Was already a fan of the LP "Gideon Gaye" with its lovely mix of Beach Boys meets Steely Dan production. Sean O'Hagen is a Genius. He's really outdone himself with this record! SUBLIME!

The Kings of Convenience have often been described as Norway's answer to Nick Drake. They blend lyrics of nature and love with sensational flowing acoustic guitars. Erlend Oye and Erik Glambek Boe have the most hauntingly beautiful voices you may ever hear, and expertly incorporate harmonies that drift perfectly through the notes of their guitars. This is my absolute number one favorite song of all times. Listen closely on the bridge for this incredible arpeggio that just catapults the song into ethereal territory.

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.

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!

Bid band with violins, wind instruments (? i mean saxofons or trumpets), Curtis on guitar and everything with good arrangements.

I just try NOT to spoil this one of a kind artist with my bad english. Songs in this album pour essence from racial discrimination, political and drug problems. I think this was one of those songs that made black men to organize and to gain self-respect to reclaim their human rights.

I like the thing that you really can feel that Curtis has something on his mind, something important to tell about, not just telling how to make love and have good time. This places this song above others.

People are fucked and politicians say: "don't worry" - and still there is hope. Let's hope so.

ok, go out and get whatever jack johnson you can get your hands on now! I first fell in love w/ his first album back before anyone knew him. I will admit though, that my little bro and I came up with some pretty hilarious alternate lyrics for his first big song on the radio. It took me a good while to get used to his second album, now I probably listen to that more, and then again with his third album, again, it took me a while. but he is truly great.
he started out filming pro surfing videos, and you can see where he is coming from. really chill, folksy music. good stuff

'The Events Leading up to the Collapse of Detective Dullight' is not a song but a narrative story, and it’s funny as hell. The off-kilter character voices of the already brilliant stream-of-consciousness plot are cartoonish enough for their own Saturday morning series. When the detectives start their investigation nothing makes sense. There’s Jell-O, serenading butterflies, file cabinets, murder, catacombs, and all the seasonings for a hilarious dream. I am usually brought to tears when Detective Slots reads from his revered exercise in free verse titled ‘The Cause of Gauze’. I will supply you with a sample:
"Oh, the cause of gauze. The Manuels have fondled many memories from my lap though each memory has its own lap and swimmers swim laps. Even swimmers have laps however and while in that condition many require a delicate gauze."
If you hear this without purchasing the actual album, 'Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimisical Verse,' then you are being cheated. The dreams of this band are as colorful as the illustrations they provide us in their album sleeves. The 'Where's Waldo' pictorial representations enrich the listening experience by engaging us in a journey deep into the frying-pan brains of these madmen. In fact, this is a perfect introduction into a very strange world of psychedelicado. Think the Beach Boy's 'Smile.' The reaction of my friends after hearing this have been harmoniously the same, 'they have to be on drugs.' The truth is Of Montreal are not on drugs, they are drugs.

The sweet soft voice of joanne Robertson makes a really cool contrast with the graspy and kinda dark voice of Dean Blunt plus the classical guitar playing chords that sounds like the end of a movie or a sunset. IDK it just sounds pretty cool, one of my favorites songs of my life.

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

it's really amazing!
there's piano, drums, guitar andgreat Rouse's voice

Great lo-fi fun music from france. Samples, cheezy keyboards... really sounds like it's made in a bedroom. This song's a bit silly. Latin beat. guitar strums. cha cha cha. Good for fans of Stereo Total

Firstly, John Cash is a god! This is the first song of his that really grabbed me. He has a real sorrow in his voice that rings true when he sings about people being hung for murder and such.

featured on the albumn Folsom Prison Blues which is one of the best things you can buy, regardless of weather you're a country fan or not

These Canary Islands boys try their best to disguise their accents on this snarling proto-Stooges number with almost militaristic drumming and ethereal backing vocals. The flip to the club classic "Get on Your Knees".

Raw Stylus effortlessly combined british acid jazz elements with sophisticated, elegant Steely Dan-esque american jazz/soul/funk. In fact, like on this track, the music sounds very much like a Steely Dan backing track with warm Fender Rhodes keyboards, precise horn section, funky rhythm section and jazzy guitars. Which really isn't much of a wonder when looking at the credits of the album. Let's see: The album is impeccably produced by the Dan's producer Gary Katz, features an incredible amount of fine session musicians including Steely Dan regulars (like Bernard Purdie, Randy Brecker or Hugh McCracken), has even Donald Fagen providing synths on "37 Hours (In The U.S.A.) and they even embedded some chords of "Josie" in the song. Unfortunately, despite the talent, Raw Stylus remained a one album band to this very day, kinda sad actually...

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.

Remarkable cover of a classically great song. Ricky has an amazing voice and his solo guitar work is clean and just raw enough to engage you. Found him on hte web at www.soundclick.com/rickyfitzpatrick.

I can't think of another current unknown performer who deserves to be propelled into the realm of stardom more than Ricky.

In a word...spercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

The album is a huge disapointment (12 years for making an album that sounds like rejected b-sidesmaterial to hounds of love) but this lovely, moving piano ballad about her mothers death shows why there really is no one else like Kate Bush.

Thought I might see if I can type in some Christmas favorites...

This is the Pogues song, sung by Christy Moore, the great Irish balladeer, folk singer and all round good bloke.

There's a studio version on his 'Smoke and Strong Whiskey LP'. The LPs great, but the version of 'A Fairy Tale' is not half as good as the live version from (I think) Live at the Point.

Christy's shows at the time were just him and an acoustic guitar. It was still a cracking show. He's now accompanied by another acoustic guitar (hey - lets rock!! :) ).

Anyhow he seems to get a big sound out of just guitar and voice.

Coming to the point...

This version is just Christy and his guitar. It preceded by a long story about how he 'stumbled into a fairy ring and bejasus I couldnt get out'. He's eventually helped out by a stranger who takes him by the hand and takes him to a pub. They sing each other songs and tell each poems. Then the stranger starts to sing 'It was Christmas Eve, babe...' .... and you know the rest. It finshes with Christy kissing the stanger on the lips and declaring Shane MacGowan 'I love you baby too'

Other Christmas songs:
Cajun Christmas
Il est Ne le Devine Enfant - Siouxsie and the Banshees
All I really want for Christmas - Ini Kamoze (maybe?)
Christmas Lullaby - Shane MacGowan
White Christmas - The Drifters

This Samba Rock tune is written by Jorge Ben. He is really one of the under estimated musicians in the West. Probably because the fact that all of his songs are in Portuguese. He has made and written such good music and was on the footing of Samba Rock, Tropicalia and MPB. Right now one of his songs is a big hit again by Sergio Mendes "Más que nada". This track "a minha menina" will drive you wild because of the fuzz guitar, percussion and again: handclapping. That's also why I like this version by Os Mutantes better then the original by Jorge Ben.

I know, one is supposed to defer to the Eno-epoch Roxy Music, (and the first two LPs are the end of the world), but this may well be the band's most serene momment. Bryan Ferry is at the top his game here - his vocals are heavenly, his lyrics are brilliantly/brutally witty. Add the floating layers of "Melody Nelson" damaged strings and the effect is dazzling.

A crooning Bryan Ferry (what else?), Odd timing (as all songs in this album), some classical instruments. Overall, an impassioned statement, sung very persuasively.

My favorite song of all time! I can listen to this one recorded song a million times and get the same feeling every time I hear it. It makes me feel inspired.

This really is the stand-out track from Ed Motta's 2000 album, "As Segundas Inten��es Do Manual Pr�tico". On this album, and in albums since, Ed seems to span jazz-latin reluctantly with pop. The rest of the album, bar a couple of tracks, is a fairly straight forward pop affair, but the song writing on his albums since have been a lot more adventurous and in this vein, but nothing has matched it since.

Like Stairway to heaven, only better. Real drive and from bonham, good direcion, and purposeful without beaing to hasty.

