing nicely with Robbie's violin
Steve Walsh on keyboards and vocals
Kerry Livgren's Lead guitar, and hopeful, powerful lyrics.

first of all: great soundtrack!
this track begins slowly with some percussions. and then the almighty horn section starts. i love them loud and dramatic. the way they are here. the rest of the track is also nice but looping 0:58 to 1:36 the whole day would do it for me...

Let it be known that I HATE covers... I like originals, but there is the odd exception and this is one of them. Amen Corner had a hit version with the song, but when you hear the 1969 Dave Clark Five version you will immediately forget the Amen Corner one. DC5 started out as a beat group and I don't like 1963-1966 beat. But like many groups they tried to survive in the music business and adapted to the new "sound" of the decade. They gave this song the late 60s treatment the way it should have sounded in the first place. Dramatic, musicall over-produced and full of power. If you like a strong orchestrated poptune, this is one of them. DC5 deserved the hit... not the Amen Corner.

The Finnish ultra speed hardcore. There are two vocals. Both are screaming all the time. One Of them is macho, "tough guy" style. It can be nice introduction to Hero Dishonest.

Chris Botti is an accomplished musician in the worlds of Jazz and Smooth Jazz. His style is reminicent of Miles Davis but with a more melodic approach. This song incorporates an ultra-lounge feel with a cool jazz vibe. Botti's trumpet playing here approaches Miles Davis' minimalist playing style.

i'll recommend this song with two others (and i'll recommend each individually as well). never ending math equation, interstate 8, broke. these are the first three songs on modest mouse's album titled building nothing out of something. the three fill eachother out nicely.

Really nice piano and bass ballad with Nicks best ever vocal.

This is an uptempo, light bossa nova vocal interpretation of this song, very much in the vein of the classic Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sound. Very nicely arranged male/female vocal harmonies, superb electric harpsicord and swirling, lush strings really make this version quite outstanding and contrasting to the Perry Como version, who popularized this song a year earlier.

great version of the classic gainsbourg song. this is one of the bonus tracks on the rerelease of "oh ah", and it features some absolutely fantastic backing guitars courtesy of alex chilton. a pretty lo fi recording, but the feel on this is quite a few notches up from the album version. it basicly gives me the chills and stops me from doing anything productive each time i hear it. probably the most played track in my itunes folders right now.

(original recording by serge gainsbourg. think there�s an english language version by mick harvey.)

A lovely little pop song, Jellypop perky Jean uses a standard Julian Cope trick - having a nice little repetitive musical phrase running in the background throughout the whole song. He then builds things up with a simple organ sound. The effect is very gentle and ambient and wonderful. At one point late in the song, Julian stunningly stops singing and starts talking. Here the real genius cuts through, and I start wondering why more people don't rant on about this guy as much as I do.

A really nice gently tropical instrumental with strings and a rock (drums/guitars) backing. I seem to be in a minority in adoring Les's 'Que Mango' album (which apparently was originally sold only in supermarkets at $1.99). I actually listen to this album as much as I listen to his classic exotic jazz LPs from the late 50s. It contains lots of great, shimmering, groovy tracks, such as 'boca chica', and the superb 'tropicando', which you can now hear almost everywhere (via a TV ad, and the aptly named 'Thievery Corporation'). Record geek part: on the vinyl version of this I have, the track 'Jungle Montuno' is shorter and sweeter - it begins one minute into the CD version of the track. I'm just mentioning this because the first minute seems to me to be inferior, and from a different song.

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!

A very cool track, but not in the way I normally find Walter Wanderley's quick-draw hammond organ technique cool. This is a simple, bluesey number on which he is joined by the Brazilian singer Luiz Henrique. Luiz doesn't sing though, he just contributes some nice scat vocals, rather like the work Marcos Valle does on 'Garra'. In my experience, this is about as close as Walter gets to 'funky', and this version from the 'Popcorn' album is a great improvement from the 1967 'Kee-ka-roo' LP version.

The Spencer Davis Group Version is good. But this is even better, it kicks in with great brass stabs and then this fantastic Bass Line kicks in, similar to the original but with a deeper, funkier feel. Nice drums and Toms great voice. For once it keeps the groove going all the way through, one of my friends used to close a disco night with this, and it rocked every time.

