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Middle Aged Dummies - Artist - Round 5 - #17's have been posted. Link in OP. (10 Viewers)

I paused it after Yo Mama ska. This was my favorite stuff late in college. Pretty sure I've known every one by heart. This one had me singing along and dancing in my chair at 6:45 am. Sax rules, big delay on heavily accented vocals rule, ska rules. Really enjoying the start to this list. I've greatly underestimated Belinda Carlisle. I'm not sure Gash Gash Gash is a song, but it is something else.
 
Eric Clapton #21

Derek and the Dominos - Key to the Highway

This song is a blues standard recorded by many artists. Blues pianist Charlie Segar first recorded the song in 1940. Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy followed with recordings in 1940 and 1941, using an arrangement that has become the standard. Clapton has released a number of version of the song. The Blues Foundation inducted Broonzy's rendition into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010, and inducted Gillum's version in 2024.

The song is about the lament of someone who’s done with a relationship and hitting the road for good, tired of the pain, betrayal, or dead end they’ve been stuck in. But unlike some blues songs full of anger or sorrow, this one is more resigned, mature, and quietly powerful. While the lyrics are simple, they carry a deep emotional weight. It's the blues at its most elemental: stripped-down, direct, honest. The song isn't begging or pleading — it’s about walking away with dignity, even if there's pain underneath.

The first version of this song released by Derek and the Dominos was famously recorded during a jam session, when Clapton and Duane Allman started playing it casually between takes. When producer Tom Down heard it, he quickly told the engineer to "hit the ******* machine!" to start the tape recorder. Because of the late start, the album track starts with a fade-in to a performance already underway, resulting in the spontaneous, live-sounding track on the album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs". The jam between Clapton and Allman is eletric.

The version I chose is the Derek and the Dominos version from their album "Live at the Fillmore," which is the version Clapton chose for his 4 CD box set "Crossroads." This live cut is a heavier, looser, and more emotionally charged version than the studio take. It also does not include Duane Allman, who was just a studio musician for "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs." It was just Clapton, Bobby Whitlock (organ), Carl Rader (bass), and Jim Gordon (drums). So there was no slide guitar in this version.

Clapton’s vocals are rawer than in the studio — emotionally weary, even slightly strained, which fits the song’s lyrical theme of hitting the road and leaving a broken past behind. It feels more like a confession than a performance. His solos are dirtier, more urgent, and less polished than the studio version.

As an aside, my uncle gave me that box set for my birthday in 1988 out of the blue. I was 20, raised on 80s pop/rock and only had a vague sense of who Clapton was, but I was immediately hooked. In retrospect, that is one of the best gifts anyone ever gave me.

“Key to the Highway” remains one of the great blues recordings of the rock era, often cited as a textbook example of how spontaneous playing, strong musicianship, and emotional honesty can produce timeless results.
 
simey said:
Turn The Lights Back On

Billy wrote this song with Freddy Wexler (who also produced the song) last year, and it was released as a single. It's the first time he had collaborated with someone in writing a song, and he said he is open to it again in the future. He said the song is one of regret, and that he has many regrets, and owes lots of people an apology. The song has a double meaning, and he said one is about a relationship with a woman, and the other is about his life and can he have a second chance with his music again. He has never liked his voice, and said he is always disappointed when he hears it on a recording, but for the first time he doesn't hate his voice on this song. He said he isn't saying he likes it, but he doesn't hate it. I've always liked his voice at any age, and I like this song.

Please open the door
Nothing is different, we've been here before
Pacing these halls
Trying to talk over the silence
And pride sticks out its tongue
Laughs at the portrait that we've become
Stuck in a frame, unable to change
I was wrong

I'm late, but I'm here right now
Though I used to be romantic
I forgot somehow
Time can make you blind
But I see you now
As we're laying in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on
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Artist Who Should Have Recorded This: The Kinks

The only thing missing from this one is a reference to tea cakes to make it the perfect Davies' song.
 
The English Beat Family Tree #21

Hands Off. . . She’s Mine

Artist - The English Beat
Album - I Just Can’t Stop It (1980)

This ska in this one is the skaiest ska that ska has ever skaed. So much ska.

So, is Dave fighting with his friend over Roger’s daughter? Actually I don’t care, I’m too busy doing the awesome Roger ska dance to this one.

This one would fit nicely in both the Saxy Time and Mallet Rock themes.
 
Yo Mama said:
The English Beat Family Tree #21

Hands Off. . . She’s Mine

Artist - The English Beat
Album - I Just Can’t Stop It (1980)

This ska in this one is the skaiest ska that ska has ever skaed. So much ska.

So, is Dave fighting with his friend over Roger’s daughter? Actually I don’t care, I’m too busy doing the awesome Roger ska dance to this one.

This one would fit nicely in both the Saxy Time and Mallet Rock themes.
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I’ve really enjoyed these songs - some I knew most I did not. I basically know the hits in this “family”.
 
