More Favorite Songs

Having completed my first two major projects for the blog (favorite songs and favorite albums), I needed something to keep me busy in 2016. After careful consideration (and a beer or two), I decided to come up with another 100 favorite songs.

 

Unlike my carefully-considered Top 100 list, this one will be much more off-the-cuff; at this point I have no idea what all is going to appear. The numbers are for reference only, and unlike last time I’ll start at the “top” (101) and count up to 200. I will, however, still honor my previous rule that no performer can have more than one song in the top 100 (now 200).

David Bowie

Rock icon David Bowie died yesterday, as you probably have heard by now, after an 18-month battle with cancer, and just a couple days after releasing his final album. Tributes have been pouring in from people across the musical spectrum, from Iggy Pop to Kanye West to Cher. WXPN has been wall-to-wall Bowie since 6:00 this morning, 8 hours and counting.

 

Although going back through my vinyl collection confirms that I bought the Let’s Dance LP at one point, I have to admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of Bowie’s work. I think that’s because I found his frequent changes in persona somewhat offputting – I could never figure out what if anything was at his core in terms of music. (I occasionally wondered, semi-seriously, whether “David Bowie” actually existed, or whether the name was actually handed down from one musician to another at various times over the years.)

 

Nevertheless, I’d have to rate these as my top 5 Bowie tracks:

Let’s Dance (also a great video, which I hadn't seen before)

The Man Who Sold The World (although I prefer Nirvana’s cover)

This Is Not America

Modern Love

Suffragette City

Shuffle #80 (January 6, 2016)

Think For A Minute – The Housemartins

It’s Gonna Take A Miracle – Deniece Williams

Raise It Up – The IMPACT Repertory Theatre & Jamia Simone Nash

Trampled Under Foot – Led Zeppelin

Can We Still Be Friends – Todd Rundgren

Real Love – The Doobie Brothers

Driving With The Brakes On – Del Amitri

Hungry Heart – Bruce Springsteen

Rattle My Bones – The Secret Sisters

Favorite 25 + 5 Albums Trivia

Top albums (25 studio + 5 live) by decade:

1960s – 3

    #14  The Temptations – In A Mellow Mood (1967)

    #17  Gordon Lightfoot – The Way I Feel (1967)

    #24  Cold Blood (1969)

1970s – 11

1980s – 9

1990s – 3

2000s – 3

2010s – 1

    #4 [LIVE]  Into the Mirror: Del Amitri Live in Concert (2014)

 

Top year – 1971:

    #10  Carole King – Tapestry

    #11  Who’s Next – The Who

    #19  John Prine

    #2 [LIVE]  The Youngbloods – Ride The Wind

    #3 [LIVE]  The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East

Natalie Cole

2015 ended on a sad note with Natalie Cole’s death on December 31^st at the age of 65. She began her career as a successful soul singer – “This Will Be” is one of the sassiest and best examples of that genre – and later moved on to perform the standards of an earlier age. For better or worse, she’s probably best known for her posthumous duet “Unforgettable” with her father, the great singer and pianist Nat King Cole. I’m normally not a fan of virtual duets, especially when one of the partners has to be summoned back from the grave, but this one’s a glorious exception.

 

My personal Natalie Cole favorites:

 

This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)

Unforgettable

I’ve Got Love On My Mind

Inseparable

Someone That I Used To Love

Shuffle #79 (January 3, 2016)

Careless Love – Madeleine Peyroux

Darkest Hour – Arlo Guthrie

This Is How It Feels To Have A Broken Heart – Guster

Similar Features – Melissa Etheridge

Deep & Wide & Tall – Aztec Camera

Train In Vain – The Clash

Broken Down Cowboy – John Fogerty

Scared To Live – Del Amitri

Let’s Go Crazy -- Prince

Best Music of 2015 (Update)

I’ve updated my Best Music of 2015 lists to include where the songs and albums wound up in the WXPN, WTMD, and mvyradio countdowns.

Not as much overlap with the crowd this year, especially on the albums. (However, I predict that “Uptown Funk” will win the Grammy for Record of the Year.)

UPDATE: A friend of mine (thanks Linda!) called my attention to Public Radio's #1 Songs Of 2015. Honestly, most of them I’m not familiar with. I was glad (and somewhat surprised) to see that “Lean On” made the list. There were also some good songs I heard on WXPN and WTMD, notably “Satisfy Me” (Anderson East), “24 Frames” (Jason Isbell), and “Getting Ready To Get Down” (Josh Ritter).

Shuffle #78 (January 1, 2016)

Shuffle #78 (January 1, 2016)

 

What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye

Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – Michael Jackson

Cooksferry Queen – Richard Thompson

There Goes My Baby – The Drifters

You’ll Never Get To Heaven – Dionne Warwick

Stuck With You – Huey Lewis & The News

Fresh Air – Quicksilver Messenger Service

Let Her Dance – The Bobby Fuller Four

LP #1 Daryl Hall & John Oates – Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)

There have been quite a few performers with long and successful careers who nevertheless never topped their debut albums – Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker, John Prine, and Sade come to mind. Hall & Oates, however, hit a home run with their second LP rather than their first. (Whole Oates, their debut, has a clever name and includes the brilliant “Fall In Philadelphia” but is otherwise pretty unremarkable.) Every song except for the final track is a pop classic, the production by the legendary Arif Mardin is impeccable, and the album cover is wonderful. I like a lot of their later stuff, but this is by far their best. (And you can still find the CD in some store bargain bins or at Amazon for $5.00!)

 

Favorite tracks:

She’s Gone

Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)

Had I Known You Better Then

When The Morning Comes

I’m Just A Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel Like A Man)

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Rams Head On Stage, 12/27/2015

Table 102, Row A, Seats 2 & 4

 

Rams Head has a row of 4-person tables right in front of the stage and perpendicular to it. Table 102 is dead center; we had the rear two seats, which was still as close as I’ve ever gotten to the stage at a show by a well-known performer.

 

Started by promising not to do any Christmas songs, but did begin with a great tune by the underrated 60s-70s soul singer William Bell, “Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday”

 

Personal favorites – best version of “Walk Away Renee” I’ve ever heard, plus a remarkable cover version of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross” by keyboardist Jeff Kazee

 

Usual crowd-pleasers such as “Love On The Wrong Side Of Town”, “Broke Down Piece Of Man”, “Talk To Me”, and “This Time It’s For Real”. Also did some tunes from his new Soultime album – I particularly liked the disco-flavored (!) “Looking For A Good Time”.

 

Led up to “The Fever” with a nice sing-along on “Up On The Roof” (preceded by a few bars of “I Feel The Earth Move”), then concluded the main set by turning “I Don’t Want To Go Home” into a hilarious tale of an ill-fated trip to Vegas. Second encore (after over two hours of music) was “Without Love”, during which they put the main mic stand up on our table for an interlude by the three horn players and Southside’s final vocals. Amazing show!

 

Setlist