NOTE: Each entry below is accompanied by a song you can download
for free and play on your computer. No party involved with my
web site stands to profit in any way from posting these tracks.
I just want to spread the music a little.
If any artist or label wishes for the download to be removed,
please e-mail me at Michael@MichaelPatrickHarrington.com.
All of these titles can be purchased through www.amazon.com.
(But support your local independent record store!)
1. The View from the Floor by Slow Dazzle (2005)
Why (in three sentences or less): Blinking, staggering into the
light, Shannon McArdle and Timothy Bracy (of the Mendoza Line)
plus Peter Langland-Hassan emerge as Slow Dazzle, a side project
as much a progeny of the collective Mendoza as a logical step
away. Country touches share space with a dreamy background collage
(nightmares included) that imbue the album with a blanket of regret:
you know these sounds; they’re just not yours anymore. “They
claim two years ago they changed the name,” Shannon sings
on “Wedding Dance,” “but that green and rusted
street sign reads the same.”
Click
here to listen to “Wedding Dance” from The
View from the Floor by Slow Dazzle © Slow Dazzle &
Misra
2. Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd by Pink Floyd (2001)
Post Live 8, immersion in all things Pink became de rigueur, and
dust was blown from long ignored CDs. Echoes is an excellent
toe-dipper for the uninitiated (although starting with Dark
Side of the Moon is the recommended dosage), mixing Syd Barrett-era
dreamscapes with post-Roger Waters bluster (which isn’t
all that terrible) and a healthy chunk of classic Floyd in a non-chronological,
seamless montage spread over two discs. It can be argued that
Pink Floyd is a band not served well by compilations, but Echoes,
despite a few jarring confluences, is an entertaining portal.
Click
here to listen to “One of These Days” from
Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd by Pink Floyd © EMI
Records Ltd.
3. State of Confusion by the Kinks (1983)
The early 80s found the Kinks in an odd position: after years
as an album-oriented band, they were once again a singles act.
State of Confusion finds the group balancing the heaviness
of their recent live shows with Ray Davies’ gentle reveries
of childhood (“Come Dancing”) and maturity (“Don’t
Forget to Dance”). But the title track is more indicative
of the album’s ennui and the slow, sputtering death awaiting
the Kinks within the coming decade.
Click
here to listen to “State of Confusion” from
State of Confusion by the Kinks © Konk Records/Velvel
Records LLC
4. The Singles + by the Moody Blues (2000)
This two CD compilation surveys the band’s entire career
from the Denny Laine-led days through the Moog adventures of the
early 70s and their inevitable reunion (plus a few solo singles).
The Denny material, although poorly mastered, is the real find
here: stirring R&B-tinged British Invasion rock. However,
by the time I reached “Ride My See-Saw,” from the
initial Justin Hayward/John Lodge era, I was ready to start killing
hippies.
Click
here to listen to “Go Now” from The
Singles + by the Moody Blues © BR Music
5. Wingspan: Hits and History by Paul McCartney (2001)
A killer two CD set chronicling Paul’s post-Beatles career
(with and without Wings). The hit singles are gathered on the
first disc, but it’s the second disc’s album tracks
and one-off singles that make the set an essential buy. Despite
(or maybe because of) his string of smashes in the 70s, Paul was
often overshadowed by John Lennon’s self-seriousness and
wit – still, there’s no denying Paul’s pop sense
and his affinity for the oft-elusive hook.
Click
here to listen to “Another Day” from Wingspan:
Hits and History by Paul McCartney © MPL Communications
& Capitol Records Inc.
6. Rockabilly Riot! Volume 1: A Tribute to Sun Records
by Brian Setzer (2005)
Brian Setzer leads a quartet through the Sun Records catalog –
and not just the well-known numbers by Elvis, Carl, Jerry Lee,
Roy, and Johnny Cash. Brian also revives semi-obscure rockabilly
artists Billy Lee Riley and Warren Smith. The project is respectful
but raucous, and Brian’s raggedly sweet vocals and sterling
guitar raise the album above a mere tribute.
