SIDE A | by Jonny Helm
1. Neil Young | Only Love Can Break Your Heart
The whole
After The Gold Rush album makes me happy, it's associated with good memories from when I was very young. The
Sound is so
warm,
Neil Young sounds so sad.
Try to be sure right from the start.
2. Van Morrison | And It Stoned Me
Moondance is one of my
All Time favorites, this song opens it perfectly. The band sounds so good! The story is really nice, two friends on a little
Fishing trip, it's nothing to do with drugs! What stones him is
the Sun coming up after some
Rain, jumping in a river and even a glass of
Water after singing too much on the way home. Lovely.
3. The Velvet Underground | Pale Blue Eyes
A beautiful song, featuring a wonderful understated
Guitar Solo and a very gentle
Vocal from
Lou Reed. It's a lesson in what makes a good
Record, good,
Honest, Intelligent Lyrics, wonderful
Guitar Playing, a
Tambourine on the third
Beat.
4. The Modern Lovers | Someone I Care About
Jonathan Richman's songs have a
World view that seems a little under represented in
Rock and
Pop Music. This isn't exactly a
Love
song, it's about wanting someone who you actually like and knowing that
means sometimes you have nothing at all. And it totally rocks!
5. Son House | Grinnin' In Your Face
A piece of good advice from someone a bit older and wiser.
There are only two things going on here, a Vocal and hand claps, but it
manages to sound full and sort of magnificent. I first heard it on a
Compilation Tape given to me by a friend and loved it straight away.
6. Tennessee Ernie Ford | Sixteen Tons
Is this
Country Music? I really like it, I thought I'd never like Country Music, but then I heard
Hank Williams and
Buck Owens and this weird hit about a working man's life which manages to sound profound and stupid at the same time. Brushes on the
Snare, finger clicks, a great
Bass line and a wonderful
Vocal Performance.
7. Violent Femmes | Blister In The Sun
There's something joyous about this track, again it's the
Simplicity of the
Instrumentation and the
Emotion of the Vocal.
Gordon Gano's voice sounds so real and the whole thing is
Spirited and exciting sounding.
8. Jeffrey Lewis | Seattle
An example of brilliant
Song Writing. Great
Finger Picking and Lyrics that spoke to me when I first heard this album as an
Art student in
Cardiff.
And I'm feeling like I wanna do whatever I feel inside... Put it all on
paper and I'll hope that people buy it... And my only minor worry is how to
pay the rent... But that won't even matter when I lose my apartment... It's got a weary humour and wit to it.
9. (Smog) | Truth Serum
This is a story about taking
Truth Serum with friends, and realising there isn't a lot of
Truth in us anyway. The
Backing is all chiming Guitar and subtle
Drumming. I like that the
Chorus is a question and answer session.
10. Sam Cooke | I'll Come Running Back To You
I think this is
Sam's first
Secular track after years of singing
Gospel songs. It's pretty good for a first try at a Love song, isn't it?
SIDE B | by Franic Rozycki
1. The Prisonaires | Just Walkin' In The Rain
Sung by a group of genuine convicts in the 1950's, the beauty of this
song is obvious, but it also led me to listen to more recordings by
Sam Philips of
Sun Records, which in turn led me to listening to more
Blues,
Folk,
Country,
Bluegrass and
Rock And Roll Music. Basically mostly
50's (with a little 40's and 60's)
Music, which is now what I like to listen to most of all.
2. Roy Orbison | It's Over
I knew and liked
Pretty Woman from an early age, then later on discovered and enjoyed the recordings
Roy Orbison made on Sun Records. Then I found my Dads' 7" copy of
It's Over and was blown away. In most cases I find
Strings
on records unlistenable, but Roy is so good that despite how overblown
this recording is, nothing can distract from or deny the Emotion of his
performance.
3. The Shadows | All Day
I like a lot of
Twangy Guitar Groups/
Players including
Duane Eddy and
Link Wray, but
The Shadows are my favourite, perhaps because they seem to have a bit more
Variation
that those other guys. Which is demonstrated on this slightly
Italian/Greek(?) sounding track. The Shadows always look like they are
having fun playing and I can imagine them having a nice time enjoying
playing this relaxing tune. Rather than sticking to just one style they
have mastered many different ones - they also do Rock And Roll (
Dynamite, with
Cliff Richard), Twangy Guitar with
Minor Chords (
Apache) as well as many others! This is another song that I first heard on a 7" belonging to my father.
4. Bill Monroe | I Saw The Light
I find it difficult to not feel uplifted by a great deal of
Religious Music. That is true of many Bluegrass songs, in this case sung by
Bill Monroe. The combination of
Group Singing, wonderful Playing and good time feeling that Bill is experiencing makes it impossible for me to not also feel happy with him.
