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You searched for ‘life’, which matched 183 songs.
click - person recommending, year, performer, songtitle - to see more recommendations.
Detachable Penis  performed by King Missile
Recommended by meatball [profile]

college band sound. It would be a shame to go through life not hearing this song at least once.






  delicado: having recently heard this song for the first time, I have to reluctantly agree with you. Once is probably enough for me though.
  inbloom44: The First time I heard this song I almost wet myself.
Through the Yard of Blonde Girls  performed by Jeff Buckley
Recommended by two-headed boy [profile]

I'm into blonde women, always have been. Perhaps I share a kindship with the late great Jeff Buckley. I can just imagine where he's coming from, standing on stage, electric guitar amped to rock, all that power in his hands, peering out through the crowd into a yard of blonde girls. How wonderfully empowering! Just think of it? A young man in his prime slashing power chords in front of a legion of women, and leaving this song to remind us of what it's like to live this mythical life. I sing along, dreaming of what it would have been like as a rock star, what kind of pleasure could I derive from the world?

Jeff has certainly proven and disproven his own stylings from the seminal album, Grace, to the somewhat obscure and fragile My Sweetheart the Drunk. What could have been still reverberates through my mind when listening to this song in particular. Its compelling simplicity and catchy chorus, "very sexy, very sexy, okay, okay" beckons my blonde girlfriend to break out into song. The slow thrust of crunching guitars, standard rock 4/4 time, heavy drums sitting on every beat - it's almost glam, almost British invasion, almost cock-rock, but Buckley style. And yes, very sexy, very sexy. Trust me guys, girls will love this song!

from My Sweetheart the Drunk, available on CD




  amyliner: Hi, Just to say that Jeff Buckley didn't write Yard of Blonde Girls (not that you'd ever know from the way he performs it. *sigh*) It was written by A.Clark - L.Kramer - I.Lorre. But yes, girls do love this song. Espencially we blonde ones!!!!
  elision: 'yard of blonde girls' seems to be a somewhat pejorative term (the middle-upper class socialites, the 'gold sharks') so while Jeff Buckley may have stood rock god-like and looked upon legions of blonde girls (somehow I doubt that was his main audience) with a sexually approving eye, if the song spoke anything about his truth, he would probably have been looking out for the different one, the pure one who rises above social politicking in her innocence, the Lola.
  ultra-violent romantic: eloquently said elison; i have to agree with you, especially in reference to the "gold sharks glittering." in david browne's dual biography on tim and jeff buckley titled "dream brother," he points out that when jeff recorded this song he made it very apparent that he didn't want any Sony reps to get a hold of it...
Everybody’s Talking At Me  performed by Harry Nilsson
Recommended by johnnyweissmueller [profile]

Being a writer and having been one all my life, having studied literature, having written numerous books ... I have to say that Harry Nilssons Everybodys Talking ... has perhaps the best lyrics I have ever come across in music. Musicians who get the music right often make a mess of the lyrics (music and text seem to be a different story) ... this is one of the rare - very rare - occasions, when all is right. All!





  camus: Actually Fred Neil wrote Everbody's Talking, and Nielson covered it brilliantly in his own inimitable way.
Oh Messy Life  performed by Cap'n Jazz
Recommended by eve [profile]




So Much Beauty In Dirt  performed by Modest Mouse
Recommended by Reina [profile]

Great little song. About finding beauty in everyday life. Short and sweet.


roll down the windows and open our mouths taste where we are and play the music loud. Stop
the car, lay on the grass, the planets spin and we watch space pass.Walk a direction, see where we get. I never knew nothin' so there's nothin' to
forget.




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

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

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

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


available on CD - Sunnny Side of Original Love


cut here  performed by the cure
Recommended by katastrophic [profile]

its 80's happy, and yet, profoundly motivating. The lyrics are about meeting up with an old freind, perhaps even someone with whom you've had a relationship, and some how drifted but not finalized. And you blow the oppertunity to make the person something more in your life, because of the way you use time. It happens. and its a good reminder to go and get what you want. also use time in a way that won't be regretted.




It’s My Life  performed by Talk Talk
Recommended by Mister C [profile]

There are tracks you really like but you dont always know why, I remember the first time I heard this and I couldnt get it our of my head. Here I am many years later still loving it. If you get a chance get a 'best of Talk Talk' and you will be well rewarded.





  FlyingDutchman1971: Great track! The 12" remix is excellent, and I was happily surprised by Gwen Stefani's recent rendition of this great song. Why didn't I think of recommending this one???!!! Stupid Dutchman... stupid stupid stupid...
Liebestod  performed by Leontyne Price
Recommended by cryofthecelt [profile]

This song, as heard at the death scene of "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", is a piece from Richard Wagner's famous "Tristan und Isolde."
I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I can tell you this:
A few years ago, after studying Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" and watching Baz Luhrmann's version of the film, young student Kip Kinkel became obsessed with what is often called "the greatest love story ever told." Kip believed that "Romeo and Juliet" was exceptionally relevant to his own life. He had recently been a victim of unrequieted love and he felt his parents' constnat pull over him. One day, Kip had a psychotic break. He carried a gun to school and shot several of his classmates, killing them or leaving them seriously injured. He ran. As his parents arrived back at home, Kip blasted "Liebestod" on his stereo, took up his gun, and shot and killed both of them. The music was still playing loud and clear when the police arrived at his home to arrest him.
Scarily enough, that is how moving this music really is.

from Prima Donna Collection Highlights (BMG Classica/RCA Victor Red Seal)
available on CD - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet Volume 2 (Capitol)



  weaveroffates: Actually, Kip Kinkel came home the night before the school shootings, shot his parents (who were very upset because he was expelled from school for having a gun in his locker) and then the next day went to school and killed/injured his peers. The soundtrack to the 1996 version was playing on repeat when the police found the bodies of his parents...but when he killed his parents.
No Children  performed by the Mountain Goats
Recommended by zector1981 [profile]

Wonderfull song about a husband and wife who hate each other.
The Mountain Goats are ussualy very lo-fi but this release gave them a newfound hi-fi multi-instrumented sound.
This song is a whimsical hate fest
"i hope the rising black smoke carries me away
and i never come back to this town again
in my life i hope i lie
and tell everyone you were a good wife
and i hope you die
i hope we both die"

from Tallahassee (4ad)


New Partner  performed by Palace Music
Recommended by umbrellasfollowrain [profile]

Memory's a funny thing. Especially romantic memory.
The first time I heard this song was two days after the first time I fell in love. Everywhere I went, I sang its earnest chorus "And you are always on my mind" in my head, thinking about the one I was in love with. In the shower staring at a bottle of hair conditioner, I sang, "You are always on my mind". On the subway, trying to ignore a potential fistfight about to break out, I sang, "You are always on my mind". In the supermarket produce section, holding the perfect shape of a lemon in my hand, I sang, "You are always on my mind". I was giddy and happy and the song understood. "Hey!" the song said, "Hey!" Will Oldman sang, "I got a new partner now!"
But jacket weather set in and things grew colder and we broke up and I was miserable and I stored the CD away on a top shelf with other memorabilia of that love who's happy power was really freakin' painful for me to think about now.
Things weren't always so bleak and I got me a new love and some years later, when I listened to the song again, I noticed something about the lyrics I hadn't before. See, in reality, the song isn't joyous at all. Will Oldman is singing about a past love, a love who is always on his mind when all the time he is seeing another girl, a different girl from the one always on his mind. He can't be with that girl. He has a new partner now. What I thought was a song about new joy was a song about nostalgic loss.
I didn't see how it was possible that I had suppressed that true meaning for as long as I had, considering how often I sang the song and how much it meant to me at the time. I knew the lyrics like the back of my hand and when I listen to music I dredge up all I can get from the lyrics like I'm a devout scribe interpreting the bible.
One of the beauties of pop songs is that they take on the flavour of your life at the time you listened to them and carry that flavour on to whenever you listen to the song again, while meanwhile you're morphing and changing and discarding what songs you don't want to remember that you loved and making mixed Cd's for long cartrips of the songs you do you do want to remember. This song is weird in that IT seemed to be the one that was morphing the next time I heard it and not me, like it was a person that had changed over time that I was encountering again.
Besides which, what a fucking lovely song it is.

from Viva Last Blues



  olli: now THAT's what i call a recommendation. I�m gonna have to find and soak this up now...
  olli: beautiful song. i've been a sporadic fan of will oldham related stuff for some years now, but hadn�t heard this until now. thanks! hmm. on a side note, this is the 666th american release that has been recommended here. i might be a bit childish, but i was hoping that number would go to some really, really bad contemporary pop music. Hey, you can't always get what you want:)
  fjell_strom: This song was the soundtrack to my incorrigible devotion to a lovely young girl when I myself was a bit younger. I used to listen to this tune repeatedly in my tiny little newly discovered room in the immensely overwhelming new land in which I found myself during the adventure which was to last the next four years, wandering Europe by my heartstrings. This was the song. I used to drink gin martinis to it. And eat the olive. And shudder because winter had come to my little home, and she was always, at least as often as the song played, on my mind.
Easter Parade  performed by The Faith Brothers
Recommended by tonyharte [profile]

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?

from Eventide



  Mr Greedy: I have some Faith Brothers tracks on MP3 format (Easter Parade, Fulham Court, A Stranger On Homeground, Eventide). How can I get them to you? Mr G.
  tonyharte: Many thanks - your not so Greedy at all! However, since my original post, the very kind Faith Bros frontman Billy Franks has sorted me out with a CD. He's a top lad - check out his solo stuff too. Regards and keep on keeping on! TonyH
  watford7: How can I get my hands on a DVD copy of Eventide? Does anyone have In The Country of the Blind on CD? Recommendation: Welcome To Comboland (collection of great songs from Raleigh/Greensboro/Athens area of US, some genius songs. Watford7
  TDQ: LOVED the Faith Brothers, saw them in Dublin many years ago with the Alarm and was bowled over. AM DESPERATE to get MP3s or CD`s of any of their work, happy to pay too. So if anyone can help, please please mail me on [email protected] Oh and Fulham Court was wasted as a Bside, my fave FB track, would love to hear it again... sniff sniff... Have vinyls but no way of playing them! Glenn
  tonyharte: TDQ - I went to billyfranks.com and then emailed him directly. He was happy to send CDs. I responded with a donation, but really, he does it out of kindness. Dead right about Fulham Court!
  eddie: I am dying to get hold of the album, eventide I think its called, the one with the burning broken statue on the front. My dad used to play this album all the time when I was his little tom boy! Wanted to get it for Fathers Day. Know he would be really surprised!! Does anyone have it on CD/MP3? Have checked out ebay and amazon to no avail :(
  eddie: Hoorah!!!! I went to billyfranks.com and downloaded it!! Brilliant!!!! :)
  tonyharte: Well done young Eddie! Your dad is clearly a man of good taste. You've make me feel mighty old now though. T'Internet is a wonderful thing ... sometimes.
  eddie: Indeed! We danced to it for hours when i was a little girl back in the 80's, and the look on his face was priceless when i started playing it! Brilliant again!!!! :)
the double life  performed by rainer maria
Recommended by licoricewhipped [profile]

the best rainer maria song. hands down.




ante up-remix  performed by M.O.P & funkmaster flex feat busta rhymes, remy martin & tephlon
Recommended by olli [profile]

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.


available on CD - 60 minutes of funk vol.4



life is for living  performed by coldplay
Recommended by morning belle [profile]

(live)




Smile at Life Again  performed by The Elms
Recommended by cleanfun [profile]




times like these (acoustic)  performed by dave grohl of foo fighters
Recommended by atticus [profile]

this rendition of the foo's hit single surpasses the original version in every way. while the radio release generates power and energy while conjuring up a sense of nostalgia that accompany the song's lyrics, the acoustic version allows dave grohl's voice to, in a sense, speak to the listener comfortingly. the lyrics inspire all who listen to look around and seize the day, and to do this by cherish the relationships in one's life.