-OZ- said:
fwiw, favorite song in 24 probably wont be close as OTGDY is my second favorite Billy Joel song. And I don’t recognize any of the others at first glance.
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Time to catch up a bit

OTGDY indeed was my favorite from 24.

Others that caught my attention
Picasso
Won’t wait again
Sideshow by the seashore
Lover come back
The whole of the moon
Miss you

Good but not great collection in 24 - the next three have been better! :2cents:
 
-OZ- said:
Dr. Octopus said:
Wow, on the Cornershop song. I feel like I've heard it before but not sure if I have or it just feels familiar.
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Yep. Finally a “hey I DO know (and like) that band!” Tune from them.
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Yep. You’ve likely heard it before. A remixed version of Brimful of Asha by Fatboy Slim is their only #1 record. This original version reached #60.

I like both versions but prefer the original. Great song.
 
21. The Everlasting First
Album: False Start (1970)
Writers: Arthur Lee and Jimi Hendrix

We have heard some examples of how the post-Forever Changes version of Love often sounded like Arthur Lee's friend Jimi Hendrix. Here, we get Hendrix himself. The early 1970 edition of Love -- Lee, guitarist Gary Rowles, bassist Frank Fayad and drummer George Suranovich -- traveled to Europe to play some gigs, and while in London on March 17, 1970, met up with Hendrix to record three songs together. One is a long instrumental that was never named and has never been released. One is an early version of Hendrix' "Ezy Rider," which Lee revisited in his 1971 sessions that were finally released in 2009 (that version made my Last 10 Out). And one is "The Everlasting First," written by Lee and Hendrix and sung by Lee, which ended up kicking off the next Love album, False Start.

The song, which sounds like it was in mid-jam when the recording engineer flipped the switch, is immediately identifiable as a Hendrix work, as it opens with a solo featuring his distinctive sound before evolving into a proper intro.

The lyrics are all over the place and I wouldn't be surprised if they were just taken from fragments in Lee's notebook. But this part is eye-opening:

So you killed Jesus
You killed Abraham too
You killed Martin
What you here to do

Now we're gonna play you the feelings
That they all left behind

And those feelings are expressed by Hendrix in a wailing solo and by Lee by screaming "Why you make it hurt so bad/Take everything I had/Everything I had/Everything I HAAAAAD". The last 40 seconds or so are more glorious Hendrix vamping, which ends abruptly (presumably a subsequent jam was edited out), with no space between its end and the beginning of False Start's second track "Flying," which also made my Last 10 Out.

This is not a song whose construction was planned out and refined, which is why it is not higher on my list, but it shows off how gifted a guitarist Hendrix was and how well he would have been able to work with Lee had they tried to collaborate further. Hendrix envisioned a supergroup with himself, Lee and Steve Winwood called Band-Aid, but died before he could make it happen. Lee ended up using that name for the backing band for his first solo album, 1972's Vindicator.

According to Lee in the documentary Love Story, he met Hendrix in 1964 when Lee's song "My Diary" was recorded by Rosa Lee Brooks and Hendrix, who had just been fired from Little Richard's band for showboating (you DON'T upstage Little Richard), was recruited by the label when Lee said he wanted the guitar part to sound like Curtis Mayfield. "It was the first time he ever recorded in the studio, and it was one of my songs," Lee said. "He's about the best guitar player I've ever seen."

There are a few documented live performances of "The Everlasting First" between 1974 and 1994, the last shortly before my first Lee/Love show (I know it wasn't played that night).

Alternate version which appears on West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQSWx_-jBdY

Another alternate version that appears on The Blue Thumb Acetate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZRVzS3IeG8

Live version from 1994 in Northampton, MA, less than 2 weeks before I saw them (appears on Coming Through to You: The Live Recordings (1970-2004)): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eFcCt7JFA0

At #20, another album opener that has a jarring contrast in its opening minute.
 
Last edited:
21.

Waste of Paint- Bright Eyes
From Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep you Ear to the Ground (2002)

Possibly more devoid of hope than any other Bright Eyes song, ‘Waste of Paint’ depicts a series of vignettes, each portraying individuals grappling with personal struggles and disillusionment. The friend who’s “mostly made of pain”, the woman who was “free to waste away alone” and the brother who is “on a path to debt, to loss, to shame.” Oberst looks for meaning all over town – at the train depot, at the cathedral – but concludes that meaning can only be found in God and love and that he has neither.
 
Chaos34 said:
Also wish I could find lyrics to the Michael Head song. I liked that one alot. The string instrument (low violin or high cello?) is a smooth backbone to a rough and odd arrangement that worked for me. Almost like something Nick Cave might do. Right Eeph? Maybe I'm way off here and need my coffee. Anyway, been waiting to really like a Head song and this is my favorite so far.
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There aren't a lot of online lyrics available for Head's bands. He has a heavy Scouse accent and he mumbles sometimes which doesn't help either
 
Yo Mama said:
The English Beat Family Tree #21

Hands Off. . . She’s Mine

Artist - The English Beat
Album - I Just Can’t Stop It (1980)

This ska in this one is the skaiest ska that ska has ever skaed. So much ska.