Click
here to listen to “Real Wild Child” from
Rockabilly Riot! Volume 1: A Tribute to Sun Records by
Brian Setzer © Surfdog Inc. & Warner Brothers Records
Inc.
7. Open Season by British Sea Power (2005)
Copping equally from Echo & the Bunnymen and Bruce
Springsteen, British Sea Power continue their lush, literate explorations
of love, noise, and nature on their second album. Despite their
sometimes feedback-drenched soundscapes, the band never sounds
disengaged – in fact, quite the opposite. At its best, Open
Season is a swirling, curious, even rousing rawk record grounded
only by a creeping melodic sameness.
Click
here to listen to “It Ended on an Oily Stage”
from Open Season by British Sea Power © British
Sea Power & Rough Trade Records Limited
8. Classic Queen (1992) and Greatest Hits (1992)
by Queen
There wasn’t another band who could camp it up with such
sincerity, and when Freddie Mercury sang, you knew he believed
every word. Some of these tunes (“We Are the Champions,”
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen”) are
now so familiar, the shock of hearing just how odd they
were has long since worn off, but Queen’s adventurous executions
and vocal histrionics were always in service to the songs.
Click
here to listen to “Under Pressure” from
Classic Queen by Queen © Queen Productions Ltd.,
Raincloud Productions Ltd., & Hollywood Records
9. What the Hell Was I Thinking? by Hasil Adkins (1997)
Like a bastard child of a circus freak and Hank Williams (or a
Philadelphia Mummer and Jerry Lee Lewis), one-man band Hasil Adkins
bashed out paeans to meat (Hasil loved him some chicken), decapitation,
and his fictional dance craze, the Hunch. After recording for
small regional labels in the 50s, Hasil spent the next three decades
in relative obscurity, re-emerging in the 90s to record for Norton
and Fat Possum. Hasil Adkins died on April 26, 2005.
Click
here to listen to “Ugly Woman” from What
the Hell Was I Thinking? by Hasil Adkins © fat Possum
Recordings/Epitaph
10. Dark Was the Night by Blind Willie Johnson (1998)
The most frightening thing about Blind Willie Johnson’s
“Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” isn’t
the wordless, gospel moaning or the constant weeping from his
guitar – it’s the tiny interjections that slip from
his tongue: the resigned “oh well,” the awed “oh
Lord.” Born in 1902, the future street corner evangelist
was blinded when his stepmother threw lye at his face. Blind Willie’s
open D tuning and slide method were stunning innovations, but
it’s his mostly gospel compositions that haunt us still:
“Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” Let Your Light Shine
on Me,” “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed.”
Click
here to listen to “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was
the Ground ” from Dark Was the Night by Blind Willie
Johnson © Sony Music Entertainment
THESE WERE ALSO SPUN:
The Madcap Laughs by Syd Barrett (1970)
The Future Embrace by Billy Corgan (2005)
The Caution Horses by Cowboy Junkies (1990)
Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple by Deep
Purple (1980)
Fishbone by Fishbone (1985)
So Many Roads by John Hammond (1965)
Thirty-Three & 1/3 by George Harrison (1976)
Trouble by Ray Lamontagne (2004)
Candleland by Ian McCulloch (1989)
If They Knew This Was the End by the Mendoza Line (2003)
Sent Down to AA by the Mendoza Line (2004)
Fortune by the Mendoza Line (2004)
Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd (1970)
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (1975)
Animals by Pink Floyd (1977)
The Wall by Pink Floyd (1979)
The Final Cut by Pink Floyd (1983)
Relics by Pink Floyd (1995)
News of the World by Queen (1977)
Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits/Judas O by Smashing Pumpkins
(2001)
Okemah and the Melody of Riot by Son Volt (2005)
The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan by Stevie Ray Vaughan
& Double Trouble (2002)
The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking by Roger Waters (1984)
Mojo: Chess Classics by various artists (2005)
Cold Mountain (soundtrack) by various artists (featuring
Jack White of the White Stripes) (2003)