Blue Hill Day  performed by Chris Dedrick
Recommended by moondog [profile]

If only life could be like this. Taken from The free designs head honcho Chris Dedricks soloalbum "Be free" this is the best cut on an album that is 50 percent quite awful (free design meets prog rock, not so good) 50 percent quite lovely (free design meets simon & garfunkel, much better) Well, particulary this track that gets closest to that simon and garfunkel comparision.

from Be Free
available on CD - Wishes (Beatball)


Things you´ll keep  performed by The Apartments
Recommended by moondog [profile]

A life full of farewells, everything´s given to be taken away, thank you for making me beg. With song titles that rivals Morrisseys Australias Peter Milton Walsh remains one of pops best kept secrets. Only putting out four albums in 20 years he could be described as the missing link between the more doom laden melodrama of The Triffids and the popstrumming of Go-Betweens. Maybe he is a bit too self absorbed to reach a wider audience but this lovely track, complete with trumpets, finds him in his best form.

from A life full of farewells
available on CD - a life full of farewells (Hot)


It´s my life  performed by Paul Anka
Recommended by moondog [profile]

Yes, it´s Bon Jovi´s hit. And yes it is Paul anka doing a swingjazz number of it that actually works very well. If you can bear that it is a bit cheesy Anka actually elevates the song to a whole new level and also manges to bring a sense of drama that suits the lyric very well.

from rock swings


Chansons Francaises  performed by Notre Dame
Recommended by moondog [profile]

More godlike melody from monsieur Arnaud Fleurent -Didier. This one, the title track, taken from his tribute to the french singers and songs of his youth (serge, polnareff and son).A largely acoustic number with a bit bossanova, chansons, strings, a female voice and that extra magical melody chord that only Arnaud seems to be in possesion of. You need this man in your life, right now.

from Chansons Francaises, available on CD ()


When you live life alone  performed by Sarah Shannon
Recommended by moondog [profile]

To judge by the coverphoto of mrs Shannon this song doesn´t refer to her own personal situation. So, for at least this writer, to see that it was penned by her boyfriend at the time, Blake Wescott, makes a bit more sense. Anyroads, When you live life alone is one of those songs that could have been so much more. A bit properly edited and structured I believe that Burt Bacharach would have considered it among his best. Certainly, the verse is up there with the best burtinspired pop ever. In the chorus though, Barbra Streisand enters the stage and smudders it with a bit too much melodrama to make it the 24 carat gold classic of a song it could have been. But if you have read this far into the text do check it out.

from Sarah Shannon


Change Your Mind  performed by Sister Hazel
Recommended by aprophilix [profile]

"Change Your Mind" is heavy in vocals, with just a little bit of country style thrown in. This has nothing to do with why I like the song, however. Listen to the LYRICS! This song is on my personal "soundtrack to life", and I love to listen to it when I'd like a little inspiration. Give it a listen, and actually *listen* to what the song has to say.


available on CD - Fortress


first day of my life  performed by bright eyes
Recommended by anakinskywalker [profile]

from i'm wide awake it's morning


the sporting life  performed by the decemberists
Recommended by anakinskywalker [profile]

from picaresque


Hard Times  performed by Eastmountainsouth
Recommended by CaitlinSpelledWrong [profile]

Hard Times comes from the Elizabethtown soundtrack, which is a great cd by the way. This song is beautiful, everyone in the world should hear. I'm not exagerating. "Let us pause in lifes pleasures and count it's many tears."


available on CD - Elizabethtown soundtrack


Life and Breath  performed by Frankie Valli
Recommended by vallifan06 [profile]

A great ballad with the typical Valli/Four Seasons sound and a real 70's feel. Very evocotive, close your eyes and your there, on the balmy sun drenched West Coast of California. I brought the single when it came out in the 70's, but can't seem to find it anywhere on CD. If anyone knows of it on CD Please let me know.




might as well be on mars  performed by alice cooper
Recommended by davejay [profile]

It is Alices "a day in the life" in my opinion. I see the (un-made) video in my head when i play it


available on CD - hey stoopid


Creep  performed by Radiohead
Recommended by mattycobby [profile]

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

from Pablo Honey



  texjernigan: To bad its melody was copied off of the Hollies - The Air that I breathe. That'd be a good lawsuit
  brooksyinc: One of the only songs I'm aware of which identify with possibly millions of people
Today  performed by Smashing Pumpkins
Recommended by brooksyinc [profile]

Wow! What a song! It starts off with the mock ice-cream jingle then Billy And The Guys craft a brilliant song. But dont be fulled with the lyric "Today Is The Greatest Day Of My Life" it seems to be upbeat and poppy but it has some dark lyrics

from Siamese Dream


A Design for Life  performed by Manic Street Preachers
Recommended by DearPrudence [profile]




Acoustic Medley  performed by Bob Marley
Recommended by zberger [profile]

Great song, long. Its bob and his guitar just jamming about how beautiful life is.




Life is a song  performed by Patrick Park
Recommended by FranMusicNotes [profile]

Its just the escense of Folk, and talks about how living is just a journey song




rest of my life  performed by unwritten law
Recommended by justsublimejulia [profile]

from elva


deja vu   performed by eminem
Recommended by ashley14 [profile]

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




The Life of a Pirate  performed by Cady Groves
Recommended by toners789 [profile]

I love the little bit of "twang" in her voice mixed with her pop style.




Lifesize  performed by A Fine Frenzy
Recommended by Chillax07 [profile]

Female vocals, song about how love changes people. It was in the season finale of How I Met Your Mother.




Parklife  performed by Blur
Recommended by elani9 [profile]




Lust for Life  performed by Girls
Recommended by icerberg [profile]

Idk it's really indie and cool and stuff. It's the best.




"Love of My Life"  performed by Queen
Recommended by sixstringman [profile]

Live version is best....when Freddie Mercury died, he left his entire fortune to her even though she had broken up with him because of his homosexuality.
When I hear the song, I always wish he could have grown older; lost him too early. Greatest pure "rock" singer in history! I saw them live!




Once In A Lifetime  performed by Talking Heads  180
Recommended by xrayspex [profile]

This song embodies life. It starts out awkward and confused and then slips into a beautiful chorus. The lyrics are funny, yet they encapsulate the beauty of life adding a bit of philosophy.

from Remain In Light



  FlyingDutchman1971: This is my favorite track from Byrne and Co. The video was quite a hoot as well. Same as it ever was.... Hey! Look where my hand was!
All The Way  performed by Billie Holiday  1959
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

This is Billie Holiday at her absolute best, or worst, depending on your point of view. I personally consider it her best. She sings this song with a feeling of absolute devotion and love. With only months to live, Billie Holiday made her final recording for MGM records in March 1959. Years of abuse thru drugs and bad relationships had left both her voice and body only shadows of their former selves. However, what she no longer retained vocally, she more than made up for emotionally. Her battered voice and life experience allowed for the feelings to shine thru in a way that she couldn't have possessed in her younger years and for this reason, I fall into the group that prefers her latter recordings over the earlier ones. I am the happy owner of a 10-cd boxset of her complete recordings for the Verve and MGM labels which includes outtakes and incomplete tracks recorded between 1945 and 1959. It's one of the few things I will grab if I have to evacuate my apartment in an emergency...

from Billie Holiday (MGM E 3764)
available on CD - Billie's Best / the Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 (Verve-Polygram 513943 / 314 513 859-2)



  scrubbles: This is one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs as well. Her voice is absolutely haunting here.
The Girl From Ipanema  performed by Antonio Carlos Jobim  1963
Recommended by heinmukk [profile]

hm, i wonder why this hasn't been added yet. if this isn't classic, then what is?
there are about a zillion different interpretations of this song by about a million different artists. there are compilations only with this song but by different artists. and i got two of them.
maybe it's mainstream and it's played too often but i love it nonetheless.
my favourite version is on the album "the composer of desafinado plays". of course arranged by claus ogerman. he did also the arrangement for "the wave" which is i think the best album by antonio carlos jobim. an album packed full with classics.
he made the strings sound so cool and you really get the feeling of what for a lifestyle bossa nova seems to have been those days. (as i think and hope it has been...)

from the composer of desafinado plays



  delicado: Totally digging those Ogerman strings. Ogerman is a genius arranger; I particularly like the work he did with Astrud Gilberto ('funny world' and 'non-stop to brazil' are two great ones) and Joao Gilberto.
  brasilnut: I always hear Claude Debussy's 'Claire de lune' in the phrase 'ah, but he watches so sadly'
Come Rain or Come Shine  performed by Judy Garland  1963
Recommended by robert[o] [profile]

For those of you out there who are still perplexed by the cult of Judy, may I suggest hardily this amazing DVD? Culled from her now legendary CBS TV series in the early 1960�s, this collection features a selection of solo performances, and �Come Rain or Come Shine� sums up things here perfectly. It is a frenzied, riveting, almost frightening reading of the song. Nick Cave or Polly Harvey wish they were this intense � or perhaps (wisely) they don�t. Judy at this point is a woman ravaged by both her life - alcohol, pills, suicide attempts, catastrophic illness and innumerable career failures and comebacks - and to a certain extent her own astonishing, almost vampryric talent. To see this frail little creature � she was in her early 40�s, but looks about 60 � totter onto this empty stage and become possessed by a song - her voice soaring, her talent surging through her like high voltage electricity - is almost too much to watch. But one has to watch her � even if only to see whether see she spontaneously combusts during the performance. (And those old time Judy-queens still amongst us � God bless them � swear this footage only hints at what it was like to see her live.) Must be seen/heard to be believed.

from The Judy Garland Show: Just Judy DVD (Pioneer Artists PA-11577)


Secret Love  performed by Kathy Kirby  1963
Recommended by Latimer [profile]

This is a British artist who does not deserve to be forgotten. She has a free, ranging voice and total charisma. Her trouble was that she got ripped off for life by a lecherous old-guy manager (Ambrose), who was mainly concerned with her considerable charms and the earnings he could siphon off to himself. She is now impoverished, but remains a great past-pop figure, and a great singer. Also a so-called icon of the homo world, where melodramatic performances are always appreciated. She was contemporary with the Beatles, but of a musical world they left behind.




Love For Sale  performed by Annie Ross  1964
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

This is such a great recording! Ms. Ross starts out as if she is going to whimper her way thru this sad little tale of a prostitute's life, then wham-bam (pardon the expression) she takes on the persona of Natalie Wood in 'Gypsy' and swings the song as if she is playfully strutting across the stage and smacking you gingerly with her long silky glove. She soon has you believing that she is going to drag you by the scruff of the neck back to her abode to give you a Russ Meyer-ish smackdown! Johnny Spence's orchestra provides her with just the right weaponry to bring you to your submissive knees all at no additional charge.

from Annie Ross Sings a Handful of Songs (Globe/Ember (Japanese pressing} SMJ 7175)
available on CD - Annie Ross Sings a Handful of Songs / Club Verboten (Box Set) (DCC-626 / DZS(4)-135)


Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)  performed by Sarah Vaughn  1964
Recommended by Fig Alert [profile]

The most beautiful, sensual song I have ever heard in my life. It feels like a warm, tucked-in, comfortable sigh from a lover nestling in on your shoulder, holding you ever tighter while whispering words of love in your ear. Try to top that.

The Divine One pours herself into this number completely. Her serene confidence breathes a kind of hyper-life into the lyrics. But the way she caresses the melody and strokes it so adeptly with her brilliant vocals sends me right over the top every time.

If I ever fall in love again, the woman of my affections will, in my wildest, most fantastic dreams, melt with me on this.

Please excuse the sap...

from Viva Vaughn (Mercury SR 60941)
available on CD - The Girl From Ipanema: The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook (Verve)




  FlyingDutchman1971: Blossom Dearie also performs a nice version of this great song on her 1964 LP 'May I Come In'
Please Let Me Wonder  performed by the Beach Boys  1965
Recommended by tinks [profile]

To me, songs like this best express the genius of Brian Wilson. Listen to the tender lyrics and vocal on this...this is the happiest he has ever sounded. (Given the time that this was recorded, it's almost depressing...this was probably also the last time in his life that he was truly happy. What the more poetic call bittersweet?) Yet, this is so mellow and unassuming. It's blissful, joyous - and above all else, madly in love, as evidenced by the spoken "I love you." at the end. The writing credits lists Wilson-Love, but all I can hear is Brian here. Mike Love was never this genuine.

As for the arrangement, it hints at what was to come with "Pet Sounds". Fender bass! Tambourines! Harpsichords! It's a beautiful thing, and Sonny Bono built his career off of it. Sleep well, sweet Congressman.

from The Beach Boys Today! (Capitol T-2269)
available on CD - The Beach Boys Today!/Summer Days! (And Summer Nights!!) (Capitol)


Foxy Lady  performed by Jimi Hendrix  1965
Recommended by funky [profile]

The greatest most influential band or person ever.
Are you experienced is sort of the musical equivalent of the BIG BANG that scientists beleived oraiginated the Universe. Every generation love hendrix i don't think it will never turn the tables you dig.




Forgetting You  performed by James Carr  1966
Recommended by tinks [profile]

The epitome of deep Memphis soul. The hurt evident in Carr's voice is absolutely unimaginable. Carr's story is a strange one. He is best known for recording the original version of the Penn-Moman composition "At the Dark End of the Street", a song which comes as close as possible to being considered a soul "standard", and of course, his version is the one by which all others are measured. His vocal range and intensity is comparable only to Otis Redding and Percy Sledge, and in my opinion, completely surpasses both of them. He suffered from a mental illness that on one hand allowed him to channel pain like few others have ever been able to. On the other, it led to serious instability and crippling stage fright which buried his career before it ever really started. He was also functionally illiterate, but you'd never know it based on the raw emotion he put forth in his recordings. On this song, he pleads with a lover to stay with him so that he won't have to try and forget her. Absolutely heartwrenching stuff. "I've done you wrong/now you are gone/but what can I do?/Don't make me live/the rest of my life/forgetting you."

from You Got My Mind Messed Up (Vivid Sound)
available on CD - The Essential James Carr (Razor & Tie)



Time Won�t Let Me  performed by The Outsiders  1966
Recommended by BlueEyedYe-Ye [profile]

The epitome of joyous, alive, who gives a sh*t rock'n'roll, with a slight blue eyed soul feeling and great horns. Everyone needs a song like this in their life.

from Time Won't Let Me (Capitol)
available on CD - Collectors Series (Collectables)


Twilight Zone  performed by The Spiders  1966
Recommended by delicado [profile]

For many years I've continued my life under the misapprehension that one version of the Twilight Theme (in my case, the original Marty Manning version) would do me just fine. But this tremendous Japanese group sounds version is unmissable. Lots of random sound effects with a heavy influence from The Ventures in Space. It kicks off at 1:08 where the drums stop and the sound effects just take over. Lots of random twanging and watery bits. Really cool sounding. Then at 1:40 the drums come in hard and funky. There are a few more little breakdowns and it ends in total chaos leaving you feeling the aliens definitely are coming!

