Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 114

Bruce Springsteen: The River, Revisited (The Imaginary Album)

Time for another reconstructed, imaginary album...

My love for Springsteen has always run hot & cold. As a kid first discovering classic rock in the 70s, I was a big fan of Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Especially the latter. I remember one summer at overnight camp, one of my counselors cranking up "Badlands" and "Candy's Room" and "Adam Raised A Cain," partly to piss off another one of my counselors who truly hated Bruce.

But by the time The River came out in late 1980, my interes...

My Top 1000 Songs #76: Love My Way

Another one where my undying love for the song is as much a result of teenage associations as it is a recognition of the song's stand-alone merits.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great song. One of the most perfect encapsulations of the new wave era, expertly combining distinctive synths and a haunting atmospherics but never straying far from infectious, sing-along pop. Richard Butler tames his sandpaper rasp into more of a Bowie-esque croon, making it more inviting than some of the band's more abras...

My Top 1000 Songs #75: This Time Tomorrow

There are more attention-grabbing songs on the Kinks' 1970 sort-of concept album Lola vs. Powerman . "Lola," of course, is one of the all-time-great singles, and the aesthetically-similar "Apeman" is great fun. Meanwhile, Dave Davies gets one of his most remarkable turns in the emotionally poignant "Strangers." So, yeah, any one of those can and should be near the top of my list.

But it's "This Time Tomorrow" that's gradually grown into a personal favorite over the years.

Now, Ray Davies has writte...

My Top 1000 Songs #74: In Between Days

The perfect pop song, 1980s edition.

When I arrived at college and first came across the Cure--one of the many bands I was shocked to discover already had a rich body of music yet had completely failed to penetrate my high school suburban bubble--I thought of them as primarily a dark, Joy Division-influenced goth band. Early 80s records like Pornography and Faith were hardly finger-snapping bundles of fun, right? But when The Head Of The Door dropped in summer '85, and especially lead-off single ...

My Top 1000 Songs #73: Baby Blue

From Badfinger's fantastic 1971 LP Straight Up , "Baby Blue" stands alongside Big Star's "September Girls" and a few others as the defining songs of the power pop genre.

But for me, part of its appeal has always been a certain air of rarity. I first heard it as a kid on the radio, and immediately loved it. But back then, Badfinger's records were all out of print, and aside from splurging on an overpriced import, there was no way to actually own a copy. So for a number of years, all I had was the v...

My Top 1000 Songs #72: I Know What I Like

An early instigator of my long-running, on-again off-again relationship with prog rock. I was already somewhat familiar with Peter Gabriel as a solo artist, and Phil Collins-helmed Genesis, before I discovered their shared past (ah, life as a kid in the pre-internet age, when an encyclopedic knowledge of music history wasn't at your fingertips). But once I discovered Gabriel-era Genesis, I was immediately hooked. 1971's Nursery Cryme totally floored me (as explained in my book), and its opening ...

My Top 1000 Songs #71: Books About UFOs

Any visitor to these parts knows that the Top 1000 list I'm gradually working through--hey, only 929 left to go!--is a stab at my personal favorites. I'm not laying claim to greatness here; this ain't Pitchfork or, god forbid, Rolling Stone. Sure, as was the case just yesterday, there are some obvious consensus picks here; having grown up on classic rock radio in the 70s, plenty of the usual suspects are among my personal faves as well.

But, no, Hüsker Dü's "Books About UFOs," from their superb 1...

My Top 1000 Songs #70: The Weight

Here's another one that feels kinda obligatory. It's hard to get excited about writing up "The Weight," 'cuz it's just one of those songs you're required to include on a list like this.

Indeed, The Band are on my shortlist of artists I respect, and whose significance and greatness I don't dispute--yet I very rarely have much interest in playing their records. If they come on the radio, or when my digital library is in shuffle-play mode, great, no complaints. But when did I last sit down and liste...

My Top 1000 Songs #69: Don't Change

#69. Heh heh. 69.

Sorry.

Anyway... something of an anomaly on the list. Probably the first appearance of a band I can't say I really care for aside from this one song. (Yeah, there are some novelty songs and one-hit wonders further down on the Top 1000, but that doesn't really fit the bill here.)

I mean, sure, INXS had a few decent enough singles back in the MTV era, tunes I didn't mind when they came up on the radio even if I didn't feel a need to buy their records.

But this 1982 single from the Au...

My Top 1000 Songs #68: Fearless

Like a lot of kids who came of age in the 70s, I discovered Pink Floyd through their run of concept albums that dominated the decade. The Wall came out in 1979 when I was 13, blowing me away with its intensity and sonic richness (though as noted previously, it's not an album I spin much these days); and of course, sitting down for 40 minutes with a pair of headphones and a copy of Dark Side of the Moon was an essential rite of passage. Eventually I started working my way backwards, both to the e...