Kris Kristofferson - To Beat the Devil

Joe writes: Brilliant song from the Kristeofferson album that Kris wrote in the hope of saving Johnny Cash's life, as he explains at the start.

Bowie's 65th birthday

Phil writes:  As this is currently being celebrated, it seems appropriate to pay tribute to an innovative and very influential artist.  Not so long ago, Joe and I were saying what a great album 'Ziggy Stardust' is.  I believe it has a higher proportion of great songs than almost any album you can think of. I'll just concentrate on three. The opening track, 'Five Years' is, like so many Bowie songs, quite unlike any other song you can think of and some of the lines and images live on in your brain for many years (believe me!).  And then there's 'Rock 'n' Roll Suicide' with its brilliantly pithy portrayal of someone right on the edge who by the end of the song may well have been saved from suicide.  I never tire of 'Ziggy Stardust' which might almost be said to be a new kind of rock music.

Is Your Love in Vain?

Phil writes: There's not a lot of Dylan on YouTube, not for want of trying but they usually get pulled. This is a live version of one of my favourite tracks from 'Street Legal' which to me represented a definite return to form when it first appeared.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - O Tannenbaum (AKA The Red Flag) as featured in the Playstation TV advert

Joe writes: I once flew to San Francisco on Christmas Day with a friend so he could meet up with a girl for only the second time. On arrival she presented him with A Charlie Brown Christmas Album by The Vince Guaraldi Trio - an American institution that is little known in the UK. Skip forward some years: they are married with a kid and O Tannenbaum from the album is featured on a TV advert for Playstation.

The album features jazz-lite versions of well known Christmas songs. It doesn't sound that promising on paper, but somehow it perfectly captures the spirit of the season with its nostalgia, playfulness, and just a hint of melancholia. It's the second best Christmas album of all-time.

Abandoned Luncheonette - Hall & Oates

Joe writes: I've never seen Hall & Oates' second album Abandoned Luncheonette in a "best albums of all time" list, and I used to study these things closely. But I really think it's one of the best albums of all time. I guess Hall & Oates are still primarily associated with the bombast and brazen commerciality of their eighties hits (which I also love). This album has none of that - it is impeccably cool and soulful.

It's produced by Arif Mardin. The musicianship is incredible and the songwriting even more so. The first five songs are flawless, including the only one that's really well known, She's Gone. The album came out in 1973 and it took three years for She's Gone to become a US hit (it reached no. 7 in 1976). It was their first UK hit the same year, although it only reached no. 42 here. Opening track When The Morning Comes is my favourite, so simple and concise, with a lyric full of yearning and intrigue.

When I first wrote about this album, it was only available in the UK on import and there was one track missing from iTunes. Fortunately that has now been remedied.

Hall & Oates - When The Morning Comes:

Hall & Oates - Had I Known You Better Then:



(update of post original from 10/06/08)

Maybe my favourite Van Morrison Track

Phil writes: 'Irish Heartbeat', the album Van Morrison did with the Chieftians, is superb, with effortlessly great music on practically every track. 'Carrickfergus' is probably the best:

I've just started a new blog exclusively about the album Blue by Joni Mitchell

http://jonimitchellblue.blogspot.com/

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Joe writes: Thanks to Tim Smith for posting

skip forward to 3.30 of this for an explanation of why Amy Winehouse's Back To Back is such an amazing track

Kanye West and Jay-Z have sampled Otis Redding

Joe writes: I find their track a frustrating listen because they've sampled the Otis vocal that comes just before the climax of Try A Little Tenderness, so all the way through you're waiting for him to go "try a little, try a little, try a little, TENDERNESS", but he never does.

So here is Try A Little Tenderness with that wonderful trumpet intro:

and I've Been Loving You Too Long:

The first two Springsteen albums - "I've broken all your windows and I've rammed through all your doors"

Joe writes: Bruce Springsteen released two albums before Born To Run broke him. Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ was recorded in a hurry but features some of his best songwriting. Blinded By The Light is his only US Hot 100 no. 1 as a songwriter, when covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. For You, which Manfred Mann also covered, is a prototype Thunder Road. But best of all is Growin' Up, once covered by Alvin Stardust. Here's some live footage of Bruce playing it on acoustic guitar, from 1972:



You don't hear many covers of songs from Bruce's second album, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, which saw him move away from conventional songwriting, presumably influenced by Astral Weeks. Normally I'm a "conventional songwriting" kind of person, but this is probably my favourite Bruce album (just as Astral Weeks is my favourite Van Morrison album). The magic comes when the jams eventually coalesce into hooks, as on the chorus of 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). Or on Incident On 57th Street, when he sings "Goodnight, it's alright Jane". This song could be a companion piece to the Scorcese film Mean Streets and like Scorcese, Bruce was just warming up for what was to come. Amazing live version here (Bruce is one of the few artists for whom the recordings of the live versions are worth a listen alongside the studio recordings):

Harry Belafonte

Joe writes: My friend Jamie Catto got to know Harry Belafonte recently which caused me to listen to him properly for the first time. I may be stating the obvious here but he is great. In particular I have been listening to the Calypso album which includes Banana Boat Song and Jamaica Farewell (AKA Kingston Town). The voice and the melodies are obviously both amazing, and the sparse arrangements sound eerily modern at times.

His life outside music has been inspiring too.

Jason Derulo uses a line from Banana Boat Song in his horrible new single but don't let that put you off.

Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat Song (Day-O)



Harry Belafonte - Matilda

Paul Simon

Joe writes: Whether you judge it influence or on quantity of great songs written, Paul Simon is one of the ten greatest artists of the rock 'n' roll era.

He also made a painfully accurate film about being a (fading) rock star, called One Trick Pony. It wasn't available for years but you can now buy the DVD on Amazon.com (you'll need a US or multi-region DVD player though). Here's a scene from it:

The soundtrack to One Trick Pony was possibly Paul Simon's least successful album but it's his second best, after Graceland - every song is a killer.

Rumer does a brilliant cover of Long Long Day from One Trick Pony:

While looking at Paul Simon videos on YouTube, I came across this joyous performance of Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes. Brilliant dancing and even better music:

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Joe writes: I've written about Kate & Anna McGarrigle before but as my dad mentions them below, here once again is my favourite track of theirs. Not one from their eponymous debut album, although which has rightly appeared in Best Album of All-Time lists, but Matapedia, the title track of their 1996 album. Martha Wainwright sings vocals and makes an appearance in the lyrics as "the daughter of Kate".



Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Matapedia (buy from Amazon)

Richard & Linda Thompson

I read on another blog Music Slut that M Ward has covered When I Get To The Border, by Richard and Linda Thompson. An excellent excuse to post my favourite Richard Thompson tracks:

Richard & Linda Thompson - When I Get To The Border (iTunes)

Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (iTunes)



Richard Thompson - Dry My Tears And Move On (iTunes)



Richard & Linda Thompson - Dimming Of The Day (iTunes)



Richard Thompson - Tear Stained Letter (Amazon), and read the wonderful lyrics where it also lists nine albums it appears on

Here's a live version from the Old Grey Whistle test:



I really don't have an exhaustive knowledge of Richard's catalogue so if anyone else can suggest any other great ones, please do (yes I am really excited that I've already had three comments on my blog without telling anyone about it, and would like more).

(post updated 19/12/2011)