So, is Dave fighting with his friend over Roger’s daughter? Actually I don’t care, I’m too busy doing the awesome Roger ska dance to this one.

This one would fit nicely in both the Saxy Time and Mallet Rock themes.
Click to expand...

Side one of I Just Can't Stop It is one of the great house party albums. It's perfect when the DJ wants to go dance for a while and not have to worry about changing the record.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
21. The Everlasting First
Album: False Start (1970)
Writers: Arthur Lee and Jimi Hendrix

We have heard some examples of how the post-Forever Changes version of Love often sounded like Arthur Lee's friend Jimi Hendrix. Here, we get Hendrix himself. The early 1970 edition of Love -- Lee, guitarist Gary Rowles, bassist Frank Fayad and drummer George Suranovich -- traveled to Europe to play some gigs, and while in London on March 17, 1970, met up with Hendrix to record three songs together. One is a long instrumental that was never named and has never been released. One is an early version of Hendrix' "Ezy Rider," which Lee revisited in his 1971 sessions that were finally released in 2009 (that version made my Last 10 Out). And one is "The Everlasting First," written by Lee and Hendrix and sung by Lee, which ended up kicking off the next Love album, False Start.
Click to expand...

The transition from this song to Beck is an all-timer
 
Eephus said:
Yo Mama said:
The English Beat Family Tree #21

Hands Off. . . She’s Mine

Artist - The English Beat
Album - I Just Can’t Stop It (1980)

This ska in this one is the skaiest ska that ska has ever skaed. So much ska.

So, is Dave fighting with his friend over Roger’s daughter? Actually I don’t care, I’m too busy doing the awesome Roger ska dance to this one.

This one would fit nicely in both the Saxy Time and Mallet Rock themes.
Click to expand...

Side one of I Just Can't Stop It is one of the great house party albums. It's perfect when the DJ wants to go dance for a while and not have to worry about changing the record.
Click to expand...
When I started putting my list together, this was the first album I listened to and I was afraid I’d end up putting most of it at the top of my list. I forgot how many great songs were on it.
 
Michael Head #21 - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Artorius Revisited" (2013)

There's a big gap in Head's catalog between the last Shack album in 2006 and this EP seven years later. He had no band, no contract and was back on heroin which never helps. There were reports of him busking in Liverpool City Center playing "Scarborough Fair" for tourists. Fortunately, he still had some fans in England and France, some of whom ran an Internet message board Shacknet devoted to his music. He met one of the mods from the board at a show which led to the recording a six song EP named Artorius Revisited with the first iteration of The Red Elastic Band.

Artorius was a Roman military commander in 2nd century Britain who is thought by some to be the historical basis for King Arthur. But in Head's case, Artorius refers to his musical idol Arthur Lee. The song has a Love feel to it with its multiple parts and psychedelic guitar freakout. The net effect is something bigger and grander than the four minute pop song that it is. There's no trumpet but there's lots of cello. I think that makes it 7-4 against trumpets but I'll have to doublecheck.
 
Eephus said:
Michael Head #21 - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Artorius Revisited" (2013)

There's a big gap in Head's catalog between the last Shack album in 2006 and this EP seven years later. He had no band, no contract and was back on heroin which never helps. There were reports of him busking in Liverpool City Center playing "Scarborough Fair" for tourists. Fortunately, he still had some fans in England and France, some of whom ran an Internet message board Shacknet devoted to his music. He met one of the mods from the board at a show which led to the recording a six song EP named Artorius Revisited with the first iteration of The Red Elastic Band.

Artorius was a Roman military commander in 2nd century Britain who is thought by some to be the historical basis for King Arthur. But in Head's case, Artorius refers to his musical idol Arthur Lee. The song has a Love feel to it with its multiple parts and psychedelic guitar freakout. The net effect is something bigger and grander than the four minute pop song that it is. There's no trumpet but there's lots of cello. I think that makes it 7-4 against trumpets but I'll have to doublecheck.
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I really liked this - had a very proggy sound to it.
 
MA-D Round 5: Metallica
#21: Am I Evil?
Album: Garage, Inc. (1998)

(Youtube version) Am I Evil?
(Live Version)Metallica - Am I Evil? - 1993.03.01 Mexico City, Mexico
(Live Version 2) Metallica: Am I Evil? (Oslo, Norway - June 26, 2024)

On with the action now, I'll strip your pride
I'll spread your blood around, I'll see you ride
Your face is scarred with steel, wounds deep and neat
Like a devil dancin' before ya, smells so sweet

—
With all respect to Diamond Head, it’s difficult for me to think of “Am I Evil?” as anything but a Metallica song. It was first released as the B-side to the “Creeping Death” single in 1984. Since then it’s been a staple of their live shows, having been performed somewhere around 800 times by them if the Metallica Wiki can be trusted. I considered this song for the M-AD Covers, though it didn’t make that cut.

