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.)

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Favorite Best-Of Albums: Kirsty MacColl – Galore

Although the daughter of British folkie Ewan MacColl (perhaps best known for writing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”), Kirsty MacColl employed a much broader musical palette – mostly pop-rock, but veering into world music and even a touch of hip-hop. She wrote or co-wrote 12 of the 18 tracks on this compilation: the others draw on a wide range of songwriters, including Lou Reed, Cole Porter, and Ray Davies of the Kinks. “Chip Shop”, a 1980s WHFS favorite, was my first exposure to her, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Somewhat oddly, her discography lists only 5 studio LPs, but 12 compilation albums, mostly released after her untimely death in December 2000. (She was run over by a powerboat while she and her two sons were diving off the Mexican coast.)

 

Johnny Marr of the Smiths summarized her songs as follows: “These strange stories of people, relationships & life, with all the wit of Ray Davies & the harmonic invention of The Beach Boys. Only cooler.”

 

For more information, visit https://www.kirstymaccoll.com/.

 

Favorite tracks:

 

My Affair

There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis

Walking Down Madison

He’s On The Beach

Can’t Stop Killing You

Fairytale Of New York*

A New England

Free World

Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim

You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby

Innocence

 

* -- a Christmas classic, done with The Pogues

 

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