Tim's Top Five:
This is more cerebral than my usual list, because a "great" greatest hits album is different from just being the album with the best hits on it. The Beatles 1967-1970 or Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, vol. 1 might well be among the ten best albums ever "recorded" under that criteria, but who needs to own them? There's simply not much reason for them to exist, since all the albums they choose from are all basically worth owning anyway (though Chronicle was my entree into CCR, so I'm not complaining). A truly great greatest hits album is really, to me, only achievable by an artist that you surely don't want to own all their stuff. So, typically, they're going to cover a lot of albums (The Essential Simon & Garfunkel is great and all, but it also represents about 75% of their output), they're not going to have a lot of weak points (sorry, The Essential Paul Simon).
1. Johnny Cash - The Legendary Johnny Cash - don't get me wrong. I like Johnny Cash. I might well love Johnny Cash, and there are probably albums out there that I should own - Live at Folsom Prison, for instance. But this adequately captures everything I know of Johnny Cash's work and I really enjoy most everything on here. Notable omissions: I don't know of any. The Girl With The North Country (w/ Bob Dylan) from Nashville Skyline?
2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
- The biggest problem with it is that it jumped the gun. Tom Petty put out one more decent album afterward, so it's missing songs from Wildflowers. After that, his work has been pretty disastrous, only a couple of songs worth hearing. There's some songs from Full Moon Fever that are worthy of inclusion, but weren't hits. So it's # 2. Notable omissions: You Wreck Me, Rebels,
3. Bruce Hornsby - Greatest Radio Hits
- I love Bruce Hornsby. Correction. I love this album. I'm not sure if there's really a whole lot of other Bruce Hornsby I like at all, the albums I've acquired add very little to my appreciation. The Way It Is is worth owning on its own. That may well be it. Notable omissions: Not anything I'm aware of. On the Western Skyline is the only other song I sort of know that I would put here.
4. Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits
- You know how people who hate the Ramones tell you all their songs sound the same? Well, people who really like the Ramones would tell you that most of their songs sound the same. And this catches just that necessary amount of diversity. I own several other Ramones albums, but other than a couple covers (Let's Dance and Palisades Park), there's not that much that's essential about Ramones or Rocket to Russia (and certainly less on Brain Drain). Notable omissions: probably Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) or Pet Sematary would top the list of songs I'm surprised aren't there. Neither is essential.
5. Marvin Gaye - Gold - You should own What's Going On. You just should. But really, the tracks that don't make it on Gold aren't the best anyway. And it captures some amazing early motown things (You're a Wonderful One, I'll Be Doggone, Stubborn Kind of Fellow), the Tammi Terrell duets, and downplays the career collapse of the 1980s pretty well. Of the Gold discs, I think it's the most essential (with the possible exception of the Motown - Gold), and it's pretty good throughout the 2 discs (Rolling Stones - Forty Licks has one great disc and one near disaster on disc 2 because it pretends the Rolling Stones were essential after 1980).
Honorable Mention - Elton John's Greatest Hits - if it had Tiny Dancer and Levon, it'd be in the top 5, as a reminder that Elton John was good before he became the favorite artist of everyone's mom in the 1980s; John Lennon: Lennon Legend - I can't put it on here because (1) I own the previously-issued John Lennon collection, this just has a couple more tracks, but it doesn't include "How Do You Sleep?", which is a shame. It would save you from owning Mind Games, Double Fantasy, and Rock 'n' Roll which...let's just say I can't see how they'd be very good (Rock 'n' Roll is an affirmatively tedious album); Neil Young - Greatest Hits - I can't put it on the top five because I do still want to hear things from Neil Young's early albums, but it really captures a lot of greatness and even gets the best CSNY song.
Showing posts with label marvin gaye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marvin gaye. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Top 5 Best Songs on the Album
This concept is pretty simple - while it's not necessary that the rest of the album on which these songs appear are bad, the songs listed here stand head and shoulders above the rest, and very well may be the only reason you own the album (if you do). So while a song like "A Day in the Life" is amazing, you wouldn't list it here because it was on Sgt. Pepper, and that whole album was amazing. Personally, I'm not counting obvious one-hit wonders, as that is too cheap - it has to be an established artist, and a decent album in general. So with that introduction taken care of...
Dan's Top 5:
1. "Solsbury Hill" from Peter Gabriel by Peter Gabriel - I've repeatedly stated that this song is my favorite song ever. If you could combine sex, drugs, and Twinkies into a single consumable substance, the result would not make me feel as good as this song does. The preceding track, "Moribund the Burgermeister," is another favorite of mine, but a small part of its magic is derived from the fact that you know the next song is "Solsbury Hill." Unless your music player is on shuffle. Probably the key to its brilliance was that Gabriel wrote it as an explanation of why he left Genesis to pursue a solo career. Fortunately, he had enough momentum from this song to carry him through not one but two poor albums - and boy, was Peter Gabriel II bad - before finally releasing Peter Gabriel III, my favorite of his catalog and the record that started bringing him some commercial success with the single "Games Without Frontiers."
