Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 53

My Top 1000 Songs #654: Ask

[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.] 

So... I think a lot of serious Smiths fans don't much care for this one (a 1986 single, later appeared on 1987's solid Louder Than Bombs collection)? Of course, I'm not a serious Smiths fan (love the jangle, but prefer my Morrissey in small bites)--so maybe that's why I do? Dunno. It's got a catchier melody than a lot of their work, and a bit more sonic va...

My Top 1000 Songs #653: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

[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.] 

Being a U2 agnostic can be tough. I don't hold them in the reverence that their legion of diehard fans do; but I don't have the backlash-fueled disdain of their antagonists. They're... fine. Some truly great songs that I almost never play, and a lot of music over the past 20 years that I'm sure I'd like ok if I put the time in, which I mostly haven't. That...

My Top 1000 Songs #652: Paint Work

[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.] 

Mark E. Smith & The Fall have a massive catalog of boisterous, at times abrasive post-punk stompers... and this sounds like none of them. "Paint Work" (or "Paintwork"), off 1985's This Nation's Saving Grace, is a wholly atypical, almost "Revolution 9"-like audio collage, melodic and surprisingly psychedelic. There's a pretty, endlessly repeated acoustic gu...

My Top 1000 Songs #651: Looking Forward To Seeing 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.] 

Golden Smog are one of the few super-groups actually deserving of the title, an act whose songs are often as great--if not better--then those if its members' better-known gigs. Which is saying a lot when you've got Wilco's Jeff Tweedy as well as members of the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, and other indie/Americana fellow travelers. One of my favorite tracks, tho...

My Top 1000 Songs #650: The Hook

[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.] 

In fairness, there are undoubtedly a good number of additional Pavement tracks I should be adding to this list (beyond the 8 previously posted) before I get to Stephen Malkmus' solo work. But I've got a fondness for "The Hook," off his 2001 self-titled solo debut. Pavement were pretty much THE definitive band for me in the 90s, a huge part of my life--as d...

My Top 1000 Songs #649: Swords Of A Thousand Men

[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.] 

Ok, fine, it's kind of a novelty song... but there are plenty of great novelty songs. No shame in that! Long-running British punk/new wave act Tenpole Tudor didn't get much traction here in the US, but their 1981 debut Eddie, Old Bob, Dick And Gary is a surprisingly solid record, catchy crowd-pleasing romps that make you want to shout along, not dissimilar...

My Top 1000 Songs #648: Stay Tuned

[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.] 

Ambulance Ltd.'s self-titled 2004 debut is one of rock & roll's greatest one-and-done releases, right up there with the legendary Modern Lovers album (yes, Jonathan Richman has had a long & fruitful career since that record, but you know what I mean...). The record is a surprisingly varied collection of indie styles and influences, from the early 2000s alt...

My Top 1000 Songs #647: The Boxer

[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.] 

Simon & Garfunkel's 1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water was another one on the short list of 8-track tapes my father had when I was a little kid, and one of the closer ones to actual rock music. It was a nice change from Herb Alpert and Henry Mancini and the like but, nonetheless, Simon & Garfunkel were among the artists I cast aside once I discovered Top 40 r...

My Top 1000 Songs #646: Mis Amigos

[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.] 

Sometimes you're in the mood for an emotionally harrowing, deeply serious yet beautiful track offering meaningful social commentary. (Like yesterday.)

But other times, all you really want is a fun party tune about hanging out with your friends getting high, one where you can sing along with a chorus that goes "Mis amigos y yo, da dada da!"

This one--from the...

My Top 1000 Songs #645: Wallflower

[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.] 

Peter Gabriel--both as a solo artist and with Genesis--has countless songs that are more colorful and more fun. On the surface, "Wallflower" (from 1982's Security, a.k.a. the fourth unnamed Peter Gabriel album) is an unlikely candidate for this list and certainly one of his more challenging numbers. It's long; it's slow, almost funereal; it's bleak; it lac...