Basically it's a very well executed recording.


available on CD - GS Box Set


Nao Bate O Coro�ao  performed by Astrud Gilberto  1967
Recommended by tinks [profile]

A lovely version of this Deodato-penned number, and it's one that truly swings. Plus, it's got those ba-da-dum vocals that I love more than life itself!

from Beach Samba, available on CD



  delicado: I love this one too! Definitely one of Astrud's groovier tracks. This track also be found on one of the excellent 'Mojo club' compilations from Germany.
The End of Life  performed by Gabor Szabo  1967
Recommended by konsu [profile]

I have to write about this song just to defend it. Because,among Szabo fans, this is considered crap...

But for a guy not known for his pop,this is a slammer! Most of this can be attributed to the singers on the session, who incidentally, are from The Love Generation. The Bahler brothers wrote this under the guise of "The California Dreamers", who also did a record the same year for Impulse with Tom Scott... And, whereas the Scott record has become a plunderphonic classic, Szabo's record goes unnoticed for it's lack of "breaks".....

This song is a great groovy stomper much in the tradition of all sunshine pop from the time period. Only with the added bonus of being performed by some of the best west coast session players of the time including Tom Scott himself, alongside Jimmy Gordon, Mike Melvoin, and Carol Kaye. And as with all Szabo's stuff,dark and sexy,with that eastern twist that he added to everything he did.... Bill Plummer added some buzzy sitar to this track too, which makes it a must for indo-pop fans!!

Did I mention the cover art?

from Wind Sky & Diamonds (Impulse! A-9151)



Vim Da Bahia  performed by Quarteto Em Cy  1967
Recommended by sodapop650 [profile]

Quarteto Em Cy "Som Definitivo" was the first brazilian LP I purchased because I liked the cover. Before that I had only been familiar with Sergio Mendes and things like Les Baxter or Michel LeGrands excellent Rio LP. The darkness and power of Som Definitivo blew me away. Instead of the sacharine sweet vocals and ultra-clean arrangements of Sergio Mendes this sounded like 4 rowdy schoolgirls who got dragged into the studio off the street. The sound was much more throaty and the music by Tamba Trio is the primitive repetitious acoustic stuff that, personally, affects me the most. they do a lot of "call-and-response" type of arrangements. I always imagine the solitary life of people living in Bahia and the importance of the sea and the repetitious sound of the breaking waves in much of the music and the voices of the 4 girls like ghosts of the sea calling out to the fishermen. (I make up all kinds of stupid shit about the songs becasue I can't understand a word their saying anyway) Quarteto Em Cy also perfom on the classic Baden Powell/Vinicius De Moraes LP "Os Afro Sambas." In one of my earlier comments I mention that I have been told that Voodoo had a big influence on the people of Brazil and this LP is the best example of this influence.

from Som Definitivo, available on CD


I've Been A Bad, Bad Boy  performed by Paul Jones  1967
Recommended by Swinging London [profile]

This is another great, great pop song from the 1966-68 era, that made it to the top of the charts and has since been more or less forgotten.

Absolutely superb arrangement by Mike Leander.

Tremendous and mighty orchestral backing creating a great wall of sound.

It was Paul Jones second (& last) big hit after leaving Manfred Mann in 1966.

It was also part of the soundtrack to the film 'Privilege' (1967).

This is another great British pop song that never made it in the USA.

I never get bored of it & I've known it all my life.

Great, great pop music.





Sunshine Among Us  performed by Eternity’s Children  1968
Recommended by masayo [profile]

Ahh, how much I love Eternity's Children's sounds...
A week ago, I bought their CD where 25 songs in, as my bootleg's mix was terrible and no main vocal on Lifetime Day! Anyway, now I enjoy its perfect tracks, especially Lifetime Day, Your World and this song Sunshine Among Us. I do love Sunshine..'s catchy melody, beautifully thick effected harmonies and groovy backing rythm section including keyboards.
By the way, the liner notes says " However, each year, on the day before Thanksgiving, Bruce Blackman leads members of various Eternity's Children lineups at a benefit in Greenville, Mississippi featuring reunions of the area's best-loved acts" wow...this year also?!?!...I really wanna join the event!!

from Eternity's Children (Tower)



  luna: Bruce Blackman comes to The Krakerjacks Annual re-union. He is an invited guest, it is an event every nite-b4-thanksgiving that we;The Krackerjacks, have a big throw down in own,and Bruce's hometown. Charlie Ross is our Bassist; nothing what-so-ever to do with the children or Starbuck.We're all seasoned musicians, and have been together since 1981.
  luna: PS Now that I'm fully awake,let me state that Bruce is a very good friend of ours,as we've all been around him, or played in groups with him since the 60's. He is a musical genius. He is also a very talented writer. The best keyboard player I've ever known. The Biloxi days seem like a dream now, man, we had some fun! Just wanted to clear that up! We all love ya, Bruce.
  493440: Bruce: I don't know who you are Luna but I appreciate the nice comments. By the way, that crap in the Eternity's Children liner notes about me leading you guys in G'ville is totally bogus. I have no idea where that came from at all, certainly not from me. The whole Biloxi/Children thing is a vague memory to me as well. And by the way, the Krackerjacks kick ass!
  luna: You know me, Bruce; I'll tell you when I see you again. You've always amzed me, and I admired you from a distance. I was the one yall left behind when The Omen started at the Fiesta. See ya soon!
  cks6: Does anyone know where I can buy a copy of the Krackerjack's CD entitled "Rockin in the Delta"? Please email me at [email protected] if you have any information. Thanks!
  Andelyn: Hi everyone. Had to jump in here. I spent many of my 'growing up' years in Greenville, MS. My brother, Allen Graves, was a member of the Lancers mentioned here. I recognize a lot of the names surfacing in the posts here.
  eyazoo: Looking for a Krackerjack CD...any one would do. I love them and would especially like to get one with that "green grass" song. I grew up in Yazoo county and my step-dad actually played with them for a while....so I had a CD, but it has disappeared (I think someone took it). Anyway, It would be great if the Krackerjacks could post something on their myspace page about purchasing CDs.
The Happiest Day Of My Life  performed by Queen Anne’s Lace  1968
Recommended by gregcaz [profile]

Soft-rock magic. This song is breathy, light, and perversely sad-sounding. Maybe wistful is the word. The album is in the finest Free Design-sounding tradition, including covers of Beatles, Bacharach, Paul Simon, "Sally Go Round The Roses," and such top-shelf originals as this. Truly splendid.

from Queen Anne's Lace (Coral CRL 757509)



When It Was Done  performed by Walter Wanderley Set  1968
Recommended by konsu [profile]

It's rare when a song can make you cry, at least in my case. This one always seems to shake something loose inside, some glacier of residule emotions or something. Nevertheless, this song has that certain something for me. Written by the more than capable Mr.Webb,and brought to life by Walter Wanderley on electric harpsichord alongside Don Sebesky's crush-velvet arrangements.The vocalists sound like they did the whole piece in one take, without fixing anything,to give it this dreamy adolescent quality,bathed in swirling soft lights...This record is one of the best of the A&M/CTI collaborations, bringing the best of both worlds together seamlessly... Magic stuff!

from When It Was Done, available on CD




  Pal: Yes it's a wonderful track! I found a version on soulseek with Hugo Montenegro but I can't find out on which record it's recorded originally. Is it anyone who can help?
  konsu: The Hugo Montenegro LP is "Colours Of Love" RCA LSP-4273. It also has great takes on The Guess Who's "Undun" and Steams "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"!
whitchi tai to  performed by Harper’s Bizare  1968
Recommended by gaymod [profile]

since this tune entered my life, about a year ago,it has been my obssession, i've collected together about 10 other versions, including the original by Jim Pepper & a live bootleg recording from 3 years ago by Plush. Based around a red indian chant, it's trance like beauty propels the listener to the nearest faraway place, the white vocal harmony performance has never been beaten by anyone, beach boys included. Check out the Brewer and Shipley version too.

from harper's bizare 4 (warners)
available on CD - harpers bizare 4


paper cup  performed by the 5th dimension  1968
Recommended by jack kane [profile]

paper cup is about sinking to the lowest rung of society, having been abandoned by a faithless woman. you know when depressed people sometimes have a flash of an idea that they desperately believe will give them a reason to exist? paper cup's like that - the narrator won't have to worry about the things you need for a normal life "cos i don't really want 'em anymore". combine this notion with the 5th dimensions' upbeat, beautiful harmonies and you have a masterwork of melancholic tension.

from the magic garden
available on CD - the best of the 5th dimension


Only a Fool  performed by Clyde Mcphatter  1968
Recommended by geezer [profile]

An attempt to bring a former soul legend up to date at least in 1968,a beautiful soulful ballad composed by Apple man Jackie Lomax and put out by brit psych label Deram .as it happened it sank without trace audible only to collectors of rare soul and sixties pop compilations which is a shame because this is a fine song tinged with a sense of audible regret and sadness that proliferated many a late sixties chart hit of inferior quality

from Best of


Mahahbalipuram  performed by Stu Phillips  1969
Recommended by delicado [profile]

An exotic, atmospheric and unique masterpiece, this is taken from the portion of surfer flick 'Follow Me' in which the surfers visit India. The tune drifts along with some sitar and spooky vocals before exploding into life with a furiously catchy and groovy segment with piano and plucked strings.

from Follow Me (soundtrack) (Universal City 73056)




  chukelley: Great taste!
  bsgkr: Thank you "delicado" for your wonderful review of "Mahabalipuram." I'm only three years late in thanking you, so please forgive me. Stu Phillips
Make Your Own Kind Of Music  performed by Cass Elliot (a.k.a. Mama Cass)  1969
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

A true anthem to self-love. Cass' beautiful voice proudly affirms that you have to be yourself and not worry about what anyone else thinks. She deserved more appreciation than she got during her short life and this song strikes me as quite autobiographical.

from Make Your Own Kind Of Music (Dunhill 50071)
available on CD - Dream A Little Dream: the Cass Elliot Collection (MCAD 11523)



  delicado: yeah, I love this track. She sings in a very sincere and rousing way.
  JangleBabe: If my childhood memories serve, this was the theme song of Cass's short-lived variety show back in the '70s.
C�mon And Join Us  performed by Alzo & Udine  1969
Recommended by gregcaz [profile]

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!

from C'mon And Join Us!, available on CD



  delicado: It totally works; thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Ride The Wind (live)  performed by The Youngbloods  1969
Recommended by opl3003 [profile]

This live recording of "Ride The Wind" is a wonderful nine minute take on the six minute studio version available on The Youngbloods 1969 "Elephant Mountain" album.

Recorded live in NYC as a trio, The Youngbloods never sounded better. Jesse Colin Young is on bass. Banana plays guitar and keyboards, and Joe Bauer on drums. Sparse, almost scatted vocals mixed with improvisational instrumentaion help this song lightly float along. The bass solo gives me goosebumps, and accents the playfulness of the improv style the Youngbloods exhibit on this song.

I really like this song because it sounds so mellow and free. One of the best ways you can spend almost 10 minutes of your life. Give it a listen, you won't be sorry.

from Ride The Wind (Raccoon / Warner Bros. Raccoon #4)



  DRMUSE: I went to a concert in longmont Colorado on a June Night in 1970 in the Full Moon Light, where I heard Ride the Wind and Sunlight and On Sir Francis Drake, and Banana's Fender Rhodes with the picture of Elephant Mountain painted on the front could be seen for miles. The CD i recently found these treasures on is One Way # OW 34535, available through Amazon, GET IT ! It has some of the most amazing music you ever heard if you are a Youngbloods fan. It is also demarcated BMG Specialty Products DRC11575. Whatever your music is, people, enjoy it , sometimes it is all you have. And everybody learn to play. Maybe we could have a battle of the guitars instead of the guns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
roses in the snow  performed by Nico  1969
Recommended by belphegor [profile]

wow, i mean: wow... i've been an avid nico lover for years, having acquired a deep appreciation of her via some claimed proto-goth associations. obscure subcultural praise and all that velvet underground hoop-la aside, her amazing "desertshore" was proof enough that nico was and is a uniquely powerful force in life and art. but this "roses in the snow" diddy just floored me on a first listen. the revolving, minimalist tune of her harmonium must be the loneliest, most disillusioned harmony ever played since "gloomy sunday," and the cryptically profound words the closest thing rock'n'roll ever got to the "book of job." what does this piece really mean to say? not sure really: but somehow, i think it might be something like re-reading a long-departed lover's suicide note on a warm, languid autumn day...

from the marble index, available on CD


Bye Bye Blackbird  performed by Joe Cocker  1969
Recommended by sixstringman [profile]

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!




Run for Your Life  performed by Lara & the Trailers  196?
Recommended by tinks [profile]

A note-for-note cover of the Nancy Sinatra's version of the Beatles' classic...sung in a very high-pitched Cantonese. Beautiful stuff.


available on CD - Girls in the Garage, Volume 9 (Romulan)




  mpanzera: AY RUVV!
  Swinging London: That one's a lot of fun!
Lay Me Down (Wake Me Up)  performed by Four Seasons  1970
Recommended by fost\'r [profile]

I have never seen this on a Greatest Hits album or heard it on the radio. It never made the US top 100 (although at this time the Seasons were apparently more popular in the UK).