The song’s an… intriguing tale. The narrator’s mother is burned alive for being a witch (and the first line doesn’t deny it), and so he seeks revenge. Aiming to kill the 27 people responsible in a gruesome manner. For the chorus, apparently after succeeding, he asks himself if he’s evil. To which he at least has the presence of mind to admit (or perhaps proudly claim) that yes, he is. So, you know, a pretty typical metal song, all in all.

—
Next on the countdown, a song warning of the dangers of blind devotion.
 
Eephus said:
Michael Head #21 - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Artorius Revisited" (2013)

There's a big gap in Head's catalog between the last Shack album in 2006 and this EP seven years later. He had no band, no contract and was back on heroin which never helps. There were reports of him busking in Liverpool City Center playing "Scarborough Fair" for tourists. Fortunately, he still had some fans in England and France, some of whom ran an Internet message board Shacknet devoted to his music. He met one of the mods from the board at a show which led to the recording a six song EP named Artorius Revisited with the first iteration of The Red Elastic Band.

Artorius was a Roman military commander in 2nd century Britain who is thought by some to be the historical basis for King Arthur. But in Head's case, Artorius refers to his musical idol Arthur Lee. The song has a Love feel to it with its multiple parts and psychedelic guitar freakout. The net effect is something bigger and grander than the four minute pop song that it is. There's no trumpet but there's lots of cello. I think that makes it 7-4 against trumpets but I'll have to doublecheck.
Click to expand...
It occurs to me that Head spent more time — probably a lot more time — trying to replicate the Forever Changes sound than Lee ever did.
 
Mt. Man said:
MA-D Round 5: Metallica
#21: Am I Evil?
Album: Garage, Inc. (1998)

(Youtube version) Am I Evil?
(Live Version)Metallica - Am I Evil? - 1993.03.01 Mexico City, Mexico
(Live Version 2) Metallica: Am I Evil? (Oslo, Norway - June 26, 2024)

On with the action now, I'll strip your pride
I'll spread your blood around, I'll see you ride
Your face is scarred with steel, wounds deep and neat
Like a devil dancin' before ya, smells so sweet

—
With all respect to Diamond Head, it’s difficult for me to think of “Am I Evil?” as anything but a Metallica song. It was first released as the B-side to the “Creeping Death” single in 1984. Since then it’s been a staple of their live shows, having been performed somewhere around 800 times by them if the Metallica Wiki can be trusted. I considered this song for the M-AD Covers, though it didn’t make that cut.

The song’s an… intriguing tale. The narrator’s mother is burned alive for being a witch (and the first line doesn’t deny it), and so he seeks revenge. Aiming to kill the 27 people responsible in a gruesome manner. For the chorus, apparently after succeeding, he asks himself if he’s evil. To which he at least has the presence of mind to admit (or perhaps proudly claim) that yes, he is. So, you know, a pretty typical metal song, all in all.

—
Next on the countdown, a song warning of the dangers of blind devotion.
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When I was a freshman in college my roommate (who was a DJ at WSOU and is now a fairly famous food critic in Las Vegas) had the 12" single of this song and used to play it all the time. The thing was he was playing it at 33 RPM speed since he thought it was an album but it should have been played at 45 RPM speed since it was a single. I remember when someone finally told him he looked so embarrassed (I had no idea since I had never heard it before).

It was a pretty different song played at slow speed. :lmao:
 
playing catchup

23's

Unknown Favs:

Everytime I think of you- The Babys- (y)
Son- Golden Smog- (y)(y)
General Public- General Public- not usually my type of music, pretty good song
Take it- Headstones- Damn... banger
Little Hell- City and Colour- really liked this one

Known Favs:

Enter Sandman- Metallica- overplayed for a reason... its a banger!
Galapagos- Smashing Pumpkins- Outside of the Pixies, does anyone do Loud-Quiet-Load better than the Pumpkins?


Honorable mention:

Tahitian Skies- Caro Emerald- really growing on me each round
Security- Otis Redding- also enjoying hearing new songs to me by Otis... so good.
 
Yambag said:
Smashing Pumpkins #21

Song: Cherub Rock
Album: Siamese Dream

Summary: Probably much lower than some expected but for whatever reason, it never stuck with me and I find it one of the lesser played songs in my library. This was the lead single from Siamese Dream and many people’s first introduction to the band. Cherub Rock was one of the last songs written for the album, and the lyrics relate to Corgan's relationship with his perception of the indie rock community and larger media. According to Corgan, the song's introductory drum riff is a direct lift from Rush's 1975 song "By-Tor and the Snow Dog."
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wow had this one at #7 on my list. really looking forward to your top 10.
 
Three known-to-me favorites from #21:

Brimful of Asha (Cornershop) -- Infectious tune that was everywhere when it came out -- and then the "modern rock" radio stations I listened to never bothered to play another note from them.
Girl (Beck) -- A perfect danceable pop song.
Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins) -- The lyrics are a little clunky but this is some of the best riffage of the '90s, which is saying a lot.

