Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 38)

 Here ya go, kids!

"The Great Curve" (live version) by Talking Heads (1982)

Six+ minutes on one chord:  edgy!

"Black and Blue" by Van Halen (1982)

I guess this would be considered a "ballad" for this band.

"I'm Still in Love With You" by Al Green (1972)

In the same groove as, "Let's Stay Together" with that dry, boxy horn sound.

"Persuasion" by Santana (1969)

A cookin' second tier Santana song...still Santanic!

"Michael" by Franz Ferdinand (2004)

Another good example of 20-year old alternative rock and roll.

"Hey, Good Lookin'" by Hank Williams (1951)

I love the Ray Charles cover but the original version still gets the job done.

"Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton (1981)

Despite its overuse in TV/movies, I had to laugh at how this was hilariously used in the opening of the movie, "Deadpool".

"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (1967)

A classic that became shorthand for drug trips, it's still a great hallucinogenic bolero of a song.

"Chimes of Freedom" by The Byrds (1965)

We stay in the land of the hippies with this Bob Dylan cover. I'm guessing the Dylan version is more well known today. 

"Fortress Around Your Heart" by Sting (1985)

The passage of time has reinforced the notion that Sting was smart to launch his solo career with an album featuring heavy-hitting jazz/session musicians which made his music sound familiar and yet distinct from his work with The Police.

"People Are Strange" by The Doors (1967)

I've become less fond of The Doors as I've gotten older but this song is still great. The 80s Echo and the Bunnymen cover is good, too but doesn't top old Jimbo's version.

"Revolution" (Esher demo version) by The Beatles (1968)

Like some, I grew up listening to the single/non-album version of this song find the slower version from "The White Album" the be inferior. This demo/acoustic version for me beats the LP version as it's a little peppier. The LP version seems to run out of steam.

"A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)" by Simon and Garfunkel (1966)

The longest song title on this list!

"P.Y.T." by Michael Jackson (1982)

This was VERY Disco for 1982. 

"Knives Out" by Radiohead (2001)

Radiohead around this time had passed its peak (OK Computer, IMO) but this is still good.

"Smoke Rings" by k.d. lang (1997)

Lang's version of a very old song mostly seems to pay tribute to the Les Paul/Mary Ford version but has its own coolness to it. There's a "real Corinthian leather" feel here.

"Don't Mess With Doctor Dream" by Thompson Twins (1985)

I think I have managed to hit every TT song in my library.

"The Things We Do For Love" by 10cc (1976)

This is pretty heavy on the cheese but it's still a catchy pop song.

"Arthur's Theme" by Christopher Cross (1981)

Huh, so the core lineup from Toto is on this track and the song credits Burt Bacharach as a co-writer. Does this make Bacharach, Yacht Rock???

"Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. (1979)

I hear musicians around here (Minnesota) talk about how the people who were hired to play on this song, recorded in Minneapolis, were offered a flat fee or a percentage of the profits. Needless to say, the flat fee wasn't NEARLY enough. 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 37)

 If this goes on much longer, this series might have to be renamed, "Songs I Was Too Lazy to Skip (Part 1,834)". 

"West of Hollywood" by Steely Dan (2000)

This closing track to SD's comeback LP kind of reminds me of the old single, "F.M." in that it's just okay but ends with this long-ass (but good!) tenor sax solo. Wait, there are actually two versions of FM and it's the "alternate" version (if you care enough to read about all the variations, the series of tubes can assist) that has the sax solo on the end. Never mind.  

"Born Again" by Badly Drawn Boy (2002)

Does this, a 20+ year old song, sound dated today? Not in the way that an old A-Ha song might but it does have that early-2000s alt-rock, post-90s (would you like a side of cliche' with that?) combo of sparse, synthesizer-less (but often piano) guitar rock that is still smoothly produced. Smooth Grunge? 

"The Diary of Horace Wimp" by Electric Light Orchestra (1979)

Think Beatles tribute band song with some crazy Vocoder going on. 

"We Are the People" by John Mellencamp (1987)

A vague, lumpy anthem for the working people. JM does it again.

"We Got the Beat" by the Go-Gos (1981)

I could have sworn this is later than 1981; it sounds more like mid-1980s. Great retro-surf song.

"23rd Chromosome" by The Honeydogs (2003)

A Minnesota band that broke through (briefly) twenty or so years ago. A nice, pseudo Bossa Nova song. 

"Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Willie Nelson (1980)

Willie does a good cover of this Kris Kristofferson original in that it does kind of sound like a Nelson song.

"La Bamba" by Los Lobos (1987)

Another cover!  This must have been the one song that got Los Lobos into the mainstream. This track is good although their original material is better.  I like the little coda on the end of the tune, something that almost certainly wasn't on the Ritchie Valens original. 

"I Appear Missing" by Queens of the Stone Age (2013)

Wait, what's a song from 2013 doing here?!  Nice to see Dave Grohl in something other than a Crown Royal ad. 

"The Truck Song" by Lyle Lovett (2003)

Not your typical country song about a pickup.

"Out of Control" by The Rolling Stones (1997)

There's a pretty decent groove here for a 90s Stones song.

"Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte (1961)

RIP, Harry. One of his great songs:  "Somebody help me!"  

"Ain't That Asking For Trouble" by Stevie Wonder (1966)

Stevie in wiiiiide stereo!

"C'est le Vie" by Robbie Nevil (1986)

In the 1980s, there was a lot of synth bass and a lot of actual electric bass that *sounds* like synth bass (see also: drums). I think this is an actual bass that's been processed to sound like a synth but I'm not 100% sure. If it's from a keyboard, it's really good. Wikipedia does list a bassist for the album but who the hell knows (cares?). 

"Miserlou" by The Trashmen (1964)

A convincing cover/knockoff of this famous tune by everyone's favorite Minnesota surf rock band.

"Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix (1967)

Speaking of covers, I once heard a string quartet do a version of this song and it really works!

"Whatever Gets You Through the Night" by John Lennon (1974)

This is a classic song but man, I have a hard time with the intonation on this one. Lennon was probably fucking with us. 

"Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran (1982)

Keywords:  Deeply silly lyrics, 80s Disco, heavy breathing. Yeah, that's it.

"Diamonds Are Forever" by Shirley Bassey-Mantronik 007 Remix (1971/2000)

Not every track on this compilation of remixes is a winner but this one was fun and perhaps preferable to the original. 

"Another Day" by Paul and Linda McCartney (1971)

More interesting musically than lyrically with a cool middle/bridge section in 3/4 time.