I Need You To Listen To…

325.Song:Boogie On Reggae Woman

Artist:Stevie Wonder

Album:Fulfillingness’ First Finale 

Stevie Wonder was a master at bridging genres, you would often get the feeling that the entire musical palette was at his disposal, bristling at his fingertips upon the keyboards. So “Boogie On Reggae Woman” comes to us exactly as the title implies, merging funk, reggae, boogie and even some blues. That Moog Bass synth lead is so ridiculously catchy, so rich in its sonic warmth, that it could carry the entire song on its own, let alone masterfully interplay with Stevie’s Fender Rhodes piano lines. Almost everything on this track comes across pillowy soft; the drums, Stevie’s syrupy vocals, the distinct lack of reverb allowing every aspect its own space to cook, all except the harmonica that leads us out. It stands out, it makes a statement. Flitting out over the warm bed of noise, it’s Stevie cutting loose, free-forming over the tightly-controlled rhythms. “Can I Play?” He asks, yes he can. To the delight of all.

324.Song:Pray For Me

Artist:Kendrick Lamar Feat. The Weeknd

Album:Black Panther: The Album 

“I fight the world/ I fight you/ I fight myself” The short, grinding intro to this song is a perfect summation of what this song is about to deliver, a fight to the finish for ideals against an often monstrous existence. The Weeknd’s vocals sound like they are holding back a simmering resentment, even when he melodically opens up, the autotune effects keep him on a leash. “If I’m gon’ die for you/ If I’m gon’ kill for you/then i’ll spill this blood for you”. Tribal chants accentuate the aggressiveness as Kendrick cuts loose rhythmically, cutting his way through an acidic verse “Mass destruction and mass corruption/ the souls of sufferin’ men”. The soundscape of harsh bass lines crunching up against the tight drums craft an atmosphere of claustrophobic angst. But there is hope to be found, when The Weeknd sings the final chorus; soft synth chords ring out, his voice reverberating around the stereo field, letting us breathe. Tension and release.

323.Song:Gimme The Loot

Artist:The Notorious B.I.G.

Album:Ready To Die 

“Yeah, motherfuckers better know/ Imma Bad, bad, boy”. The intro for The Notorious B.I.G.’s scariest song is stark, the drums booming alone, some light guitar samples as an accent.  Then Biggie comes in and gangsta rap has its defining epic. Playing a dual role of two hardcore muggers, Biggie Smalls lays down a horrifying display of the daily life of 90’s New York. “And my n***a Biggie got a itchy one grip/ one in the chamber, thirty two in the clip”. The ease at which he switches personalities as his two characters terrorize the streets is a tour de force performance, never faltering in his commitment to the gangsta ideal. “I wouldn’t give a fuck if you’re pregnant/ Give me the baby rings and the #1 Mom pendant”. Perhaps this was a genre that came too close to reality, as Biggie’s demise would later prove, but damn if songs like this didn’t freeze this moment in time perfectly, as graphic and unflinching as it still proves to be.

322.Song:Parking Lot

Artist:Anderson Paak

Album:Malibu 

One thing that Californians will never cease to remind others of is the fact that they come from California. They can’t help themselves. They live in a state blessed by what are essentially perpetual summers, so much so that it becomes a season that, as Vince Cunningham wrote “I most easily and most happily forget”[1]. Little wonder that so many of Pop Music’s outbursts of joy come from artists blessed to live in its neighborhood, or in comparison to it. The Beach Boys sang about surfing, The Mamas And Papas sang about needing to be there to feel any happiness at all, and here we have Anderson Paak just coasting on a musical vibe so potent that cynicism just wafts away along the sunbeams. All he needs is the main hook “1 2 3, Come on, you feel me”, repeated as many times as needed, and his drumming finesse. If all you are surrounded by is the warmth of the summer sun then you can very easily forget your worries, as here.

321.Song:Midnight City

Artist:M83

Album:Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming 

When thinking about spiritual release, God doesn’t necessarily have to enter the conversation, he can be merely ancillary to the experience. Hence lines like “The city is my church/ It wraps me in its blinding twilight”. Anyone who has ever looked out the window of a bus, train or car in a downtown city centre after dark will know the feeling of a nightlife invigorating the soul. “Midnight City” gives this feeling its full purchase in our hearts. Glittering synths collide against human synthesized vocals (“Waiting in the car” being my best guess as to their sounding). The electronic drums bubble up and down the dynamics, shunting us through each emotional shift.  If you allow the album art’s visuals access to your imagination, you can easily picture flashing neon lights and disco balls. This feeling of wild abandon carries through until the saxophone comes in, gliding cinematically over our spiritual release. Pent up emotions filtered through the night.

