Alphabet Music Meme - Now With Runner-Up and Classical Goodness
Having been tagged by gentle giant erikred with that most-coveted of letters, "A", I present for scrutiny (in chronological order of the album's release):
"Away We Go Again", The Chieftains, The Chieftains (1977)
I'd have been a wee lad indeed when this was orignally released. It would be a good 16 years before I was introduced to Irish folk music. This track is the Chieftains at some of their instrumental best. Kevin Conneff may be limited to his bodhrán for this track, but boy knows how to make it sound out.
"American Music", The Violent Femmes, Why Do Birds Sing? (1991)
Arguably the best Femmes song not on their self-titled debut. Also arguably the only really listenable song not on their self-titled debut. But you gotta love that chorus.
"American Wheeze", 16 Horsepower, Sackcloth 'n' Ashes (1996)
16 Horsepower is a long-time favorite of mine. I first heard them on "Teletunes", an alternative music video show on Denver cable that aired late on Saturday nights. Their first single from this album, "Black Soul Choir", came on while I was working on a scale model, with the TV on, way off to my left, for noise. When the banjo first came in, I dropped what I was working on to go look at this odd choice of music for a show that tended more towards Sisters of Mercy, Front 242, etc. When the vocals kicked in, I went and got my then-SO to come listen. We immediately got tickets for the album release party for this album.
This is one of her favorite tracks on the album. The singer/songwriter, David Eugene Edwards, alternates between banjo, guitar, slide guitar and hand-accordion (squeezebox) in his songs, and this one features the squeezebox. But the sheer number of notes-per-second he gets out of the thing are amazing. And the lyrics, like most of 16HP's songs, are dark and ominous and reminiscent of old Americana. I don't call these guys "gothic bluegrass" for nothin'. And you can see why a show like Teletunes would feature them.
"All Is Full of Love", Björk, Stigmata: Soundtrack (1999)
I can count the number of Björk songs I like on one hand, and still have enough fingers left to flip someone off in London. This is one of them. This soundtrack actually has a lot of good material on it, including Chumbawamba, David Bowie, Afro Celt Sound System, and Massive Attack. Plus I really dug the movie.
"Angel Band", The Stanley Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack) (2000)
As choice #3 can illustrate, I had a secret taste for bluegrass before this movie came out. I even manage to continue to enjoy it despite SOMEONE christening it, "Dude, Where's My Brother?". (To be fair, they did both come out the same year.)
I've had to buy this CD three times. Not once, but twice I had my car broken into and the stereo stolen while this specific disc was in the player. I no longer leave it in my CD player, out of fear. That, and I keep everything in my iPod, anyway.
This is not one of the songs recorded or re-recorded specifically for the soundtrack. It's an old Stanley Brothers song. Ralph Stanley also contributed the acapella "O Death" that features in the KKK scene. That, too, is an old Stanley Bros. tune, originally done as a conversation between the narrator and death, with each brother voicing one side of the conversation. This tune is the last one you hear in the film, as Everett (George Clooney) leads his family along and the blind railman passes them by.
"At Least We Tried", Moby, 18 (2002)
Many of my friends do not share my love for Moby's music. I think it helps to have had some exposure to minimalist music. Many of the tracks on Play (in particular, Natural Blues, Porcelain, Run On) are very good examples of that approach, though the songs on this one aren't all quite as much so. But that aside, I do like his material, 18 is a pretty good album, and this is a very sad, powerful tune.
"Adventures in Failure", MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Welcome to My Dream (2003)
Man, I wish this guy would do more stuff. Most people only know "While the City Sleeps", if they know any of his material at all. This track can change that, though. Bouncy, light, and lyrics that make you want to laugh and cry at the same time, if only because you've had the same thoughts yourself.
"AM180", Grandaddy, 28 Days Later: Original Sountrack (2003)
Again, something that leads me to questioning the general tastes of some of my friends. If they didn't like me so much, I'd be concerned that they were lacking in taste at all! Seriously, this is one of my all-time favorite horror films. I like the way it was done, I like the pacing and urgency, and (relative) newcomer Cillian Murphy balances fear, confusion, pain and anger really well.
The soundtrack was one of those in which I left the theater thinking I must have this disc right-fucking-now, only to find out that it would be weeks before it was released. So I snapped it up as soon as I could. It's unusual in that the tracks on the disc follow the order in which they appear in the film (interestingly, the S/T for O Brother does the same thing). This particular track is the music we hear on the taxi's radio after the group has cleared the underground tunnel and are driving away. There are tracks I like better, but I think this is a good representation of the S/T as a whole.
"Annihilation", A Perfect Circle, eMOTIVe (2004)
Fair warning: if you are generally in favor of the war in Iraq, you probably won't like this album. This is APC's anti-war work, written after the war was shifted from Afghanistan to Iraq. All tracks on the disc, except this one, are covers of other songs. All but two of the songs, including this one, are covers (this is a cover of a band called Crucifix (hat-tip to ronebofh), the non-covers are "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums" and "Passive"). Some are inherently anti-war (John Lennon's "Imagine", Joni Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum"), others become so through their interpretation. This is (I think) the only original track on the CD, and it opens the work. The album isn't really a "concept album", but it plays really, really well as a single contiguous piece from start to finish. This is an excellent opener, for the message the album is trying to convey.
"All Alone", Gorillaz, Demon Days (2005)
Man, liking the Gorillaz is almost completely not me. But I can't help it, they're extremely talented. I won't waste time with the whole back-story that the members have created for themselves, you can Google them if you want to.
This album is also a good example of a not-really-concept-album that nonetheless plays really well from start to end as a single large musical composition. The tracks are sprinkled with high-calibre talent, and this track is no exception, featuring Roots Manuva and Martina Topley-Bird (a former collaborator of Tricky). This is the same album that produced the popular single "Feel Good, Inc.", and I think this might actually be a better song.
And because I had a tough time choosing just 10, here's the runner up, the one I almost picked in place of one of the above (but they aren't in preference order, so I'm not saying which one almost ended up here instead of there):
"Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song)", Enigma, The Cross of Changes (1994)
Enigma's first album, MCMXC A.D., was such a smash and was so played to death on the radio and in clubs, that the second effort was pretty much doomed to disappoint. But I liked it, because I'm weird that way. And while "End of Innocence" is a fine song, it too was played to death on the radio. This song, on the other hand, is sublime and almost mystical. I like the whole disc, but this is in fact my favorite track from it.
What's more, I came across some really good classical material under the "A" listing in my iPod. Even though they don't quite fit the theme, I have to mention them (there are no links, as for these I think any reasonable ensemble's interpretation would do nicely):
Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland
One of the most beautiful classical compositions of the 20th century. Find someone with a copy and offer them whatever favors they require in order to allow you the privilege of borrowing it. I have a copy. I may even have two.
"Anitra's Dance", from Peer Gynt Suites, Edvard Grieg
Whenever the Peer Gynt Suites come up in classical circles, all anyone wants to hear is the blasted "In the Hall of the Mountain King". But the suites also produced "Solveig's Song", "Morgenstemning (Morning)", a melody very familiar to non-classical listeners, and "Anitra's Dance". This piece is the point in the ballet where Gynt meets the bedouin tribe and tries to seduce the chieftain's daughter (Anitra). The suites as usually recorded are extracted from the music Grieg wrote to accompany the play by Henrik Ibsen.
So there you go, probably more than you wanted to know about my peculiar tastes in music. If you want to play, reply and ask and I shall bestow upon thee a letter.
--rjray
Edit: I changed some text around entry no. 9, after ronebofh corrected me.