It's surprisingly long for a Four Seasons song (6:11), and takes its time moving from the slower, "Lay Me Down" sections (with the more typical harmonies) to the more rock-oriented "Wake Me Up" sections. The closing refrains feature the types of harmonies you'd expect from early-80s Chicago. Frankie Valli handles the lead vocals, but stays away from the high-pitched stuff.

If you liked GENUINE IMITATION LIFE GAZETTE, this should be right up your alley. For those most familiar with the early-60s stuff ("Sherry") and their disco hits ("Who Loves You," "December 1963"), the 1969-1970 recordings might make a lot of sense as a bridge between the Four Seasons as a group of singers fronted by Valli in 1962 to a vehicle for some great compositions by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio in the mid-1970s.

from single (Philips 40688)


Something  performed by Chet Baker  1970
Recommended by konsu [profile]

One of the more overdone of the Harrison tunes, brought to life by one of most understated jazz singers ever. This one always gets me, and I often prefer it to the original for it's pure poignancy. By this time in Chet's career he's not batting a thousand, but this whole album is pretty entertaining. It has a funky version of "Vehicle" and a fantastic version of "Come Saturday Morning"!

from Blood,Chet And Tears (Verve V6-8798)


Reflections of My Life  performed by Marmalade  1970
Recommended by acidburn [profile]

from Reflections of My Life


Go For Yourself  performed by Lennie Hibbert  1971
Recommended by gregcaz [profile]

WOW! Reggae-funk doesn't get any bouncier, funkier or more life-affirming than this scorcher. From the late JA vibes player's long-deleted second Studio One LP, "Go For Yourself" is among the hottest examples ever heard of a particular rare species of James Brown-inflected Studio One tracks (Alton Ellis' "Alton's Groove" and the Brentford All-Stars' "Greedy G" are two other prime examples). Totally butter, with a WICKED open drum break that goes on and on, and then late in the track Lennie comes in on vibes sounding like Cal Tjamaican or something! I searched for this record for years, once finding the LP jacket at Coxsone's Musik City in Brooklyn and having the late great Mr. Dodd himself tell me he had no record to go with it!! This repress is among the last things he did, and Jah bless this great man for bringing us a lot of music the world would be unimaginable without....

from More Creation (Studio One SOL 1119)


Rainshowers  performed by Pagliaro  1971
Recommended by FINKELBERG [profile]

George Lagios, produced this life-time hit, which he asked me to write while he and Pag were in a Toronto Recording Studio and I was in Montreal. The effort was penned insome ten (10) minutes, and the lyrics sung and recorded over the telephone. Shortly thereafter, Pag recorded the Hit-- & history took over. A great team effort, never repeated again- UP UNTIL NOW!!!! So....?




Old Man  performed by Neil Young  1971
Recommended by shaynewithMWL [profile]

The song was written for the caretaker of the Northern California Broken Arrow Ranch, which Young purchased for $350,000 in 1970. The song compares a young man\'s life to an old man\'s and shows that the young man has, to some extent, the same needs as the old one. James Taylor played six-string banjo (tuned like a guitar) and sang on the song, and Linda Ronstadt also contributed vocals

from Harvest (Reprise )


Life Is Tough, Eh Providence?  performed by Ennio Morricone  1972
Recommended by bobbyspacetroup [profile]

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.


available on CD - Spaghetti Westerns, Volume Three (DRG)



Blame It On A Monday  performed by Anita Kerr Singers  1972
Recommended by konsu [profile]

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.

from Grow To Know Me (AMPEX A-10136)



If There is Something  performed by Roxy Music  1972
Recommended by geezer [profile]

An extraordinary track that begins its life as an awkward attempt at country and western before very quickly resolving itself an removing it self from conventional pop music ,seven minutes later your life will never be the same again.How four conventional instruments could carve something so cosmic is beyond belief,not cosmic in a Floyd way or even a Grateful Dead way but truly other worldly.Ferry,s pledge that he would do ANYTHING for his girl resonate against weird synths ,weird guitar and heart breaking saxophone ,the wiords become the music and the music becomes the words ,a truly cerebral conclusion is achieved This is used to staggering effect in the Daniel Craig film "Flashbacks of a Fool" and to hear and see this track is almost overwhelming.




Bird on the Wire  performed by Leonard Cohen  1973
Recommended by eve [profile]

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.

from Suzanne


My Life  performed by Nelson Riddle  1973
Recommended by scrubbles [profile]

Ahhh. Short but sensational instrumental written and arranged by Claus Ogerman. It reminds me of a lusher, more dynamic version of the background music from The Price Is Right. Definitely a Now Sound of Today thing.

from Changing Colors
available on CD - Cafe Apres Midi: Rouge (Universal Japan)


Devil, Devil, Go Away  performed by Little Marcy  1973
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

Ever felt there was a hole in your life that only a religious ventriloquist's dummy could fill? Then look no further. One of pop's bona-fide eccentrics, Marcy Tigner, voices Little Marcy in a thoroughly winsome way. The song, nay the whole album, encourages all young children to renounce the devil. However, if the devil were to see the scarily-bad drawing of Little Marcy on the cover, he would correctly deduce that no child is likely to listen to the ravings of a freaky end-of-the-pier doll voiced by an even stranger adult woman.

"Marcy wants you all to know how happy she is singing songs about Jesus" relate the sleevenotes. And, gee Marcy, we sure are glad to hear them!

Please don't think I recommended this song simply to mock it. I genuinely think it's a priceless piece of recorded gold and am more than pleased this site, and the world, is big enough to accommodate special talents like that of Marcy Tigner.

Out of Waco, Texas.

from Happy Am I (Word K-721)




  olli: aah, little marcy. i find her oddly touching. i adore the effect where the guitar seems to be meowing on "i love little pussy", it makes the song even more appealing than the questionable lyrics. "guitar festival of gospel songs" by little marcy's guitarist, bob summers is the current downloadable album over at basichip.com right now, by the way. snatch it while you can!
Just Visiting  performed by Lynsey de Paul  1973
Recommended by geezer [profile]

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!

from Surprise (MAM)
available on CD - Greatest Hits


She  performed by Gram Parsons   1973
Recommended by geezer [profile]

The single word title would always at least conjure an expectation of beauty in this instance that expectation is surpassed ,its country in the conventional sense ,it tells of loss ,lonliness and the pain of daily life ,its also tender and tells of hope and joy through singin and escaping a dreary existance ,yes all this really happens in about three beautiful minutes .I would recomend this in the truest sense ,to enlighten,to improve ,to educate and to soothe.

from GP/Grievous Angel, available on CD


Life is White  performed by Big Star  1974
Recommended by popgoestheculture [profile]

This song spits at you with great Chilton guitar and vocal. Great harmonica too.

from Radio City, available on CD



  kkkerplunkkk: Cool stuff, and check out Chris Bell's solo album and hear the other great songwriting genius from Big Star.
Life on Mars  performed by Barbara Streisand  1974
Recommended by robert[o] [profile]

This is so wrong; it ends up being right somehow. On paper, this cover is a car wreck. Barbara takes on Bowie�s brilliant, epic ballad of camp surrealism � his homage to big, theatrical female belters like Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and�Streisand, herself � and the song escapes her utterly. Her delivery sound like she learned the lyrics phonetically. (She might as well be singing in Cantonese.) And Jon Peters� production/Tom Scott�s arrangements bring to mind the cool, �L.A.-sound� of Joni Mitchell�s �Court and Spark� LP � minus all the clever bits Joni brought to the table. Yet it spite of all of these faults � this version works. The song is just too good, and Babs� charisma is just too powerful. It�s a [Space] oddity you�ve got to hear to believe.

from Butterfly (Columbia)


Here in heaven  performed by Sparks  1974
Recommended by delicado [profile]

Just unbelievably awesome stuff!

It's a song about a suicide pact gone wrong. Amazing falsetto (and non-falsetto) vocals. Great glam production. Fantastic guitar solo at 1:40.

It's hard to choose just one track to recommend by this group, but I've settled for this one for now. 'Thank God it isn't Christmas' was a close runner up.

(weirdly, there are a few tracks by them that I would really rather never hear again in my life. Like 'Get in the swing'. Have you heard this track? I have serious trouble with it!)

Anyway, 1974 - great year!

from Kimono My House (Island)




  Mike: Sparks have indeed produced some good and some extremely bad material. I may still own - somewhere - this LP, though the most-played track on it was always "This town ain't big enough..." 1974 - yes, an incredible year which also brought us such marvels as the Glitter Band's "Angel Face".
  geezer: only Sparks could be comfortable with such subject matter there is humour in everything they do like Tryouts for the Human Race a song for sperm everywhere
Someone Saved My Life Tonight  performed by Elton John  1975
Recommended by cryofthecelt [profile]

This song was written for me. From the first seconds of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight", the striking sound of piano chords causes me to envision a tear-streaked face overcoming a lifetime of struggle.
My attention was first brought to this beautiful song when I saw the preview trailer for the movie "Moonlight Mile" (Jake Gylenhaal, Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman). Don't bother to rent the movie, it's not that great, but if you're like me, you saw the movie simply because you felt the sweet sounds of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" move you towards a movie theater or a Blockbuster. I didn't even know that Elton performed this song until I heard it on a CD of my mother's! I fell in love with it immediately - one of my favorite songs ever!

from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Polygram Records)
available on CD - Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (Universal)


My love, my life  performed by Abba  1976
Recommended by Mike [profile]

Such a ludicrously sentimental depiction of one party's feelings after a relationship breakup that I can imagine few would admit to liking it. However, it's a beautifully-crafted and wonderfully performed song with a superbly effective arrangement. I admit to liking it despite its total sentimentality and lack of any kind of coolness.

from Arrival, available on CD


chase the devil  performed by max romeo and the upsetters  1976
Recommended by olli [profile]

"I'm gonna put on an iron shirt/
An' chase Satan out of Earth.
I'm gonna put on an iron shirt/
And chase the Devil out of Earth.
I'm gonna send him to outer space/
To find another race.
I'm gonna send him to outer space/
To find another race.

Satan is the evilest man/
But him can choke sit on a man.
So when I check him my life's in hand/
And if him flip I gone with him hand.

I'm gonna put on an iron shirt/
An' chase Satan out of Earth.
I'm gonna put on an iron shirt/
And chase the Devil out of Earth.
I'm gonna send him to outer space/
To find another race.
I'm gonna send him to outer space/
To find another race.

Him have to drop him fork and run/
Him can't stand up to Jah Jah's son.
Him have to left here with him gun/
Take off with him bomb."

gotta love a bit of max romeo. great trippy reggae song. wonderful production by lee "scratch" perry, too.


available on CD - jammin-supreme reggae vibes



  james: Yes it rocks. but have you heard Wet Dream? quite purile and filthy lyrics but great x-rated Ska
  olli: Yeah, i love his early rude boy stuff.
  fruity: theres a really good jungle dubbed version of max romeo's chase the devil done by Spacebar Collective from Malaysia.u guys should check it out. http://www.myspace.com/spacebarmalaysia
  bahaar: hey olli, hope you don't mind if copy here a more precise version. And LOL for this line in your version: So when I check him my life's in hand --- Lucifer son of the morning, I'm gonna chase you out of earth! I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race Satan is an evilous man, But him can't chocks it on I-man So when I check him my lassing hand And if him slip, I gaan with him hand I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase Satan out of earth I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase the devil out of earth I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race Him haffi drop him fork and run Him can't stand up to Jah Jah son Him haffi lef' ya with him gun Dig off with him bomb I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase Satan out of earth I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase the devil out of earth I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race Satan is a evilous man, But him can't chocks it on I-man So when I check him my lassing hand And if him slip, I gaan with him hand I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase Satan out of earth I'm gonna put on a iron shirt, and chase the devil out of earth I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race I'm gonna send him to outa space, to find another race Move ya with your gun Mi sey fe lef' ya with your bomb... --- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davebulow/wow/lyrics_max_romeo_-_chase_the_devil.htm http://www.vortexmind.net/index.php/2006-11-29-max-romeo-i-chase-the-devil/ http://faqs.ign.com/articles/717/717937p1.html
  n-jeff: true, a great song - isn't there a mad hardcore version, too?
  n-jeff: Yes there is. The Prodigy, before they (he) became a pop metal band. lol.
damaged goods  performed by gang of four  1978
Recommended by numbersix [profile]

the story of my life

from entertainment! (warner)


Bring on the Love   performed by Gloria Jones  1978
Recommended by geezer [profile]

From a time when soul was shaking hands with disco,on this beautiful midtempo ballad the two genres are happy to live in a harmony.This is a track that is allowed to build upon a soft disco beat layer by layer ,a deceptive melody allows optimism to drip drip then flood your senses,leaving you feeling good about life and for once a song that is as long as you want it to be.A song that somehow takes you high without leaving its musical ground .

from Windstorm, available on CD


Ever Fallen in Love?  performed by The Buzzcocks  1979
Recommended by xfanatic50 [profile]

This song is awesome. It's like an anti-love song. Everybody, I think, has fallen in love with someone they shouldn't have fallen in love with at some point in their life.

from Singles Going Steady (4 Men With)



Yo Mama  performed by Frank Zappa  1979
Recommended by Bwanadik [profile]

This song features my favourite guitar solo of all time. I love the way it builds, the guitar just soars - sheer genius. Check out the mad rhythm section. I play this song most days of my life. I adore it. And no I don't live with my Mama lol.

from Sheik Yerbouti, available on CD


Chelsea Girl  performed by Simple Minds  1979
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

Simple Mind's second single, "Chelsea Girl", was an apt follow-up to its predecessor "Life in a Day", an epic chant, a shimmering melody, and a sing-along chorus that paid spell-bound homage to Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico, in her role within Warhol�s movie of the same name.

