My Top 25 Songs of 2009

These are the tracks that stood out to me the most in 2009. I cut this down from a list of over 100 songs. Many were from the same artist so to keep things simple I selected my favorite song from those artists. I am still working on my list of top albums of 2009 (as well as my top for the decade), so stay tuned.

01. “Unthought Known” - Pearl Jam

02. “Sleepyhead” - Passion Pit

03. “Wicked Blood” - Sea Wolf

04. “Just Impolite” - Plushgun

05. “Trouble Weighs a Ton” - Dan Auerbach

06. “Magpie To The Morning” - Neko Case

07. “I Will Possess Your Heart” - Death Cab For Cutie

08. “Moment Of Surrender” - U2

09. “I Hung My Harp Upon The Willows” - Trashcan Sinatras

10. “Simon Says” - Laleh

11. “Amblind Alp” - Yeasayer

12. “FIYA” - Tune-Yards

13. “Death” - White Lies

14. “Secrets and Lies” - Emmon

15. “Just The Past” - Peter Bjorn & John

16. “Game Over” - VV Brown

17. “Miss It So Much” - Röyksopp

18. “Don't Upset The Rhythm” - Noisettes

19. “We” - Felix Da Housecat

20. “The Golden Age” - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

21. “Infinity” - The xx

22. “Tonight” - Yuksek

23. “The Tenure Itch” - The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

24. “Ghetto Love” - Spinnerette

25. “I Got You Dancing” - Lady Sovereign

Honorable Mention:

“Repose In Blue” - Eluvium [Life Through Bombardment Release]

“We Do What We Want To” - O+S

“Give Blood” - Rain Machine

“The People Tree (feat. David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip)” - N.A.S.A.

“I Know What I Am” - Band Of Skulls

Losing My Edge, or why James Murphy will always be cooler than most of us.

I understand that this is a similar post to what other music bloggers posted back in July of 2002, but I think this still serves as a great jumping point to so many under-appreciated artists.

One of my favorite tracks from the last decade is "Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem (James Murphy). If you haven't heard it, stop reading my blog, click on this link to read along with the lyrics and then click here to listen to the track. Now since you're familiar with the track you might wonder why I think it's so great since Murphy can't sing to save his life and he sounds like he needs to blow his nose. But it's not about his voice, it's about what he's saying. Not only is there great humor in the song, but Murphy flexes his music snob muscle with this track, ascribing a certain level of music knowledge to the encroaching mass of DJ's that are "coming up from behind". I feel like I have a pretty decent knowledge of music and a quality music library, but the name-dropping list that Murphy throws out in this song forces music-snobs like myself to admit that we don't know as much as we think we do. I thought it would be fun to post some of the references from this track. I'm sure that some will be familiar, but I'm almost certain that few people are familiar with all the names he drops. 

01. Can - “Moonshake”

02. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - “Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do”

03. Daft Punk - “Da Funk”

04. Larry Levan - "Bodyshine" (Remix)

05. Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

06. Yazoo - “Don't Go” + “Mr. Blue”

07. Black Dice - “Things Will Never Be The Same”

08. A-Ha - “The Living Daylights”

09. Pere Ubu - “Final Solution”

10. Bar-Kays - “Holy Ghost” (12" rip courtesy of Dollar Bin Jams)

11. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force - “Planet Rock”

12. Gil Scott-Heron - “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

(to be continued!)

My Favorite Covers (Part 1)

This is a list that every passionate music fan has. Maybe it's only in the back of their mind, or maybe they've already posted their list for the world to see, but this is always a fun topic. As i started looking into all my favorite covers I quickly realized that there was no way i could fit them all into one post. Let me know what you think of my top 5 and let me know who you think i should add in future posts.

