The Top 10 Project

My colleague and dear friend D. is teaching  High Fidelity this semester to the highest class in the ESL department at work.  I am teaching the lowest class and that is a leap and a bound linguistically.  D. asked me to compose a list of my top 10 songs of all time.  Easy, I thought, then came home a few weeks ago and compiled a list of 22 songs.  Making the top 10 was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Music in its own right is a bitch to simply just categorize as it is, but then having to take 34 years of listening and loving many a song and dwindle it down to ten is even harder.  But, I did it.  And, I'm sure that a year from now, even five years from now, I'll still love these songs.  They may hold less weight than they do now, but they will still resonate with me.  After I list mine, I'll list D.'s and Favorite Librarian's too.  It would be great if you, my faithful reading community, could list yours as well and I think we would have a pretty great collection of music to revisit or further check out.  Mine are listed in alphabetical order.  D's are listed by year of release and I'm not sure exactly how FL listed hers.

Here it goes:

1.  Atlantic City- Bruce Springsteen

Nebraska is a heartbreaking record.  I re-visited it in the fall of last year for the first time in a long time and was going through some serious shit at that point.  Yet, this song doesn't have meaning at all from that exact moment of last year.  I think this song was introduced to me by one of my best friend's, C., who had something in common with me.  We both had dead dads from a young age and the line, "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact.  But, maybe everything that dies some day comes back," had such resonance with me.  It literally brought my dead pops back to me at the age of 19.

2.  Straight to Hell- The Clash

I don't really know how to explain this one.  The first time I heard this song it simply electrified me.  I've been living in NYC for 11 years now and the parts about The Lower East Side affect me in such a way because I still can remember when it was fucked up, when you really didn't want to go to Avenue D due to fear of getting fucked up and mugged.  Yet, you would to score some stuff and be glad to get out of there.  Then, after living in Japan for a year, the Asian aspect of it even meant more to me, though I am sure the song was talking about an entirely different region and aspect of Asia.  But, man those raw drums, the synth and the opening of the song.......

3.  Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

This song is just one that sounds so different from others.  It used to be my ringtone on my old phone and will be as soon as I can figure out how to do that on my new G1.  Just love it.  Moreso, it is a fable of failure and self-consumption, which I feel like all of us fall into at times.  People see that.  It is about being good at something, but loving that you are good at something too much and knowing it.  You can never be that "good" at anything.

4.  Cortez the Killer- Neil Young & Crazy Horse

I saw Neil Young last December at MSG and nearly shit myself.  The last time I saw him was in high school.  He played an acoustic set.  So, in a way I still haven't really seen Neil Young yet because I haven't seen him with Crazy Horse.  Yet, he played this song and it was one that I forgot how much I loved.  Sitting next to me was a couple, a gorgeous one at that.  The boy was 18 or 19, studying music at Juliard and his lady friend was so into his explanations of Neil Young songs.  I drifted all the way back to high school, remembered the Honda Prelude, the make out sessions in that car.  I remembered straight up youth.  That is why I loved this song.  It carries so  many good memories.  Moreso, it is such a kickass long song.  The guitar work in it is nuts as well as the consistent/sloppy (but meant to be) drumming by Ralph Molina still put me into a dreamy trance.

5. Summer Babe- Pavement

1992 was a summer I will never fully forget.  It was a summer I actually spent most of in Pittsburgh, PA.  For years before that fateful summer, I spent my summers in Worton, MD at Echo Hill, my childhood haunt and summer camp.  I felt like my personality developed the most there.  It made me.  So, in 1992, I was not asked back as a counselor.  That was the summer before my senior year.  Then I discovered Pavement.  Holy Shit!  Slanted and Enchanted opened with this song and it was perfect.  It is a sarcastic song about what exactly I don't know, but it mentions lyrics from a Vanilla Ice song, it is about drinking, it is about loving someone who doesn't love you back.  It is bitter.  It was summer of 92'.

6.  Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

This is another one of those ones I don't really know how to explain how or why it means so much to me.  When I was young, it took me a long time to get into this band with the exception of The Wall.  Then it hit you, or maybe the drugs hit me.  Nonetheless, this album is a pretty good one for late Floyd.  These days, I really like their early stuff with Barrett, but man, this one song is definitely in its place.  FL has it on her list as well and she had said that she wouldn't mind this song playing at her funeral.  I couldn't agree with her more.

7.  Purple Rain- Prince

I will never forget hearing Prince's Let's Pretend We're Married from the 1999  album.  My sister and I were latchkey kids and we had that double album on vinyl.  Prince's brown eyes were where the spindle went through.  The previously mentioned song was the first song I had ever heard the word "fuck" in.  We used to huddle around the huge stereo in our dining room and listen to it over and over again, giggling every time he dropped an f-bomb.  I sincerely want to fuck the taste right out of your mouth, do you relate?  I mean come on!  I was 8 years old and loved it.  that was 1982.  Them in 84, the motherfucker comes out with Purple Rain, makes a semi-autobiographical film and does it with Apolonia.  What is a 10 year old to do?  This song was one of the only one's my pop's liked off of the soundtrack/album and he took me to see the movie to boot, all the while hating everything the man stood for and the dirtiness he represented. 

