Gr00vus
Footballguy
I'll probably pull more highlights from the leftovers along the way when we get bored.
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Gr00vus's Favorite 50 Songs - 1: Synchronicity II (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Gr00vus
- Start date
I'll probably pull more highlights from the leftovers along the way when we get bored.
munga30
Checkin' my email
Both? Did you start with bands or just complied a big list of songs and started moving things up/down? Did you use a pen and paper, fbg magnetic draft board, Excel? Idk I'm fishing a bit, maybe looking for a pointer or two if I were to work up the nerve to try it.
Gr00vus
Footballguy
From my first post:
The trick was that I'd been assigning the "stars" over the course of years, so It wasn't like I had to go through 1000's of songs to get to 50 in one shot.
I guess a question worth discussing is, what makes a song a 5 star song? For me it's relatively simple - if I occasionally skip the song if it comes up on a random shuffle, it's not a 5 star song. If I can (and believe me I have for every one of these songs in my top 50) listen to a song over and over and over again on something like a loop and not get sick of it, it's probably a 5 star song.
Basically I've just been clicking a number of "stars" to set the rating for songs in iTunes as I add them to the library over time. From there you can create a "smart playlist" with a rule to include all songs with 3 or more stars, 4 or more stars, 5 stars, whatever. I copy/pasted my 5 star playlist into a spreadsheet (as I mentioned earlier this was about 200 songs total), added a column "In Top 50" and put a "y" in that cell for each song I considered as a top 50 candidate (this got me down to about 60 candidates). Then I sorted that so the ones with "y" in that cell were on top of the list. Then I added another column for rank number, started putting in the rank numbers for the 60 or so candidates, sorted on that column, made some edits etc., and ended up with my top 50. Took maybe 30, 45 minutes total.
The trick was that I'd been assigning the "stars" over the course of years, so It wasn't like I had to go through 1000's of songs to get to 50 in one shot.
I guess a question worth discussing is, what makes a song a 5 star song? For me it's relatively simple - if I occasionally skip the song if it comes up on a random shuffle, it's not a 5 star song. If I can (and believe me I have for every one of these songs in my top 50) listen to a song over and over and over again on something like a loop and not get sick of it, it's probably a 5 star song.
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shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
I’m not shticking. I’m up to about 950 but I’m guessing about 50-100 are on there just as placeholders. Maybe a band where I could identify my favorite tune of theirs even if I don’t really like it.
I’ve casually been working on this for about 5 years.
Eephus
Footballguy
It's not clear whether @Gr00vus is posting his 50 favorite songs or 50 favorite records. Based on his #50 write up, it seems more like the latter. So I'll zag to the other side and discuss the song itself.
The lyric starts off as your basic boy meets girl behind the fridge story. Bowie sticks with this he/she structure through two and a half verses and three choruses. The song then breaks out of its ABAB structure with Sanborn's solo and a bridge referencing President Nixon. When Bowie returns to the mic, the song is transformed. The first line even references the un-American. The lyric pretty much drops the couple we met in the first verse and becomes more of Bowie's stream of consciousness. Sanborn stays around and the background singers become more promiment. It builds to break down and cry, a brief pause and a perfect drum beat that echos the intro. Everybody then plays out the chorus.
Line: Well, well, well, would you carry a razor. In case, just in case of depression?
Cover version: The Cure This is awful; I'm hoping for much better things in #49-#1. Robert Smith doesn't have an untapped reserve of soul and the version lacks the build from the second half of the original. I tapped out after 4 1/2 minutes. Let me know if it takes off during the remaining 2
The lyric starts off as your basic boy meets girl behind the fridge story. Bowie sticks with this he/she structure through two and a half verses and three choruses. The song then breaks out of its ABAB structure with Sanborn's solo and a bridge referencing President Nixon. When Bowie returns to the mic, the song is transformed. The first line even references the un-American. The lyric pretty much drops the couple we met in the first verse and becomes more of Bowie's stream of consciousness. Sanborn stays around and the background singers become more promiment. It builds to break down and cry, a brief pause and a perfect drum beat that echos the intro. Everybody then plays out the chorus.
