Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 13)

 How long am I going to continue doing this? Perhaps when I get a repeat which could be a very long time or not, knowing how the Apple Music app works.

"Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb (1978) 

The first stop by a Gibb/Bee Gees track. Another well-crafted disco hit.

"Hit The Road Jack" by Ray Charles (1961)

Did you know there's a follow up song called, "Well, I Told You"?

"Love In Song" by Wings (1975)

Growing up, this was the first LP from Wings I had a copy of so I listened to it a lot. It's not one of the best of their albums but it has a few good tracks. This is one of the better ones, though it sounds at times like Paul is trying a little too hard for an "exotic" sound with his chords. Never mind, it's miles better than the album's hit single, "Listen to What the Man Said" which I can't stand, even with Tom Scott playing on it.

"Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave (1966)

I love this song but I can't help but picture a beat-to-shit police car driving around suburban Chicago when I hear it.

"Whistlin' Past The Graveyard" by Tom Waits (1978)

Another Tom, though different. Love the lyrics on this one.

"Wheel in the Sky" by Journey

1978 is a big year in my music library it seems.

"Broken Arrow" by Robbie Robertson (1987)

This is positively drenched in Daniel Lanois production murk.

"Too Much Information" by The Police (1981)

Truly lesser-level Police but holds up today just for its theme.

"Peter Gunn" by Art of Noise (1986)

It's hard to screw up a song like "Gunn" but this one wears out its welcome after a while.

"Overkill" by Men at Work" (1983)

Not bad, but I prefer "It's a Mistake" from this album.

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 12)

 I'm starting to wonder if I should be a bit more picky.

"Breakdown Dead Ahead" by Boz Skaggs (1980)

Second-string Boz with his backup band at their usual Yacht Rock best.

"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine" by The White Stripes (2003)

Truly a song for our times.

"Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)" by Ian Gillan (Jesus Christ Superstar, 1970 version)

The only thing keeping this track from being, "Deep Purple....WITH STRINGS" is the lack of an organ solo.

"Hold Your Head Up" by Argent (1972)

Wait, there's the missing organ solo!

"Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens (1971)

I've often thought that Cat Stevens wrote a perfect church song. Well, it turns out that this IS a church song, that he covered from 1931. Also, I swear Rick Wakeman is channeling Floyd Cramer on the piano track.

"Ministry of Love" by Eurythmics (1984)

I haven't seen the movie that this track came from but there's a good dark 80s groove in this bundle of synths and vocals.

"Ran Tan Waltz" by Kate Bush (1980)

This is a weirdo B side that sounds like it has a fuzzy fake tuba synth. All too appropriate for a song that Kate herself apparently called, "good, naughty fun".

"This Time" by INXS (1985)

A just-OK INXS track but still decent. I have this in rotation because it was on LP called "Greenpeace Breakthrough" which was a compilation of 80s hits, distributed by the state-owned record label Melodiya. I picked this vinyl up on a band trip to the Soviet Union in 1988. People were selling this and other things to tourists in the streets of Moscow at the time. If you hit the wikipedia page with translation, you'll see that it is a very solid playlist of 80s alt pop hits. The double LP also came with a large booklet I could never read. Cool.

"Light My Fire" by Helmut Zacharias (1969)

I like to imagine that this was done by a middle-aged Esquivel who had gone soft and wanted something to listen to while playing golf with Gerald Ford.

"Moon Rocks" by Talking Heads (1982)

Another great dog exercising/poop patrol tune.

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 11)

 Yes, this blog goes to 11.

"Army Dreamers" by Kate Bush (1980)

Yeah, it's pretty on-the-nose but still a catchy/odd little anti-war tune.

"You Don't Mess Around With Jim" by Jim Croce 1972)

This might be my favorite of Croce's songs. Tight. 

"Tumbling Tumbleweeds" by The Sons of the Pioneers (1946)

The Dude abides. I don't think I ever noticed that this song has bass clarinet in it. I seriously doubt the old time cowboys played themselves a lot of bass clarinet. Come to think of it, the arrangement of this song sounds kind of faux exotic, like old songs about tropical islands. Sons of the hula dancers.

"Mongoloid" by DEVO (1977)

"He wore a hat and he had a job". 

"Bem, Bem, Maria" by Gipsy Kings (1987)

Great stuff, even if I have no idea what they are talking about.