8.  Sympathy for the Devil- The Rolling Stones

Just one of the best sounding songs ever recorded.  I had this dream: 140 bodies moving at once under a strobe light. Dancing, moving under a strobe light.  Others are making out in corners of a screened structure.  The bodies gyrate madly, almost in unison, dripping sweat on a hot, sticky August evening.  They are all in love with each other in some way.  Some are young. some are older.  None are truly old.  The djs are wild.  There is some screaming.  People bump into one another in a crazy frenzy of wildness.  Lightning is in the distance.  Beers are beckoning.  Maybe some bourbon, too.  Wait, that wasn't a dream at all.

9.  Tom Sawyer- Rush

This song makes me feel so young.  This was my sister's favorite song back in the day.  We were working class Pittsburgh and for some reason this song sums up the Burgh in so many ways for me.  It is an old tale made modern.  Geddy Lee is just nuts and I recall my big sis lovin' this song and a boy named Bobby Koch to tears.  It was 1981 and I hadn't really heard anything like it.  Still haven't.  My sister used to rock to this, really and we had this on Vinyl.  Later in life, when my sis was really mean to me, I went into her room and broke a few of her records.  It was a brutal sibling fight and this was one I broke, along with a Pat Benatar record.  I still shudder when I think of those actions.

10.  Pale Blue Eyes- The Velvet Underground

Oh man.  This song has lots of weight.  Perhaps it is that the first two girls I truly fell in love with had blue eyes, yet not pale.  I first heard this song in Brooklyn back in high school on a visit to see a girlfriend from a distant place.  Some drugs were taken and it was so obvious that we were from different places, different worlds and we broke up.  I cried most of that night while I was all fucked up.  This song is gorgeous but it is also a bitch slap to most things you feel like you are sure of.  Even the tambourine is haunting.  One of the most beautiful songs every recorded, ever.

So that is KumoD's top 10.  Here are D's and FL's.

D:

These Arms of Mine- Otis Redding (1962)

Blackbird- The Beatles (1968)

Hickory Wind- Graham Parsons (1969)

Life on Mars- David Bowie (1971)

Mother of Pearl- Roxy Music (1973)

Sylvia Said- John Cale (1974)

Just Like Honey- The Jesus and Mary Chain (1984)

From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea- The Cure (1992)

Teeth Like God's Shoe Shine- Modest Mouse (1997)

Two-Headed Boy Part 2- Neutral Milk Hotel (1998)

FL:

Respect- Aretha Franklin 

Please, Please, Please- James Brown

Happiness is a Warm Gun- The Beatles

One More Cup of Coffee- Bob Dylan

Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd

Sympathy for the Devil- The Rolling Stones

There is a Light- The Smiths

Burning Down the House- The Talking Heads

My Wondering Days Are Over- Belle & Sebastian

Crossbones Style- Cat Power

And yours...........................

Favorite Albums of 08' Part I

It is a dreary Wednesday afternoon, grey skies, sick cat outside, Neil Young echoing in my brain after last night's show at the Garden.  I have decided to open up a $15 bottle of Zinfandel and post my favorite albums of 08'.  This is not an easy task.  As a teacher it is very, very hard to pick favorites and favoritism is not something I prefer in any capacity, yet I practice it all of the time.  I have a favorite baseball team, a kinda favorite movie (Just picked up Dig by the way and can't wait to see it), a favorite librarian, a favorite cat, I even have a favorite pair of jeans. Rambling I am.  Yoda I speak.  Anyway, for better or for worse and in no particular order, here are KumoD's faves of 08'.  

Real Emotional Trash Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks (Matador)

This one was a serious surprise.  I will buy anything by this guy and was a Pavement junkie back in the day, but this one doesn't really wear or tear.  I think he has actually kind of found himself musically, yet some of the compositions are a bit confusing.  None the less, they are often surprising direction-wise and I wasn't ever sure where the songs were going to go on the first few listenings.  It is fair to say that Malkmus has become a kind of guitar god.  I saw him on  tour for this album at MassMOCA, which was one of the best shows I had been to this year. It was the last date of their tour and they played a nearly two hour set.  Just seeing positive body language on stage after so much shit went down with Pavement was nice. Further, adding Janet Weiss on drums really kind of makes the band rhythmically breathless.  Yes, she is that good.