Line: Well, well, well, would you carry a razor. In case, just in case of depression?
Cover version: The Cure This is awful; I'm hoping for much better things in #49-#1. Robert Smith doesn't have an untapped reserve of soul and the version lacks the build from the second half of the original. I tapped out after 4 1/2 minutes. Let me know if it takes off during the remaining 2
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Songs. And I'm very sorry your Cure cover version let you down. I too hope you find better (and by that I mean even more awful) cover versions of the songs I'll be posting from here on out.
Also thanks for posting - I'm sure I'll nauseate you with some of my 80's tunes along the way. I expect full @Eephus scolding posts for each.
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Gr00vus
Footballguy
Here's a link:
https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/eclectic24
I think you can drop the url into iTunes (and probably other music apps) and have it play the stream rather than having to play the stream through the KCRW web page.
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Just checked. They have an app!
I have a huge void I’m trying to fill to listen to new (to me) music since my local public radio station got bought out.
El Floppo
Footballguy
that morning become eclectic show is great. usually all over the place- but in ways that typically work.
wfmu and kexp have some fun shows too. please don't ask me where on google to find those
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
I’ll check them out. Been listening to a lot of WXPN out of Philly and JEMP radio (mostly phish and grateful dead).
El Floppo
Footballguy
if you spotify, check for playlists from all of them. I know kexp has a bunch. (eta: I've saved their "best song of the day" list... which doesn't quite live up to thename, but has some winners occasionally) I think kcrw does too
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Gr00vus
Footballguy
"Angels go through the motions, but with love and devotion"
49: All The Time, A Race Of Angels, 2009
This song is firmly associated with my wife. It somehow captures in sound many of the ways I feel about her, and almost always brings a tear (good tear, not bad tear) to my eye as a result.
It's a flat out gorgeous song. The broad, shimmering vocals, the sweet keyboards, the various wall of sound passages - all juxtaposed over the top of a sort of huge New Orleans Marching Jazz Band / Indian Baraat (wedding) Band rhythm section. Described that way you'd think it wouldn't work - but it oh so does. Normally I'd find the use of so much vibrato in the vocals annoying, but it works too. He also cops the famous Billy Withers "aint no sunshine" line along the way - with proper attribution.
It's hard to collect info on this artist. The iTunes write up is the most I could find. Apparently this is a one man show - Yeofi Andoh. I can't find any other credits for who played on the song.
I can (and have) listen to this song for hours on end.
49: All The Time, A Race Of Angels, 2009
This song is firmly associated with my wife. It somehow captures in sound many of the ways I feel about her, and almost always brings a tear (good tear, not bad tear) to my eye as a result.
It's a flat out gorgeous song. The broad, shimmering vocals, the sweet keyboards, the various wall of sound passages - all juxtaposed over the top of a sort of huge New Orleans Marching Jazz Band / Indian Baraat (wedding) Band rhythm section. Described that way you'd think it wouldn't work - but it oh so does. Normally I'd find the use of so much vibrato in the vocals annoying, but it works too. He also cops the famous Billy Withers "aint no sunshine" line along the way - with proper attribution.
It's hard to collect info on this artist. The iTunes write up is the most I could find. Apparently this is a one man show - Yeofi Andoh. I can't find any other credits for who played on the song.
I can (and have) listen to this song for hours on end.
zamboni
Footballguy
I'm more of an Angry Eyes guy, but big fan of L&M.
Anyway, I digress. Looking forward to this thread, Groove, as I am right ahead of you in the fiddy department.
zamboni
Footballguy
Long Ball Larry
Footballguy
smart.shuke said:
I want to say that I used to listen to this one out seattle a bit, but I could be wrong: http://kexp.radio.net/
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Nick Vermeil
Footballguy
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
To be sure, a song for letting one's best memories of women run across one's mind,. I could see the braless hippie chicks who whirled dervishly to Vahevala more clearly & fondly to this than even listening to the song itself yesterday when i found it on your also-ran list. Excellent use of "shimmering", btw.