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

This is the man who did 'Here Comes the Hot Stepper'. This is in a fairly similar vein - the payoff is 'all I really want for christmas, is to be a little bit more conscious'. Its kind of serious for a Christmas record (ragga singers always sound really really stressed out to me...), but, well, I llke it a lot


Other Christmas songs:
Cajun Christmas
Il est Ne le Devine Enfant - Siouxsie and the Banshees
All I really want for Christmas - Ini Kamoze (maybe?)
Christmas Lullaby - Shane MacGowan
White Christmas - The Drifters

the live version is a cracker she really pumps it out

There is something magic about a song like �All Men Play On Ten� in this post-Spinal Tap Metal world. Such an earnest rock anthem, in such an irony saturated market� You�ve got to have respect for Manowar. Is it a mark of defiance or of ignorance and stupidity? Hard to tell. Maybe both. But then this song is essentially about doing things their own way, and not listening to anybody. So who cares anyway? Well, it�s worth listening to Eric Adams for 4 minutes at least. He has a message for us all. He�s no puritanical, know-it-all, he�s a reformed character preaching a rock�n�roll gospel. Believe it or not brothers, he too has fallen. There was a time when he did it for the money, yes that�s right, he sold his soul to the loud music-hating devil. And the devil said hmmm Mr Adams, for your money I have some things I need you to do for me, adjustments as it were. Eric said, well okay, what do you suggest? The devil demanded that he turn down his amps, �why be proud, don�t play so loud, be like us and get a sound that�s real THIN�. OK, I reckon I could do that, just a bit, said Eric, a little put out. But the demands didn�t end there, Eric was pinched and plucked for his silver dollar, �wear a polyester suit, act happy, look cute, get a haircut and buy small gear.� And inevitably it all got too much. Eric�s no pigeon weaver, and he got real mad, and he turned to the devil and said, �HOLD IT, RIGHT THERE!� And good for him. For this is a great track. Very catchy.

A great, gritty pop song with some really fantastic lyrics.
"You think that you know tragedy? William Shakespeare's got fuck all on me".
A lazy comparison would be to Belle & Sebastian, but Tompaulin are really worthy of being taken on their won terms. The whole album is just brilliant.

I don't know why I like this track so much. I'll admit that Do You Realize? is the better track from the album. But this song just always makes me stop in my tracks and listen. It's an interesting song, about a man meeting himself from the future. It's really cool.

I really love Slowdive. I guess it's fair to say they're the most under-rated band of all time (yeah, I know you all have your own opinions but you're wrong and I'm right - okay? ).

So imagine my surprise when electronica masters Morr Music decided to compile a Slowdive tribute record last year, featuring luminraies such as Icelandic beauties Mum.

The album is a sheer joy - and highlights the quality of Halstead's original song-writing (before the layers of reverb and delay were added).
The stand-out track is Altogether, taken from Slowdive's second Creation release 'Souvlaki'. An astonishingly pretty but achingly mournful track is turned, by Morr's Styrofoam, into a trippy work of blissed-out happiness. Cool.

I'm just reacquainting myself with the entire Low album after buying it on CD (my LP has been out of my reach for a few years). It really is utter genius. If they were in any other context, I don't imagine I would enjoy some of the guitar solos featured in this song. Here, they work brilliantly though. The musical basis of 'always crashing in the same car' is quite simple, but the superb musical performances and odd, otherworldly production give it an incredible richness. Bowie's vocal is mournful, and doesn't dominate the track.

Opens with a gratuitously twangy pedal steel guitar and Frizzell's creamy melimsa vocals. A really lovely example of early 50s honky tonk music.

Now I understand,
Why words mean so much to you,
They'll never be about you..

Roddy (singer/writer) says that �American English� is about �how ever single love song ever written is written about the person who wrote it, nobody else�.

Pure cinematic pop genius.This song was the flip for their single "Don't You Care?" which was a big hit for them lasting 14 weeks in the top 10.And even though I love that song, the B side has always captivated me more.The orchestration is just breath taking. It sounds more like a soundtrack theme than an album track.Like a lost Bond theme or something, really stunning!!

The LP uses the same style for another great one called"You Are Gone"as well. Vinyl copies are almost everywhere in the US for like 5$, Well worth it!

Great song with really strange lyrics on par with Love's "The Red Telephone": "Her belly button was her mouth/and she tasted what she'd speak/but the funny thing is what happened to her nose/it grew until it reached all of her toes/now when people say her feet smell they mean her nose." Another version was recorded by Lou Reed on his "Transformer" LP a few years later.

A quintessential Scott track, recorded when he was at peak of his abilities. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground over Scott Walker - people seem to either love him or hate him. I don't really understand how anyone could not be charmed by Scott - sure, he's a crooner and the music backing him is often lush and is rarely 'hip'. But the voice! The words! I've never been really big on either vocalists or lyrics, but these really, really get to me. Angelica's verse is dark and melancholic, and the words speak of regret over a neglected lover. The chorus explodes with emotion, and at this point you should be able to figure out one way or the other whether you love Scott or not. n.b. I always thought this song was composed by Scott, but I was mistaken. As well as being a great songwriter, he had superb taste in other material.

I don't like all of Louis' stuff. Some of it I can't stand. His cover of "Witchi Tai To" from this album really makes me gag. Sorry. But Louis has made more than a handful of wondrous, timeless pop songs. This one captures Louis at his most Beach Boys-influenced. It doesnt sound JUST LIKE the Beach Boys, but, yeah, the influence is there. A stunning track.

This manages to have a late seventies punk spirit, yet still be a really well crafted guitar pop song. Always great to hear on the dancefloor.

Could this be the most self-aware song ever written? 'I'm the world's most opinionated man,' sings sweet-voiced David Crosby in a tone of utter resignation. Bear in mind he'd already dealt with fame, failure, bereavement, heroin, booze and yachting by this point. It's a very stripped-down arrangement, with even CSN's trademark harmony kept to a minimum. And Crosby's rueful laugh towards the end is a real killer. Should I die soon, stop by my funeral and you'll hear this song... From a very underrated album, recorded after that toerag Neil Young had come and gone.

For anyone unfamiliar with Xiu Xiu, "Apistat Commander" would be the song I'd recommend starting with when checking out this band. It's easily the most accessible thing they've recorded to date, but with that said, there's really not a whole lot about Xiu Xiu's music that screams "accessible," so approach with caution.

The song starts out innocently enough, with singer Jamie Stewart's barely audible moan and minimal synth backing, before ripping into a "cathartic attack mode" that sounds something like Nine Inch Nails raping the Cure. The song's best moment comes when Stewart screams, "oh, this relief/it's the oddest thing/ohmygod/ohmygod/ohmygod."

Apart from their hit songs, I have only recently got into The Smashing Pumpkins and this track stands out for me as brilliant. Great lyrics and a steady pumping beat make this difficult to not listen to over and over again. I think you need to invest time in their songs before you start to like them. That was definately the case with this song, on first listening it didn't really stand out, but now I would put it alongside 'Ava Adore' as one of the best tracks on the album 'Adore'. Also listening to 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' at the moment, another album that grows on you once you put the time in.

This is a great version of the song from 'Hair', when I first bought the Cilla album from which this came, this for me was intially the stand-out track. Its a very powerful version and Cilla really does justice to it.

This is from "Flying Saucer", which for me is the record of the decade. It's electronic synth-pop w/ 2 female vocalists. There's an youthfulness and innocence about the music that makes me think it'd be a good soundtrack for a manga. There's some grown up melancholy there, too, on some of the songs.

yes, this is one of the songs in the commercials for itunes. yes, it is probably going to be overplayed and annoy you to death. but until then, it's a damned rocking good song. i have had to listen to it a few times a day, and i still can't get it out of my head, not that i want to. makes me want to dance, puts me in a good mood. is it a really great song? maybe not. but for now, it completely rocks.

