Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 100

My Top 1000 Posts #205: Layla

Yeah, I know, there are a couple strikes against the 1970 Derek And The Dominos chestnut. First, Eric Clapton is kind of a dick (ranging from his documented racism to his more recent anti-vax inanity). Second, this song is right up there with "Stairway To Heaven" in the beaten-to-death-by-classic-rock-radio category, making it something I rarely crave hearing.

But, still, it's a song I won't turn off on the rare occasions when I'm listening to the radio, or when I dust off the Dominos' sole LP ev...

My Top 1000 Songs #204: Scotty's Lament

I've adored the Connells since the mid-80s, when they were playing college parties on campus (yes, at our "eating club," if you must know). The North Carolina-based quintet slotted in nicely among the jangly guitar bands that I'd been in love with ever since discovering R.E.M.; much like another favorite I recently posted here, Winter Hours, their music was particularly sweet and melodic, an inherent prettiness that made it stand out.

Their sophomore LP, 1987's Boylan Heights, became an instant f...

My Top 1000 Songs #203: Pictures Of Matchstick Men

Arguably the defining moment in late 60s psych-pop (or lite-psych), Status Quo's 1968 single pulls in the telltale psychedelic signifiers--plenty of reverb and wah-wah pedal--tethered to an absurdly killer guitar riff, arriving at a perfect little radio-ready pop nugget with just enough acid-trip energy to bewilder Top 40 listeners.

While these days Status Quo is probably better known for their run of 1970s hard rock & boogie (some of which I enjoy quite a bit), I don't think they get a fair shak...

My Top 1000 Songs #202: Sufficiently Breathless

Here's another one from the "unexpectedly great songs from artists I don't otherwise care for" file. Captain Beyond's 1973 sophomore LP Sufficiently Breathless was a mix of prog and harder 70s rock, shades of both Yes and Styx. It's not bad, and a few songs are interesting, but also not terribly memorable. 

But the title track is another story. It's a blissed-out, elongated tune with a pastoral, slightly folkie acoustic open-string tuning, pleasant and wistful, coupled with a distinctive riff, so...

My Top 1000 Songs #201: One Long Pair Of Eyes

Between Robyn Hitchcock's long solo career (both on his own and with the Egyptians and various other configurations) and his earlier work with The Soft Boys, I could easily come up with a few dozen tracks appropriate for inclusion here. But "One Long Pair Of Eyes," off 1989's excellent and underrated Queen Elvis--for some reason one of the few records of his that doesn't stream--is a personal favorite. It's less immediate than some of his more obvious alt.pop tracks, but it's always haunted me. ...

My Top 1000 Songs #200: China Cat > Rider

Well, after some 200 days of this mishegoss, we're 20% of the way through the Top 1000. Will we endure until the bitter end? With post-Musk Twitter's algorithms sending far less traffic this way, visits are way down and I increasingly feel like I'm doing this for myself and maybe a couple of stragglers, but, on the plus side, it keeps me out of trouble. Time will tell.

Gonna wrap up the Top 200 with some live Dead, maybe a weird way to do it, but the long-running "China Cat Sunflower > I Know You...

My Top 1000 Songs #199: Wait Till The Morning

I've shouted my love for 80s college radio jangle pop band Winter Hours from the rooftops until I'm blue in the face... not much more to say. But I loved these guys, and despite intervening tragedy (the sad passing of two of the band's members) and a catalog that's long out of print, mostly unavailable on streaming media, and destined to remain a well-kept secret among fellow fans, they remain one of my go-to bands when I want to hear something that makes my soul soar. And this song in particula...

My Top 1000 Songs #198: Point That Thing Somewhere Else

This cut from a 1981 EP by New Zealand indie rockers The Clean is admittedly a left-field pick. It's a garage-rocking Velvets/Stooges-inspired extended guitar vamp, a basic three-chord guitar groove with some drony (and kinda spooky) (and deliriously sloppy) jamming, the understated, opaque lyrics occasionally asserting themselves into the mix (that kinda creepy title refrain perfectly meshing with the antagonism of the guitar and the insistent rhythm section. Not exactly the makings of a stand-...

My Top 1000 Songs #197: Hazy Jane II

I'll admit I'm among those who was largely ignorant of Nick Drake until that confounded Volkswagen commercial shone a bright light on his brilliant folk masterpiece "Pink Moon." But I responded in the only rational way, leaping down the tragically short-lived singer-songwriter's rabbit hole and picking up his brief discography (three albums + an outtakes collection). 

And while I loved it all, there was something different about "Hazy Jane II," off his sophomore work, 1971's Bryter Later. Yes, it...

My Top 1000 Songs #196: Southern Mark Smith

I first heard the Jazz Butcher's 1983 single "Southern Mark Smith" when it arrived at the college radio station as part of 1986's Bloody Nonsense compilation. And it was such a heartwarming trifle full of glorious absurdity that it's given me big smiles ever since. The song (and the rest of that ridiculously fun collection) served as my introduction to Pat Fish and his revolving cast, and I've loved the band right up through last year's final LP The Highest In The Land (following Fish's sad pass...