Producer John Leckie gives "Chelsea Girl" a lovely delicate quality, especially across the long, tinkling keyboard intro, an aura that barely dissipates even when drummer Brian McGee and bassist Derek Forbes's kick in with their thumping rhythm. The band were proving to be masters at these juxtaposed styles, creating rock solid bases and overlaying them with much more fragile and elegant melodies and atmospheres. Here, those latter are close to effervescent and, as the band shift down into the long bass-driven, overlapping tag teamed vocal outro (a playful lift from Roxy Music�s �Mother Of Pearl�, but no matter), absolutely crystalline.

On album and onstage, �Chelsea Girl� remained fans' favorite, on 45 though, it inexplicably crashed and burned, and didn't even reach the UK chart.
(AMG)

from Life In A Day, available on CD


Apocalypso  performed by The Monochrome Set  1980
Recommended by whoops [profile]

Come closer and listen carefully, this is the best kept secret of the so called music industry.
The Monochrome Set have changed my life and the ones of thousands (Well..maybe hundreds..ok, maybe 5 or 10). They came out of nowhere in the late seventies with a serie of singles on Rough Trade and were signed by Virgin in 1980 for 2 albums then by Cherry Red for a third one (Eligible bachelors) and by Warner for the last one (The lost week end). It is not an easy task to describe their music, it is always unpredictable, brilliant, clever and funny.

To finish, this is a quote from the cover of their second album :
"Once this record is in the house two's company and four is a party, roll back the carpet, switch out the light and dance in the glow of the firelight as the Monochrome Set provide your very own music far from the maddening crowd of the dancehalls"

Oh by the way, Apocalypso is an exquisite little song with a marimba and percussion break.

from Love zombies (Virgin)


Pyar Karne Wale  performed by Asha Bhosle  1980
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

A week ago I was in India, the holiday of a lifetime. As well as all the tourist stuff, like temples and museums, I always make sure that I get a slice of pop culture when I'm in a foreign country. So the night tended to conclude in the hotel with a bit of Indian TV.

Watched a fair bit of MTV India which, if anything, is even heavier on ads and blatent self-promotion that its British and American equivalents. I was cheered to see that most of the music they played was in Hindi and there was a limit on the American and European bands that got airplay (seemingly, strangely, limited to The Rasmus and Britney Spears).

But MTV is only watchable for a limited amount of time. Jet lag and excitement dictates that one spends more time awake than asleep and so I got to see a few late 70's Bollywood classics, among them 'Shaan' (translation: 'Pride'). This Asha Bhosle gem is from this movie. The film itself struk me as a fairly banal James Bond rip off although, not speaking Hindi, I grant that I'll have missed the more subtle aspects of plot construction.

This song stopped me in my tracks. I knew that Bollywood was an area that I enjoyed but was in a grand state of ignorance of, and I was looking forward to rectifying this. Pyar Karne Wale takes the prize for best Donna Summer rip off EVER. Stealing its barely-adjusted backing from 'I Feel Love', Bhosle wails and moans over the top, transforming Moroder's disco classic into something that simultanously establishes common ground between Indian and European disco while evoking its more subtle differences.

Myself and boyfriend came back with what seems like every Bollywood soundtrack produced between 1972 and 1980 including, of course, Shaan. I look forward to educating myself in this genre and finding more similar gems.

from Naseeb / Shaan, available on CD




  pleasepleaseme: Hi, I'm From N.Y.C. In the early 80's we had a show on cable, called "Cinema,Cinema, which showed numbers from the classic cinema. I lucked out on a few OST'S. Can highly recommend "Qurbani" & "Kasme Vaade" & "Sargam" & "Sawan Ko Aane Do" & "Loafer". Would love to know if you found any of those, or if you could recommend some of your finds.
  jeanette: Did indeed pick up Qurbani, which I have now listened to and would agree that its fab. That's the only one I have of those you mention. Got 30-odd CDs and most of them are double or triple headers, and I'm slowly ploughing my way through the pile. Favourite thus far is 'Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai' which is another R.D. Burman stunner.
  olli: RD burman is, ahem, "da bomb". probably my favourite bollywood producer/composer. not that i'm an expert on indian 70's pop culture or anything.
Hey! Little Child  performed by Alex Chilton  1980
Recommended by Ricard [profile]

Great garage rock track from Alex Chilton's fantastic "Life flies on sherbert" album. Really simple but infective riff, and a catchy shouty chorus. May be a bit of a surprise to people who've only heard Chilton's work with Big Star, as he'd obviously been heavily influenced by the New York garage bands he's been working with in the late 70's.

from Life Flies on Sherbert (Aura)


Bouncing Babies  performed by The Teardrop Explodes  1980
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

Teardrop Explodes� second single, "Bouncing Babies", was released in July 1979, following the departure of organist Paul Simpson and the arrival of his replacement Gerald Quinn. With those changes, the group's sound, too, would alter dramatically, as Quinn took the band into the crypt-like depths of proto-Goth; in true Phantom of the Opera style, his organ haunts the grooves, while Gary Dwyer pounds his drums like a man who�s just discovered he's been buried alive, and Michael Finkler reenacts the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with his buzzsaw guitar.

Ecstatic reviews greeted the single, but its lifespan was short � before long, �Bouncing Babies� was so hard to find that the Freshies came close to scoring a hit simply by bemoaning that difficulty � their &"I Can't Get (Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop xplodes)" itself ranks alongside its namesake among the most memorable of the age.
(AMG)

from Kilimanjaro, available on CD


State of the Nation  performed by Fad Gadget  1980
Recommended by geezer [profile]

A funky bassline and psychedelic vocalising were not the norm for the normally synthy electronic Fad,a rumbling slightly intimidating track that pre dated The Stone Roses and Trip-Hop ,how this track can be nearly 30 years old is slightly unreal and the line "life begins when youre ready to face it" will resonate with anyone whos time has yet to come .

from Fireside Favourites, available on CD


My Time  performed by Telex  1980
Recommended by geezer [profile]

A wonderfully weird piece of synth pop from Belgian electro pioneers Telex ,a sublime layered ,warm pop song ,both commercial and avant ,its repetition is its strength ,the tune seemingly going nowhere but all the time rushing to the part of your brain that says "this is f---ing brilliant,it celebrates life in the moment and the mundane and cannot fail to improve your mind and your day.

from Neurovision, available on CD


Once in Lifetime  performed by Talking Heads  1980
Recommended by geezer [profile]

A bubbling almost loop like backing track punctuated by David Byrnes deranged t.v evangelist style exclamations "My god this is not my beautiful house ,this is not my beautiful wife,what have i done"? .Then a stroke of genius to pull the song back from the edge of avant garde ,a joyous funky ,gospel inspired chorus .A band at their most inspired and confident with the wizardry of Eno pressing all the right buttons.Hard to believe no one has recomended this before.

from Remain in Light
available on CD - Remain In Light


People Who Died  performed by The Jim Carroll Band  1980
Recommended by schlick [profile]

Roaring, emotional, somewhat autobiographical rocker in which Jim writes and sings about the deaths of some close friends from earlier in his life.

from Catholic Boy, available on CD


Dreams Never End  performed by New Order  1981
Recommended by Genza [profile]

New Order fans always love Technique. So do I. Some prefer Brotherhand, Lowlife - or the substandard Republic. But for me, there's only one Movement.

Slated by critics for sounding like a doomy post Joy Division clone - the album actually benefits from sharp rhythm guitar and sustained synth chords.

Key moment is the awesome Dreams Never End. The song thrashes around like a caged beast. And it's only brought down by bass player Peter Hook's dreary singing - but hey, I can live with that.

from Movement (Factory Fact 50)



  delicado: This track is utterly spine-tingling. I like the Technique album, but it really doesn't have the intensity of the best early tracks. It's worth noting that this track sounds instrumentally exactly like mid-80s Cure.
  zazz: erm.....dreams never end is a masterpiece for the very reason that hookies vocals are in stark contrast ....probably my favourite new order/joy division track...probably an accidental classic.
Prams  performed by Vital Disorders  1981
Recommended by unathanthium [profile]

We had a good time in the eighties,we really did.Unemployment,strikes,kids inculcated with the Thatcher mantra of making money which has depoliticized the youth of today.Fortunately the hypocrisy of Blair has encouraged a few students to tear themselves away from their business studies and take to the streets.Revolution revives art;it happened in the late 50's and 60's when teenagers rebelled against the staidness of post war England,
and again in the bleak mid 70's when youth rebelled against the poor prospects on offer.Fashion,music and literature are never healthier than when faced with intransigence.
In 1981 the post punk landscape was a glorious directionless quagmire.Record labels littered the nation,some only managing a few releases.Lowther International was home to the Vital Disorders who were angry but not too angry to write a great tune.
The Prams EP contains three slices of political pop,domestic and general.Prams is a scream of feminist outrage,of how women have their dreams ruptured,trapped by the drudgery of daily life,the omnipotent cry of the tyrannical baby squashing their ambitions.

"Lets talk about prams and washing machines,
Lets talk about the end of childhood dreams".

That is the chorus,sung with increasing vitriol as the song progresses,until you can almost feel the phlegm hit your face,as Tina Pilchards spits out those words one final time.Sizzling.




Toy Box  performed by Sylvia Striplin  1981
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

This reminds me of The Velvet Underground. Not musically in the slightest but just on one point - while absolutely great, paved the way for some awful copycats.

This is ultra-soft funk, luxuriating in comfort like the fluffy fur Striplin is wearing on the sleeve. Absolutely adorable, and so finely nuanced that it never cloys and just improves with repeated listening. It's hard to pick one song from this LP not just because they're all so damn brilliant but because each and every one of the songs sounds better nestled between their bedfellows.

Unfortunately this kind of style was robbed of all its subtlety and beauty in the 80's leading to the formula of soulless soul that began to proliferate. Enjoy this album for what it is; a creative apex between the decades.

from Give Me Your Love, available on CD



(Want You) Back In My Life Again  performed by The Carpenters  1981
Recommended by scrubbles [profile]

One of the last Carpenters singles from their final studio album. I find this sweet 'n perky song strangely compelling, since it shows Richard and Karen Carpenter awkwardly trying to adjust their wholesome image to an early '80s synth pop template. Karen's voice is so processed and overdubbed that she blends in seamlessly with the synth-heavy backup -- still, the effect isn't cheezy but full and lucious. Knowing that Karen was slowly dying during this time makes this tune odder still.

from Made In America, available on CD


Tales from the Riverbank  performed by The Jam  1981
Recommended by geezer [profile]

Released as a B-side in 1981 ,this group were so prolific at this time vast parts of their output never made it to albums ,turning up ,like this gem as b sides or outakes,This is late period Jam in a wistful jangly mood but with a darker undertone lurking behind the mellowness ,the song ,lyrically,mourns the passing of a way of life sacrificed to progress and declining morals.Has hints of British psychedelica at its most parochial ,The Kinks come to mind as do early Floyd.The almost pastoral feel of this was not out of step with Wellers writing at this time and his finest inspiration often came to fruition on calssic b-sides like this .

from Extras (Polydor)
available on CD - The Jam-Extras


Subdivisions  performed by Rush  1982
Recommended by Mike [profile]

Heavy rock with synths - an effective combination as heard here. The famous Candadian heavy rock band of dubious politics here come up with a really gloomily atmospheric number. OK, I won't pretend it's great, but it has a certain something. And I love the chord textures generated on their synths, providing a backbone for the number.

from Signals, available on CD


True  performed by Spandau Ballet  1983
Recommended by thewilyfilipino [profile]

The great NYFD firefighter and actor Steve Buscemi immortalizes this song in the otherwise forgettable Adam Sandler vehicle "The Wedding Singer:" he winces, he exhales extra H's, he emotes. Spandau Ballet's lead singer, Tony Hadley, would never have done that; dressed in all his Bryan Ferry finery and sporting his New Romantic do, he stood with the mike pinched in the fingers of his hand... and emoted. "Oh I want the truth to be SAIIIIID [then his voice breaks]. [Pregnant pause.] [And then the Uh-huh-huh-huh-hi comes in again.]

Yes, "True." Performed by a band with one of the most stupid band names imaginable, "True" invaded Philippine airwaves, spawned a silly Spandau Ballet - Duran Duran showdown on DWLS 97.1, and jumpstarted the dead-end careers of a million amateur singers. (A good friend of mine, who actually could sing, once performed this during some high school party, and had it choreographed so that the lights would go out during the "pregnant pause." The women screamed.)