I've been looking for a Japanese song with an late 60's/early 70's loungy, yet soulful and deep sound for a while. This song by Okumura Chiyo (Japanese name order, last name first) is the closest track I've been able to find yet. The title means love slave, the beginning lyrics translate something like, "from the day I met you, I've been your love slave, I want to wrap myself around your knee like a puppy..." This song is somewhere between traditional Japanese enka and soul similar to say Nancy Holloway for example. The Japanese instrumentation blends nicely with the bleeding bass and horns. If anyone knows of any other Japanese songs in a similar vein, I'd love to hear some more recommendations.

Kenetic and edgy....a nice dig to big business.

A great, very represantive Easy Listening/Bossa Nova song. The lyrics is acctually Websters dictionary's description of love. I know this song has been recorded on some other Dorough album but this is the definitive version. It has a great female choire and a nice bossa groove. Really a must! The record containes a bunch of other grat songs like I'm hip, The stranger and oblai de oblai da.

this entire soundtrack to the film la planete sauvage comes highly recommended. never seen the film, but it can�t possibly be as good as the soundtrack suggests.
chilly, funky instrumental orchestral music. there�s a really haunting recurring theme through the album, nice use of choirs and twangy guitar too.

It's very hard to describe Noah and The Whale's music, but I guess it can be considered pop. Really nice song.

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!

No doubt will be on every forthcoming Ibiza summer 2002 compilation but I do have a small spot for this top house record. First heard it on Danny Rampling's show on Radio 1 and it really grabbed me. It is a simple repetitive tune (which constitutes most 4/4 house records) but its the vocals that do it for me. That awkward sounding vocalist is none other than David Byrne, pop music's official cool eccentric. Due out officially in the UK on March 25, 2002, it can be heard out in clubs and on aforementioned radio stations. X Press 2 is the collaborative effort between Ashley Beedle and Rocky & Diesel, London based electronica/dance producers who have had success in their solo efforts. Love it or hate it it's nice to hear David Byrne do something different.

pure bubblegum psychedelic soft pop, with lyrics about sucking on "lollipops". the most familiar version of this song is probably the one written for france gall, but i prefer the version where serge himself (in a great faux-na�ve manner)provides the vocals. the sugary strings of the original(?) are replaced by a great subdued wah wah guitar and organ backing on this version, and a lot of little touches wich help make the song a bit more bizarre and playful than the other version. nice for sunny picnics and bicycle rides in the countryside, eh?

Xavier Rudd is Australian, or well, Canadian but raised in Australia, or something, when first hearing him and all his Aboriginee instruments, we all thought he had to be aboriginal himself, even his accent was convincing, we were sorely mistaken. even still, all his songs have a good solid beat and he is essentially a one man band, amazing stuff. this song is nice and bouncy and great stuff, especially as an introductory song to all his other creations.

From the Italian western of the same name. I haven't seen the film, but it seems to be a comedy starring Thomas Milian and in the mode of the popular Trinity films. This track is kind of a light-hearted square dance with typically brilliant instrumenation by Morricone -- bells, banjo, organ, chorus, acoustic guitar, drums and violins. This makes a nice companion to the "Wanted Dead Or Alive" track I recommended earlier. Lots of fun.

Very nice lyric & Henrique has a fine voice & nice guitar style. But the real standout is Sivuca on accordian & scat vocal on this song & the whole album. One of my favorite jazz scat records. The other being Guilherme Vergueiro's "Naturalmente" lp from 1978.

Season Of The Shark was a nice song off of Summer Sun but Little Eyes is much much better. It starts off with a penetrating beep followed by warm synths. When the beat starts you just can't refuse tapping along with your feet. And the vocals... oh my. The vocals sound as if angels are whispering in your ears. A nice instrumental break somewhere in the middle, and this song is a real gem on an album that was a big let down. Except for those two tracks.

A simple and groovy, mid-tempo easy pop tune with a nice wah-wah guitar riff and Jane B.'s trademark teen fox vocal. Everything apart from the words "Lolita go home" is sung in French. Jane B. didn't really know French and it sounds quite funny. Gainsbourg and Birkin must've had a hell of a relationship! Another classic in my dj set which again shows Gainsbourg's tremendous ability to write sunny bubblegum pop as well as arrange it deliciously.