Like most of the boatman's call album, this one is very sparse - it's essentially the piano and Nick's voice. The lyrics are Nicks best ever effort though I reckon - it's him trying to decide if someone really is the love of his life: "well we would know, won't we?/ stars would explode in the sky/ But they don't, do they?/ Stars have their moment, and then they die."
 
It really does repay listening to about a hundred times - very moving.

This is one of my favorite Bacharach-David songs. It would be difficult to top Dionne Warwick's original, but Anita Kerr's jazzy cover comes awfully close. Kerr's arrangement is more muted and pretty - and when the drums kick in between chorus and verse, the results are breathtaking. Real cool!

This song has a very tender vocal, which I believe is by either Carl or Dennis, a super-cool reverb-laden piano and sweet handclaps that cue up organ and trumpets. As fully-realized a piece as anything on "Pet Sounds".

Isobel Campbell was, of course, a member of Belle & Sebastian as well as the lead singer in The Gentle Waves, a disguised solo project backed by members of Belle & Sebastian. Her first "real" solo record "Amorino" was finally released in 2003. This wonderful cover version was only released on her 2004 EP "Time Is Just The Same". And while it's already great to see a Morricone cover version these days, this one is really amazing too. It just suits Mrs. Campbells airy, fairy-like voice perfectly. Compared to the Astrud Gilberto from 1971 this version feels even lighter, calmer, more stripped down since it's not orchestrated with strings.

It's beautifully orchestrated. The first few notes set the tone of the song automatically. The introduction has guitar, and drums kick in slowly, making a punch to the ears. It makes me want to drive slowly through a desert (which I am from Arizona) while the full moon is out, windows rolled down and the warm summer air drifting through them. Amazing song. Really does hit home for me.

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".

Really nice townes song lots of versions available from him

Birgit Lystager is incredible, a Danish cross between Astrud Gilberto and Karen Carpenter with really artily written and composed pop songs. It's hard to choose just one tune from this magnificent and scarce album, but I'm often unable to get that "Eyes and hair and legs, oh what a sight/She's a flash of light in darkest night...." chorus out of my head for days at a time. To the above two chanteuses I might also add a dash of Joni Mitchell because of the conversational lyrics and melodic savoir-faire (maybe I should also mention Francoise Hardy right about here as well!). The arrangement is lush and expansive with more than a hint of Bacharach (whose "Another Night" is covered spectacularly on the same album). All this is already more than enough, but lovely Birgit also opted to go the extra mile and pose stark naked on the gatefold LP cover, tastefully exhibiting her considerable assets. (Heh heh, he said "assets.") In any event, this song, and the album it comes from, would be completely brilliant no matter what she looked like. Extremely hard to find, but WELL worth the search. I recommend Soulseek.....

The score for Pasquale Festa Campanile�s mean but effective film "Autostop Rosso Sangue (Hitch Hike)" seems to be a precursor to the score for Oliver Stone�s mean and ineffective "U-Turn." On second thought, not just the score but the entire film. I wonder if Stone had seen this movie before making "U-Turn." At any rate, I�m here to talk about the music, and both films feature absolutely incredible scores by Morricone.

The arrangement here is pretty spare � I�m pretty sure that this track is mostly improvised -- and plays like a toned down spaghetti western theme. Morricone can evoke more feeling from a small group of musicians than most film composers could from an entire orchestra. The twangy banjo sounds great over the plodding bass line, and I love the subtle organ sounds. Ultimately, the real star here is Edda Dell'orso whose wordless vocals meander over it all.

For me, this perhaps the absolute apex of the much-admired Italian 'Easy Tempo' series of compilations (it's on Volume 8). The formula is similar to other tracks I've recommended - a sexy wordless vocal, a light bossa beat, some strings. But that really doesn't tell the story! The chord sequence is extremely catchy and uplifting. This is a truly incredible three minutes.

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?".

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 psychedelic Exotica classic. It really must be heard to be believed. For starters, Magne raises the genre's hallmark bird calls way, way over the top. Some of them sound like Donald Duck, some sound like theremins. Then there is the spaced-out arrangement which integrates the bird sounds and pushes the familiar melody in totally bizarre directions.

This chap Mick Thomas is extremely sentimental, and if you want to get into him, you have to expect to have your heart strings tugged pretty regular. However, if your make up is unashamedly sentimental as mine is, you can really get into this very plain, open and beautiful style of singing.

This one is one of Mick's best - I haven't quite worked out the genders on it (some people think he is singing as a woman in this one) but he certainly takes the place of a rather downtrodden, unconfident person. The chorus is very delicately judged:
I'd have baked a cake
if I knew you were coming
but now that you're here
it's time we did some talking
who'm I trying to kid?
I knew you'd be coming around

The backing is slow, but expressive hawaiian guitars subordinated to the lyrics. Mick's voice itself is incredibly expressive - he's a big old chap, and his voice has a lot of power but also it seems to have the sound of experience behind it. He also has a brilliant range -I've tried to sing this many a time and it's very hard.

�sound and instrumentation:Slightly garage-sounding psych rock with Portuguese lyric- creative use of 1960s sound processing methods to give a somewhat spacy aspect. This is one of the more commercially rocking tracks from a very creative and groundbreaking psychedelic rock group.

Here is a real music man from Africa who stirred alot of contraversy by forming his own political party and using his music as a weapon against the colonial british government. He wrote Beasts of No Nation in 1986 after spending 3 years in jail without being convicted. Beautiful voice!! Influenced by American jazz and Drum rhythms of west nigeria. Many consider him the African James Brown or Bob Marley, but this is not so. Find out for yourself!

A track from Cilla's recent album which really should have been a single, excellently sung and produced

Ex toadies lead singer Todd (Vaden) Lewis, one of the best voices in rock today. Don't know if you get this goodness yet outside of texas, but the tour is upcoming, and I actually heard it on the radio (gasp) something the Toadies 2nd album didn't even get (a great sophmore release from a platinum selling band... hmmmm) anyway its uplifting and real, but does has a little of that Tv sheen on it that instills hope in you, even if life is never really as good as it promises.

An amazingly warm and funky cover of the Chicago song 'feelings'. I know that doesn't sound like a recipe for success, but it really is very cool. The song degenerates into a huge jamming session at the end and carries on for 9 minutes. But it's storming stuff!

This has to be one of my top favorite Foo Fighters songs. I think that the band put a lot of emotion and energy into the song all together. It's a very powerful song that anyone can enjoy.

"Has someone taken your faith?
Its real, the pain you feel
The life, the love
You'd die to heal
The hope that start
The broken hearts
Your trust, you must
Confess"

This is a very lively track that was produced by Bob Crewe, of Four Seasons fame (and who just might be my favourite producer of all time). It utilizes piano triplets, horns, clattering drums, and great lead and backing vocals to make a typically tight '60s track where not a moment is wasted. And it's in 6/8 time, which means it can sound straightforward but with a bit of "swing" to it, meanwhile some of the drum fills can hit on every second beat rather than every third one. There really hasn't been a better song out of Canada in these past 40 years ...

A superb song from Cale's first solo LP after leaving the Velvet Underground. Very melodic, lushly orchestrated and sophisticated, an absolutely impeccably-crafted pop song. I really love the echo effect on the whole thing, coupled with Cale's ultra-fluid viola playing. A great album from start to finish, actually.

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 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.

For someone like me, the strangest thing about getting really into Roxy Music is the overt rockiness of a lot of their material. Even on this track, which is one more of their slower, more mournful numbers, there are a lot of very heavy rocky moments. They work pretty well though, and I'm certainly not complaining.

The atmospheric opening is breathtaking, and Bryan Ferry's vocal as he sings 'I've opened up my heart' is incredibly beautiful. The words and music seem to meld together in a very pretty way, but then before long the track mutates into a stomping, carnival like passage that clearly influenced Nick Cave to a considerable extent. Throughout the song there's this interchange between delicate, melodic verses and the rowdy, discordant section. Like another favorite Roxy track, 'Just like you', this song finishes with a clever chord change.

