Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 63

My Top 1000 Songs #557: Hung Up On A Dream

[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.]

As one of the most truly essential, timeless classics of the late 60s British psychedelia heyday, the Zombies' 1968 masterpiece Odessey And Oracle is best enjoyed in one sitting, end to end. Still, plenty of the songs hold up as wondrous gems in their own right; I vacillate on landing on a personal favorite, but "Hung Up On A Dream" has always enchanted me,...

My Top 1000 Songs #556: I Figured You Out

[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.]

Quieting things down a bit for this lovely little collaboration between two of the singer-songwriters who formed such a big part of my 90s, Elliott Smith & Mary Lou Lord. Smith wrote the track, and it's pure Elliott, a bitter tale weaving jealousy & stardom ("You don't care what poison you choose, and what person you lose"), wrapped in the prettiest little ...

My Top 1000 Songs #555: A-Punk

[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 older you get, the harder it is to be surprised by new music. Oh, sure, I'll never stop enjoying new releases, finding some new favorites, but even the best new music tends to ingratiate itself by reminding me of something else.

Vampire Weekend's 2008 self-titled debut LP, and especially single "A-Punk," were the all-too-rare exception, music that makes ...

My Top 1000 Songs #554: It's A Long Road

[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.]

Definitely an out-there pick, "It's A Long Road" probably doesn't even make it high on the list for Supertramp fans--and I'm not really a big Supertramp fan. It comes from their largely overlooked self-titled 1970 debut, the one that doesn't even stream, when they hadn't yet found their style and were sort of a folk-prog-jazz band that probably really liked...

My Top 1000 Songs #553: Kill Your Sons

[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.]

Lou Reed's solo career was incredibly frustrating... some great albums, a lot of fine songs, but also the need to sift through some material that ranged from mediocre to simply bland. And every now and then you'd get a killer track like "Kill Your Sons," off 1974's Sally Can't Dance (one of his more commercially successful outings but dismissed by critics a...

My Top 1000 Songs #552: Strange Roads

[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've written before about how The Action's Rolled Gold is one of history's Great Lost Albums. The British Invasion act had some perfectly fine R&B-flavored mid-60s singles, but their best work sadly remains unfinished. They recorded a number of mono demos around 1967-1968 which saw the band pivoting into a more muscular proto-power-pop, in line with the Who...

My Top 1000 Songs #551: All The Old Showstoppers

[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.]

Yet another dense tapestry of multi-layered baroque pop from the New Pornographers. Maybe not as immediate as some of my prior choices... but if you measure a song's worth in how many times you find yourself subconsciously singing the chorus to yourself for years after its release, "All The Old Showstoppers," from 2007's superb (and underrated?) Challengers...

My Top 1000 Songs #550: The Waiting

[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've always taken Tom Petty for granted. Some solid albums, and a lot of great songs, but I don't often wake up in the morning and put on a Tom Petty record. Still, if you're in the car and "The Waiting" comes on the radio, you're not getting out of the car until it's over. That just goes without saying.

Live Aid 1985:With Eddie Vedder, 2006:Linda Ronstadt c...

My Top 1000 Songs #549: James

[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.]

Maybe not the Bangles' best-known track, but it's always been my favorite. The pre-fame cut off their 1984 debut LP All Over The Place features a reliably alluring Susanna Hoffs vocal over catchy, jangly bubblegum hooks with some terrific harmonies. Pure pop that didn't need the later production flourishes to shine.

Live in 1986 (an early reminder that they ...

My Top 1000 Songs #548: Waterfall

[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 Stone Roses' eponymous 1989 debut is another one of those albums where I could just throw darts at the tracklist and come up with a bunch of favorites, but I've tried to be selective. "Waterfall" manages to stand out by perfectly encapsulating the record's indebtedness to late 60s pop-folk-psychedelia (shades of Simon & Garfunkel and the Byrds) while gi...