Top ten: Hawks and doves
This year's edition of 99 Lives will be done in a week (pre-order now!) In the meantime, here are selections from the 300 song shortlist.
1, 2. Art Pepper, "Body and Soul"; "Besame Mucho": "One of the nicest things I think I've played in my life," Art remarks after a 13-minute rendition of "Body and Soul". If Coleman Hawkins's 3-minute take remains untouchable, this comes a respectable second. It's more stately, but he does cop some of Bean's key changes. The first album in the Unreleased Art series also contains just another 15-minute version of "Besame Mucho", only more rugged than usual. Give Laurie Pepper some residuals here.
3. Against Me!, "White People for Peace": Praise to Butch Vig, white person for obsessive overdubbing. And when you think about it, "Protest songs in response to military aggression" makes for a better chorus than "A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido". Well, maybe not quite.
4. Termanology, "Watch How It Go Down": That a guy who urges gangbangers to shoot only whom they want to shoot could be hailed as a great moralist shows that hood ethics have neither progressed nor regressed in the post-Pac era. And they won't change soon: that's economics.
5. Lucinda Williams, "Fancy Funeral": I'd rather have them cut me up and pass me all around. Which reminds me, can I be an organ donor here without a drivers licence?
6. Lil Wayne, "Something You Forgot": Yes, him again, this time getting emo about the "pistol to my holster". Only from a guy secure enough to kiss his daddy.
7. Los Hijos del Sol, "Si Me Quieres": Wasn't this an Uncle Scrooge story, where the ducks go to Cuzco to loot Inca gold? Scrooge can't get the treasure, so he just buys the rights to it. Marx would've been confused.
8. John Fogerty, "I Can't Take It No More": It ain't him, it's G.W.B. with the star-spangled eyes.
9, 10. Fats Domino, "I'll Be All Right"; "Give Me Some": This year the penny finally dropped for me regarding Fats, and he now seems as titanic as Chuck and Elvis. These simple 2000-ish tracks are worthy of his stature, never hungry, always ready to eat.
Eleven more: The Apples in Stereo, "Play Tough"; Art Brut, "People in Love"; Busdriver, "Befriend the Friendless Friendster"; Los Campesinos!, "It Started with a Mixx"; Fanfare Ciocarlia, "Born to Be Wild" and "Duj Duj"; Awilo Longomba, "Coupe Bibamba"; Malouma, "Mreimida"; The Shins, "Girl Sailor"; Bruce Springsteen, "Radio Nowhere"; Tokyo Police Club, "Shoulders and Arms".
Not a horrible song, but why do people think it's good? Sean Kingston, "Beautiful Girls".
1, 2. Art Pepper, "Body and Soul"; "Besame Mucho": "One of the nicest things I think I've played in my life," Art remarks after a 13-minute rendition of "Body and Soul". If Coleman Hawkins's 3-minute take remains untouchable, this comes a respectable second. It's more stately, but he does cop some of Bean's key changes. The first album in the Unreleased Art series also contains just another 15-minute version of "Besame Mucho", only more rugged than usual. Give Laurie Pepper some residuals here.
3. Against Me!, "White People for Peace": Praise to Butch Vig, white person for obsessive overdubbing. And when you think about it, "Protest songs in response to military aggression" makes for a better chorus than "A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido". Well, maybe not quite.
4. Termanology, "Watch How It Go Down": That a guy who urges gangbangers to shoot only whom they want to shoot could be hailed as a great moralist shows that hood ethics have neither progressed nor regressed in the post-Pac era. And they won't change soon: that's economics.
5. Lucinda Williams, "Fancy Funeral": I'd rather have them cut me up and pass me all around. Which reminds me, can I be an organ donor here without a drivers licence?
6. Lil Wayne, "Something You Forgot": Yes, him again, this time getting emo about the "pistol to my holster". Only from a guy secure enough to kiss his daddy.
7. Los Hijos del Sol, "Si Me Quieres": Wasn't this an Uncle Scrooge story, where the ducks go to Cuzco to loot Inca gold? Scrooge can't get the treasure, so he just buys the rights to it. Marx would've been confused.
8. John Fogerty, "I Can't Take It No More": It ain't him, it's G.W.B. with the star-spangled eyes.
9, 10. Fats Domino, "I'll Be All Right"; "Give Me Some": This year the penny finally dropped for me regarding Fats, and he now seems as titanic as Chuck and Elvis. These simple 2000-ish tracks are worthy of his stature, never hungry, always ready to eat.
Eleven more: The Apples in Stereo, "Play Tough"; Art Brut, "People in Love"; Busdriver, "Befriend the Friendless Friendster"; Los Campesinos!, "It Started with a Mixx"; Fanfare Ciocarlia, "Born to Be Wild" and "Duj Duj"; Awilo Longomba, "Coupe Bibamba"; Malouma, "Mreimida"; The Shins, "Girl Sailor"; Bruce Springsteen, "Radio Nowhere"; Tokyo Police Club, "Shoulders and Arms".
Not a horrible song, but why do people think it's good? Sean Kingston, "Beautiful Girls".
Labels: top ten
1 Comments:
At 11:13 pm,
Anonymous said…
Aww, how kind of you to want to donate your organs. I'd rather keep mine (well, at least my heart). My roommate says that you can donate your organs without a drivers license. I'm also wondering why people think Beautiful Girls is a good song. That song actually annoys me (and my roomy!)
P.S. I <3 the pink!
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