But darn it, the song still gets to me -- not every time, God no, but only when I'm in a semi-nostalgic mood regarding the worst years of my life (high school). That cheesy sax instrumental break that still haunts my dreams! The harmonizing Kemp brothers! "Always in time / But never in line for dreams!" The sound of my soul indeed.

from The Collection, available on CD


That’s The End Of That  performed by Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike  1983
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

Whenever I am accused of cynicism in my daily life, I just point to my deep and unabiding love for this ditty, which manages to out-twee even The Free Design. Cute-as-a-button girl vocals and light guitar make you want to drink squash and wear a hairslide.

from The Intimate Sound Of Trixie's Big Red Motorbike (Accident DENT 1)



  unathanthium: I climb in my tweemobile and Trixies soothe my nerves as I trundle through the London streets,smiling inanely at rage-fuelled motorists.In Timbuktu is the song that puts that smile there.When you go to Timbuktu,do as the Timbuktuans do,Trixies advise.And rhyming Niger with Tiger,even Ted Hughes never managed that.
  grimnir: an all-time classic! EXCELLENT! A typicallly-lush-John Peel type of track. AAHHHH! Summer and listening to Peel with the windows wide on a warm night. If anyone knows where to get more TBRM then post a reply.
It's My Life  performed by Talk Talk  1984
Recommended by Mike [profile]

This song is one I remember enjoying greatly as soon as I heard it shortly after its release as a single. To me it encapsulated perfectly the angst and frustration I often felt at that time. It did this as much through its sophisticated musical content and texture as through the lyrics. Listening to it now, it's as good an example as any of how different synth sounds go in and out of fashion. Hollis gives a typically intense vocal performance, and there are subtle hints in some of the instrumental lines of the more jazzy direction the band would later take. Highly recommended - don't miss this one. Oh, sorry - wrong site. Thought I saw the word Ebay somewhere.

from It's My Life (EMI)


Jesus Calling  performed by The Triffids  1984
Recommended by n-jeff [profile]

For a start we need more in the Australia section than Nick Cave and his assorted Combo's. Although I think the bass player from the Triffids now plays with him. And then I can't believe I've not recommended the Triffids before. This is quite an early one from when they were still playing London pubs. I don't know what its about (blood on my thighs and milk on my knees the sign outside says vacancies), theres lots of violin without it being folky or too countrified, and the chorus is insanely catchy with lines alternated between the late David McComb and Jill Birt the keybboard player. They were a big part of my musical life in the eighties, and 'In the pines' is still a great LP 15 years on.

from Raining Pleasure



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

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

from Learning To Crawl, available on CD


The night is still young  performed by Billy Joel  1985
Recommended by falicon [profile]

inspirational, and thought provoking. Makes me want to evaluate life. If I'm going to list main-stream music, I have to get at least on Bill Joel in here right? This is one of my favorites, so here it is. ;)

from Billy Joel Greatest Hits 1978-1985, available on CD



We Run  performed by Strange Advance  1985
Recommended by Colinator [profile]

I like this songs imagery and how it leaves so much unsaid, so the listener can relate it to themselves.
Apparently, the writer, (either Daryl Kromm or Drew Arnot, of Strange Advance) wrote this song from a dream he had. He described it as 'One of those wake up sweating dreams.'
The song is from their album 2wo, and is available on both 'Over 60 Minutes With Strange Advance' and 'Worlds Away and Back'.
However, niether of their first two albums, 'Worlds Away'(1982) and '2wo'(1985) are available on CD.

Song lyrics:

We Run

You're on your own and meet a friend
Who doesn't kill but wounds for life
The sun blinds you through the trees
While watching clues fall from the skies
And she smiles

Chorus

At the point of the knife
You never see anyone
How the strong will survive
At the end of their gun
We run...........

Frozen smiles for men returned
They never even left this place
She kissed me softly on the cheek
And a shadow cut across her face

Take heart the fountain of my life
Stone the victim to his knees
I've got scars for my mistakes
And now post atomic dreams
I dream...........

Chorus

At the point of the knife
You never see anyone
How the strong will survive
At the end of their gun
We run...........

I walked for miles and miles to the sea
we burned, the fire from the sun
I know you never tried to deceive
who can touch us when we run


available on CD - Over 60 Minutes With Strange Advance / Worlds Away and Back


Moonchild  performed by Rick James  1985
Recommended by Nickfresh [profile]

Rick James rocks. but he also can croon. His 1985 LP, "Glow," was highly underrated, and because of this fact, many folks passed up this gem of an album. "Moonchild," with its lush bassline - dreamy keyboards - and somewhat inspired lyrics, is one of the many tracks should've made RJ a bigger star than he was. Motown really dropped the ball on not releasing this ballad as a single or promoting the album, PERIOD. Mary J. Blige brought this song back to life (without butchering it) with 1997's "Love is All We Need."

from Glow (Gordy (Motown) 6135 GL)



For Once In My Life  performed by Pia Zadora  1986
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

Do not rub your eyes, you read that right, PIA ZADORA! Don't stop reading now, I promise you this is not a joke! Who knew that the squeaky little girl with the string of bad movies and the chubby cheeks had such a great voice. I didn't and was only buying the LP with the expectation of amusement at how hilariously bad this listening experience was going to be, but I am now a convert and you will be too if you ever chance to come across this rare out-of-print album. With the help of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the lush arrangement by Robert Farnon, Ms. Zadora takes this classic Stevie Wonder track and transforms it into a beautiful torchy anthem that escalates to a triumphant finish!

from I Am What I Am (CBS/Columbia BFZ 40533)


Walking On Your Hands  performed by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry  1986
Recommended by numbersix [profile]

Slightly "Lust For Lifeish", manic missile from a band dismissed by some as Joy Divison rip offs but who really had their own quirky lustre.

from Paint Your Wagon (Red Rhino)



  kohl: absolutely. they had their own style and this song is pretty good.
Big Time  performed by Peter Gabriel  1986
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

An even funkier hit single than "Sledgehammer" ? which had an epic groove but was too slow to actually dance to ? "Big Time" is a sardonic response to yuppie materialism with the funniest lyrics of Peter Gabriel's entire career. (The ending of the song, stopping just before the obvious punch line to all this discussion of how preternaturally huge everything in Gabriel's charmed life is, is a small moment of brilliance.) But the brilliance of the song is in the way it ties all that Gabriel had been learning about African percussion and Middle Eastern melodies ever since the days of his third solo album and ties them all into the service of a walloping great groove, making plain the connections between North Africa and Stax-Volt once and for all. The combination of talking drum and wah-wah guitar owes as much to Booker T and the MGs as it does to King Sunny Ade, which is both the key to "Big Time" and a clue as to why Gabriel's later, more explicitly world music focused albums just aren't as much fun.
(AMG)

from So, available on CD


Is this the life  performed by Cardiacs  1988
Recommended by Rena Blue [profile]

Cardiacs have been described as: fairground music; punk rock; prog rock; beautiful; frightening; deadly serious; total euphoria; ugly; sexy; avant-garde; pop genius; totally genuine; disturbing; uplifting... All I can say is this song has one of the maddest guitar solos I have ever heard!

from A little man and a house, available on CD




  n-jeff: God I hate the Cardiacs. I'm so Wacky. I'm so Zany. Wacky! Zany! Wacky! Zany! Wacky! Wacky! Zany! Zany! Thats all I have to say.
  dragonsulk: What rubbish, you havent paid attention at all. So much of it is about fear, pain, courage, the humour is gritted teeth in the face of sadness. Bit too subtle for you, eh? Too much like real life?
  n-jeff: I had the misfortune to have to spend an hour paying attention, christ, 20 years ago. That was quite enough, thank you. Subtle? No. Real life? Maybe they appraoched the real life feelings of my 4 year old on a chemical high after too much squash and her toys taken away. Maybe they've evolved. I hope so, but I'll bear a grudge for that gig.
  jack kane: the nme orthodoxy would have it that the cardiacs are somehow putting on an act. far from it - the reason their music is so powerful is that it's dredged up from the fearful chaos that lurks just beneath our feeble psyches. cardiacs haters fear this chaos, and their fear is projected as resentment, leaving them unable to access the music of britain's greatest band.
Everyday Is Like Sunday  performed by Pretenders  1988
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

While I am quite fond of the original version written and recorded by Morrissey, I have to admit that I prefer the cover version that the Pretenders recorded. Chrissie Hynde's voice and style are perfectly suited to the task of singing this movingly sad song about life "in a seaside town that they forgot to close down" and the use of slide-guitar is absolutely perfect on this track.

from Boys On The Side - Soundtrack, available on CD



  mattypenny: I'll have to try to find this. The Pretenders also did a cover of Radiohead's Creep - I think its a B-side (can CD singles have B-sides?) which is cracking - I much prefer it to Radiohead's versh.
  FlyingDutchman1971: The Pretenders cover of 'Creep' is included on the 4-CD/1-DVD box set "Pirate Radio". I couldn't agree more, mattypenny, it is better than the original...
Summertime Rolls  performed by Jane’s Addiction  1988
Recommended by rooftop_holler [profile]

a major theme song during one of the first summers in which i got to experience pure slivers of life on my own terms. reminds me of billy kaiser, and still-warm, oceany air in the drive home from the beach late at night. and lying on my back looking at stars. don't know if you'll feel it to or if it's context for me...lemme know. ; )

from Nothing's Shocking, available on CD



  rooftop_holler: ok, that shoulda been "too" with 2 "o"'s...whaddya want at 3 am?
It’s Cool Not To Care  performed by Mark and the No-Marks  1988
Recommended by rum [profile]

The late eighties wasn�t the ideal time for Mark & The No-Marks� deranged hybrid of English folk, free jazz and ghost puppetry, but there never has been an ideal time. Exclamation Mark, dressed up in his ridiculous David Crosby-esque green cape, refused to pander to contemporary fashions and trends, and even seem to resent any acclaim or approval, as if it was a sign that he was doing something wrong. This may explain why he hated this live favourite, scornfully introducing it at shows as �our sell-out�.

I chose the track not only because it�s the only thing that was ever officially released (along with its b-side, an utterly spastic reworking of the Monkees� Theme called �March of the No-Marks� replete with Tube station announcements- �this is the Bakerloo line service to Elephant & Castle�- and girls yelling, �Mark NO! No MARK!!!� at the singer) but it is also by far the best thing they ever did. And it was still far, far from sell-out material (it barely sold any). It is the only No-Mark record you need to hear. All of their less grating eccentricities are here, the schizophrenic dialogues, the lyrical obsessions with pylons and German bunkers, the shoddy jazz drumming, the demonic chanting, the cackling, the mewing (!), but this time it�s all held together by an ace nagging riff, and a supremely warped and swashbuckling chorus where an increasingly unhinged mark sneers, �it�s cooool not to care, sooo cooool not to care�� before he eventually loses all sense entirely and barks breathlessly, �NOT NOT, it�s not sooo care! COOL!!!�

Mark of course was incensed that their label released it as a single and vowed never to �bow to the pound� again. And as a result retired to his studio cave, muttering that their forthcoming album, �a didactic concept album about animal reincarnation� would be their most progressive work yet. And disastrous. If the rumours are true �My Family Are Other Animals� was abandoned after a record company executive visited the studio, described the tapes as �utter utter shit�, and then tried to throttle Mark with a microphone cable.





  n-jeff: This would be your band perhaps?
I think I recognise the attempt to write about ones own music.

  rum: good guess, but not my band no. i'm much too young. just used know a couple of No-Marks. local heroes/weirdos about town. they were very resentful of the whole experience, so i thought i'd give them their small dues.
  Gnasher: Was this the same Mark from 'Mark and the Monsters' infamy? I saw them once, in a mirror. Their sound made me want to pull my brain out through my ears and beat myself about the head with it. Shame, really, they looked really mad.
  rum: No, Gnasher, what you see in a mirror is a very troubled and confused soul, who needs alot of care and attention. Unfortunately musicaltaste.com is not the place.
  gnasher: Be nice!
Life During Wartime  performed by Talking Heads  198?
Recommended by avanzino [profile]




Sob Story  performed by Minor Threat  198x
Recommended by Durruti [profile]

This song is about.... ehh, the lyrics are quite self explaintory::

"Life's not been good for you
It's just not fair
You did nothing to deserve it
You did nothing at all
Sit back and watch
It turns from bad to worse
No matter how loud you cry
It always hurts.....
Everybody gets
The breaks that belonged to you
Everybody takes
Your just desserts....




At first I wasn't very satisfied with this song. It's hardcore, lyrics are shouted and I didn't understand anything, I only listened to melody and other things. Than I read lyrics and listened to it again.
THIS SONG IS VERY GOOD. ONE OF THE BEST MINOR THREAT SONGS (They are all great except "Guilty Of Being White", I hate lyrics. It remind me of nazi skins)
Minor Threat are one of the greatest hardcore bands of all time. Straight Edge is movement, which started becouse of one Minor Threat's song with the same name. The lyric side of MN is great, instrumental part to. They are great. They'll always be. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MINOR THREAT YOU DON'T LIKE HARDCORE! Sorry, but that's true.