Three new-to-me favorites from #21:

Waste of Paint (Bright Eyes) -- This is some despondent stuff, and it's brilliant.
Tracy I Love You (Luna) -- Bright and attention-grabbing. Why wasn't this a hit?
Human (Ferry Corsten Club Remix) (The Killers/Ferry Corsten) -- Ups the beats without spoiling what makes the song stand out.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
Brimful of Asha (Cornershop) -- Infectious tune that was everywhere when it came out -- and then the "modern rock" radio stations I listened to never bothered to play another note from them.
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I noticed this, too. It seemed to me (I bought the album) that several songs from them were perfect fits for that format. Why do you think that was?

WXPN and similar channels - nowadays - will play some other stuff by them.
 
Uruk-Hai said:
Pip's Invitation said:
Brimful of Asha (Cornershop) -- Infectious tune that was everywhere when it came out -- and then the "modern rock" radio stations I listened to never bothered to play another note from them.
Click to expand...
I noticed this, too. It seemed to me (I bought the album) that several songs from them were perfect fits for that format. Why do you think that was?

WXPN and similar channels - nowadays - will play some other stuff by them.
Click to expand...
No idea. Much of the time this sort of thing has to do with lack of attention by the label or no/not enough non-payola payola from the label to the stations.
 
Uruk-Hai said:
Pip's Invitation said:
Brimful of Asha (Cornershop) -- Infectious tune that was everywhere when it came out -- and then the "modern rock" radio stations I listened to never bothered to play another note from them.
Click to expand...
I noticed this, too. It seemed to me (I bought the album) that several songs from them were perfect fits for that format. Why do you think that was?

WXPN and similar channels - nowadays - will play some other stuff by them.
Click to expand...
This why I chose Cornershop for this round. I also bought that album based on hearing and loving Asha on the radio at the time. I loved the entire album.

But I never really heard much from them after that. I was listening to a 90s Brit rock Spotify playlist a couple months ago and a Cornershop song came on that I’d never heard before—-another great song. So decided to do a deep dive on all their albums and discovered a lot more that I really liked.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
Uruk-Hai said:
Pip's Invitation said:
Brimful of Asha (Cornershop) -- Infectious tune that was everywhere when it came out -- and then the "modern rock" radio stations I listened to never bothered to play another note from them.
Click to expand...
I noticed this, too. It seemed to me (I bought the album) that several songs from them were perfect fits for that format. Why do you think that was?

WXPN and similar channels - nowadays - will play some other stuff by them.
Click to expand...
No idea. Much of the time this sort of thing has to do with lack of attention by the label or no/not enough non-payola payola from the label to the stations.
Click to expand...

Late 90s rock radio in the US was very parochial. Big UK bands like Oasis and Blur got very little airplay. Softer bands like Coldplay and Embrace had more success because they fit within the tight format boundaries.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
Eephus said:
Michael Head #21 - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Artorius Revisited" (2013)

There's a big gap in Head's catalog between the last Shack album in 2006 and this EP seven years later. He had no band, no contract and was back on heroin which never helps. There were reports of him busking in Liverpool City Center playing "Scarborough Fair" for tourists. Fortunately, he still had some fans in England and France, some of whom ran an Internet message board Shacknet devoted to his music. He met one of the mods from the board at a show which led to the recording a six song EP named Artorius Revisited with the first iteration of The Red Elastic Band.

Artorius was a Roman military commander in 2nd century Britain who is thought by some to be the historical basis for King Arthur. But in Head's case, Artorius refers to his musical idol Arthur Lee. The song has a Love feel to it with its multiple parts and psychedelic guitar freakout. The net effect is something bigger and grander than the four minute pop song that it is. There's no trumpet but there's lots of cello. I think that makes it 7-4 against trumpets but I'll have to doublecheck.
Click to expand...
It occurs to me that Head spent more time — probably a lot more time — trying to replicate the Forever Changes sound than Lee ever did.
Click to expand...
This track -- I think because of the drumming -- reminds me more of one of the few post-Forever Changes Love songs that sounds kind of like Forever Changes than anything from Forever Changes itself.

Nice to Be from Out Here (which did not make my list).
 
Pip's Invitation said:
Pip's Invitation said:
Eephus said:
Michael Head #21 - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - "Artorius Revisited" (2013)

There's a big gap in Head's catalog between the last Shack album in 2006 and this EP seven years later. He had no band, no contract and was back on heroin which never helps. There were reports of him busking in Liverpool City Center playing "Scarborough Fair" for tourists. Fortunately, he still had some fans in England and France, some of whom ran an Internet message board Shacknet devoted to his music. He met one of the mods from the board at a show which led to the recording a six song EP named Artorius Revisited with the first iteration of The Red Elastic Band.

Artorius was a Roman military commander in 2nd century Britain who is thought by some to be the historical basis for King Arthur. But in Head's case, Artorius refers to his musical idol Arthur Lee. The song has a Love feel to it with its multiple parts and psychedelic guitar freakout. The net effect is something bigger and grander than the four minute pop song that it is. There's no trumpet but there's lots of cello. I think that makes it 7-4 against trumpets but I'll have to doublecheck.
Click to expand...
It occurs to me that Head spent more time — probably a lot more time — trying to replicate the Forever Changes sound than Lee ever did.
Click to expand...
This track -- I think because of the drumming -- reminds me more of one of the few post-Forever Changes Love songs that sounds kind of like Forever Changes than anything from Forever Changes itself.

