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| Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty https://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=83210 |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:19 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
With Algren's and Flava'd's magnificent lists winding toward their conclusions, I am going to aggressively push my way to the front of the queue and begin posting my list, which I want to complete before the school year is in full swing. Beginning soon... 
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
50. "Vienna" by Ultravox  A gorgeous and opulent piece of synthesizer-driven pop with classical flourishes of piano and violin. Both lushly romantic and starkly foreboding, it sounds at once very much of the early 1980s and timeless. "This means nothing to me" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
49. "U.R.A Fever" by the Kills  Two gamblers' volatile and brief relationship (it only lasts as long as they are winning) is recounted in this stylish song by the indie duo. From the opening dial tone onward, the song is defined by its precise, foot-stomping minimalism and sexily cryptic lyrics (delivered with intertwined male and female vocals). "Go ahead and have her Go ahead and leave her" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
48. "Time to Pretend" by MGMT  A Technicolor-bright indie-pop song, "Time to Pretend" is perfectly paradoxical: one can interpret and savor it as a lampooning of fame and life-on-the-road excesses—the drugs! the supermodels!—which it is. However, read earnestly, it is also an enticing mission statement for a young band (the best since Liam Gallagher sang, "Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star") and leaves the listener feeling ten feet taller and ready to leave suburbia behind, party hard, and conquer the world. It is so effective, in fact, the band went into overdrive on their next two albums to reduce their fan base and convince people they are first and foremost post-Beefheart art-school eccentrics. "This is our decision, to live fast and die young" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
47. "Runaway" by Kanye West  Love him or hate him as a celebrity and personality, Kanye West is a fascinating and inventive musical force, and this blistering nine-minute exploration of ego, failure, and romantic self-sabotage seems to me a major statement. It vividly winds through various sensations and textures (the ghostly piano introduction, Pusha T's sneering verse) before unforgettably spiraling into destabilizing, visceral Auto-Tune distortion. "Let's have a toast for the assholes" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
46. "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits  A love story falls apart amid emotional immaturity, empty promises, and external pressures in this emotive, Shakespeare-referencing Dire Straits song, their best. It features the band's characteristic sad-sweet guitar virtuosity and, I have always thought, Bob Dylan-esque vocals. There is a very nice cover version by the Killers on their B-sides-and-rarities compilation Sawdust. "Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
"Runaway" is great. I look forward to exploring the other tracks as soon as I can, especially "Vienna". |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 6:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Glad you started your list. But I thought you weren't going to do a little write-up on each. You're doing exactly what Flava did. Looking forward to the rest of your list. |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
I didn't know them from their song names, but I knew "Time to Pretend" and "Vienna". Both are decent tracks, but I am surprised you put them in your Top 50. "U.R.A. Fever" is lame. Sorry. |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
45. "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop  Recorded by Pop and David Bowie during their turbulent, but richly creative period in West Berlin in the 1970s (they went there at first to escape their drug connections and regroup, though this proved only partly effective in a city with its own colorful nightlife), this song is a blast of pure proto-punk energy. Pop wrote the song's lyrics while traveling by rail, and it functions as a propulsive, spirited ode to he and Bowie's itinerant, nocturnal, urbane lifestyle at the time. "We'll ride through the city tonight" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
LOL. Never seen Iggy Pop look so ... normal. |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
44. "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" by Jim Croce  Poor Jim Croce, the gently masculine and unashamedly romantic singer-songwriter, gone too soon in an airplane crash at the age of 30. This straightforward, wistful cut finds him playing the part of a jilted lover, hesitantly requesting a telephone operator connect him to the California home of his former girlfriend, who is now living with his "best old ex-friend Ray." He ultimately does not call, instead crying and telling the operator she can keep the dime. The song was reportedly inspired by Croce's time in the military; he saw fellow soldiers anxiously phoning home upon receiving Dear John letters. "I've overcome the blow I've learned to take it well" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
"Runaway" would definitely be in a Top 100 of mine. I think it is the best track on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (not listened to it for a while, but loved many tracks). |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:52 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Awesome Iggy Pop song. I was unaware that he made that song. I've, of course, heard that song many times before, but never attributed it to him. Cool. Listening and learning. "Runaway" and "The Passenger" are the top tracks so far on your list. I really enjoyed listening to the latter. This is what I expected from your list. Not a lot of amazing songs (because of differing personal tastes) but a lot of really good ones that I wouldn't listen to in a million years if not for this thread. |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
