Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 79

My Top 1000 Songs #407: Bad Reputation

[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.]

Funny... got a bunch of songs in the collection going by this title. There's that sly alt.pop one from the dB's, the gentle singer-songwriter ode by Freedy Johnston... but I'm talking about the queen, Joan Jett.

I adore Joan Jett, who's been releasing reliably exciting and unpretentious rock & roll for over 40 years (right up through this year's nifty little...

My Top 1000 Songs #406: You Tore Me Down

[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 lot of artists can come up with a decent enough Beatles pastiche. But definite bonus points for concocting a song that sounds so much like a Help-era deep cut you've somehow forgotten that you find yourself checking the liner notes for a Lennon/McCartney credit. And even better if you can pull that off without simply sounding derivative, a song that takes...

My Top 1000 Songs #405: Balls

[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 noted previously, Amy Rigby is one of my absolute favorite songwriters. Over a musical palette of gentle pop & rock and jangly Americana, she earnestly sings about motherhood, single life & marriage, sex, femininity, and class in a way that few artists dare. And she often tempers the sadness and frustration of her songs with humor and self-deprecation. T...

The Replacements: Let It Bleed (1985)

Time for another imaginary album, this one hot off the presses...

A few years back, the Replacements re-issued 1989's (underrated, IMHO) Don't Tell A Soul as part of a box set called Dead Man's Pop. The box included an alternate mix of the album, taking heed of complaints that the original had been overproduced. I liked the new mix just fine--a little rawer, some interesting details shining through--though I didn't have a big hang-up with the original.

In contrast, I've always bemoaned the product...

My Top 1000 Songs #404: Crimson And Clover

[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.]

File this one under Sentimental Favorites.

I can't say I spend a lot of time these days spinning my old Tommy James & The Shondells singles (though, c'mon, what a fantastic run of singles they had in the mid & late 60s!). But I'll always have a soft spot for "Crimson And Clover," the title track off their 1968 album. I have a vague recollection of hearing it...

My Top 1000 Songs #403: When You Sleep

[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.]

It's hard to imagine anyone who picked up My Bloody Valentine's Loveless back in 1991 not finding themselves deeply transformed. The music is just so disorienting, so otherworldly, yet captivating, that any time you drop it back on the stereo all those weird and woozy feelings from that first spin come rushing back. Or maybe that's just me?

While the single ...

My Top 1000 Songs #402: He's Gone

[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 some ways, "He's Gone," even more so than definitive jam platforms like "Dark Star," is the quintessential Grateful Dead track. Musically, it's got a slow, loping vibe, an arid groove ideal for Jerry to lay down some of those distinctive Garcia licks. Mostly, though, it's just packed with memorable catchphrases for the tie-dye set. Ostensibly commemorati...

My Top 1000 Songs #401: The House That Heaven Built

[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.]

Hey, remember the old Maxell tape guy? The dude in the chair with his shades on, hair swept back from the sheer force of what was pummeling him out of his speakers?

Didn't we all look at that picture and wish we had a song that would actually do that? A song that, if cranked up loud enough, would physically accost us and force us backwards?

THIS is that song....

My Top 1000 Songs #400: Atlantis

[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 love a lot of Donovan's work, but it's hard to deny a lot of his 60s folk & psychedelic pop could veer into pretty twee territory. And, yeah, this 1968 single (later released on 1969's Barabajagal LP), definitely heads deep into such silliness. The opening half of the 5-minute suite is a portentous (pretentious?) spoken-word poem about the lost city of At...

My Top 1000 Songs #399: See The World

[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.]

Like any good music obsessive, any time we have friends over I feel the need to create a playlist for the occasion. I try to vary things a bit, but there are some standard songs that I almost always include--tracks that are gentle, middle-of-the-road enough that they won't offend the sensibilities of anyone in the room, but not so predictable and bland that...