Nice to Be from Out Here (which did not make my list).
Click to expand...

There's a Head song later in the countdown that sounds like this but with trumpets
 
Onto the #21s. Unshuflled per personal tradition. Possibly under the wire before the next batch!

Selected Favorites:
Capture the Light - The Go-Gos (/Belinda Carlisle)
Artorius Revisited - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band
White Lightning - The Babys
Gash Gash Gash - The GAP Band
Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me) - Doobie Brothers
Underground - City and Colour
Human - Ferry Corsten

Small spotlight:
I had started to write up another artist when “Brimful of Asha” by Cornershop came on. I know, I know. Another person highlighting probably the first song on the Cornershop playlist they recognize, and certainly the band’s biggest hit. But it's a song I've enjoyed a while. Even before I knew the title (or, for that matter, exactly what was on the 45).
 
20's PLAYLIST

20s

[td]Belinda Carlise[/td][td]Zegras11[/td][td]Tonite
open.spotify.com

Tonite

The Go-Go's · Beauty And The Beat · Song · 1981
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com
[/td] [td]Michael Head[/td][td]Eephus[/td][td]Shack -- Neighbours
open.spotify.com

Neighbours

Shack · Waterpistol · Song · 1995
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com
[/td] [td]People Under the Stairs[/td][td]KarmaPolice[/td][td]Crown Ones
open.spotify.com

Crown Ones

People Under The Stairs · Stepfather (Remastered) · Song · 2006
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com
[/td] [td]John Waite[/td][td]Charlie Steiner[/td][td]Run to Mexico
open.spotify.com

Run to Mexico

The Babys · Head First · Song · 1978
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com
[/td] [td]Golden Smog[/td][td]Dr. Octopus[/td][td]Red Headed Stepchild
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Red Headed Stepchild

Golden Smog · Down By The Old Mainstream · Song · 1995
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[/td] [td]The GAP Band/Charlie Wilson[/td][td]Don Quixote[/td][td]Someday - The GAP Band

- YouTube

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Someday

The Gap Band · The Gap Band V - Jammin' (Deluxe Edition) · Song · 1983
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[/td] [td]The English Beat Family Tree[/td][td]Yo Mama[/td][td]I’m Not the Man I Used to Be
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I'm Not the Man I Used to Be - Remastered

Fine Young Cannibals · The Raw & The Cooked (Remastered & Expanded) · Song · 1989
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[/td] [td]Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw[/td][td]-OZ_[/td][td]I belong to you
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I Belong To You - Live In Glasgow

Caro Emerald · Live in Glasgow · Song · 2013
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[/td] [td]Neil Diamond[/td][td]Mrs. Rannous[/td][td]Holly Holy
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Holly Holy

Neil Diamond · All-Time Greatest Hits · Song · 2014
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[/td] [td]Steve Marriott[/td][td]zamboni[/td][td]"Lazy Sunday" – Small Faces
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Lazy Sunday (Stereo Version) (2018 Remaster)

Small Faces · Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake - 50th Anniversary Edition (2018 Remaster) · Song · 2018
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[/td] [td]Conor Oberst[/td][td]Tuffnutt[/td][td]White Shoes

- YouTube

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www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
[/td] [td]Smashing Pumpkins[/td][td]Yambag[/td][td]Silvery Sometimes
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Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)

The Smashing Pumpkins · SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. · Song · 2018
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[/td] [td]Otis Redding[/td][td]John Maddens Lunchbox[/td][td]Love Man

- YouTube

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Love Man

Otis Redding · Love Man · Song · 1969
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[/td] [td]Meat Loaf[/td][td]snellman[/td][td]Out of the Frying Pan
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Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)

Meat Loaf · Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell · Song · 1993
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[/td]
 
20s

[td]Hugh Dillon[/td][td]Mister CIA[/td][td]longwaytoneverland

- YouTube

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[/td] [td]Luna[/td][td]landrys hat[/td][td]Bonnie and Clyde (Clyde Barrow Version)

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Bonnie and Clyde - Clyde Barrow Version

Luna · Penthouse · Song · 1995
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[/td] [td]Metallica[/td][td]Mt. Man[/td][td]Leper Messiah
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Leper Messiah (Remastered)

Metallica · Master of Puppets (Remastered) · Song · 1986
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[/td] [td]The Doobie Brothers[/td][td]New Binky The Doormat[/td][td]Depending On You

- YouTube

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[/td] [td]Billy Joel[/td][td]simey[/td][td]Big Shot
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Big Shot

Billy Joel · 50 Years of the Piano Man · Song · 2022
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- YouTube