320.Song:Waste A Moment

Artist:Kings Of Leon

Album:Walls 

“Name your price to all this living/ Oh, never ask to be forgiven” .”Waste A Moment” is a miracle. Why? What other anthemic songwriters immerse their sonics in such a distinctly Southern grime and still sound otherworldly massive? The guitars here sound like they are dripping with gasoline set alight, the drums cascading over each note like sweat, Caleb Followil’s vocals entwine themselves around the lyrics like he is proposing to the bartender that this song is about. “Drove a little slick car/ to tend bar with the static on her brain”. If a band wants to write soaring choruses about small town lovers with dangerous paths ahead , then the rest of the music has to sound grounded, lived in, like it has learned the lessons of hard living. “Waste A Moment” is a miracle because it sounds precisely like that, it earns its soars. When a hard life threatens to overwhelm you,  remember, you can always “Take the time to waste a moment”.

319.Song:You Can’t Hurry Love

Artist:The Supremes

Album:The Supremes A’Go-Go

Those opening bass notes by James Jamerson are so spongy, so bouncy, that their energies alone could propel the song forward on their own, but we have to account for the rest of the Funk Brothers, helping the Supremes out on this most luminous of pop songs. Every aspect of this song is spectacular. Benny Benjamin’s punchy drums, Earl Van Dykes quicksilver piano, or even the steady command that Jack Ashford’s tambourine holds on the proceedings. Producer Lamont Dozier’s signature Motown sound just shines effervescently through every beat, every twinkling note from Diana Ross’s lead vocal. Mary Wilson and Marlene Barrow’s background vocals lilt over the syllables in contrast to Ross’s sharper delivery. The tasteful reverb that fills out the soundscape gives off the aura of our fleeting nostalgias, playing in our heads, a supercut of light bloomed memories “I grow impatient for/ a love to call my own”.

318.Song:The Show Must Go On

Artist:Queen

Album:Innuendo 

Freddie Mercury was such a technically perfect singer, a virtuosic performer, that retakes in the studio could often cause the tracks to start phasing when played together. He was a singular talent that was robbed from us by a demonic scourge, but he left us a career filled with songs that will stand as a monument to his skill with the microphone. “The Show Must Go On” sounds gothic in comparison to most of Queen’s work, perhaps because the band sensed that Mercury’s time was near. Chilly synth lines complemented by earthy guitars and gated drums almost make it sound closer to post-rock. Still, this is Freddy’s show, he soars over the epic soundscape with aplomb, never holding back, defiant against the coming darkness. Few songs have such a dark energy coursing throughout and still have the listener pumping their fists in unison with Mercury’s everlasting coda “I’ll face it with a grin/ I’m never giving in/ On with the show” .

317.Song:Born To Die

Artist:Lana Del Rey

Album:Born To Die 

I don’t think I am overreaching by calling Lana Del Rey the “Frank Sinatra” of our generation. Her knack for composing songs that glide, just so, over nearly any situation is impeccable. It all started here. Her vocals slink through the lyrics like a greased up snake, insidiously digging through your emotional armor, only letting up the pressure in the chorus where she raises her register to a breathy high “Come take a walk on the wild side/ Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain”. The soundscape is populated by sophisticated synth strings, the insistent pulsing of a muted metallic snare hit interspersed with vocals screaming “Louder”. While some of the lyrics are a bit of a miss, “Lost, but now I am found”, they are only a blip on the sheer experience she exudes. Love to Lana seems like something to both die for and to keep out of reach for the chasing. As “Born To Die” proves; She will find a way to glide over your emotions, whether you like it or not.

316.Song:Crazy

Artist:Patsy Cline

Album:Showcase 

It is kind of funny that, for a song that has long been a country standard since its release in 1961, how jazzy this seminal tune is. I think this is because Patsy’s performance simply reaches the heart of what Country as a genre hopes to attain: A longing for inner peace through the thoughts of another. Written by Willie Nelson before he hit it big, Patsy drifts over the jazzy seventh chords angelically, twanging at just the right moments to stay true to her distinctive vocal stylings. She even recorded it in one take after recovering from a brutal car crash. Gospel quartet The Jordinaires join in the fun on background vocal duties as pianist Floyd Cramer’s swaying chords propel us through the tight guitar and drum performances. For such a short song, clocking in at a tight 2:43, it feels like it should forever be drifting through the minds of forlorn lovers everywhere. “I’m crazy for trying/ And crazy for crying/ And I’m crazy for loving you”.