01. Jeff Buckley - “Hallelujah”

It's hard to put anything else in the top slot. Leonord Cohen released the original version on the 1984 album "Various Positions” which was received well enough from Cohen fans and critics. Hallelujah didn't really make an impact until it reached #36 on the UK Single Chart in 1998. The delayed success for Cohen's came mostly because Jeff Buckley had released Grace in 1994 with modest success. Of course May 29th 1997 changed everything. There are little details of how Jeff drown that night in the Wolf River but this much is certain, the music world lost one of it's most talented artists. With the death of Buckley the last verse of this beautiful song becomes hauntingly poignant and moves this song into "legend" territory:

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

02. Jimi Hendrix & B.B. King - “Like A Rolling Stone”

On April 9th, 1968 at the Generation Club in New York two of the greatest guitarists (along with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band) got together for a jam session which is known as "The King's Jam". In my opinion this is one of the greatest live performances ever recorded. They start the show off with an 8 minute version of Dylans "Like a Rolling Stone", 2 minutes longer than the original (Paul McCartney said of the original that "It seemed to go on and on forever. It was just beautiful ... He showed all of us that it was possible to go a little further"). I Haven't seen a quote anywhere of Dylan commenting on the King & Hendrix version, but I would imagine that it would be rather supportive.

03. Creedence Clearwater Revival - “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote this classic in ’66 and it was first recorded by The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) in ’66 and released in ’68. There are rumors that The Isley Brothers recorded a version, but I've never heard it and from what I gather the story is that they had a session scheduled but it was cancelled (possibly because then CEO of Motown, Berry Gordy greatly disliked the song and felt it would never be a hit). The 2nd official artist to record a version was Marvin Gaye in April of 1967 only in to be released in September of ’68 in response to the great reception Gladys Knight & The Pips had received with their version which was released in November of ’67. Basically, Motown has a hit song that they had to craft for 3 different artists. Although Motown cashed in on it there was so much drama and confusion behind the production of this song that the 3 "originals" are missing what CCR was able to capture, soul. Cosmo's Factory was released in 1970, just 1 year after Gaye's version became the biggest Motown single of all time. CCR took a simple song that was roughly 3 minutes in length and turned it into an 11 minute jam session. Cosmo's Factory hit #11 on the Billboard Soul Albums Chart - which was nearly unheard of for a white southern rock band. What I think makes CCR's version so great is that it succeeds on a level that Motown couldn't. John Fogerty delves into the persona behind the lyrics and delivers a performance on par with Bad Moon Rising or Proud Mary, but then the band takes over and really tells the story. From the 5:00 mark to the 11th minute CCR sets the gold standard for "jamming". This is a fairly straight-forward song about betrayal. The singer learns from "the grapevine" that they have been cheated on. We don't get details, but we want them. Creedence Clearwater Revival gives us 6 solid minutes to explore what those details are. It's as if they sketch the outline and hand us the paint brush.

04. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - “I Love Rock & Roll”

How many people even know this is a cover? Joan took the Arrows track and make it her signature. Apparently the first version Joan recorded was with Steve Jones and Paul Cook, I don't know if it was ever released. I do know that her version with The Blackhearts stayed at #1 for seven weeks as a single and also went platinum. I also know that nearly every female rocker since has tried to recapture a shred of Joan's swagger from the classic black & white music video.

05. The Clash - “I Fought The Law”

Originally recorded by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets in 1959 this classic wasn't made famous until the Bobby Fuller Four recorded their version in 1965. Don't get me wrong, the Bobby Fuller version is great, but it's so squeaky and bubblegum that I have a hard time buying into Bobby Fuller being in any kind of trouble with the law. Joe Strummer on the other hand actually was arrested multiple times. In 1980 he was arrested for hitting a fan in the face with his guitar. Later he commented on the incident saying “I nearly murdered somebody, and it made me realize that you can't face violence with violence. It doesn't work.”. The law not only won, but also made him see the world differently. It's interesting to note that it was after this event that The Clash wrote "Should I Stay or Should I Go", which is the ultimate rock song about conscience. The Clash released "I Fought The Law" on their US Debut "The Clash" in 1977. The song as been a punk/rock staple ever since.