You can find their whole discography on one CD which consists of 26 songs.

from Complete Discography, available on CD


A HUGE EVER GROWING PULSATING BRAIN...  performed by The Orb  1990
Recommended by Synthetrix [profile]

Full Title is
A HUGE EVER GROWING PULSATING BRAIN THAT RULES FROM THE CENTRE OF THE ULTRAWORLD
What can I say. This record changed my life.

from THE ORB'S ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ULTRAWORLD (BIG LIFE)



  FlyingDutchman1971: This track is amazing! I really enjoy the whole CD! My favorite track is 'Earth'... think I'll have to submit it
Out The Window  performed by Violent Femmes  1991
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

Yeah, yeah, just about everyone has heard the classic first album by the Milwaukee trio... however, some of their truly best efforts are to be found on later releases. "Out the Window" is one of those femme-gems that many people are sadly unaware of. Gordon Gano is in top form in this ode to unfortunate clumsiness ("life was short and life was sweet", I was thinking as I hit the street, I could hardly believe, I could scarcely conceive, that I had gone out the window).
The femme-enized remake of 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me' on this album is also not to be missed!

from Why Do Birds Sing, available on CD


Change  performed by Blind Melon  1992
Recommended by Tetsuo [profile]

One of the better known Blind Melon songs of of their self-titled debut, yet still fairly unknown. This song is a personal favorite of mine and preceeds No Rain on the album tracklist. Lead singer Shannon Hoon's voice plays off the acoustic guitar beautifully and his simple message is clear, change is okay. My favorite lines in the song plead with us clear and simply that,

"When you feel your life ain't worth living you've got to stand up and take a look around you then a look way up to the sky.
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,
keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin' it's time to die. "

Some may not like this song, but others will fall in love with it. I've grown up listening to this song and i have continued to love it.

Fun Fact:

Lead singer Shannon Hoon donned a question mark on his head and performed this song live on The late show with David Letterman shortly after Kurt Cobain's suicide, in his own way dedicating the song to him.

from Blind Melon, available on CD


Sandmen - Thelma (Fallout mix)  performed by DIY  1993
Recommended by alkine [profile]

well there isn't much to say, it's a drum machine and someone saying 'celebrate life'. i remember this lp from 8 years ago, and probably we were wasted, but it was the most played vinyl in the flat. found without knowing who or why, and now thanks to www.bleep.com, i found it again. not much happens until 3'40, and then, in the right mood, you realise why music is so great, some dude with a drum machine and a cheesy hook, manages to encapsulate joy in sound.

from Strictly 4 Groovers (Warp WARP18)


Hot Shot City  performed by David Hasselhoff  1993
Recommended by eftimihn [profile]

The man, the mullet, the myth: Davey Heckenschneck! Can't give a snippet here because it's the only song i can think of that has to be heard in it's entirety to vaguely grasp what's been achieved on all conceivable levels. This song is so beyond words, all i can say it's...well, errm... particularly good! But many others have tried, see for yourself: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000070S1/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/104-6418425-3463150?v=glance&s=music&vi=customer-reviews

from Looking For - The Best of David Hasselhoff, available on CD


Street Spirit (Fade Out)  performed by Radiohead  1994
Recommended by two-headed boy [profile]

If the sun would rise in a minor key, this is what it would sound like. The shadows dissolve around you in warm harmony, even death sunbathes here, in a song ripe with hope and humanity. It is a misnomer to 'Fade Out' when we are held not by darkness, but by light. The paralysis of a dreary existence is manifested in the 'Street Spirit' where 'cracked eggs, dead birds scream as they fight for life' and 'machines will not communicate these thoughts and strain I am under.' If we were to stifle the creative spirit all we would need to do is look down a suburb and notice the lack of aesthetics and individuality of the homes. 'Rows of houses all bearing down on me...all these things will one day take control and fade out again.' This is the prelude to the bigger picture found in Radiohead's songs. Sure they dwell on the robotics of Orwell's '1984', and at times they are tedious and painfully accurate, nevertheless they leave us with an indelible desire to survive. 'Immerse your soul in Love' wags it's tail at the end of the song to insure a new beginning, much like the death of night. When sung, it is a very exciting moment as Thom's voice soars above the convolutions of the incessant guitar picking and synth-strings. Not the most popular Radiohead song, but their brightest moment to be experienced.

from The Bends (Capitol CDP 7243 8 29626 2 5)


Don’t Fade Away  performed by Dead Can Dance  1996
Recommended by Archipelago [profile]

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.


available on CD - Toward the Within (4AD)


Life In Mono  performed by Mono  1996
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

The vocalization of a persistent daydream delivered with a truly ethereal sound. I find this song hauntingly beautiful. I was also lucky enough to come across a promotional-only CD single that features two great house mixes by Jonathan Peters although sadly, they are both edits that clock in around 4 minutes each.

from Formica Blues, available on CD



  delicado: Yes, a superb song. Simple, but beautiful. The tune reminds me of 'The Shadow of your smile'. The singer's voice echoes that of Claudine Longet nicely, and they appropriate some elements of classic film music in order to create a compelling backdrop. I have the US-issue CD single, which also includes 4 mixes and an instrumental version. None really match the elegance of the original though.
  yonderboy: This track got a lot of exposure as part of the "Great Expectations" soundtrack. The entire cd is quite good as well. Formica Blues was Mono's only full length effort, though there are several cd singles available. A wonderfully successful example of how trip-hip and jazz/lounge styles work well together. Reminds me of Love Spirals Downwards' recent cds Temporal and Flux. Mono's vocalis Siobhan de Mar moved on to do work with Cocteau Twins frontman Robin Guthrie. Their band, Violet Indiana is on Guthrie's Bella Union label.
  Mike: It's very appealing but I also find it almost comically artifical and that I tire of it very easily.
Floods  performed by Pantera  1996
Recommended by King Charles [profile]

Starting off with the haunting echoing of steel string suspended minor chords, and quickly moving into the feeling of darkness, Floods reigns as one of the greatest metal balladry songs of all time. With a time of 6:59 (minutes and seconds), Floods deals with the internal struggle, elements of corruption, and dissolution of troubles (wash away man/ take him with the floods), that is not dismissed or watered down into a three-minute wad of sound. Pantera's pervasive composing abilities are seen not only in the length of this track, but it its bridges and structured solo set ups. Phil Anselmo delivers this song on the back of Dimebag Darrell's mighty 'steel' guitar effect, and of course the trademark bass drums and top-hat kicks of Vinnie Paul that have made Pantera so famous. The bridge perhaps extracts the greatest meaning from the song; it epitomizes itself on the power chord riff solos and Anselmo's godly muttering of "floods" (in which we can picture a Goliath or force of destruction coming in to obliterate all existence), which echoes throughout the solo. A rather dark song, Floods is characterized by its catchy guitar work (which contains a spectrum of minor and suspended shapes), and staircase wit/reflective backdrop mumbling vocals about the cold, harsh realities of life. Recommended to anyone who doubts this band's ability to do other than scream and wax metallic, Floods will not be a disappointing track. The bleak acceptance of moving onto new horizons or ways of life, leaving the old and dead behind and walking on down the road, is embodied in the ending solo, with the subtle sound of rainfall calming the listener in the end. 5 out of 5 stars for its genre.

from The Great Southern Trendkill



Get A Hold  performed by A Tribe Called Quest  1996
Recommended by sok186 [profile]

From their criminally overlooked album 'Beats Rhymes & Life', "Get A Hold" features Q-Tip over an extremely smooth production from a young J. Dilla (aka Jay Dee of Slum Village, Pharcyde, and Jaylib). Better reasons to nod your head just don't exist.

from Beats, Rhymes, and Life (Jive)
available on CD - Yes (Jive)


Post Modern Sleaze  performed by Sneaker Pimps  1996
Recommended by Gwendolyn [profile]

"She looks ahead/ she paints her toenails red/ She's wet and wild/ a typical 90s child" I listen to this song when I walk to class early in the morning. It makes me feel like such a girl, but a bad-ass girl. This song and "Wasted Early Sunday Morning" make my life complete.

from Becoming X


Are you the one that I've been waiting for?  performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds  1997
Recommended by phil [profile]

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.

from The Boatman's Call, available on CD


Pacific 202  performed by Acid Brass (The Williams Fairey Brass Band)  1997
Recommended by n-jeff [profile]

Theres something beautifully melancholic about the best British (Early) house music, and of course, theres nothing quite as melancholy as a Brass Band. I haven't heard the whole LP, but this track off teh 12 inch single brings a tear to my eye everytime I hear it.

Whoever it was that thought of doing this cover was a genius, I'm sure they thought it would be solid cheese, but instead its one of those moments of inspirational magic. I'd love to hear their version of "Strings of Life".

from Acid Brass 12 (Blast First)
available on CD - Acid Brass


Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)  performed by Green Day  1997
Recommended by acidburn [profile]

from Nimrod


The Moon and the Stars  performed by Mr. Wright  1998
Recommended by secularus [profile]

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

from Star Time, available on CD


Chance  performed by Mahogany  1998
Recommended by Genza [profile]

Songs that are this good make life worth living. I’m listening to this now and I can’t believe quite how magnificent this song is.

It’s all the best bits of Slowdive, Stereolab and Seefel mixed into a gorgeous, cello-fused rhapsody. Oh, bring it on!

from The dream of a modern day (Burnt Hair Records Fern 018)


Dance Girl Dance  performed by Cinerama  1998
Recommended by john_l [profile]

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!


available on CD - Va Va Voom (spinART)


Maybe in the next life  performed by Cinnamon  1999
Recommended by delicado [profile]

What a depressing yet beautiful song... I was thinking of recommending this when I first heard it, but today it fits my mood better and I feel compelled to do so. Bertrand Burgalat's production mixes modern beats and bleepy sound with strings, alongside Cinnamon's old-school tuneful indie guitar pop with a female vocalist. God, this song is depressing; did I say that yet? But it's one of those depressing songs that's actually glorious to hear, accompanied as it is by beautiful, rousing music. The vocal is rather tender; as if she's sympathetic about what a fuckup the listener is.

Those uplifting lyrics in full (actually, there's more, but I'll spare you):
"when you were young/you had the sun in your eyes/the grass was greener/the days were sweeter/in the next life/you know where you came from, but there's no sparkle in your eyes/you're gonna die/and there's nothing in between to shout about'.

Why would you want to listen to something like that? I'm not sure, but I have it on repeat play today; check it out!


available on CD - The genius of Bertrand Burgalat (Bungalow)



  bobbyspacetroup: I'm a big fan of this song as well. The album this if from, Vertigo, is worth picking up if you can find it. Louis Philippe arranged the strings on it with Burgalat producing. I hope this isn't all we are going to hear from Cinnamon.
Suddenly Everything Has Changed  performed by The Flaming Lips  1999
Recommended by clupton [profile]

Ever been doing some mundane, everyday type chore and have a sudden, deep realization about life, the universe, etc., strike you from out of the blue? Here's your song. It's a wonderful piece of symphonic pop; kind of hard to believe how much these guys have matured over the years . . .

from The Soft Bulletin



Slide Show  performed by Travis  1999
Recommended by xfanatic50 [profile]

A beautiful, stripped-down acoustic ballad, the final song on Travis' finest album. This song has one of the most amazing chorus' I've ever heard, a comment on the messages of music in life: "There is no design for life/There's no devil's haircut in my mind/There is not a wonderwall to climb or step around" Smart, and lovely.

from The Man Who (Sony)


Speed Trials  performed by Elliott Smith  199?
Recommended by Open Book [profile]

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

from Either/Or, available on CD



  delphiblue: "a prolific user of drugs and prostitutes..." ??? sure, okay, we all know that he used drugs, but that prostitutes thing is entirely new to me. is there actual proof of this, or can one just assume that having sex with prostitutes is a natural progression from using drugs?
  delicado: Ok - I just deleted a couple of comments from here because someone disobeyed my 'be nice' rule. First time I've had to do that in nearly 6 years! I dunno - if it's not spammers it's nutcases! Sorry you were bothered by this, Open Book...
My Life As A Carcrash  performed by tompaulin  2000
Recommended by Leonard [profile]

exceptional song about love and life in smalltown northern england. A fabulousopening line 'I know she has a boyfriend and I guess we both take turns,he gets hot meals his washing done,I get carpet burns' All the things you loved about the Smiths, a quiet piano led intro bashed into submission by noisy guitars and drums and then back to the quiet bit. Wonderful, buy it.

from the single My Life As A Carcrash (Action)
available on CD - My Life As A Carcrash (Action)


clarinets/love scene  performed by gonsalez  2000
Recommended by olli [profile]

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.

from gonzales uber alles (kitty-yo)



"The Glow" pt. 2  performed by Microphones  2001
Recommended by Open Book [profile]

I call it "THE - concept album." It's almost as if Phil Elvrum nearly single-handedly did what all others before him had tried to accomplish in attempting a thematically based musical piece of artwork. The title track from his stunning masterpiece digs deep into the thoughts of the main character as he battles life, struggles with suicide, and breaks down entirely. Besides the heart-wrenching lyrics, musically, the song is equally brilliant- utilizing both channels of the stereo to spin the listener around, sweeping organs, and a drop-dead gorgeous vocal performance all beginning with a kick ass fuzz-drone rock out featuring blazing drum fills. This songs brings me to tears every time I hear it.

from "The Glow" pt. 2 (K Records)
available on CD - "The Glow" pt.2 (K Records)


Mad World  performed by Gary Jules  2001
Recommended by cryofthecelt [profile]

"Mad World" was written and originally performed by the popular 80's band Tears for Fears. A more mellow, piano-based cover of the song was featured in the cult movie "Donnie Darko" (Jake Gylenhaal, Patrick Swayze) as performed by folk artist Gary Jules. His version of "Mad World" reached the coveted Christmas #1 spot in the UK in 2003, despite that it was 3 years old and performed by an unknown artist.
This song is quite possibly my favorite song of all time, at least in my Top Ten, because I feel that it describes life very accurately. The chorus of the song is:
"I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had."
To me, this song is saying "Hang in there...I know life sucks on this earth, but you will go to a far better place after your death."
Depressing? No. This song helps me to carry on.

from Donnie Darko (Enjoy)
available on CD - Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets (EMI International)



  malpt: This is a rare occasion where I love the cover more than the original. A very awesome song.
Somewhere in Between  performed by Lifehouse  2001
Recommended by izumi [profile]

I think this is likely to be one of those songs you might accidentally come across on the radio or in a movie soundtrack, you don't know who performs it and you don't care because it just takes you in when you listen to it. You can't use words like "amazing" or "breathtaking" to describe it. It's just simple and beautiful and you'll love it if you like slow-paced songs with a acoustic guitar melody that sound really dreamy and wonderful.

from No Name Face (Dreamworks 4503382)


Ghosts  performed by Logh  2002
Recommended by crimethInc [profile]

The soundtrack to my life.
With standard rock setup, bass, drums and guitar as well as an additional pedal steel ogh makes truly beautiful music. Don�t be fooled by the pedal steel...this is far from all the Wilco wannabes. Logh creates feelings.

from Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings, available on CD


Breathe In Now  performed by George  2002
Recommended by sunsilk [profile]

A band that blend elements of classical, jazz, funk, rock, folk, and electronic music.

