Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 16)

 "Last Night" by The Mar-Kays (1961)

Back when this amazing studio house band could just jam for 3 minutes and release the recording as a hit.

"Gold" by John Stewart (1979)

If this sounds like a Fleetwood Mac song with a different vocalist, it's because it was put together, at the behest of the record label, adding Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham. The song has a great 70s radio-hook sound to it but I can see why Stewart pretty much disowned it as it didn't really represent what he usually wanted to do as an artist.

"Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers (1979)

This is quite the song and pretty dark, too.

"I Want to Live" by Talking Heads (1976)

Solid TH song and an early demo but Tina really needed to tone down the fret sound on the bass!

"Veronica" by Elvis Costello (1989)

This is of course a great EC song but I had no idea Sir Paul played bass on and co-wrote this. Makes sense.

"Walk With You" by Ringo Starr (2010)

Another Paul McCartney collaboration pops up. Nice tune.

"SWLABR" by Cream (1967)

I chose to stop here because this is one of the few Cream singles I haven't heard a million times.

"Sing a Simple Song" by Sly and the Family Stone" (1968)

Sly cannot be skipped!

"Breath of Life" by Erasure (1992)

This song sounds older than it is because if someone made a song that sounds like it today, it'd be thought of as an 80s (or even late 70s Kraftwerk) throwback.

"That Was Yesterday" by Foreigner (1985)

Phil Collins may have been the king of 80s relationship-end songs but this one is on the Phil level with perhaps less bitterness. Yes, Lou Gramm has been dumped but he's got his pride and he's moving on!

"Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode (1990)

This is a good companion to the Erasure song and really the whole album reminds me of my last year or so of college as I happened to buy a used CD of it after hearing parts of it at a friend's place. It's likely the band's best album and got popular for good reason. Listening to it now also made me think of how much work went into these old electronica albums. They seem like they took a lot more effort to sequence/record than something like it would today. These songs were made on computers then, like today, but the hardware them was a LOT harder to use.

"Satellite"  by Elliot Smith (1995)

Some good angst-folk vibes here.

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Prince (1995)

Funny how I get two of the same year in a row. Even "lesser" Prince is still damned good, even if he may have "borrowed" it.

"Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants (1988)

An early TMBG song that shows they were pretty much fully developed before I'd heard them in the early 1990s.

"All U Can Eat" by Ben Folds (2006)

Ben goes on a rant against Americans ... who eat at buffets?

"It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over" (1991)

Lenny goes really deep into retro-Motownland. 

"Sleep Late, My Lady Friend" by Harry Nilsson (1967)

I swear I've never heard this one before. And who can argue with the sentiment here?

"Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile, Smile, Smile)" by Dean Martin (1948)

As this was written by someone who was recovering from spinal injuries, I'll take this as more of a guideline than a rule. Also seems somewhat stiff for a Deano tune.