2. "Under the Bridge" from Blood Sugar Sex Magik by The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Some may wish to crucify me with extra-blunt nails for this. But to me, there is everything else on the album, which is collectively a pretty good study of modern funk and definitely RHCP's best album, and then there's this song, which is one of the greatest 90's alternative songs period. It was a time when RHCP decided to stop being so much of a joke band, but before they became a joke again for trying so often to reproduce the mellow, pop-oriented sounds of "Under the Bridge."
3. "I Might Be Wrong" from Amnesiac by Radiohead - In this case, the rest of the album is pretty bad. "Knives Out" is a pretty good song, and the rest are somewhat listenable at best. This particular song, however, really rocks. It features a main riff in drop-D tuning, and now that I mention it, an actual guitar track, which was such a rarity for this album. In my opinion (but not the opinion of very many others who would self-apply the label of "Radiohead fan") this was Radiohead at their lowest point. In my quest to eventually find all the Radiohead albums on vinyl, I'd happily skip Amnesiac were it not for this awesome little tune.
4. "Regret" from Republic by New Order - Man, I can't believe I missed this one originally. New Order is a great band (though I don't know if anyone else on the Top 5 committee is going to agree with me). There are a ton of great tracks in their catalogue (just pick up their "Singles" two-disc set and you'll see what I mean), but this song is by far my personal favorite, and it's the band's highest-charting single in the US. The rest of the album contains a handful of good songs, such as "World" and "Spooky," but "Regret" is one of those songs that might get you listening to New Order in the first place. I dare say it would be worth it to see New Order live if they just played this and "Ceremony."
5. "Every Breath You Take" from Synchronicity by the Police - There are a number of really good songs on the album, such as "King of Pain" and "Synchronicity II." But this song is a behemoth, destroying skyscrapers in Tokyo and sending schoolchildren fleeing in terror. It was one of the songs that dominated the 80's, despite the fact that is was a song about stalking someone and written with a dusty old chord progression straight from Motown (G, Em, C, D). Despite it being overplayed as all hell, it's still a really good song, and stands in a class of its own above even the rest of the Police's best album. Of course, those other songs I mentioned are damn good, so this has to drop down to #5 on my list.
Honorable mention: "True" from True by Spandau Ballet, "Notorious" from Notorious by Duran Duran, "Just Like Honey" from Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Ryan's Top 5:
This was harder than anticipated. I've stretched the logic a bit. Hi, I'm Ryan.
1. "Hotel California" from The Very Best Of The Eagles by The Eagles - I'm sorry, but The Eagles suck. I remember hearing David Spade talk about how he went to an Eagles concert and they had the balls to open up with "Hotel California." It'd be pretty convenient, I suppose, if this happened. Beat the traffic!
2. "Free Bird" from Pronounced by Lynyrd Skynyrd - I apologize to any Skynyrd fans out there. Wait, no I don't. Anyway, I've never been a fan of most of their non-Free-Bird stuff. (I call it Hotel-California-Syndrome.)
3. "American Pie" from American Pie by Don McLean - OK, hotshot, you try listening to any of the other songs on the album without falling asleep. I'll wake you up when you're ready to admit defeat.
4. "Carry On My Wayward Son" from Leftoverture by Kansas - Well, I assume. I'll admit that I haven't made it through the entire album. Prove me wrong, closet Kansas fans, prove me wrong!
5. "Dream On" from Aerosmith by Aerosmith - Aerosmith does not have another song equal to this one. I already used the Best Of trick with The Eagles, though, and I don't feel comfortable doing it with Aerosmith ("Walk This Way" et. al. are pretty good...Aerosmith circa 1980-present just plain sucks, though. Do not tell me that the Walk This Way/Run DMC remix is good. No. No. No. No.)
Tim's Top 5:
I won't include compilations, greatest hits albums, or albums I don't own.
1. "Let's Get It On" from Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye - I own the remastered version of Let's Get It On that has bonus tracks on it. Thus, this has to top the list, because the two best songs on the album are "Let's Get It On". Sure, there's other songs on the album that are okay, "Distant Lover" would become a classic, but this song is so timelessly carnal and represents one of Marvin Gaye's best vocal performances ever. I don't know what percentage of children conceived in 1973 were conceived while this song was playing or were conceived as a direct result of this song, but I'd have to venture that it's probably greater than 1%.