"The Bug" by Dire Straits (1991)

Knopfler does straight (heh) ahead Country, works in the word, "Groovy"  and it sounds great. 

"Enough To Be On Your Way" by James Taylor (1997)

Another super-clean, polished cut from James T and on this one, he drops an F bomb.

"What Is This Thing Called Love?" by Keely Smith

Okay, a jazz-like tune slipped through. Great arrangement here by Nelson Riddle of this classic tune sung Smith who was married to Louis Prima for a while.

"Romeo And Juliet" by Dire Straits (1980)

Another Dire Straits tune in quick succession. This has to be one of their best songs that hasn't aged at all. Prove me wrong. 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 10)

 Part 10? Are you kidding me?!

"D.I.Y." by Peter Gabriel (1978)

A classic PG track. The piano sounds like it came out of a saloon and it's perhaps one of the earliest uses of the Chapman Stick on a pop recording though it usually sounds indistinguishable from a conventional fretless electric bass here. 

"I Want Your Love" by Chic (1978)

On a lot of these old disco hits, I often think of all the string players who had steady work playing on these tracks.

"Romeo Had Juliet" by Lou Reed (1989)

I'm pretty sure this was one of the first Lou Reed albums I'd heard when it came out. It took me a while to warm up to it but this one is so lyrically dense that it rewards close examination. 

"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" by CAKE (1996)

An interesting take on the old Doris Day song.

"Nothing's Changed" by Chris Isaak (1989)

Isaak does one thing and he does it well. This was from his most popular and probably best album of reverb-soaked retro crooning. 

"Party People" by Parliament (1979)

"Funky" doesn't even begin to describe this and other Parliament songs. This one grooves along until it adds this extra sax solo and a vocal that sounds like the guy from "You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch". 

"Mystified" by Fleetwood Mac (1987)

This was the first FM album I got familiar with as it came out at a time when I was buying CDs and the choices were more slim...maybe it was a "free" selection from BMG or Columbia House?

"Floater" by Bob Dylan (2001)

It sure sounds like Bob just came up with a tune and just wrote random goofy lyrics while he was having a smoke. Nonetheless, I like it.

"Tin Man" by America (1974)

Smoooooooooth. 

"Domino" by Van Morrison (1970)

Wow, he really nailed the American 60s R&B sound...or stole it but who's counting?

"ZZ Top Goes to Egypt" (1986)

Another song by a "Van". This one always cracks me up with the meandering slightly out-of-tune violin. 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 9)

 "A Man Needs a Maid" by Neil Young (1972)

This song either makes me think, just because you *can* do something, doesn't mean you should or what they hell, it's hilarious. I'm referring to the overwrought orchestral arrangement that accompanies/drowns Neil's vocal and piano. I'd like to have a version of this track with just the vocal/piano. 

"Calling It Quits" by Aimee Mann" (2000)

A good track from what's likely her best album, though I am not familiar with her more recent output. A great example of someone who escaped being an 1980s has-been and who reinvented her music career. 

"Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by CAKE (2001)

While we linger in the early-aughts alt music world...which wouldn't be complete without a track from this sarcastic band. The song is very fun, musically with lyrics like, "she's touring the facilities and picking up slack". 

"Feelin'" by The La's (1990)

Despite the album's troubled production history, it is truly a pop music classic now. Every track on it is at least good and several are outstanding. If you don't know this album, you should. 

"Dreaming" by Loudon Wainwright III (1995)

It's not the best of LW's material but still very good. A wistful song that is probably about depression isn't exactly the best dog-walking material.

"Stay Away" by Nirvana (1991)

I don't have much to add to what people have said about this seminal 90s album but I dug this track and you know, this is a really well recorded album! Wow, Dave Grohl, that's a lot of snare drum!

"Everything She Does" by Genesis (1986)

I guess I have to put this in the category of "songs I haven't recently heard at Target" but wow, Phil Collins was so hard to avoid at this time, wasn't he. 

"Forgiven" by Echo & The Bunnymen" (1997)

90s tune...with a cello.

