Tag: favorites

Last Word In
by Johnny Boyd

The lovely voice and marvelous style of the former lead singer of Indigo Swing. As you can imagine, it’s hard to keep from tapping your feet to this. My favorite part though is hearing his smile as he sings “Honey-Dew”; simply enchanting.

5 star tracks: “I’ll Do Right By You”, “Last Word In”, “Honey-Dew”
4 star tracks: “Angie’s Song (Baby, Don’t You Know)”, “Some Eggs”

Les Triplettes De Belleville
(movie soundtrack)

Great movie and the music makes me so happy. I love the musical era this evokes.

5 star tracks: “Belleville Rendez-Vous”, “Belleville Rendez-Vous (Maquette)”, “Belleville Rendez-Vous (Version Anglaise)”
4 star tracks: “Générique D’ouverture”, “Cabaret D’ouverture”, “Attila Marcel”, “Thème Bruno”, “Tout Doux Bruno”, “Bach À La Jazz”, “Cabaret Aspirateur”, “La Jungle De Belleville”, “Barbier ‘Cieco Cieco'”, “Pa Pa Pa Palavas”

Let It Be
by The Beatles

Not my favorite Beatles album, but it might contain my favorite Beatles song. “Across The Universe” is at least a heavy contender for the title.

5 star tracks: “Two Of Us”, “Across The Universe”
4 star tracks: “Dig A Pony”, “One After 909”

Let It Beast
by dj BC and The Beastles

Brilliant mashups of The Beatles and the Beastie Boys. Just go hunt up these tracks, they’re bloody amazing.

5 star tracks: “Lovely NYC”
4 star tracks: “Belly Movin'”, “Buildin My Life”, “A Day In The Life Of A Beastie Boy”

Magazine
by Jump, Little Children

I can’t remember how I found this album – Pandora random track maybe? – but I really love their sound.

5 star tracks: “Come Out Clean”, “Cathedrals”, “My Guitar”
4 star tracks: “Say Goodnight”, “Close Your Eyes”

Metro Stylee
by Metro Stylee

I found this one from one brilliant and terrifically sexy track (“Naked Reggae”) on some collected album of ska from the BiB label. Had a hard time tracking down the full album. Finally was able to get it from Amazon Stores. How can you go wrong with lyrics like “I want to destroy everything, I want to destroy everything, passively, non-aggressively” sung by Trisha Verdolino’s incredible voice?

5 star tracks: “Destroy”, “Naked Reggae”
4 star tracks: “Lullaby”

Mink Car
by They Might Be Giants

Scintillating pop. In a TMBG sense, at least.

5 star tracks: “Bangs”, “Man It’s So Loud In Here”, “Older”, “Wicked Little Critta”
4 star tracks: “Mr Xcitement With Doughty”, “Another First Kiss”, “I’ve Got A Fang”, “Hovering Sombrero”, “Hopeless Bleak Despair”, “Drink!”

Mock Tudor
by Richard Thompson

Brilliant songwriter, frequently able to make you squirm with the sharp edges of his lyrics. This one hooks me with the rhythms most of all, though.

5 star tracks: “Sibella”, “Bathsheba Smiles”
4 star tracks: “Crawl Back (Under My Stone)”, “Walking The Long Miles Home”

Moon Over The Interstate
by The Mollys

Good rollicking stuff. Favorite tracks for long night drives. Penny whistle & polkas are hard to argue with as fine tools for staying awake.

5 star tracks: “The Lang Town/Unfortunate Rake”, “Holding On:I Want To Polka/Skoda Lasky (Beer Barrel Polka)/Carnival Mundo”
4 star tracks: “Rosie”

Moving Pictures
by Rush

My favorite Rush album. Amazing that so few guys can make so much sound.

5 star tracks: “YYZ”, “Limelight”
4 star tracks: “Vital Signs”

Mule Variations
by Tom Waits

Gotta love Tom.

5 star tracks: “Big In Japan”, “Cold Water”
4 star tracks: “Low Side Of The Road”, “Black Market Baby”, “Chocolate Jesus”

Music 1968-1971
by Mason Williams

This is a placeholder really for the album The Mason Williams Ear Show which has never come out on CD. The track about traveling with the refrain “how long has it been since I’ve been somewhere” will be in this list if it ever does.

5 star tracks: “$13 Stella”
4 star tracks: “Classical Gas”, “Saturday Night At The World”, “The Last Great Waltz”, “Baroque-A-Nova”

Music For A Darkened Theatre
by Danny Elfman

Great stuff, but much better in a shuffle play world since the his tracks can really start to sound too similar. This is good early stuff, though.