Minimalist pop, and hurrah for that. The ex-Revolution musicians show Prince that they have learned their lessons well and throw in their own funky twirls, too. They eschew the back-up lipstick lesbian persona that characterised their time with Mr Rogers Nelson and dig out a sound that nicely epitomises the late 80's, a great and much-ignored time in funky dance-pop.

The Fleetwoods were an excellent vocal group from the late 50s and early 60s who are best known for 'Come Softly to Me' and 'Mr. Blue'. Both of these are 'classic' oldies tracks, evocative of the late 50s.

'Lonely is as lonely does' came late in their career, and actually sounds much more modern than its 1964 recording date would suggest. This is really a prototype of the 'soft pop' style that would become popular later in the 1960s. The composer, Chip Taylor, went on to write 'Wild Thing' and 'Angel of the Morning'.

The track opens with a nice picked guitar introduction. As in many of my favorite Fleetwoods tracks, Gary takes the lead vocal, with Gretchen and Barbara singing backing vocals. Gary has a very sincere voice. At the beginning the song sounds very routine, but there are some clever chord changes and some cool lyrics. My favorite line is 'As your tears fall, remember this: you're just a kiss away from happiness'.

Found this sealed copy at a local thriftery, an artist i've never heard from a good period at Columbia. Most of the LP meanders in a poetic way, highlighting Spheeris's moody lyrics, sometimes getting a little too "drippy" at times. This track stands out like a champ from the rest, and was penned by a sideman on the LP, Lee Calvin Nicoli. It has such a great pop appeal, in a sort of Cat Stevens way, with a brilliant arrangement (by the author no doubt), that moves along bouncing and resting... A perfect song for a rainy sunday afternoon!

Seems this fellow died very young, and has quite a cult following from what i've read. Should be a nice discovery for fans of 70's folk. And singer-songwriter stuff.

Travelling music if there every was any. No matter the vehicle, you roll with this in the deck and it's just nice. Guitar in overdrive, Echo effect in full effect, vocals... hey we've been there. The lone guitar note break is the bomb if you are playing air guitar.

Another awsome but forgotten vocal group from 60's California that deserves a proper re-issue!The Collage were a vocal quartet(2 boys & 2 girls)with a very cool sound.Not enough to set them apart from the pack,but very groovy out of their context.The sound is as good as re-discovered groups like Free Design, or Millenium.In fact,Curt Boettcher wrote one of the songs on the LP,as well as Roger Nichols!
This song has a kind of"love awareness" message that seems just as relevant in today's troubled world: "...Look at a baby,what do you see?What do you see,lookin' at a baby?/I can see the world the way that I would like the world to be!..."This song,as the opener on the LP,has a lot of power, with that great 8th note stomp and a big,boomy,bass line with harpsichord.The arrangements are by the great Perry Botkin Jr.,and he gives the whole record a nice swirling,magical quality.And the rest of the album is just as impressive, and should be worth the high price for any lover of the genre.

It's hard not to smile when you hear this lovely, rousing late 60s number. Roger Nichols is the composer (along with Paul Williams) of many late 60s and 70s hits for, amongst others, The Carpenters. He wrote this song with 'Pet Sounds' lyricist Tony Asher, and they created a beautiful combination of sunny soft pop sounds (handclaps, brass, group harmonies) and pleasing, happy words. Musically, it is superior and extra-catchy, with nice Bacharach-esque touches and great instrumentation. The lead vocal also deserves a mention for sounding almost supernaturally brilliant (far better than it sounds in the sound sample). The singer is Melinda Macleod; her voice is lovely anyway, but here it sounds as if 3 perfect takes have been somehow overlaid on top of each other to produce an incredibly rich, soothing effect. It's over quickly - in just over two minutes. At which point I normally listen to it again a few times.

This is one of those songs that really sounds nothing like any of the artists' other songs. This is off Lani's first solo album "Sundown Lady" and was produced by her husband and label executive Herb Alpert. The song is the first song on the album and sets the tone with a nice easy bass line accented by the tinkling of an electric piano. The real money is the combination of Lani's impassioned vocals with whoever (maybe Herb?) singing a simple male vocal complement during the chorus. The song is effortlessly funky, understated and oh-so-deep. I haven't played this song for someone who hasn't loved it.