My song-inspired scan brought up my favorite all-time female visual. Winter of 1970-71, teen runaway wikkid chose well his winter quarters - the Monterrey peninsula. Never too hot, never too cold, i first lived in the scorekeepers booth of a municipal ballfield. Fell in with a bunch of hippies who ran an experimental theater in a old Cannery Row mission. I built sets and ran lights in exchange for sleeping backstage. They invited me over to their house for a party once, resulting in me crashing on a couch at their large, communal house. Just before sunrise, i open my addled eyes as someone pads into the room. As my peepers turn themselves over to the diffused light of a coastal Cali dawn, they focus on the being who has trespassed upon my slumber. A naked girl, somewhere between 14 & 17yo, at least 8 months pregnant, stands in the window bay of the living room and watches the sun come up over the MP. It was the only time in my life the sun received second billing. Almost fifty years later, i can still see every pore in the bell of that fecund body, the wisp of every hair, the force by which beauty competes with light. Though my uncooperative adolescent body was made inconveniently excited by the vision, i did not disrupt her vigil, made no attempt to make myself known nor know her further and have never used the image fantastically, even though i still think of her All The Time.
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Nick Vermeil
Footballguy
I do wonder how that conversation goes with your wife. "Babe, I love you so much. There is a song that perfectly encapsulates my love for you. It's my 49th favorite song... Wait... Why am I sleeping on the couch?"
El Floppo
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Way to put it in perspective. Now I know not to have that conversation. Then again, if it's the couch from @wikkidpissah's story above...
Of course I could end up in the scorekeeper booth.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
This is much like a tim thread where it is stretched out over weeks and months.
Groovus - #49 is low-grade dog food.
Groovus - #49 is low-grade dog food.
Jefferson the Caregiver
Rebel Without A Pause
To each his own but I would have been hard pressed to put anything other than Funk # 49 at 49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_qHU_6Ofc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_qHU_6Ofc0
Snorkelson
Footballguy
Where’s the ween at @Gr00vus? Certainly with all these shared musical intterests I’d see something in the mix.
Dr rock live in chicago
not it their most popular song but man hard not to get excited when I hear this tune. They’re weird, and not at all technical, but it works for me.
And since you’re a drummer, check out Claude Copeland- dude is great. He was in an accident and had to relearn how to walk, play drums, etc.
Dr rock live in chicago
not it their most popular song but man hard not to get excited when I hear this tune. They’re weird, and not at all technical, but it works for me.
And since you’re a drummer, check out Claude Copeland- dude is great. He was in an accident and had to relearn how to walk, play drums, etc.
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Eephus
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
"I'm gonna walk on up to the waterfront, said, one million years from today."
48: Waterfront, Simple Minds (1983)
Jim Kerr's ode to Glasgow. A yearning for a place that no longer exists the way it did and a despair that he'll never get there again. I find this song majestic, grandiose, bombastic, huge. Yet its parts are pretty simple considered on their own.
The obvious - the gigantic guitar wash sound Charlie Burchill throws at you. Glorious. The early 80's were the heyday of guitarists figuring out just how much they could make their guitars not sound like guitars at all through the use of pedals, processors, synths, and everything else. On a good day, you got sounds like this.
The keyboards provide a haunted background. The bass plays a single note through the entire song. And the drums...
Mel Gaynor is a fantastic drummer, who's played with a ton of big names. But his main claim to fame is sitting the drum throne for these guys since 1982. In this one, he plays exactly what the song needs and nothing more. Most of the time that's just bass and snare. Then he drops accents on the crash cymbals and hi hat or a drum break and they hit you like a demolition squad. But the beauty of this track is the simple uh-one, two, uh-three, four - bass/snare rhythm. I take this drum track over a thousand Neal Peart escapades every time.
The album this song came from (New Gold Dream) ended a great run of material from this band. After this they did the Breakfast Club song and, though they still put out a good song or two, they were never the same again.
I've never been to Glasgow, but this song makes me feel like I've experienced it a bit - at least the Simple Minds' slice of life there anyway.