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[/td] [td]Arthur Lee and Love[/td][td]Pip's Invitation[/td][td]Stephanie Knows Who
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Stephanie Knows Who - LP / Stereo Version

Love · Da Capo · Song · 1966
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[/td] [td]Beck[/td][td]KarmaPolice[/td][td]Beercan
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Beercan

Beck · Mellow Gold · Song · 1994
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[/td] [td]John 5[/td][td]Chaos34[/td][td]Sure Feels Right - Sixx A.M.
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Sure Feels Right

Sixx:A.M. · This Is Gonna Hurt · Song · 2011
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[/td] [td]City and Colour[/td][td]MrsKarmaPolice[/td][td]Hello, I'm In Delaware
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Hello, I'm In Delaware

City and Colour · Sometimes · Song · 2005
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[/td] [td]The Waterboys[/td][td]Ilov80s[/td][td]Blues for Terry Southern
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Blues For Terry Southern

The Waterboys · Life, Death And Dennis Hopper · Song · 2025
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[/td] [td]Eric Clapton[/td][td]Tau837[/td][td]Pretending

- YouTube

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[/td] [td]Ferry Corsten[/td][td]titusbramble[/td][td]System F - Cry (Extended Mix)
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Cry - Extended Mix

System F · Out Of The Blue (Remastered) · Song · 2010
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[/td] [td]Cornershop[/td][td]The Dreaded Marco[/td][td]Good to be on the Road Back Home
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Good to Be on the Road Back Home

Cornershop · When I Was Born For The 7th Time · Song · 1997
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[/td]
 
23s

New to me, added to likes
Sleep on the left side
Little hell
Bygones - this one is wild. At first, with Dolly I loved it. Then not so much, then on the third listen I enjoyed it again
Dark star - Beck has been better than I anticipated
What cha gonna do about it
Son
Every time I think of you
Up yo spine

Favorite - fully expected enter sandman to win this, and it does. Every time I think of you and son both almost took it.

Very good listen all around!
 
Smashing Pumpkins #20

Song: Silvery Sometimes
Album: Shiny and Oh So Bright

Summary: Silvery Sometimes was released in 2018 and is from the first album since Machina to reunite Billy, James and Jimmy, along with Rick Rubin as producer. This is the highest placing post-Machina song on my list which I truly feel is up there in quality and can stand with the heavy hitters from the glory days. Often compared to the hit 1979 and the more I listened, the more it crept up the list.

You turn turncoat
Inward to seek out all your hopes
It's your signals
That hurts me most
 
#20: PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS - CROWN ONES

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This was probably the hardest song to rank. There are days were this is my favorite song of theirs or at least in the top 5. Stepfather might not quite be my favorite top to bottom album, but the last 3 songs showing up make it very top heavy for me. Absolutely love the groove on this one and how the song just starts right in with the lyrics.

Dig the underground sound like an approaching earthquake
Golden State's plate vibrate eights you chumps shake

In the end I had to get super nitpicky trying to rank these songs, and the last 25sec or so dropped this one down to the free for all range. This is a fantastic song to crank in the car or while having the headphones on.

Put them folks upstairs so they can feel the bass boom
Give the ladies waist room, wind up your boom-boom

So that is the last song for the free-for-all round, and now I switch to going with my favorite two songs (at least at the time I hit the submit button) from each of the 9 albums featured in order of release. We go with the #2s in order, then to the #1s in release. For those math nerds, yes there are 19 songs left. There is one surprise B-side mixed in there that I thought people would dig. For a reminder, the album order is: The Next Step, Question in the Form of an Answer, OST, Stepfather, Fun DMC, Carried Away, Highlighter, 12 Step Program, and Sincerely, the P.

NEXT: We get to the first song on the countdown from their debut as we take a road trip to Eephus' stomping grounds.
 
#20 Someday (Spotify) - The GAP Band

In the run-up, I posted Stevie Wonder’s “I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It,” which included both Charlie Wilson and Ronnie Wilson on backup vocals. I mentioned then that “some day” we may get to a song when Stevie Wonder returned the favor and appeared on a GAP Band song, and, well, “Someday” is here.

Unlike a couple of my previous MAD artists in Curtis Mayfield and Nina Simone, The GAP Band did not do many message songs, as their music was more about letting loose. “Someday” is an exception to that. In his memoir, Charlie Wilson wrote that Coretta Scott King wanted this song to be the song of the movement to create a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King. It draws some inspiration from Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We Will All Be Free,” but it is not a cover.

At some point in the song, you may hear a voice on backing vocals that sounds very familiar. If you have any lingering doubt on who it is, at around 2:00 minutes in, the harmonica kicks in, and Charlie calls out, “Play it, Stevie.”

Stevie Wonder and Charlie Wilson have been close throughout Charlie Wilson’s career. Charlie Wilson idolized Stevie Wonder growing up. In his memoir, Charlie Wilson talked about Stevie Wonder being in the building and sitting in when The GAP Band was making their first record, and being excited at sitting down on the piano with Stevie Wonder then. His memoir also includes some stories from when he was deepest into his drug addiction, and Rick James (another friend of his) would get Stevie Wonder on the phone to try to help talk Charlie Wilson into laying off the drugs. (And if you have any doubt how bad his drug addiction was, yes, even Rick James was telling him that he needed to stop.)