5. Percy Sledge | Warm And Tender Love
The tendency of
Soul singers to sing
with feeling
all of the time appears obviously fake to me, and despite trying, I
found it impossible to find a Soul singer that I could believe in. That
was until I heard
Percy Sledge, whose wonderful voice seems so much more
heartfelt and genuine than any other Soul man. Hearing him sing
Warm And Tender Love for the first time was an exciting moment, discovering that he had songs that were as good as and better than
When A Man Loves A Woman.
6. Bob Dylan | The Man In Me
The Man In Me, from
Dylan's
New Morning album, is a joyous Love song. Hearing this song on the
Soundtrack to
The Big Lebowski made me realise that
Bob Dylan was making great
Music
in the seventies, despite everything that I had read suggesting that
this was a low period in his career. I had listened to but never loved
some of his highly thought of sixties albums such as
Highway 61 Revisited and
Bringing It All Back Home.
Although they were clearly good and fun as well as being smart, I found
I preferred the slightly more conventional but no less great, beautiful
and fun songs that start to appear on
Nashville Skyline and then
New Morning. Once you start listening to Dylan in the seventies then there are so many more great albums to discover such as
Self Portrait,
Planet Waves,
Street Legal, and into the 80's,
Shot Of Love. And once I started to love these albums, then the sixties ones grew on me as well!
7. Neil Young | Cortez The Killer
Neil Young is one of my
All Time Favourite Guitarists. Probably
Top Three. Maybe even
Number One,
depending on how I am feeling. It must have been said before, but his
Guitar Playing proves that less is more - less notes and far more
feeling.
Cortez The Killer
is a perfect example of this, stretched over seven or so minutes. Neil
creates so much good feeling not only from his songs, but also through
his Music. Whether he is playing
Electric or
Acoustic Guitar or
Piano, he is a great player.
8. The Rolling Stones | Monkey Man
Before
Dave (
Tattersall of
The Wave Pictures) put this song on a compilation, all I knew by
The Stones was the best of album
Hot Rocks, and had been led to believe that this was all I needed to hear by them. After listening to
Monkey Man I immediately realised that this was false, so I started buying as many Stones albums as possible.
Let It Bleed, which this song is taken from, is 100% killer, as are
Beggars Banquet,
Sticky Fingers and
Exile On Main Street.
As if this weren't enough great albums then there are many more from
before and after this period of their career that are also totally
awesome. Monkey Man demonstrates what a great
Studio band The Stones are. They are brilliant at
Arranging their Music so that a complex
Studio Recording sounds like a seamless
Live
take. The Stones reputation for drugs, women, overblown stage shows and
crap recent albums has maybe overshadowed the fact that they produced
many brilliant albums which contain songs which are as good as the
hits, such as
Sympathy For The Devil,
Honky Tonk Woman,
Satisfaction, etc. The Stones are one of my favourite bands.
9. Faces | Ooh La La
Although the
Faces are famous for their raucous Rock And Roll, they also have a bunch of lovely
Ballads which are mostly co-writes or wholly written by
Ronnie Lane.
Ooh La La is one such song, co-written with
Ronnie Wood,
and has the writer affectionately recalling a story told by his Grandad
that he did not take seriously at the time. The song is both
Upbeat
and laid back at the same time, with great Ronnie Wood Acoustic
Guitars, who produced his best Guitar Playing on record while he was
with the Faces. I love that the Faces have the ballads of Ronnie Lane to
go with their louder Rock And Roll Music.
10. Antony Santos | Que Mas Me Pides
Despite all of his songs being sung in Spanish (which I can't speak),
Anthony Santos
still gets onto my list because of the amount of fun I have had
listening to and singing along with him whilst on tour with The Wave
Pictures. I could have chosen any of the songs on his
En Vivo: Vuelve Amor album, and picked this one randomly. Whatever he is singing then it sounds
Mournful, Heartbreaking, Joyous and Up-Lifting.
SIDE C | by David Tattersall
1. Stanley Brinks | This Will Be All
Stanley Brinks has written hundreds of beautiful songs. This one (from the album
Digs) is particularly beautiful. He tells you a little something about himself. He tells you a little short story about a
Train ride,
a cocktail, a cigarette, a girl. This song reminds me of
Raymond Chandler.
2. Lou Reed | Halloween Parade
I'm a huge
Lou Reed fan. For me, his best work is at the start and at the end of his career.
The Velvet Underground stuff is totally wonderful, but I also really love his work on a trilogy of (relatively) recent albums: '
New York,
Set The Twilight Reeling and
Ecstasy. This song (from New York) paints
a strong picture of a particular time and place. It is
suffused with longing for absent friends. It is full of
Humour. It is also in part about enjoying the act of
Rhyming: the
Rhymes just roll out beautifully. His voice is beautiful. I love the
Sound, I love the Guitars, I love the
Doo-Wop Chords. As Lou says in the sleeve notes -
you can't beat two guitars, bass, drums. Not with a great singer like Lou Reed anyway.
