Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 25

My Top 1000 Songs #900: Sleepless

Wow, we've made it 90% of the way through this project! During which time Blogger changed its algorithms, and I've largely abandoned the horrifically Nazified Twitter where I used to promote these posts, so the number of daily readers has dropped from several thousand to basically one guy in Pittsburgh. But, hey, momentum!

Anyway, weren't we just talking about King Crimson last week? Indeed we were; but that was a very different King Crimson (as they pretty much all are), and this time we're in 1...

My Top 1000 Songs #899: (Don't Fear) The Reaper

[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.]

To be honest, I totally dread when I hit these overplayed classic rock chestnuts on the list. They feel almost like obligatory inclusions that feel a little too pedestrian--c'mon, why not sub it out for another Pavement or Guided By Voices track?--and, frankly, it's kinda boring.

Boring!

Still, this was a hit single when I was 10, all the way back in 1976, an...

My Top 1000 Songs #898: Hectified

[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.]

A deep cut off Jason Falkner's (ex-Jellyfish, ex-Three O'Clock) 1996 solo debut, Author Unknown. It's a little too complex for pure power pop, but a little too pop for alternative radio. Catchy as all hell but with some tricks along the way, some clever gestures to show off his guitar acumen. Still no idea what the word "hectified" means, but nearly thirty ...

Flaming Mercury 2: All Is Pink

Of all the imaginary albums I've made myself in recent years--a fun little diversion for someone trying to keep his favorite albums fresh after a few decades of spins--my favorite is my mash-up of The Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin and Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs into the truly epic Flaming Mercury's Deserter's Bulletin. As those two records were recorded at roughly the same time, in the same studio, with the same producer, as the bands explored some similar sonic inclinations, they meshed toget...

My Top 1000 Songs #897: 100,000 Fireflies

[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.]

This track off Magnetic Fields' 1991 debut, Distant Plastic Trees, isn't necessarily one of my favorite cuts from the Stephin Merritt songbook--hell, I could list a dozen tunes off 69 Love Songs I'd love to include on this list--but there's still something magical about the song. The opening bars, with their chiming Christmas-y toy keyboards, and Susan Amwa...

My Top 1000 Songs #896: I Won't Hurt You

[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.]

Early on in the life of this blog, I spoke of my enduring love for this strange little late 60s psych band with the disturbing backstory & lyrical content. But for all their exuberant creepiness, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band had a few legit great tracks. "I Won't Hurt You" bridges the band's strangeness and ability to occasionally craft a cool p...

My Top 1000 Songs #895: Gates Of Steel

[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.]

Devo's third album, 1980's Freedom Of Choice, managed to bring them some commercial popularity on the shoulders of the "Whip It" single. But I was never crazy about the song, which felt very novelty-track-ish, and was a little on the grating side (my issue with a lot of Devo's music, which makes me prefer them in small doses rather than album-length chunks)...

My Top 1000 Songs #894: Kids

[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.]

One of the few occasions from the past quarter century when some hugely popular, inescapable single actually captured my interest. Electronic art-pop duo MGMT conjure an indelible hook, some evocative lyrics... and one of the few times my kids and I were listening to the same thing. Can't say I've spent much time with the rest of 2007's Oracular Spectacular...

The Beatles: Re-Soled Rubber

Not sure I'd call this a re-imagined album; as with Revolver, I've mostly just added a single (and a bit more) to the running order. Still, figured I'd post it here.

Personally, I rarely listen to any pre-Revolver Beatles albums. Which isn't to slight the older stuff, which was groundbreaking and wonderful and all that; but for me, it was on Revolver--and the albums that followed--where music was clearly divided into "The Beatles" and "everybody else."

1965's Rubber Soul has always been a tough ca...

My Top 1000 Songs #893: Under The Old Lightbulb

[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.]

Wondering if I had anything interesting to say about this one, but... nope, coming up dry. I just remember it being 1993, and the Fastbacks' Zucker--their third LP, but the first one I heard--getting some good press and picking it up on a lark (mostly off the Young Fresh Fellows connection, as Fastbacks songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch was serving double-dut...