I heard this track again recently and it had an almost chemical effect on me. Why? It's hard to say. I can't claim to be especially moved by the lyrics, but the song captures a certain mood which makes me want to shake around. The track has a nice balance of instrumentation - New Order trademarks like strong, crisp drums and prominent bass, and a melody played on the melodica.

The other highlight of the song for me is the manically strummed guitar break near the end - a great moment. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but this track still has a lot of power for me.

english language version of "l' amour a 3", available as a bonus track on the american release of "musique automatique".

cute electronic pop song about threesomes, courtesy of french-german electro-rockabilly-breakbeat-chanson-disco-pop sensation stereo total.
features some great moaning samples.
the ooohohouou- sound in the chorus remind me of a norwegian children's programme i used to watch when i was a kid. i just love the vocals in this version. they might not be technically perfect, but the french-german accent is really cute, and adds a lot to the feel of the song.

"it's absolutely out, i know it's hippie shit/
but i say it loud, with the three of us, i love it"

(by the way, stereo total are very nice people. they deserve your love)

metro area brings a lot of things together. there is the oldskool discovibe. there is retro-electro. there is detroit. and there is always organic stuff within like in this track, the nice flute-riff which appears only once or twice.
the whole album is highly recommandable. all tracks are arranged in a deep disco mood, as i would describe it. but you can't compare it to real disco from the 70s as there are a lot of other ingredients. for example a 909 fourtofloorbeat in many tracks and synthiepads sweeping in and out. nice mixture.
i think some tunes should be familiar to club-goers (miura, athmosphrique) but this one is more for your home-audio-experience...=)

This is one of those mindblowing tracks that occasionally turns up when you least expect it. I bought a generic looking 'Top TV Themes' EP on the Pye Golden Guinea label, mainly because it had a version of the 'Out of this World' theme, which I've recommended elsewhere on this site. But I was disappointed - it turned out that this 'Out of this World' was exactly the same Tony Hatch version that I already had (the EP does not list any track credits).

I listened on, not expecting much, particularly from 'Maigret', a nice enough theme by Ron Grainer, but one that is a kind of accordian waltz!

Imagine my surprise when this turned out to be some kind of trashy, twangy, swampy surf pop masterpiece! It sounds like one of the very best Joe Meek produced instrumentals from the early 60s.

I'm inferring that this is Tony Hatch, since he did the 'Out of this World' and was a staff arranger at Pye in the early 60s. But if anyone else can shed a different light on this recording, I'd be pleased to hear about it!

A very nice uptempo Brazilian number so much of the same cloth as Elis Regina's "zazueira" and "bicho de matto" that I was surprised that Jorge Ben didn't write it. The album as a whole is definitely one that grows on you with each listen, but this track will hit you the first time out.

A lot of keyboard, brass, guitar, and soulful lyrics.

A nice song about a guy who is determined to make a girl fall in love with him.

Inspiring for all those who have been, or are going through the same situation.

I had to mention my favorite Claudine tune. A nice cinematic piece about an enigmatic lover with "Laughing eyes & dark brown hair..." who sweeps her off her feet, then splits with her dough when he goes to buy a ring. The track is touched by the deep-blue sax of Ernie Watts, which gives the track a "Noir-ish" vibe. Look of Love is one of the best records she did in her short career. Arranged by the genius Nick DeCaro, the godfather of A.O.R. !

If you've never made love to hip hop, this is a good track to try out. It's over 8 minutes long and should serve as a tight backdrop for spittin' your weak game on those bitties. And if you get the album, the very next track, called "April Showers", picks up nicely where "Man's Girl" leaves off. Enjoy, Casanova.

A very cool sunshine pop style number from the soundtrack to the Brazilian soap opera 'selva de pedra'. This two-minute track has an irresistable groove and some nice harmonized group vocals. The vocals are mostly gentle and smooth, like strings, but there are also some jazzier scat phrases thrown in. The entire soundtrack is highly recommended.

Holly's always been prolific, but never more so than in the mid nineties when this fantastic tune was released. There were usually a couple of her own albums out every year, plus releases with her girl group Thee Headcoatees, and the quality never dropped.

This is a typically brilliant slice of Holly's sound - pop blues riffing with her who-cares vocals. It fixes me within such a groove whenever I hear it.