2. "Roc Boys (and the winner is...)" from American Gangster by Jay-Z - The album is good, eventually, though it took its time to grow on me. But nothing else on the album has one shred of energy compared to this horn-laden endorphin dump that is really Jay-Z giving in to Kanye's pop sensibility in its entirety.
3. "Dry the Rain" from The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band - Rob was right to play "Dry the Rain" in order to sell his copies of The Three E.P.s, because the other tracks on them...are uniformly not very impressive. "Needles In My Eyes" is my second favorite song on the album, apparently, and I've listened to it once.
4. "Common People" from Has Been by William Shatner - The Pulp song may be the best on its album, but it makes this otherwise largely-forgettable pastiche of odd songs and spoken word from William Shatner. There's something frightfully wonderful about him saying "chip stain grease" like it's something quaintly American.
5. "Spitting Games" from Final Straw by Snow Patrol - This song is so unlike most of what Snow Patrol has recorded, I don't know what exactly the music in the intro is composed of, but I wholeheartedly support it. I got hooked on this song when it was on MVP Baseball in some year, but I'd forgotten its existence until shortly after "Chasing Cars" began getting way too much airplay. It sounds heavily-produced like the first album from The Bravery (also guilty of appearing in MVP Baseball), but actually executed in a proper fashion. When they opened their concert in Camden with Spitting Games last year, I honestly felt like I was ready to go, it was going to be their high point, and I'd already seen OK Go. While I like the remainder of their work, it's just not on the same level.
Honroable mention: "Jeepster" from Electric Warrior by T. Rex - Electric Warrior is supposed to be the paragon of glam rock along with Ziggy Stardust. There's only one problem. The album's not very good. I had originally slotted it at #3 in my list before I realized that although I used to have the album during Cornell's free napster period, I don't have it now. So it warrants mention; "Nothin' Better To Do" from Boo-Tay by Bare Jr.; "No Name #1" from Roman Candle by Elliott Smith; "My Eyes" from The Boy With No Name by Travis
Dan's Top 5:
1. "Solsbury Hill" from Peter Gabriel by Peter Gabriel - I've repeatedly stated that this song is my favorite song ever. If you could combine sex, drugs, and Twinkies into a single consumable substance, the result would not make me feel as good as this song does. The preceding track, "Moribund the Burgermeister," is another favorite of mine, but a small part of its magic is derived from the fact that you know the next song is "Solsbury Hill." Unless your music player is on shuffle. Probably the key to its brilliance was that Gabriel wrote it as an explanation of why he left Genesis to pursue a solo career. Fortunately, he had enough momentum from this song to carry him through not one but two poor albums - and boy, was Peter Gabriel II bad - before finally releasing Peter Gabriel III, my favorite of his catalog and the record that started bringing him some commercial success with the single "Games Without Frontiers."
2. "Under the Bridge" from Blood Sugar Sex Magik by The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Some may wish to crucify me with extra-blunt nails for this. But to me, there is everything else on the album, which is collectively a pretty good study of modern funk and definitely RHCP's best album, and then there's this song, which is one of the greatest 90's alternative songs period. It was a time when RHCP decided to stop being so much of a joke band, but before they became a joke again for trying so often to reproduce the mellow, pop-oriented sounds of "Under the Bridge."
3. "I Might Be Wrong" from Amnesiac by Radiohead - In this case, the rest of the album is pretty bad. "Knives Out" is a pretty good song, and the rest are somewhat listenable at best. This particular song, however, really rocks. It features a main riff in drop-D tuning, and now that I mention it, an actual guitar track, which was such a rarity for this album. In my opinion (but not the opinion of very many others who would self-apply the label of "Radiohead fan") this was Radiohead at their lowest point. In my quest to eventually find all the Radiohead albums on vinyl, I'd happily skip Amnesiac were it not for this awesome little tune.
4. "Regret" from Republic by New Order - Man, I can't believe I missed this one originally. New Order is a great band (though I don't know if anyone else on the Top 5 committee is going to agree with me). There are a ton of great tracks in their catalogue (just pick up their "Singles" two-disc set and you'll see what I mean), but this song is by far my personal favorite, and it's the band's highest-charting single in the US. The rest of the album contains a handful of good songs, such as "World" and "Spooky," but "Regret" is one of those songs that might get you listening to New Order in the first place. I dare say it would be worth it to see New Order live if they just played this and "Ceremony."
5. "Every Breath You Take" from Synchronicity by the Police - There are a number of really good songs on the album, such as "King of Pain" and "Synchronicity II." But this song is a behemoth, destroying skyscrapers in Tokyo and sending schoolchildren fleeing in terror. It was one of the songs that dominated the 80's, despite the fact that is was a song about stalking someone and written with a dusty old chord progression straight from Motown (G, Em, C, D). Despite it being overplayed as all hell, it's still a really good song, and stands in a class of its own above even the rest of the Police's best album. Of course, those other songs I mentioned are damn good, so this has to drop down to #5 on my list.
