I know it, Peter knows it, and we feel no shame. We are list-makers. We make lists. My name is Kevin and I am a list-maker. If you Google 'People who make lists' one of the results is on a business website called Hello My Name is Scott. Scott lists 43 Reasons to Make Lists For Everything, my favourite of which is
'Listing sifts through the bullshit. It gives people the guts, the meat, the good stuff, the essence and the cliff notes of your idea. Which is good, because most readers don’t have time (or care) to read anything else'.
Of course, we'd be happy to have readers of any kind, whether they read our lists or not. Hell, we'd encourage stalkers.
Anyway, Peter's 2001 list was a ragbag of both mainstream and leftfield indieness talent, made more interesting by surprise choices like Millie Jackson, and a lack of Journey. I realised when tapping in mine that there is almost nothing new, very little from the last five or even ten years, which doesn't mean that there is a lack of good music these days, it just means I haven't heard it. Songs sometimes take years to percolate in your head, or ferment. Some go mouldy and you have to discard them (often causing excessive earwax, so I'm told). It's rare, in my case anyway, for a song to go instantly shooting into the subconscious top 50 and stay there. I sat down and wrote this list off the top of my head easily, although if you asked me tomorrow it would probably have the same artists but different songs. It's odd how very little I listened to that was contemporary at the time, didn't make the cut.
So here they are in no particular order.
1. Angel from Montgomery - Bonnie Raitt & John Prine
2. I'm in a Dancing Mood - Delroy Wilson
3. Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
4. Mama - Jarabe de Palo
5. Whole Lotta Rosie (Live) - AC/DC
6. Dr. Feelgood - Aretha Franklin
7. Buenos Hermanos - Ibrahim Ferrrer
8. Tupelo Honey - Wayne Toups
9. Viking - Los Lobos
10. Once in her Lifetime - Spear of Destiny
11. The Patriot Game (Live) - The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
12. The Weight - The Band
13. You Better Not Look Down - BB. King
14. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Puressence
15. Old Man - Neil Young
16. Train Kept a Rollin' - Aerosmith
17. Can't You Hear Me Knocking - The Rolling Stones
18. Liquidator - Harry J. Allstars
19. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On (live) - Jerry Lee Lewis
20. House Rent Boogie - John Lee Hooker
21. Tell Mama - Etta James
22. Rags to Riches - Tony Bennet
23. Dancefloors - My Morning Jacket
24. My Morning Song - The Black Crowes
25. Substitute - The Who
26. A Quick One While He's Away - The Who
27. 5.15 - The Who
28. Sunny Sailor Boy - Luka Bloom
29. Pick a Bale of Cotton - Leadbelly
30. Cancion Mixteca - Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Harry Dean Stanton
'Listing sifts through the bullshit. It gives people the guts, the meat, the good stuff, the essence and the cliff notes of your idea. Which is good, because most readers don’t have time (or care) to read anything else'.
Of course, we'd be happy to have readers of any kind, whether they read our lists or not. Hell, we'd encourage stalkers.
Anyway, Peter's 2001 list was a ragbag of both mainstream and leftfield indieness talent, made more interesting by surprise choices like Millie Jackson, and a lack of Journey. I realised when tapping in mine that there is almost nothing new, very little from the last five or even ten years, which doesn't mean that there is a lack of good music these days, it just means I haven't heard it. Songs sometimes take years to percolate in your head, or ferment. Some go mouldy and you have to discard them (often causing excessive earwax, so I'm told). It's rare, in my case anyway, for a song to go instantly shooting into the subconscious top 50 and stay there. I sat down and wrote this list off the top of my head easily, although if you asked me tomorrow it would probably have the same artists but different songs. It's odd how very little I listened to that was contemporary at the time, didn't make the cut.
So here they are in no particular order.
1. Angel from Montgomery - Bonnie Raitt & John Prine
2. I'm in a Dancing Mood - Delroy Wilson
3. Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
4. Mama - Jarabe de Palo
5. Whole Lotta Rosie (Live) - AC/DC
6. Dr. Feelgood - Aretha Franklin
7. Buenos Hermanos - Ibrahim Ferrrer
8. Tupelo Honey - Wayne Toups
9. Viking - Los Lobos
10. Once in her Lifetime - Spear of Destiny
11. The Patriot Game (Live) - The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
12. The Weight - The Band
13. You Better Not Look Down - BB. King
14. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Puressence
15. Old Man - Neil Young
16. Train Kept a Rollin' - Aerosmith
17. Can't You Hear Me Knocking - The Rolling Stones
18. Liquidator - Harry J. Allstars
19. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On (live) - Jerry Lee Lewis
20. House Rent Boogie - John Lee Hooker
21. Tell Mama - Etta James
22. Rags to Riches - Tony Bennet
23. Dancefloors - My Morning Jacket
24. My Morning Song - The Black Crowes
25. Substitute - The Who
26. A Quick One While He's Away - The Who
27. 5.15 - The Who
28. Sunny Sailor Boy - Luka Bloom
29. Pick a Bale of Cotton - Leadbelly
30. Cancion Mixteca - Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Harry Dean Stanton
31. Right About Now - Ron Sexsmith
32. City of Chicago - Christy Moore
33. Don't Want to Know - John Martyn
34. Pretty Thing - Bo Diddley
35. I am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses
35. I am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses
36. Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen
37. Rankin Full Stop - The Beat
38. Shame and Scandal - Peter Tosh
39. Pressure Drop - Toots & The Maytals
40. Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
40. Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
41. See a Little Light - Bob Mould
42. Here We Kum - Molotov
43. New Rose - The Damned
44. I Want to Take you Higher - Sly & The Family Stone
45. 537 C.U.B.A. - Orishas
46. I Hung My Head - Johnny Cash
47. Milk Cow Blues - Elvis Presley
48. Invalid Litter Department - At the Drive In
49. Mumbai Theme Tune - A.R. Rahman
50. No Regrets - Walker Brothers
Posts
No regrets could be in mine, lights of Cincinnati or Joanna, you have me thinking of omissions now, by the time I get to phoenix, sitting in limbo by Jimmy Cliff, Pressure Drop by Toots is a great call by the way. Your 50 I may make an effort to listen to it. My seems extremely poppy compared to yours.
ReplyDelete.........and mine seems a bit mainstream compared to yours!
ReplyDeleteno mine is the mainstream one, you sarcy sod.
ReplyDelete