Random reminicense: One of the best live performances I have seen was Thee Headcoats and Thee Headcoatees on stage in North London at Hallowe'en, treating the crowd to the BEST EVER version of Monster Mash. At that gig I saw Holly milling around the crowd before Thee Headcoatees took to the stage and was struck by her luminescent beauty and remarkable poise. Truly she has everything. She's worthy of heroine status.

After her brief burst of mainstream recognition guesting with the White Stripes, Holly's back in the comfortable indie heartland these days. I really can't think of enough nice things to say about her.

I love the sweeping introduction of this track so much that I would almost recommend it based on that alone. A brass flourish leads into a really cool, jerky beat. It continues with nice multitracked guitars that produce a harpsichord-like effect. Very cool.

DJ Food's Kaleidoscope was a mind-blowing record for me when I first heard it, and I'm still very fond of it after countless listens. I guess I liked it for many of the same reasons I initially liked Tipsy's Trip Tease; they both took samples I was familiar with, or at least some of which I was familiar with, and pushed them in totally unexpected directions. DJ Food's samples are perhaps more varied and less dense than Tipsy's but still just as finely and imaginatively put together. It's hard for me to single out favorite tracks on this record, but this one is a great piece of modern Exotica. The primary sample here is "By The Waters of Minnetonka" from Stanley Black's "Exotic Percussion" record on London's Phase 4 label. There are some other nice touches including harp, slide guitar, bird sounds, and even a little Ravel ("Daphnis et Chloe"). Highly recommended.

Excellent gentle mambo arrangement, courtesy of Claus Ogerman, of this spy theme featuring Tjader's vibes and George Castro's flute in nice counterpoint with Palmeiro's piano and some very lively percussion.

This song is a wonderful cover of the song by Lee Hazlewood. Lots of lurid orchestration, lots of reverb and the soft, lilting voice of the Tinderstick's lead man, Stuart Staples. Very mellow. Nice with a glass of wine, in my opinion :o)

A bit of sugar but a nice version of the classic

A cool portion of that underated genre, easy soul. Bradford's vocals (a less roaring Shirley Bassey is the nearest comparison I can think of) complement the light arrangement perfectly. Fits in with that whole John Schroeder Orchestra vibe. Sometimes you just want a lovely vocalist singing a nice song.

Such a nice and melodic song.

A nicely groovy easy listening instrumental from an album which is a very common item in British charity shops. It's nicely percussive from the start, with some nicely strummed guitar and Helmut's bizarre sounding low solo violin. It builds up to a full and funky orchestral sound - a real stomper...

Superb slow blues. Nice arrangement blending a rather distant-sounding orchestra with the very precise, restrained (yet very expressive) vocal and guitar. Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green were really quite something.

Very nice, reminds me a bit of Harpers Bizarre best moments!

this is one of those great songs that builds up towards a climax. i'll recommend it with two other songs (and i'll recommend each individually as well). never ending math equation, interstate 8, broke. these are the first three songs on modest mouse's album titled, building nothing out of something. the three fill eachother out nicely.

i was watching an mtv show where johan renck (aka stakka bo) was showing his fav videos. i don't remember anyone of them except the last one which was bobby conn's 'never get ahead'. bizarre lyrics and nice strings makes this little number a nice tune.

Electronic.
Extremely catchy. And cool lyrics.

Nice music video, too. xD

Two and a half minutes of infectious, sunny folk-rock with extra added jazziness in the changes. The FAB were a Lovin' Spoonful spinoff of sorts, produced and overseen by the troika of Jerry Yester, Zal Yanovsky (RIP) and Eric Jacobsen. Bassist Kenny Altman, who wrote this gem, later wrote "Feelin' Blue" which was memorably recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire and today apparently is in the restaurant business. Too bad he's not still cooking up delicious tunes like these!

this song reminds me of ireland. its so goofy & happy.

Nice lyrics, nice flow.

-Very Melodic in a way, with an exciting yet mellow tune and some very nice sounding instrument work

-Just an awesome sound to listen too

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.

I've never been much impressed with Mastodon's music, but this song is fantastic. Off the new cd, "Crack The Skye." The rest of the album is decent, but Oblivion is the gem.

