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.)

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.