Honorable mention: "True" from True by Spandau Ballet, "Notorious" from Notorious by Duran Duran, "Just Like Honey" from Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Ryan's Top 5:
This was harder than anticipated. I've stretched the logic a bit. Hi, I'm Ryan.
1. "Hotel California" from The Very Best Of The Eagles by The Eagles - I'm sorry, but The Eagles suck. I remember hearing David Spade talk about how he went to an Eagles concert and they had the balls to open up with "Hotel California." It'd be pretty convenient, I suppose, if this happened. Beat the traffic!
2. "Free Bird" from Pronounced by Lynyrd Skynyrd - I apologize to any Skynyrd fans out there. Wait, no I don't. Anyway, I've never been a fan of most of their non-Free-Bird stuff. (I call it Hotel-California-Syndrome.)
3. "American Pie" from American Pie by Don McLean - OK, hotshot, you try listening to any of the other songs on the album without falling asleep. I'll wake you up when you're ready to admit defeat.
4. "Carry On My Wayward Son" from Leftoverture by Kansas - Well, I assume. I'll admit that I haven't made it through the entire album. Prove me wrong, closet Kansas fans, prove me wrong!
5. "Dream On" from Aerosmith by Aerosmith - Aerosmith does not have another song equal to this one. I already used the Best Of trick with The Eagles, though, and I don't feel comfortable doing it with Aerosmith ("Walk This Way" et. al. are pretty good...Aerosmith circa 1980-present just plain sucks, though. Do not tell me that the Walk This Way/Run DMC remix is good. No. No. No. No.)
Tim's Top 5:
I won't include compilations, greatest hits albums, or albums I don't own.
1. "Let's Get It On" from Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye - I own the remastered version of Let's Get It On that has bonus tracks on it. Thus, this has to top the list, because the two best songs on the album are "Let's Get It On". Sure, there's other songs on the album that are okay, "Distant Lover" would become a classic, but this song is so timelessly carnal and represents one of Marvin Gaye's best vocal performances ever. I don't know what percentage of children conceived in 1973 were conceived while this song was playing or were conceived as a direct result of this song, but I'd have to venture that it's probably greater than 1%.
2. "Roc Boys (and the winner is...)" from American Gangster by Jay-Z - The album is good, eventually, though it took its time to grow on me. But nothing else on the album has one shred of energy compared to this horn-laden endorphin dump that is really Jay-Z giving in to Kanye's pop sensibility in its entirety.
3. "Dry the Rain" from The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band - Rob was right to play "Dry the Rain" in order to sell his copies of The Three E.P.s, because the other tracks on them...are uniformly not very impressive. "Needles In My Eyes" is my second favorite song on the album, apparently, and I've listened to it once.
4. "Common People" from Has Been by William Shatner - The Pulp song may be the best on its album, but it makes this otherwise largely-forgettable pastiche of odd songs and spoken word from William Shatner. There's something frightfully wonderful about him saying "chip stain grease" like it's something quaintly American.
5. "Spitting Games" from Final Straw by Snow Patrol - This song is so unlike most of what Snow Patrol has recorded, I don't know what exactly the music in the intro is composed of, but I wholeheartedly support it. I got hooked on this song when it was on MVP Baseball in some year, but I'd forgotten its existence until shortly after "Chasing Cars" began getting way too much airplay. It sounds heavily-produced like the first album from The Bravery (also guilty of appearing in MVP Baseball), but actually executed in a proper fashion. When they opened their concert in Camden with Spitting Games last year, I honestly felt like I was ready to go, it was going to be their high point, and I'd already seen OK Go. While I like the remainder of their work, it's just not on the same level.
Honroable mention: "Jeepster" from Electric Warrior by T. Rex - Electric Warrior is supposed to be the paragon of glam rock along with Ziggy Stardust. There's only one problem. The album's not very good. I had originally slotted it at #3 in my list before I realized that although I used to have the album during Cornell's free napster period, I don't have it now. So it warrants mention; "Nothin' Better To Do" from Boo-Tay by Bare Jr.; "No Name #1" from Roman Candle by Elliott Smith; "My Eyes" from The Boy With No Name by Travis
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Top 5 side a, track 1's
Having temporarily resuscitated the blog and doubled our production from last month, I figure I should up the ante once more before I leave the country for a week so I can finally buy the new Nine Black Alps album.
I had concocted my list a great deal of time ago, but never posted the homage, so here it is. My only preamble would be that I'm not going to snipe songs that I enjoy on an individual level because as great as "Gimme Some Lovin'" is, I don't know that it suits the album it introduces at all...so I don't mention it in the list.