43. "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" by Manic Street Preachers  Welsh alternative veterans Manic Street Preachers are a band unafraid of confrontational left-wing politics, but they are also adept craftsmen of arena-sized guitar pop. Those dual poles perfectly combine with this ingeniously titled song. Fall under the spell of its cathedral-scale, almost U2-esque production, but also listen to the ambiguous and thorny lyrics, wrestling as they do with how to combat fascism and enact social change. "Bullets for your brain today But we'll forget it all again" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Forgot the Manics even existed. Good song. |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
42. "Forgotten Years" by Midnight Oil  With this muscular anthem, Midnight Oil, an Australian band with a passionate social conscience, pay tribute to the heroism exhibited and pain endured by their country's veterans of the world wars. The listener is urged to remember them; value the peace they achieved with their blood and tears; and, by extension, strive to avoid similar conflicts and losses in the future. A lesson rarely heeded by world leaders, of course. "These are the years that were hard fought and won" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
41. "Coal Miner's Daughter" by Loretta Lynn  A personal note: this is perhaps the first song I remember, and my mom sang it to me almost every night as a child. And what a song it is, a country-music autobiography powerful enough to emerge as Loretta Lynn's signature song (from a still-ongoing fifty-year career) and inspire an incredibly successful, Oscar-winning biopic. Lynn spins her hard and impoverished, though not loveless, upbringing in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky (her mother doing laundry until her fingers bled, the family barely being able to afford shoes during the wintertime) into a life- and family-affirming gem. "Not much left but the floor Nothing lives here anymore Except the memories of a coal miner's daughter" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
40. "Roisin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend" by Thin Lizzy  Thin Lizzy are sadly thought of as a one-and-a-half-hit wonder in the United States, but they rightly received far more acclaim and media coverage in their native Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. They were a tremendous band, defined by a twin-guitar roar and swaggering vocalist Phil Lynott's hard-edged poetry, and my favorite song of theirs is this seven-minute, intensely Irish epic. It was recorded during one of virtuoso guitarist Gary Moore's relatively brief tenures in the band. Referencing, among others, George Best, James Joyce, and W. B. Yeats, the song elegantly interpolates several traditional songs, including "Shenandoah" and "Wild Mountain Thyme," and the guitar playing is simply jaw-dropping. "Oh, tell me the legends of long ago" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Shack [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 11:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Very strong start, I am a fan of Runaways, Romeo and Juliet (thanks to the Killers), Operator, Time to Pretend and The Passenger and some other songs I hadn't heard like Vienna are good too |
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| Author: | David [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 11:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
39. "Pancho & Lefty" by Townes Van Zandt alternately known as "Poncho & Lefty"  In the greatest ever example of storytelling in country music, the prolific, hard-living Van Zandt traces the downfall of a legendary criminal, Pancho, and the role his treacherous friend Lefty played in his fatal shooting by the law. Lefty functions as Bob Ford to Pancho's Jesse James, and the song elicits sympathy, indeed invites us to shed a tear, for the in-over-his-head criminal who betrayed an older, more dangerous outlaw and now leads a miserable or at least very isolated existence. There are also many terrific covers of this song, notably a country-radio mega-hit by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. "The desert's quiet Cleveland's cold" Spoiler: show |
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| Author: | Flava'd vs The World [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 11:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Aggresive expansion eh? How very imperialist of you. Atleast you have a decent reason for the urgency though  "Runaway" and "Time To Pretend" are great. I'll listen/refresh on the rest later on.
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| Author: | Algren [ Sat Aug 26, 2017 11:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Sounds like she is saying "Butcher Holler". 
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| Author: | David [ Sun Aug 27, 2017 12:14 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
Algren wrote: Sounds like she is saying "Butcher Holler". Quote: Butcher Hollow (also known as Butcher Holler) is a coal-mining community located in Johnson County, Kentucky, United States. |
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| Author: | Shack [ Sun Aug 27, 2017 12:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Ladies and gentlemen, the David fifty |
zwackerm may as well start his to get it in before the school year as well |
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