Top 5 Songs

[stonemaybe]

Fave five songs of all time: (not in order)

The Pogues: Bottle of Smoke
The Pixies: Isla de Encanta
Wedding Present: Don't Laugh
Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Talulah Gosh: Talulah Gosh


Fave five songs now:
UNKLE: Hold My Hand
Husky Rescue: Nightless Night
Camera Obscura: Let's Get Out Of This Country
Seth Lakeman: Lady Of The Sea
Spiritualized: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

[Plissken]

Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah
Elvis Costello: King of America
John Prine: Souvenirs
Motorhead: Ace of Spades
The Clash: Daddy Was a Bank Robber

[matrixman]

Those who have posted, do you find you first heard your fave songs in a certain period of your life?

The musical period I'm most nostalgic about is the first half of the '80s (I could easily make a Top 100 '80s songs list - though I'm sure my taste for "hit singles" would draw scorn from some here).

Five favorites from '83 (in no particular order):

Synchronicity II - Police
Stand Back - Stevie Nicks
In A Big Country - Big Country
Big Log - Robert Plant
Modern Love - David Bowie

...which barely touches on all my favorites from that year. Why 1983? Well, why not. Fall '83 to summer '84 was especially meaningful to me, music-wise. That it coincided with my first year in that hell on earth called "junior high" means...whatever you want it to mean.

The first time I heard Synchronicity II on FM stations (back when I still listened to radio), I was blown away by its sheer pomp and grandeur. It just came out of nowhere. (Oh, and the music video for it was pretty cool as well, for its time.) Then I bought the album Synchronicity...and my allegiance to the Police was secured forever.

I love Stand Back because it's got such a seductive synth sound - along with Stevie Nicks's seductive voice! It's a hypnotic combination. The produced sound of the original version was curiously weak - you really had to turn up the volume to hear it. I much prefer the re-mixed version (featured on her "best of" CD), which opened up the sound tremendously.

In A Big Country is maybe the song I'm most precious about. If I could reduce the fall and winter of '83 to one song, it would be this. It became my mental soundtrack to the Covenant books, which I had just discovered. The epic, evocative quality of Big Country's music just suited TCTC beautifully in my mind. The band's E-bow guitar was one of the most arresting sounds I had ever heard.

Long before I knew Robert Plant as the voice of Led Zeppelin, I knew him as this dude whose song Big Log was in play a lot on Friday Night Videos (back in '83 I followed music videos with religious fervor). As it turned out, Big Log was a damn good song. It had this aching quality that was just sublime. Whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of dark winter nights - not threatening, just lonely and contemplative.

David Bowie was one of my big favorite musical acts of '83. At the time, the only guy on the planet who could rival Bowie's coolness was Sting. Modern Love was a great, funky song that showed Bowie's cool charm but it had feeling too, under the sleek production.

[sgt.null]

1] Flock of Words : Trey Anastasio
2] Hide & Seek : Imogen Heap
3] Bleeding Heart Show : New Pornographers
4] They : Jem
5] Soul Soldier : Throwing Muses
6] Corona : Minutemen
7] Celebrated Summer : Husker Du
8] Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars) : REM
9] Fat Old Sun : Pink Floyd
0] Wading In the Velvet Sea : Phish

1] Fake Plastic Trees : Radiohead
2] Chasing A Bee : Mercury Rev
3] All Her Favorite Fruits : Camper Van Beethoven
4] Buttercup : Brad
5] Drivin On 9 : Breeders
6] Accident Waiting To Happen : Poster Children
7] Corona : Minutemen
8] Hurdy Gurdy Man : Donovan
9] Name of the Game : Badfinger
0] Untitled : PM Dawn

[stonemaybe]

Sgt wrote:

8] Hurdy Gurdy Man : Donovan

I've got a great live version of that, on (I think) 'Live and Unplugged'

[sgt.null]

by Donovan? I have a BHS mix of the song.

[The Dreaming]

1) Feeling Yourself Disintigrate - The Flaming Lips
2) Street Spirit (Fade Out) - Radiohead
3) Metropolis part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper - Dream Theater
4) While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles
5) Welcome to the Machine - Pink Floyd
6) Knights of Cydonia - Muse
7) 2 Minutes to Midnight - Iron Maiden
Empire - Queensryche
9) The Real Me - The Who
10) Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin
11...) 21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson

[sgt.null]

Beatles Mix...

1] Two Of Us
2] I've Just Seen A Face
3] I'm So Tired
4] I've Got A Feeling
5] Dig A Pony
6] Hey Bulldog
7] Happiness Is A Warm Gun
8] Long,Long,Long
9] Cry Baby Cry
0] A Day In The Life