Playlist 7

[stoutfellow]

Some odd ones, this time.

• Neither One Of Us, Gladys Knight. Another breakup song: "Neither one of us / Wants to be the first to say / Goodbye". I bought Motown: The Classic Years specifically to get this song.
• The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Roberta Flack. One of her signature songs. I've been to very few popular-music concerts; one of the few was an outdoor concert by Flack in Chicago.
• Did We Not Choose Each Other, Sophie B. Hawkins. Another good  rhythm-driven love song from Hawkins.
• Ring Them Bells, Heart. An odd, prophetic song - "prophetic" in the original sense, not of foretelling but of challenge, invoking a veritable litany of saints.
• Flying Sorcery, Al Stewart. A song of farewell to a lost friend: "You were always Amy Johnson..."
• Alone, Heart. This is the Heart song that caught my attention; what attracted me was the way the tension that ends each verse shatters as she swings into the chorus.
• Song for a Winter's Night, Gordon Lightfoot. A quiet and beautiful hearthside love song.
• You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Dusty Springfield.
• Full of Grace, Sarah McLachlan. This one's in because of personal associations. At the end of the Buffy episode "Becoming, pt. 2", as Buffy allows herself to realize what she's just done, this song captures the moment. It always brings tears.
• The Piper, Abba. Another odd one. The Piper is the Great God Pan: "He seduced everybody in the land / With fire in his eyes / And the fear was a weapon in his hand". (Where did you think the word "panic" came from?)

Comments

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

The only one of these I've heard (for sure) is the Roberta Flack one. I may have heard the McLachlan song, but I can't be certain. There are several of hers that have a lash of melancholy strong enough to, er, take your breath away.

The Heart song that I consider their signature song is Crazy On You. It was, I think, one of the best of the girl rock bands from their period.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Full of Grace is the one that begins, "The winter here's cold, and bitter/ It's chilled us to the bone / Haven't seen the sun for weeks /
Too long too far from home". (At least, that's what I hear; the lyrics on her website are slightly different.) Agreed about her talent for melancholy.

There are a few Heart songs I don't like - Bad Animals, frex - but for the most part I've enjoyed what I've heard. I don't have any of their early albums (e.g., the one with Crazy On You), though.

If you're not familiar with Dusty Springfield, you should give her a try. The "Goin' Back" album has a lot of good stuff.

[filkferengi]

Not to mention that Dusty Springfield music features prominently in at least two novels by Jennifer Crusie: _Welcome To Temptation_ and _Faking It_.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

The lyrics sound familiar, so I believe I have heard it.

I only know a couple of Heart songs, this one being one of them. I was never a particular fan, I just liked that song.

Dusty Springfield had some big hits that I liked a lot: The Son of a Preacher Man and Wishin' and Hopin'. Funny that I assumed she was a true Motown-er, not British.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I only know a couple of Heart songs

Hmm... Oh! I misconstrued the "it" in "It was, I think, one of the best of the girl rock bands" as the band, rather than the song.

As for Dusty, my apologies; I assumed that, if you hadn't heard "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", you probably weren't familiar with Dusty's oeuvre. It's one of her best. I also recommend her version of "Windmills of Your Mind".

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

No, I was unclear. I meant to say best *song* of the girl rock bands of that era.

There are a great many bands and singers of whom I only recognize certain songs. That is especially true today, where my radio listening is pretty much self-limited to NPR. That happened when *alternative* rock, i.e., anything that was played on certain stations, changed from tuneful, cheerful music to cut-your-throat-quick songs without much melody. Or could it be that my perspective is skewed? (g)