"Lindbergh" by Woody Guthrie (1944)

Such an appropriate song for our situation with Russia and how certain people in the USA cozied up to a dictator for their own gain. 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 8)

Shortly after I began writing these posts, I thought about dumping all of these songs into a playlist but I haven't. How many would I skip in this new "Didn't Skip" playlist? Some, for sure. So much of what drives the choice on whether to skip or not is how I'm feeling in the moment which is perhaps why I tend to listen to bulk selections of music rather and narrowed playlists. Now, of course there are songs that I choose to keep on hand and will likely never linger on like "Revolution 9", but I can rest assured that it's out there waiting for me if the mood strikes. 

On we go. 

"Triumph of the Will" by Devo (1979)

This might be a new favorite with lyrics like, 

Before I die I'll get another piece of pie
I'll get another piece of pie
I'll get another piece of pie if I have to lie

"The Seeker" by The Who (1970)

How about that approximately one bar-long silence before the guitar solo? I mean, there isn't all that much  silence in pop music, is there?

"In My Place" by Coldplay (2002)

I have this vague recollection of Coldplay being unfairly compared to Radiohead around the time this album came out. The similarities are pretty superficial however and even if they sounded a little alike in the late 1990s, they certainly went in different directions. As for me, I find Coldplay just okay with polished pop songs that have this surface level lyrical content.  My, that sounds snooty!

"Ramblin' Man" by Hank Williams (1952)

I'll always stop for a Hank song. Just a wee bit different feel than that other Ramblin' song.

"Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper (1984)

A song so good that Miles Davis covered it! 

"King of the Road" by Roger Miller (1965) 

A classic tune with a really solid bass line.

"Not One Of Us" by Peter Gabriel (1983)

I have a lot of PG material in my music library as I've been a fan of his since the 1980s but this is the first one I've stopped on for this exercise. This version is a live recording and while quite good, doesn't quite match the studio album version. One thing it does have:  COWBELL.

"I Don't Sleep, I Dream" by R.E.M (1994)

This isn't my favorite track on this album which isn't one of my favorite R.E.M. LPs and yet here we are.

"Respect Yourself" by The Staple Singers (1971)

Another classic R/B track. I had to turn this one up.

"What God Wants, Part 1" by Roger Waters (1991)

This is probably Waters' most bombastic, ambitious album since "The Wall". The recording/production quality is superb with some fantastic session musicians but if I'm honest, the solo material of his I listen to most these days is his more "mainstream" album, "Radio KAOS". Still, this track is a fun listen. I didn't find myself skipping ahead to Parts 2 or 3.

"God's Away On Business" by Tom Waits (2002)

"Who are the ones that we kept in charge: killers, thieves, and lawyers". Another "God" song! Sadly, this seems like an appropriate song for world affairs this week. I do however love the sound of this track with a style that recalls that of 1920s popular music. However, this YouTube video is also what I think of when I hear this song (oddly, the video is longer than the song). 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 7)

 "I'm a Soldier in the Army of the Lord" by Lyle Lovett (1997)

*Another* LL 90s movie song, this one from a mostly forgotten Robert Duvall film, The Apostle. 

"Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" by Nanci Griffith (1993) 

I am not, in general, a listener of Country (or Western) music. This kind of artist can perhaps be categorized as "NPR Country" so it gets into the rotation. Whatever it's called, this is a great John Prine cover. 

"Would I Lie to You?" by Eurythmics (1985)

An R&B flavored change of pace from their previous hits.

"Further to Fly" by Paul Simon (1990)

This isn't the first track I'd usually grab from this album but it's a good one. This album has a lot of the same people who played on "Graceland" but it has a different, cool feel to it.

"Bizarre Bazaar" by Ozric Tentacles (1991)

An Ozric Tentacles Groove!

"Daybreak (From Son of Dracula)" by Harry Nilsson (1974)

A real oddity from an old movie produced by Ringo Starr and billed as, "The First Rock-and-Roll Dracula Movie". 

"That's the Way of the World" by Earth, Wind, and Fire (1975)

One of their best.

"Me Around" by Michael Penn (1997)

A Beatles-esque sounding tune with some sharp, sarcastic breakup lyrics.

"Telephone Line" by Electric Light Orchestra (1977)

One of my favorite ELOs.

"Couldn't Cause Me Harm" by Beth Orton (1999)

A good, moody 90s folk/pop tune. Where did I get this one?

"Give Everybody Some" by The Bar-Kays (1967)

A classic Stax instrumental that I wasn't very familiar with.

"Winter Winds" by Mumford and Sons (2009)

Maybe it's the weather.