315.Song:Stan

Artist:Eminem Feat. Dido

Album:The Marshall Mathers LP

Here is a violent, rage-filled rap epic, detailing the tragedy of what is now termed “Stan culture”, where a man ends up building himself up into such a frothing emotional mess that he ends up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend by driving off a bridge (with her stuffed into the trunk, screaming in the background). It is also one of the most beloved rap songs ever made. Maybe its shock value was considerably blunted by Eminem’s previous releases, where he often found pure glee in being the most combative possible, in a meta sense, artist. Maybe that Dido verse hook really is good enough to lull people into a sense of emotional comfort, grafting a sense of pathos onto a story where the fan writes “P.S. we should be together too”.  What is for certain is how effective Stan is at humanizing some of the worst impulses of modern pop-culture. Yeah, horrible stuff happens, but remember “It’s not so bad/ it’s not so bad”.

314.Song:Fake Plastic Trees

Artist:Radiohead

Album:The Bends 

One of the joys of listening to great music is finding the different means and methods of getting the listener to feel anything at all, of hearing the scaffolding built around lyrics that mean one thing at first reading, then another as the realization of what the whole construction means dawns on you. You could perhaps find “Fake Plastic Trees” to be a condemnation of the “fakeness” of society, or a pretty sounding acoustic ballad to play for people at a campfire. It would certainly inspire many later artists, such as Coldplay, each finding their own meaning of this song, and its sonics, within themselves.  Upon further review, I hold that this song, this gorgeous construction of earthy acoustic guitars, shimmering Hammond organs, syrupy crescendo strings and Thom Yorke’s exceptional vocals, is simply everything you need it to be at the moment you hear it. Confound anyone who wants to pin it down definitively.

313.Song:Mysterons

Artist:Portishead

Album:Dummy 

Beth Gibbons sings like a woman getting to grips with the monster hiding in her closet. “All for nothing/ Did you really want?”. This whole production speaks to something incredibly spooky, to a common haunting thought that comes to everyone in the depths of the night. What that thought is is vague, unclear, buried in a trip-hop mixture so abyssal that the lyric “This ocean/ Will not be grasped” sparks some cosmic horror vibes. It would be too much if the inspiration for this song wasn’t so goofy (an old british sci-fi show Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons), but the theramin loops doing battle with the drums will always sound like nothing else. Robert Christgau, famed rock critic, once slammed Dummy as “Sade for androids”, which is a perfectly clear summation of its internal battles of kitschy appeal and oppressively dark soundscapes. “Mysterons” is the sound of giving yourself to the darkness, no matter how it finds you.

312.Song:Roundabout

Artist:Yes

Album:Fragile 

Progressive rock has a kitschy reputation. How could it not? This is a genre famed for its writing and musical excesses. If Rush can write a mini-epic about sentient trees, how can restraint possibly be an option? So if we allow ourselves the option to be amused, we can also be enthralled. “Roundabout” is one of the best constructions in the genre, throwing almost all of the hallmarks of big P (for Progressive) together into a marvelous skyscraper of a tune. Opening with a famed and forever meme-ified guitar and bass intro, the song runs the absolute gamut. We have evolving time signatures, lyrics about traveling to a rock festival but made fit for P, spastic musical fits, drum solos, bass solos, ORGAN SOLOS. It’s all here, and it’s awesome. If you listen to this music and find yourself objecting to the “unseriousness” of it, I heartily suggest taking a chill pill, grabbing a good pair of headphones, and taking a grand trip to the big P.

311.Song:Farewell, Mona Lisa

Artist:The Dillinger Escape Plan

Album:Option Paralysis 

Listening to this metalcore song, and reading through the lyrics, I get the feeling that Greg Puciato was letting out some intense feelings as a form of therapy. Certainly the frantic changes in intensity happening throughout are perfect for making the listener feel like they are in conversation with the god of Bipolarism. As frenetic as this song’s structure is, there is a lot to get out of the guitars, which are layered and performed so well as to merge into a wall of gigantic stacks of distortion. Even the hectic noodling during the verses enhance the feelings of whiplash the lyrics perform “What am I supposed to feel?”. Eventually, the discordance on offer achieves a sort of grandeur near the end as the screaming vocals layer over the guitars and pummeling drums. “Don’t you ever try to be/ More than you were destined before”. Anyone trying to ape this song’s brutality and emotional maturity is simply not worthy.