I'm sure many people would find 'Bitter-Sweet' much too dramatic and serious - perhaps some days I would too - but it does have an incredible elegance and style that makes me keep on listening.

This is my favorite these days. Totally cuts into my dull recession-based lifestyle and peppers it with some yellow Nashville sunshine....

The song bounces through a hum-drum monday with the bouyant post-it note poetics of a 9 to 5 cutie... Nothing is going right today, and the song sounds like the antedote :

" ...Gotta' go to work, really gotta per-cu-late... Try to catch the fish that's jumping off your
dish-or-plate...." To "Don't ask for help... from anybody... cause they'll only turn you down-ooo...
na-na-na-na-na, ooooooooooh na-na-na-na-na, Blame it on a mondaaaaayy..... YEAH! ....

The session smokes and the players are astounding! Huge southern brass-blasts counterpoint the bouncing hoe-down groove... It must have been a hoot to play because the track clocks in at over four minutes, but you hardly notice for all the fun....Funky in a very music-city way. Almost Nancy & Lee like, with a little Free Design-like harmonic optimisim in the vocal arrangements, which Anita's well known for.

I recommend the whole record though.It plays straight through, and you play it again & again. A lost gem.

benn into this band for a while, I'm not gonna lie mostly because the name is so damn funny. but I really love this song!

When I heard this album by the Brazilian organist Ed Lincoln, I really wasn't expecting a tune like this. It's a beautiful, tender vocal, sounding like something from a Francis Lai soundtrack, with lovely male-female alternating vocals and an exquisite Morricone style trumpet blending well with the guitar/organ/percussion instrumentation. An absolutely stunning track - playful but slightly sad at the same time, with some spooky laughter/sighing from the female singer towards the end.

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.

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.

Funny, fast, w/ weird stream of conciousness lyrics. Mary Prankster (a funky mix of punk, rock, and rockabilly) is in-your-face, vulgar, clever, and original. Also great live--check out MaryPrankster.com for tour dates.

"I'm really stoned, and I think mom put acid in my orange juice again"

Hey - don't knock Sade. This is from the Love Deluxe album, which is a great record by any measure. All the songs are original and heartfelt, not formulaic, and with an awareness of third-world misery that's striking coming from a pop princess like her. But she is from Nigeria and knows what she's singing about. Bulletproof Soul is my favorite on the album, a song very dry and quiet and sparse. The backing vocal works in a very sad, soulful harmony line in the chorus that really makes the song.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this one of Sergio Mendes' hipper tracks from his Brasil '66 or '77 period. It has that old sound to it and is really warm. It starts off breezy and builds with energy whilst Roman Andren, a young Swedish musician, composer and DJ, plays some beautiful electric piano over the top. Although it starts off with vocals over a sparse bass and electric piano combo, the vocals don't come in again until a while into the track. By the end of the track, the energy is at its most, yet still breezy, with brass, vocals and hand-claps providing a sense of a party. It's the perfect song for a summer's day or, close your eyes on a dreary winter's day and be transported.

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.

great piece of whiskey-soaked break up pop from our friend lee, here. it's basically driven by guitar and harpsichord, but a warbling hammond organ pops up in the end. really dig the balance between lee's weary voice and the backup singers' purring wordless hums here.

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin played on 3 tracks of Joe Cocker's 1st album. This is an old song which has been slowed down and Page's guitar work is really decent on this track. Cocker's voice (he was touted as the best blues singer in UK at that time by Eric Clapton)is pristine. Also check out "Sandpaper Cadillac" and "Do I Still Figure in Your Life" as well!

-soft at first, has rock-ish bridges and soft ones too!
-melodic voice, really smooth
-male singer

50's bollywood song with sort of a tin pan alley vibe.
Kind of intense, really swingin'. Dig the sassy-sounding deliveries beween Kumar and his female vocal partner, and the typically bollywood insane-yet-non-obtrusive bridges.

cat mane MIAOW!

i really want to mix this with "trick me" by kelis.

This song grabs you and doesn't let go. Catchy, melodic and flowing... It's very hard not to listen to this song without bobbing your head along with it. The slurred southern drawl of the lead singer, and the sparkly melody really put you in a specific place and time. A very cool track, and one that's perfect for drinking to.

Don't go to Shinedown for a pure fluffy pep song, but this is a really good song. Among my favourites of Shinedown, along with 'What A Shame', 'I Own You', and 'No More Love'.

Bobby Darin - truly one of the smoothest singers the US has ever produced, and there's nothing that showcases this pop-cabaret style like his tenure at Capitol. A singer of great versatility, he swings effortlesly on this album, having great technique and even greater rhythmic feel.

Call Me Irresponsible, something of a standard really, is my favourite. Darin's vocals make you fall in love with his irresponsible, unreliable, unpredictable charm. Accompanied by finger clickin' good Richard Wess big-band sounds. Wow. Whatta man.

This is the title track from Stephen McCarthy's debut album. It features Piano, Bass, Drums and Sax with Stephen providing the vocals.

It shows the upbeat version of Stephen McCarthy's voice ... he also does some really slow mournful tracks on this album as well.

One of the reasons I like it so much is because Stephen made the album independently of any label.

Mind-blowing late-60s girl-group sound with very odd lyrics...words really can't describe it. Suffice to say, it's a strange song. This group started out as a very typical girl group of the early 60s mold, but kept plugging away long after those groups had gone out of style. This cut from '68 is very psych-y and "groovy", as was the fashion at the time. They eventually transformed into Barry Manilow's backup singers, but please don't hold that against them.

My favorite cut from this amazing soundtrack. A mix of Alpert, Glockenspiel, and jazz scat... Unlike anything else recorded really.

This is a rather ridiculous but super–catchy take on this theme to the 1967 spoof Bond movie. Performed by German session musicians, it ends up being a rather groovy mix, with viola d’amore, flute, female wordless vocals, harpsichord, and that other staple of the Baroque era, funky drums. It’s short and sweet and really very cool. The late sixties were cool for many reasons, but one of them is that they could accomodate TWO albums called 'Bacharach Baroque' - this one, and the other great Snuff Garrett-produced one by 'The Renaissance'. Both are superb.

Well it bugs me beyond words that I can never find out which album this song came from but I love it nonetheless. It's the first C&C song I heard and one I loved the first time I heard it.

It's probably one of the most atmospheric songs I've heard that conjures up images of an autumn landscape, of someone wandering in a wood, feeling lost and staring at the sky. I don't know why the music makes me think of these things but it just does. The song is quite slow and calm to begin with, then picks up and crescendoes at the chorus/bridge and the guitar playing goes through some changes. It's a really unusual song and definitely recommended!

This song is simply unreal. It starts out in a kind of 4/4 samba groove with a highly prominent cuica and a funky strummed acoustic guitar chord progression before the super-catchy pizzicato-violins riff comes in, and Abilio's mellow voice singing the melody. It's sunshiney and catchy, with a bit of a haunting aftertaste, very Brazilian. I can never hear this song enough times!! Abilio Manoel is a Sao Paulo-based singer-songwriter from the late-60s-70s (still active) who wrote a few moderate hits without attaining even a Marcos Valle level of popularity. Good for Marcos, since Abilio's work would have caused me a few sleepless nights if I were him. And both on the same label, too! Abilio's stuff is hard to find, but very worth the effort.....I've already given Dusty Groove the heads-up about the CD....

lush cover of the gainsbourg standard. jane's voice fits the tone of the song, not overpowering and never really bursting out into 'song'. brilliant in it's own way.

Don Ellis is a often overlooked trumpeter/bandleader. His style of jazz was most well recieved in CA, and he's most famous for his Fillmore appearances opening for people like Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa. This is a demonstration of his prowess and his ability to construct an amazing band, and take them to new heights. Recorded hot on the heels of his French Connection score, and more than a decade into his career.