5 star tracks: “Beetlejuice”, “Hot To Trot”
4 star tracks: “Face Like A Frog”

Music From The Motion Picture Ocean’s 11

Can’t help it. I really like this album and the snappy dialogue clips.

5 star tracks: “Gritty Shaker (David Holmes)”, “Dialogue: Pickpockets”
4 star tracks: “Caravan (Arthur Lyman)”,  “A Little Less Conversation”, “Dialogue: $160 Million Chinese Man”, “Claire De Lune (Philadelphia Orchestra)”

Not a lot in this chunk of the alphabet, oddly.

Gordon's Non-Punk Faves
mix disc from a pal o' mine in January 2006

He's a big ol' ex-punk but  I just love how eclectic his taste is.

5 star tracks: Pink – "Get The Party Started", Gillian Welch – "Elvis Presley Blues"
4 star tracks: Talking Heads – "Life During Wartime", Sylvester – "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"

Her Majesty the Decemberists
by The Decemberists

Such a fine fine record.

5 star tracks: "Los Angeles, I'm Yours", "The Soldering Life", "The Chimbley Sweep"
4 star tracks: "Shanty for the Arethusa", "Billy Liar", "Red Right Ankle", "I Was Meant For the Stage"

Home In Halifax
by Stan Rogers

Great songwriter & folk singer lost prematurely in another damn plane crash accident. (Musicians, stay out of the tiny planes! They hate music!) Truly an astounding storyteller and a real Canadian treasure.

5 star tracks: "The Idiot", "Workin' Joe"
4 star tracks: "Field Behind The Plow", "Morris Dancers" (snarky dialogue intro to The Idiot), "The Mary Ellen Carter" (incredible song, but I like the version on Between The Breaks better)

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
by Neutral Milk Hotel

So odd, so great.

5 star tracks: "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", "Two-Headed Boy"
4 star tracks: "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1"

Leo Kottke
6- And 12-String Guitar

Love this one. Always great to dive into working on a project with this.

5 star tracks: "Vaseline Machine Gun", "Busted Bicycle"
4 star tracks: "The Driving Of The Year Nail", "The Sailor's Grave On The Prairie", "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring"

1 Man Banjo
A Ghost Tree

Local musician Sean Lee gets me stomping my feet with his fine raunchy old time sound. Go see him live.

5 star tracks: "Blue Fool", "Ragged"
4 star tracks: "Mole", "Visque Devil", "Pixie Hop", "Magical Fire/Gobbelin Train"

The Beatles

Abbey Road

Really just one of the best albums ever by anyone. This is one of the few that still gets me to turn off shuffle play and just listen to that second side straight through.

5 star tracks: "Here Comes The Sun", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", "The End"
4 star tracks: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Because", "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window"

Sheila Chandra

ABoneCroneDrone

This album is always there for me when I'm too stressed or hectic brained to wind down for sleep. It unties my knots and reconnects me to my sense of wellness & safety. Abstract vocal therapy.

5 star tracks: "ABoneCroneDrone 3", ABoneCroneDrone 6"
4 star tracks: all of the other 4 on the album

Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band

Acoustic Swing & Jug

Happy music I've been enjoying my whole life. It's pretty cool to have an album that you've loved every year since you were back in the single digits. Plus, listen, folks! Banjos, kazoos & washboards, how can you go wrong?

5 star tracks: "Beedle Um Bum", "I'm a Woman", "Rag Mama", "Richland Woman"
4 star tracks: "Jug Band Music", "Somebody Stole My Gal", "That's When I'll Come Back to You", "Never Swat a Fly", "My Gal", "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me", "Chevrolet", "Blues in the Bottle",  "Morning Blues", "Borneo", "Downtown Blues", "Wild About My Loving", "I'm Satisfied with My Gal"

They Might Be Giants

Apollo 18

One of the best albums from a contender for the title of Dinah's favorite band. In addition to a bunch of great songs there are lots of just-a-few-seconds-long tracks that liven up my shuffle play life.

5 star tracks: "Mammal", "If I Wasn't Shy", "Turnaround", "What's That Blue Thing Doing Here?" , "Mysterious Whisper"
4 star tracks: "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)", "Dinner Bell", "Hall of Heads", "Hey Now Everybody", "Aren't You The Guy?", "Leave Me Alone", "All Alone By Myself", "I Heard A Sound", "I Walk Along Darkened Corridors", "Space Suit"