310.Song:We Will Not Be Lovers

Artist:The Waterboys

Album:Fisherman’s Blues 

Here is a song that wastes no time in setting up its mood. Attacking with violins, mandolins on the left, with a big earthy sound to its drums and bass and guitars in the center, no wonder the band’s musical style was self styled as “The Big Music”. “Planets collide, collide, collide/ At the smack of your kiss” is a line so gloriously anthemic that pretension dissolves before it. It’s hard to believe then that this song is a big eff-off to the subject. “I know what you want, and I see what you see/You’re looking for somebody but he isn’t me/ Find yourself another because we will not be lovers”. It goes on like this, with each lyrical barb intertwined with the sorts of lines that complicate everything, sort of like how abusive relationships play out. When one is trying to move on, yet what seems like the entire world is begging the other particular party to get the hint. Oh, what a glorious note to end things on though, flying past at the speed of passion.

309.Song:Praise You

Artist:Fatboy Slim

Album:You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby 

The album art for the parent album contains a markedly obese person sporting a shirt that says “I’m #1 So Why Try Harder?”. Point taken, said Fatboy Slim, and “Praise You” is the result of that hard-earned notion. The way that the lead vocal gets digitally hung up on the after-tail of “I have to praise you like I should-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-[etc.]” just speaks to the atmosphere of ballsy assuredness present here. With a music video that was shot on shitty videotape as an amateur dance class performs to its beats, I can’t help but feel that this track is perfectly suited for urban strolls; Of watching all the trappings of modernity passing you by as you strut. The whole aura of funk/soul being digitally placed together like this strikes me as a celebration of all the joy that previous generations of musicians had bestowed on the world. All the juicy material they had left for DJ’s like Slim to repurpose. Hey, as long as the samples clear, right?

308.Song:Layla

Artist:Derek And The Dominos

Album:Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs 

Everyone who has read up on musical history knows that the title track of this wonderful album deals with Eric Clapton’s love for his friend, George Harrison’s, wife Patti Boyd. That bit of music lore may not be all that relevant today (and was rendered moot when he married and subsequently divorced her), but it is not needed to appreciate the love-worn howl of this classic blues guitar showcase. Clapton deservedly gets credit for the writing and structure, with a little help from his piano playing friend Jim Gordon, but this is Duane Allman’s show. Nevermind that he composed its brilliant opening riff, his sickly sweet guitar howls bleed all over this song. Without his performance, this song would be just another ballad, with him it ascends into guitar hero valhalla, forever transfixing lovelorn fools everywhere. That beautiful piano coda, as triumphant as it is bittersweet, is icing on this titanic cake.

307.Song:Re: Stacks

Artist:Bon Iver

Album:For Emma, Forever Ago 

The Re: is regarding. The stacks are a result of the emotional pilings of love’s ravages. I very easily could have stacked this list with tracks off of For Emma, Forever Ago. I regard it as very close to being a perfect album, but I forced myself to pick one song to represent the naked emotions of the record. “Re: Stacks” is my choice, though I suppose you could swap in “Skinny Love” or “Flume” if you have objections. This is a song that aches delicately for love, the acoustic guitar often sounds like it is close to creaking itself to pieces. The emotional heart is Bon Iver’s vocal harmonies and falsettos’, gracefully layering themselves over heartfelt laments such as “and it’s hard to find when you knew it/ when your money’s gone/ and you’re drunk as hell”. Songs like this perfectly capture a feeling of desolate heartbreak, of snowflakes drifting slowly to the ground, indifferent to warmth, in danger of melting away regardless.

306.Song:I Want You Back

Artist:Jackson 5

Album:Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 

Michael Jackson was a singular talent brought low by his inner demons. Maybe this is why a lot of his best vocal work seems to be tinged with sorrow, as if he had regrets about time he could never have back. This is evident even here, at the tender age of 11, when he was fighting with his ever-demanding father. When he sings “Oh baby all I need is one more chance/ Won’t you please let me (Back in your heart)?” his voice breaks upon the syllables, vocal fry at its most damaging and sincere. But even the inherent tragedy of his life can’t distract you from how joyous it still sounds, largely because he is giving it his all on the microphone, while his brothers work the harmonies. Even if his demons would come back to haunt him, we will always have this most luminous of pop records to commemorate his considerable talents. True candy for the ears.