The piece is a sprawling morphilogical journey, full of orchestral passages and time/tempo changes, and blissful rests. He utilizes an "Electric String Quartet", which, through the magic of studio production, sounds like a full string ensemble! Making the wole track just bristle with dark energy.

Produced by the great Teo Macero, who had been doing great work at Columbia for a long time. He did some stuff with Ramsey Lewis around the same time, as well as Miles Davis. This record also has a great version of his "French ConnectionTheme" and really entertaining versions of "Alone Again (Naturally)" & Yes's "Roundabout"!

You might be familiar with Francoise's incredible 1971 album La Question, a track from which was recommended by another user almost four years ago (Oui, je dis adieu). I managed to get a friend to copy the album for me at the time, and I recall being very taken by 'Viens', the first song. I put this track on a compilation but somehow never really savoured the album as a whole.

Recently I found I could get the album on CD, so picked it up (along with another interesting Francoise album, 'If you listen').

The difference for me now I have the CD is vast, and I'm now able to appreciate the album in all its glory. The clincher for me is the blend of percussive Brazilian guitar, beautiful strings, and the Melody Nelson-style sparseness of the arrangements.

I chose this track to recommend because of the bizarre extra dimension brought by the fact that Francoise is just scatting - there are no words - and the intermittent moments of complete silence, which are surprising and really hold the attention. Parts of the chord sequence remind me of Henry Mancini (in particular, a track called 'Softly' from the Mr Lucky soundtrack), while the overall effect of the sexy echoey vocal naturally brings to mind Ennio Morricone's work with Edda Dell'Orso.

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.

Just discovered this cover of the Neil Diamond song on Youtube, along with several other videos by the Music Machine, and it really stunned me. It's a beautiful soft pop version of "Cherry Cherry" complete with flute solo-nothing like the other songs I've heard from the band. Nothing garagey about it at all, more in the easy listening vein...and I mean that in a good way!

Another great cover version that the Music Machine do is "Hey Joe"-their's is my favorite version of that oft-recorded chestnut.

I didn't know anything about 'The Lion In Winter' from 1968 until a few days ago. I had the TV on in the background when my attention was grabbed by one particular song in the movie. "That must be John Barry's work", I thought to my self. His use of strings and trumpets are unmisstakable -- and surely I was correct!

'Chinon / Eleanor's Arrival' has the same type of sound as Barry's later soundtracks such as 'Moonraker', 'High Road to China' and 'Out of Africa'. In fact, I first thought I was listening to a passage from 'Moonraker' when I heard this song the first time. The arrangement is brilliant, the lush rich strings, trumpet and female- male choir really makes this song stand out. It has a very majestic, grand feeling to it and it really fits the scene it is used for in the movie.

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 !

It has been argued that Joéo Donato was the first to play a bossa nova rhythm on a recording (playing the accordian on "Eu Quero Um Samba" with Os Namorados), but whilst his contemporaries from the early years of bossa, such as Gilberto and Jobim, were happy to expand on the traditional bossa sound in later years, Donato went a number of steps further. The first track "Chorou, Chorou", from a fabulous album titled "Quem é Quem" is not even the best track off the album, but the opening bars give an idea of what the whole album is about. It's playful in melody, often subtly funky in rhythm and over all, a great album. This particular album also contains my favourite interpretation of "A Rã" by Donato. I'll have to recommend more songs from this album at a later time, because it really is great.

Darlene really gives it her all on this song which has become an all-time holiday classic.

Forget everything I wrote about Trojan Curfew - I have now decided that a) his new band can be pretty brilliant, and b) I slightly overrated TC - the music is astonishingly beautiful, but the lyrics are all downhill from the second verse.

Now - Church on white is the real deal. Yet more of Malkmus' beautiful, aching music (how _does_ he do it?), with his voice giving more meaning to lines such as 'carry on/ it's a marathon' than they probably deserve. The chorus of 'All you ever wanted/ was everything/ plus everything/ and the truth/ I only bought you/ half a lie' is one of his best, as is the instrumental break. His best solo effort, is my opinion for this evening at least.

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.

Matisyahu is a hasidic Jew who sings reggae music...really, really well.

"Bob Nesta said it best, everything will be alright...introspect, connect the sects, and let this music make you fly..."

FROM THE 1966 'LP-FOR CERTAIN BECAUSE'-A HYBRID OF RUBBER SOUL AND THE BYRDS-COMPLETE BLURRED POP PERFECTION IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO MAKE A CUP OF TEA-SAD AND BEAUTIFUL AND A MILLION MILES AWAY FROM THE USUAL BEAT OF THE HOLLIES,IT SHIMMERS IN A SLOW MOTION 12 STRING DAYDREAM AND MAKES ME REALISE WHY I LOVE MUSIC AND WHY I AM STILL AWAKE WHEN I AM AT WORK IN 4 HOURS TIME-SEARCH FOR THIS AND WALLOW IN IT'S SPLENDOUR...........

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.

This song was recorded when the singer, Caleb Followill, was really drunk. It was recorded in one take and he made up most of the song as he was going... It's their best song, and one of the best songs I've ever hear.

It's in waltz time, with a strummed electric guitar intro followed by female vocals, bass & drums. There's a short female vocal counterpoint part, then the louder chorus. Towards the end the song changes key with a solo guitar figure, joined then by bass, then the the synth & drums enter in a musical explosion that's really cool.
I did'nt like this song at first, liking the rest of the album("Winds Take No Shape") better but the song has grown into one of my favorites on this record.
The full album is one of my favorites of the decade, second only to "Flying Saucer" by Astronaut Wife.

short, bouncy cover of the broadcast song.
it's interesting because it removes all the dissonant electronics that make up the "broadcast sound", leaving a much purer-sounding piece of 70's style pop-psych.
in a weird way, this now feels like the alternative universe original version, and the original song the cover.
i love the giddy woooh-ing in the chorus.

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.

Most so-called "progressive rock" was really progressive pop, but not this track, which does rock out and which has a great big guitar hook (you'll know it when you hear it), which resolves several different ways within the song, i.e. the band were creative. It kicks off the last of their big three LPs ("Jumbo" and "Rockpommel's Land" were the first two), and according to the liner notes was a concert favourite.

This is a really catchy and kind of sad song.

Off the brillaint soundtrack for 'Timecode' by Mike Figgis and Anthony Marinelli, not sure who actually wrote this song but the whole album is really good. The film's pretty good as well. Skin has a great voice and this is a really moody, atmospheric song that makes me feel both warm and lonely at the same time. The Main Title track is great as well.

Guy Sebastian has a really great smooth voice and I love most of his work. This is just a happier song that makes me want to dance. Dance I tells ya!

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.

Just one minute and twenty seconds long, this a perfectly distilled piece of Brazilian pop/mood music. The song consists of a simple, beautiful chord progression, which is repeated over and over. João sings a simple vocal over his guitar, and then some brass and strings come in to join him. The arrangement is stunning: sweeping and beautiful, with a delicate, sparkly sound at the beginning and end. It sounds very like the work of Claus Ogerman (who arranged the tracks on 'Amoroso', which appears on the same CD), but in fact, it's arranged by Johnny Mandel. Although this was recorded in 1980, it has a timeless feel. The entire Amoroso/Brasil CD is quite incredible. It took a few listens to really hit home, but has now become one of my 'desert island discs'.

Ever wonder what a collaboration between Young Marble Giants and Tuxedomoon in, say 1981, might have sounded like? Well, now you know....
Stark bass lines, antediluvian drum machines, and lilting, little-girl-lost vocals collide with welters of noise and lyrics full of images straight out of David Cronenberg's "Scanners".
Gorgeous, grisly and grim - a great track from what might be the record of the year.