Why i like it; a beatiful song about moving forward in life, and Katie Noonan's vocals are wonderful to listen to....

...Say i love, i live and breathe in now....

from Polyserena, available on CD


Goodnight Moon  performed by Shivaree  2002
Recommended by Lubi [profile]

A blend of Mexican, a sprinkling of country and a dose of Southern soul "Goodnight Moon" is a track off the album "I Ought to Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump" : classy!

When a song hits me - I will play it like it's going out of fashion, or in this case, coming into fashion!

Until four days ago I knew nothing about this band - I happened to be surfing around looking for inspiration and accidently came upon this song, the singer whom I now know as Ambrosia Paisley has a sultry, quirky voice and given to this song makes it feel like It should be played acoustic in some smoky bar with swing doors, and a bar man called Hank offering neat JD's.

Although that's probably not too far from reality it is being played world wide thanks to Mr Tarrantino who has used this track in his movie soundtrack - Kill Bill 2 - which kind of makes sense to me granted that my original search on Google four days ago started with Nancy Sinatra, which I also found out "Bang Bang my baby shot me down" (another recommendation should I add!) was lent to the Kill Bill 1 soundtrack.

Regressing, I do not know if any other tunes on this album are worthy but Goodnight Moon now firmly has a place in the soundtrack to my life.

from I Ought to Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump, available on CD


Good to Me  performed by Brendan Benson  2002
Recommended by xfanatic50 [profile]

A really fun, upbeat song about the little things that you can rely on in life. An absolute gem.

from Lapalco (StarTime)



detroit  performed by primal scream  2002
Recommended by olli [profile]

insanely hard, pulsating fascist dance punk piece, easily the best song on primal scream`s uneven last album. features some mean distorted synthezisers, a gigantic bassline and some great, sneering vocals from Jim Reid of the jesus and mary chain. (am i the only one who has a problem with bobby gillespie`s singing voice?)i often find myself jumping around the house while listening to this.

from evil heat


When Mac Was Swimming  performed by The Innocence Mission  2003
Recommended by JackStowage [profile]

Karen Peris shakes the blues of her previous recording and explores the hopeful possibilities of life and death.

Nobody knows, darling.
Nobody knows how they are loved.

With Don's usual shimmering guitar given a touch of lounge-y bossa nova.


available on CD - befriended (Badman Records)



Sore  performed by Buck 65  2003
Recommended by trivia [profile]

Although Buck's "ragged old man" routine can be charming, it usually comes off feeling more like a Tom Waits rip-off than a Tom Waits homage. "Sore" is my favorite track on "Talkin' Honky Blues" because it does away with the overly-cute oddball beat poetry that Buck often indugles in and offers a more sincere and unaffected portrayal of the wayfaring nomad / poor white trucker.

Buck's in a one horse town with a broken down pick-up, left to set up shop in a shoddy motel and reflect on his life. The lyrics are country gold all rapped up pretty: "I'm drawn to familiar environments and dangers / I look in my photo albums and all I see is strangers / What is my problem?"

I'm a sucker for good desolation-hop (unfortunately for me, there isn't much out there), and "Sore" fits the bill perfectly.

from Talkin' Honky Blues, available on CD



the beer  performed by kimya dawson  2003
Recommended by olli [profile]

on a post-moldy peaches roll today.
lo-fi, blackly humorous, unrelenting singer-songwriter antifolk material. the lyrics are a stream-of-consciousness portrait of life in lower-class america, filled with weirdo pop culture references. i fell in love with this song from a badly recorded live version, available on her homepage: http://www.kimyadawson.com/audio/10_Kimya_Dawson_-_The_Beer.mp3
there`s an album version of the track on "my cute friend sweet princess", but i think it lacks a lot of the drive from the live recording (and the sound quality`s not really that much better, anyway. i wonder how this would sound on one of those ludicrously expensive hi fi sets that guys in cornflower-blue shirts tend to buy)

"even though i`ve never ever been in a band,
i`ve got cool as black ice tattooed on my hand.." gotta love that line.

from my cute friend sweet princess (important records)


The Life of the Party  performed by April March  2003
Recommended by delicado [profile]

Shock modern recommendation. The entire 'Triggers' album sounds great to me, with Bertrand Burgalat's production very prominent alongside April's vocals.

'The Life of the Party' has lots of interesting electronic and vocal sounds, including some excellent synths, and a cool and rather spooky chord sequence.

Big thanks to robert[o] for turning me on to the album.

from Triggers, available on CD




  olli: i really dig bertrand burgalat. 'specially sssound of music.
Life For Rent  performed by Dido  2003
Recommended by acidburn [profile]

from Life For Rent


Bring Me To Life  performed by Evanescence  2003
Recommended by acidburn [profile]

from Fallen


Endless Sacrifice  performed by Dream Theater  2003
Recommended by izumi [profile]

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.

from Train of Thought (Elektrik 7559628912)


Some Times Like The Tide  performed by Fordirelifesake  2003
Recommended by 6027 [profile]

melodic guitar, heavy feeling.

from Breathing in is only half the function


Dude [Remix]  performed by Beenie Man featuring Ms. Thing & Shawnna  2004
Recommended by jeanette [profile]

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.

from Dude CD Single, available on CD




  Issie: I totally agree - it's a very good song!
  olli: he he. "stupid pop mood". i like that.
Beautiful night  performed by The Burden Brothers  2004
Recommended by Reck [profile]

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.

from Buried in Your Black Heart


Life on Mars?  performed by Seu Jorge  2004
Recommended by stupidwall [profile]

A beautiful, soft version of the classic David song sung in Portueguese(sp?). It's only his voice and his guitar.

The song is from the movie 'Life Aquatic'. Wes ANderson asked Seu to translate 11 Bowie songs into Portueguese and perform them on the set.

Also has a personal thing to it for me.

from Life Aquatic- The Motion Picure Soundtrack



  olli: i picked up the soundtrack before i even saw the movie on this one.. great stuff, love the "incidental" feel and the one-take roughness of seu's recordings.
Side By Side  performed by Labrador  2004
Recommended by eftimihn [profile]

This is how indie pop music should sound, at least for me: bittersweet, light'n' fluffy, airy, harmonic and late 60s oriented. Or as the band describes it: The music makes you think of the time when Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach was young, Brigitte Bardot looked good, and Serge Gainsbourg was alive! Their whole second album, Instamatic Lovelife, is very consistent in quality and thus highly recommended.

from Instamatic Lovelife, available on CD



Tive Razao  performed by Seu Jorge  2004
Recommended by ambassador [profile]

So anyone who's seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or City of God will recognize Seu Jorge as the handsome, dark-skinned actor with the gravelly voice. In Life Aquatic he plays Pele, the Brazilian safety officer on board Zissou's boat and the bard that plays Portuguese language covers of David Bowie songs. Although this is changing, even in Brazil he's better known as an actor than a musician. His second solo album (he used to be in a band called Farofa Carioca), Cru, was released last fall in France and was impossibly hard to find until recently. Tive Razao was the first release from this album and is fairly representative and is the shining peak as well. Based around an acoustic guitar riff and Seu Jorge's multi-tracked vocals, the song just floats in this melancholy haze like some of the best Chico Buarqu de Hollanda ballads. The production on this song (and the album) is much more sparse than the previous album, but much more original as well. Jorge even uses what I think is a theremin to add a slight spookiness to the preceedings. The lyrics mean something like, "I had an excuse" or "I had a reason."

from Cru, available on CD



  ambassador: I since found out that the title means "You were right." makes a bit more sense that way.
Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad  performed by Nancy Sinatra  2004
Recommended by FlyingDutchman1971 [profile]

Nancy Sinatra joined the Attack Records family with the 2004 self-titled release, "Nancy Sinatra". She contacted artists that she and her daughters admire such as Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, and Thurston Moore among others and found that these artists were also fans of hers and were eager to collaborate with her on the new album.

This song is U2's contribution to the album. Bono and The Edge wrote the song and Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen provided bass and drums on the recording.

The song is a beautiful slow jazzy ballad in which the lyrics compare the good things in life as shots of "happy" and the harsh moments as shots of "sad".

from Nancy Sinatra, available on CD


I’ve Got A Life  performed by Eurythmics  2005
Recommended by djronniebruno [profile]

great new song (05) superb all around. lyrics, vocals, instrumentation. 100% recommended!




Glósóli  performed by Sigur Rós  2005
Recommended by SUtR [profile]

If you don't know this song, there is a large void in your life (that you somehow think is filled by the Pet Shop Boys). With a beat that pounds like a jackhammer, Glósóli will grab you, smack you around and leave you wanting more.

from Takk...


War Photographer  performed by Jason Forrest  2005
Recommended by SUtR [profile]

Shamelessly exciting! Jason Forrest brings his own brand of electronica, introducing samples whenever he feels like it. It's like a kick in the teeth and you like it (not like the pansy Pet Shop Boys kick in the teeth). If you want to rock, you want Jason Forrest in your life.

from Shamelessly Exciting



  n-jeff: Jason Forrest seems to be about the most tuneful of that whole mashcore scene, and the most serious minded. Although having met him (sound bloke) I don't think the man who once called himself Donna Summer would have the issues about the Pet Shop Boys you seem to.
Best of You  performed by Foo Fighters  2005
Recommended by CaitlinSpelledWrong [profile]

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"


available on CD - In Your Honor (RCA)


Let me take your life  performed by Final Boss  2006
Recommended by ref. [profile]

The song is mostly comprised of guitars, though it also features synths that provide timpanies, mallet sounds, and string sounds, as well as an electric bass guitar.

Its a really interesting arrangement and has quite a memorable main melody. The song ends with an interesting modulation (key change) that sustains the main them.

Its a beautiful rock instrumental song with a focus on arrangement, textures, and mood that you might see in a classical piece.

Reminds me of the Stone Roses without the psychedelic rock vibe.

from not released
available on CD - www.finalboss.net/songs


Turning of the Tide  performed by Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3  2006
Recommended by dsalmones [profile]

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

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

from ...Tick...Tick...Tick, available on CD


Thrash Unreal  performed by Against Me!  2007
Recommended by RevJim [profile]

Punkish with gravelly lead vocals (male); very good harmonies for this genre; great songwriting. Two guitars, bass, drums. Jesus, what a song about the twists life will take on ya! Better than anything outside of Interpol that I've heard in a long time.

from New Wave, available on CD


Thrash Unreal  performed by Against Me!  2007
Recommended by Jeremiahcity [profile]

This four piece rock band from Florida delivers their new album featuring the song "Thrash Unreal." The song delivers the same kind of real person feeling used by John Lennon. A great album displaying absolute feeling and true life. Not for your normal prog fan, def alternative music.

from New Wave


A Life Worth Living  performed by Aereogramme  2007
Recommended by devorzhum [profile]

from My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go (Chemikal Underground)


Waltz For Life Will Born  performed by Uyama Hiroto  2007
Recommended by joanzaya [profile]

from 2nd Collection (Hyde Out Productions), available on CD


Come Closer  performed by Miles Kane   2010
Recommended by geezer [profile]

Something new from pops new boy wonder ,former Rascal and Last Shadow Puppeteer Kane trawls through pops back pages to define the sound of NOW!.
Brit pop arrogance with Bolan esque flirtations and a smattering of David Essex combine to forge a great fresh poppy sound that will undoubtedly have a limited shelf life but for the rest of the summer this will be the album to have

from Colour of the Trap, available on CD


This Is the Life  performed by Two Door Cinema Club  2010
Recommended by music.man.925 [profile]

This song, along with "What You Know" by TDCC, just make me wanna dance. Wonderful, wonderful song.

from Tourist History


100  performed by Dean blunt   2014
Recommended by Pinkfoxracing [profile]

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.

from Black metal, available on CD


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