305.Song:Risingson

Artist:Massive Attack

Album:Mezzanine 

I distinctly remember listening to this song one night and tripping off of its rippling, dark, aura without the need for any stimulants, as my headphones struggled to contain its abyssal energies. Starting off with whale songs, as if communicating from a dimension completely alien to us, the song slowly drifts into itself. That bass line is so thick that its presence drips off of the architecture, at several points its absence generates ghost notes in its favour. 3D’s verses seem to be mocking observations of drugged out people at clubs, Daddy G pops in on occasion to drag us further into the ether. “Why do you want to take me to this party and breathe?/ I’m dying to leave”. Ricocheting noises and haunting choral voices culminate in the refrain “Dream on” the “on” reverberating for what seems to be an eternity. Eventually, 3D finds himself consumed by the creeping insidiousness of it all “Toy-like people make me boy-like”. Listen with headphones. At night.

304.Song:Straight Outta Compton

Artist:N.W.A.

Album:Straight Outta Compton 

“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge” Dr.Dre speaks, his voice echoing. What follows is merely a platform for seditious rhyme. “MC Ren controls the automatic/ For any dumb motherfucker that starts static”. Ice Cube, MC Ren and Easy E all get their chances to shine as tire squeals and thumping drums samples percolate the soundscape, the horns almost literally sound like the fires of a riot, imbuing each verse with an incendiary urgency that comes through loud and clear. The guitars, insistent and clear in the mix, are the flickers at the tip of the flames. One of the real strengths of this record is its very structured form. MC Verse/ Refrain/ MC Verse. This allows any aspiring artist room to add their own touches to the formula, such as in the youtube cover/parody Straight Outta Gotham. You can’t really top N.W.A, as Dr.Dre says at the end “Damn, that shit was dope!”, but you can tap into its fiery spirits whenever you need to.

303.Song:Babylon

Artist:SZA Feat. Kendrick Lamar

Album:Z 

If the real-life Babylon gardens likely never existed, how can the question of the divine reckon with an aggressive female sexuality? Producer Dahi had to wrangle this question out of SZA’s grasp and form it into this gorgeous, amorphous, mass. SZA’s voice echoes throughout, writhing and moaning within the bounds of acceptability, operatic phrasings colliding against her coo-ing “Crucify, Cru-crucify me”’s. The synths and bass lines seem like they are barely able to contain her raw physicality, merely leading her to where she means to go as she envelops the stereo field. “And I can’t recall the last time I took love from anyone/ I called daddy, who’s got one anyway?”. Kendrick’s guest verse finds him contrasting the Masculine ID against her charged sexuality, as if both sexes searching for a hypothetical lost garden speaks to the intangible nature of our shared frustrations. “Aren’t you tired/ Of always making amends, tho?”.

302.Song:Crazy Heart

Artist:Hank Williams

Album:40 Greatest Hits 

Wikipedia bizarrely notes this song as “Better suited to a palm court orchestra than Hank Williams”, due to its relative lack of chart success. This just goes to show you how much luck plays into the perception of any given song, you could be among the greatest songs ever recorded and still be mud thanks to a random smorgasbord of radio airplay. This is precisely why this playlist exists, to give time to songs that deserve to be in the conversation. Hank Williams’ distinctive voice paints a pretty picture as he twangs his way through lyrics calling out a friend for dating an unworthy partner. “I knew you’d wake up and find her missin’/ I tried my best to warn you but you wouldn’t listen” Given the age of this record, his voice comes through the mix crystal clear, even if the rest of the band struggles against the recording technology of the time. Still, this wildflower rose of a song is a banger, today, tomorrow, for the rest of time.

301.Song:Revelator

Artist:Gillian Welch

Album:Time (The Revelator) 

There has always been a cultural cachet to being the first to explore new methods and means, leaving newer artists constantly operating in the shadows of greatness. Thus, sings Gillian Welch, “I’m the pretender/ and not what I’m supposed to be”. The proper response is to not let yourself be overawed by what has come before, but to simply create what must be created, on your terms. Time, after all, will sort out the wheat from the chaff. Here, Gillian crafts an exquisitely delicate country song, her vocals intertwining with guitars that seem to assert themselves clumsily at first but they slowly reveal their intricacies through repeat listens. There is a tangible anger seething throughout this song that the guitars exploit, weaving in dissonance and harmony in equal measure. Welch’s vocal harmonies kick in at all of the right moments to underpin the pettiness that gatekeeping creative pursuits can lead to. Let time be the ultimate revelator for this track.