Beating Back the Claws of the Cold The Pica Beats (Hardly Art)

This is a band that I just stumbled onto while drunk and looking for new music ideas on Insound.com.  But, holy shit wow!  They rock.  I guess they are kind of a cross between the American Analog Set, Ravi Shankur and Neutral Milk Hotel?  I don't really know how to describe them.  They are definitely an indie rock band from Seattle, but they have this uncanny characteristic of making off-key vocals (both male and female) work perfectly so it is actually charming.  I bought this a few weeks ago after listening to samples on iTunes and it is addictive as hell and really beautiful to boot.  Shit, a line like I am the tension and you are the tightrope is pretty good, especially on an opening track.  

I Am...Sasha Fierce Beyonce (Columbia)

When I was about 10 years old, I saw Madonna spray-painting her way all over pieces of random sculptures on a Saturday morning video show that was probably on USA.  Since then, I have waited for a female pop artist to turn me on, interest me, or provoke me to buy a female pop album that is not by Madonna but is catchy and also has shades of brilliance.  Beyonce has done that for me this year.  I also really like that the album is equally divided into halves with Mrs. Z. having her say and Ms. Fierce, well getting her fierce on.  I swear I can't get Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) out of my head.  Some of you, my dear readers, can attest to that.  Oh, also here is a bonus treat for y'all.  

Offend Maggie Deerhoof (Kill Rock Stars)

I first saw Deerhoof at Galapagos (I think) in 2004.  They kind of blew me away and I guess this entry is kind of in the Malkmus vein.  They are a band that is maturing and getting more interesting as they go on.  I also like the fact that Satomi isn't a cute Japanese chick at all, but her voice is extremely doll-like.  I also like the fact that their drummer, who is kick ass, drums barefoot.  This is a pretty good album and has those kinda dirty glimpses of Royal Trux, especially with their bass lines.  Finally, it is good that Deerhoof has gone sort of bilingual.  I really dug this album on a flight I took to FLA over Thanksgiving.  Perhaps I didn't really understand all of it and now that I'm listening to it as I type it is a perfect fit for going to such a foreign yet American place such as S. FLA.  If you are looking for a confusing escape then this might be the album for you.

The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly Le Loup (SubPop)

This is another random insound find and what a gem it is.  Imagine a Panda Bear record with female backing/assisting vocals and not so electronic.  It is a short 39-minute ride, but the ride is a beautiful.  I think that actually is an asset to the album because it leaves you wanting more. Was just on their site and it sounds like they just wrapped up touring Europe and are recording now.  They are from DC and I always associate that city with Minor Threat, Fugazi and GoGo. But, now I know that more is capable of coming out of that hellhole.  (I have a bit of DC apprehension, obviously).  So, that is a refreshing aspect of the album for me as well.  Anyway, back to the band.  They have a serious bass drum thing going on and it has a carnival like atmosphere, yet the songs are so, I don't know, introspective and thought provoking in weird ways.  It actually makes you think about the origin of your name, where it came from, why you have it, and how we are destroying ourselves. Uplifting.

Lie Down in the Light Bonnie "Prince" Billy (Drag City)

Although this album is nowhere near as strong as The Letting Go, the originator of the trucker hat phenom has a few gems on here that make it a solid record.  Most impressive is You Want That Picture with some help from Ashley webber who has that Loretta Lynn DNA in her vocal chords.  Certainly not his best work, but Oldham can't seem to disappoint me, yet that is.

Wow, this has taken quite a chunk of time.  More to come later, as I think I'm only halfway there.....Haven't even gotten to the hip hop/other stuff yet.....

Song of the Week

I think Wednesdays will be dedicated to a song I have been listening to a lot this week.  So, this weeks song is........ Cigarettes, Wedding Bands by Band of Horses.  This one has hit home to me ever since I first heard it.  The chorus repeats "They lied" and then turns it into a ladidied, lididied repetition.  I guess the song is kind of a fuck you to institutions and family drama.  

So, as you listen to the song, you'll notice that there are some striking lyrical illustrations in the first verse.  A dogwood fence has been destroyed by violence, a drunken brother attempts to intervene in some capacity.  Dogwood is considered to be a strong wood and was actually used in the past to commit violence.  Due to its strength it was used to make daggers, as it wouldn't break as one was stabbing someone.  So, the assumption can be made that whatever broke that fence was some kind of emotional/physical tornado.  

Further, there is the drunken brother.  Images of drunken brothers remind me of weddings, funerals, etc.  Therefore the lie could be a death or a marriage, but having to intervene is ominous.  Finally, one last note, simply based on the first verse, which would support an expensive event (funeral/wedding) is the idea of the working man's wage being pissed away.

Guided by Horses is a force.  They are cinematic in ways.  Most of their lyrics are quite minimalist, like a great Carver story.  Your mind can wander and wonder.

I just bought Deerhoof's new album and have been revisiting Springsteen's Nebraska ( a masterpiece).  Possibly one of these two will make the song of the week next week?