Playlist 16

[stoutfellow]

It wasn't easy to just get ten here; the initial cut left me with thirteen.

• Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show, Neil Diamond. A rollicking good time, just about Neil's best. Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes...


• Papa Was A Rolling Stone, the Temptations. A classic character study - or as much of one as can be compressed into a seven-minute song.


• Livin' Thing, the Electric Light Orchestra. This was my first introduction to ELO's idiosyncratic style, and it's still my favorite of theirs.


• Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel. This is the one time in their partnership that Art Garfunkel got to take the lead, and it's just beautiful. (I also have an... interesting cover by Aretha Franklin.)


• Dancing in the Dark, Bruce Springsteen. The Boss has written more powerful songs than this one, but nothing, I think, that's more fun.


• Nightingale, Carole King. I don't think she really has that good a voice, but she shines in this one. (It actually has some odd resonances with "Stand By Your Man".)


• Lady-O, the Turtles. Soft, cool, and romantic, this is one of my favorite Turtles songs.


• Flora's Secret, Enya. I love the... call it lushness... that Enya brings to this song; again, one of my favorites of theirs.


• Downtown, Petula Clark.


• Dancing in the Street, Martha and the Vandellas. I also have a cover by the Mamas and the Papas, but that one is arch and sly, and I don't think it works. This one needs to be sung exuberantly and sincerely.

Comments

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Three more songs I've never heard of...are you testing to see if I'm *really* an American? (g)

Three, or four? ;-) I would have thought "Dancing in the Dark" was one of Springsteen's better-known songs. The other three... well, generally speaking, I guess most people say "Carole King" and mean Tapestry; "Nightingale" isn't on that album. I found it on a "Greatest Hits" collection. The Turtles did a lot of good stuff that's been largely forgotten; "Happy Together" is the only one of theirs, I think, that even gets airtime on oldies stations. (Of course, we're getting to the point where the Bangles are "oldies"...) Are you at all familiar with Enya? They're a New Age-y group with strong Celtic influence, and at their best they're simply haunting.

Actually, I suspect that you could turn the tables on me without much difficulty; tastes, and collections, differ (and wouldn't it be dull otherwise?).

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

"Three, or four? ;-)"

Heh. I really meant it when I said I can't count. I rate as a Primitive: one, two, three, many... (g)

"the Bangles are "oldies"

I know! It is somewhat discombobulating hearing The Clash, fergoshsakes, as Muzak in the grocery store.

I don't believe I've ever heard Enya. I'll have to try a listen. I have weird music patterns; I'll go for a quite a while without listening to any music on the radio, then will have a burst of musical fare.

"Actually, I suspect that you could turn the tables on me without much difficulty; tastes, and collections, differ (and wouldn't it be dull otherwise?)."

Exceedingly! I still believe that somewhere, sometime, I'm going to get SunLizz Sis to listen to some of those songs... :)

[filkferengi]

Enya is the sister of most of Clannad, so there're lots of lilting Celtic-y things going on. She sings high, but not up to bat-butt-biting country like Mariah Carey.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever been in that country (g).

[filkferengi]

It makes your ears ring, and not in that carefree carillon way.