This is by no means a new release, but I've recently gotten back in to it. Most people have a misconception about The Misfits. Yes they have recorded some very 'crap' songs, and the newly re-vised band and almost everything Danzig has done lately is complete garbage in my eyes, however the original Misfits early recordings, circa 1975-77 are simply amazing. 'Cough/ Cool' is a Hammond/ Fender Rhodes driven, atmospheric masterpiece. Danzig croons like Jim Morrison in this emotionally charged ballad(?). Granted, the lyrics are kind of dark, "scent of blood when you cough, cool, cool, cool, cough, cool ", and most of the other words are relatively indeciphrable, yet shockingly 'pretty'...at least in their tonal quality. The song is very scaled-down and under produced (organ, electric piano, bass and drums), but this is a good thing, it's part of its charm. The amount of reverb and slap-back echo on Glenn's voice is brilliant. So, I urge anyone who has never listened to The Misfits due to the forementioned reasons to get off their collective 'high horses' and give it a listen, they have some really great songs. Other good tracks from the same era include; "Return of The Fly", "She", "Hybrid Moments", "Come Back", "American Nightmare", etc...

The genius of Billy McKenzie is distilled in this largely unheard epic.Tribal drums introduce a synth pop backing which allows a bit more floorspace for what sounds like a barber shop quartet before McKenzie,s yerning vocals commence the song proper.
Both chaotic and cohesive ,this really shouldnt work but a maverick self belief produces a truly fantastic odd,unforgetable moment.This remained unreleased for nearly twenty years by a short sighted record company looking for a uqick repetitive return.Some things never change .

acoustic guitar, soft sounding song but it has very strong vocals performed by Bryon Mack.
I like the song because it has a very pleasing melody and the vocals can really be felt, they aren't just heard.

Who is Smokey and is that really his sister singing too? A euphonious delight. Oh I'd love to hear the album or even the b-side. Unmissable.

Just a great song. Musically it builds beautifully to the finale. A little depressing, but still, real life.

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.

A bewitching song about a young woman who, to win the hand of a handsome knight, does her rival sister in. The dead girl then comes back to haunt the �black-haired bride� as a harp fashioned from her breast bone and three locks of her hair. �Cruel� may seem too kindly a description of a girl who when her sister pleads, �Oh Sister, Sister, let me live, and all that�s mine I�ll surely give� says, �It�s your own true love I have and more, but thou shalt never come ashore� before abandoning her body to the rough North Sea. Cruel? Should the sister therefore be scalded for her little� transgression? She�s an evil and monstrous sister, surely? But then this is centuries past, a time when sibling murder and human harps were commonplace. I am not likely to understand in this more civilised 21st century. Which may be why the kids don�t really dig British folk music anymore, or the mighty Pentangle. And it�s a crying shame because this is a stunning track, hauntingly sung by Jacqui McShee. I hesitate to use the term �masterpiece� in case that great oracle of musicaltaste.com, fmars, overhears and tells me that I�m wrong.

pretty straightforward mid-sixties garage tune.
what really grabs me about this is the ambience created by the organ/ drum combo in the refrain, wich gives it a kind of mideval/ primal feel. (feel free to arrest me on this one as i know virtually nothing about those genres. it's just the description that sprung to mind:)
don't know too much about the band, as this was a random file sharing find.

is there any kind of music that fits better into a compilation format than the countless garage one hit- or no hit- wonders of the sixties? didn't think so.

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.

Folk? Soul? Pop? Rock? I don't know, I just know I REALLY like it. The sole album by this mysterious duo (Alzo's got a solo album too) is the very definition of groovy. This song, like the rest of the record, is hard to describe, but let's just imagine a funkier version of the 60s Bee Gees crossed with, I don't know, Donovan? No, maybe the Rascals crossed with Jose Feliciano and Joe Bataan is closer to it. It totally works, especially when they get to the falsetto chorus of "Everybody feel iiiiit......come on and clap your hands!" People, find this record: it will improve your life!

Dave Gedge, main man in long-time British alternative band The Wedding Present, decided to do something a bit different in the latter part of the 1990s, so he enlisted girlfriend Sally Murrell and a number of musical friends and put out some really good material under the name Cinerama. The purpose was to do some less noisy, more classic-pop oriented tunes, and it worked like a charm! This track, their second single, is a sprightly '60s-influenced number, which means it's mega-tightly produced and has the rhythm guitars at the back of the mix where they belong. It also has a nifty string and piano arrangement. Lyrically it's a fantasy about a girl he wants very badly (not in real life presumably). The song is on my '90s top ten list for sure!

An electronic collusus,the real joy of repitition ,its influence is 50% Kraftwerk and the same of Giorgio Moroder,a lenghthy epic dance workout ,increasing in intensity as it hurtles ,train like, to its sweaty conclusion ,its one concession to its American origins is the radio friendly vocal style ,imagine Hall and Oates being produced by Moroder and you are some way there .

A small hit at the time which has grown into a genuine dance classic,re mixed and revised several times ,but its always that relentless rhythym which grabs the listener,refusing to let go .

a song perched on the end of Shack's half realised album'H.M.S Fable'album-a haunting folk ballad that is close to death and as beautiful as a sunny winter's morning...the melody spooks you and as the head brithers are no starngers to the perils of hard drugs it makes the song even more poignant.the Head brothers continue to remain the U.K's most underrated songwriters-sort of like the older,wiser and more sussed father's of the Coral and all those new scally psych bands that will never be anywhere as good as this...investigate!!!

This is one of the great chase songs that I know. From the insistent piano-based beat you can imagine Apollo getting it on for Daphne, and putting her in the sky or something, which seems to have been de rigueur for Greek gods. Kayak played guitar-and-piano-based progressive pop/rock (without anything overly long) but didn't really come together until "Phantom of the Night" in 1979 (ignore the UBL ratings, they're way off the mark). "Ruthless Queen" and the title track are very pretty and overall the whole album is excellent.

This song is a classic of the psychedelic era, by a group that later became known as the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. I first discovered it years ago on a 1967 compilation album called "West Coast Love-In" which featured about four of the Ashes' songs. It was "Dark on You Now" that really wigged me out-it is an awesome, slow-paced, moody number that features the spine-tingling vocals of Sandi Robison and the prominent 12-string guitar of John Merrill. The song is incredibly atmospheric and reminds me of a combination of the Byrds and Jefferson Airplane when both of those groups were in their prime. It is also at four minutes plus quite long for the era. I listed this as being recorded in 1967 but it may have been waxed in 1966...at any rate it is surely one of the great songs of the early psychedelic era.

I have the first Peanut Butter Conspiracy album which contains a re-recorded version of this song, harder rocking and not nearly as good. The original Ashes version was recorded as a 45 for the Vault label (which also issued "West Coast Love-In").

Many people think that Petula Clark first came to the US when the song 'Downtown' topped the charts in 1965. However, she actually came to Los Angeles in 1959 and recorded an album of Jazz songs. Among the many treasures produced during these sessions is 'Darn That Dream'. She sings this great song with all the innocense and charm of a hopeless romantic whose desired love is just out of reach. Her resignation to unrequited affection for her unavailable romeo is interrupted briefly by a soaring interlude from the orchestra. The sweeping melody almost suggests that she is dreaming of being held in "his" arms as they dance across the floor of a dimly lit ballroom. In the end she must come back down to earth and awake to the reality that she will never have the man of her dreams, however she refuses to give up the hope that one day she will get her happy ending. I know I'm rooting for her!!

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/

Lhasa is a Mexican-American woman now resident in Montreal, Canada.

She sings in French and Spanish and incorporates elements of Latin, French and Yiddish music into her sound.

She has a stellar back-up band that includes some of the best musicians in Montreal's rich music scene.

'De Cara a la Pared' is a very sexy and romantic number that I'm sure you'll enjoy.

NB: the CD cover art is among the ugliest I've ever seen.

See it here:

http://mapage.noos.fr/weblhasa/v2/discographie/fr_discographie.html

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

Arguably one of the best reggae albums of all time, Super Cat's Don Dada is a fun, FUN, "get on de dance flo', mon!" fiasco of bass and high hats. Super Cat's soft and clear voice complements the music where some other rastas and their gritty voice would detract from it. You really can't lose with this album; every track is spectacular and irresistable. If you've never listened to reggae or just could never get into it, you might be able to appreciate Super Cat.