48: Waterfront, Simple Minds (1983)
Jim Kerr's ode to Glasgow. A yearning for a place that no longer exists the way it did and a despair that he'll never get there again. I find this song majestic, grandiose, bombastic, huge. Yet its parts are pretty simple considered on their own.
The obvious - the gigantic guitar wash sound Charlie Burchill throws at you. Glorious. The early 80's were the heyday of guitarists figuring out just how much they could make their guitars not sound like guitars at all through the use of pedals, processors, synths, and everything else. On a good day, you got sounds like this.
The keyboards provide a haunted background. The bass plays a single note through the entire song. And the drums...
Mel Gaynor is a fantastic drummer, who's played with a ton of big names. But his main claim to fame is sitting the drum throne for these guys since 1982. In this one, he plays exactly what the song needs and nothing more. Most of the time that's just bass and snare. Then he drops accents on the crash cymbals and hi hat or a drum break and they hit you like a demolition squad. But the beauty of this track is the simple uh-one, two, uh-three, four - bass/snare rhythm. I take this drum track over a thousand Neal Peart escapades every time.
The album this song came from (New Gold Dream) ended a great run of material from this band. After this they did the Breakfast Club song and, though they still put out a good song or two, they were never the same again.
I've never been to Glasgow, but this song makes me feel like I've experienced it a bit - at least the Simple Minds' slice of life there anyway.
El Floppo
Footballguy
feel like simple minds gets a bad rap for being solely defined by a lot of people for "don't you"... but sparkle in the rain, new gold dream and the couple albums before those are all really great new wave. big sleep was always my favorite for the keyboard hook and driving bass, but so many solid songs off of ngd and sitr- hard to go wrong.
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Sorry, you got the wrong Copeland.
Ween's a good band, but they're not cracking my top 50.
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Snorkelson
Footballguy
Autocorrect- Coleman all day. Maybe it wasn’t autocorrect.....Sorry, you got the wrong Copeland.
Ween's a good band, but they're not cracking my top 50.
I understand not cracking the top 50, but certainly something in there can crack a 5* rating
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Would you settle for 4 stars? A problem for me is the lead singer's voice. I can only take it in small doses.Autocorrect- Coleman all day. Maybe it wasn’t autocorrect.....
I understand not cracking the top 50, but certainly something in there can crack a 5* rating
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Continuing my 50th b'day gift to Gr00vus by attempting to connect a recollection, reverie or reminiscence to each of his songs:
When my health "retired" me at the beginning of this decade, things quickly became tight financially. My best friend since high school had become a new father again in his mid 50s and offered me a move from NM back to the Boston area to live out back in his carriage house in exchange for child care. I accepted, officially becoming history's weirdest au pair, and did that til Owen's mom got a telecommute job and me own Ma needed me here in VT.
My bestie's father, a British guy, always hated me and tried to forbid Jeff to hang with me cuz i was a hippie and a commie then a fancyboy rocker but, in his last years, changed his mind about me because of a song. My pal was always in garage bands and still practices his bass for an hour or two after dinner. Part of each back-east visit was going down to my pal's basement to record some of his favorite songs on an old four-track tape mixer he had. One of them was Sinatra's One For My Baby ("it's quarter to three...") and i will have to say we made a nice job of it. When my friends father heard it he said "I musta been wrong bout that sonofa##### - anyone can sing that song that way is all right in my book" and we actually got along in his last few years.
In between the time of me planning to and actually moving back to Boston, Jeff's father died. My friend hadn't yet processed that very well so, soon after arriving, i prodded him to do one of our music sessions to cheer him up. Turns out he chose mostly his father's favorite songs to record, including this ol' North England milltown favorite called "Dirty Old Town". Well, we had grown up in the dirty ol' town of Salem, Ma, so i rewrote the lyrics to place the song in our own dirty old town and we kicked the #### out of it. It actually got my friend past his grief to send this present up to his Da in heaven.