Rob’s Top 5:
1) “Janie Jones” by The Clash from the album The Clash [UK]
2) “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye from the album Let’s Get It On
3) “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana from the album Nevermind
4) “White light/White Heat” by The Velvet Underground
5) “Radiation Ruling the Nation” by Massive Attack
Having lent out my copy of the novel ages ago and never having it returned unto me, I can't provide you whatever analysis Hornby would here.
Tim’s Top 5:
*The US version of The Clash led off with “Clash City Rockers”, not nearly the track Janie Jones is, hence, I have to leave it off my list because I’ve never heard the UK album in its pure unaltered form. So, although my list looks a fair amount like Rob's, it's not the same.
It is also not a coincidence that four of the five albums (the first four) would rank among the top 50 on my list if I were ever to venture into such a fool's errand.
1) “Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan from the album Blood on the Tracks - I have, throughout many periods in my life, been certain that this is my favorite song. I'm not entirely sure why or how it reached this status, but it is Dylan's finest hour. He'd moved away from his overtly political period, gone through his diversions into Nashville Skyline and a period of underwhelming material that history has essentially overlooked. All the lyrics are memorable, even though they never really add up into one coherent story and are essentially dispensable -- Dylan himself has continued to change the lyrics after the album was released -- but the song essentially captures the story of a man wandering, which seems to describe Dylan himself for most of the decade preceding the song, trying to find himself in folk music, electrified rock, Nashville country, only to find himself in a new place with no direction -- the only thing to do was to keep on keepin' on. And so he did, and this is the result.
2) “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye from the album What’s Going On - Edwin Starr's "War" might typify what the post-Reagan generations will typify as a protest song from the 1960s, but this is the perfect protest in my mind. While other protest songs might inspire anger or motivate you to lash out, this is a seductive plea for humanity, not the dispatching of violence with another kind of violence. Until you really listen to the lyrics, you could have just mistaken it for another Marvin Gaye track. The song itself is so richly layered, part orchestral, part celebration of life and friendship, and part pleading for hope. It's the song that saved and destroyed Motown, and a lead-in to an uneven, but fantastic album that no one should be without. Combine this song with "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me" and Marvin Gaye accomplishes more with those tracks than most great artists will in an entire career of singles.
3) “Rocks Off” by The Rolling Stones from the album Exile on Main Street - Exile is widely regarded as The Rolling Stones' finest album, and I'm not one to argue. It's certainly the only one I own, though a case could be made for Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers. The song is almost the antithesis of What's Going On, while there's ostensible production, everything about the track sounds extremely raw and conveys a sense that you're actually in the same room with the band that just isn't present on any other song I can recall. It's pure energy, both frenetic and kinetic, with a half-dozen instruments and vocals taking the lead at some point. The rest of the Stones' work may only be rock 'n' roll and generally likeable, but this IS rock 'n' roll, defined. It is also worth mentioning that the producer of this track, Jimmy Miller, also was the producer on the aforementioned "Gimme Some Lovin'". Pure genius.
4) “London Calling” by The Clash from the album London Calling - While #1 and #5 on the album seem to convey a sense of unfettered optimism, London Calling is their polar opposite -- a near-suicidal screed -- that the world was facing impending disaster. It was not a subtle message, whether it was burning up in the sun, nuclear war, a new ice age, floods, or, yes, zombies. It has a screamed urgency that creates a perfect counterpoint to the fatalistic and apocalyptic inevitability. In a world certain to be wiped away in a nuclear explosion, perhaps the best you can hope for is to drown first. If you're ever facing nuclear annihilation, take the song with you to your bunker. You'll understand.
5) “Mother We Can’t Get Enough” by The New Radicals from the album Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too - That's right I'm installing "new classic status" after a list of safe ones. The New Radicals' album was totally overlooked because the only reason people bought it (myself included) was "You Get What You Give", the ubiquitous song of 1999, ranking right up there with "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen". With the lead single and a price of $6.99 when I bought it at Best Buy, I had little to no intention of listening to the rest of the album. Thankfully, I did. From the Yoko Ono-ish voice saying "Make my nipples hard, let's go!", this song and most of the album is pop mastery that explains easily why Gregg Alexander (the primary member of The New Radicals, as well as the producer of the album) has since become a leading producer of other music. This track, however, ranks as the pinnacle of the album, despite its too-obvious attacks on consumer culture. The rest of the album fails to reach this point, although there are three or four other semi-essential tracks, including "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You" and astoundingly "You Get What You Give".
Honorable mention: "Help!" by the Beatles from the album Help!; “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen from Born to Run; "The Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon from Graceland
Ryan's Top Five
I'm a bit surprised, I didn't expect my Top 5 to turn out like it did...but I felt compelled to go with the new-one-among-some-old-safe-ones strategy, which led to me bumping some worthy contenders. But I digress.