3. Bob Dylan | Went To See The Gypsy
This is a strange,
Mysterious little story song. I love the details: the
Sun rising over a little
Minnesota town, the
Hotel lobby,
the dancing girl. It has so many great lines in it. It is a strange
song. The Rhythm seem unsure at times. At one point the drummer even
stops playing for a moment. But the Playing and the Sound has a lovely
feeling, a sweet energy, and a pleasing kind of
Wholeness with this strange little story that
Bob is telling. You wonder what it all meant to him. I don't know what the
Dylan nerds say: there is probably a long analysis of this somewhere on
the Internet.
But I love it just as it is, with no extra information. It's a lovely
thing. Some great Electric Guitar playing on this one too; I think the
guitarist is called
Ron Cornelius, but I'm not sure.
4. The Fishermen Three | Time To Think About The Morning Once Again
A sweet and beautifully written Ballad, full of
Hope and
Promise,
about turning a corner in your life and making a few changes. From the
album of the same name, which is full of beautiful songs. This song is
rich in
Imagery, but also plows a straight and steady course to your heart. It manages to be both unpretentious and
Poetic: not an easy task. So intelligent. It's a song to go back to again and again throughout your life.
5. Van Morrison | Astral Weeks
It's hard to imagine a song with better Poetry in the Lyrics, or with more
Soul and
Feeling in the Music. The band on this album are extraordinary. This track opens the album, and it is full of
Wonder and
Joy. I love to put this record on. I could listen to it every day.
6. Dire Straits | Sultans Of Swing
People seem to think that
Dire Straits are a guilty pleasure. They are quite wrong.
Brothers In Arms is total rubbish from start to finish, no argument here. And
Mark Knophler has done remarkably little of
Value in his long
Solo career: he is a balding cheese-monger with two
Keyboard players in his band (even more insane than having two drummers in my opinion). But Dire Straits'
Self-Titled Debut Album is
Dark, grown-up,
Live-sounding, simple and
Singular. It conforms to
Lou Reed's
law (it is mainly two Guitars, Bass and Drums) and the Sound is superb.
This is the best song on the album, and the best thing that anyone
involved ever did. I have heard this song literally thousands of times
and I never find it boring. I never tire of it. Why is that? The amazing
arranged Guitar Solos? The Minor Chords? The Lyric is certainly very
strong: it's another detailed story, this time about a
Pub band.
He captures what is sad and what is beautiful about the life of the Pub
musician. He sees how glorious they are. It's got a lot of heart to it.
It's just totally killer, this song, in every single way. It's got
Mystery, it's got
Depth, it
Grooves. Listen to what the drummer,
Pick Withers, does on this one. Superb
Musicianship.
7. Neil Young | Down By The River
One of the
Greatest Electric Guitar Records Ever Made. You put
this on, and you are in the room with them. And what a performance they
are giving you! Those steady, groovy, simple-as-can-be
Drums. The stabbing
Rhythm Guitar. And
Neil, coming out of the
Right Speaker, playing some of the best Guitar you ever heard.
8. Silver Jews | Ballad Of Reverend War Character
I have no idea how many times I have listened to this song. Possibly
thousands of times. It has sublime Lyrics. So many good lines! I love
David Berman's
World-weary Vocal. The band play beautifully. I find this recording incredibly moving. It feels like all
Life
is contained within it. It feels like this Singer knows everything
there is to know. It feels sad and strong and sweet and good.
9. Paul Simon | Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
Paul Simon spends so much time trying to find
Novel and Complex Chord Sequences and yet this is indisputably his greatest song: a little three Chord ditty more like a
Buddy Holly Chord Sequence. This song makes me so happy. Simplicity and sweetness. A strange and rich and impenetrable story.
God
only knows what is going on here in the story: it's a Mystery! I always
loved this kind of Lyric... There's a story there, but what is it
exactly?
Simon's lovely, lovely voice is clearly enjoying the
sounds of the words as they come out of his mouth. I have loved this
song ever since I was a child. It's also on the Soundtrack to one of my
favourite movies:
The Royal Tenenbaums. It soundtracks a particular joyous montage sequence in which
Gene Hackman indulges in a bit of
Shoplifting amongst other things.
10. Allen Ginsberg | Vomit Express
This is the greatest, happiest, most
Exuberant Rock And Roll there is going. The Chord Sequence is a lot like
La Bamba.
Bob Dylan is
on Rhythm Guitar. There are some crazy cool talented people hanging out
and making Music. The air is full of smoke. Everyone is very happy.
Allen Ginsberg is going down to
Puerto Rico,
and he wants to tell you all about it, even if it takes all night. This
song has so many verses. It could go on forever and ever. The Poetry
just pours out of him, verse after verse after verse, and the musicians
keep on gathering and regathering steam, launching again and again into
that Chorus, finding
Real Energy.
Magic.