The connection? DOT is the theme song of Glasgow Celtic and one of their old stars would lead it @ homegames. And guess who decided to record Dirty Old Town with that ol footer? Glaswegian sentimentalists Simple Minds
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wikkidpissah
Footballguy
i dont know what that means, but i once made dinner for six wombats and J Edgar Hoover in one of my flashbacks
Eephus
Footballguy
I'm not a big fan of the band but think this album is their best. Mrs Eephus loves them and went to see them last month. Oh well, to each her own.
The song is a wide screen epic but there's not all that much there if you strip away the bombast and drums. This acoustic-but-not-really acoustic version from their 2016 Acoustic album exposes some of the song's structural flaws. The repetitious "come in get out of the rain" in the verse doesn't go anywhere. It builds as if something significant is approaching but there's no chorus to speak of, it's just Kerr's cliched "so close but yet so far" and a bunch of variations on the rain and the waterfront. Their minds must be simple if they're standing out in the rain.
Favorite lyric: None really
Cover version: Not much to choose from. Here's a 2002 version by a band called The Dissidents. It's from a Simple Minds tribute album called "Swimming Towards the Sun" which is presumably what you do after you're all wet from standing out in the rain.
The song is a wide screen epic but there's not all that much there if you strip away the bombast and drums. This acoustic-but-not-really acoustic version from their 2016 Acoustic album exposes some of the song's structural flaws. The repetitious "come in get out of the rain" in the verse doesn't go anywhere. It builds as if something significant is approaching but there's no chorus to speak of, it's just Kerr's cliched "so close but yet so far" and a bunch of variations on the rain and the waterfront. Their minds must be simple if they're standing out in the rain.
Favorite lyric: None really
Cover version: Not much to choose from. Here's a 2002 version by a band called The Dissidents. It's from a Simple Minds tribute album called "Swimming Towards the Sun" which is presumably what you do after you're all wet from standing out in the rain.
El Floppo
Footballguy
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
at one point, Hoover gave his dress to one of the wombats but, every time i served a course, the dressed wombat was at a different seat at the table. i think they may have not actually moved but were passing the dress around to take advantage of my poor wombat-recognition skills. of course, having to look at J Edgar Hoover naked for the whole meal didn't help....
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Eephus
Footballguy
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Mister CIA
Footballguy
Mister CIA
Footballguy
Not that Google needs me, but if you find yourself comparing tune subscriptions, Google Play for $9.99 a month comes with add-free youtube.
Gr00vus
Footballguy
"'Cause I've seen some hot hot blazes come down to smoke and ash"
47: Help Me, Joni Mitchell, 1974
I'm a sucker for women who can sing, nothing more sexy. This lady can sing, her range is ridiculous. Not only that, she has this ability to apply a seemingly happy veneer to seriously melancholy material, like this song. It captures the anticipation, doubt, fear, insecurity, joy, nervousness, self awareness of a relationship on shaky ground perfectly. The band behind her, The L.A. Express (no relation to the old USFL team I don't think), are a bunch of majorly accomplished musicians, who nail the lite-jazz/ez listening feel on this tune. This one goes out to all the flautists.
I'll drop out here, as I expect @wikkidpissah probably has some Joni Mitchell adjacent experiences we all want to read.
47: Help Me, Joni Mitchell, 1974
I'm a sucker for women who can sing, nothing more sexy. This lady can sing, her range is ridiculous. Not only that, she has this ability to apply a seemingly happy veneer to seriously melancholy material, like this song. It captures the anticipation, doubt, fear, insecurity, joy, nervousness, self awareness of a relationship on shaky ground perfectly. The band behind her, The L.A. Express (no relation to the old USFL team I don't think), are a bunch of majorly accomplished musicians, who nail the lite-jazz/ez listening feel on this tune. This one goes out to all the flautists.
I'll drop out here, as I expect @wikkidpissah probably has some Joni Mitchell adjacent experiences we all want to read.
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Don't want to overshadow what you're doing, brovus - i'm sure folks would rather hear more from you and less from me, so keep it going thataway. When i connect with something i wanna spew that feeling, but i doesn't hasta.