Next up, back to a Charlie Wilson solo.
 
Last edited:
20. Stephanie Knows Who
Album: Da Capo (1966)

Love's debut album, while containing the first glimpses of the band's idiosyncrasies, more or less sounded how you would expect a rock band to sound in early 1966 -- some Byrds, some Stones, some Beatles, some garage rock. Listeners expecting more of that who put on the follow-up Da Capo for the first time must have been surprised that the first sound they heard was ... harpsichord? Which, after a buildup from the drums, gave way to a vocal from Arthur Lee that was way more aggressive than anything heard from him on the debut.

Guitars, drums, harpsichord and sax all chug along together (?!?!?!) as Lee starts his vocal at 10 and turns it up to 11:

What's in your life, dear Stephanie
What's in your life for me
Aches and pains they cloud your sight
But tired you did you said you did

What can I say, dear Stephanie
Who shall I next inform
Of love and poetry that you bring
Your eyes, your hair, your everything
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Come on, come on, come on, come on, Ow!

The song is addressed to Stephanie Buffington, a woman whom Lee and his Love bandmate Bryan MacLean were trying to woo. The title implies that she knows which one she prefers, but the lyrics don't really tell a story at all, they're just Lee jumping from thought to thought and emotion to emotion.

What am I now, dear Stephanie
Am I you in disguise
The words they come so naturally
I save them all for Stephanie, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Come on, come on, come on, come on

Hey, all right
Talk to me all the time
From a to z and in between
Say it sweet all the time
All the time, yeah...

Equally chaotic is the instrumental section in the middle, which shifts from 4/4 time to 5/4 time and has lead guitarist John Echols and saxophonist Tjay Cantrelli fighting for solo space (the mix gives the sax the win, presumably to krista's chagrin) while bassist Ken Forssi and drummer Michael Stuart-Ware pound the rhythm furiously. The band doesn't let up through the second verse and coda, and the rush finally ends after a glorious two and a half minutes. This is as proto-punk as you can get with a harpsichord and a saxophone.

"Stephanie Knows Who" was released as a single at the same time as the album came out, but Elektra quickly must have realized it was too unhinged for the pop audience and withdrew it after a few weeks. Both its B-side and the song issued to replace it would have been better choices for mainstream radio; we'll get to both later.

There are no documented live performances by Love of "Stephanie Knows Who" before 1992, but it was played somewhat regularly between then and Arthur Lee's death, including at both shows I saw. The Love Band has played it sporadically since then.

But some bands know the drill: It was performed live by The Move in 1968 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogNICZKLAog and in concert by Robyn Hitchcock and Yo La Tengo in 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAHfKTfWP3k And there's a Love tribute band that uses the title of this song as their name.

Live version from London in 2003: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjv1-5BCo4A

Live version from Cambridge, UK in 2004 (appears on Coming Through to You: The Live Recordings (1970 2004)): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxJUEKV4kjA

Live version from The Love Band with John Echols in Islington, UK in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phUwItC6tNc

At #19, a song which was not in print when I discovered Love in the late '80s but is now one of the band's most popular tracks on Spotify.
 
Don Quixote said:
#20 Someday (Spotify) - The GAP Band

In the run-up, I posted Stevie Wonder’s “I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It,” which included both Charlie Wilson and Ronnie Wilson on backup vocals. I mentioned then that “some day” we may get to a song when Stevie Wonder returned the favor and appeared on a GAP Band song, and, well, “Someday” is here.

Unlike a couple of my previous MAD artists in Curtis Mayfield and Nina Simone, The GAP Band did not do many message songs, as their music was more about letting loose. “Someday” is an exception to that. In his memoir, Charlie Wilson wrote that Coretta Scott King wanted this song to be the song of the movement to create a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King. It draws some inspiration from Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We Will All Be Free,” but it is not a cover.

At some point in the song, you may hear a voice on backing vocals that sounds very familiar. If have any lingering doubt on who it is, at around 2:00 minutes in, the harmonica kicks in, and Charlie calls out, “Play it, Stevie.”

Stevie Wonder and Charlie Wilson have been close throughout Charlie Wilson’s career. Charlie Wilson idolized Stevie Wonder growing up. In his memoir, Charlie Wilson talked about Stevie Wonder being in the building and sitting in when The GAP Band was making their first record, and being excited at sitting down on the piano with Stevie Wonder then. His memoir also includes some stories from when he was deepest into his drug addiction, and Rick James (another friend of his) would get Stevie Wonder on the phone to try to help talk Charlie Wilson into laying off the drugs. (And if you have any doubt how bad his drug addiction was, yes, even Rick James was telling him that he needed to stop.)

Next up, back to a Charlie Wilson solo.
Click to expand...
If Rick James tells you you're doing too many drugs, you're doing too many drugs.
 
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