Volume 8, Track 6
“Orphans” by Beck (2008) For all of the weirdness and irony and crazy sampling that Beck is capable of throwing at you, he is quite equipped to make really polished music that gives his odd lyrics some actual character. A lot of his early work (namely Odelay) had a certain genius about it but since [...]
Volume 8, Track 5
“Care Of Cell 44″ by The Zombies (1968) What a lot of people forget about when it comes to the British Invasion is how remarkably efficient it was in separating who the Tier 1 artists from everyone else. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks: this was a veritable murderer’s row of talent. [...]
Volume 8, Track 4
“Them Bones” by Alice In Chains (1992) Creepy-ish screams and heavy riffs: when done right it can be downright mesmerizing to listen to. Alice In Chains didn’t tinker around with how to start Dirt–“Them Bones” starts out with the quickness and ferocity of a gunshot, and assaults you in an abstract way not unlike how [...]
Volume 8, Track 3
“Grand Ole Opry Song” by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972) The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were a California-based hippie-ish folk band that had scored a minor hit in the late ’60′s with their version of “Mr. Bojangles.” Somewhere along the line they decided to completely change gears and released one of the most acclaimed [...]
Volume 8, Track 2
“Movin’ On Up” by Primal Scream (1991) Released a couple of months into my freshman year and mere days before my 14th birthday, Screamadelica has held up surprisingly well after all these years. A lot of this can directly be attributed to “Movin’ On Up,” the flawless opener that melds quasi-hippie, -folk, and -gospel influences [...]
Volume 8, Track 1
“Tired Of Sex” by Weezer (1996) “Tired Of Sex” starts off Pinkerton in much the same way that “My Name Is Jonas” started off Weezer’s eponymous debut: it has a raucous energy about it that is nicely layered and it is built around lyrics that could very easily be construed as being ironic, random, or [...]
Volume 8 Introduction
Even though Volume 6 was all about overlooked final songs, I could not have adequately described the importance of how an album ends without first covering how an album begins. I also included literature in the argument—namely, that the opening lines of Anna Karenina or Moby-Dick are not entirely dissimilar to the opening tracks of [...]
Volume 7, Track 14
“I Got The Blues” by The Rolling Stones (1971) Sticky Fingers found the Rolling Stones in a back-to-basics, let’s-work-on-reinventing-ourselves-blues-and-rock-wise kind of mood. The overall sound was heavier (thanks in large part to the addition of Mick Taylor) and the lyrics became a little darker and heavier too (thanks in large part to the new environment [...]
Volume 7, Track 13
“If” by Pink Floyd (1970) “If” is not only the shortest-titled song in Pink Floyd’s catalog[1] but it may be the most mellow song the band has ever done too. Roger Waters’ voice is barely a couple levels above a whisper, Waters’ accoustic guitar is just as gentle, David Gilmour’s electric guitar is still tucked [...]
Volume 7, Track 12
“Motorpsycho Nitemare” by Bob Dylan (1964) In 1965, Bob Dylan would record “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” on Bringing It All Back Home using almost exactly the same chords used on “Motorpsycho Nitemare” in the previous year. Both songs share a similar story set-up as well: in the former, a dream is the narrative device for [...]
Volume 7, Track 11
“New Age” by The Velvet Underground (1970) “New Age,” with its caustic opening lyrics “Can I have your autograph?/He said to the fat blonde actress” and its intermittent feeling of is-this-sarcasm-or-is-this-stalking in lines like “You’re over the hill right now/And you’re looking for love/I’ll come running to you/Honey when you want me” give the song [...]
Volume 7, Track 10
“Peace Frog” by The Doors (1970) While I respect The Doors I am ultimately not a huge fan of their music; their catalog is too inconsistent and, on the whole, I am not enamored with Jim Morrison’s image or songwriting ability. (Though their debut album is definitely worth its salt.) Now, my opinion would be [...]
Volume 7, Track 9
“Christmas” by The Who (1969) “Christmas” represents, lyrically, the first major transition on Tommy, as it is the first song to deal with Tommy’s issues in a very different and even philosophical manner (“I believe in love but how can men who’ve never seen light be enlightened?”). It is also the first song of the [...]
Volume 7, Track 8
“Friends” by Led Zeppelin (1970) Okay, I understand why “Immigrant Song” was the single from Led Zeppelin III. It rocks, it’s catchy, and we all try to mimic Robert Plant’s screams at the beginning when we listen to it alone. I get it. Additonally, I also understand that it was selected because, well, Led Zeppelin [...]
Volume 7, Track 7
“Third Stone From The Sun” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967) “Third Stone From The Sun,” the title of which refers to Earth, is Hendrix’s best all-out expiremental song and it also serves as a bridge to “EXP” and “Up From The Skies,” off of his follow-up album Axis: Bold As Love. “Third Stone From [...]
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