1. "Imagine" by John Lennon from the album Imagine - Well, this is one of the best songs ever written, so, you know. It gets downplayed (even by myself) because of its omnipresence and, as Jack Black would put it, it's obviousness. Oh well.
2. "Purple Haze" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from the (US) album Are You Experienced? - Personally, I prefer songs 3-5 on my list, but you cannot underestimate the legendary sound of this song's opening guitar riff. Led off one kick-ass album, to be sure, and one of the best albums from one of the best decades of music (excluding, of course, the 1890s).
3. "London Calling" by The Clash from the album London Calling - What Tim said. No argument here--much like song #2 on my list, this song wastes absolutely no time in kicking ass.
4. "Hells Bells" by AC/DC from the album Back in Black - And this one too. I'd be lying if I said I was the biggest AC/DC fan in the world, but that's only because I know too many other fans who are obsessed. Surely this is one of the greatest classic rock albums of all-time. I'm a big fan of ominous openings, and frankly ominousness in general; the bells here achieve said goal. Bonus points for being a better sports intro song than Welcome To The Jungle (says I).
5. "The Crane Wife 3" by The Decemberists from the album The Crane Wife - Well, here's my new one, but this song really is awesome. "The Crane Wife" is definitely one of the best albums of this decade and a masterpiece of, as Colbert put it, "hyper-literate prog rock." This song adeptly sets the tone for the rest of the album, which gels quite well.
Honorable mentions (lots, and in no order, except for the first two): "Baba O'Riley" by The Who [Who's Next], "Back in the USSR," "Sgt. Pepper," and "Taxman" by the Beatles, "Who Loves the Sun?" by The Velvet Underground [Loaded], "Take a Bow" by Muse [Black Holes & Revelations], "My Name Is Jonas" by Weezer [Weezer], "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel [Sounds of Silence], "Gotta Get Up" by Harry Nilsson [Nilsson Schmilsson], "Space Oddity" by David Bowie [Space Oddity], "Five Years" by David Bowie [Ziggy], "Fight Test" by The Flaming Lips [Yoshimi], and "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" by Gnarls Barkley [St. Elsewhere]. Phew.
Dan's top 5:
I'm a bit unsatisfied with my list, since I feel like (a) I'm cleaning up after two pretty good lists by simply listing obvious omissions, and (b) there's not too much that's fresh or original about my list. I'm sure that I'll probably regret it once I stumble on something I missed on Wikipedia within the next few hours. I also maintain Tim's criterion of a decent-to-good album is also necessary for inclusion. That being said...
"Baba O'Riley" by The Who from the album Who's Next - I remember making a mix CD of the best tracks ever. The scheme was, I would pick the best track 1, the best track 2, et cetera until I ran out of room on the CD. So naturally, track one of that CD is my number one here. I remember looking through a lot of potential candidates before firmly deciding on this one the second I saw it. The "synthesizer" intro (actually just created using the arpeggio effects on a Lowrey home organ) is one of the best introductions to a song I've ever heard, and it blossoms into all-out rocking shortly thereafter.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys from the album Pet Sounds - Barry would give me so much shit for this one, since it's such an obvious choice. I had to include it though, since none of you other jerks decided to give props to one of the best pop albums ever. Probably the album's most recognizable song, as well, and the epitome of chamber pop.
"Space Oddity" by David Bowie from the album Space Oddity - One of Bowie's masterpieces, I think it's a shame that it hasn't been mentioned yet. Even though it sounds dated, especially when compared to everything else Bowie has done, it's still a masterful bit of songwriting and performance. Loses just a few points because the song tends to overshadow most of the rest of the album (at least in my eyes. Yes, I do realize how much "Memory of a Free Festival" kicks ass.)
"Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by the Killers from the album Hot Fuss - My new classic status is bumped up to #4 instead of the usual #5, simply because Hot Fuss was such a great album. This first kickass track was a sign that this band was fresh and new, sort of the same way Jacqueline was a great start to Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut. Of course, if I had chosen that one, it would have been way too obvious that I was sucking up to Tim. This way, it's a bit more subtle.
"Tom Sawyer" by Rush from the album Moving Pictures - I doubt anyone else from the Top 5 likes progressive rock at all, much less Rush. I figured I'd give credit to this album, and this song in particular, which is probably Rush's biggest hit. It was a major step forward in the 80's synthesizer era, as it was released in 1981. This album, along with Van Halen's 1984 album, would prove that synthesizers could be used in rock music and still kick ass.
Honorable Mention - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel from the album Bridge Over Troubled Water, also most of Ryan's honorable mentions.
I had concocted my list a great deal of time ago, but never posted the homage, so here it is. My only preamble would be that I'm not going to snipe songs that I enjoy on an individual level because as great as "Gimme Some Lovin'" is, I don't know that it suits the album it introduces at all...so I don't mention it in the list.