Another amazing version of this fantastic tune. This features several very different-sounding multitracked guitars, and really is quite astounding. It feels very short at a little under 2 and a half minutes. The opening features an acoustic guitar playing a wonderfully delicate and precise rhythm, accompanied by a nice wall of strings and electric guitar hits. A twangy picked guitar plays the melody, building gradually for about a minute.

The track then explodes into a quite amazing sequence, in which a dirty-sounding fuzz guitar picks out a bassline while a manic and jazzy improvised guitar solo moves around over the top and the strings maintain some solid bluesey chords. The sound is extremely funky, and vaguely reminiscent of some tracks from the late 60s 101 strings album 'Astro Sounds from beyond the year 2000', but ends up being more tasteful. Pure genius!

If someone would have asked me say ten years ago what artist's oeuvre I would take with me to a desert island, I would with dead certainty have answered: everything by Joni Mitchell, please. I'm not so sure anymore, although it could well be that I, when push comes to shove, would still make that choice. So it may not come as a surprise now that for a long time my all time best album was one of Joni's, Don Juan's Reckless daughter, where her cooperation with Jaco Pastorius really took off, for instance on this song where she's questioning her love for a man who's new sweety has already moved in while still keeping poor Joni (assuming the song is sort of autobiographical) on the side as his Off Night Backstreet. Jaco's warm bass carries the whole song and is almost like a second voice to Joni's singing, it blends marvelously with her cold metal guitar, some nice echoey and spacy flageolets too, great additional vocals - "Backstreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!"- by JD Souther and Glenn Frey, drums by John Guerrin, subtle and tight. PS Be warned that the soundfile is quite big (500 Kb).

Has a nice folky feel to it. Very relaxing.

I was really into the Polyphonic Spree record about a year ago and read somewhere that frontman Tim Delaughter was the singer in Tripping Daisy. There were some pretty rabid recommendations on Amazon for the third TD album - "Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb," so I ordered a used copy. It took a few spins to get into, but damn it's a keeper. Melodic art pop heaven. If ya care: it's produced by Eric Drew Feldman - who was a member of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, played keyboards for Pere Ubu for a while, and also produced some of Frank Black's earlier solo stuff.

Anyways, as its title suggests, "Our Drive to the Sun / Can a Man Mark it?" comes in two parts. "Our Drive ..." is sunshiney modern pop in the vein of the Flaming Lips, with hooks galore (there are like four parts that could qualify as killer choruses). At about the four minute mark, the track morphs into "Can a Man ...", which sounds something like a Gary Numan song remixed by Kevin Shields. Great change ups throughout and just a real nice listen.

This track sounds better to me every time I hear it. Ironically, I had a copy of The Association's Renaissance LP for years, but for some odd reason didn't get as far as listening to this song until recently.

It's a very accessible but powerful late 60s pop song with a psychedelic edge. It can't have taken long to write, but the production is excellent, with a nice effect on the vocals, and a wonderful use of early 70s Beach Boys-style swelling vocal harmonies over the vocal phrase 'and all that's left for me to do...is cry'.

Musically, it's an upbeat track with a slightly claustrophobic arrangement. But it's cool - that's all part of the effect! As well as drums, vocals and upbeat guitars, they employ the koto, which adds an unusual edge to the sound.

A song from the 1980's that nobody heard but should of.A nice little dig to the music industry.

If you're into hardcore rap from the clubs you are gonna love it. Very commercial. Nice mixes and dirty lyrics.

The chorus is petty catchy: Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in HERE, up in here...

This is the sound of summer in the sixties as I remember it from my childhood. Sunny, light, breezy. Its from one of Augusto Alguerro's 2 Polydor releases, and while not as funky or bizarre as some of the other tracks, in terms of shear fun pop its a total star. Starting with a nice little trombone riff, its quite fast with wordless vocals, flute and light brass. It has the very good production that you always seem to get with 60's polydor LP's. I wonder if the Ragovoy that wrote it is Jerry Ragovoy who I know better as a soul writer, penning Lorraine Ellisons mighty 'Stay with me baby' amongst others.

lovely feelgood song from the borderline brilliant japanese new wave band plastics. a break from their often minimalistic intrumentation. oddball lyrics, nice guitar, harmonica and extremely enthusiastic singing.
i love the way the male vocalist seems to be holding his nose while singing in the beginning of the song.


