Another compelling Michael Gerson column.
As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)
Friday, November 17, 2017
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
#164 Heroes Are Hard To Find – Fleetwood Mac (1974)
In the first
half of the 1970s, after their origins as a British blues band and before their
emergence as California rock stars following the addition of Stevie Nicks and
Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac released some largely-overlooked but worthy
material, particularly this track (written by Christine McVie) and “Hypnotized”
(by then-guitarist Bob Welch, whose departure prompted the addition of
Buckingham and Nicks). While the albums released during this period have not
been difficult to find on CD, the tracks for some reason weren’t available for
purchase in iTunes or Amazon. I continued to check every several months, and lo
and beyond they have finally appeared, so I guess I have a couple of purchases
to make.
#163 Stranger On The Shore – Mr. Acker Bilk (1962)
That
clarinet! Those strings!!!
I still miss
the serendipity of going into a record store, browsing leisurely through the
bins, and coming up with something I never expected to find. Sometime during
the spring of 1974, when I was in DC for American University’s Washington
Semester program, I was downtown in one of the local stores (Serenade?), found
the album to which this is the title track, and promptly plunked down my 10
bucks (or whatever). The rest of the album is just OK, but this one is still a
standout.
Unfortunately,
Mr. Bilk apparently re-recorded this song several times, and when I decided I
wanted a digital version I bought the wrong version at least twice before
finding the original.
#162 Hometown Headstone – Owen Danoff (2014)
I’ve
mentioned Owen Danoff here on several occasions, so I won’t repeat myself in
this entry. This is track 1 from his first (and so far only) full-length CD,
and still my favorite Danoff song. Suffice to say that (IMHO) it’s better than
almost anything you’ll hear on the radio these days, regardless of format.
#161 Tryin’ Times – Roberta Flack (1969)
The great Roberta
Flack, who got her musical start in DC (after enrolling in Howard University at
the tender age of 15), is best known for such hit singles as “The First Time
Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, each of which won
Grammy Awards for Record of the Year. This song, like the material from Marvin
Gaye’s What’s Going On LP, continues
to resonate today, despite being nearly 50 years old. Written by frequent duet
partner Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson, it’s the only track on her debut album
First Take with neither a string or
horn section, simply featuring a small all-star combo with Flack on piano, Ron
Carter on bass, John Pizzarelli on guitar, and Ray Lucas on drums.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)