Rob’s Top 5:
1) “Janie Jones” by The Clash from the album The Clash [UK]
2) “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye from the album Let’s Get It On
3) “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana from the album Nevermind
4) “White light/White Heat” by The Velvet Underground
5) “Radiation Ruling the Nation” by Massive Attack
Having lent out my copy of the novel ages ago and never having it returned unto me, I can't provide you whatever analysis Hornby would here.
Tim’s Top 5:
*The US version of The Clash led off with “Clash City Rockers”, not nearly the track Janie Jones is, hence, I have to leave it off my list because I’ve never heard the UK album in its pure unaltered form. So, although my list looks a fair amount like Rob's, it's not the same.
It is also not a coincidence that four of the five albums (the first four) would rank among the top 50 on my list if I were ever to venture into such a fool's errand.
1) “Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan from the album Blood on the Tracks - I have, throughout many periods in my life, been certain that this is my favorite song. I'm not entirely sure why or how it reached this status, but it is Dylan's finest hour. He'd moved away from his overtly political period, gone through his diversions into Nashville Skyline and a period of underwhelming material that history has essentially overlooked. All the lyrics are memorable, even though they never really add up into one coherent story and are essentially dispensable -- Dylan himself has continued to change the lyrics after the album was released -- but the song essentially captures the story of a man wandering, which seems to describe Dylan himself for most of the decade preceding the song, trying to find himself in folk music, electrified rock, Nashville country, only to find himself in a new place with no direction -- the only thing to do was to keep on keepin' on. And so he did, and this is the result.
2) “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye from the album What’s Going On - Edwin Starr's "War" might typify what the post-Reagan generations will typify as a protest song from the 1960s, but this is the perfect protest in my mind. While other protest songs might inspire anger or motivate you to lash out, this is a seductive plea for humanity, not the dispatching of violence with another kind of violence. Until you really listen to the lyrics, you could have just mistaken it for another Marvin Gaye track. The song itself is so richly layered, part orchestral, part celebration of life and friendship, and part pleading for hope. It's the song that saved and destroyed Motown, and a lead-in to an uneven, but fantastic album that no one should be without. Combine this song with "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me" and Marvin Gaye accomplishes more with those tracks than most great artists will in an entire career of singles.
3) “Rocks Off” by The Rolling Stones from the album Exile on Main Street - Exile is widely regarded as The Rolling Stones' finest album, and I'm not one to argue. It's certainly the only one I own, though a case could be made for Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers. The song is almost the antithesis of What's Going On, while there's ostensible production, everything about the track sounds extremely raw and conveys a sense that you're actually in the same room with the band that just isn't present on any other song I can recall. It's pure energy, both frenetic and kinetic, with a half-dozen instruments and vocals taking the lead at some point. The rest of the Stones' work may only be rock 'n' roll and generally likeable, but this IS rock 'n' roll, defined. It is also worth mentioning that the producer of this track, Jimmy Miller, also was the producer on the aforementioned "Gimme Some Lovin'". Pure genius.
4) “London Calling” by The Clash from the album London Calling - While #1 and #5 on the album seem to convey a sense of unfettered optimism, London Calling is their polar opposite -- a near-suicidal screed -- that the world was facing impending disaster. It was not a subtle message, whether it was burning up in the sun, nuclear war, a new ice age, floods, or, yes, zombies. It has a screamed urgency that creates a perfect counterpoint to the fatalistic and apocalyptic inevitability. In a world certain to be wiped away in a nuclear explosion, perhaps the best you can hope for is to drown first. If you're ever facing nuclear annihilation, take the song with you to your bunker. You'll understand.
5) “Mother We Can’t Get Enough” by The New Radicals from the album Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too - That's right I'm installing "new classic status" after a list of safe ones. The New Radicals' album was totally overlooked because the only reason people bought it (myself included) was "You Get What You Give", the ubiquitous song of 1999, ranking right up there with "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen". With the lead single and a price of $6.99 when I bought it at Best Buy, I had little to no intention of listening to the rest of the album. Thankfully, I did. From the Yoko Ono-ish voice saying "Make my nipples hard, let's go!", this song and most of the album is pop mastery that explains easily why Gregg Alexander (the primary member of The New Radicals, as well as the producer of the album) has since become a leading producer of other music. This track, however, ranks as the pinnacle of the album, despite its too-obvious attacks on consumer culture. The rest of the album fails to reach this point, although there are three or four other semi-essential tracks, including "Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You" and astoundingly "You Get What You Give".
