Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 117

My Top 1000 Songs #52: Thirteen

Alex Chilton was no one's idea of a sentimentalist, any more than, say, Lou Reed. But just as Reed's unusually poignant "Pale Blue Eyes" was way up on my list, Chilton's ode to (very) young love off the astounding Big Star debut is irresistible in its earnest charms. Tucked in amongst the album's rockers on side one, "Thirteen" stands out, a simple, finger-picked acoustic guitar riff and a gentle croon extolling the virtues of meeting at the pool, going to the school dance, and pissing off dad b...

My Top 1000 Songs #51: Temptation

Another song with enduring sentimental value for me. My college roommate Charlie had New Order's 1982 EP, and "Temptation" was our suite's go-to pre-party rave-up song before we headed out for the night. Nothing profound here--New Order weren't exactly profound lyricists--but the "Oh you've got green eyes, oh you've got blue eyes, oh you've got grey eyes. And I've never seen anyone quite like you before" bit was always a great way to kick off the evening: optimistic, hoping to find that someone ...

Guerilla Toss: Famously Alive (2022)

Almost exactly 30 years ago, my buddy Tom and I went to a Sonic Youth show at San Francisco's Warfield. A newish band I'd never heard before called Pavement opened, and changed my life forever, basically establishing the template for my musical life throughout the 90s and up through the present.

Last week Pavement paid it forward. I caught one of their reunion gigs at SF's Masonic (it was great, BTW), and really enjoyed the opening set from New York art-punk band Guerilla Toss. They're not an act...

My Top 1000 Songs #50: Good Vibrations

Wow, been doing this for 50 straight days. 950 more to go!

1966's "Good Vibrations" is another entry that feels a bit clichéd and obligatory. 'Cuz every classic rock countdown is required to have "Good Vibrations" near the top.

But, c'mon, that production. A multi-part suite that feels pasted together from a half dozen stray Brian Wilson ideas, but still make for a compelling whole; that distinctive, unexpected bassline in the verses composed by Wilson (legendary Wrecking Crew studio bassist Caro...

My Top 1000 Songs #49: Box Of Rain

Second back-to-back song from 1970, and I'll admit it's a bit incongruous. As Dead songs go, it's kind of an outlier. It's one of just a handful of songs written and sung by bassist Phil Lesh who, let's be honest, has a singing voice not far afield from a sack of angry cats, but largely keeps that in check on the studio version. It also features a few guest musicians, while guitarist Jerry Garcia moves over to piano and Lesh trades his bass for guitar. So it's sort of a non-Dead Dead song, yet s...

My Top 1000 Songs #48: The Only Living Boy In New York

Simon & Garfunkel were one of those acts I spent much of my life disdaining (or at least ignoring). My parents had Bridge Over Troubled Water on 8-track tape when I was a kid; we had to learn "El Condor Pasa" on recorder back around 4th grade, when we all had to play those stupid plastic recorders; we'd sing songs like "The 59th Street Bridge Song" and "Homeward Bound" at summer camp. So I built up this association of Simon & Garfunkel with music for children and old people, and as I got into ro...

My Top 1000 Songs #47: Summer Babe

Yesterday, I got to chat about "Radio Free Europe" and how R.E.M. both changed my life and set the tone for my '80s listening habits. Pavement served as my '90s equivalent.

I've talked before about stumbling across Pavement back in '92 as the opening act at a Sonic Youth concert, then immediately running out to buy their recent debut Slanted And Enchanted. "Summer Babe" opened the record with a basic three-chord riff, blissfully distorted into the red, accented with the rambunctious fills of brie...

My Top 1000 Songs #46: Radio Free Europe

Repeat visitors to these parts, or the handful of you who actually checked out my book, don't need to hear me flog the "R.E.M. Changed My Life!" horse yet again.

Let's just say that "Radio Free Europe," the opening track on 1983's Murmur, has never been just a song for me. It's a proclamation. A celebration. A whole-hearted, full-throated embrace of the new. An entry point to a bold alternate musical universe, one I always suspected had to be there but just needed to be shown the door.

Four kids o...

My Top 1000 Songs #45: Slipping (Into Something)

The sound of an entire era of my musical development, packed into a single track.

I've kvelled at length on my love of the Feelies and their 1986 album The Good Earth in particular. The record's centerpiece emphasizes the band's strengths--a hushed, slow-building intro eases into a jangly, pastoral bit of Velvet Underground-tinged folk rock, before all hell breaks loose in that final minute, the band frenetically speeding up the pace and pushing the amps into the red. Everything I love about 80s ...

The Beths: Expert In A Dying Field (2022)

It's Friday, and that can only mean another great new release I've just gotta put out there even though I've only just made it through my very first spin.

New Zealand's finest export since the old Flying Nun days, the Beths just keep cranking out winners. I always get a little nervous when a pop band I like arrives at their third album. The first is all killer no filler; the second one does what's needed to avoid sophomore slump and show they're no fluke. But then there's the temptation to break ...