So beautiful and quietly emotional as a lot of shoegazing is. One of their longest songs... it starts out with the wailing guitar melody that's repeated throughout and accented by Miki Berenyi's calm and melancholy vocals, but the instrumental parts are really the most prominent parts of the song. The best part is at around 3:53 when the guitars go crazy. the whole thing seems very representative of sadness and getting to that point where you just can't hold it in anymore and you start weeping hardcore. it's a good song... the only one that can make me cry over and over again.

In some ways an obvious pop-punk classic, but still one that's generally overlooked in favour of their singles. One of the greatest nights between my best friend and I was the time that not only did we discover this was both of our favourite Blondie song, but we found out that, rather shamefully, each of us harboured a secret crush on Rimmer from Red Dwarf.

The song is the best among some real class on Plastic Letters. The noises made by a band on the brink of the mainstream super-success they were so worthy of. Deborah Harry never sounded tougher (except perhaps on Rifle Range), a persona that fits her like the ripped catsuit she famously sported on Top Of The Pops.

This belgian artist was very popular up to the second half of the 70's I believe.

I got to really enjoy most of his tunes because that is what my dad would listen on his 195? reel to reel.

I was able to find most of his albums online.

Very good channel separation.

Enjoy

The kind of overlooked track that makes Frank Jastfelder and Stefan Kassel's soundtrack series so great. I find this a very refreshing take on the familiar James Bond theme. Ivor Raymonde's arrangment really sells the composition in the context of the Lettermen-styled vocal harmonies of the Bachelors without losing any of the energy of the John Barry/Shirley Bassey original. I particularly like the way Raymonde implements the steel guitar here.

Alias Blowin' In The Wind.

I don't really care for Bob Dylan, and it is for one reason only; his whingey voice. It just, for me, undermines all the cleverness of his lyrics since he sounds like a child who's dropped his ice cream.

But there's no denying the man writes cracking songs. Virtually every time I hear someone other than him perform a Dylan tune, I find it a great listening experience. Another favourite is Linda Gayle's version of Maggie's Farm (on one of the Girls In The Garage volumes).

Peggy March is famous (if 'famous' isn't stretching it) for a couple of saccharine hits in the early 60's. Few people realise she had a later dimension to her career - great popularity as a German language singer. Her vocal treatment of this Dylan song adds a shyness and grace to the protest, all accompanied by, naturallment, that slight oompah-ness endemic to a great deal of German pop of the period.

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.

Synth-Pop candy. Starts out with strummed clean-tone electric guitar, then the electronic beats come in w/ Amy singing in her languid way. The chorus brings Dan in answering her back. It's one of the best songs on The Cover Up, which was their break-up record. Really good contrast of drama-laden lyrics and happy pop.

I'm not going to say much about this track aside from it being one of my favorite Sammy Davis, Jr. performances. This really shouldn't work, but it does. Chalk it up to the genius of Sammy.

A beautiful piece of soft pop. Ok, it's corny - the chord sequence is kind of soppy and the lyrics are kind of obvious, but the arrangement and singing are so lovely that I can listen to this song again and again. Opening with a catchy picked acoustic guitar riff, the arrangement soon thickens with with a full orchestra. The singing is deadly serious and amusingly precious throughout the song, and the orchestral arrangement, heavy on oboes and flutes as well as strings, is anything but hip. Still, the song’s simplicity and innocence are really quite charming. I never really got into any of Chad and Jeremy's other songs nearly so much as this one, so any recommendations for similar songs would be welcome. Do me a favor and listen to this and tell me if I’m crazy to love it so much.

This is pure fun, a track with that 'easy cheesy' sound which many people love to hate. But wait, this is brilliant! Although rather clunky and an extremely 'square' take on 'hip', this is quite magnificent, honestly. Backed by a relentless beat, Ronnie plays the tune on 2 pianos, while for the bridge section the superb harmonies in the Beach Boys original are played out beautifully by the London Festival Orchestra. Although it's something of a guilty pleasure, I have to recommend this track very highly. Listening to it now on headphones, I notice that it even has that stereo effect having each piano come out of a different channel, an effect used to great effect on his version of 'soulful strut'.

wonderful lyrics. cover of The Flaming Lips' original song, Do You Realize?

vocals, guitar, drums, synthesizers. Flaming Lips songs remind me of impressionist paintings with little bursts of color everywhere. This song isn't as colorful as some of their others, but it's definitely likeable. The lyrics can be interpreted as deep, but they're delivered really casually in a flowing manner. This isn't a sparse piece. There's little interesting details happening all the time, like intermittent cymbal crashes to little guitar moments to weird synthesizer noises. It creates a texture that's interesting to listen to, but at the same time simple enough to listen to without exploding your brain or something. A really enjoyable piece overall.

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

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

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

This is one of those songs that you put on when you want to sit back, relax, and float away to somewhere warm and safe.

A friend of mine once told me that she had an out-of-body experience to this song as she was meditating.

This is a song that I put on a mixed tape to give to a lover once as a way of showing that I would be there with her through it all, accompanying her journey as you explore the realms of love and life.

A song whose verse is achingly beautiful for its harmony, melody and arrangement - so much that it stopped me in my tracks when I heard it playing in a record shop recently. Interestingly it took me many years of familiarity to really appreciate this track, which is in stark contrast to "God Only Knows", which I have loved since the first time I heard it.

If anyone ever wondered why Francoise Hardy never did an album as good as La Question this woman might well be the answer. For it was Tuca that was responsible for, well as i have figured out at least, the songs, production and string arrangements on that particular album. Tuca only made three albums herself, all of which is flawed, but at her best shows her influence on the la question album. With a voice somewhere between nara leao and joyce her songs really did come onto her own on her last album Dracula i love you. The title track is a haunting ballad that almost sounds if Kate Bush had been born in Brazil. Well, nearly i must add because i had so high expectations after the la question album so i was a bit disappointed when i heard her albums. But you could only imagine what great music Tuca could have done. This track at least shows her enormous potential and a sense of atmosphere that i haven´t heard from any other brazilian artist. Tuca tragically died in 1978 after trying losing weight to fast. Does anyone know more about her?

"Dressed in black, he walks alone, a shadow in the night." The Shangri-Las death trip reached a powerful climax in this eerie song of loss and lingering. Funereal piano chords balanced by surging choruses and a closing spoken section that leaves you as weak as the sadly wounded narrator. If this one doesn't get to you, you ain't got a heart.

one of my fave dj's, michael wink, played this at the 1st sinful swedish mod weekender. i was kind of doped (kids, don't use hard drugs...) up so i really liked it. it's a heavy, "beardy", as my friend ricky rickenbacker would describe it, kind of a tune. late 60's garagerock... i really like it. the cover of the 45 shows the guys bare breasted. mmmm.

In a stupid pop mood tonight, egged on by seeing the recent McFly recommendation. The sun finally came out over South Yorkshire today too, which is probably what's making me think of this enthusiastic pop-reggae workout. I really click with this, despite the OTT misogynistic lyrics, Beenie Man's homophobia and the general rubbishness of most of his back catalogue (that which I've heard, anyway).

Ms. Thing doesn't really do much to shut Beenie and his sexist mouth up, but at least Shawnna has a but more life to her which is why I'm recommending this remix with her rap on.

The video's cute too, especially where Beenie, Thing, Shawnna and various cronies do a ridiculous trot-dance at the end.

Okay, here's an obvious Bollywood recommendation, a genre I don't know a lot about, but nevertheless, it's really a great track. It's from the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna. The way Bollywood movies were able to draw elements of psychedelic, funk, and dance music, then fuse it with Hindi music is incredible to me. This song has a addictive, hard, danceable, and completely credible sound, not to be confused with some lighter, cheesier, or more kitsch Bollywood fare. Great stuff.

