Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 14

My Top 1000 Songs #996: Run Dusty Run

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Returning again to that wonderful debut long-player from The Long Ryders, 1984's Native Sons, which so delightfully paired jangly, Byrdsy psych-pop of the Paisley Underground scene with a more rollicking pre-Americana cowpunk vibe. Leaning towards the latter, "Run Dusty Run" has always felt almost too casually carefree, more a twangy bar song than a track r...

My Top 1000 Songs #995: Don't Know Why

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

The Essex Green, much like Ladybug Transistor (with whom they share some members), take the retro-pop of the Elephant 6 scene and temper it with sunny sunshine pop. It's pretty, with strains of folk; unabashedly light, calling to mind acts like Belle & Sebastian or Camera Obscura. And while music in this vein can sometimes fail to stick, their 2006 LP Canni...

My Top 1000 Songs #994: Ugly

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Fishbone's 1985 self-titled debut EP is one of those consummate college records. The sort of thing you'd play on the college station, hear constantly at parties... and then pretty much never listen to again after graduation, but it's always in the back of your head somewhere. "Ugly" sees the funk/ska party band fully amped up, and if you didn't spend countl...

My Top 1000 Songs #993: True Confessions

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Returning yet again to The Undertones' 1979 debut, one of those records where I could just randomly pick a bunch of tracks for this list and be perfectly happy...

"True Confessions" has a couple versions, but the one I adore is the "flange" version, with the tricked out percussion, giving the simple, insistent pop song--highlighted by some wonderful vocal in...

My Top 1000 Songs #992: Draggin' The Line

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Does this one go in the Guilty Pleasures file? I mean, sure, it's a silly little bubblegum AM radio hit... but, on the other hand, Tommy James' big post-Shondells 1971 single absolutely bangs. So maybe not. A wicked bass-driven groove, with that unbelievably catchy baritone vocal response and horn interjections, it's one of those songs I heard maybe once or...

My Top 1000 Songs #991: Here

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I know, we just had some Pavement here last week, and do we really need a third song from 1992's Slanted & Enchanted? But we're rapidly closing in on the end of this 1000-day journey (will there be another 1000 songs to follow? Nobody's asking!), and "Here" was just begging for some love.

Certainly on the shortlist for one of the band's prettiest tracks--a s...

My Top 1000 Songs #990: Wax And Wane

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

While I love the later, more ethereal dream pop of Cocteau Twins, there was something incredibly striking about that first album, 1982's Garlands. It was darker, a little scary; much more reminiscent of Joy Division and goth-era Cure. "Wax And Wane" might still hint at the later dreaminess, but was definitely on the nightmarish side of the dream spectrum. O...

My Top 1000 Songs #989: Sentimental Man

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Weird! Back-to-back days with bands making their first appearance here, some 2000 posts into this silly blog thing. And, once again, I guess it makes sense. I like Dismemberment Plan, but I do find them to be a challenging listen, something I only feel like engaging with now and again. After being a little scared off by their earliest work, I belatedly pick...

My Top 1000 Songs #988: Down By The Sea

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Wow, can't believe this is the first time the Strawbs are finding their way into the blog. But maybe not that surprising; while I enjoyed their blend of British folk and arty conceptual music back in my proggy youth, I don't reach for their records too often these days. Still, plenty of great songs in their bustling catalog. I've always been partial to "Dow...

My Top 1000 Songs #987: Breakfast Cereal

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Another one of those songs which, for me, exists wholly as a creature of my 80s college radio experience. LMNOP were essentially one guy, Stephen Fievet, making home-made tapes and records which somehow ended up at the station, and were a steady presence on my shows for a brief moment in time. "Breakfast Cereal," off 1986's Elemen Opee Elpee, was an instant...