Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 71

Wilco: The Great Lates (2009-2023) (A Mix)

Longevity is a wonderful thing. Any time a band I love breaks up, or an artist I enjoy stops recording new music, I feel sad. I imagine all the amazing music that they'll never create, that I'll never get a chance to enjoy.

Still, that said...

The downside of artists sticking around for years and years is that, as the depth of their discography grows, there is inevitably less room in our lives for the more recent work. Sometimes, let's be frank, there's a drop-off in quality or at least originalit...

My Top 1000 Songs #480: Magneto & Titanium 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.]

For all my undying love and admiration of Sir Paul McCartney, the man has written his fair share of clunkers over the decades. Yet even some of his silliest and most lightweight work can be salvaged by his pop songsmith genius. Perhaps none more so than "Magneto And Titanium Man," off Wings' 1975 LP Venus & Mars. It's an odd little song about some Marvel co...

My Top 1000 Songs #479: Spiderman

[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.]

Sure, most people remember Katrina & The Waves largely for the inescapable "Walking On Sunshine" single. And, yeah, great song, hard not to love. But I'm more partial to the b-side, a deep cut from their original 1983 Canada-only indie label debut (also titled Walking On Sunshine). Inexplicably (to me, and presumably few others), it's one of the few early K...

My Top 1000 Songs #478: IHOP

[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.]

Among the litany of great Luna songs--I've mentioned a few on this list and could probably go on and on--there's no denying that "IHOP," from their 4th LP, 1997's Pup Tent, is on the dopier side of the spectrum. Dean Wareham uses a spoken-word deadpan to deliver some pithy absurdity. "Is there a doctor in the house? In the House of Pancakes? You've got a ba...

My Top 1000 Songs #477: Carouselambra

[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 Led Zeppelin song for those of us who aren't that into Led Zeppelin. Falling somewhere between new wave and prog, this epic 10-minute track (they even called it "The Epic" in its original form) from 1979's final album In Through The Out Door is more a showcase for bassist John Paul Jones, whose catchy synthesizer riff and unusually frenetic bass gymnast...

The Best of 2023: Early Cut

Still a few weeks left in December, but I got impatient and burned myself an early cut of my annual year-end mix. The impatience seems justified, as there's an awful lot of great music in 2023. While I have double-CD annual mixes dating back to 1966 (no, I didn't make the mix as a baby, but eventually circled back and built out the catalog), the last two years I just stuck with single-CD versions. 2023, though, is definitely gonna take 160 minutes (especially once I make the usual belated discov...

My Top 1000 Songs #476: Boy With The Arab Strap

[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 title track from Belle & Sebastian's 1998 LP The Boy WIth The Arab Strap is just...jubilant? I dunno. Some songs are easy to explain why you love them. But this isn't a track I can associate with any particular time in my life, just one of those pretty, bouncy little tunes--unadulterated musical sunshine--that feels like it's been in my head forever. Ma...

My Top 1000 Songs #475: Bell Bottom Blues

[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 weathered classic rock chestnuts that survived the great collegiate classic rock purge, "Bell Bottom Blues," like the title track on Derek & The Dominos' 1970 Layla LP, manages to rise above the Clapton baggage. And maybe it all comes down to that rising "I don't wanna fade away" refrain--something I still remember hearing for the first time on t...

My Top 1000 Songs #474: Blue

[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 gorgeous slice of Americana balladry from the Jayhawks' 1995 LP Tomorrow The Green Grass. Ah, yes, those harmonies! Will you end up putting it on every playlist/mixtape you create for when friends visit because it's impossible for people not to melt just a bit when they hear it? Yep.

Live 2015:Fantastic cover from the Thorns,2003 (one-off supergroup with M...

My Top 1000 Songs #473: The Carpet Crawlers

[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 tend to prefer the earlier records, 1974's The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, the final Genesis album with Peter Gabriel, has undeniable flashes of brilliance throughout (even if it lags a bit in spots). The opening title track is obviously fantastic; but I give a slight edge to "The Carpet Crawlers." It's certainly one of the prettiest tracks of their...