Honorable mention: "Help!" by the Beatles from the album Help!; “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen from Born to Run; "The Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon from Graceland
Ryan's Top Five
I'm a bit surprised, I didn't expect my Top 5 to turn out like it did...but I felt compelled to go with the new-one-among-some-old-safe-ones strategy, which led to me bumping some worthy contenders. But I digress.
1. "Imagine" by John Lennon from the album Imagine - Well, this is one of the best songs ever written, so, you know. It gets downplayed (even by myself) because of its omnipresence and, as Jack Black would put it, it's obviousness. Oh well.
2. "Purple Haze" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from the (US) album Are You Experienced? - Personally, I prefer songs 3-5 on my list, but you cannot underestimate the legendary sound of this song's opening guitar riff. Led off one kick-ass album, to be sure, and one of the best albums from one of the best decades of music (excluding, of course, the 1890s).
3. "London Calling" by The Clash from the album London Calling - What Tim said. No argument here--much like song #2 on my list, this song wastes absolutely no time in kicking ass.
4. "Hells Bells" by AC/DC from the album Back in Black - And this one too. I'd be lying if I said I was the biggest AC/DC fan in the world, but that's only because I know too many other fans who are obsessed. Surely this is one of the greatest classic rock albums of all-time. I'm a big fan of ominous openings, and frankly ominousness in general; the bells here achieve said goal. Bonus points for being a better sports intro song than Welcome To The Jungle (says I).
5. "The Crane Wife 3" by The Decemberists from the album The Crane Wife - Well, here's my new one, but this song really is awesome. "The Crane Wife" is definitely one of the best albums of this decade and a masterpiece of, as Colbert put it, "hyper-literate prog rock." This song adeptly sets the tone for the rest of the album, which gels quite well.
Honorable mentions (lots, and in no order, except for the first two): "Baba O'Riley" by The Who [Who's Next], "Back in the USSR," "Sgt. Pepper," and "Taxman" by the Beatles, "Who Loves the Sun?" by The Velvet Underground [Loaded], "Take a Bow" by Muse [Black Holes & Revelations], "My Name Is Jonas" by Weezer [Weezer], "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel [Sounds of Silence], "Gotta Get Up" by Harry Nilsson [Nilsson Schmilsson], "Space Oddity" by David Bowie [Space Oddity], "Five Years" by David Bowie [Ziggy], "Fight Test" by The Flaming Lips [Yoshimi], and "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" by Gnarls Barkley [St. Elsewhere]. Phew.
Dan's top 5:
I'm a bit unsatisfied with my list, since I feel like (a) I'm cleaning up after two pretty good lists by simply listing obvious omissions, and (b) there's not too much that's fresh or original about my list. I'm sure that I'll probably regret it once I stumble on something I missed on Wikipedia within the next few hours. I also maintain Tim's criterion of a decent-to-good album is also necessary for inclusion. That being said...
"Baba O'Riley" by The Who from the album Who's Next - I remember making a mix CD of the best tracks ever. The scheme was, I would pick the best track 1, the best track 2, et cetera until I ran out of room on the CD. So naturally, track one of that CD is my number one here. I remember looking through a lot of potential candidates before firmly deciding on this one the second I saw it. The "synthesizer" intro (actually just created using the arpeggio effects on a Lowrey home organ) is one of the best introductions to a song I've ever heard, and it blossoms into all-out rocking shortly thereafter.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys from the album Pet Sounds - Barry would give me so much shit for this one, since it's such an obvious choice. I had to include it though, since none of you other jerks decided to give props to one of the best pop albums ever. Probably the album's most recognizable song, as well, and the epitome of chamber pop.
"Space Oddity" by David Bowie from the album Space Oddity - One of Bowie's masterpieces, I think it's a shame that it hasn't been mentioned yet. Even though it sounds dated, especially when compared to everything else Bowie has done, it's still a masterful bit of songwriting and performance. Loses just a few points because the song tends to overshadow most of the rest of the album (at least in my eyes. Yes, I do realize how much "Memory of a Free Festival" kicks ass.)
"Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" by the Killers from the album Hot Fuss - My new classic status is bumped up to #4 instead of the usual #5, simply because Hot Fuss was such a great album. This first kickass track was a sign that this band was fresh and new, sort of the same way Jacqueline was a great start to Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut. Of course, if I had chosen that one, it would have been way too obvious that I was sucking up to Tim. This way, it's a bit more subtle.
"Tom Sawyer" by Rush from the album Moving Pictures - I doubt anyone else from the Top 5 likes progressive rock at all, much less Rush. I figured I'd give credit to this album, and this song in particular, which is probably Rush's biggest hit. It was a major step forward in the 80's synthesizer era, as it was released in 1981. This album, along with Van Halen's 1984 album, would prove that synthesizers could be used in rock music and still kick ass.
Honorable Mention - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel from the album Bridge Over Troubled Water, also most of Ryan's honorable mentions.
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