waiting for the taxi
standing in the snow white
newspapers falling on the ground
it's cold and cold and cold

new york is frozen steak
teddy bear and kitty cat
fireplace and candles
all you need is weapon

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

green green green peace
high high high heel
inside is outside
world is nonsense

dream of the tide wave
my peace is your peace
peace by the people
peace for the peace

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

all i see is green green
grave yard of lily white
sleeping beauty laying there
with dots and symbols

marmalade evening
fur coats and venus
venus and mighty dragon said
all you need is weapon

this is peace
this is funny fairy tale

Interesting Beatles related Exploitation Record with a nice Cover!
The Sound is much similar to the Original Beatles from Liverpool!

Go to http://www.easylounge.org to see the cover and look for other interesting Records! (Organ Sounds, Easy Listening, Funky Big Band Beats, Cheesy Listening.....a lot of them with sound samples!)

This song has a nice, creative intro with psychedelic sounds and such including the sitar, and then, just when you think the song is done Mariska chimes in and sings beautifully above some enticing backing vocals.

upbeat, poppy, and fun. i love that it's upbeat and fun. the synthesizer is really unique and adds a nice touch.

This is a trip-hop song with electronic tunes, but also acoustic. Very nice for introspective people.

To be honest, I have little idea of what this song is about, but it certainly sets an intoxicating mood - rather intense and dramatic, but very cool. It's a sprawling, majestic pop song, opening gently with a faint trumpet solo and a picked guitar, and then building up nicely with strings soon after the vocals come in. The chorus is simple and catchy, and the orchestration is lush and beautiful, and the vocals are tender. There is a nice cinematic instrumental section in the middle, with some nods to Burt Bacharach. I don't get the impression this is the most coherent song ever, but there are poignant moments lyrically, such as 'You know that when we met, there were fireworks in the sky...sparkling like dragonflies', set against the moody chorus. It feels kind of nice to be really enjoying a new, 2001 song for once. The new album is really quite good. There are some duff songs, but overall I'd say it deserved better reviews than it received.

Update, ok, I've now figured out this is about the Clinton/Lewinsky furore. I guess I'm just not primarily a lyrics person...

This sultry ballad from 1984 is the perfect showcase for Tina's great voice. A nice chill out song and good soundtrack for a romantic evening.

Tamba Trio were a Brazilian jazz group more commonly praised for their jazz instrumentals than for their vocals. Their vocals on this track are nice and simple, but it is the instrumentation and arrangement which really make the song. What does it sound like? I do honestly like other types of music, but here goes: jazzy piano, bossa beat, thick strings, group vocals. Really great track, and from what I've heard of other versions, they really transformed this song, which normally sounds very different.

Another of my favorite indie tracks in my youth. Can I say 'indie' anymore? Ten years ago the term had meaning, but I get the impression this has faded. I'm talking about bands who recorded for small independent labels, obviously. Anyway, I have a special fondness for McCarthy, since they played at the first live show I ever attended. It was on March 3rd 1990 at the Bowen West Theatre in Bedford, England. Were you there? I know at least one member of this site was (how's it going, Phil?).

Anyway, this is another superbly evocative track for me, with layers of nicely picked guitars, and some intense drumming. The vocals are heartfelt in a way that unkind people might call 'weedy'; I think they're brilliant, needless to say. McCarthy were a superb indie band with jangly Wedding Present-style guitars and a political edge. Tim Gane later went on to form Stereolab, who I also like a lot, but in a very different way.

Satanist surf rock! (or a reasonable facsimile of that would sound like, anyway.)
From the land of polar bears and fjords
comes this insanely massive-sounding piece of black metal with a heavy dose of Dick Dale influences. It's quite poppy for a black metal tune, if you can see past the growling. I have to admit I've never actually listened too closely to the lyrics, i'm sure they're very misantrophic and gloomy and all, but this song feels very uplifting to me somehow. same thing as with Primal Scream's Detroit and Ennio Morricone's Magic and Extacy, i guess.
the synth effects round it out nicely, the guitars are fast and furious, and you got to love that drumming.


(One of these days I'm gonna have to make a mixtape with the world's most glaringly insane shifts of tone from one song to the next. This will fit nicely in between Dean Martin and Jean Jaques Perrey...)