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Thread: My All Time Playlist

  1. #1
    Montage, s'il vous plait? Raiders's Avatar
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    My All Time Playlist

    Recently on Facebook, a friend posted a query to everyone to respond with a "favorite song" playlist of 10 songs, starting with his own. After about two days of continuous responses, numbering something like 150, I took a shot. Then I thought to myself,

    Hey, Match Cut LOVES lists, so post it there!

    So I present my "All Time Playlist." I do not present this as the ten greatest songs of all time, no sir. I also don't pretend this represents all types of music as really, it's just your typical pop/rock, folk, blues music. I didn't even include any jazz, despite that probably being what I listen to more than anything.

    Really, it's just ten awesome songs that I love and that as I selected each one, I jotted down some thoughts and reasonings for their inclusion. It's a glimpse into my own mind more than anything. There is no order. It's entirely random.

    ------------------------------------

    10. "From the Morning" (Nick Drake, Pink Moon, 1971)



    The album is melancholy and intimacy at its perfection… and yet, it ends with this song with its major-sounding sunny undertones and more cheerful gaze. Drake sings of a brighter time, and knowing that he ends his chamber-piece masterwork with this song, the last studio track we ever will hear from him, brings a bittersweet smile that goes well beyond the music itself. It is as powerful in its understated happiness as the rest of the album is in its haunting melodies.
    Recently Viewed:
    Thor: The Dark World (2013) **½
    The Counselor (2013) *½
    Walden (1969) ***
    A Hijacking (2012) ***½
    Before Midnight (2013) ***

    Films By Year


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    9. “The National Anthem” (Radiohead, Kid A, 2000)



    I can chalk my love of this one up partially to the live performance of it, which is spectacular. It is cranked to 11 and the multiple layers of sound are amazing and intense, and both times there has been a slightly haunting overlay of voiceover that I picture as Margaret Thatcher. Possibly the most riveting and powerful song I have ever seen played live. I do not dance and yet I can’t resist with this song. I still have never actually figured out what Yorke is communicating in this song, but I like that it is a song called “national anthem” and is mostly vague (even going as far as Yorke scat singing live) and yet communicates such a degree of confusion, hysteria and fear. And ultimately, that bass line is fucking epic.
    Recently Viewed:
    Thor: The Dark World (2013) **½
    The Counselor (2013) *½
    Walden (1969) ***
    A Hijacking (2012) ***½
    Before Midnight (2013) ***

    Films By Year


  3. #3
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    Raiders, you highlight the beauty of Drake's song so well. There's a vivacity to the plucking that matches the far sunnier lyrics. Although that whole album is killer, that song (along with "Place to Be") often lingers as the standout track.

    Radiohead's bass-line in that track is one that I unconsciously return to humming over the years. Thirteen years later, a mark that speaks to its excellence.
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  4. #4
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    8. “Katie Cruel” (Karen Dalton, In My Own Time, 1971)



    I read Dalton’s name online a few years ago in a piece with Nick Cave heaping praise upon her. From there, I found this album, and from the very first song I was hooked by Dalton’s remarkably soulful, unique vocals that transformed familiar songs into almost-otherworldly creations. To continue the theme of “haunting” creations, I have always been drawn to this stark and mournful track taken from a classic folk song. As I have seen mentioned, it is sadly prophetic for Dalton to sing of regret and being cast aside given the pitiful fate she suffered. Nonetheless, in this moment captured more than forty years ago, her vocals are as fierce and evocative and matched with a wilting violin and intricate banjo that laments both the past and the future.
    Recently Viewed:
    Thor: The Dark World (2013) **½
    The Counselor (2013) *½
    Walden (1969) ***
    A Hijacking (2012) ***½
    Before Midnight (2013) ***

    Films By Year


  5. #5
    Only familiar with Dalton from that album, but it's great, that song esp.

    The other two are good too. Continue.

  6. #6
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    I love threads like this when someone either reminds me of the excellence of a track I haven't listened to in a while or when someone shows me a fascinating artist for the first time. With Dalton, it's the latter. That was wonderful. Love the soaring violin that comes roaring in. I look forward to investigating her more...
    The Boat People - 9
    The Power of the Dog - 7.5
    The King of Pigs - 7

  7. #7
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    7. “The State That I Am In” (Belle & Sebastian, Tigermilk, 1996)



    I love Stuart Murdoch’s glib, irreverent lyrics and this song is them at their absolute perfection. Belle & Sebastian may have their roots in “twee” music, but the confessional lyrics of this song, written in humorous and fractured anecdotes, describe a curiosity towards life’s institutions of love and faith and a desperate search for some kind of identity to fill all the emptiness inside. It’s a tragic song that nevertheless can just as easily leave you in a pleasant mood and I think that dissonance is something that B&S have always achieved at a level above everyone else who has tried. There are few songs who can contemplate such serious and defining questions while not forgetting how to make a damn catchy tune. “Best” of all time? Maybe not. But I don’t know if any other song has been spun as much as this has in my room.
    Recently Viewed:
    Thor: The Dark World (2013) **½
    The Counselor (2013) *½
    Walden (1969) ***
    A Hijacking (2012) ***½
    Before Midnight (2013) ***

    Films By Year


  8. #8
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    6. “Orinda-Moraga” (John Fahey, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, 1965)



    For my money, the greatest guitarist there ever was. A lot of people have their own favorites, but Fahey’s music, especially the earlier mix of blues and folk, is a perfect collection of intricate and delicate tunes. Listening to how Fahey takes his time with the rhythms, how he progresses them and builds into them an emotional center is what stands him above his peers (I’m looking at you, Kottke). His true standout from what is this, his best album, is probably the oft-cited “On the Sunny Side of the Ocean” which has a lovely, complex sliding melody. But for me, this track is the best example of his primitive style and the folk and blues that make his best early recordings so magical. It has some of the loveliest and most charming melodies I have ever heard.
    Recently Viewed:
    Thor: The Dark World (2013) **½
    The Counselor (2013) *½
    Walden (1969) ***
    A Hijacking (2012) ***½
    Before Midnight (2013) ***

    Films By Year


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