Mr. Quintron has been performing/ inventing for 20 years or so. He currently resides in the 9th ward of New Orleans, LA. His "one man band" sound does not really fit into any genre that I know of. If I had to describe it, I would say it's as if a mad scientist, a Hammond organ, early 80's techno and your favourite Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis song met somewhere deep in the murky swamps of Louisiana. The song "Dungeon Master" is a geeky, upbeat, yet dark, tongue in cheek, seemingly blatant, but possibly unintentional theme song for anyone who has either played or is aware of the board game, "Dungeons & Dragons". *I've never played, but am familiar with it from my ..."less social" classmates from grade school. The song begins with a very techno-esque, oddly-timed organ solo that swells and then abruptly breaks as Quintron belts out, "DUNGEON MASTER, MAKE ME GO FASTER!!!", only to be followed by quirky Hammond and Vocoder sounds as Miss Pussycat chants along in her cheerleader style back-up vocals. After you think you've figured out the gimmick, "Q" channels Elvis Presley as he reaches the climax..."Comma, Comma, Comma, Come On" and erupts in other indecipherable grunts and yelps. Check it out.

Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn in the early eighties were recording the same Bossa oriented songs that made "Sade" famous, but with more talent. Eden was their first album, both had recorded songs before for Cherry Red (a UK label) but to be on a major label Gave them the opportunity to really arranged their songs. Each and everyone opens the album with magnificence.
As soon as the second album the magic was lost, EBTG was just another name on the Warner catalogue.

From a recent cd re-issue of a for once real lost classic from the enigmatic but well connected Mr Lincoln. This sort of mines the same seam as Syd Barrett but this is psyche pop firmly rooted in English folk/folkloreand the joining of a collage of three different song parts,what some would refer to as an opus or epic.Haunting nursery rhyme intro makes way for weird fairground interlude and lysergic distraction before concluding with the painfully beautiful intro section,before finishing way too early for its own good.They dont make them like this anymore and couldnt if they tried this is from a different time and place.

"Dr. Octagon" is actually Kool Keith, who must have had something on the brain when this record was produced. This is my favorite song on the album, and it is a good representation of the the cool, controlled beats and inane, yet infectious lyrics present throughout. Dr. Octagon's words are on the same level as Eminem's in that they are not to be taken literally. Eminem took the gangsta/mysogyny route, Dr. Octagon took the thirteen year old boys immature babble about god-knows-what route. In any case, this song is fresh, and you can't help getting that little bob of your head going when you listen. When you catch yourself singing along, realize you sound like an idiot though.

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?

Has a heavy sound, ethereal and complex rhythm. Guitar, bass guitar, violin, 2 drummers. I like it because it is insanely groovy.

A quasi-psychedelic throwaway from one of Elvis' later, cheesier movies. This song in particular gets a bad rap because it's presented in an ultra-campy dream sequence with groovy go-go dancers writhing and a man pouncing about in a dog costume. But I'm addicted to the song itself, which has a gorgeous arrangement with harpsichords, punchy trumpets and pillow-soft backup vocals by The Love Generation (who also sang on The Partridge Family's hits). And Elvis' vocal performance is more gutsy than you would imagine at this stage in his career. Worth seeking out!

This great ethereal brasilian pop number is from the portuguese language version of Chico Buarque's 'lost' 1970 album, recorded in Rome with Ennio Morricone, while he was in exile from Brasil. While Buarque's vocals are excellent, it's Morricone who really shines here, providing exquisite sweeping arrangements, and some great backing vocals from his protege Edda Dell'Orso.

Originally sort of a mellow song, here is someone really belting it out. With a swinging big band, Kim, (who I've thought of as a soul singer mainly)
really rocks.

The lyrics and the instrumental composition truly envelop the listener immediately. It's a soft song, so it can be easily tuned out, but really pay attention to the lyrics and the background music and the story truly enfolds before your eyes.

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

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

One of the few succesful attempts at using a gospel choir on a jazz recording (along with Max Roach's "It's Time" LP from the previous year...which, coincidentally, featured the same chorus), Byrd's "A New Perspective" album was the first time it was really attempted with a small group setting (Roach's was backed by an orchestra). This, the opening track, begins with a vocalese scat by the choir that calls to mind old slave work songs. From there, the incredible band (featuring a very young Herbie Hancock and Kenny Burrell, among others) strikes up, and begins to follow a basic riff with the chorus that takes you through the remaining nine-plus minutes with various tempo changes throughout. An equally impressive edited version appeared as a b-side to the single of "Cristo Redentor", which got to be a minor hit on the pop charts.

Ely Arcoverde is a Brazilian organist. His sound is similar to Ze Maria but not as chime-like and almost even a church-organ sound at times. I love this LP because it has a real low meditative sound. It is a quality I find in much of the music from Bahia as opposed to that from the south. The quarteto inludes organ, drums, bass and - a quality that I love alongside the organ - an accoustic guitar. It is mostly instrumental with some vocals similar to the way Jorge Ben would just make repetetive humming and moaning noises in his early LPs. The whole record has a very dark and mysterious feel - sad and lonely the perfect LP for the dark just the light from the stereo tubes flickering. It is available on ebay a lot, it is Ely's most popular LP and it should run you about $50 - 75.

It's a shame not everyone can be into this type of music, because this is really one of the best, most incredible songs I've ever heard in my entire life! It's good for all the right reasons...everything about the music is amazing, from lyrics, guitar, bass to drum and all the cool instruments they've used.

This song is REALLY long (about 10 minutes I think!) so it's a real musical odyssey and worth listening to. It's one of those great works of art that needs all your attention because it won't let your mind stay idle while you're listening to it. The guitar riffs are so breath-taking and the big instrumental break halfway through the song makes it outstanding.

A superb tale of wronged love and wounded pride performed with a mighty swagger, drenched in latin rhythms and horns, but with that bittersweet humour and English setting that have been hallmark's of Kirsty's whole career.

There are so many songs from Kirsty that I love in so many musical styles, but the "Tropical Brainstorm" album is really the best thing she ever did. She has absorbed the influences from her travels in Latin America, but the album is no pastiche, it is pure MacColl. Whilst occasionally missing its mark, it has so many fine, joyful and wryly funny moments, and, to me, all the signs of an artist entering a new, fiercely creative and joyful stage of her career.

Sadly we will never know where Kirsty's musical journey would have taken her.

Taken from his exquisite Latin American Suite, this is an unusual sounding track to me. Mid-tempo, with an unrelenting bossa nova style beat, the action is shared between the piano and various horns and saxophones. I guess it's the strange discordant tones that take this track higher for me. They remind me of some chords I've heard in the more adventurous Brazilian pop music of the late 1960s - basically taking what is fundamentally a sweet sounding, warm chord, and overlaying notes that provide a darker, more forboding feel.

Adding to this, the punctuating horns and reeds give the whole thing a gently groovy feel that's reminiscent of quirky 60s soundtrack music. Really cool stuff, and I recommend the whole album.

I don't have much to say, but this song sends a chill down my spine everytime I hear it. It's the first Ben recording that really "clicked" for me and has held up to countless listens.

Most of the soundtrack to this comedy-caper flick is pretty standard '60s soundtrack material. This track, however, is moody, top-notch crime jazz... The arrangement is chaotic but stirring with some really heavy bass-piano, wailing brass, and organ (used more as an atmospheric sound effect than to deliver any melody). Special thanks to Darrell Brogdon for playing this on his Retro Cocktail Hour.

Usually I'm bored to tears with Mr. Muriat's over the top orchestral take on stuff... but this track is a total exception. Starts out with this reeling Beethovenesque orchestral intro, and then lays flat into this funky latin workout, almost in a Deodato meets Zarathustra way. Really nuts. Just a great dancefloor track for loungecore types.

If you're ever depressed and feeling really low, just put this song on... and everything will be ok. Inspiring and incredibly beautiful.

It's such a good song i would give it 9 and a half out of ten! And the album's great i think anyone should get it!!!